The Last of an Elite
Chapter Forty One: Lavender Scented Introspection
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
"I guess Elena left already." Reno glanced round the empty office, noting that his in-tray - normally overflowing - had been emptied.
"………it is two thirty." Rude sat down at his desk, glancing briefly at his own empty work tray.
"She's not meant to leave 'till I tell her to go." Reno sulked, dropping into his own chair and opening the top drawer. "I should kick her ass for this."
"……… it's not like she left any work half done." Rude said pointedly.
Reno pulled a packet of cigarettes from the drawer and leaned his chair back, resting his feet on the desk. "So she's good at the paperwork. She ain't gonna get anywhere 'till she learns to follow orders!"
"…Like you?"
Reno paused in the act of lighting up to give Rude the finger. Rude ignored him, instead taking of his sunglasses and examining the cracked lens ruefully. Deciding they weren't worth saving he threw them towards the wastepaper bin.
"Hey Rude! Look at me a sec."
Rude glanced round at the redhead as he pulled open his own desk drawer.
"Well whaddya know. Brown." Reno grinned and pulled on the cigarette.
"………………" Rude frowned and took out a spare pair of sunglasses. "Very funny."
"Hey, I had fifty bucks riding on them being blue." Reno shook his head, expelling smoke at the ceiling. "Mind you… it's not like the guys gonna be rushing to collect anytime soon."
"……" Rude leant his elbows on the table and stared at the wall. It had been a long day. A very long day. Crossing the date line was hard on the system anyway; crossing it twice in the space of twelve hours was murder.
"Wanna hit the bar?" Reno glanced at the clock. "It's not that late…"
Rude groaned.
"Wimp." Reno said disapprovingly. Rude groaned again.
"I wonder where Avalanche came down… " Reno took his sunglasses off his head and rubbed at his temple. "Now they've got the Huge Materia what are they gonna do with it? What are they planning?"
Rude leant down and turned on the computer. The machine buzzed softly as it loaded up, the Shinra logo appearing briefly on the screen.
"……… Huge Materia………" Rude tapped quickly, navigating the labyrinth network. "……… nothing…"
Reno grimaced. "Typical. Bloody computers."
"I bet Elena could find out………"
Reno ignored that. "Somethin' to do with the Summon Materia Effect you think?"
"… The SME was disproved…"
"Yeah, by Hojo." Reno's voice rose slightly. "That bastard's lied about so many things - and he's been wrong about even more! I bet - "
Rude snapped his fingers. "Wait."
Reno paused.
"……… I was watching Hojo………" Rude frowned. "… I think he's gone insane … "
"What do you mean 'gone'? He's always been a screwed up little loon." Reno glowered. "Why are we even talking about him?"
Rude hesitated, remembering the scene from Junon. The scientist had been almost hysterical as he had ranted, spittle flying from his mouth whilst his skin had writhed on his face in a way that wasn't quite human. And he had spoken of a son? Rude felt somehow he had missed something important, something that could explain everything strange that had happened recently.
"……… never mind."
Reno ground out his cigarette angrily on the edge of his desk. "Hojo is screwed up. This whole company is screwed up. Shiva knows I hate it sometimes!"
"……… you shouldn't say things like that."
"Why not? I'm supposed to sing the praises of a company that never gave anyone anything but grief? Someone should have strangled the President at birth! Look at the damage he's done! Him and Hojo both should have been killed long ago."
"………"
"You know I'm right. Hell, you're probably the only other person on this Planet that does know how right I am. Everyone who works here is evil, crazy or both! What a company - ran by a bunch of psychopaths!"
"……… you work here…….." Rude said flatly, more than aware of the CCTV cameras silently recording every word.
Reno grinned, eyes flashing at some hidden joke. "I never said I wasn't a psychopath."
"You're not." Rude peered anxiously at his friend. "…… I'll find some holiday forms… get some coffee…"
Reno was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Okay…"
-~-~-~-
Elena yanked the washing machine open and pulled the sheets out onto the floor, where they spilled rivulets of water everywhere. Since the small clothes horse was already draped with the duvet cover and pillow cases she hung the sheets over the Mako heater, despite all the fire safety warnings against it.
She returned to the main room, where she had started sorting through the torn out pages from her books and fixing them back in with sticking tape. Plopping herself back on the floor she started to go through the pile, mumbling book titles and page numbers under her breath.
