Chapter Three: Wander with Crimson Eyes


Oki, so I redid parts of this chapter (I added in Shelke...completely forgot she got wrote out of the first version). Hopefully, it flows better. (And my spelling mistakes with names have been fixed...ish...)

And I still don't own Square Enix...


"Why is this happening to me?"

Rufus lay on his stomach in a clean hospital bed. His back at been put back together only an hour ago, and now, the pain was killing him.

"I wish I knew," answered Elena. She was sitting in a folding chair next to his bed, reading a newspaper. "All I know is if Tseng and Rude can't control the reporters outside, you're going to be all over the six o'clock news, like it or not." She folded the newspaper in half and set in on the bedside table. "You are feeling okay?"

"Yeah, besides the fact that the pain just kicked in and the pain killer isn't working, how about you?" Rufus mused, looking at her coolly, and then the exhausted form of Reno over in the corner.

"I'm fine, just tired. I mean, it's been like three days since we brought you here," Elena said.

That long already?

"Don't worry about us, Boss man. Just get better," Reno said.

"Did you send that letter in?" Rufus asked. Reno looked at Rufus and Elena, silently asking what letter before settling back into his chair. Elena just looked down at her fingers.

"Yes, it should be getting back around tomorrow."

"Thanks Elena."

"You sure you don't remember anything on how your back got that way?" Elena looked at him, her face full of worry.

"I'm sorry, I don't," he said, turning away.

"Okay…just don't stress yourself, then. If you can't remember, you can't remember. Tseng said you probably can't remember because you lost conciseness or something like that, or that the pain associated with the memory is too great for you to handle right now. Just relax, all right?" Rufus nodded, and laid his head on a pillow, resting his eyes. Losing his memory due to pain has happened before. Torture, kidnappings…his father….all of them brought pain, and with it, scattered memories.

He closed his eyes, trying to rest. However, he found that he could no longer sleep due to nightmares he had begun to have. His most frequent was him holding Cloud's mangled body as it slowly was put back together, organ by organ, vein by vein. No matter how hard he tried, he could not sleep, in fear that nightmares worse that his most common would come. Nightmares of the beatings, the killings, the pain…his mother. Now on his third day of no sleep, his body had started to make objections. He had become very ill overnight, a fever spiking to 105 degrees. He hadn't eaten anything for two days, for his body would just reject it. All he had been a glass of water which he only takes small sips and his body was slowly rejecting that too.

"Try and get some sleep, if you can. I'll bring up some crackers; maybe your stomach will accept them today." Elena patted his head, standing slowly. He blinked and buried his face into his pillow, longing for sleep, but dreading it also. He waited for Elena to wake Reno, he had fallen asleep, and for them to leave before moving again. He sat up, moving to sitting on his knees. He brought his hand up slowly to his neck, where a cross from his mother, may she rest in peace, hung. He gently pulled the cross off his body and held it to his forehead. He knew from being in this hospital many times before that the wards were sound proof, helping the healing patients sleep. He took a deep breath and looked to the ceiling above. He just let it go.

He screamed.


"Cloud?"

He felt his body turn over, away from a light in his eyes.

"Cloud? Are you awake?" He felt his eyes open; he said nothing. He was in his bed, at his room above the Seventh Heaven Bar. Tifa was there, holding his hand in hers, her face red from crying. When she saw his open eyes, she threw her arms around his body and hugged him.

"You're all right!" She wept into his chest. "You have been sleeping for three days! We were so worried about you," she said. He sat up, holding her in his arms.

"Tifa," he said, waiting for her to calm down. She looked at him with her watery eyes. "Am…am I dead?" She pushed away from him, back straightening. She cocked her head in confusion.

"What do you mean 'am I dead?' No, Cloud, you're very much alive!" He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.

"Is everyone still here?" he asked. Tifa nodded. "I'm going down to tell them I'm all right."

"I don't know, you sure you don't need any more rest?" He smiled at her and walked down the two sets of stairs into the restaurant. Sure enough, there was all of Team AVALANCHE. Yuffie, Cid, Shelke, and Cait Sith were sitting at one of the circular tables, playing cards as Red XIII watched, while Reeve was sitting near them at a separate table, doing some sort of work on his laptop. Barret, Marlene, and Denzel were eating breakfast at the bar, and Vincent was observing them all from a distance in the back of the bar, alone at a table with a small glass of red wine. He was the first to see Cloud walk into the room, motioning him to join his table.

"How are you feeling, Cloud?" Vincent asked as he sat down. He saw out of the reflection of Vincent's glass Tifa enter the room.

"I'm doing fine, but I can't believe that I'm really here," Cloud confessed. Vincent took a sip of his wine, nodding.

