Chapter 4
Rufus's let out an aggravated sigh before he even opened his eyes. He was familiar enough with the feel of his pillow to know he was no longer dreaming. Honestly, he wasn't sure which part of the ongoing dreams he was most aggravated with. After the second dream, he had still been willing to write it off as coincidence, but that no longer seemed possible.
It had almost been a relief when he started the dream and was faced with someone he didn't know wrapped in bandages and talking to him about overcoming the hardships in life. Even after the water had started to rise, the dream had not seemed any odder than some of the ones he had in the past. Then she showed up.
He could admit that if she had not been part of that dream, it could have well become a nightmare—something that didn't often happen for him anymore. Still, that was no excuse for his mind to show him the same stranger three nights in a row. Perhaps there was more to it than random bits of his subconscious.
On top of those thoughts was the aggravation about the content of the dreams. He seemed to always leave them with more questions than answers. It didn't help that they always seemed to be interrupted by something. All of that on top of the woman herself. He could admit, at least in his own head, that seeing her like that had made him wonder what kind of dream it was supposed to have been. Although that was a thought he didn't dwell on.
Instead, he focused on what he could actually investigate. His first course of action would be to have the Turks check his food and water going forward. It was already thoroughly vetted, but perhaps there was a psychedelic added that was harder to detect than poison. He had no idea why someone would do that, but it was a possibility he could not ignore.
He debated whether he should check a few other things as well, but they would require a discreet hand. If he did, then he hoped they would not find anything because the alternative was disturbing to consider.
For the moment, he let that thought go and finally opened his eyes to see the time. It was early, but not early enough for him to attempt to go back to sleep. He let out another aggravated noise as he sat up. If nothing else, he needed to find the cause of the strange dreams so he could get a decent night's sleep once again.
Senna opened her eyes slowly but immediately closed them again. She must have forgotten to close her curtains all the way, and the lights from the street below her apartment seemed to be blinding. They probably wouldn't have been so bad if her head didn't feel like someone was trying to dig their way out. It was no wonder she felt the way she did in that dream. It wouldn't have been the first time a migraine had invaded while she slept.
She groaned as she forced herself to get up to close the curtain. Her dizziness caused an imbalance that made her stumble as she made her way to the kitchen. At least she was able to catch herself on the counter. It took her longer than she felt was acceptable to find her meds and take something for the pain and nausea. She then grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and headed back to bed. She doubted she would be leaving it for most of the day unless she got lucky.
It wasn't until she got situated with the ice pack under her head and the meds helped ease the pain that she thought about the dream. After her research, she wasn't shocked to dream about Gaia, but why Rufus again? Plus, some of the things he said didn't make sense. She hadn't thought about it, but each time it was as if she was actually talking to a Rufus who had no idea about any of the events. Why did her mind supply such a confusing thing? It made no sense.
Plus, she couldn't remember her dreams referencing other dreams before. Was it a symptom of the oncoming migraine, or was it something else entirely? Maybe she was just stressed about the upcoming changes in her workload. She definitely had more to do going forward.
The more she thought about it, the more that made sense. Subconscious stress would also explain the headache. Thankfully, she didn't get them often because she could be down for days when she did. Since she caught this one in the middle of the night, she only hoped it proved to be a short one. She couldn't afford to miss work the coming Monday. Her worry was the last thing on her mind as the pain finally faded enough for her to get back to sleep.
Rufus was behind his desk, staring at the first sheet in a stack of papers. Most of them consisted of reports from Wutai, but there was little difference from the last batch. Things had been at a standstill for well over a year. The rest were separated out into a much smaller pile. Those consisted of reports from the operatives Tseng had sent out on Rufus's request. Unfortunately, those did not hold much more information. Avalanche was still an unknown factor.
Rufus was infuriated at the lack of information, but it didn't show on his face. He had been forced to learn to school his expressions from a young age, whether he wanted to or not. Although, he was thankful for the lessons when there was a quick knock followed by Tseng slipping into the room.
