A/N: I'm glad your enjoying the story. Here's when it starts getting very interesting.
Chapter 11.
The next day, Tifa woke when the sun peered through her window. She turned over to look at the window but stopped when she seen them. A large boutique of red roses. Tifa sat up and smiled. She climbed off the bed and went over to them. She smelled them. They had the most wonderful fragarence. She seen the card and picked it up. It was signed as R.S. She smiled brightly. She turned it over and read what was written.
Come to ShinRa Headquarters.
Tifa quickly took a shower and then got dressed.
Reno drove her to the ShinRa Headquarters. Vincent was waiting in front of the building. He opened the door and helped Tifa out. "Good morning, Tifa." He said. Tifa nodded. She was wearing black slacks and a nice white blouse. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and had two chopsticks sticking right out. "Morning, Vincent." She said.
Vincent started to lead her towards the building. "Rufus is at a meeting but he said you may interrupt. I'm to escort you there without difficulty. Without me, you would be stopped at least fifty times." he said. Tifa laughed as Vincent pulled open the door letting her in first.
As they walked to the elevator, Tifa looked up at Vincent. "Vinnie, Aeris and Elena said that you escorted my father out of the city. What happened to him?" She asked abit worried. Vincent looked at her then smiled. "Don't worry. He's safe. I had the chocobo carriage take him back to Kalm. I would never leave someone to die." He said. Tifa smiled. "Thank you." She said. Vincent nodded.
The pair of them went to the floor number 66. They walked down the hall catching several eyes. Vincent stopped in front of two doors and then unlocked them with a key card. "Why so many key cards here?" Tifa asked. Vincent looked at her. "ShinRa Incorp. is highly protected. We have many secrets that could make your hair curl. There had been a few breakins. Some rivaling companies have been trying to steal ShinRa's secrets. So we use key cards because ShinRa employees are the only ones who can." He said. Tifa nodded. Vincent pushed open the doors and the two walked in.
Rufus was in the middle of speaking to several people when they did. He looked abit annoyed but then smiled seeing that it was only Vincent and Tifa. He stood. "Good morning, Tifa. I hope you enjoyed my gift this morning." He said. Tifa smiled brightly. "Of course. I love roses, Rufus." She said. The other people looked stunned that she had called Rufus by his name and not get yelled at.
The men all stood in respect. There was only one woman in the room and she looked jealously at Tifa. Rufus held out his arm for Tifa to join his side. She quickly went over to him with Vincent by her side. "Gentlemen, Scarlett, may I introduce Tifa Lockhart. She is currently staying in my mansion with me and my servents. Tifa, these are all the heads of my departments of the company. General Franklin Heidigger." He said motioning to a large man with a big beard.
Heidigger nodded to Tifa who nodded back. "Alexander Reeve." Rufus said. The man with short black hair and goatee nodded with a charming smile. "Levine Tseng." He said motioning to a longer black haired man. "And Elladora Scarlett." The woman didn't say anything. She only glared. Tifa felt a heated wave of jealousy aimed in her direction.
She bit her lip and looked away. Rufus nodded not seeing Scarlett's glares. "Please sit everyone." He said pulling the chair out for Tifa. Tifa sat as well as the men that stood. She was trying to avoid Scarlett's eyes. Rufus remained standing. "As I was saying, I have decided that it's time the city showed abit of change. I have decided that we need to build a home for the homeless in the slums." He said.
Everyone looked up in surprise. "What?" Everyone said. Tifa was smiling. Rufus returned the smile. "Yes. Just yesterday, I went out for a drive with Tifa into the slums and I have noticed that we have made some terrible mistakes. There are several people living in the cold right this minute. They are starving and shivering as we are warm in our big rich dummy houses." He said.
Tifa and Vincent laughed. Reeve just smiled broadly. "I have decided that we will be building decent homes for the commoner people of Midgar City. Bunkers, homeless homes, I don't care what they are. I want those people out of the cold. Out of the freezing night." He said. Scarlett laughed coldly. "But why should we care about them? They are lower lives." She said. Tifa felt anger burning her spine.
Rufus frowned angrily at the skimpy dressed woman. "Scarlett, try camping outside for once. Out of your home in the cold. Then you'll see why. You have a problem of who those people are, then you can kiss my as...." he was starting to say. Tifa cleared her throat very loudly. Rufus stopped himself and nodded. "Sorry, Tifa. I forgot that you didn't like curse words." He said with a small smile.
