Right Hand of Evil

Chapter 8

oOoOo

"I'm worried about Tifa. She looks so dazed." Aerith said as she helped Marlene in setting the table.

Cloud served the food on the dining table. "How can we move out from here if she's behaving like that?" he asked her.

"What? You're moving out?" Marlene asked with a surprised look on her face.

"Well you could visit us sometime. Besides, it's just a couple of blocks from here," he answered with a kind smile on his face.

They heard someone come in from the front door.

"Is that you, Vincent?" Aerith called out.

"No, it's Sephiroth." A deep masculine voice answered.

"Hey," Cloud greeted as Sephiroth stepped inside the dining area.

"Where have you been, Mister Sephiroth?" Marlene asked happily.

"Just walking Red XIII." Sephiroth answered as Red XIII trailed from behind him.

Just then, they heard someone descending the stairs. They turned to see who it was. It was Tifa.

She stared wide-eyed at them. She was wearing her Advent Children garb complete with the pink ribbon around her left arm. They wondered, however, why her right hand was inside the right pocket of her Bermuda shorts.

She eyed Sephiroth in awe. "W…what are you doing here?" she asked.

Sephiroth blinked. "I'm visiting." He said with a perplexed look on his face.

"You… live here?" she asked, feeling so estranged but wanting to be sure.

"No, I have my own house in Sector 1." He answered.

"Sector 1?" she asked. Wasn't it destroyed?

"He's friends with Rufus; he works for him too... just like me. Don't you remember?" Cloud asked her.

Tifa blinked and pretended to have remembered. "Oh! Yes, I remember now… sorry… I just… had a bad dream… but… where's Rufus?" she asked.

"That's why I came here today too. He's missing." Sephiroth said.

Tifa shrugged. "Really?" she asked, although she sounded so uninterested because she knew where Rufus was.

"Yeah. Nobody knows why." Cloud elaborated.

Tifa took a deep breath before saying, "Anyway, do you still have bandages you used for your Geostigma before?"

Silence.

"What Geo… what?" Cloud asked in confusion.

"Geostigma? What is that?" Aerith asked.

Tifa was dumbfounded.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Damn. Tifa, there's no Geostigma here! Things changed, remember?" he was thinking to himself, wishing he could speak up to remind her.

"N…never mind… I just need bandages." Tifa pointed out weakly.

"Why?" Cloud asked before turning to Marlene. "Could you run upstairs and get the bandages." He told her.

"Okay," Marlene said as she went upstairs.

"Are you alright now, Tifa?" Aerith asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yes. I am…" Tifa answered.

"Then what do you need the bandages for?" Cloud asked.

"…I kinda injured my right hand…" she answered uncomfortably.

"Really, can I see?" Aerith asked as she attempted to approach her, but Tifa moved away. "Oh no, no. Don't bother to look at it. It's really an ugly wound…" Tifa told her.

Aerith blinked in awe. "I can heal it for you." She said.

"Gee, I wish you could but if you see how horrible the wound is, you might faint… and they might faint too!" Tifa said with a weak smile on her face, also referring to Cloud and Sephiroth. "Anyway, I'll… just follow Marlene upstairs…" she said before rushing back to the stairs and went up to the second floor.

"What is wrong with her?" Sephiroth asked in wonder.

"I don't know…" Cloud said.

"We think she's over-working herself in her bar… maybe that's the reason why she's acting so strange…" Aerith said. "Anyway, have you found Rufus yet?" she continued.

"No. We definitely have no idea as to where he could be and who could kidnap him." Sephiroth answered. "We've been investigating it ever since this morning when we found out that he's missing." He continued.

From the top of the stairs, Tifa was listening to the conversation from downstairs. She took a deep breath before whispering to Rufus, "They think you've been kidnapped."

"Well that's nice…" Rufus muttered.

"Tifa," Marlene interrupted them.

Tifa jerked slightly upon hearing the little girl's voice. She turned around to face Marlene who was standing at the end of the hallway. She was holding the bandages. "Who are you talking to?" Marlene asked her with a curious look on her face.

