A King and His Queen (Tifa x Male Reader)

Ch.16: Destiny's Crossroads

The team followed the strange glowing liquid into the elevator. "What's about this floor?" Barret asked as Cloud pushed the button to call the elevator. "The president's office." Informed Nanaki. "And then the roof." Exiting the elevator, the strange bubbly substance continued down the hall ahead. The trail came to an end by the door to the 70th floor, President Shinra's office. "Where's that bastard hiding?" Barret questioned as they looked around the empty office. "And Sephiroth?" Tifa added. "Wait. I can hear something." Nanaki said.

Exiting the office, the walked along the path leading to the roof, only to find a broken railing and President Shinra hanging for dear life on the ledge. "Help me!" He strained. "Well, well, well." Barret smiled in satisfaction as he looked down at the man straggling. "Fate is smiling down upon me!" Yuffie exclaimed with glee as she pulled out her shuriken. "Pull me up! I'll give you all the money you want! I have gil! Plenty of it!" Tifa approached the man, but Barret stopped her. Barret knelt down to face the president. "Thing is, I don't want your money." "Please!" Shinra couldn't hold on any longer and began to fall, but Barret quickly reacted and grabbed his arm. Using all of his strength, Barret pulled Shinra up. "Just let me live. Everything you want can be yours." "I'm a man of modest dreams. Dropping you from seventy stories up would get me damn near to good." "But not all the way. You want something more, don't you!?" "More than this right here? Talk to me again like you know me." Barret flung the man up and instead began to hold him by his collar. "Barret!" Tifa shouted. "Stop it!" Added Aerith. Barret threw Shinra back onto the walkway. The man coughed as groaned in pain. "You're gonna get on TV and tell em." Began Barret as Shinra cowered. "Tell em what you did to Sector 7. That it was you who killed all those people! Then, you're gonna tell them the truth about Avalanche." Shinra was slowly leading Barret back into his office. "That Avalanche ain't Wutai or anybody's puppet! That Avalanche fights for the people, the planet! That we fight to hold Shinra to account for it's crimes! That is Avalanche. The filthy sewer rats who brought down a goliath! You tell em that!" Shinra stopped by his desk. "Is that really all you want? For your names to be cleared? Hmph. That is what matters most to you? More than shutting down the reactors? Than the future of the planet itself?" Barret approached the president, however he was now armed with a weapon of his own. "Damn!" Barret cursed, having fallen into the trap. "You're lying to yourself, Even now. Truth... justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one. Picture it! Picture a world without Shinra. Without Mako energy. A stagnant, impotent world. Now picture a natural disaster. Who would help the people? Help them recover and rebuild? You? With their old world ruined, will they thank you for the new? I'm going to give you a chance." The rest of the party returned to the office, but stopped upon seeing Barret backed into a corner. "One last opportunity to consider what your principles are truly worth. But bear in mind that time is of the essence." "And what about you Mister President? What are you vaunted principles?" "What princples!? Did you understand even a single word of what I told you? I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discord that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt." Shinra smirked as he slowly pressed his finger down on the trigger. However, before it could completely be pressed, a blade pierced through Shinra's chest. The party gasped in shock as the man responsible stood behind Shinra, Sephiroth. The mysterious man pulled out his long sword, Masamune, and watched as the president fell.

"You son of a bitch!" Barret roared as he rushed towards Sephiroth, however Whispers flooded into the room, stopping the man from getting any closer. Sephiroth, in the blink of an eye, appeared before Barret and drove Masamune through his chest. "BARRET!" Tifa cried. Cloud froze up as he saw his friends rush over to Barret's side. Sephiroth made his way over Shinra's desk as the Whispers crowded around Barret. With a swing for his sword. Sephiroth sent the Whispers away. In a whirl of black mist, the the party was warped into a new environment. "This is..." "The source." Aerith finished for Nanaki. "Of everything."