You Are Going To Die

By: General Quistis

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Four

            "Gyahahaha. Don't be ridiculous! President Rufus is gone?!" Heidegger asked airily.

"Kyah! He's been missing for some days already! I thought he just locked himself up in his office and didn't want anyone disturbing him so we did not really check on him." Scarlet replied nervously.

"Why would he even be gone?" Reeve asked.

"I don't know!" she snapped.

"What if he got kidnapped or something?" Palmer asked.

"Who'd kidnap him, AVALANCHE? Highly impossible." Reeve told them.

"Why not?" Scarlet asked, turning to him.

"They're busily looking for Sephiroth and trying to stop him from doing something stupid against everyone." He replied simply with a calm look on his face.

"Right..." she said sarcastically before turning to Heidegger, "What about your damn Turks? Maybe they know anything?" she asked.

"I told you, I gave them a off already!" Heidegger replied impatiently.

"How could you give them an off at such a time like this?!" Palmer demanded in shock.

"Gyah! It's scheduled for them to have an off starting today and then they won't be returning for four days!" he argued impatiently before stomping his foot. "I'll just send out some Soldiers to look for President Rufus!" he snapped before leaving the conference room.

Scarlet clenched her fists. "Kyah! How could we have not noticed that he's gone?!" she stated flatly.

"Because we're so busily occupied with other stuff," Reeve muttered miserably before reaching for his mobile phone because it was ringing. He looked at the caller I.D. and saw that there was no number. The screen was blank.

He frowned slightly before answering it in speakerphone mode: "Hello?"

"Reeve?"

Silence.

"President Rufus?!" Palmer, Scarlet and Reeve all said in unison upon recognizing the voice.

"Yes, this is Rufus... Just… stop all the Mako reactors and… go look for Sephiroth or else AVALANCHE is going to kill me and burn ShinRa down." And then he hung up.

"President Rufus? Hey? Hello?" Reeve called out, but there was already the dial tone.

Scarlet got up from her seat and rushed to Reeve, getting his mobile phone and checked if the call had registered under "received calls".

She frowned slightly when she realized that there was no number registered too. "KYAH! What the hell is this?!" she screeched frantically as she handed the phone back to Reeve.

He sighed heavily. "I don't know… but… it's really President Rufus." He said softly.

"But… but… where is he?" Palmer asked nervously.

"He sounded… stiff… as usual…" Scarlet told them with a perplexed look on her face. She turned to look at Reeve, "Like he isn't afraid of getting killed…" she said softly.

"So AVALANCHE really got him… it's unbelievable… how could they…" Reeve shook his head in disbelief.

"Kyah. But now that we know that AVALANCHE really got him, we should take action already." She pointed out with a determined look on her face.

            "Nice goin' with the no-number-on-the-screen trick, Vincent," Barret congratulated with a proud look on his face.

"How did you know how to do that? We only teach that in ShinRa." Rufus told Vincent with a frown on his face.

Vincent just smiled slightly at him, "To put it simply, I once worked there as a Turk." And then disconnected the wires from the telephone line.

The place where they headed for was Icicle Inn. Barret wanted Rufus to pay for their expenses but Cloud insisted that he just use their own money to rent some rooms for themselves because it would be a hassle to let the hostage pay for their expenses.

Rufus just looked away. "Hmf. Aren't you going to switch on the heater for this place? I'm beginning to get frostbite." He snapped impatiently.

"Pipe down, ShinRa. You're a hostage remember?" Barret asked.

"I know, but it's still nice of you to get me my own room even though I can't really move around because you tied me to the bed!" Rufus said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

His arms and legs were all tied to the four bedposts.

"You still get @#$%$#@ cold in that thick clothing of yours?! Feh! That's @#$%$#@ unbelievable, ShinRa." Cid said mockingly.

"Damn it. I already talked to the damn executives about what you wanted us to do, now, will you let me go?" Rufus asked with a stiff tone.

"No." Barret and Cid both said in unison.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Useless…" he muttered miserably.

Vincent examined Rufus's current state and he somewhat pitied him. He turned to Barret, "I'll just see how Aerith and Cloud are doing," he said hesitantly before leaving.

"Okay, ShinRa, we'll be in the other room. We'll be checkin' on ya. If you do something stupid or if we find out that you've escaped, we're gonna make sure that Teef gets it!" Barret warned with a scary look on his face which made Rufus stare ridiculously at him.

"Damn! Now they're using Tifa against me!" Rufus thought angrily to himself as he watched the two leave him alone in that cold and dark room (they turned out the lights, unfortunately).

Cid stared unbelievably at Barret, "Man, are you really going to do that to Tifa?" he asked in disbelief.

"Nah. I was lyin' back there. I know that that ShinRa Brat likes Teef. It's in his eyes. I'm sure he's not that selfish enough to just care for himself. He must care for Tifa. He should prove that to us if he wants to earn our trust." Barret told him.

"I see… so you're just acting." Cid told him ridiculously.

"C'mon, it's worth it! We'll get all the Mako reactors to stop; we'll even help Rufus with Sephiroth if he wants to." Barret told him.

"Yeah, right. As if Rufus can still trust good 'ol AVALANCHE rebels after all the shit we made him go through." Cid muttered sarcastically.

Barret stopped and knocked on one of the doors to his right. "Tifa?"

There was no answer, but the door opened and Tifa was there with a sad look on her face. She did not say anything.