Tifa nodded smiling. Scarlett forced a laugh. "Excuse me, Rufus dear. But what is she doing here and why?" She asked annoyed. Rufus shot Scarlett a look. "Scarlett, call me dear again. I dare you. And Tifa is here because I invited her. I have decided that she will be helping Reeve with the plans of building the homes. For now, she is his boss." He said. Tifa smiled stunned at Rufus.
Reeve just smiled. "Really? I do hope she has some good ideas for the homes." He said. Rufus snorted. "Reeve, you underestimate her. If you lot would have came to the party a day ago, you would have seen what she could do." He said. Tifa blushed. "Thank you, Rufus." She said. Everyone nodded. Rufus sat down. "Now then. Tifa, you told me some things that needed to be changed. Please share them with the rest of the class." He said. Tifa nodded standing up.
They began almost at once. Reeve, being the Head of Building had several carpenters start building in the slums. By the end of the week, the homeless people weren't homeless anymore. People were now warm and comfortable in homes. That was then Rufus decided to celebrate with Tifa.
They were eating dinner together with abit of music. Candle light dinner. It was their first date together. They laughed and clinked wine glasses together then began dancing out under the star light sky. It was just the two of them.
Finally they sat together on the railing looking upward. Rufus studied her. "Tifa?" He asked. Tifa looked at him with a smile. "Yes?" She asked. Rufus bit his lip. "Are you......are you happy here? With me?" He asked. Tifa smiled softly. "Yeah. I am actually. It's just......" She stopped looking away.
At those words, Rufus frowned fearing the worst. Tifa closed her eyes then opened them after a minute. "I miss my father so much. You never let me say goodbye to him. And I will never see him again." She said lowering her voice as if afraid to offend Rufus or hurt him. Rufus lowered his eyes. He was thinking deeply.
Then he smiled. "Very well. Come with me. If you'd like, I'll let you speak to him on the PHS." He said. Tifa smiled even more. "Thank you." She said. Rufus took her to the study. Tifa dialed the 7th Heaven but the line kept ringing. She began to get worried. So Rufus dialed the mayor's office and put it on speaker.
"Hello?" came the mayor's voice. Tifa smiled. "Hello, mayor. It's Tifa Lockhart." She said. "Tifa Lockhart? Oh! Yes! Tifa! How are you? Everyone has been looking all over for you and your father." the mayor said. Tifa's heart nearly stopped. "What?" She asked fear rising up. Rufus stood quickly from his chair. "That's right. Cloud's been in quite the panic since you and your father disappeared." The mayor said.
Rufus looked at Tifa with confusion. She saw his look. She shook her head rolling her eyes. "Cloud's a big jerk. I hate his guts." She said to Rufus who just nodded. "What?" the mayor asked. Tifa shook her head. "Nothing. What do you mean my father is missing? He should be back in Kalm." She said.
"I'm sorry, Tifa. But he left three weeks ago. Before you disappeared, he went into the Inn ranting and raving like a lunatic. Saying that you were a prisoner of a madman. Zack and Cloud kicked him out of the inn. Since then, he's been gone. Where are you?" The mayor asked. Tifa felt her fear rising like vomit would. "No. Did he say where he was going?" She asked. "Hmmm. Something about going to rescue you from Midgar City. Hahaha. What a joke though, isn't it? Maybe your father had lost his marbles." He said.
Tifa felt angry. "No he didn't! I am in Midgar City you dolt!" She yelled at the phone then hung up. Rufus was watching her. Tifa started to pace in the room. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! My father isn't in Kalm. He must be out in the storm trying to find his way back to the City. He could be lost. Or sick. Or worst. He could be dying or..." she started to cry.
Rufus shook his head feeling her helplessness. "No. He could have made it to the city. Let me check all of the gates." He said quickly grabbing his phone. He began making calls to the gates. But the answers were all the same. They had not seen a man of Mr. Lockhart's description. Tifa broke down in tears. Rufus watched her feeling helpless. He turned his back on her and looked at his mother's portrait. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Tifa, don't cry. We'll find him." He said.
