Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Who's John ShinRa? ❯ Death Comes in Pairs ( Chapter 8 )

Note: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Chapter 8: Death comes in pairs

 

The air was thick with anticipation at the small clinic in Kalm. Hoards of people gathered around with their loved ones and held onto each other in what would possibly be the last moments of their lives. Most of them were boarded up in their houses or crammed into the small clinic, but there were a few that braved the outside to witness the planet's final seconds.

 

Rufus ShinRa was too preoccupied to stare in awe at Meteor's hurricane of destruction. He was certain that there was no hope left for the planet, but he had to try and get to Midgar if it was the last thing he did. Casey had shook his hand while Donna adamantly refused to let him go, but he had assured her that he was going to be fine. Rufus had already walked a mile away from Kalm as he slung his shotgun over his shoulders. It was a mile closer to Midgar, but not close enough.

 

He tried to keep his eyes focused on the mountains past Midgar. He did not want to witness its destruction, but Midgar was a huge city and one would have to be blind to miss it. The great city that he grew up preparing to rule was now being destroyed before his very eyes. He cursed under his breath as he tried to think how things would have been different if he had been the one to go to Midgar instead of John. He smirked as he realized that a Weapon would've killed him were he in John's place.

 

Fate did seem to work in mysterious ways. She was such a cruel temptress. Instead of ruling over the City of Midgar like he was supposed to, he was standing along its outskirts watching it crumble into dust. Rufus snorted in frustration. This is what he deserved for allowing his father's company fall into corruption: this was his punishment. Though he may not have built Midgar, it still became a part of him through his bloodline. As Meteor's force tore through chunks of metal like butter, Rufus saw one of his childhood desires being fulfilled.

 

It was true. He had wanted to see his father's company fail. He had wanted to see his father turn into an ordinary man who had ordinary wishes and desires, not the megalomaniac he became. It was somehow ironic that his father's company was crumbling before his eyes, yet Rufus felt empty. Fate wasn't a cruel temptress; she was just a bitch.

 

Rufus bowed his head in defeat, closing his eyes to the carnage before him. He dared to look up again and saw for the first time in his life, a miracle. A bright flash of white light was trying to block Meteor's decent onto the great city. He could see sparks of lightening flash as the white barrier battled with the giant rock. A small inkling of hope filled his heart. He knew that it wasn't much hope, but it was hope nonetheless.

 

That hope slowly started to dissipate as Meteor continued to make its slow decent to the earth. Apparently the small miracle he had witnessed wasn't enough to prevent this planet's impending doom. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the green glow of mako floating in the sky. Rufus turned his head away from the battle between Meteor and the white sheet of light to witness yet another miracle.

 

Out of the ground and fissures in the earth, mako was rising out of the planet's core and heading straight for Midgar. Rufus stood in awe as wisps of mako started to pass by him like the wind on a warm summer's day. He reached his hand out curiously and touched the mako, watching the swirls move around his hand.

 

Rufus's hand tingled with a warm sensation from where he was touching the mako. He felt as if he could sense the thousands of lives that were rising up from the earth to help save the planet. They were all speaking to him, forgiving him for harvesting the planet's lifeforce. Rufus didn't understand why all the tiny voices were forgiving him, until he felt her presence.

 

He had dearly missed her, ever since she died when he was merely a boy. Rufus listened as he heard her voice echo in his mind.

 

“My dear Rufus, how you have grown.”

 

“Mother? Is it you?”

 

“Yes, it's me sweetie. But I can't talk long for my time here is short.”

 

“Short? Where are you going? Why do you have to leave me again?”

 

“I'm sorry my dear, but I need to go with the others to save the planet. We're the only hope left to stop Meteor from crashing down on us. We are the spirits in the lifestream.”

 

“Lifestream? You mean mako?”

 

“Yes, mako is what your father called it. But what your father thought was a fuel source was actually the essence of the planet.”

 

“So, the Ancient, AVALANCHE . . . they were all right,” Rufus sighed dejectedly.

