Leaning on You(FF7)

53

"You're on," the dark man grins.

"Out of the camera zone, uglies," Elena smirks, shooing us to the other side of the room.

"Who're you callin ugly?" Cid pouts. She just shakes her head and urges him on.

"President Shinra? You're live," someone says into a headset. Rufus stands and nods toward the camera.

"Citizens of Gaia, today we have with us the man who has started all this havoc. This man that..." I tune out to his lengthy speech and even the Turks look a little board.

"Likes to make speeches just like his father," Tifa grumbles next to me and I suppress a chuckle.

"Come to a close, Sir," the headset man hisses and Rufus ends his speech.

"And now the fate of this evil person rests in his own son's hands. Cloud?" He moves out of the way to reveal Cloud, who's absent mindedly playing with the weapon in his hands. He looks a little nervous, and I swear Death Gigas is tuning into his pounding heartbeat.

"You can't do it," Skylar says with a sneer. "You're too afraid. Too nice for your own good."

"I've changed," Cloud mumbles, flipping a switch on the gun in his hands and lifting it. His father wears a proud smirk, and Cloud an expressionless demeanor. Aiming it straight for his head, Cloud flips something else and sucks in a deep breath, closing his eyes releasing it slowly. Then he pulls the trigger and... Kills Rufus Shinra.

          The building is in complete havoc. Elena whips out her own gun and aims at Cloud. Acting fast, Tifa kicks her in the back of her head and again in the stomach. The Turk yelps and reaches for her gun. I kick it out of the way and jump up on top of a camera man's empty seat. Then I switch the device off, cutting off all feed to viewers. This is none of their business. But I don't understand. Despite a blade being his weapon of choice, Cloud has used guns before and knows how to aim. So the Rufus murder must not have been an accident... But murder our ally, the President, on live TV, in a room with lots of loaded weapons? I don't understand. Our. Food supply. Underground base. Maybe...

"Vince! Duck!" Yuffie calls and I obey, throwing myself down as she chucks her shuriken into the person aiming behind me. These people are slow.

"Tifa, where's Cloud?" Yuffie frowns, standing on her tiptoes. I have to shoot down more people to cover for her.

"Over there," I nod toward the middle of the room.

          Reno avoids Yuffie by half heartedly swinging at Cid with his electro magnetic rod, missing purposely and muttering something. Them pilot hesitates before nodding, a suspicious look in his eye. I watch curiously as he makes a run for the exit, but Tseng cuts him off and blasts through his knee cap. As expected, a million old and new curses fly out of Cid's mouth. I can just imagine Yuffie adding them to her mental dictionary, though she swears she doesn't cuss anymore.

"Gosh dang it Cid," Barret growls, shooting at Tseng. The Turk moves easily even though Cloud claims that Yuffie shot him through the foot the other night.

"Hands up," the black haired man presses a gun to my temple. I narrow my eyes.

          I could knock him off his feet and shoot him, I could roll out of the way, or I could... Obey. Tseng's fast with every movement, and he'd have an easy time putting a bullet through my brain if I didn't comply. Huffing irritably, I drop my weapon and kick it away. That's as good as he's gonna get. Tifa and Cait look at me in complete bewilderment, and I shake my head. Cloud clenches his jaw and drops his sword. Cid curses and releases his spear with a angry throw toward Elena, who simply steps out of the way. You get the point.