Chapter Six: Life Betrayed
Several days passed after platefall, giving everyone time to heal from the wounds in their hearts. It became gradually easier to think on their fallen comrades as time went on.
Aerith looked around her small church, taking in the sights of the early morning. Her eyes lingered on the three carved stones by the edge of the flower garden. She sighed, wondering how her friends were doing, and if they had put their grief behind them yet. Going to her kitchen, she filled her watering can and returned to give her plants a well-needed drink. Zack always said that she had to have some kind of magic, to make them grow under the plate. Maybe being a Cetra did help. She smiled, pouring water on a Wutainese lily.
Aniki…
Aerith stood up in surprise, looking around quickly. "Who's there?" No one answered. She scanned the church, but there was no one there. It had sounded like a child. A frightened child.
Help us… Help, please…
Aerith prided herself on her courage, but even voices from nowhere could scare her. Fear that most people reserved for Wall Market and Shinra welled up in her. "This isn't funny! Is someone there? Is someone hurt?"
"Aerith?"
Aerith jumped, whirling to face the sound. Tseng stood there, looking mildly surprised. "Oh, Tseng! I thought you were someone else."
"No one else is here. Is everything all right?" Tseng was genuinely concerned. He came over, resting his hand on Aerith's shoulder. She was shaking slightly.
"Hearing voices when there's no one there is not all right." Aerith said slowly.
Voices from the Lifestream, or those connected to it. Tseng thought. Oh, dear. Hojo would be very interested in this. "Maybe it's just leftover stress. A lot has happened over the past few days."
"Maybe you're right..." Aerith agreed. "By the way, what brings you down here? I know it's a long walk from the plate, Tseng."
"Thought you might like to accompany me on a walk." he said. "You can show me some of the sights down here."
"That depends. Are you scared of Wall Market?" she teased. Surprised, Tseng actually laughed.
"No! Besides, it's my only day off for two weeks. Let's go see the sights."
"You never did tell me where you worked."
"Why does that matter now? Let's go!"
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In the Shinra building, a blonde-headed girl walked purposefully down the narrow hallway. She carried a manila file folder under one arm. Stopping in front of Tseng's office, she knocked and waited.
"Hey, 'Lena!" Reno's happy yell came down the hallway. The happy-go-lucky Turk bounced up to her, smiling cheerfully.
Elena blinked. "Reno. I'm trying to deliver my report to Tseng… Please come back with your chipperness later."
"Tseng's not here." Reno laughed. "He's gone to see his lady friend under the plate." Elena's ears turned red under her light hair.
"W-what? Tseng went under the plate? Is it safe?"
"Relax, Elena. He's Leader for a reason. I know you have a crush on him, but please…. He's fine." Reno smirked as Elena stammered for words. "I was kidding, you know. Tseng doesn't have a girlfriend. The one he's with now is that Cetra girl Hojo's after. Today might be the day…." Reno trailed into silence, wondering in his heart if what Tseng might do was right…… No, he wouldn't question the Leader's judgment.
"Tseng's trying to capture her? Cool."
"Something like that…" Reno frowned, and then added, "Hey, Elena. How did your mission go, anyway?"
Elena practically glowed. "It was simple. I used the address Reeve gave me, and just pinned the note to the door. No one saw me or anything." She smiled, pleased. "I doubt my sister or anyone could have done better!"
Reno smiled, albeit sadly. "Do you miss your sister?" Elena's elder sister, code-named Gun, had been one of the best female Turks they'd ever had. She had been the object of Elena's envy since forever. But Gun, along with the other Turks, had died in the fight against Zirconiade 5 years ago. A member of the original incarnation of AVALANCHE had unleashed the half-wild summon, killing himself, his teammates, and many Turks in the process. Also, several SOLDIERs had been wounded or killed too.
"Sometimes." Elena admitted. "Sometimes I wish she was still here, so I could show her how much I've done." The youngest Turk sighed. "I miss all of them. Gun, Rod, Two Guns, Shotgun, Shruikan, Katana…… And Master Veld. He was strict, as far as I remember him, but he'd always stop to offer me a tip with my training. I wanted to be a Turk so badly, and I think he respected that."
