Heaven Tonight

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Teen And Up Audiences

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Major Character Death

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Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

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English

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Published:: 2012-09-03
Words:: 3973
Chapters:: 3/3

Xzadion

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Argent had always thought poetically. "A gift for expression," her mother had said, putting young Argent's hair into a long braid so that it wouldn't get in the way when she wrote, but also so that she wouldn't get paint or ink in it. Everyone around her had said that she could be a writer, a philosopher, a true artist when she grew up. Argent spent her days either sitting in the green fields with a sketch pad or moleskin notebook or hovering at her father's shoulder as he crafted ornate yet functional weaponry. It was his techniques Argent would later imitate when she made DeepGround's weapons.
At the tender age of fifteen, she had left the calm, rural house that she grew up in and was placed into DeepGround. No more painting or writing. Only a sword and a barrack. At first, she was rooming with five other women, then three others, then it was just her and Rosso sharing a room as Tsviets. Time certainly flew.
She might have companions and, when the Restrictor removed her eye in combat, she was given weapon-crafting and her role as a mentor, but rarely had she been allowed to write as much as she liked since she entered DeepGround. She could work metaphors into her speech for as long as she liked and even think in clever similes, but she was never allowed to put it all down on paper.
For example, when Rosso comes running up to her, Argent is reminded of a summer wind; ecstatic and free-whirling. Then again, Argent might be mistaking the bloodlust with glee. Rosso does take about as much enjoyment from murder as small children do from toys.
"It's going to happen!"
"Dismissed," Argent says to the soldiers in front of her before turning to Rosso. "What do you mean?"
"Weiss!" Rosso gleefully savors his name. Argent's ears can't help but do the same. Weiss is a victim of many of her poetic musings. Everything from his skin to his sword-technique has been catalogued in her head.
"He's going through with the plan then?"
"Azul and I just received the order. You should come down when you can." Rosso's words are quiet and fast, diving into the hushed air that tends to follow the Tsviets and cracking onto the stone floor between them. Argent gives an ostensibly casual shrug of her shoulder. She does technically have a mission to do, but its simple and her presence isn't mandatory anyway.
"I'll see what I can do."
"It will be amazing," Rosso gushes, as if the kill has already been made and she's watching the blood of the Restrictors pour out over her hands. The only thing that Rosso could be happier about than bloodshed was the bloodshed of someone who she truly hated. Luckily, Rosso would get both, as a nameless Tsviet-to-be would also get eliminated in the process. Just short of giggling Rosso dashes over to Azul who is waiting over by one of the corridors. Argent watches her and Azul turn the corner and walk down the hallway, down to Mako Reactor 0. Down to Weiss.
---
"Shelke, hurry up and find the next one." With that, Weiss turns and leaves the room. Argent calmly follows after him, along with Rosso and Azul. Truthfully, she is buzzing with something between excitement and dread. Although they have taken down one Restrictor, there are still more to deal with. When they are assembled in the annex leading to the Reactor, Weiss issues further orders.
"Rosso, go to the laboratories. Find everything you can about the virus in my system and report back in two hours. Kill anything that hinders your progress." Rosso gives a grim nod and practically flies out of the room, probably eager to slaughter someone who's vaguely innocent on her way to the laboratories.
Weiss turns his attention to Azul. "Get Nero off that pillar and bring him to the infirmary. After that, rally the soldiers. Find everyone loyal to me. Whoever isn't you can do what you see fit with. Don't tell anyone about the virus. I want that to stay within the Tsviets." With a sliver of teeth and rumbled, "Hail Weiss," Azul goes off to fulfill Weiss' orders.
Lastly, Weiss turns to Argent. They are, as far as Argent can tell, completely alone. He is grinning at her with a cocky ferocity that would have made most other people nervous. Argent matches him stare for stare. Finally Weiss takes the initiative, places his hands over her hips and pins her body to the wall behind her.
"We won," are the only words out of his mouth before claiming her mouth with his. The sudden contact takes Argent by surprise, but she responds positively, pulling Weiss closer to her. They had been seeing each other on-and-off for years. It wasn't to say that they had ever "officially" broken up, since they had never been "officially" together. Neither of them ever really had the time to cultivate the relationship, so it was a matter hanging up in the air.
After a few minutes of kissing, Weiss pulls back and hauls Argent off the wall with him. It's unexpected, but she goes with it. Moments later, Shelke walks through the door. Ah, there's the reason.
"Additional orders," Weiss informs her.
"Yes?"
"I'd like you to keep an eye on Nero while he's in the infirmary. I fear the Restrictors have been neglecting him over the past few weeks."
Shelke nods, taking the orders in as easily as air. She doesn't question why her and why not Weiss himself. This isn't only because of insubordination, but also because she knows why not Weiss: Because he has to take care of things before that virus eats away at his insides. "Very well."
