harryceramic asked: Hello Reeve, what was exactly your relationship with Shalua Rui?

Hello again, Irene.

I have made my thoughts on Shalua Rui known on a couple of prior occasions, but since you are asking for specifics… here they are:

My exact relationship with Shalua was that she was a highly competent member of the WRO who applied herself to a startling array of different functions, from scientist to soldier to confidant. This was in spite of everything she had been through and whilst she maintained her search for her sister. It is a singular person who can offer so much whilst never losing sight of their own reason to live.

Without Shalua the WRO could have looked very different and she was, undoubtedly, important to me. Truth be told, I believed that would be the case the first time I met her.

We were introduced by an old Professor from Junon. Both being former students he suggested that Shalua’s applications into bio-tech might assist with the development of Cait Sith, who had been a mere hobby of mine when we had last spoken. I was sceptical that such a brilliant scientist would take time out to meet on such a matter, and certain facts were confirmed by Shalua herself during the time we spent together.

She was a member of AVALANCHE back then and I was an employee of Shinra.

****

“So that’s the rudiments. I’ll just leave you two to discuss things further. I’m sure you’re dying to get the old man out of your hair, kukuku.” With a trademarked chuckle and an even more trademarked shuffle Professor Leith exited the square, peering up at the buildings as he went past mumbling things to himself.

This left Reeve stood in the Junon sea-breeze in front of Shalua, the resumes of their academic endeavours still being cogitated upon. Shalua Rui had been a leading mind in weapons, bio-augments and prostheses, taking over ideas and applying them before the Professors had managed to even start thinking out of the box. Reeve thought they might have learned from before, but that was academics for you. Lots of theories, little actual application.

He had been struck with an all too familiar feeling, one experienced before in the very same courtyard. Only this time he would not be making the same mistakes he had made with Her. “Very impressive, but I’m afraid you may have been misled… My interests, as you can clearly see, are not in weaponry.” Well, certainly not anymore.

“Yet you still came all this way to meet me.” Shalua raised an elegant eyebrow over the rim of her glasses. “Must not be too busy then, Director Reeve Tuesti of -Shinra-.”

Reeve smiled at the almost dismissive jibe, his curiosity had been peaked. “This is Junon Academy. It’s not altogether surprising where I work.” What was more surprising was that Shalua had not joined following graduation. And what was -most- interesting was the way she had practically spat out the Shinra name.

“If you are wondering, I didn’t graduate from the Academy. I was merely a student of Leith and Simons.” Shalua interrupted Reeve’s thoughts, snorting lightly with that slight dismissive slant once again, as if she had not just read his mind, “Well, I say student…”

“Let me guess, only needed them for their labs and ranges?” Reeve crossed his arms in front of him; papers tucked under one armpit and shook his head, “Simons in particular could never resist a pretty woman with a gun and the brains to improve it.”

His words brought a quicksilver smile to Shalua’s lips as she replied, “True. But Leith warned me about you too.” Reeve blinked, feeling somewhat emotionally betrayed by his one time supervisor as Shalua tacked on, apparently to rub salt in the wound, “I’m not worried. You‘re the least threatening man I‘ve come across. And that includes all these old codgers around here.”

The twitch of Reeve’s lips nearly betrayed his thoughts, “Have we quite finished emasculating me yet?” His humour rung through as he returned her jibe from earlier, “I‘m sure you are busy…” -Doing whatever it is you are doing- “How about we not make this a complete waste of time and get a bite to eat?”

Shalua briefly looked somewhat taken aback. Then her features hardened and became hungered with a look not necessarily for food, “Perhaps that view needs revising… I’m not finished with you, Director. First we make a stop off at a lab. I‘m sure you’ll know which one when we get there.”

They made their way down through the campus towards the docklands striated grey blocks. Reeve had already made one decision upon Shalua, it was clear she was none too enamoured with the Shinra Electric Company, so he followed and kept pace to her long strides watching as they walked. Her motivations became even more known when he realised what path they were walking. Just as he knew the elusive Turk HQ location in the Tower, so too did Reeve know where to find the suits when they were situated in Junon streets. Still, must keep up appearances, he was merely Director of Urban Development after all, “Where are we goi-“

A loud shout of “Halt!” drowned out Reeve’s question, as the next thing he knew he had been physically shoved back by Shalua into one of the narrow alleyways criss-crossing the militarised city. “Stay back. I’ll deal with this.” Reeve did as he was told, it was best he remained unseen; he had enough explaining to do to Veld as it was. Two grunt soldiers in Shinra blue were advancing on Shalua as he hissed at her from the side, “You don’t need to do this. I can get them to stop.” He could say she was in his charge or… something.

Shalua pulled a gun from a holster at her thigh –oh sweet Shiva– and cast a look over her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I promise you I won’t hurt them.” Reeve thought he heard her mutter an added ‘much’.

