Chapter 67

Reno stepped out of the station and looked up and down the street as he stretched. He wished that Rufus had have let him bring the chopper, but that would have been far too obvious. They needed this done without ShinRa being implicated at all.

He could smell the ocean and so, with an almost childlike grin, Reno turned and headed for the shore. Even after all these years working for ShinRa and getting to travel, he got a bit excited when he got to see the ocean. This was what he would bring Aura to see, he decided. Maybe not in Junon, but somewhere. Maybe Costa del Sol. He hadn't been there since the world had gone to shit, but he figured it was probably still nice. It still had to have an ocean, which was what he was really after. He paused for a second, actually stopping in the street. Cissnei had spent a lot of time there doing surveillance on Zack Fair, and he wondered if she'd gone back there when she'd left. She could have gone anywhere, he figured. Maybe she didn't need a reminder of Zack any more than she could help. He wouldn't have gone back there, if he had been her. Wondering if anybody currently owned Shinra Villa, Reno picked up his pace in heading for the coast. He knew that there were warehouses along the shore, and that was likely the place he was going to be looking for in regard to the shipment he was after.

He walked along the water's edge until he came to the docks, and then Reno slipped behind a low wall in order to observe. Watching as boats came and went, he figured this was going to take quite some time to figure out what was legit, and where what he was looking for was going to be kept. Maybe he could hang around for a while, perhaps find someone to fink on whatever was going down here.

Reno moved further around the dock, looking as casual as anybody else around the place. He eyed a group of teenagers collected around a table laughing and joking with one another. After a moment of observation, Reno concluded that the kids would probably not know anything of use for him, as he doubted any of them worked at the docks, and it wasn't likely any of them were observant enough to notice anything unusual. His best bet, Reno figured, was to find the closest bar and have a drink with whoever had just gotten off their shift.

Swinging the bag he'd brought over his shoulder, Reno pulled his phone out and sent a quick message to Tseng, letting him know he'd arrived and was scoping the place out. As a group of middle aged men staggered past reeking of stale body odour, Reno figured they were his best bet for leading him to the nearest bar, and he set off following them at a distance.

Reno hadn't followed the men for more than maybe two minutes when he dove around the corner of one of the outer boatsheds. Checking quickly if he had been spotted, Reno peered carefully around the building, watching as Cadan stood in the middle of the road, talking to a group of other men. "Gotcha." He murmured, completely unsurprised by the fact that this prick would be here in person to see to the shipment directly.

Following Cadan when he walked away, Reno wondered if they'd been on the same train. He'd seen the guy moving around his apartment the night before when he'd kept watch before the storm had hit, and he'd left Edge himself fairly early. If Cadan had gotten to Junon the same way Reno had, they had to have been on the same train. Shaking his head, Reno slipped into the shadows when Cadan looked around before opening some large doors and heading into one of the dock warehouses.

He needed a different way in. Reno looked up, seeing high windows, and decided to see if he could find any which were open. Slipping along the wall, Reno made his way around the side of the building, smirking when he found that one of the windows was indeed wide open, if not a little high off the ground. Getting up there would require some climbing skill, but Reno was confident that he could manage it.

Steeling herself as she walked up the hallway toward Rufus Shinra's office, Aura tried to force herself to breathe deeply and evenly. She clutched the tub of ointment tightly in her hand, squeezing the fresh bandage she'd brought in the other. She didn't want to have to face the man today, not after the argument between herself and Reno, that the President had no doubt orchestrated, and not after he'd sent Reno to Junon just hours ago. Nevertheless, here she was, doing her job.

Aura considered for a moment asking Tseng or Elena if they might accompany her into the office, but dismissed that thought. She still hadn't told Elena about what Rufus had done to her, and she didn't really think that Reno would have either. It was possible that he'd told Tseng, but she wasn't sure, and she didn't particularly want to have that conversation with the man herself right at that moment. She had to do it by herself.

He answered her immediately when she'd knocked on his door and, with a deep breath, Aura pushed the door open and went inside.

"Close it." Rufus Shinra's voice was soft, yet the command left no room for interpretation. Slowly, Aura did as he said, and the door clicked closed as it sealed her inside the office with the man. She resisted a sigh and turned, making her way across to his desk. Making herself meet his gaze, Aura found Rufus' pale blue eyes watching her as she approached. "How are you, today?" he asked mildly, and Aura nodded slowly.

"Fine."

"I assume that you are aware that Reno has gone to Junon."

"Yes." She set the ointment and bandage on the desk as she looked at him again.

"Have you made up after your… disagreement?"

"Don't know that's your business." She murmured.

"Say I'm curious."

"I'm sure you are considering you tried to bring the … disagreement… about."

He smiled widely.

Drawing an irritated breath, Aura looked steadily at him. "Reno has always spoken so highly of you." She said, picking up the ointment and unscrewing the lid. "Said you cared about them like your father never did…"

"And so I do." He replied, cold eyes watching her. He raised an eyebrow, "You don't think I do?"

"You act like you hate him."

Rufus shook his head, his eyes never leaving Aura's. "Oh, no… If I hated him, things would be very very different." Aura didn't want to imagine what that would be like, she could barely deal with Rufus being as sadistic and cruel as he was currently. "You don't like the idea of that…" he mused.

