The Dawn of Darkness - Chapter IV
Summery: See Prologe
Disclamer - See chapter I
**********************************************************************************
( One Year after the Destruction of the ShinRa navy )
The bunker vibrated with another expolsion. { Fuck!! } General Rufus J. ShinRa silently cursed. He pulled his Sniper CR from it's back holster and took aim from a slit like window. He peered through the scope, aiming around, trying to see the cannons Hojo's mutant army were useing. { Damnit!! } He cursed again, flicking his now dirty redish blond hair from his face. He pulled his radio from his hip and yelled into it. "Home One, this is Striking Viper, over."
"Home One, here." Said one of the radio operators and Neo-Midgar.
"Hojo has come out with something... I don't know what it is, but they look like mutated humans. With all the soldiers we haven't been able to find and with all the towns that where wiped from the face of the earth by his army, I'm sure he's got plently more." Rufus said, with a rasied voice.
"Copy, Strikeing Viper, and be advised, the Gelinka war palnes won't be at your loctaion for another 20 minutes." The operator said.
"The bunker can't hold out that long! We *needed* help 10 minutes ago!"
"We are sorry, but we you are at the limit of their range. They have to go slow in order to conserve enough fuel to get back to base!" The operator said.
"Fine! Goddamnit!!" Rufus shut the radio off with too much force then what was necessary, but he felt a little better after it.
"Sir! First Plattoon is completely destroyed! One hundered percent killed!" His SiC siad.
"Fuck! Fuck!!! Xander, come here." Rufus snapped.
His second in command stepped over, afraid of the trademark ShinRa temper. He had served as an advisor to President ShinRa the first, and had seen his son flip out in the office.
"Faster! I'm not going to bite your goddamn head off!!" Rufus snapped agian, still looking through the scope of his gun.
"I want you to deliver this message to General Strife's army. Now, copy this down." Rufus said, more calmly then before, and then pulling on the action of his rifle, aiming.
"General, my army is done for. Heavy casualties suffered, and equipment lost. If you could-" Rufus stopped. "Ah... hello. There you are, you little fuck!" Rufus said slowly as he adjusted his scope. After a long moment he fired, the shot hitting the man solidly in the neck, makeing blood gush and squirt everywhere.
Xander winced at his commander's coldness but never said anything. His ears perked up as he heard a whistling noise.
"XANDER GET OUT!!!" Rufus screamed as the shell his the bunker, makeing it explode.
**********************************************************************************
Cloud pulled the cords to his gold chocobo, Dark Angel, and looked at the sight before him. Hojo's and ShinRa's forces... all dead. They massacred each other.
Robert pulled the rope on his black chocobo and sighed. "Sir! Look! The bunker!"
Cloud's eyes shot to where Rufus' command post was. "Oh my god...."
"Heeya!!" Cloud yelled, and Dark Angel sprang forth, his feet barely touching the ground.
Robert followed quickly, the Butterfly Edge sword tapping aginst his saddle.
Cloud looked at the huge hole in the top of the bunker and looked through it. Down below there was charred remains of a person with a Sniper CR laying next to them and in the corner was a man who was barely alive but was moveing slightly.
"Help me...." The man siad.
Cloud motoned for Robert to give him the rope in his saddlebag. "Yes, Sir." Robert tossed the rope over and clod got off Dark Angel, and tied it to a metal support beam. He then made sure the Ultima Weapon was secure beofre slideing down the rope. Robert was not far behind, hitting the ground and pulling out his sword. He held it with both hands, looking around.
"General Strife?" the man asked.
"Yes? What's your name soldier?" Cloud asked.
"Lt. Xander Drax. Second in Command for General ShinRa." Xander said.
Cloud looked at the man. "Where is General ShinRa?"
"I think he's dead." Xander pointed at the charred corpse.
Cloud walked over to the corpse. "It's Rufus' weapon. We have to assume he's dead."
The three exchanged a glance and then sighed.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus ran. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, the Quicksliver in his right hand, seemingly wieghtless compared to the fear of the death squad after him. He brought his gun up and fired behind him. He ran harder, hearing the growls and roars of the death squad.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!!" Rufus yelled and tripped over a root.
