Forging
Cloud hadn't really gone out much since getting his 'unintentional' Mako enhancements, but he hadn't expected to find himself surrounded by four of the worst offenders of his bullies. They had backed him against the wall of a house near the smith's forge on the outskirts of town, jeering as the leader said something about 'the little outsider bastard playing some major prank and getting his comeuppance,' but he hadn't paid much attention. When they were about to hit him, all four were propelled backwards to hit the ground on their backs, and Vincent was between them and Cloud.
"You were right, Cloud," the older man said blandly.
"About?" the blond asked in amusement.
"Your townspeople are fools," Vincent said, still completely bland.
"Even Tifa agreed with that, and she gets along with everyone," Cloud shrugged.
"I hadn't really believed that, though. This level of foolishness borders on stupidity."
"It's willful ignorance, not stupidity. That's why I said they were 'foolish,' rather than that."
"...I see."
"Who the Hellfire are you?" one of the boys snarled at Vincent as they pushed themselves up.
"Vincent Valentine, formerly of the Turks," the black haired man replied, glowing, red gaze moving to them. "I only say 'formerly' because they have me registered as missing in action, thanks in great part to Hojo, the head of Shinra's Science Department. For the last twenty years or so..." He paused to lift his clawed, metal gauntlet for them to see clearly. "I've been locked in a room under Shinra Manor. Shall I go on with the experiments he did on my corpse to leave me like this, or is this quite enough?"
The boys gaped at him in something like terrified horror, causing Cloud to chuckle in amusement and comment, "You're seriously enjoying this, aren't you, Vince?"
"It was your suggestion that I be blunt. And I ask again, are you still sure you want me to do so?" Vincent asked in reply over his shoulder.
"And my answer is the same—yes," Cloud agreed in amusement. "The way you behaved when I first suggested it, though, is very different from how you're behaving now. I think, once you wrapped your mind around the idea, you decided you liked seeing their shocked, horrified expressions."
Vincent was silent for a moment before smirking faintly and agreeing, "It does seem to have a certain amount of appeal to it. Seeing Hojo's face will be priceless..."
"Assuming you don't just kill him then and there," the younger blond replied, brow raised slightly, expression still amused.
"Hey, if you're a Turk, why do you even care about a bastard like him?" one of the boys ventured in something like terrified spite.
The man sighed and replied, "Are you really that willfully stupid?"
When they just stared at him expectantly, Cloud said, "You'll have to spell it out for them or we'll be here all day."
Lip curled faintly in disgust, the black haired man said, "Fine, let me make it very, very clear to you little brats. I was suddenly able to get out of a locked room because your 'Lady of the Mountain' knew her 'Child' would need a protector. She picked me to fill that role, and I'm inclined to abide by it. If you try to hurt him, I will make you regret it. Assuming you live long enough to feel regret." All four boys gaped at him, then turned and bolted, screaming for their parents as they went.
"I hope you don't actually plan to kill them?" Cloud asked, stepping up beside the older man and resting his hand on Vincent's arm.
"Generally, no. They're bullies who needed a good scare, and they aren't people either of us needs to fear at this point. However, if they—adults especially—choose to make an effort to take your life, I may well leave them permanently maimed or dead," Vincent replied, looking down at Cloud to meet his gaze, glowing red to glowing, Mako-blue.
After a pause, the blond boy nodded and agreed, "Fine. Hopefully, we'll have left before they get up enough courage for something like that."
"Assuming your mother will join us."
"She's my mother, and I'm only just twelve years old in her mind. I'm pretty sure she couldn't bring herself to leave me on my own with Turks and SOLDIERs and Shinra Company—not after what they did to her."
"What they did to her?"
"I'll explain when we're back at home."
"...Fine. You were going to the forge?"
"Yeah. To work on your new gun."
With a wide grin, Cloud turned and ran for the forge, leaving Vincent to blink, then sigh and mutter, "Despite his maturity, he's still a hyper child. What have I gotten myself into?"
