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 Four
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Scarlet, Heidegger and Reeve walked among the ruins of ShinRa, Inc. Surveying the remains, thinking about the jobs they once had, and how their downfall had come… their minds raced, and jumbled, till Reeve broke the silence.
"… Why are we here again? This makes no sense whatsoever… Staring at our crumbled offices won't bring it back to life, you know…"
Scarlet looked at him annoyingly. "Kya-hah! That's exactly what I'd expect to hear from you, Reeve! Always so serious…"
"Well, this place is really creeping me out… I think ghosts may be lurking here…"
Heidegger grunted. "Hah. Still the nancy boy, making a cat to spy on the enemy… Gya! If only you used your brain more often…"
"I've a feeling you two are blaming me for everything."
"Is it so obvious?" Scarlet asked. She scanned the area. "… but, then again, maybe spirits may be lurking around here…"
A sudden noise caused them to turn around and yelp. It was the guard.
"Oh, Mr. Heidegger, Mr. Reeve, Ms. Scarlet… Sorry, I thought you might be intruders again."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at him. "Intruders? Whatever do you mean?"
"Oh, 3 people in their 20's or so were here a week ago, I think… they had their grandmother with them. A sad case, really. The old woman was a transvestite. She was dying, and they were gonna take her to Nibelheim."
Reeve had a feeling that the aforementioned were from AVALANCHE. "Oh… um… please describe them…"
"Who, the grandmother?" the guard asked.
"I said them, I mean the 3 people…"
"Oh. 2 males and a female. The chick had blonde hair. One of them looked like a drunk, he had red hair. And then there was this tall bald guy with shades. A weird bunch. Then, the grandmother had blonde hair." The guard explained. "Now that I think about it, the grandmother looked like the late president… Hmm…"
Upon hearing this, Scarlet, Heidegger and Reeve's eyes widened.
"Kya-ha-ha-ha! The president is alive?!"
"My god… I can't believe it…"
Heidegger picked up his PHS. "I'm calling the Turks!"
***
Tifa glanced at the wall clock for the last time before she left the bar. It was a half past twelve and she felt really tired. She passed by the back door and she ended up in this dark alley. She decided to take the shortcut to her house by passing through another dark alley, but she stopped when she saw 3 people gathered in there. One was talking via PHS.
"S-sir? Oh, we're at Nibelheim… uh, yes, as a matter of fact, he is… What? Oh, he's at the mansion… We'll call you back when we go there… What, you're coming over? Wha… hello?" he clicked his phone.
"Who was that, Reno?" Hearing this, Tifa's eyes widened. So, the rumors were true.
"Oh, that was the Fat Guy."
"You mean Heidegger, right?" Tifa recognized this voice as Elena's.
"Yeah, I mean him. Let's just go back to the mansion and report this to Rufus."
The Turks walked away. Tifa watched their shadows disappear.
Before Tifa could start walking again, she heard something rustling from behind her. She stopped and turned around swiftly. The rustling stopped. She frowned and shrugged then started to walk again, but she heard a soft "rreow" which made her stop and turn around once again. She searched the place with her wide eyes, scanning the whole area carefully. "Chill out, Tifa… it's just a stray cat…" she thought. But somewhere from her conscience began to speak to her, "Oh yeah? You call that a stray cat? It sounded like a big stray cat! Like someone from the zoo!" Tifa shuddered at the thought. "Oh no… I hope it's no lion or anything bigger than a building…" she thought with a worried smile on her face. She was about to ignore it when she saw a pair of eyes glowing from one dark corner. "Wh…what the…" she said softly. "Is… is anyone in there?" she asked. "Stupid, Tifa. If that's an animal, you can't expect it to respond to your question in human tongue." She scolded herself silently as she instinctively bent down a little and reached out her hand. "Meow," she called.
A large black panther-like animal came out from the shadows, looking up at her with curious eyes. Tifa looked at the very big cat. "Oh my, where have you come from?" she asked.
