ShinRa

By: Quistis & Xu

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but our minds and our own sanities.

Authors' Notes: This is the Sequel to "Diary of the First Lady" by General Quistis.

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Chapter 5: Angst and Memories

She could not decide whether the view from her bedroom window is good or not, since she could see the rebuilt and remodeled ShinRa HQ at the center of Midgar. Sure, thanks to the new President of the ShinRa Electric Power Company, Midgar already looks decent and the streets doesn't look too gloomy anymore, unlike before. The skies could already be seen and the sunlight can already give heat to everyone.

She remembered that she came to Midgar to escape from the people who ruined her life in the ShinRa mansion back in Nibelheim, but little did she know that the young ShinRa heiress would prefer to have her HQ in Midgar.

All her life, she had waited for this moment, but she does not really have a clue on how to approach the young heiress and tell her, "Hi, I'm your mother, the one that your pesky servants had banished and tried to kill because they think that I'm a whore who seduced your filthy rich father!", but she knew better.

Over the years, she lived in Midgar with Elena and no one else. However, the once lovely and lively Tifa had wasted those years in sorrow and misery, thinking of revenge and hoping that the only love of her life was there to help her retrieve their daughter from the evil hands of ShinRa.

Every night, she would pray that somehow, she could find a way to talk to her daughter and the courage to face her enemies who ruined her life…

"And they were the ones who raised her…" she thought miserably.

What was her name again?

Tiffany,

She thought with a smile on her face.

She could never forget the day that girl was born and gave her the name Tiffany. She was even lucky enough that Reno did not even bother to change the name, despite the face that Tiffany's name is closest to her own name: Tifa.

Tifa sighed heavily, her thoughts being surrounded by memories of her daughter and Rufus.

She was interrupted when the door of her bedroom opened. She quickly turned her head to the door. "Hi, Elena," she greeted with a blank expression.

Elena blinked twice. She could not help but feel surprised whenever Tifa acted so cold and uncaring. "Poor girl… must be the effects of what has happened in the past…" she thought silently as she approached Tifa. "Word reached me that President Tiffany ShinRa will be making rounds again in this sector." She explained with a smile on her face.

Tifa just stared blankly outside the window. "Who'll be with her?" she asked.

"This new Turk named Rufford." Elena replied with an unsure look on her face.

Tifa frowned. "Great… a new Turk… Reno just hired another one… it would be harder for me to approach my own daughter without getting caught." She said glumly.

"Look on the bright side, Tifa. I'm here to help you. Remember I'm a former member of those Turks and I know how they strategize. I can ask Rufford for details." She said.

Tifa just shook her head. "I'm sorry if I'm making this hard for you, Elena." She faced her friend with a sad smile on her face. "You've been kind enough to help me survive living without the two people that I really love so much… if it weren't for you, I'd be so weak that I'd definitely kill myself…" she trailed off when she heard someone knocking on the door.

Elena and Tifa exchanged confused looks. "Who could that be?" the latter asked.

"I'll get it." Elena presented before she headed for the door again, but she stopped when Tifa called out, "No, I'll go with you. Stop acting like you're my maid or something!" she said with a silly look on her face.

Elena giggled. "Oh, I just got used to the fact that you are President Rufus's beloved wife that's why I should also respect you and act like some lady-in-waiting for you." She said with a cheerful look on her face as they headed for the front door downstairs.

Tifa was the one who opened the door with a stiff look on her face, but she was not able to say anything when she recognized who it was. Her eyes grew wide in surprise.

Elena's mouth dropped open as she gaped at the person.

The person was a girl; long brown hair, green eyes, pink dress…

"Aerith?" Tifa had managed to say.

The girl just smiled at them. "I thought you'd forgotten me already," she said simply.

Tifa could not help but smile and hug an old acquaintance, so she did. It was, for Elena, something very good for Tifa since she had been down in the dumps for the past 17 years, grieving for the loss of her husband and daughter. Elena just smiled and stepped aside so that Aerith could come inside. "Come in," she invited.

Tifa and Aerith let go of each other. "Thank you, Elena," the latter said with a gentle smile before turning back to Tifa who had a perplexed look on her face. Aerith shrugged. "I know what you're thinking: I'm supposed to be dead? I got the same reactions from Cid, Barret, Marelene and Red XIII…" she trailed off when Tifa blinked and said, "Are you?"

Aerith chuckled. "Of course not! If I'm dead, you couldn't hug me back there! Can you?" she asked with a challenging look on her face.

Tifa just smiled. "No. I can't. I'll just go through…" she stopped, thinking of the word dead.

Rufus is dead.

She stiffened and just rushed upstairs, leaving Elena and Aerith by the door, looking so perplexed.

Behind Aerith, a blonde man joined them. "Aerith," he began, then turned to Elena with a stiff look on his face. "What's she doing here?" he asked.

Elena flashed him an annoyed look. "Oh, it's you… Cloud Strife," she began.

"She's the one living here with Tifa according to the lady from the store." Aerith explained.