He rolled over and sprang up, fireing the rest of his clip behind him, hitting 5 monters, killing 2. { Shit! Two outta 8! }
The monsters sprang out at him and he dodged, holstering his pistol and pulling out the Mythril Saber from it's hip sheath. He swung into a monster's back as it leaped past him, neatly breaking it's spine, and then going through. He braced himself and held his ground as anouth leaped on him, and was impaled by his sword. He quickly yanked it out and brandished it in both hands, swinging it violently, into the skull of another, killing that. He then rolled out of the way and cast an Ice 3. Almost immeaditly the ice slamed from the sky in big spear-like projectiles. The remaining monsteres where cut into unregonizeable chunks.
"Damnit! Outta ammo for my gun." He said and looked at his uniform. It was ripped and dirty. Blood was streaked on it in several places. His red/blond hair was dirty, and his boots where caked in mud. "Well, I gotta get to Neo-Midgar someway or another...." He cleaned the sword off and tucked it into it's sheath at his side. He then set off in the direction of Neo-Midgar.
**********************************************************************************
Reeve was sitting in the office, with a anxious Scarlet sitting across from him. "I'm sure Rufus is fine. They are haveing radio trouble all over the place." Reeve silently took the woman's apperance. Blonde hair, a large bust, small, alsmot fragile waist, wide womanly hips. She hadn't changed that much. She took Rufus' death pretty hard the first time. It had led him to belive that they had something going on. She wasn't that much older then he was.
"Your right, I'm sure it's nothing." Scarlet said, breaking Reeve from his inner thoughts.
"-eve are you there?" Cloud's voice came over the radio.
"Yes, General. We are here." Reeve said.
"Rufus' army has been destroyed.... all but one dead. Hojo's forces have also been wiped out. They killed each other." Cloud said.
"Who is the survior?" Scarlet asked, alarmed.
"Ah....a one Lt. Xander Drax, Second in Command for General ShinRa." Cloud said.
"What about Rufus?" Scarlet asked.
"We haven't found him. He is presumed dead." Cloud said.
"Oh...." Scarlet sighed, and got up, walking into her office, which was next to Reeve's. It was there she broke down and began to cry.
"General Strife, thank you for the report. Keep me posted." Reeve said, and moved to cut the comm off.
"Sir? Is Vice-President Scarlet going to be alright?" Cloud asked, his voice all buisness.
"I don't know. Alright, keep me posted on the condition of the troops. Reeve out." The President said.
"Yes, Sir." Cloud said and shut off the comm.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus held out his Chocobo lure, and waited silently. { Come on.... work, damn you! }
Slowly a yellow chocobo stepped out of the brush and sniffed the air. "Wark!"
Rufus threw some field greens to him, as he was trained in survival. { Eat them.... } He silently willed.
The Chocobo sniffed the greens and bit into the first bit.
Rufus saw his opertunity and sprang forward, the Mythril Saber clinking as he ran. He slid to a stop and climbed onto the Chocobo before it knew what was happening. He leaned in and grabed the Chocobo's neck feathers. He spurred it on in the direction of Neo-Midgar.
The traveling was uneneventful at first and soon the terrain got rockier and rockier. The Chocobo warbled pitifully as it went over the rocks. Rufus didn't want to do this to the bird but he had to. He had to get to Neo-Midgar. At whatever cost.
**********************************************************************************
Cloud wheeled on Dark Angel and spured on twords his combined ShinRa/SOLDIER army. Waiting for him was the joint commander, Zack. "Cloud! What did you find?" Zack asked, tossing his ebony hair out of his face.
"One survivor out of an army of 250,000." Cloud said grimly.
Zack sighed and shook his head. "What about ShinRa?"
"I found this..." Cloud said and tossed the high powered rifle to Zack. "But no Rufus."
Zack sighed. "How's Scarlet holding up?"
"Don't know. Reeve said she'd be fine, but I'm not sure. Rufus told me that he had a thing with her before he became President, and durning up untill he died." Cloud replied.
