A/N: I am soooooooo sorry this took me so long to upload. I started writing it, then got really busy with school work and had to stop for a while. But now I am out of school so I was able to finish it. If you want to, because this chapter is rather gory, you can make this chapter rated M in your head. I personally think that teenagers of all ages can handle this, but if you have a weak stomach, you don't have to read it.
Originally, this was going to be four chapters, then it changed to five, but because this chapter was so long, I had to cut it in half and make it two. So now this story will be six chapters. I hope you all enjoy!!
Part 4 A Bloody Encounter
It had been seven months since Adela left. The day she had discovered Rude was her father, I returned home to see her room was empty, clothes gone, bed made, and a note saying she had left to live with Reno and Rude in their apartment. All I had done was crumple up the note and tossed it in the garbage can.
I felt very alone with just myself in the apartment. I never realized how empty the apartment was without Adela there. With her gone, I had to resort to attempting to cook my own meals or eating out. Neither one was very appealing without company. I saw Adela very little now; it seemed as if she were trying to avoid me at all costs. She worked at the Seventh Heaven bar after Tifa offered her a job when Rude suggested she get one to help pay rent and he insisted she was old enough to get one anyway. I would stop by every day after work like I used to before I met her to get a drink before heading home, but now I mainly stopped by to see her. I barely spoke to her when she was there and when she wasn't, I just sat quietly and drank my scotch then went home. I knew she came by the Shinra building to give the Turks their lunches every day, however; I was not one close enough to her anymore to receive a lunch and she never stopped by my office.
Today was just like any other day after she left, I came into work-Rude giving me a cold stare behind my back as normal-I did paper work at my desk for a few hours, and then went to several board meetings with the WRO, afterwards returning to boring paper work. By the time lunch rolled around, I was still engrossed in paper work and did not notice the door to my office open and someone awkwardly enter. It was not until they were standing right in from of my desk and gave a slight cough from the back of their throat did I look up with surprise. I looked up and my eyes widened when they settled on the nervous figure of Adela.
"Adela, what are you doing here?" I asked, a little confused, though I think it came out a little bit harsher than I intended.
She fidgeted a little before answering me. "I…brought you lunch." She set a small brown paper bag on my desk then turned to leave. It seemed as if she acted like I had offended her with my question.
I looked at the bag then up at her retreating back. "Why did you bring me lunch?" I asked, sounding a bit too cold.
She turned around, her expression blank, but her eyes portrayed sadness, and, if I was not mistaken, a small bit of hope. "I'm sorry?" she asked. I repeated my question and she gave a slight shrug. "I just hoped that…" She paused. "That we could be friends again." I raised an eyebrow at this but she continued as if she had not seen it. "I'm…tired of being angry at you. I'm tired of trying to avoid you and, truth be told, I'm tired of sleeping on Rude's couch that converts into a bed, and I'm tired of Reno. I'm not getting enough sleep with the two of them combined."
I chuckled a little at her last remark. "He is a big handful, isn't he?" I said after seeing Adela's questioning gaze. She nodded and smiled when I said this, then promptly said something else that surprised me. "I miss you."
I froze. What did she just say? I looked at her, surprise written all over my face. "What?"
"Can I…can I move back in with you?" she asked, catching me completely off guard. "I mean, just as friends?"
It took me quite awhile to comprehend what was going on and when I did, I nodded slowly, still a little shocked and in a bit of denial. She smiled at this then turned to leave.
"Thank you, Rufus," she said happily. "I'll go tell father your answer."
I shook myself out of my momentarily stunned silence. "Wait, Rude knows about this?" I asked.
"Yes. He isn't too happy about it but said it was okay as long as I kept my job at the Seventh Heaven."
"Oh," was all I said, all I could say. My insides were leaping with joy but outside I looked like a hobo in an alley when he just won the lottery; unable to move in complete shock. Nodding, she began to walk back out of my office but I snapped out of my reverie and came around to hug her from behind. Startled, she jumped and turned around to glare at me. She was as beautiful as ever and I knew that I still wanted to be more than friends. Slowly, I bent down in an attempt to kiss her but she exercised self-control and put her fingers to my lips.
"I said we are only friends," she reminded me. Disappointed, I sighed and released her. Smiling, she turned back around and happily left the room.
--
Adela moved her stuff back into my apartment that afternoon. She did not have very many belongings so it did not take very long with Reno, Rude and I helping out. All Adela did was tell us where to put her things. I had noticed something rather strange about Reno and was rather curious about it so when he and Rude left, I asked Adela about it as I watched her unpack from the doorway to her bedroom.
