Episode 52A - Season Finale
Nov. 9th, 2009 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaded_grin52
It was with stifling sadness that Kadaj watched the city of
He thought of Zack, already safely away, his crime hidden by Tseng. He wished the man had come to say goodbye, but he understood that all haste must be made in events like this, and wished him well wherever he was going. There, too, was a staggering amount of regret and lost chances, but such was youth, though the thought consoled him very little. He just thought of
“Kadaj,” Tseng said, as if sensing his distraught state of mind. “Perhaps you should go and check on the passengers you insisted on? I am sure they are not used to such treatment.”
Kadaj looked away from the window, the soft golden glow of the jet’s interior not soothing him at all. Tseng was a stranger, and a dangerous one, and he could never go home, however badly he might want to now that the rush of his anger had cooled.
“Yes,” he said, and stood, trying to appear nonchalant. “I’ll do that.”
Tseng watched him go, watched him vanish into the back hold. His dark eyes missed nothing of Kadaj’s upset, but things would be different now. He had won his prize, he had the Jewel he had always desired, and he would have him some time before circumstance or his own passions took the boy away.
For now, there was business still to be dealt with, and he made sure the boy was well away before he rose and crossed silently to the hold just behind the cockpit.
The black bag was still strapped in place along the side bench, the lock on the zipper intact. Tseng withdrew a tiny key and undid the latch, tossing the lock away. Slowly, he unzipped the black plastic and looked down at the body of Mei Li, still and white, robbed of her beauty by his very own demands.
Her face was soft, plump, her lips parted. She appeared to be merely sleeping, but he knew if he waited much longer she would certainly be too far gone for that.
He debated, looking down at her encased in that black bag. He remembered her as a ten year old, tiny and thin, brown from playing in the sun. She’d been a boy then, watching him with her big brown eyes, curious to see the young clerk who dared to come and visit his father.
Their father.
And what a glorious day it had been, when Tseng returned the heir changed beyond recognition, employed in a House of Pleasure, pure blood brought low by the bastard son he had displaced.
What victory that had been, and Mei Li had always served him well.
And she would continue to do so.
Tseng reached into his suit pocket and withdrew a tiny vial. He opened her softly parted lips and slid his finger beneath her tongue, lifting it to let the fine powder dust over the membrane below, instantly effective.
Slowly, she came to life below him, the paralyzing effect of the drug he’d given her wearing off. She shed her coma like a snake sheds its skin – slowly, in long tendrils, the awareness only dimly lighting her eyes. He knew he could have misjudged, he could have had her remain unconscious too long, long enough that he’d damaged her brain – but that had been a chance he was willing to take.
“Mei Li,” he purred, and cupped her face, and she twitched with a fear she had never dared show. “Everything is fine, my beauty. You are well, and safe.”
“…Tseng…shifu…” her voice was a breath, raspy, needing a swallow of water to quench it. Her trembling hand worked its way out of the bag and she touched the fingers cupping her face, bright tears filling her eyes.
“I know,” Tseng said, and smiled down at her, for once without the touch of malice he always seemed to hold. He gently smoothed away her tears and crooned, “It is done, my beautiful flower – you have always served me well, Mei Li. And now yours is but to dream and breathe freely. I will keep that promise I made to you as a child. Do you remember?”
She nodded, the movement jerky, thinking he very likely meant to kill her.
“When we return to Wutai, Mei Li,” Tseng said. “You shall be Mistress of your own House, and do as you please for the rest of your days.”
He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cold forehead, his voice a caress as he breathed, “It is the least I can do for my own blood.”
In the back of the plane Kadaj stood surrounded by the shrouded cages of the exotic birds he’d stolen from
Lazard Deusericus was a collector of sorts. He didn’t collect baseball cards or phone numbers, though he had done both as a boy. No, now Lazard was a collector of information.
And he had information via Elena that rather baffled him, even after a day of hard work.
He’d always kept tabs on Rufus and knew through various sources about the discontent in the ShinRa household. There had been areas he’d overlooked, but to have before him what looked to be a plot of serious harm to Yazoo ShinRa was more than even Lazard had bargained for.