"Leader was devastated when Master Veld died." Reno said. "It hit him hard. I don't think he expected to have to take over so soon. Even though there's only the four of us now, he still has much stress placed on him from Rufus."
"Yes…. Listen, when he comes back, tell him I completed my mission. Okay?" Reno nodded, and Elena walked away, towards the break room. Reno grinned, before heading to one of the lower levels to complete his own job. According to Tseng, who was told by Rufus, Sephiroth was coming back. Reno shuddered, remembering the devastation he left when he blew up a good portion of the Science Building to escape. He had no idea how Rufus was planning to get the silver-headed devil back here, but it had to be something clever. Sephiroth was living with Zack, who had adopted the older man as a brother. Reno wondered how he dealt with the knowledge that he was living with a Shinra fugitive. Reno himself knew Zack from one of the events leading up to the Zirconiade fight, shortly before Sephiroth broke out. Zack's two friends from SOLDIER, Yishay and Sebastian, had been captured by the AVALANCHE madman, and turned into some kind of soulless fighters reminiscent of one of Hojo's experiments. He and Zack had been seventeen at the time, and he had been a Turk for two years at that point. Zack's mentor, an older First Class SOLDIER, had just gone away on the mission he never came back from. How the slums kid knew a First Class SOLDIER was a mystery. In the end, it had been impossible to get through to Yishay and Sebastian, and they had been forced to kill the pair to grant them rest.
Reno arrived on the lower levels. His job was to make sure that the rooms were relatively secure. It was hard to defend against Sephiroth, but….
He began methodically checking each room. Most were either empty or contained unused equipment, but he had to look anyway. It was a boring task, and Reno found his thoughts straying. So he almost didn't notice when he reached a door that was locked. It surprised him, since all of the rooms down here were supposedly unused. Reno smiled. Tseng had told him to check all the rooms. Living in the slums until he became a Turk had its advantages. Reno took a lockpick from his pocket and slid it into the lock, jiggling it until the lock popped open. Whistling cheerily, he put the pick back in his pocket and opened the door. He was just following orders, after all.
He opened the door, and stopped abruptly. The room looked like a children's playroom, only without toys or any of the usual amusements. Three beds were lined up against one of the blank white walls. There was no art, no toys, not even a color on the walls. Just a blank white box.
Reno glanced at the beds, shocked to actually see children in them. Two were asleep, but the one on the bed nearest the tiny window was awake and crying quietly. Reno walked over slowly, trying not to disturb the other two, and whispered, "Are you all right?"
The kid looked up, brushing long, silver hair away from his face. Tears stained his cheeks as he asked fearfully, "Who are you?" Reno blinked. The kid looked like a younger version of Sephiroth, without the menace that surrounded his older counterpart.
"Are you Sephiroth's brothers?" he asked, unable to believe it.
"Yes. I'm Yazoo. That's my older brother, Loz, and my younger brother, Kadaj. Do you know our Aniki?" Yazoo looked up at Reno with big Mako-teal eyes, tears threatening to spill over.
"Not personally. Why are you crying?" Reno asked. Yazoo abruptly threw himself into Reno's arms and began to sob, albeit quietly.
"The scientists said Aniki was coming. But if he doesn't, they're going to take Kadaj away because they say he's the most like Aniki! Loz and Kadaj are all I have! If they take him….. I don't know what to do….." He cried against Reno's shirt, as Reno felt deep resentment for Shinra building up in his mind. It wasn't fair to keep children locked up like this. Reno had heard that they had died in the fire that killed their mother, Lucrecia, but apparently Shinra had kept them imprisoned here all that time.
"It's okay, Yazoo." he said softly, trying to be reassuring. "I'm sure your brother will come and get you. I'll make sure of it myself if I can." He hugged Yazoo close spontaneously, and Yazoo welcomed the embrace.