"I noticed Reno had stopped trying to hit on you. The two of you act more like siblings. What's with that?"
She smiled as she placed her jeans in the bottom drawer of her dresser. "Yeah, when he discovered that I was the daughter of his best friend, he sort of backed off a little. I guess he thought it best not to get involved or father might bury his dead body in a junk yard, never to be seen again. But that doesn't mean that he still wants to." She sat back and sighed with a smile. "Unfortunately for him, my answer will always be no."
I felt a smile creep across my face. Poor, Reno; always trying to get a girl but never succeeding. He tries, my how he tries. He's always at the bar, every night attempting to get at least one girl to go home with him. At one point, he tried with the girl Yuffie but ended up getting himself beaten and unconscious for the rest of the evening. Sometimes I think the young Turk tries a little too hard. If he would suck up his pride while at work, he might notice the lustful stares he receives from Elena but he usually just acts like she's not there and when they do talk, they end up arguing and Elena nearly always wins. I swear the two were made for each other.
For the next couple of months, I made it my priority to try inconspicuously to get the two together. Unfortunately, all my attempts seemed to have failed. I tried many things; getting Reno drunk on the weekends and pointing out girls-Elena to be exact-but he noticed right away. I also tried getting Tseng involved to talk to the two, and at one point I walked down the hall and "accidentally" bumped into Elena so that she would fall right into Reno but unfortunately, they had just ended and argument in which Elena won and as she fell, Reno just stepped aside and let her slam face first into the hard carpeted floor. Feigning an accident, I apologized sincerely to the blonde Turk and held out a hand to help her up, which she took almost warily. All the while, Reno was laughing hysterically at her.
All these attempts failed but that did not stop me from trying to get the two together. Eventually, I told Adela, and, after she stopped laughing, she agreed to help in any way she could. The only one left out in the cold was Rude. I did not trust the big man because he was Reno's best friend and would most likely tell the red-head and therefore my plans would go awry, even though all of them have already.
After four long, grueling months and about a hundred unsuccessful attempts with Reno and Elena, I walked into work one morning and noticed something out of the ordinary. As I passed the Turk offices, I saw the two youngest Turks talking. Wait, talking? Not arguing? Well this is certainly a turn of events. When did that happen? Pausing in the doorway to Reno's office, I stopped to listen in on their conversation in hopes of getting some information on what was going on. Elena began to laugh and Reno sat down at his computer, smiling as he did so.
"Here, I'll show you a video of that part." He then pulled up the internet, I believe, and typed in the URL to . "This is my favorite part of the whole movie; the Ballad of Sir Robin." I then heard the sounds of a rather ridiculous song emanate from the computer speakers. Something about a knight that wasn't scared of anything then the singer getting interrupted by someone saying that there was enough singing for that moment. Elena laughed again, this time a bit louder.
"I would really like to see this movie. Do you own it? Can I borrow it?" She smiled down at the red-headed Turk hopefully. Reno's smile turned into a devious smirk and suggested something else.
"How about I take you to see Spamalot instead? It's practically the same thing and it's coming to the live theater this weekend." He looked up at her smiling face. "What do you say?"
Elena pretended to think about it. "Are you asking me on a date?" she asked suspiciously.
"Only if you want me to," he replied in turn.
"Then yes," she answered, surprising Reno who almost fell out of his chair. "I'd love to go. Dinner first?"
"Alright, I'll pick you up at your apartment on Saturday and we can go to Tucano's at five, sound good?"
I did not stay to hear the rest of their conversation. I walked around the corner and heard a distinct squeal issue from Reno's office that could only mean that Reno had gotten really good seats for the play. The next day I came into work, I could have sworn that I saw the two holding hands. Success!
I came home that day to and saw Adela preparing to cook dinner. "Why don't we go out to dinner tonight, Adela?" I suggested as I set my briefcase down on the couch. She looked at me curiously.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because, we finally got success in getting Reno and Elena together. They're going to go see Spamalot this weekend and today they were holding hands. I think we've finally made a breakthrough with them."
A smirk began to inch its way across her face. "Spamalot, huh?" I nodded. "Well, that was my idea."
"It was?"