He looked at the sheet of paper written in scrawled, feminine hand. Rufus ShinRa, urging
What on earth could they be plotting, the ShinRa heir and his mobster-pimp friend?
He frowned and rechecked the Jenova holdings in Wutai, but came up with the same information – property titles to a few textile mills and warehouses for holding excess shipment. They were token holdings, merely a way to keep Cetran presence visible within Wutai and nothing more.
So what did Rufus and
He frowned, puzzling over it. He was loathe to move too quickly before he had the full picture, but one thing was certain – the ShinRa name must be protected, at all costs. If Rufus and
“Rufus, you are such a terrible nuisance,” he sighed, and flipped his phone open to dial a much-used number.
“’lo?”
“Something strange is happening,” Lazard purred. “I want you to keep a closer eye on Rufus, especially where
“Will do, Sir,” Denzel said. “I’m here all hours now anyway. I liked it better when he was lazy.”
Lazard smirked and told him, “I’ll have your pay increased, just remember your obligation to the ShinRa family.”
“Always, Sir,” Denzel said, and Lazard could hear the amusement in his young voice when he added, “Even when he’s yarking over a drunk!”
Lazard laughed and purred, “Goodnight, Denzel,” and hung up his phone.
“Gods punish me should I ever decide to make that journey again!” Genesis declared, falling into a dramatic, exhausted pose against the car as their bags were loaded. It was a cool night, and Midgar was at its finest – the streets thronged with crowds out seeking a good time.
“You reserved the same suites for next year, right?” Yuffie inquired.
“Darling, of course!” Genesis laughed, opening the car door to gesture her inside. He smiled at Reeve and winked, which Reeve wasn’t really sure how to take. He wasn’t as reconciled to this boyfriend business as everyone seemed to think he was, he was just focused on other things – namely, the painting he wanted to get started.
He slipped into the car after Genesis, watching the members of the man’s constant entourage grab cabs as they could, the parasites.
“I feel like hitting the clubs,” Yuffie said, yawning widely, the jostle of the moving car making her slender body rock from side to side. When Genesis laughed at her, she said, “I’ll get my second wind, don’t you worry!”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Genesis said, laughing. He draped his arm over her shoulders and squeezed her close. “We’ll hit the Brink? Or should we try our luck along the dock bars tonight?”
“Oh! We totally should!” Yuffie squealed, bouncing. She leaned up to look at the withdrawn painter and asked, “Are you coming, Reeve?”
He was spared his answer by none other than Genesis himself. The graceful director ruffled Reeve’s hair and said to Yuffie, “Not this time – Reeve has something on his mind. No doubt, he wants to head straight to his studio, right, darling?”
Reeve gaped at him, astounded by the man’s easy reading of him. But Genesis, too, was an artist – he would recognize that creative fire in another. Still, that didn’t keep Reeve from blushing as he stammered, “Y…yes, that’s right. My studio.”
“Aw, you’re no fun!” Yuffie cried, but then glued herself to the window, breathlessly asking, “Ohmygods! Is that the new Costan model for Flair?”
“What? Where?” Genesis gasped, and added his own face to Yuffie’s at the far window, both of them searching the crowded streets while Reeve silently thanked the Gods that he was not now, nor would ever be driven by an overwhelming sense of fashion like his two companions.
The moment they landed,
“You look like you’re about to drop,” he teased, and laughed when she gave him a flat look – but she did look exhausted, and Reno was sure it wasn’t just the long flight that had worn her out, because he’d had more than a hand in it.
“I am a little tired,” she admitted, her silver hair mussed and her eyes shadowed, but the look suited her. “I’m sorry, I’ll only be a moment more – I wanted to find my phone…”
“Take your time,”
His phone chirped, and under the circumstances he had no choice but to answer it – there was no avoiding the caller forever, and it was better to just get it over with.
“Hey, baby, I got a business call, you wait in the car when you’re done,” he called, walking farther from the private jet towards the hangar. He flipped the phone open, but he didn’t say hello.
“
“
“
“Yeah,”
“I believe we both got something out of that situation,” Sephiroth said. “But that doesn’t explain why my sister has become acquainted with him when you were given specific directions to keep him away from her.”
