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Snapshot	By : crystalwind Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 682 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Warnings: A little bit of language, and Price is a biiitch!

Chapter Three – Everything That Matters

Year 486
That evening in the office marked the first in a series of issues that Rude began having with Price, which followed him through Solstice and into the next year. Price’s derisive attitude towards Reno – so nicknamed by his new “family” – persisted, and it soon became obvious that he wasn’t exactly a fan of the team’s new mission to tail the boy.
It started with excuses to wander off during their missions: he would get hungry and offer to go grab food for both of them; he would suddenly have to make “emergency” trips to the bathroom… the excuses were varied and never-ending. Over time, he began coming up with excuses to avoid the missions all together; since it was a fairly simple stakeout mission, and there were Turks available for backup all over the Slums, there wasn’t a lot of concern about leaving Rude alone on the job, and Price didn’t seem to have any qualms about abandoning his partner in favor of “doctor’s appointments,” “important errands,” or even simply doing paperwork back at the office. When this behavior persisted for several months, Rude finally confronted him about it; Price simply shrugged. “I didn’t join the Turks to follow some dirty rat around the Slums; if they’re going to waste my skills on that kind of bullshit, then I may as well just stay here and do paperwork instead,” and with that, Price turned back to the form in front of him, effectively ignoring his partner. Rude clenched his fists, grit his teeth, and walked out.
Tseng sighed. “Unfortunately, we do need someone to keep up the paperwork. We’re still operating on a high optempo, most of the teams haven’t had time to submit anything beyond initial reports, and it’s turning into a backlog. If you’re fine with continuing to work on your own, I’ll just set him to working on those reports. So long as we schedule you to be on-site when there are other teams working in the area, it shouldn’t be an issue.” Rude nodded; he’d been working on his own for the majority of the missions anyway, so it wouldn’t be much different now. At least this way he wouldn’t have to worry about Price walking around the Slums on his own.

For quite some time, Rude’s days were taken up by watching Reno perfect his skills as one of the Slums’ numerous delinquents. The boy’s first lesson, pickpocketing, was the first of many: he learned how to break into homes without leaving a trace; how to climb walls and maneuver the jungle gym maze of the Slums; how to fight and how to shoot; how to kill. He learned what information was important to which people, and what material was best used for blackmail; his brilliant mind and seemingly perfect memory lent him an attention to detail that put others to shame. By the time he turned thirteen, he had developed a full set of skills that would make even a senior Turk envious. Rude was astounded at how quickly he learned, and he was often chagrined to remember his own training and how much longer some of the same tasks had taken him to master.
As he observed the young teen, Rude also began to take note of the people around him. The other teens that comprised the gang were fairly average, so far as Slums inhabitants were concerned. Their leader, Mel, had a knack for drawing people together and a caring manner that was unusual to see, and the gray-haired Sonny had a sharp mind that would make him an excellent information runner someday – if he survived the Gang Wars long enough to move on – but beyond that they were mostly unremarkable, and Rude began to watch people in the background.
He began to notice several people who were almost always in the gang’s vicinity, watching surreptitiously just as he was doing. They tended to be older, most likely in their early to mid-twenties, and Rude began to suspect that one of the city’s larger criminal organizations was looking to recruit new members. It wasn’t until he noticed one return ‘customer’ in particular, a man with hair and eyes so dark they were nearly black, that he began to realize that it was the Reaper who was recruiting.
“It’s definitely him.” Tseng sighed, staring down at the Rude’s surveillance photos and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We’re spread thin as it is, especially with Vincent’s crew on extended assignment in Wutai, but I’ll assign Cissnei and Elena to rotate shifts with you. I’ll start working with you on shifts part time as well.” He frowned, rearranging the photos into a neat stack. “Sit down.”
Rude complied, curious. Tseng had never confronted him about overhearing the conversation with Verdot, and the older department head had been out of the office a great deal lately; ostensibly keeping a personal watch on Tanner. Rude suspected otherwise, since Tanner was spending most of his time watching Reno, and Rude had never spotted Verdot anywhere in the vicinity. Tseng, as a result of Verdot’s absence, had been taking over the majority of the work that the department head was usually responsible for. Rude didn’t know if that was what Tseng wanted to talk to him about – he somewhat doubted it – but he did know that for the overworked second-in-command to take extra time to speak with him meant that it was extremely important. He wasn’t disappointed.
“I’m concerned that we might have a mole in our department.” Rude was shocked. Who in their right mind would work as a double agent against the Turks? Tseng sat back in his chair, watching Rude carefully. “So far my concern is only based on some unsettling coincidences, but in this business, coincidence usually isn’t. I have our informant trying to confirm, but for now, I need another set of eyes on the department. I know you have a full schedule already with keeping an eye on Reno, but this is a delicate situation, and I already know from past experience that you can be trusted with it.”
Rude was stunned. He had never told Price about Tseng and Verdot’s conversation, but he hadn’t realized that Tseng knew that. The level of trust that the quiet second-in-command was placing in him was immense, and Rude didn’t know whether he should be honored by it or extremely concerned.
Tseng noted Rude’s reactions carefully, his ability to read the man’s minute facial expressions a skill honed through years of experience. What he saw pleased him; he now knew for certain that Rude had never spoken of the conversation with anyone, not even his partner and lover. It was difficult to find someone even amongst the Turks with that level of commitment and discretion, and he decided to continue with the rest of his news.
“One more thing. Since you’ve spotted Tanner watching Reno so often, it should come as no surprise that he’s planning on sending the boy an Invite. This in itself is not unusual – it’s not often that people from outside the Lich are invited, but it does happen from time to time – but it’s not normal for the Reaper to show so personal an interest in someone unless that person is a favorite to succeed him. We already know from your reports that Reno is a highly skilled individual, and that he stands a good chance of coming out on top when the Bloodletting begins; this means that our window of opportunity to recruit him is closing quickly. I’ve discussed this with Verdot, and we’ve decided to let it be.
Reno is still a bit young to assimilate into the normal ranks of the department, and being put into such a leadership position will give him the time to grow and gain some much needed maturity before we attempt to recruit him. There will be other “logistical” issues to deal with, since this could mean having two Reapers step down in a very short period of time, but with how badly Tanner has mismanaged the organization anyway, there’s not much more that can be done to destabilize it. With any luck, Reno will be as gifted in administrative work as in field work, and he’ll manage to put the Lich back on track to stability before we make our move.”
Rude nodded. It made sense to wait to recruit the boy; the Lich was an importance part of keeping the society below the Plate from imploding into anarchy, and Tanner’s poor decisions were leading to a dangerous situation for the entire city. If Reno could learn some responsibility while at the same time helping to bring the situation below the Plate back under control, then there was no reason to pull him out of the Slums now. “You want me to keep this quiet, I assume?”
Tseng nodded sharply. “If there is a mole in our department, then they’ll find out on their own. I’m not asking you to devote every waking second to scrutinizing your counterparts, but keep a sharp eye and ear out. You’ve been around long enough now to have gotten used to everyone’s personalities and idiosyncrasies; now I just need you to keep an eye out and see if anyone is behaving abnormally. Listen closely to any rumors surrounding the current optempo, and anything involving Reno or the Reaper specifically. Note who’s spreading the rumors, and who’s listening to them, and report back to me. You don’t need to make a scheduled report, just keep me informed if you think you’ve found anything.”
Rude nodded again. Learning to pick out important information from surrounding conversations was a skill that all Trainees were supposed to learn; while Rude wasn’t the best at it, his normally quiet and relaxed demeanor made it easy for people to forget he was there, so he was fairly well-suited to eavesdropping. Eying his subordinate one last time to ensure that he knew what was expected of him, Tseng gave a curt nod of dismissal, turning back to the seemingly never-ending stack of paperwork on his desk.

