Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Counterfeit God; Part I ❯ Chapter 16
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Shiratori-Strife Inc 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 179 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 179 | Status: Completed
16
---
Sirius had been reluctant to leave Morghann in the hospital, but Cloud had assured her that she would be just fine with Reno there. She’d been silent on the way to the parking garage where Fenrir was waiting for them. She remained so even after they reached Seventh Heaven. Seeing little Sarah had filled her with joy for her two friends as well as broke her heart knowing that it wasn’t safe to start her own family yet. The mental link that she and Cloud shared told her that he wanted the same thing she did. Both desperately wanted a child of their own. The mere fact that they were able to have one but couldn’t because of recent events made Sirius severely depressed.
When they’d reached the bar, Tifa made dinner and the small room was filled with animated talk about the new baby. Cid had yet to leave the hospital. He wanted to stay with Shera as long as he possibly could. They couldn’t really blame him for that. Sirius pushed her food around on her plate a bit before disappearing upstairs. The topic of Sarah was making her mood worse. Sirius heard Rude following her, but said nothing. Instead, she shut him out of her room and collapsed on the bed. Very seldom did tears fall from her eyes, but she believed this time, they had just cause. She lay curled into a fetal position with a pillow clasped tightly in her arms. Her quiet sobs broke the even silence that had settled in the room.
It wasn’t fair. Then again, life wasn’t fair as a general rule. Sirius had lost three years of her life to the Lifestream. That was three years that she could never have back. Then Sirius began to wonder if having children would be a wise choice at all. Her severe case of Geostigma, which was incurable, had the distinct possibility of being passed to the baby. Hell, would she even make a good mother? Sirius continued to cry three years worth of tears, not worrying about the fact that Rude could probably hear her through the door.
---
He knew Sirius was hurting. He’d sent her sympathizing and encouraging thoughts, but she hadn’t responded. Cloud sighed in defeat. He could understand her distress and it was justified. Her thoughts hadn’t been guarded, so he got a full view of what she was thinking and feeling. If the blonde hadn’t zoned out of the dinner conversation, he would’ve noticed both Tifa and Vincent staring at him.
“Cloud?” Tifa spoke, a little unsure of herself.
“What? Oh, sorry.”
Barret became interested at this point. “What’s wrong with you, spiky?”
Cloud sighed as he rested his head in his hands. “It’s Sirius.”
“What did you do to her, Cloud?!” Yuffie shouted, her face ablaze with fury.
“Nothing. She wants a family. We both do. Seeing Reno with Sarah just sort of broke the dam.”
“Then why can’t you have one?” Tifa asked.
It was Vincent who replied. “It’s not safe at this time. With Eko after her, if Sirius were to get pregnant now, the baby would also be in danger.”
“Vincent has a point.” Barret agreed. “Is that why you wanted to hold off?”
Cloud nodded. “When Sirius and I do start our family, I don’t want us to have to worry about our child’s safety.”
“It’s breaking Siri’s heart, though.” Yuffie commented. “I know she can read your thoughts and all, but I think she wants you to explain it to her.” Tifa nodded in agreement.
The blonde rose to his feet. It was time to face Sirius. Guilt stabbed at his heart. He could hear her crying from the top of the stairs. Rude stood by the door, his eyes now on Cloud. Cloud nodded to him as he entered their room. He found Sirius curled up on the bed, crushing one of their pillows to her. Her small frame was shaking and tears stained her cheeks. Cloud had never seen her so…vulnerable. He sat down in front of her placing his large hand on her side, stroking it with his thumb.
“Sirius?” She didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Cloud tried a different approach. “Sirius, please. I know this is hard. I want to talk.” A small smile curled his lips as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Sirius. I saw you look at me from the nursery and I should’ve known then.”
Sirius shook her head. “No. I’m acting like a child.” She said, her voice shaking.