"And if I told you that you were brought back to life?" Vincent inquired.
"I would say that I would agree with you. And here I thought it was all just a dream," Cloud told.

"I would like to explain what I…" he paused, clutching his chest for a moment, "I get it," he growled to no one, tossing a glare over his left shoulder. "Explain what we thought happened." He was about to start when Barret cut him off.

"If yous gonna explain it ta Cloud, explain it ta all of us!" he yelled.

"Vincent, it's okay. You can tell us," Shelke added, though quietly.

Vincent shook his head, standing. Cloud thought he heard one of Vincent's demons say 'nosy humans' under Vincent's breath, but he wasn't sure.

"If that is what you wish, my dear human," replied Vincent, Chaos speaking through him. "Master Valentine doesn't truly understand either, so he will be listening this time instead of talking. If any of you have an objection to this notion, speak now." Yuffie began to put her hand up. "Madam Kisaragi, I'm annoyed with you, so your vote doesn't count," Chaos said, smiling to Yuffie. She put her hand down. Chaos waited a few more seconds for anyone to speak, then continued.

"It seems that as of nights thrice ago, Master Strife was killed, though the details are not clear," Tifa covered her mouth and looked at Cloud. The others stared from Chaos to Cloud, confused and shocked.

"I'm sure what you say is true, Chaos," Reeve said, "but Cloud's right there, and not dead." He pointed to add effect. Cait Sith nodded and the robot joined its master's table.

"Yes, well, allow me to explain a…theory…so to speak, that was created right after meteor fall two thousand years past. There was a young man who supposedly had been infected by the calamity right after it fell, turning some of his genes to resemble that of a Centra. Notice I said resemble. While the gentlemen could do and experience similar things to Centra, he was not one. Nowhere close, actually. Also, while the calamity altered some of his genes to resemble Centra, it also physically altered some genes to that of Degra. Thus, the human man was now a third Degra, a third human, and a third Centra, or that of a resembled. This transformation was called Analect Degran," Chaos said. He started to begin again when he noticed Shelke shift uncomfortably. "What is in, young Miss Rui?"

"I…." she started, but stopped when everyone began to look at her.

"Go on, Shelke," Reeve said, "You can trust us. Remember?" She nodded.

"When I was in Deepground, I remember Hojo mentioning something about this. He called the afflicted an angelic demon," Shelke looked down as she said this.

"Do you remember anything else? Did Hojo say anything? Please, refrain from answering if it is too painful." Chaos said.

"No, it's not that. It's just….Hojo said that it was very hard for a human to find the afflicted, but Hojo had his theories. I…I remember his saying that Weiss was an afflicted." Shelke turned away, the pain of her memories weighing heavily on her mind. "That's why Hojo never let the Tsviets leave Deepground. He said that the other Tsviets could control Weiss if he lost control."

"Which he did…" Cait Sith said.

"Not exactly," Chaos and Shelke said at the exact same time. Everyone looked at him. Chaos motioned for Shelke to speak.

"Weiss was not an Analect Degran. He told me so. He also told me…something else, but he said not to worry about it. He said he had no proof, just stories he had heard…Sorry, I do not wish to share anything more. Please, Chaos, continue."

"He could not lose control of power he never possessed," Chaos said simply before resuming his theory. "It is said in the histories that the man, in legend, did not know of his power until he experienced extreme emotion, such as rage or sadness. This, Ms. Rui, may have been why Hojo mistook Weiss, being as strong as he was, for the afflicted. However, strength and appearance has nothing to do with the afflicted. That reminds me. On the topic of appearance, the man in legend found he could transform into a creature with angelic wings, fangs, talons, scales, and horns. If it resembles Centra and Degra attributes, he experienced it. Sound familiar? Almost like the creature from a few nights back. In fact-"

"Wait, wait, wait! What in the Hell does this thing got to do with Cloud?" Cid yelled, interrupting Chaos. He glared at the demon, and then truly wished he hadn't. Chaos growled. "I mean, in all due respect, heh…"

"Since some people can't listen, I will tell you what we believe. We believe that the thing that brought Cloud to the roof was just that." Chaos concluded.

"So yous sayin' that beasty thing we saw three nights ago was an Agilict Digran?" Barret asked.

"Analect Degran, and yes," Chaos replied, correcting Barrets' pronunciation.

"So what is this thing able to do? How does it affect me?" Cloud asked, grabbing a bagel and a glass of milk from the bar.

"They are able to stop time, manipulate time, and even bring the dead back to life, among other things. The catch is, however, they cannot use Materia," Chaos told. "Also, Analect Degrans only follow one bloodline. If I am correct, and if I remember the legend, the bloodline of the Analect Degran always had blonde hair, blue eyes, wore red, white, black or gold," Chaos paused.

