They Live!!!
By: GQ and Zhak
Chapter Eight: The Aftermath and President ShinRa's Wrath
President ShinRa locked his PHS. His frown had deepened; he just received an SMS from the Captain of the troops he sent to Sector 5. AVALANCHE escaped. Found Don Corneo dead inside. No sign of Lord Godo's daughter…
"How disappointing. It seems that AVALANCHE had gone through our fingers again…" he sighed, rotating his chair to face the person sitting by his desk. "Well, Rufus… what can you say about this situation?"
Rufus, his arms crossed, said nothing.
"Very well," President ShinRa began as he stood up. "I am not so sure if you're concerned at all about AVALANCHE, Rufus… although you put up quite a show earlier this evening…"
His son snorted. "You aren't very observant to begin with, Father. If you were, you would have found out that they were already having punch with us at the party… and would have eliminated them immediately, preventing this whole mess to commence…"
"Still a spoiled brat, blaming ShinRa for the messes happening in your life. Well, son, if you claim to know better, I think you ought to help Heidegger in planning on how to capture them."
Rufus froze.
President ShinRa noted his silence and smiled smugly. "Well, sonny boy? You wanted so much to see AVALANCHE captured. I'm letting you help out. Why so quiet? You should be happy," he said.
Tifa opened the doors to her 7th Heaven Bar. "Okay, everyone… get inside and sit down…"
They stumbled in the bar, mumbling to themselves and found themselves seats. Tifa went behind the bar; Sephiroth, Vincent, Lucrecia, Elena and Barret sat on the stools; Cloud and Aerith sat in a booth.
"Whew! Glad that's over… it's so much fun fighting with you guys! Heehee!" Elena said, giggling.
"Aren't you going to go back to ShinRa HQ? They might be looking for the missing Turk…" Tifa asked, getting a few glasses and filling them with water.
The blonde shook her head. "Not now… a few SOLDIERs escaped and, you know, they saw me. I called up Reno and told him to make up something… if they see me like this—you know, all bloody and sweaty and stuff—they might think I fought with you guys, and that isn't a good thing…"
Sephiroth grabbed one of the glasses and swallowed the water in one gulp. "Ahh… yeah, you're right. We have to lay low for a few days…"
"But… how about the bar?" Tifa asked. "I can't just close it indefinitely…"
Suddenly, Marlene burst out of one of the doors and ran towards Barret. "Papa! Papa!" She ran a bit more and jumped into Barret's arms.
"Hey, hey, kiddo! What up?" he asked, patting her head.
"I did a drawing for school," she answered gleefully, holding up a messy drawing of what looked like a big brown bear with a round thing for a hand. "They told us to draw our parents, so that's you there, Papa! Heehee!" she said proudly.
Sephiroth and Cloud snickered upon seeing the drawing. Barret forced a smile at Marlene. "Aw, Marlene, that's great! Great, yeah, that drawin's gonna be the number one in yow class!" Then he faced Sephiroth and Cloud, giving them a look. 'You foo's are gonna get it later…'
"You're gonna take me to school tomorrow, Papa?" the little girl suddenly asked.
Barret froze. "Oh no." he said. He turned to the others. "I can't take Marlene to school tomorrow. They might catch me and then it's gonna be all messy. Tifa can't too…" he told them rather worriedly.
"But… who is going to take me to school?" Marlene asked.
They were silent for a few moments before Sephiroth volunteered, "I think I can… take her to school tomorrow." He said rather sheepishly while keeping his eyes on the ground. Lucrecia smiled proudly at her son and gave him a tight embrace, "Oh my dear Sephiroth! I never knew you loved children?!" she exclaimed happily.
"Yes, maybe in the future you're gonna have five of them! Heehee!" Aerith pointed out rather jokingly.
Sephiroth just raised an eyebrow at her, "Uh… right." He said.
"Isn't five too many?" Vincent asked innocently as he watched Sephiroth struggle to break free from his mother's grasp, "Uh… mom… please, not in front of my friends…" Sephiroth muttered to Lucrecia.
"Since when did I become your friend?" Cloud asked haughtily with a teasing look on his face. Sephiroth just made a face at him.
