They Live!!!
By GQ and Zhak
Chapter Twelve: Laments
Barret just stood still by the emergency staircase and the door leading to the President's Office while listening to President ShinRa ranting to Heidegger, Palmer about his one and only son turning into a rebel and that he doesn't know what to do with him anymore. Barret and Red XIII kept on glancing over at the corpse of Hojo. "I wonder who did that?" Red XIII asked discreetly.
"He's in prison already, right?" President ShinRa asked helplessly before sitting down on his chair.
"Yes sir…" Heidegger said.
"Who else?" President ShinRa asked.
"He's in the same cell with Tifa… Zack and Aerith are together; Yuffie and Elena… then there's Scarlet and Reeve… and then Reno, Rude and Tseng." Heidegger explained.
"I can't believe those… Scarlet, Reeve, and the Turks! They're all… traitors… dammit!" the President furiously pounded on the table as he got up and hissed at them, "I want capital punishment on all of them!"
Heidegger and Palmer were stunned. "Including Rufus?" the latter asked.
"Including Rufus." President ShinRa said coldly.
"But… but…" Heidegger stammered.
"I don't care if Rufus dies! So what if Rufus dies?! I have children by other women! I can simply pick from them!" President ShinRa snapped before proceeding to the window to take a look at the situation outside. He frowned when he realized that the whole area isn't too smoky… and that the smoke is just coming from the Mako Reactors that had just exploded moments ago. "What is happening to the Security system of this place?!" he yelled in annoyance.
"The SOLDIERs are already searching the area for more AVALANCHE members." Palmer began.
"What about Black Death?!" President ShinRa demanded.
The two fell silent.
"Explosion should've happened at around 7:00… it's already 7:45 and the only explosion I've ever heard tonight came from the Mako Reactors!" President ShinRa told them as he faced them again. "Palmer, go down to the laboratory and check on Hojo." He instructed.
"Y…yes, sir," Palmer said with a worried look on his face before leaving the office, deciding to just use the stairs since the elevators do not work during power failures and the generator is still weak.
"Shit… Lard-Man approaching…" Barret muttered in annoyance before moving downstairs with Red XIII, just in time when Palmer opened the door to go down… and screamed when he saw the corpse.
Palmer went back to the office, panicking and shouting.
Barret calmed down a little. "Foo'… let's get to the prisons and free 'em!" he told Red XIII before leading the way downstairs, but they stopped when they heard footsteps coming their way. "Shit… foo'! Soldiers!" Barret realized, preparing to fire just in case they get attacked.
Red XIII sniffed the air and stopped Barret. "No. It's just Cloud, Vincent and Sephiroth." He said. Barret blinked. "Huh?" he wondered.
Finally the, three arrived. Vincent still looked dazed even when he had awoken the second time Sephiroth accidentally hit his head on the wall when they were climbing up the stairs.
"Foo's! Y'all are late!" Barret scolded.
"We know… and we're sorry. But if we had to stop Black Death from killing the citizens. Turns out that Hojo has programmed it to activate on its own if ever nobody touches it. We just disabled the program moments ago," Cloud explained with a frown on his face.
"What?! Black Death?!" Barret asked in shock.
"Yeah… and Rufus didn't even warn us!" Sephiroth muttered.
"How could Rufus warn us if he's in prison with the others?" Red XIII asked.
"What?! Rufus is in prison?" Cloud asked in awe.
"President ShinRa discovered that he's working with us. We have to go down there now and free 'em and then get out of here!" Barret told them.
"I'm not going anywhere until I kill that Old Man." Sephiroth snarled before proceeding upstairs.
"Wait, Sephiroth…" Cloud began, but it was no use stopping an angry Sephiroth. They just decided to follow him.
--break--
"Hojo is what?" President ShinRa repeated in disbelief.
"He's dead, sir! His corpse is there in the staircase and…" Palmer began, but President ShinRa immediately turned to the 15 SOLDIERs standing guard in the same area. "Go and see!" he commanded.
The SOLDIERs obeyed, but froze in their tracks when they saw Sephiroth and the rest of AVALANCHE.
President ShinRa, Heidegger and Palmer were surprised upon seeing them. "What the…" the President had managed to say as he clenched his fists. "Say goodbye to the Planet, President," Sephiroth sneered dementedly as he charged at him with his Masamune ready to stab him.
