We start out, not with a Shinra, but with Tseng of the Turks. He’s reliving the day everyone went to the Temple of the Ancients during the game. The day the party chased after the Black Materia, Tseng was nearly killed by Sephiroth, and Aerith left the party. He tells how he’s watched over Aerith for most of her life, all the effects he has had on her, and vice versa. He infers that he is responsible for Ifalna’s death. One day, she thanked him for protecting her. He then decided to tell the young girl the truth.
“I hate Shinra!”
We return to the temple, and, despite her feelings toward the company, Aerith still cries over the dying Turk. She didn’t see him as the evil enemy, but as a friend who’s always been there. The tears allow Tseng to accept his death. Death, however, never came.
Reeve, piloting Cait Sith, stood before him. Tseng asked about the Black Materia. The answer took a moment to come, as Reeve was in both sets of Siths, but he eventually informed his boss that he handed Cloud the stone. As Tseng tried to stand, the pain caused him to pass out. Three Turks carried Tseng onto a boat. He had a lot of questions, but the wound and lack of people around made it hard to ask. He was taken to a hospital in Junon to recover.
The story reminds us of the plot from when Aerith died to The Sister Ray's attack on Weapon/North Crater. There’s a small conversation between Reno and Rude that’s a little to Saturday Morning Cartoonish for my taste, seeing as I’m still supposed to hate Reno. The two then head into the ruined Shinra HQ in an attempt to find the president, Rufus.
Shinra was a mess at this point. The majority of the workers, or at least the department heads, quit days ago. Saying nothing of the structural damage or the total unknown if/where Rufus could be. And, of course, Meteor. As they tried to ride the elevator, which didn’t work, they heard a voice telling them to take the stairs. It was Tseng, who recovered enough to aid in the search. We then learn that Elena had gone to the North Cave alone and came back a mess. And then she shows up to give her boss a hug. Some people don’t like random coincidence in stories, and I’m one of them. Tseng tells everyone to get to work.
We change to Rufus himself, laughing at his predicament. He hid under a desk to save himself from falling debris. It worked, but there’s only so much you can do when Weapon fires on you. The damage and darkness made Rufus accept his death. And then he laughed at himself. Why should a member of the Shinra family accept such a stupid thing? He then looked around for any way to escape until he saw a hatch on the floor labeled “L”. This triggered a memory inside him. He recalled being a child and his father showing him blueprints about HQ renovations. In an attempt to impress his father, Rufus tried to contribute what he could. The only thing he could think of was an escape hatch. His dad, who still isn’t named, said there was no need for various security reasons and ego. Rufus then shared a story he heard from Palmer about being attacked from space. This made Papa Shin consider it, but only if they labeled it the Loser way. Rufus, back to an adult, laughed as he fell onto a sliding shoot. He then pondered his own life, about being a boy who wanted to surpass his father. He thought it was normal. Smashing into a wall, though, is not normal. He let out a pitiful cry, laughed at his pitiful state, and felt pain as he had broken his ribs.
The shoot took him to a plain white room with a bed covered in dust. He gimped over to a curtain and found a bag of medical supplies labeled “L”. He ignored what was likely expired and downed some pain meds. He then found a keylock near a door but had no idea what the code was. He went to lie down, looked at the ceiling, saw another “L”, laughed, and instantly regretted it.
We return to the Turks at the top of the building. They’ve looked everywhere three times and found nothing. They ignored the early signs of Meteor and kept looking on the bottom floor. There, in a rarely used employee-only wing, noticed an oddly colored door.
Rufus tried more codes - his mom’s birthday, death date - none worked. Eventually, after more painkillers, he inputted one last code. The door before Rude and Reno opened, and Rufes collapsed before them. Rude walked and took note of the code that was pressed. It was Rufus’ birthday.
The three of them are outside, near the entrance of the building, awaiting a medic helicopter to take Rufus away. Rude was glad that Rufus was alive, as that meant Shinra would continue. He dreaded a life alternative. As the medics came to pick up the wounded, Rude didn’t inform them of who it was, unsure of how they’d treat him as they took him to Kalm. He then saw Tifa and Yuffie, seemingly indicating this was during their raid to kill Hojo.
No one bothered to think about life after Meteor. They simply went about their lives, hoping the Planet would take care of it. They then spoke of atonement, as we learn that Veld reappeared. I think this, and the ensuring backstory about the Turks’ sketchy past and near dissolution, are the plot of Before Crisis, but I’m not 100 percent sure.
Regardless, I called it a night here. The whole time I was reading about Rufus’ backstory, I was thinking about how awful his family is. I know of a few “crazy” billionaires in the world who are very similar. They're people who don’t accept weakness, have no plan B, and just generally suck. They think only of themselves and judge people solely on how much use they can be to them. We know Rufus changes some from Advent Children, so let’s look forward to that change. The next line in the book is about Meteor and Holy, so the real interlude is about to begin!
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