Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Children of Shin-ra ❯ Love and War ( Chapter 2 )

The Children Of Shin-ra

Chapter 2 - Love And War

Eddie was lounging lazily on the velvet couch, half reading the newspaper and half watching the heavy rain outside. A sudden clap of thunder made him jump. He had never liked storms. He began to read the paper properly, to take his mind of the storm. An article caught his attention :

Mystery Murder Of Family Man

Eddie frowned at the text. He hated murders and death ... only the night before yesterday had he been caught in a riot against him, and had almost been killed.

Interested, he read on :

This morning, the body of a man was found in a deserted side-street in our beloved city of Midgar. He had been shot three times and had died of his wounds. The chief examiner at the morgue said that he was killed at about midnight last night, by a handgun. There were no witnesses as we know of, and the Mayor of Midgar pleads that if anyone knows anything about the case, then they should go straight to the police. As soon as the identity of the murderer is found, then a reward of 10 000 gil will be granted to the finder of the criminal.

Eddie gasped, astonished. There hadn't been any civilian murders for years ... why now? He saw that there was more, and read on :

The victim was identified as Divan Okikoru, 31. He was the father of 2 children, and happily married to his wife, Krysy Okikoru. It is known that Divan was the leader of the rebel group, TORNADO. The other members include ex-army colonal Bruce Nireva, and former Chocobo racer star Zakiran Okikoru, Divan's brother. This rebel group has been rioting against the ancestors of the Shin-ra, and have so far been unsuccessful of assassination, after the surprise recovery of James Shin-ra, Rufus Shin-ra's oldest son. Further attacks upon the Shin-ra family are unlikely in the near future, but probably should not be completely ruled out.

Eddie Shin-ra's lips quivered. 'He ... this man ... had been against us?' He turned this thought around in his mind, and mixed emotions filled his brain. His throat went dry. Now he knew that there really were rebels out for his, and his siblings', blood. And, to make matters worse, it seemed that the whole city of Midgar was on the rebels' side. The front door swung open, and Thomas casually strode in. Eddie glanced up, his bright blue eyes wide.

"Thomas, I'm so glad yer here. I jus' read somethin' terrible ..."

"Really." cut-in Thomas, uninterested.

"Yeah, this guy was killed last night, and -"

Thomas sprung over and snatched the paper from Eddie's hands. He read the article quickly, but took note of every detail, and his mood darkening all the time. Eddie stared up at his brother, awaiting a reaction. At length, Thomas finished reading and dropped the newspaper back into Eddie's lap. He relaxed his shoulders and looked at the floor.

"Eddie, I'm going to be honest with you. But you must promise NOT to let my secret go further than this room. I don't want Blossom or Rouge to know, especially Rouge, you know how big a mouth she has."

"What 'bout James?"

Thomas turned and slowly moved to the window.

"I will tell James. I need him to get me outta this fix."

Eddie sat up straight on the couch.

"What is this secret?!" he asked, eager to know. Thomas sighed. His handsome face fell, and his eyes closed.

"The murderer ... is me."

Blossom awoke, feeling a hand touching her shoulder. A nurse was standing over her, smiling slightly.

"Good morning, he's awake now." she told her. Blossom thanked her and yawned.

'That's right. James was asleep when I came in yesterday.' she remembered, 'So I stayed overnight to talk to him this morning.'

She stood, stretching her arms and yawning more. She heard a quiet chuckle from the bed beside her. James was upright in bed, smiling at her.

"Good morning, missy. Had a pleasant nights sleep?" he asked jokingly. She placed her hands on her hips.

"I see that someone is feeling better." she remarked. He shrugged.

"I guess. I'm out of here tomorrow, you know."

Blossom's eyes widened.

"Really? Oh god, I'm so happy!" she rushed over and swung her arms around his shoulders. He laughed and put his hands on her arms.

"Yes. Will you come pick me up?"

"Of course I will!" she exclaimed excitedly, "James, I've missed you so much."

He gave her a squeeze.

"As I've missed you, Blossom." he whispered. She loosened her grip on him.

"Yeah ... um, anyway, I had something to talk to you about, but I've forgotten." she said, moving away. He reached out a hand.