"It's your turn to guard that Brat. Make sure he's quiet the whole night and don't let him escape, ya hear?" he warned.

She just nodded silently before stepping out of the room. Barret and Cid entered the room and saw that Yuffie was seated by the window with Red XIII just watching the snow.

"What's happening?" Yuffie asked, turning to them.

"Just sent out Tifa to take care of Rufus." Barret told her before turning to Cid. "Hey, you have the key. Lock their door so that they wouldn't really get out of there." He instructed.

            "She's asleep," Cloud told Vincent in a low tone as he got up from the couch by the window. Vincent stared at the sleeping Aerith for a moment before turning back to Cloud, "About Tifa…" he began.

Cloud just shook his head, "Aerith told me… but we shouldn't tell Barret and the others." He told him.

Vincent nodded his head, "I know. So my suspicions were correct from the start." He told him.

"By the way, who's guarding Rufus?" Cloud asked.

"I think he'll be asking either Tifa or Yuffie to do it." Vincent replied before taking a seat by the fireplace.

"I'm quite surprised about this… this situation…" Cloud told him softly as he stared at Aerith's peaceful face.

Vincent turned to him to make him see that he's listening. With that, Cloud proceeded, "If it wasn't for Rufus, she'd be dead by now… I… I don't know what I'm going to do…" he said softly with a bitter smile on his face before sighing heavily and then turned to Vincent.

Vincent smiled calmly at him, "Well, I guess a bad guy can change too," he told him.

Cloud shook his head, "Well… come to think of it, what if it's all a show? Like Rufus isn't really like what we had perceived him to be: like his father." He pointed out.

"But still, it's not clear whether he is just using Tifa or not." Vincent pointed out.

Cloud frowned slightly, "We'll just have to investigate further about that." He said simply.

            The moment Tifa shut the door behind her, she heard a clicking sound from the door itself. She stiffened even as she opened the lights and looked around her. "It's cold in here," she said softly as she shivered and hugged herself.

"I know." Rufus said miserably.

Tifa knew that someone locked the door so that she would not attempt to let Rufus escape. She knows that she could always make Rufus use the window, but it would be hard to climb down because of the snow and the cold wind outside. She sighed heavily before approaching Rufus. "I'm sorry if I got you into this mess, Rufus," she said apologetically with a trembling voice as she began to untie him.

He watched her carefully, scanning the look on her face. She looked miserable. "Why are you untying me?" he asked directly.

She smiled bitterly at him, "I can't bear to see you looking like this." She replied before she was finally able to release him. He slowly sat up, grunting. "I think my feet got cramps because of those ropes…" he muttered miserably as he massaged his own ankles and then his wrists.

She looked around, checking for a heater system, but there was none. She just turned back to Rufus and got the blanket for him and wrapped it around him. "Here. You must be really cold…" she said.

"Not really… I think you need it the most." He said, offering her the blanket, but she refused it. Instead, she just went to the fireplace and began to search for a match since there was already firewood prepared. "I hope this will do," she told him, trying to sound cheerful despite the situation.

He was amazed at her positive attitude despite their current situation. He smiled slightly as he studied her figure being silhouetted by the light given off by the flames after she lit the fireplace. He remembered their first night together and it made him blush slightly, so he turned away hesitantly. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked.

She laughed gently before she got up and returned to him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm your guard… for now, I think." She replied as she sat down on the couch by the bed.

He raised an eyebrow. "I think they made a big mistake in choosing you as a guard." He told her.

She chuckled lightly, "What made you say so?" she asked curiously.

He turned back to her and studied her pretty face. Sure, she wasn't as pretty as Aerith is at first glance, but it takes a second look and a stare into her eyes to realize that she isn't just about the body.

She was beyond beautiful in his point of view. He smiled lovingly at her, which surprised her because it was highly unusual for a person like Rufus ShinRa to be doing that, "Come here," he told her, welcoming her with open arms.

She felt her heart sink as she immediately got up and rushed into Rufus's arms. He fell back on the bed with her; her face buried against his chest.

He sensed that she was crying even though she was not saying anything. He looked down at her with a concerned look on his face, "Why are you crying?" he asked softly.

She wiped her tears away and sniffed before she turned to look at Rufus with a sweet smile on her face. "I missed you… and I'm sorry…" she told him.

His eyes narrowed at her, "Sorry?" he asked.

"For getting you into this mess. I… I know that I can always help you escape but… I'm afraid of the consequence that you or I will receive from Barret and the others… and I don't want to stress them anymore, especially Cloud, because he is so concerned with Aerith right now… and when Sephiroth said that he'd kill you… I… I…" she stammered.

He embraced her tightly as he took a deep breath and then released it as he turned themselves over, with Tifa now underneath him. "Stop thinking about Sephiroth and the others. What matters is that you are safe and you are happy that Aerith is safe too." He told her gently as he caressed her cheek.

She just nodded before embracing him and then gave him a kiss on the lips. "But if my shift here in guarding you is over tomorrow, I will have to tie you onto the bed again so that they wouldn't suspect anything." She told him.

He smiled slyly at her, "Can't you do it now?" he asked playfully.

She chuckled lightly. "No. I want you to hold me close." She told him softly before she started to kiss him passionately again.

------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes: …to be continued *nyahahahahaha*  I'll try to find time to update this, but right now (and maybe up to the first week of March), this could be put on a temporary hiatus because I am memorizing lines for our play. ;_; So please bear… ^^' *sniff*