Merging Journeys

Author's Note: Chapters will come out later from now on, as I'm back in the place dubbed "Hell" by some students. -_-;; *sigh* Anyway, disclaimer, disclaimer: all characters, except for original ones, in this story belong to Squaresoft. The plot itself is my own; if you want to use something from this story on your own page or your own fanfic, it would only be polite if you would ask my permission first. Thank you, and enjoy the chapter!

Started: August 17, 1998

Finished: October 2, 1998

Tifa Lockheart gasped, her hands automatically coming up and covering her mouth. Her brown eyes were wide as she looked at the man before her. This man, who had kissed her and told her he loved her, was. . . She shook her head, unbelieving.

Rufus Shinra slowly nodded, helping Tifa to her feet. "I'm sorry, Tifa," he started, "but it's true." He reached down and picked up Ragnarok, sheathing it on his back. Tifa leaned her head against his chest, almost subconsciously, and he wrapped his arms around her. A few moments passed that way before he said, "Are you all right, Teef?"

Looking up at Rufus' eyes, Tifa saw the glimmer of concern that she would never have guessed she would see in Rufus Shinra's eyes. "You can't be Rufus, you just *can't!*" she said. "You-- you're not like that cold tyrant!"

"Tifa, you'll just have to get used to this new information," Rufus whispered, trying to comfort her. As he thought back, he didn't see himself comforting anyone at all until now. "I'm Rufus Shinra, the presi-- er, ex-president of Shinra Incorporated." He looked into her eyes. "That doesn't mean that I'm the same as I was . . . a month ago." A rueful smile appeared on Rufus' face as he scratched the back of his head. "I can't believe I was a prisoner in my own building for that long."

Tifa bit her lip, looking over Rufus' shoulder. She eyed the tunnel the Turks had gone down wearily; part of her told her to get the hell out of there. "We'd better leave," she said. "The Turks might come back."

Rufus looked down the tunnel behind them and nodded. "I doubt that Rude will be out for long just from crashing into a wall," he stated. "Follow me." He started down the tunnel he had run through a while ago, Tifa hurrying after him. They slowed down a little down the tunnel, Tifa walking next to Rufus, a frown marring Tifa's face. ". . . How do you think Cloud and the others will take this news?"

"I honestly don't know," Tifa whispered. She suddenly remembered something. "I think Tseng already knew who you were."

Rufus searched his memory. "Oh, my God," he gasped. He looked at Tifa. "Then it really *was* Tseng that I saw?"

"Huh?"

"How else do you think I got down here?" queried Rufus. "Tseng scared the hell out of me when he appeared out of nowhere!"

A tiny, amused smile made its way to Tifa's face. "So you fell off the subway rails, too?"

"You fell off? What happened?"

Tifa shook her head. "It all happened so fast," she sighed. "All I remember is Tseng shouting out that there was a Turk Light coming at us. It hit the railing under me."

"Are you okay?" His words were soft, and Tifa could see the love in the ex-president's eyes. She managed a smile. This would take some getting used to.

"I am now."

Cloud Strife gripped Aeris Gainsborough's hand as he looked down into the darkness below. "Tifaaaaa!" he shouted for the one hundredth time. "Are you okay??"

Vincent Valentine frowned, his red eyes searching the darkness as well. "She's probably unconscious," he said.

Yuffie Kisaragi paced behind them, fearing that down below, Tifa's body was splattered all over the subway floors. "I hope she's all right," she whispered.

Tseng Lander knelt next to Aeris, invisible to the eyes of the others except for Aeris. "She's not dead, that much I'm certain," Tseng remarked. When Aeris looked at him, her brow raised in surprise, Tseng smirked. Like Aeris, he now possessed the power to feel when someone he cared for entered the Lifestream, or died. "The oddest things have been happening lately. This can be counted as one of them."

Aeris sighed. "I still can't believe what you said about Rufus," she murmured. "How can he still be alive? All the Cetra watched the Diamond Weapon attack Midgar."

"Diamond Weapon?" questioned Tseng.

"Another of the Planet's Weapons," replied Aeris. "There were five -- Diamond, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, and Ultima, from which Cloud got his sword." She pointed at the glowing, white and purple sword on Cloud's back. "Ruby and Emerald are the only ones active now; you saw Emerald over at Junon."

"Oh, yeah. . ." Tseng bit his lip at the memory of the huge, hulking thing that had almost killed Vincent.

