Disclaimer: I own none of the character, locations or events depicted in this story. They are all the property of SQUARE-Enix.
Aeris rushed to the door to answer it. Her mother was going to be out of town for the next few days and Aeris had planned on spending most of the time catching up on her reading. Company was really the last thing she had been expecting. Still, it wasn't as if she didn't know who it was. The pattern of four knocks, then a pause, then repeated could only be one person.
"Tseng!" She exclaimed as the door flew open. "I didn't expect to see you today." Her cheerful mood faded as she saw the expression of his face. He looked as cold and emotionless as marble. There was silence between them, the type of silence where she knew a disaster had happened and nobody wanted to say what had to be said.
"Get your coat," Tseng spoke. Aeris walked to the closet and pulled an oversized brown wool coat on. The weather had gotten cold. If she had to go out, she was going to do her best to keep warm. "We'll be gone for a while." Tseng added, hesitating as if he was carefully choosing each word. Aeris reached up to the top shelf and retrieved a small collapsible battle staff he had given her years ago. The city could be a very dangerous place. While she doubted anyone would attack her while she was in Tseng's company, it was always better to be safe than sorry. She placed it in the jacket's pocket and turned to him.
"I'm ready," She said as she buttoned the jacket.
"Follow me, Aeris," there was something wrong about the way Tseng had said her name. He opened the door and stepped out. Aeris followed, talking time to lock the door behind her. She had so many questions to ask. She had to know what was wrong, but Tseng was as silent as the grave. She knew better than to ask. They walked silently though the streets. The dark blue suit he wore was well known though the city as the unofficial uniform of the TURKS. Even the more vicious of the anti-Shinra crowd knew better than to cause trouble with a TURK.
With no warning, and without looking back at her, Tseng finally spoke. "Orders came down for President Shinra himself today. I'm to retrieve you and take you unharmed back to the Science division for study. "
"I…I don't want to go," Aeris stuttered. The words were meaningless. Tseng already knew the reaction she was going to have.
"I know. That part doesn't matter. I'm supposed to take you back," Tseng turned to face her. "You're not going to make this easy for me are you?" Tseng sighed. He stood as motionless and stiff as stone. There was no longer a trace of emotion showing though his features. Aeris had never seen him like this before. It scared her. Worse, it hurt her seeing him like this. She couldn't believe Tseng could be so callous.
Tseng held back all his emotions. It was just a job to him. Just another job. A target was identified for retrieval. The target was supposed to be brought in alive and without serious damage. Just a job. Aeris didn't matter anymore. The time he had spent with her, protecting her, growing up together. None of that mattered. He had to think that. There wasn't any other choice. He reached into his coat, pulled a small but powerful handgun, and pointed it at her.
This couldn't be happening, Aeris told herself. It just couldn't be happening. Tseng was her friend. They got along. She just couldn't wrap her thoughts around it. It was a worst-case scenario come true. Tseng pointed his pistol into the air and fired. Aeris cringed. She had never heard gunfire from so close before and it left a ringing in her ears. Tseng leveled the gun back at her. There was nothing else he could say. I'm sorry just wouldn't cut it.
There was only one real choice Aeris had at this point. She frantically flipped a nearby overfilled garbage can towards him and ran. Ash she dashed though the alley, she pulled the staff from her caota dn extended it. She got maybe fifteen feet before she felt Tseng's hard grip on her wrist. In desperation, she stamped on his foot and quickly pushed him away. It took her but a moment to ready her weapon. It took Tseng less than that.
"I don't want to do this," She said. It wasn't a warning. She was begging him. "Remember all the good times we've had? Remember that time you threw a surprise birthday party for me and got the wrong month? Or last New Years? Remember when the fair came to this sector?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. You don't understand. I have my orders." Tseng holstered his pistol. Every move she had, every fighting instinct she knew had been something he had trained her in for her own protection. Now she was going to have to protect herself from him. She didn't have a chance and the both knew it.
Aeris swung the staff and caught Tseng into his stomach, doubling him over briefly. He hadn't expected her to attack, and she knew she had gotten lucky. With all her strength, she pushed him over and tried to run again. She couldn't fight him. So far she had gotten lucky. It wasn't going to last. A shot rang out and the staff was blasted from her hand. Instinctively, Aeris dove to the ground.
Tseng walked to her, his gun was still smoking and raised to fire again. "I keep telling you, I don't want to do this," he said her. Never in his entire life did any words come more truthfully. He grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face him.
She had given up. She had known there was simply no way she could get away from him. She couldn't outfight him. She wasn't in any position to run. Aeris knew what was going to happen next. Her earliest memories were of being little more than a labrat. Sometimes she still had nightmares about the cold metal bars, the e test tubes, the needles, and the cold bleak sterile rooms.
Tseng looked at Aeris. She was trying to look back at him, but her eyes were filling with tears. These weren't the dramatic crystalline tears one reads about it poorly written drams. These were real tears. There was real pain behind them. Her eyes were red. Her nose was running and unintelligible whimpers were coming from her throat. Tseng couldn't tell if she has trying to speak or not. Not that it really mattered anyway. He heartbreaking whimpers were enough. She sniffed hard, trying to draw the liquids back in her nose and tried wiping her tears. Her hands ahd gotten dirty when she braced from the fall. As she wiped her tears away, she smeared mud across her face. Dirt had stained her clothes and face from the fall. Tseng looked down at her. The woman he had grown up with was left as a crying mess in an alleyway, and it was his job to bring her in where she was be locked away, poked, and studied until she died.
"You don't want to go back, do you?" Tseng asked her. Aeris couldn't find the words. She nervously shook her head no. Tseng fumbled for the right words in his mind. He couldn't find the way to say what he needed. "Would you rather die?" Aeris froze at the harshness of the question and the meaning behind it. She didn't move. She didn't speak. She honestly couldn't answer. "I see then."
Tseng chambered another round in his pistol aimed and pulled the trigger.
Aeris's eyes grew wide. The feel of warm blood splashing against her face drew her back into the reality of the situation. "Why?" she asked when she found the ability to speak though the whimpers and sniffles. The dark stain on Tseng's sleeve grew, oozing over where he had placed his hand. With his other hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his PHs. A quick button hit the speed dial and directed him to Heidegar.
"She caught me … by surprise…," Tseng said into the phone. ""I'm … going to need … a medic." He gritted his teeth as he spoke. "… more dangerous … than we though. Clever…Hold off on…on all further attempts…to capture her." Tseng pushed the button to end the call. He put the phone back in his pocket.
Aeris was speechless. A deafening noise shook though the alley again and another hole appeared in Tseng. This time in his foot. He put the still smoking gun in her hand.
"Run," he told her. "Don't look back." Aeris didn't waist a single moment more. She took off though the alley and lost herself in the city. It would be two days before she even dared to even return home.
Aeris would never get a chance to thank Tseng. He was never sent back for her. Nor did he ever return to see her of his own free will. He had shot himself twice and disobeyed a direct order from the President to give her another chance. The next time they met, he would not be allowed such a luxury.