Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

TWENTY-ONE

Reno shrugged. "Alrighty. She's wasting her time, though."

"Perhaps," Tseng replied. "But it's not our problem. In any case, she wants to check out the ruined reactor at Gongaga."

"That trash heap?" Reno wondered.

Tseng nodded. "The same. We'll be searching the other reactors as well, but it may take some time. As for you, Elena, you'll go with Reno and Rude and assist them however you can."

"Understood," she replied.

"Been wondering, sir," Rude went on. "About what Cloud and Tifa said back in the Mythril Mines. How you had a hand in what happened to Jessie's mom all those years ago. That true?"

Reno blinked. "Huh? I didn't know anything about that..."

"It's classified, but... yes," Tseng admitted.

"So it is true," Elena murmured.

Tseng gazed at his drink. "It's... not something I like to talk about. A mistake I made. One of several. But it can't be undone."

"Tell me about it," I muttered softly.

"That why we weren't part of it?" Reno asked.

Tseng sighed. "I didn't want you two involved. The general's orders never identified the target, only that the individual would be riding the train that day. I didn't find out who she was until afterward. And since we've taken so much from the planet already, I figured the accident was a way of giving back. But... perhaps not."

I looked away, the familiar ache of Mom's loss eating at my heart. I still missed her, but the regret in Tseng's voice had been unmistakable, though he'd done a pretty good job trying to hide it. I wasn't sure what to feel, really. He hadn't been directly responsible—my father had been the one to hit the switch—but he'd still played a part in it. As much as I wanted to hate him, though, I couldn't. With the reactor bombings and all I'd done at Shinra, I wasn't all that much different from him. Maybe, in time, I could forgive him. But not today.

Cloud tapped me softly on the shoulder, knowing what was on my mind, and we left the bar. We didn't say very much as we hurried down the rest of the street toward the docks. At one point, it crossed through an interior hall, a wide tunnel that stretched off to our left. A squad of soldiers was doing drills further down, so we kept going to avoid being caught up in it and missing the cargo ship.

The docks were just a short distance past the tunnel's exit. It wasn't too hard for us to find the right one—the rest of our squad was already there, and a few sailors were still busy loading the last of the cargo. We hurried over and got into formation with the other two soldiers just as Rufus and my father walked out of a nearby door.

"It's time!" the officer ordered. "President Rufus has arrived! Junon Military Reception—do it right, do it with enthusiasm!"

As Rufus and my father watched and the officer blew his whistle at every command one by one, we performed the send-off routine just as we'd practiced—a variety of turns and rifle movements done in unison. I'd been a little worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up, but it wasn't as hard as I'd thought, and we pulled it off nicely.

The officer pointed at us. "Now finish strong! Special!"

Right on cue, we all lifted our rifles, spun then in a circle overhead, then brought them down and held them ready in both hands, standing at attention and facing forward as we waited to see whether Rufus had enjoyed the show or not. Fortunately, it seemed as if he had, and after a moment or two, he nodded in approval.

"Well done," he said. "Keep up the good work for Shinra."

Heidegger walked up to us, another soldier at his side, and cackled like mad. "Here's a special bonus for each of you. Think of it as a token of the president's kindness. Don't forget it!"