Cloud's eye twitched as he heard the incessant beeping of his phone once again. It had been going off for an hour now and would not stop. He sighed, finally giving into the nefarious phone beings. He reached into his pocket as he swerved through the wilderness on Fenrir. Pulling out his phone, he punched in the code for his answering machine and instantly regretted it as Barrets screaming voice reached his ears.

"WE FOUND $^%$& OIL CLOUD!! %^ AND LOTS OF ^%&^& OIL!!! MARLENE IS $^^^ AWESOME!!!!! SEEEEEEE YOUUUUUU SSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON SPIKEH!!!"

Cloud almost lost control of his bike as he instinctively pressed his hands to his ears to block out the horrible yelling. Unfortunately his phone was in his hand, thus intensifying the sound instead of the opposite.

He instantly retracted his arm and stared at his phone with a glare he reserved mainly for Sephiroth. Grumbling under his breath he deleted the message, checking for any others. He had received another one from Tifa.

"Cloud! Reno will not stop calling! The idiot wants you to get your ass over to Healen lodge! God I'm so stressed…"

Cloud had to resist the urge to throw the phone into the valley by the road as he deleted the message from Tifa as well. Sighing, he reluctantly put his phone back into his pocket and drove up to the ridiculously shaped lodge before him.

He stomped moodily up the ramp, reaching for his sword. He was prepared to cut down anyone and everyone as he threw open the door. To his dismay his attack was blocked.

Reno took a step back before running at Cloud, a mighty battle cry escaping his mouth. Cloud sighed and stepped to the right.

Reno flopped out the door. He caught himself before he fell over and looked around in confusion for a second before realizing his mistake and running back at the door, only to have it shoved in his face.

"Okay so you're good."

Reno tried opening the door but Cloud shoved it in his face again and locked it, secretly enjoying his small victory.

Cloud took a few steps into the lodge, surveying the room he was in as Rude entered. He pulled on a glove as though inspiring music should be playing, and stopped in a dramatic stance. A shout from outside ruined the moment. Apparently Reno had X-Ray vision.

"Yeah Rude, looking sharp!"

Cloud mentally smacked his head against a wall in annoyance. Even shoving a door in the mans face twice and locking him out side could not hinder his loud, obnoxiously huge mouth.

Rude went for his cattle prod. Not wanting to deal with any more crap, Cloud lifted his sword with a menacing look and Rude backed off.

"Good, you fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be."

Cloud looked over at the talking door in wonder. Though he knew that he had gone over the bend, he didn't think it had gotten this serious yet. Just then a man covered in a blanket rolled through said door on his wheelchair. He mentally sighed in relief as he sheathed his sword, realizing it must have been this man that had been speaking. The man turned his wheelchair to face Cloud.

"You haven't lost you're touch."

Suddenly an image of an exploding Shinra building flashed across his mind.

"Rufus Shinra? Do I feel sorry for you." And you know when Cloud feels sorry for someone, it's pretty bad.

Rude turned his head in an exasperated manner. Rufus's head twitched slightly and Rude cleared his throat.

"The day of the explosion-"

"What do you want from me?"

"I managed to get out-"

"Who were the guys that attacked me?"

"Before it colla-"

"I'm leaving!"

Rufus brought a hand up to his face, brushing the blanket slightly to the side.

"We need your assistance"

Cloud wanted to slice the man's head off.

"Not interested."

"I acknowledge that Shinra owes the planet a lot."

Cloud glared menacingly at Rufus, 'No shit Sherlock! Screw the planet, you owe me a lot you arrogant douche bag!'

"It goes without saying that my company and I are the ones that put the world in the sorry state it's in, therefore, it's our responsibility to set things right."

"I'm still out here."

Cloud's head twitched towards the door, he wanted nothing more than to shove his sword into it and silence the idiot that was most likely pressed up against it in vein to hear what was going on.

Rufus droned on and on as Cloud plotted ways to kill Reno.

"-Geostigma."

At that Cloud looked at Rufus, wondering how they had got on the topic of the disease before noticing Rufus's hand twitch. It was covered in a bruise-like mark.

'HA! Suck on that, now your stupidity has come back to bite you in the ass!…….and me…..damn it!'

Rufus continued on with his stupid speech, as Cloud moped around in his brain over his short lived victory.

