Scars of the Past

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Baby you're all that I want - When you're lying here in my arms - I'm finding it hard to believe - We're in heaven - And love is all that I need - And I found it there in your heart - It isn't too hard to see - We're In Heaven (DJ Sammy - Heaven)

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Chapter 11 - Scarlet's Slapping Match

Rufus was stood looking out the huge office window in Junon, Heidegger stood to one side. Weapon was causing havoc near the Junon base, the President's reason for dragging Heidegger back with him. The blonde was running out of ideas. He knew the whole world wanted to get rid of the meteor. He also knew they were relying on Shinra to get rid of it for them. It was times like this he wished his old man was still alive, just so he didn't have to take this shit.

"The other prisoner is awake, Sir." The Shinra Executive said, beside him.

"About time." Rufus mumbled. He stormed off towards the room they were being kept in. A guard opened the door. He strolled into the room, starting at the brunette and then coloured man.

"I thought Cloud would show up to save you all... Professor Hojo wanted to check up on Cloud, too." Tifa glared at the blonde.

"What are you going to do to Cloud?" She whispered.

"Sephiroth's alter ego..." He flipped his hair out of his eyes. "Meteor has been summoned... Essentially, it's all but over now. So, there's no need for you now. No, maybe there is an important task for you..." He watched, out the corner of his eye, as Heidegger walked into the room.

"President! Preparations for the public execution are complete." Rufus grinned as he saw the reaction from the two prisoners.

"Execution!? What're ya gonna get by executin' us?" Barret shouted.

"You are to be executed for causing this situation." The President said adding in his mind, 'As well as killing one of my best friends.' "People are ignorant. They'll feel better as long as someone is punished." He smirked even more. He watched, amused, as Barret ran up to him.

"I take back what little praise I had for this damn jackass!" He calmed down.

"Well, enjoy your last moments together." Rufus turned and walked out the room, back to the window he was stood in front of before.

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The three Turks were sat in their Office. Reno had his feet up on his desk, leaning back on two legs of his chair. Elena was sat on the sofa, nursing a cup of coffee. Rude had ended up getting roped into playing on Rufus' game of Frazzle, by Callum, who thought it was amusing to see all the adults fail miserably at the game. The bald Turk just wanted to prove the little boy wrong. The blonde Turk had begun to watch them playing and smiled when Rude touch the metal bit again, and the buzzer went off. Callum laughed. The little brown haired girl laughed with him. They had finally got rid of Elmyra. Reno acquired some of the guards to take her to Kalm, telling her that Marlene would follow as soon as they were done with her. Callum had moaned when he got told Marlene was to leave, so she was still there. Apparently, Reno has a very soft spot when it comes towards his son. The buzzer went off yet again.

"Look Rude, you aren't ever going to do that game. Give up while you're ahead, or not in your case." Reno told the other Turk. Rude just glared at him. He then smirked and shoved the table a little bit. Reno, not ready for the sudden movement, fell backwards off his chair. Elena giggled, while Rude kept on smirking. Even the two children were laughing. The red head stood up quick and glared at Rude.

"Serves you right Reno, you shouldn't piss Rude off while sat on two legs of your chair." The blonde said, giggling.

"Oh yeah, gang up on me why don't you." Reno said, rubbing the back of his head.

"We will, don't worry." Elena replied. Reno thought for a second.

"Aren't they broadcasting that execution on television?" Rude nodded at him and flick on the television set that was next to him.

"Scarlet, why a public execution in this day and age?"

"With the chaos resulting from the Meteor reports, we desperately need to rally public support... it's better that we punish somebody, anybody." A mumble from Tifa could be heard. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! They'll never admit it, but everyone loves this stuff!" Scarlet turned to Tifa. "We'll start with this girl."

"If you've gotta do it... do me first!" Barret shouted.

"Camera, this way! Make sure you get this, the audience just eats up tearful goodbyes!" The camera shows Barret for a spilt second then switches to Scarlet, pushing Tifa towards the gas chamber.

"What are you doing!?"

"This is my special gas chamber. Take your time, and enjoy a slow, painful death." A guard fastened Tifa into the chair. "Stuck up ^%$#&!!"

"Someone has some issues still." Reno mumbled. Elena nodded to agree.

"Well now, the show's about to begin. Ha, ha, ha!" Scarlet slapped Tifa and walked out of the room. A red light went off.

"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching! Attention all military personnel: take your positions!"

"Run!" The camera shut off, and a Shinra logo appeared on the screen instead.

"Just when it was getting fun." The red head muttered.

"Do you think everything at Junon will be ok?" The blonde asked quietly.

"Them Weapon attacks have been happening all week El. They'll be fine. I actually hope it will fry Heidegger though, but my luck isn't good enough for that to happen." The blonde chuckled.

"Why do you hate Heidegger that much?" She asked.

"Because he hates me that much." Reno smirked. "I still make it my sworn duty to piss him off everyday."

"What happens when he's away, like now for instances?" The red head smirked even more.

"I get Ruffie to do it for me."

