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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
- 4
- 5
- 6
Warnings: none except Price still sucks

Chapter Three Part Two – Dirty Little Secret

Year 486
…Verdot had been on a solo mission somewhere in the Slums, and it had gone terribly wrong. The Turk Commander wasn’t coming back.
Rude was surprised at how many people were in attendance at the funeral. His typically solo missions in the Slums made it easy to forget how many people were actually members of the Department of Administrative Research, and even the Trainees were present, making the number of dark-suited individuals at the service a fairly large number. Many of the Soldiers had also shown up, standing somberly in their dress uniforms. It was rare that Turks were afforded funerals, since their bodies were hardly ever able to be recovered, but usually their services were only attended by the Department Head and small gatherings of close friends. This case, however, was different.
Verdot, despite his stern demeanor, had been well-liked and respected by his subordinates, and none of them wished to miss his memorial. Additionally, since he had been the Head of the Department, the funeral would serve as an informal change of command; Tseng stood by the casket at the wake, shaking hands with each Turk and Trainee as they filed by to pay their respects. The official story was that Verdot’s vehicle had been struck by a RPG, so no one questioned why it was the casket was closed. Rude, of course, knew better, and he was initially glad that everyone was used to seeing him in sunglasses now; they wouldn’t be able to tell that he wasn’t grieving like everyone else. He watched Tseng as he slowly moved forward in line, and it wasn’t until he realized that the new Head Turk had been crying that he realized that, dead or not, Verdot was truly gone. One of his first and most respected mentors would no longer be there to talk to and to learn from; now he was glad for the sunglasses because they his the tears that were building in his eyes.
Rude removed his sunglasses when he finally reached Tseng, extending a hand to shake the somber Turk’s hand. Tseng gazed steadily back at him, holding his hand a moment longer than necessary and giving it a brief squeeze before letting go. Rude nodded slightly; Verdot was, as he’d assumed, alive and well somewhere. It was only a small comfort, and he placed his sunglasses firmly back on his face before letting anyone else see the heartache there.

Life returned to normal after the funeral; Tseng assumed the mantle of command, which was more of a formality than anything, since he’d already taken over all of Verdot’s duties weeks prior. Vincent, as expected, was named Second-in-Command; however, since the gunman was still on extended assignment in Wutaii, Rude quickly found himself splitting many of the SiC duties with Cissnei and Elena. He was surprised to be given so much responsibility when he was still a very junior Turk, but he supposed it made sense in a way; Tseng had already proven that he trusted Rude with matters that no one else (except maybe Vincent) was privy to. This new level of responsibility meant that he heard instantly when their informant reported to Tseng again.
The first bit of information to be passed along was that Tanner was having troubles with his boyfriend, a man named Sim. Tseng didn’t recognize the name, and Rude was unable to come up with a face or any useful information to match it, so Tseng filed it away as unimportant for the time being. It might prove useful later on as leverage of some kind, but there wasn’t anything the Turks could really do with it for the moment.
The more disturbing piece of information was that Tanner was beginning to eye the Turks as a serious threat. The informant wasn’t able to discover why, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Tanner had someone on the inside passing him information about ShinRa: the informant had found documents detailing executive schedules, troop strengths, and budgeting information. The budget info was initially passed over as a non-concern, but Rude was quick to point out that budgets could easily lead to payroll estimates. Information about the Turks was highly classified within the company and very few people had access to their payroll, but the Department of Administrative Research was listed on the monthly budget reports just like every other department in the company. The average citizen might not know to equate the Department with the Turks, but Tanner certainly did. It wouldn’t take a genius to compare Soldier budgets to Turk budgets, and to then use that as a basis for using known troop strengths to estimate the number of active Turks.
The positive side was that Tanner didn’t appear to have any plans for acting against the Turks yet, but Tseng was all too aware of how quickly things like that could change. He immediately raised the alert level for all Turks working below the Plate, telling them only that the Bloodletting was estimated to be drawing near, and he didn’t want anyone caught unawares in any infighting in the organization. With all of the Turks being more cautious, they were less likely to set the volatile Reaper off on some sort of rampaging bloodbath.