"I don't know what to think anymore," Cloud sighed, looking at Aeris. "I know that I should hate Rufus for what he did to the Planet . . . but he's been through hell."

"I can forgive him for his crimes; the Planet can, and will, heal from everything that Shinra did. I'm deeply afraid of what this Veraldei and this new corporation will do once they're fully operational, though."

"They seem very ready to give a lot of money to their workers," Cloud grumbled.

"Perhaps they need a lot of man power?" queried Vincent.

"Hmph." Yuffie stopped and walked back over to them. "Shinra's got some big project going on south of Wutai; my dad sent out Staniv and Chekhov to check it out before I left."

All eyes went on the young ninja. "What project?" Aeris asked the question everyone else was dying to ask.

Yuffie shook her head. "I'm not sure. I know that it involved a lot of workers, though. From what Staniv said, it was some sort of satellite." Her eyes widened. "Do you think that's in any way involved with that rocket being built in Rocket Town?"

"Well, in the words of Barret . . . `those damn Shinra!`" Cloud hissed.

Tseng appeared next to where Aeris had been moments ago, and he stood up. "I'm sure Rufus would be offended by that if he were present."

"You said that he fell off these rails, Tseng?" asked Vincent. Tseng nodded and silence fell between the group members.

"I'll bet that Tifa landed on Rufus' body down there," Yuffie suddenly piped up. When everyone looked at her again, she squeaked, "What?"

"That's not something I want to think about," Vincent commented.

"Hey, is anyone up there??" came a familiar voice from below.

"TIFA!!!" shouted Cloud, leaning down into the huge hole. "Are you okay??"

"I think so," Tifa called back. "No broken bones."

"Okay, team," Cloud said, averting his attention to the others. "Any ideas on how we can get her out of there?"

Tseng smiled; Cloud had finally accepted him as an ally. He figured that the hardest person to turn would be Barret; his hatred towards Shinra wouldn't make it any easier. Leaning forward, he shouted, "Is there anything down there that you can climb up?"

"Not that we can see!" came a male voice.

"President Shinra, is that you?" queried Tseng. He wondered what Hojo had done to Rufus that would have made him look like exactly like Cloud; it was frightening to think of what Hojo could have done to him in his lab.

"Don't CALL me that!!" came the same voice.

"It's him, all right," Tseng chuckled softly, looking around at the others.

"He didn't like being called that?" asked Yuffie.

"He hated it; he said it reminds him too much of his father," replied the Cetra.

"Hey!!" Tifa's voice echoed on its way up. "Are we going to get up there or what??"

"In time," called down Cloud. He turned to Yuffie. "Yuf, go find some rope."

"Aww," pouted the teenager. "Why me?"

"Because you're expendable."

Yuffie looked at Cloud in shock, her jaw dropping. She had never thought Cloud was capable of saying such a heartless thing. Then, she glared at Cloud before running off to find some rope. Vincent blinked hard, looking at Cloud. He was frowning within the collar of his cloak. "Why did you say that, Cloud?"

Cloud frowned in confusion. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "I-- I suddenly felt as if Sephiroth were trying to control me . . . but it didn't quite work."

"Sephiroth. . .?" echoed Tseng, Aeris, and Vincent, their eyes widening.

He ran a slender hand through his silver hair, his dark blue Mako eyes glittering within Hojo's laboratory. Hojo sat not too far away, smiling in satisfaction. "He is nervous now," the man said, his voice low and dry.

Hojo nodded. "Very good. Very good indeed."

He looked up and down the man, his Project Ultimatum. He was dressed in a SOLDIER uniform, a black trenchcoat wrapped around his lean frame as he stood at his full height at five-feet, eleven-inches. His hair was like Sephiroth's, silver and long, reaching his mid-back. But, he was not a failure. Hojo's smile curled into a tight sneer, his black eyes evil to the core as he thought about that. Sephiroth had been a failure, but with the DNA of his killer within this being, Hojo was sure that he had the perfect being.

"You will need a weapon now," Hojo stated.

The silver-haired clone looked him in the eye. "I want Masamune."

Hojo frowned. He hadn't expected the clone to know about sword. "It can't be used by anyone but Sephiroth."

"That may be true and it may not be," was the clone's reply. "If I remember correctly, and I *know* I do" -- Hojo noted that the president's arrogance was in the clone, sadly enough -- "Tifa Lockheart succeeded in using Masamune against Sephiroth. Same with Cloud Strife. I believe that the Masamune's true potential can only be unlocked by Sephiroth, yes, but anyone can wield it." His Mako eyes hardened. "Now, I'll say it again: I want Masamune."