The large animal approached her and rested its head on her hands. "Aww, you're so cute!" she said with a sweet smile on her face.
The panther-like animal began to purr as it rubbed its head against her hand.
"What's your name?" Tifa asked. Tifa wanted to smack herself for asking that. "Of course, it won't answer." She muttered. She knelt down and hugged the animal, never caring where it just came from. "Anyway, I'll bet you're already starving to death, huh?" she asked.
The animal looked up at her with sad eyes. "Aww, why? What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked.
The panther-like animal just looked at her. Tifa smiled gently at the animal. "C'mon, I'll take you home for a while." She said as she stood up and led the way to her house.
***
The chirping of the birds had awoken Rufus from a deep slumber. The moment he opened his eyes, he glanced at his bedside table and saw picture frames. The picture of his mother was there and he sat up to get a good look at his mother. He smiled as he flipped his hair. "Gee… now I know where I got most of my looks." He thought with a proud smile on his face. Then, he turned to the picture next to his mother's. It was his father. Rufus frowned and he opened his drawer to search for a pen or some writing instrument. Finally, he saw a marker and he smiled victoriously. "Hahahaha! You're a goner, daddy." He chanted happily as he drew all kinds of graffiti on the photo while singing, "Small circle, small cirle… BIIIIG circle!"
He stopped when the door suddenly burst open. "Good morning, President Rufus!" Elena greeted.
Rufus eyed her with stern eyes as he placed the picture frame down on the bedside table. "Good morning, Elena. What's for breakfast." He said with a joyful look on his face.
Elena stopped in her tracks. "Are you okay, President Rufus?" she asked.
Rufus frowned again. "Yes, I'm okay." He replied as he recapped the marker and placed it beside the photo. "Just greeted daddy a happy morning." He replied with a sarcastic tone.
Elena scanned the photo. "I… I see… I'm pretty sure he appreciated it." She replied with a nervous tone.
Rufus got up from his bed. "It wasn't meant to be appreciated unless he's really deranged like how I thought he already was the moment he…he pushed mom down the stairs." He replied, his face hardening.
Elena nodded. "Well then, President Rufus, it's nice to know that you can already stand up on your own. Don't worry, we'll change the bandages later." She said.
Rufus could still feel a little pain on his leg but it was already bearable. He examined the other photos and there was his pet. "Dark Nation…" he thought. Then, he turned to Elena and there was this worried glint in his eyes. "Where's Dark Nation?" he asked inquiringly.
Elena's eyes grew wide. In those three months, they never even thought of that big cat. "Uh…" she began.
Rufus frowned and clenched his fists as he grabbed the photo of his beloved pet. "Where is my goddamned cat?!" he demanded angrily.
"Well, I… we… we don't really know… after the explosion, we never saw her again…" She replied with a nervous tone.
Rufus threw the photo on the bed and he charged at the door. "Wait, President Rufus, where are you going?" she asked as she went after him.
Rufus took big steps as he rushed down the hallway leading to the stairs and it kinda hurt his leg very much, though due to his panic, he just tried to ignore the pain. On his way to the stairs, he saw Reno eating yogurt. "President Rufus, where are you going?" he asked.
Rufus grabbed his shoulders and pushed him against the wall, making him spill his yogurt. "Where. Is. My. Cat?" Rufus asked in a low but threatening tone.
"I… what cat?" Reno asked.
"Dark Nation, dammit!" Rufus replied.
"Oh, I thought it was a puma…" Reno replied.
"WHATEVER!" Rufus replied as he let go of the Turk and rushed down the stairs. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his Dark Nation because it was the last present his mother had given to him on his sixth birthday. On his way out of the house, he caught a glimpse of Scarlet, Rude and Heidegger. "You, you and you!" he said threateningly, pointing at the three. "Go and search for Dark Nation!" he commanded.