"You're way nicer than the scientists…. What's your name?"
"I'm Reno. I'll come back and see you and your brothers again, Yazoo. Don't worry." Reno stood and made his way to the door. "I have to lock it. Otherwise I might get caught." he laughed, and Yazoo nodded his understanding. Reno shut the door and used his lockpick to flick the internal mechanism locked again.
"Keeping children locked up…… What the hell is this company coming to?"
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Zack grumbled silently under his breath as he washed the dishes. Sephiroth was sitting in the living room, reading something, and had flatly refused to help. As he so bluntly put it, Cloud left us lunch so you wouldn't poison us, and it's your turn to wash the dishes. When Zack had protested that it was Cloud's turn, he had been met with Cloud's not here, so it skips to you. And Sephiroth was the one person on the Planet who was impossible to argue with.
"Damn dishes." he growled softly. At least when he was done and Cloud got back they were going to visit Aerith. It was getting close to her birthday, about a week away. He finally dried the last plate and hurried into the living room.
"Done?" Sephiroth asked, without looking up from his book. Zack mumbled something inaudible that sounded vaguely like, "No thanks to you." He sat down, turning on the radio that sat on the table. Rock music blasted from the tiny speakers, causing Sephiroth to jump a full two feet out of his chair.
"Sorry!" Zack quickly apologized to his frazzled friend. "I turned it way up the other day and didn't put it back. Sorry." Sephiroth glared at him briefly before turning his attention back to the book. Apparently he found it far more interesting than actually carrying on a conversation. Zack adjusted the radio's volume back to a more normal level and sank back in the chair. Now there would be calm and relative quiet until….
"Guys, I'm back!" Cloud's voice filtered through the building cheerfully. He hurried into the living room, carrying a pouch full of something that jingled and a folded piece of paper. "How was lunch? Did you make Zack wash the dishes, Sephiroth?"
"Yep." Obviously content to pay attention to Cloud rather than Zack's complaining, Sephiroth finally set his book down to participate in the conversation. "He wasn't happy."
"I figured."
"Where have you been all day, Spike? You were gone for hours!" Zack said loudly. Cloud grinned, tossing the jingling pouch at him. Zack opened it and blinked in surprise. "Cloud, this has to be like three hundred gil!"
"Yeah. Tifa sent me to see if anything could be salvaged from the Seventh Heaven. I found five whole crates of unbroken bottles of alcohol, Marlene's stuffed bear, and Tifa's fighting gloves. She paid me, even though I didn't really do it for the money, but I knew we needed it, so I didn't turn it down. I hate charity, though." Cloud sat down on the couch next to Sephiroth, and held up the paper. "Oh, yeah, I found this pinned to our lovely front door. It has your name on it."
Sephiroth smirked, thinking of the large sheet of plywood that served as a front door to their humble home, and took the paper. He unfolded it, read a few lines, and gasped. Cloud leaned over to see what could possibly have freaked their stoic older brother out this much. He read the curving script slowly, not believing what he was seeing.
Sephiroth,
I know that we have not had the best relations in the past, but I believe it would be in both of our interests to make amends. We would like the pleasure of your company in our building as soon as possible. We might have something that can make up for everything we've done to you. It's something that we have that's partially yours. See the picture for yourself. I hope you will take us up on our offer, and we hope to see you soon.
Sincerely,
President and Rufus Shinra
"Damn." Zack muttered. "What could those Shinra bastards have that would be important to you, Seph? They destroyed your whole life. They can't just give it back at will."
Sephiroth had picked up the small picture included in the note, and was staring at it intently. "I need to go."
"WHAT?" Zack yelled. "You're actually going to trust them? It's probably just a damned trap! After everything they did to you, you really want to go back there?"
"You don't understand, Zack. I have to. It's… It's more complicated than them having just a possession of mine. This is something I have to do, or I may never….." Sephiroth trailed off, before leaving the room suddenly. He came back with a small wrapped package. "This is Aerith's birthday present. Give it to her for me, please?"