"Yea. I hope she's alright." Zack said, and turned on his own Gold Chocobo, Goldie, to his army, the huge Buster Sword on his back.
"We camp here tonight!" Zack called.
With that they began setting up their tents and camp fires.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus sighed as the Chocobo wouldn't go any further. "Thanks, Bird. See you around." With that Rufus go off the Chocobo and began to walk when he herd a pitiful wark behind him. "Bird?"
The Chocobo had walked forward and then slightly off the path. Rufus did nothing but follow, and saw a stream. The Chocobo walked in the water and splashed around. When it get up Rufus saw gold feathers. There was a thick layer of dirt on her and that had taken the gold out of the feathers.
"Bird?" Rufus asked, wondering if it was divine intervention that made him happen upon a Gold Chocobo.
"Wark!" Rufus looked at the Chocobo's rear as something red flashed. He then gasped. It was a ShinRa brand. It was probaly an Army Officer's.
"Lets camp." Rufus said and as the bird layed down he leaned aginst it.
**********************************************************************************
Sunrise was usually bueatiful this time of the year... but the line of Hojo's troops on the horizion didn't make it beautiful. Cloud pulled the Ultima Weapon form his back, as Zack pulled his buster sword off. Next the other 500,000 men armed themselves and waited. Cloud waved his sword air and leaned down. "CHARGE!!!!!" He screamed.
All 500,000 men charged down the hill at top speed, gear clanking. It was a mixture of wepaons. Some with swords, others with pikes, still others with guns and knivies.
Zack rode forward with Cloud, each on thier chocobos. Behind them was Robert de Kere and Xander Drax, each brandishing a sword of thier own.
They clashed aginst the mass of Hojo's forces, the combat brutal. Blood splashed the ground withing the first few seconds. Cloud, Zack, Robert, and Xander waded through the carnage, swinging thier swords. While tugging at the reigns of the chocobo's they swung violently, killing Hojo's monsters.
A man near Robert had his head taken off with one quick swipe of a monster's large claw. Soon the battle began to turn. For the first time in a year, the ShinRa forces where winning.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus woke up and shook his new Chocobo, Bird as he named it, awake. "Come on, friend. Lets go."
The animal warked once and got up, letting Rufus climb on. "Hya!"
The Chocobo started off. It was smooth sailing from there. Rufus rode on, and after twelve hours of hard rideing Neo-Midgar was a black spot on the horizion. "Whoa!"
Bird slumped down and sighed. "I know, Bird. I know. We'll rest here for tonight."
The Chocobo warked thankfully. Rufus dismounted and pulled the Mythril Saber from it's sheath at his hip with a metalic Zing. He then began to scavenge. He came across some field greens and cut them down with his sword. He slid the sword back into the silver tipped leather sheath at his hip and brought his fid back to Bird. He then hunkered down to a meal with it.
Shortly after the meal Rufus looked up as he heard a sound. It sounded like the skittering noise that Hojo's monsters made before they attacked. He looked in the direction the sound was comeing from but the attack cmae from nowhere. With a loud cry Rufus spun his sword arcing as he pulled it from the sheath. It cut into the monster's arm, sliceing it off, but the thing got back up and hobbled towords him at a a dramatic speed for a wounded animal. Rufus brandished the sword in both hands and swung heavily at the monster, the tip arcing for it's back. The thing rolled out of the way, but the sword bit deep into it's shoulder. It screamed and he leaped towords it, sword flashing, the black blood on it glinting harshly in the light. He took the monster's head off but not before it's scropion like tail slashed down and ripped into his uniform sleeve, and it was now hanging off his shoulder. It rose up in the breeze and he slid the sword back in the sheath. He looked down and saw the cut, it was deep but not that long. He was lucky.
Bird warked at him, cocking it's head to the side.
Rufus tore what was left of his right sleeve off and then cut it in two pieces. He rolled the bandgae around his cut, the blue material becomeing dark with his blood. He fliped his hair out of his face and tied the second strip aroudn his wound, knoting it. "Now, Bird. We rest. First thing tomorrow we head twords that smudge in the horizion!" He sighed and cleaning his sword off, then leaned aginst the Chocobo for warmth. He fell asleep with his sword loosely held in his hand.
