Double Standard

Very often lately, he found himself annoyed, and not because of others—because of himself. For Rufus, that was a very uncommon occurrence, but it had been happening more and more since his memory of his 'other life' had started to come to him. It was far from a complete memory, so nothing at all like what people like Vincent had, but it had shown him some things he'd have never imagined before. Like how he'd effectively made Tseng, Rude, Reno, and a new Turk (in that future) named Elena into slaves—worse than anything his father had done to them. Except maybe for how his father had tried to execute them all.

His mother would have been horrified, and had probably spent years rolling in her grave at his audacity and cruelty. And it had been cruel. There had definitely been things he'd demanded of them which he should never have, and often wondered what had possessed his other self. Then again, that him had never been shown his mother's last letter to him, had never been given her cane as a weapon, or...well, a lot of things were now different.

Somehow, he was sure it didn't excuse what he'd done to them.

And yet, Tseng had really treated him no differently from normal, despite having full memories of what Rufus had done to him.

It wasn't just that. A lot of things had gone differently, or just plain wrong, and some of those, he hadn't even realized were problems until he'd had the two sets of memories to compare. More had been jolted free by him having gone to the Slums with Verde and Rude, mostly by the blond having pointedly said that the people living there really didn't have any other options. There often wasn't work, and what work there was often didn't pay enough to keep a single person fed, let alone their family. Even many of the people who had been hired by Shinra Company couldn't afford to move onto the Upper Plate.

Oddly, when they'd passed through the Sector 7 Slums, it had been overlaid with an image of him looking down on the city from a room in the Shinra building—and seeing a burning, destroyed, collapsed Sector 7.

His father had never sent anyone to find survivors.

That was only one of the things which had been nightmare fodder for his future self, and a part of him had begun to wonder if he'd treated the Turks so badly in the hopes that they would retaliate and punish him for not doing anything to help the people, either.

Dark Nation was pacing along at his side as he walked the corridors of the SOLIDER and Turks' main training floor, wondering if he should test his skills against someone who wasn't Vincent. He'd been torn on that, because technically, he really didn't have much training, but with some of his memory being somehow functional, a bit of that may have come through. Did it count as 'training'? Not really. And, it wasn't guaranteed unless he first practiced those motions. Maybe a training dummy would be a better idea?

As he turned a corner, though, there was a young Wutain girl in the Shinra Academy uniform bolting down the hall in his direction—just as a door near her opened and a boy in the black First Class uniform stepped from the room. In the time it took him to blink, the girl had collided with the boy with a yelp, which produced an answering yelp from the boy as they both ended up sprawled on the floor of the hall, the girl on top of the boy.

Wasn't the girl Princess Yufi Kisaragi?

At the sound of an obviously amused crow caw, he knew it was, and looked up to find Kurosai—who had fluttered down to the hall floor not far from the two children. A cackle also sounded as the only Shadow Monk in the Shinra building floated out of the room, letting him know the boy had to be Nero the Sable. Since it seemed neither Nero nor the Shadow Monk planned to attack, he paused in his own walk to watch the two curiously.

"Ow..." Yufi whined as she sat up and rubbed her head. "That hurt. You're really hard," she told the boy, who just blinked at her, but then she pushed herself up. Offering a hand to him, she offered, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to run into you."

"I didn't think you did," Nero answered, just sounding bemused, but he took the hand and let her help him up. "You aren't hurt, are you? You're obviously not a SOLDIER, so you aren't enhanced to heal injuries very quickly."

"Huh?" she blinked, then gave her hand an absent wave. "No, I'm fine. I was just going to do some training here with Doriss and one of the Seconds she knows. They're a couple more doors down."

"Training? Really? With a Turk and a SOLDIER when you're—what, seven?" Nero asked, and Rufus felt like asking the same thing. He'd known Cloud was going to take her to the Turks, and by extension that they would effectively adopt her, but he didn't think she was supposed to be actively fighting Turks and SOLDIERs at that age.

"Hey, I'm strong!" she glared at him, and he just tipped his head to the side questioningly. "I have to do lots of training, though, and this isn't the first time I've been in this lesson."