 

“But it's not your fault my dear. The planet forgives you, forgives everyone, even your father. That's why I'm here. I'm here to tell you to live your life for the best of the planet. Find a way to stop the mako-harvesting and give back to the planet everything that was taken in the past.”

 

“I will mother. I promise you I will, just like I promised to be strong for you and to be a good boy.”

 

“Yes, you have been strong, very strong. But I must go. Remember what I told you and always know that I love you, my son,” the voice echoed before disappearing.

 

“No, wait! Don't go, please don't leave me alone again,” Rufus tried to plead to his mother, but she was already gone.

 

Rufus felt the steady stream of tears running down his cheeks, but he did nothing to hide them or wipe them away. His father had taught him never to cry saying that it was a sign of weakness. The old Rufus ShinRa probably never would have, but the old Rufus ShinRa would have never seen the destruction of Midgar or speak to his mother's ghost. The old Rufus ShinRa would have never remembered what it was like to be loved.

 

As Rufus gazed up at Midgar, he saw the lifestream circling Meteor with streams of green light. It was amazing watching the mist pierce the giant rock and then disperse it throughout the atmosphere in tiny harmless specks of dust. The planet had given the people another chance and Rufus knew what he had to do.

 

Wiping away his tears, he continued his journey to Midgar, hoping that there was still someone left alive who could help him. He needed to speak to Reeve or his Turks if at all possible, but he wasn't sure if they had fled to another city or perished in Midgar along with the Upper plates. The sudden whir of wind and machinery caught Rufus's attention and he turned to his right to see the Highwind slowly making its descent to the ground. AVALANCHE! What are they doing here?

 

He watched as a few hundred yards away from him the small rebel group disembarked from the ship and stared at Midgar's remains. The last reports he had heard about the group was that they were heading to the Northern Crater on a suicide mission to destroy Sephiroth. It looked like they had succeeded. A small smile tugged at his lips as he watched them celebrate their victory. He saw Reeve's toy, Cait Sith bounce up and down with life and realized that he could speak to Reeve through the robotic toy.

 

He quickly made his way towards the small band and silently contemplated whether to reveal his true identity to the rebel group. He had put a price on each one of their heads for the destruction of the many mako reactors in Midgar: he knew that they would hate him.

 

As Rufus was only several yards away from the group, he heard the screams of panic and alarm echo through the plains. He watched as a man with a large sword fell down from a bloody wound in his stomach. A few feet away, a tall dark-haired man dressed in red also fell as his left arm was covered in blood. Rufus didn't know what injuries these warriors had suffered while fighting Sephiroth, but it appeared that the two were not going to make it.

 

“Cloud! Vincent!”

 

Rufus could hear the other members frantically shout the names of the two fallen men. He knew that Cloud Strife was one of them and had only heard rumors of a former Turk named Vincent Valentine joining their forces. Apparently the rumors were true. Rufus started to run towards the group but only got within a few yards before he saw a horrific sight.

 

Vincent's prostrate body suddenly shook in a seizure as two black wings sprung from his back. Rufus could hear the others cry out the name `Chaos,' but had no idea what it meant. However, once the black demonic creature sprang out of the bloody heap that was once Vincent Valentine, he knew that Chaos was the name of the creature floating in the air.

 

Rufus watched in horror as the creature sprang upon Cait Sith and tore the robot doll into shreds of fluff and machinery. The creature spared little time in ripping the robot apart and Rufus shuddered in fear at what that creature could do with an animal or a human. Whatever that creature was, it was a danger to him and the rest of AVALANCHE. Death was the only sentence appropriate for such a malice.

 

Pulling out his shotgun, he aimed for the creature that was now looking for its next victim. The other members of AVALANCHE were already fighting the demon as a hail of bullets and throwing stars were aimed at the creature's head. Only two members of AVALANCHE didn't fight, one was Cloud Strife and the other was a woman who was holding his injured body. The creature didn't have to think to know that the woman wouldn't put up a fight as it swooped down in a nosedive toward the woman.