Cloud, Vincent and Barret distracted the SOLDIERs so that they would not harm Sephiroth.
President ShinRa got his gun and attempted to shoot Sephiroth, but the bullets do not seem to be bothering him… and then he felt the Masamune pierce through his left chest and through his heart… and through his back. The last thing he saw was Sephiroth's sinister smile. "Just like before… this time, without your son's orders." He sneered at him. President ShinRa's eyes widened upon hearing that. His son hated him that much enough for him to order for Sephiroth to kill him for the first time…
And he breathed out his last.
The SOLDIERs were stunned upon what happened… and they realized that they are next to die.
Heidegger and Palmer were both shaking in fear but they could not do anything else but gape at the dead body of the President.
Barret sighed. "Finally… is it over?" he asked.
Cloud, Red XIII and Vincent went over to Sephiroth who was still gazing down at the dead President. They watched as Sephiroth pulled out his Masamune from the President's body. "I'm surprised at what you have done," Vincent began with a disapproving look on his face.
Somehow, they all felt that Sephiroth should've just let the Old Man live and just imprison him in Junon… but then again, it was too late already.
"He deserves it…" Sephiroth muttered under his breath before wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his bloody gloved hand, staining his forehead in the process. "Oh no…" he realized what he had just done to himself. "Now mommy's really going to get mad at me…" he muttered.
Barret just laughed at him, "Enough of the worry, Mama's Boy! Hahahaha." He teased. Sephiroth just snorted at him.
--break--
Rufus stared blankly at the wall. "How long do you think we'll be staying here?" he asked dully.
Tifa shrugged. "I don't know… maybe… as long as Cloud and the others do not find us, we'll be here for maybe a couple of days…" she said rather miserably as she remained seated on the floor.
"You look uncomfortable there," he stated flatly.
"No, it's alright…" she said flatly. He noticed a bruise forming on her left cheek as well as the drying blood. "Old Man did that to you, huh?" he asked softly. She did not answer at first but just rested her forehead on her knees as she crouched in fetal position. "I'm alright… I'm just… worried about the people outside… are they dead yet?" she asked rather fearfully. He got a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Tifa as he jumped off the bed and landed on the floor beside her and sat down, slowly lifting her chin so that she could look at him while he wiped the blood off her face carefully. "I don't think the explosion was caused by Black Death. It could be the Mako Reactors because the lights flickered and then the emergency lights switched on." He pointed out.
"You think so?" she asked wearily, and then she was surprised when she saw the white handkerchief that he was holding. It was her present to him. She embroidered his first name on it with red thread (actually, she asked Aerith to teach her how to embroider only at that moment when she desperately needed to give him something for his birthday). "Oh dear… I can't believe you're using that…" she said in shame.
"Huh? Oh this one? It's actually my favorite." He said plainly. "I got it during the masquerade ball Old Man had for me and… well, you. But I don't know whom this one came from." He said. She felt stupid. "How come?" she asked casually.
"Well, there was a card, but it just said, Dear Rufus, may you have a very wonderful birthday and many more years to come. I am so glad to have finally known the real you behind the cold exterior. Take care; I'll always be thinking of you. Love… That's all there is. I spent the whole night pondering about who could've written me such a splendid card but did not sign it… that's why I was able to memorize the lines. Heh heh," he said with a slight smile on his face.
She bit her lower lip as she felt her ears getting red. She just turned and moved away from him with an uncomfortable look on her face. "Maybe it's your secret admirer…" she said casually while laughing smugly.
"Secret admirer? Hmm… but she says she had known the real me… oh never mind…" he said.
"Hmm… but do you have any guesses on who it is?" she asked shyly. Rufus thought for a while before shrugging. "Well, for a moment, I thought it was you… but then again, why would you even…" he trailed off when he realized what he had just said. She was looking at him with wide crimson eyes. He just turned away from her and just kept quiet. She blushed and smiled rather shyly as she coyly moved closer to him. "Why would I even what?" she asked softly. He did not answer.
She continued, "Why would I even write a card like that and give it to you with that handkerchief?" she asked. He still refused to answer. He pretended to be uninterested, but it's in his eyes that she could see that he was hiding something. She bowed down her head. "What if I… wrote it and then… even had a crash course in embroidery just so that I could give you that present?" she asked softly, cautious about her surroundings… because it's like those walls could easily hear them.
He turned to look at her curiously. "Why would you even do that?" he asked.
