"Is there anything else I can get for you, miss?"
Tifa glanced up from her plate and acknowledged the maid who was serving her. Dinner in bed was an odd thing for. But it wasn't a bad thing...
"I think I'll have some hot tea," Tifa replied.
"What kind?"
"Chamomile, please."
The maid walked briskly out of the room and passed Cid. Cid stepped into to room, and Tifa welcomed him graciously.
"You alright, Tifa?" asked Cid. "Are ya hurting to much?"
"I'm much better right now. Thanks."
Cid sniffed around the air. His face morphed into a grimace, and he tried not to gag.
"He used that treatment on you," Cid cried. "Talk about cruel and unusual punishment!"
Cid saw a chair sitting at the side. He grabbed it and pulled it up next to Tifa's bed to sit down. He exhaled aloud and scratched his head, trying to get his words out.
"You haven't mentioned anything to anybody about last night, have ya?"
Tifa shook her head and continued eating. Cid slumped into the chair in relief. He began to scratch his head again, unable to think of what to say next. He was not well versed in communicating with women in a quiet environment...a quality that he envied Cloud for.
"It would probably be best," he continued, "if you didn't tell anyone what you saw."
"Don't worry," Tifa replied. "Cloud already blackmailed me into it."
And Cid laughed.
----------
Aeris stomped out of the front entrance and into the night in a huff. Cloud followed, slightly irritated, but was interested in finding out what was the matter.
"If you're going to avoid the class for an hour just to flirt with a supermodel," Aeris growled, "then don't bother teaching!"
"Have you ever known me to be that type of a man?" Cloud asked. "Because I never considered myself to be that way...maybe I'm wrong!"
Aeris turned up her nose and refused to answer. Cloud sighed in frustration.
"And besides," he said, "even if I was, who's there to stop me?"
"The students are more important then some shallow bimbo from the front of a fashion magazine..."
"For starters," he replied, "Miss Lockhart is an intelligent, sophisticated young woman...thank you very much. Second of all, she had a nasty fall down the alley steps. She could've been killed! She is a guest in my house, and so, I must see to her well-being. "
Aeris didn't even know the half of it.
Cloud began to retreat back to the house. Aeris, however, wasn't finished.
"The maids could've done it, you know!" she shouted to him.
"I'm not arguing with you anymore," Cloud answered harshly.
Aeris gave him a hostile glare before heading back to the van. The whole class had watched the heated argument, with the window slightly cracked.
"Wow," Henry whispered. "This should happen more often..."
"Roll up the window, punk!" said Danny. "Miss Gainsborough's coming back!"
And roll up the window he did. Aeris opened the front passenger door and slammed it. As the van drove away, Cloud rubbed his head in confusion.
"What was the bloody matter with her?"
----------
Reno walked down the hall towards his room. He yawned lazily and scratched his stomach, not caring if anyone saw. Tifa, accompanied by a maid, strolled past him in the opposite. He swerved around in surprise.
"Aint she supposed to be in bed?" he asked himself.
He shrugged his shoulders and continued down the hall.
Tifa followed the maid downstairs and through the great room.
"You know I'm going against the master's instructions, Miss Lockhart," the maid finally said.
"You won't get into any trouble," Tifa answered. "Besides, I forced you to take me."
The maid led Tifa through the kitchen and then another door. It led to a steep flight of stairs. The light was dim.
"This leads to a small library," the maid explained. "Master Strife uses it as a private study."
Remembering Tifa's bruises, the maid made sure to help Tifa down the stairs. When they made it to the base and another door, the maid took a pair of keys, opened it and beckoned Tifa to go in. The maid quietly shut the door and locked it, and Tifa was alone. She casually ventured into the room. There were large bookcases, neatly lined in a row, waiting to be pillaged. Small library indeed! The room was larger than the great room! It was probably the largest room in the whole entire estate.
