Her Sweetest Revenge

By: Riquisel Yutifae

=Four=

            Tifa couldn't sleep. "Darn it…" she muttered miserably as she looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. It read 3:00 am. She rolled her eyes before reaching for her mobile phone, wondering if Yuffie or any of her friends from AVALANCHE is still awake. She dialed the number to AVALANCHE's so-called "main HQ" which is in Barret's house in the new Sector 7.

After seven rings, Cloud answered with a sleepy tone, "What is it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Cloud?" she asked in disbelief.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"It's Tifa," she said with a rather sweet tone.

He was quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Oh, it's you."

"Did I wake you up?" she asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

"What do you think?" he asked her with hints of sarcasm.

Silence.

"Sorry," she told him apologetically with a sheepish tone.

"It's okay. So why did you call? Anything wrong?" he asked her.

"I can't sleep." She admitted.

"So?" he asked blankly.

"Cloud?!" she snapped impatiently. Some guys can really be so insensitive.

He chuckled lightly. "Anyway, why can't you sleep?" he asked.

She sighed heavily. "I don't know…" she began.

"So what happened last night?" he asked.

She sat up on her bed. "Well, I placed some laxative on those executives' food… except for Reeve coz he's really nice. And really, I need help with Sephiroth." She told him.

"Why only Sephiroth? Aren't you having a hard time with Rufus?" he asked her curiously.

"I really find Rufus to be an easy target, you know?" she asked with a proud tone.

"And why did you say so?" he asked.

"I think he changed his attitude a little bit… he doesn't seem so stiff now. I realized that only last night when I forced him to have dinner with me at the Wall Market and then we drank some wine in the new bar near the Honeybee Inn…."

She was cut off suddenly when she heard Cloud snickering slightly. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Did you say Honeybee Inn?" he asked her.

Her eyes widened in disgust. "Oh for crying out loud! It's not what you think! Rufus and I…" she began, but Cloud spoke up again with a stiff tone, "Tifa, are you taking advantage of Rufus's weakness?"

Silence.

"That's what you want me to do, right?" she asked him.

"But how are you going to get rid of him if you have sex with him? Are you gonna act like a Black Widow spider?" he joked.

"Shut up, Cloud. I didn't do anything to Rufus." She muttered miserably.

"But are you planning to?" he asked probingly.

"BLOODY HELL, CLOUD!" she exclaimed unbelievably. "I'm not the type to sleep around!" she told him.

"Oh and moments ago, Cid and I were betting that you'd lose your virginity to Rufus ShinRa." Cloud explained.

Silence.

"I'm joking." He told her.

She frowned. "Very funny, Cloud Strife." She told him.

Silence.

"So, what else happened?" he asked sleepily.

Tifa was just silent, remembering that she kissed Rufus. She suddenly turned red.

"You're turning red and you're smiling." Cloud pointed out.

She froze. "Wh…what?" she asked nervously.

"C'mon, Tifa, you're my best friend. I know you. Spill the beans." He said rather lazily, his tone revealing to her that he's tired of denials.

"I kissed Rufus." She said.

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't know… I just did." She said flatly.

"You're trying to seduce the poor guy," he told her.

"Yeah, I guess so… but I'm just trying to be myself here. I even told him that my nickname is Tifa so now he calls me by my real name which is Tifa." She said.

"Isn't he going to get suspicious?" he asked.

"I don't think so." She told him.

"You're making us nervous here," Cloud told her.

"Don't worry about me! I'm practically fine here as long as nobody has a clue on who I really am!" she reasoned.

"Okay then… now I see why you can't sleep." He told her.

"Yeah?" she challenged.

"You're thinking of Rufus." He told her.

Sometimes, she couldn't understand why such a serious guy can sometimes say the darnest things around and at an unexpected situation too. "I think I'll just go to sleep now." She told him, not wishing to talk more to him because it might lead to another playful argument. She hung up without saying goodbye and just placed her mobile phone on her bedside table before turning her gaze to the little space under the door of her room when light seeped in for a few seconds and then disappeared as if someone just passed by with a candle or something. She frowned slightly as it aroused her curiosity. She eventually got out of her bed and went to her door and opened it quickly, searching the hallway from her doorway, when suddenly, she saw a figure of a young woman walking down the hallway. She had long wavy brown hair and she was wearing a pink robe. She was holding a candle and she had her back to Tifa.

