"I'm afraid we can't cancel the mission." Veld drummed his human hand on the desk. A deep, concerned furrow rested on his face.
Tseng stopped pacing inside the director's office as he glared at him. He re-emphasized their previous conversation. "He sexually assaulted her, Veld."
Veld rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look as he said, "Unfortunately, no one suits the mission better than her. As you may know, their people also have an eye on us. The chance of getting caught is smaller with her."
Tseng let out a long, deep sigh. He was trying to keep his temper in check. He said, "But she's green, and we haven't prepared her for this yet."
"Then, prepare her." Veld leaned back in his seat, both hands interlaced on his lap.
Tseng shook his head, almost frustrated. It's like his attempt were futile. "I don't think it'll work that easy. By deliberately exposing her to the things that traumatized her just after the event, it'll only tear off her mentality."
"Give her time to recover. Treat her with trauma therapy. But other than that, I can't give more concessions," Veld said like it was his final statement and left no room to object.
Tseng mid-way opened his mouth. But before he wanted to try again, Veld raised his human hand to stop him.
"And for the reward," Veld said.
Tseng raised his eyebrows. What do you mean by a reward?
Veld flipped the paper of Lucka's report that lay on his desk. His gaze turned frigid when looking at the picture of the man. "She can have it. Orion Lanighan's head is hers. And you can make sure it'll be her first and last time using that method."
Tseng almost gritted his teeth. After having brief information about the man, they learned Orion wasn't just an average elite. He was adept at keeping everything well organized and doing his stuff under their nose until now.
Orion's main job was art curator. But behind it? He held half of his father's influence on the black market as a stakeholder. He succeeded in monopolizing most of the illegal businesses in the high-class circle. That means he had the privilege of layered protection from living as a plutocrat.
It was the ugly truth of their system. How the higher-up always had a way to put their money under the table against the judiciary. If they couldn't throw the criminal in jail, it was the Turk's job to clear the mess. In the end, they were keeping the executive's hands clean.
Of course, killing him straight without any legal route would quickly clear up most of the issues related to this. But the sudden missing of an important person in such a massive hierarchy would lead to another problem if they're not careful. And to take that risk, Veld was brave enough to give Lucka full authority to kill him.
Veld, why do you play God like this?
Veld sighed while studying his response. He said, "You can take care of her all you want. But remember, don't let her take the same path as you did a few years ago. It'll become a never-ending circle."
Tseng cast him a defeated look. Even if his words sounded harsh, Tseng knew it was the best thing he could offer as a solution. He gave Veld a firm nod. "I'll take my leave. Thank you."
Veld nodded, and it was the only silence that followed after.
Lucka managed to get a Medication-Assisted Treatment in secret. She wore that black wig again but with a change of hairstyle with an elaborate braid. She wore a black, edgy outfit, like a grunge girl, and slightly heavy makeup. They made her pretty hard to recognize. It gave her justification after being obsessed with beauty gurus on YouTube and implementing the knowledge right now. Binge-watching was efficient. It wasn't a waste of time at all.
She signed there with another identity as an outpatient after meeting the physician. It's not easy to negotiate the therapy and detox schedule with him. But in the end, Lucka won. It's all thanks for those several Turks lessons. Her bargaining skill rocketed in no time. Sometimes she still couldn't believe that she was living the life of a secret agent. How great was it? She could deceive people, even the rouges that recruited and trained her. How ironic.
But Lucka didn't care. What most important thing now was she'd kept her promise to Ryuu.
And by the time she'd finished everything, it was already evening. After removing the makeup and hiding Buprenorphine and Naloxone along with the medical paper in a safe place inside her apartment, Lucka decided to have dinner. She browsed various menus of delivery food on her PHS. She crossed the name of the Wutaian restaurant she'd visited with Genesis.
Genesis.
How was he doing? She hadn't met him again after that night, but she knew they still had unfinished business. She thought she still had a chance to save him. Lucka had three days off. And within that period, she should carefully prepare a plan to convince him.
Lucka sighed and clicked on the food. It was yakisoba. Oh, how she already missed Ryuu so bad. She still remembers how he cooked it for her and shared his recipe. A substitute wasn't that bad. At least it could cure her longing a bit, just like the previous one. She ordered it and waited while rolling lazily on her bed. But then she remembered something important because that food reminded her of Ryuu.
Lucka looked around and frowned. Where? Where is the book?
She darted up to her feet and looked around her house. She searched around every corner, but she found nothing.
Fuck.
Her heart started to race. How could she be so reckless? It was a precious memento for Ryuu. He'd be sad if she lost it.
