A/N: The poll on random stories I could work on is still open for voting! Thanks a bunch to everyone who has voted so far! My profile page has been adjusted to reflect top votes to date, including new headings for 'pending' works, but nothing is absolutely finalized except for the literal highest votes in each poll (the Dimensions crew to Amestris, FoWD - Homecoming, and the Harry Potter/FMA:B crossover, which hasn't been named yet). Those two will by high on my list unless something else overtakes the HP/FMA:B crossover. The FFVII story, Minerva's Blessing, is currently closest to being posted, however, so high on my priority list as well.
Slipping Slowly Into Place
When Ed, Elicia, and Lucrecia returned to Kariya's apartment, he, Lady Shinra, and Carbuncle were waiting for them. The woman eyed him for a long moment, seeing how tired he was, then asked, "Since it's obvious you need a rest, I'll keep this short. The arrays which will destroy the Jenova Crystals, is Verde strong enough with magic to be able to activate them?"
"Um...I actually don't know that," Ed answered slowly, thinking about it with a small, puzzled frown on his face. "This is the first time I've met him, and I've never seen him cast before. How many times can he cast a top spell on a Mastered Materia, or have you ever seen him make a spell work in a way it normally wouldn't?"
Lady Shinra blinked, but Kariya said, "I saw him make a Bolt spell strike more like a laser beam than a Bolt spell. It put the monster we were fighting right through a solid metal, reinforced Lab wall, and there's no known Materia which does that—not to mention, none of his Materia even count as rare ones. When I asked him about the 'laser Bolt', he said he only uses it sparingly on enemies nothing else works on, but that still means he sometimes ends up using it several times in a row before he runs dry."
Ed reached up to rub his forehead, feeling the intensity of the tension headache he already had increase at the news. "And you seriously never realized he's a Mage at least on par with Lakis? He never realized that?"
Shock passed between Lady Shinra and Kariya for a moment before the woman said, "If he uses it sparingly, few would have ever seen it, so no, we didn't realize. Does that mean you could teach him the arrays needed and he'd be able to go with Zack and Aeris to take care of the Jenova Crystals?"
"All he has to do is memorize the parts. I can probably do up some copies for him by morning—he can take them with him and study them in his free time until he needs to use them. But, I'm not in any shape to do it right now," the blond sighed tiredly.
"Morning will be fine," Lady Shinra smiled. "Thank you, Edward. Go rest. I'll get Kariya to forward them to me when you have them ready, so don't push yourself too hard, all right?" He nodded tiredly and headed for Kariya's bedroom so he could return to his own apartment and rest, Elicia loyally still on his shoulder, and the woman faced Lucrecia to ask, "So, how did things go?"
"I could have sworn Hojo was enjoying himself," the brown haired woman replied dryly, making the older woman blink in surprise. "Otherwise, everything went according to plan. The four Crystals we had here are dead shards of something similar to obsidian—we're still trying to work out what they became when the energy left them. None of the tests were intrusive, as Hojo promised, though he surprised us by wanting to run them all again while Ed was in his hybrid form. Even I was surprised by some of the differences we found which we weren't expecting. And his wings are almost ready to actually support his weight in flight, but I have no idea who will teach him to fly when Chaos, Sephiroth, and Genesis all don't fly in the traditional sense—they use energy to help them, so they don't 'flap' or 'glide' in the way birds do."
"Well..." Lady Shinra began, suddenly finding herself at a loss for words.
"At least we still have time to give that some thought," Kariya commented. "Were those all of the tests Hojo wanted to run?"
"Most," Lucrecia answered. "There are two more we haven't been able to set up for—those will have to be done another time, now that the other arrangements for all of these now complete tests don't need to be kept."
"Good," Lady Shinra nodded. "In that case, I'll head back to my office and call Verde to discuss the situation with the Jenova Crystals with him. Thank you for your help, Lucrecia."
"Of course," the brown haired woman agreed, stepping out and followed by Lady Shinra and Carbuncle.
Kariya sighed and turned to go to Ed's room, finding him laying in bed with Elicia curled up against his chest and under his arm as she purred. "Sleeping already, Ed?" he asked quietly.
"Not just yet," the blond answered, tipping his head to the side and opening his eyes so he could see the man.
After a moment, he asked the younger man, "Have you noticed anything...different about my behavior lately?"
Ed's lips quirked as he returned his head to a relaxed position and asked, "You mean, since the bombing?" Kariya's eyes widened in shock and Ed sighed faintly and bluntly told him, "I'd have been too shocked for words if that hadn't affected you at all, Kariya. You're not a cold, heartless man—you have a bigger one than a lot of people I know—and it wouldn't have made sense for that to have not hurt you. Why you chose to hide it from me probably has a lot to do with you trying not to make me worse, but that doesn't mean I didn't notice. One obvious one was your reaction to Tifa feeding me, but there were other, smaller things. I didn't say anything because...Honestly, past yous tended to take offense to being called out on things like that, and I didn't think it would be different now."