After she leaves, Argent thinks that she's about to get kissed again. She doesn't. Instead, Weiss motions for her to follow him. She does and they walk down the hall. Weiss begins speaking, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the space ahead of them.
"I have three days before I die."
"Yes." Argent nods to that because there's not much else she can say. She's known it since Shelke told her about the virus in Weiss' system months and months ago. Then again, perhaps Weiss is reminding himself of what's about to happen. Affirming that this isn't just a regular nightmare that he can wake up from; this is DeepGround.
"I have a lot that I need to take care of. Things I need to finalize, last minute orders that need to be issued and carried out. Normally, I would want Nero's help with this but he's not in any condition to be running my will around DeepGround. The other three will be busy rallying support, researching possibilities to keep me alive and taking care of Nero. So I need you to help me tend to final business."
Argent is impressed with him, as she almost always is. His voice never wavers when he talks about what will inevitably be his final moments. Argent recalls a tussle between herself and a school bully when she was barely seven. She had baited the other girl into hitting her and met the tooth-loosening blow with a smirk and a set of crossed fingers. Now, seeing Weiss so close to death, she imagines that he'll be grinning in his final moment.
"I understand. I'll do everything I can for you, Weiss."
Weiss, having kicked the door in to a room full of files, turns to her. "Then let's get started." He makes a sweeping gesture into the room. "After you."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Argent gives the countdown on her PHS a quick glance as she hustles over to Mako Reactor 0. The countdown- now reading 23 hours and some odd minutes- was one of the first things Argent had been instructed to put in place. It was counting down the hours until Weiss' heart stopped and he died.To anyone above ground, placing a countdown for one's death would be the most morbid thing a person could do. In DeepGround, the concept made sense. Weiss was a strong believer in the idea that, if you wanted something done right, you either had to do it yourself or monitor what was being done very carefully. Weiss had lots of things to attend, from making sure that any deep-veined thrombosis that had formed in Nero's limbs went treated, to seeing that the budgets for the next five years were feasible. And scheduling all of it (a task that used to belong to the Restrictors, along with taking charge of it) fell to Argent.If the Restrictors had been trying to make her do this sort of menial work, Argent would have flat-out refused. She was a Tsviet, not a secretary. But Argent knew perfectly well that Weiss couldn't just get some random DeepGround SOLDIER to handle this, or anyone else. It had to be a person- preferably a Tsviet- that he could trust. Just the fact that he could trust her with the final affairs of his life sent a tremor up Argent's spine and caused a tiny bubble of pride to swell up in her chest.The final run-down of DeepGround's affairs is free of difficulty, merely a confirmation of everything she had done. A summation. Tomorrow, nearly 24 hours later, Weiss would be dead and he needed to be perfectly certain that everything had been attended to. Thus, Argent was briefing him as he walked back to the throne room from getting the latest information from the financial section. This was the final run-down."Nero?""I saw him myself in the infirmary during his rehabilitation.""How are they doing on assembling the troops?"Argent checks the exact number that Rosso had sent her before responding, "Of 2,000 SOLDIERS, around 1,700 are loyal to you. A negligible number deserted the complex and, as per your orders, Azul was forced to kill the rest."Weiss gives a soft snort as he flops himself down into the throne and props his chin up on one hand. "Hardly forced. I'm sure Rosso helped with that. And Shelke still hasn't found any sort of cure for this virus?"Argent was disappointed to say, "No. She's been in and out of dives all day and hasn't found a thing."Weiss asking about Shelke's status indicated that he had not given up hope entirely."Don't let her overexert herself. She's useless if she's unconscious. Tell her that later." Argent nods. Outside of DeepGround, being told that one is useless is a grave insult. DeepGround, as Argent has realized, has always played by different rules. Weiss wasn't being cruel, he was being blunt. "Is that everything?"Argent mentally goes down the list, budgets to brothers, and says, "Yes. That's it. You have 23 hours and around 20 minutes.""I see." Weiss stretches his arms up to the ceiling before relaxing again, slouching as usual. "That's all I need from you then. I'm ready to die now. Dismissed."Argent can barely believe the words. She had been fighting to stay alive as long as she could remember. Hearing someone clearly and sanely (as much as the word "sane" meant in DeepGround, anyway) pronounce that they were ready to die was completely baffling. "Excuse me?""You're dismissed. I don't need anything else. You've taken care of everything- Thank you for that, by the way. I know you're very much above it." Argent gives a slightly stunned nod to the acknowledgement of her services. "Nero will be well soon enough to take over. You'll be at his side to help him with whatever needs doing. I'm ready to die.""