One's Love, One's Pity
By: Bishojo Beauty
Chapter 2
Rufus slowly peeled his eyes open, as he felt the heat of the sun against his body again. Moaning he sat up slowly, looking around the room as his vision became focused he recognized where he was. He sat up and began to think back to last night. Something happened, but he couldn't exactly remember what. A slight throbbing began in his head from the steady digging of his thoughts. He laid his head back down to rest. And quietly, voices started to talk in his head.
"So, how's it been? You like it up here, nice and quiet?" A masculine voice asked.
"Oh, yeah. It's calm. After all that, this is just what I need." The voice of a female replied. Tifa? What the hell is going on? A few chuckles started.
Rufus bolted up right, slowly and quietly he got up and made his way to the door. He stopped in his footsteps as he heard someone talking in the floor below. He pressed his ear against the door.
"Yeah, I suppose, it's nice up here," the masculine voice replied. Didn't I just hear this from...over there? Rufus backed away from the door, lightly smacking himself as he made his way back to the bed. Must be a dream.... He laid back onto the bed closing his eyes as he dismissed what he had heard. Just some vent carrying up the sounds...yeah...that's it...
Tifa waved goodbye to her fellow AVALANCHE members and close friends. She let out a sigh of relief as she closed the door and quickly made her way up to the room where Rufus slept on his side. When she entered the room, she found Rufus lying on top of the covers. She walked over and around to see if he was asleep or not. As she neared, she heard the steady breathing of sleep. She stood there for a short moment watching him sleep. His facial expression was more relaxed, rather than locked into that ice cold glare of his. She started to laugh at how his employees must have felt, when he shot that glare at them. Her giggles woke up Rufus as he looked at her in pure confusion.
"What's so funny?" He asked rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, sleep still evident in his voice. Tifa just shook her head and walked away, humming softly to herself. He narrowed his eyes as she made her way to a bag full of something soft. She pulled it out, and held it in front of her for him to see. It was a loose white button up shirt, and a pair of white trousers.
"I thought you'd like white," she smiled as she set the clothes onto the bed at his feet.
"I'm sure you'd like to shower, it's been quite a few days since your last," she signaled towards the bathroom with a quick wave of her hands as she made her way out of the room again. Rufus sat there in deep thoughts for a few seconds before he made his way into the bathroom. As he stripped himself of his old battered clothes, he stopped suddenly as he looked at himself in the full length mirror. He traced the few scratches and cuts across his chest, and pressed against the burn marks that covered him also. How can anyone survive this? Rufus let out a sigh as he headed into the shower. He made sure to keep the water not too cold, but not hot either. Maybe it'll put some sense into all of this. And sense it did, as he felt a jolt of pain shoot from his abdomen to his head. He clutched his head tightly and soon, fell into darkness.
When Rufus awoke, he found himself in a strange place. It was dark, and it had something that looked like stars that floated around him. Rufus himself seemed to be floating, as he was not standing on anything but air.
"What the hell is going on here?" Rufus asked aloud as he floated higher and higher, or lower and lower, it was hard to tell which direction he was going since everywhere he looked, it was the same.
"Welcome, Rufus, to the lifestream," a soft soothing voice spoke in his head. Lifestream? Am I dead?
"Yes, dead. But not for long, Rufus,"
"Not for long? What the hell do you mean by that? And who are you?" Rufus just had to many questions, but one of the most important ones was to know your enemy, so who was the most sensible thing to do at the time.
"You're quite a cranky one aren't you? Well, so I will answer your question, I am part of the lifestream. I guide the lost ones back onto the Planet. The ones that need a second chance to get into the proper lifestream," Rufus narrowed his eyes to nothing, and no one, since nothing could be made out besides stars and more stars.
"I am guiding you back to the Planet, to live again. You must do something to repay the Planet for the damage you have done. Something is going to happen, and you're going to stop it," the soothing voice started to fade as she neared the last words.
Rufus blinked his eyes again, and he ended up back in the shower water hitting against his back, as he crouched low. Something is going to happen? And I'm supposed to stop it? I don't know... Rufus let out yet another sigh as he finished cleaning himself again, and checking himself once more in the mirror before dressing in the clothing that Tifa bought him. When he exited the bathroom, he found Tifa sitting on the edge of his bed where she seemed to be waiting for him.
"Finally, the price decides to come out. You spent a whole hour in there, and I was beginning to get worried about you," Tifa giggled, "you must be as wrinkled as a prune." Rufus raised his hands up and examined them. It was true, his hands and toes were all wrinkled.
"How did you find me in Midgar?" Rufus suddenly asked. He laid on the bed waiting patiently for Tifa to give him the answer.
"Well, it was strange, but you were at the base of the building, just lying there, not under any rubble at all," Tifa took more interest in the ground that Rufus. It's either I got blown off and survived, or I really got resurrected and here to save the Planet. Rufus walked over to the window and gazed thoughtfully outside. Suddenly a sharp piercing scream sounded. Rufus grunted as he went down, the pain obviously too much for him. When the screaming stopped, he looked up at the worried face of Tifa, and said, "The planet's scream..." before passing out once again.
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