Before I Wake To Find You Gone
By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…
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Tifa finally reached the 70th floor where Rufus's office was located, but she stopped when she saw Heidegger and Scarlet standing by the door of the office like gargoyles. She made a face. "Damn…" she thought angrily as she hid behind a tall pot of plant.
"Gyah… I can't believe we have that spiky-headed jerk on our side. What if he's just some kind of trap set by AVALANCHE?" Heidegger remarked.
"Kyah… I still can't understand why President Rufus would even talk to that boy like they're friends or something… kyah…" Scarlet replied.
"Gyah… and President Rufus assured us that Cloud isn't a spy or something… I even heard from their conversation that the rest of AVALANCHE doesn't even suspect a thing…" he said.
Scarlet blinked in perplexity. "Not even Vincent Valentine?" she asked.
Heidegger shook his head. "Nope. Not even that ex-Turk." He said.
"Hah… I tell you, that girl is very dangerous. Seeing her eyes reminded me so much of Sephiroth… it's scary… kyah…" Scarlet told him as she shuddered.
"Gyahahahahahahaha! Don't be ridiculous, Scarlet." He mocked.
"Kyah! You'd be scared too once you find out that she still got those nasty JENOVA cells in her and if she becomes pregnant again, it could result to another S-E-P-H-I-R-O-T-H! Kyah! Who knows, that new S-E-P-H-I-R-O-T-H could be more powerful than the first one! KYAH! That's the reason why we're going to do some nasty tests on her tomorrow morning." She explained.
Tifa's eyes grew wide in shock. "What the…" she remembered the woman with Vincent. She thought for a while. "Is she the one that they're talking about?" she thought silently, remembering that the woman had green eyes which also never failed to remind her of Sephiroth's.
"Gyah, why'd ya have to spell his name?! Just say it! It's SEPHIROTH! Gyahahahahaha! And who would impregnate that woman? Hojo's dead!" Heidegger snapped at Scarlet with a mocking smile on his face.
"Kyahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha!!!!! You airhead! You just have a big fat brain full of air! Kyah… don't you know anything? Can't you notice anything? If possible, it'd be Vincent Valentine!" she snapped back, followed by another nasty cackle.
Tifa covered her mouth to prevent herself from gasping. The news was too shocking for her. For sure, she couldn't afford to have another Sephiroth in her lifetime… the first one was too much for her… it destroyed her life… and then there could be a possibility for another one?
"If Cloud knows that another Sephiroth could be destructive, he would prevent it from happening… I don't know about Rufus but… I hope that if Cloud really thinks that way, he should convince Rufus otherwise… or…" she bit her lower lip upon remembering how her father died. She clenched her fists.
"What are you two doing there? Eavesdropping?"
All eyes turned to Reeve who was already on his way from the elevator to the two "gargoyles".
"Kyah…Well if it isn't the Urban Development dork! Where have you been? We've been waiting for you!" Scarlet snapped as she placed her hands on her hips.
Reeve kept a straight face despite the annoyance in his veins. "I went to check on the girl. Vincent's with her. I think he'll be guarding her because she had experienced some chest pains and fortunately, she can remember everything now. Maybe then by tomorrow we can start asking questions about Professor Hojo and Professor Gast." He explained.
"Oh goody! But I doubt if that girl will answer every single question." Heidegger said.
"Kyah… if I were President Rufus, I'd ask all the people with any single connection to those three scientists!" Scarlet said.
"Right, go ahead and talk to Sephiroth. Call the psychic from downtown and perform a ritual! Gyahahahahahahaha!" he teased.
Reeve rolled his eyes. "Sephiroth is dead. But based on the records that I've seen from Hojo's old lab, Gast has a daughter." He said.
"Gee… is she still alive?" Scarlet asked.
"Of course… her name is Aerith." He replied.
"Gyah… it's that Ancient…" Heidegger said with a disgusted face. "Damn it… do we have to go after her again?" he continued.
"We could just ask Mister Strife nicely…" Reeve said with a hopeful look on his face.
"Oh right… like he's gonna be risking the life of his girlfriend for this woman named Lucrecia, the biological mother of Sephiroth!" Scarlet snapped.
