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… ;_;
And by the way, if you want to see some fic-art or drawings regarding this fic and all my other fics, just go to my site: …thank you very much. Oh, and please don't forget to read & review this one. =)
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Chapter Twenty
"Midgar's been quiet lately… I wonder what Cloud's up to now…" Scarlet snorted with a snotty look on her face.
"Maybe he finally gave up…" Reeve pointed out.
"Well at least it's a good thing that he isn't suspecting a thing about us living in this old Mansion… Kyah…" she said.
"As if he really gives a damn about this place…" he said.
"Kyah… you're right. Knowing his revenge thing, maybe he's also planning to burn this place down." She said.
Reeve was about to say something else but he was cut off when he heard roaring thunder from outside and the rain started to pour down. "Uh-oh… here comes the storm…" he told them.
They turned to the doorway of the living room when they heard some heavy footsteps approaching.
Scarlet smiled when she saw Tifa coming in with Dark Nation. "Kyah… good afternoon, Miss Lockheart," she greeted.
"Hello, Scarlet," Tifa greeted with a cheery smile on her face as she sat down on the couch facing her. Dark Nation circled around the couch before sitting down on the floor.
"Where's President Rufus?" Reeve asked.
"He's upstairs in his office, writing some plans." Tifa replied before looking outside the window. "There's a storm huh?" she asked.
"Yeah… the weather news stated it this morning…" he told her.
Tifa turned to them with a serious look on her face. "How much longer do you guys think this will last?" she asked.
"The storm?" Scarlet asked.
"Depends… this storm will just go away after some hours or some days… the storm with Cloud on it will go away only if he learns how to be considerate." Reeve pointed out.
Everyone fell silent.
Tifa looked down to the floor with a solemn look on her face. "I still have faith in Aerith…" she said softly.
Scarlet sighed heavily. "Kyah……. Miss Gainsborough said that she would do everything she could…" she said.
"We'll just have to wait, I guess… but I hope she is okay…" Tifa said sadly.
***
Cloud faced the bathroom mirror with a pair of scissors in his hands. He looked at himself with a frown on his face before he finally grabbed a lock of his spiky hair and started to cut it off. He let the strands fall to the bathroom counter, scattering around the place. He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath before continuing to cut the rest of his hair…
***
"What's for dinner tonight?" Rufus asked.
"Miss Lockheart's doing the cooking, President Rufus. She said it's a surprise…" Reeve explained.
Rufus just smiled before turning back to his papers. "Check on this, Reeve. Is this fine?" he asked before handing them to him.
Reeve scanned the papers for a while and raised his eyebrows. "Well… I could say that this is much better than your father's plans before… and yes, it's definitely better than Cloud's plans." He said with a stunned smile on his face.
Rufus flipped his hair as he smiled proudly. "Of course." He said before standing up. "Well, I'd better check on Tifa." He told Reeve. He stopped on his tracks when they heard the doorbell.
They froze.
"Who could that be?" Reeve asked.
Rufus frowned and bit his lower lip before proceeding out of his office and down the stairs to the front door. He held his shotgun tightly behind him, just in case it was Cloud or anyone involved with Cloud.
Reeve remained by the stairs, observing quietly, while Scarlet watched from the doorway to the kitchen.
Rufus's frown deepened as he opened the door, revealing a young lady that was very wet because of the storm. She had muddy shoes and her pink dress was already very dirty and muddy. She was shivering because of the cold but she had managed to flash a weak smile at Rufus. Her green eyes reflected too much fatigue. "I… I've found you at last…" she said softly with a trembling tone.
Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Who is this woman?!" he thought in disbelief.
Reeve rushed to Rufus, while Scarlet covered her mouth in disbelief. "M…Miss Gainsborough!" she thought silently.
Before Aerith could say another word, she just fainted, but before she could land on the floor, Rufus had managed to catch her.
Rufus eyed Reeve and Scarlet. "Hey, help me with her… who's she anyway?" he demanded.
Reeve assisted Rufus and helped him carry Aerith.
Scarlet approached them to close the front door. "She is Aerith Gainsborough, Cloud's girlfriend," she explained.
Rufus let go of Aerith and stared at her in disgust. "She is Cloud Strife's girlfriend?" he asked in disbelief.
"Kyah…Yes, but please, don't be mad at her… she's a nice girl." Scarlet said with a reassuring look on her face as she touched the girl's forehead. She made a face. "Kyah… she's got a high fever…" she announced.
Rufus thought for a while before shaking his head in confusion. "Ugh… fine, take her to one of the unoccupied rooms upstairs and run the heater in that room," he told them before rushing to the kitchen.
Tifa instantly turned around, facing Rufus with a surprised look on her face. She held a potholder with her left hand and a bottle soy sauce on her other hand. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Do you know any Aerith Gainsborough?" he asked.