Tifa came across a desk in the far corner of the library. She came closer, and saw that Cloud was sitting there, dozing off with his head on the desk. She leaned over, to make sure he really was asleep, and saw that his hand was entangled with the cord of a nearby telephone. Tifa made a decision to leave him alone and continued her adventure in the library.
She made her way to a random bookshelf and browsed over the books.
"The Boxcar Children, Sense and Sensibility, War and Peace, Great Expectations, Johnny Tremain..."
Tifa noticed a certain book and wedged it out of the shelf.
"To Kill a Mockingbird," she cooed, "I love this book."
"So do I."
Tifa swerved around, surprised, and saw Cloud glancing at the books along with her.
"You have a lot of bad habits, Cloud-sensei," Tifa scolded. "Are you trying to frighten me?"
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" he asked. "I gave the maids strict instructions not to let you out of bed. How did you get out anyhow?"
"I bribed one of your maids."
Cloud chuckled and walked to the other side of bookcase.
"Are you feeling better, Miss Lockhart?"
"Yeah. That medicine really does work."
"Told ya," Cloud teased.
There was an awkward moment of silence. Tifa shuffled around and went to another bookcase. But she was not there to pick out books.
"So, why did come down here?" Cloud finally asked.
"You should already know that," Tifa answered.
Cloud let out a stressed sigh and leaned on a bookshelf. A headache was coming on.
"I hate to say it though," he said, "but you have caused an imbalance for simply following me that night. Not only did you take quite the beating, but you also saw several government secrets that you were not authorized to see. I got of the phone just an hour ago, so Mr. Shinra could prepare some papers for you. Signing them will protect you so that your own company won't try and bump you off for it..."
"I still don't see why I couldn't have been warned that I'd meet people who could change their own gender on a whim..."
"I didn't change my sex, Miss Lockhart," Cloud interrupted. "Just my outer appearance and shape. Heck, I could change myself into a bloody flying cow if I wished it...but now, you're probably going to ask how I can do that."
Tifa replied that she most definitely was.
"Shall I stall to make a few points, then?" he asked. "I promise I'm not stalling."
"Yeah, whatever," Tifa mumbled lazily.
Cloud took a deep, long breathe, and Tifa knew that she was in for something very unpleasant.
"During my life," he began, "I have been forced to tell lies. I have lied to dear old Barret. I have lied to the maids, including the ones that are here to guard this estate. Most regrettably, I have lied to my sister, Marlene, who is the only real family I have left. And up till now, I have lied to you, Tifa."
This was second time he called her by her first name.
"The only reasons I have told lies, though, were either because I was ordered to do so, or because I wanted to protect someone from emotional or physical harm. But I can't lie forever."
And for a long time, Cloud did not say another word. Tifa waited impatiently. She almost wanted to walk over to Cloud and give him a good shake, just to make him continue. But wasn't very bold at the moment. After a while, she realized that he had not stopped talking to annoy her. Cloud was afraid to continue. Calling her 'Tifa' had made him more comfortable.
"Are you..." he finally continued. "Are you familiar with the scientific activities of your company...Tifa?"
"I make sure I am," Tifa answered. "I'm required to know."
"Are you aware of their experimentations... in bio-technology?"
"Very much."
"What are those activities?"
Tifa immediately became confused.
"You are a former Shinra assassin," Tifa shouted. "Shouldn't you already know?"
"I know all of the answers to the questions," Cloud replied. "Just answer them."
Tifa groaned in exasperation and but did as she was told.
"They've been doing whole lot of experimenting on drugs...weaponized drugs...from plants. They're also making improvements on weapons...the kind that only work when certain person uses it...genetic identification. And then the scientists have been bioengineering and developing these super-humanoids...humanoids that start out as infants and grow like normal humans do...which I thought was completely ridiculous...until they showed us one...during a training session when I was a teenager...that was the only time I ever saw one..."
"And how successful have they been...with these humanoids?"
"Very successful," Tifa replied. "But in the past, they never quite hit the mark."