"The same thing as any parents or older siblings," Tifa's amused voice said from right behind him, making him jump slightly and spin to face her. He stared at the girl in shock, making her smirk and add, "I guess Cloud's right and I have some—future memories? Because I just used some of them to sneak up on you, and it worked."
"So it did," he had to agree, his respect for the child Tifa increasing greatly. "I do seem to recall your older self being able to do such a thing on occasion. Is there a particular reason why you wanted to sneak up on me?"
"Well, it's not really fair if you can pretty much hear everything Cloud and I talk about, even if you weren't supposed to hear it. So, I wanted something to make up for that—make us more even. Now, you can't hide what you're talking about from me, either, and that makes it better. I'm glad you said you'd only kill them if they tried to kill Cloud, though. They may be kinda dumb sometimes, but they're not all bad, either."
"My view is more that they still have a chance to change. I won't be so lenient to the adults who try to pull stunts like that," Vincent informed her.
She looked momentarily puzzled, but then she gave a very slow nod and said, "I guess my older self agrees with that. At least enough that it's something you'd do, not that she would agree with you doing it. Anyway, it's not like I can stop you. Can we go to the forge? I want to watch Cloud work for awhile."
The man motioned in the direction of the building, then turned to head towards it, Tifa skipping happily by his side. It didn't take long for them to find Cloud—arguing with the blacksmith.
As they joined the boy, he was just saying in an angry tone, "But you just said you don't have any work right now, so it should be fine for me to use the forge. You've let others use it when you didn't need it!"
"None were bastard outsider brats who managed to scare the Doctor or the Mayor. I can see the trick for what it was, and you don't deserve to touch anything of mine," the blacksmith glared at the blond boy.
"Oh..." Tifa stared in shock and horror.
"But—" Cloud began to reply.
"Cloud," Vincent cut in.
The boy turned to face him, tears in the corners of his eyes. "Vincent, I—" the blond began to say.
The older man just made an almost dismissive motion with his hand, which caused Cloud to silence. Vincent then turned to face the blacksmith, who stared at him in something like disgust. "Cloud isn't using your forge for his own entertainment, he's using it to work. I've commissioned him to make me a weapon, and I'll be highly displeased if you won't let him work on it." He reached up with his metal hand and gripped one of the ceiling support beams above his head, then crushed it with no strain at all. "It would be in your best interests to let him work."
"Ick!" Tifa stuck her tongue out in disgust as she brushed wood chips out of her hair. "Vincent, did you have to do that right above me?"
"It's just wood," Vincent replied blandly. "It's not like I just broke open a barrel of sewer sludge above you."
In spite of himself, Cloud began to giggle at their antics, saying, "Tifa, shouldn't you be a little more worried about what he did to the beam, rather than the wood you got in your hair because of it?"
"Nope," she replied. When both Cloud and Vincent raised their brows at her, she said, "I'm not a threat to you, so he's not going to hurt me. Everyone else, though—I can't vouch for them. And Mr. Blacksmith is just being stupid—after all, I saw Fenrir, the black wolf, with my own eyes. Only someone who just wants an excuse to hate would say that was a trick." She then looked up at Vincent and said, "I changed my mind about what I said earlier—I don't care if you kill the adults, not if they're going to be this stupid."
"I'm glad I have your approval," Vincent replied in a flat tone which made her giggle. The older man then turned to face the blacksmith, who looked like he was frozen in shock and fear. "And do I have yours for Cloud to use your forge until he finishes my gun?"
The blacksmith forcibly drew in and released several breaths, then said, "Fix the support beam and he can use the forge."
Vincent cocked a brow, then commented, "I have to commend your courage to barter. That was a fair request, however, so I'll go find a replacement beam while Cloud is working. If any harm comes to him while he's here—you won't live long."