"Dark Nation? You want us to start a Dark Nation instead of rebuilding the company?" Heidegger asked.
"No, dammit! My pet! I want you to find my pet!" Rufus shouted impatiently before he opened the door.
The gardener and the other servants were in awe upon seeing the President of ShinRa Inc. in his blue silk jammies. They moved away from the pathway leading to the gate to let the President pass. The passersby from outside stared in shock at him, recognizing who he was.
From behind him, Rude, Reno and Elena were already rushing to him. "President Rufus," Elena began.
Rufus turned back to them. "You irresponsible fools! Don't you know how much Dark Nation means to me?" he demanded angrily.
Elena thought that tears were forming in Rufus's eyes, but she shrugged the thought off because everyone knew that he would never cry.
Flashbacks of his mother giving to him Dark Nation for the first time came back to Rufus all at once and he clenched his fists. "Look, I don't care about anything else right now… I don't care whatever it takes! Just… give me my Dark Nation back!!!" he said with a shaky but strong voice.
The Turks were stunned. They never thought that the President would be so shaken just by losing a cat.
"Like, NOW!!!" Rufus screamed. Automatically, Reno, Rude and Elena ran off.
Rufus walked back in the mansion to calm down, still not realizing that everybody saw him screaming in silk blue pajamas.
***
Tifa yawned, fluttering her eyes open. "Must be morning…" she thought. Imagine her horror when the first thing she saw upon waking were 2 big, cat eyes staring at her.
Tifa screamed. "EEEEK!!!" This sent the big cat thing to jump off her and scurry off into a corner of the room. She covered her mouth when she realized just what happened.
"Ooh! Sorry, kitty!" The cat calmed down and ran to her. Tifa petted her head. She purred softly. "You have nice fur… I think you belong to a rich kid, huh? Did you run away?" she asked.
To her surprise, the panther-like cat shook its head. Tifa smiled and embraced the cat. "Don't worry. After breakfast, I'll take you for a walk." She said.
"Meworgh…" the panther-like animal replied in its low voice.
Then, she looked out of her window and saw that some people were running around like crazy. "I wonder what's going on?" she thought quietly.
***
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" Reno called out glumly.
"As if it'll respond to you," Scarlet snarled.
"Gyahahahahahahahahaha! If I know we're just wasting our time searching for that crazy panther." Heidegger replied.
"Well then why are you laughing? If President Rufus heard you, he's gonna throw a fit." Elena snapped.
Reno sat down on a bench near the park. "We've been roaming around the block ever since 8 in the morning and guess what, it's already 3 in the afternoon!" he snapped angrily.
"Well this wouldn't have happened if we weren't so irresponsible." Elena muttered.
Rude eyed them annoyingly but didn't say anything. He just sat down beside Reno.
"He gave us 24 hours to search for Dark Nation…" Reno said.
"And up to now, we still haven't found…" Scarlet trailed off when she saw a familiar-looking girl wearing a red sundress. She was carrying 3 shopping bags, the first 2 filled with cat food and the other one filled with grooming things for cats.
"Isn't that girl…" Scarlet started.
Rude looked up to the girl.
Reno smiled evilly. "Ooh, I think we've got company, guys," he replied.
Tifa walked past them, not able to notice them at first because she was singing a song to herself, but then Elena called her attention, "Lockheart,"
Tifa stopped in her tracks and she slowly turned to their direction. She took a few steps backward upon seeing those people sneering at her (except for the bald guy). She frowned at them and shook her head. "Sorry, do I know you?" she lied.
"Don't play dumb with us, Lockheart. You know us," Reno snapped as he stood up.
"What's with the cat supplies? Did you buy kitty litter?" Scarlet asked.
"No because she can do her business in the backyard as often as she could," Tifa replied sternly before she turned and walked away.
"Oh, or maybe it's Miss Lockheart who would be using those kitty stuff. Gyahahahaha!" Heidegger stated with an annoying tone.