"Why so much training? I didn't think the main company did that," Nero commented, and Rufus almost wanted to laugh at how it was like he sounded permanently bemused.

"Well, what about you? You're not that much older than me, and you're obviously training with SOLDIERs!" she returned to him hotly.

"Yeah, but I was raised in a place called Deepground, where pretty much all you did, or were allowed to do, was practice fighting, and I was born with a stronger body than any normal person would have been," Nero offered. "You're a normal person, so that shouldn't be a thing with you."

That caused Yufi to reach up and rub the back of her head as she said, "They said something about me having way too much energy and doing things to use it up. This extra training sort of does that?" Rufus was surprised to hear a faint chuckle from Nero at the words, but before the boy could answer, she grabbed his wrist and began pulling him with her as she said happily, "Maybe you can give me pointers, too! Come on!"

At the girl's insistence he go with her, Nero just looked completely bemused, and Rufus didn't blame him—the girl was a force unto herself in many ways. She did see him as they reached her door, so she gave Rufus a quick wave as she dragged Nero into the room, followed by Kurosai and the Shadow Monk, who both actually also seemed amused. Nero's gaze met his for a moment, and Rufus realized the boy seemed to just be permanently stuck on 'bemused'. He hadn't realized that was even possible before then.

After that interlude, which ended when the door closed, Rufus went back to wandering absently as he thought about things further.

He knew now how much needed to be fixed, and it was all a tall order to actually accomplish. Especially when there were still quite a few people in the way, like his father. And the Restrictors. And Fuhito. He wasn't sure if there were more, but he'd place bets on Hojo, especially knowing about The Nightmare. Oh, and that meant The Nightmare was an issue, too. Honestly, for every ally they found, they seemed to also find one or two more enemies. How were they going to get rid of them all?

"Rufus?" a familiar voice asked, and the blond looked up to see Kariya.

"Sorry, did you need something?" he asked.

"I didn't, but I think you do," the older man commented in a dryly amused tone.

"Don't you have something else to do?" the blond replied, just annoyed by his tone for a reason he couldn't place.

"Yeah, I've got to eliminate Corneo, and was just heading out to do that. In theory, I was given the go-ahead yesterday, but I needed to do some planning, first," Kariya replied. "And the President wanted to choose new management to send with me, so he finally picked them, and they're just waiting on me to get Corneo and his goons out of the way."

"...Somehow, that all makes me want to hit something. We really have to leave Corneo's operations in place?" Rufus asked, that time more tired than angry.

Kariya motioned for the blond to walk with him, which he did (and Dark Nation gave Kariya a 'woof' of acknowledgment as he fell in with them, too) as the orange haired Turk said, "For the people in the Slums, just now, it's work. And too many men spend way too much time at those shops and at the Honeybee, so without something to replace them with, they can't be gotten rid of. We know your father makes use of some of those things, so he wouldn't want them gone, anyway.

"Though, I'm of the opinion that there are some people—not a huge number, mind, but some—who want to work in those trades, so you should find out from them if they want to do that or something else. If they want something else, you can provide once you take over, and for the rest, you can work with them to make it a place they actually want to work at."

That made Rufus blink in surprise, then asked, "Are there really people who are completely fine being thought of as sexual objects?"

"No," the man replied flatly, and Rufus' brow furrowed in confusion. "You're mixing up the 'sex trade' with flat-out porn. There's a lot you don't know about sex, and there are actual uses for people who work that trade. In Wutai, people who work in the trade are also teachers. They teach others how to properly please a partner, how the body functions, even about pregnancy and how to handle aspects of it. Many are also highly educated and often know more about the world than the average person, so they can provide good discussion, help resolve issues, play instruments, educate on culture, and more (1). Would that really be a bad thing to have here?"

The blond had to blink in surprise several times before saying, "I'll have to think on that for awhile."

"Okay, while you're thinking on that, how about you also think on what you're going to do with the city's arrangement once it's yours."

"...The city's arrangement?"