"Blossom? Are you ok? You sound so weird -"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. So, tomorrow you can come back home and help me keep the house in order while the others do their jobs every day -"

"Blossom," James interupted,"I'm going back to university."

Blossom stared at him with wide eyes.

"James, I wish you wouldn't."

"Why?"

"I - I don't think you should, ok? When you go there, we hardly see each other -"

"I only have a year left until I get my degree. We can see each other then, right?"

"...."

James shrugged.

"If that's how you feel ... then I won't go back to uni. I'll stay at home and be penniless for the rest of my life -"

"You insensitive jerk James Shin-ra! You'll get the most inheritance and you know it! You'll be the richest guy in the world!!" Blossom exclaimed angrily. Without letting him retaliate, she stormed out.

A lone man in a long, navy blue coat, sat on a bar-stool in a quiet pub in Junon. He seemed uncomfortable, something heavy pressing on his mind. The bar-tender looked his way.

"You waitin' fer someone?" he asked. The man grunted in reply. The bar-tender decided to ignore him. As long as he kept ordering drinks ...

After a few more minutes, three figures entered the pub. There was a very tall man, dressed in nothing more than a white tank top and maroon coloured trousers. There was also a shorter man wearing an extremely odd wizards cloak. The third figure was plainly female, who had fitted a few pieces of armour on top of her clothes. They approached the man at the bar, and the tall man slapped him on the back.

"Hey, Zakiran. What's up?" he said in a deep voice. Zakiran shifted on his stool, but didn't turn around.

"You're late guys. It wasn't like this when Divan was around." he grumbled. The short man snorted.

"That's because your brother was better at organising things than you are."

Zakiran picked up his beer-mug.

"Sit."

He gesticulated at three vacant stools around him. They sat down, leaning in close to him.

"We're going to have to be careful around here guys. We're heros in Midgar, no doubt about that, but here, they worship Shin-ra. We have to be careful. I guess we'll have to relocate our base." Zakiran said under his breath, just loud enough for the others to hear. They nodded glumly in agreement. Zakiran continued.

"I know it'll be hard. Going to Midgar would be risky, being right under Shin-ra's nose. I suppose we could travel around a bit, you know, until we find somewhere ..."

His voice trailed off. The woman looked down.

"Are you sure we'd be okay on the road? I mean, there are bandits and stuff out there now." she whispered.

"We'd be fine, Lieuna. Especially with me to fight by your side!" reassured the tall man. The shorter man nodded, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Bruce is right. No use worrying about it."

Zakiran took a long, slow drink of beer. He then set it down and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"It's settled then. Bruce, Jemaro, Lieuna, meet me outside this pub tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. And this time, be on time, alright?"

Bruce and Jemaro stood up to go, but were stopped by a Shin-ra soldier who addressed them from the doorway.

"TORNADO? Here? Hey, freeze!!" he shouted. Zakiran clambered onto the bar.

"!" he cursed, kicking the bewildered bar-tender in the head. There was an all-out scuffle; ten Shin-ra soldiers ran forward to attack Bruce and Jemaro. Lieuna dived behind the bar, and fired off random shots from her hand-gun, and trying to avoid the continuous showers of shattered glass. Jemaro pummeled a few with a fire spell, with a high-pitched scream of "FIRE 2!". Bruce used his fists to defend himself, blocking several pain-inducing sword swipes in his direction. Zakiran found himself being beaten up by a few experienced pub-brawlers, yet he was out-numbered. He glanced up, spotting a lampshade hanging down from the ceiling. He reached out for it, and swung himself across the length of the room. He landed almost gracefully on top of a pile of dishevelled looking soldiers, and grinned at his comrades. Lieuna peered over the counter. She smirked at the stunned pub-crawlers that were staring at her, and joined the others. They went outside, feeling the cool, Junon breeze on their skin, as if for the last time ...

James shielded his eyes from the blinding rays of the afternoon sun, which seemed almost like a stranger to him. He easily spotted Thomas's car, and stiffly walked over to it. Thomas and Rouge were waiting for him, and opened the door for him. He slipped in, throwing his luggage over his shoulder to the backseat.

