Despite all Senna's worries, the case had gone exceedingly well. It had been a civil matter, and their client had been trying to sue for a misdiagnosis that had left him unable to walk without further surgeries. Thankfully, all the work Senna put into tracking down each interaction with the doctor and organizing everything had proven beneficial. It hadn't hurt that the client had been sure to make all communications in writing after he realized he wasn't getting anywhere. The printed emails made for damning evidence.
That night, Senna was in such a good mood that it didn't bother her that Natasha tried to set her up with one of her friends again, even though she had been exhausted before lunch. They ended up going on a double date, and Senna enjoyed it. Mainly because the drinks were all on Natasha, and Senna had more than a few of them. As for the guy, he was a little too quiet for her tastes, but she didn't let that ruin her celebration. She was one step closer to taking on her own cases, and it felt good.
It was late by the time Natasha loaded her into a cab with a smirk and a wave. Senna wouldn't have minded so much if the guy hadn't also been shoved in behind her. At least he was dropped off first. The ride was awkward enough without her having to give the cabbie a fake address. She was just thankful that it was Friday, and she had no pressing reason to do anything other than relax for the weekend. Hopefully, that meant she could catch up on the sleep she missed the night before.
All it took was a hot shower before Senna decided the day had been long enough already, and she dropped into bed with a contented sigh. Sleep followed soon after.
A groan rang out into the darkness that echoed for a few seconds. It took Senna a moment to realize it was her own. She pushed herself off the cold floor and to her feet as she looked around and tried to discern where she was and what was going on. The darkness finally faded enough for her to realize she was in a hallway. The whole place was dilapidated and intimidating, but that didn't stop her from being curious about what was behind the door across the hall from her.
She looked both ways down the hall and could not see anything else past the darkness that started just a few feet from where she was standing. As she wondered about the total lack of light, she realized she was probably dreaming again. That made much more sense than having a void around her. Once that was decided, she let the thought drop and instead reached out for the doorknob. It was obvious that was where she needed to go.
She tried not to shiver as the door creaked open. A mantra was already going through her head that it wasn't going to be a nightmare. Once she was inside, the door slammed shut behind her. The noise made her jump, and she had to force her breathing to even so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by panic. It also took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the light that was much dimmer in the room.
As soon as she could make out her surroundings, she stared in disbelief at what was in front of her—or rather who. "You've got to be kidding me. Why the hell am I dreaming about you again?"
The only furniture in the room was the chair in the middle, and the person sitting in it was none other than Rufus Shinra. He smirked back at her as he said, "That is an excellent question and one I would like an answer to as well. You never did tell me your name."
Senna made a disgusted noise and rolled her eyes, but before she could say what was on her mind, her attention was snagged by another detail. "Why are you tied up?" Despite her irritation at her mind's insistence on causing her grief, Senna took a step forward. However, before she reached the chair, she stopped with widened eyes. "Oh, I'm going to kill Natasha. I don't care how hot you are; I am not going to have one of those kinds of dreams."
Confusion flitted through Rufus's eyes, but only for a moment. He chuckled and smirked as he said, "Would you care to elaborate on what kind of dream you believe this to be? I find I am quite curious to hear what you have to say."
Even though Senna knew it was a dream, she still felt her face flush as she immediately headed back to the door. She nearly cursed when it wouldn't budge. Several seconds passed before she got herself under control, and she turned to face the man again. He was still smirking but otherwise seemed to be unperturbed at his situation. If anything, he acted like he was in complete control, even though he was bound.
Something about his demeanor and the location seemed familiar, and it had Senna's mind whirring as she tried to figure out what she was missing. Only a few moments passed before her eyes widened, and she said, "Shit, I should have known. This is when you got kidnapped the first time."
One of his brows rose, and his head tilted the slightest bit as he said, "The first time? So you plan to kidnap me again?"
Senna made a disgusted noise but still knelt to try and undo the ropes around his hands and feet. She did her best to keep her derision from her voice as she said, "Not me. I forget the guy's name. Honestly, it was your own fault for insisting that you would be all right without at least one of your Turks. Seriously, your ribs are still broken. What the hell were you thinking?"
For the first time, Rufus looked utterly confused and didn't try to hide it. He looked down at his chest and twisted his torso. A wince quickly followed, but he looked back up with curiosity. "You seem to know quite a bit about me. So tell me, if it wasn't you, then what happened?"
Senna was struggling to release the tight ropes, so her voice was curt when she said, "I already told you I can't remember his name. He's just some jackass with a plan and the balls to follow through with it. People may have started calling you Doofus, but that didn't keep most of them from being wary of a Shinra. This guy just wants to get his hands on the stuff that wasn't destroyed in sector five. Not that he planned on giving it to the refugees for free."
By that point, Senna had managed to free one of his hands, so he worked on the other while she tried to free his feet. Despite her words, Rufus did not seem to be upset. Instead, his curiosity only came across stronger. "Why would sector five be destroyed?"