"Once we've got a way to fix the Wastes, it would be good land for crops, and the city is going to start overflowing its borders soon. Why not take the opportunity to get rid of the walls and create agriculture on the outskirts while things which don't really require sunlight are under the Plate? Those could range from apartments to offices to warehouses to shops—unless something in particular needs sunlight, it can be based under the Plate just fine, but food production has always been an issue. If Midgar could provide some of its own supply, it would be easier to manage."

"...That's a lot to think on, but the idea has merit, I believe."

"That's why I told you to think on it, too."

While they'd been talking, they'd gotten on the elevator and the elevator had begun descending to the lobby. While they were on it, Kariya had taken several objects from his pockets and begun sorting them, all things Rufus recognized from the storage rooms on the training floor—probably the reason he'd been there in the first place. Two were even Materia shards, which he put on his bracer. The rest went back in his pockets in a very specific order, and Rufus realized he was really planning for an army to try to take him down.

And wasn't one? Corneo's goons weren't just going to lay down their weapons if 'Shinra' murdered their boss, after all.

"I suppose I should wish you luck on your mission if you're taking on those kinds of numbers," Rufus commented.

"Thanks," Kariya answered absently with a bit of a grin. "I've taken on worse odds, but the greater the numbers, the more danger there is by default, so I like to be prepared for the worst. It's kept me alive more times than I can count, so sticking to it is a definite ongoing habit."

A snort of amusement was Rufus' response to that, but he said, "And it looks like you have. Go on, then." The elevator doors opened just then, and Kariya stepped off with a wave, heading rapidly for the exit doors, so Rufus stepped into the lobby and took a look around. There wasn't much in that room, but he decided to have a look at the storage rooms on that floor, just to get a feel for what was where. It would tell him something about what kinds of organizational patterns his father used, Dark Nation still following him closely, but now looking very curious.

Only, when he opened the first door, he found a large room filled randomly and haphazardly with boxes of all sorts, in no particular order, in piles wherever there was space, and no shelves to speak of to help with organization.

There was an entire floor of storage in the building—things shouldn't have been such a disaster! Quickly, he returned to the elevator and hit the button for the storage floor, and once it took him up to it, he made his way to the nearest room, where his card opened it—

And he found it was exactly the same as the storage room on the first floor.

"No," he announced to the disaster of a room. "This is not going to stay like this."

He then turned to go back to his office furiously, Dark Nation watching him in something he might have thought was confusion. He ignored the monster and mentally made a list of all the people he'd need to pull from other tasks to fix this, including people who could move shelves into all the rooms. Oh, which meant he'd have to pay for shelves. And hire some clerks whose purpose was to keep those rooms ordered, organized, and properly stocked with needed goods.

He'd easily be busy with that for the next few days, for sure.

Sometime in the process of making those arrangements, it occurred to him to seriously question what kind of man his father really was, because this was a disparity which should never have happened. His father had always been highly, strictly organized, which was the opposite of current company storage. What was the point?

MB

Weiss had been searching for that landmark for the last couple days—only two since the one when Angeal and Sephiroth had returned—and was now just staring at the two men below him in confusion. Those men were Angeal and Zack, both with their Lab dogs in attendance, and he'd landed on the edge of a roof above them. Now, Angeal was in fresh, neat clothing and looked healthy and quite wingless, though he also looked disturbed by something. Apparently, Zack's arrival had been just as Weiss had gotten there, and the older man had been sitting on a box against the damaged building wall, elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

"So, what's the matter?" Zack asked of the man, who just sighed and stayed sitting there.

"I just...still have trouble with something..." the man answered vaguely. Weiss only knew he meant his wings because Genesis had as much as said so.

"What's that?" the Third asked of his mentor in a thoughtful tone, head tipped to the side a bit in curiosity.

There was a long sigh, then commented, "I still feel like a monster."

"So...what did you do to feel that way?" the younger man asked thoughtfully.

Weiss was amused to see the older man shift in surprise, then Angeal sat up to stare at Zack as he asked, "What?"