“Kadaj is a bit of a wild card,”
“Do you?” the man asked, amused. “
“Don’t get pissy,”
“Listen to me, you degenerate ingrate,” Sephiroth hissed. “I will not lose the throne to a half-Chechislanian whelp, do you understand me?”
“I promise you,
“You won’t,”
“What a fucking mess,” he breathed, and tried to call Kadaj, but the number was inexplicably disconnected, leaving him equal parts furious and alarmed.
He trotted to the car and got inside, sliding in next to
He knew he would do it, even as he looked down at her silver hair. He felt the warmth of her body against his side, the soft press of her small but perfect breasts, the slender curve of her waist, and he knew that he was going to hurt her in the worst kind of way.
Because he’d made a promise, and Rufus knew him far too well –
But he would try to make it quick and painless, and hope that she would not be too far gone to save in the aftermath.
Rude arrived scant hours before
Whatever may come, Rude was going to do his duty by his country. He was going to do what he’d come to do, regardless, and return to the people who needed him. The passage was already booked, his few things were already packed and on their way. His apartment was wiped clean of everything, and a crew was coming to sanitize it as soon as he left. The car would end in the ocean where the salt would quickly rust it, but it, too, was clean in any case.
In all of these years, whenever he had left her side to go do as his nature dictated, he had never once been caught or held in suspicion. Rudolph Doležal was, above all else, a professional.
He left his apartment and placed the call that would bring the cleaners. With that taken care of, he made his noiseless way down to the car and headed for the home of the woman he had protected all of these long, silent years.
“Hey, Marlene! Is
Marlene didn’t even look back over her shoulder at Denzel, she just said, “If she was, wouldn’t I be heading home right now? She called me from the plane, they should be arriving in Midgar within the hour, if they aren’t already here.”
Denzel came alongside her, his hands shoved into his pants pockets and his shoulders rolled forward in a slouch.
“And stand up straight!” Marlene scolded, unlocking the door to
“He keeps me all hours anymore,” Denzel complained, and shot a shifty glance down towards Rufus’s suite. When Marlene opened the door, Denzel moved to follow her in, but the teen stopped him, saying, “What do you think you’re doing? Go away!”
“Let me in for a second,” Denzel urged her, his expression earnest. “I got something important to tell you.”
Confused, Marlene stopped barring his way and allowed him to come into
“Marlene,” he started. “I don’t wan you to get all angry and girlie on me, okay? I’m just telling you what I know.”
“Which is?” she asked, her tone testy. She stopped in her work and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Look, Mrs. ShinRa is in a load of trouble,” he said, and the seriousness of his tone made Marlene less skeptical of him. “Mister ShinRa and Mister Reno are planning something where she’s concerned, and it ain’t going to be good.”
“P…planning something?” she echoed, bewildered. “I could believe it of Rufus, but
“No better way to get close,” Denzel interrupted, and Marlene was surprised at how adult he sounded, how knowledgeable.
“Are you sure about this?” she weakly asked, starting to worry about how she would break the news to
“Mister Deusericus has got a paper outlining some might suspicious talk,” Denzel said, “He asked me to keep a watch on things, and I need your help for that.”
“Oh my,” Marlene breathed, shocked to know that the Vice-President of ShinRa was personally behind this. On the heels of that was sudden disbelief, and she hissed, “You’re lying to me!”
“I don’t care if you don’t believe me,” Denzel shot back, irritated with her. “Just let me know if something crazy starts to happen, okay? Mister Deusericus wants to know, so he can help.”
She glared at him, but his surety was disconcerting.
“Does she keep a journal or anything?” Denzel pressed. “Maybe Mister Reno has already hinted at what he’s wanting – ”
“Her journal is her private business!” Marlene flared, and started shoving him towards the door. “Get out! Get out, I said!”
“I mean it, Marlene, anything weird – ”
“I’ll text you,” she snapped, and got him out the door, closing it and firmly locking it.
But as she turned on the lights and got things ready to welcome
And she was definitely feeling unsettled right now.
“Oh, I wish I’d never seen this place again,”
“Fine, Cateyes,” he breathed, shaking his head a bit. “Here, let me help you in.”
“You don’t have to,”
The man gave him a rueful smile and said, “About all kinds of things, baby – but never about you.”
