Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or it's characters.
Acceptance of the
Terms
Rufus Shinra tapped his fingers on the long wooden table set before him. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips drawn into a tight, thin line. Sitting immaculate in his pressed white suit, his normally cool, reserved stance was taken over by a more threatening forward lean finally resolving into an icy glare thrown across the room at the pilot lounging opposite him. If looks could kill, Cid Highwind woul be dead several times over by now, as it happened to be though, Cid merely kicked back a little more in the conference chair he was in and muttered something to the effect of: "You made her wait, so now you'll wait for her..."
Cloud couldn't believe it. He had been, just a few minutes ago, holding the girl of his dreams and all had been suddenly resolved for him. All the inward confusion, all the haunting frustration had flown at her touch. He knew he didn't want to leave her again, he knew what he wanted from life, and she was standing right in front of him. She also, just recently, had given him the large reddish mark on the side of his face...
A torrent of emotions tore through her at his touch. Tifa could barely remember to breathe. Joy at his being alive, confusion at his sudden appearance, contentment at being held by him, anger at his audacity to show up after being gone so long without word. A moment in heaven in his arms faded all too quickly into the confusion and resentment that followed. She pushed him away and barely in control of herself, struck him soundly across his cheek. He staggered back, his hand flying up to cover the stinging area. "How dare you..." Tifa hissed "After all this time! I didn't know where you were, I didn't know why you left..."
He couldn't have looked more lost. "...the note..." he murmured.
"It didn't tell me ANYTHING!" Tifa's rage caused a few people close by to back away. "Just that you were leaving...again!" she faced away from him. "I thought we were better...our family was better..." her shoulders started to sag, the storm in her head slowly starting to fade. "Was it too much to ask? Just to be there? Why?..."
He cast his gaze towards the ground. The age old guilt crept back over him like a familiar shadow. Were his reasons for leaving really all that good? He shook his head and snuck a glance back up at his childhood friend. She had wandered, distraught, a few paces away, her hands covering her face. Her soft cries hung in the air, causing him more pain than any blow she could strike him with. How have I caused this much pain? The guilt greedily sunk into his thoughts. What have I done to this woman, when all I wanted to do was spare her the burden that I am... He gritted his teeth together. Now I know why I'm better off away. I should have stayed back at the hotel. Cloud knew why he had gone to her, though, and the revelations he had just felt had not disappeared. He turned away from her and brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head. Should I try to apologize? Could I even hope to regain her friendship? Should I just leave now? At most other times, his gut instinct had pulled him one way or another, however it seemed that instinct, along with all logical reasoning, had left him entirely. He turned back toward Tifa, only to find that she was facing him as well. Building tears had replaced the blazing fire in her ruby eyes. He hated himself to even think that he had caused those tears. Hesitantly, he stepped forward.
Mako-infused eyed shot wide open, then as realization of his goal entered his mind, a cruel grin found it's way to his lips. There he was...Strife... The killer had been about to give up his watch on the girl from the bar, but now all his torturous inactivity was finally at an end. His smile became bigger and more evil when he realized that Strife didn't even have a weapon. This was going to be so easy, he didn't know why all the others mother had sent had failed to kill this man. He gripped the hilt of his sword in anticipation. He judged that he could just kill the girl on his way to Strife, not that she looked like she was in any condition for a rematch. The thought crossed him seomwhat as a disappointment, but he shook the feeling off. Leaning forward to start his attack run, he stopped just as the older blonde man and the weakling who had joined up with the girl from the bar originally, walked into sight. The weakling wouldn't be much of a fight, but the older man had a fearsome looking spear with him and the pilot held it in a way that suggested he could wield it with deadly ease. The glowing eyes narrowed, thoughts of charging in anyways and taking them all on at once, reflected upon their shining surfaces. But reason held him back, he had been hidden away on the ship once before, waiting to deal out their doom...he could wait a little longer, perhaps for a better time to complete his goals...
