shinra siblings [ angel&ockeroid ]

[a feast for the seaweeds]

The death of President Shinra had hit Midgar like a ton of bricks. It was difficult to imagine one of the planet’s most influential autocrats in the state that he was — murdered by a psychotic lunatic, no less — and at such a crucial point in time for the electric company: they were one step closer to their dreams of creating a new Midgar in the Promised Land.

Such an accomplishment made up for the loss of their previous president, and almost every citizen failed to think of the assassination when the ex-president’s son took over as the new president of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Even ‘Shinra News’ found new material for their nightly news segments and the producers disposed of the story in a metal storage bin entitled ‘old news’. Everything was moving along smoothly. Everyone was in a state of euphoria.

Except Rakel could not make heads or tails of her feelings.

She had been especially close to her father, having no recollection of her mother ever being a part of her life. She was no stranger to the harrowing deeds that were approved by her father for the benefit of the family company, but she could never envision the man as being anything less than a loving father who just happened to resort to vile endeavors to support his family. It was the way he worked, and she certainly did not have the audacity to chide him with regard to his profession.

Still, she had no interest in pursuing a role in the company.

Rakel was seventeen, a senior in one of Midgar’s most prominent private schools, and a girl who harbored no interest in a corporate career. It was one of the reasons she had managed to avoid becoming a public phenomenon, as was a common occurrence in the Shinra family, yet she was not entirely unknown to the media.

Her doll-like appearance had — with the help of her father’s finances, of course— put her in a temporary modeling position . . . ‘temporary’ because at age ten she grew bored with cameras and people being in her face. It was around this time she decided she wanted to maintain a low profile, and upon pleading to her father he removed her from modeling and allowed her to spend her time on her studies.

To her dismay, the media never stopped referring to her as ‘Little Miss Shinra Girl’.

Neither did Reno.




Less than a month had passed since the former president passed away, yet Rakel was still too disturbed to go back to school. Fortunately, her teachers were caring enough (Rakel knew it had everything to do with her so-called ‘connections’) to send her assignments home. Elena, who had been her bodyguard since she joined the ranks of the Turks, had been the short-term link between Rakel and her school: Elena would visit the school and pick up Rakel’s assignments for each day. Rakel liked Elena. She had to be close to her own age, if not four or five years older, and they never had any confrontations.

Until now.

“Your teachers are concerned,” Elena said as she put a thick stack of papers on the table. It was late, almost ten o’clock when she finally clocked out, and she had missed every other opportunity to give Rakel her homework. “They say your grades are starting to drop.”

Rakel did not say a word.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Elena sat down next to Rakel. “Is something the matter? Are you still upset about your father?”

Rakel’s fingers clenched together.

Elena understood that as a resounding ‘yes’.

“Rakel, your father would want you to do well in school, would he not?”

Rakel continued to give Elena the silent treatment.

Frustrated, Elena stood up and began walking out of the waiting room located on the first floor in the corporation. “You know I hate to do this, but I have to tell Rufus. He’s your guardian now.”

Not even Rakel could remain silent at that threat.

“You wou—!” she began, but Elena cut her off.

“Oh, I would. And I will. It is my responsibility to keep an eye on you, and right now I am very disappointed.” Elena ignored Rakel’s protests and left the room, sure to make her way up to Rufus’s office to let him know how her grades were suffering.

Rakel muttered an ugly comment under her breath about Elena before she had the opportunity to leave.

 

[My Angel Is Broken]

The time since his father’s death had been spent reorganizing the infrastructure of the company into something of his own. Lay-offs were climbing in numbers as the newly appointed President closed some branches entirely, shifting funds into Weapons R & D more than anything else, an obvious sign of his vision for the company. Fear would persuade the sheep to flock around the Shinra Electric Power Company.

Currently busy shuffling through a mess of files atop the desk inherited from his father, cleansed of the blood and smell, Rufus endured a monotonous explanation from Tseng, relating to how the Turks really screwed up on the whole capturing of the flower girl front. There wasn’t really much Rufus cared to hear at this point. The search of the last Cetra would continue and Sephiroth moved his father out of the equation for him. The blame, of course, would still fall to Avalanche, for now.

Rufus’s mind went elsewhere as he was forced to think more on his next course of action. Only after Tseng bothered with a ahem did he realize the Turk leader was finished talking. His eyelids closed over his blue eyes a few times, blinking away the distraction.

