My Vietnam

7 June 2014

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This is a FFVII fic by klepto_maniac0. I own no concepts and no characters except the ones you've never heard of, which means they're ones I've made. I freely admit I will take liberties with the FFVII canon because this is an alternate universe fic (in case you haven't figured that out already.) That's why some details are different, some events are ignored, and some people don't exist or act in a different capacity. Ain't fanfic fun?

"My Vietnam" (henceforth shortened to MYV) is a continuation of "Put Your Lights On" (PYLO), but it is not necessary to have read PYLO before reading this story. Whenever PYLO-specific events are referenced, the pertinent chapter will be indexed in the author's note.

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Peace, and all the great things we take advantage of

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When Rufus invited her for a weekend of shooting in the country, Scarlet didn't think twice; it wasn't the first time they'd gone away together, though shooting trips were less frequent now that they were no longer part of Junon high society, which participated in such things often. That was how they'd gotten to be friends, actually; Scarlet enjoyed all aspects of shooting far too much for a proper young woman and Rufus found her knowledge of firearms fascinating. Later, when Scarlet had started working for the Company, little twelve-year-old Rufus had made sure that President Shin-Ra knew about her and thirteen years later, here she was. So when Rufus called, Scarlet packed a bag of sensible clothes, a trunk of her favorite firearms, and took a week off.

And though it had been a few years, she packed a set of black lingerie that had always made Rufus's cool blue eyes light up.

For shooting, the ancestral estate on Rufus's mother's side was unparalleled. Nestled in deep, well-established woods, the grounds were scrupulously stocked with pheasant and grouse, and lakes with ducks and swans were within easy reach. Larger and more challenging game was just a short hover ride away into the plains. The last time Scarlet and Rufus had gone shooting, they'd bagged a half-grown Zolom and the jaws still hung in Scarlet's office.

The manor itself wasn't bad either. The Aislings had always married smart and never lost their family fortune, so the summer manor was always kept updated even as the centuries-old exterior was preserved. Theneva, Rufus's mother, had a degree in interior design too and redecorated every season, so every time Scarlet went, it was like coming to a brand new house. Malcolm was coming along too and that also made Scarlet happy; Rufus's butler was an excellent all-around cook who could do amazing things with fresh game.

All in all, Scarlet was looking forward to an uncomplicated weekend in gorgeous surroundings with a man who never disrespected or underestimated her.

She was not expecting a teenage interloper.

"She needs some time out of Midgar," said Rufus to Scarlet when they met on the tarmac. Scarlet just gave him a look, which made him shrug. Toriko pretended not to know they were talking about her. "And she won't slow us down."

"Maybe not you," thought Scarlet, glancing at Toriko. "Having Chippie around is going to cramp my style."

And there was something else. Scarlet did not miss how Rufus was subtly attentive to whatever Toriko did and whenever she moved; similarly, Toriko was also paying close attention to Rufus. There was mutual concern for each other, but also a surprising amount of calculation from both parties.

"Interesting... So Sephiroth's daughter is more astute than the man himself was. Such a pity that Sephiroth never played the game..."

On the other hand, Toriko's interest in what Rufus was doing and how to manipulate him (because why would she care otherwise?) directly conflicted with Scarlet's, and by virtue of her age, prettiness, and familial relation, Toriko represented a serious threat. Scarlet inwardly smirked and wondered which one of them that Rufus was more attracted to; the dark, exotic halfbreed or the Continental rose whose attar he'd already sampled. Rufus was halfway between Toriko and Scarlet's ages too, ten years apart from both of them.

A short ride in a luxurious jet later, they were at the estate. Scarlet watched Toriko take her bags out of the plane with great interest. She had a plain army duffel (no doubt her father's), three gun cases of varying size, and twin blades that honestly looked a bit large for her... Though they seemed suited to Sephiroth. Raiding Daddy's closet, was she?

"Well, if not her, who else?"

Her style of dress was interesting too. Scarlet had only ever seen Toriko in skirts and dresses, all cute and fluffy with a bit of military-esque hardware so she wasn't super-girly all the time. But the fitted cargo pants and lean jacket she wore emphasized the fact that she was growing up, even if she was as flat as a board with no waist or butt to speak of. Like her father, Toriko also favored a luxurious head of occupational hazard, though Toriko kept it braided very tightly to her scalp and pinned so close that it looked like she had a bob. Scarlet approved. She'd never been sure how Sephiroth had lived through the entire war with such a long head of hair, and even after the war she'd always wanted to yank on it just to prove a point.