Sighing, Hojo finally agreed. "We will get the sword. Don't worry."

A cold smile appeared on the clone's face. "Oh, don't worry; I *never* worry."

Yuffie sighed as she carried the heavy, black rope back to the group. She gave the rope to Tseng, who tied the rope off on a twisted rail before tossing it down into the darkness. Cloud scratched his head as he neared Yuffie. "Um . . . Yuf?" Yuffie turned to him, anger apparent in her brown eyes. Cloud cleared his throat nervously before continuing. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"What? Do you want to add insult to injury now??" snapped Yuffie. "Am I useless, too?" Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but the young ninja cut him off. "I know that I'm irresponsible and can't be trusted . . . most of the time . . . but that doesn't mean that I deserve to be called expendable! I'm a person too, you know!!"

Cloud bit his lip. "Yuffie," he started, "I don't think you're expendable. I doubt anyone in AVALANCHE thinks that. It's just that--" He frowned. "I don't want to scare you, Yuf. . ."

"Scare me?" repeated Yuffie. Her anger and hurt had been replaced by curiosity. "What are you talking about?"

"I think that Sephiroth might be back."

"Whaaaaat???" Yuffie stared at Cloud in horror. "You're kidding, right?"

Cloud shook his head. "There's a chance that he's back. The oddest things have been going on lately." He gestured to Tseng. "Tseng and Aeris are proof. So is Rufus."

"Did I hear my name?"

Both Cloud and Yuffie turned, laying eyes on the specimen that Cloud had saved in the Shinra Building. But now, he had a name. "Rufus," Cloud said flatly. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel about the former Shinra president. One part of him told him to hate Rufus for what Shinra Incorporated had done in the past, yet another part felt sorry for the man; he was now also a victim to Hojo's cruel and twisted experiments. Another part told him to run him through right there and spit on his corpse, and yet another told him laugh at Rufus' expense for what Hojo had done to him. The last two thoughts made Cloud shudder.

Rufus nodded. "Cloud," he said, slowly approaching. He still carried Ragnarok and the Dragon Armlet he had given him in the building.

"How. . .?" queried Cloud. "How did this happen to you, of all people?"

Rufus' brow shot up. "Just because I'm who I am doesn't mean odd things can't happen to me." He looked down at himself and shook his head. "But I must admit, this sure takes the cake. I don't know how Hojo managed to do this to me, but I'm still in one piece."

Yuffie scratched the back of her head in disbelief. "You really don't look anything like you used to," she remarked. "Someone could mistake you and Cloud for twins." Both Cloud and Rufus glared at her for that comment. "Sorry," she apologized.

Tifa brushed herself off as she stepped away from Vincent and Tseng. They followed her over to the other half of the group. "Yuffie's right, though," Tifa said, clutching Rufus' hand.

"Perhaps that was Hojo's intent?" queried Tseng. "That madman had the most outrageous projects going on."

"He was always eccentric," Vincent agreed. "Maybe he was trying to clone you, Cloud, with another living being?"

"But I think I should be dead," Rufus interjected. "I remember the Weapon firing at the Shinra Building, then--" He stopped, shaking his head as he thought about the flames and shattering glass as the Diamond Weapon's missile struck his window.

"Then maybe he placed your mind into a Cloud clone," Vincent said.

Rufus looked distressed by Vincent's remark. "You could be right," he said sadly. "Maybe I really didn't survive the Weapon's attack and--"

"Don't say that yet," Tseng interrupted. "We're not even completely sure of what Veraldei is planning to do. We'll have to get back to Barret and Cid and tell them about this."

"Don't forget about Reeve," Tifa piped up. "I'm sure he'd want to know about all of this."

"*I* still want to know all about this, actually," Yuffie said, looking at all the older people around her. "Ya'll never explained everything fully to me." She pointed at Rufus. "This thing about Hojo experimenting on you freaks me out," -- she pointed at Tseng -- "everything about you and Aeris sharing a body freaks me out," -- she then crossed her arms -- "and this whole thing about cooperating with former enemies is freaking me out as we speak!"

Again, everyone stared at her.

"Hey-hey," came Palmer's voice, "you okay, Reeve?"

