Tseng X: Aerith

Tseng closed the door to Veld's office behind him. The conversation had been quite illuminating. He went to see the chief to let him know the things that would be left out of his official report. Veld had not told him much directly, but he had let Tseng know in no uncertain terms that he had more information on Rufus Shinra than what he had revealed when his conspiracy was exposed.

The vice president's sexual orientation, too, was already known to the Turks' chief, but he had left President Shinra in the dark about it. He continued to cover for Rufus even now. Veld knew all of the company's secrets and he had chosen to support Rufus as the successor to Shinra Electric Power. Although Veld was keeping many secrets to himself, he had always had the company's best interests in mind. And there were cases where keeping a secret from the top brass was the best way to protect the company's best interests. Despite his good intentions, Veld was not always correct in his decisions, for his decisions were guided by the well-being of the company, rather than that of the individual, with very few exceptions. Tseng would understand this only much later, and by later, I do not mean later as in "too late to save not one, but two of his friends", but later as in "too late to not become like the chief".

He checked his phone while walking back toward his office. There was nothing important to note at this time, so he went straight to the helipad instead of stopping by in his office again. He was meeting with Zack in ten minutes and getting to Aerith' house would take a few minutes because she lived at the very edge of the city under the plate. Thinking about meeting Aerith again after what happened the day before, his heart beat hard in his chest. He was glad that she and Zack were back to normal now, but the idea of them sleeping together made him feel hot inside.

He got on the helicopter and instructed the pilot where to take him. There was enough space in front of her house to land there directly. He was certain that Aerith would not be pleased about this demonstration of Shinra presence, but deep inside, her looking at him in disgust gave him peace. And he needed a little bit of peace in the present situation.

The helicopter reached the edge of Sector 0 and dipped below the plate over Sector 6, where the plate had been destroyed during construction and provided easy access to the undercity where he had grown up. Sector 6 was the only sector, where the slums got an appreciable amount of daylight. It had attracted the slightly wealthier slum inhabitants that had scored paying jobs at the Shinra company, but simply did not earn enough to be able to afford one of the scarce apartments on top of the plate. Also located in the slums of Sector 6 was the lawless territory controlled by Corneo's mafia, which was entirely out of Shinra's control.

During the few minutes of flying over the city, Tseng leaned back and closed his eyes. The helicopter was too noisy to actually sleep, but he appreciated these moments where he could get a little bit of rest during the day. He was only in his early thirties, but the fast-paced lifestyle of active Turks agents was starting to get to him. Having prioritized payouts over free time because he did not know what to do with himself whenever he had was free, he had not had an extended vacation for the past two years. He still did not know what to do in his free time, but perhaps it would be a good idea to take some time off anyway.

The light penetrating his closed eyelids dimmed as the helicopter reached the edge of the Sector 5 plate and continued his flight diagonally across the Sector 5 slums. Aerith house was close to Mako reactor Nr. 5, just at the edge between Sectors 4 and 5, so they would have to cross the whole sector to get there. When the helicopter turned, Tseng knew they were close to their destination and opened his eyes. The pilot had found the small stream that passed Aerith's house and was following it to reach the small two-story wooden house.

Tseng looked at her house from above. It was an old, but pretty and sturdy house with large windows, curtains and a leak-tight roof. She had it better than most slum inhabitants because that woman had inherited one of the houses that had been here for a long time, and somehow had outlasted the construction of the city floating above. He had been inside the house only twice. The first time, their house had seemed impressive to him, who had grown up in a hut built from scraps, and who had only recently moved up in the world. Only after visiting yesterday had he begun to understand how poor Aerith and her adoptive mother actually were. There had not been a pie. Aerith' face had looked so hollow and her arms and legs so thin that he got the impression that she was not getting enough food for the amount of work she had to do to earn her living, despite her otherwise well-maintained appearance. As poor as they were, that woman was a genius at stretching out whatever small income they had.

The helicopter touched ground in a safe distance from the surrounding shelters. As Tseng slid the door open and jumped out, curious, yet fearful eyes observed him from the shadows. He himself had been one of those children so many years ago. Ironically enough, it was the sight of Shinra employees who had "made it" that gave the people in the slums hope to get one of the coveted entry jobs at Shinra and eventually be able to move to the top of the plate. Although it was unnecessary, Tseng sometimes enjoyed making a show like this when he was actually able to be out in the open during unclassified operations.

As his feet touched the ground and walked a few steps toward the house, the door opened and Zack stepped out. Tseng stopped as Aerith' figure in a light pink dress appeared in the doorway. He blinked the dust out of his eyes as Zack turned around and waved at Aerith. As Zack came toward the helicopter, Tseng's eyes were on Aerith. She glared back at him defiantly. As their eyes met for a brief moment, Tseng managed a light smile, but her face immediately disappeared behind the doorframe as she closed the door. Why he thought Aerith would want to make eye contact with him was a mystery on anyone but himself. Fortunately for him, no one but Aerith and I noticed, and me judging him for his bizarre interest in this young woman had little to no consequence to him.

Zack raised his hand in greeting as he approached Tseng, who was trying to maintain a neutral expression. As Zack passed him, Tseng muttered with folded arms: "Look at you, lady killer". Zack stopped and yelled over the noise of the helicopter: "Did you say something?" Tseng turned toward the helicopter and signaled Zack to get in. He put on a headset and instructed the pilot to take them to the SOLDIER quarters. After Zack had put on his headset as well, Tseng began: "I hope you had a good time?" Zack nodded and said: "Yeah, it was great!" Tseng could feel a vein throbbing in his forehead. He was in no place to be jealous, but to hear Aerith' boyfriend so callously speaking of how "great" it had been drove him mad. Rubbing his temple, he reminded himself it was not his place to judge. He should not have asked, is what he thought, not realizing just how much he was objectifying her.

Zack seemed relaxed, with his arms folded behind his neck, observing the scenery out the window as the helicopter traversed back over the Sector 5 slums toward Sector 6. He hoped that Zack had forgotten his questions from yesterday and decided to get straight to the mission briefing when he realized something.

"Where's your sword?", he asked, puzzled. Zack looked at him in bewilderment. "It's right here", he said, lifting up his sword from the seat next to him. Tseng stared at the sword. "You should have received a delivery this morning…", he pointed out. Zack scratched his head. "Uh, I left pretty early. But…" He looked up at Tseng. "I didn't order anything."

Tseng paused for a moment. He had seen this before when someone experienced intense trauma. Though the sedative he had used to put Zack to rest yesterday might also have something to do with it. He would report "memory lapse" as a possible side effect to the research department. He had no time now to ease Zack into it as the helicopter reached the edge of Sector 6 and started to rise to reach the top of the plate, so he said curtly: "Angeal wanted you to have his sword. We transported it back from Modeoheim for you yesterday."

Zack's shining blue eyes stared at him, expressionlessly. Tseng observed him closely, but Zack's face did not betray much about his thoughts. After a while, Zack looked away and said tonelessly: "This one is fine." Tseng rolled his eyes. "You may do with Angeal's sword as you please, but you will need it for today's mission." Zack folded his arms and shrunk back into his seat. "Why does it matter which sword I use?"

"You'll see", Tseng closed as the helicopter approached the SOLDIER quarters and landed on the helipad.