"We could try," Reeve said optimistically.
"In your dreams." She argued.
Then, the P.A. system began to make a sound, followed by a voice, "All ShinRa executives, please proceed to the conference room immediately. Again, all ShinRa executives, please proceed to the conference room immediately. Thank you."
"Gyah! It's 10 pm and there's gonna be a meeting?!" Heidegger stomped his way to the elevator.
"Stop stomping, you'll cause an earthquake!" Scarlet teased.
Reeve laughed at what she said.
"Oh shut up," Heidegger snapped at the two.
Tifa waited until they boarded the elevator before she stepped out from her hiding place.
She approached the office door, but as she did so, the door just burst open and there was Rufus and Cloud still talking to each other.
"Anything more before I go to those executives and discuss to them about what we have talked about?" Rufus asked him.
Cloud noticed a familiar girl standing before them from his peripheral vision, so he instantly turned to her. His eyes grew wide, so did Rufus when they saw her.
Tifa's mouth dropped open.
"What are you doing here?!" Cloud demanded with a frown on his face.
"May I ask you the same question?" Tifa demanded with an annoyed look.
Rufus blinked in awe, then turned back to Cloud. "You brought your girlfriend along with you here and you didn't tell me?" he asked.
"He isn't my boyfriend, for your information, Mister ShinRa." She snapped.
"That's President Rufus, mind you." Cloud reminded her.
"No, it's Rufus." Rufus said with a suave look on his face as he flipped his hair.
Cloud stared unbelievably at Rufus but he still managed to keep a straight face, then back to Tifa, who was staring back at Rufus with her crimson eyes that widened in disbelief upon hearing that. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "Well then, I guess I'd better go back to Sector 7. I'll see you in the morning, Tifa," he said with a stifled impish grin before starting to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Tifa grabbed his arm to stop him. "And just what did you mean by that? You still owe me an explanation for everything… and what is it with you talking to Rufus and I just saw Vincent downstairs with a girl whose got Sephiroth's eyes! What is going on here?" she demanded angrily.
Cloud pulled his arm away from her grasp. "Well, you also owe me an explanation on why the hell did you follow me here… and how the hell did you manage to enter and get past all the security people… and by the way, if we tell you what it is, will you promise not to tell anybody else? Most especially Vincent?" he asked.
Tifa raised an eyebrow, remembering what she had heard from Heidegger, Reeve and Scarlet moments ago. "So this has got something to do with Vincent and that girl after all…" she thought silently. She just shrugged. "Why? Is this very confidential? Will it ruin people?" she asked, her eyes giving them hints that she already knows something about everything.
Rufus raised his eyebrows at her and then turned to Cloud as he flipped his hair. "Your friend here is very smart, you know? I could use more people like her here in my company," he said.
Cloud stopped himself from smiling. "Go ahead," he told him with a wink.
Tifa clenched her fists. "Will you stop it with those jokes, Cloud?" she asked.
Rufus turned back to her and flipped his hair again. "Why don't you and Cloud come with me to the meeting downstairs in the conference room so that you will know everything?" he asked.
"Tifa will go with you. I'll leave now." Cloud said.
"What?!" Tifa exclaimed.
Rufus flipped his hair again. "You don't look excited about the idea," he told Tifa suavely.
She smiled weakly at him. "Of course… who'd feel excited if your friend will leave you in the hands of your enemy?" she thought silently, never really wishing to reveal her real thoughts, so she just raised her hand to Cloud to stop him from leaving. "Wait! Don't leave me here!" she said.
"I wanna go to sleep!" he said.
"You can sleep later but never ever leave me alone with Rufus… especially if Scarlet's gonna be there!" she said with a worried look on her voice.
"It's not like she'll slap your face in front of Rufus," Cloud told her.
"Well, that girl's a… a bitch… she can do anything she pleases…" she reasoned.
"I'd have to agree with that… but anyway, I prefer that you stay with Tifa in the conference room, Cloud." Rufus told him.
Cloud shrugged. "Fine." He said with a slight smile as Rufus led the way to the elevators.
Upon reaching the conference room, all the executives were in awe to see Tifa… most especially Scarlet.