One, two shots rung out, Shalua was holding true to her words. She had a great aim, immobilizing both by a bullet to the kneecap. Reeve winced as he glanced around the corner. One of the grunts had pulled out a PHS and was calling for back up, as the other started shouting loudly, “She’s AVALANCHE. Get her!” before returning scatter gun fire. From the opposite direction another two soldiers arrived and Reeve swore when he saw one carrying a fire launcher, “Shit.” Slipping out from the side, he ran around behind the two backup, fingers tightening around the smooth yellow cone of a megaphone.

A cast of blind and they stumbled, one blast missing, one stream of fire still meeting its target. With a shriek Shalua fell to the ground, a stream of bullets coming from one fallen grunt directing its way through her shoulder. Reeve called for a cure, the green light settling over her body and looked around for a quick escape. The two blinded soldiers were firing randomly, the two other soldiers flailed with their own wounds upon the floor.

Another cast of blind to the two on the ground and Reeve darted past them, pulling Shalua up as quickly and carefully as he could. There was a truck further down the road he had seen and half dragging, half running he got them to the vehicle to quietly jack the door, “Get in.” Reeve ordered Shalua into the front cab, but she was holding her ground despite her injuries, looking blurrily at him, “Why did you save me?” she asked in a weakening voice. Gods, but she was a mess.

“We have no time to argue. Back-up is on its way and those four will soon be coming ‘round. I’d rather not be associated with terrorist activity against my employer, thank you. Get in the truck, Shalua.” Bundling her as best he could up and through the door, Reeve crawled over to the other seat, keeping them both low and out of sight. She groaned as he knocked against her injured shoulder to slam the door shut, “This is your fault… I- I could’ve shot them in the chest. Why did I promise you…?”

“Yeah, yeah, entirely my fault,” Reeve took the blame with a rare dose of sarcasm. Ripping out the bottom of the dashboard, fingers deftly sparked the engine into life and he sat up, pulling out of parked position slowly, inconspicuously, before continuing, “It’s because you’re a good woman.” The words surprised him even as he spoke them, but somewhere, instinctively, he felt them to be true. That was good enough for him.  

Reeve called out another dose of cure magicks before dropping his ‘weapon’ to the seat and shrugging out of his jacket. Pulling it over Shalua, he gripped her shoulder tight with one hand, the other steering them from the docks. The engine was purring beneath him like a coeurl. He certainly liked the feel of this vehicle, “Keep down and put pressure, here.”

Shalua gave out a very unladylike grunt and glared at him. Her glasses had fallen askew which Reeve was beginning to find ridiculously distracting, so he focussed on the road out of Junon. “Where are we going?” She asked, to which Reeve hummed, “I know a place further up the coast.” North of Kalm. His home. He really should not be doing this. “You need to rest and those bullets need extracting.” The ones that had not passed clean through, that is. “Cures can only do so much.”

“Why… are you doing this, Director? I’m an AVALANCHE member… just as they said. ” Shalua sounded plaintively confused.

Reeve considered his response silently. He had heard of AVALANCHE of course, not to mention he had already decided that he did not need Shalua’s expertise. At least not -yet-, and certainly not with Cait Sith. Reeve’s creation needed to be just that - his creation - he felt it somehow.  “I couldn’t just leave you there to die.” He smiled a little, “And you did say it was my fault.”

They had cleared Junon and the day was sunny, fresh, as the behemoth of a vehicle started to skim the coast. Reeve looked down at Shalua and challenged her gently, “Do I need to be worried? Was it your intention to kill little old me back there after giving you access?”

Shalua laughed, breathlessly, in response, “I don’t… hurt people unless they get in my way.” The same hungry, hardened look passed over her features before she looked up at Reeve, and there, the first spot of genuine humour he had seen alighted in her eyes, “And, you -are- the least threatening man I’ve met… ”  

****

Over three days however, Shalua was forthright, blunt, in dealing with our conversations and I found myself telling her some things I had never before put into words. In return she told me about herself, about her reason to live and her reasons for joining AVALANCHE. She remained fiercely tight-lipped however about the rest of AVALANCHE and their activities, just as I had deflected anything to do with the Turks or Shinra, though it did not really surprise me to learn later that she had defected from the group. There was only one thing that drove her back then.

We had come to some sort of companionable stalemate.

Years passed, and I heard very occasional words about Shalua and even less from the woman herself. After Meteorfall I returned to Junon. She reinitiated contact with me there and became a founding member of the WRO. It was evident that Shalua had been through hell, but she had also learned new ways of applying her knowledge and skills. Most of her internal organs were now synthetic, she had lost one eye and an arm, the latter of which was now a biostatic prosthesis. Her talent was incredible, works of art. Her research, her weapons and her support became absolutely essential during our conflict with Deepground.

I only regretted that I tried to dissuade her from the search for her sister. After so long, with no prior knowledge of the Deepground project, I thought her diligence and tenacity was a hopeless direction for all her efforts and injuries. I was clearly wrong.

Selfishly I can only hope she forgave me before she gave her sacrifice to help us all, to help her sister survive.