Final Fantasy 7

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cloud and the others all stared in amazement at the sight that lay before them. The trail of blood stopped on this floor, simply stopping abruptly in the middle of the floor, but that wasn't what shocked them. What shocked them was the Shinra president's desk, or rather, what lay on top of it. All they could do was stare in complete amazement at what was lying before them.

President Shinra was at his desk in front of them, although he was in no position to talk to them. He wasn't in his chair, instead he was lying face down on top of the desk with his arms sprawled out in front of him as though he had fallen, and was never able to get up. Sticking up out of his back was a monstrously long, thin sword made of shiny silver metal, which was curved slightly for maximum damage. This silver sword was a masamune, a sword that was very difficult to control when in the wrong hands. This sword was sticking straight up into the air out of the middle of the president's back, right through his heart. As with all the others in the high levels of the building President Shinra's face was twisted in a look of horror, and everything else was deadly silent. Both Tifa and Aeris gasped, their voices echoing in the silence of the room, their hands over their mouths in shock. Cloud and Red XIII could only stare in surprise.

They didn't know what was going on, but they felt certain that whatever killed President Shinra wasn't the thing that killed everyone else in the building. Even so, they didn't know what made the blood tracks, either. Behind them came the sound of heavy running feet, and Barret came charging in. He raised his gun ready, but stopped as he saw the president.

"He's dead... The leader of Shinra, Inc. is dead..." Barret said in awe. He lowered his gun-arm, feeling suddenly inadequate now that his target was already dead. He looked up at the long, curved sword, and heard Tifa gasp in dread and horror.

"Then this sword must be...!?" she gasped.

Cloud narrowed his eyes angrily. "Sephiroth's!!" he growled.

Tifa shook her head in amazement. "...Sephiroth is alive?"

"...Looks like it," replied Cloud. "Only Sephiroth can use that sword."

"Who cares who did it?" Barret demanded. "This is the end of Shinra now."

Cloud folded his arms and looked down in thought. Even though President Shinra was now dead, he doubted that it would be the end of Shinra. President Shinra had a lot of senior executives who could easily take control of the company. But he was more worried about the owner of the strange masamune sword rather than the person who was dead.

While he was thinking a small sound suddenly made him snap out of his thoughts, and everyone rapidly turned to one of the pillars at the side of the room. To their surprise a figure was standing behind it, trembling and shaking in fear as he looked out at them. When he met the stares of the others looking back at him he jumped fiercely.

It was Palmer, the head of Shinra's Space Programme. He cried out in a panic and darted forward, trying to make his escape before they could kill him. He made the mistake of trying to run between Cloud and Barret in his desperate dash for the door, but as he ran past Cloud and Barret both reached out and grabbed him by his arms. They grabbed him and pulled him harshly back, holding him still while he struggled violently to get away. He was very panicky.

"P, p, p, please, don't kill me!" he begged of them. He struggled again, but Cloud and Barret both had a tight grip on him and he wasn't going anywhere. That didn't stop him from struggling though, and he kicked out again and again as he tried to wrench himself free.

"What happened?" Cloud asked him, ignoring the terrified man's struggling. He wasn't going anywhere until they got some answers as to what was going on inside the Shinra Building.

Palmer finally stopped struggling as he realised he wasn't in danger from them, and looked up at Cloud. His face was as white as a sheet and sweat was pouring down his face in fear. "Se, Sephiroth," he stammered nervously, his voice almost a whisper. He swallowed hard to try and remove the lump that had formed in his throat. "Sephiroth came."

Cloud opened his eyes wide just at the mere mention of the name, and glared at Palmer. This was no time for joking around, and if Palmer were lying about something as serious as Sephiroth, then he would kill him without hesitation.

"Did you see him?" Cloud asked him, feeling sure that in some way Palmer was fooling around with him and not taking him seriously. He stared furiously into Palmer's terrified eyes. "Did you see Sephiroth?"

Palmer nodded his head fiercely, although his movements were jerky as well. "Yeah, I saw him!!" he exclaimed, looking back at Cloud with his eyes wide open to show he wasn't lying. "I saw him with my own eyes!"

"You really saw him?" Cloud asked again, wanting to be absolutely sure that Palmer was indeed telling the truth. Just to make his point he tightened his grip on Palmer's arm and shoulder.

Palmer stared in disbelief. "Would I lie to you at a time like this!?" he demanded of Cloud, glaring back at him. "And I heard his voice too!" He stopped and gasped as he remembered everything that had happened. "Um, he was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land."

"Then what?" asked Tifa, not really believing it. Cloud looked over at her as she spoke. "Does that mean that the Promised Land really does exist and Sephiroth is here to save it from Shinra?"

"So he's a good guy then?" asked Barret.

Cloud almost laughed out loud at Barret's statement, but instead he shook his head. "Save the Promised Land? A good guy?" he asked in disbelief. He looked up, his eyes narrowed angrily. "No way!! It's not that simple! I know him! Sephiroth's mission is different!"

