Rufus and Cloud

Cloud Shinra took in a lungful of air, enjoying the smell of sea water all around him. He hated being in Midgar because it was so polluted; in a way, he envied Rufus for getting to live on the coast for the last five years. The profound sea stretched in every direction, and as he gazed to his left, Cloud could make out the form that was Junon disappearing from sight. He and Rufus were heading towards Costa Del Sol, where they would catch a helicopter back to Junon and then to Midgar. When Rufus had told him of the plan right before they got on the ship, Cloud had frowned; he had been looking forward to just going to Costa Del Sol.

When a hand fell on Cloud's shoulder, the young man spun around, his eyes falling upon a familiar face. "Hey, Cloud," greeted Reno, a grin creeping up his face, "enjoying the ride?"

A natural smile curled onto Cloud's face. "Yeah," he replied. "I can't remember feeling this good since I started doing SOLDIER missions."

Reno nodded. "That's why I like being a Turk; you get to go everywhere and do lots of stuff. Sure, most of the stuff we do is horrible, but the pay's pretty decent."

Cloud was silent for a moment as he allowed Reno's words to settle in. He bowed his head as he opened his mouth. "How can you stand doing those things, Reno?" he queried. "Killing, kidnapping. . . Don't you feel bad about it all?"

"Of course I do," Reno sighed. "I don't know why I don't just quit; I don't like all this killing myself."

For a long moment the only sound that could be heard was the water as the ship tore through the sea on its voyage to Costa Del Sol. Cloud raised his head and looked at Reno with clear blue eyes. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to die?"

The question was odd, coming from Cloud Shinra. As far as Reno knew, Cloud was the type of guy that took the world on one day at a time. "Why do you ask?" the Turk asked.

"I don't know; I'm just wondering."

Reno shrugged, tipping the shades on his head down over his eyes as he brought his gaze to the sky above. "I've thought about death a lot lately," he admitted. "With Sector 7 destroyed and Sephiroth on a rampage. . . It seems so unreal to me. But yeah, I've thought about what it would be like to die. I've always thought that after you died, that was it. That there was no afterlife; once you were dead, you ceased to exist except in the minds of others."

"What about the Lifestream? Isn't it supposed to hold the souls of every person that dies?"

"I wouldn't know, Cloud; I'm not dead. I guess the Lifestream comes in somewhere, but as I said . . . I wouldn't know."

"Well . . . that's comforting," Cloud muttered.

Rufus brushed his hair out of his face as Heidegger entered the room. "Has there been any trouble yet, Heidegger?" he queried, glancing out the window far to his right.

"Gya ha ha!" Heidegger laughed. The very sound of the laugh made Rufus' skin crawl. "Nothing at all yet, Mr. President! Gya ha ha! AVALANCHE won't be getting on this ship."

"Stop that stupid horse laugh, Heidegger," Rufus hissed, frowning at the large man. "It's been getting on my nerves lately."

"My apologies, Mr. President," Heidegger apologized. "But as I just told you, there is no way that AVALANCHE could get onboard."

"You better hope so." Rufus ran a hand through his hair, crossing his arms and looking down at the table between himself and Heidegger. "There are rumors that Sephiroth has been seen in Junon, Heidegger. If it is Sephiroth, is there a chance that he can get on?"

"Gya ha ha! It's impossible for Sephiroth to get onto this boat, sir; I have guards everywhere!! They won't let anything get past them!"

Perhaps it was a bad twist of fate on Heidegger's behalf, but alarms started ringing as soon as the words left his mouth. Rufus hid his surprise, arching one brow at the large man. "It sounds like something got past them, Heidegger."

Heidegger growled, turning around and storming out of the room. Rufus shook his head, looking towards the window. His eyes narrowed when he saw a black face staring back at him. It was the leader of AVALANCHE. Before Rufus could shout out, the man was gone from sight, taking off towards the back of the boat, the stern. He raced out of the room, grabbing his shotgun as he did so.

The first person Rufus saw as he left the room was Cloud, who stood with his arms crossed in front of the door. "You saw them too?" he queried, frowning and glancing over his shoulder. On his back was the Force Stealer sword that Heidegger had brought with him when they had boarded the ship.

Rufus nodded. "If they're here on the boat, we have to them. Who knows what kind of damage those rebels can do?"

"I'm with you all the way, Ruf," Cloud said with a nod. "Let's go!"

"Rufus! Cloud!"