Tifa blinked. "Yes, why? She's Cloud's girlfriend… remember, I told you about her before," she said.
Rufus raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah… I remember…" he turned away, shoving his hands inside his trouser pockets. "She's upstairs with a high fever." He said.
"What?!" Tifa placed the potholder and the soy sauce on the kitchen counter beside the stove and grabbed Rufus's shoulder. "Aerith is here?" she asked.
Rufus faced her. "I don't know how she knew where we are, but she just arrived and she fainted because she's sick so I told Reeve and Scarlet to take care of her upstairs," he said.
"But… what is she doing here?" she asked.
"I'm not sure either… what if she's a spy or something…" he muttered under his breath as he examined the nervous look on Tifa's face.
She shook her head. "I hope not… I don't think Aerith could easily be influenced by such a person like Cloud. I believe in Aerith," she said with a reassuring smile before leaving Rufus in the kitchen. "Could you take care of the cooking for a while, Rufus? I'll just go and check on Aerith," she called out.
Rufus face-faulted. "Fine…" he muttered before checking the stew and grabbing the potholder.
***
Tseng kept on knocking on Cloud's door but no one's answering. "I wonder what's happening… he's not answering," he thought silently with quite a worried look on his face.
Rude stood quietly beside him as he continued to knock.
"President Rufus! President Rufus! Are you in there?" Tseng called out again.
"I think we'd better check him out inside." Rude told him.
Tseng, without hesitation, just grabbed the doorknob and twisted it to open the door. They stepped inside, gazing around. The bed looked so messy and there were clothes everywhere on the floor, on the couch, by the windowpane, on the bed, on the electric fan and even on the chandelier up in the ceiling. Tseng raised an eyebrow. "Goodness… it's even messier than Reno's room!" he remarked.
Rude looked around, examining the whole place.
"Doesn't he have servants to fix this bedroom?" Tseng asked.
"Don't you remember? He fired everyone!" Rude stated.
"What are you Turks doing here?"
The two turned their gazes to the bathroom door and saw Cloud standing by the doorway. Their eyes widened and they took a few steps backwards upon seeing Cloud looking so much like Rufus (except for the height).
"What is he thinking now?" Tseng thought.
"Oh no… now they've got the same hairdo!" Rude thought.
Cloud had this tired look on his face as he stared at them.
"Uhm… President Rufus… nice haircut!" Tseng remarked.
Cloud just stared at him and then just walked out of the room.
Rude adjusted his glasses. "What's wrong with him?" he asked.
Tseng shrugged.
***
"What happened to you? Why did you come here?" Tifa asked with a worried look on her face as she helped Aerith dry her hair.
"Cloud told me to look for Rufus… so I figured that you came here… I don't know how…" Aerith replied with a sad smile on her face.
Tifa scanned the look on Aerith's face and she somewhat felt sad for her, "How's Cloud?" she asked.
"He's okay…" Aerith replied glumly.
"Really?" Tifa asked with a probing tone.
Aerith was silent for a while.
Tifa put down the towels and patted Aerith's shoulder reassuringly, "You can tell me everything, I won't tell Rufus," she said with a wink.
Aerith shrugged as she sighed heavily. "I… I don't really know how to start… I'm happy with him but… he's been feeling down lately and the past events have caused him to act like some crazy person… I just can't help but feel sad for Cloud… and all I wanted to do was to help him, but I know that he also needs to help himself too… unfortunately, everybody sees that he isn't doing anything about it… though really, I believe in him… I trust Cloud so much… I'm sure he is going to change… he's just hurt because of what happened…" she trailed off as she began to shed a few tears.
Tifa was quiet for a while but she spoke up again, "What does he want with Rufus?" she asked.
"I don't know… but he said that once I find Rufus, I should go back to Midgar with him," Aerith replied.
Tifa blinked. "But why?"
"I don't know what's going on in his mind, but I trust Cloud… maybe he's got a plan…" Aerith told her.
Tifa thought for a while. "I think we'd better discuss this first with Cloud… but I'm not going to let Rufus go back there without any assurance of his safety." She said sternly.
Aerith frowned slightly. "C'mon, Tifa! It's not like I'm going to rape your boyfriend!?" she said jokingly.
Tifa giggled. "Okay, okay…but I just want to make sure that Cloud is not going to kill Rufus!" she said.
Aerith thought for a while. "Okay, here's a deal… though this is nasty… if Cloud kills Rufus, you can kill Cloud." She said with a nervous smile on her face.
Tifa blinked and thought for a while. "Uh… okay…" she said weakly before standing up. "Just stay here for a while, I'll go and talk to Rufus about this matter," she said before leaving the room.
Aerith was silent as she lied down on the bed again, staring up at the ceiling. "I trust Cloud… he won't kill Rufus…" she thought with a hopeful smile on her face.