29

"My how you've grown." Cabuto eyed Reno contemptuously, receiving a stoic stare from the redhead. "I see you've learned how to shut that big mouth of yours too." The tall blonde threw back his head and laughed, the sound rumbling through the small room. He motioned towards Rude with his thumb. "Baldie must have taught you that."

Rude growled low in his throat, taking a firm step towards Cabuto, but was stopped by a hard kick to the leg, pushing him down on one knee. His upper lip continued to twitch, the animalistic grumble still slipping out of his mouth.

"Heh, you and your sister are a lot alike. She put up quite a fight when I paid her a visit." Cabuto smiled smugly, raising his brows in a challenging matter.

This time it took almost three men to subdue Rude, a howl of fury coming from somewhere amidst a tangle of arms and legs, but it was Elena who surprised everybody. Swiftly, she surged forward, her right leg arched behind her, a guttural grunt pushed out her lips as her foot made solid contact with Cabuto's face. He cried out in astonishment, too busy watching the other men tussling to notice the petite Turk, spinning out of his chair and onto the ground. The room suddenly went silent, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the prim blonde, dumbfound and in shock, slowly picking himself up.

"You bitch." He put a lean hand to the left side of his pale face, pulling it back and staring at the small smear of blood on his palm. "You fucking bitch!" All poise drained out of his demeanor as his features contorted into snarl, a clenched fist raised above his head.

"Don't." Reno stepped forward, a dark shadow overlaying his features.

Cabuto's snarl melted from his face, his raised hand falling slowly to his side. "My, my. Protecting women now, are we? You have changed, Reno." Wiping a smudge of blood from his fingers onto a handkerchief, the leader of the Aka-Maru leisurely walked around the disheveled Turk looking him up and down. "Dare I say you now respect women?" Cabuto snorted. "Shinra has turned you into a pussy." The other men chuckled, sneering and pointing at the slim redhead.

Reno continued to stare off in front of him, not reacting to Cabuto's insults. "This has nothing to do with women or Shinra. This is strictly between me and you."

"Oh, but it does have something to do with women and Shinra." His voice perked up as he turned and reached out a long hand and wrapped it around Aeris' shoulders. "I believe it has everything to do with this." Cabuto ran his fingers through the shivering girl's long hair, turning her towards Reno and placing his face next to hers. "I know Shinra gave you strict orders not to come looking for the girl."

"I came here to finish what was started years ago. You're the one who came looking for me Cabuto, not the other way around. I want to bury you, Rocco; I want nothing more than to end your pathetic life, to wash away your filth from Midgar and the Planet." Reno's voice became dangerously low, his eyes now hooded by his shock of red hair, giving him an almost possessed look. "I came here to make sure your last breath is in my hand and I'll squeeze 'til your grave is dug."

"Vile words coming from such a nobody."

Reno lunged forward, a treacherous look in his eyes, his fist drawn back behind his head. One of Cabuto's henchmen closest to the Turk tackled the redhead before he could touch the smug face of Rocco Cabuto. They writhed on the floor, the other man struggling to keep a hold of Reno, who silently was glaring at the Aka-Maru's leader.

"You'll get your chance, Reno. Soon we'll be able to finish everything once and for all."


Aeris stared vacantly at the dank ceiling of her room, trying to understand how and why she has landed herself in such a complicated mess. Only a few months ago she was busy tending and taking care of her flowers and her mother, now her biggest worry was getting out of all this alive. How did things take such a sour turn? This was not what she had expected. To first fall in love with a man she thought she knew, then having her heart unbearably broken, to now fighting for her life. But wasn't she always fighting for her life? Even before all this had happened? Wasn't she always trying to run away from the people who wanted to hurt her? Sighing, Aeris turned onto her side and was surprised to see that Elena was still awake.

The blonde was sitting on the edge of her bed, absently gazing towards the other end of the room. Her hair hung limp around her face, her usually warm brown eyes now hooded with an unreadable darkness. Shoulders slumped and hands wilted across her lap, she looked the part of someone completely broken.