Senna paused and looked up with an expression that clearly showed her disbelief as she said, "All of Midgar was trashed by Meteor and the lifestream. You barely made it out alive. Why the hell did you think your ribs were broken. Did you hit your head too? I don't remember that."
Her last sentence had been mumbled under her breath, but Rufus must have still heard. Both of his brows went up, and a spark entered his eyes. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself as they both continued to undo the bounds.
Once the last one fell, Rufus stood and held out a hand to help Senna to her feet. She eyed it skeptically for a moment, as she wasn't sure accepting that kind of help from an injured man was a good idea, dream or no. However, when he did not budge, she took his hand with a sigh—something she immediately regretted.
He did help her to her feet and didn't seem bothered by the action. Although, that wasn't the problem. As soon as Senna was up, he pulled her closer and wrapped an arm tightly around her waist. She pushed against his chest as she glared at him, but he only smirked as he said, "I have so many questions. Tell me, Oracle, what of my father and the rest of the directors?"
Senna didn't want to hurt the man, so she wasn't pushing too hard, but her voice was still stern when she said, "It's not Oracle; it's Senna. And I'm perfectly capable of answering questions without you pinning me like this."
Instead of letting her go, his grip only tightened. Something in his eyes told Senna that he wasn't playing around, despite the smirk he still wore. She sighed and tried to keep as much distance as his grip would allow as she said, "Fine. I don't know why you are asking about your father, as he died nearly a year before this happened, but the rest of the directors were killed in Meteorfall. Or most of them anyway. You know this already—why are you asking me?"
Rufus did not answer right away. Instead, he seemed to be deep in thought. It wasn't until Senna tried to free herself again that his gaze went back to her eyes. "Senna—such an unusual name."
His gaze was so intense that Senna forgot to try and fight his grip. Instead, she watched his eyes as he continued, "What am I to make of this dream? Are you an oracle that can guide me to success or a siren to lead me to my doom?"
Senna had always found this particular Shinra fascinating—his arc from villain to semi-magnanimous. However, she had never expected to be frozen by a dream of the man. His eyes held confidence and intelligence, which was expected, but there was such power that she felt like a rabbit in the sights of a snake. She wasn't sure what to say to his question.
When her answer did not come, his smirk widened ever so slightly, and he pulled her even closer. His voice dropped into a husky whisper as he said, "Or perhaps this is nothing more than a fantasy. You could elaborate on what you started to say while I was still bound."
His words immediately evoked images Senna had been trying not to conjure since she first saw the man tied up. Despite her protestations, she wasn't strictly opposed to the idea of a bit of fun. It was just a dream anyway, and it wouldn't have been the first time she had a dream like that. At least the person was someone she found attractive.
She hadn't even realized she had relaxed her stance enough for him to pull her closer until his hand came up and tangled in her hair. His grip was not painful, but Senna couldn't have moved if she wanted to. However, the promise she could see in his eyes was never fulfilled. Before either of them could make another move, the door was flung open, and a glaring man stormed in.
Rufus immediately released Senna and stepped between the stranger and her. She turned just in time to see the stranger raise a gun as he yelled. "How did you get free? I warned you not to try and escape. Don't think I'm afraid to use this!"
Rufus took a confident step forward, and Senna could immediately tell the man was about to shoot. She didn't hesitate to push Rufus out of the way. Rebroken ribs were better than being shot, even if the man wasn't shooting to kill. Much to her shock, pain flared through her thigh as the two of them fell toward the floor. She barely saw Rufus frowning at her before the floor seemed to give way, and they both continued to fall. It was less than a second before there was nothing but pain and blackness around Senna. Her last thought before the darkness swallowed her was that she hoped falling wasn't going to become a trend in her dreams.
Rufus's eyes snapped open, and all his muscles tensed. They immediately relaxed as he recognized the ceiling above his bed. He let out a quiet sigh as his forearm came up to rest over his eyes, as though the action could somehow block out the strange dream. Why had he dreamt about that woman again?
If it had gone further into the territory he had begun to explore, he might have brushed it off as nothing more than a follow-up fantasy to the previous dream. The woman was attractive enough. However, the subsequent interruption had not only been aggravating but had proven the woman's words true.
Added to that was his frustration at his dream's insistence in having her throw herself in danger to save him. What made it worse was that he didn't understand why he was bothered. It was common enough for people to put their lives on the line to preserve his—why would a dream person be any different? That was one aspect of the weird dream he would rather not think about.
The real question that burned in his mind was whether he should pay attention to the message he interpreted or not? Though, what was his interpretation? He wasn't quite sure. It would make sense if his plans were leaking into his subconscious, and it then provided him with the words he wished to hear—that he would be successful in overthrowing his father. But if that was the case, why had the woman said people called him Doofus. That made no sense.
There was also the option that it could be a warning. Perhaps his mind was trying to caution him, lest he overstep and things fall apart. No matter how others saw him, he was well aware that he was only human, with flaws and insecurities, even if he never let them show in front of others.
