Epilogue One
Rude
As Jenova's tentacles fell away with her last moment, Rude heaved a sigh of relief. For a moment, he had been worried that his own abilities would not be enough to protect his love, Tifa, and his best friend, Reno. The last of the attack faded away, and the Turk looked over to see how his allies had fared.
Cloud, a green Materia orb in hand, was bent over Vincent, Aeris, and Rufus, casting cure spells on them. He seemed all right. Rude narrowed his eyes. He made a mental note to rectify that later. That earlier scare Cloud had given him by saying that Tifa was possibly dead had been almost more than he could bear, giving him a burning desire for vengeance against Jenova. Granted, it had released the Cetra's grip on him, but it had nearly driven him mad in the process.
He sat down, and gently picked up Tifa, laying her head in his lap. He stroked her hair carefully, glad that she was all right.
He looked over again, searching for Sephiroth, and saw the white-haired warrior. He sat propped up against pieces of the Highwind, a defiant look etched on his face, blood covering his entire body. Nearby, Murasame was sunk into the metal flooring of the Highwind.
"Rude?"
The Turked looked down, and saw that Tifa had opened her eyes.
"I'm here."
"I can see that, dummy. Are you all right? What happened?"
Rude looked over to Sephiroth once again, and Jenova's body, and to Cloud. The Soldier looked up at Rude, and their eyes met. Cloud nodded to him, then turned back to his task.
"For a little while, Jenova had control over me. But I'm better now."
She frowned, then said, "What else?"
"Sephiroth killed Jenova. He died in the process."
"Are you going to make me beat the details out of you? Why was Sephiroth on our side?"
He shrugged, then said, "Cloud can explain it better."
Tifa let out an annoyed squawk, and Rude leaned over and kissed her fully on the lips. Beside him, Rude heard a groan.
"Oh for the love of... can you two please get a room or something?"
Rude looked up and saw Reno, who gave a smart start. "The hell? Elena and Tifa were right. You do have Mako eyes. How come you never told me?"
The bald Turk shrugged. "You never asked."
Reno sputtered, exclaiming something about how he was supposed to know to ask Rude if he was ever in Soldier, but he didn't listen. For now, he had Tifa, and he noticed that her first thought hadn't been to ask how Cloud was.