Lucka went to her room and slumped on the end of her bed, rubbing her face and trying her best to calm down.
Okay, Lucka. Let's remember when the last time you held it. Did you bring it to the hospital? Wait, no. You didn't. Or did you drop it in the cab from the General's house?
She couldn't remember right. Her brain was messing around. But she knew she should call the cab's call center now. Lucka took out her PHS and searched for the cab's company phone number. She dialed the number and talked to the call center.
She said, "Um, Hello. Yes, good afternoon. My name is Lucka. I thought I left a book on one of your cars."
["Do you remember the car's plate number, Miss Lucka?"]
"Uh, I'm afraid, no. B-but could you find it for me?" she asked.
["Sure, Miss. But we need at least a day or two to confirm the book is in one of our driver's cars."]
Lucka gulped down. "Can you make it a bit faster? It's an important book."
["We will try our best, Miss. But there's no guarantee it can be faster since our cab transportation modes cover outside Midgar as well."]
Lucka rested her face on her palm. She said, "Okay... Okay. I understand. Please inform me through this number when you find it."
[Sure, Miss. Do you need anything else?]
"No."
["Then we will end our conv-"]
Lucka didn't hear the last words because the PHS slipped off her hand when she threw her back on the bed. She rubbed her face before she realized hot tears were already running down her eyes.
No. Please don't start again. Please, please, please be kind to yourself, Lucka. Ryuu may be upset, but he'd never hate you if you lost the book. Yes, you made a mountain of mistakes. Yes, you're a stupid cunt. But if you're hard on yourself, it'd make everything worse. You'd become a complete asshole. Calm down.
But Lucka couldn't stop blaming herself. She knew it was wrong. But she was accustomed to it since she was just a little girl. Self-sabotage was the most simple coping mechanism. The words she said before were empty. Because if it made her feel better, it'd only lead to shamefulness. So, she beat herself again like the other night.
Sephiroth finished his work late that day. He arrived and rested on the living room sofa when he caught something unfamiliar on the floor near the coffee table.
He had never seen the thing before as he knew it didn't belong to him. He crooked down to take it, and turn out it was a small, thin old book with a fading cover. The illustration was a picture of two figures, a man and a woman, painted in a classic style. The title had been written in a vintage curvy font. And before he even realized it, he heard himself voicing it. He murmured, "Blooms in the Underworld."
What a corny title, he thought. But he should admit, it pricked his curiosity. He flipped back the book. But weirdly enough, there were no Synopsys. So he started to turn over the first page and read. There was a message in elegant black ink calligraphy that said;
My dear son, Ryuu,
I know you like this book so much. So you can keep it. And whenever you read this, I hope you always remember me.
Much love,
Your cool dad.
Sephiroth was confused. Who is this Ryuu guy? He didn't have a friend or someone he knew named Ryuu. And it made him wonder why his book was in his living room.
But he decided to keep going because he became more curious about why the guy loved this book.
Sephiroth scanned the table content. It was a mythological novel about Gods, and he got a hint it had a romance plot. He sighed. Should he read it? He didn't mind as long as it wasn't too cringy. He'd try his best to bear it anyhow. And there were two of the subtitles that attracted him most. It was; The Lord of the Dead and Persephone's love.
So he started to dig the first chapter. Minutes changed into hours. He didn't even realize getting immersed in it. The premise was unethical. But the plot saved it with the help of bearable characters. And it offered a weirdly happy ending for such an unsettling story, especially the romance part.
Until Sepiroth finished it in one sitting, he flipped the last page and found something interesting. His eyes caught an old polaroid stuck on the paper with red washi tape. The photo showed a family group of five people in front of a big house. From left to right, the first person was a tall, white-haired good-looking man that appeared in his mid-thirties. Next to him was a man with long dark hair, who had a charismatic aura, and looked like someone from Wutai. In the middle of the group was a gorgeous woman, hugging a ball of pink fabric close to her chest that looked like a newborn baby.
Sephiroth's eyes stopped at her for a while. The physical features, and the facial expressions, were all the same as someone he knew. Her wavy, long hair was pure white. Her full lips were the color of a blooming rose. And the eyes, Gaia. There was a familiar fierce in her gray eyes.
She just looked like an older version of Lucka.
His eyes then slid to the last person on the right. He was a pretty young boy in his teenage years. It was easy to recognize he was the son of the dark-haired man. They were simply a copy-paste.
Sephiroth closed the book and placed it on the table. He leaned his back while running his slender fingers on his long hair.
He got mixed feelings after reading the book and seeing the photo. Somehow, he felt like peeking into something too personal, something an outsider shouldn't know. Maybe he shouldn't have read the book in the first place. Perhaps if he just ignored it, he wouldn't feel any heaviness in his chest.