A trick question that if she isn't cautious enough, she could reveal her true feelings. She just stared at him for a few moments before she decided to move away from him. She felt somewhat ashamed of what she had almost done.
--break--
From the other cell where Yuffie and Elena were, the two were curiously listening to the conversation of the two. "What happened?" Elena asked.
"I can't hear them anymore… you think they're making out?" Yuffie asked with a silly smile on her face.
Elena giggled excitedly. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That'd be so sweet!" she said happily.
"Gawds, it's just like listening to Radio Drama!" Yuffie pointed out as she moved away from the wall and just sat down on the floor with a solemn look on her face. Elena noticed the change in her mood. "There is something wrong with you! What is it?" she pointed out as she sat down beside her.
"I told you it's nothing…" Yuffie muttered miserably before tugging at her own hair and stared at it with a sad look on her face. "Am I pretty, Elena?" she asked sadly.
Elena was surprised by the question. "You're asking the wrong person, Yuffie. I'm a girl! If anybody else hears us, they'll think I'm a lesbo," she said with a disgusted look on her face as she flipped her hair and got up, plopping down on the bed. "Hmm… I think this bed is better than my Turk bed. Hee!" she remarked with a silly smile on her face. "Anyway, why are you asking me that question? Coz you know, I think you shouldn't feel so insecure about what other people will say about you whenever it's negative, I mean, look at me, I receive bad remarks from Reno telling me that I'm flat-chested and he keeps on comparing me to girls with bigger boobies than me and at first I kinda found it soooo annoying that I told Mister Tseng about it but he just laughed and told me to ignore Reno since he's always seeking attention and so I just decided to ignore those bad comments because I realized that if I let those bad comments get to me, I'll just drive myself crazy just thinking about them and they'll just ruin my relationship with others and I don't want that to happen because y'know by nature I'm such a friendly person and I'd like to be that way because it's what makes me happy, making friends, and if I don't make friends I'll end up regretting life and when I regret life I might kill myself and if I kill myself that's bad and I might not go to heaven instead go to hell and I wouldn't want that to happen because I'm scared of demons and demons are bad and when they're bad they can do worst things to you and…"
"Alright, alright, alright!!! Enough already!!! GAWDS!!! Elena, you talk too much!" Yuffie pointed out.
Silence.
Elena just giggled. "Oh I'm sorry. Teehee! Sometimes I just get carried away and I blab and blab and blab and I don't even realize it until somebody tells me otherwise but I don't really know why I'm like this but my mom used to tell me the same thing, y'know, that I talk too much and I guess it ticks her off but maybe she was considerate because she said that I'm just like my dad who talks too much too but I guess it's alright because…" she trailed off when she noticed Yuffie glaring annoying at her. She covered her mouth in shame. "I'm doing it again, huh?" she asked sheepishly. Yuffie just turned away and pouted. "Do you have some scissors or even a dagger or a Swiss knife?" she asked.
"Well… I had a Swiss Knife, but they confiscated it because they put us here, remember?" Elena asked.
Yuffie just sighed miserably. "When I get out of here, I'll cut my hair and just sulk in one place…" she muttered.
Elena instantly sat up, "Awww, why that kind of attitude?" she asked in disbelief.
"Because ugly girls don't have a place to go! I feel so… ugly… and unpleasant… it's like I'm the ugliest girl in the world!... I mean, what's so nice about me?! I'm short and I envy your height because you're around… 5'6", I guess… and I envy Tifa because she's well-endowed…" Yuffie began.
"Well-endowed?" Elena asked.
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "It's one of those euphemisms for big boobs, if you know what I mean…" she explained miserably before continuing, "And Aerith is… gentle and loving… and everybody loves her including the stray cats and dogs because she's just too caring and she's just like an angel! I hate it whenever the three of us are walking down the street and then all the boys will turn to look at us… and just stare at the two of them like they're the goddesses of beauty and splendour while I'm… nothing." She felt tears falling down from her face.
"Why are you saying those things?! They sound so horrible! Ugh… Yuffie, nobody is ugly! Everyone's got their own beauty! Others may not be able to see it but I'm sure someone else can! Someone who truly understands you!" Elena pointed out.
Yuffie turned to her. "Do you?" she asked.
Elena made a face, "Girl, you're asking the wrong person." She muttered.
"Why?" Yuffie asked.