Cloud leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You know I want to have a baby with you. I want to move out of Seventh Heaven, to Kalm maybe, or maybe even back to my hometown of Nibelheim. I want to start a family with you, Sirius.”
“Why can’t we? Why can’t we start one now?” The question made her sound so young.
“Eko’s still out there. He’s looking for you, Sirius. If we tried to have a baby now and you did get pregnant, you both would be in danger.” Cloud explained. “You should know by now that I would never do anything to put you in danger. That goes double for any child of ours.”
Sirius sighed as she snuggled closer to him. “It’s just so hard. When I saw Reno holding Sarah, I imagined that it was you holding our baby.” She admitted, fresh tears spilling over her eyelids.
Cloud rose from the bed, digging around for something in his desk drawer. Sirius had sat up to watch him a little more closely. She’d felt the anxiety rolling off of him. When he returned, he dropped to one knee and produced a small silver ring with a simple diamond in the center. Sirius thought her eyes were going to pop right out of her head.
“I want you to take this as a promise that as soon as all of this is over, we will have a child and we will start a family. I love you too much to deny you anything. Sirius, will you marry me?”
Sirius gasped as Cloud slipped the ring on her finger, already knowing the answer. A smile spread across her face as joyful tears rained down. “Yes!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. “Yes, I will! I love you so much! I will marry you, Cloud!”
A grin placed itself on his face as he pulled away a bit. Kissing Sirius deeply, he was glad to know that soon she would be his wife.
---
“Red, what exactly are we looking for?”
The latter brought his nose up from the ground. “Anything that Nobunaga Eko may have left behind.”
Cait Sith harrumphed as he looked down the streets of Rocket Town. After Reno and the others had gotten into Midgar, Rufus Shinra had managed to find them both and give them an interesting proposition. It had turned out that there had been clones found in some of the older labs of others that belonged to Red 13’s species. If he helped him out, the clones would be returned to Red 13. Cait Sith was another matter. His suit had been damaged in the final battle with Sephiroth. New parts for the machine would be provided as payment.
“Why did Shinra send us in the first place? He could’ve sent Cloud.” Cait Sith argued.
“We were the less conspicuous pair.” Red told him. “People would’ve recognized Cloud and if Eko has spies here, they would’ve told him that he’d found something.”
The two made their way down the dusty street, moving carefully among the people. There was no way that they could leave any inch of the town unsearched, for if they did, there was the slight possibility that the two could miss something of great importance. Anything that would lead them to Nobunaga Eko at this point was too important to be overlooked.
“Come on.” Red 13 said, nudging Cait Sith with his nose. “We need to keep looking. I don’t like working for Rufus Shinra.”
----
“Elena, what have you got on that Materia splinter we found?”
The blonde shook her head. “This thing is really damaged, Tseng. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to tell what it was at all. From the others I’ve looked at, those people were hording some seriously powerful Materia.”
Tseng muttered a curse as he slid a little closer to Elena. “What do you expect? That was one of SOLDIER’s biggest spots. The vial of extracted Mako energy we found was unreal. I didn’t even think you could extract Mako energy.”
“Neither did I. I’m just wondering how many more people Eko is going to deceive and hurt before he gets what he wants.” Elena stated as she looked down the barrel of a microscope.
“He’s after Sirius.” Tseng pointed out. “So Cloud’s logically one of those people. In fact, he has to be the main road block to Eko’s plans.”
“Tseng, look at this! You won’t believe what I just found a piece of!”
Taking over Elena’s position at the microscope, Tseng examined the Materia she’d been studying. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Eko really was trying to destroy the world. “You’re right, Elena. That’s a Black Materia shard. I want to know how the hell Eko got his hands on that.”
As Tseng moved to leave the microscope, he knocked his forehead against Elena’s. Both Turks swore at the sudden pain they were both experiencing. When they both looked up and realized their close proximity, they blushed madly. All matters of the examination were forgotten as the two just stared at each other. Finally, it was Tseng who straightened himself and broke the gaze.
