The House of Strife
By GQ and Zhak
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Chapter Six: Yuffie
Yuffie just sat by her daughter's bed, making sure she's alright. Kairi still hasn't regained consciousness and she was beginning to get worried while trying to think of what happened to Zack. But Kairi did mention that she went to the Strife's house…
"Maybe Zack is there…" she thought silently before she glanced back at her daughter. She swallowed hard and feeling determined to look for her husband, she got up and decided to leave Kairi there for a while to go to the said house.
She was all alone when her car stopped in front of the house. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the front porch and opened the door.
"Zack?" she called out. Curiously, she walked into the living room, closing the door behind her. "Anybody in here?" she called out again. She felt a slight chill in the room, but she knew that no doors or windows were open. "Geez, this place really creeps me out…" she mumbled to herself.
She called out Zack's name several times. She went in every room in the first floor, looking behind furniture, under beds and every possible place that Zack could hide. Nothing.
"Zack? Please come out," she said desperately when she stepped on the first stair-step. She froze when she thought she heard somebody running behind her. She looked towards the direction of the runner. She found herself looking at the front door. "What the heck was that?!?" she thought to herself as goose bumps rose on her skin.
"It was nothing… I'm imagining things…" she thought. She ran upstairs and called out Zack's name again. "Where are you? Are you in here?" she opened the door to a bathroom. It was empty. She sighed as she went in to look at the shower area. "Zack?..."
When she turned around and faced the mirror, she thought she saw something else there… but upon second glance, she was only staring at her own reflection. "This house really gives me the heebie-jeebies…" she said out loud.
"Zack? Are you in here?" she repeated again. She froze in the hallway. There was light cracking through one of the doors. "How come I didn't see this before?..." she thought to herself as she reached out for the doorknob…
She gasped when she entered the room. Through a hole in the ceiling, she caught a glimpse of blue trousers and large, SOLDIER combat boots being dragged up. "ZACK!!!" she screeched. She jumped up to try and reach his feet, but she couldn't jump high enough. Her heart beating painfully in her chest, she ran towards the stairs leading to the attic, the room above the one she was been in.
"Zack!!" she screamed desperately as she reached the attic. It was empty. "No…" she choked as she fell on her knees. She started sobbing.
"Ou-a-a-a-a-a-a"
Shivering, she slowly turned her head towards the source of that horrible, croaking sound. She saw Aerith slowly crawling towards her from a dark corner of the attic…
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"Kairi,"
Kairi wearily opened her eyes when she thought she heard Sora say her name. Her vision was blurry at first and she smiled slightly when she saw him standing by the bed beside her and smiling lovingly at her. "Kairi," he said softly.
She reached out a hand to him. "Sora," and blinked to clear her blurred vision.
Her eyes widened and she felt stunned when she saw that Sora wasn't there anymore. She instantly got up and scanned the whole room. No one was there. "Sora?" she called out.
No answer.
She got off the bed and put on her shoes. "Mom?" she called out. As soon as she reached the door, everything soon came back into her memory.
"Kairi," she heard Sora's voice again from somewhere in the living room area. She rushed to the living room area but there was no one there. However, she jerked when she heard the main door close. "Sora!" she went to the main door and instantly opened it, looking outside into the hallway and towards the elevators, but there was no one there, still.
She swallowed hard and got back inside the room again with tears in her eyes. "Mommy… daddy… where are you?" she thought in worry.
Then she remembered. Her father had disappeared in the Strife house. Her mother was there when she fell into a coma. She must have went off looking for her father.
"No… Mommy, don't come in the house!" she sobbed as she ran towards the elevator, repeatedly pressing the down button in hopes of making it go faster.
"Hey! Kid! Watch it!" screamed an angry driver. Kairi didn't stop running. So far she had risked getting run over by a car, 2 limousines, 5 trucks and a kid on a bicycle. She didn't even flinch when the drivers almost hit her as they violently stepped on the brakes.
All she was thinking of was Sector 2, Sector 2, Sector 2
It was a long run from Sector 1. She felt her lungs ready to explode. Her feet, still weak from lying down in a bed for a long time, felt sharp shooting pains at every step. Her eyes and nose hurt from the smoke and the bright lights of the city. But she didn't slow down.
When she was ready to collapse in exhaustion, she felt a hand on her arm, urging her to go on. She didn't stop.
Finally, the house came into view. "Mom!" she screamed breathlessly as she ran towards the front door.
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"Ae… ae… ae…" Yuffie stammered. She wasn't alone in the attic after all. She crawled backwards. Her nails scratched the floor, leaving violent white lines on the wooden planks.
"No… you're not Aerith." She swallowed. The corpse in front of her had her eyes wide. Her mouth was wide open, as if locked in a scream that she can't let out. Only an inhuman-sounding croak emanated from her throat.
Yuffie kept whimpering as she inched away from the woman crawling towards her. Then she felt a wall behind her. "Aaah!" She screamed as she hid her eyes behind her hands, not wanting at all to see how Aerith will kill her.
"Ou-a-a-a-a-a-a"
Horrified green eyes stared at her. She was reaching out for Yuffie as she continued crawling on the floor. She laid a bloody cold hand on her knee, and then…
Yuffie fearfully peeked through her fingers. She saw Aerith's face, but she felt the corpse embracing her. "Ah… ah… ah…" she stammered.
Behind Aerith suddenly appeared a bloodied man standing up and glaring at her. In his right hand was the Ultima Weapon. The white of his clothes are stained red. His blonde hair was splotched all over with red.