**********************************************************************************
Scarlet sobbed. Rufus was gone. She had loved him with everything. Her heart, her mind. She had fallen in love with her boss' son. She smiled fondly at the memory of first time she saw him.
**********************************************************************************
"Scarlet!!" President ShinRa screamed.
"Yes, Sir?" Scarlet asked, smileing at her boss.
"My son is going to be comeing in. I want you to give him the tour of the weapons department, R&D, tesing grounds, fireing ranges, the whole nine yards." He said.
"Of course sir. It'll be my pleasure." Scarelt said, plastering on one of her fake smiles.
"Good. He will be here shortly, on the next Helicopter." The President said, obviously annoyed.
"I will go meet the helicopter." And with that a 20 year old Scarlet left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as the heilcopter landed she was there, in that form fitting, reveling red dress that she always wore. As the 18 year old man stepped out of the 'copter her breath caught in her chest. He was wonderful! He was wearing a white suit seemingly three sizes to large for him, but as she got in with him it was just the overcoat. Under that he wore something like a lab coat on much more stylish. He walked down the hall with her, flirting and makeing little comments here and there.
At the end of the tour, he asked the question that made her stop cold. "Miss Scarlet, would you like to have dinner with me one night this week?" He had asked, his bue eyes boreing into her green ones.
Scarlet's brain locked. She didn't know what to say. So, she said what any woman would probaly say in her postion. "Yes, I'd like that very much."
Rufus smiled, and fliped his strawberry blond hair back. "So, lets say... Friday, 8:00. We could go see that new play, Loveless and then Dinner."
"I'm looking forward to it." She said, smileing herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday rolled around faster then she thought and she was at her apartment, pulling on her black dress. Just as she finished her make up she heard the door bell ring. He pulled on her black heels and walked to the door, grabing her purse on the way.
Rufus fliped the hair from his eyes and he looked at the door, shifting lightly. { I'm nervous... that's never hapen to me before. } he thought with a light smirk.
Scarlet opend the door and was greeted with Rufus ShinRa, holding flowers and wearing a tight black shirt, showing off his morderatly sized muscles, and white pants with black shoes. He smiled at her and she looked at the flowers. "Where did you get them?" She asked.
"Some woman selling flowers. She was about 16 and the flowers looked really nice. So I thought, pretty flowers for a very pretty lady." He replied.
She smiled. "How sweet of you...."
He grinned. "That's alright."
Scarlet wet and put them in water and then came back, smileing.
"Shall we go?" Rufus asked, offering his arm.
"We shall." Scarlet replied, takeing his arm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The play was wonderful and dinner was very tastey. She smiled at Rufus as he walked her to her door. "Thank you for the wonderful evening Rufus."
"Think nothing of it." He said, smileing.
"So," She said.
"Yeah, so," He scracthed the back of his head.
She smiled up at Rufus who was two years her younger, and the scilence streached on.
Rufus was the one who broke it, and leaned down, pressing his lips to her softly. Soon the kiss went deeper and more passonite and then he pulled back. "We should do this agian." He said, his pupils dilatied, only a thin ring of blue left.
{ I did that.... } Scarlet thought, satisfied.
"I will see you agian, my sweet lady." He said, Picking up her hand and kissing the knuckle. He then walked away.
**********************************************************************************
Scarlet sobbed all the more. "Oh God... why are you so cruel?!"
Cloud and Zack walked in, wanting to talk about Weapons R&D.
Cloud saw what was going on. "Scarlet. I am so sorry."
Zack sighed. "If we could have done more would have."
Scarlet sobbed harder.
Cloud reched down and held her close, whispering soothing nonesense to her. "Zack, go ahead out. I'll be there."
Zack nodded and left.
Scarlet looked out on the setting sun, sighing. "I wish Rufus was here."
**********************************************************************************
Author's Notes:
1) A LOT longer then the last couple.
2) The Chocobo was a rement from the battle.
3) Review damnit!
