To Heal a Broken Heart

Chapter Twenty One - Poison

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, its characters, settings, etc. These words, however, are mine.

"Sick?"

"Sick." Reno repeated, raking his hand through his hair, jarring the lone ponytail holding it all together a little bit further than it already was. "But not an ordinary sick sick."

"Well." Tifa sighed, glaring at the red-headed ex-Turk. "What exactly does that mean?" She was growing frustrated with the man's attitude and his way of veiling the entire situation. Elena was sick -- but how sick? He couldn't seem to put it into simple English terms for her.

"It means... I think she was poisoned. Yeah, poisoned, boss." He added, noticing Rufus' eyes darkening. "I don't know why or by who, but it was probably when we were all--"

"Drinking yourselves into a stupor, yes. Yes." Rufus finished for him, waving his hand in the air dismissiviely. "Can you get it out of her system?"

"I think it might be better to just take her to a hospital -- because nothing we've tried has worked. Antidotes, remedies, you name it. Nothing." Reno supplied, looking back at Rude for support. Rude simply stared back at him, looking impassive. Reno snorted. "You carry her, you lazy ass!" He replied, looking straight at his bald best friend. Standing from his place beside Elena, he walked out of the room muttering under his breath.

Tifa felt sorry for him -- how couldn't she? It was obvious he was beating himself up for it, though it was in no way his fault. Tifa felt warm for her friend; there was something between Reno and Elena that everyone but themselves were picking up on.

"Lovely." Rufus murmured, looking to Rude. "Follow him, alright?" He ordered Rude. "Now is certainly the worst time for him to go on a destructive moment."

Rude nodded and walked out the same way his friend had only minutes before, leaving Rufus and Tifa alone with Elena.

Now this... This was not good. Her presentation to Rufus the other day in the kitchen still hung between them, though it was more of a doom for Tifa than for Rufus. She didn't regret actually doing it, as she knew he deserved the little tease after everything he'd been intentionally doing to make her nervous, but she definitely was regretting the sudden glint of mischief that gleamed in his eyes whenever he looked at her now. That was not a good thing for her, she knew. Not at all.

She wasn't scared of being around him alone.

She was simply scared -- or anticipating, a voice in her head whispered traitorously -- what he might do as payback.

Because she knew it was coming.

"So." She started, wanting to control the conversation that was bound to erupt between them. "Why do you think someone would want to poison her?"

Rufus shrugged, turning his face to the side to look at her. "There are quite a few reasons. Given the Turks history... Well, many people probably even today have the idea of revenge in their heads. Then, of course, there's the fact that she worked for me back in the Shinra days. And lastly, it could always just be a random fluke."

Tifa mulled over his words for a moment. "Okay. But if they were poisoning her because of her allegiances, why would they let her go afterwards? It would make more sense to me if they would've poisoned her and then gone further, otherwise it was probably a waste of their time..."

"True enough." He affirmed, putting an arm beneath Elena's legs and placing one on her back to support her as he lifted her from the bed. He turned and walked past Tifa out the door. She followed, looking at him expectantly, as it seemed he had more to say. "However, there's still the question of whether this poison can be cured."

Tifa felt her stomach drop to her knees for the second time as he reminded her of her earlier train of thought. She swallowed deeply and followed him further, deciding to go with them to see what happened. Barret had taken the kids out per her request when Reno had come to them, telling them he'd had news about Elena. Normally, it wouldn't have mattered that the kids were around as they'd been exposed to the equivalent of events, but with Reno's pale pallor and his awkward stance and poorly concealed emotions, she'd figured it was worse than just what they'd been previously exposed to.

"I hope she's okay." Tifa said quietly. 'I hope the kids still have their good friend when we come back.' A sickening thought and something she wasn't proud to think of, but a possibility all the same.

Rufus said nothing in response to her voiced worry and she felt a little let down by it -- he'd been surprising her a lot since she'd started living with him, but obviously today was not going to be one of those days...

'Don't be such a mindless person,' she thought. 'Your friend is hurt -- to what extent, who knows -- and he's just as worried as you.'

"Oh god." Tifa groaned, seeing Rufus' customary helicopter in the distance. She hated flying, she had to admit. Granted, Rufus had done particularly well the last time they'd flown anywhere, but it still made her stomach churn.

Her sick feeling became even worse at seeing Reno waiting. In the driver's seat.