"What the… what is she doing here?!" Scarlet demanded as she got up and pointed an accusing finger at Tifa.
Tifa frowned at her.
Rufus narrowed his eyes at Scarlet and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Take your seat and shut your mouth! The meeting is now in session!" he snapped impatiently as he went to his seat and sat down.
Cloud and Tifa sat down away from Scarlet, near Reeve.
Reeve smiled kindly at the two before turning to Rufus. "President Rufus, I have talked to Mister Valentine moments ago and he revealed that Lucrecia had experienced some chest pains… but she remembers everything already." He announced.
Rufus blinked. "That's perfect. Tomorrow, we'll start asking our questions and take some blood samples…" he trailed off when Heidegger spoke up, "President Rufus, I doubt if Lucrecia will answer all of our questions about everything we want to know about Hojo, the JENOVA project and Gast… maybe then we could also ask Mister Valentine and Gast's daughter, Aerith,"
Cloud frowned slightly at the mention of Aerith's name. "Aerith is out of the question!" he snapped.
"Gyah! Says you! If you want the safety of this Planet, you'd cooperate with us!" Heidegger snapped back.
"Shut up!" Rufus snapped.
"Gyah…" Heidegger crossed his arms and looked away from Cloud.
"What would Aerith know anyway? She was still a baby when her father died!" Rufus told them.
"He's right… we'll just have to trust Vincent and Lucrecia," Reeve said.
Rufus sighed as he looked at the clipboard prepared in front of him on the table. "Fine… so we'll start by taking them to the lab downstairs… this is what we'll do. Scarlet and Reeve, you talk to Vincent and ask him questions… and you, Heidegger, you'll work with Reno and Elena in taking blood samples from Lucrecia and then examining it… you can also ask questions from her in the process… Find out from the blood samples if she still has some traces of JENOVA… if there's none, then we'll let her go… if there's still some… or more… well," he gazed at all of them carefully. "We'll have to proceed to complicated measures…" he said.
"Like what?" Scarlet asked.
"Separate her from Vincent." Cloud said.
Everyone was silent.
"Why?" Tifa asked.
"He cannot be with her… I know this sounds lame… but if he impregnates her, it'd be possible that there's gonna be another…" he explained.
"…Sephiroth," Rufus continued with a deep frown on his face.
"Kyah… so all of us are really thinking of the same thing…" Scarlet said, feeling so relieved.
"C'mon, it's not like they'll have sex or anything?!" Heidegger argued.
"Vincent loves that girl. Eventually, if that keeps up, they might decide to get hitched and start a family. Besides, isn't it questionable that that girl is still alive while she's supposed to be dead already?" Cloud asked.
Everyone fell silent.
"But… what will become of Vincent? He will definitely get so disappointed… and broken-hearted…" Tifa stated flatly with a sad look on her face.
"…again…" Cloud realized silently.
Rufus was quiet.
Cloud shook his head and just stood up and left the room.
Tifa remained seated, staring at Rufus, waiting for him to speak up about the matter.
But he just sighed heavily after ten minutes of complete silence. "Dismissed," he told them.
Tifa's eyes grew wide in awe as all the executives got up and left the room immediately.
Rufus remained seated on his chair, just staring at the clipboard and the things written on the paper attached to it.
She turned her gaze to him, waiting for him to say something. "And where the hell did Cloud go?" she thought silently, sensing that he already left her there.
Rufus licked his lips and flipped his hair. "Lucrecia was holding Vincent's picture when we found her in the Junon Harbor. We still don't know how she got there… probably we'll know tomorrow. It's really very disturbing on why she's still here… and she hasn't even aged. I've seen her old records from way back when… she still looks the same. The reason why I'm doing this is because we all think that the presence of this woman is very questionable… and dangerous." He said.
She didn't move.
He looked at her and smiled slightly. "I guess your friend left you here," he said before standing up and went to the door, but before he stepped out of the room, he turned back to Tifa. "Let's go, I'll take you back to your house," he said.
She blinked in disbelief.
"C'mon, it's not like I'll eat you or something?" he said with a wink.
She smiled shyly as she got up from her seat and joined Rufus.
