AN: This has mutated from a one-shot to a two-part, instead. So this does have two chapters. (Yeah I know, that's a real mind-boggler, me having a story with more than one chapter...)
The Gods of Mt. Olympus and the Flames of Hades
I remember I used to come home from school (I took day classes at a local college campus), and look out my apartment window up at the ShinRa building, standing tall in the sky. Yes, I did live above the plate. I had heard some nasty tales of what life below was like, and I am still grateful that I never had to experience it. But that big steel tower represented so much strength and honor, especially back then, right after they'd won the war. It was like the mythical castle, with the tower that reached the clouds. That was the Mt. Olympus of reality.
I made it my business to get a spot in that tower, and as soon as I graduated, I started applying. It was a hellish few months- having to be a barmaid in order to sustain myself, and still sending out more and more applications into any department possible in that organization. I was working with drunks by night, typing resumes by day, and sleeping as long as I could in dawn and twilight. I figured that as soon as I got that job, it would make up for all of the missed sun-ups and sunsets.
And suddenly, I got the job, like I had been praying for. The day before the plate fell.
I can clearly remember the notification letter that I received. It said:
"We would like to inform you that, due to extenuating circumstances, the extemporaneous need has arisen for a temporary replacement; though due to performance and/or excellence while in office, you may or may not remain as a permanent asset. You have been hired to the Department of Domestic Affairs Containment, otherwise known as the Turks. Welcome to ShinRa Electric Power."
I had never heard of 'the Turks' before, so that didn't bother me, but an "extemporaneous need due to an extenuating circumstance?" What the Hell did that mean? I figured out later that it meant "since one of our guys is destroying the Sector Plate, we're gonna give him leave and you're gonna fill his shoes." And that's what they did. Now, before my first day, I can say that I did a few minutes worth of quick research and found out that the group I was to be working as a part of wasn't the nicest bunch of people, but hey, I had had a hand in a war before this, I think I can deal with people a little less than clean.
The day I arrived at work for the first time, I met my direct superiors - the other members of the Turks. The first thing in the morning, I was introduced to two of my three co-workers. The third had been off on a mission, and so I didn't meet until later, but I figured that was all right, seeing as the two men I met were already enough to have to take in at once.
I met Tseng first, and I can't say that I didn't fancy him from the start (though the fact that he was Wutain did throw me off slightly at first). He was calm and collected, and I swear he seemed to know everything. He presented himself with great amounts of dignity, and even his dark blue suit gained more respect than I think I had ever given or been given in my life. Being in his silent office and having to act more professional than I had ever felt made me all the more nervous, and I think I stuttered a few too many times to chalk it off as the butterflies.
Rude, the 'partner' to this missing third Turk, seemed…well, quiet. I don't know if he just preferred silence, or if he wa just one of those guys who liked to listen instead of talk, so I talked on about how excited I was, and I couldn't really tell whether he was listening, or if he wanted to shut me out. In fact, I still can't tell. He really didn't seem to take to using facial expressions either, I think.. He was rather stiff, not really what I'd call 'Mr. Personality,' and he wasn't really what you'd call 'entertaining,' but then again, what else do guys with no personality become but Turks?
I had been told about the missing third Turk - Reno - and that he was the one that I had been hired to temporarily fill in for. Tseng, who was the leader and the top of the chain, told me that I would have to take Reno's place, but since Rude was technically 'better' than me, I wouldn't keep Reno's rank of second-in-command. Damn. My meeting with the famed Reno only came later.
The rest of the day wasn't anything worth living really, now that I think about it. I had been so worked up in getting a job this great that I had to try my hardest not to squeal every time they pointed something in the office out to me. In my euphoric state, I took in every detail - from the smooth sound of Tseng's voice to the color of the men's bathroom wallpaper - as if they would pop my happiness bubble and demand a quiz of what I had learned.
And that was that. I had gotten the job, and I had successfully gone through my orientation without seeming like I was too giddy. I think I actually made it out alive and almost accepted! They had said that tomorrow morning I would meet Reno, and then right after, I would be charged with filling his void as he was shipped out to vacation-land. Tseng had even promised that the first thing I would do was receive my own blue suit. My eyes were wide and watering and I had wanted to hug the man at the words. I almost did when I actually got the suit.
Then I met Reno. We didn't become the best of friends right off. I definitely liked Tseng better. Reno was a hot-head. He wasunruly and a bit of a reactor. I was glad when he left…and then Tseng told me where Reno was going, and why he was going to be put on vacation afterwards. I swear, I stared at Tseng for a full two minutes before I could even fully accept what he had just said. He had said that Reno's mission was to drop one of the sector plates…and kill thousands of people. To wipe out 1/8 of the cities population! Then he informed me that he himself would also be going out on a kidnapping mission later that evening. I wasn't prepared for any of that. When I did my research on who or what 'the Turks' were, all people would tell me was that I should stay away from them, that they were bad. But everyone in Midgar hates the ShinRa, how was I supposed to know that the were really, really serious when they told me the Turks could eat babies and not care? I thought that was just more ShinRa slander! I didn't realize that the men I was to be working with were really rumored to have no hearts.
After that, I got the jitters all over again.But this time, it wasn't like it was newbie jitters, like I was fresh in the office (even though I was), it was the jitters you get when you're about to do something terrible. Like when you've just committed yourself to something that is horribly, horribly wrong.
Tseng said that, for experience's sake, I was going to ride with Reno to the plate column in the helicopter. After that I would come back to the ShinRa Headquarters as backup incase something goes awry, even though I wasn't technically supposed to start work until after Reno's job was completed. So I climbed in the chopper, took a seat next to Reno, and tried not to stutter on every word as we ascended.
It was about the time that I got back to the ShinRa building that I got the call saying that Reno had hit the button and was on the return trip. They said I wouldn't be needed as back-up, after all. After that I didn't really hear anything. Rude had walked up next to me at the window, but I hadn't heard him. If he had returned, then I guessed that Tseng was done with his kidnapping, and that he wasn't in need of the back-up from Rude anymore. But I didn't reallythink about that. Instead, we stood and watched as countless people died in under crushing steel and flames that ate up the sky almost as high as the ShinRa building itself. And that was that. Job over; mission complete. People dead.
I nearly cried. But I had learned before that crying doesn't help, so I held in my tears as best I could as Rude stood behind me just staring. I'm not sure if he was disturbed by the sight outside of the window as well, but was just better at hiding it that I was, or if he was simply staring at my back, judging me and how I coped with missions. At the time I didn't care. At the time, I was afraid. And that tall silent statue of a man had been the only person there with me. I'm not sure if he had come to see the damage for himself, or if he had truly come to check-up on me, but either way, he was the only one there with me. Or for me. Either or, in my eyes. I'm not sure it made a difference.
Reno came up later, but he only stayed for a few seconds. I can't say that it was a comfort having him there anyway. The atmosphere...changed. I think he realized his effect. So he limped off again, and it was simply Rude and I alone with the Hellfire outside, separated from us by only the glass.
AN: And on to part two!