Gene
Summery: See Prologe
Disclamer - See chapter I
**********************************************************************************
( One Year after the Destruction of the ShinRa navy )
The bunker vibrated with another expolsion. { Fuck!! } General Rufus J. ShinRa silently cursed. He pulled his Sniper CR from it's back holster and took aim from a slit like window. He peered through the scope, aiming around, trying to see the cannons Hojo's mutant army were useing. { Damnit!! } He cursed again, flicking his now dirty redish blond hair from his face. He pulled his radio from his hip and yelled into it. "Home One, this is Striking Viper, over."
"Home One, here." Said one of the radio operators and Neo-Midgar.
"Hojo has come out with something... I don't know what it is, but they look like mutated humans. With all the soldiers we haven't been able to find and with all the towns that where wiped from the face of the earth by his army, I'm sure he's got plently more." Rufus said, with a rasied voice.
"Copy, Strikeing Viper, and be advised, the Gelinka war palnes won't be at your loctaion for another 20 minutes." The operator said.
"The bunker can't hold out that long! We *needed* help 10 minutes ago!"
"We are sorry, but we you are at the limit of their range. They have to go slow in order to conserve enough fuel to get back to base!" The operator said.
"Fine! Goddamnit!!" Rufus shut the radio off with too much force then what was necessary, but he felt a little better after it.
"Sir! First Plattoon is completely destroyed! One hundered percent killed!" His SiC siad.
"Fuck! Fuck!!! Xander, come here." Rufus snapped.
His second in command stepped over, afraid of the trademark ShinRa temper. He had served as an advisor to President ShinRa the first, and had seen his son flip out in the office.
"Faster! I'm not going to bite your goddamn head off!!" Rufus snapped agian, still looking through the scope of his gun.
"I want you to deliver this message to General Strife's army. Now, copy this down." Rufus said, more calmly then before, and then pulling on the action of his rifle, aiming.
"General, my army is done for. Heavy casualties suffered, and equipment lost. If you could-" Rufus stopped. "Ah... hello. There you are, you little fuck!" Rufus said slowly as he adjusted his scope. After a long moment he fired, the shot hitting the man solidly in the neck, makeing blood gush and squirt everywhere.
Xander winced at his commander's coldness but never said anything. His ears perked up as he heard a whistling noise.
"XANDER GET OUT!!!" Rufus screamed as the shell his the bunker, makeing it explode.
**********************************************************************************
Cloud pulled the cords to his gold chocobo, Dark Angel, and looked at the sight before him. Hojo's and ShinRa's forces... all dead. They massacred each other.
Robert pulled the rope on his black chocobo and sighed. "Sir! Look! The bunker!"
Cloud's eyes shot to where Rufus' command post was. "Oh my god...."
"Heeya!!" Cloud yelled, and Dark Angel sprang forth, his feet barely touching the ground.
Robert followed quickly, the Butterfly Edge sword tapping aginst his saddle.
Cloud looked at the huge hole in the top of the bunker and looked through it. Down below there was charred remains of a person with a Sniper CR laying next to them and in the corner was a man who was barely alive but was moveing slightly.
"Help me...." The man siad.
Cloud motoned for Robert to give him the rope in his saddlebag. "Yes, Sir." Robert tossed the rope over and clod got off Dark Angel, and tied it to a metal support beam. He then made sure the Ultima Weapon was secure beofre slideing down the rope. Robert was not far behind, hitting the ground and pulling out his sword. He held it with both hands, looking around.
"General Strife?" the man asked.
"Yes? What's your name soldier?" Cloud asked.
"Lt. Xander Drax. Second in Command for General ShinRa." Xander said.
Cloud looked at the man. "Where is General ShinRa?"
"I think he's dead." Xander pointed at the charred corpse.
Cloud walked over to the corpse. "It's Rufus' weapon. We have to assume he's dead."
The three exchanged a glance and then sighed.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus ran. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, the Quicksliver in his right hand, seemingly wieghtless compared to the fear of the death squad after him. He brought his gun up and fired behind him. He ran harder, hearing the growls and roars of the death squad.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!!" Rufus yelled and tripped over a root.