Tifa's eyes widened in awe. "W…what the…" she thought in alarm.

A ghost?

NO!

She didn't think twice; she just ran down the hallway after the young woman and called out the name of the person that she had been missing for two years already, "Aerith!"

The young woman stopped walking and slightly turned around to face Tifa. She just smiled slightly at her before turning away again and ran off, disappearing through the other hallway.

Tifa continued to follow the young woman, but when she arrived at the hallway where she turned, she wasn't there anymore. Tifa stopped running as she panted and leaned against the wall. "Aerith," she whispered. She wanted to cry as she clenched her fists.

"What are you doing here?"

Tifa turned around and was surprised to see Sephiroth holding a candle. He was already wearing blue pajamas and a blue robe. His eyes were glowing with the candle's flame flickering.

"I… I thought I saw… someone…" she told him. "Damn… I mustn't let myself be off-guard…" she thought silently.

"Who?" he asked with a hard tone. He really didn't seem pleasant.

"Uhm… I am not sure… I think it's the ghost of an old friend of mine…" she stammered, not really knowing how to explain it to him.

"Oh. I see. Well, if you're here in ShinRa, you should get used to seeing too many ghosts… especially those from the past." He told her with a sly smile on his face as if scaring her.

She frowned at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Go back to your room before I tell Rufus that you're out here ghost-hunting." He told her stiffly as he shooed her away.

She made a face before going to the other direction back to her own room, leaving Sephiroth there.

The moment she was already away from him, he walked going to the direction of the elevator.

            "I thought we told you not to go out?" Sephiroth asked her.

She sighed heavily. "I can't help it… I want to see her… but she's talking to Cloud so I just decided to listen outside her room." She replied as he placed the blanket over her body.

"You're still not in a good condition to be walking around the hallway." He reminded her.

She just nodded. "I know that, Sephiroth," she said gently.

Lucrecia sighed heavily. "You're the one who's suffering. Why did you have to use all your prayers and powers just so that we could all go back here and start a new life?" she asked her.

She just smiled gently at Lucrecia. "Because we all deserve a second chance, right? Especially Sephiroth." She replied.

Sephiroth just shook his head and just smiled pitifully at her.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't look at me like that, Sephy. Don't pity me. I'll be okay. Besides, you guys are here, right?" she asked.

Lucrecia stroked her long wavy brown hair as she smiled gently at her. "Yes, Aerith. We're just here…" she said gently.

With that, she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The room was filled with silence all of a sudden until Sephiroth spoke up, "Mom, you think Tifa's suspecting something?" he asked.

"Of course, why else would she be sent here to spy on us… in case that's her real motive." Lucrecia explained.

"No, I mean… do you think she knows we're keeping Aerith here because Rufus had insisted that the three of us take care of her for what she had done to us in the Lifestream?" he asked.

Lucrecia just shrugged. "We wouldn't know…" she told him. "Just go to sleep now, Sephiroth." She suggested as she got up from the couch and led the way to the door. Her son followed after him. The moment they got out, Lucrecia mentioned something about Scarlet, Heidegger and Palmer complaining to her about stomach aches and diarrhea the whole evening. Sephiroth frowned. "I can see it now: they'll be complaining tomorrow to Rufus too." He said.

"Why did you say so?" she asked as they proceeded down the hallway.

"They wanted to speak to Rufus last night but he was out on a date with Tifa. They wanted him to cancel the meetings and discussions tomorrow because they really don't feel so well." He explained.

Lucrecia laughed. "Well, it must be something they ate last night," she explained.

"But Reeve had the same dinner. I also ate the same food." He pointed out.

"Maybe the devil is playing tricks on them, dear." She said.

"Mom, that is so unscientific," he pointed out with a ridiculous look on his face.

She chuckled. "Sephiroth, remember, I'm not like Hojo." She told him with a wink.

"Ugh. Don't you ever mention that name again." Sephiroth muttered.

"Why not? Don't you love your father?" Lucrecia asked with hints of sarcasm on her tone.

