Redeeming Grace
Chapter 2
Author: Fianna
Rating: R for violence
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and accompanying characters are the property of Square Enix and I use them with discretion and respect and without reward.
The train rocked back and forth as it wound around the circular tracks that wrapped the city of Midgar, rushing from level to level full of impatient and noisy riders that Anath struggled vainly to ignore. She ruffled the pages of the paper in her lap, eying the teen sitting next to her as he hummed faintly to some tune coming from the tiny device planted in his ear. At least he wasn't paying attention. She folded the pages backward and then again in half to leave the article she wanted flat on her lap.
The newspaper article was not long, a short tidbit on the back page, of a collapsed building rumored to have been taken down by Avalanche in their war against Shinra. Anath rustled the paper with a frown, knowing otherwise. The tower had fallen by none other than Shinra's own military force, Soldiers sent in to make it seem like Avalanche's work, if only to raise the conglomerate's image as it supposedly fought the rebels.
Shinra was siding with the public's outcry against the violence. But yet Anath knew that the company was involved if not completely responsible for some of the worst crimes, rather than Avalanche as the company wanted the people to believe. The memo's proved it, tucked away in the thickening folder with Sephiroth's pictures and articles, now including the rebel's practices as well.
A tangled web the company was weaving. Would Avalanche actually make any difference in the life of the planet? Shinra was a world-wide powerhouse; the tiny rebel group could hardly make a dent in the conglomerate's hold on the world. Yet they continued to fight, strike upon strike, eating away at the heart of the company.
She turned the paper over, sliding into the bag beneath it as the young man at her side began to sing in a low off-key voice. She grinned, knowing he had no idea he was really singing aloud. But the grin faded into a weary sigh as she slid the bag to the floor beside her feet. The war between Shinra and Avalanche was getting heated with the attacks becoming more deadly and numerous. Midgar had felt the brunt of much of the fighting with another reactor blown just last week.
Things were getting tough as Shinra tightened its fist on the energy available. She didn't know what more she could do. Her decision to reject Miko that day long ago had spurred thoughts that perhaps there was more to her life than the clerk job at Shinra. But then reality would set in. What could she do? If anyone knew what she was it would end any chance of getting other work. Especially when word had spread that Sephiroth himself had once defended her.
She still got curious glances when she walked the streets. The latest memos from the IT dept had hinted that Sephiroth was not happy with upper management. And word as usual leaked out. That single episode in the bar continued to haunt her. What kind of relationship did she have with the soldier? Why would he defend someone like her unless there was something more… she could only hope no one had seen him near her apartment. But she had to laugh; did they think the man followed her constantly, ready to protect her at the slightest provocation? She'd not seen him since that one night.
She sighed and picked up the bag when the train rolled into her stop. Stepping off the platform she stared at the tall buildings around her, blinded by the bright sunlight of the upper levels of Midgar. She'd forgotten her sunglasses again. In the slums the sun was a forgotten entity, hidden from the lower classes by the imposing steel plates that supported the upper levels of the city. She squinted, hurrying down the street toward Shinra. But as she walked, sidestepping around the various objects and people in her way, brushing back the narrow band of silver hair that fluttered over one eye, she couldn't push aside the image of Sephiroth as she'd seen him in the elevator with those amused sea green eyes. Somehow Sephiroth had planted himself inside her head; his voice, his image was emblazoned on her subconscious so that even when she slept she dreamt of him.
It was eerie and unsettling. She hurried into the building, arriving in a breathless rush from the stairway to drop into her chair with a relieved laugh. Unsettling indeed, he seemed to interrupt her thoughts constantly. She shoved the bag beneath her desk when the door slid open and Jaco staggered inside with a file box. She picked up the pile of folders waiting on her desk to be filed, placing them on her lap with Sephiroth's on the bottom as Jaco dropped the box onto her desk.
"I've one more and then I'm out of here. Heard from Sephiroth lately?" The young man's leer made her stand up irritably.
"Why would I hear from Sephiroth? I've seen him once."
Jaco waited until she walked past him to answer with a low laugh. "That's not what I hear."
