Beyond Seven
By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com) and Xu (zhakeena@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: Oh, ya know… it goes a little somethin' like this… we don't own anything but the story plot and our sanities… duh… whatever… -_-
Authors' Notes: This is part of our plan to sow the seeds of the Rufus/Tifa shipping um… whatever! So there!
Chapter Two
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He could taste water.
"Rain…" he thought. But how come it tasted bitter?
"Water with blood… No! What if it's piss?" he thought in panic as he forced himself to stand up from the rubble. There was no rain. The sunlight blinded him for a moment before he had time to adjust his vision. He coughed a little so he covered his mouth. He looked around then, to his hand which he used to cover his mouth. He frowned at the sight of blood… but what really caught his attention was the toilet bowl beside him from where he had emerged from the rubble.
"My GOD!" He spit furiously. "I drank… piss?!" He took another look around. Nobody in sight.
He observed his surroundings as he fell on his knees, feeling so weak all of a sudden. "How long has it been?" he thought as he continued to observe his surroundings. To his awe, he saw 3 familiar-looking people standing by one of the ruined pillars.
"So… this is the end of ShinRa. I never thought I'd live long enough to see it…" he heard one of them say in a rather slurred way.
"……………."
"So sad… and Tseng's gone too…"
Rufus's eyes lit up upon recognizing the three. "E…Elena! Rude! And… and… Reno!" he called out, waving his hand as he tried to stand up.
The three looked up. "I think Rufus is haunting this place, let's go," Reno muttered with a ridiculous smile on his face.
Elena turned around, searching for the place where the voice came from. "President Rufus?" she called out.
"Elena, I'm over here!" Rufus called out, waving at her.
Rude tapped Elena's shoulder and pointed at to the north. Reno and Elena turned to the direction where Rude was pointing. "Am I seeing ghosts?" Elena asked as she took a few steps backward.
"Ghosts don't bleed, dammit! Let's go!" Reno said, running ahead of the two.
Rufus put down his hand. "Finally! I think those idiots thought that I was a ghost or something else," he thought miserably.
"President Rufus! Is that you?" Reno asked.
Rufus eyed him angrily. "What do you think, you nitwit?" he snapped.
Reno turned to Elena and Rude and to his surprise, Elena just grabbed his hand and Rude's hand and jumped around happily with them, making the three boys stare at her in awe. "Oh, I can't believe he's alive! He's alive! He's alive!" she chanted.
"Stop that, it's annoying!" Rufus snapped.
Elena let go of the two and rushed to Rufus and knelt down beside him. "Is that really you, President Rufus?" she asked with teary eyes.
Rufus clenched his fists, trying to keep his patience. "Yes, it's me, Elena," he muttered with a sneer. However, Elena didn't care if he was about to scold her or something. She grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him violently. "You're alive! I can't believe it! I mean… I mean it's been 3 months and… and…" her tears fell. "Oh, President Rufus! I just can't believe you're alive!" she said happily.
Rufus blinked. "3 months?" he asked.
Rude nodded. "Yessir, 3 months, since the building exploded. Everyone else who lived just left you for the dead."
Everyone was surprised that Rude actually said something. Reno cleared his throat and said, "Uh… yeah… so, you all right, Prez?"
Rufus inhaled sharply, and then he stood up. But, he fell back down; he was still so weak.
To the Turks' surprise, they saw the blood on the President's right leg, spreading across the white fabric of his pants. "Oh no…" Elena said in disbelief.
Rude and Reno ran to the young president and helped him up. "Let's get him out of here before his condition worsens." Reno stated.
"But where are we going to take him?" Elena asked.
"Nibelheim. It's the safest place for him." He replied.
"It's too far from here, I'm gonna bleed to death you ninny!" Rufus snapped, suddenly feeling dizzy. For a reason, Elena, Reno and Rude were relieved when Rufus suddenly lost his consciousness. "You know what, I kinda missed his name-calling." Elena admitted.
"Yeah, but anyway, let's go before anyone sees us." Reno said.
"What if somebody recognizes him?" she asked with a frown.
The three were quiet for a while. "Can't we just take him to the hospital for a while? He's right; he might bleed to death before we reach Nibelheim." Elena said.
Reno spat out: "No, you idiot! This is Midgar? You know, the place he wrecked? You think the people here would just say, 'Oh, it's President Rufus, the man who ruined our lives! C'mon, let's help him, he might bleed to death!' Yeah right, you think we'd hear that from someone here?"
Elena looked down for a while and suddenly, she had an idea. "We have to hide him." She said as she removed her blazer and placed it around Rufus's shoulder. Then, she got her hanky and folded it into a bandana and placed it on Rufus's head. "There. If somebody asks, tell them she's our granny." She said with a funny smile on her face.
"You think someone would believe us? It's obvious that he's a male." Reno snapped.
"Oh yeah?" Elena asked.
"Yeah! Look, do you see any Tifa Lockheart-like boobs here?" Reno demanded, referring to Rufus's chest.
Rude smacked the back of Reno's head.
"Ow!" Reno reacted.
"Who's there?"
The three froze when they heard someone's voice from behind them. They turned around and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, we're lost and our Granny's… uh… I mean… Granny Ruffie needs to go back to Nibelheim because she wants to die there," Elena replied, crossing her fingers from behind her back.
It was a guard.
The guard nodded and studied the three. "I see… well then, your granny looks pretty young to me… and isn't she a bit too masculine to be a granny?" he asked.
"Oh, ya know, she had her gender changed when she was younger. She was once a male." Reno explained with a wink.
"I hope that Rufus is really knocked-out cold… if he just heard everything, he's really going to kick our asses…" Rude thought while trying to mind off everything.
"Okay… geez, just go. She's bleeding to death. You sure you don't need help?" the guard asked.
"No, we can manage," Elena replied before they headed off.
The guard shook his head. "This is a sick sad world…" he muttered.