That summer passed in a slow monotony for Rude. By mid-summer, the various criminal organizations and gangs in the Slums had started catching on to the fact that the Reaper was planning on stepping down soon, and the Turks found themselves with their hands full trying to contain the rising criminal activity and gang violence that was slowly building below the Plate. With the extra workload, Rude found himself spending less and less time at home and with Price, and it was well into Autumn before he realized that something was wrong.
It started with the late hours. Rude came home fairly late every night, but there were many nights when he would return home to discover that his boyfriend wasn’t there yet. At first he assumed that Price was just staying late at the office slogging his way through paperwork, but when he discovered that several newly-graduated Turks were sharing the workload on the backed-up paperwork, Rude began to suspect that something else was going on. He had never dated seriously in high school, so Rude didn’t have any personal experience with bad relationships, but he heard enough sob storied in the cafeteria – both in high school and here at ShinRa – that he immediately started to worry if Price was seeing someone else.
When he returned home one evening to a brand new TV and sound system, he began to wonder if something else was going on. Price made the same amount of money that he did, and it wasn’t enough to buy that kind of quality electronics. He stood in the livingroom for several long minutes, staring blankly at the new entertainment system. There was nothing in the Turk contract prohibiting outside jobs; many of the Turks had little side jobs of one kind or another, usually something simple like selling small crafts that they made as hobbies. Jobs of that sort, however, weren’t enough to pull in this sort of gil. Rude sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. ‘Maybe he’s just been saving up for a while. A long while. Without telling me. And he surprised me with it without bothering to be here for the surprise.’ He didn’t have to review his thoughts to know how improbable that scenario was. Unfortunately, a new entertainment system wasn’t something worth bringing to Tseng… especially when Rude was the person in the best position to keep a closer eye on Price anyway. He shook his head, aggravated, and resolved to ask Price about it as soon as the blonde returned home.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Price didn’t show up that night.

Fortunately – or unfortunately – the opportunity to ask him presented itself at lunch the next day. In a rare occurrence, both Turks were able to take lunch at the same time. Rude was out of the field for the day while Cissnei kept an eye on things, and Price was, as usual, in the office doing paperwork, so the two decided to take an extended lunch together and visit a nearby café that they were both fond of. It was a pleasant day, sunny and cool, so they elected to sit outside, something that Rude quickly found himself grateful for. He waited until they’d both ordered and gotten their drinks before asking about the TV, making sure that there wouldn’t be any interruptions for a while.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice that our old TV and speakers have disappeared…” Price laughed, taking a sip of his water and leaning back in his chair, and Rude found himself briefly distracted by the sight. It was easy to forget how open and cheerful Price had been when they first met, and the sight of Price’s old smile was bittersweet when Rude considered how far apart they’d grown, and how suspicious he now was of his partner.
“Yeah, I figured you’d ask about that. I’ve been saving up for a while, but I wasn’t anywhere near having enough for the new set yet. My dad called me out of the blue the other day though, to ask what I wanted for my birthday. I mentioned the TV, but I didn’t actually expect him to say yes. Weird, huh?”
Rude nodded slightly, confused. It was weird. Price didn’t talk with his parents very often, unlike Rude, who spoke to his mother almost every night on the phone. Price’s father worked for the company as a banking executive, so he certainly had the money to buy his son whatever he wanted, but it wasn’t the sort of thing he ever really did. Rude shrugged though, and let it go. It was a plausible enough explanation anyway, and maybe Price’s father just wanted to establish a better relationship with his son; people did that sometimes as they got older, he guessed.
Their conversation inevitably turned to work after that, and they chatted comfortably for a while, while they ate their meals. Rude relaxed, deciding that he must have been mistaken about Price’s odd behavior, and so he was caught completely off guard when Price began talking about Reno and the Reaper.
“…I mean, you still keep an eye on the kid, right? He’s still just your average, filthy brat, why the hell would the Reaper ever show a personal interest in him? There are plenty of other little rats running around down there just like him.” Rude tensed imperceptibly, glad that they were sitting in the sun and that he was wearing his sunglasses. Price still harbored a dislike and prejudice against Reno that Rude found unreasonable and frustrating, but what really shook him was Price’s reference to Tanner’s interest in the boy. No one was supposed to know about that except himself, Tseng, Cissnei, and Elena. It wasn’t common knowledge that Tanner was watching him, and Price hadn’t been involved in any missions below the Plate that would have clued him in.
Stricken, Rude let Price keep talking, hiding behind his usual silence to pretend that he hadn’t caught the slip. It was soon time to head back to work, and they rode back to the ShinRa building in silence. Rude focused on regulating his breathing to hide his tension, keeping his hands relaxed on the steering wheel, and Price rode along beside him relaxed and unconcerned, oblivious to the anxiety hidden in his boyfriend’s posture.
The drive was quick, and Price stretched lazily when he got out. “You headed back up to the office?” Rude nodded quietly. “I’ve got to head over to the Tech Lab for a little bit; I’ll be up in a while.”
Rude nodded again, watching him as he left before turning and heading in to the elevator. The ride up to the Turk floor felt like the longest ride of his life. Of all the people in the company, he hadn’t expected Price to be the one to turn up as the mole, but there wasn’t any other explanation for it. None of the Turks who were ‘in the loop,’ so to speak, would ever dare talk about Reno’s situation to anyone else, not even another Turk. Rude supposed that Tseng could have told Price, but it didn’t make sense that the Head Turk would have done so, especially without telling the people on Reno’s case. Rude’s thoughts ran in panicked circles, and he felt ill by the time the elevator stopped. His feet carried him to Tseng’s office without conscious thought, and he froze for a long moment, staring at the door.
He closed his eyes, wishing he didn’t have to do this, and then he took a deep, steadying breath, and knocked.

A/N:
I dislike Price a little more every time I write something about him.
I have a general outline for the next part, just need to organize my thoughts and make a few decisions before typing it up.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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