Releasing a long, heavy sigh, the man asked, "So...I shouldn't have tried to hide it because you knew anyway?"
With a faint chuckle, Ed replied, "Hey, I can be devious and cover my tracks as well as any Turk, Kariya. I'm just as much of an actor as you are. What surprises me more is that you were so wrapped up in your own pain that you didn't notice any changes in my behavior."
Pausing to assess the words, the man had to give a wry chuckle as he commented, "Well, now I feel all kinds of stupid. But...Are you really okay with the fact that I was the reason that hole got blown in Midgar?"
Sighing, the blond said bluntly, "I've never known a version of Midgar to not get a hole blown in it or experience a mass-slaughter if I've been there for more than about three months. I've given up blaming anyone for something which happens in every version, sometimes sooner and sometimes later. Normally, the ones doing the damage are Fuhito or the President, but that's not a use-all, and sometimes something else happened. With how reliable that part is, Midgar's destruction is an unchanging truth, and if anything, either Jenova or Minerva is the cause. Seeing your pain, your regret for your part in this variant, basically negates you from needing to feel guilt."
"Letting people off that easily is a bad idea, Ed."
"You also don't have my experiences to be able to compare repeated scenarios."
The man sighed and shook his head. "Why is everyone basically telling me what happened was fine and it's not my fault?"
The words made Ed turn to look at him flatly and say, "Don't blame yourself for actions you didn't commit, hypocrite. That's a basic grasp of the world Turks have—are supposed to have. You've told me not to blame myself for things I had no control over, so don't you think it's time you start acknowledging those things and separating them out so you aren't blaming yourself for things you didn't do?" He then returned his head to the relaxed position and added, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep."
Quietly, a shocked Kariya left the room, closing the door behind him, even as he felt the sting of the younger's words. At the same time, he couldn't actually deny them, so he just sat at his kitchen table and thought hard about how to deal with things now.
FoWD
"What the fuck is going on up there?" a familiar voice hissed from behind him.
The words made Ruluf snort and chuckle, which he covered by forced coughing until he got it under control and could ask over his shoulder, "I think you'll have to be a little more specific, Sir. Nice greeting, by the way." Since he was standing at the edge of the alley where she usually found him, hearing her voice didn't surprise him, but her greeting did. And amused him for several reasons. As he always did when she came by, he pulled out a cigarette and made a show of lighting and smoking it.
"That farce of a tournament and that group—Deepground?" she asked in reply, tone utterly annoyed.
"Yeah. You don't know what we do, having been there," he mused, taking a drag and blowing it out in a sigh. "Deepground are the guys who went after the Rui girl, and the guys who enhanced Gorgon. They're the President's private army, and to him, everyone in Shinra has to bow to them, Hounds and Guards alike. We're just waiting for him to instate martial law. In the meantime, we weren't intended to fight and win, not until we need to clean up the President's mess when this all goes to pot."
"...And the President didn't noticed the matches were faked—thrown for Deepground to win?" Sirra asked incredulously. "Even I saw that, and I was just watching a televised recording!"
"He just saw the wins. The Restrictors probably saw we were throwing it," Ruluf answered. He released another puff, then asked, "Anything else about that?"
"Not really. I'll get an update when I'm ready to get back to the office," she answered. "Did you find anything about Fuhito?"
"Nope, sorry to say. It's like he's coming in and out of Midgar whenever he wants, and until he went to Nightcap, he had no place here where he actively operated from once we routed him from the core pillar. He being reliable over there?" the younger Turk asked.
"So far," the woman agreed. "I'm just waiting on him letting his guard down enough for me to be able to walk right behind him without him paying attention to it."
"Any idea how long that will take?" he asked apprehensively. It was a delicate situation, and everyone knew that, knew it would take time for her to be able to act. The question then became, would it be too late by the time she could?
"Dunno, but probably awhile," she grunted in annoyance. "The guy's fucking paranoid and got a stick so deep up his ass he easily out-does Tseng." Ruluf had to snort at the words, knowing how much of a perfectionist the Wutain Turk was. "I know he doesn't see 'me' as a threat, but is just generally suspicious of everyone, and it probably doesn't help that he's only just newly moved. But I've been tracking those guys going in and out of Nightcap—a lot of 'em are going in and not coming back out. I doubt they're dead, either, or we'd be seeing bodies or body bags leaving. Since those are mostly the Wutains disappearing..."
"They're getting under cover and staying hidden until they plan to act. Any way you could find out when that will be?" he sighed tiredly, wondering how they could stop an invasion when even Godo recalling all his troops hadn't gotten rid of them.