The Turk gave him a respectful nod and waited to be acknowledged before he said, "Sir, I have a report on the issues you asked me to investigate this morning."
One of Rufus's brows rose. He had not expected such quick results. However, he simply gestured for Tseng to continue. "We completed a thorough investigation of the kitchens and all the current ingredients. There was no sign of any unknown drug. However, the kitchen staff has been reassigned, and a new team was brought in. We will also test all food before it is brought to you. If there are any unknown substances, we will find the person responsible."
Rufus's brow furrowed momentarily, but he quickly got his expression under control as he nodded and said, "Is that the only update you have?"
Something that looked suspiciously like discomfort or maybe even worry flitted through the Turk's eyes, but it was gone before Rufus could think to question it, and the man was quick with his reply. "No, sir. I looked through the database with the keywords you gave me, and I did find some information."
Tseng paused to pull a small disk from an inner pocket of his jacket that he handed to Rufus as he said, "I confirmed that Professor Kilmister is currently part of the Shinra science department. He is an assistant on one of Professor Hojo's projects, but there was no information on what the project consisted of. Do you wish for me to have him brought in for questioning?"
Rufus distractedly waved off the question. "No. There is no point in stirring up trouble we don't need while we have other things to attend to. Although you should keep an eye on him and anyone else on that team for abnormal behavior."
Tseng gave him a curt nod before he continued, "Also, I was able to find two different references to the name Jenova. Although there are not more than a few sentences related to both of them. The first is that Professor Hojo has a woman named Jenova listed as General Sephiroth's mother. The name is also mentioned in some of the research completed by Professor Gast when he was still the Head of the science department. It is unclear what the reference was about as it seems most of the data has been deleted from the primary database."
That news unsettled Rufus, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he kept a blank mask while his brain was trying to figure out what it all meant. He could never remember hearing the name Jenova before, so it was odd that it showed up in a dream. The fact that it was actually in the science department databases at all gave him pause. Especially as one instance had something to do with Sephiroth. What was going on?
Rufus was pulled from his contemplation when Tseng said, "Would you like me to dig a little deeper? If the data was there at one point, it might have been moved instead of deleted. It might take some time, but I believe I could access Professor Hojo's personal database."
Rufus did not answer right away. Was this something he actually wanted to spend time and resources on when he was so close to finishing his previous plans? Plus, what did it mean that the information came from his subconscious? Was he reading more into the situation than was actually there? Since it had to do with Professor Gast, it was entirely possible that he had heard the name in the past and simply forgot. It wasn't unheard of for things thought to be forgotten to turn up in dreams.
Finally, he shook his head as he said, "Not now. We have too much at stake. Plus, it isn't shocking that information disappeared with Gast when he left. Perhaps it is something we can investigate after the change in management."
Tseng nodded once more before he said, "If that is all, sir, I will go."
Rufus waved the man off absently. Despite his confident declaration to leave the information about Jenova alone, there was still a niggling doubt that he could not shake. Once Tseng was gone, Rufus let out an aggravated sigh as he turned back to the reports. In the end, all it meant was that he would need to succeed quickly so he could get to the bottom of whatever was going on. For the moment, he didn't need the distraction.
It was early afternoon when Senna finally managed to get out of bed. Not that she didn't feel like she could have slept some more. At least the pain was gone. Now, all she had to contend with was the aftereffects. She always felt drained. She tried to look at the bright side and reminded herself that at least it had only been most of a day and not several. She had no doubts that she would still sleep well that night and would finally feel like herself the next day.
Her appetite was finally back as well, and like usual, her post-drome symptom was junk food cravings. She didn't usually keep that kind of stuff in her apartment, but that was the great thing about living in the city—take-out was just a phone call away. Less than thirty minutes had passed when she took the delivered pizza and curled up on the couch with a thick blanket.