"Phew, I am so glad to be outta there." he said, wiping his forehead.

"We've been lost without you, James. There's so much to do ... well, that'll get done now!" Rouge smiled.

Thomas remained quiet on their journey home, and kept both eyes firmly on the road. James noticed, but pretended that he hadn't. He just assumed that it was Thomas's way. Only open your mouth to either insult someone or shout at something. It was his unique theory on the gift of speech. James however, opened his mouth for general conversation, and asking numerous questions about pondweed and sulphuric acid at college. As they pulled onto the drive, the night had set in, and the ever excited Eddie was waiting with the front-door wide open.

"Howdy James! Welcome home!" he greeted, hugging his brother around the middle (James was over a head taller than Eddie) and leading him into the warm house. An open fire crackled restlessly in the dining room, and a whole table of freshly prepared food was set out on the table. Blossom was standing by the door leading into the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. As her eyes met James's, she smiled weakly.

"Hi." she said quickly, and then shyed away. James guessed that she was still bitter, but went up and hugged her anyway.

After dinner, Rouge, Eddie, and even Thomas retired for the night. Blossom insisted on clearing up the table and washing up, and James took this opportunity to help her. While they were in the kitchen, he tried to make conversation.

"So, what's it been like here?"

"Stressful."

"Err ... how's your mother?"

"Fine."

"Any latest news about riots?"

"This guy from TORNADO got killed."

"...why are you angry with me?"

"... I'm not. I just missed you, ok? And I didn't mean to be so selfish yesterday ... I know that university is the most important part of your life." Blossom leaned over the sink.

"I'm thinking about getting a job, and hiring a maid or something - I don't know." she sighed. James set down the plate he had been drying.

"It's your choice. No-one's forcing you to do anything. Maybe ... you should go on vacation? You could borrow Dad's holiday house in Costa del Sol. It'd be nice." he suggested. Blossom turned to face him.

"Gosh ... just out of hospital and you're already thinking about a holiday."

"No no no." James shook his head, "I've never believed in holidays. I study instead."

"Weirdo."

"Wow, that was a mild insult to what I used to get at school."

"Stop it, James."

Blossom said this more jokingly than seriously, and she smiled. James returned her smile.

"I forgot what a lovely smile you had. I missed that a lot."

Blossom shifted uneasily.

"James - don't, ok?"

James reached out and tugged at her apron strings. The apron fell into a crumpled heap on the tiled floor. Blossom kicked it out of the way as James pulled her into an embrace.

The next morning, Thomas pulled James aside to talk to him privately. They went to the bottom of the garden, and Thomas looked around warily.

"Err, James, can you keep a secret?" he asked. James sat down on the edge of a small water fountain.

"Yeah." he answered, flicking the water. Thomas took a deep breath.

"You heard about the guy that was murdered the other night?"

"Yeah, Blossom told me."

"Well, there's something that I need to confide in you."

"What?"

"....it was me. I did it."

James bolted up.

"WHAT?!! How could you?! You -"

James landed a punch on Thomas's cheek.

"I've always told you never to hurt anyone!!"

"Why did you hit me -"

"Because I'm you're older brother, that's why!! Listen to me once in a while!!"

Thomas collapsed onto the grass, staring at the ground.

"Look ... he was ... was-"

"You - stupid -" James shook his head. Thomas punched the ground.

"Dammit James, if I can't trust you, what else can I do? Eddie knows, and he was ... upset. But that guy, I saw him, yes, on that night ... the riot. He was one of them ..."

James knelt down beside him.

"And?"

"And, he was the one who ... shot you."

And, for the first time in his life, Thomas felt the sting of a tear in his eye. James's heart-sank as his knees steadily weakened. Revenge was not a subject that he was familiar with. Even after all those hurtful years of being bullied and tormented, he did not feel one bit vengeful. He decided that he was probably too soft.

James stood over the shaking Thomas, who presently looked up at his older brother. His eyes were completely shaded, and his glasses glinted with bright specks of early morning sun.

"Thomas, if you ever do anything like that again ... I will have to see you punished." he said solomnly. He brushed past the crouching Thomas and made back for the house. Thomas was silent. He had just witnessed the dark side of James Shin-ra.