He made a face. "What the…?! Mom?!" he said with a voice that almost sounded like a growl. She laughed at him. "I know, I know, Sephy… we both hate him for what he had done to us. But not to worry though… he's gone and we're here for a second chance." She explained before her face turned serious. Sephiroth could easily determine the sadness in his mother's eyes. "Anything wrong?" he asked.

She just smiled bitterly. "Nothing. I just remembered someone else…" she explained.

He nodded his head slightly. "Care to tell me about it?" he asked.

She just shook her head. "You know who he is. I don't want to elaborate. I could tell that he hates me for what I've done so it's no use thinking about him right now." She told him before stopping by the doorway of her quarters. "G'night, Sephy," she told him before standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss on his cheek.

He just gave off a blank stare to his mother as he watched her enter her bedroom and then closed the door. Sephiroth sighed heavily before turning to the other doorway opposite Lucrecia's room. With that, he entered his own room and just decided to think of a way to help his own mother.

As he lay in bed, he was thinking, "What's his name again?"

            Tifa knew that she was late for work and that it would all cause a salary deduction… but she did not really care that much as she entered her office at around 1:00 pm and realized that there were tons of paperwork for her to do. Three thick folders were already piled up on her desk and she groaned upon reading the titles: New Plans for Space Development; Newly-Developed Weapons (Blueprints inside); and Reports on SOLDIER Disciplinary Issues and Cases. Beside the pile was a note written in a style that almost looked like chicken-tracks. She narrowed her eyes on the handwriting as she read it out loud slowly so that she can also comprehend it, "Miss Lockheart, these will help you for your new marketing plan. Good luck! Love lots, Scarlet" and then there was a drawing of the woman's evil smile beside the signature. Of course, the "love lots" part was full of sarcasm.

Tifa made a face before crumpling the paper and threw it in the bin before staring at the thick pile. "How the hell am I going to use these things?!" she wailed out loud.

She was interrupted when the door just burst open. It was Sephiroth.

She stiffened upon seeing him.

He smiled rather sweetly at her. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt you?" he asked.

She just shook her head frantically, hoping that he did not notice that her eyes had widened in shock and surprise when he entered.

He approached her and he was holding a long brown envelope with a "CONFIDENTIAL" mark on its flap together with the ShinRa Electric Power Company logo. He handed her the envelope. "It's some old files. I'd like you to take a look at it." He told her.

She was quiet as she pulled out a bunch of papers from inside. Everything looked like resumes of new employees, but upon staring at the pictures and what was written on all the papers, she realized that it was some kind of bio-data of people who had been in ShinRa's list of "to-be-hunted-down-and-then-killed".

She swallowed hard as she scanned the files:

Gainsborough, Aerith; Highwind, Cid; Lockheart, Tifa; Strife, Cloud; Valentine, Vincent; Wallace, Barret… and so on.

"Only a few, huh?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"Those are just AVALANCHE. There are plenty more where that came from," he told her with a snobbish look on his face before turning to the pile of folders on her desk. "Lotsa work today, huh?" he asked.

"Uh… yeah… and I wonder why those three handed these to me all of a sudden and didn't wait until the 3 o' clock meeting." She responded flatly.

"They're out sick. Loose bowel movement." He explained.

Silence.

"I see," she replied before pretending to be interested in the contents of the brown envelope. "So, what am I going to do with this?" she asked him casually.

"Do you know them?" he asked directly with a serious look on his face.

"Shit… is he suspecting something?" she asked herself silently before shaking her head in disagreement. "I don't think so…" she muttered.

"Not even three of them?" he asked.

"Huh?" she wondered.

"Never mind," Sephiroth snatched the envelope and the papers. "Don't forget the meeting at 3 o' clock." He told her before he walked out of her office.

She sighed heavily before rolling her eyes and then just plopped down on her seat. "Damn…" she muttered miserably. "I'm gonna screw up… Rufus is going to expect results at 3… I am not yet even finished with the draft…" she thought silently. Then, she just shrugged her problem away. "Oh well, I'll just say whatever pops out from my mind…" she said with a cheerful look on her face.

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To be continued.