 

Rufus only had to fire once to stop the creature as Chaos howled in pain while grabbing its chest. It fell a few feet short of the woman before flying back up into the air in a retreat. Everyone watched cautiously as the creature flew away from the group. As soon as Chaos was out of sight, all eyes suddenly turned to Rufus.

 

* * *

 

“Shit!” Reeve spat as he threw Cait Sith's control device on the floor.

 

“What's up? Your toy not working?” Reno tried to joke.

 

“No, it's not. I think Chaos destroyed it,” Reeve said while trying to find his PHS.

 

“Chaos? Who's that?” Reno said while pulling out his PHS and handing it to Reeve.

 

“He's one of Vincent's transformations. A demonic creature Hojo implanted into Mr. Valentine. Thanks for the phone Reno. I hope that AVALANCHE can get here in time. I'm not sure if our exit is blocked and if it is, how much oxygen we have left,” Reeve said worried.

 

“Don't worry about a thing El Presidente. Rude, Elena, and I scoped out the exit and found out you can still get out, but one person at a time and that person has to climb up a really, really long ladder. So you don't have to worry about the air, I'd worry about how much food we have left. Do you know how disgusting these ShinRa issued rations are?” Reno laughed.

 

“Thanks Reno, that helps relieve some of my stress. I just hope that this PHS will work underground,” Reeve said as he dialed a series of numbers.

 

* * *

 

The remaining AVALANCHE members all stared at the raggedy brown-haired man in wonder. It looked like the man hadn't shaved in days and the shotgun he held protectively proved that he was not some random homeless man wandering the plains around Kalm. He didn't appear to be a spy for ShinRa or look to have any malicious intent. No one wanted to speak to him yet as they faced a more pressing matter: Cloud Strife's life.

 

Tifa wept softly as she held Cloud's body in her arms. “Cloud, please open your eyes.”

 

Her pleas were only met with silence as the gaping wound in his stomach gushed out streams of blood.

 

“Did he get that from Sephiroth? I don't remember him getting any injuries,” Yuffie said with concern etched on her face. “Oh, let's use a cure spell on him!”

 

“No, the wound is far too deep for that. If Chaos had not attacked, we would have had time, but now it's too late. He's lost too much blood,” Nanaki said remorsefully after studying the wound.

 

“Isn't there anything we can do?” Yuffie said sadly.

 

“He still has a pulse, there's some hope yet,” Tifa said between sobs.

 

The only comfort Barret or Cid had to offer was to put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder as they watched Cloud's breathing slowly fade. The young leader's face had already paled to a deathly white and his lips into a cold blue. Miraculously, Cloud opened his steel-blue eyes and saw all the surprised, yet melancholy faces of the rest of his friends. His eyes turned to the black-haired beauty who was holding him in her arms.

 

“Tifa,” Cloud said weakly while raising his hand up to touch her face.

 

“I'm right here, Cloud,” Tifa said while cupping his cold hand to her cheek.

 

“Don't cry,” he said in almost a whisper.

 

“I can't. I can't stop. I'm afraid of what . . . what's going to happen to you,” Tifa said letting more tears flow down her damp cheeks.

 

“There were so many things left unsaid. So many things I wanted to do. Please smile for me, just one last time,” Cloud said softly.

 

Tifa smiled brightly for her hero, trying not to let her smile falter with the heavy weight of grief.

 

“I've always loved your smile. So beautiful. I'm sorry I won't be able to see it again, but at least I kept my promise,” Cloud said trying to force a smile.

 

“Yes, you kept your promise. You rescued me when you said you would,” she said while placing her free hand on his face. “Please don't leave me.”

 

“I can't hold on anymore. It hurts too much. Promise me, Tifa . . . promise me you'll be happy,” Cloud said, forcing his words out.

 

“I promise, Cloud. I swear I will, for you,” Tifa said with conviction.

 

“Good, then live,” the warrior said before letting his eyes fall shut.

 

Those were the last words anyone ever heard from the savior of the planet. No tears were held back, even from the prideful Cid Highwind as they gazed upon Cloud's lifeless form held lovingly by their friend, Tifa Lockheart.