"Well, I mean—a monster is, like, a beast that randomly attacks and hurts people, or something that looks really grotesque, or a person who deliberately hurts or kills others. So if you're saying you're one, what did you do to make you think that?" Zack reiterated. Actually, Weiss had to commend his way of describing a 'monster'. It might actually shift Angeal's perspective some.

For the older man's part, though, he had to just blink at Zack several times before saying, "It's not a thing I did, though I still feel really bad about almost killing Seph. I wasn't exactly sane then, though, so I'm working through that, and he was a lot more worried about possibly having killed me, even if it would have been justifiable self-defense."

Zack crossed his arms and commented, "So this has to do with those days you up and vanished for. If it's not that, then what is it?"

After a pause, Angeal sighed and said, "I guess you'd find out eventually..." He paused again, then sighed again (it was starting to look like stalling, actually), and finally went on, "The result of all that was that I now have wings. I mean, at least I can retract them when I don't need them, but I do have them."

The words made Zack blink and drop his arms to his sides, then ask in confusion, "So what's wrong with that?"

"Humans don't have wings, Zack!" Angeal replied flatly.

"Yeah, but Genesis was pretty clear in saying you three are only half human and half planetary entity. Maybe all planetary entities would have flight, or wings by default, or maybe they just manifest anything they happen to need, when they need it. I think Sephiroth did that when we were in Midgar before, right? Just managed to pull on Lifestream energy so that clone of him couldn't hit him? If you're not fully human to start with, it's possible wings are just a natural part of your genetics, and that means it's just who you are, not something 'strange' at all. And that still doesn't make you a monster," the younger man returned, gaze shrewd.

"But—" Angeal began, and Weiss had to sigh, himself.

Before the older man could say more, he called down, "So is Sephiroth a monster, too?" Both looked up at him in surprise, and both their eyes widened as they realized he had white wings on his back. "Is Genesis? Am I? Because if your default is 'wings mean I'm a monster', then you're automatically allocating all three of us as monsters, too." As the man began to open his mouth, Weiss added, "And don't try to pull such an utterly stupid double standard as you would be if you keep trying to insist you're one but we aren't. That's not how it works—if it's the wings, it's either all of us or none of us."

Zack began laughing as Angeal actually flushed and looked down, but the younger man called back up to him, "Nice note, Weiss! And those wings of yours look awesome! I'd love a pair myself."

"Sadly, I don't think you have enough planetary sentience cells for that," Weiss commented in amusement, thinking Zack would probably end up with white wings as well if his musing on personality was anything to go by. And if he had to pick another, it would be Cloud, and he'd have black. Since neither were likely to end up with wings if they hadn't already, that had a minuscule chance of happening. It was possible, he supposed, but not likely.

The words produced another chuckle from Zack, but then he said, "Sure, doesn't stop me from wanting a pair. The kind of freedom that would be is incredible! You can go where you want, and you can do it quickly—you can even just drift around and do nothing. Scouting and stuff would be way easier, too."

"That's true," Weiss agreed. "But your actions are still dictated, at least in part, by whoever you work for, not just by your own whim. Unless you plan to defect from Shinra, that would be true, and since I doubt you want to, you answer to someone higher up the chain of command, just like Angeal and I do."

"Yeah, I get that," Zack agreed with a grin. "And no, no plans to hightail it—all my friends are here. There wouldn't be a point in leaving. But if those wings are anything like Angeal's, I definitely have no complaints with them, and you're definitely not monsters. Why were you up there, though?"

"I'd been looking for something and just came back—I was on off-time, anyway," Weiss shrugged. "So, are we good now, or do you still want to insist you're a monster, Angeal? I think you'll even hurt Halo's feelings if you don't stop that."

"How do you...make it just a non-entity to you?" the man asked in something like amazement, looking back up at him.

"It is because it's just a useful tool, nothing more," the boy answered in a dry tone, and Angeal blinked. "You can call and dismiss them when you want, so it's no different than picking up a sword when you want to fight and putting it down again when you're done. What's wrong with a tool, exactly?"

"That's a good point," Zack mused, and Weiss had to watch with amusement as Angeal tried several times to speak, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly and coming up with no words at all.