She ignored him, placing the files she carried carefully in the waiting box, making sure Sephiroth's stuck out slightly. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Jaco sank down on the desk and crossed his ankles. "Rumor has it that Sephiroth was seen going into your apartment."
She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Really? I never saw him," she lied casually, turning back to set the lid on the box with trembling fingers.
"Come on, Anath. Did you talk to him? I won't tell anyone!"
She resisted the urge to snort. "I haven't seen him since that one day at the elevator. I've got work to do, Jaco. Do you want anything else?"
Jaco pushed onto his feet with a sigh. "Well, fine if you won't admit it. But I've heard a rumor from one of the runners up top about Sephiroth."
She couldn't resist any news of Sephiroth. She turned to Jaco. "Okay, I'll bite. What is it?"
Jaco smiled craftily. "Admit you saw him again and maybe I will tell you."
She moved back to her chair but didn't sit down, rather faced Jaco across her desk as he leaned on it to stare back. "Why would it matter?" she asked evasively.
"Because if you did see him, Anath, then I am hoping you will tell me more about him."
"Why do you care?"
Jaco arched an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses, his eyes uncomfortably large behind the lenses. "Because rumor has it that Sephiroth is now a wanted criminal."
She stepped back and stumbled to drop into her chair. "What?"
Jaco grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "If it's true I want to find out why."
She shuddered rubbing her arms. "If it's true Jaco, we might be in for big trouble."
Jaco shrugged nonchalantly. "Avalanche and Shinra will take care of him, one way or the other."
She didn't believe that. Sephiroth was extremely powerful, with almost superhuman strength. His skill with the Masamune – a six foot sword with a finely wrought narrow blade, was the pinnacle to which all the others strove to reach. His magic was at master level, the materia he carried was probably some of the strongest on the planet. How and who could possibly defeat such a man? What had he done to be labeled a criminal? And worse, why?
She leaned forward to grip the edge of her desk. "I've talked to him one other time. But I can't tell you anything other than he is very imposing, Jaco."
The young man whistled low in his throat. "Whew. What did he want?"
She struggled to keep the heat from rising into her cheeks. "Information, but I didn't have anything to give him. He was asking about Shinra."
"Ah a spy," Jaco snorted. "A ridiculous thing to think you might be a good spy."
Anath gritted her teeth at his annoying laugh. "So what is this rumor, Jaco?"
The young man folded his arms over his chest. "They said it was Sephiroth who blew the last reactor. He's had some disagreements with the President."
She could hardly believe that would set the soldier off and said as much. Jaco dismissed her arguments with a wave of his hand. "At any rate, the company has sent out soldiers to find him since he seems to be missing."
Anath bit her lip. For once she'd not seen anything about it. The thought concerned her, what was Shinra planning? What had really happened? "If you hear more will you tell me?"
Jaco strode to the door with a smirk. "Sure, but I'm thinking there was more to Sephiroth's visit than just asking for information. Next time don't blush when someone asks you." He laughed dragging the door shut, but it hit the door frame, as she intended and then bounced back.
For once Anath didn't care, sitting bleakly at her desk.
Had he learned something about his past? If so the world was going to find itself in serious danger. She retrieved the file from the storage box with shaking hands. It had to be rumor. Someone bored and deciding Sephiroth's disappearance would be good gossip. It had to be that.
A month later she stepped off the elevator in the basement with a sense of shock as she looked across the parking area to see the door to the storage room was ajar. There were only a few people with the combination. She walked slowly toward the door apprehensively.
A muffled curse and the sound of boxes being dropped made her pause as her hand touched the door frame. A deep sense of misgiving flooded her, an unmistakable urge to flee so strong she was half-way across the driveway before she realized it. Anath stopped and began to slowly turn back when the deep voice made her freeze.
"You don't obey very well."
She completed the turn to face Sephiroth, nearly stepping back at the fervent gleam in his eyes. "They are looking for you."
Sephiroth smiled grimly and took a step toward her. "I know. I told you to flee."
She blinked in confusion. "I … you sent me that thought?"
"You would do well to heed it, Anath. Things may soon change drastically."
She pressed her hands against her stomach to quell the flip flops as she stared at Sephiroth. He was the same, yet something new flickered in his eyes, a fury that couldn't quite be contained. What had made him angry? She didn't have time to consider it as Sephiroth gripped her arm to pull her back into the storage room. He pulled the door shut and then pushed Anath against the wall.
