Welcome to C'Est La Vie. This has been a series in work for over seven years now, and this work in particular is now in its third draft.

Few notes:

Reno has drastically changed from my first draft to the current one. He has also been upgraded in terms of age and past history. His pattern of speech has also been changed, as I've come to feel that the translation is exceptionally goofy and does not really suit the character. I played and watched FFVII in Japanese, so the character speaks Japanese in my head.

OCs present. While I doubt the heroine qualifies as a Mary Sue, you have been warned.

This is an action/romance, and there will be swear and some romantic discourses.

Many thanks to RaspberryPolarBear, who was my first reader and provided me with the lovely character of Ivy. I hope someday you will read this again.

This work was written with extensive playlists for the scenes and the characters. If you wish for a playlist, please PM me.

I do take character requests. If you wish to see your character running around Shinra HQ, please PM me for a template.

Final Fantasy and its related franchises belong to Square-Enix. Everything else belongs to me.

Prologue: An Old End

Save your tears
For the day
When our pain is far behind

On your feet
Born to stand
We are the Turks, stand or die

Save your fears
Take your place
Save them for the Judgement Day

Face together
The pain and fire
If we don't, we'll lose all ground

Time to make the sacrifice
Rise or fall, we are the Turks
Take your place, stand or die*

- - - Inscription found on the table found in Room 6609

It was three o'clock in the afternoon, an hour when the entire building unravelled into degeneracy after the active morning. There were executives around the coffee machine, Scarlet fixing her make-up, Reeve's cat wandering off. All in all, it was a sleepy hour.

Tseng, the leader of the Investigation Sector of the Department of General Affairs, colloquially known as Turks, was seated at a desk, trying to enjoy a cup of coffee and failing. By all means, he should have been able to. The large desk was clean and ordered, just as he liked it; the files were in neat array, and even the weather was pleasant. The coffee was still fresh.

The pile of files on his desk, however, ruined his enjoyment. He was trying to select a candidate into admission for the sector – an honour for most – and no one was really catching his eye. Some were regular office workers, quite a few from the Intelligence. The file he was taking a look at now was one of the latter.

The woman's name was Arien DeVir. Tseng knew of her. The Turks had regular dealings with the Intelligence, especially the section this woman belonged to; he had often seen her name on the reports he had received. She had passed the physicals, the report said – that was only to be expected – and her personality examination seemed fine. Tseng narrowed his eyes and looked at the file again as he swallowed the coffee.

The photograph stapled to the file was a little grainy, and it looked like the identification photo Shinra used for the personnel records. She looked a little young for her age, with raven hair framing her pale face. Her eyes were blue-grey, although records showed she originally had brown eyes. That was normal. They were slightly slanted, focused, alert; her nose was straight, her lips drawn in a line without a smile. She had Wutaian blood somewhere, Tseng guessed. She stood a little on the tall side, but then Rude was no dwarf. Her past was rather ordinary within the Intelligence – military academy – and her previous partner was listed as Darren Blake.

Well, Darren would have been Tseng's first choice, save for a minor drawback that the man was dead from an explosion accident a few months earlier. The conflict with AVALANCHE left a trail of dead and several workers missing – mostly from the squad – and Blake had been one of them. He had heard rumours that there were romantic undertones between Blake and this woman, but whatever the rumours were, she clearly did not let it get in her way when it came to her job. Her performance hadn't declined since.

But the Turks required thinking outside the box, quickness of mind, and some disregard for the rules. Arien, according to her personality profile, seemed to love rules. Rigidity could kill in the Investigation Sector, and that bothered him.

His train of thought was interrupted by a shrill trill of the phone. Without bothering to look, he reached over for the handset, groped around, and finally located it. "Tseng."

"If that blasted redhead makes the lab explode ONE MORE TIME," said a raspy voice, "I'm going to demand recompense."

"Did Reno get into the cabinet again?" Tseng asked wearily, wondering if the redhead in question actually did drugs. It was unlikely, but his past mischiefs really begged the question.

"No," the lab worker snapped. "He made the trash explode. There's debris everywhere!"

"I'll take care of it," the man promised. "I apologise."

"You damn well should!" came the irate response. "Three weeks of work, gone! All because you can't keep that bloody nuisance on a leash!"

Can anyone keep Reno on a leash? Tseng wondered, but he did not voice the question. "I'll take care of it," Tseng repeated again. "I apologise."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again!" Bang. The worker must have slammed the phone down, since the connection died after a loud crash. Tseng massaged his temple, then stood up. "Reno!"

The redhead came over straight away. "Whaddup, Boss?" His lanky frame looked oddly dishevelled, his posture slouching.

"What did you do this time?" Tseng demanded from his desk. "I just received a call from Lab 16 saying that you made things explode."

"Wasn't me," Reno said almost reflexively.

"Are you entirely sure? The lab technician said it was you."

"No proof. Wasn't me," he maintained.

Tseng sighed. He knew that Reno was frustrated and stressed – they all were, with increased workload and the defeats and whatnot – but he really needed to find another outlet, something that didn't involve other departments. Preferably something that contributed to the sector. "Apologise anyway."

"What?" Reno cried indignantly. "No freakin' way!"

"Just do it, Reno" was the response. "Maybe you didn't do it, maybe you did. I don't particularly care at this moment. I can't have reports of you disrupting work going to Rufus. Just do it to smooth things over."

Reno glared, but Tseng hadn't been in the position of command for nothing. He looked at the redhead with the "do it or else" look.

Reno finally acquiesced. "Fine, whatever," he mumbled. "Can I go now?"

Tseng waved his hand, gesturing the redhead to leave. That did it. This woman would probably make sure Reno wouldn't do anything stupid and cause more problems, at least for a while. He picked up his pen and signed his approval, wondering if this would actually work, or if everything would backfire and land him in serious trouble.

He hoped to all the gods that it wouldn't.

* Song credits go to Yoko Kanno. From Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: Second GiG.