Tifa stiffened. "Okay, calm down… they're not worth your time… besides, they're too many and you're all alone…" she thought to herself.
Just then, Reno ran after her. "Hey, where are you going? You want me to help you with your groceries?" he offered with a sarcastic tone.
"No thank you, I can manage," Tifa replied.
"Wait a minute," Scarlet said. The tone in her voice made Tifa stop. She let go of her things and faced them with an angry look on her face. "What do you want, you Turkeys?" she asked.
"Did you hear that?" Reno said angrily, turning to his comrades.
"Gyahahahahaha! Turkey!" Heidegger laughed, pointing at Reno.
"Shut up." Reno snapped.
"Why don't you just return home to your President Rufus and leave me alone. I am not with AVALANCHE anymore." Tifa said with a stern tone.
"Ya hear that? Not with AVALANCHE anymore, eh?" Reno said, taking out his materia. Tifa's eyes widened. She wasn't prepared for combat.
"We'll just see about that…" Reno trailed off and his eyes grew wide when he saw a very familiar-looking animal from behind Tifa.
Tifa noticed the look of surprise on their faces and she turned around to see the black panther she had brought home from last night.
"It's… Dark Nation," Elena whispered.
Reno smiled. "Well, if it isn't the Presidential pet? C'mon, Dark Nation, let's go home," he said.
The panther snarled and hissed as it went beside Tifa.
"What did you say her name was?" Tifa asked in awe.
The Turks ignored her. "Let's go, Dark Nation. Daddy's waiting for you," Scarlet said.
The animal just snarled.
"Kitty," Tifa called.
The animal relaxed and turned to her.
Everyone was surprised when the animal suddenly purred and rubbed itself against Tifa's leg.
"Is that really Dark Nation?" Heidegger asked.
"I don't know… I never really liked that animal anyway!" Reno snapped.
Dark Nation turned to him and hissed.
Tifa knelt down and patted the panther. "What's wrong, kitty?" she asked.
"That animal hates us, maybe that's why it won't come near us whatever we did… don't you remember? Rufus was the only one who could feed it without getting his head bit off," Elena told Reno.
"What's wrong, kitty? Are those the nasty humans who hurt you?" Tifa asked with a pitiful look on her face as she patted Dark Nation's head.
To the Turks' surprise, the animal faced them and hissed while nodding. To Elena and Reno's imagination, they thought that the panther was smiling evilly at them and they could imagine her saying, "Take that, you ninnies."
Elena shuddered and turned away. "I think we'd better tell Rufus first… he can get her himself… besides, I wouldn't wanna lose a hand right now…" she whispered to her companions.
"I think so too…" Reno replied.
They were about to leave without saying anything more, but they noticed that Rude was getting something from his pocket.
"Whatcha doin'? Let's go," Reno told him.
Rude didn't say anything (as usual) as he revealed a photo of a little blonde boy and a panther cub.
Dark Nation stared at Rude like she was saying, "So what?"
Tifa stared at the blonde boy and memories began to flood her present thought… back to the time when her father was rushed to the hospital because of a dislocated knee.
"Daddy shot my mommy." The voice of the little boy with blonde hair echoed through her mind.
Dark Nation hissed at Rude and turned her head away from him, like saying, "I still won't come with you because you are not Rufus!"
Rude gave up and approached Tifa and handed her the photo. Dark Nation growled at him as Tifa got the photo with a trembling hand.
Rude bent down a little and faced Dark Nation. "If you only like Rufus to be the one to take care of you, how come you are letting this lady take care of you?" he asked in a low tone which made Tifa shiver.
"He actually spoke," Elena thought silently.
Dark Nation stopped growling and Rude thought that she was smiling at him, like she had this plan in her head. With that, Rude left them.
Tifa embraced Dark Nation as she examined the photo of the little boy. "Rufus," she whispered.
Dark Nation purred upon hearing the name.