Of Honour
Aeris stood, unmoving in the flurry of panic around her. She had heard and felt the explosion, but was not afraid… death is not something to hold fear. It is our destiny. A passer by knocked her to the ground, to frightened to even help her back up. She scowled, dusting herself of to try and reclaim some dignity. Then she saw him. Mako-eyes, a SOLDIER… but there was something about him that was… special. He looked like Zack.
"Excuse me!" she called, hoping to get his attention. She couldn't let him get away. "What happened?"
"Nothing." he replied warmly, his eyes flickering slightly in the light. "Hey listen… you… don't see many flowers round here."
She smiled and blushed. "Oh, these? Do you like them? They're only a gil…?"
"That all? Can I... Take one then?"
He handed her the money, smiling slightly as they exchanged wealth for beauty. "Oh, thank you!" she managed to giggle. "here you are." Their hands lingered as they both touched the blooming rose… it was the most beautiful flower she had. Zack's favourite.
Zack…
She broke away suddenly, walking away in a chaos of emotions. He was so like him…
Tseng frantically packed his clothes into a simple black suitcase, pausing only to load his gun. He had to get her out of here. Shinra could do anything to her. Indeed, that's what Hojo wanted with Aeris to begin with. To experiment on her, to cross-breed her, to inject her with Jenova cells and see the effects… they only saw her as an animal. How could they treat her like that? She was so beautiful…
He pulled the last things into his suitcase and sealed it, running out of the door to try and find her. She had to be in the church… that's where they always met, always… his head couldn't rationalise anything. So very unlike him… He pushed past the various Shinra employees, flying down the corridors of the apartment block, desperate to reach her in time…
Aeris sat deep in prayer in the depths of the church amongst her flowers, lost in a reverie of emotion and pain. She hardly looked up as Tseng burst into the rotting building and ran to her side. "Aeris, we have to leave. They've restarted the JENOVA project."
She didn't reply. Instead she bowed her head deeper, her thought's haunted by Mako eyes… "Aeris, are you listening."
"I heard you Tseng."
"Then come on!" He cupped her hands in his own, looking straight into her eyes. "Come back to my homeland. Come with me to Wutai."
"Tseng-" she interrupted, shaking her head… but he was not deterred. "We don't have to go to Wutai, if you don't want to! I have a golden Chocobo, we can go anywhere… Mideel, Icicle Inn-"
"I'm not going to leave, Tseng"
He stared at her, unbelieving. "What?"
"I'm staying here. This is my home. I can't leave Elmyra."
"Your mother?"
"She's not my mother, Tseng. You know that, I know that…"
"Please, Aeris. You cant stay!"
"I cant go! You don't understand…"
She was right, he didn't. "Aeris… if you stay here, you could be seriously hurt. Hojo… you must remember what he's like. He can hurt you, hurt you in ways worse than you could ever think of. I love you to much for that to happen to you."
She looked into his blank, dead black eyes, and monotonously uttered. "I don't love you. I cant love you, look at you! You're dead inside, Tseng. You're Shinra personified"
"But Aeris-"
"You know what I loved the most about Zack? His laugh… it was like music. You never laugh. You hardly ever smile."
Tseng said nothing. She was so cold… what had happened? "Why are you saying all this?"
"I'm not going to be afraid, Tseng. I'm not going to run. I'm going to fight. I've spent too long being unhappy!" He could feel tears pricking at the back of his eyes. He was willing to give up everything for her… everything. His beloved job, his freedom, all his money, all his possessions… all for her…
He stood back and struck out, his fist contacting her jaw with a resounding thud. She fell back into the roses, her green eyes blazing with anger as she stood to meet him. "Hit me again Tseng! Show some emotion!".
His breath caught as he watched her… the angel was turning into a demon. He could not answer her back; instead he turned and ran out of the church, his face blazing with anger. If she was going to choose death then so be it. He was the leader of The Turks. He had the power to destroy her… and if he had to, so be it.
Tseng sat in The Goblin on his tenth vodka, watching the surrounding punters as they lapped up the alcohol around them. The Turks were out to christen their new name… not that it would stay of course. To say 'Turk' was to inspire fear, something that took years to accumulate. They would be in this bar in a months time, toasting the return of the old name.