"Sure…" Cloud said slowly. "But, will you be okay?"
"Yeah. I blew up their buildings once. I can do it again." Sephiroth said. He absently patted Cloud on the head before heading for the door. He seemed rather distant, as though he were already at the Shinra building seeing whatever they had that was his.
Zack stared after him. "He's so brave it's like he's nuts. Sometimes I think he'd give up everything to have his life back." He sighed. "His dad disappeared when he was eleven, just after his youngest brother was born. He told me about it. He always figured that his dad worked for Shinra. I remember, we spent hours pouring over the Shinra files Reno smuggled to me, looking for any clues. He said his dad's hair was black, and his eyes were green. But we never found him. His mother was only referred to as Lucrecia Crescent, no married name. He can't really remember it much. He thinks Hojo has something to do with the memories being blurry. It must be sad, to lose your dad and then lose the rest of your family so soon afterwards."
Cloud had picked up the picture Sephiroth had left. "Zack, who are these people?" Zack turned and came to look at the picture. His eyes widened. The picture showed three silver-haired children standing there looking forlornly out of the picture. The older man ran into Sephiroth's room, returning with an older picture. It showed a younger Sephiroth standing with his mother and three brothers. Though younger, they were the same three in the photo Cloud had just looked at, and they were smiling.
"Shinra has Seph's brothers? Oh, merciful damn." Zack murmured. "If they tick him off, the whole building will go."
"He'd blow it up?" Cloud asked, staring at Zack with wide eyes. Zack nodded. "Shinra better be careful." He stared at the photo solemnly, before looking up at Zack. "Are we still going to see Aerith?"
"Yeah…." Zack set Sephiroth's gift on the table, before going and getting his own. Cloud pulled out a small wrapped package and set it there too. "She might have an idea for what to do about this too."
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Tseng and Aerith returned to the church, Aerith smiling happily.
"That was fun! It was so funny when we went by the ruins of Sector 7 and you found that charred old receipt from the Seventh Heaven that said "Reno" on it."
"Now I know where he went when he was off." Tseng said softly. "I am beginning to wonder if what happened was right… Shinra made a mistake, I think."
"Shinra caused it!" Aerith cried. "They blew the pillar on purpose! That's a pretty huge mistake!"
"The Turks blew the pillar, but most did not agree." Tseng said.
"The Turks! Oh, isn't that Zack's friend Reno?!?" Aerith gasped. "I need to tell Zack; he'll be so upset… He's coming for my early birthday party…"
Tseng stepped forward and took Aerith's arm. "Zack knows."
"What?"
"Zack knows because he knows Reno, and Reno knows me." Tseng said. "Zack knows Reno is a Turk, and he knows me as well."
Aerith paled. "Then are you… a Turk?"
"No." Tseng said. Aerith started to sigh in relief, but was stopped as he said, "I'm their leader." Aerith cried out and tried to pull away, but Tseng held her tightly. "I'm sorry. I have to take you back with me."
"You lied to me!" she wailed. "You've been my friend for years! Since I got to Midgar, practically! Was it all a lie to get me to trust you? Was it all for Hojo?" She spat the name, her hatred for the man evident.
Tseng flinched. "No. I really care for you. I've been lying to Hojo for three years, and now he's threatening to get the President, or Rufus, to send someone else for the job. Someone who might not hesitate to hurt you or anyone who tries to help you, like your hotheaded boyfriend."
Aerith was silent, only a soft sniffle marking how upset she was. Tseng watched her expression a moment, before gently taking her hand to lead her away.
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Zack and Cloud hurried through the Sector 5 tunnel.
"I told her we'd be there by two! We're late!" Zack fretted. Cloud blinked, amused at how devoted Zack was to his girlfriend. They jogged the rest of the way, stopping just before rounding the corner.
"Do you hear that?" Zack asked softly. Cloud listened intently. "Do you?" Cloud blinked, a bad feeling rising in his gut. Soft crying sounds came from around the corner, followed by another voice obviously trying to be reassuring. "That's Aerith's voice."
