By: General Quistis
Disclaimer: I neither own Final Fantasy 7 nor the characters. Duh. I don't own anything…but the story plot…
Author's Note: I'm so sorry if there's this OOC tendency for this fic… I have to transform their personalities… like Cloud turning evil whatsoever… -.-' Please forgive meh… ;_; Oh, and by the way… if you're looking for traces of Sephiroth here… I'm so sorry… I don't know how to insert him in the story because eventually, I just thought of another alternative idea for this… Edea, if you're reading this, gomen nasai! ;_; I know how much you love Sephiroth so much… but I found myself not really knowing how to insert him here… and I am not really used to him… ;_; gyah… To the reviewers, whether good or bad, thank you very much. Luv ya'll! J
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Chapter Twelve
"We're so sorry, President Rufus, she fought us and… we lost… she's very good with martial arts…" Reeve explained, though the truth is, they let Tifa escape.
Cloud just stared up at him with a mean look on his face as he remained seated, tapping his pen impatiently on the table. "Honestly, Reeve," he said.
"Honestly, sir. You can even ask Elena," Reeve replied.
Cloud turned to Elena. She had this stiff look on her face as she nodded her head. "It's true, sir. She escaped." She lied.
With that, Cloud motioned for them to just leave the room. As everyone began to move out, he spoke up, "Except for you, Heidegger and Scarlet,"
The two stopped and exchanged nervous glances before proceeding to face Cloud again with slight smiles on their faces. "Yes, sir?" Heidegger asked.
"Kyah… it's late, I think you should go to bed now, President Rufus," Scarlet said.
Cloud got up. "No, I'm not yet sleepy. But anyway, have you found her yet?" he asked.
"Tifa?" she asked.
"No. Aerith. The one I've told you to search for." Cloud corrected.
Scarlet and Heidegger were silent for a few seconds before the latter responded, "Gyahahahahahahahaha! I see… well, no, not yet, President Rufus,"
"Kyah… we've searched everywhere but we couldn't find her…" she said.
"Have you checked on the files of the girls with the first name Aerith?" Cloud asked, scanning their faces.
"Yes, we have… but there are no girls in the database with that name. It's such a very unique name, sir…" she explained.
"Maybe because the database isn't complete… or she isn't from this place at all," Cloud pointed out.
"We've checked with Reeve but he didn't find anyone with that name from Sectors 1-4." Heidegger explained.
"What about the slums?" Cloud asked with an annoyed look on his face.
"The files from the Slums aren't that complete, sir. The population there, most especially in Sector 7, increases by 20% each month." Heidegger explained.
"20%?! Hmf… those lowlifes got nothing else to do but reproduce and reproduce! I doubt if they can even support their own children with their low income." Cloud muttered in disbelief.
"He discriminates them like he doesn't really come from there before… but anyhow, it's our fault that he's acting like that…" Heidegger thought silently to himself as he stared at Cloud with a blank look on his face.
Scarlet sighed heavily. "We'll just search manually if you want us to," she said.
"Do so. Now leave," Cloud commanded.
Heidegger and Scarlet did not even excuse themselves; they just rushed out of the room. The moment they got out of the office, they were surprised to see Reeve, Hojo and the Turks waiting for them outside.
"Kyah!" Scarlet let out a surprised scream.
Heidegger just jerked and then held his upper left chest. "Gyah! Are you planning to give me a heart-attack?!" he demanded from them.
"We have something to tell you… something regarding Rufus and that boy," Tseng said directly without any hesitations.
Heidegger and Scarlet stared for a while before the former spoke up, "Gyah… let's go downstairs. He might hear us." he said as he led the way to the elevator.
"This wouldn't have happened if you just let me finish the injection, Scarlet. Now he's turned into a monster," Hojo told Scarlet as they got inside the elevator.
"Kyah! Shut the hell up, you mediocre scientist!" she snapped impatiently, attempting to slap his face, but Reeve stopped her. "Let's just stop blaming one another because it won't do us any good!" he scolded.
Everyone fell silent as he let go of her hand and sighed heavily. "We all did something to contribute to this," he began.
"Hmf… and the least we could do is make him step out of the office and release the real President from Junon," Reno said.
"And we can do so by killing the spiky-headed boy," Hojo suggested with an evil look on his face.
"No, we won't kill him. He's too powerful now. He's watching us closely because we know that he knows about his true identity." Reeve said.
"But that's the only way we could get rid of that boy!" Hojo snapped.
"Kyah! We should be the ones who should die because if it weren't for us getting so afraid of death, this wouldn't have happened!" Scarlet said as she pounded on the elevator wall.
"Well… at least look on the bright side… if this didn't happen at all, if Rufus was the president… something more complicated could happen to all of us!" Elena said with an optimistic glint in her eyes.
Everyone fell silent.
"Elena's right… maybe we could just make the most out of Cloud. After all, the important thing is, this company is running smoothly and is very successful." Tseng told them.
Silence again.
"You call this successful? The Planet will die because of us!" Reeve told them.
"But we'll be causing a big scandal if we just switch the two without any warning!" Tseng said.
Silence.
Reeve just sighed heavily. "I don't know about you guys, but we'd better do something about Cloud right now. Not all secrets could be kept forever." He said before the elevator stopped on the second floor and he got off with a frown on his face.
The rest followed with confused looks on their faces.
***
"You roamed around the Slums all day and then you brought home a girl from the streets? Are you nuts?" Barret scolded with a worried look on his face.