With his time consumed by watching Reno and keeping a close eye on his peers, Rude found it easy to push Tseng and Verdot’s conversation to the back of his mind. It was with quite some surprise, therefore, that he returned to the ShinRa building one day to find the department in disarray, the other members of the Turks in varying states of shock and mourning. Verdot had been on a solo mission somewhere in the Slums, and it had gone terribly wrong. The Turk Commander wasn’t coming back.

A/N:
This isn’t really where I wanted to end this chapter, but it took me so long just to type four paragraphs that I figured I’d better post what I’ve got, lest I leave you guys with an even longer hiatus. The good news is, I have a detailed outline for what I want to happen next. It will probably be another very short chapter (since this is only about half of what I’d wanted to write), but it’ll wrap up a couple of loose ends that I have flapping right now, and push the story ahead into the time period where Reno takes over as the Reaper.
On a completely separate topic, I started reading some FFVIII Squall/Seifer fics this week, and it makes me wish I was more connected to that universe; I’d love to write some S/S fics :p If any of you are interested in that sort of thing, Defining Love by DB2020 is a really great story that I’ve found :)
Reviews!
NeireG – Oh, I guess that AN was probably a bit confusing. I was just pointing out some big differences between the game’s storyline and mine (i.e., certain characters are in the wrong timeframe, Vincent was in a coffin for 30 years during the game and wasn’t during my story, etc). I actually haven’t even decided yet if I want Vincent in my story to be pre-experiment Vincent, or if I want him to have all his demons intact. It hasn’t come up in the story yet, fortunately, so I still have time to decide lol. I’ll probably make him post-experiment Vincent, and just twist his back-story around a bit… Thanks for the review!
Oh! I need your guys’ help!!! I almost forgot :( I’m considering making a huge change to Reno’s background from The Reaper. It won’t affect the outcome of that story or this one, and it won’t actually appear until a little later in Fallen, but it’s a pretty significant twist I think, and I’m worried that it might be a little too much to change. So, I was wondering if there’s someone out there who wouldn’t mind getting a possible spoiler, and hearing out my thoughts on what I want to change. I actually wouldn’t mind a Beta-ish person, actually, both to point out errors and to listen to me ramble about plot ideas and help kick my ass into gear when I take a ridiculously long time to update. If anyone’s interested, please PM me!!!
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