"Who is the other one?" Cloud asked.
"Sounds like…… Tseng!" Zack gasped. "Dammit!" He shoved his and Sephiroth's presents into Cloud's arms and dashed around the corner. Tseng was speaking softly to Aerith, telling her that everything would be all right. Zack ran right up to them. "Aerith!"
"Zack!" she said, in relief. Tseng silently released her hand.
"Excellent timing." he murmured. "Now I can tell them I was outmatched and unarmed, and had to let her go." Zack stared in surprise as Tseng turned and began to walk away.
"Wait! Why are you…?"
"It was never my wish to harm her. I am only following orders. I purposefully stalled so that you could stop me." Tseng disappeared, obviously going back to the plate. Zack watched him for a minute more, then turned and embraced Aerith.
"Are you okay?" he asked tenderly. Aerith nodded, pressing close. Cloud came from his place to the side to stand with them too. Zack smiled faintly. "Kind of ruined your early birthday party, hmm?"
"Not really. You and Cloud are here, after all……" She paused. "Where is Sephiroth?" Zack explained about the note and Shinra. Aerith listened quietly, and then said, "I don't like this. It doesn't feel right." Zack nodded.
"That's what Cloud and I thought. But there really isn't anything we can do. If he gets mad, he'll blow it up and leave. Come on, let's open presents!" Zack bounced ahead into the church, leaving Cloud and Aerith in the dust. They followed him into Aerith's kitchen, where Zack had dropped all the presents on the table. "This is Sephiroth's. Open his first!"
Aerith smiled. She carefully detached the card and read it. It read: This is from above the plate. It was altered by Mako, so it's different. I thought you might like it. P.S. It glows in the dark.
Curious, she tore into the light pink paper. When the box was free, she opened it with eager fingers. Inside sat a small potted rose bush. It looked normal, except that its' blossoms were a bright Mako-blue.
"Ooooh!" Aerith exclaimed. "It's beautiful! Did he go up there to get this for me?" She looked over the little plant, deciding to plant it in her garden as soon as possible. Next was Zack's present, which turned out to be a pretty silver chain with a locket on the end. Then Cloud's turn came. Cloud, being the excellent cook that he was, had made spun-sugar roses. Aerith marveled at the detail and delicacy. "They're almost too pretty to eat, Cloud!"
Cloud grinned sheepishly. "Cooking is probably one of the things I'm best at." Aerith gave him a hug, then Zack, thanking them for the wonderful presents.
"And when Sephiroth gets back, I'll thank him too."
Reeve had watched the whole thing from the eyes of the "sleeping" Cait Sith. He felt sorry for all three of them. Rufus had informed all the heads of departments of his plan, and the results would not be pleasant, for them or Sephiroth. He sighed unhappily. At least Zack had gotten there in time to stop Tseng from taking Aerith away. Reeve didn't know what kind of things would happen next, but they were sure to contain more pain. For everyone.
Zack and Cloud left the church in excellent moods.
"We'll be back Saturday for your birthday!" Zack called, waving goodbye. "Cloud and I are working at that weird restaurant in Sector 3 this week. See you next weekend!"
"Be careful!" Aerith called. "There's a nasty flu going around. Don't get sick!"
"We'll be fine!" Aerith waved until the two young men were out of sight, then returned to the church to enjoy her early birthday presents.
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Li: Hi, guys! Who saw that plot twist coming? Yazoo? Reno? Honest, now! Anywho, now I at least have my school laptop, but I've had to rage against the machine and fight the firewall to reach the site. Just so no one's confused, I'm throwing a lot of Before Crisis stuff in there too. And what little I know of Crisis Core will show up next chapter, along with the conclusion of pre-Last Order. Yay for the plot getting its' ass moving at last! Chapter Seven will be up soon. All who review get a shiny new Tifa plushie, to love or torture depending on your feelings about her!
EDIT: I fixed the conversation between Tseng and Aerith, and I fixed Zack and Reno's ages during the Zirconiade crisis. Done with the edits!