When she pulled up the silvery, plastic covered page from her photo album she paused. The smiling couple encased behind the sticky screen looked so happy and serene… She touched them gently, wishing she could step into the scene just for a moment and speak to them. Tears filled her eyes as she looked into the picture.
They had been the happiest couple in the world, of that she had no doubt. Her father may have died when she was two, but she felt she knew him better than she knew herself. He had been kind, loyal, patient… with a smile that dimpled and a laugh that carried. Her mother's tales of love and happiness together had carried her through the long years at Secondary School, where the other girls had laughed at her. She remembered their jeers at her interest in physical education and computing, how she had dreamt of 'getting her own back', and how she never had.
She wondered where they were now. Society ladies perhaps, or secretaries in Shinra. How many of them were engaged or married? How many had found the love that she dreamt of?
The tears spilt over her cheeks as she realised she was still alone, friendless, and that nobody would even care if she disappeared. Her mother was gone - even through her long and painful death the memory of his love had comforted her. Elena sobbed, remembering her wasted, skeletal face and the fragile bony hand that had touched her face on the last day. The quiet, breathy voice that had whispered; I'm going to him. He's waiting for me. Don't be sad Elena, you're strong, you'll find someone who means as much to you as he did to me.
Afterwards she had been lost. Her mother's illness had given her a purpose of sorts, a role to play. All her energies focused on making the last days as comfortable and painless as possible. And then there had been the cremation, and the grief. And the slow passing of days.
She had been driven by the knowledge of her parents love. It had given her hope, she believed in True Love so implacably it formed a near religious significance to her. She had waited patiently, dreaming of what it would be like. She started to build a life; a few tentative friendships sprang up, particularly at the shooting range.
And then she had seen him.
And she had fallen in love.
And he had died.
Elena fell forward, clutching the page of photo's to herself. In her haste to be with him she had abandoned everything. Her friends, her hobbies, her life; it had all burned away into insignificance besides the importance of being in love. And he had died and she had been left with nothing, a vast empty world of nothing.
She was completely alone.
-~-~-~-
Reno stood up from the desk after Rude left the room. He paced the office, the headache he had woken with had worsened by degrees throughout the day. He rubbed fitfully at his temples, knowing it wouldn't help.
He crossed to the window and pulled it open. The outside night was warm and damp, the Mako smog drifting gently from the reactors. Meteor burned in the sky above, dying the city below a deep sultry red. His gaze wandered along the buildings, drawn inexorably to the shadowy pit that was Sector Seven.
How many bodies, he wondered, lay crushed amongst the metal? How many children, bones shattered and ground to dust? How many young couples dead, lying side by side under the weight of massive slabs of concrete? How many mothers and fathers, torn apart after watching their babies die? How many old men and women, expecting only to die peacefully in their sleep, had been brutally awoken by the carnage to experience the full violent pain of their life being ripped from them?
He gripped the edge of the window, his knuckles turning white. He was shaking, staring out at the misty, barely visible rubble that extended back into shadows.
Jump.
The tiny voice came from nowhere, and he squeezed his eyes shut. His head was throbbing. He remembered the first time he had looked down from the Turks office - only five years ago? - and had felt vertigo knot his stomach. It was a long way down.
What have you got to lose?
A good question - all he seemed to have these days was the endless rounds of drinking and women, interspersed with hangovers and work. That and the gnawing guilt that Hojo had released in him, that ate away at his sleep and sent him running for the bottle. He sucked in his breath. If he could only regain the lack of empathy he had before… if he could only stop the tide of horror at his own actions from overwhelming him. Rude was wrong, he was a psychopath, and the Planet had too many of them already. His death could only make things better.
And it wasn't like anyone would miss him, he thought fuzzily. Elena would be positively ecstatic to see him go, and Rude had never given any sign that he thought of him as anymore than a fellow Turk and someone to go drinking with.
He leaned forward, out of the window, eyes still closed. It would be so easy…
-~-~-~-
Tseng tossed and turned, unable to find a position that would allow him to remain still for more than a second before his back started aching. Sleep was elusive, he had got by on two or three hours a night whilst a Turk and he disliked turning in so early now.