“Elena, how would you like to leave this until tomorrow and go get something to eat?”
Elena smiled. “Tseng, are you asking me out on a date?”
“Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on if you have a good time or not.”
----
Recent events had definitely changed his perspective on everything. Rufus Shinra stood gazing out of his office window on the sixtieth floor at the bustling city of Edge. The thought startled him that Nobunaga Eko threatened all that he had worked thus far to create. He’d been looking through the files of the scientists that were still under Shinra’s employment and was delighted to see that there were quite a few. This helped him to make his decision all the more quickly.
SOLDIER had been the most lethal fighting force the world had known when it was still under his power. Those men that had been infused with Mako radiation had been brutal weapons. When Sephiroth had been their general, SOLDIER had been a force to be reckoned with. At the mere mention of their name, people had cowered. That power was nothing more than a memory now. All that was left of the great army was a few dried up men who claimed to have served in SOLDIER. Young men from all over were quick to join the ranks and serve under such an illustrious leader as Sephiroth. That was when he’d still been in his right mind, before he’d been locked away in the Northern Cave Crater. Then there had been the battle with Avalanche. Barret and his ragtag group had quickly put a stop to SOLDIER as well as Shinra. Rufus’s plans had been toppled. Cloud could be held responsible for the latter. To have such power again would be the ability to fend off Eko, to prevent him from creating his monstrous weapon, to save the world yet again. Rufus smirked as he finally came to his conclusion. SOLDIER would rise again and Cloud Strife would be the one to lead it. The beep on his desk phone echoed through the office as he hit the button.
“Tseng is here to see you, President Shinra.”
“Send him in.” he replied. The dark-haired Turk entered the room quietly and stood before his desk. “I trust you found something interesting from the Materia samples. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come over in such a hurry, Tseng.”
He nodded. “One of the shards that Elena found was Black Materia. How the hell Eko, or anyone else for that matter, got a hold of it, I don’t know. If Eko has Black Materia and he’s looking for Sirius…he could very well be trying to create another Sephiroth. She does have the Jenova cells after all.”
Rufus’s statement seemed to darken at the statement. This was an unexpected development. It would definitely mean that Rude would have to keep a very close eye on Maelstrom from now on. If his decision had been unclear before, he’d certainly decided now. “Don’t think that just yet. It is a definite possibility, but we can’t see that as the foremost problem. Anyway, this is why I wanted to talk to you, Tseng. Because of Eko’s threat to the world and all its people, I’ve decided to bring back SOLDIER.”
The Turk’s face was riddled with shock at Shinra’s idea. Normally, such expressions couldn’t be seen as clearly as they were being shone now. “Sir, are you sure that this is the best course of action? There are many people who are still opposed to the idea and would gladly fight you over this. I know for a fact that Cloud won’t be happy about it.”
“Strife is of no concern to me. His opinions are not important. He is, however, at the top of my list to lead the new SOLDIER after I go about establishing it and finding recruits.” Rufus said, waving his hand as he took a seat behind his desk. “If not, I have a few others in mind.”
“Like who?” Tseng couldn’t contain the question.
“Vincent Valentine for one. I know he is opposed to what I do, but he may be of use to us. If nothing else, I will be in contact with Reeve. He is my last resort. In the mean time, I want you and Elena to find out if any more of the Black Materia shards were found in Rocket Town. Get in touch with Red 13 and see if they’ve found anything. We may be getting in over our heads at this point.”
“Yes, sir.”
---
Rude gave a startled jump as his phone went off. Cursing under his breath, he answered it, momentarily distracted by the excited squealing that was taking place in the room behind him. Now that those two were engaged, there would be no separating them. “Yeah?”
“Rude, it’s Tseng.” He frowned. Tseng only called when shit was about to hit the fan. “The results that Elena and I found aren’t good.”
“The Materia samples? What did you find?” he asked.