Tifa shook her head as she smiled calmly at her. "I was just talking to myself…" she answered as she approached Marlene, took the bandages and patted her head. "Thanks." She said before heading back to her bedroom on the third floor.

Marlene followed her with her gaze, wondering about Tifa's behavior.

oOoOo

Tifa was carefully wrapping the bandages around Rufus. "No Geostigma, no Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo…" she told him.

"Maybe for now. You haven't asked for those Three Stooges yet." He told her.

She giggled. "Three Stooges? Haha."

He raised his eyebrows. "I'm serious!" he told her.

"Oh, blimey, where's your bloody sense of humor, Rufus?" she asked him.

Rufus winced a little. There was something about the way she mentions his name that never really fails to catch his attention and make him look at her. He shrugged. "I guess it shrank away when I shrank too!" he answered sarcastically.

Tifa still smiled at him. "Well I'll bet I can make you laugh." She said.

"You always make me laugh." He answered bluntly.

"You're being sarcastic, Rufus." She said.

Doh. There she goes again. She said his name.

She began to poke his side and tried to tickle him but he did not even budge.

He stared unbelievably at her. "What are you trying to do?" he demanded.

"I'm trying to tickle you!" she answered while giggling.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh give me a break!" he said in annoyance.

She quickly covered his mouth with the bandage to make him shut up because she was frustrated at her failed attempt to tickle the humorless Rufus ShinRa. He reacted rather violently and tried to say "Argh! Don't wrap it too tightly! I might suffocate!" but all she heard was a muffled cry.

"I get it, I get it. You do have a sense of humor but it's very sarcastic. Don't ask how I know, I just found out for myself because I've been with you for quite some time now." She said before taking a deep breath and sighing heavily as she completed the wrapping of the bandages around his head but making sure he could still breathe. "Can you breathe?" she asked gently.

He nodded. "Yes, thank you very much." He replied glumly.

She smiled at him gently, knowing that he could not see her anymore because of the bandages. "You know I never really imagined the two of us together like this…" she told him honestly.

"Really?" he asked, not knowing what else to say after being quiet for a few moments due to contemplation regarding what she had just mentioned to him.

"Uh-huh." She said as she placed aside the rest of the bandages on top of her bedside table.

"What was your first impression of me anyway?" he asked her in a nonchalant manner.

She could not help but smile further when she heard that as she moved towards the door. "Why are you asking me that question?" she asked.

"Because I want to know." He answered.

"Oooh. Interesting. Rufus ShinRa wants to know what other people think of him! Maybe next time we could ask Cloud, Aerith and the rest of the gang on what they thought of you on the first time we met you!" she said gleefully.

Rufus did not know whether she was getting even with him because he thought that she was being sarcastic with him the way that he had been sarcastic with her moments ago. He just shrugged. "I only ask that question to special people whom I am comfortable with." He told her honestly. "So be flattered." He added with a secret smile on his face.

She could not help but feel that he was flirting with her, but she tried to keep her composure. "I am?" she asked, blushing as she stopped in her tracks, grabbing the doorknob with her left hand.

"Don't make me repeat myself." He told her sternly.

She pursed her lips and lowered her gaze to her bandaged "right hand". But before she could answer him, he spoke up, "Never you mind. I'm starving. I can smell the food."

She felt her heart getting crushed. "He's avoiding the issue…" she thought to herself with a disappointed look on her face. "Sure." She said to him plainly before opening the door and stepping out or her room.

oOoOo

Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, Sephiroth, Marlene, Vincent, Barret and Denzel were quiet as they ate their lunch, observing Tifa as she ate with her left hand and kept her right hand on top of the table and she seldom moved it as if it was stiff.

"Are you sure that is okay?" Barret asked, feeling uncomfortable. He was imagining what could have happened to that hand of hers… like, it could have been crushed by something and she did not want any medical treatment.

"It looks swollen…" Yuffie pointed out.

"No it's not. It's just wrapped thickly, that's all." Tifa told them reassuringly although she looked like she was hiding something. She wished she was better in acting calmly just like Rufus so that they would leave her and her hand alone.