 

The touching scene even evoked a few tears from Rufus, who had been standing away from the group, listening to every word that was said. Rufus wanted to personally thank Cloud for defeating Sephiroth and fighting for the good of the planet, but that chance would never come as Cloud became another victim of Sephiroth and Meteor's wraith.

 

The silence was abruptly broken by the sound of Barret's PHS. The burly man embarrassingly took out the phone and stepped away from the crowd, hoping that whoever was calling had something good to tell them.

 

“Yeah, what is it!” Barret said brusquely. “Reeve? Dat you? Now's not a good time man. Cloud's dead. No, it wasn't no Chaos. He got some wound in his gut. Probably from Sephiroth. Yeah, we'll figure somethin', but now's not the time. By tonight? Sure, we'll call. Chaos? Not sure, some honky with a shotgun shot the flying freak and he went flapping off. Yeah, we gotta find him too. Marlene's in Kalm? She's not hurt, is she? Good. I'll tell everyone,” the man said before hanging up.

 

Cid and Nanaki stole a glance at the man waiting for him to relay the news from Reeve. Before Barret could say anything, Cid spoke first.

 

“Before we go and rescue Reeve, we've gotta bury Cloud,” the man said with respect.

 

“Don' you worry. He knows. We'll call him tonight, after we've paid our respects,” Barret replied.

 

“Also, Chaos is on the loose. He'll need to be dealt with,” Nanaki added.

 

Barret nodded his head and slowly made his way to Tifa. Yuffie was hugging the fighter and bawling over Cloud's death. Barret didn't want to stop them from their mourning, but there were many things that needed to be done and they had little time to spare.

 

“Tifa, I'd hate to tell ya, but we got to bury Cloud now. Reeve called. We still gotta lot to do and it hurts me to see Spike like this, but we've gots ta move on,” the giant man said as gently as he could.

 

“No, we can't bury him,” Tifa said sternly.

 

The rest of AVALANCHE shot their heads up in confusion over her statement.

 

“Cloud, never wanted to be buried. I know it sounds stupid, but when we were kids just after my mother died, he and I talked. He told me how he never wanted to be buried in the ground knowing that his body was just going to rot away into dust. He told me that he always wanted to be burned, like how ancient kings and heroes used to be burnt on a funeral pyre. I never thought much about those words, until now. It's not something he told me to do for him, but I know he'd want it that way. It's the least I can do,” Tifa said trying to fight back more tears.

 

Barret and Cid nodded their heads in acknowledged.

 

“Ya think we should put Cait Sith with Cloud?” Yuffie said while sniffing back some tears.

 

“I think he would like that,” Tifa said while stroking the young ninja's hair.

 

“Yeah, I'm sure we can find some firewood or some shit like that. But what I want to know is, who he is,” Cid asked while pointing his spear directly at Rufus.

 

Rufus, who had been standing silently off to the side suddenly spoke up.

 

“The name's John,” Rufus said casually.

 

“Got a last name, John?” Barret asked suspiciously.

 

“Yeah, I do,” Rufus stuttered a bit. Last name, last name. What name should I use? What should I say? Can't say ShinRa. Hmm . . Galt? Smith? Brown? Nah, too cheesy. Oh, I know! “It's Woolfe. John Woolfe.”

 

“And what the hell were you doin' prancing around here for?” Barret interrogated the man.

 

“Barret! The man saved us from Chaos, I think we owe him a bit of gratitude,” Tifa chided.

 

“Oh, well . . . I guess, but he could be some ShinRa spy or something,” Barret said losing his thunder.

 

“I'm not a ShinRa spy. I'm here to talk to whoever's in charge of Midgar to ask them to stop the mako-reactors,” Rufus said, hoping that would strike some agreeable conversation.

 

“You want to stop mako-harvesting? Well, it seems you met up with the right crowd. We're AVALANCHE,” Nanaki said diplomatically.