He heard Tseng take a deep breath before continuing. “Black Materia shards were found in the mix that was in the warehouse in Rocket Town.”
“Shit. What did the boss say?”
“Keep checking the shards. That’s all we can do for now. I also got some other rather unexpected news.”
“Can this conversation get any better?” Rude groaned, waiting for the rest.
“No, it can’t. Shinra’s planning on bringing back SOLDIER. He says that there’s no better way to fight Eko than that and he wants Cloud to lead it.” Tseng continued.
“Strife? There’s no way he’d take the job now.” He gave a bemused laugh as he replied. “He’s an engaged man.”
It was Tseng’s turn to laugh. “So the poor bastard finally got the balls to ask her? His timing couldn’t have gotten any better.” He said in a sarcastic manner. “He won’t be happy when he finds out about this.”
Rude rolled his eyes. “No shit. You called me, Tseng, you obviously want me to do something.”
“Smart man. I want you to relay the information to Reno. Whether you tell Morghann is up to you. I’ve got some more work to do before I head home. Tell Strife congratulations for me. I’ll check back later.”
With a click of the phone, Tseng was gone. Rude spewed out a line of obscenities over and over in his mind as he opened his cell phone once again. Locating Reno’s number, he dialed it and waited for the redhead to pick up. And waited. And waited. Closing the phone, he cursed out loud. He’d forgotten that phones weren’t allowed in the hospital. Rude spared a glance at Strife’s closed door. The blonde could take care of Sirius for half an hour. Heading down the stairs and out the back, he jumped in the black company car that Shinra had provided the Turks with and headed straight to the hospital of Midgar. It took him very little time to get to the hospital and as he entered the lobby, he spotted the very person he was looking for. There was Reno digging something out of the vending machine. Rude made a beeline for the redhead and nearly scared him out of his skin when he turned around.
“Rude, what are you doing here, yo? I thought you had to play babysitter for Sirius.” Reno snickered.
“Cut the crap, Reno. Strife can handle his fiancé for thirty minutes.” Rude bit back
Reno’s eyebrows rose. “Way to go, Cloud! Now he can stop following her around like a sick puppy. Why’d yo come then, yo?”
The scowl returned to Rude’s face. “I got a call from Tseng, so there’s a couple of things I need to fill you in on.”
“Damn, yo. Tseng only called when shit is about to hit the fan.”
“I know.” Rude continued. “The first thing was about the Materia samples that he and Elena are working on. One of those shards was apparently Black Materia.”
The redhead’s jaw dropped. “No way! What does Eko plan to do with that? Is he thinking about turning Sirius into another Sephiroth?”
“We don’t know as of yet. The rest of the shards are being double checked to make sure that none of them are Black. The other thing just knocked me for a loop when Tseng told me. The boss is bringing SOLDIER back.” Rude informed him.
“WHAT?!” Reno exclaimed, earning him a glare from the receptionist. “What in hell is he thinking? It could be what Eko wants for all we know!”
Rude sighed. “What’s worse is that he wants Strife to lead the thing.”
Reno whistled at the tidbit. “There’s no way he’s going to do it just because it’s Rufus Shinra. Plus now that he’d asked Sirius to marry him, he’s not going to want to leave her until we catch Eko.”
“What about you, Reno? As your friend and fellow Turk, I don’t want you coming back to work for a whole. You’ve got a kid now and Morghann would kill you if you went back to Shinra so soon. Besides, isn’t there a question that you’re wanted to pop?”
“Yeah, there is. I’m just hoping that Morghann doesn’t turn me down. Things have been so rough lately.” Reno confessed. “Now that I’ve got them back, nothing’s going to take them away from me, yo! They’re my family. Rufus Shinra won’t take them, hell, even Sephiroth couldn’t take away from me!”
Rude shook his head. “I wouldn’t go that far, man. Sephiroth would kick your ass.”
Reno laughed normally as he scratched the back his head. “Yeah, I know he would, but do I make myself clear, yo?”
