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 Fourteen
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Cloud was going back to the inn from the bar. He just drowned his sorrows with some wine, hoping that alcohol would make him forget all that has happened ever since he went back to Nibelheim. He was thankful that Tifa didn't work that night; but he never stayed that long anyway.
"Why bother getting drunk? This would all end well, if Aerith comes back…" he thought.
If?…"WHEN Aerith comes back…" he corrected himself out loud. He shook his head, trying to make himself get rid of the doubts building up in his mind.
"I'm going crazy again…" he muttered.
He entered the inn, walking to the receptionist.
The receptionist smiled cheerfully at him. "Mr. Strife?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'd like to get my key?" he replied.
"Oh, okay, but before that, some people are waiting for you over there," she pointed to the small breakfast hall. "They came in here earlier, says they have something important to say, so I let them wait there."
"Damn it…" Cloud muttered before he headed for them. "What do you want?" he asked them with a glum tone.
"Hi, Cloud! How are you doing?" Yuffie greeted with a smile on her face.
"We've been looking for you coz we want to ask you where Tifa is," Barret told him.
Cloud stopped in his tracks. "Why bother?" he asked.
"And Marlene." Vincent continued.
Cloud was silent for a while. And he shook his head. "I don't know where she is right now…" he told them.
"Cloud, what's going on?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah, what the %^*$ is going on?! Are you hiding something from us?" Cid demanded as he faced Cloud.
Cloud sighed heavily and his eyes narrowed at them. "Aerith is going to come back… but Rufus needs to die for her." he explained.
"Die? How can that… what? He is alive?" Barret, Cid and Yuffie all said in unison.
"He is alive. He's been given a chance to change himself and after he does that, even without him realizing it, he has to die." Cloud told them.
"H…how?" Vincent asked with a deep frown.
"I can just kill him." Cloud said without a trace of emotion on his face.
The room suddenly fell silent. Barret disturbed this by saying, "Cloud? You… you can't be serious, foo'. That's…. That just isn't like you!"
Cloud shrugged. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes," he said, "WHATEVER it takes, just to get Aerith back to this Planet, with us! And Rufus knows this, he wouldn't mind!"
Cid threw his cigarette to the floor angrily. "YOU &^%$! What makes you think that when Rufus says he'll die for a girl who was once his %$#*& enemy, he wouldn't mind?! You're a &^$&%* for even thinkin' that!!!" he screamed.
"Yeah, Cloud! I thought you'd be the one who'll hesitate to kill his enemies on purpose!" Yuffie piped up.
Cloud was surprised at their reactions. "… Since when were you all on ShinRa's side?" he said in a scary and low voice.
"We're not on ShinRa's side, and we don't care about ShinRa and the shit that they did in the past, it's just unfair for… for Rufus!" Yuffie told him with a look of disgust on her face.
"Shut up, will you, Yuffie? I don't care anymore! Didn't you even realize the sadness that I felt when Aerith died? Hah? Didn't ya?!" Cloud shouted.
Everyone was already looking at them.
"Can't we just talk outside? Everyone's getting suspicious…" Vincent told them with a stern look.
"I don't care about everyone anymore." Cloud told him.
Barret was already beginning to get impatient. "You are worse than ShinRa," he began.
"Wh…what about Tifa?" Yuffie asked.
Cloud shook his head. "Let her be. But once Aerith is back, we'll take her with us so that she could forget about ShinRa." He told them.
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.
Vincent's eyes narrowed at Cloud. "I thought that girl hated ShinRa?" he asked.
"Everything's different now. You know Tifa, she sees something good in everyone once she starts trusting them… I guess Rufus was very unlucky to know a girl like Tifa." Cloud replied before he turned away.
Cid pulled him back to them and made him face them before he knocked three times on Cloud's head. "Hello? Is Cloud Strife there? How come he sounds different? What the %$^*& is up with ya?!" he demanded.
Cloud pushed him away from himself. "Damn it! Stay out of my way!" he snapped angrily at them.
Barret finally lost his temper. He stomped his way to Cloud, fumbling his gun-arm and placing materia in his weapons. He grabbed Cloud by the collar.
