By: ShinRa Bleeding Beauty & General Quistis
Disclaimer: Do you really think we own Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft and its characters? :(
Authors' note: The setting of this story is somewhat like an alternate universe thingy whatsoever… this is our version of the somewhat clichéd idea what if Tifa was the one who died instead of Aerith with a new twist… I hope this thing works out the way we want it to be…
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"You lost track of them?" General Heidegger demanded from the Turks.
"N…not really… someone died from their team but we managed to get the body away…" Reno replied.
Rufus frowned when he heard that as he faced the others. "You brought me a corpse? That's it?" he demanded with a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Professor Hojo was the one who wanted the body, Mister President." Heidegger explained with an apologetic look on his face.
"I see… and what is he going to do with that body?" Rufus asked.
"We don't really know… maybe turn it into another one of his nasty clones," Heidegger thought silently but did not really bother to broadcast it to everyone in the room.
"Fine, where is the body?" Rufus asked.
All of them were in awe upon hearing the question. "Where is the body?" he repeated, turning to Reno.
"In his lab." Reno replied as he shoved his hands inside his pocket.
Rufus thought for a while before he sat down on his office seat. "Whose body is it? Does it belong to that Ancient or the big fat guy?" he asked.
"It's the girl with dark hair and big boobs." Reno explained with a shrug.
Rufus raised an eyebrow, trying to picture the girl in his mind. "How did she die?" he asked.
"Sephiroth killed her." Reno explained as he referred to his clothes with some bloodstains. "I had to carry the girl back here away from her pesky AVALANCHE friends." He said.
Rufus frowned at the sight of blood against Reno's white polo, cringing at the thought of memories from his own childhood. With that, he looked away and stood up. "Away with all of you. I want you to continue your search." He commanded.
"Yes, sir," General Heidegger replied before he got out of the room with Reno.
Rufus just stayed inside his office for the rest of the evening.
***
Aerith was beginning to get worried as she continued to pace back and forth. "What's taking Cloud so long?" she asked herself as she sat down on the sidewalk.
After a few moments, he heard some footsteps from behind her. She instantly turned around and her eyes grew wide when she saw Cloud. "Did you bury her already?" she asked.
Cloud shook his head. "Didn't really bury her… just threw her in the lake." He replied with a voice that seemed to falter.
Aerith stood up and approached him, hugging him tightly to comfort him. "We could've given her a proper burial but… because of the awful consecutive events, we just can't…" she said sadly as tears streamed down her face.
Cloud looked down at her and sighed heavily. "I know…" he said before putting his arm around her shoulder. "Let's just go and look for a place to sleep… we're both tired…" he said softly as he began to walk with her.
***
Scarlet looked down at the dead girl lying on the operating table. "Kya~h… I don't understand why you made me come here for…" she stated flatly before turning to Hojo.
"I want you to help me clean her up. We need to treat her wound and get rid of the water from her lungs." Hojo told her as he adjusted his glasses.
"Kyah…" Scarlet looked back at the girl and studied her pale face. "Kyah… what are you going to do with her, anyway?" she demanded as she crossed her arms.
Hojo approached her and patted the dead girl's shoulder. "I'm not really sure… but such a beautiful face shouldn't just go to waste, don't you think, huh, Scarlet?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.
Scarlet made a face and snorted.
Hojo touched the dead girl's face. "She's got crimson eyes that are really very pretty… if only she could open them now… and she has a very perfect body… her spiky-headed friend just literally threw her in the lake. I asked Reno to get her so that I could do something to her…" he trailed off when Scarlet gasped.
"KYAH! You dirty old fool! You're not gonna screw her up like this?" she demanded, suddenly pitying the dead girl.
Hojo's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "NO! Of course not! Hah! I'm not that sick you know?" he demanded as he put his hands on his hips.
"Kyah… you even had intentions of making that Ancient mate with that red dog thing and you refer to yourself as not sick? Kyahaha! You gotta be kidding me!" she snapped as she turned back to the girl and began to remove her boots and her gloves. "What is her name, anyhow?" she asked.
"Based on her records here in Midgar, her name is Tifa Lockheart. She's from Sector 7." He told her as he got a yellow folder, flipped it open and then began to read the file. "She's born on May 3… she's already 20. She's single and her height is 5'4"… such a young beautiful girl, don't you think so?" he asked before closing the folder and placed it on top of a table.
Scarlet made a face. "You always stress out that she's beautiful…" she muttered glumly.
"Why, you're jealous?" he teased with a nasty look on his face.
