Story [Final Fantasy VII] Wavering Certainty--Angst, Tseng, Post-CC, One-Shot

Title: Wavering Certainty
Genre: Angst
Timeframe: Immediately after the end of Crisis Core
Characters: Tseng, brief appearances by Cissnei and Reno
Summary: Tseng recollects on the time he has spent with the Shinra Company while waiting for a possibly tragic call.
Author's Note: This was originally posted on ff.net, so if you've seen it there, it isn't stolen.

Warning: A major spoiler for Crisis Core if you haven't played the game. However, if you have played the main game and know which of Cloud's friends died before the start of Final Fantasy VII, then you're good.

~*~*~*~

Wavering Certainty

It?s been raining for awhile now. It pounds across the plate like a thousand stomping feet uncertain where to run. The gray sky overhead is heavy with foreboding, just searching for a place to relieve some of its burden. Why it always seems to choose here I will never know. Perhaps it is just the curse of the Shinra.

AVALANCHE probably thinks it?s one step in the Planet?s revenge.

I hope the Planet does not go much further in its quest for vengeance though, I am certain that I am to discover myself caught in the crosshairs at that final showdown. Though death does not frighten me much, fending off an entire planet has never made my list of preferred methods for my inevitable demise.

It appears to be coming down faster now.

Mako green lights dance through the puddles, reflecting across every ripple in their surfaces. A soft breeze blows water into my face, filling my eyes and dripping off my nose. There only ever seems to be one reason why it rains anymore and it is a reason that I am never proud to share.

Someone died today.

Back in Wutai, I heard once that clouds are more like people than we can possibly imagine. They have a great burden to bear, one so heavy that there comes a time when they feel lead to release it upon us, like a person harboring the wound of a dear friend?s death to the breaking point and beyond. There is only so much that a person can take, and clouds are not so unlike us. Rain falls like tears.

Today is no different. Water cascades down on us, drenching our clothing and washing us clean. Almost as though the clouds are weeping for the injustices I have caused as a counterpart for this company ? if it is even truthful to call it such anymore.

Though I do not know if clouds really cry, I think that, on a day such as this, they make an exception.

I am not certain who has passed, though I have my suspicions. An innocent SOLDIER is fighting for survival in the wastelands, striving only to see the girl he loves one last time, and the only thing that I can do is to wait here for information to be forwarded my way. There is nothing else that I can do to help him.

This is not a job for me, but a job for my fellow Turks. There are too many eyes on me, waiting for me to place one foot outside of the fine line I tread, for me to offer the young man anymore aide than that of my top subordinates. They are the very best that I can give in a situation where so much is at stake, not just his life, but also the morale of the company. Many, myself and my fellow Turks included, are starting to lose faith in the path Shinra is marching on. It began with the destruction of small villages and then the creation of monsters to further Shinra?s use and the people?s necessity of the company, and from there it only continues to escalate. The few of us who rank high enough to know the truth are losing confidence in the place we have worked so painstakingly to erect over the years.

The corruption of this place runs deep, leaving a permanent aftertaste in my mouth. So deep, in fact, that the people in my company would not think twice about slaughtering one of their very own, even if he was once one of their most loyal employees.

It is nothing short of a disgrace.

There was a time when I was proud to carry the weight of the Shinra name, because it was a formidable and unadulterated addition to any self

 

I have never played a FF game in my life, but VII has a storyline that just clicks with me. For that reason, I've seen pretty much every single cutscene that has to do with VII and its spin-offs, and have watched Advent Children.

I love your decision to use first person. It really personalizes the whole vignette, making it very intimate, which is a pro here. Gorgeous, beautiful writing... the contemplations of what has been done were haunting.