Two hands on either side of her shoulders kept her from moving.
"I am leaving for awhile. I don't know when I will be back."
She nodded, trying to ignore the closed door. "Why do you tell me?"
He smiled faintly, his sea green eyes glowing, a mark of the Mako infusions that the soldiers received. "Will you miss me?"
She slid her hands over her arms as he pressed closer, tilting his head to gaze at her curiously. "How can I miss you? It's not like we see each other every day."
He laughed softly and brushed a leather clad hand over her cheek. "But I do see you everyday, clearly in my mind, in your tiny cubicle sorting endless drifts of paperwork."
"Should I be impressed with your imagination?" she retorted sarcastically and was rewarded with a short laugh from Sephiroth.
"Perhaps not. Do I not frighten you?"
She looked up to find a curious gaze looking back. "I won't lie and say no."
He sighed and then moved so they were nearly touching. "You should be. But that's not what I am here for or what I want right now." She closed her eyes as his fingers tipped her chin. "I may not be back for a while."
"Where are you going?"
"I can't say. Will you miss me?"
"If I say yes what will you do?" she replied, opening her eyes to find a mocking smile curving his lips.
"Then I will leave satisfied my interest is not in vain," he declared as he bent to kiss her briefly. He sighed and then crossed to the door and looked out and then back at her. "If you sense my thoughts again, Anath, you would do well to heed them."
He left the door open, leaving her curiously bereft. She could add one additional item to her folder. Sephiroth was telepathic. What other kind of powers did the man have? Far more than anyone could have guessed. But Sephiroth's inference that he might be gone for some time played out far longer than she could have imagined, five long years that left her folder empty of news. Was he dead?
"How did they get out?"
"Someone was careless."
Anath pressed against the wall in the next room with folders in her arms to be filed for Professor Hojo. She was rarely allowed into the upper regions of Shinra's office complex and the call for a clerk had come as a surprise. Hojo, one of Shinra's elite scientists, had informed her of what he wanted but then he had hurried out when the head of the weapons department arrived. Distracted easily, he'd completely forgotten Anath and that she'd come upstairs to get his files.
Scarlett, in her trademark red dress, was even more impatient than the professor. Anath had meant to gather the files and leave quickly; Hojo was too familiar, a reminder of someone she'd just as soon forget.
But the conversation outside the room drew her sudden attention.
"Sephiroth's reappearance has made things difficult."
Anath slid slowly down the wall clutching the files to her chest. He was alive! It was true! A fierce sense of satisfaction made her smile grimly. Sephiroth's disappearance five years ago had shocked the world. Rumors had been rampant of his death and Shinra had not denied them. But Anath had known instinctively the soldier was still alive.
"His rampages are getting too much notice. We've had word he's been searching for something." She could hear Scarlett cross the room, her heels making an annoyed tattoo on the tiled floor. "You know about the materia. Do you think he can find it before we do?"
"Or before Avalanche does?" Hojo interjected wryly. "They are as hot on his heels as we are."
There was a rude snort from Scarlett. "Clearly they are little more than an annoyance. The Turks will take care of them."
"Your henchmen are powerful, yet these rebels have a strong will to succeed. I hear their ranks are growing."
"I've heard differently. After the last Midgar sector fell and crushed the slums, they lost half of their force. I haven't got time to worry about a bunch of mosquitoes pecking at me. Rufus is adamant that we have to find Sephiroth and more importantly, the black materia before Sephiroth does."
"Rufus is nothing like his father."
Anath crawled to the door to lean against it. Scarlett's voice sounded distant. "It doesn't matter. We have work to do. We are leaving tonight. Be ready to leave by eight." The door slammed shut and Anath rose to her feet, slipping out the door as Hojo stared out the window.
Sephiroth was alive. She glanced at the folders in her arms. Was there more information than what she had seen so far? Perhaps she could aid the rebels in some way, if only to get the chance to see Sephiroth again. No one would expect her to help Avalanche.