"What happened to your hand anyway, Tifa?" Marlene asked.

"I… was trying to close the window but my hand got caught... you get the picture." She answered.

"Man, you're so clumsy," Cloud pointed out rather carelessly with a disapproving look on his face. Aerith shot him a warning look. Sephiroth snickered while Vincent stared horridly at the bandaged hand, imagining how the window slammed against her hand.

"Really? Did it bleed?" Denzel asked curiously with a look of wonder on his face.

"…No." Tifa answered while eyeing Cloud in annoyance. "And yes, I know I'm clumsy." She told her friend with sarcasm.

Cloud just shrugged. "We think you should have that checked." He told her, not wanting to start a fight with her.

"He's right. What if there are broken bones or something? You could be bleeding internally now." Vincent added.

Rufus could feel that everybody was staring at him even if he was wrapped in bandages. He liked and hated the smell of bandages at the same time. For one thing, it smells clean and he loves to keep himself clean. But the downside is, it reminded him of the smell of hospitals. He never really liked hospitals that much even though at one point in his life, he dreamed of becoming a doctor.

"No, I'm not. I'm perfectly fine." Tifa reassured them with a weak smile on her face.

"What about your morning sickness?" Sephiroth asked her.

She stopped eating and eyed him in wonder. "Morning sickness?" she asked. Wasn't that a symptom of pregnancy? She raised her eyebrows at him. "I was just queasy." She got her glass and filled it with water from the pitcher. "And please stop giving me looks that I'm pregnant. It's making me uncomfortable." She told them, feeling that her ears were getting warmer.

"Are you?" Cloud asked curiously.

The other men eyed her in curiosity.

She blinked in bewilderment. "Of course not! I don't even have a boyfriend… and I haven't… done that before." She blushed and gulped down the water from her glass. She noticed that they were still eyeing her. She could tell that they were not buying what she had just said, except for Aerith who was convinced that something else was wrong with her.

"No boyfriend since birth. But it could happen…" Sephiroth pointed out with a mean smile on his face.

"Foo'!" Barret laughed at Tifa, "So, you followin' Aerith's footsteps?" he asked her.

"I'm not pregnant!" Tifa protested in annoyance.

Silence.

"Alright, that's enough." Aerith told them. "You boys ought to respect her privacy now." She added sternly.

"We believe her, Aerith. We're just teasing her. Mwahah." Sephiroth said, trying to stop himself from laughing.

Tifa clenched her jaw and just looked away.

"So anyway... as I was saying," Yuffie continued to blab about something that Tifa could not relate to. However, everybody else seemed to be interested with what she was telling them.

Tifa just continued to eat, thankful that she was not being teased upon anymore. When nobody else was looking at her, she sneaked a piece of bread and a piece of steak and some vegetables in a plastic bag and placed it inside her pocket. "Ugh… now I know how hard it was for Rufus to sneak some food for me…" she thought to herself, feeling so uncomfortable. She thought that he could have starved her, but when she was with him, she never felt neglected. Somehow, being attached to Rufus's hand for a long time made her feel fulfilled and satisfied with life. She never realized that he could be capable of caring for her when in fact, she thought that he would just leave her to die. "Hmm… but that would be ugly… if I died and I was still a part of his body… ugh. Gross. Blimey, he would have to chop me off!" she thought with a disgusted facial expression on her face.

"Tifa?"

Her thoughts were interrupted when Denzel called out her name. She turned to him. "Y…yes, Denzel?" she asked.

"You're spacing out. Are you alright?" he asked.

All eyes turned to her.

She took a deep breath and smiled happily at them. "Oh yeah… I am… I was just thinking…" she stammered.

"Of what?" Marlene asked curiously.

"Uh… of… a Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj. Do you know who they are?" Tifa continued.

"Finally." Rufus thought silently, relieved that she had finally spoken up about those three.

Sephiroth eyed her unbelievably.

"You don't remember who my children are?" Vincent asked in disbelief.

