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[nimbuster]

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CLOUD STRIFE | 21

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[nimbuster]

A limit.

[Cloud watches the liquid swirl around in his glass for a second and takes a drink.]

What about the plate? 'Your Turks' were the ones who dropped it. Destroyed a whole sector, and your father didn't give a single shit about rebuilding anything. You telling me you do?

[fearedheir]

Well, I am the one who funded most of the the building of Edge, after Meteorfall. Anonymously, of course, because Shinra money is poison to most people of the Planet now.

[nimbuster]

Of course it is. You expect them to just forget how that money was made? Lot of people would rather go without than rely on a fortune made at their expense.

[It might be surprising to Rufus that Cloud isn't particularly up in arms about this, though. Like he doesn't include himself among 'them.']

Still don't know what Edge is. And don't think I didn't notice you didn't bother giving an opinion on dropping the plate.

[fearedheir]

And you won't hear about Edge until after Meteorfall.

[Just saying.]

As I said before, there's a limit. My father, however, disagreed.

[It's Rufus, Cloud, he is very good at weasel words. Still, he does take a moment and then, with a sigh:]

The death toll from the plate drop was obscene.

[nimbuster]

[Oh, Cloud's aware. But he's not in the mood for Rufus' weaseling.]

Hm. So you are from Sephiroth's version of things. He said the same thing, but that's not what happened where I came from. We evacuated most of the Sector Seven slums before the plate came down.

[Cloud gets lost for a second, staring into his drink and vividly remembering the wreckage stretching as far as the eye could see against the setting sun, and the grim determination of the survivors after it was all over, when they returned to try to put their lives back together again. Fighting their way up the pillar only to fail...to lose two of their own...

After a moment he shakes it off with a literal shake of his head.]

And the meteor's not gonna fall. Not this time.

[fearedheir]

You evacuated the slums. No one evacuated the plate itself.

[Just saying.

But Cloud's comment about Meteor...]

Do you even know who summoned that thing?

[nimbuster]

Maybe not. Dunno, I wasn’t plateside. But in Sephiroth’s timeline, the slums didn’t get evacuated, either.

[Cloud’s brow furrows as he tries to sort through things he’s been told, things he’s half-seen in flashes of Whisper visions, things he remembers from the flood of memories in the jungle…]

…yeah. Jenova. But we’re gonna change things.

[fearedheir]

[...honestly, correcting him about it being Sephiroth isn't worth it.]

How did you hear of that? I doubt Sephiroth would have said anything.

[nimbuster]

[Cloud’s not sure how to handle this. He could explain how Sephiroth has changed, isn’t the person who did all those things, but he also knows that to those who were there for those things, it barely matters.]

You’d be surprised. Sephiroth’s…different here. He and Genesis told me some of it. But…

[Dammit, he knows how crazy this is gonna sound. He tries to keep it nonchalant.]

Seen some of it myself, too. Visions from the voices of the planet.

[fearedheir]

[...visions. From the Planet.

Actually, never mind. Given the rest of the bullshit Rufus will just accept that. He may need another beer, though.]

I see. Well, that is about what I told Squall. I think he expected more regret than he saw.

[nimbuster]

Well…if we do change things, might see what a Shinra with you in charge would be like. I’ll make up my mind then.

[Cloud takes another drink, thoughtful.]

After the meteor. You said you funded some rebuilding efforts. That all you’ve been doing since then?

[And what have the rest of them been doing?…the ones who survived, anyway…]

[fearedheir]

[Rufus thinks, debating on if he should tell Cloud about Geostigma. There'd be no point, since either he prevents the Stigma or he gets it himself and then everything with Kadaj happens.

No.]

A WEAPON attacked Midgar, and the tower specifically, while I was still inside. I've been recovering from that for the last two years, so donations are all I could really afford to do until fairly recently.

[There. No sign of weakness. Anyone would be out of commission after having half the tower dropped on them.]

[nimbuster]

What kind of weapon? Was it Sephiroth?

[Sorry, Rufus, this dumbass still knows jack shit.]

[fearedheir]

Ah, no. No. It would seem the Planet has an emergency "kill all humans" button, and when Meteor was summoned, it decided to press it.

[Or something.]

There were several, all of them essentially gigantic monsters capable of wiping out cities and worse. Diamond WEAPON decided to take personal offense to Midgar and attacked it.

[nimbuster]

[Cloud’s eyes widen.]

…shit. Guessing the Planet was pissed about the reactors. How the hell did you survive that?

[fearedheir]

I think it was pissed about everything, to be frank.

[Understandably, but he will point out they only woke up after Meteor was summoned!]

Barely, and only thanks to escape routes my father had built. Everyone was busy evacuating who they could.

[nimbuster]

For good reason, from what I’ve heard.

[Like the death of the last Cetra. But he’s not about to bring that up with Rufus.]

So…Edge. Somewhere for the Midgar survivors to live, right? …you gonna tell me you didn’t plan to get back into power and run it first opportunity you had?

[fearedheir]

[Rufus reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose.]

Yes, actually. Think for even half a second--do you really think the people of Midgar or Edge would let me run so much as a bake sale? The only reason I'm not dead is because there are a handful of people who even know I'm alive in the first place, Cloud.

[nimbuster]

[Cloud thinks about that for a moment, and then replies, deadpan:]

You should run a bake sale. Show ‘em how innocent and wholesome you are.

[Yeah, he’s sassing, but also—]

Genesis says by his time, you resurfaced to sponsor some kinda peacekeeping organization. Hasn’t happened yet for you?

[fearedheir]

And risk aggravating someone's gluten allergy? I could never.

[Sass sass.]

No, it hasn't. It does sound like something I'd consider, though.

[nimbuster]

[…okay, he gets a quiet little chuckle out of Cloud with that one.]

No idea who’d run it, though, if not you.

[And who knows exactly what ‘peacekeeping’ means to whoever that is. Without Shinra, there would be no military - but there sure would be a lot of unemployed troopers with particular skillsets looking for work.]

So I’m one of those handful who know you’re alive. We talk much?

[Cloud finds himself abruptly wanting to know whether Future Cloud ever slept with Rufus, but he’s obviously not gonna ask. Not until he’s had a few more drinks, anyway.]

[fearedheir]

Until recently, you didn't know I was alive. You run a delivery business there, too.

[nimbuster]

[Well, that answers that, then. Probably.]

Huh. …just me?

[fearedheir]

I believe you work out of Tifa's bar, but it's just you. The rest of AVALANCHE is off doing other things in hopes of getting the world back on track.

[And also Vincent.]

[nimbuster]

[At least Tifa’s there. That’s a relief. Still…running the business alone, without Zack, sounds…pretty shitty. And if Barret and the others are off fixing up the world, why isn’t he with them? There’s gotta be all kinds of monsters and whatnot to fight out there, surely they could use his help?

He realizes he’s been quiet a little too long and shakes his head.]

None of that’s gonna happen. We’ll do it right this time. Stop Jenova before it summons Meteor.