Just then Reno ran in. "Sir! There's a mad chocobo in the yard. A small blue one." He said. Tifa quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the door. Rufus hurried after her. The security guards were trying to restrain a panicking chocobo. Tifa gasped seeing it. "Rogue! She's mine!" She cried out running forward. Rogue heard her misstress's voice and calmed down immediately.
Tifa began stroking Rogue's beak. "Where's father?" She asked. Her eyes found a spot of blood on Rogue's feathers. But it wasn't a chocobos. It was humans. "No! Father! He must have been attacked in the field trying to come here!" She cried. Rufus watched her helplessly. His eyes then went to Vincent, Aeris and Elena who looked worried for Tifa.
He let out sigh and hurried forward. "Then you must go to him." He said. Tifa spun around looking at Rufus. "What?" She asked. Rufus nodded. "Go to your father. I'm setting you free. Your debt is done. You may go home now." He said. Tifa smiled and threw her arms around Rufus who hugged her back. "Thank you so much, Rufus. I will never forget you." She said.
Rufus had tears in his eyes. He pulled away. "You better go. He won't last long if you don't hurry. And take this to remember me by." he said holding out a amulate. It was the Shinra Family's seal. Tifa nodded taking it.
She ran back to the mansion and got dressed in black pants and a light blue long sleeve shirt. She pulled on her old cloak and hurried out. Vincent, Elena and Aeris was waiting by the gates. Tifa was taking Boco. Rogue was too weak. "Take care of Rogue for me." She said. Vincent nodded. Tifa hugged each and recieved kisses on the cheeks from all three of her dearest friends. Then she climbed on her father's chocobo and rode away.
From the windows Rufus watched her. He had tears running down his face. He lowered his head. His heart broken.
Vincent was watching from the yard. He saw the heart broken look on Rufus's face. He looked to where Tifa was going. Then he nodded. He hurried off into the darkness to where his own chocobo was, pulling on his big red cloak that had a face guard protecting his face. A big black chocobo with yellow eyes was waiting for him. "Come on, Oblivion. We have to make sure she gets home alright and finds her father." He whispered to his chocobo. He mounted it and hurried towards the gates.
A/N: Well, Tifa's been freed. Don't you feel bad for Rufus. He wanted Tifa to stay forever but he let her go out of passion for her. Now it's time for the real trouble. Review and let me know how I did.
Chapter 11.
The next day, Tifa woke when the sun peered through her window. She turned over to look at the window but stopped when she seen them. A large boutique of red roses. Tifa sat up and smiled. She climbed off the bed and went over to them. She smelled them. They had the most wonderful fragarence. She seen the card and picked it up. It was signed as R.S. She smiled brightly. She turned it over and read what was written.
Come to ShinRa Headquarters.
Tifa quickly took a shower and then got dressed.
Reno drove her to the ShinRa Headquarters. Vincent was waiting in front of the building. He opened the door and helped Tifa out. "Good morning, Tifa." He said. Tifa nodded. She was wearing black slacks and a nice white blouse. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and had two chopsticks sticking right out. "Morning, Vincent." She said.
Vincent started to lead her towards the building. "Rufus is at a meeting but he said you may interrupt. I'm to escort you there without difficulty. Without me, you would be stopped at least fifty times." he said. Tifa laughed as Vincent pulled open the door letting her in first.
As they walked to the elevator, Tifa looked up at Vincent. "Vinnie, Aeris and Elena said that you escorted my father out of the city. What happened to him?" She asked abit worried. Vincent looked at her then smiled. "Don't worry. He's safe. I had the chocobo carriage take him back to Kalm. I would never leave someone to die." He said. Tifa smiled. "Thank you." She said. Vincent nodded.
The pair of them went to the floor number 66. They walked down the hall catching several eyes. Vincent stopped in front of two doors and then unlocked them with a key card. "Why so many key cards here?" Tifa asked. Vincent looked at her. "ShinRa Incorp. is highly protected. We have many secrets that could make your hair curl. There had been a few breakins. Some rivaling companies have been trying to steal ShinRa's secrets. So we use key cards because ShinRa employees are the only ones who can." He said. Tifa nodded. Vincent pushed open the doors and the two walked in.
Rufus was in the middle of speaking to several people when they did. He looked abit annoyed but then smiled seeing that it was only Vincent and Tifa. He stood. "Good morning, Tifa. I hope you enjoyed my gift this morning." He said. Tifa smiled brightly. "Of course. I love roses, Rufus." She said. The other people looked stunned that she had called Rufus by his name and not get yelled at.