"LISTEN HERE, you spiky headed white-ass jerk! We've just had about enough of yer yappin' 'bout bringin' Aerith back from the dead! Now, git yer sorry self out of here! I'ma try ta knock you back to your senses!!!!!" he screamed.
Cloud's eyes widened in surprise as Barret spoke, but he surprised everyone else when he unsheathed his sword so suddenly, causing Barret to fall on his back.
"Fine!" he said, accepting the challenge.
Cid, Vincent and Yuffie were left stunned. "B-Barret? Is this a good idea?" Yuffie stammered.
Barret stood back up. "I dunno. But if it'll bring this clod back to reality, I'm willing to do it…"
Outside the inn, a light drizzle began to fall. Cloud wore a bangle, the materia glimmering in their place. Cid, Vincent and Yuffie watched, potions and medicines ready, just in case.
"You ready yet, Strife?" Barret asked gruffly.
"Yeah, whatever! But first," Cloud said, his hands forming a spell, "A pre-battle warm up!" He threw a fire spell at Barret.
The AVALANCHE leader managed to block this with his gun-arm. "You'll need more than that to throw me off-guard, white-boy. Taste this!" He fired several bullets at Cloud, some hitting his shoulder.
Cloud winced and held his shoulder. "FIRAGA!" he screamed.
A large pillar of fire hit Barret, sending him screaming and crashing to the ground. "AAAGH!!!" It took him a while to recover.
Cloud took this opportunity to cast another spell. "Take this… FIRAJA!!!" (*means Fire4*) Barret gasped, but he evaded it, just barely.
"… I'm not done with you yet…" he muttered. Several green spheres appeared and floated around him, making Cloud break into a sweat.
"… I summon thee from yer ice… SHIVA!!!" Barret stated, sending a chilling cold blast of Blizzard, Shiva herself along with it. She opened her eyes, wondering why she was going to freeze the being that once summoned her, but she blasted him with a powerful ice spell anyway. Cloud screamed, flying across the grounds with ice shards, and crashed at the trashcans, making a horrible noise.
Barret breathed heavily, expecting Cloud to come out of the rubble. But, the dust settled, and still, the man didn't get up.
"… I think you hurt him." Vincent said simply, as if not really expecting much from this battle.
Hearing this, Barret, Cid and Yuffie rushed to the trashcans.
"Yo, Cloud, you awright?"
"Cloud! Come on up!"
"Hey, get up, Cloud!!!" Cid said, throwing a hi-potion on where he guessed Cloud would be.
A few seconds of total silence passed. The light drizzle eventually became a huge downpour. And suddenly, a blue-and-yellow blur rose from the rubble and tackled at Barret with full force.
Yuffie screamed out of surprise. "CLOUD!" she shouted, when she realized that Cloud was stabbing Barret violently, repeatedly, with his huge sword.
"GODDAMN YOU! SCREW YOU BIG FAT ASS! GO TO HELL AND DON'T YOU EVER SHOW YOUR BIG FAT FACE TO ME AGAIN, YOU BIG FAT PIECE OF SHIT!" Cloud shouted hysterically.
Vincent, Cid and Yuffie weren't able to do anything about it. All they could do was watch in horror as they watched Barret die a horrible, violent death, his blood splattered all over Cloud's hands and his face.
Vincent pushed Yuffie away. "Go to the ShinRa Mansion, hurry up!" he told her.
Yuffie hesitated for a while but she quickly ran away. She was already crying.
Cloud followed her with his gaze. "Yuffie!" he called out.
Vincent backed off a little before he jumped up in the air and landed on one of the roofs. He took one last look at Cloud before he went off, heading to a place where he would expect Cloud to be heading to.
Cloud wiped his face with the back of his hand and there was this deranged look in his eyes.
Cid just stared at him. "What the fuck have you done to your friend?" he demanded.
Cloud eyed him before he ran off.
"Cloud!" Cid went after him.
***
Yuffie began knocking hysterically at the ShinRa Mansion's front door. "Help! Please?" she called out.
"Yuffie,"
Yuffie turned around and smiled happily upon seeing Red XIII. "Red! W…where have you been, we've been looking for you?" she asked before she rushed to him.