"Sounds kinda like Spiky over there," Cid said.

"Yes, but the afflicted only come from the descendants of the Shi-Ra clan." Chaos smiled as Barret dropped his fork, Cid slammed his fists down on the table, Yuffie burst out laughing, Tifa run to Cloud's side as he choked on the bagel, Red XIII coughed, Reeve looked up from his work, and Shelke turned ashen.

"Shi-Ra?" they all yelled, except for Reeve. Everyone was on their feet and yelling that no one heard Shelke or Reeve.

"Oh Gaia…Weiss was right…." Shelke said, quietly slipping from the room.

"Well, isn't that a twist," Reeve said, petting Cait Sith, "That sounds a lot like Rufus Shinra."


The man, one and the same from the North Coral Prison, walked in his tattered clothing through Edge, just like a wanderer. Just like his sister had reported, the city had been plagued by Deep Ground, but was already in the process of a steady rebuild. His crimson eyes flashed, changing his view from normal to his demon eyes. He searched for the bar called Seventh Heaven. He needed to check up on an old…friend… to say the least. He asked directions from an elderly human passing by and hurried off. Something had happened with his target, causing him to lose sight of the Analect altogether. He had a feeling that they had something to do it, but there was only one way to find out.

"Through Chaos," the crimson eyed wandered said, spotting the bar, "The Lord of all Degra."


The side of his face was covered in vomit. He laid on his stomach on his hospital bed, covering his mouth to try and stop from vomiting again. It didn't work. Elena had run to get a cool towel and something to clean up the bile, leaving Rufus to try and keep down the few crackers he had injected. It was obvious after the first cracker that it wasn't going to stay down, but he had tried anyway. He felt himself gag again and clamped his mouth closed with his hand. His fever had returned, and the side effects took hold almost imminently.

"Here," Elena said, returning with towels and a bowl of cold water, "Try and roll over to your back if you can." He did, but a little to quickly. The pain in his back shot up his spine as he rolled. He quickly returned to his stomach to vomit again before slowly and gingerly rolling to his back. Elena helped him wipe off his face and she replaced the pillow. She placed a cold towel over his forehead, subduing the dizziness for only a moment.

"Where's Tseng and the others?" he tried to say. Elena pulled the covers over his limp, cold body.

"They're getting some stuff from Tseng's house. Rude asked the warden if they could let Dark Nation in to keep you company, so they're bringing her too." Rufus thought of his black panther-demon watching him from the chair Elena was sitting in now and shivered. He was still trying to comprehend what had happened almost a week ago on the Shinra building, and what had happened to Cloud. For some reason, however, he was comforted by the fact that his lifelong companion was actually a demon sent to protect him.

But protect from what?

He coughed again, turning over and vomiting over the side of the bed onto the floor. Elena gently rubbed his shoulders, the way a bigger sister would when she takes care of a younger sibling.

"I'm sorry, Rufus," she said as he threw up again. "I made you eat those crackers, and now you're worse than you were earlier."

"Its…okay, Elena. You were trying to help," Rufus said between gagging. "Plus, if I keep vomiting, I won't have anything to throw up." Elena tried to laugh, and he did too, but it was short lived. He rolled back onto his back slowly and with Elena's help, took a few sips of water to stop him from dehydrating. A nurse came in after that to help clean up the bile on the floor and reattach his IV, while Elena switched the towels on this head. She gently rubbed his head as his eyes began to sag.

Let the nightmares begin.


"Miss Tifa, we have another costumer," Red XIII said, looking out the door. Sure enough, there was a man in a sand colored, hooded cloak walking up to the front entrance. Though it had been a few hours, no one was over the fact that Rufus Shinra had saved Cloud. But now the bar was full of costumers, and everyone had to do some work to help the place run smoothly, except for Reeve and Shelke. They had been called by the WRO and were asked to return as soon as possible. Vincent was supposed to go to, but had declined for some reason.

Yuffie, Denzel, and Marlene were taking orders, Cloud, Barret, and Cid were delivering food to the tables, Red XIII watching the door and receiving costumers, Cait Sith monitoring open tables, and she and Vincent were cooking. Turned out, Vincent was the best cook of all of them.

"Table for one!" called Red from the door, receiving the sand-colored cloaked man.

"Cait, any open tables?" She yelled to the robot cat. The cat motioned to an open spot at the end of the bar, and led the man there. Marlene scurried past the man to another table with a pitcher of water. They hadn't been this busy since they first opened, and never had they been able to convince Vincent to stay and help.