Marlene jumped up and down before running to Sephiroth, "Oh thank you, Uncle Sephiroth! Heehee!" she said gaily as she jumped onto his lap and hugged him.
Barret felt rather alarmed that his daughter is seated on the lap of their former enemy; the most dangerous man on the Planet… but Vincent patted his back with his left claw, making clunking noises against his spine and hurting him slightly. "There, there, Barret. We all know now that Sephiroth is a good boy, right Lucrecia?" he asked, turning to Lucrecia.
"Ya foo'! Stop it. Yer hurtin' mah back! Y' gonna break mah spine?!" Barret snapped as he moved away from him. "I think I'm-a-go outside for a while. It's damn borin' in here when there's no television." He said before proceeding to the door.
They almost forgot that there's still no electricity because of what happened, but in Sector 1, the ShinRa Electric Power Company is finally able to a find temporary source of energy, so the Elites already have electricity running through their households.
"Well at least it's… cool in this place," Cloud said flatly, although the snow was really falling hard and they really needed a heater. "Tonight's Christmas Eve, what are you planning to do?" Aerith asked them before she got up.
"What? Today's the 24th? Whoa… almost forgot…" Tifa reacted in shock.
"And you still had school today? That's so unfair!" Lucrecia told Marlene with a pitiful look on her face. "Well, that's the public school system in Midgar." Vincent told her.
"But you still have school tomorrow?" Lucrecia asked the little girl. The little girl nodded. "Because the president says so." She said.
Silence.
"Oh-kay… who wants Turkey for dinner?" Aerith asked, wanting to change the subject because she believes in the happy holiday spirit and doesn't want it to get ruined by the mere mention of anything bad against ShinRa.
"We'll have Turkey, alright," Sephiroth said with a sly smile on his face while eyeing Elena from head to toe. She just stuck out her tongue at him and crossed her arms, turning away. Then her facial expression changed from annoyed to disappointed. She sighed. "I'm going to miss the others… especially R…" she stopped when she realized that Sephiroth was listening attentively to her. "Oh yes, I remember when I was still working in ShinRa, there are Turk Holiday Rituals before the 25th because during the 25th, it's your vacation, right?" he asked.
"Well… we used to have vacations, but ever since the First Lady left us, President ShinRa has been the meanest boss ever." Elena told them.
"By the way, you're saying something about missing R? Who's that R?" Tifa asked as she moved closer to Elena but hugging herself because it was becoming really cold.
"Oh nothing." Elena said sheepishly.
"Rufus." Cloud pointed out.
"No." Elena replied seriously.
Lucrecia snickered, "Oh don't tell me it's Reeve?!" she demanded.
"OH YUCK!!! Yuck!!! GROSSNESS!!!" Elena exclaimed.
Silence.
"Speaking of Grossness; where's that stubborn friend of yours?" Sephiroth asked them, turning to Cloud.
Cloud just shrugged. "I don't know… maybe she's still with Zack." He muttered mindlessly before he got up and proceeded upstairs. "I'll just get my jacket." He told them.
"Why's she with Zack anyway?" Aerith asked.
"Yuffie told Barret, who told me, that he was hired by Lord Godo to be Yuffie's bodyguard. They say that Lord Godo found him walking naked outside Wutai…" he explained blankly.
Aerith stopped. "I think I'm gonna pass out…" she said before walking away, going to the kitchen. Sephiroth just laughed hysterically. Lucrecia frowned at him, "I told you not make him suffer!" she scolded.
"I didn't punish him. I just removed his clothes and gave those to a hobo sitting outside the hospital and begging for alms." He pointed out with a funny look on his face.
"You have a lot to learn, dear…" she muttered in disbelief. "Face it, your son's evil…" she thought silently to herself.
"Tifa, some help here please!" Aerith called out from the kitchen. Tifa took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. She got up, shivering. "Alright…" she said softly before rushing to the kitchen.
Wutai…
Going back to Wutai, Lord Godo just requested for a helicopter so that the trip would be "safer" and quicker. His daughter is too stressed out and all she wanted to do was to get home as fast as she could… and stay away from Midgar for good.