She nodded. "I suggested it to Reno two days ago at the bar. He seemed rather enthused about it, too. Came into the bar nearly in tears, walked right up to me and ordered a beer. Said he wanted to take Elena out sometime but didn't know how to ask her. So I suggested he go with asking her to dinner and a show. I didn't think he'd go with Spamalot, though. That was interesting."
I laughed. "Well, why don't we celebrate then? To your brilliant and successful plan on getting the two together. Here's to you, Adela." For only a short moment, I could have sworn that she blushed slightly but then quickly regained her composure.
"That sounds like an idea," she agreed as she put down the towel that she had been using to wipe the counter. "Alright, let's go. Just let me get my jacket and shoes and we'll be off." I waited for her to put her boots on and grab her jacket, then we headed out the door to my car parked out front and I drove us into Midgar for our evening out.
We arrived in Midgar half an hour later. I looked around the streets for a good restaurant but decided to ask Adela where she wanted to eat instead of deciding myself.
"Anywhere, really. Olive Garden sounds good."
"Sure thing." I did a U-turn and sped off back down the street because I had already passed the Olive Garden when Adela had suggested it. We arrived at the restaurant and asked for a table for two. As soon as we sat down, a young waitress came and asked for our drinks. Adela ordered a raspberry tea and I had a glass of red wine and water. Once our drinks were ordered, we picked up our menus. I decided to go ahead and order an appetizer of mozzarella sticks and calamari then I reached over to Adela's menu and pointed to the Pork Filettino; grilled pork tenderloin marinated in extra-virgin olive oil and rosemary served with Tuscan potatoes and bell peppers.
"You should try that, it's really good." Adela nodded but continued studying her menu in case something that sounded and looked better caught her eye. As for myself, I ordered the Capellini Pomodoro, which was an excellent blend of Roma tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil and extra-virgin olive oil tossed with capellini. Just the sound of it made my mouth water. We talked for a while as we waited for our food; mainly about how excited we were that Reno and Elena finally set aside their differences and realized their true feelings for each other. When our food came, we sat in silence for a few minutes while we ate, then Adela decided to make some small talk which turned into a conversation that lasted the entire meal. As we ate, our waitress brought us some delicious bread sticks and when we finished our meal, I ordered some dessert of White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake for the two of us to share because, to be honest, we were both too full to have one for each of us. While we were finishing our cheesecake, I asked for the check and paid it with a very hefty tip for our waitress. We left the restaurant and walked down the street back to my car.
"Why don't we take a short cut?" I asked Adela. She just shrugged and I turned into an alleyway that cut through the block so we could get to my car quicker. As we walked through the alley, we passed a few dumpsters and I noticed a lot of the garbage was overflowing out of the trash cans and onto the ground. "Wow, this place really is a mess, isn't it?" I said more to myself than Adela.
"Only because you made it this way." A new voice entered our midst and a man, no older than twenty-three by the looks of him, walked out of the shadows with and evil smirk on his face. As soon as the man revealed himself, Adela, who was slightly behind me and to my right, stepped behind my back as if to hide herself from the man that stood before us. The man then turned his attention from me to Adela. "Hello, Adela. My, we haven't seen you in a long time, haven't we?"
"What do you mean by 'we'?" I asked, my voice showing my frustration with the man. Who was he to make Adela hide behind me in fear? What was it about him that scared her?
"Oh, my apologies, Mr. Shinra. Did I forget to mention that there was more of me?" He swept his hand back as four more thugs stepped out of the shadows towards us and I could feel Adela grip the back of my coat and shiver as they came out, all wearing the same smirk as the first man.
"Who are you?" I asked angrily. "Who are you to Adela?"
"What, she didn't mention us to you? That's surprising, considering the things we've been through."
Then it clicked; a year ago, when I first met her, Adela had told me about a group of men who had tried to rape her but she had gotten away before they could do anything. Could these be the same men? I turned to face Adela who had hidden her face in my jacket. "Are these the men from a year ago who tried to. . ." I trailed off, not wanting to say it but apparently, I did not need to for Adela nodded and I turned back to the thugs with new found hatred. "You fucking bastards." I growled. The first man, who appeared to be their leader, smiled a devilish smile and put his hand inside his coat.
"Are you her knight in shining armor, or are you just a toy she found to piss us off?" The man then removed his hand from inside his coat, bringing a three-inch knife with it. The others followed suit, three more with knives and one with a small handgun. Pitiful, I thought to myself as my hand went behind me as if to hold Adela back but I smiled as I felt my fingers close around the cool handle of my twenty-gauge shotgun. "My name is Gun Sturgis, and I'm here to kill you and take the girl, so remember it because it will be the last name you hear."