While they were busy talking, Palmer saw his chance to make his escape before they decided to kill him now they knew what had happened. With a sudden jerk he wrenched his arms free from Barret and Cloud and made a dash for the door at the far end of the room, which led out onto a balcony outside the building. Cloud and his group made no attempt to go after him since they had got the information they wanted from him.

At that moment a loud whirring sound came from the outside, and everyone turned to the large windows that surrounded the back of the dead president's desk. They could see Palmer outside waving his arms towards a helicopter that was rapidly making its way towards the Shinra building. As they watched the helicopter began to land on the balcony.

"Rufus! &%$!" Barret cursed loudly, kicking at the floor with his feet as he saw the helicopter blades begin to slow down. "I forgot about him!"

"Who's that?" asked Tifa.

They watched as a figure stepped down from the helicopter. They could only see him faintly through the glass, but they could tell that it was a fairly young man not that much older than they were, with a head of bright orange hair and dressed in a long white trench coat that ran all the way down to his boots. He had eyes that were cold and callous, exactly like the president's eyes were, and he had a knowing smirk on his face as he stepped off the helicopter, where Palmer immediately ran to him.

"Vice President Rufus," said Barret, glaring at the redheaded man as he looked around. "The president's son."

Tifa almost gasped in amazement. She never knew that the president was married, let alone had a son. In the years she had lived in Midgar she had never seen nor heard of Vice President Rufus, although she knew that there must have been a vice president if there was a president. She only knew of the president and his top executives, but the Vice President had never been to any of the important Shinra meetings or announcements. So there he was... Vice President Rufus.

"I've heard no one's ever seen him bleed or cry," said Aeris in awe as she looked out at Rufus. At that particular moment Palmer was ranting on in front of him in an absolute frenzy, and Rufus didn't look like he was paying too much attention to him, which came as no surprise.

"I've heard that he's been assigned somewhere else for a long time..." said Barret, also in awe. While he watched Rufus flicked a hand through his hair, looking almost pleased with the news that he had just been given.

"I only know his name," said Red XIII.

Tifa folded her arms and tilted her head to the side. "I wonder what kinda person he is..." she wondered.

Cloud looked at the Vice President as he stood there smugly in the middle of the balcony, continuing to ignore Palmer as he ranted and raved. Cloud then narrowed his eyes and began to run towards the door that Palmer used to run out to the balcony with. The other four followed him closely, and they all ran out in single file onto the balcony. Palmer had just about stopped blathering by the time Cloud and his group ran out onto the balcony, where Rufus had folded his arms in thought.

"So... So Sephiroth was actually here..." Rufus said quietly. He looked up at Palmer. "By the way."

He stopped as he looked up over Palmer's shoulder towards Cloud's group who were all running towards him. Palmer also turned and looked. As he saw the five of them heading towards him and Rufus he jumped violently, and then quickly darted off towards the helicopter as it waited patiently at the far end of the balcony.

Cloud's group all came to a stop and stood firmly in front of Vice President Rufus, their hands at their weapons ready in case Rufus made any wrong movements. Rufus simply looked around at the group blankly, seemingly unimpressed by them. Two men, two women, and a dog... he wasn't at all bothered by them.

"Who are you guys?" he asked.

Cloud stepped forward. "I'm Cloud, former SOLDIER First Class!" he said.

"I'm from AVALANCHE!" Barret said fiercely, raising his gun-arm in warning to Rufus.

"Same here!" said Tifa.

"...A flower girl from the slums," said Aeris.

Red XIII flexed his sharp claws. "...A research specimen," he growled. Rufus looked around at the group once again and shrugged, still unimpressed. He had expected a more organised or at least a more threatening-looking group as the infamous rebels he had heard about, but instead, this was it.

"What a crew," he commented simply, which was all that he could say about them. He flicked a hand through his hair smugly and looked back at them. "Well, I'm Rufus. The President of Shinra, Inc."

"You only President 'cause yer old man died!" Barret retorted, taking an instant dislike to Rufus.

Yet, Rufus didn't seem at all fazed by the mention of the death of his father. Instead it almost seemed to bring a strange delight to his face, which reflected a lot of his personality. Instantly Tifa figured out just what kind of person Rufus was, just by the smile he had on his face at that moment. By that smile alone she could tell that Rufus was as cold-hearted as his father was, if not more. She got the impression that if the Sector 7 incident had occurred while Rufus was in charge, he wouldn't try to hide it by blaming it on AVALANCHE. He seemed to be the type of person who would openly admit it, and not give any form of explanation. She clenched her fists tightly and glared at Rufus, her rage beginning to build in her once again.

"That's right," said Rufus, the smug smile still on his face. "I'll let you hear my new appointment speech." He walked forward towards the group and stopped in front of Tifa. She turned her head sharply away and refused to look at him. "...Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working." He turned away and walked over to Aeris, who looked at him. "The population thought that Shinra would protect them." He walked over to Barret, who glared at him with a furious expression on his face. "Work as Shinra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help you. It looks perfect on the outside. But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man." He walked back to the edge of the balcony and looked out at the city of Midgar in the night. "A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

Tifa crossed her arms and looked away from Rufus stubbornly. "He likes to make speeches just like his father," she said, sighing heavily. Rufus turned and glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. While he was busy, Cloud turned towards the rest of the group and looked at them all sternly.