He rolled over and sprang up, fireing the rest of his clip behind him, hitting 5 monters, killing 2. { Shit! Two outta 8! }
The monsters sprang out at him and he dodged, holstering his pistol and pulling out the Mythril Saber from it's hip sheath. He swung into a monster's back as it leaped past him, neatly breaking it's spine, and then going through. He braced himself and held his ground as anouth leaped on him, and was impaled by his sword. He quickly yanked it out and brandished it in both hands, swinging it violently, into the skull of another, killing that. He then rolled out of the way and cast an Ice 3. Almost immeaditly the ice slamed from the sky in big spear-like projectiles. The remaining monsteres where cut into unregonizeable chunks.
"Damnit! Outta ammo for my gun." He said and looked at his uniform. It was ripped and dirty. Blood was streaked on it in several places. His red/blond hair was dirty, and his boots where caked in mud. "Well, I gotta get to Neo-Midgar someway or another...." He cleaned the sword off and tucked it into it's sheath at his side. He then set off in the direction of Neo-Midgar.
**********************************************************************************
Reeve was sitting in the office, with a anxious Scarlet sitting across from him. "I'm sure Rufus is fine. They are haveing radio trouble all over the place." Reeve silently took the woman's apperance. Blonde hair, a large bust, small, alsmot fragile waist, wide womanly hips. She hadn't changed that much. She took Rufus' death pretty hard the first time. It had led him to belive that they had something going on. She wasn't that much older then he was.
"Your right, I'm sure it's nothing." Scarlet said, breaking Reeve from his inner thoughts.
"-eve are you there?" Cloud's voice came over the radio.
"Yes, General. We are here." Reeve said.
"Rufus' army has been destroyed.... all but one dead. Hojo's forces have also been wiped out. They killed each other." Cloud said.
"Who is the survior?" Scarlet asked, alarmed.
"Ah....a one Lt. Xander Drax, Second in Command for General ShinRa." Cloud said.
"What about Rufus?" Scarlet asked.
"We haven't found him. He is presumed dead." Cloud said.
"Oh...." Scarlet sighed, and got up, walking into her office, which was next to Reeve's. It was there she broke down and began to cry.
"General Strife, thank you for the report. Keep me posted." Reeve said, and moved to cut the comm off.
"Sir? Is Vice-President Scarlet going to be alright?" Cloud asked, his voice all buisness.
"I don't know. Alright, keep me posted on the condition of the troops. Reeve out." The President said.
"Yes, Sir." Cloud said and shut off the comm.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus held out his Chocobo lure, and waited silently. { Come on.... work, damn you! }
Slowly a yellow chocobo stepped out of the brush and sniffed the air. "Wark!"
Rufus threw some field greens to him, as he was trained in survival. { Eat them.... } He silently willed.
The Chocobo sniffed the greens and bit into the first bit.
Rufus saw his opertunity and sprang forward, the Mythril Saber clinking as he ran. He slid to a stop and climbed onto the Chocobo before it knew what was happening. He leaned in and grabed the Chocobo's neck feathers. He spurred it on in the direction of Neo-Midgar.
The traveling was uneneventful at first and soon the terrain got rockier and rockier. The Chocobo warbled pitifully as it went over the rocks. Rufus didn't want to do this to the bird but he had to. He had to get to Neo-Midgar. At whatever cost.
**********************************************************************************
Cloud wheeled on Dark Angel and spured on twords his combined ShinRa/SOLDIER army. Waiting for him was the joint commander, Zack. "Cloud! What did you find?" Zack asked, tossing his ebony hair out of his face.
"One survivor out of an army of 250,000." Cloud said grimly.
Zack sighed and shook his head. "What about ShinRa?"
"I found this..." Cloud said and tossed the high powered rifle to Zack. "But no Rufus."
Zack sighed. "How's Scarlet holding up?"
"Don't know. Reeve said she'd be fine, but I'm not sure. Rufus told me that he had a thing with her before he became President, and durning up untill he died." Cloud replied.