The two Shinras turned to see Reno, Rude, and Elena running up to them from the bow of the deck. "Hey, Ruf, Cloud," Reno started, grinning, "you weren't thinking about leaving *us* behind, were you?"

Cloud had to smile. The Turks were always so supportive. "I would never dream of it," he replied. "Let's mosey!"

Rufus shook his head at Cloud. "Mosey? Cloud, let me show you how it's done!" He stepped in front of his brother. "Let's head out!"

As the group hurried towards the stairs leading to the cargo hold, they were stopped by a trio; a woman, a girl, and a strange lion-like creature. Rufus recognized the woman as the Ancient, Aeris Gainsborough, and the creature as one of Hojo's specimens. "You're not going anywhere!" shouted the teenage girl. She carried a dangerous-looking giant shuriken.

Rude spoke back, much to the surprise of the other Turks and the Shinras. "Who's going to stop us? You?"

"That's right! Quake!" The girl stood on one foot, bringing a hand into the air as magic swirled around her. The ground under Rude shook, and he stumbled backwards.

"That was your fatal mistake," Rude said evenly, cracking his knuckles audibly. He turned to Reno, Rufus, and Cloud. "Mr. President, Mr. Shinra, Reno. . . Get going; Elena and I will take care of these rebels."

Reno nodded at his friend. "Don't get yourself or Elena killed; Tseng would have my hide," he whispered. He looked at Rufus and Cloud. "C'mon."

Rufus and Cloud exchanged glances, then ran with Reno past the three rebels. Cloud looked at Elena and Rude one last time, seeing Elena pull out a small grenade. He then followed his brother and friend down the stairs. There was an eerie silence as soon as they entered the cargo hold. Bodies were strewn all over the hold, much like what had happened at the Shinra Building.

"Sephiroth's here," Rufus heard Cloud hiss from behind him. "Not even AVALANCHE is cruel enough to do this; only he would be able to do something this horrible."

"Where could AVALANCHE had gone?" queried Rufus. The whole cargo hold was devoid of life and there was no sign of Sephiroth or the other AVALANCHE members.

"In there, most likely," Reno replied, pointing to a door near the bottom of the stairs. He hurried to it, opening it up for the other two.

The three entered the room just in time to here Zack Ebony murmur, "No . . . not Sephiroth!"

A familiar, silver-haired being floated up into sight, his aqua Mako eyes glowing with silent insanity. "After a long sleep. . . The time . . . time has come. . ."

Zack shook his head, looking up at Sephiroth. "Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes on the black-haired ex-SOLDIER. ". . . Who are you?"

"Don't you remember me? I'm Zack!" exclaimed Zack.

". . . Zack?" Sephiroth frowned, raising his head to the sky. "The time has come. . ."

"What are you talking about? Be more---" Zack was cut off by the silver-haired man, who flew between him and Tifa, knocking them both to the ground. As he flew towards the ceiling, he dropped a freakish-looking tentacle, which grew into a huge, monstrous shape.

"*Damn!!*" Reno gasped in shock, his green eyes wide with shock at the looming monster. "What the hell is that?!"

"It looks like . . . Jenova?" Cloud blinked, recognizing part of the body that had been kept in the Shinra Building before Sephiroth's massacre.

"I don't really care what it is," Rufus stated, cocking his shotgun at it. "If it gets out of this room, we don't stand a chance of killing it." He pulled the trigger, releasing a bullet at Jenova's back.

"Wha--?" Barret looked up in surprise, seeing three figures standing behind Jenova. "It's 'da Shinra! Dammit, just what we needed!" He shifted his aim from Jenova to Reno.

"Don't shoot!" Reno shouted. "We're here to help!!"

"Yeah, right!" Barret growled back.

"Stop it, Barret!!" Zack yelled. "We need as much as we can get. Let them help us with Jenova; we can take care of them after that."

"He's right, Barret," Tifa agreed. With that said, she launched herself at Jenova, punching and kicking it. In the back, Reno released a Turk Light at Jenova.

Jenova roared in anger. **Tail Laser** White lasers erupting from both sides of Jenova and struck both parties.

Cloud and Zack sneered simultaneously as red energy exploded at their feet. They shouted in unison, "Cross-slash!" The two former friends threw themselves at Jenova, slashing into its skin with their swords together. This attack both shocked and confused Jenova and it retaliated with another Tail Laser. Rufus shot again, stepping back to let Reno run forward and stab it with his nightstick.