Red XIII studied her crying face. "What's going on? You look so troubled," he said.
"Cloud's crazy! He did something bad… he killed Barret!" Yuffie explained while trying to control her tears.
They froze when someone opened the door. "Wh…what the hell is going on in here?"
Yuffie and Red XIII turned to the door but they didn't know what to do. "P…President Rufus… we need to see President Rufus," she told the redhead who just opened the door.
Reno scratched his head while his teeth remained clenched upon seeing the two. "What do you want?" he demanded.
Yuffie approached him. "We need help, it's regarding Cloud Strife." She explained.
"Reno, what's going on?" Elena asked as she rushed down the stairs in her sleepwear.
"AVALANCHE members asking for help at 2:00 in the morning," Reno replied before he turned to Elena.
Elena joined him and took a good look at Yuffie and Red XIII. "What kind of help?" she asked with a frown.
Reno eyed the two angrily before he stormed inside again.
Before Yuffie and Red XIII could speak up, Rufus arrived by the door wearing his blue pajamas and his blue robe. "What's all the ruckus?" he demanded with an annoyed look. His eyes looked a little droopy and his head ached a little because of the hangover, but his eyes grew wide in surprise when he saw Yuffie and Red XIII.
From behind Rufus, Dark Nation followed closely behind. She snarled at the sight of Yuffie and Red XIII.
"What are they doing here?" Rufus asked, turning to Elena.
"I… I don't know, sir. They said that they need help…" Elena trailed off when Yuffie spoke up, "You gotta help us! Cloud just killed Barret!!! And… and…" she stuttered, thinking of a good reason to come there. "And… YOU!" she pointed to Rufus. "He'll come after you and kill you too so that Aerith could come back!" she continued as more tears streamed down from her face.
Rufus's eyed grew wide, remembering Marlene, Barret's daughter… and Tifa.
He flipped his hair and turned to Dark Nation. "You, go to Tifa." He commanded as he patted her head.
Dark Nation nodded and rushed out of the house and jumped across the high wall.
"I'll go with her," Red XIII told them before he followed Dark Nation.
Rufus rushed up the stairs, back to his room and quickly changed his clothes. After doing so, he got to the garage and got inside one of the expensive cars and drove out to the main driveway in front of the main door of his house. He rolled down one of the windows and turned to Elena. "Take Yuffie inside. Don't do anything stupid to her or else…" he threatened before he finally drove off from the ShinRa Mansion, out to the streets of Nibelheim going to Tifa's house.
When he arrived there, Marlene was seated by the front porch, crying her eyes out. Rufus got down from the car and ran to her. "Marlene," he began with a worried tone. The first thing he did was to pick her up in his arms and hug her tightly, as if to comfort her. "Rufus!" she said helplessly as she continued to sob.
"Wh…what happened? Where's Dark Nation? Where's Red XIII?" he asked.
Marlene faced him with a worried look on her face. "They're inside… Cloud hurt them real bad… it was scary… and he… he…" she trailed off.
Rufus put her down. "What about Tifa?" he asked as he rushed inside.
The rain began to pour down hard outside.
Marlene wiped her tears away as she followed Rufus inside.
"Tifa!" Rufus called out.
He looked around the living room and the kitchen. "Goddamn it! Where's Tifa?" he shouted angrily.
Marlene went to Rufus and tugged at his trench coat. "Mister Cid and Mister Vincent arrived here before Cloud could… they told Tifa to go to you." She explained.
"But why are you here?' He asked with worry in his eyes.
The coldness from his eyes finally disappeared and too much concern filled them.
"So that it wouldn't seem that they really told Tifa to go to you." She replied.
Rufus didn't understand that but he just picked up the little girl in his arms again. "Let's get out of here," he told her.
"Rufus, where's daddy?" she asked.
Rufus froze, remembering what Yuffie had told him, but he tried to change the subject. "What about Cid and Vincent? Where are they?" he asked.
"Mister Cid chased Cloud away from here… and I think Mister Vincent went with Tifa." Marlene explained.
From one corner of the room, Rufus saw Red XIII dragging a severely injured Dark Nation.
Rufus clenched his fists in total annoyance. "STRIFE!" he said through clenched teeth.