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Rufus was stood near the huge window of an office in Junon. Heidegger ran up to him. The blonde smirked put his foot out and Heidegger went flying flat on his face. Rufus smirked even more as the fat man got up, mumbling under his breath. He had a pissed look on his face, but never said anything.

"What is it?" Rufus asked in a stern tone, trying to keep a straight face.

"It's Weapon." The Shinra Executive told him. The President thought for a moment.

"There's been so many attacks lately. Can we handle it?"

"I believe so. Your orders?"

"No need to ask." The blonde flipped his hair back with his hand.

"We'll give it a shot from our big cannon." He turned to the sailors that were behind him and drove his fist in the air. "Open cannon doors!! Activate cannon. Target: Weapon!!"

"Preparations complete!" A sailor said. Heidegger nodded.

"The cannon..." He drove his fist towards the bay window, to the sea. "Fire----!!!" Rufus watched as the cannon fired a huge yellow ball of energy and shot out towards the sea. It hit something and exploded.

"Did we get 'em?" Rufus asked after a short while. Heidegger nodded.

"Seems so..." As soon as he said that, the red light and alarm went off, yet again. Heidegger spun around, confused.

"Weapon approaching! Speed, 50 knots! It's heading right toward us!" Shouted a voice from the speakers. The fat man looked at the President

"It can't be! We hit it dead on!" Heidegger looked like he was about to have a temper tantrum. Rufus turned to look at him.

"How about the cannon?"

"It'll take time to reload."

"Then use regular firepower in the mean time!" Heidegger ran towards the door, fist in the air.

"Yes sir! Open all artillery doors! Target: Weapon! Don't let it land!" Rufus watched as all the soldiers down on the docks fired. He shook his head.

"Speed: 70 knots! Weapon closing in! Not good! It's attacking!" Weapon stopped right outside the window and powered up, shooting a beam that cut through some of the building. The whole place shook. Rufus steadied himself, mutter swear words as he did. The Weapon powered up again for a second blast, but this time the cannon shot straight into it's mouth before it got a chance to shoot. It looked stunned for a few minutes, then fell back into the water. The blonde smirked.

"One down, four to go."

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"What d'you do? Hey! Open it!" Scarlet shouted as she saw Tifa trying to escape from the hole Weapon made.

"First you lock me in this weird place, and now you're telling me to come out? Make up your mind!" The brunette shouted as she climbed through the hole. Scarlet swore. She managed to get the door open and followed her to the end of the cannon. Tifa looked around, helplessly, at the dead end.

"Our little game of hide and seek ends here." The blonde walked a little closer. "The execution may have been unsuccessful, but your death by falling from here and crashing into the water below might be pretty exciting." She walked up to Tifa and slapped her. "Stuck up to the end!"

"Quit slapping me! You old wench!" Tifa shouted, this just got Scarlet even more mad at her. She slapped her again.

"You deserve ever slap you get, you miserable little murderer!" Another slap hit the brunette's face. "Blowing up Reactor one, was the biggest mistake you ever made!" Scarlet shouted. She went to slap the girl again, but she blocked it. Scarlet re-thought her plan, kicked Tifa in the shin and pulled her by the hair down to the floor. She kneeled down to whisper in her ear. "Just by blowing up one reactor and killing just one person who was in there, you made the lives of about twenty people miserable, including a three year old child." She said deadly serious, pulling her up so she had to look at the blonde. "Just let that lay on your conscience for the rest of your life, won't you?" Scarlet let go of her hair and turned to the guard behind her. "God! I can't stand it! Take her away." A guard came up to corner the girl. "Now it's time to pay up. I'll really drop you if you don't settle down!" She began to laugh.

Tifa looked up into the air, then ran towards the end of the cannon. The guard followed her. The brunette jumped off the cannon, grabbing onto a rope. Scarlet spun round just in time to see the Highwind flying off.

"God damn it! Now they've stolen the stupid airship. Rufus isn't going to happy about this."

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"THEY'VE WHAT???" Rufus shouted in Heidegger's face.

"They've stolen the Highwind, Sir." The fat man mumbled.

"You're an incompetent bastard, you know that?" Rufus said, calming down a little. Heidegger looked to the floor. "Let them have the stupid Highwind. It's a piece of crap anyway." He walked off. "I'm going back to Midgar. Don't you dare come back until you've cleaned this fiasco up." He stormed out the room and slammed the big oak doors. Heidegger winced as they shut.

The blonde walked off towards the airport. He turned around one corner of the corridor, to come face to face with Scarlet.

"You going back to Midgar, Sir?" She asked quietly. Rufus frowned. He wasn't used to the blonde woman being like this. He nodded.

"You're coming back with me. Fat ass is stopping her to clean this mess up." She nodded and began to follow him to the helicopter. Rufus stopped and turned to her. "What's a matter?" Scarlet was shocked to here him ask, but answered away.

"Just thinking........... about Addy." She whispered. Rufus looked at her and urged her to carry on. "I was trying to stop the brunette from getting on the Highwind, so I lost my temper and starting shouting at her........... about reactor one." The blonde man didn't know what to say, so decided to stay silent. He smiled a little at the blonde woman then turned and headed off towards the airport again. Scarlet smiled and began to follow him again.

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