“Will you…will you come and see me again?” he asked, shyly, afraid that he was breaking some unspoken rule of affairs.
“Before you know it,”
Not exactly reassured,
“Hey, can I help you with that?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, a smile on his handsome face. “I’m Cloud Strife, a reporter for FLASH! I came to talk to you about something. Don’t worry – the guards frisked me on my way in the gate and your husband okayed me through. Do you have a moment?”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry, please excuse me,”
“Oh, no, I don’t need to interview you,” Cloud said, taking
“He’s a little unsure what to do right now,” Cloud confided, offering his arm as they skimmed up the many stairs to the front door. “He made a claim and tells me it had its start with you…Mrs. ShinRa, please understand that I hold your confidence in the highest regard. I’m not here as a reporter, but as a friend.”
“Please, Mister Strife,” he softly said. “I beg you – do not take advantage of my naivety.”
“I would never,” Cloud solemnly swore.
“Come inside,”
He went straight to Rufus’s suite and let himself in, heading to the man’s little-used home office.
Surprisingly, Rufus himself was there, bent over paperwork on his desk. He was taken aback to see
“
“I need to use your computer,”
“Yes,” Rufus said with great relish, standing up to gesture at his empty seat. “Help yourself. Finally ready, are we?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,”
“I’ll put them in the bathroom personally,” Rufus said, gloating to be so close to his prize. With a laugh of delight, the man quit the room, leaving
With a tight, unhappy frown,
But
As the photos printed, he went to the bathroom and quickly showered, changing into a clean suit and brushing his teeth. He wasn’t sure why it mattered to him to look alright when he did this to
He went back to the study and collected the photos, separating the copies into two piles. The first he folded into thirds and slid into his jacket pocket, the other he kept carefully flat. He disconnected the camera and cleared its memory, and then removed the memory chip and set his lighter to it until it fell as a stinking, charred lump into Rufus’s ashtray. Only once that was done did he shove his way angrily through Rufus’s suite, determined to do this quickly and get it over with…and maybe, just maybe, be able to salvage some of what he had with Yazoo once the dust cleared.
As he left, Denzel emerged from the entertainment room and watched the door slam behind him. Frowning, the boy slid his phone out of his pocket and dialed Lazard, saying, “Sir, I think you’d best come.
Lazard’s smooth, calm voice soothingly said, “I’m on my way.”
Only once they were on the stairs up to the second floor did
After a long silence, Cloud said, “I think he believes that, too…
“Mister Strife, you have no idea what this would mean to my family if Kadaj was our lost heir,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “You have no idea what it would mean to me to find him…I want to bring him home, to make up to him all of the years he lost away from the family…I…”
“I understand,” Cloud softly said. May I come in? You can tell me anything you wish, you have my word that I won’t speak of it. We can talk awhile, and I can get that sample I need to make sure that we’re all on the right track.”
Cloud grinned crookedly, looking even younger than he surely was, and said, “I think I can live with that. Let’s go inside, so I can put your bag down. And can I just say, you must have your entire wardrobe in here!”
Marlene went into
She didn’t even admit to herself that Denzel’s stupid ideas were affecting her. But as she turned down the sheets she spied
She furtively opened the drawer and shuffled through magazines and paperbacks, change and invitations. She was angry with herself for doing this. It was tantamount to treachery, because
“Damn it!” she said, furious wit Denzel for manipulating her into this stupidity, but more angry with herself for giving into her own hysterics. She pushed her hands through her brown-blond hair in frustration and blinked back shamed tears.
“This is insane!” she breathed, outraged. With a determined set of her jaw, she said, “I am not doing this!”
Bolstered once more, Marlene turned sharply and headed for the door…
And promptly paused in startled terror when she heard
Dismayed, she glanced helplessly around the bedroom, knowing she was trapped.
Cloud was elated as he left
His elation fell a little flat, however, when he ran into
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I had something of a private nature to discuss with
“You ain’t got any kind of personal business with
“Wow, how tyrannical of you,” Cloud scoffed, but he had no reason to antagonize
“You need to get lost,”
“Alright,” Cloud said, and smiled a little. “Don’t get grumpy. I got what I came for – have a nice night.”
“Thanks,”