Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and PlayStation are owned by Square Enix and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Final Fantasy VII or Advent Children storylines (such as Rayne, Marcus, and Kale) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

(Alive)

Even as Astrid stood in front of the door, she could still hear movement and talking inside. The words and voices were indistinct, but she could tell her presence was still unknown. She reached out to take the handle of the door, but her hand froze just above it and her confidence wavered. She was lowering her hand when something silky and warm brushed against it.

Astrid looked down at Dark Nation and nodded, "Sorry."

At her voice, all movement and talking inside ceased. Astrid faced the door and listened, frowning when she heard nothing further. No longer hesitant, she reached out and pulled the handle, pushing the door in slowly.

She glanced inside, frowning at the empty room. Waving her hand slightly to signal to Dark Nation to stay, she stepped into the cabin, walking partway to the middle of the room before…

Something snapped and a cold, metal rod was placed against her neck. "Well, well, what do we have here? A spy?"

Astrid smirked, "No one of particular interest… Though I do find this kinda arousing, in a kinky sorta way…"

The person laughed huskily, "Unfortunately for you, I'm not searching."

"Too bad." She spun around quickly, ducking under the Electro-Mag Rod and hitting the palm of her hand stoutly and forcefully against the person's chest, making them fly backwards. She then spun around again, her leg flashing out and her foot burying itself into the stomach of a second attacker, making him grunt and step back. Astrid smiled at the still standing man in front of her, foot still touching his stomach, "Hey, Rude."

Rude blinked, his gloved hands lowering, "Astrid?"

"Whoa, whoa, Astrid?!" Reno's voice exclaimed, coming up behind her.

When his hand touched her shoulder, Astrid quickly grabbed him by the wrist, using both hands to jerk him into the air and spin him around at her shoulder height, dropping him onto the ground. She glared down at his shocked, winded face, "Reno."

A smirk struggled at his lips, his voice rasping, "Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too." She reached down and grabbed his Electro-Mag Rod from beside his head, bringing it back up quickly and smacking Rude across the face with it. "How long's it been?" She asked nonchalantly, watching with a blank face as Rude fell to the ground, "Two years? Going onto three?"

"Y-yes." Rude stuttered, rubbing his jaw, "That sounds about right."

"Does it, now?" She asked, straightening and crossing her arms, "And tell me, what have you been doing these last two years that was so important you couldn't even leave a message? A letter? A fucking Post-It?!" She lashed out and kicked Reno in the ribs, not even wincing when he cried out and something cracked.

"T-t-t-things!" Reno wheezed, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself into a crouching position. "Very important things that required the utmost secrecy. FUCK!" He screamed when his arms buckled underneath him, his body crashing back to the floor.

"Quit being a pansy." Astrid hissed, kneeling down beside him and rolling him onto his back. "Move your hands!" He lowered them slowly, having raised them in defense when she had leaned in closer. Sighing angrily, Astrid reached out and pushed back his suit jacket, unbuttoning his white shirt and pressing her hand against his already bruising flesh where she had broken roughly three ribs. Her hand glowed briefly, and when she took it away the ribs were already healed, the bruise gone.

"Wow." Reno blinked as she stood. He poked his chest with one finger, then stared up at her, "You've gotten good."

"Had to." She said, moving onto Rude and healing the gash on his cheek from where she had hit him, "I've been around a lot since that time."

"Any particular reason you never… settled down, or something?" Reno asked, standing and buttoning his shirt.

Astrid stared at an empty spot over Rude's shoulder for a moment, then shook her head and stood, "Never found anywhere that felt like home." Shaking her head, she walked over to the window and looked out, crossing her arms. "Edge reminded me too much of Midgar, Kalm is still too damn creepy, Junon is in too much of an anarchist state for me to feel safe, Costa del Sol was too bright, no one likes me in Corel, Gongaga is still being emo, Cosmo Canyon… too many memories, don't like the fact that actors inhabit Nibelheim, Rocket Town has too much action dealing with crude oil, Wutai was getting a bit too friendly, Bone Village was too close to the Forgotten Capital, and Icicle Inn was too cold."

Reno and Rude, who had stood while she was talking, blinked, Reno laughing, "You sure you just don't have impossible standards? What about Mideel?"

She immediately answered, "Too small." Astrid then shook her head and laughed lightly, "Maybe I do have impossible standards… Then again…" She turned and looked at them, smirking, "I did live in Shin-Ra for awhile, so my standards would be a bit affected, no?"

A door opened and something rolled in.

"Too much perfection has been known to be a bad thing."

