Chapter 21

"What, Zack?" His words were making Cloud feel very unstable…if he had to say something, he better just get it over with.

"When you asked me if I trusted Tifa, the fact is that I didn't."

"Okay…"

"I was ordered to follow her for Valentine. He had a bad feeling about her, as he does with most women. Sometimes, he makes me wonder…"

Cloud just looked at Zack, not sure where he was going with this. Wait a minute…he had been spying on Tifa?

"Did you find anything?" Cloud asked, more out of wonder than hurt. Zack had just been following orders after all, like he had been in the beginning of whatever this was.

"I found her breaking into the Captain's office and almost took her head off."

Cloud blinked and Zack smiled a bit at the memory of how he would have pissed Cloud off if he had hurt her.

"I didn't hurt her, so just relax." Cloud's eyebrows lowered back to normal and so he continued.

"We stumbled upon some pretty damning evidence regarding SOLDIER…particularly the Elite. Some high tech biological equations and medical jargon that was indecipherable to me, but Tifa…"

Zack's voice faded from his mind, Cloud only picking up bits and pieces after the Elite. So it was true, Shin-Ra had done something to him…all of them…but what? How many Elite were affected? What the hell was going on?

"Wait, what about Tifa? How does she fit into all of this?"

Zack blinked a few times at his friend…his best friend…who was so naïve it was cute but not helpful. "Cloud, come on…didn't you ever wonder why SHE was the only woman on base?"

Pieces slowly started falling into place…Tifa with the General, always accompanying him to his 'meetings', how he had been 'assigned' to her, how she had been snooping around the Captain's office, why she was with Reno, who those people in her room had been. How could he have been so stupid?

"She's a spy."

Cloud's voice was deadpan, void of all emotion, and that's what made Zack realize how hurt the man really was. Here it was, Cloud's childhood sweetheart returned to him only to be working for the enemy. Zack would feel hurt as well, but there was something the blonde was forgetting.

"She does love you, Cloud. I can see it in her eyes, whenever you're around. She loves you."

His eyes slid shut to block out the dark haired man's words. How could she love him, when everything she had ever told him was a lie? Ever since meeting her in the bar…Cloud slammed his head back into the stone wall with a crack, hoping the sting would make his internal pain lessen, to give some new focus and clear his head, but all he could see was Tifa, dressed in a dark suit with the others. She was just like them…the enemy.

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Tifa watched as the President was called aside by Lucrecia while she found Rufus holding onto her upper arm.

"That hurts, cupcake," She hissed in annoyance, already losing her cool and this facade. "Isn't this something your father would-"

But she wasn't listened to as Rufus pulled her along to the flight of stairs, down the hall and past the Turk's rooms to the private quarters of the household.

"Now, now, muffin, don't take that tone with me. My father needs to know what I decide is best for him, and no two bit whore is going to overthrow me." Rufus must have realized he was sounding neurotic for he smoothed his hair down and stood a little straighter, collecting himself and shutting the door behind them.

So his mask fell as well, Tifa smirked in acknowledgment at how much he was losing it so soon. "You never paid me for anything I ever did with you, so who are you calling a whore?"

He chuckled as he turned to face her, completely composed except for the fist that landed into the door that she had her back to, his proximity not giving her any other choice.

"Just because it wasn't in bills doesn't mean you weren't bought and paid for," He sneered which made his face contort into an ugliness Tifa had never seen as he fingered her engagement ring she had put on while changing earlier.

"I have no idea what I ever saw in you," she spat, placing her hands palms down on his chest and with a shove, he was away from her but with more grace than Reno as he caught his footing easily and righted himself.

"Don't worry darling, the feeling is mutual. Except in your case, you really didn't have a choice. I chose you simply for location and your looks, naturally. Convenience. And you held such promise." He absently brushed stray strands of hair from her face before she smacked his hand away.

Her anger turned to confusion as he spoke with such confidence it had her mind reeling. She clenched her fists at her side, forcing her mind to focus once again.

"I know what you and Sephiroth are planning. So if you want to keep this information from reaching the President, you better release the SOLDIERs you have in lock up." Tifa smiled at the forcefulness of her words and the courage they brought, completely missing the backslap until it had her spinning back onto the bed.

"I didn't want to hurt that pretty little face Teef, but you and that mouth gave me no other choice."

"Don't call me that, you son of a bitch!" Tifa sprung off the bed in a fighting stance until a pain so overwhelming yanked her to her knees. How did she end up kneeling before the man she wanted to pummel to death?

Through teeth clenched with pain, she hissed, "What are you...doing...to me?" Another yank had her sprawled out bowing on Rufus's bedroom floor and it was all she could do not to pass out.

"Maybe you're not a lost cause. I thought the fact that you hadn't been around for continuous mako treatments would all but deplete your system of obedience but look at you, so docile I could just eat you up." The joy and sly smirk was evident in his voice as Rufus trailed a hand through her hair as if petting a beloved purebred racehorse and she couldn't move away.

"Don't touch me!" Tifa yelled with all her might before the pain doubled and just breathing hurt.

"Nifty, isn't it? With a touch of this button, I can active as much or as little mako in your bloodstream to make you bend to my will. The unbearable pain is just a bonus for my amusement."

To demonstrate, he deactivated the mako in her body with a little remote device she was able to see as she stood, her entire body aching but no longer actively in pain. Shock and horror crossed her face that he interrupted before she could voice her disgust.

"No need to worry about those SOLDIER chaps. Your brand of mako is special, one of a kind, really. It's a refined, enhanced version of what runs through their veins, since they left before the full treatment could be completed, as you undoubtedly remember by now."

"How did you-"

"Know? Did you think I was a complete moron to not have an eye kept on you at all time?"

"You drugged me?!" Tifa's anger hit the same time as her realization did. Her hazy hallucinations were actually left over from the truth, from her memories purged incompletely from her brain at the use of this...this...abomination.

"As you were sleeping beside me every night. Yours was mostly distributed pain free since as I said earlier, and you know how I hate to repeat myself, that you recieved the enhancement. So you see, it worked out quite well in the end for everyone." Tifa could see the urge he had to clap his hands in evil genius glee but held back with effort.

"And how, exactly, did the SOLDIERs win in this situation?" She hated the angry tears that stung her eyes. "I actually thought I loved you! How do I win in this situation?" She all but cried.

"I might let you live long enough to watch your lover killed." His words brushed her face as he came close to touch her tears in amusement.

"Doesn't that bring joy to that broken heart of yours?"

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