Scarlet frowned at him. "No. It's just that, I don't know your real intentions on why you got this poor girl. You should've just let her rot in the lake." She snapped.
"I thought you hated her?" he asked.
Scarlet felt so annoyed so she just decided to just change the subject. "Do you have a robe or something that I could use to cover her up? I'm gonna get rid of her bloody clothes." She stated flatly.
Hojo got a blanket and handed it to Scarlet. "I'll be right back. I'll just go and get her some clothes." He said before he headed upstairs.
Scarlet watched as he got out of the lab before proceeding to remove the rest of Tifa's clothing. "Kyah… I sure hope that that crazy professor doesn't do anything stupid to you like clone you or something…" she muttered glumly as she grabbed some gauze, some cotton and some alcohol to clean up the blood and the wound. "You're gonna need some stitches," she said with a nasty look on her face.
"Who needs some stitches?"
She covered Tifa's naked body with the blanket before turning around upon recognizing the voice. "President Rufus! Wh…what are you doing here? It's late!" she told him.
Rufus approached Scarlet before turning his gaze to Tifa. He frowned upon seeing her. "I thought so…" he thought silently before unconsciously reaching to Tifa's face and touched it gently. His fingertips felt her coldness and it made him feel chilly. "She's dead," he said softly.
"Kyah… she is dead." Scarlet stressed out with a sleepy look on her face.
"What is her name?" he asked.
"Kyah… it's Tifa Lockheart." She replied as she crossed her arms.
Rufus nodded his head before turning to Scarlet. "Where is Hojo?" he asked.
"He went upstairs to get her some clothes…" she explained.
He nodded before turning back to Tifa.
Scarlet made a face. "Kyah… why did you come down here, President Rufus?" she asked.
"It's none of your business." He snapped before he shoved his hands inside his pockets. "I'll be coming back here tomorrow to check on her." he said before turning back to Tifa and touched her face again with the back of his hand.
With that, he left.
"Hmf!" Scarlet said before turning back to Tifa. She slapped her face. "You slut!" she muttered.
***
Rufus could not sleep that night. All he could do was think of Tifa. "What is it with me? I still need to wake up early so that I could continue with my plans… I should achieve more than old man did…" he thought silently as he sat up and looked at the clock. It read 4:00am.
He sighed heavily as he raked his fingers through his already disheveled hair.
After thinking about it, he finally decided to get out of bed and headed for the couch by the window and got his silk blue robe. With that, he headed outside.
A few guards on-duty patrolling in the area were quite surprised upon seeing their President already awake in that unholy hour. "G…good morning, Mister President," they greeted as he passed by.
He ignored them and just continued to walk going to the elevator heading down to the laboratory. When he finally arrived, he was surprised to see Hojo seated by an empty operating table while drinking some coffee.
Hojo looked up at Rufus and smiled. "President Rufus, I knew you'd come here," he said with enthusiasm.
Rufus raised an eyebrow but he did not say anything; he just turned to the operating table. "Where's she?" he thought silently with a cold look on his face.
"If you're looking for the girl, I placed her in one of the empty bedrooms upstairs… I'm sorry if I did not ask for your permission, President Rufus, but she needed some decent place to lie down," Hojo explained before putting the cup of coffee down on the operating table and stood up with a grim look on his face.
Rufus nodded slightly.
"You want to see her?" Hojo asked as he went past him and headed for the door.
Rufus realized that Hojo wanted him to follow, so he did. "Why did you take her here?" he asked.
Hojo was silent until they finally reached the floor where Rufus's bedroom was located.
Rufus saw the door to his own bedroom but did not say anything, but his mouth slightly dropped open when he realized that Hojo led themselves to the door to the room beside his.
The old man opened the door and stepped inside. "Come inside, President Rufus." He invited.
Rufus frowned at him before he entered the room. It smelled of sweet perfume that made him feel relax a little from the tension he felt.
The room was dimly lit by the lamplight from one corner of the room. He looked around, scanning the whole area until he came across the bed. His eyes narrowed at the sight of a very beautiful girl wearing a black dress lying on the bed. He slowly approached her and just stared at her for a couple of minutes before he finally reached down to her face and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. Unconsciously, he just smiled gently.
Hojo lowered his gaze to the ground when he saw him smile. "I can see that you are amazed by her, President Rufus," he said softly.
Rufus stiffened but he still continued to touch her face. "Yes, I am," he wanted to say, but he just kept quiet, instead he just said, "Is she dead?"
"I am trying to revive her," Hojo said.
Rufus sat down on the bed beside her and got her hand, squeezing it gently. "You should revive her," he said softly.