Astrid froze at his voice, then closed her eyes. "It was hardly perfection… too much invasion of privacy for that."

"…I suppose there was."

She opened her eyes and looked out the window, trying to ignore his reflection in the glass, "…Where have you been?"

"In hiding." He answered, rolling up beside her, "It was too dangerous after the incident to safely return, so I had this place privately constructed and have been recovering here ever since."

"Recovering…" She repeated, closing her eyes again, "Yeah. I suppose you would have been severely injured after what happened."

He nodded. "I was. Six hour operation, several blood transfusions, countless stitches, suffering from a coma that lasted several months, becoming an anemic for a short amount of time… it wasn't easy. I barely survived."

"But you did." Astrid said abruptly, not opening her eyes.

"…I did." He said after a pause.

"You did… and you didn't tell me." She continued, still not opening her eyes.

"…I didn't." He admitted.

"Good." She said, nodding and opening her eyes, "So, now you know why I'm going to do this." Astrid spun around quickly and delivered a strong right hook to his jaw, knocking both him and his wheelchair over. Turning sharply, Astrid stormed across the room, pausing at the door. "Oh, and there's someone else who wanted to see you, too."

The door opened and Dark Nation burst in, sprinting across the room and batting him across the back of the head with her large paw.

When the hellcat had pranced back across the room and out the door, Astrid smiled mockingly to the man on the floor and giving an exaggerated bow, "Good to see you again, Rufus."

The three men watched her walk out silently, wincing slightly when she slammed the door.

After a moment, Reno laughed nervously, "I think… she missed us?"

………

Astrid thudded down the steps angrily, skipping two steps at a time. "Wait!" She heard Reno call, but she ignored him and stepped off of the last step, storming over to Misha.

"Astrid!" She pulled to a stop when Reno dropped down in front of her, grabbing her shoulders, "Hear us out, at least!"

"If you keep jumping from high places, you'll eventually tear the cartilage in your feet. Now move before you tempt me to help it along!" She tried to brush past him, but he only held her tighter.

"Look at me!"

Scowling, she turned her head.

"Astrid, please look at me!"

Astrid sighed and looked up into his face, blinking at the set determination she saw.

"Please, hear him out." He said, his voice firm and his eyes never breaking contact, "That's all I'm asking; hear Rufus out."

She stared at him a bit longer, then sighed and shook her head, "Fine. Let's go."

Reno let her, nodding, "Thank you."

They walked back to the cabin, Dark Nation padding moodily behind them. Inside, Astrid watched blankly as Reno and Rude tried to help Rufus back into his wheelchair only to have the volatile man glare them into backing off.

"Glad you decided to come back in, Astrid." Rufus said, weakly standing and righting his wheelchair, "I was hoping you'd think reasonably and reconsider this."

Astrid rolled her eyes, "If I had really considered this reasonably, I'd have left already." She frowned when Rufus righted the wheelchair, only to fall back onto the ground. "Why don't you just let them help you?"

"Because, I don't need help." He huffed, turning the chair to face him and grabbing the armrests, "I'm perfectly capable of handli—" He teetered halfway into pulling himself up and fell. "Damn it!"

"Idiot." Astrid walked briskly to his side and righted the chair again. When she turned to him and he glared at her, Astrid rolled her eyes, "Quit acting like a sullen child." She pulled his arm over her head and around her neck, grabbing his waist and pulling him to his feet. Setting him gently down into the wheelchair, she looked down at him and smirked, "There now. Was that so hard?"

Rufus closed his eyes and pursed his lips, "I could have gotten it myself."

"Of course you could have." She said, leaning down to his level and looking at him derisively out of the corner of her eye, "Unfortunately for you, I got tired of waiting." Standing abruptly, Astrid walked to the other side of the room and leaned against the front door, staring at him, "Well, what did you want to talk about?"

"…General things." Rufus said, turning his chair slightly to look out the window, "How have you been?"

Astrid stared at him blankly, "How… have I been? You're gone for two years and you want to know how I've been?!"

Rufus glanced at her, eyes lowering slightly, "What do you want me to ask?"

"I don't want you to ask anything!" Astrid shouted, standing, "I want answers! Where the hell you've been! What you've been doing! Why you never called!"

"I've been here, like I already said." Rufus answered, his eyes still lowered, "I've been recovering. And, as for why I never called…" He looked up at her, his face blank, "I was sure you'd moved on."