“Crystal.”
---
End Chapter
---
Sirius had been reluctant to leave Morghann in the hospital, but Cloud had assured her that she would be just fine with Reno there. She’d been silent on the way to the parking garage where Fenrir was waiting for them. She remained so even after they reached Seventh Heaven. Seeing little Sarah had filled her with joy for her two friends as well as broke her heart knowing that it wasn’t safe to start her own family yet. The mental link that she and Cloud shared told her that he wanted the same thing she did. Both desperately wanted a child of their own. The mere fact that they were able to have one but couldn’t because of recent events made Sirius severely depressed.
When they’d reached the bar, Tifa made dinner and the small room was filled with animated talk about the new baby. Cid had yet to leave the hospital. He wanted to stay with Shera as long as he possibly could. They couldn’t really blame him for that. Sirius pushed her food around on her plate a bit before disappearing upstairs. The topic of Sarah was making her mood worse. Sirius heard Rude following her, but said nothing. Instead, she shut him out of her room and collapsed on the bed. Very seldom did tears fall from her eyes, but she believed this time, they had just cause. She lay curled into a fetal position with a pillow clasped tightly in her arms. Her quiet sobs broke the even silence that had settled in the room.
It wasn’t fair. Then again, life wasn’t fair as a general rule. Sirius had lost three years of her life to the Lifestream. That was three years that she could never have back. Then Sirius began to wonder if having children would be a wise choice at all. Her severe case of Geostigma, which was incurable, had the distinct possibility of being passed to the baby. Hell, would she even make a good mother? Sirius continued to cry three years worth of tears, not worrying about the fact that Rude could probably hear her through the door.
---
He knew Sirius was hurting. He’d sent her sympathizing and encouraging thoughts, but she hadn’t responded. Cloud sighed in defeat. He could understand her distress and it was justified. Her thoughts hadn’t been guarded, so he got a full view of what she was thinking and feeling. If the blonde hadn’t zoned out of the dinner conversation, he would’ve noticed both Tifa and Vincent staring at him.
“Cloud?” Tifa spoke, a little unsure of herself.
“What? Oh, sorry.”
Barret became interested at this point. “What’s wrong with you, spiky?”
Cloud sighed as he rested his head in his hands. “It’s Sirius.”
“What did you do to her, Cloud?!” Yuffie shouted, her face ablaze with fury.
“Nothing. She wants a family. We both do. Seeing Reno with Sarah just sort of broke the dam.”
“Then why can’t you have one?” Tifa asked.
It was Vincent who replied. “It’s not safe at this time. With Eko after her, if Sirius were to get pregnant now, the baby would also be in danger.”
“Vincent has a point.” Barret agreed. “Is that why you wanted to hold off?”
Cloud nodded. “When Sirius and I do start our family, I don’t want us to have to worry about our child’s safety.”
“It’s breaking Siri’s heart, though.” Yuffie commented. “I know she can read your thoughts and all, but I think she wants you to explain it to her.” Tifa nodded in agreement.
The blonde rose to his feet. It was time to face Sirius. Guilt stabbed at his heart. He could hear her crying from the top of the stairs. Rude stood by the door, his eyes now on Cloud. Cloud nodded to him as he entered their room. He found Sirius curled up on the bed, crushing one of their pillows to her. Her small frame was shaking and tears stained her cheeks. Cloud had never seen her so…vulnerable. He sat down in front of her placing his large hand on her side, stroking it with his thumb.
“Sirius?” She didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Cloud tried a different approach. “Sirius, please. I know this is hard. I want to talk.” A small smile curled his lips as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Sirius. I saw you look at me from the nursery and I should’ve known then.”
Sirius shook her head. “No. I’m acting like a child.” She said, her voice shaking.
Cloud leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You know I want to have a baby with you. I want to move out of Seventh Heaven, to Kalm maybe, or maybe even back to my hometown of Nibelheim. I want to start a family with you, Sirius.”