But she also wanted to live, so she never had.

Dinner was roast squab with new carrots and fingerling potatoes, cooked simply so the outstanding freshness took center stage. Conversation was light and meaningless; Toriko was mostly silent, so Scarlet and Rufus talked about the failures of certain Company policy and drank wine.

It wasn't until after dinner that things got interesting, and decidedly less than relaxing.

Scarlet and Rufus went to the den, which had already been laid with a roaring fire. Rufus settled himself in an armchair while Scarlet lounged on the couch. She felt pleasantly drunk, though a sense of wrongness had been growing in her stomach all night and was now approaching the point where she needed to say something about it.

"Rufus, I have to say that while this is lovely, I really doubt that much shooting is going to be done this weekend," said Scarlet.

"You are correct," said Rufus. "Though there's not going to be much of that, either."

"Don't let me get in your way," said Toriko from behind the couch. Scarlet managed to suppress her twitch just in time as Toriko appeared out of the shadows like a ghost, the firelight making her eyes glow. Toriko took the other armchair, which put her across from Rufus and at Scarlet's left. Reluctantly Scarlet sat up a bit so she could see both her companions at the same time.

"Generous of you," said Rufus without a hint of embarrasment. "But no."

"The weekend is still early," said Scarlet, but her heart wasn't in it. To Toriko, she said, "So... What are you thinking?"

"Just that your conversation at dinner was very interesting," said Toriko. "I am less than fond of President Shin-Ra myself. And..." She hesitated. "...I have reason to believe that he's done my father harm."

"You think your father was assassinated?" Scarlet asked. Privately she could see it—President Shin-Ra had never been happy about Sephiroth's sky-high popularity—but aloud she said, "That's a bit far-fetched, don't you think?"

"Is it?" asked Toriko. "You remember his absence about a month ago?"

"Two weeks of seeing neither hair nor hide of him," Scarlet murmured. "He was on assignment."

"He was locked in a laboratory inside the Shin-Ra Building," said Toriko. "For making President Shin-Ra angry."

"Really, now?" Scarlet took another sip of wine. "And what would Sephiroth do to make President Shin-Ra so angry?"

"Attack him."

Scarlet choked on her wine. After a few ungraceful coughs, she looked at Rufus and said, "I never heard about this."

"Just wait for it," said Rufus, steepling his fingers.

"Do you really think that President Shin-Ra would let such a powerful SOLDIER run around without any sorts of checks?" Toriko asked, cocking one brow. "Once Father hit First Class, Hojo implanted a device that the President has control of. When Father moved against him, the President used the device. And then sent my father to Hojo for punishment."

"Assuming this is true, why would Sephiroth attack President Shin-Ra?" Asked Scarlet.

"Because President Shin-Ra attacked me."

"...he attacked you."

"Yes," said Toriko, her eyes turning dark and sharp. Scarlet saw the quiver in her hands as the young girl laced them together and said in an artificially relaxed voice, "He did."

Scarlet brushed sentiment aside. If what Toriko was saying was true, she'd express her sympathies later. "So your father attacked the President, the President made Hojo put him away and then...what?"

"Sephiroth came to work for one day," said Rufus unexpectedly, making Scarlet turn. "We spoke in my office. He said he was being put on a long-term assignment, somewhere far away from Toriko. And we all know how that turned out."

"I don't buy it," said Scarlet. Looking at Toriko, she said, "The President has never been so controlled by his dick that he'd send his best SOLDIER off just to pork you some more. You're sweet, honey, but you're not that irresistible."

"He did it to prove a point," said Toriko. Interestingly she hadn't flinched at all from Scarlet's deliberately crude language, which the older woman found suspicious. "And it was only supposed to be a month away, not..." Toriko sighed heavily, closing her eyes. "Anyway, the President must have realized he had an opportunity to get rid of Father permanently."

"And why would he want to do that?"

"Father's too popular," said Toriko. "I'm sure you've noticed it yourself. If Father had it in his mind to command the army against the Company, no few would follow. And after what happened to me... He most certainly had cause."