The men all stood in respect. There was only one woman in the room and she looked jealously at Tifa. Rufus held out his arm for Tifa to join his side. She quickly went over to him with Vincent by her side. "Gentlemen, Scarlett, may I introduce Tifa Lockhart. She is currently staying in my mansion with me and my servents. Tifa, these are all the heads of my departments of the company. General Franklin Heidigger." He said motioning to a large man with a big beard.
Heidigger nodded to Tifa who nodded back. "Alexander Reeve." Rufus said. The man with short black hair and goatee nodded with a charming smile. "Levine Tseng." He said motioning to a longer black haired man. "And Elladora Scarlett." The woman didn't say anything. She only glared. Tifa felt a heated wave of jealousy aimed in her direction.
She bit her lip and looked away. Rufus nodded not seeing Scarlett's glares. "Please sit everyone." He said pulling the chair out for Tifa. Tifa sat as well as the men that stood. She was trying to avoid Scarlett's eyes. Rufus remained standing. "As I was saying, I have decided that it's time the city showed abit of change. I have decided that we need to build a home for the homeless in the slums." He said.
Everyone looked up in surprise. "What?" Everyone said. Tifa was smiling. Rufus returned the smile. "Yes. Just yesterday, I went out for a drive with Tifa into the slums and I have noticed that we have made some terrible mistakes. There are several people living in the cold right this minute. They are starving and shivering as we are warm in our big rich dummy houses." He said.
Tifa and Vincent laughed. Reeve just smiled broadly. "I have decided that we will be building decent homes for the commoner people of Midgar City. Bunkers, homeless homes, I don't care what they are. I want those people out of the cold. Out of the freezing night." He said. Scarlett laughed coldly. "But why should we care about them? They are lower lives." She said. Tifa felt anger burning her spine.
Rufus frowned angrily at the skimpy dressed woman. "Scarlett, try camping outside for once. Out of your home in the cold. Then you'll see why. You have a problem of who those people are, then you can kiss my as...." he was starting to say. Tifa cleared her throat very loudly. Rufus stopped himself and nodded. "Sorry, Tifa. I forgot that you didn't like curse words." He said with a small smile.
Tifa nodded smiling. Scarlett forced a laugh. "Excuse me, Rufus dear. But what is she doing here and why?" She asked annoyed. Rufus shot Scarlett a look. "Scarlett, call me dear again. I dare you. And Tifa is here because I invited her. I have decided that she will be helping Reeve with the plans of building the homes. For now, she is his boss." He said. Tifa smiled stunned at Rufus.
Reeve just smiled. "Really? I do hope she has some good ideas for the homes." He said. Rufus snorted. "Reeve, you underestimate her. If you lot would have came to the party a day ago, you would have seen what she could do." He said. Tifa blushed. "Thank you, Rufus." She said. Everyone nodded. Rufus sat down. "Now then. Tifa, you told me some things that needed to be changed. Please share them with the rest of the class." He said. Tifa nodded standing up.
They began almost at once. Reeve, being the Head of Building had several carpenters start building in the slums. By the end of the week, the homeless people weren't homeless anymore. People were now warm and comfortable in homes. That was then Rufus decided to celebrate with Tifa.
They were eating dinner together with abit of music. Candle light dinner. It was their first date together. They laughed and clinked wine glasses together then began dancing out under the star light sky. It was just the two of them.
Finally they sat together on the railing looking upward. Rufus studied her. "Tifa?" He asked. Tifa looked at him with a smile. "Yes?" She asked. Rufus bit his lip. "Are you......are you happy here? With me?" He asked. Tifa smiled softly. "Yeah. I am actually. It's just......" She stopped looking away.
At those words, Rufus frowned fearing the worst. Tifa closed her eyes then opened them after a minute. "I miss my father so much. You never let me say goodbye to him. And I will never see him again." She said lowering her voice as if afraid to offend Rufus or hurt him. Rufus lowered his eyes. He was thinking deeply.
Then he smiled. "Very well. Come with me. If you'd like, I'll let you speak to him on the PHS." He said. Tifa smiled even more. "Thank you." She said. Rufus took her to the study. Tifa dialed the 7th Heaven but the line kept ringing. She began to get worried. So Rufus dialed the mayor's office and put it on speaker.