"Shut up, just turn on the heater. Her body temperature should return to normal after a few minutes… and once you shut up!" Aerith snapped impatiently as she placed the blankets and the comforter on the girl's body up to her neck.
"What the hell happened to her anyway?" Yuffie asked as she stared at the girl.
"Maybe she's lost or something. She was roaming around without any winter gear so she just got cold and… I don't know. She just passed out," Aerith replied with a worried look on her face as she stared at the sleeping girl. "But I could tell from her clothes and her jewelry that she must've come from the elites." She said.
"Maybe she's a tourist. Haven't really seen her around." Vincent pointed out.
"Could be…" she said before stopping as the girl moved her right hand to her forehead, touching it for a while, and then her hand plopped down on the bed again.
They noticed that she was wearing a silver bangle bracelet with something engraved on it.
Vincent looked closely, trying to read the writings, "All my love for you, from Rufus ShinRa."
They froze.
Aerith's mouth dropped open, looking at the girl with her big green eyes. "She's…" she couldn't go on.
Barret shook his head in disbelief. "Shit… she's Rufus ShinRa's girlfriend…" he muttered.
Aerith could feel her heart sinking. "I… I can't believe it… all these years I've waited and… and then… he has a girlfriend?" she thought in disbelief before running out of the room.
"What's wrong with her?" Cid asked.
Nobody answered, everyone was busily thinking on what to do with the sleeping girl.
"What the hell are we going to do with this girl?" Barret asked them.
"I have absolutely no fucking idea." Cid replied as he crossed his arms.
"Maybe we should just return her." Vincent suggested.
"No! We won't do that." Barret snapped.
Yuffie sighed as she approached the girl held her cold hand, placing it under the blanket again, "Look… there's got to be a reason why Aerith found her here in the slums. It's like she's running away from something." She said.
"What's she gonna be runnin' away for? The damn girl's rich! She has everything money could buy, including a very fucked-up boyfriend!" Cid snapped impatiently.
"Money can't buy happiness," Vincent pointed out.
They all fell silent, but they were surprised when they heard the girl speak out as she moved her head from side to side, like she was having a nightmare or something, "No… let him go! Don't take him away… please, Cloud! No! Don't take Rufus to Junon… please…" she pleaded.
Their eyes grew wide in awe. "What?"
"What's she talking about?" Barret asked.
The girl opened her eyes and they were wide in fear. She immediately sat up in a frantic manner, her crimson eyes scanning all of them like they were monsters. She moved away from them, clutching the blanket up to her chin. "Wh…" she began.
"Please don't be afraid! We won't hurt you," Yuffie reassured with a kind smile on her face as she reached out for the girl, patting her shoulders.
The girl looked up at her and then to Barret, Vincent and Cid.
"You passed out in the streets, Aerith had to bring you home so that you wouldn't die in the cold." Vincent explained gently.
"What were you doing out there anyway? And without any winter gear?" Barret asked.
The girl blinked, then looked down, her hands relaxing and letting go of the blanket. "I… I was running away… Rufus told me to run away because… they're taking him to Junon…" she explained with a trembling voice.
"Rufus? You mean…"
The girl could see the confusion in their eyes, and suddenly, everything returned to her in a flash. She stiffened as she frowned angrily but her crimson eyes reflected too much hurt. "The real Rufus ShinRa is in Junon, imprisoned by an impostor who had taken his place for more than ten years. His name is Cloud Strife. He's a very heartless and cold man… he doesn't want to give up the presidency for Rufus…" she explained.
Everyone was stunned, not knowing how to react to what she had said.
The girl shook her head. "Please understand me! I'm telling the truth! I've been with Rufus ever since we were kids… he stayed with my family in Nibelheim because he ran away from home… his father killed his mother that's why he didn't want to go back… the executives had been ordered to find him, and if they didn't return without him, they'll get killed, so they had to find an alternative. They found Cloud Strife, an ordinary boy… and turned him into Rufus ShinRa with the help of Hojo… and now…" she trailed off as she began to cry.
Yuffie reached out for her and held her hands. "Oh, don't cry…" she said gently with a cheery smile on her face.
Tifa wiped her tears away. "M…my name is Tifa Lockheart…" she began again.
"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi." Yuffie introduced.
"Vincent Valentine," Vincent said.
"Cid Highwind."
"Barret Wallace. The girl who took you here's Aerith Gainsborough but she ran off to I don't know where… she's been depressed latedly," he stopped when Vincent nudged him. "I don't think you should be telling her that." He whispered.
Barret just shrugged and approached Tifa with a serious look on his face. "Anyway, we're all members of AVALANCHE… and I hope we don't scare you but we're anti-ShinRa and its activities." He said.
Tifa thought for a while but she remained calm as she looked up at him with a slight smile on her face. "I hope that the ShinRa that you're against with isn't Rufus… but that Cloud." She told him.
Barret thought for a while. "Well, now that you've said it… and I think you're really telling the truth, maybe the ShinRa that we're against with is… is that Cloud that you're talking about." He said.
"Wait, wait, wait! How the hell can we all be sure that this @#$%*^% girl is tellin' the truth?" Cid demanded.
"You could check Cloud's DNA if you want to. It's different." Tifa said with a stern look on her face.
"Believe her, I think she's really telling the truth." Vincent said, turning to his companions. "And I think we should inform Aerith about this," he told them.