"You're starting to look like a fish, Angeal," Weiss commented dryly, and Zack burst out laughing as Angeal snapped his mouth shut and gave him an annoyed look.

"Okay, fine," the man finally said when Zack had stopped laughing. "Either all of us are monsters or none of us are, and these particular wings are just tools. Anything else while we're here?"

Weiss paused, then asked, "They molt like crazy?"

That set Zack off on another round of laughter as Angeal first gaped, then chuckled and admitted, "Yes, I'd noticed that. But why haven't I seen Genesis' wings before?"

"Because he's avoiding them," Weiss shrugged. "I did for the longest time, too, but seeing you and the General with them made me decide it was time to stop that, since I never really had the bad experiences with them Genesis did in the first place. If he'll have pulled them out by the time any of us get back to Midgar, we'll only know then."

"Well, him having wings would be ideal for teaching Diva how to fly, wouldn't it?" Zack commented in amusement. "But yeah, Kunzel told me if Genesis ever does something he really doesn't want to do, it's probably because something either is happening or will happen soon which will need 'it'. If he's got them by the time any of us get back, they either just had a problem or will soon."

"...That's not encouraging, but now that I think back on it, it's true, too," Angeal agreed slowly, obviously thoughtful. "But I guess for him it makes sense, too. Especially if the issue is bad memories, when he has a lot of those. If you were looking for something before, is it something we could help with?"

"Not really, no. I'm not good at drawing, and neither is Genesis, so we'd have no way of giving you an accurate image of what we'd be looking for. Since I'm the only one here, I have to do it myself, so it's sort of hit-and-miss," the boy replied, giving an absent wave. "And it's not overly important, but if something happens to catch my eye while I'm here and searching, it may lead to something, so it's really no rush."

"That really doesn't seem efficient," Angeal replied in amusement.

"I agree on that!" Zack added with a grin. "But if you're sure you can't get us a copy, then I guess you're right anyway. Good luck, then!"

Weiss gave a nod and said, "I have to go get ready for my shift, so I'm heading back to our barracks now. Take care, both of you." As he was about to launch himself into the air, his PHS rang to signal an incoming message, and at the same time his rang, so did Angeal's. Zack's didn't, so it was clearly an announcement for the top commanders, so Weiss and Angeal pulled their PHS's out, opened the message, and read it. Only for Weiss to comment, "Well I'll be damned. Looks like we are being listened to."

"What is it?" Zack asked curiously.

"New orders from the President via Lazard," Angeal said. "Apparently, Sephiroth and I, and those under our command, are supposed to head home now, and Argento, Azul, and Weiss are staying here to establish what he wants established. He's also sending over some people from other departments to build things and set up trade. What all he's going to do, we don't know, but—one's probably a Reactor."

"Nope," Weiss replied flatly. "Not for the next fourteen years, anyway, regardless of ownership. Anyway, I'm heading out now." To their farewells and thanks, he took to the air to head back to the building they'd claimed as a barracks. Some of the city's people had started to rebuild some of the less-damaged homes already, and a few of the badly-injured were still recovering, but it looked like things were progressing in a positive direction. For that, he was grateful. Things could have gone a lot worse and they could have ended up having to kill a lot more people.

He was also sure Fuhito would have thought twice about bombing Wutai City if he'd realized it would put the people in Shinra's favor, so he was glad no one had thought of that before.

Then again, it was Fuhito...He was a tactician. Could he have planned to put the people in Shinra's favor so he'd have an excuse to eliminate them without any regrets whatsoever? He wouldn't put it past him.

Notes:

(1) This relates directly back to Geishas, who have been presented in most recent forms of media as glorified prostitutes. To some extent, that has some validity, but their actual terms and requirements are much wider than that. It would be completely acceptable for them to just spend an evening talking with someone, teaching them something, entertaining in the form of music, or several other things. They also do things like maintain culture. 'Entertaining' men usually ends in sex because that's what men want, but that doesn't mean that's ALL Geishas do. Which is a far cry from the sex trade as we know it in America or Europe (Wutai = Japan and Shinra = Europe/America in perspective on this).