Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 1: Arrival

THIRTY-THREE

"What do you want, Rude?" Aerith asked.

He didn't answer at first but looked over at me instead. "You're new here, aren't you? Her latest boyfriend?"

Aerith frowned. "My bodyguard, if you must know."

"If you say so," he said.

"She does," I glared at him. "And I am."

Rude scratched his chin. "Wait a minute... you're the one that took down Reno's men and gave him the slip."

"And if I am?" I asked.

"Just making sure," he said. "Gotta finish what he started."

Aerith touched my arm. "Leave him alone, Cloud. Rude might be a Turk, but he's not actually a bad person."

"You serious?" I glanced at her.

Rude nodded. "I'm not bad. But there are times when I've gotta do bad things. It's nothing personal. Just my job."

I drew Buster. "All bark. No bite. Just like a Turk."

"Speak for yourself," Rude countered.

With that, he launched himself at us, fists raised. I stepped in front of Aerith and brought up my sword just in time to block, then spun to the left and backhanded him with the flat of the blade while she seared him with a touch of fire. He retaliated quickly, though, getting in a few punches to my side before I could get out of reach.

I took the blows, then smacked Rude again with Buster on the side of the face as Aerith struck him with a sudden burst of magical energy, flower petals floating in the air around her. Rude shook off our attacks, though, kicked my sword right out of my hands, and grabbed my arms. Then he spun me around and threw me into Aerith. We collided with a muffled thump and fell to the ground.

Aerith got up first, blasting Rude with more fire. In the meantime, I rolled to the side, grabbed my sword from where it lay on the ground, and smacked the side of the blade into his stomach. He staggered a few steps backward and groaned. Although I probably could've killed him, I knew Aerith wouldn't want that. I wasn't sure what it was between her and the Turks, but I decided I'd do as she asked and just beat Rude up a bit instead, enough to drive him off.

"Thought you didn't wanna play rough," he told Aerith.

She narrowed her eyes. "Just self-defense."

He grunted and came at us again, trying to grapple with me. But I was faster, ducking under his reaching arms and jamming the butt end of Buster's hilt into his stomach, then following it up with a left hook to his jaw that would've made Tifa proud. I took a few punches from him in return, but doing that allowed me to give Aerith enough time to get into position so she could hit him with another quick surge of magical energy. Rude sank to his knees under the impact.

And so it went for another minute or so as Rude and I kept trading blows, and I noticed that as we fought, he focused his attacks on me for the most part and wouldn't actually do much to Aerith. He tried to put her to sleep at one point with a vial filled with some sort of gas, but she hopped away just as he sprayed it at her. Then I shoved him back to the ground before he could do anything else.

"Just leave us alone, Rude," Aerith said. "Please."

He stood up again. "Can't. It's my job."

My eyes narrowed. "You heard her. It's over."

Rude started to reply, but then his phone rang. Keeping his gaze on us, he pulled it out and answered. "Yeah?"

"I know you're havin' fun over there, partner," I heard Reno's voice on the other end. "But we've got new orders. Boss needs us on standby for another job. Something about Sector 7."