Rufus was apparently thinking along the same lines. "Reno--"

"No, boss. I'm driving."

"Reno..." Rufus said, more sternly. Reno merely flipped headphones over his ears to block the other man's voice out. Tifa was filled with apprehension at the exchange, knowing Reno had never deliberately disobeyed orders from Rufus before, but after a moment Rufus backed down and walked into the back compartment. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and walked up the stairs slowly. She laid a reassuring hand on Reno's shoulder and he looked up at her. She gingerly took the headphones of his head and smiled kindly.

"Reno, she'll be fine. We'll all make sure of it."

Reno didn't say anything and simply nodded, averting his eyes from her own.

She caught Rude's eyes, or so she hoped given his sunglasses were barring the way and smiled at him, too. He was much more composed a man and she figured while she couldn't see anything on the outside, he was probably just as in deep turmoil as his best friend. They were all so devastatingly close, of course.

She traced Rufus' steps and sat down on the seat across from him, where Elena was sitting, strapped in. She brushed away a lock of blonde hair out of the woman's eyes before settling back and strapping herself in. Sighing, she started to fidget with her fingers. "So... I guess she hasn't woken up at all?" It was more of a question than a statement or start to a conversation; she didn't actually know.

Rufus shook his head distractedly. "No, she hasn't. Which surprises me. Most poison's..." He trailed off and didn't comment any further. Tifa lowered her eyes.

'Well, what am I going to do now...? Nobody wants to talk. Understandable, of course, but...'

"Eh, Tifa?" Reno called back, turning in his seat to look at her. "Someone's outside... Most likely looking for you."

She dragged her hand through her hair, already knowing who it was. Why couldn't he take the hint...? Unstrapping herself, she stomped (well, not really, but she would like to think) over to the window and stuck her head out. She barely noticed Rufus' now alert eyes watching her every move. She was right about who it was. "Cloud?" She asked, exasperated, giving him a look that said she didn't want to deal with any drama right now.

Cloud held his hands up in the air in defense. "Woah, Tifa, hang on."

She tilted her head in question.

"Where are you going? I saw Barret with the kids earlier..." He trailed off.

"I'm heading over to the hospital."

"Oh. Why? Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. It's Elena. She's been... Poisoned and nothing we have is working to fix it." Looking behind her at Reno, she saw him moving around impatiently. "Look," she said, turning back quickly. "I need to go. You should go and find the kids again and spend the day with them. They miss you."

But you don't. She see the unspoken words reflected through his eyes."I'll see you soon. Bye, Cloud." She said, leaving him standing there looking the same as he did before their little conversation -- lost.

Rufus' eyes were still trained on her as she walked back. Even as the Reno began to lift the helicopter off the basically empty street, he didn't look away. Feeling more than a little self-conscious, she returned the stare and crossed her arms over her chest. "What?"

He shrugged and looked away. "Nothing."

"I doubt it."

"Why do you still talk to that... Overgrown child?"

"Excuse me? He's a big part of my life, Rufus. I can't just..." She watched as he seemed to huff and look out the window a little angrily. Smiling widely, she leaned across to poke him in the shoulder. "Hello little green monster."

His eyes were instantly narrowed.

"I'm not jealous."

"You could've fooled me!" She giggled.

"Yes, well. This coming from the woman who had a hard time connecting the words purple and violet." He winked at her. "They are still the same colour."

She blushed at his raising of an earlier situation. "Whatever, Rufus." He'd walked into her room today, as he'd elected to Reno to go and get her for him and had stumbled upon an interesting conversation between Tifa, Marlene and Yuffie.

"I don't know, Yuffie..." Tifa said, looking over at Marlene. "Hey, Mar, what's the difference between violet and purple?"

Marlene pouted and crossed her arms. "There is no difference. They're the same--"

"No, no, I know Yuffie..." Tifa muttered to Yuffie over the phone. "Marlene, there must be a difference," she continued, looking up. "Yes, Yuffie, all you have is violet and you need purple?"

Rufus couldn't contain his laughter and set to work to set the situation straight.

"Where would Yuffie have been without me?" Rufus continued, smirking. "We wouldn't want her using the violet instead of the purple, of course..."

"You don't even know what she was talking about using." Tifa accused.

"Oh? Enlighten me?"

"No."

"I thought so."

'This,' Tifa thought, laying her cheek against one of her hands, 'was going to be a very long ride.'