The bar, Tifa's Seventh Heaven, was a beacon as she crossed the street. A few cars passed her on the street, the sidewalks bare of any pedestrians. The bar when she stepped inside was nearly empty.
She crossed to a table beside the window and sat down, hugging the folders to her chest, beneath her coat. If anyone caught her outside of Shinra with the information she carried she'd be fired and much worse. Shinra was outside the law; she wouldn't be missed if they found out.
The waitress stopped and took her order with a wan smile.
How to acknowledge that she wanted the rebels? She'd followed rumor that this was one of their hangouts. The owner Tifa was a slim woman, tough but hardly out of her teens to be running a bar like this.
A large man stormed into the bar and crossed into the back room. Ebony skin and the huge muscular frame named him as Barrett. A miner retired when he'd lost a hand in a mining accident, so it was said, he was often here at the Seventh Heaven, as he should be as the leader of Avalanche. She was thankful for the memo's crossing her desk. Did they understand just what information was passing through her? She laughed silently. Obviously Shinra didn't consider her a threat.
Barrett stormed out of the kitchen and sat at the bar.
"Excuse me."
The large man turned toward her, tucking the once ruined hand down on his lap, now sporting a wicked looking gun. "Eh? Can I help you?"
Anath smiled warmly. "No, but maybe I can help you."
The newspaper clipping almost tore; the creases had been folded so many times the paper hardly held together. Anath gently slid the clipping back into the folder. She pulled out another article, staring at it as she unconsciously slid her fingers over the photo.
Soldier rages uncontrollably, a hero turned bad. Warnings have been spread to all corners of the planet. Shinra refused today to admit they had any involvement in the insanity that is now Sephiroth as he continues to wage his war against humanity. The past few months have left many parts of the city in ruin as the ex-soldier fights AVALANCHE and Shinra both…
"The paper has no clue what happened," Tifa complained, looking over Anath's shoulder at the newspaper as she rubbed the table absently.
Anath smiled faintly, sliding the paper away from Tifa's swipes with her cloth. "No, I don't think they do. All they care is the sensation he's creating."
The article continued in a mundane description of the number of deaths accounted to Sephiroth. But she didn't want to read but rather stare at the photograph that was foremost on the front page. Sephiroth in a rage, eyes furious with his six foot sword raised over head, flying through the air in a skill few could rival. She traced the edges of the sword under her finger. Could they really believe someone could stop him? Each day the man's insanity had grown deeper, his rage hotter.
"It's been so long since we found out he was still alive and we still haven't been able to stop him." Tifa sat down across from her with a sigh. "I should be out there with Cloud, and Barrett. Instead today I am washing dishes and waiting on no one. The world has gone crazy, Anath."
Anath could only agree with the slim woman. Tifa turned to stare out the window into the street, her dark eyes misty. "I am worried about Cloud. He is not the boy I knew when we were young in Nimbelheim." She turned to Anath with a pale smile. "Did I ever tell you what happened before Sephiroth disappeared?"
Anath knew, from the reports she'd seen on her desk, but it would be interesting coming from Tifa's viewpoint. "I know a little."
Tifa laughed quietly with a shake of her head. "You know more than we do I am sure, Anath. But that time was terrible. We were lucky to find Cloud, after all that happened. Did you ever meet Zack?"
Anath thought of the elevator and Zack's grin. "I saw him once."
Tifa smiled. "I met him in Nimbelheim. He was a First Class Soldier then, he came with Sephiroth to the village. We thought nothing of it, only that they had work to do regarding the reactor. I was the guide that led them into the mountains, to the reactor. I didn't know Cloud was there too, he was only an MP, and their uniforms hide their faces."
Anath didn't ask why Cloud had not talked to Tifa, although the two had been good friends growing up. Tifa sighed and rubbed the towel over the table.
"Sephiroth went into the reactor, they made me stay outside. The next thing I knew Sephiroth came out in a fury, and went back to Nimbelheim to Gast's Mansion there. He locked himself into the basement library for weeks. No one could get inside, not even Zack. And then one night the village went up in flames."