 

“Yeah, so I've heard. I probably arrived at a bad time, but if you all are still on your mission to stop all the mako-reactors, then please let me lend you a hand,” Rufus said while cautiously eyeing all the members.

 

Barret and Cid looked at each other and shrugged, not wanting to assume the position as leader after Cloud's death. Nanaki didn't voice any objections and Yuffie was too engrossed in collecting Cait Sith's remains to pay attention to the conversation at hand. Tifa stared intently at Rufus, letting her gaze study the man who offered to help their small group.

 

The fighter carefully laid Cloud's head on the soft ground as she stood up and wiped away the tears from her face. Dirt and blood stained the young warrior's body, but it didn't detract from her natural beauty. Rufus stared in amazement at the woman who he recognized from wanted posters as the martial artist, Tifa Lockheart.

 

He remembered having her and the big black man, Barret Wallace, in captivity at Junon shortly after Meteor had been summoned. Rufus had only seen her through television monitors, giving John the duty of interviewing her in case she tried to attack. He had heard about her skills as a martial artist and knew that she and Mr. Wallace had both killed many ShinRa soldiers. Though those few images of her on the monitor screens, he could still see that she carried the same headstrong demeanor from her capture, despite the fact that one of their comrades had turned into a demon and their leader lay dead at her feet. Rufus had always thought that she put on an act, but now that he was standing face to face with the female AVALANCHE member, he shuddered at her commanding gaze.

 

“Let me think about it. Until then, you can help us gather wood to build Cloud's funeral pyre. Will that be alright?” Tifa asked.

 

“That would be fine,” Rufus said, willing to take whatever answer was given at this conjecture.

 

“Good. The name's Tifa Lockheart by the way. Thank you for helping us back there,” Tifa forced a smile.

 

The remaining members introduced themselves to Rufus who still felt as if he was being scrutinized. This feeling didn't bother Rufus as he had suffered under his father's scrutiny all his life. He helped them gather enough wood to build a funeral pyre for their fallen leader. Though no one had asked, Tifa had assumed the position as their new leader giving out orders and assessing what needed to be done. She acted the same when she was the leader of AVALANCHE for the short time they were trying to find Cloud, but the only difference is her melancholy look would never be replaced with joy for finding Cloud safe and sound.

 

Rufus fell in line with the other members of AVALANCHE who all helped collect wood. As he brought a pile of wood over to the spot where Cloud lay, he noticed Tifa's intense gaze upon him once more.

 

“You seem to be pretty good with a gun. Can I give you a test?” Tifa asked stiffly.

 

“Certainly,” Rufus said with confidence in his sharp-shooting skills.

 

“Good, I want you to try this weapon. It's called the Death Penalty,” Tifa said while picking up Vincent's weapon, which rested on the ground where he had transformed.

 

Rufus accepted the long rifle and stared in awe at the craftsmanship of the gun. “This is a very nice rifle, whose is it?”

 

“It was Vincent Valentine's gun, but I'm not sure if he's human anymore to use it again,” Tifa said sadly while trying to keep her eyes off of the bloody metal arm and boots piled on the ground where Vincent last stood.

 

“Vincent Valentine?” Rufus echoed, remembering how Tseng spoke about the ex-Turk.

 

“Yes, you knew him?” Tifa asked curiously.

 

“No, just heard about him, that's all,” Rufus answered. He wanted to learn more about the ex-Turk, but now was not the time.

 

“Very well, are you ready?” Tifa said giving Rufus a questioning look.

 

“As ready as I'll ever be,” Rufus added while testing the weight and sight of the gun.

 

Tifa nodded her head and walked over to Yuffie who was still collecting Cait Sith's remains. The two talked in whispers and Rufus saw the young ninja nod her head. Rufus wasn't sure what the young princess of Wutai had to do with his test, so he cautiously eyed Barret who was glaring at him while delivering his pile of wood. No sooner had he diverted his attention did he hear Tifa shout at him and a flash of metal shot through the air.

 

“Shoot!”

