Missed Call

Note from generalquistis: Readers who negatively judge this fic via summary, go to hell. You have no life. Bad critics are wannabes and losers who weren't able to prove themselves in the arts anyway. Whateverrrrr.
And for those who continued to support this fic, thank you very much. I'm taking note of you guys and you inspire me and Zhakeena to write and to do our best to please you readers.
Note from Zhak: Thank you so much for reading this fic. I'm pretty sure none of you are morons, right? So if you have anything to say, say it with thought and logic. :)

But this isn't the last chapter.


Chapter Six: Close to You

Tifa carefully but quickly wheeled Rufus across the street going to Sector 6. Time was running out, so they just decided to go and find Cloud and talk to him by themselves just in case Vincent failed to do so; after all, the other guy hasn't returned yet to tell them if he was successful in convincing Cloud to help them.

"You think the children will be alright there?" Rufus asked with a frown on his face.

"They'll be alright. I told them to just stay in their room." Tifa replied as she rounded the corner going to the church. People were staring strangely at them as they passed by, but they just ignored them.

"Something happened to Vincent, I just know it…" Rufus muttered.

Tifa was quiet, thinking of the same thing. "What time is it?" she asked, wanting to change the subject regarding Vincent. "It's 5:00pm. You received the message at 6:15." He replied with a deep frown on his face.

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Don't worry, Tifa, you're going to make it." She told herself quietly as she crossed another street with Rufus.

Finally, they arrived in the Church. Tifa stopped to catch her breath as she stared up at the church. "You alright, Rufus?" she asked.

"…well… you missed the open manhole wherein I could easily fall if you didn't. I guess I am alright." He said with a slight smile on his face. A little humor might help cheer her up… probably.

She chuckled lightly, but she still sounded nervous.

He motioned for her to go on. "Let's go inside." He told her.

Taking another deep breath, she slowly wheeled Rufus inside the church. While passing through the aisle towards the altar, Rufus was looking around curiously with a deep frown on his face, having several thoughts on his head. "How will she die? Will she suffer a morbid death just like the others? Or will she just disappear?" he was thinking to himself. Clutching the armrests of his wheelchair, he stared straight ahead and narrowed his eyes, "Stop." He told her.

She obeyed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You stay here." He told her.

"What?" she asked.

"You heard me…" he muttered as he struggled to stand up. He is recuperating from Geostigma and from the side-effects of the explosion of the 70th floor 2 years ago caused by Diamond Weapon, but he knows that if he tries hard enough, he could stand up and walk. Tifa was shocked. "Rufus, what are you doing!" she asked as she clutched his shoulders to force him back onto his wheelchair, but he retaliated, shook his shoulders away from her grasp and took his first step with a trembling left leg, forcing himself to keep his balance.

Tifa was nervous for him. The ground was dirty and if he falls down, it would be very unsanitary for a sick person like him… and knowing how he likes to keep himself clean… she took an initiative to approach him, but he snapped at her with her with a loud booming voice, "I said stay there! I don't want anything bad happening to you! God knows how you're gonna die… I want to make sure that you are safe before that happens."

She pursed her lips, wanting to cry. She took a step backward and just turned away from him, and as she faced the entrance of the Church, she thought she saw Aerith standing there with a basket of flowers… and the Flower Girl even smiled at her. She gasped slightly, but Rufus didn't seem to notice. Tifa just covered her mouth and swallowed hard, turning back to Rufus. She was already shaking and near to tears. She was so afraid but she didn't know how to express herself to him at that moment.

Rufus was able to reach the altar faster than she could have imagined… and he was staring at one particular area of it. The flowerbed.

She wondered what was going on so she rushed to him… and saw what he was looking at: Vincent Valentine.

She screamed in terror and covered her face, hiding behind Rufus as tears finally fell from her eyes.

Rufus still eyed the corpse with a baffled look in his eyes. "He… he didn't receive a call or anything… did he?" he had managed to ask.

"No he didn't." said a voice from behind them.

They both fell silent.

Tifa removed her hands from her face and saw Cloud Strife glaring at them from a distance. She swallowed hard and took a step backward to Rufus's side. "C…Cloud…" she forced herself to say, wanting to sound calm.

Rufus turned his head to the side to look at Cloud from his peripheral vision. "You killed him, didn't you?" he demanded casually.

"He is blaming Aerith for our friends' death." Cloud turned to Tifa. "Now you're next. Let's see how you die so that maybe we can prove to ourselves that Aerith isn't capable of doing such morbid things." He sneered.

Rufus turned to face him. He was beginning to feel tired because he has exerted enough force to make himself stand up and walk, but he still tried to keep his balance. "Such insolence. You don't care whether Tifa dies or not?" he demanded.

Cloud just smiled slightly. "Oh yes, I care about Tifa's life. But I don't like it when people like her and Vincent desecrate the memory of Aerith by telling me that she is the one responsible for the occurring deaths around here!" he pointed out with an angry look in his eyes as he got his sword.