"Yea. I hope she's alright." Zack said, and turned on his own Gold Chocobo, Goldie, to his army, the huge Buster Sword on his back.
"We camp here tonight!" Zack called.
With that they began setting up their tents and camp fires.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus sighed as the Chocobo wouldn't go any further. "Thanks, Bird. See you around." With that Rufus go off the Chocobo and began to walk when he herd a pitiful wark behind him. "Bird?"
The Chocobo had walked forward and then slightly off the path. Rufus did nothing but follow, and saw a stream. The Chocobo walked in the water and splashed around. When it get up Rufus saw gold feathers. There was a thick layer of dirt on her and that had taken the gold out of the feathers.
"Bird?" Rufus asked, wondering if it was divine intervention that made him happen upon a Gold Chocobo.
"Wark!" Rufus looked at the Chocobo's rear as something red flashed. He then gasped. It was a ShinRa brand. It was probaly an Army Officer's.
"Lets camp." Rufus said and as the bird layed down he leaned aginst it.
**********************************************************************************
Sunrise was usually bueatiful this time of the year... but the line of Hojo's troops on the horizion didn't make it beautiful. Cloud pulled the Ultima Weapon form his back, as Zack pulled his buster sword off. Next the other 500,000 men armed themselves and waited. Cloud waved his sword air and leaned down. "CHARGE!!!!!" He screamed.
All 500,000 men charged down the hill at top speed, gear clanking. It was a mixture of wepaons. Some with swords, others with pikes, still others with guns and knivies.
Zack rode forward with Cloud, each on thier chocobos. Behind them was Robert de Kere and Xander Drax, each brandishing a sword of thier own.
They clashed aginst the mass of Hojo's forces, the combat brutal. Blood splashed the ground withing the first few seconds. Cloud, Zack, Robert, and Xander waded through the carnage, swinging thier swords. While tugging at the reigns of the chocobo's they swung violently, killing Hojo's monsters.
A man near Robert had his head taken off with one quick swipe of a monster's large claw. Soon the battle began to turn. For the first time in a year, the ShinRa forces where winning.
**********************************************************************************
Rufus woke up and shook his new Chocobo, Bird as he named it, awake. "Come on, friend. Lets go."
The animal warked once and got up, letting Rufus climb on. "Hya!"
The Chocobo started off. It was smooth sailing from there. Rufus rode on, and after twelve hours of hard rideing Neo-Midgar was a black spot on the horizion. "Whoa!"
Bird slumped down and sighed. "I know, Bird. I know. We'll rest here for tonight."
The Chocobo warked thankfully. Rufus dismounted and pulled the Mythril Saber from it's sheath at his hip with a metalic Zing. He then began to scavenge. He came across some field greens and cut them down with his sword. He slid the sword back into the silver tipped leather sheath at his hip and brought his fid back to Bird. He then hunkered down to a meal with it.
Shortly after the meal Rufus looked up as he heard a sound. It sounded like the skittering noise that Hojo's monsters made before they attacked. He looked in the direction the sound was comeing from but the attack cmae from nowhere. With a loud cry Rufus spun his sword arcing as he pulled it from the sheath. It cut into the monster's arm, sliceing it off, but the thing got back up and hobbled towords him at a a dramatic speed for a wounded animal. Rufus brandished the sword in both hands and swung heavily at the monster, the tip arcing for it's back. The thing rolled out of the way, but the sword bit deep into it's shoulder. It screamed and he leaped towords it, sword flashing, the black blood on it glinting harshly in the light. He took the monster's head off but not before it's scropion like tail slashed down and ripped into his uniform sleeve, and it was now hanging off his shoulder. It rose up in the breeze and he slid the sword back in the sheath. He looked down and saw the cut, it was deep but not that long. He was lucky.
Bird warked at him, cocking it's head to the side.
Rufus tore what was left of his right sleeve off and then cut it in two pieces. He rolled the bandgae around his cut, the blue material becomeing dark with his blood. He fliped his hair out of his face and tied the second strip aroudn his wound, knoting it. "Now, Bird. We rest. First thing tomorrow we head twords that smudge in the horizion!" He sighed and cleaning his sword off, then leaned aginst the Chocobo for warmth. He fell asleep with his sword loosely held in his hand.