"Merc, remember? No investigating," she bit out in obvious annoyance directed at him, which made him feel chills.
"Yeah, sorry. Seen any leave and not come back in? Wutains especially?"
"Some, but not many. Maybe...around ten?"
"So they're ignoring their Emperor's recall."
"Looks like it." After a pause, the woman said apprehensively, "That means they plan to take over and take us as slaves, Ruluf. Set up a new Empire they control, kill or whatever anyone they don't like...Even the Emperor can't make them stop because they're declaring themselves an independent nation from him. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for them to ignore a specific recall of forces."
He hissed and muttered, "That's not good. And with Deepground...Damn, this is turning into a right fine mess. I'm going to tell Lady Shinra directly and find out what she thinks is the best option. You got time to come for a drink with me, or you got work?"
"Guard duty this evening. Long as I don't over-do the drinks, I can go for one now. One thing I know for sure—I'll be happy when I can walk by right behind him without his guard going up so I can off that fucker. Might make the Wutains think twice about their plan."
"You and me both," he agreed as he put out his smoke and followed her to wherever she wanted to go that day. Unwinding was good.
FoWD
Paperwork was the bane of every business and government which existed, which had ever existed, and which would ever exist, Janelle thought idly as she sat at her desk doing some of said paperwork. Vincent was sitting nearby with a stack of folders on his lap, and Carbuncle was on the back of her chair again, ears twitching like it was hearing sounds she couldn't. On the one hand, she wished she could get up and walk around, but on the other, she probably wouldn't get so much paperwork done if she could. At least her husband tended to do his own paperwork, rather than shoving that off on her, though she suspected a lot of that was because she wouldn't sign her name on most of the projects he commissioned.
There was a knock on the door before it opened and two Restrictors stepped inside, one with a few folders in hand, and she was able to examine them closely as they calmly approached her desk. Carbuncle had gone completely still above and behind her, and she set her pen down to face them, even as Vincent set aside his own paperwork and rose to move up beside her desk. She could tell he was as tense as a coiled spring, but his expression and most of his body didn't show it, though anyone trained in combat would recognize the fact that he was ready to fight if need be.
"What can I help you gentlemen with?" she asked cordially to the two Restrictors, wondering what was so important about them that they had to cover themselves so fully.
"The President wanted us to check with you on some of the usual training schedules for the Turks and standard SOLDIER so we don't overlap use of the facilities too much," the one with the folders replied, setting them on her desk. "Despite our own facilities being as advanced as they are, there are a few you have here which we'd like to use, since after checking their specs, they've proven more advanced still. I suppose that's the benefit to having been openly able to make use of such advancements for the last few decades."
With a nod, she reached out to pull the folders closer to her, only to pause as a spark of light just off to the side of her hand drew her eye. A dart was pressed to Carbuncle's shield, and it quickly dropped to the floor, barely making a sound. Vincent was about to jump at the other man when she resumed the motion she'd paused and said, "I'll have a look, then. Some of this you may also need to take to Lazard—he knows the SOLDIER training schedules better than I do, but I know most of the morning time slots in nearly every training room are taken."
"Lady Shinra—" Vincent began.
"Vincent, I believe you have some missions to assign?" she told him, flipping open the first folder.
He huffed, but agreed, "I do, though not many more." She was glad when he returned to his seat and pulled his folders back into his lap.
In the meantime, she saw that the folders held lists of time schedules for different rooms, so began marking down what times she knew Turks and SOLDIERs were training. Checking how far forward the lists went, she found they were lucky to go a month forward, but knew some people had scheduled events for a few months down the road in a couple of those rooms. Once she'd finished marking what she could, she set down her pen and turned to one of her drawers.
As she flipped through it, she said, "For two of those rooms, there's also a few events already registered for a few months from now, so I'll give you what data I have for those. Unless they're canceled, I think they need to stay. Some of the afternoon and evening times I've listed can likely be adapted depending on what you need." She found the papers she needed and pulled them out, then turned back to the folders and put the additional information in the appropriate ones. "Those events are also only one-off events, not repeated ones, so you only need to account for them the once," she said as she looked up at them.
The two traded looks, though she wasn't aware of their expressions. They must have known one another very well to have been able to read one another when they were fully covered. The one who had offered the folders in the first place said, "It's good that you thought to mention them, then. Would you say it's better to plan far in advance?"
"For a special, one-time event, yes," she agreed. "Otherwise, a couple weeks is good so you have the ability to adjust training times as things change. I would suggest taking this to Lazard, seeing what he can add to it, and seeing what things he can feasibly move before coming back to me. The Turks are the most adaptable group and can be most flexible with their training schedules as a result, so finalizing this with the others before me is the best option." Shutting the folders, she passed them back to the two men, noting how the same one took the folders back.