Tifa shuddered, biting her lip. "I ran out of the house, my dad had left earlier, and I found my trainer holding a young man who was dying. The streets were filled with smoke and ash; buildings were burning all around us. It was Sephiroth. I watched him in horror, standing amid the flames and smoke, just staring." She rubbed her heel against her forehead as Anath patted her shoulder. "I went crazy, fearing for my dad. I knew Sephiroth meant to go back to the reactor. I followed him but he was faster than I was. He has powerful materia that gave him more speed, I wouldn't doubt that he flew to the reactor, he's so powerful. And there, when I finally caught up, was my dad. He was dead, with Sephiroth's sword there beside him. He'd killed him."
Tifa stared at Anath sadly. "I went crazy. I ran inside, dragging that horrible sword, thinking I'd kill him. I was a fool to think I'd be any match for a soldier, let alone Sephiroth. I rushed up behind him; he was standing before the door to Jenova's chamber. I screamed at him, asking him why and then he turned, grabbing the sword hilt as I swung it toward him, so strong he lifted me off my feet." Tifa was white, her lips trembling, "and then all I knew I was falling backwards down the stairs, in horrible pain." She dropped her face into her hands.
"You don't have to tell me, Tifa. I know it was horrible."
"But you have to understand. You see Zack understood something had changed in Sephiroth. He rushed in to fight him and Sephiroth wounded him severely, and then Cloud came. He told me he rushed Sephiroth like I did, but Sephiroth was inside Jenova's chamber by then, talking to her. Cloud stabbed him from behind, using Zack's huge sword. And then ran back outside to help me. But Sephiroth wasn't dead, even impaled as he was. He came outside and stabbed Cloud, shocked and furious that a mere MP could harm him, angry that Cloud had interfered. Cloud somehow fought him off and then before he could do anything else, Sephiroth leaped away from him, over the edge of the platform into the lifestream ebb that lay far below the reactor. Jumped with Jenova into the energy and we thought he must have been absorbed into the lifestream. Dead and gone finally."
"But he wasn't"
Tifa dark eyes glittered. "No, he was worse than dead. He was a god, nearly. When he fell into the lifestream his will united with Jenova's. Their cells combined into something far more powerful. He accessed those who had died, those who had been injected with the Jenova cells. And then we had to stop him again."
"So what caused his anger?" Anath asked and Tifa frowned.
"You read the reports. Sephiroth is telepathic. He connected with Jenova, or she did with him. She twisted his thoughts, I know it. Sephiroth already knew what Gast and Hojo had done; he'd destroyed many of the monsters they'd created. But then he found out he was one of them too. Gast had injected Jenova cells into him while he was still in his mother's womb. Mako energy and Jenova cells in order to create a more powerful being, a different kind of monster. And I think Jenova turned him. She made him believe he was above us, that we were nothing, insignificant. We had to be destroyed."
Anath shuddered faintly. Gast, Hojo… Shinra itself how many lives had they twisted and corrupted with their thirst for power. She knew it all so well, regardless of the reports she'd seen, or Tifa's memories of it. She'd known about Sephiroth. The report in her files, Gast's report.
She hated Gast. Yet Sephiroth at first had been what they'd wanted. Agile, wicked with a weapon none of the other soldiers could match, so powerful that he rose to the top of Soldier by the time he was in his late twenties. But they had not taken in Jenova's strength, or the possible repercussions of using alien DNA. The creature's implacable will was so powerful, even the tiniest of cells clamored to reunite. Anath knew it; she could feel the call, suppressed deep within her mind. All because of Gast. Yet he had created Sephiroth, the man she held deep in her heart.
Shinra reported Sephiroth had died. But Anath had clung to the belief he was still alive.
Anath felt Tifa touch her hand. "He is not the man he was, Anath."
She knew that. Somewhere deep inside she'd felt the simmering rage Sephiroth held in such control. Even before Nimbelheim, she'd sensed his unrest. The day he'd left she'd known something terrible was going to happen. But still…
"He would destroy us all," she said dully.
Tifa nodded. "And we still have to stop him."
"I don't remember all of it." Cloud sat on the bed, his head in his hands, bright blond hair peeking between the black leather of his gloves.
Tifa sat beside him, brushing a strand from his temple. "You will. You can't blame yourself, Cloud. Sephiroth controlled you. He manipulated you, using the Jenova cells inside you. How could you stop him?"