"Hello?" came the mayor's voice. Tifa smiled. "Hello, mayor. It's Tifa Lockhart." She said. "Tifa Lockhart? Oh! Yes! Tifa! How are you? Everyone has been looking all over for you and your father." the mayor said. Tifa's heart nearly stopped. "What?" She asked fear rising up. Rufus stood quickly from his chair. "That's right. Cloud's been in quite the panic since you and your father disappeared." The mayor said.
Rufus looked at Tifa with confusion. She saw his look. She shook her head rolling her eyes. "Cloud's a big jerk. I hate his guts." She said to Rufus who just nodded. "What?" the mayor asked. Tifa shook her head. "Nothing. What do you mean my father is missing? He should be back in Kalm." She said.
"I'm sorry, Tifa. But he left three weeks ago. Before you disappeared, he went into the Inn ranting and raving like a lunatic. Saying that you were a prisoner of a madman. Zack and Cloud kicked him out of the inn. Since then, he's been gone. Where are you?" The mayor asked. Tifa felt her fear rising like vomit would. "No. Did he say where he was going?" She asked. "Hmmm. Something about going to rescue you from Midgar City. Hahaha. What a joke though, isn't it? Maybe your father had lost his marbles." He said.
Tifa felt angry. "No he didn't! I am in Midgar City you dolt!" She yelled at the phone then hung up. Rufus was watching her. Tifa started to pace in the room. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! My father isn't in Kalm. He must be out in the storm trying to find his way back to the City. He could be lost. Or sick. Or worst. He could be dying or..." she started to cry.
Rufus shook his head feeling her helplessness. "No. He could have made it to the city. Let me check all of the gates." He said quickly grabbing his phone. He began making calls to the gates. But the answers were all the same. They had not seen a man of Mr. Lockhart's description. Tifa broke down in tears. Rufus watched her feeling helpless. He turned his back on her and looked at his mother's portrait. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Tifa, don't cry. We'll find him." He said.
Just then Reno ran in. "Sir! There's a mad chocobo in the yard. A small blue one." He said. Tifa quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the door. Rufus hurried after her. The security guards were trying to restrain a panicking chocobo. Tifa gasped seeing it. "Rogue! She's mine!" She cried out running forward. Rogue heard her misstress's voice and calmed down immediately.
Tifa began stroking Rogue's beak. "Where's father?" She asked. Her eyes found a spot of blood on Rogue's feathers. But it wasn't a chocobos. It was humans. "No! Father! He must have been attacked in the field trying to come here!" She cried. Rufus watched her helplessly. His eyes then went to Vincent, Aeris and Elena who looked worried for Tifa.
He let out sigh and hurried forward. "Then you must go to him." He said. Tifa spun around looking at Rufus. "What?" She asked. Rufus nodded. "Go to your father. I'm setting you free. Your debt is done. You may go home now." He said. Tifa smiled and threw her arms around Rufus who hugged her back. "Thank you so much, Rufus. I will never forget you." She said.
Rufus had tears in his eyes. He pulled away. "You better go. He won't last long if you don't hurry. And take this to remember me by." he said holding out a amulate. It was the Shinra Family's seal. Tifa nodded taking it.
She ran back to the mansion and got dressed in black pants and a light blue long sleeve shirt. She pulled on her old cloak and hurried out. Vincent, Elena and Aeris was waiting by the gates. Tifa was taking Boco. Rogue was too weak. "Take care of Rogue for me." She said. Vincent nodded. Tifa hugged each and recieved kisses on the cheeks from all three of her dearest friends. Then she climbed on her father's chocobo and rode away.
From the windows Rufus watched her. He had tears running down his face. He lowered his head. His heart broken.
Vincent was watching from the yard. He saw the heart broken look on Rufus's face. He looked to where Tifa was going. Then he nodded. He hurried off into the darkness to where his own chocobo was, pulling on his big red cloak that had a face guard protecting his face. A big black chocobo with yellow eyes was waiting for him. "Come on, Oblivion. We have to make sure she gets home alright and finds her father." He whispered to his chocobo. He mounted it and hurried towards the gates.
A/N: Well, Tifa's been freed. Don't you feel bad for Rufus. He wanted Tifa to stay forever but he let her go out of passion for her. Now it's time for the real trouble. Review and let me know how I did.