“Sorry,” He started, before straightening his posture so he wasn’t quite so bent over his desk. “You’re dismissed. I’ll give you your orders later. Go home, if you’d like, but you’re on call.” Finally, he slumped back into the chair behind him, allowing his shoulders to relax into what might have been the most comfortable position he managed since before his father’s demise. His eyes closed. He never expected the transaction of his presidency to run smoothly, but the stress was beginning to show. The man looked tired.


“Sir.” Tseng spoke after his dismissal, turning only to abruptly bump into Elena. He wasn’t moving fast enough to knock the blonde over, but he did reach out in an effort to steady her balance. One hand at her elbow, the other closing over her own hand. His eyes looked to hers, and that was the extent of it. “Excuse me.” He released the fellow Turk and made his exit.

The minor shuffle of movement was still enough to catch Rufus’s attention. Suddenly, he remembered, as soon as his eyes fell upon Elena. His sister. On top of everything else, he was stuck with that spoiled, little, sister of his. His brow furrowed, anticipating something that he most certainly didn’t want to deal with. “Let me guess, it’s about Rakel?” The relationship, or lack thereof, he held with his sister was nothing he particularly cared to mend.

Father’s death put her in his custody and if only for the fact that they were family, he allowed it with not much of a complaint. He assumed it was only a matter of time before something came up. Rufus straightened out in the chair, but still not bothering to get up. He shifted himself and the chair with him up to the desk a bit more. At least making an attempt to look more professional. Meticulously, slowly, he began to gather the files and papers into something of a neat stack. He wondered now, why didn’t his secretary let him know someone was about to barge in.

He’d have to remember to fire her.

 

[a feast for the seaweeds]

It was no secret that Elena was one of the most uncoordinated members of the Turks, so it was no surprise that she almost stumbled into the President’s office as soon as the door opened. “God, not again.” The unfortunate part was that it really wasn’t even her fault. She had reached out to turn the doorknob, but before she had an adequate grasp the doorknob had turned on its own.

And now she was face-to-face with the root of her blunder.

Staring up at Tseng in what could only be described as a combination of embarrassment and bewilderment, Elena wanted to go hide in a roadside ditch. Tseng, being the leader of the Turks, was the last person she wanted to make a fool of herself in front of. And it certainly didn’t help that she felt warm and fuzzy whenever he was around.

“S-Sir,” she said, hating the way her voice stuttered at the last moment. It was one thing to see Elena trip every now and then, but it was rare for her to sound so unprofessional. She was acting like a doe-eyed high school girl who had just spotted her crush.

“And there goes my chances at advancement,” she said to herself, sighing inwardly as Tseng let her go and left the office room. Her brown eyes followed the tall man until she could no longer see him. There was a part of her that wanted to go and apologize for her indecorous behavior, but she knew that would have to wait until another time. Unfortunately, she did not know when that time would be. They always seemed to be so busy that idle chitchat became an improbable situation. “Maybe I’ll see him if I go to the bar tonight.”

Let me guess, it’s about Rakel?

Rufus’s words had ripped her away from her thoughts, and she bowed slightly out of respect for the President. “I hope this isn’t a bad time?” she asked, straightening her posture as she made an attempt to redeem herself. The papers she had shown to Rakel -- those that had nothing to do with Rakel’s school assignments -- were still in her hands. It was a miracle she had not dropped them.

“As you are well aware, I have been going to Rakel’s school to pick up her assignments.” Elena paused for a moment, breaking eye contact with Rufus as she glanced down to the papers in her hands. The papers were a collection of comments regarding her work. Hesitantly, she took a few steps forward and offered the papers to Rufus. “This is a summary of how she had been doing.”

The papers began with positive comments: the student . . . has a well-depth vocabulary; can make a logical and persuasive argument; is pleasant and conducts herself with maturity. There were other positive comments, though what Elena seemed to be concerned with were the negative comments: the student . . . needs prodding; requires much encouragement; additional study and review could bring grade marks up; not working to capacity; has ability to do better work, but lacks determination. The last comment was circled with red ink: conference requested, please contact me.

Even Elena knew that no good would come out of this.




She had spent four minutes debating if she wanted to go chase after Elena. Rakel knew it would have been impossible to catch up with her now -- maybe she would have been lucky due to Elena’s maladroit tendencies -- but she had to do something. There was no point in sitting here waiting for the inevitable.

She had made it a few floors up before she saw Tseng. The corner of her lips crept up into a smile. Elena may have thought she was coy around the girl, but Rakel knew better. She could put two and two together. And it was so obvious, given how Elena could not keep her composure whenever Tseng was around.

“Excuse me, Mister Tseng,” she said with a bright, cheerful tone as she took a few steps closer. “I’m looking for Elena. Have you seen her, by any chance?”