Tifa couldn't look away from his eyes. The brilliant blue orbs had captivated her before on many occasions, but this time it felt as if she were finally seeing past them, directly into his soul. His features had frozen into a solemn, and somewhat pained, expression. He stepped toward her and her heart skipped a beat. She had just about convinced herself that he would leave her again, and this time, she wouldn't blame him. She bit back feelings of remorse for striking him. Had he really deserved that? A good berating, but a slap? She couldn't really remember what had possessed her to do such a thing. Suddenly, she heard her name being called. Turning around she saw Cid and Darren walk out onto the platform she and Cloud were standing on. Darren looked completely oblivious to the obvious emotional turmoil between her and Cloud, but Cid stopped and had surprise written alll over his face when he spotted Cloud.
"Spike? That you? Long time no see..." Cid walked up uncertainly behind Tifa. "What're you doing here?"
Cloud looked away as he said "...package to deliver..."
Darren stared curiously at Cloud and then it dawned on him. "You...you're Cloud Strife!"
Cloud just glanced irritably at Darren before returning his eyes to Tifa, who was hastily wiping her eyes free of any trace of wetness.
Taking a deep breath, Tifa turned to Cid. "Sorry about being late... I got caught up..."
Cid motioned toward the Gold Saucer proper with a tilt of his head. "No worries, Shinra was just getting his panties in a bunch over your absence. Let's go."
Cloud frowned "Rufus Shinra?"
"Yeah, can you think of any other Shinras runnin' about?" Cid nodded.
Cloud paused before asking "What does he want?"
Cid looked about to respond before Tifa cut in. "You can come with...if you want"
"Who's he?" Cloud glanced at Darren
"I'm Darren. This really evil guy threatened me with a painful death if I didn't come find you..." Darren held out his hand
Cloud's quizzical glare sent Cid chuckling under his breath. "C'mon we've gotta get back to the meeting..." He turned and strode off the platform, Darren following right behind him.
Cloud began to walk aftter them, but Tifa laid her hand on his arm. "Cloud...I...we'll talk later, ok?" Taking one last glance into his eyes, she dashed off to follow Cid.
Shaking his head, Cloud couldn't help but wonder what was going on as he left the platform in the wake of the newly departed Tifa. Suddenly, he tensed and threw his glare at a shadowy corner overlooking the platform he had just left. Seeing it empty, he scratched the back of his head again and continued on his way, the bad feelings of being watched, and having to meet with Rufus, never quite leaving his mind.
A curious crowd gathered outside the broken down door of the Seventh Heaven Bar. One man peeked inside and immediately called out. "This must've been one heck of a fight!" He pointed to the smashed tables and the splintery gauges in the wooden floor. "I left here last night and none of this was looking like this."
"I was here too...and he's right...nothin' happened before but a bit of a scuffle 'tween Tifa and one guy too drunk to look for the line he was crossin'." Another man stepped into the trashed bar. "But Tifa took care of him like she takes care of everyone else who steps o'er the line..." A small chuckle came from the crowd, all of them knowing the sweet barmaid enough to catch his implied meaning.
Suddenly a faint cry was heard from the back of the crowd. "Daddy! What happened to Tifa's place?" Then, a large black man pushed his way to the front, a small girl trailing behind him.
"Don' know hunny...but I'm gonna find out!" the man whipped around to face the steadily growing crowd. "Wuz anyone actually here to see anthing?" Hearing no response, he spun around again and marched into the bar. "Don' know what happen'd to mah girl Tifa, but I'm gonna get the bastard that done this..." The man's one good hand clenched into a fist, while the other shifted it's gleaming metallic form into that of a very impressively sized weapon. Barret Wallace strode back out side and knelt next to the little girl peeking through the empty doorframe. "Marlene, you're gonna hafta stay wid Denzel for a bit...ok?" When she nodded hesitently, he stood up to once again face the crowd. "Ok, now dat's settled...who wants to show me the son of a..." He glanced at Marlene smiling up at him. "...the guy who messed wid Tifa!" A couple of whispers passed through the assembled people before Barret raised his gun-arm and glared at the second man to speak earlier. "You..." The man gulped audibly "You know dis guy...NOW TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" Barret grinned as the man started stuttering a reply. Tifa was missing, and since he didn't have the slightest clue where to start looking for her, he might as well pay a visit to the guy who messed with her in the first place.