Tifa's first instinct was to step forward and protect Rufus from Cloud. She clenched her fists and did her fighting stance. "Rufus, go." She told him.

"What?" he demanded from her.

"I'll take care of this." She said courageously, but her eyes still indicated fear.

Rufus checked his watch and saw that it was already 5:30. He frowned slightly. "No." he decided.

"Well at least step aside!" she told him nervously as Cloud charged at her. But she knew Cloud's potential and she knows that she couldn't beat him easily… so she avoided his first move and grabbed Rufus's hand, dragging him with her towards the stairs. Her first plan was to escape Cloud… but she knew she made the wrong move of going upstairs to the ceiling area of the Church where the only decent flooring would be uneven wooden planks and beams. "Bloody brilliant, Tifa…" Rufus muttered as his frown deepened upon realizing how high up they were from the bottom. There were barrels around the area, probably used to catch water from the roof during rainy days, but they're useless now because the Church's roof itself is ruined.

"You weren't the brightest anyway, Tifa." Cloud told her as he finally reached the top. She turned towards him, trying to keep a steady heel on the wooden beam where she was standing with Rufus. Rufus grabbed her arms because he was really tired and would fall off easily. "Rufus… can't you stand it any longer?" she asked.

"Blimey, Tifa! You should've just ran outside!" he told her with a ridiculous look on his face.

"Rufus is right, Tifa. You're just endangering yourself now… and poor Rufus. You just made things worse for him." Cloud told her before turning his gaze to Rufus. "Don't worry, Rufus, if Tifa dies, I'll still be here to take care of you and the children." He said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"You leave the children alone, you nasty…" Tifa snapped at him.

"No thank you. I can manage on my own." Rufus told him with a disgusted look on his face.

Cloud finally charged at them. "Hell!" Rufus cussed in surprise. Tifa just pushed him away from herself so that she could dodge Cloud decently and maybe give him an uppercut. She succeeded in the dodging part. She jumped off and landed onto another beam, trying to maintain her balance. Rufus tried to maintain his balance, stooping down in a genuflecting position and holding onto a wooden plank. He was panting hard. His body has not yet conditioned itself back to its original state of health to handle those kinds of adrenalin-rush which he still hasn't felt for quite a long while already. He just wished that Cloud would stop attacking Tifa. "Is this how her life is going to end?" he was thinking in confusion. He checked his watch again and it read 5:30. "Bloody hell…" he muttered before taking a deep breath, "Cloud, enough!" he commanded impatiently.

Cloud just sneered and continued to attack Tifa.

Tifa was already having a hard time keeping her balance. Cloud was too fast for her and at one point, she almost fell off from one of the beams she was stepping on when he successfully slashed her on her right arm. She backed off a little, leaning against a vertical beam and panting hard, her left hand clutching her bleeding right arm. She could tell that the wound was very deep because it was bleeding hard and it really hurt. She sniffed, near to tears, "Cloud, please don't do this to me… for the sake of Aerith, DON'T!" she yelled helplessly at him as he approached her with a cold look on his face.

"Shit… he's gone all sixes-and-sevens!" Rufus muttered as his frown deepened, "Cloud, no!" he yelled at him. "Aerith doesn't want you harming your friends!" he pointed out.

Cloud turned to face him. "What do you know about Aerith, ShinRa? You're nothing but someone who just contributed to her death in the first place!" he answered back.

"For crying out loud, Cloud, if you would just help us out here maybe I could help you!" Rufus snapped back at him as he struggled to stand up. "Tifa is going to die at 6:15 and you don't even give a damn about it! I thought you were friends?" he demanded impatiently.

Tifa cringed when he heard her time of death. "Gee, thanks for reminding me…" she was thinking with a bitter look on her face as she bit her lower lip and sniffed again. "Cloud… I'm… not sure if I really did anything bad to you… but…" she felt tears welling up in her eyes. He just stopped in his tracks and stared straight ahead at Rufus while listening to Tifa. "I… I'm sorry if I thought that I loved you even if I really didn't…" she stammered.

Cloud smiled slightly, puzzling Rufus.

"I was blinded by… being alone… and…" she continued, but stopped when Cloud cut her off, "…and now you're not alone anymore because you hooked up with the villain." He sneered. She felt her heart skip a beat when she heard that.

Rufus took a glance at his watch again. It still read 5:30. He began to feel panic rise to his senses. "GODDAMMIT! My watch stopped!" his mind was screaming. He looked at the skies outside. Dark orangey-dark blue…

Late sunset.

He tried to remember the situation of the skies yesterday, but couldn't focus because Cloud was already approaching Tifa again.

"Cloud, Rufus isn't a villain anymore!" she snapped at him.

He stopped in his tracks and just looked down at her as she fell onto a sitting position. He clutched the handle of his sword tightly before turning around to face Rufus again.

Rufus stared at him in disbelief. "Cloud, I ask of you to stop this insanity now!" he told him sternly.

Tifa's grip on her own arm tightened. "…Cloud…" she said softly as if begging for mercy… and she froze when she heard a familiar voice singing: "Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?..."