Tifa's eyes widened. "What?" she asked in awe. "Who's… who's your wife then?" she asked.

"Lucrecia." Vincent answered.

Tifa was dumbfounded, so was Rufus. "I thought she's dead?" she asked.

"No, she's not. She was just in isolation in a cave… and we found her two years ago when Hojo died." Sephiroth told her.

Now Tifa and Rufus were really confused.

"Are you okay, Tifa?" Aerith was really beginning to get worried.

"Are you sure the window hit your hand and not your head?" Yuffie asked, eyeing Tifa suspiciously.

Tifa took a deep breath. She realized that it was easier to go back to the past because she knew what would happen in the future, but when things from the past gets amended, the future can change too. She smiled uneasily. "I think… I hit my head too…" she told them. And it was equally hard to catch up.

"A lot has changed…" Rufus realized silently with a frown on his face. "How the bloody hell am I going to catch up?" he thought. He could sense that Tifa had gotten more confused.

"So… you have three children?" Tifa continued, looking at Vincent curiously.

"Actually, yes, if you include Sephiroth. He's the eldest." Vincent told her with a proud look on his face.

"What about… Kadaj?" she asked.

"Kadaj?" Sephiroth asked.

Vincent blinked. "Well… Lucrecia's planning to have another child… and we thought we'd name him Kadaj. But how did you know that, Tifa?" she asked.

Tifa felt like the color was draining from her face. "Just… a guess." She answered uncomfortably.

"Loz is a year old; Yazoo is only a few months old." Sephiroth reminded her.

She nodded uneasily. "I see… and…" she swallowed hard. "What has Rufus been doing in two years ever since?" she asked.

"He's just in ShinRa, working and working and working." Cloud pointed out.

"And he's still single, never goes out on dates…" Sephiroth continued with an amused smile on his face.

"But he's running Midgar perfectly, in my opinion." Vincent added.

"That foo's definitely better than his father." Barret said with a look of approval on his face.

Tifa was stunned. "R…really?" she asked.

"How come you can't remember anything?" Yuffie asked in confusion.

"I'm… just a little shaken, I guess. I mean, I don't really feel so good and all…" Tifa fibbed rather uneasily. She stopped for a while before asking, "How did Hojo die?"

They were all quiet, staring at her in awe.

"You don't really remember, do you?" Cloud asked.

She shook her head.

"I killed him." Sephiroth pointed out bluntly.

Tifa eyed him carefully. "You did?" she asked.

"Yes, because he attacked Rufus." He said.

She gasped. "You saved Rufus?" she asked.

"I work for Rufus." Sephiroth told him.

"We work for Rufus." Cloud added.

Tifa blinked. "I work for him too?" she asked.

"No, just me, Sephiroth and Vincent… and Barret. Barret works in the Weapons Department as one of the researchers and developers; I'm Rufus's Vice President for now, Sephiroth is a General; he is also the head of the Peace Keepings Division, while Vincent is the new head of the Turks." Cloud pointed out.

Tifa stared at Rufus in surprise. "You're the Vice President?" she asked in shock.

Cloud frowned at her, "Why, does it look impossible?" he demanded.

"Then why are you guys still living here with me?" Tifa asked. "I mean… you have all the money in the world to… move out!" she said.

"We can't leave you, Tifa. Especially since now you're displaying symptoms of pregnancy…" Cloud began.

"WHAT?" Tifa cried out exasperatedly.

"No, seriously, we can't leave you, foo', coz we're helping out at your bar too. Especially Aerith. You're overworking yourself and you need assistance." Barret pointed out.

"Basically, you're like the female version of Rufus." Sephiroth added.

"…with no exceptions? …that I'm like Rufus except that I'm happier and more optimistic and…" she said after a few moments of silence because of bewilderment.

"No exceptions." Yuffie answered bluntly.

"I think this is the best time to tell her the truth…" Cloud said.

Aerith smiled sadly at her. "Tifa, we're concerned about you. You've just… transformed." She said.

Tifa blinked. "I did?" she asked.

