Sequel to "Tears of Black", "Were He Alive", and "Chrome". In ToB, Larette was a Turk protecting Rufus Shinra personally. They fell in love, and President Shinra, Rufus's father, killed her shortly after hearing his son's intentions to wed her. Or so he thought. Rude, another Turk and mentor of Larette, saved her. In WHA, an alternate time line where Zack Fair, childhood friend and first crush of Larette, did not die, their relationship is explored. In Chrome, picking up after Rude saved Larette, she had developed amnesia. Once she had remembered everything, she went to see Rufus one last time to tell him everything...

And so it continues...

P.S.

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Rufus Shinra looked up at the breathtaking goddess resting on his crimson sofa, his hand entwined in her's, were it belonged. She looked at him, cautiously, and at the unopened box in his hand. As an Ex-Turk, no, as a woman, she needed no clues to know what was in that box. And as a woman, the same woman in the arms of her soul mate, she at once knew her answer, not even once aware that she had made up her mind.

"...After everything that's happened, you still love me?" She shook her head, trying to clear away the tears of her unbridled emotions, "I only came here to tell you my fate...I never expected to wind up here."

It was true. After making up her mind to seek him out, she had expected no good fortune in her venture, not in the end. She doubted he'd even let her finish, and even if he did, she was prepared for him to hate her...

He couldn't help but laugh, knowing that even though she hadn't said it yet, "I knew it'd be something like that."

She beamed at his comment, "I love you, too. But I won't marry you." She smiled brightly before he could get upset, "Not without making a show of it!"

And so it came to pass that Larette Black became Larette Shinra. True to his word, Rufus waited to announce the engagement, even the fact that he knew Larette was alive, until the death of his father. Married two weeks before the destruction of Meteor, rushed purely out of panic, just before the planed "Execution" of Tifa Lockheart and Barret Wallace of AVALANCHE, which Larette had no knowledge of, they spent the time after in Mideel.

That was two years ago. Now, gradually reestablishing a name for itself, Shinra inc. is aiding in the efforts to repair the planet, as it should. Rufus has personally been putting in strenuous hours at work, also commanding his loyal Turks to do the same. Larette, not quite forbidden by her husband, assists the Turks in however many ways that she still can.

"Rufus, honey," Larette sat on the edge of his desk with her legs crossed in a short, open white baby-doll dress, "I know that you're really busy and all, but maybe you could use a break?"

He looked up at her, "Hm? What'd you break?"

She rolled her eyes, recrossing her legs, "Nothing! But, um...About that break you should take?" She plied the papers from his hands and slapped them down on the desk, forcing him to look at her, "I could use just a little...company."

He jumped up from his seat as it rolled back, startling her, "Shit, I almost forgot about the company meeting! Thank you so much, love!"

He ran from the room, leaving his wife in a crossed state. She huffily got off his desk and headed back to her room, muttering darkly, "What do I have to do? Wear a neon sign?"

Larette wasn't asking for much, just five minutes! She wouldn't have minded what they spent the time doing, as long as he was actually paying her attention. Of course she wasn't stupid, she knew how busy he was, but he still could have afforded to at least look at her when she spoke to him.

"Larette?" Reno, a friend and Turk, failed to stifle a laugh at the way she was dressed.

She growled at him, hairs flying dangerously, "Shaddup!"

He whimpered in the corner like a beaten dog, "Sorry..."

She sighed, knowing that her misplaced anger was not meant for him, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that...I'm just so lonely...He's too busy to even look at me these days..." She morned her blues, "I'm such a failure of a wife..."

"Hey," Reno wouldn't have been this nice if it were anyone else, "Don't sweat it! The boss's just swamped at work right now...He'd have to be to miss you in that little number! Hell, if my lady looked half as hot as you do right now, she'd be even more hassled than your husband."

"That's probably half the reason he's ignoring me right now." She thought back...

Spending the day at the park with her loving spouse, Larette watched a small girl, about three or four, playing with her twin sister. It was just like her and her older sister, Caris, when they were little. Just like her sister's baby might be now they hadn't died in the reactor meltdown in Gongaga...

"Larette, are you alright?" Rufus asked her, watching her watch the girl. But naturally he got the wrong impression. "Such troublesome things...Children."

She nodded, completely missing his tone, "Yeah, they sure do grow fast though."

He caught that she had failed to interpret his meaning, so he tried again, "We'll do well to avoid that, won't we?"

Again, she missed it, "But wouldn't you want an heir someday?"

He swiped his hair out of his face, "Maybe...Maybe not."

But that wasn't the last time it came up. While at the fair one day, Larette got very sick. At once, because she was acting suspicious lately, he accused her of being with child. That wasn't it at all; She had gotten ill from a corn dog, and the sneaking about was so she could surprise him with a "redo" of their first date. He felt terrible, and the conversation never once came back up, though it was obvious that he was weary of the possibility.

... Larette looked at Reno, aware that she had frozen herself in thought, "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

"Spending time with your husband..." Reno, and all of the Turks, had grown accustomed to Larette and her ways, so he was barely fazed by her pause, "Well, it were me, I'd just make myself known."

That was an understatement if she had ever heard one, but she smiled politely nevertheless, "Yeah?" Suddenly, inspiration hit her, "Thank you, so much!"

She scuttled off excitedly, leaving Reno with the feeling that this was going to bite him in the ass later...

Rufus may have been able to ignore her when she was there, but he very well couldn't ignore the fact that she was gone! It was full proof! All she needed was to sneak out to some romantic location and wait for him to find her! But where? Pft, as if there was anywhere else to go but to the place where they had their honeymoon! In the middle of the night, she would "go to the bathroom", but really, she'd be leaving to Mideel. The perfect plan...

After the meeting, Reno pulled Rufus aside. "Sir, this may be out of place, but I was speaking to Larette..." Rufus wasn't overly fond of people calling his wife by her first name, but since they had known her before hand, he allowed the Turks and those close to her to call her so informally. "...She's...not very happy."

"Oh?" He looked seriously at the Turk, "Surely she realizes...? Hm, I'd better tell her then, thank you, Reno."

The red-haired man bit his lip, "Well, as her friend I'm curious...Are you treating her like that because of him?"

The boss turned his back to his subordinate, "Sephiroth...The nightmare." Larette had nothing to do with him, he doubted if she knew about him anymore than the general public. But Rufus didn't like that he, as the head of Shinra, was not yet the focus of revenge. "I wonder if he knew about Kadaj?"

"Sir?" Reno had never once heard Rufus talking about Kadaj, outside ordering all who knew his fate to silence.

He shook his head, "It doesn't matter. Sephiroth...Kadaj...As long as Larette's safe, I don't care how many have to die."

"He's coming back." It was no question, Rufus knew something...And Reno thought he knew what this time...