A family, huh? What a futile relationship.
He stared out the window. His hand was on his throbbing heart. Sephiroth hated it when his body acted weird.
But aside from that, now he understood the book was related to the girl. Perhaps he needed to call her.
Sephiroth heard a sniff from the other line as she picked up and noticed her tired voice cracked.
["What?"]
"Did you lose something?" He asked.
She gasped. ["Yes, yes, yes! I did! have you seen it?"]
Sephiroth raised both of his eyebrows. He was fascinated by how fast she changed. He asked, "Is it a book?"
["Oh fucking Zeus. Yes, I lost a fucking book! Do you have it with you?"]
Sephiroth frowned. Zeus? It was the first time he heard her say the name. But wasn't it one of the ruling Gods in the book? His eyes bored into the book's cover. But he set it aside because she sounded relieved and excited at the same time. And somehow, it attracted him more. Should he play a little bit? "If I have it with me. What will you do?"
The excitement quickly died down. The girl's voice became cold in an instant. ["I'll ask you nicely to give me the book, General. I don't know if anything else will do."]
Sephiroth couldn't hide the amusement in his tone. He said, "Lucka, there's a lot of things you can do besides it."
["General!"] she said furiously, ["It won't hurt to be nice to me just for a day! You don't have any idea what I've gone through. Give me the damn book!"]
He ignored her rant and said calmly, "If you want it now, you can come over."
There was a long pause before she talked again with a collected tone. It would be more interesting if Sephiroth could see her face. She said, ["Can you… can you come to my place? I don't have any energy to go outside."]
Sephiroth looked at the clock on the wall. It was already past eleven. "That's fine if you willingly invite a man to your place this late."
["I—No! Forget it! I'll come to your office tomorrow morning!"] she said quickly.
Sephiroth suppressed a smile imagining how flustered she was. "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow." And they hung up.
The cool water surrounding his bare feet from one of the small streams of the fountain felt ticklish under his foot arch. As Sephiroth looked down, he found a reflection staring back at him. It was not his usual physical look. Instead, it was an autocratic, well-built man with an attractive feature that Gaian men would never have. His lustrous, long dark hair fell over his bare chest following his elegant head movement.
Sephiroth took a good look at him. He wore black clothes made from lavish, layered silk and jewels with detailed Saphire ornaments along the rim. The excess cut was placed across his right shoulder and dangled between his left elbow. There had never been any single man who could bewitch Sephiroth. But after looking at him, it was the feeling of meeting someone so influential until he left speechless.
The godly aura he emitted was no joke.
But then he stopped staring when he heard a woman cry from his back. He turned around and found an enormous castle of an elaborately arranged dark crystal. Sephiroth let his feet lead him inside, deeper and deeper, until he arrived at an extensive double door made of black cut of million diamonds.
He entered the room. Sephiroth looked around at the luxurious interior and found someone sitting on the bed. He moved closer and stood in front of the woman. As she came into his sights, he noticed who she was. But his lips said another name, "Persephone, why are you crying?"
The woman's gray eyes looked up at him with tears drenched on her cheeks. She said, "M-my Lord," she wiped off her eyes and continued, "I miss Ryuu."
"Why do you miss him? He's not even your mother." He asked while sitting next to her.
She shook her head and said, "But I haven't met him for a year."
Sephiroth sighed. "You can see him when the door to the upper world opens tomorrow on the first day of Spring."
Her expression instantly brightened as she jumped off the bed and gave him a deep bow. "Thank you for your generosity, My Lord!"
He felt a smile appear on his lips as he pulled her into his lap. "Who said I'm generous? You have to pay me back."
Her cheeks turned bright red as she leaned in. She said, "My Lord, I don't have anything left to pay. I'm already all yours."
Sephiroth snorted at her cheesiness. "If only you spent all the year with me, Persephone."
She patted his cheeks softly and chuckled, "Don't be so sulky. See, I'm still here for a whole night."
"Then, the night is mine," he said and started to strip off her white silk nightgown.
A loud noise pierced Sephiroth's ears. As he rose abruptly from his bed, his eyes caught a glimpse of sun rays peeking from the window. He reached out to the nightstand and turned off the alarm rather hastily. He rubbed his face as he tried to even out his breath.
What a dream.
Sephiroth often had weird dreams. But this one was disturbingly real. He even still could feel how hard he pounded on her. While he rested his back on the headboard, he felt the dampness between his legs. He looked down.
Gaia.
Now he wouldn't even know what he'd do when he saw her.