[Final Fantasy 7 fanfiction] 2 Crisis Core-inspired pieces
I wrote these ones up soon after finishing the game, and naturally, rather than involve the actual main players in Crisis Core themselves, I end up making it Tseng and Rufus-centric, with other people on the side. 8Db
FINAL FANTASY 7 and all characters/ideas/concepts/places therein are not mine, although the writing certainly is. Themes are yoinked from 31_days and all that other blardy.
March 23 [2008]: Final Fantasy 7. Heroes have it easy.
The “Last Order” that I’m referring to is the Turks’ attempt to save Zack Fair and Cloud Strife, as shown in FFVII: Last Order (that animated oneshot that came out with Advent Children) and in FF7: Crisis Core.
Rufus Shinra remembered stumbling across the files for the infamous Last Order of four years ago quite by accident - the shabby state of the corporation’s files had annoyed him into setting things straight within his little domain, and part of that included going over the mission logs for the Turks before properly arranging them into some sort of logical sequence. He had not known what the Last Order had been at the time (he had been in Junon during the incident), and as such, the report caught him completely by surprise. Failure was unheard of when it came to the Turks - the organization had learned some valuable lessons with the Verd Incident and in their dealings with the original AVALANCHE rebel army, and Tseng’s leadership was pretty much flawless. That an operation had been unsuccessful under his watch was a most unpleasant surprise.
Confrontation was something that Rufus was extremely good at; feeling guilt was not. Nonetheless, Tseng’s reaction startled him. He had never seen Tseng shy away from answering in the past, but he was almost positive that that was exactly what his subordinate did when he brought the topic up. Names were mentioned (Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, Cissnei, Reno, Rude) and results were given (the Turks operatives on the case had failed to rendezvous with the targets in time), but no reasons were given. Rufus, being unused to having his questions unanswered, proceeded to interrogate everyone else on the matter, and consulted other sources. Rufus ended up getting the answers he was looking for, but he was left to wonder why it made him feel so unsatisfied to have them. It took a week of cold silence and even colder affections for him to figure it out.
Just when people thought that the relationship between the President and his most trusted aide would deteriorate further, Rufus appeared without warning on the Turks floor of the Shin-Ra Building. He brushed past the questioning looks of the Turks operatives in the lounge, and entered Tseng’s office without knocking. He marched over and tossed a clear, plastic case filled with three-year-old letters onto the man’s desk, effectively stopping him from continuing his work (read: signing documents). Tseng blinked, looked up, blinked again. Rufus sniffed.
“Your obsession with past failings and that Cetra girl is troublesome. Rid yourself of it before it gets in the way of doing your job.”
Tseng showed his appreciation for his President’s concern later, in the young man’s bed.
May 24 [2008]: Final Fantasy 7. When a woman learns to walk, she’s not dependent any more.
This takes place in during the later parts of FF7: Crisis Core, particularly after Zack tells Tseng to watch over his girl.
Aerith Gainsborough’s daily route took her through the slums in Sectors 6 and 7, back near the church in Sector 5 then over to the market, and then up the plate to Sector 8, where she lingered the longest by the fountain, calling out to the passersby with a handful of her wares (read: the prettiest flowers in all of Midgar). Tseng knew this because he was always just a few steps behind her, hidden by shadows and milling crowds, keeping his eyes on her back and the ruffians off her path. He had thought that he was good enough, that his years of experience as a Turk were enough to keep him concealed and therefore always just under Aerith’s radar, but a humiliatingly short period of time went by before she figured it all out. He still recalled that day with some chagrin: losing Aerith in the crowd, a moment of panic, then dashing around a street corner only to find her standing by the wall behind him, holding back a fit of giggles.
“You must be the one Zack told me about before,” the girl had said, after she had finished laughing and he had finished turning several shades of red. She only giggled again when he groaned, and stepped forward. “I’m Aerith,” she declared, extending one slim, delicate hand towards him with a brilliant smile. “What’s your name?” He had not intended to answer her that day, but had ended up crumbling after she had dragged him all over the slums and chattered about nothing in particular and somehow, he had found it a little charming.
That was the first time they had ever come face-to-face with each other, and it would be a while before it happened again - part of surveillance was to never let one’s charge know that one was in the area, and Aerith had promised not to make any indication that Tseng had botched up for the price of a bouquet of flowers. They met many other times, albeit briefly: Aerith was writing letters to her boyfriend, Zack Fair, a member of SOLDIER whom Tseng had worked closely with in the past. Tseng constantly promised the girl that he would deliver her messages to Zack somehow, even though he was just about as clueless as she was regarding Zack’s whereabouts. What truly surprised him, though, was the fact that although Aerith could have asked him about Zack, she never did.
Four years and eighty-eight letters later, the pair met on a “date” Aerith spontaneously decided to have with Tseng, on the day nearly three-fourths of the Shin-Ra army went after Zack Fair and gunned him down on the outskirts of Midgar. She was wearing pink, he noted: it was a big change from the usual. When he complimented her on it, she merely smiled. From the long silences and the way she looked out the café window and into the rain, Tseng somehow knew that she knew that the boy she loved was dead, without ever having to ask. He had offered to escort her home that day - she had refused. The image of her walking away from him in the downpour that day stayed with him through the years, faded for a while, and then returned, unbidden, the day he found himself slumped against the wall of the Temple of Ancients, hand against his bleeding side, staring at the searing sun, waiting for the only ones Aerith had ever called friends.