Elena just smiled at Cloud, trying to get used to smiling at the ex-enemy of ShinRa. "Well, how did you find us here and why is Gainsborough alive?" she asked.

"Long story, but to make it short, when Tifa left us, we decided to revive Aerith since there was a way… though the process took us a couple of weeks to complete it." Cloud said as he stepped inside and gazed around.

Aerith flashed Elena a look as if asking "Is it okay if I go in?"

Elena smiled kindly at Aerith and let her in. After doing so, she closed the door and sighed. Aerith turned to her again. "What happened to Tifa?" she asked.

"I don't know… she does that all the time…" Elena explained with a disappointed look on her face.

Cloud faced her. "I thought she was supposed to be married to ShinRa?" he asked with a hard look on his face.

Elena stiffened, not knowing how to answer, for she herself had been sad for Tifa. "Don't they know what happened 17 years ago?" she thought silently as she decided to ask, "So, how did you find us here?" trying to change the subject.

Cloud and Aerith were silent for a few seconds, but the latter finally decided to say, "We just arrived here from Nibelheim 5 days ago. We were quite surprised that ShinRa has a new President… a woman. What happened to Rufus? I thought Tifa's his wife?"

"It's a long story," Elena gestured for them to sit down, so they did. She sat down on one of the couches facing the couple and sighed heavily before proceeding, "but to make the long story short, President Rufus died and Reno was making Tifa's life so miserable that he decided to get rid of her and the baby girl. Rude and I were supposed to take Tifa away from Nibelheim and take her here in Midgar, but Rude died and Reno got the baby."

Cloud was silent for a while and then blinked. "Why didn't Reno kill the child?" he asked.

"Knowing him, he's got a plan up his sleeve… probably because he doesn't want to appear suspicious about the First Lady's sudden disappearance from the ShinRa mansion. What everybody knows is that Tifa just used Rufus for his money, which isn't true… and that she is already dead." Elena continued.

"But the ShinRa HQ is here again in Midgar, and they happen to control the whole Planet… what if they find out that you guys are just here? Aren't you in the list of citizens?" Aerith asked with a worried look on her face.

"When they asked us to register, we used fake names. I'm registered here as Elen Shinra, sister of Tifa Shinra, which is Tifa herself." Elena explained.

"ShinRa? Won't you become suspicious?" Cloud asked with a curious look on his face as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"The spelling is different. The surname that we're using has a small letter R, while the original surname of President Rufus has a capital R. That's how it's originally spelled, actually. You can check out the ShinRa Company logo to make sure." She explained with a keen look on her face as she leaned backward.

Cloud and Aerith exchanged unsure glances, then the former turned back to Elena again. "Do they make rounds?"

"Yes, they do… but the security isn't too strict anymore unlike before. Tiffany ShinRa is kind, thank God for that, but word has it that inside the ShinRa building, she's just like her father: cold and uncaring." She explained with a sad look on her face.

Aerith nodded slightly. "I see…" she said slowly, her eyes fixed on the wilting red rose in the vase on top of the coffee table.

Cloud gazed around, examining every bit of detail around the living room. "This place doesn't look so bad…" he said aloud.

"Of course. Tifa herself had decorated this place. I don't know where she gets the money, but she bought this house for 150,000,000… it's pretty big if you ask me…" Elena explained with a proud look on her face.

"I could've sworn you guys are listed in the Class A's of this place. Do you get invited to the parties at ShinRa?" Aerith asked with a happy smile on her face.

"Yes, but I'm the only one who attends… every year during Tiffany's birthday, the staff and employees plan a party for her and the only outsiders to be invited would be the Class A's… if you know what I mean…" Elena replied.

They were interrupted when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs so they just kept quiet until Tifa arrived with puffy eyes. "Hi, sorry for just running off like that…" she said, trying to keep her eyes on the ground.

Aerith smiled kindly at Tifa. "It's okay, we understand." She said.

Tifa sat down on the other couch beside Elena, then smiled at Cloud and Aerith. "I'm really happy for the two of you," she said simply with a trembling voice.

Aerith, Cloud and Elena were quiet while exchanging confused looks. They did not know if they should say something to Tifa or not or just change the subject; however, Aerith spoke up with a weak smile on her face, "Th…thank you, Tifa… anyway, if you're interested to visit us, we just live right across the street."

"Oh, so we're neighbors?" Tifa asked in disbelief.

Cloud let out a slight chuckle. "Yeah… we just passed by here to say hello. Red XIII's at home. After staying with the rest of AVALANCHE for a few years, Aerith and I just decided to move out since I don't want our son to grow up with too many people in the house." He explained.

"You have a son?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, his name's Cliff. He'll be turning 18, 2 months from now." Aerith replied with a gentle smile on her face.

Tifa giggled. "I see…" she was about to say something more but she was interrupted when someone began to ring the doorbell.

They all fell silent and exchanged perplexed looks. "Who could that be?" Elena asked.

"I'll get it," Tifa said, then turned to Elena, "Why don't you bring Aerith and Cloud some tea while I go and get the door," she continued as she stood up and headed for the door…