"Why?"
A burst of uneasiness went into to Tifa's blood.
"Why are you asking me these questions?" she asked frantically. "Why don't you just come out and say what you have to say?"
"Tifa?"
Tifa was breathing haggardly in annoyance.
"Listen. Right now, I'm sitting over enough fire just going through these questions with you. I don't have the gall to say everything...so I need you to tell a part of the story."
Cloud's voice sounded half pleading. He wasn't even acting himself. Tifa reluctantly resolved not to complain anymore, out of sympathy.
"The humanoids," she said, "were originally created by criminal syndicates. Our particular company was trying the hardest to duplicate these humanoids, but it was impossible to keep up. We needed these humanoids so we could fight theirs...it was kinda like 'my horse is bigger than your horse', except more deadly. Or at least, that's what Mr. Shinra told me it was like when I was little. But...less than thirty years ago...the tides changed...and we caught up with them. It's been that way ever since."
"Why?"
Tifa thought hard.
"I don't know all the details," she responded. "I only know rumors...I heard that somehow...the board of directors suckered a crime syndicate into making their latest humanoid for them...and stole the information from them...I'm not that well informed but"
"I know everything," Cloud interrupted.
Tifa felt even more uncomfortable than before.
"Mr. Shinra and the Board of Directors," said Cloud, "were desperate to catch up with the manufacturing of the humanoids. So, they conjured up a plan. One of the members of the Board, along with his wife, went to one of these crime syndicates, under the aliases of Mr. and Mrs. Penthrop. This certain group of criminals created humanoids on the side and sold them as pets to different people. The fake Mr. and Mrs. Penthrop were supposedly requesting a child because Mrs. Penthrop was baren...and anxious for a baby. So, the syndicate, not able to see through the farce, created the child. The 'parents' paid for it and requested for the information on how it was created...just in case something went wrong (which of course, they paid for as well). They left with child and stolen information. Then, Shinra and Genova Corporations used the information and studied the child's genetics. Using that, they created the new humanoids and thus caught up with the enemy crime syndicates."
Cloud sat down on floor, overwhelmed by his own tale.
"The syndicate," Tifa said nervously. "Which organization did our company con?"
"The syndicates name...was the Blue Lotus...the original people who first created the humanoids...their most lasting achievement."
Tifa left the bookshelf that she was leaning on.
"The child," Cloud continued, "was branded by the Blue Lotus's insignia: the Chinese calligraphy of its very name. On their right arm. That child..."
"...was you..."
Cloud looked up and saw Tifa standing over him.
----------
Mr. Gerald made his way through the halls, briskly and confidently. A loud, constant pitter-patter of Miss Lucy's stilettos followed and caught up him. A male scientist followed as well. Mr. Gerald stopped walking.
"Please, sir," Lucy cried desperately. "You must reconsider! It's completely unnecessary and rash!"
"Rash, yes," Gerald replied. "But it is in fact very necessary. We should have done it five years ago."
"But to destroy a whole organization?" asked the male scientist. "To destroy one project?"
"Project Ultima will not be destroyed!" Gerald said harshly. "He's far too valuable for that!"
Lucy and her fellow scientist fell silent.
"I never ordered the Becton brothers to kill him; they decided to do that well on their own. That's why it was a mistake on my part to send them in the first place. They wanted revenge!"
"Then why do you keep on saying your going to kill the "children" in your notes them?" asked Lucy.
"The children are Cid McPherson and Marlene Strife. I have no use for them...and they are too closely involved."
"But to attack and take down a whole anti-criminal syndicate," the male scientist said. "How could that possibly help us?"
Mr. Gerald continued walking, slowly this time, with the scientists in tow.
"The meeting between me and the Board of Directors is over...and it was a group vote...so it has already been decided. But think of it this way... and do not worry again...in order to weaken a village...you must cut off its sources..."
----------
Is it just me, or am I writing like an British person lately?