Lord Godo was proud of Zack for taking too much time and effort to protect Yuffie and make sure she's safe from the hands of the disgusting Don Corneo. Lord Godo also vowed to never ever trust the President again no matter what happens. He looked over to the back of the chopper, where Yuffie was napping and covered in blankets. Her head was resting on Zack's lap; and Lord Godo twitched slightly upon seeing such a "horrible" sight. But Zack doesn't seem to mind since he was asleep himself. "They must be really tired because of what happened last night." He thought silently to himself before turning to the Pilot. "Are we there yet?" he asked.
"Yes sir. About to land." The pilot replied.
As soon as they landed, Zack instantly woke up. Lord Godo announced, "We're home!" Zack smiled slightly that his master sounded pleased. With that, he gently shook the sleeping young lady's shoulder, "Hey, Yuffie," he began. But Lord Godo stopped him, "Nah. She's too tired. Just carry her." He instructed. Zack nodded politely and did as he was told to do so.
While carrying Yuffie to her room, a lot of thoughts were going around his mind…
"I don't want to go back here anymore," Yuffie muttered while looking outside the window of her hotel room when it was already time to leave.
"Why?" Zack asked as he picked up her suitcase and handed it to the bellboy.
"This city is so ugly." She replied stiffly before looking at her bandaged right hand. "And it just left a mark of its ugliness in me. GAWDS! This is so…" she trailed off and just sighed heavily. "Never mind." She muttered before turning to him. "Get my jacket. It's snowing hard outside," she instructed.
"It's with your dad already." He told her.
She just walked over to him.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your friends?" Zack asked.
"What for?" she asked. But deep inside, she was thinking, "If I go there, he'll just tag along and then Aerith will be there and… damn! Why the hell do I bother?!" she just scratched her head impatiently. "Besides, we almost died last night and they didn't even bother to help us! Hmf. C'mon, let's go!" she snapped at him rather stubbornly.
Zack just kept quiet and followed from behind her. "Alright, but c'mon, smile! It's December 24!!! Tomorrow's Christmas! I got you a present, y'know?" he told her rather gaily.
But she didn't seem to be interested so he just sulked.
Earlier before he went to Yuffie's room to tell her that it's time to go, Zack had his breakfast alone in the hotel's lobby restaurant and on his way back to his room, the receptionist called for him and handed him a letter addressed to him. The receptionist said that it was delivered by a red "dog".
Red dog?
Zack just shrugged. The only red dog he could recall was Red XIII, the one he saw in Hojo's laboratory from way back.
Zack could remember reading the letter. It was from Aerith, telling him she's sorry and that he should forget her already blah blah blah… it was a hard blow for him.
"IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!!" he yelled angrily in the lobby of the hotel after reading the letter. Foreigners near him looked at him warily and went as far away from him as possible.
He sighed. The letter was still with him, there in Wutai, even as he placed Yuffie on her bed. He gazed blankly at her face, still feeling so depressed about what happened to him and Aerith. He just shook his head in despair and got out of the room, going back to his own and just decided to rest.
Maybe in time, he could really forget Aerith and move on. With that, he instantly thought of creating a diversion for himself in order to forget his problems and concerns… and his diversion is his work as Yuffie Kisaragi's bodyguard.
Rufus ShinRa was just seated quietly in his bedroom watching the snow falling from outside his window. He sat on a couch which he had positioned by the window and drinking hot tea. It was already midnight, and it was Christmas Eve, but he just greeted himself quietly with a slight smile on his face before looking at the sleeping Dark Nation by his foot. Earlier, he received a text message from Cloud greeting him an advanced Merry Christmas coming from him and the rest of the AVALANCHE gang. He wondered what they were doing at present… and he imagined them sharing a simple meal and being very happy…
He gazed outside and saw the still black-out parts of Midgar; the ones with no electricity yet. Frowning, he got up and placed his cup of tea on the windowpane before proceeding to outside in the hallway. Once he reached the elevator, he heard his father's footsteps and the angry voice talking to someone over the cellphone. Rufus listened for a while before pressing the "down" button. "I don't care if it's Christmas Eve; you send out your troops out there now, Heidegger. I told you that the search for the rebels should continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week!" President ShinRa snapped.