"No one ever comes here unless they need something from me, so I doubt anyone will show up while you're away," the blacksmith said in put-out irritation. "And I wouldn't let anyone start a fight in my workspace, anyway—too much trouble to clean up. As long as he stays in here, he'll be fine."
After a moment of assessing the man, Vincent gave a nod and turned to Cloud to ask, "Is Fenrir near at hand, just in case some people's stupidity exceeds normal bounds?"
With a small, amused snort at the words, Cloud said, "He's always nearby. Don't worry about that."
"I'll be back later, then," Vincent agreed with a nod, then turned and left.
Turning to the blacksmith, Cloud said, "Sorry about him, and thanks—even if it was under duress."
Making a face, the blacksmith waved him off, then asked, "Do you need help finding things?"
Taking a quick look around, the 'boy' shook his head and said, "I'll be fine unless there's something I can't reach, but it doesn't look like there's anything like that."
"Fine. Clean up when you're done," the man said, then left through the door into his home, leaving Cloud and Tifa in the room to do as they wished.
As Cloud moved around to start finding tools, Tifa followed quietly, watching with interest. He sent her a questioning look, but she just grinned, so he shrugged and put her out of his mind as he got caught up in the project. He didn't even notice Vincent returning and fixing the beam, though Tifa had done so and given the older man a wave.
MB
While Kunzel was in the room specially designed for withstanding the Mako infusion adaption, Genesis and Sephiroth went to their offices to do paperwork. Or, more accurately, Sephiroth dragged Genesis to his office, sat him down, retrieved his paperwork, and sat down with him so they could both get it done. The arrangement left Angeal on his own for the day, and he was wondering what he should do with his time after his usual training session.
It didn't take him long to think of Tseng, who clearly had a great many issues to work through which no one had previously realized he needed to work through. Was anyone helping him this time? He had never really thought much about the Turks before, taking them as powerful and self-sufficient, like super-humans rather than the humans they were. Also, he had never particularly wanted to pay attention to people he had honestly thought were honorless scum, so had never let himself see anything besides the fact that his contact with the Turks wasn't a complete ass. By extension, however, that had allocated the rest of the Turks to being the worst of the worst.
Now, his eyes had been opened to the fact that he'd vastly mis-judged them and their level of honor.
He remembered that he would have to go with Tseng to Nibelheim soon, so thought it might be a good idea to learn a little about the man before they left. Before he realized it, his feet took him up to the Turks' residential floor, and he was knocking on Tseng's door. The door opened a minute later, and he saw Tseng blink at him in surprise before opening the door wider.
"Can I help you, Com—Angeal?" the younger, Wutain man asked.
"Are you busy?" Angeal asked, again thinking about how he was pretty sure Tseng hadn't dealt with things any better than Genesis, but also hadn't had the same support.
"Neirine is here right now, but we weren't doing anything in particular. You can come in if you like," Tseng offered.
"That's...your young trainee who was apparently injured the other day?" the older man asked for affirmation.
"Yes," the Wutain agreed.
"I'd like to meet her, then, after everything the guys have told me," he smiled.
Stepping out of the doorway, Tseng motioned him inside, so he stepped into the front hall. There was no real indication that he should remove his shoes, but a look around told him it wouldn't matter anyway—Tseng's apartment was more clinical than Sephiroth's, and that was saying a lot. There was nothing which personalized the space the Wutain lived in. Were all Turks like that, or was that just Tseng's quirk? Or...was it something else?
Tseng made his way to the main room, saying as he did, "SOLDIER First Commander Angeal Hewley is here to visit for a bit, Neirine. Let me know if you're tired and need to rest—you don't want to over-strain yourself and end up back in the hospital, do you?"
"No! I'll let you know right away if I get tired," a girl's voice answered, the first word holding an emphatic and horrified tone.
He moved up behind Tseng, which let him see the room and how there was a girl of about thirteen years curled up on one corner of the couch, wrapped in a blanket. Her red-auburn hair stood out brilliantly against the dark, royal purple blanket, both of which were the things with the most color in the room. That was honestly sad. Still, he smiled at her and said, "It's nice to finally meet you after everything I've heard about you from Genesis and Sephiroth, Neirine."