"Enough with the nonsense, Shinra, what did you mean by telling us there may still be remnants about?" Cid's voice interrupted loudly halfway through Rufus's offer to serve them something to drink.
But, the man in the white suit just smiled coldly and sat down. "Alright, let us proceed to business. I'm glad to see you could join us Cloud." Upon hearing no reply from the warrior leaning casually in the doorway, he continued. "Let's cut to the chase. I want something, and you want something." He cut off Cid before the pilot had halfway opened his mouth. "...And I think that that thing we want is the same. So I'm willing to trade you some pertinent information towards your goal in the hopes of your cooperating towards mine."
Tifa eyed him warily. "What's this common goal?"
Rufus laughed quietly. "You say that with such mistrust, my dear. But I assure you, our goals are one and the same. You and yours desire the one thing you have fought so long and greatly for: Peace. I, on the other hand, want peace on a grander scale...but it is peace nonetheless"
Cloud stood up straight and locked his piercing gaze with the lazily cunning gaze of Rufus. "How do you propose to grant us this?"
"This information I hold, about said remnants, should gaurantee your freedom from worry, should it not?" Rufus crossed his arms in front of himself, a grin playing about his lips. "Once you defeat your enemies, we all will rest more easily. However,..."
"There's the matter of your...goal..." Cloud shook his head. "What do you want in return?"
Rufus shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not asking for much...I'm just looking for simple ignorance..."
Three echoes of confusion spread from the members of AVALANCHE
"Simply put..." Shinra continued "...I'm looking to, how shall I put this..., take another chance at being president of a multi-national corporation." He threw up his hands towards the surpirsed outbursts around the room. "Please, please...I'm not looking to restore Shinra Co. to it's former glory..."
"If you can call it that..." Cid interjected
Rufus continued witha brief glare at the smirking pilot. "I'm looking to start anew...not to rebuild, but to move on...into a better era of living. Don't you think the people of the world deserve the standard of living they had before?"
Tifa stood up. "It was barely living...as you call it...and there certainly was no standard! You've probably never even set foot in the slums of Midgar!"
"Please, hear me out..." Rufus sighed, then leaned back in his chair. "...what I want, is to join up with Reeve's WRO...not replace him...and take that to the next level. All I want you to do is..."
"You want us to ignore your return to power, and turn our backs to your personal reshaping of the world." Cloud cut in quietly. "I don't know if we can do that..."
Rufus stared silently at the blonde warrior, mentally reminding himself to never underestimate these saviors of the planet again. Then, he turned and retrieved a packet of papers, sealed tightly, dropping it with an audible thud on the table. "I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this part of negotiating...but here we are anyway." he stated in a low voice, devoid of the politeness that it had held before. "I know about the attack at your bar, Tifa..."
Cloud's eyes widened, his gaze quickly centering on an equally startled Tifa.
Tifa was at a loss...that had happened a day ago! "H...how did you..."
Showing a toothy grin, Rufus wagged his finger at her. "Tsk, tsk, my dear. You should know by now that my informants keep me very up to date. I'm only offering one more time...this information that could lead you to the rest of a happy, heathly life, for simple ignorance, something not really that hard to do."
The members of AVALANCHE exchanged glances. Then Cloud's phone rang, breaking the silence that had engulfed the room. He flipped it open to be greeted by Dio's enthusiastic voice.