"Because I think that every person is… beautiful!" Elena said with some optimism in her eyes.
Yuffie just made a face at her, "What about Palmer? You call that beautiful?" she sneered.
Elena's smile faded as she looked away and her facial expression changed from joyful to stiff, "Pshaw… that's another story." And turned back to Yuffie with a sweet smile on her face, "Oh come on, Yuffie! What's really bothering you? Why are you thinking about those things?" she asked. Yuffie just looked away and sulked. "Nothing…" she muttered… and pounded an angry fist on the floor when the thought of Zack entered her mind. "GAWDS!!!!!" she screeched in extreme anger which really surprised everyone else who was imprisoned in the same area.
And she began to cry.
Elena thought for a while before declaring, "Alright, I'll guess what it is, and if it's correct, you won't cut your hair and just let it be. Simple huh?"
Yuffie stared unbelievably at her, "That's the most ridiculous deal I've ever heard of!!!" she pointed out in annoyance.
"I know, isn't it fun?!" Elena asked cheerfully.
Silence.
Yuffie just slouched and turned away. "Shoot." She signaled.
Elena thought for a while before saying, "Alright, here's my guess: It's got something to do with a boy not noticing you, but you like him, right?" She saw Yuffie's eyes widen as she jerked slightly; with that, she proceeded, "Hmm… and I think that guy is…" she trailed off to give it more thought. Yuffie was beginning to get nervous. "OH MY GAWD!!!!! Please guess it wrong, please guess it wrong, please guess it wrong…" she was thinking quietly with a frantic look on her face.
Elena gasped and pointed a finger at her, "IT'S ZACK!!!!!" she screeched.
Silence.
"You called, Elena?" Zack chimed in from the other cell.
Yuffie fainted.
Elena jumped up in joy, "Whoohoo!!! I guessed it right!!! I guessed it right!" she cheered happily, dancing victoriously, then stopped to look at Yuffie lying on the floor unconscious. "Uh… Yuffie? You alright?" she asked curiously. Then, to her surprise, the door just opened, making her jump up and shrieked for a brief moment and realized that it was only Reno and Rude. "Oh… hi," she greeted in curiosity.
Silence.
"Reno!!!" Elena ran to him and embraced him tightly while shedding tears of joy. "Waaaah!!! I missed you!!!" she wailed, making him feel perplexed. Rude just shook his head in disbelief.
"H…hey… easy now," Reno said rather embarrassingly as he patted her back gently.
She looked at him and stopped crying. "Hey… you escaped?" she asked in awe.
"Ahem,"
They turned back to the door and there was Sephiroth with a prison access key in his grasp. "The President is dead." He announced. It turns out that he had also freed Scarlet and Reeve and they were standing by him together with Barret and Red XIII.
"So… that means…" Reeve began.
"Kyah! Rufus is the President now!" Scarlet rejoiced as Sephiroth went over to the next prison cell to free Tifa and Rufus.
"Uhm… wha happened to Yuffie?" Barret asked in curiosity while staring strangely at the unconscious Yuffie on the floor.
Elena giggled. "Oh nothing. It's just between the two of us. Heehee!" she said happily.
"Okay, just take her out of here. Where's the Hedgehog?" Barret asked.
"I think he's in the same cell where Aerith is." Reno replied.
Silence.
"Please don't tell that to Cloud." Barret began before he walked over to the cell where Aerith is, "Yo Aerith, ya alright?" he called out.
"Oh, Barret, it's you!" she said happily.
Barret freed them. "There ya go." He said. Aerith gave him a hug. "Oh thank you!" she said happily. Barret looked accusingly at Zack. "You sure that guy didn't do anything bad to you?" he demanded suspiciously.
Zack swallowed hard. "N…no, Mr. Wallace, Sir… I wouldn't do anything bad to Aerith." He said, fearing for his own life.
"Actually, he did try to do something bad…" she said softly.
"WHA?! YA FOO'…" Barret became enraged.
"What?! NOOO! IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" Zack wailed in fear.
Aerith giggled as she held Barret back, "I was only kidding, Barret. Teehee!" she said before proceeding out of the cell. Zack regained his composure. "So unfair…" he muttered before he rushed out of the cell and went over to where Yuffie is. "Yuffie! Yuffie!!!" he was shouting rather frantically.
"Ugh… how unrefined! Pipe down, you porcupine! You'll wake up the dead!" Rufus snapped impatiently at him, getting stunned by the shouting.
