The Best Protection
Teaser: When you've known someone all your life, sometimes it's hard to let them go.
Elena hummed a tune to herself as she walked up the driveway, beach hat atop her head and her sandals scuffing up dust as she walked.
As Rufus's pet, Dark Nation, walked past her, her happy mood sunk as she watched him pass her. She knew that Dark Nation wasn't the most playful pooch out there, but he was never like that.
She put the thought out of her mind until she reached the porch to see Reno looking out sadly at the trail.
"Reno? What's wrong with Dark Nation?" she asked.
He looked to her sadly. "You haven't been here for a while, right?"
"Right: vacation for a month," she said, cracking a weak grin. Something was seriously wrong…
"Yeah. No wonder you don't know." He ran his hand through his wild hair, sighing uncomfortably. "We couldn't get a hold of you when it happened, Lena; don't forget. We tried, but we just couldn't."
She nodded, wanting him to continue.
"You know first-hand how stubborn Rufus can be, right? Well, he was getting worse for the longest time, and when we thought he couldn't ever get better, he wanted to go up to those cliffs in the distance -- you know the ones – so we had no choice but to let him go. He refused to let us come with him.
"At first, we thought it was okay, since Dark Nation was going with him, but when he didn't come back for a long time, Tseng made us go find him."
He swallowed. "We did. We got to the cliff, only to be blocked off by Dark Nation. He was growling at us and wouldn't let us through to Rufus. I mean, we could see Ru sitting there from our position, and he wasn't moving at all.
"We should've known something was wrong…" Reno slammed his fist against the porch railing, his eyes squeezed shut to block out the angry tears. "But we just thought he was mad at us.
"Rude distracted Dark Nation while I went up to get Rufus. I pulled that sheet away from his head… And he was gone.
"I dunnu why he went all the way up there to die, but he did. I guess Dark Nation knew it was coming, since he wouldn't go too far from him for anything when he started getting ill. But why couldn't we see it!"
Elena raised a hand to her mouth, sobbing and trembling. She knew Rufus had been in bad shape, but she hand thought that he'd pull through. That was just the way Rufus was.
He must have been worse than they knew. He must have keep most of his sickness hidden from them.
"Why! He should've told us that something was wrong!" she sobbed, hugging herself to make up for the loss.
Reno knelt down beside her, hugging her tightly. "We tried, Lena. We tried."
"There's no use in crying. It won't bring him back and he wouldn't want it, anyway. That's why he went to the cliffs instead of dying at home."
Tseng's emotionless tone startled them both. He stood partly concealed in the doorway, arms crossed and cold eyes looking out towards the cliffs. "It was his time to go. Besides, Dark Nation will watch out for what's left." The Turk leader nodded to himself. Dark Nation allowed to move Rufus's body, but he refused to let the wheelchair on his master's shotgun be moved from that hill.
Elena looked up hopefully at Tseng. He was right. Rufus wouldn't want them crying over him. He never approved of pointless shows of emotion.
"Yeah. Whether Rufus is here with us or even if he's gone, he'll always have the best protection." Reno nodded along with his statement.
They all looked to the cliffs one last time and replied unanimously:
"Dark Nation."
A/N: My first angst attempt. It's sort of a tribute to Dark Nation and all those loyal pets out there more than anything, but I suppose Rufus can be a "tributee" as well. But I like this fic. 3 Yay for Shin-Ra!