A/N: Thank you to those that have reviewed! -gives cookies- Hopefully I'm not dragging it on too long for all of you and it's still interesting. :- )

------------------------------------------

'Personally, I think it's a pretty good idea sir.'

Tseng turned and glared at Reno. 'How can you say that? He'll be under a lot of stress while he's being moved. Moving is stressful. I see no benefit. The doctor wants to move him to be under "less stress" but wants to stress him to the maximum by moving him.'

Reno pushed himself off the wall walked towards Tseng. 'Why are you so sure that he'll be under a lot of stress when he moves? It's not like Rufus himself will be the one driving there. He'll be in the back of the transport, sitting down, waiting to get to his new "home". That's not stressful, that's quiet.'

'But it's still going to be stressful on him when he gets in and out of the transport.' Rude added. 'Plus like Tseng mentioned, moving on its own is stressful.'

'Thanks for siding with him there Rude.' Reno snapped.

Rude ignored his partner's outburst. 'In the long run though, the reduced stress from staying at the lodge might be worth the initial stress from the move. It might help him stay healthy, so to speak. At least a little longer then he would be here.'

'So which one do you think Rude? He should stay here or go?' Both Reno and Tseng were waiting for his response, each one hoping that he would take their respective side in the debate.

'It's hard to say, he should stay because it's a long trip but then again he should go because he'll be less stressed. In the end, I guess I would say better for him to go. Sorry Tseng sir, but it would be for the best.'

Rufus lay quietly in his bed. It seemed like they had all forgotten that they were in the same room as the individual that they were discussing. Rufus didn't mind that for the moment. They were bringing up some good points, which was helping him make his decision.

He had to bite back a smile when he saw Tseng's face after Rude gave him his opinion. It seemed like everyone except for Tseng thought that it was a good idea. Rufus then found that he couldn't keep himself from smiling or laughing quietly to himself when he saw Tseng look towards Elena for her support.

'Elena, what is your take on all of this? You've been very quiet about it and I haven't been able to figure out if you're opposed to the idea or not.'

Elena looked from Tseng, to Rufus then back to Tseng. Seeing what amounted to hope in Tseng's eyes, she looked down to the floor.

'I'm sorry sir, but I agree with the doctor. It would probably be beneficial to his overall health if he were moved from the city to someplace more quiet and relaxing.'

Tseng stared at her in what only could have been described as in disbelief. She was supposed to agree with me. Hell, she never disagrees with me. I could say that jumping off a cliff without a parachute onto shards of glass would be fun and she'd agree with me.

'I'm sure that the quiet retreat setting that the Lodge is supposed to have would be relaxing, but the need for what is available in the city is something that can't be overlooked either.'

Reno laughed at the excuse. 'What the fuck does Rufus need so bad in the city that it would keep him here? When's the last time he went outside? Rufus doesn't go and get anything from out there, we bring it to him. We'll just have to travel further to get what the man wants, that's all.'

'Besides sir,' Elena continued, 'the physicians that are there will be taking care of a limited amount of patients and only one illness. That means that the President would have a doctor more specialized in Geostigma who would be able to help him better as compared to a doctor here who has more patients to tend to and limited contact with the disease. The doctors at the Lodge would be better at helping him cope with the pain from Geostigma, then a doctor here would.'

Reno turned to Tseng and saw that he seemed to be stunned and speechless by the fact that Elena didn't agree with him. He couldn't help but grin. 'So Tsengy, it looks like it's 3 against 1 here. Got any other excuses?'

Rufus decided that it was time to speak up. 'The four of you all have good points, both for staying here' he said, looking directly at Tseng, 'as well as reasons for leaving. I was torn between staying here and going up to the Lodge, but I must admit that Elena's reasoning was what convinced me that moving would be for the best.'

Elena did her best to hide her shock and surprise at being the deciding factor in the President's move. She bowed to the President. 'I'm glad that I was able to help you in your decision sir.'

The President laughed good-naturedly. 'As am I Elena. However I'm sure that Tseng is rather disappointed in the decision.' His air turned serious for a moment. 'Do you really think that it's that bad of a decision to move up there?'

Tseng thought about it for a bit. 'It's not that I don't think it would be a good place for you sir, I'm more concerned about the trip there where it concerns your health. You haven't left the confines of a hospital for well over 2 and half months. I'm worried about how you will be when you finally do get outside and get "fresh air". I just hope you don't get sick.'

'Tseng, I don't think it's possible to get anymore ill then I am at the moment.'

