[Ficlet] Glass towers
Random snippet. Thing.
Glass Towers
FFVII, Rufus and Reeve, end-AC. Gen. G.
1,022 words.
(Proof-read only once, scribbled in about 15 - 20 minutes. Please excuse the errors.)
"This number is not in use."
"The hell it isn't." The end of Reeve's pen tapped hard against the edge of his desk, spelling out his frustration. "Answer, damn you!"
Click. Buzz. Fizzle of static. Solid tone.
Reeve resisted the urge to swear again - swearing was such a terrible habit, but between the stresses of chairing the WRO, it had somehow managed to slip in. People still looked at him funny when he did it, as though they'd never expected such a thing from the otherwise soft-spoken chairman. He took a deep breath instead, and hit the redial button.
"This number is not in use."
Reeve scowled. And dialed once more. And again. And again.
"This number is not--" a click. A fizzle.
...A very familiar voice. "...This is a surprise, Mister Chairman."
"Rufus. Shinra."
"Were you planning on ringing until my phone spontaneously combusted? I'm afraid I was tied up with something else. Would it have killed you to wait a little longer?"
"Entangled, you mean." Reeve was normally a placcid man, but a hint of anger crept into his voice and stayed there. "Caught up in nets in midair, dangling several storeys above the ground. Half of Edge saw you."
"Only half?" the former President sounded amused. There was the quiet swish of rain in the background, a loudness to the background that suggested he was outdoors.
"And your Turks. Striding bold as brass into the middle of the square, chasing those Sephiroth look alikes who appeared from nowhere. And that Summon! Where on earth did all of you crawl out from? We thought you were dead!"
"Here and there, here and there. It's not like I was trying very hard to hide from public eye, actually. Have you been to Healing recently? Talked to Strife recently?"
"No, I haven'--" Reeve slammed the pen down on his desk and sighed. "What are you up to? Rebuiliding Shinra Company? Trying to take over the world again? ... I won't let you, you know."
In the silence that followed, he could hear the rain beating against the windows, echoed by the more tinny version over the cellphone.
"...It's raining, Mr Chairman," Rufus said at last, and he sounded ... distracted. Almost... dreamy. Coming from the intense, driven, and overall angry young man that Reeve had known, it sounded... strange at best.
"...Yes. Yes it is." He looked out at the grey clouds, which were split by beams of golden sunlight. The clouds were clearing fast, starting from, of all places, the ruins of the Shinra Tower. It made sense, though, since that had been the place Sephiroth had fallen, if what he had seen through Cait Sidhe's feed was correct. Even from here, high up in his office tower in the Edge, he could see the light striking the red and gold logo. "And what does that have to do with anything?" he asked. Rufus had a way with words, although he'd always been the type to cut straight to the point, rather than mess around with flowery oratory.
...Or at least, he had been that type two years ago. Then Weapon's blast. Then nothing. Until today.
"It's a pretty amazing rain."
"...Yes, it hasn't rained in a while, but--"
"Mr Chairman," Rufus said, and there was a patience to his words. "Come out of your glass tower. Leave the 70th floor."
"I'm not on the 70th floor. This building only has 20--"
"The 20th floor might as well be the 70th, for either way, you're too high up to see anything. Come down, Reeve. Walk on the streets. See the miracle that's unfolding."
Frowning, he glanced towards Cait Sidhe's monitor, which he'd been neglecting for the past few minutes. And at that moment, the Shera swept down from the sky, banking in a wide circle past the main square of the Edge, rain glinting off its windows and running past in crystal droplets. And Reeve looked, and saw. Saw the joyful faces of childrens and adults both, running out into the streets, hands uplifted. "Oh," he said, heart constricting with such joy that it stole his voice, as he watched the black scars of the disease called Geostigma seemingly evaporate the moment the rain touched it. "Oh."
His city. It was saved.
It took him several moments to recover his voice. And his original train of thought. "But..." he said. "What does this have to do with anything we were talking about?"
There was a beep from his phone. Call ended.
"Rufus? Rufus!" He wrenched the phone from his ear, and glared at it, as if his gaze would make that... that infuriating man pick up again.
"Hey," Yuffie's voice sounded over Cait Sidhe's speakers. "Isn't that Rufus Shinra?"
Reeve's attention snapped straight to the vid, where he caught a flash of white, surrounded by black suits, in one of Edge's side alleys. Then it was gone, as the Shera winged past. "Go back," he told Cid, through Cait. "Go back, I want to take a look."
"Yeah? What the hell for?" Cid grumbled, but the airship was already turning around.
Of course, the little group was gone.
"Ya imagining things, punk?" Cid snorted at Yuffie.
"Was not!"
He'd seen it too. Seen them too, just as the whole of Edge had seen the Turks battling what seemed like mortal enemies, saving children. Seen Rufus Shinra fall off a building locked in pursuit of a Sephiroth clone.
It wasn't the WRO that the good people of the Edge had seen, the ones who were supposed to be in charge of rebuilding the world, the ones who were supposed to be in charge of protecting the people. No, they had seen Shinra come to their aid. The thought of it made Reeve chew his lower lip, wondering just how much of the public's confidence he'd just lost.
Come down, Rufus had said. Come down from the 70th floor.
"You'll be back, though," Reeve said out loud. "Number not in use, my foot."
He looked towards the window. Outside, the clouds had cleared, and the bright rays of the warm summer sun drenched the Edge in light.
end.