Rufus just stared into empty space, pretending not to have heard anything, but he was thinking, "Bloody hell… Old Man's really snapped…"
President ShinRa approached him while still yelling on the phone, "And once you find them, take them all to Junon! I can't take the fact that during my son's reign as President while I was gone, he wasn't able to wipe out AVALANCHE! Dammit, Heidegger…"
Rufus glared at his father.
President ShinRa eyed Rufus warningly, like saying, "We'll talk so don't go away." Rufus got the message and just stood still even as the elevator door opened, waiting for his father to end the conversation on the mobile phone.
"Find them. Take them to Junon. Interrogate them and if they don't admit to their faults, torture them by any means possible, ya hear? And arrest all the suspicious-looking people and take them to Junon too. Midgar is in a state of emergency and this is really necessary. And from tomorrow onwards, I'll be implementing curfews and a new set of rules around here." and President ShinRa finally ended the conversation.
Rufus still appeared cold and poker-faced, even as he imagined Cloud and the others being tortured…
President ShinRa locked the keypad of his phone and turned to Rufus with an impatient look on his face. He was still panting because of too much rage. "And what are you doing still up?" he asked his son.
"I should ask you the same question." Rufus said.
"I'm supposed to go to your room to ask you something." President ShinRa said. Rufus was just quiet, so he proceeded, "I checked the vault in my room… one of the items is missing."
Rufus just stared.
President ShinRa continued, "It's your mother's locket."
Rufus had the urge to smile, but he did not. "Maybe the mice ate it. That vault is too old… just like you… and maybe the insides got too brittle. Besides, why would you even care for mother's locket?" he asked rather arrogantly before flipping his hair. His father's frown deepened, "Because it's made of expensive silver and I had it custom-made for her in Wutai when I proposed to her!" he told him.
"And since it's expensive silver, you're planning to auction it, am I right?" Rufus asked, his eyes narrowing at his father.
President ShinRa smiled slyly at him, "You can read minds, huh?" he asked.
"It's called smarts." Rufus said, pointing to his own head before walking away, proceeding to the fire exit stairs.
"Where are you going?" President ShinRa demanded as he went after his son. Rufus stopped in his tracks and turned back to his father. "Never you mind." He replied.
"Of course I mind. For all I know you could be with the rebels or something!" President ShinRa replied.
Rufus acted surprise, "Father dear! Why would I even do that? You yourself said that I am not capable of getting rid of them so why should I even join forces with them? That would bust my ego. You know how self-centered I am, right?" he asked. "Hmf… you changed so much when you became friends with Aerith…" President ShinRa told him while eyeing him from head to toe, and froze, pointing at his feet, "You see what I'm talking about?! What's with those pink bunny slippers?!" he demanded.
Rufus felt his heart sink. Those slippers were Aerith's birthday gift for him. "Shit…" he thought in annoyance. He forgot to change his footwear. But he still maintained good composure and just shrugged after flipping his hair, flashing his most arrogant smile at his father, "My feet are tired from a whole day's running around with the Turks and a bunch of SOLDIERs from Junon back here just so that your investigation of the terrorists could be done… and these are the most comfortable slippers around so there. Sue me," he explained coolly.
President ShinRa just snorted. "Well pink definitely isn't your color. Anyway, speaking of Turks, are you aware that one of them has joined the rebels already?"
"I am completely aware of that. I have interrogated the SOLDIERs that escaped from Sector 5, and as I understand it, Elena of the Turks was fighting on the side of AVALANCHE. I talked to Reno, and he tells me that she wasn't anywhere near that place, though…" he answered dully.
The President smirked. "You should learn who to trust, Rufus." He told him as he patted his son's left shoulder. Rufus followed his father's hand with his gaze and felt rather disgusted, but he did not move. With that, the President moved away from his son. "I'm going to sleep now. I've arranged for your trip back to Junon tomorrow morning at 9." He told him.
Rufus stared strangely at his father, "Junon?" he asked. "Are you letting me do the investigation there?" he asked.