"You said my name before, but do you have any idea what that implies? Do you, Mr. Sturgis?" The man hesitated, but then quickly regained his composure.
"President Rufus Shinra, do you honestly think that I should answer any question issued from the mouth of a man about to die?"
"I could ask you the same question," I said in retaliation. I then turned to the shaking girl behind me. "Adela, you might want to find a safe place to hide. This is going to get very dangerous, and whatever you hear, don't look, okay?" She nodded and ran off towards a dumpster, presumably to hide behind, however; this did not sit too well with our intruders.
"Hey! Get back here, girl!" They began to run after her but at that moment, I pulled out my shotgun and pulled the trigger, aiming into the mass of bodies expecting it to hit someone. It did; their leader, Gun Sturgis, got hit with the majority of the pellets in the gut. He doubled over, blood gushing out of his side and mouth, and fell, face down into the asfault. The goon with the small handgun shook with anger and pointed the tiny barrel at my abdomen. When he pulled the trigger, he was shaking so much that his aim was thrown off balance and instead of the bullet imbedding itself into my heart where it was meant to, the small piece of metal missed completely and only grazed my side. Unfortunately, even a graze can hurt terribly and I flinched when it tore open the skin but felt relief when it passed by me, completely off target of any vital organs.
Right after it passed, I heard a loud clang and a tiny yelp as the bullet embedded itself into the side of the dumpster that I had told Adela to hid behind, or in. I did not look back, I could not look back. Adela depended on me as my life depended on my actions here and now. Instead of looking back to see if she was okay, I aimed my shotgun towards the man with the handgun and fired. A loud, eerie scream issued out of the alleyway as the shotgun pellets hit the man full on in the face. Skin, tissue, and blood sprayed everywhere and splattered on the stone walls and ground and all over my suit. The rest of the thugs received a bit of gore and pellets and I licked my lips to moisten them and tasted the metallic flavor of blood. Not mine, but the other man's. It had been a long time since I had gotten blood on my hands and I was almost lost in the moment when I remembered that this was for someone else and not for myself. Still, it felt good to be able to fight again.
These goons were nothing compared to AVALANCHE. They were not very fast and easy to anger. If I shot one, the whole lot of them would charge blindly at me and that was when I could just peck them off one at a time. I shot one man in the stomach and my own insides almost lurched when he doubled over, grabbing at his abdomen in a vain attempt to keep the shattered remains of his intestines from spilling out onto the cold, stone ground. Another one went down rather easily when another bone-shattering round of shotgun pellets hit him in the side of the head. His skull fractured in many places and bits and pieces of the shattered bone flew off in many different directions. A few shards hit my cheek as I tried to move out of the way but was not quick enough and soon I could feel small droplets of warm blood streaming down the side of my cheek.
The last thug ran and scooped up the handgun that his comrade had dropped when I had shot him, spun around in one smooth motion and fired a bullet into my shoulder. I cringed but did not cry out. The fact that this lowly petty criminal could be as quick as to get even one bullet in my body angered me. That anger showing clearly in my eyes, I glared at the man and pointed my gun at his face, making him tremble in fear. I had never fired my shotgun this many times at once before and my arm began to ache from the strain of keeping the two-barrel muzzle of my gun steady. Yet somehow, I managed and was able to pull the trigger one last time. The man lurched backwards when I shot him point-blank in the forehead and the force of the gun shot the pellets through his head, exciting with an explosion of blood, bone, and brain tissue in the back.
I was just about to holster my gun when I heard a slight cough come up from the ground. Turning to my right, I saw the leader, Gun, sprawled out on the ground, a sadistic smile on his face; dry, crusted blood bordered his mouth and the wound in his side oozed thick with blood and gore as he tried to speak to me. "Heh. . .you're strong. . ." I walked over to him, rested my right foot on his dry-heaving chest-apparently he had rolled over onto his back while I was not looking-and pointed my shotgun, which was now in my opposite hand, at his face. The end of the barrels were only a few inches away from the end of his long, crooked nose.
"And what if I am?" I asked. I could not control my voice as is shook with anger. "You going to miraculously heal and jump up to kill me? I highly doubt it, seeing as you're already on the brink of death."