Glass Towers
FFVII, Rufus and Reeve, end-AC. Gen. G.
1,022 words.
(Proof-read only once, scribbled in about 15 - 20 minutes. Please excuse the errors.)
"This number is not in use."
"The hell it isn't." The end of Reeve's pen tapped hard against the edge of his desk, spelling out his frustration. "Answer, damn you!"
Click. Buzz. Fizzle of static. Solid tone.
Reeve resisted the urge to swear again - swearing was such a terrible habit, but between the stresses of chairing the WRO, it had somehow managed to slip in. People still looked at him funny when he did it, as though they'd never expected such a thing from the otherwise soft-spoken chairman. He took a deep breath instead, and hit the redial button.
"This number is not in use."
Reeve scowled. And dialed once more. And again. And again.
"This number is not--" a click. A fizzle.
...A very familiar voice. "...This is a surprise, Mister Chairman."
"Rufus. Shinra."
"Were you planning on ringing until my phone spontaneously combusted? I'm afraid I was tied up with something else. Would it have killed you to wait a little longer?"
"Entangled, you mean." Reeve was normally a placcid man, but a hint of anger crept into his voice and stayed there. "Caught up in nets in midair, dangling several storeys above the ground. Half of Edge saw you."
"Only half?" the former President sounded amused. There was the quiet swish of rain in the background, a loudness to the background that suggested he was outdoors.
"And your Turks. Striding bold as brass into the middle of the square, chasing those Sephiroth look alikes who appeared from nowhere. And that Summon! Where on earth did all of you crawl out from? We thought you were dead!"
"Here and there, here and there. It's not like I was trying very hard to hide from public eye, actually. Have you been to Healing recently? Talked to Strife recently?"
"No, I haven'--" Reeve slammed the pen down on his desk and sighed. "What are you up to? Rebuiliding Shinra Company? Trying to take over the world again? ... I won't let you, you know."
In the silence that followed, he could hear the rain beating against the windows, echoed by the more tinny version over the cellphone.
"...It's raining, Mr Chairman," Rufus said at last, and he sounded ... distracted. Almost... dreamy. Coming from the intense, driven, and overall angry young man that Reeve had known, it sounded... strange at best.
"...Yes. Yes it is." He looked out at the grey clouds, which were split by beams of golden sunlight. The clouds were clearing fast, starting from, of all places, the ruins of the Shinra Tower. It made sense, though, since that had been the place Sephiroth had fallen, if what he had seen through Cait Sidhe's feed was correct. Even from here, high up in his office tower in the Edge, he could see the light striking the red and gold logo. "And what does that have to do with anything?" he asked. Rufus had a way with words, although he'd always been the type to cut straight to the point, rather than mess around with flowery oratory.
...Or at least, he had been that type two years ago. Then Weapon's blast. Then nothing. Until today.
"It's a pretty amazing rain."
"...Yes, it hasn't rained in a while, but--"
"Mr Chairman," Rufus said, and there was a patience to his words. "Come out of your glass tower. Leave the 70th floor."
"I'm not on the 70th floor. This building only has 20--"
"The 20th floor might as well be the 70th, for either way, you're too high up to see anything. Come down, Reeve. Walk on the streets. See the miracle that's unfolding."
Frowning, he glanced towards Cait Sidhe's monitor, which he'd been neglecting for the past few minutes. And at that moment, the Shera swept down from the sky, banking in a wide circle past the main square of the Edge, rain glinting off its windows and running past in crystal droplets. And Reeve looked, and saw. Saw the joyful faces of childrens and adults both, running out into the streets, hands uplifted. "Oh," he said, heart constricting with such joy that it stole his voice, as he watched the black scars of the disease called Geostigma seemingly evaporate the moment the rain touched it. "Oh."
His city. It was saved.
It took him several moments to recover his voice. And his original train of thought. "But..." he said. "What does this have to do with anything we were talking about?"
There was a beep from his phone. Call ended.
"Rufus? Rufus!" He wrenched the phone from his ear, and glared at it, as if his gaze would make that... that infuriating man pick up again.
"Hey," Yuffie's voice sounded over Cait Sidhe's speakers. "Isn't that Rufus Shinra?"
Reeve's attention snapped straight to the vid, where he caught a flash of white, surrounded by black suits, in one of Edge's side alleys. Then it was gone, as the Shera winged past. "Go back," he told Cid, through Cait. "Go back, I want to take a look."
"Yeah? What the hell for?" Cid grumbled, but the airship was already turning around.
Of course, the little group was gone.
"Ya imagining things, punk?" Cid snorted at Yuffie.
"Was not!"
He'd seen it too. Seen them too, just as the whole of Edge had seen the Turks battling what seemed like mortal enemies, saving children. Seen Rufus Shinra fall off a building locked in pursuit of a Sephiroth clone.
It wasn't the WRO that the good people of the Edge had seen, the ones who were supposed to be in charge of rebuilding the world, the ones who were supposed to be in charge of protecting the people. No, they had seen Shinra come to their aid. The thought of it made Reeve chew his lower lip, wondering just how much of the public's confidence he'd just lost.
Come down, Rufus had said. Come down from the 70th floor.
"You'll be back, though," Reeve said out loud. "Number not in use, my foot."
He looked towards the window. Outside, the clouds had cleared, and the bright rays of the warm summer sun drenched the Edge in light.
end.