Her eyes widened and she took a peek down on the ground floor… and her eyes widened as she gasped upon seeing Aerith standing by another flower bed, holding a basket of flowers and looking up at her… smiling sweetly at her… and standing behind her were Yuffie, Elena, Reno, Rude, Vincent, Barret and Cid.

"…CLOUD!" Tifa screamed in panic, keeping her gaze on everyone downstairs. "RUFUS!" she continued as she struggled to get up, wanting to run to him, but she froze when she saw Cloud approaching Rufus already. "NO!" she rushed after Cloud and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in an attempt to strangle him to make him stop… but they are going to fall off. Rufus was surprised by her sudden action.

"I won't let you harm him!" Tifa snarled at Cloud's ear.

"Let me go you…" he elbowed her abdomen, causing her to take a sharp intake of air due to the intense pain she felt. She slowly let go of him and backed off, clutching her abdomen. She fell backwards against Rufus. He held onto another beam so that they wouldn't fall off. Cloud was coughing, trying to breathe normally again.

"Tifa," Rufus began with a frown on his face as he tried to ease her pain.

Tifa has had enough. She clenched her fists, glaring angrily at Cloud as the song that Aerith was singing kept on ringing in her head. "…why do stars fall down from the sky everytime you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you…"

She instantly got up and rushed to Cloud. "Cloud, I'm sorry!" her mind was screaming as she finally pushed him off. Rufus watched in shock as Cloud fell off… down… and landed on one of the flowerbeds. There was a loud thudding sound when Cloud landed on it.

Tifa was panting hard as she gazed down at Cloud's unmoving body on the flowerbed below. She shrieked in frustration, her voice echoing all throughout the Church. Rufus cringed.

Tifa swallowed hard, tears were streaming down her face. "THERE YOU GO! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW! CLOUD IS DEAD! THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN, RIGHT? YOU WANT TO REACH HIM THROUGH US BUT WE COULDN'T GET THE MESSAGE SO YOU KILL US! ALL BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T LISTEN TO US WHEN WE TELL HIM THAT YOU NEED HIM!" She screamed angrily.

Rufus was quiet for a while, looking down at his white clothes. It had been stained by Tifa's blood already. But he didn't care. He just smiled slightly, thankful that it was all over… and then he looked up at her again as he remained seated… and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Sephiroth standing beside Tifa and looking down at Cloud too. "TIFA!" he cried out in shock. Tifa turned to look at Rufus, but then she felt a heavy large hand push her forward.

Rufus felt as if the world spun around him as he watched her fall off. She screamed. And then she landed on the wooden floor beside the flowerbed where Cloud had fallen. Rufus looked down at her with tears in his eyes, feeling the blood drain from his face. Her arm left arm looked twisted and her neck was broken. Blood was coming out from her mouth and head. She must've cracked her skull too. Her legs looked broken too.

And he remembered Marlene's drawing…

He clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes as he swallowed hard, forcing himself to stand up and holding onto one of the vertical beams for support. He still kept his eyes on Tifa and he felt like going crazy. Leaning against the vertical beam, he reached for his mobile phone inside his pocket and pulled it out, staring frustratingly at it. Then he looked ahead of him, staring at Aerith Gainsborough with a cold look on his face. She just smiled sadly at him and shook her head gently. He just frowned at her and threw his mobile phone at her. He watched quietly as his mobile phone landed on the beam in front of Aerith's feet. It flipped open by itself and it began to ring. It was his usual ringing tone. Aerith picked it up and pressed the answer button, but it was on loud speaker mode.

It sounded like static at first, but then they could finally hear a voice speaking though it was still unclear: "R…Rufus? Rufus?"

His eyes widened upon recognizing the voice. He took a step forward towards Aerith. "…Tifa," he muttered. Aerith just stared blankly at the screen of the mobile phone. Rufus looked down at Tifa again. She was still there… but… how!

Then, he noticed Aerith approaching him. He turned to look at her. She had this sad smile on her face, and as she finally reached him, she handed the phone to him. He hesitantly grabbed it from her and stared at the screen. The call has ended already.

He fell on his knee in a genuflecting position before Aerith. She knelt down before him and touched his hands. She felt so real… so alive. He just stared at her hands on his as he listened to her sing, "On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…

He slowly looked at her face, but his eyes widened when he noticed something loom from behind him. Aerith's facial expression changed from sad to mortified as her mouth let out a silent scream as she looked up at the person who just arrived behind Rufus. Rufus turned around and saw Sephiroth. "What the…" he thought in shock before he felt Sephiroth's hands grab his shoulders and then pushed him off.

Rufus's eyes were wide in terror but he wasn't able to say anything more. His mouth was slightly open in shock as he fell… His hand reached out to Aerith. She reached out to him as if wanting to save him but couldn't. The next thing that Rufus felt was pain when he landed on his back beside Tifa. He still stared up, watching Aerith cry, but Sephiroth wasn't there anymore. Rufus's grip on his mobile phone loosened as he exhaled his last breath.