"You. . .think you're so great. . .working with. . .with the WRO to help heal the world." He paused to cough up another torrent of blood then continued. "But what does one. . .one who once was out to destroy it gain. . .from pretending to help it?" I hesitated, a little taken aback by his question and the look on his dying face told me that he thought he caught me red-handed in a lie, but I knew the answer and it definitely was not what he expected it to be.
"I'm not pretending to help the world, I am helping the world. Shinra company and the WRO are working closely together to piece together every shard of this broken world that has gone amiss and are making very good progress. Seeing as the head of the WRO was once one of my top executives, we work pretty well together." I paused for a moment to let my words sink in. Sturgis' eyes grew wide at my last comment and I smirked down at him. "It's just petty criminals like you who are the ones who are intent on keeping this world in the state that it's in. You can choose to believe it, or not, I don't care, but you won't live to see the end." That said, I pulled the trigger of the twenty-gauge and let the blood splatter on my face and clothes, no longer caring what happened to my white suit. The escapade was over and I could finally rest my arms from the pain-causing force of my gun.
Taking a big sigh, I looked around once more at the surrounding blood-drenched alleyway, then turned my back on it and made my way over to the dumpster that Adela had so eagerly hid behind. Once she was in sight, I noticed that some of the blood had sprayed onto the outside of her left pant leg. Her jeans would have to be put in the wash several times before that stain came out. As for my clothes, I would never be able to wear them again without the massive blood stain showing for the entire world to see.
Squatting down in front of her, I reached a hand out to her to calm her down and to let her know that I was alright, but when my fingers touched her soft skin, she flinched and shyed away from me as far as the dumpster and the building wall would allow her. "Get…away," she began to say, terror in her voice. "Don't…" She was shaking out of fear I noticed, she must have thought that I was one of the men that I had killed. Roughly, but not too roughly, I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, forcing her face in my direction. However; her eyes were closed tightly and she tried not to open them. "Please…"
"Adela, it's me. You're safe," I told her softly. She seemed not to hear me so I repeated myself, this time a bit louder than the first. "It's me, Adela. You're okay." Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at me, the fear gone but her body was still shaking violently from shock. My hand found its way to her face and brushed aside the strands of dark hair that had fallen into her beautiful brown eyes. I placed my palms to the side of her head and leaned forward, touching my forehead to hers. "They're gone now, they can't bother you anymore," I told her confidently. "You're safe now." She stared into my own blue eyes as if searching for some hint of a lie. Finding none, she broke down and cried, extending her arms towards me and wrapping them around my body for comfort.
"I was so scared!" she cried. "I thought that they would kill you!" I let her tears fall from her eyes onto my suit, there was no way I would be able to wear it again anyway. Her sobs were quiet, but not sad. She cried from relief, not from fear or any other negative emotion. She was happy, happy that I was safe and that those men would never be around to bother her or any other person again.
Strangely enough, I felt happy as well. I had a warm feeling in my heart that I had never felt before. It felt good, I liked it. I had never felt this happy to help another before, it was strange but I felt like without it, something was missing from my life. I felt the need to do it again, to keep helping people. Sure, I got my share of helping people through my work with the WRO but somehow it did not feel like it was enough. I wanted to see the smiling faces of those that I help, to hear their thanks eminate from their lips in my direction. I really wanted it, and, thanks to Adela, I found the missing piece of myself that had long since been missing.
I wrapped my arms around Adela and returned her embrace. We stood there, in the dark and filthy alley for only a few minutes but it felt like days. I did not want to let Adela go but keep her in my arms forever. Unfortunately, if the mess in the alley were to stay the way it was, someone would stumble upon it and discover what I had done. That would be bad for me after I had worked so hard to change my image to the people that I was not a bad man but actually intended to help them. Even thought I only killed a bunch of lowly criminals, it would still look horrific to others. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed a number and waited for the person on the other line to pick up. After two rings, I heard a click and then a deep voice say, "Rude speaking."
"Hello, Rude?" As soon as I said his name, Adela lifted her head to look at me in surprise. I just stared over her head at the bloody mess I had made. "I got in a little trouble on my way home from dinner, could you and Reno come over and clean up the mess in the alley behind Dunstan Street by the Olive Garden?" There was silence for quite some time and I could almost hear the gears grinding together in the big man's head as I suspected he was running through all the possible scenarios that could have happened in the alley.
"We'll be right there," he finally said after a few minutes of silence.
"Thanks, Rude." I snapped the phone shut and looked at Adela. "We'll have to wait here until they arrive. We can't go off and leave this mess alone." She gulped and then nodded, nuzzling her face into my chest.