"Elena?"

The Turk didn't move at first, seemingly lost in thought, but eventually she turned towards Aeris, a haunted expression on her face. She said nothing, only tilting her head slightly to the side in question.

"Are you…okay?" She knew this was a stupid question. Obviously the look on her face told her what she needed to know, but Aeris just had to break the heavy silence in the room.

Elena let out a thick sigh, a lithe hand running through her hair. "I don't know."

Aeris was a little surprised by the honesty ofthe other girl, not really knowing how to respond to such an uncertain answer. "Well, where do we go from here?"

"I suppose Cabuto and Reno will fight in the Circle." The blonde suddenly clutched her hands together, the whites of her knuckles showing in the shadows, an unexpected anger pulsing through her. "He'll never win. They won't let him. And they won't let us live either."

"But…won't Rufus…won't Shinra send someone to look for you guys once they find out you're missing?" Hopefulness crept into Aeris' voice but was soon crushed when she saw the sardonic smile on the blonde's face.

"I guess you didn't know, but we went against Shinra's orders by coming here. Rufus…he gave commands to not send out a search party after the inauguration, but we came anyways, we couldn't leave you here, Aeris." She turned towards the flower girl, a small smile on her lips. "Reno gave up the Turks to come save you. We all did. I'm sorry though, looks like we failed."

"There's still hope." It sounded naïve to her ears, but she was still holding on to at least some shred of possibility, some small chance that luck would be on their side as long as they played their cards right. It could not be so final…their death.

The blonde Turk shrugged. "I guess. But we have to look at it from a realistic point of view. Our likelihood in getting out of the Aka-Maru base alive…it's slim."

Aeris nodded, too tired and scared to think where this would all lead in a few days, if Elena was correct. This was where she would die, lonely and heartbroken, without saying good-bye to the few people she cared about.

"I'm really sorry, Aeris. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you." A solid tear rolled down Elena's face. "As a Turk I should have watched over you, but I don't know why I couldn't…I was too weak."

"Elena, you've done everything you could to protect me, and for that it's more than I could ever ask of you. You've kept me alive this far and for that I am truly grateful. If it wasn't for your help, I never would have survived everything." She sat next to the blonde, wrapping an arm around her. "You've done so much for me."

"Yet I couldn't stop Rufus from breaking your heart."

Aeris twitched at the mention of his name, a deep sorrow pulsating through her chest. "That…there…there was nothing anyone could do." She suppressed the well of anger and grief that threatened to overflow her small body. "He got what he wanted and we all paid the price."


They had gone.

They had gone even though he had given strict orders for them to stay out of it.

Rufus clenched the railing of the balcony, trying to steady his infuriated mind. He did not like being undermined, especially not by a couple of licensed assassins. Tseng has come in earlier that evening to inform Rufus that three of his men had left on a search and rescue mission for Aeris.

Why? Why was it so important to them? Why did they have to be so tenacious on the subject of Aeris? But he knew why. He knew the power Aeris had over people; hell, he'd been under her power for a little while too. He understood firsthand the affect she had on a person's life, but he had to let that part go. In order to gain power he had to make sacrifices…even if it meant hurting the one thing he cared about. All his life he had something to prove and someone to prove it to: his father, his teachers, his city, his Planet. For as long as he could remember, he had worked to show them that he could gain and control anything and everything, that he was powerful and intelligent enough to take over the Planet in one sweep. And he had.

So why did he not feel the satisfaction of victory? What was this nagging emptiness that he continuously felt? He knew. He knew what he was missing, but he also knew that he could not have it. If he did, all the hard work he put into his plans would crumble at the sight of her. Whether it was love, lust, or both, he knew he could not have her around him or else he would change…he would lose all hope of controlling the people.

It was a small price to pay, to lose Aeris, but he had gained something much bigger in return. But in his heart, he could not make himself believe this fact, he knew, deep down, that he had lost something immeasurable that no amount of fear or power could give him.