"Just fine, Palmer," mumbled Reeve as he drank his coffee. He didn't exactly care that he looked like a wreck; he had heard remarks about how he looked like some sort of slum drunk, how he looked as messed up at Reno, and how he must have had a bad night. At the moment, Reeve didn't care. Reaching into his pocket, Reeve pulled out the Legacy Materia, staring at its rainbow streaks for a long moment. The mutated phoenix, which was still in his quarters, had said that it was to be his weapon. 'Weapon against what exactly?' wondered Reeve. 'It said something about Ultimatum and how Hojo was linked to it. Maybe I should tell the others about all of this.'

"Kya ha ha, you look like you just crawled out of bed." Scarlet stood over him, a sneer taking over her face.

"And what if I did?" Reeve snapped back, turning to look Scarlet in the eye. Pushing her blond, slightly green, tendrils back, Scarlet stared evenly back at him, a little bit of surprise hinting in her face. Reeve decided to try something that would almost definitely strike a nerve. "What happened with your Proud Clod Deluxe?" he queried. "Did AVALANCHE already destroy it?"

Scarlet scowled. "Shut up!" she hissed. "They used their damned Knights of the Round Materia!"

'Thank God for the KOtR Materia, then,' Reeve thought. "Tell me, how did you escape the battle? Did you run with your tail between your legs or eject from the cockpit?"

The head of weapon development glared a hole through Reeve. "What would you say if I told you that I *didn't* escape the battle?" she hissed, sneering when she saw Reeve's eyes widen. "I thought as much from you." With that said, Scarlet turned on her heels and walked out of the executive lounge, leaving a confused and shocked Reeve standing there. Palmer didn't notice this at all, as he was busy stuffing his face full of lard.

Tseng and Tifa were busy explaining the situation to Rufus, Vincent, and Yuffie as they walked back to the Sector 3 HQ, Cloud leading them all in silence. He didn't know it, but Aeris was holding his hand the whole way back; Tseng had to glance at the two of them only once to know that their love was tragic and that he couldn't do anything for them.

Cloud stopped in front of hideout, turning back to look at Rufus. "Tifa and I'll go in first," he said, "and we'll explain it to the others." He exchanged glances with Tifa and bit his lip. "Get ready for anything; Barret will definitely not take this news well and I doubt Cid will be happy, either."

"I don't think either Shera or Elmyra will be happy," sighed Vincent. He looked at Rufus. "No one's going to be very thrilled to hear that you're alive."

Rufus sighed, nodding as he ran his hand through his spiked hair. "I understand; everyone'll hate me for what I did in the past. I don't blame them; everything I did was negative and didn't help anyone but myself." He bowed his head. "I am *such* an asshole."

"Don't say that, and don't worry." Tifa gave Rufus a hug and smiled weakly. "We'll help you through this." She looked at the others for support. "Right, guys?"

"Of course," Tseng automatically said, nodding.

"We can try to help," Vincent agreed.

"Sure, I guess." Yuffie shrugged. Her mind was really on how she could get that mastered Neo Bahamut Materia from Rufus. She figured that the longer he stayed with them, the more often she could try to steal it from him.

"If it'll make you happy, Tifa, I'll help him," Cloud said, his eyes on Tifa. Tifa smiled brightly at her best friend, taking his hand as they went up into the house. Aeris looked on, letting go of Cloud's hand as he walked away.

Rufus watched them enter the house before declaring, "I'm going to die."

"Sir," Tseng started, "don't say that."

"It just might happen," Aeris sighed. When Tseng looked at her in shock, she decided to explain. "Like Cloud said, the oddest things have been happening lately. Anyone could die at anytime."

"Well, that's comforting," Tseng muttered, shaking his head at Aeris. When he realized Rufus was staring at him strangely, Tseng said, "Aeris says that anyone could die at anytime."

Yuffie bit her lip. "Gawd, that ain't comforting at all," she hissed. "I don't wanna die! I'm too young and I've got too much to do!"

"Stealing Materia seems to take up half of her time as it is," Aeris giggled.

Tseng smiled slightly at Aeris' comment then said to Rufus, "Sir, even if the rest of AVALANCHE won't help you, you can depend on me."

Rufus glared at Tseng, his Mako eyes flickering angrily. "Dammit, Tseng," he began, "stop calling me `sir`! I'm not your boss anymore!"

"I'm sorry, si-- Rufus, but it's become a habit," Tseng apologized. "Besides, you *are* the rightful heir to Shinra Incorporated; they can't stake a claim on the company if there's a living heir."

"How would I explain me being alive??" queried Rufus, crossing his arms. "And looking like Cloud? They'd probably think that I'm some psycho trying to take the company using Rufus Shinra's name!"

