Number VII
Celes sighed in her sleep, and turned on her side, snoring quietly. Rufus shook his head, snorting, as he followed the sleeping woman, sitting on a chair next to her bed. There was a knock on the door, and Tifa Lockheart-Strife entered the room. "Good morning", Rufus said. "How's your husband doing?"
"He's fine, thanks." Tifa drew a chair for herself and sat down on the other side of Celes' bed.
"And how about the others?" Rufus continued asking, referring to the SOLDIERs all over the world.
"Cid Highwind is taking all of them to North to bath in the water there."
"Hmm."
Both of them fell in silence and followed quietly as Celes kept sleeping. Her white hair was covering her face, and some was in her half-opened mouth, too. She was grabbing her blankets tightly with her fingers.
"How is she?" Tifa finally asked.
"We don't really know, since she has been sleeping ever since", Rufus said casually. Tifa looked at him quickly and noticed he was paler than ever.
"Sleeping for 2 weeks, huh." Tifa shivered. "How about her wound?" She nodded to her stomach.
"It's healing pretty well. Jenova didn't hit anything important, really. But sure it was a bad sight, since the bitch turned the blade few times inside there." Rufus shrugged his shoulders. Tifa shivered again; disgusted with the image and the fact Rufus could be so cool about it. Rufus snorted at her expression.
2 weeks ago, Bahamut had dragged them out of the Cavern, brought them to the helicopter and headed to Rocket Town to get Cid Highwind and his crew: right as Celes had asked him to do just before Cloud, Rufus and the Turks had appeared to the cave where Jenova's body had been. Cid - who had been roared at by Bahamut - hurried to the Cavern, found the people lying there half-dead, brought them immediately to Healin and made some phone calls all around the world. Just a couple of days later, the ex-SOLDIERs all over the world got a strange disease that reminded everyone about the stigma that had spread around 3 years ago. Many had died before Cloud had waked up and asked Cid to bring the remaining SOLDIERs to the Northern Cavern to get healed from the strange disease. And as the SOLDIERs had bathed in the water there, the Mako glow from their eyes had also disappeared.
Rufus smiled at Celes. "She will be happy to hear they are now able to get rid off the Mako glow", he suggested. Tifa smiled, too, and looked at Celes as well. Then she noticed something she hadn't realized before. She reached for Celes' right hand and held it up so she could see the palm.
"What's this?" she asked, showing the red tattoo to Rufus. Rufus stared at it for a while, and then he started to laugh. Tifa found herself disbelieved and surprised.
Rufus gathered himself and said, eyes shining with laughter: "From what you have heard, you could think there were only 3 legendary strong people among Shinra. But no, that would be wrong. There were 7 of them, and she was the 7th to be pronounced as the strongest among all of them..."
"Hmm..." Tifa put Celes hand back on the bed, but couldn't move her eyes from the red tattoo. VII, it said. Celes squeaked in her dream, and some drool tripped from the corner of her mouth. Tifa couldn't help it but smile. "What will happen to her now? Actually, what will happen to all of the SOLDIERs?"
Rufus stood up, stretching his upper body before answering. "It's all up to them", he then said. He left the room, saying he needed some coffee.
Tifa stood up as well, and walked next to the window that opened a great view to the rebuilt Midgar. She sighed and smiled to her own reflection. Jenova was no longer bothering the world of theirs, and the SOLDIERs were now free from the Mako energy. They were indeed happy times for them all. She turned around and smiled at the white-haired woman whose red tattoo seemed to shine brightly in the dim room. Number VII. Tifa walked next to her and whispered: "You don't need to be Number VII anymore. You can be... yourself."
Celes smiled knowingly in her sleep.
---END OF PART 3,KONÉTS (the end)
-----END OF NUMBER VII.