Scarlet sipped her wine. The scenario that Toriko outlined was not unreasonable. There was plenty of grumbling about the Company and the President, but nary a bad word breathed about Sephiroth. To the general public, Sephiroth was a hero, the one who had killed and bled for them. If he needed something, there would be plenty of starry-eyed fans desperate to impress him.

But desperate enough to go against the Company?

"It's not just them," Scarlet realized. "The SOLDIERS. They know Sephiroth, and more than just being their commander, they see him as their brother. And Toriko's been training at the Garrison, so they know her too. If Sephiroth asked the SOLDIERS to rebel agains the Company... Oof. They definitely have more loyalty to him than the President. It would be a bloodbath. An expensive, profitless bloodbath."

"So that's why you wanted to come here?" Scarlet asked. "You wanted to talk conspiracy theories?"

"No," said Toriko. "I wanted to talk coup d'etat."

Scarlet stared. She looked at Rufus, who did not seem at all surprised.

"Sweetie, did you get into the wine?" Scarlet asked Toriko.

"No, honey, I did not," said Toriko. As Scarlet glared, she said, "I hate President Shin-Ra. I think that's something all of us can agree on."

"But a coup..." Scarlet looked at Rufus. "You're just going to sit there? Really?"

"She has a point."

"Oh my god."

Rufus sat up, his eyes bright and sharp. "We know he's been running the Company into the ground. The very fact that Midgar exists the way it does proves it. He used up trillions of gil to create the Plates rather than repair and expand the old city. If we weren't sitting on a surplus from War profits and receiving additional income from our investments, we'd be bankrupt. The Shin-Ra Company proper has been operating in the red for years, but no one ever says anything because the Old Man won't hear it."

"I'm in the same meetings you are, Rufus, you don't have to tell me what I already know," Scarlet snapped.

"Then tell me what I know you know," said Rufus, his eyes boring into hers. "That there is no future for the Company with the Old Man at the lead."

Scarlet opened her mouth and shut it. She took a long, measured drink of her wine, which was getting very low indeed. How the hell could he remember something she said years ago in a drunken rant?

"We're doing alright," she muttered.

"We could be doing better," said Rufus. "Scarlet, I want you as my Vice President." As Scarlet choked again, he went on with, "Do you want to stay in the Weapons Department forever?"

"Well... No, but..." Scarlet shook her head. "You two are crazy. How do you even think you'll pull this off?"

"The Company already looks foolish," said Toriko. "AVALANCHE 'killed' my father, which is less than comforting for everyone involved."

"Reactors are failing more often as well," said Rufus. "The Old Man would rather build new than repair anything. Remember Gongaga?" At Scarlet's noise of derision, he said, "Three years and he still hasn't gotten around to approving repairs."

"I don't even know why he bothers with that, it should be Reeve's purview," mused Scarlet.

"That's the other thing. Tell me you aren't sick of his micromanagement."

"The only one who gets free reign is Hojo," said Scarlet, falling into the familiar cycle of an old rant. "And his stupid little 'Promised Land' theory. You know, there are days that I can't tell if he's talking about an alternate dimension or if he thinks the Planet is hollow or..."

"And that's where all our money is going."

"Uuuuuurrrrghhhh..."

"And what about that Space Program?"

"UGH! That fatass!" Scarlet half-snarled. "With his fat head! Interstellar mining, really? It's not exactly like we're running out of resources here."

"And the very large standing army?"

"If President Shin-Ra put even half that budget into Urban-D and Weapons, we'd have the whole Planet under our control."

Rufus nodded. Too late Scarlet realized the trap she'd stumbled into. She looked at Toriko, whose eyes seemed very green at the moment.

"What's your deal?" Scarlet asked, her own eyes narrowing. "What do you get?"

"I want the Science Department," said Toriko.

"You? Why?"

"Hojo spends too much time on SOLDIERS when he could be doing things like developing new medicine, better prosthetic limbs, and at the very least, more effective monster deterrent for villages that can't afford a high-voltage electric fence," said Toriko.

"So you want it out of the goodness of your heart?" Scarlet demanded sarcastically.

"No," said Toriko. Her eyes flickered. "It's more personal than that."

"What could possibly be personal between you and the Science Department?"

Toriko's lips pressed into a thin line. She looked at Rufus, sighed heavily, and then unlaced her hands. Slowly she took off one of her ever-present gloves and held the back of her left hand up for them to see. The ink was faded, but the block double zero tattoos were visible enough. And more importantly, familiar enough. Scarlet gaped.