"The investigation of what happened during your birthday is only a part of your job in keeping the company and the family's name spotlessly clean. You are the Vice President, remember?" President ShinRa explained before turning away. Rufus somewhat felt a little helpless when he heard that… but what else could he do? His mind was too tired to think of excuses already upon his father's decision for him. Again, he is to stay far away from Midgar; in Junon. He doesn't know how long he is going to stay there, but he knows that he would lose complete contact with AVALANCHE once he reaches Junon. "Damn…" was all he could say before he grudgingly proceeded to the stairs. He just absentmindedly continued to descend the steps, not caring if it took him too long to reach the lowest basement where the Mako Reactors are.
There were a few SOLDIERs on-duty and awake, and they tried to talk him out of proceeding further from Reactor 1, but he was insistent. "I would just like to see the main controls." He told them patiently.
"But we'll have to escort you there, sir." One of the SOLDIERs told him.
"Please do." Rufus said plainly before leading the way.
Once they reached the control room, he instantly began to fiddle with the buttons and the electric circuits. "Construction of the reactors are rather quick, eh?" he asked the SOLDIERs.
"Yes, sir. Labor seems cheaper nowadays so your father was able to hire more workers to speed up the construction." One of them replied.
"But they're still not working?" Rufus asked.
"Nope." SOLDIER 1 replied.
SOLDIER 2 continued, "Professor Hojo lost his files and included in those is the activation formula for the reactors."
Rufus smiled secretly. "That second-rate scientist…" he muttered to himself before putting to wires together and pressed some random buttons. The SOLDIERs were surprised to hear the sound of one of the dead Reactors coming back to life… one of them immediately ran out of the control room to check… and it was the reactor providing electricity to Sector 7.
Rufus slowly got up, grunting. "Well, that's all for today. Just trying out my knowledge on circuits and stuff." He told them casually before walking away.
"But… but sir! How did you do that?" SOLDIER 3 asked.
Rufus did not answer. He just walked away.
"What about the other Sectors, sir?" SOLDIER 1 asked.
"Hojo can do that. Tell him to go figure it out on his own." He replied before proceeding upstairs again, but using the elevator this time.
The lights flickered slightly and then were fully back on again. Marlene rejoiced happily. "Whee!!! It's not scary anymore!!!" she said while jumping up and down and ran to the candles, blowing out the flames one by one.
"Aww shucks…" Sephiroth muttered.
"Don't tell me you like being in the dark?" Vincent asked him.
"Not really… I was just thinking of scaring the girls later on. Mwahahahaha." Sephiroth replied back with an evil grin on his face.
"You can never really change, huh?" Cloud asked miserably before grabbing the Turkey leg from the plate. "Hey, that's mine!" Tifa told him.
"You snooze, you lose," he pointed out with a serious look on his face before taking a bite. "Hmm. Yummy." He said while licking the grease off his lower lip. Tifa cringed. "Gross…" she muttered before turning away.
"Chill out, Teef! That Turkey leg could end up in your thighs anyway. Mwahahahaha." Sephiroth teased.
"So what? I exercise anyway!" she told him before grabbing a muffin.
"Well ya'll seem so happy, foo's." Barret told them before revealing to them his gifts.
"Oh you shouldn't have, Barret!" Aerith exclaimed with a sheepish look on her face.
"Let me guess… you got me another scarf," Cloud muttered to him.
"So what?" Barret demanded before tossing a small wrapped box to Cloud. "And for you, kiddo," he gave a pink box to Marlene.
She stopped sucking on her candy cane and hugged Barret. "Yay!" she cheered as she enthusiastically unwrapped the box. It was just so cute that Aerith and Tifa went, "Aaaw…" and Sephiroth turned away to make a face.
Lucrecia and Vincent came in from the kitchen, Vincent carrying a tea tray. "Tea and crumpets? I thought it would be nice, since it's getting quite drafty in here…" he said, placing it on the table next to the decapitated turkey.
"Tea?! Why tea?! Only Cid would drink that! You should have made us hot chocolate instead!" Sephiroth whined.
Lucrecia pinched his cheek. "Hot chocolate isn't good for you; you might get hyper and start roughhousing with that Masamune of yours, dearie," she told him with a sweet smile.
"Besides, tea will calm you down," Vincent added as he took a sip of green tea.
"Uurgh…" Sephiroth grumbled as he took a cup.