Aeris gripped Tseng's hand, willing herself to materialize. She looked at Rufus, who was staring at her in shock. "Rufus, I know that I don't know you that well," she started, "but I think you're a good man now. We're here to help you, even if that means forcefully taking down this new Shinra Incorporated."

"But what about Barret?" asked Rufus. "I wasn't any better at running Shinra than my father; I made many people miserable."

"But you have the chance to atone for your sins," Vincent said. "Unlike myself, you can ask for forgiveness for everything that you've done."

"That's right," Aeris agreed. "It wasn't you that ordered Sector 7 to be destroyed. It wasn't you that ordered Tseng to capture me." Tseng frowned, but then smiled when Aeris smiled at him in forgiveness. "It was all your father's doing, Rufus."

Rufus remained silent, frowning all the while. "But no one will trust me," he sighed. "I'm just a worthless bastard that will turn into a tyrant again if he's put back on the seat of power."

"You don't know that," Aeris said. She was about to go on when a mighty roar erupted from inside the AVALANCHE HQ.

"Barret-- calm down!!!" came Cloud's voice.

"Where the #*%& is the bastard!?!?!" screamed Barret before tearing out of the house, looking around wildly.

"Dammit, Barret, stop and *listen* to us!!" Tifa screeched, running out with Cloud close behind. "Please, stop!"

Barret's eyes fell on Rufus and he immediately brought his gun up, the fire of hate raging through his dark eyes. Rufus didn't move from Barret's sight or try to draw his sword; he was ready to pay for what his father had done to Barret and his town. When he realized Rufus wasn't about to stop him from shooting him dead, Barret growled, "Dammit, do something! Don't just stand there doin' nothin'!"

"You have every right to shoot me," Rufus sighed, crossing his arms on his chest. "I just don't want to make it harder for you to shoot me by moving around. Go ahead and kill me."

"I ain't gonna shoot no man 'dat won't protect himself!" Barret roared.

Rufus' heart beat fast within his ribcage, anxiety clawing at him with the sharpest claws he had ever felt. He hoped that he was doing the right thing. . . "What's the use of defending myself? I won't last long against any of you; you defeated Sephiroth easily enough, didn't you? This should be easy to do."

No one moved to intervene, as they were afraid of what Barret's reaction would be. Even Yuffie remained quiet, sweat trickling down her slim forehead as she watched in anxiety. Finally, an eternity later, Barret growled, slowly lowering his Missing Score and spitting on the ground. "You damn Shinra," he cursed, glaring a hole through Rufus, "you can just go to hell! You ain't ever gonna be considered a friend ta me, you can count on that, you little $@$%^@&! You Shinras don't belong anywhere near AVALANCHE!" With that said, Barret turned on his heels and stomped back towards the hideout, cursing all the while.

Vincent folded his arms across his chest, a slim brow raised as he looked from Rufus to Barret as he disappeared from sight. "I'd say that went rather well," he said quietly, exchanging looks with Cloud before walking into the hideout, Cloud close behind.

Tifa frowned, rubbing her shoulder thoughtfully as she walked up to Rufus. "Don't worry, Rufus," she whispered, gripping Rufus' hand for a moment, "we'll get through this." She looked in his Mako eyes and bit her lip. "I know we will."

Rufus nodded listlessly, frowning at the ground as Tifa let go of his hand and walked into the house. Yuffie walked past him, glancing at him once before taking off in a sprint towards the door. Curling his hands into fists, Rufus walked after them all, leaving Aeris and Tseng standing there. Tseng took Aeris' hand into his own, rematerializing before words were exchanged between the two of them.

"I was actually worried for Rufus," Aeris admitted, looking up at Tseng with large, beautiful green eyes.

Tseng nodded, looking up at the AVALANCHE hideout. "You know something, Aeris? I would have willingly taken a bullet for him had Barret shot at him."

"The other Cetra believe that Rufus is important to this problem," the young, dead woman said. "If Barret had killed Rufus, we would most likely not be able to face this new Shinra Incorporated."

"Is this new Shinra so powerful that we must go to others for help?" queried Tseng.

Aeris bowed her head. "I think that there is more to this company than meets the eye. I have a feeling that there is something above the company that can crush us all."

"Another Sephiroth?" Tseng asked jokingly.

His only reply was the grave frown on Aeris' face as she lifted her head back up to him.

On to Chapter 10.

Back to Merging Journeys.