 

Rufus had to react on pure reflexes as he cocked the Death Penalty and fired at the metal throwing-star hurtling through the air. In a split second, the throwing star was fired off its natural course and came careening down towards the soft earth. He had never done tests like that since he last trained under Tseng. Luckily for him, he still had the skills to shoot accurately under such pressure and with a new weapon he had never used before.

 

“It looks like you've proven yourself, John. Welcome to AVALANCHE,” the woman said while extending her hand to Rufus.

 

Rufus took her hand and noticed how she had such a strong grip. “Thank you for having me aboard.”

 

“Sure we can trust him Tifa?” Barret asked while carrying a bundle of wood over his shoulders.

 

“I'm sure, and if he turns out to be a spy, then you can kill him,” Tifa said flatly while giving a cautious glance to Rufus.

 

“Yeah, I like that job. So you better not be lyin' ya fo. Or big poppa Barret's gonna ice you,” Barret said while pointing his gun arm at Rufus.

 

Rufus merely shook his head in amusement at the large man's threats. Barret somehow reminded him of a combination of Casey and Donna. Picturing that combination somehow lessened his trepidation over the large man and for the first time, Rufus felt relaxed around the group. He wasn't sure what sort of relationship AVALANCHE had, but he was finding it more interesting every minute.

 

It was mid-day when the group finished gathering enough wood to build Cloud's funeral pyre. They built it in the same place where he fell, carefully placing his body on the piles of wood. Cid had soaked the wood with fuel from the Highwind and Cait Sith's mangled pieces were also placed carefully around the pyre.

 

Yuffie questioned whether or not to include Vincent's metal arm and boots, but no one was certain that Vincent was still alive or if Chaos had taken over his body completely. The young ninja resigned to include them into the pyre, giving the excuse that if Vincent were still alive; he would need a change in wardrobe to lighten up his drab appearance.

 

Tifa carefully folded the Ultima Weapon under Cloud's lifeless arms and stood over his body saying a silent prayer. Her eyes were already red with her previous tears as she stepped back to let the rest of AVALANCHE give their final prayers for their fallen leader. Rufus also gave Cloud a moment of silence to show the respect he earned for the mercenary.

 

Everyone had stood in a line bowing their heads in mourning. Tifa had insisted on starting the fire and nobody objected to her pleas. Equipping her fire materia, she closed her eyes to let the fresh tears fall down her face before casting a fire spell on the pyre. The fuel caught on fire quickly and the entire pyre of wood soon bellowed in a ball of flames. The fire from the funeral pyre rose up so high, that inhabitants in Kalm could see the steady blaze amidst the afternoon sun.

 

“Yuffie, may I borrow your dagger?” Tifa asked the young princess of Wutai.

 

Yuffie handed Tifa the dagger cautiously, eyeing the martial artist to make sure that Tifa was in the right state of mind.

 

Tifa unsheathed the dagger and in one swift motion and grabbed the loose ends of her hair to cut them off. Everyone stood shocked by her actions, though slightly relieved the fighter hadn't decided to end her life. A gentle breeze blew Tifa's freshly cut hair, which fell past her shoulders. Tifa returned Yuffie's dagger and held out the hair she cut.

 

“Cloud, I hope that you're at peace now and you can finally find her in the Promised Land. There were so many things that we left unsaid and now that you're dead, I won't ever be able to tell you how much I loved you. But I'm going to go ahead and say it now. Cloud Strife, I loved you . . . I loved you with all my heart, but I also made a promise to be happy and I will uphold that promise. I will live as you wished me to, but I will live in your memory and for our last promise to each other. Please, be at peace,” Tifa said softly before releasing her hair and letting the wind blow it off into the fire.

 

No other words could have been more complete or fitting for Cloud's eulogy. Everyone stood in silence while the fire blazed fiercely. As the remaining members of AVALANCHE and Rufus all mourned the loss of the planet's savoir, the Promised Land welcomed the soul of the one man who defeated Sephiroth and returned balance and order to the lifestream. There he met all those who had given their lives to protect the planet including a certain flower-girl who greeted him with open arms.

 

(continued…)