"Yeah. You used to be really contented with your life but in two years, we noticed that you've changed…" Aerith began.

"In other words, you're a mess!" Sephiroth said frankly.

Vincent eyed him warningly.

"What? I'm telling the truth!" Sephiroth said in defense when he saw that his father was eyeing him that way.

Tifa was dumbfounded as she slowly got up. "Gee, I think I should lie down for a while…" she said as she uncomfortably walked going to the stairs.

As soon as they could not hear her footsteps on the stairs anymore, Cloud spoke up, "We should have her checked."

Aerith nodded. "I'm getting really worried about her condition." She said.

"Yeah. Especially if she's really pregnant but she's hiding it from us? It could be dangerous for her baby!" Yuffie said.

oOoOo

"Did you hear that? I'm a total mess now!" Tifa told Rufus as she shut the door, locked it and began to remove the bandages around him.

"Looks like we're all surprised…" he said.

She placed the bandages on the bed. "We're like, screwed. We changed stuff in the past and now they're telling me how such a big mess I am!" she told him exasperatingly.

"What's so bad about overworking?" Rufus asked.

"Are you nuts?" she argued in disbelief. But then she almost forgot that she was talking to Rufus ShinRa, a workaholic. "I'm not really that serious. What happened to my fun side?" she asked as she plopped down on her bed.

"Never mind. You're here. You're different. You can change." Rufus told her.

"Oh well… you're right…" she said after giving it a thought before pulling out the plastic bag and smiled sadly at Rufus. "It's not presentable but… here's your lunch." She told him.

Rufus stared at his lunch and frowned slightly. "Thank you…" he said bluntly as she assisted him in eating.

"Well, life looked a lot better. The kitchen looked nicer, the stairs are not creaking, the bar looks bigger… the children are wearing nicer clothes…" Tifa stated flatly.

"I wonder how I am doing here, though." Rufus said.

"You heard them; you're overworking yourself." She said. "But now, you've been kidnapped and nobody knows why or how…" she added.

"Well, they are being suspicious of you already. They even though you're pregnant…" Rufus smiled and he laughed at her.

She frowned at her. "Are you making fun of me?" she demanded.

"You're too tense, Tifa. That's why you're giving them the impression that something is really wrong with you." He said.

"Well something is indeed wrong with me…" she said, eyeing him miserably, meaning to point out that he caused her misfortune.

"Just calm down. Don't make such a big deal out of me being attached to your hand." He said casually.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh don't be such a hypocrite, Rufus. Did you feel that way when I was attached to your hand?" she demanded.

"Of course I felt uneasy at first but I got used to… having you around me." He hesitated with a frown on his face.

She looked away sadly. "Well that's odd, hearing something like that from you." She told him.

He did not say anything more.

"I just wished I was in my normal size and wasn't attached to your hand…" she muttered.

He looked up at her but before he could say anything, she shoved a piece of bread into his mouth.

"Anyway, I'm surprised that this time, you're the one attached to my hand. I wonder what happened. Based on your theory, once we get Aerith's ribbon, we'd be back here. But now we're back from where we came from, how come we're still attached to each other? And it's the other way around now!" she said with a confused look on her face as Rufus chewed his food.

After swallowing, he said, "Maybe we did something wrong."

"Your theory is wrong?" she asked.

Rufus felt a little ticked off that Tifa thinks he's wrong. Nobody thinks that Rufus ShinRa is wrong. But he just kept the annoyance to himself. "No. We could have done something wrong… or maybe we forgot to do something?" he asked.

Her face sulked. "But caused such a drastic change in the past, what else could have gone wrong?" she asked.

"Exactly. We have to find out in this present state we're in." he muttered.

They were silent for a few moments, thinking of what else they could do.

"Everyone seems alright. Cloud looks happy, Aerith is alive, Vincent is contented with his life, Sephiroth isn't insane… the children aren't sick. What is there to change?" he asked in annoyance. He did not know what to think of anymore.

She blinked in awe and eyed him, lifting him up so that she could look at him face-to-face. He wondered why she was looking at him in awe.

"It's us." She told him.