'What if you catch a cold? Or the flu? At least the air in here is pretty sterile so you're fine. Out there is another matter entirely. We may be in Junon, but some people here have Geostigma too. They're sick, they're dying and there running out of places to bury them. That's causing problems and now the healthy ones are getting sick.'

Rufus remained quiet for a moment, thinking about what Tseng just explained to him.

'Why are there people here with Geostigma? I thought it was just people that were around Midgar that ended up getting sick.'

'It basically was sir,' Reno said, 'but a lot of people evacuated the city to try to rebuild their lives.'

'Evacuated the city? How badly damaged is it?'

The four of them didn't know how to inform the President that his city was all but uninhabitable. They each hoped that the other would tell him.

'Reno, how badly damaged is Midgar?'

Reno sighed and ran a hand through his hair, thinking of the best way to explain it. 'It's pretty much destroyed sir. It's mostly being used as a cemetery now.'

'How did that happen? Weapon was killed before it had a chance to destroy the city. All it did was blow up my office and the area around it. Why is the rest of the city destroyed?'

'Because the Lifestream ransacked the place. That's why a lot of people are either sick or dead; at least the ones that didn't make it into the slums.'

Rufus fell into stunned silence. Since he was in a coma during the fall of meteor and when the Lifestream went through the city, he wasn't aware of the destruction.

'Sir? Are you alright?' Tseng gently shook the President from his daze. He looked up at his bodyguard with a look that Tseng could only describe as sorrow.

'How many are dead Tseng?'

'We haven't done a casualty count yet sir. People are dying nearly everyday. They don't even have the time to make graves for everyone individually. They dig mass graves throughout the city and bury the dead.'

Rufus was dumbfounded, lost in his own thoughts. 'Destroying Weapon didn't even help them. I thought it would at least help a little; give them a fighting chance. In the end it didn't save them. They still died.'

The Turks stared at their boss, stunned. None of them had ever heard Rufus talk out loud to himself, let alone talk so despairingly about something that happened to the people of Midgar. They've never seen him so distraught about something bad happening to someone other then to himself.

'Rufus sir, it's not your fault they died. No one thought that the Lifestream was going to do this to them. The Lifestream killed them.'

Rufus didn't acknowledge Reno's comments. He continued to stare blankly at the blanket on his bed, seemingly allowing himself to be consumed by self-imposed guilt.

Tseng was beginning to worry about Rufus' behavior. In all the years that he had known him, Rufus had managed to hide any feelings behind a perfect mask of coldness and indifference. If Rufus wasn't hiding behind a mask right now, Tseng got the impression that the news was affecting him a lot more then any of them would have thought it would.

'Rufus?' Tseng gently shook his charge, trying to waken him from his daze. 'Rufus, everything will be alright. Don't stress yourself over this, you're sick and injured yourself. Think of your health.'

'I want to see it.'

The comment made the four Turks stare in shock at their boss.

'You want to what?'

'I think you heard me Rude. I want to see Midgar. I want to see what happened to my city. I want to see how the people are doing.'

'Sir, with all due respect, you're too weak to go through the wreckage. I highly disapprove of this.'

'I didn't say I wanted to walk through it. I know I can't do that. We have to get into a transport to get to Healin' don't we?'

Tseng didn't like where this was going. 'Yes sir, we do.'

'Then they can make a detour over Midgar for a few minutes. I'll see the damage, which is what I want and I won't go down in the city and risk getting hurt or more ill, which is what you want.'

Tseng sighed in defeat. 'Very well sir. We'll inform the pilot of your wish to fly over Midgar.'

'Excellent, thank you. Now, I am sorry but I'm very tired and I would like to get some rest. You all are welcome to stay in here or leave, but if you stay here, just be quiet and don't disturb me.'

The four Turks looked at each other, then two left the room, leaving Tseng and Rude alone with Rufus.

'Reno and Elena will inform the pilot of your wish to visit Midgar sir.'

'Thank you, Rude.'

Rufus closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes. Rude and Tseng looked at each other, both equally worried about the reaction the President would have when he saw the now devastated city.

----------------------------------------------------

A/N 2: I hope I didn't make his "transformation" or the beginning of it seem to come out of nowhere. I haven't played the game in a while, but towards the end he did seem like he was trying to stop the Weapons from causing more damage. The same with the appearance of Midgar; I haven't read "On the way to a smile" in a while either, but I do hope that it makes sense too.