He twisted round and heard his back click. He swore softly, and gave up, climbing out of bed and drifting towards the kitchen. He was starting back to the guest room with a glass of water when he heard the minute little sob. He hesitated, unwilling to interfere, but when another tiny little sob sounded he turned aside to Marlene's room.
She was stood on a chair, looking out the window. Outlined against the night sky she looked small and fragile. Tseng paused in the doorway, and then said softly.
"Marlene?"
She sniffed, and turned round. Her huge eyes swam with unshed tears. He wanted to pick her up and wipe them away, and he was afraid of her for making him feel that way.
"It's late."
"I'm sorry…" she whispered, her voice breaking slightly. "I'll go to sleep…"
"Is something wrong?"
Marlene looked at him. The Turk sounded genuinely worried.
"I miss my Papa," she sniffed again. "But he doesn't like it when I cry, so I won't."
Tseng didn't know what to say. He sensed she was struggling against her misery, trying to put a brave face on. He wanted to reassure her, tell her Barret was alive and thinking of her at that very second. But he knew, better than most, how precarious life really was. Barret could be anywhere, dead or alive. And he couldn't bring himself to lie to the little girl looking at him so mournfully.
"…"
She climbed down from the chair, sniffing again. A few motes of green light danced at the window, unnoticed by either.
"Shin-Ra are trying to kill him, aren't they?" Marlene shook her head slowly. "I don't understand Shin-Ra…"
Tseng was silent. How could he explain the greed, the corruption, the ruthlessness that was as much a part of the company as the Mako itself? How could he explain the grandiose dreams of the rich, how could he explain that in order for there to be a rich there had to be a poor? And if there was a rich and a poor there was injustice? And if there was injustice there were people who struggled against it, and struggling led invariably to death. How could he explain that Shinra were trying to protect everything they had built up? That Midgar was more important to them than the life of her Father? And worse, how could he explain his own involvement?
At the open window the motes of green light grew denser.
Marlene pulled the blankets around her as she slid into bed. She hadn't expected an answer. Nobody ever explained the why, only the how.
Tseng turned to go.
At the window green light suddenly flared outwards, spilled out of nothing into a dancing river that filled the room with a glare that sucked the colour out of everything and turned it a rich, vibrant green. Marlene squeaked with fear and dived under the covers, terrified by the sudden outbreak. Tseng clutched the doorframe and looked into the centre of the light.
There was a figure there, so deathly pale and faint it almost wasn't there at all. Like a transparent piece of gauze it bent the light around and through it, flickering gently in the green swell.
"Aerith…."
She looked at him, and her eyes were holes, deep pure green all across while far in the distance he could see shadows and pulses of light as though he was looking into another world. She spoke, he could see her lips moving, but he could hear nothing.
"Is this Ancient - Cetra magic?" Tseng leaned forward, desperately trying to make out her words.
She spoke again, and it sounded like the death of a whisper; so far away all he could make out was it's shape. She held out her arms, imploring him, but to do what he didn't know. He shook his head in frustration, signalling he couldn't hear. She dropped her arms, and even the faint shimmer in the air that she was faded away. The light dimmed, then disappeared entirely.
"What was that…?" Tseng stared into the air where she had been. He was surprised by how shaky he felt, as though seeing the Cetra had triggered off some kind of primeval fear within him.
"The Flower Lady?" Marlene peeked out over the top of the blanket, eyes wide.
And they both became aware of the sweet lavender fragrance that filled the room.
-~-~-~-
Rude frowned when he returned to the office and found Reno leaning out the window, staring blankly at the devastation of Sector Seven.
"…… I brought coffee," he set the two plastic cups down on the edge of his desk.
Reno slammed the window closed and turned away from the view. He grinned at his partner cheerfully, not a sign of his earlier bad mood visible. "Hey great! I was about to keel over unconscious ya know? Long day."
"……… yeah…"
"Let's get these stupid forms filled out and leave 'em on Heidegger's desk for him to see first thing. We'll be in Wutai tomorrow, you wait and see. Hell, I'll staple them to his computer screen, that way he'll have to notice them!"
"…… okay……………"
-~-~-~-
A/N: I promised you Wutai and you get angst! And lot's of it too. Well there's been a lot of pre-scripted stuff recently, and I wanted to just have a kind of break from the action.
Thanks to Katharos for the fantastic review (plug: http://fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=939946) and in deference to her wishes: this chapter is exactly the right length, neither too long or too short ^_^