ardwynna (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ardwynna) wrote,@ 2008-02-11 17:42:00 |
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Fic: Guardians (2/?) (Marriage!verse AU)
Title: Guardians: Decision
Characters: Sephiroth, OC (Ocean).
Rating PG
Word Count: 992
Cloud scrolled down to get the next file on the list, looking up addresses of next of kin. “We've got a William...” he began, clearly tiring. He checked one file then with a jerk brought up another to compare. “Dammit!”
“What is it?” Sephiroth groaned, massaging his forehead.
“Captain Dietrich kept her maiden name.”
“That's not so unusual, is it?”
Cloud shook his head. “Her husband was her wingman.”
It took a while to sink in. “Oh,” Sephiroth groaned again. “That boy.” Now he understood.
Cloud closed the files, exasperated. “I hate it when we screw up like this.”
Sephiroth leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling, wishing they weren't so damnably underhanded at the base right then. “Procedure dictates we inform the boy officially.”
“We already did.”
“For his mother.”
“Yeah, double blow, going up there and telling him what he already knows.”
“It's got to be done, Strife.” Sephiroth couldn't even muster his usual glare. “I always did know you didn't have the heart for the ugly parts of soldiering.”
“What I don't have is the patience for these... these secretarial fuck-ups!” Cloud slammed both hands down on the keypad, sending the display screen crazy. He didn't have it in him to sustain the rage. “We just ended that boy's whole world, Sephiroth, and we didn't even realize it.”
Sephiroth thought of the little ones he had left at home, safe behind his custom-designed security system, under their mother's eyes. Cloud was probably thinking of his own brood. Sephiroth stood. Family may have softened him some, but he knew duty and was well-accustomed to pushing softness aside.
“I'll do it.”
“You'd better,” Cloud grumbled. “You started it.”
Sephiroth made his way back to the boy's class but it was long over. A quick check of the likely spots proved fruitless. The boy wasn't in the training areas, the cafeteria or even the little alley behind the gym where the kids sometimes liked to sneak for a covert fuck or a beer. Fruitless and futile. Sephiroth found himself wandering the corridors in the half-dark hoping the kid didn't have one of the more unhealthy ways of coping.
He felt a shifting of the dim light as he passed the chapel door. One glance confirmed it. Sephiroth put little stock in the semi-spiritual movement that had sprung up after Geostigma's cure but it had become a widespread movement, enough so that most institutional buildings made a space where people could sit silently and commune with Gaia as they saw fit. Even Sephiroth had to admit it was one of the less obtrusive ways of dealing.
The boy was near the center of the circle, on his knees, head bowed. He moved slowly at the sound of Sephiroth entering, but did not turn fully. Sephiroth stood quietly behind him, letting the boy gather himself or complete his meditation or whatever it was. The skylight above showed a sky fast turning dark.
Sephiroth sighed. “I'm sorry.”
“It's not your fault, sir,” the boy said quietly. “They were fighter pilots. We all knew this could happen.”
Sephiroth couldn't make the official speech in the face of that foreknowledge. Prepared from the start. Many of the younger military parents were. Frankly Sephiroth had not thought Capt. Dietrich was old enough for a kid this big, not at any decent age, but again, pilots. Compared to the rest of the armed forces, they fucked like weasels, bred like rabbits and died like flies.
“Will you be alright?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you need me to get you a ride home?”
The boy shook his head. “Thank you, Sir, but I think I'll stay in the dorms tonight.”
Sephiroth frowned. “Are you sure? Is there anyone I can call for you?”
“There's no one, sir,” the boy shook his head. The blond spikes bobbed with the motion. Had it been a less somber occasion Sephiroth would have been tempted to make a crack at Cloud's expense.
Instead he felt nothing but a rare sinking sensation inside. “Did your parents not indicate who would be responsible for you in such an event?” Fleet members were usually good at planning for such things.
The boy exhaled heavily. “They were Bumblebees too, Sir.”
Ah. There went those plans, right down the toilet. “What happens to you now?” Sephiroth asked, even though he already knew.
“I'll be a Ward of the State.” The kid said it so matter-of-factly. It was a common road for the war-orphaned. The boy was just shy of the age he could be legally emancipated from guardianship. With pilots for parents, he likely would have been the instant he was old enough, had they survived. Now he would have to wait for whatever foster family took him in to do it. Waiting for fosterage itself would take a while. But the boy was holding up so stoically. Sephiroth was grateful. He had no luck dealing with the ones given to hysterics.
“In that case, good luck to you. Further details will be pending.” He rose and turned to go, the image of bouncing blond spikes replaying in his head. With resolve like that the kid, Ocean, would be fine, as strong in the face of adversity as his parents must have hoped he would be when they gave him that ridiculous name. Even Cloud would have to approve.
Of course, Cloud might have been a touch softer with the whole thing, not so rigid and formal. Cloud didn't have Sephiroth's especial gift for warping people's lives, intentionally or not. Cloud might have had a comforting thing or two to say, or even a reassuring hug. It might have done the boy some good... Especially since he was slumping forward now, barely beginning to shiver, finally starting to break under the strain. Sephiroth didn't think he could watch.