Note that I posted "When a woman learns to walk, she’s not dependent any more" up on 31_days too.
FINAL FANTASY 7 and all characters/ideas/concepts/places therein are not mine, although the writing certainly is. Themes are yoinked from 31_days and all that other blardy.
March 23 [2008]: Final Fantasy 7. Heroes have it easy.
The “Last Order” that I’m referring to is the Turks’ attempt to save Zack Fair and Cloud Strife, as shown in FFVII: Last Order (that animated oneshot that came out with Advent Children) and in FF7: Crisis Core.
Rufus Shinra remembered stumbling across the files for the infamous Last Order of four years ago quite by accident - the shabby state of the corporation’s files had annoyed him into setting things straight within his little domain, and part of that included going over the mission logs for the Turks before properly arranging them into some sort of logical sequence. He had not known what the Last Order had been at the time (he had been in Junon during the incident), and as such, the report caught him completely by surprise. Failure was unheard of when it came to the Turks - the organization had learned some valuable lessons with the Verd Incident and in their dealings with the original AVALANCHE rebel army, and Tseng’s leadership was pretty much flawless. That an operation had been unsuccessful under his watch was a most unpleasant surprise.
Confrontation was something that Rufus was extremely good at; feeling guilt was not. Nonetheless, Tseng’s reaction startled him. He had never seen Tseng shy away from answering in the past, but he was almost positive that that was exactly what his subordinate did when he brought the topic up. Names were mentioned (Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, Cissnei, Reno, Rude) and results were given (the Turks operatives on the case had failed to rendezvous with the targets in time), but no reasons were given. Rufus, being unused to having his questions unanswered, proceeded to interrogate everyone else on the matter, and consulted other sources. Rufus ended up getting the answers he was looking for, but he was left to wonder why it made him feel so unsatisfied to have them. It took a week of cold silence and even colder affections for him to figure it out.
Just when people thought that the relationship between the President and his most trusted aide would deteriorate further, Rufus appeared without warning on the Turks floor of the Shin-Ra Building. He brushed past the questioning looks of the Turks operatives in the lounge, and entered Tseng’s office without knocking. He marched over and tossed a clear, plastic case filled with three-year-old letters onto the man’s desk, effectively stopping him from continuing his work (read: signing documents). Tseng blinked, looked up, blinked again. Rufus sniffed.
“Your obsession with past failings and that Cetra girl is troublesome. Rid yourself of it before it gets in the way of doing your job.”
Tseng showed his appreciation for his President’s concern later, in the young man’s bed.
May 24 [2008]: Final Fantasy 7. When a woman learns to walk, she’s not dependent any more.
This takes place in during the later parts of FF7: Crisis Core, particularly after Zack tells Tseng to watch over his girl.
Aerith Gainsborough’s daily route took her through the slums in Sectors 6 and 7, back near the church in Sector 5 then over to the market, and then up the plate to Sector 8, where she lingered the longest by the fountain, calling out to the passersby with a handful of her wares (read: the prettiest flowers in all of Midgar). Tseng knew this because he was always just a few steps behind her, hidden by shadows and milling crowds, keeping his eyes on her back and the ruffians off her path. He had thought that he was good enough, that his years of experience as a Turk were enough to keep him concealed and therefore always just under Aerith’s radar, but a humiliatingly short period of time went by before she figured it all out. He still recalled that day with some chagrin: losing Aerith in the crowd, a moment of panic, then dashing around a street corner only to find her standing by the wall behind him, holding back a fit of giggles.
“You must be the one Zack told me about before,” the girl had said, after she had finished laughing and he had finished turning several shades of red. She only giggled again when he groaned, and stepped forward. “I’m Aerith,” she declared, extending one slim, delicate hand towards him with a brilliant smile. “What’s your name?” He had not intended to answer her that day, but had ended up crumbling after she had dragged him all over the slums and chattered about nothing in particular and somehow, he had found it a little charming.
That was the first time they had ever come face-to-face with each other, and it would be a while before it happened again - part of surveillance was to never let one’s charge know that one was in the area, and Aerith had promised not to make any indication that Tseng had botched up for the price of a bouquet of flowers. They met many other times, albeit briefly: Aerith was writing letters to her boyfriend, Zack Fair, a member of SOLDIER whom Tseng had worked closely with in the past. Tseng constantly promised the girl that he would deliver her messages to Zack somehow, even though he was just about as clueless as she was regarding Zack’s whereabouts. What truly surprised him, though, was the fact that although Aerith could have asked him about Zack, she never did.
Four years and eighty-eight letters later, the pair met on a “date” Aerith spontaneously decided to have with Tseng, on the day nearly three-fourths of the Shin-Ra army went after Zack Fair and gunned him down on the outskirts of Midgar. She was wearing pink, he noted: it was a big change from the usual. When he complimented her on it, she merely smiled. From the long silences and the way she looked out the café window and into the rain, Tseng somehow knew that she knew that the boy she loved was dead, without ever having to ask. He had offered to escort her home that day - she had refused. The image of her walking away from him in the downpour that day stayed with him through the years, faded for a while, and then returned, unbidden, the day he found himself slumped against the wall of the Temple of Ancients, hand against his bleeding side, staring at the searing sun, waiting for the only ones Aerith had ever called friends.
Note that I posted "When a woman learns to walk, she’s not dependent any more" up on 31_days too.