"Tifa Lockhart came to us not to long ago president." Tseng announced to him as he locked the door and looked to his president, sitting quietly in his wheelchair. Rufus made no move to signal his worker that he heard, instead he continued to stare at the wall under the sheet. Even after the Geostigma, he still refused to take it off. It was odd really.

"What did she want?" he murmured finally, turning his head towards him.

"Cloud refused to assist us, but apparently Tifa found out and agreed to help us if needed. Though, what can she do that Mr. Strife couldn't?"

"Ms. Lockhart is a strong woman." Rufus mumbled, staring out the window of his office now. "She was high up in AVALANCHE, remember? She has some skills worthwhile Tseng."

"We don't know if we can trust her President. Cloud helped us-"

"That was before." Rufus cut him off sharply. "He only helped because he had a person at home with the disease, and he himself was ill. Now he doesn't have a reason."

"Tifa doesn't either." Tseng mumbled under his breath.

"That is because she is a naturally kindhearted person." Rufus replied, having heard him. The president's eye looked at him from under the sheet with a knowing look. "Someone willing to find out if Reno Sinclair is alive just came to us on a silver platter and you shunned her away.

"Tseng, get Tifa back here." Rufus ordered, the familiar glint in his eyes returning.

Tseng nodded, then bowed slightly. "Of course president."

The brunette carefully unlocked the doors of her bar, and slipped in slowly, wary to not make a sound. Her spiky haired blonde Cloud Strife was likely to be wondering of where she was. Of course, having gone unexpectedly and leaving the children home alone had made her guilty of her actions, but something in her gut told her to go to Shinra. Something inside her seemed to shatter at the hearing of Reno being possibly dead, a feeling clicked in, one that she wasn't familiar with and thus she couldn't identify.

Tifa didn't bother turning on the lights in the kitchen, so blundering blindly in the darkness, she begged that she wouldn't bang into a bar stool and send metal clanging in the black. Almost there, she was past the counter, she just had to get to the stairs and . . .

"Where were you?"

Tifa froze, turning her head slightly to see the other adult of the house, his light hair glowing in the dark room. The look in his Mako blue eyes was unreadable, making Tifa take a few steps back. She blinked, waiting for him to make a move, then remembered it was her turn to speak, to answer the question that broke the ice.

"Sh-Shinra Building." Tifa stuttered, her eyes as wide as saucers. Cloud still did not move, he didn't even blink.

"Didn't I say that I didn't want to get involved?" his voice was ice cold, eye becoming slits as he glared at the barmaid.

"You aren't the boss of me or what I do." Tifa snapped, then covered her mouth slightly with her hand when she realized what she had spat out.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you believe? I have more experience with that company than you do. I know what they do to you. Do you think they would simply ask for a favor? Is there prove that Reno really did die? Did you happen to stop to think that this could all be an act? This all could be a trap! Did you think about this at all?"

His voice had risen from a stern whisper to an angry growl, his hands curling into fists. Without hesitation he took a step towards Tifa, his eyes flaring. She could tell he was enraged, and he was going to take it out on her. The options to either defend herself or fight back was biting at her, and she was confused. This was Cloud, but he was dangerous when angry, and that applied to now.

"Cloud, no need to overreact. I can handle myself, don't you think?" her own hands became fists as she held her ground.

"I don't want them to kill you!" he growled, surprising Tifa. He stood his own ground on his beliefs.

"I want to do this. You know it's not like me to leave someone when they need my help." she glared at him, then turned around swiftly, but threw over her shoulder, "I'm helping them, even if it kills you inside."

With the message sent and hopefully received, she exited the bar as her cell phone rang, leaving a stunned Cloud.

"Do we know what we're doing president?" Rude had risen the first question during the meeting between the four of them. Only he, Elena, Tseng, and the president himself were permitted to come, and it was very obvious that it was to decide what was being done about Reno's death and Tifa wanting to help them. "A well thought out plan is needed."

"Tseng should've called Ms. Lockhart by now." Rufus answered, the life coming back into him as he thought of Tifa assisting his company to find the missing Turk. Looking to the reliable employee, he smiled slightly when Tseng nodded. "Good, we just wait for arrival."

"Then what?" Elena blurted out from her seat next to Rude.

"We send her to where Reno went missing, but we do it by ground. Simply, she searches for his body."

The meeting became eerily silent, Rude and Tseng exchanging glances every so often. Elena couldn't sit still, jittery and shaking in her seat next to Rude. Her eyes kept flickering around her colleagues, stopping every so often at the missing red head's.

"President, what if Reno is alive?" Tseng finally choked out, blinking quickly. It was highly unlike him to freak out, but Reno was second in command, right below him. He felt a certain kinship to him.

"Then she brings him back to headquarters." Rufus mumbled, zoning out again. "We've lost Shinra employees before, no need to cry about this one. If she finds him, she finds him."

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