“Why can’t we? Why can’t we start one now?” The question made her sound so young.
“Eko’s still out there. He’s looking for you, Sirius. If we tried to have a baby now and you did get pregnant, you both would be in danger.” Cloud explained. “You should know by now that I would never do anything to put you in danger. That goes double for any child of ours.”
Sirius sighed as she snuggled closer to him. “It’s just so hard. When I saw Reno holding Sarah, I imagined that it was you holding our baby.” She admitted, fresh tears spilling over her eyelids.
Cloud rose from the bed, digging around for something in his desk drawer. Sirius had sat up to watch him a little more closely. She’d felt the anxiety rolling off of him. When he returned, he dropped to one knee and produced a small silver ring with a simple diamond in the center. Sirius thought her eyes were going to pop right out of her head.
“I want you to take this as a promise that as soon as all of this is over, we will have a child and we will start a family. I love you too much to deny you anything. Sirius, will you marry me?”
Sirius gasped as Cloud slipped the ring on her finger, already knowing the answer. A smile spread across her face as joyful tears rained down. “Yes!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. “Yes, I will! I love you so much! I will marry you, Cloud!”
A grin placed itself on his face as he pulled away a bit. Kissing Sirius deeply, he was glad to know that soon she would be his wife.
---
“Red, what exactly are we looking for?”
The latter brought his nose up from the ground. “Anything that Nobunaga Eko may have left behind.”
Cait Sith harrumphed as he looked down the streets of Rocket Town. After Reno and the others had gotten into Midgar, Rufus Shinra had managed to find them both and give them an interesting proposition. It had turned out that there had been clones found in some of the older labs of others that belonged to Red 13’s species. If he helped him out, the clones would be returned to Red 13. Cait Sith was another matter. His suit had been damaged in the final battle with Sephiroth. New parts for the machine would be provided as payment.
“Why did Shinra send us in the first place? He could’ve sent Cloud.” Cait Sith argued.
“We were the less conspicuous pair.” Red told him. “People would’ve recognized Cloud and if Eko has spies here, they would’ve told him that he’d found something.”
The two made their way down the dusty street, moving carefully among the people. There was no way that they could leave any inch of the town unsearched, for if they did, there was the slight possibility that the two could miss something of great importance. Anything that would lead them to Nobunaga Eko at this point was too important to be overlooked.
“Come on.” Red 13 said, nudging Cait Sith with his nose. “We need to keep looking. I don’t like working for Rufus Shinra.”
----
“Elena, what have you got on that Materia splinter we found?”
The blonde shook her head. “This thing is really damaged, Tseng. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to tell what it was at all. From the others I’ve looked at, those people were hording some seriously powerful Materia.”
Tseng muttered a curse as he slid a little closer to Elena. “What do you expect? That was one of SOLDIER’s biggest spots. The vial of extracted Mako energy we found was unreal. I didn’t even think you could extract Mako energy.”
“Neither did I. I’m just wondering how many more people Eko is going to deceive and hurt before he gets what he wants.” Elena stated as she looked down the barrel of a microscope.
“He’s after Sirius.” Tseng pointed out. “So Cloud’s logically one of those people. In fact, he has to be the main road block to Eko’s plans.”
“Tseng, look at this! You won’t believe what I just found a piece of!”
Taking over Elena’s position at the microscope, Tseng examined the Materia she’d been studying. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Eko really was trying to destroy the world. “You’re right, Elena. That’s a Black Materia shard. I want to know how the hell Eko got his hands on that.”
As Tseng moved to leave the microscope, he knocked his forehead against Elena’s. Both Turks swore at the sudden pain they were both experiencing. When they both looked up and realized their close proximity, they blushed madly. All matters of the examination were forgotten as the two just stared at each other. Finally, it was Tseng who straightened himself and broke the gaze.
“Elena, how would you like to leave this until tomorrow and go get something to eat?”