"Hey boss? Want another? The rookie's buying." asked Reno, slurring the words as he spoke them. 'The Rookie' was Elena, a sweet if naïve rich kid from Junon whom Rude had trained as a reserve. Elena smiled at him slightly, a blush spreading over her face. Tseng smiled back forcefully. "That'd be great. Another vodka if you will, Elena."
"Y-yes, sir!" she replied, handing him his drink nervously. He downed it effortlessly, the drunken haze settling over him, soothing his troubled mind. Reno watched as Tseng drifted into a deep alcohol-filled depression. He was close to passing out. "Hey boss, I think its about time you got yourself home!"
Tseng groaned and stole Reno's scotch, downing it in one. "Reno, I'm the boss, I say when I go home. And at the moment, I want to sit here, drink myself stupid, and take a woman home to bang. Probably Elena." he added, motioning to the blonde who was laughing over something Rude had just said. "Call it an early Christmas present"
"Tseng, I know you don't wanna go home, but I am calling emergency status 213: assumed leadership. And you are going to go back to your apartment, get in bed and sleep."
Reno steadied the small man, holding him under his arms and forcing him to slowly tread forwards. "Damn, Tseng, you need to lose weight."
"You need to shut the hell up."
"Sorry."
The two men walked down the bustling streets in silence, both lost in varying thoughts. Tseng leaned further into Reno's warmth, the primitive comfort of touch consoling him slightly in his despair. Reno glanced at his boss… he was in a bad way. His usually neat black hair was plastered all over his face, and his eyes were rolling back in his head in stupor. He was relieved when they reached the door to his apartment.
Reno lunged into Tseng's back pocket, prompting a less than joyous response from Tseng. "Reno, I've told you once and I'll tell you again, I will not sleep with you."
Reno laughed "You flatter yourself, boss-man. I make it a rule not to sleep with my chiefs… no matter how purty they are" he added with a wink and a smile, only for it to evaporate as Tseng threw up over his favourite dark-brown loafers. Finding the Keycard he was searching for, Reno quickly swiped his way into the apartment, dumping Tseng in his bedroom with one heave. "Tseng? You want me to stay with you?"
Tsng shook his head between gags. "No… Reno…I need some time alone."
Reno simply nodded and left. Tseng heard the door slam shut firmly, and he dashed to the bathroom.
Being drunk was not something he was used to. Sometimes he thought he had been too relaxed with his Turks… letting them go out every night to drink away their troubles… the regime was a lot harsher when he started. You followed orders, did not ask, every day, no fail. Injury was treated with a quick Cure 3... Only in death were you allowed to rest.
Tseng hurled into the toilet again. It seemed to make him feel better somehow. Standing groggily and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand he looked into the mirror ahd. His hair was a disarray, his eyes were bloodshot, his uniform a mess and his cheeks red with tears… hardly recognisable.
No wonder she hates you he could hear a voice in his head whisper harshly. You're a mess, a hollow, shackled mess. A terrible leader, old before your time when you were young, now just old… and you betrayed her. You betrayed them all… Hojo, Shinra, Aeris, Elmyra… Wutai. You betrayed your great father, the memory of your mother… and a sweet innocent little child who you have never set eyes on… she hates you, Tseng. Yuffikoto despises you…
He screamed and hit the mirror, his blood mingling with shards of sublime perfection in a way he had dreamt of before. The voice would not stop taunting him… he was the devil incarnate, he would see that now. No wonder she hated him.
"Aeris…"
The name didn't sound sweet anymore. Eyes ablaze with anger he stormed into the living room, staring at the piano for a second before pulling his gun on it. He deposited all his bullets into the ebony frame; the cacophony of notes that erupted strangely soothed him. Then 'her' song started in his head again, and he lay on the floor and wept.
He did not know when he fell asleep. All he knew was that as he woke the dawn was breaking over the Midgarian horizon. Eyes slightly fuzzy, he pulled out his PHS.
"Reno? It's Tseng. Today I want you to go down into sector five and fetch the Ancient from the Church. I know it is a bit sudden, but you must listen to these requirements. She must not be killed, Hojo wants her alive. Try any means necessary to get her out of there. If she fights back, then so not back down. And…" he berated himself at what he said next. "Please don't step on the flowers."
Hanging up, he let a single tear slip down his flawlessly beautiful face. She was Cetra. He was Shinra. Enemies bound by blood, never to be changed.
"It has begun…"
Fin.