Barret took a cup and raised it up for a toast, "Well ya foo's! Merry Christmas!" he told them.
"You should've dressed up in a Santa Claus costume to make things more interesting," Sephiroth pointed out.
As they all laughed, Aerith could only force a smile. Tifa looked up at her and approached her. "Aerith… is there anything wrong?" she asked in a soft voice.
She looked at her uneasily before whispering, "Let's talk about it in the kitchen…"
Tifa, confused, followed her there. "So… what's bothering you?" she asked.
Aerith sighed. "I… I'm not sure, but I think… I might have made Yuffie mad without knowing how…"
"What?"
She continued, "Ever since I came back … I don't really know. I just feel like Yuffie just decided to hate me for some reason..."
Tifa frowned skeptically. "Are you sure? It may just be you."
"W-ell… I'm sure I saw her glare at me more than once… and back at the Inn, when we found her there, crying… she still managed to give me a poisonous glare… I don't know; it's not like her…" Aerith explained. She sighed sadly. "I wish I could have asked her what was wrong…"
Her bartender friend laughed. "You must be just hallucinating. I mean, it's unlike Yuffie to hate you, Aerith, since she tells us that you're one of those rare, nice people that's impossible to hate…"
Aerith smiled glumly. "You think so?"
"Okay, give me one reason why Yuffie will just decide to hate you," Tifa said with a challenging tone.
She looked away with an uneasy look on her face. "Mmm… Tifa, you know, I might be wrong, but… it might be because of Zack."
Yuffie's eyes fluttered open. "Wha…?" she mumbled sleepily.
Sitting up on her bed, she looked around and realized that she was already in her room in her house in Wutai. Fancy that. "Who carried me here? I could have sworn I fell asleep in the chopper…" she thought silently before she slowly got up and looked at her injured right hand. It was still painful especially whenever she would form a fist with it and flex it even for a little. She just went over to the window and looked outside. She could recall that it was snowing in Midgar when she left, and she somewhat missed seeing it. There's no snow in Wutai but it was cold just like in Midgar.
As she gazed up at the night sky, she felt somewhat frustrated at something… she could recall the events in Midgar from last night… and all of a sudden, she just wanted to go outside and jump around, throwing shuriken blades at everyone that would tell her to stop.
Suddenly she wants to train. Determined, she rushed to her closet and got a sweater, put it on as she slipped into her boots and grabbed her big shuriken and rushed outside. She ended up in the Kisaragi residence's garden. After taking a deep breath, she jumped up onto the roof and turned to the tree with a lot of bats hanging upside down. "Heehee. Here you go, Yuffie," she told herself with a sly smile on her face before throwing a ninja star towards the tree, interrupting the bats. The bats came charging at her and she was ready to fight them.
Zack opened his eyes when he heard "Eeek eeek eeek!!!" noises from outside. "Bats?" he thought silently before slowly sitting up and scratching his head. "What the…" he gazed outside the window and saw several bats flying by. "Wonder what's going on…" he thought as he got up and went outside. As soon as he stepped out, he was surprised to see Yuffie in an exhibition of her agility and dexterity as she dodged and attacked the bats that were coming for her. Zack felt rather surprised at her. "Yuffie what are you doing?" he demanded.
"I'm training, can't you see? OW!" she wailed in pain when a bat hit her, but she killed it instantly.
"Need help?" he asked.
"No. I can do this on my own!" she told him before she proceeded to jump over the wall and onto the next house's roof.
Zack was worried for her because she could further injure herself, but he could not do anything. He just followed her from down below as she remained on the roofs of the houses and climbing onto trees and walls, finishing off the bats.
After a while, the bats had dispersed on their own. Yuffie jumped down to the ground before him, panting hard. She gained a lot of scratches on her face and parts of her clothes were already torn, but she was still standing. "Well?" she asked him.
"Huh?" he asked, feeling dumbfounded.
She pointed a shuriken blade at him. "Get your Buster Sword and let's get it on." She told him with a wink and a determined smile on her face.
Zack stared at her for a few moments before smiling. He nodded, "Alright… wait for me here. I'll be back in a jiffy," he told her before he rushed back inside the house.