Elena smiled. “Tseng, are you asking me out on a date?”
“Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on if you have a good time or not.”
----
Recent events had definitely changed his perspective on everything. Rufus Shinra stood gazing out of his office window on the sixtieth floor at the bustling city of Edge. The thought startled him that Nobunaga Eko threatened all that he had worked thus far to create. He’d been looking through the files of the scientists that were still under Shinra’s employment and was delighted to see that there were quite a few. This helped him to make his decision all the more quickly.
SOLDIER had been the most lethal fighting force the world had known when it was still under his power. Those men that had been infused with Mako radiation had been brutal weapons. When Sephiroth had been their general, SOLDIER had been a force to be reckoned with. At the mere mention of their name, people had cowered. That power was nothing more than a memory now. All that was left of the great army was a few dried up men who claimed to have served in SOLDIER. Young men from all over were quick to join the ranks and serve under such an illustrious leader as Sephiroth. That was when he’d still been in his right mind, before he’d been locked away in the Northern Cave Crater. Then there had been the battle with Avalanche. Barret and his ragtag group had quickly put a stop to SOLDIER as well as Shinra. Rufus’s plans had been toppled. Cloud could be held responsible for the latter. To have such power again would be the ability to fend off Eko, to prevent him from creating his monstrous weapon, to save the world yet again. Rufus smirked as he finally came to his conclusion. SOLDIER would rise again and Cloud Strife would be the one to lead it. The beep on his desk phone echoed through the office as he hit the button.
“Tseng is here to see you, President Shinra.”
“Send him in.” he replied. The dark-haired Turk entered the room quietly and stood before his desk. “I trust you found something interesting from the Materia samples. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come over in such a hurry, Tseng.”
He nodded. “One of the shards that Elena found was Black Materia. How the hell Eko, or anyone else for that matter, got a hold of it, I don’t know. If Eko has Black Materia and he’s looking for Sirius…he could very well be trying to create another Sephiroth. She does have the Jenova cells after all.”
Rufus’s statement seemed to darken at the statement. This was an unexpected development. It would definitely mean that Rude would have to keep a very close eye on Maelstrom from now on. If his decision had been unclear before, he’d certainly decided now. “Don’t think that just yet. It is a definite possibility, but we can’t see that as the foremost problem. Anyway, this is why I wanted to talk to you, Tseng. Because of Eko’s threat to the world and all its people, I’ve decided to bring back SOLDIER.”
The Turk’s face was riddled with shock at Shinra’s idea. Normally, such expressions couldn’t be seen as clearly as they were being shone now. “Sir, are you sure that this is the best course of action? There are many people who are still opposed to the idea and would gladly fight you over this. I know for a fact that Cloud won’t be happy about it.”
“Strife is of no concern to me. His opinions are not important. He is, however, at the top of my list to lead the new SOLDIER after I go about establishing it and finding recruits.” Rufus said, waving his hand as he took a seat behind his desk. “If not, I have a few others in mind.”
“Like who?” Tseng couldn’t contain the question.
“Vincent Valentine for one. I know he is opposed to what I do, but he may be of use to us. If nothing else, I will be in contact with Reeve. He is my last resort. In the mean time, I want you and Elena to find out if any more of the Black Materia shards were found in Rocket Town. Get in touch with Red 13 and see if they’ve found anything. We may be getting in over our heads at this point.”
“Yes, sir.”
---
Rude gave a startled jump as his phone went off. Cursing under his breath, he answered it, momentarily distracted by the excited squealing that was taking place in the room behind him. Now that those two were engaged, there would be no separating them. “Yeah?”
“Rude, it’s Tseng.” He frowned. Tseng only called when shit was about to hit the fan. “The results that Elena and I found aren’t good.”
“The Materia samples? What did you find?” he asked.
He heard Tseng take a deep breath before continuing. “Black Materia shards were found in the mix that was in the warehouse in Rocket Town.”