"Hi!" she smiled from her blanket cocoon. "I'd get up, but I'm still sore..."
"That's fine. Is it alright if I ask what happened, or would you rather not say?" he asked kindly as Tseng headed for the kitchen.
The girl made a face and replied, "I tried an A-rank VR scenario alone, even after Tseng and Ansha had warned me not to because I could get hurt—badly hurt. The scenario was a Nibel Mountains one with a pack of Nibel Wolves, and, well...I'm lucky to be alive."
His eyes widened, then he gave a serious nod and agreed, "You are very lucky to still be alive. I know the scenario you're talking about—even enhanced Seconds have trouble with it, let alone someone without enhancements. I hope you won't try something so dangerous again?"
"No, most likely not," she agreed with a pout. "I had just thought everything up to then had been so easy that it wouldn't be hard...Now I know that when my seniors tell me not to do something because it's dangerous, I should listen to them."
"That's good to know," Angeal smiled at her. "Why are you here instead of in your own apartment?"
"The doctors wouldn't have let me leave today at all unless someone was watching over me, so Tseng said he would do it," Neirine replied, gaze amused. "Even though I told him it wasn't his fault, he's still blaming himself, you see."
"Neirine..." Tseng sighed in clear annoyance from the edge of the kitchen where it met the short entrance hall. He had three cans in his hands, and when he saw Angeal looking at him, he offered one of them to him. Once Angeal had taken it, he turned towards Neirine with the other two.
"What? You are," she replied dryly. He offered her one of the cans, so she worked her arm out of the blanket to take it with a happy grin.
"That's not actually Angeal's business, though," the Wutain told her, taking the last can to one of the chairs across the coffee table from Neirine.
Angeal sighed at the words and asked, "Like it's not my business that your apartment looks like no one lives here?"
The words caused Tseng to sigh as Neirine giggled and said, "I said that, too."
"Do all the Turks live like this?" the SOLDIER asked curiously.
"No," the younger man admitted. "I just never...felt attached enough to this space to make it look like a home, I guess."
"You do realize that even Sephiroth, as stunted as he is, has individualized his own living space, don't you?" Angeal asked dryly.
With another, irritated sigh, Tseng asked, "What did you come here for, Angeal?"
"Mostly because I thought I should get to know you a bit before the trip to Nibelheim. I had never really taken time to get to know any of the Turks before, so now I'd like to rectify that," the SOLDIER Commander explained.
Tseng's brow rose. "Starting with me instead of Donnel and his closest friends?"
There was a moment of silence as Angeal assessed the question, then he told the younger man, "Genesis doesn't trust easily, but he trusts you above nearly anyone else. If he trusts you, I think you're a good place to start. And I'm glad I did, because seeing you with Neirine—I needed to see this to realize you aren't what I had always assumed the Turks were."
"What did you think the Turks were?" Neirine asked with a small frown.
"I'd heard enough rumors by the time I made SOLDIER to make me think all Turks were people who had no humanity or honor left. Now I know that was in error, and the things you do aren't because of a lack of either of those things. I first started to think that when we met in the Turks' office." Angeal's gaze moved from Neirine to Tseng at the last point. "And I was worried about the burden you found yourself with. While Genesis had—has—us to turn to, you didn't have the same support."
"Everyone thinks we're the scum of the Planet," Tseng shrugged. "We know that, and we don't actually care. It suits our purpose in that it generally means no one will mess with a Turk, even one who's injured, so we allow the common populace to perpetuate it. I'm not sure I grasp why this is suddenly important now, Angeal. Forgive me for saying this, because I'm not trying to insult you, but—this is starting to feel like it's mostly for your own atonement, to assuage your own guilt over the matter. You couldn't even say you just came here to 'get to know me better', there had to be some honor-based reason for you to come. Frankly, that's more insulting than anything, and doesn't really inspire actual trust or honesty between people."