"Tifa, order five is done," Vincent said, passing her the plate, which she set on Barret's tray as he passed. He had changed into some of Cloud's old clothing, claiming his choice of attire would have been too cumbersome to cook in.

"Thanks for keeping up, Vince," she said, noticing that he had summoned Galian Beast beside him to help fulfill orders. It was a trick he had learned only a few weeks ago, and he had been practicing ever since. Vincent had found that he could summon Galian Beast or Chaos to his side at one time, or both at a time, but he chose to only call Galian Beast out at the moment. It turned out that, despite the appearance, Galian Beast was actually really funny.

"Not a problem, Tifa," Vincent said.

"Is it normal for humans to order pancakes at 6 pm?" asked Galian Beast, flipping a stack of five pancakes onto a plate and sending them down the counter to Tifa, who placed them on Cloud's tray.

"Yeah," called Cid, "it's called breakfast for dinner." Galian beast scratched his head and shrugged, continuing his cooking.

"Humans amuse me. I must try this 'breakfest for dinner' thing some time. Host! I want pancakes for our next evening meal!" Galian announced to Vincent. He merely shrugged as he passed another plate of food to Barret.

Tifa walked out of the kitchen to the end of the bar where the recently arrived man was sitting.

"Has anyone taken your order, sir?" she asked, setting a menu down before him. He looked up at her, taking off his hood. Tifa didn't know what was more shocking his blood red hair, or the blood red eyes.

"No, Mistress," he said politely, looking down at the menu. "But I just need some water." Tifa nodded and smiled, reaching out to take his menu. The man was so fast that she didn't realize that he had grabbed her hand until she had tried to pull back the menu. He pulled her close enough that his mouth was an inch or so from her ear.

"Tell master Chaos that and old acquaintance wishes to speak to him." The man let go of her arm and let her stubble backward in shock. "Don't forget the menu, miss," he said innocently. She snatched up the menu and hurried back to the kitchen, frightened. She hoped that Vincent and his demon wouldn't notice, but their senses were too strong.

"Miss Tifa, are you feeling well?" asked Galian Beast as she returned to the kitchen. She tried to ignore the fact that Vincent was gazing at her.

"Yeah, just had a little scare with-" she started, and saw Vincent's eyes flash yellow.

"So…he's here," Chaos muttered, and then Vincent shook his head.

"I would like it if you would warn me before doing that," Vincent said to Chaos.

"My lord, be nice to Host," muttered Galian, rubbing Vincent's shoulder.

"Sorry," Chaos said. Vincent stopped cooking and turned to Tifa.

"I'm going to…try and switch places with Chaos as I summon him so he has my appearance and I have his. He…wishes to talk to one of the costumers, and I don't think that…letting him walkout into a crowded restaurant would be a good idea." Tifa giggled and nodded as Vincent muttered some words. There was a quick flicker of the lights and Chaos, in Vincent's form walked from the kitchen out to the bar. Vincent, in Chaos's form, returned to his cooking. Tifa couldn't help but laugh as Vincent attempted to cook while trying to fold Chaos' wide wings, hitting Galian Beast a few times in the process. At least he didn't break anything.


Chaos studied the costumers at the bar before walking past them. All of them seemed oblivious to the fact that a very powerful demon was sitting just down the row from them. He shook his head, and proceeded to the end of the row. There, he found an old…friend, sitting and enjoying a glass of water.

"Ra-Valgoré, what a pleasant surprise," he said in mock amusement, "I didn't realize you enjoyed water so much. Something about a sibling told me that you swore off of it." The fellow demon simply smiled, waving him off. "What are you doing here?"
"It has to do with the meeting you are having in a few days with a young-" started Valgoré; Chaos silenced him with a cold stare.

"Not here, elsewhere. What have you found?"

"I lost 'im," the demon replied.

"How?"

"They got to him after he went crit." (A/N: crit- a demon term for transforming or losing control of one's power.)

"Damn," Chaos cursed. He looked at the young demon in front of him. It was hard to believe that he was talking to the Ruby WEAPON.

"And your siblings?"

"All out of range," Valgoré said. Chaos folded his arms. "No worries. They said everything's going according to plan. In fact," Valgoré started, eyes wandered to one of the television sets suspended above the bar. He watched the news program, a smile slowly forming on his lips. Chaos leaned over the counter with his back to see the program.

"Rufus Shinra was rushed to the newly renamed Edge Hospital three days ago after an emergency call by one of the former Turks. Doctors have release that he was admitted to a private ward after the being told that his back had been severely injured. No reports have been made on how he was injured, but the doctors have told reporters that the injuries he sustained have greatly affected his body and…"

"I think I just found our lost sheep."


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