**********************************************************************************
Scarlet sobbed. Rufus was gone. She had loved him with everything. Her heart, her mind. She had fallen in love with her boss' son. She smiled fondly at the memory of first time she saw him.
**********************************************************************************
"Scarlet!!" President ShinRa screamed.
"Yes, Sir?" Scarlet asked, smileing at her boss.
"My son is going to be comeing in. I want you to give him the tour of the weapons department, R&D, tesing grounds, fireing ranges, the whole nine yards." He said.
"Of course sir. It'll be my pleasure." Scarelt said, plastering on one of her fake smiles.
"Good. He will be here shortly, on the next Helicopter." The President said, obviously annoyed.
"I will go meet the helicopter." And with that a 20 year old Scarlet left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as the heilcopter landed she was there, in that form fitting, reveling red dress that she always wore. As the 18 year old man stepped out of the 'copter her breath caught in her chest. He was wonderful! He was wearing a white suit seemingly three sizes to large for him, but as she got in with him it was just the overcoat. Under that he wore something like a lab coat on much more stylish. He walked down the hall with her, flirting and makeing little comments here and there.
At the end of the tour, he asked the question that made her stop cold. "Miss Scarlet, would you like to have dinner with me one night this week?" He had asked, his bue eyes boreing into her green ones.
Scarlet's brain locked. She didn't know what to say. So, she said what any woman would probaly say in her postion. "Yes, I'd like that very much."
Rufus smiled, and fliped his strawberry blond hair back. "So, lets say... Friday, 8:00. We could go see that new play, Loveless and then Dinner."
"I'm looking forward to it." She said, smileing herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday rolled around faster then she thought and she was at her apartment, pulling on her black dress. Just as she finished her make up she heard the door bell ring. He pulled on her black heels and walked to the door, grabing her purse on the way.
Rufus fliped the hair from his eyes and he looked at the door, shifting lightly. { I'm nervous... that's never hapen to me before. } he thought with a light smirk.
Scarlet opend the door and was greeted with Rufus ShinRa, holding flowers and wearing a tight black shirt, showing off his morderatly sized muscles, and white pants with black shoes. He smiled at her and she looked at the flowers. "Where did you get them?" She asked.
"Some woman selling flowers. She was about 16 and the flowers looked really nice. So I thought, pretty flowers for a very pretty lady." He replied.
She smiled. "How sweet of you...."
He grinned. "That's alright."
Scarlet wet and put them in water and then came back, smileing.
"Shall we go?" Rufus asked, offering his arm.
"We shall." Scarlet replied, takeing his arm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The play was wonderful and dinner was very tastey. She smiled at Rufus as he walked her to her door. "Thank you for the wonderful evening Rufus."
"Think nothing of it." He said, smileing.
"So," She said.
"Yeah, so," He scracthed the back of his head.
She smiled up at Rufus who was two years her younger, and the scilence streached on.
Rufus was the one who broke it, and leaned down, pressing his lips to her softly. Soon the kiss went deeper and more passonite and then he pulled back. "We should do this agian." He said, his pupils dilatied, only a thin ring of blue left.
{ I did that.... } Scarlet thought, satisfied.
"I will see you agian, my sweet lady." He said, Picking up her hand and kissing the knuckle. He then walked away.
**********************************************************************************
Scarlet sobbed all the more. "Oh God... why are you so cruel?!"
Cloud and Zack walked in, wanting to talk about Weapons R&D.
Cloud saw what was going on. "Scarlet. I am so sorry."
Zack sighed. "If we could have done more would have."
Scarlet sobbed harder.
Cloud reched down and held her close, whispering soothing nonesense to her. "Zack, go ahead out. I'll be there."
Zack nodded and left.
Scarlet looked out on the setting sun, sighing. "I wish Rufus was here."
**********************************************************************************
Author's Notes:
1) A LOT longer then the last couple.
2) The Chocobo was a rement from the battle.
3) Review damnit!
Gene