“Shit. What did the boss say?”
“Keep checking the shards. That’s all we can do for now. I also got some other rather unexpected news.”
“Can this conversation get any better?” Rude groaned, waiting for the rest.
“No, it can’t. Shinra’s planning on bringing back SOLDIER. He says that there’s no better way to fight Eko than that and he wants Cloud to lead it.” Tseng continued.
“Strife? There’s no way he’d take the job now.” He gave a bemused laugh as he replied. “He’s an engaged man.”
It was Tseng’s turn to laugh. “So the poor bastard finally got the balls to ask her? His timing couldn’t have gotten any better.” He said in a sarcastic manner. “He won’t be happy when he finds out about this.”
Rude rolled his eyes. “No shit. You called me, Tseng, you obviously want me to do something.”
“Smart man. I want you to relay the information to Reno. Whether you tell Morghann is up to you. I’ve got some more work to do before I head home. Tell Strife congratulations for me. I’ll check back later.”
With a click of the phone, Tseng was gone. Rude spewed out a line of obscenities over and over in his mind as he opened his cell phone once again. Locating Reno’s number, he dialed it and waited for the redhead to pick up. And waited. And waited. Closing the phone, he cursed out loud. He’d forgotten that phones weren’t allowed in the hospital. Rude spared a glance at Strife’s closed door. The blonde could take care of Sirius for half an hour. Heading down the stairs and out the back, he jumped in the black company car that Shinra had provided the Turks with and headed straight to the hospital of Midgar. It took him very little time to get to the hospital and as he entered the lobby, he spotted the very person he was looking for. There was Reno digging something out of the vending machine. Rude made a beeline for the redhead and nearly scared him out of his skin when he turned around.
“Rude, what are you doing here, yo? I thought you had to play babysitter for Sirius.” Reno snickered.
“Cut the crap, Reno. Strife can handle his fiancé for thirty minutes.” Rude bit back
Reno’s eyebrows rose. “Way to go, Cloud! Now he can stop following her around like a sick puppy. Why’d yo come then, yo?”
The scowl returned to Rude’s face. “I got a call from Tseng, so there’s a couple of things I need to fill you in on.”
“Damn, yo. Tseng only called when shit is about to hit the fan.”
“I know.” Rude continued. “The first thing was about the Materia samples that he and Elena are working on. One of those shards was apparently Black Materia.”
The redhead’s jaw dropped. “No way! What does Eko plan to do with that? Is he thinking about turning Sirius into another Sephiroth?”
“We don’t know as of yet. The rest of the shards are being double checked to make sure that none of them are Black. The other thing just knocked me for a loop when Tseng told me. The boss is bringing SOLDIER back.” Rude informed him.
“WHAT?!” Reno exclaimed, earning him a glare from the receptionist. “What in hell is he thinking? It could be what Eko wants for all we know!”
Rude sighed. “What’s worse is that he wants Strife to lead the thing.”
Reno whistled at the tidbit. “There’s no way he’s going to do it just because it’s Rufus Shinra. Plus now that he’d asked Sirius to marry him, he’s not going to want to leave her until we catch Eko.”
“What about you, Reno? As your friend and fellow Turk, I don’t want you coming back to work for a whole. You’ve got a kid now and Morghann would kill you if you went back to Shinra so soon. Besides, isn’t there a question that you’re wanted to pop?”
“Yeah, there is. I’m just hoping that Morghann doesn’t turn me down. Things have been so rough lately.” Reno confessed. “Now that I’ve got them back, nothing’s going to take them away from me, yo! They’re my family. Rufus Shinra won’t take them, hell, even Sephiroth couldn’t take away from me!”
Rude shook his head. “I wouldn’t go that far, man. Sephiroth would kick your ass.”
Reno laughed normally as he scratched the back his head. “Yeah, I know he would, but do I make myself clear, yo?”
“Crystal.”
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End Chapter