"Of course not." She said simply, "You already act like a petulant child, yo." The words came out of her mouth before her brain had processed them, and she closed her mouth quickly before anything else was said. Rufus' smile sharpened, and Aura waited with bated breath to see if he would do anything. After a moment, however, he began undoing his shirt, gesturing at the ointment.

"Is this a new mixture?"

"Yes." Hesitatingly, she moved around the desk as Rufus put his shirt aside and, carefully, she set about removing his old bandages. She could feel the man's eyes on her as she worked, but she kept her own gaze on her hands.

"I don't hate him." Rufus' voice was soft, and Aura said nothing in response. "Really." He continued, "I… even considered him a friend."

Aura looked at him then. She didn't suppose that the man was lying, but he certainly had a terrible way of treating people he thought of as friends. "You don't treat him like a friend."

"I am still his boss."

She gave him a reproving look and he remained silent then. Turning to discard the soiled bandages, Aura dropped them into the bin beside the desk and then looked at Rufus' arm. Swallowing thickly, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she noted just how much further up his arm the Geostigma had spread. It wasn't working. Everything she had tried to cure it, or to slow the progress appeared to be useless. "Ah…"

"I suppose it's good that you've brought a new mixture." Rufus' voice was flat, and she shook her head.

"It's not working… I'm sorry."

"Keep trying." He murmured.

"You're paying me for nothing…"

"Hope isn't nothing."

Aura looked at him again, her eyes moving over his pale face. His features were delicate and, when he was like this, his eyes downcast as he stared unseeingly at his desk, Aura wasn't afraid of him. She rather thought he looked like a vulnerable child, and she realised that she felt sorry for him. "You're right." She said, turning to pick up her new ointment. "That's what we're all running on these days, isn't it…"

"Yes."

Glancing at Rufus' face again when she carefully took his arm to begin applying the mixture, Aura wondered if this was the Rufus she had so often heard Reno speak of. His eyes were unfocused as he continued to stare at his desk, and he said nothing further so Aura went about what she was doing in silence.

What Reno had said about Rufus switching between personalities appeared to be accurate. She'd seen businesslike Rufus before, and cold, detached Rufus, and sadistic Rufus, but she didn't think she'd seen this Rufus.

"You are extraordinarily kind…"

Aura's eyes flicked up to find Rufus looking at her as she bound his arm with the fresh bandage.

"You know that, right?"

"What makes you think that?" She asked, looking back to what she was doing.

"You keep coming back to help me, after everything that has happened…" his voice was steady, and Aura glanced at him again, "You desire to help people more than you desire to be safe…"

"Am I not safe right now?" she asked, really hoping that he wasn't about to become nasty.

"You are." He told her, "But would it matter? I'm sure that if I sent you right into Edge into danger you'd go just to have the chance of helping someone who needed you." Aura blinked at him, and continued to wrap his arm with the bandage. "You have an innate gentleness… I see why Reno is so enamoured with you."

"Ah."

"You balance him out well…"

"You think Reno isn't gentle?"

"I know what those hands have done."

"Not everything."

Rufus' pale blue eyes met hers at that. "That's precisely what I mean. You're that kind and good that you can make someone like him gentle…"

Aura shook her head, fastening the bandage as she finished. She didn't make Reno gentle, ShinRa had made him whatever it was that Rufus thought he was. ShinRa had made him a killer.

"I just remind him of who is really is." She murmured, sitting back against the desk. Rufus was silent for a moment before meeting her gaze again.

"You know that I'll make sure you're taken care of." He said, "If… he doesn't come back."

Aura felt ice fill her veins. "What?" she frowned, "He is coming back."

"Of course." Rufus began doing his shirt up again. Aura stared at him, wondering if the man would really have sent Reno on a job he didn't expect him to return from. Glancing up, he caught her staring at him and he made a dismissive gesture with one of his hands. "Of course he's coming back. He's been on more dangerous missions than this a thousand times." Aura opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She jumped when Rufus' hand came to rest on her arm as he leaned toward her. "I only meant to reassure you that you would be okay…"

"I can take care of myself…" her voice was unsteady and Aura resisted her urge to shrink away from him.

"Of course you can." His hand slid down her arm to her hand. "Just know, you wouldn't want for anything."

Aura swallowed, becoming more and more uncomfortable. "I'd want Reno…"

Rufus tilted his head, and something flicked through his eyes that Aura couldn't read. Carefully, she withdrew her hand from his and eased herself off the desk. Rufus' hand went to the back of her leg, and she thought for a moment that he was about to try to pull her into his lap, before she slowly moved away. She watched him warily as she moved around the desk, picking up the tub of ointment and screwing the lid on tightly. "I should get back upstairs…"

Rufus watched her silently, his eyes following her around the desk as she moved. "You should." He agreed. Aura nodded, and turned, walking steadily for the door. She half expected the man to say something before she reached it, but he didn't, and it was with profound relief that she pulled the heavy door closed after herself when she had gotten out into the hallway.

"Sweet Shiva…" Aura murmured, wondering if perhaps she shouldn't take a few days off as she headed back up to her workroom.