"Sorry," Zack apologized before he stepped inside the prison cell where Yuffie is. "ARGH! What happened to you?!" he wailed.
"Why? What's wrong?" Aerith asked as she went over to him with Tifa following right behind her.
Zack lifted the unconscious Yuffie in his arms. "Yuffie?" he whispered as he touched her face.
She felt cold.
"OH NO!!! IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he wailed.
"What?" Elena asked casually.
"She's cold already!!! She's dead!!!!!" Zack wailed.
The other Turks were surprised, so were the others, but Elena just laughed. "Yeah, well she fell and hit her head." And shuddered. "This place is really freezing cold. I'm out of here!" she muttered before rushing out and winked at the others.
Silence.
Rufus got the message and whispered it to Tifa and the others except for Zack. Yuffie really fainted, but she's okay… she's not dead; it's just that the place is too cold because of the centralized air-conditioning system that is working too well.
Zack began to cry. "Yuffie, I…" he embraced her. "First it's Aerith, then you? It's so unfair! Why is life so unfair… IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!" he was wailing.
Rufus just rolled his eyes and took Tifa's hand, taking her with him. "Let's go upstairs. This place is too much for me to bear." He told her.
Barret just shook his head in disbelief as he watched Zack lament over Yuffie's "dead" body.
"Is he stupid or what? Can't he feel for her pulse or something?!" Reno whispered to Rude.
"I think I just saw her hand move…" Rude whispered back.
"Well… she's dead. Why are you making such a big deal about it?" Scarlet asked rather insensitively with a haughty look on her face as she picked her fingernails.
"Because… she's… she's special to me. I didn't waste two years of my life with her just so that I could lose her like this!" Zack pointed out with a miserable look on his face.
"How special is special?" Reno asked with a silly smile on his face.
"I swore to protect her always… and then… to always be by her side… and now… she's… gone. All because I wasn't there for her! And GAWDS!!! We had a fight! What if her soul cannot rest and haunts me forever!!!??? It's so unfair!!!" Zack wailed.
Aerith just shrugged. "Well… maybe… in the Promised Land, you'll meet her there! Hee…" she suggested with a weak smile on her face.
"Ugh… Very funny, Aerith…" he said sarcastically.
Reno snickered. "Well I think she's not yet dead." He said.
Barret stifled his own laughter, "Yeah, what if she's just sleeping?" he asked.
Zack looked at them and they all shifted their facial expressions from "smiling" to "serious". "R…really?" he asked, seemingly gullible because of too much confusion.
"Oh yes. It happens. One time it happened to Scarlet and Reeve had to kiss her so that she'd wake up. Heheh." Reno reasoned. Scarlet stomped on his foot with her right heel, making him yelp in severe pain. "Kyah!!!" she shrieked at him before walking away. Reeve just scratched his head.
"Just like in Sleeping Beauty, man," Barret urged.
Silence.
Zack turned to Yuffie again and gazed at her peaceful face. He smiled bitterly at her. "There's no use, guys… she's dead…" he sniffed. "And I didn't even get the chance to tell her how beautiful she really is… and that I… I…" shook.
"You what?" Aerith asked casually.
"…that I love her…" Zack mentioned.
Silence.
A shadow loomed over Aerith, Barret, Tseng, Reno, Rude and Reeve… and they all turned around to see who it was… Their eyes widened upon seeing Lord Godo standing there and glaring dagger looks at Zack.
And Zack didn't even notice it! He just went on: "Even in death, she's so beautiful… I could just kiss her…"
And he did.
Lord Godo's patience snapped. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?!?!? You #$$%#$%" he began to cuss in Wutaian Language that only Tseng was able to understand.
Zack gasped and dropped Yuffie by accident because of surprise. "Wha?! SIR!!!" he wailed in shock.
Yuffie had awoken when she landed on the floor. "OW!!!" she cried out in pain.
Silence.
Lord Godo just sneered at Zack, "You. Are. So. Dead."
Zack hid behind Yuffie as she got up. "Oh Yuffie, save me…" he whimpered.
"Huh? Wh…why? What happened?" she asked in confusion. "Why are you mad, daddy?" she asked.
"YOU ARE FIRED!!!!!" Lord Godo screamed at Zack, his face red in fury and smoke seemed to steam out from his nose and ears.