"Get outta this building with Aeris!" he ordered them all suddenly. Everyone in the group turned to look at him in surprise, unable to believe what he was saying.

"What?" Barret asked, staring at Cloud.

Cloud shook his head at them. "I'll explain later," he told them. He looked at Barret sternly. "Barret! This is the real crisis for the Planet!"

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Barret demanded angrily, trying to figure out what Cloud was going on about.

"I'll tell you later!" Cloud said, insistent. He reached up and drew his sword from behind him, holding it in his hands. "Just take my word for it for now! I'll go after I take care of him!"

Barret stared at the determined look in Cloud's face. He wasn't sure what it was Cloud could see in Rufus that he couldn't, but he didn't dare try to contradict him. By now the dead people in the building would surely have been discovered, and guards would now be swarming in the building trying to find them. Aeris had already been captured twice now, so they had to get her out before the Shinra captured her again.

With that he turned and ran off back towards the president's office, followed closely by Red XIII and Aeris. Tifa remained behind for a few seconds more, looking back at Cloud with a concerned look in her eyes. She looked down at the ground for a moment, before she looked up and quickly followed Barret and the others, leaving Cloud and Rufus alone. Once they were gone Cloud turned to face Rufus.

Meanwhile Barret, Aeris, Tifa and Red XIII were all running through President Shinra's office, trying hard to avoid looking at the dead president's body as they passed through. They couldn't believe that Rufus wasn't even at all remorseful or upset over his father's death, but they figured that that was the kind of person he was. Just as President Shinra didn't care when he killed all the people of Sector 7, Rufus didn't care about his father's death.

The group headed back down the stairs towards the secretarial level on Level 69, where all the dead bodies of the secretaries still lay in their terrified heaps. Again they ignored these and headed towards the doors that led back down to the lower levels.

While they were running, Aeris very suddenly came to a complete stop right in the middle of the room. Noticing that she had stopped the others all came to a stop in front of her and turned back to look at her. Aeris was holding her staff gently in her hands, looking down at the ground with a look of concern as though she had suddenly remembered something important. Tifa especially looked at Aeris, feeling she knew what Aeris was about to say.

"Cloud..." Aeris whispered softly under her breath. She sounded concerned about something, and she closed her eyes. "I just thought of something."

"...I'll wait for Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed suddenly, running forward towards Aeris. She put a hand on the young woman's shoulder reassuringly, and Aeris lifted her gaze to look at her. Tifa gave her a smile before she turned to everyone else behind her. "Everyone, get to the elevator!"

Aeris stared into Tifa's face and eyes for a minute or two, before she realised that the exact same thoughts were crossing her mind as well. Slowly Aeris smiled, and nodded. Then she ran forward once again, letting Tifa's hand fall back by her side. Barret and Red XIII followed Aeris as she ran through the open door towards the elevators, leaving Tifa to stand guard at the door as she waited for Cloud.

As Aeris and her group ran around the corner and out of Tifa's sight, they came to a stop. They didn't know what kind of dangers would be awaiting them, and they knew they wouldn't be able to go back down the side stairs like they did coming up. It wouldn't take long for people to discover the events on the higher levels, and they needed to be prepared.

"Hmm, it's going to get pretty ugly from here on," Aeris commented, voicing the thoughts that everyone was thinking. "We should check on our equipment."

At her words Barret raised his gun-arm, revealing the single ball of Ice Materia that he had stored there. He was prepared. In turn Red XIII tilted his head to reveal a small ball of Materia built in just behind a clip on the back of his head, almost like a feather. Aeris had no Materia of her own since Cloud and Tifa had their other Materia, but with Barret and Red XIII at her side she felt much safer.

Once they were sure of their equipment they headed off again towards the nearby lift, and quickly piled in. They didn't like the idea of leaving their friends behind like that, but they knew they had other priorities.

As the lift began to go down, the three relaxed for a moment or two. So far there were no sirens going off in the main building, which could mean that perhaps they were lucky and no one had discovered the dead bodies yet. They may just have a quick and easy escape.

As they stood silently in the lift, they were forced to jump violently as a loud booming sound came from above them. The group looked up, and jumped back in surprise as they saw the adjacent lift also coming down beside him at a rapid speed, only slowing when it came alongside the lift where Aeris and her team stood waiting.

Inside the lift was a large robot, clearly another of Shinra's defence monsters like the Roboguard and Airbuster soldier they had encountered previously. This was a robot that was built up of many powerful artillery weapons – guns, flamethrowers and the like. It looked like a very fearsome opponent, and was directly opposite them.

As the two lifts became level with one another, the robot in the other lift raised two large guns at the front of its monstrous form, and aimed them at the glass separating the two lifts. It opened fire and showered the glass with a stream of bullets. The glass shattered instantly, and a wave of cold air rushed into the lifts from the outside, making Aeris's hair blow back behind her. She raised her staff and held it ready, while Barret and Red XIII also prepared for battle.