Both Angeal and Neirine gaped at him for a moment, but it was Neirine who said, "But he's trying to be nice—"
"Neirine," Tseng cut her off tiredly. She stopped, so he looked at Angeal for a moment before looking back at her. "What he's doing is like the most popular student at school having badmouthed you for years, then seeing you cry in a corner and suddenly going, 'Oh, maybe you aren't that bad—but I need to know for sure.' Would you really trust someone who did that to you?" Her face screwed up in disgust as Angeal's eyes widened. "Even if he actually means well, his method left a lot to be desired, and unlike the General, Angeal isn't known to be socially awkward."
"Well this is a regular party," Kariya commented from the direction of the door.
"Did you even knock?" Angeal asked in surprise.
"Nope," the older man shrugged. "Most of the Turks can access the other Turks' apartments. As I've been spending a lot of time here recently, I've been letting myself in and out."
"And not being very discreet about it, either," Tseng put in, partially amused and partially annoyed.
"Nope. I haven't been trying to be. I'm not trying to hide from you, Baby Turk," Kariya answered flatly, completely unrepentant. Neirine had to start giggling again at their banter.
"Stop calling me that..." the Wutain sighed tiredly.
With a smirk, the older man retorted, "Nope, nothing doing, Baby Turk."
"Why?" Angeal asked suddenly, making everyone look at him in surprise. "I mean, why do you even call Tseng 'Baby Turk'? That would more appropriately fit Neirine, wouldn't it?"
"Until I met Neirine, Tseng was the youngest Turk I'd ever met," Kariya shrugged. "There's a history behind that, but it's personal. About your earlier discussion—Angeal, you don't need to make excuses to us, or to our Directors. Lazard and Veld don't actually give a shit if SOLDIERs and Turks are friendly with one another. The only time you should be making excuses is directly to Heidegger, Hojo, Scarlet, or the President."
After staring for a moment, Angeal blinked and asked, "It's really okay with a Turk to have no reason in particular to do something?"
"It's called 'honesty'," Kariya smirked, and Angeal blushed. "Fact is, most people sometimes do things 'just because', and even the most calculating people sometimes do that. In the case of the Turks, unless we're hunting a crook, a 'just because' is a weight off us, because it means there's no ties of responsibility. Also, so you know this, even though Tseng started off on the wrong foot by trying—poorly—to hide his issues, we're taking care of him now. That's why he's been off work for the last several days."
"I see," the SOLDIER blinked in surprise again. He then smiled faintly and said, "In that case, I just want to be able to get to know someone I hadn't gotten to know earlier. Donnel hasn't been around for me to start with him, and I don't actually know—at all—any of the other Turks, so this seemed like the best place to start."
"...That's...better," Tseng grudgingly admitted, then looked at Kariya. "He can't get in touch with Donnel?"
"We got a case notice the same day Neirine got hurt which caused Veld to send him to meet our agent Balto in the Gongaga area," Kariya answered. "They haven't answered since the end of their first day, so he sent Eonna to see if she could track them."
With a frown, Tseng began searching his memory—and came up with a variant in the timeline because Donnel wasn't dead. "Originally, it should have been Eonna and Balto..." he muttered, and Neirine gave him a confused look as the other two men leaned in close, suddenly alert. "But that means the parameters of the mission have changed from the start. I think...if you still have the ability to get in touch with Eonna, send her towards Cosmo Canyon—there should be a path leading up to the top of one of the plateaus, and a small stand of trees around a spring not far from there. If things have actually gone worse, she'll need to be ready for battle."
"I'll call it in to him," Kariya replied tersely, walking out of the apartment as he drew his PHS and hit the auto-dial button for Veld.
"Uh...What just happened?" Neirine asked in pure confusion.
Angeal and Tseng traded looks, then both of them sighed.