He let out an aggravated sigh as he let his arm fall back to his side. There were no simple answers, and he had already spent far more time than was acceptable thinking about a woman that was nothing more than a conjuring of his own subconscious.
Instead of dwelling on it further, he turned to see the time. It was already near to when he would have woken, so he decided that there was no reason to put off preparing for the day to come. As he stepped into the shower, he vowed that he would focus on ensuring there were no flaws in his plans before they moved forward and not let thoughts of his strange dreams keep him occupied.
Senna sat up as soon as her eyes opened and violently threw the covers back. Her thigh still felt like it was in fire, but when she inspected the spot, there was nothing there. As soon as she started rubbing it, the feeling began to fade. She let out a disturbed sigh at the thought of how realistic that had been. Though, she was well aware that the mind was capable of strange things. Phantom wounds weren't even that uncommon.
Once she was assured that it was nothing more than a dream, she flopped back on the bed. She didn't even bother checking the time. It was still dark, so that meant it was too damn early. She rolled over and pulled one of her spare pillows over to cuddle with, fully intending to go back to sleep. However, every time she shut her eyes, all she could see was blonde hair, blue eyes, and a confident smirk.
She couldn't stop the grin that formed when she thought about how the dream almost turned out. She might have been frustrated with his attitude, but she'd be lying if she said she wouldn't have enjoyed the hell out of it. She almost felt irritated at the interruption. Not that it mattered in the end. Dreams were dreams, and she had better things to focus on.
With a sigh, she rolled out of bed and headed toward the French press. Maybe the early morning would give her the chance to catch up on some chores that she hadn't been able to do over the last couple of weeks. Although, as she stood there absently staring at her electric kettle, another thought formed. It had been a long time since she had seen anything to do with the Final Fantasy franchise, and it bugged her that she couldn't remember the name of the guy that kidnapped Rufus. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to look back into that. Her dreams certainly seemed to be telling her it was on her subconscious mind. She was already trying to remember where she had stored all that stuff as she poured the water over her grounds, a small smile gracing her lips.
There were few people that Rufus Shinra trusted in the slightest—his father had made sure to kill any inclination to do so. However, there was one Turk that he felt he could at least trust to be discreet. It was that man that walked beside him through the streets of sector eight.
The conversation he planned to have was not one that could be broached anywhere in the Shinra building. The walls had ears, and it would only invite trouble if it got back to his father. He waited until they were away from the crowds, yet still in a populated enough area that they could not be snuck up on. He then turned to the man beside him and said, "Tseng, what is the status of the task I asked you to look into?"
Tseng didn't even break stride as he calmly replied, "So far, we have been unable to pinpoint the group's exact location. However, we did hear from a reliable source of a probable site they plan to visit. I dispatched an operative yesterday to wait there for them with the missive you gave me."
Rufus was frustrated at the delay, but it didn't show on his face. He only gave Tseng a curt nod in reply. Several more seconds passed before he said, "I know it was just this morning when I asked, but are there any developments on my other request?"
For a split second, confusion seemed to pass through the Turk's eyes, but it was gone so fast that most would have never noticed. Rufus chose to ignore it as the other man said, "No sir. I ran the name Senna along with the description you gave me through our databases, and there were no matches in Midgar. Would you like me to expand the search? The data outside the city may not be as reliable, but I can send an operative to investigate in the most likely places. We can expand the location list if necessary."
Rufus could not stop the frown that flitted across his face. He wasn't sure if he was more aggravated that there was no information or that he had given in to his urge to ask in the first place. He already knew it was most likely a wild goose chase.
Rufus was able to erase the scowl quickly as he shook his head and said, "Don't bother. It is not urgent, and we have other things to focus on." He shook his head once more to try and rid it of the last of the unwanted thoughts of strange dreams and raven-haired women. He then turned to Tseng and said, "You claim your source for their upcoming location is reliable. Were there any other possibilities? If so, even if they are less likely to go there, it might be prudent if you could spare one or two more operatives. The quicker we can get this initiated, the better off we will be."
Tseng's face showed none of what he thought as he said, "Yes sir, there was one more location. I felt it would not be their first stop, so I did not send anyone. However, that can be immediately rectified on the off chance their route is not what I have anticipated."
Rufus nodded absently as he turned toward the Shinra building. They had covered all the essential pieces; the rest would only be a matter of time. As they walked back, Rufus's mind was occupied with what the next steps should be.
He had many plans. If only his mind would quit showing him random snippets of grey eyes or his fingertips tingle when he thought of soft black hair. It aggravated him to no end that he could not seem to get the last dream off his mind. He was still thinking about it as he laid down that night. His final thought before he fell into sleep was a hope that the vividness would fade in time, and he could go back to meaningless dreams going forward.
A/N: Hello again! I just want to let you all know that I hate the slowdown in my posts as much as you do, I'm sure. Please rest assured that I am doing what I can to get back on track. Hopefully, things will slow down within the next month and I'll have more time. For now, I hope you enjoyed the interactions between Rufus and Senna. Thanks for reading and cheers!