Don't Play With Fire (Turks FFVII)

X) Vices and Virtues

"#$%^." I bang my head back against the copilot's seat, unable to feel anything but nausea. "So you're telling me the guy that used to sneak me blueberries after training is the same guy that just skewed the President and splattered his guts all over the walls?"

"That's the theory," Tseng sighs, pulling the chopper close to the edge of the balcony that Rufus stands on with his long, loose suit flapping in the night wind.

Cloud stumbles back, sword raised and readied to fight anyone we might drop on him. Fortunately for him, we're just here to swoop in and rescue the vice president. Well, the president now. I shiver and Tseng glances in my direction. Gods, that brat's in charge of the whole company now. I squeeze my eyes shut only to see the bloody mess the office was with that enormous katana piercing through the President and pinning his body to the desk.

"Weren't we supposed to protect him?" I ask, forcing my eyes back open.

"Yes." Tseng sighs, cocking his head to the left. "I can't say Rufus isn't relieved, though."

"Relieved?" I repeat, frowning. He shakes his head, lowering the helicopter closer. Rufus tucks his shotgun away and hangs onto the outside rungs of the chopper as we lift back off.

"Open the door."

I set my headset aside and use all my might to pull the door open, squinting into the wind. Offering a hand, I poke my head out to see Rufus hanging on tightly, but he ignores me and steps inside as if nothing has occurred in the past few hours. The door closes with a loud slam that wasn't entirely intentional.

"You alright?" I ask, watching Rufus fall into a seat in the back. He raises an eyebrow at me irritably and pulls a potion from his jacket. "I'll take that as a confirmation."

"Let's just land this."

"Yes, sir," I mutter, heading back up front. "Ready to hit the ground?"

"I'm not sure that means what you think it does," Tseng replies, shaking his head when I laugh.

Once the propellers begin to slow and the rails hit the helipad, we hurry out of the chopper, surrounded with a raincloud of suffocating silence as the three of us head for the President's office. My stomach twists into knots when the door opens, but the President's body has been removed and the blood has been wiped off the walls. Rude and Elena stand waiting.

"We're all here, sir!" Elena chirps, standing straighter. Rufus hardly spares her a glance before watching me and Tseng join them.

"Yes, you are." His eyebrows pinch together for half a second before he recomposes himself. "Smells like bleach."

"Yes, well, we had to get the blood off somehow," an old woman in a tight uniform says, waddling past him with a cart of chemicals and bloody rags. Rufus doesn't look at them, doesn't look at her. I wonder if that's a coincidence.

"Mr. President!" a man cries, hurrying across the room. He's dressed up in a plain blue suit and in his hands, he carries a folder and a pen. "Can we discuss funeral arrangements for—"

"Can it wait?" Rufus snaps, getting impatient.

"The people will be expecting—"

"The people can wait."

"But sir—"

"Out."

The man nods, looking over the rest of us before scurrying out of the room. The old woman shakes her head, wheeling her squeaky cart into the hall, grumbling nonsense to herself. Taking a deep breath, Rufus turns back to us. My eyes dart about the room, searching for any signs of the President's remnants amongst the stench of bleach that can't mask the remaining metallic scent in the air. When I look back at Rufus, he's staring right back at me. My heart leaps into my throat.