"Alright kid..." Cloud grimaced. That 'kid' part was really getting on his nerves. "...I'm ready to give the package and final instructions on delivery." Dio rambled on
"Ok, where do I meet you?" Cloud glanced at the mixed stares coming from around the conference room. He thought he heard a 'so he does answer it...' mutter coming from Tifa, Cid looked eager to get out of there, and if Rufus's glare was any colder, it might've frozen any water within a few miles.
"Come on up to my museum ok? You've been there before eh?" Dio snickered a little at this.
"Yeah..." Cloud shook his head at the memory of getting the black materia a few years back. "I'll be there in a few minutes." He closed his phone and turned to the others in the room.
"If we could get back to business..." Rufus gestured at the file on the table.
"Ok...fine..." Cloud stepped forward and retrieved the file.
Tifa glanced worriedly at Cid and Rufus broke into a large smile. "So glad we could come to this agreement..."
Cloud half-turned back before exiting through the now open doorway. "You said peaceful...and a good standard of living. I'm holding you to that..." Then he disappeared outside with Tifa and Cid throwing equally menacing glares toward the former president.
Now alone in the room, no one could see the dark grin slowly creeping across Rufus Shinra's face...
Back at Cid's airship, Cloud turned to leave. Tifa stepped in front of him, biting nervously on her bottom lip. "You're not...leaving...again?" she asked quietly.
Cloud could only hold her hopeful glare for a moment before he broke away. "Tifa...I..." Curse her! I can hold my own with the likes of Sephiroth...but she breaks through me like glass! As much as his head urged him to run away and forget this all happened, to retreat back into his carefully constructed new life...his conscience suddenly reared in him, cutting through his defenses and forced his glare back up to meet Tifa's eyes. Guilt pressed tightly then, threatening to choke him. "No..." he whispered. Then, with slightly more strength: "I will see this through..."
A small smile made it's way onto her features. Brightening, it seemed to him, the night more than the Golden Saucer's giant spotlights ever could. "Ok...take care of what you need to and meet us back here afterwards..." Tifa turned and with a single glance back at him, entered the awaiting airship.
Cloud shook himself out of his momentary daze, and strode off to find Dio. Making his way through the noisy commotions he first stopped at the Haunted Hotel to retrieve his belongings. He strapped his sword on to his back, and checked out, then turned in the direction of the museum.
A few minutes later, he found his way to the battle arena section and finally into the museum.
"Ah there we go...knew it wouldn't be too long." Dio greeted him, bringing with him a slender, yet extremely long package. "Here we are kid. I expect it to be delivered to a Master Godo Kirasagi without too much trouble eh?"
Cloud blinked at the mention of Yuffie's father, then nonchalantly nodded, reaching out to take the package. It had surprising weight and he almost immediately recieved an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach when he held it. It was almost as if he had held this thing before, and it bore with it the bad memories of that previous encounter.
Dio handed him a pouch of jingling coins. "Here's half the gil I promised you, the rest to be recieved upon confirmation that the package got where it's going to...ok?"
Cloud simply nodded again and turned to head back to Cid's airship. He heard Dio call out as he left. "Extra special care...eh? I'm paying you for that!"
Seeing Cloud Strife entering the airship was the watcher's cue to act. Effortlessly, he sprinted across the docking platform, then leapt up into the closing entryway. Slipping so quickly into the nearby shadows, it was almost as if he had never left the airship in the first place. His Mako eyes narrowed when he spotted the package Strife was carrying. Like Cloud, he too felt something when he saw it. Unlike Cloud, he recognized it for what it was, and the feeling he felt was anything but unpleasant. A suitable weapon to bring about your doom, Cloud Strife...very suitable indeed. Was all he thought as he merged deeper into the shadows themselves, waiting for the right time to strike...the right time to kill...
A/N: Sorry, this chapter took a little longer in the process because I wasn't sure how to bridge this one from the last. Hope you found it suitable, let me know. So, again...
Please review...