The rest of the afternoon was spent nibbling on the pizza she ordered and watching mind-numbing television. She had zero motivation to do anything else. By the time the sun was all the way down and the night lights had started to spring up, it took a supreme effort of will for her to get up and shower. That was one less thing she would have to do in the morning. She just hoped that her sleep would be uninterrupted. After that migraine, she could use a good night's sleep.
Senna's eyes were closed, and her mind was drifting from one random thought after another. She wasn't inclined to pay attention to any of them. However, it was not long before she realized it was getting colder. She started to shiver as she opened her eyes and found total darkness. Not even the lights outside were leaking through her curtains.
It did not take her long to focus and recognize the now-familiar start to yet another weird dream. She sighed and tried to ignore her breath misting as she looked around for where she needed to go. There it was, to her right. A dot of light that was quickly expanding until the darkness was gone, and she was left standing in a bright room with pale walls and large windows.
Unfortunately, that was not all that was there. Both Reno and Rude were lying on the floor and trying to get back their feet—unsuccessfully. As soon as she saw that, she spun around to see the rest of the room. She shouldn't have been shocked to see a wheelchair-bound Rufus and the Remnant, Kadaj. However, after her last dream, she could not hold in her surprise. "What the hell? Did I not keep this from happening already? Why do you have Geostigma?"
She nearly jumped from her skin when Kadaj said, "Boy, do I hate liars."
Although the situation was unexpected, the simple statement kickstarted her brain. As soon as she saw Rufus move to stand, she rushed to his side and put a hand on his arm as she said, "Don't get up. Whatever you do, don't let him see what's in your lap."
His eyes narrowed as he glanced up at her, but she shook her head and said, "Don't look at me, just listen."
Senna was both surprised and relieved that he seemed to take her word. However, their gazes were drawn back to Kadaj as the boy said, "Do you plan to keep lying?"
The muscles under Senna's fingers tensed momentarily, but she didn't get to say anything before Rufus said, "What would I gain by lying to you?"
Senna cursed under her breath as Kadaj turned around with a glare. She was quick to say, "Swear to him that what he seeks fell out of the helicopter as your men were running from him." She felt his muscles twitch once more, but thankfully, he did as asked.
Kadaj looked completely unconvinced as he held up two cards and smirked. "Is that so? Fine. Then you can swear on these."
He tossed the cards down, and Senna cursed again when they really were Tseng and Elena's ID cards. Rufus must have noticed them as well, as his brow furrowed momentarily before he started to stand. Senna barely made it in front of him before he could move. He glared at her coldly when she pushed his chest to keep him down, but she ignored it and shook her head.
Instead of trying to stand again, Rufus's gaze was back on Kadaj as he coldly said, "Why would you do this?"
Senna was quick to try and appease Rufus. "Don't worry. They are alive, and he won't be able to hold them for long. They're Turks, after all. Plus, they get some help."
Rufus glanced up at her from underneath the sheet over his head with an unreadable look. However, neither could say more before their attention was drawn back to Kadaj. The boy was glaring as he stalked closer to Rufus. "Someone else is here. Do you have more rats in hiding besides these two?"
Senna suddenly felt her heart lurch in her chest. She had confirmed many times over that Rufus was the only one that could see her in these strange dreams—except for the time the tainted lifestream went after her. Surely that had to have been a fluke, right? There was no way the boy was talking about her.
Kadaj was still glaring as he turned from them, stalked to the front door, and yanked it open. He looked around for a moment before doing the same to the other door in the room. When he didn't see anyone else, he turned back to Rufus and said, "Where are they hiding?"
When Rufus didn't say anything, Kadaj smirked once more as he said, "Not that it matters." He drew the sword strapped to his back faster than Senna's eye could follow, then laid the blades along Rufus's neck as he continued, "Will you give the order for them to show themselves, or do I need to convince them myself?"
Rufus barely smirked as he said, "Perhaps you are delusional. There is no one else here but us."