"And didn't she appear right after that lab break three years ago? Shit!"

"You know that most SOLDIER offspring die?" Toriko said, putting her glove back on. "Hojo... He wants to know the 'secret of my vigor'. Father did his best, but... What the President says, goes." Toriko's eyes flashed. "No more human experiments," she said in a low, tight voice. "No more of what happened to me. The President and Hojo tried to get me back once already and I wouldn't be surprised if they're plotting to do so again.

"Father... Is no longer around to protect me." Toriko looked directly into Scarlet's eyes. "I have to protect myself."

Scarlet rubbed her eyes. "I could turn you both in," she said.

"But that wouldn't change a thing," said Rufus. "You would never rise higher than you are right now."

"I'd still be alive!" Scarlet said, glaring at him. "I'm good, but if the Turks—"

"Technically, Heidegger controls the Turks now," said Toriko. "It's in the Turk manual. They operate under Peace Enforcement, not the President, so there's always plausible deniability in the case of a scandal."

"So what are you saying, we need to bring Heidegger in on this merry little party?" Scarlet shook her head. "That'll never work. Heidegger was chosen by President Shin-Ra himself, he won't turn on him."

"Unless he gets something he wants."

"And you know what Heidegger wants?"

"No," said Toriko. "You do." She smiled thinly and said, "I know you've been studying him."

"And why would I use that to help you?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Don't even try that, chippie," said Scarlet. As Toriko's eyes flickered in surprise, Scarlet said, "So far I have everything I want and contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty happy where I am right now. So far neither of you have made any really convincing arguments about why I should help you with this ridiculous, possibly life-ending scheme. Ambition doesn't do me any good if sticking my neck out gets it chopped off."

"You're a friend of Rufus's, so I thought you would appreciate the warning," said Toriko stiffly. Obviously things weren't going the way she planned and that was fine by Scarlet; she wasn't about to be manipulated by someone twenty years her junior.

"I stand by what I said, Scarlet," said Rufus. Steepling his fingers once again, he said, "I can't think of anybody else with the necessary intelligence to do what needs to be done."

Crazy. They were both crazy. "I'm going to bed," said Scarlet, rising up from the couch. "And I'd better not hear about any of this tomorrow, or I'm going straight home."

She could feel their eyes on her back as she left the room, and though she was warm from wine and fire, Scarlet shivered as she walked to the guest room. They were both completely insane. Toriko was a grieving child and perhaps some insanity was expected, but Rufus was better acquainted than most when it came to how truly ruthless the President could be. Rufus wasn't stupid, so why would he be champing so hard at the bit to take over now instead of in ten or twenty years?

Ten or twenty more years of President Shin-Ra.

Scarlet could admit she was less than enthusiastic about the idea. It wasn't just the micromanagement or the pigeonholing into her current role. One of the very first memories she had of President Shin-Ra as employer was him scoffing at her choice of department. He tried, oh how he tried, to get her into something "more suitable". It wasn't until she built a brand new rifle from the ground up with a 45% increase in accuracy over a hundred yards that he finally listened to her. And it wasn't until her rifles (marketed under the Company name so she never got a whit of credit) proved their worth over three years that she got a promotion.

Scarlet had been working for the Company for thirteen years and had fought tooth and nail for every advancement. That would have made a lot of women bitter. Or quit. But Scarlet...

Oh hell, Rufus and the Chippie were right. She wanted more. She had always wanted more, never content with sipping tea and shooting for charity events. It wasn't about just making weapons either; if she'd wanted to do that, Scarlet would have started her own company and the Shin-Ra be damned. And it wasn't about money either, her family was plenty wealthy.

The position...

The status...

Vice President of the biggest corporation in the world...

"I'm not going to commit to anything," Scarlet told herself sternly. "Not anything... Not yet. If those two can impress me, then we'll see..."

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a/n: I'm not sure where the impression of Scarlet as bimbo comes from. She is an Executive for a reason, which I have always taken to be smarts, ambition, and the willingness to use whatever was at her disposal. Considering she's a brick house, the sparkling evening gown is overkill but understandable.

One of the things I'm looking forward to with this AU is exploring the Executives' lives and motives. Don't villains usually tend to be more interesting?

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