… You're just ready?""Yes."Argent swallows the small lump that had formed in her throat. Directly disobeying a direct order to leave, Argent replies, "You can't be serious.""I'm very serious." And, Argent will admit, Weiss looks serious, but not overly so. If nothing else, he seems detached from the whole thing, eyes looking miles away. Perhaps he is so removed. Perhaps he's lying."Why are you being so calm about this? Think about what this will do to Nero, to DeepGround." Argent consciously stops herself from saying, "To me!" After all, she reasons, this has nothing to do with me. This is about Weiss."Nero…" For a moment, Weiss' eyes get wider, as if visualizing his little brother alone without him. Argent, not having siblings, can scarcely imagine. Then Weiss takes in a deep breath. "Nero's a strong man. He's not the little boy anymore." Argent knows that to be true: Nero has proved time and time again his competency and power. "And I trust you and Nero enough to leave DeepGround in your hands."Weiss looks at her and Argent feels her heart leap up in her chest as if someone had gotten the best of her during training and she was staring down the barrel of a gun. He cracks a grin, as if he's about to announce some fantastic joke. "You know what I think?""What?"Weiss stands up and stares down at Argent. This technique worked on everyone below the commander rank. Argent has known Weiss since he was a spastic, take-over-the-world adolescent boy and matches him stare for stare. "I think it's you who has unfinished business and you want me to bring it up." Without waiting for her to respond to what was easily the most ludicrous thing that Argent had ever heard (or so she'd like to think), Weiss continued, "You don't have to say it. I know I'm right."Years of training had never taught Argent to barefacedly lie to superiors, least of all to Weiss. She pretends to look at her PHS while replying, "You're not right.""Really?" Weiss tilts Argent's face up to him. With a smug smirk, he leans in and catches her lips between his. Wasting no time, his arm sneaks around her waist while his other hand threads itself through her hair. Weiss, Argent supposes, is hardly a stranger to the realm of kissing. She allows herself to be kissed, neither hindering nor helping him, until he insistently tugs on her waist and gives her hair a tough pull. Argent allows herself the tiniest of grins and responds to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and indulging in what might be her final time with him.Finally, after several minutes, Weiss pulls away and looks down at Argent. She can't quite read his expression, though Argent doesn't quite know many people who can. "Come to my room tonight." His eyes, once clouded with something Argent couldn't put a name to, have a glint of lust to them. Argent can almost see what he's thinking: Beds, armor coming off, and almost unconscious spasms within another person's body. He's had that, she knows it. It scarcely bothers her because virginity is like humanity in DeepGround: Completely useless and, in some cases, best eliminated quickly. DeepGround, playing by different rules again.Argent does nothing, if not follow all of DeepGround's rules to the letter. She'll go to his room tonight, for the first and last time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Argent lay awake, listening to the sounds beyond the walls. Phantom voices, barking orders to sleep, to wake up, to shut their mouths, to talk. DeepGround's walls were thin as leaves, and Argent could hear everything for at least three dorms in all directions. In the middle of it, curled into starched sheets, under scratchy blankets, Weiss had taken his release from her. Argent looked at the man beside her. His hard, sharp features were softened by sleep. He was peaceful, a rarity in the man whose manic energy had engineered their freedom.Freedom was a funny word to Argent. Freedom in DeepGround was almost an oxymoron. A nervousness took Argent by surprise and she pulled herself into a half-sitting position on the bed. The future stretched out in front her like stars across the horizon. Weiss had won, but at the price of his own life. Sacrifices to such effects were common in DeepGround, though never of this magnitude. In Argent's own experience, the sacrifices of her countrymen and comrades were never forgotten. It was scary, in a way that Argent didn't want to think on, that all Weiss' sacrifice amounted to was a stepping stone for the rest of DeepGround to use to get to freedom. It was as though they all stepped on his back to reach the outside, and for what? What would they do with this newly acquired freedom? No one would avenge him, no one would care to, save for Nero and perhaps herself."Argent…"She started. Weiss had propped himself up on one bent arm. "What are you doing up?""I was… Just checking the time.""It's late. That should suffice. Come back to bed."Argent smiled. "I haven't left the bed.""Then lay back down and go to sleep."Argent complied, curling onto her side, facing away from Weiss. He pulled her backwards, closer to his body, and splayed her body against his. "You're warm," he intoned, voice resonating against her back.Argent found herself admiring how well they fit together. The arm under her neck, his chest against her back, his legs twining around hers. It was a comfort that could be found in DeepGround, though not the kind Argent had ever indulged in before.His hand was open, palm-up, in front of her. She reached forward for it, placing her hand into it and lacing their fingers, before falling asleep.When Argent awoke, she pushed herself up, checked the time on the phone on the floor, and realized that Weiss was gone. His body was no longer in the bed. The timer on the phone read that he had only seconds left. Argent sat up, sheets pooling around her hips and watched them tick down.
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