"-the arrival of Sephiroth."

Cloud's head snapped up.

"Sephiroth is dead"

He replied quickly, not wanting to ponder the possibility of the maniac's return.

"Yes, but has his mind died?"

'YES! That's what freaking happens when your brain shuts down you idiot!'

"What if he somehow dissolved into the life stream? Coursing through the planet un-defused?"

Cloud looked at Rufus as though he had two heads, a foot for a nose, maybe a few tentacles and a chocobo living under that blanket with him.

"I know, it is merely my speculation. But, it is possible, isn't it?"

'No, no, no, no and NO!' By this point Cloud had decided to stop listening again, he didn't want to hear anymore of Rufus's crazy conspiracy theories. To try and distract himself he started picturing Reno in a dress, for some reason it was the first thing that came to his mind.

His eyebrows furrowed at the disturbing image as he noticed an absence of noise. Cloud hoped he wasn't expected to answer, but luckily, his early expression seemed to answer for him. Apparently Rufus had taken his face to mean he was listening and was not happy with the news.

"Relax, we didn't find anything."

Cloud blinked a bit, but decided to let Rufus continue his rant.

"However, not all went as planned. We were....interrupted."

Cue random scene featuring an injured Tseng and a panicked Elena, the longest scene these two will ever get.

"Kadaj and his gang."

"Kadaj?"

"They'll be after you as well. If they haven't already found you."

Cloud mentally growled, he did want any part of this.

"Leave me out of this."

"How? Your ties to Sephiroth run as deep as ours do, Cloud. If Kadaj's purpose is to do what's necessary to prepare for the moment, we stand in the way as his greatest threat."

Cloud Raised his head, trying to figure out what Rufus was telling him.

"Moment?"

Rufus expression darkened. When I say it darkened, I mean his head twitched a bit.

"Sephiroth….reborn."

'WHY!? No! Sephiroth will NOT be reborn! Why won't you shut up! God you like to hear yourself talk, don't you?' Cloud was once again mentally bashing his head against a wall. "Are you done talking?"

Rufus ignored this comment, and continued on with his seemingly endless banter.

"lets get to the issue at hand. In order to combat Kadaj, we need someone with your expertise. Will you join us, former SOLDIER Cloud?"

Cloud scoffed, "In my head." He turned to walk out the door. Unlocking it, he suddenly remember troll-doll guy's words. "What's this stuff about mother?"

"Why? Did Kadaj mention something?"

"Rufus, if you're hiding something." 'And you most likely are, you freaking Mythomaniac!"

"I'd never keep a secret, not from a comrade."

Cloud let out a quiet snort, wondering if Rufus knew how stupid that sounded.

"You must want to learn all you can about the stigma, naturally for the sake of those orphans you live with. Surely you long to see the smiles return to their faces."

Cloud debated in his head whether this was true or not.

"All we want in the end, is to rebuild our world." Rufus raised a hand in a welcoming gesture, which was most likely causing pain to his dignity. Cloud took a moment to enjoy the feeling of having Rufus asking him for help.

Though he really didn't want to help the guy, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, Rufus was trying to make up for what he'd done. 'Heh, fat chance at that!'

"But I-"

Suddenly Reno's voice cut in, once again ruining the moment.

"Come on Cloud, think about it. Together we could rebuild Shinra!"

Cloud winced as the image of Reno in a dress fluttered across his mind again. 'That was a mistake, I'll never get that image out of my head now! Damn it! What does the world have against me!?'

"Not interested."

With that, He stomped moodily out the door, slamming it behind him. Reno just watched him with an expression of 'what did I say wrong?'

"Reno!"

"Reno."

Reno in a dress....'God damn it!'


XD okay, so this one ended on a weird note. This chapter was sooooooo annoying to write! My god, Rufus shinra just does not shut up!!!!! I usually just zone out during this part, but nooooooo i just had to write a fanfic involving it. -Goes to bash Rufus's head against a wall- stupid idjit. Well i hope it's good, yes i know a lot of it is dialogue, but blame the idiot who likes to hear himself talk.

Once again, constructive criticism is always welcome. My grammar sucks, my spelling sucks, so woo to me for even trying! bahahahahaha!!!!!! hhahahaha! I have no clue what i'm laughing at. -sigh-