"C… c… c…." Yuffie choked. The corpse of Cloud Strife looked at her as if she was an enemy, somebody who was responsible for the broken ribs visible through his shirt.
"Mom! MOOOM!" Kairi screamed as soon as she was in the house. She kept screaming, looking at every room in the first floor. "Mom! Please tell me you're not here…" she said to herself as she started running upstairs.
She heard a woman scream. "Oh no!" Kairi cried. She felt tears sting her eyes as she ran towards where the scream came from: the attic.
And there she saw it, as soon as she opened the door: her Uncle Cloud stabbing both her Auntie Aerith and her mother. "NOOOO!"
Yuffie didn't get a chance to see her daughter before she died.
Cloud turned sharply towards Kairi when he heard her scream. With a twisted angry look on his face, he started approaching her, dragging the bloody sword with him as he walked, the blood still fresh and dripping from the sharp edge.
Kairi stood petrified by the doorway as she watched Cloud take every step. A panicked, paranoid rambling came from his mouth: "She's not Aerith. Aerith is dead. I was tricked… Aerith is dead. Sora is not my son."
And then a hand just gripped Kairi's right wrist. She jerked slightly before turning to her right side, seeing Sora standing there. …but he did not appear like a normal human being anymore; instead, he looked so pale and there were dark circles around his eyes. He was wearing the same clothing that he was wearing… but he looked different now. He seemed… dead. And it made Kairi shiver and gasp as she tried to break free from him, but she was being held still by him. She turned back to Cloud and saw that he looked angrier than ever. She shrieked and tried to move away, ending up dragging Sora with her. "Let me go!!!" she shrieked as she finally reached the front door, but Sora's grip tightened around her wrist. She froze as she stared straight into his eyes as he stared back at her. "Stay with me, Kairi. I'm so lonely in here." He said with a pleading tone.
She cringed. She could see from her peripheral vision that Cloud was slowly descending the stairs, staggering and dragging his Ultima Weapon with him while keeping his eyes on Kairi.
"Sora, let me go…" she pleaded as tears fell from her eyes.
"Why, Kairi? Don't you like me anymore?" Sora asked.
She pushed him away from herself with a disgusted look on her face. "You are not Sora anymore! You're different! Sora wouldn't let people die just like that! You let my mommy and daddy die!!!" she shrieked angrily before she finally opened the door and stepped out.
"KAIRI!!!" Sora screamed her name as she ran towards the gate of the house. She would not even turn back, but when she heard the door slam by itself, she turned around instantly and heard Sora screaming, "DADDY NO!!!!!" followed by bloody screams coming from inside from Sora himself.
She just stood still for a while, staring helplessly at the house, sobbing helplessly. She looked up one of the windows and saw her Auntie Aerith looking down at her with tears in her eyes as if begging her to just leave. Kairi swallowed hard and just moved away from the house… the next thing she knew, she was running…
Running again… not caring about the world anymore. She just needed to get out of there. She just ran and ran until she reached Sector 1.
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The First Family was having their dinner at the time when an officer entered the room and whispered something to the President's ear.
Rufus ShinRa frowned. "Pardon me, but I must leave for a few minutes," he announced. Looking at Tifa, he added, "Please come with me."
Curiously, Tifa stood up and walked with Rufus outside of the dining area. "Where is she?" asked Rufus.
"The poor thing was tired. We let her rest in a room on the 68th floor," replied the officer as he led the way towards the elevators.
"Who?" asked Tifa as they stepped in. The officer pressed button 68.
Rufus sighed. "Kairi Knightblade."
The elevator doors opened and they walked in the hallways. The officer opened one door and the couple stepped in.
They found Kairi sitting in one corner, ignoring the comforts of the bed or the sofas in the room. She hid her face between her arms. She was trying to control her sobbing.
"Ms. Knightblade? The President and the First Lady are here," said the officer gently.
She looked up. Her eyes were very bloodshot. As she caught a glimpse of Tifa, her eyes welled up in tears again. "Auntie Tifa!" she cried as she stood up and ran to her. She sobbed as she embraced her.
"Oh dear!" said Tifa, surprised at the girl who was suddenly hugging her and seeking comfort. She returned the embrace and stroked her hair. "There, there…"
"I'm-(sob)-all alone now! (Hic) Mommy and Daddy are dead! (Sniffle) Sora… Uncle Cloud killed Sora and Auntie Aerith!" she rambled as she sobbed hysterically.
Rufus' facial expression didn't change as he watched the redhead cry. "What? Your parents are dead?" he asked.
Kairi couldn't answer in between sobs, but she nodded. "Mo… mo… mom…" she said.
"How did they die?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.
Kairi just shook her head. She could not say… she did not know how. She just continued to sob as her embrace tightened around Tifa.
Tifa had this worried look on her face as she exchanged looks with Rufus. Even if Kairi did not say anything else, they had a feeling that they knew where Yuffie and Zack died… but they just shut up about it. They would not want the media to find out anything about it or else it would just be sensationalized, as usual, and it would create a big controversy and ShinRa might get blamed for all the deaths.
Tifa just lowered her gaze to the floor with a bitter smile on her face while trying to stop her own tears from falling, "Hush now, Kairi… don't worry… your Uncle Rufus and I will take good care of you from now on…" she whispered softly.
Rufus just stood still, watching the two with a stunned gaze. "Cloud… what the hell did you start?" he thought in anger for his dead friend.