"I should have been stronger."
"No one could have avoided it."
Cloud sat up, running a hand through the short spiky locks of his hair. "You should have killed me when you understood he was controlling me."
Tifa shook her head. "We knew that you would come back."
Cloud closed his eyes, pain etched across his features. "I nearly did not. I gave him the black materia, Tifa. We found it, and I gave him the means to destroy us."
Barrett snorted rudely from across the room.
"You were not aware of his will, how could you understand what he was doing?" Vincent's voice cut across the silence deeply.
Cloud shuddered visibly. "I couldn't stop him. Even with Aeris, I could not stop him. I nearly killed her myself."
The others were silent, faces grim with grief. Aeris, one of the last of the ancient Cetra, had been brutally murdered by Sephiroth. "She knew what was happening. She knew what Sephiroth could do. You have to respect her choice, Cloud. She wouldn't blame you."
"But I do."
"She knew the dangers as well as we all do." Tifa rose from the bed, rubbing her arms. "But in the end it was not our fight. The black materia summoned the meteor, the greatest threat to the planet, with Sephiroth intending, as Jenova had before him, to destroy the planet." She crossed the room to stand looking out the window. "We fought to get to Sephiroth, hidden deep inside the North Crater. I was afraid that Rufus and Shinra would beat us to him. And they nearly did. But it was you Cloud, finally free from Sephiroth's control, you destroyed him.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes, glancing briefly around the room, his gaze passing silently over Anath as she sat in the corner. "I had no choice. We would all be dead."
"You did what you had to do. You fought Sephiroth, and won. He is dead. The meteor has been destroyed by the planet itself. We are free and alive."
Anath closed her eyes. She had secretly wept at the news of Sephiroth's death, even knowing the man was no longer what he'd been, his anger far worse than she could ever have dreamed. And the planet, safe now from the magic of the black materia, was still in ruins, cities and villages destroyed as the meteor imploded. It was over, yet Sephiroth's image in her mind was a strong as ever.
They insisted he was dead.
She secretly wished somehow he was not.
Saved from the ultimate destruction of Meteor, the cities never the less were still in ruin, some of which could be blamed upon the meteor as it imploded, and as much on the battles between Shinra and Avalanche. But worse, amid the rubble of the city, a new terror rose up in the aftermath of that final battle. The planet, in self-defense had sent out the lifestream, destroying the meteor that threatened annihilation. It stopped the war, the hatred and anger. But amid the relative peace came a new pain. Geostigma appeared, a disease afflicting those with Jenova cells and worse, mostly children.
"Anath they want you up top," Jaco announced with a grin as he stuck his head into the door of her cubicle.
She looked up in surprise. Since the end of the war, what was left of Shinra had been reduced to a narrow building in a rebuilt section of Midgar called the Edge. She rose and left the room, even smaller than her old office, it was only a partitioned area off the side of a hall. At least she didn't worry so much about rent anymore. Her friendship with the Avalanche group had provided her a new place to stay behind the Seventh Heaven bar.
She crossed to the elevator and then decided rather to take the stairs. The close confines still bothered her. She ran up the six flights and then into the main office area. Reno and Rude were leaning against one of the desks. The two henchmen from the Turks were the Shinra President's personal guard. The red-haired Reno stood up when she stepped through the door.
"Stairs again, Anath?"
She ignored him and nodded at Rude. "I am expected."
"Yeah, you are expected to be nice to me and Rude," Reno said crossly.
She smiled good naturedly at the tall young man; he was not one to underestimate. "I am nice to you. But I was told I was expected by Rufus, not you."
Reno frowned and glanced at Rude, his partner and then coughed, stepping out of her way. "Right, he's been waiting."
She walked to the office at the end of the hall. Perhaps the President had files to be taken care of, but she had an uneasy feeling about her meeting. The young President was ruthless, nearly destroyed in the last attack with Sephiroth.
She knocked and then opened the door when the call came to come in.
The president of Shinra sat in a wheelchair, covered by a warm blanket from head to toe. Rumor was that the firestorm in that final battle had left him horribly disfigured. Reno and Rude followed her inside the office and then shut the door firmly.
Again that uneasy feeling settled over her.
