Chapter 6: The way back

Rufus raised an eyebrow as he saw the vehicle the Turks had chosen to escort him.

"A truck?" he asked.

"Discretely and inconspicuously!" explained Reno scratching the back of his head.

Rufus nodded and climbed into the vehicle with some difficulties followed by Tifa and Gina.

Reno and Elena checked the area once more before stepping in as well.

"Everything allright Rude!" Reno called signalling Rude to drive off.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

"I hope the location where you found me will not appear in a report," Rufus meant.

Reno shook his head.

"Of course not!" he meant. "But what will I write?"

"I don't care" Rufus meant simply and shrugged his shoulders. "Honeybee inn if you want"

Tifa and Elena widened her eyes hearing this.

"You would rather like all to think that you were with prostitutes together than in my bar?" Tifa pointed out.

"Good choice Prez!" Reno pointed out.

"If that spreads nobody at least suspects you as gay anymore" the redheaded Turk pointed out.

Rufus gave Reno a glance that could have frozen oceans.

"May I ask who expressed such theories?" he asked with a cold voice.

Elena and Reno looked at each other and then all around the truck but not at Rufus.

The young Shin-Ra raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"I guessed so…" he meant dry and the temperature inside seemed to go down drastically.

Elena gave him a sweet smile.

"President Rufus!" she began in a calming voice. "I am sure you had a reason for never dating with a woman and refusing all the applicants your father tried to couple you with"

Rufus frown deepened and the temperature seemed to fall even more.

Reno laughed again.

"Yes!" he pointed out. "And that you fired all secretaries that tried to get private with you!"

"Could we please change the subject of this conversation?" Rufus asked with narrow eyes.

Tifa and Gina tried to keep their faces emotionless.

"Of course!" Reno said. "How do we explain them?"

He pointed at their guests. "Did we find them in the honeybee inn too?"

This time Tifa and Gina frowned.

"No.." Rufus meant. "We picked them up on the way"

"Why did we pick them up?" the read haired Turk asked.

"Because I ordered it," Rufus just meant.

"Understood!" the two Turks said.

It was silent again for a while.

"Prez…" Reno began suddenly. "There is something you should know.."

"Hm?" Rufus asked him to go on.

"You should know that we had the order to bring you back. Even against you will if that would be necessary," the turk explained.

"You would have kidnapped him?" Tifa asked not believing what she just heard.

Rufus and Reno looked at her.

"That was to be expected!" the young Shin-Ra said with a sly smile.

Tifa looked at him in awe not able to say anything.

"General Heidegger only thought about the future of the company" Elena explained calm.

"I really cannot believe it!" Tifa pointed out. "How can you order about someone's life as you wish!"

Rufus looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Tifa… " He said in a calming voice. "Nobody forced me and Reno only said that those were his order"

"But that is unfair!" she pointed out angry.

"Not everything in fair in life Tifa" he explained calm. "Do you think the position I am in is easy?"

"And you just accept that as a fact?" she asked angry.

He did not look into her eyes.

"I thought you understood what I said back then," he simply meant.

"Shin-Ra is my legacy and so I have a great debt to repay to the world. I cannot simply go on to blame my father and I have the responsibility now. I started it and now I have to go on"

She remembered those words clearly in her mind. But back then she did not realize the heavy weight them.

"The responsibility for your legacy?" she asked him.

All looked at the young president who had a blanc look in his eyes.

"I cannot allow that everything sinks in chaos," he just meant.

Elena and Rude looked at each other as if they were asking if they found the right person.

Where was his aloofness?

And that he explained his actions to another person was absolutely new.

"We will be there in a few minutes!" they hears Rude calling.

"President Rufus!" Tifa pointed out. "I have a request to make"

He looked at her and waved with his hand to go on.

"I need food for a journey to Kalm," she said. "I have to fetch the daughter of a friend from there"

"I see" he said calm. "But I refuse"

"Am I your prisoner now?" she asked angry. Her eyes began to glow dangerous.

"Of course not!" he meant calming. "But I don't want to risk your safety"

He looked at Reno who sighed and nodded.

Rufus smiled and looked at Tifa again.

"Reno and Elena will take care of that" he said.

"You want me to trust them?" she asked shocked and pointed at the red haired turk.

"Hey!" Reno pointed out with a hurt look in his face.

"Since I was born my life layed in the hand of the turks. And I still trust them with my life" Rufus meant with a sly smile in his face. "I am sure you can trust them too then"

Elena and Reno looked flattered at their feet.

Suddenly the truck stopped and they felt like going down like in an elevator.

"What is that?" Gina asked shocked.

"We are going underground," Rufus said smirking.

"And where are we?" Tifa wanted to know.

"Sub-Midgar was under the Shin-Ra headquarter" the president explained.

"Just what is Sub-Midgar?" she asked curious.

"It is an underground city," the young Shin-Ra explained.

Gina and Tifa looked at him with wide eyes.

"I will explain when we are there," he said grinning.

"I don't think that there will be much time Prez" Reno meant. "The medics are already waiting for your arrival".

"That will have to wait anyway," Rufus meant.

"But President Rufus!" Elena pointed out.

"I am not planning to rest the next weeks in a healing lounge!" the president responded.

Suddenly the way downwards stopped and the truck was opened.

... I am so slow in developing... I hope you still like it. I will write more in the future. :)

I promise.

It's just too hard to check every third word in a dictionary...grr...

Thanks to Dirge of Cerberus I have a better inspiration of the world under the shinra tower. I always guessed that there is another headquarter. Interesting that my guess was actually confirmed. :)

Too bad that Rufus was not in the game but we all know who payed the cheques of the WRO ;)

Right?

.. I hope that was not a spoiler for you... if that is the way I am really really really sorry... please don't pelt me with old tomatoes --'