"We'll be back after speaking with Lazard, then," he agreed, and the two quietly left.
"He just tried to kill you!" Vincent growled as he looked up from his papers—which she was sure he'd made no progress on.
"I know," she replied simply, and he froze as he blinked at her.
"And you're just going to let them get away with it?" he asked darkly once he un-froze.
"They didn't," she answered. "Or I would be dead. I'm choosing not to give them or my husband any excuse to instate martial law on Shinra and Midgar."
"...At your own expense?" he asked quietly.
"If it screws up the President's plans, it's good!" Carbuncle threw in cheerfully. "And I'm pretty sure they think she was just using a Shield Materia."
Vincent gave the Summon an annoyed look, then asked Lady Shinra, "And that means?"
"They think a Materia is doing it, thanks to my son and yours leading everyone to think Carbuncle is more of a pet than anything useful," she told him in amusement. "So if they try to take my Materia from me, thinking that will make me vulnerable, it won't work, and any methods of bypassing a Materia also won't work. The longer it takes them to realize my protection is independent of me, the better."
"And it also means we have longer to do things to fix this," Carbuncle added. "I know you don't like that Lady Shinra was attacked—I don't like it, either. But we want martial law being enforced by Deepground even less, or they'll pillage and rape this city into the ground—figuratively and literally—and the President won't care. The longer it takes for him to do it, the better. Them playing nice is always better. Especially when we're not actually ready yet."
"Ready for what?" Shelke's familiar, young voice asked curiously from the door, and the others looked over to see her and Stroud standing there. They were smiling, but also looked puzzled by what they may have walked into.
"Kids!" Carbuncle cheered, jumping and flying towards them, making both yelp and laugh as it jumped back and forth between their heads and they tried to catch it. Finally, Shelke caught its hind feet, which caused it to be pulled to a halt mid-jump with a startled yelp, and the girl pulled it out of the air to hug it.
"Cuuuute!" she grinned, rubbing her cheek on Carbuncle's head and causing the Summon to wiggle around happily in her grip. Stroud just chuckled the whole time.
"Doesn't that ever get boring?" Vincent asked the two in amusement.
"Nope!" Stroud replied. "Anyway, we have a prototype of the device, but it needs some real testing in the actual environments it'll be used in before we can finish working out the kinks. How do you want us to do that?"
Both adults blinked, then Lady Shinra asked, "Reeve approved what you've got so far?"
"Yup," Shelke grinned. "But making the right kinds of sensors and trackers, and a good way to relay that to the one using it, is harder to do without seeing how it works in active use. We need 'volunteer test subjects' who can tell us about how it works and give suggestions—that's what Reeve said."
"We thought of having it send a signal to your PHS, but then that left the kind of signal," Stroud added. "Or having a separate device you attach to your ear and can't be seen easily. It has to be something unobtrusive or others would realize there's something going on which they could track. With that, the sensors need to be able to register a good amount of information, but if they register too much, the system and its user would get information overload. We already know we can't make it extend too far—you'll never be able to use it to find a sniper—but it can't stay too close, either."
"And that means we need people testing it to help us find a good range," Shelke added.
Vincent sighed as Lady Shinra chuckled, but the man said, "That would mean the Turks. We can give you the coding to send a volunteer test mission to the Turks as a whole so they can decide for themselves if they want to help or not. If you don't get enough volunteers to start that fine-tuning, we can ask a few of the more discreet SOLDIERs to help test it as well. Because one of the ones working on it is a Turk, it should be okay with them to help one of their own test something they'll be making use of. However, spreading it any further than that is a no-go."
"Okay, we can do that," Stroud agreed.
"Yeah, sounds like fun!" Shelke grinned, letting Carbuncle go so she and Stroud could get instruction from Vincent on how to do what they needed to do.
While the three of them were busy, Carbuncle returned to Janelle and settled on the desk in front of her. She knew that meant it knew she wanted to ask it something, so she sighed faintly and asked, "That wasn't actually a serious attack on me, was it?"
"That was just a test," Carbuncle agreed.
"How will they react to the results?" she asked shrewdly.
"Depends on how they assessed the difficulty in bypassing your defense," the small Summon told her bluntly. "They may honestly go right to 'bombing your office' level of retaliation if they think they can't bypass your guard or just don't want to bother trying. If they have some time to work on it, they may try more tests every time they visit you for something, until they either find something which works, or until they realize they can't. Usually, the length of time they have to complete orders, and how much discretion they've been ordered to use, defines how quickly and violently they react to resistance."
"Then I had best hope they've been told to use discretion and have some time in which to eliminate me," she sighed faintly.
"Probably," Carbuncle agreed.