Astrid shook her head and laughed, "Hah! Moved on… As if you would have let that stop you, even if I had. You're Rufus Shinra!" She shouted, glaring at him, "As if you would give up that which is 'rightfully yours'!" She paused, taking a step back, "Or was I not that important? Was I not important enough for you to waste the energy chasing?"

"Now you're being ridiculous." Rufus said, looking at her with a cynical glint in his eye.

"Maybe I am… but at least one of us is willing to admit to some form of emotion about this!" Astrid shouted, turning to walk out the door. Her hand froze on the handle, though, and she shook her head, sighing loudly and stepping away from it. As much as she hated where she was, she didn't want to leave…

"Reno, Rude, leave us for a moment." Rufus commanded.

The two Turks walked past Astrid, both of them throwing her apologetic grins before they walked out the door.

"I'm sorry." He said as soon as they were gone, "I should have called you, but I didn't." Astrid turned to face him and he went on, "Things have changed a lot since that incident. Animosity towards Shin-Ra was at an all-time high after Cloud and his group spread the truth, and I had to stay in hiding even after my recovery was well under way so that I didn't end up assassinated." Rufus looked at her and shook his head, "I would have called you, had I not been afraid that you would have ended up dying in the crossfire."

Astrid stared at him silently for a moment, then nodded to him, "I've been meaning to ask, what's up with the sheet?"

Rufus sighed, smirking at her acceptance of his explanation, and brushed his hand against the sheet draped over his body, "Adds to the ambiance, I think."

"You have Geostigma, don't you?" She asked bluntly, frowning when his hand dropped, "You do…"

Rufus nodded, "I do… though that's not the only reason. But that's beyond the point." Rufus stood and let the sheet fall into a heap in the wheelchair, smirking when Astrid gapped slightly at the bandages around his eye and neck, "Battle scars. Impressed?"

Astrid closed her mouth, smirking as Rufus slowly stalked over to her, "Vaguely…"

"Good." He pressed his hand against the wall beside her head, leaning in and whispering into her ear, "That's what I was aiming for."

Astrid glanced at him, still smirking, and whispered back, "How could you have been aiming for that if you weren't even sure I was coming back?"

Rufus laughed, letting his head fall against her shoulder, "You've become quite the pessimist, haven't you?"

"I prefer to think of it as 'realism' rather than 'pessimism'." She answered, leaning against his neck, "A lot friendlier wording."

Rufus was silent for a moment. He then stood and took her chin in his hand, tilting her head slightly and staring at her. He blinked, "You really did wait for me, didn't you?"

Astrid yanked her head out of his hand and pushed past him, shrugging, "Maybe, maybe not. You never know, maybe I found myself a nice, polite beau somewhere else in Gaia." She sighed and leaned against the window sill, looking out at the scenery, "A doting, lovable man who swept me off my feet with romantic dinners and fancy gifts and who writes poetry for me and reads it aloud as we sit on an airy veranda underneath a hot midnight sky, moon high above, garbed in nothing but thin robes that barely conceal anything…" She said the last three words slowly, glancing over her shoulder and throwing him a playful smile.

Rufus rolled his eyes and scoffed, walking over to her with a confident swagger in his step, "As if you'd let a man like that win you over. You'd eat him alive."

"Then perhaps his contemporary?" She smirked, turning around and leaning back against the window, "A tall, dark man with a derisive and detached attitude who seizes me whenever he wishes?"

"You're being ridiculous again." Rufus smirked, "Why have either of them when you could have me?"

"You?" She shook her head and giggled, "Well, that's a laugh! A scrawny, weedy little man with a sharpshooters aim in guns and nothing else, with a cocky attitude and depends on his wealth and powers to intimidate to keep his minions in line? Now, why would I want a man like that?" She smirked at the look he was giving her.

"That's not funny." Rufus said, frowning at her.

Astrid smiled and shook her head, walking over to him and wrapping her arm through the crook of his elbow, leaning against him slightly, "No, Rufus. There was no one else. I've been looking for you ever since the battle ended and the group and I went our own ways."

"Good." He leaned back against her, perhaps a bit more heavily than she because of his condition, "That means we can pick up where we left off…"

"I'd like that."

They pulled apart abruptly when the door opened, Rufus falling back into his wheelchair and covering himself with the sheet, taking a moment to adjust as if he had fallen onto something uncomfortable.

"Guess who's finally here?" Reno asked, smirking.

"Who?" Astrid glanced at Rufus, frowning.

"Cloud." Rude answered, looking to Rufus for orders.

"Take me into the other room, quickly." Rufus said, turning his chair towards the other door, "He won't stay here long if he finds out I'm involved."