The self-confident statement drew a low growl from Kadaj as he pushed the blades a hair harder—just enough to draw blood. As soon as Senna saw the first drop, she reacted instinctively and moved to shove the swords away. It took her mind a moment to catch up, and she wasn't sure if she was more shocked that it had actually worked or that her palm had been sliced open by the edges of Kadaj's double sword.
A low string of curses erupted from her lips as she clenched her fist shut to try and stop the flow of blood. She saw Rufus's attention on her, but she just grimaced and shook her head. It was almost a blessing when his attention was drawn back to Kadaj as the boy started shouting. "What was that? How did you do that?"
As the boy looked around for the source of Rufus's rescue, it finally clicked for Senna. He could tell she was there, and she could interact with him, sort of, but he still didn't see or hear her. That insight had a desperate plan forming in her mind. She crouched next to Rufus and kept her voice low, just in case, as she said, "I'm going to try to get us out of here, but I'm going to need you to cooperate."
There was a minute nod as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. She was just thankful that the man was intelligent enough that he had probably already figured out the gist of what was going on. Still, she lowered her voice even more as she said, "I will distract his attention away from you and the door. As soon as he is looking the other way, grab the box in your lap and run."
A frown began to form on Rufus's face, but Senna kept going before he could say anything. "Go into the first door you see, but don't lock it. I will give you a couple minutes' head start, then I'll be right after."
She smirked even though she was in pain when she saw his frown had not disappeared. Though she shook her head when it looked like he might say something. The last thing she needed was for Kadaj to hear him talking to 'himself' and ruin the only chance they had.
She held up her bloodied hand and gave him a serious look as she said, "This may be a dream, but it still hurts. Trust that I have no desire to fight that man. I'll only do what is necessary to distract him then I plan to run like hell. Hopefully, he won't catch on that I've left until I'm already where you are."
Senna moved to stand but was pulled up short when Rufus's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist almost painfully. She frowned down at him as she harshly whispered, "Don't give me away. We'll lose our advantage. I know you don't trust people, but at least believe I want out of this too. I promise that once we are away from him, I'll answer any question you have."
Several things flashed through his eyes, but it was too fast for Senna to make sense of any of it. At least it seemed that he agreed enough to let her go. She gave him a curt nod before she picked up one of the cards Kadaj had dropped earlier, just in time for the boy to turn back to Rufus with an even deeper scowl than before. Senna realized she didn't have time to spare when the blades were raised and pointed at Rufus's heart.
She gave Kadaj a wide berth, so he couldn't possibly feel her moving, but she was still rushing. She dropped to her knees near the door and used as much force as she could to fling the card under the crack in the door. She sent up thanks when it made enough noise to attract Kadaj's attention.
The boy immediately turned to investigate, and Senna was glad to see him rush into the other room as soon as he flung open the door. Directly after he crossed the threshold, she stood to follow him to make sure he didn't come back out right away. Before she ducked into the room, she looked at Rufus and mouthed the word, "Now!"
The man frowned at her, but she was grateful that he didn't say a word or make a sound when he stood to run. He only paused long enough to look down at Reno and Rude, but Senna called out, "Don't worry about them. Kadaj will be after us as soon as he realizes you are missing. We don't have time to waste."
Rufus must have agreed that her statement made sense as he dashed out the door. Senna felt a little bad when Rude held up a hand and struggled to say, "Sir." She tried not to think about it as she followed Kadaj into the other room and worked to figure out the best way to keep him busy without letting him touch her. She had a feeling that if he did, she might not make it away, even if he couldn't see her.
A/N: I know, that was a hella cliffhanger, but the good news is I am already working on the next chapter. I am so happy that I have had motivation for any updates lately. Plus, I will be starting a new job in a couple of weeks and I hope that means I will have more time. We shall see. For now, please let me know what you think of their interactions so far. They say that extreme circumstances can bring people closer, do you think that applies to Rufus as well? I guess we'll find out 😁