Author's Notes: Figured we needed something about Tseng's 'death'.
Theme: Death
Temple of the Ancients
Through the screen he could see the world from Cait Sith's eyes. The low pixel count of a computer far less advanced than Cait's optic sensors caused some distortion on the screen. And yet it wasn't enough distortion to hide the familiar figure. At first his heart had soared, glad to see the Wutain safe, until the screen registered the growing crimson pool.
Words did not register to him as he stared at the image of a dying Tseng on his screen. Had he full control of Cait, the robot would have lingered, tried to help the lover of his master. Yet Reeve's heart lingered there, with the dying lover.
Some said a person brushing with their own death was the most changing experience one could have. Yet they did not have to see this. Did not have to experience the death of not a first, but a second love. And this one was so much more gruesome.
In that moment all of the hatred, all of the anger, and all of his loathing of Shin-Ra grew stronger. In seeing that blood and his lover moan that he was not dead yet, every last scrap of allegiance to Shin-Ra died away. And in that moment, so long and so hard, Reeve stopped caring for anything but the destruction of the company that had ruined so much.
When the chance came for Cait to be a hero, Reeve allowed it with no hesitation. Both he and the feline were ready to give far more than their lives to avenge the death of Tseng against Shin-Ra and against Sephiroth.
And when Reeve next saw him, alive and well, he knew that he could no longer love the Wutain as he wanted to. Tseng would always be Shin-Ra's, until his death. Maybe it would have been better for him to have died.