"So you are Anath, I remember you now. How could I forget?" Rufus's voice was muffled slightly as he moved the wheelchair to the window. A slim hand draped over the arm, fingers silently tapping the metal arm.
She waited for a moment. "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"
His fingers paused and then resumed their silent tattoo. "After all this I thought that my surprises were finished. Nothing could hurt Shinra, we were already nearly destroyed. What more could happen? I had hoped Sephiroth's influence was finally gone."
She folded her hands together nervously as he turned the wheelchair to face her.
"But I was wrong."
Anath glanced back at the two henchmen. Reno smiled mischievously.
"You are a spy, Anath."
She turned to face Rufus with a sinking feeling of dread. "I…"
"No, don't deny it. I know all I need to. Sometimes we have to cross lines of battle in order to win a new one." Rufus laughed sourly. "Even Avalanche must accept help at times."
The wheelchair rolled closer and Rude stepped behind the President, black jacket zipped and immaculate, his dark sunglasses hiding his expression. Between the two henchmen, Anath preferred to speak to Rude, although he said little. Rufus coughed and adjusted the blanket covering his face, flashing a pale colored ring as he did.
"I could demand retribution for all the information you've given Avalanche." He sighed dramatically. "How unfortunate that we did not realize you were not the loyal employee we thought. After all we've done for you, Anath."
She curled her hands into fists at her sides and stepped back. "All you've done for me?"
Rufus held up his hand. "After all, Anath, you wouldn't be here if not for Shinra."
She shook her head, refusing to be drawn into his argument. She would only lose. "So what are you going to do?"
Rufus smiled, she could see the edge of his mouth. "I need Cloud. You will speak to him and convince him that he has to help me."
She folded her arms over her chest. "I have no power over him. I haven't seen him in months. He hardly comes around anymore."
Rufus shook his finger. "Ah, but you can reach him. Someone can. I need his skills. We face a new threat." The wheelchair rolled past her to the window again. "Choose to aid me, Anath. You won't like the alternative."
"I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
Rufus turned back to her, fingers gripping the arm of his chair. "No you don't. And by the way, my dear…"
Anath turned from the doorway.
"I need a nursemaid, you see how I am. Plan to return to my offices. You will now work for me."
She blanched, catching the amused smile from Reno. "As you wish, sir."
"I can't help you anymore." Anath sat at the bar, head in her hands as Tifa stared at her.
"But you are with Rufus now. What better way to know exactly what is going on," Tifa insisted intently, slipping the towel in her hands over her shoulder. "You'll be there when he makes decisions."
Anath groaned softly, scrubbing her face. "I know. And that's exactly why I can't tell you. Don't you see? He'll know it was me, he expects it." She shoved the stool back but found a hand on her shoulder.
"We can't ask you to help if you don't feel you can." Vincent sat down next to her with a faint smile. "I know how persuasive Tifa is." The wan face grimaced as he refused the coffee Tifa set before him. Another of Hojo's efforts, Vincent was no longer human, nor monster, but something in between. A tall, handsome creature that seemed part of the shadows rather than the light, he was one of the rebel group's more reclusive members.
Anath heaved a deep sigh. "It's not that I don't want to help. I just don't know what he might do. Rufus is very…ruthless. I can't take a chance. Besides, I have a feeling he's hoping to gain as much information from me as I could from him. I can't risk giving something away from you either. Who knows what he might be able to delve from me. He's always talking, digging." She shuddered. Rufus was very manipulative.
Vincent pushed the cup of coffee Tifa had set down in front of her. "You're right. It's best that you that you don't push for information."
Anath stared at the coffee absently. "If I can help I will. But I can't promise anything. He wants Cloud. Has anyone seen him?"
Vincent and Tifa both shook their heads.
"I've tried to call him but he never answers," Tifa complained quietly. "He's struggling still."
Vincent stood up, pulling the edges of his red cape close around him. "He'll come around when he's ready. Either that or when he's forced to. He can't hide forever. He has to face what happened sooner or later."
Tifa shook her head wordlessly. "We all miss Aeris. There was nothing he could have done to save her. The war killed too many friends."
Vincent paused at the door. "Yes, but I fear the war is not over yet."