“Get your things,” he said sharply. “You're coming with me.”
Title: Guardians: Decision
Characters: Sephiroth, OC (Ocean).
Rating PG
Word Count: 992
Cloud scrolled down to get the next file on the list, looking up addresses of next of kin. “We've got a William...” he began, clearly tiring. He checked one file then with a jerk brought up another to compare. “Dammit!”
“What is it?” Sephiroth groaned, massaging his forehead.
“Captain Dietrich kept her maiden name.”
“That's not so unusual, is it?”
Cloud shook his head. “Her husband was her wingman.”
It took a while to sink in. “Oh,” Sephiroth groaned again. “That boy.” Now he understood.
Cloud closed the files, exasperated. “I hate it when we screw up like this.”
Sephiroth leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling, wishing they weren't so damnably underhanded at the base right then. “Procedure dictates we inform the boy officially.”
“We already did.”
“For his mother.”
“Yeah, double blow, going up there and telling him what he already knows.”
“It's got to be done, Strife.” Sephiroth couldn't even muster his usual glare. “I always did know you didn't have the heart for the ugly parts of soldiering.”
“What I don't have is the patience for these... these secretarial fuck-ups!” Cloud slammed both hands down on the keypad, sending the display screen crazy. He didn't have it in him to sustain the rage. “We just ended that boy's whole world, Sephiroth, and we didn't even realize it.”
Sephiroth thought of the little ones he had left at home, safe behind his custom-designed security system, under their mother's eyes. Cloud was probably thinking of his own brood. Sephiroth stood. Family may have softened him some, but he knew duty and was well-accustomed to pushing softness aside.
“I'll do it.”
“You'd better,” Cloud grumbled. “You started it.”
Sephiroth made his way back to the boy's class but it was long over. A quick check of the likely spots proved fruitless. The boy wasn't in the training areas, the cafeteria or even the little alley behind the gym where the kids sometimes liked to sneak for a covert fuck or a beer. Fruitless and futile. Sephiroth found himself wandering the corridors in the half-dark hoping the kid didn't have one of the more unhealthy ways of coping.
He felt a shifting of the dim light as he passed the chapel door. One glance confirmed it. Sephiroth put little stock in the semi-spiritual movement that had sprung up after Geostigma's cure but it had become a widespread movement, enough so that most institutional buildings made a space where people could sit silently and commune with Gaia as they saw fit. Even Sephiroth had to admit it was one of the less obtrusive ways of dealing.
The boy was near the center of the circle, on his knees, head bowed. He moved slowly at the sound of Sephiroth entering, but did not turn fully. Sephiroth stood quietly behind him, letting the boy gather himself or complete his meditation or whatever it was. The skylight above showed a sky fast turning dark.
Sephiroth sighed. “I'm sorry.”
“It's not your fault, sir,” the boy said quietly. “They were fighter pilots. We all knew this could happen.”
Sephiroth couldn't make the official speech in the face of that foreknowledge. Prepared from the start. Many of the younger military parents were. Frankly Sephiroth had not thought Capt. Dietrich was old enough for a kid this big, not at any decent age, but again, pilots. Compared to the rest of the armed forces, they fucked like weasels, bred like rabbits and died like flies.
“Will you be alright?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you need me to get you a ride home?”
The boy shook his head. “Thank you, Sir, but I think I'll stay in the dorms tonight.”
Sephiroth frowned. “Are you sure? Is there anyone I can call for you?”
“There's no one, sir,” the boy shook his head. The blond spikes bobbed with the motion. Had it been a less somber occasion Sephiroth would have been tempted to make a crack at Cloud's expense.
Instead he felt nothing but a rare sinking sensation inside. “Did your parents not indicate who would be responsible for you in such an event?” Fleet members were usually good at planning for such things.
The boy exhaled heavily. “They were Bumblebees too, Sir.”
Ah. There went those plans, right down the toilet. “What happens to you now?” Sephiroth asked, even though he already knew.
“I'll be a Ward of the State.” The kid said it so matter-of-factly. It was a common road for the war-orphaned. The boy was just shy of the age he could be legally emancipated from guardianship. With pilots for parents, he likely would have been the instant he was old enough, had they survived. Now he would have to wait for whatever foster family took him in to do it. Waiting for fosterage itself would take a while. But the boy was holding up so stoically. Sephiroth was grateful. He had no luck dealing with the ones given to hysterics.
“In that case, good luck to you. Further details will be pending.” He rose and turned to go, the image of bouncing blond spikes replaying in his head. With resolve like that the kid, Ocean, would be fine, as strong in the face of adversity as his parents must have hoped he would be when they gave him that ridiculous name. Even Cloud would have to approve.
Of course, Cloud might have been a touch softer with the whole thing, not so rigid and formal. Cloud didn't have Sephiroth's especial gift for warping people's lives, intentionally or not. Cloud might have had a comforting thing or two to say, or even a reassuring hug. It might have done the boy some good... Especially since he was slumping forward now, barely beginning to shiver, finally starting to break under the strain. Sephiroth didn't think he could watch.
“Get your things,” he said sharply. “You're coming with me.”