A red aura engulfed Tifa as she raced at Jenova. "Beat Rush!" She did a three-punch combo on the creature before shouting out, "Somersault!" Placing one foot on the slippery skin of Jenova, Tifa flipped and struck it with her feet. "Waterkick!" Tifa swept her feet across the floor, again kicking Jenova before backing away and preparing her battle stance again.

"Good going, Teef," Zack commented. "That was sure to put a dent in that thing." Tifa nodded, watching Barret use his Enemy Skill materia and send a Matra Magic spell at Jenova. The missiles crashed into the monster, making Jenova roar again. It attacked by shooting single lasers at both Reno and Tifa, sending them reeling backwards.

Cloud sheathed his sword and brought his shoulders back as he prepared a spell. "Ice 2!" Blue spears of ice attacked Jenova from all sides, again making Jenova scream in rage. Zack leapt forward, slashing into Jenova right as Cloud's spell ended. Black blood oozed out of the wound and Zack backed away as Jenova flailed its tentacles. It sent lasers at both Cloud and Zack, driving Cloud to his knees while Zack dodged. Reno created another Turk Light and struck Jenova with it moments before Tifa ran forward and kicked Jenova.

**W Laser**

Rufus' eyes widened as he realized one of Jenova's tentacles was shining oddly and aiming at Cloud. "Cloud!!" He ran at his kneeling brother, jumping in the way of the laser that would have killed his brother instantly. There was an explosion, and the next thing Cloud knew, Rufus was standing over him, his back smoking where the laser had hit him.

"Ruf!" Cloud gasped, grabbing his brother as his legs buckled under him. He lowered him to the ground, his eyes wide with horror as he gazed upon the bloody mess the laser had created on his brother's back. "Oh, God. . . Ruf, are you all right?"

Rufus looked back at him with glazed eyes. "I-- I-- Cloud. . ." He breathing was labored and his suit was quickly going from white to a dark red.

"Dammit, Ruf, why did you do that?" Cloud whispered, gritting his teeth as tears threatened to come.

"I'm the . . . older brother," Rufus replied with a weak smile. "Protecting you . . . was on the job description."

Cloud pushed Rufus back down when he tried to sit up. "Don't push yourself," he said. "We'll get you to a doctor . . . after we kill Jenova."

Reno glanced back at them warily. "C'mon, Cloud," he said in a low voice. "Ruf'll be okay. We need to get rid of this bastard before it starts attacking again."

Rufus nodded weakly at Cloud. "Go on," he pushed. "I'll be all right. I'm not gonna die yet."

"You're not going to die before me, Ruf," Cloud promised, squeezing Rufus' hand gently before standing. "You're too important to die. . . Important to both me and the rest of the Planet." He smiled at his brother, then turned and ran to Reno's side. "This . . . thing . . . is going to die for hurting Ruf!" he growled.

"Don't let your anger get the best of you," Reno warned calmly. "You'll just get yourself killed that way, and that won't help anyone."

Cloud looked at Reno, then nodded before launching himself at Jenova, striking it mercilessly. On Jenova's other side, Tifa cast Fire 2, damaging the monster even more. Together, AVALANCHE and Shinra pounded at Jenova again, reducing it to a twitching tentacle. Zack approached it, looking disgusted as he watched it move around.

"That was . . . Sephiroth?" queried Tifa, looking up at the hole that Sephiroth had torn on the top cargo hold.

Reno nodded, frowning at the tentacle. "Now that he's back, we've got more trouble than before." He raised his gaze to the three, glaring at them before backing away towards Rufus.

"We'll let you go today, AVALANCHE," Cloud said flatly as he followed Reno. "But don't think that you'll escape Shinra forever; you'll be caught one of these days, each and every one of you." He looked his eyes on Zack. "Zack." A frown marred his visage as he nodded at his former friend.

Zack silently watched Cloud and Reno pick up Rufus and leave the cargo hold. Barret stepped forward to follow after them, but Zack held him back. "Don't," he said quietly. "They let us go for now. We will use that to our best advantage."

"Zack, who is that man?" Tifa queried.

"Cloud? . . . He was my best friend, a few years back," Zack sighed. "But not anymore. Our paths separated long ago, and I know he won't leave his brother, Rufus. . . He's our enemy."

Tifa sighed and nodded. 'Where do I know Cloud from?' she thought. 'I have to know.'

On to Chapter 7.

Back to Rufus and Cloud.