Dark Secrets 
Written By: QuikSilva     
Thoughts: This is the first of the few parts of this story..it’s my first time 
writing this, so I apologize if it’s a little lame. And also, I haven’t watched 
the ending of FF7 yet, so I assumed the endings. Hopefully, it’s more or less 
the same. Happy reading!
                                -==-

   The stranger stood there, his black coat swirling around him. He looked 
down from the cliff, looking down to the famous Floating City-Midgar. Midgar, 
the lovechild of Shinra and Mako. The wind ruffled his blonde hair lovingly. 
       He smiled. Midgar was a success, people were fighting to live in this 
place. No one opposed against it. Fear was his game, so they will play it. He 
spotted something at the far right of the city. A huge gaping hole. And 
another. The work of the small, yet dangerous group, AVALANCHE. It had been a 
long time since AVALANCHE had sprung this attack on Midgar. His father, poor 
foolish father. If he was the one commanding, not his father, AVALANCHE 
wouldn’t do such a thing. 
       A lovely face suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. Aeris 
Gainsborough. The lovely woman Father had caught with a little girl during the 
destroying of Sector 7. He was about to enjoy her, when Sephiroth mysteriously 
appeared and murdered his father. Oh well. He shrugged his shoulders. Ce’st La 
Vie.I cannot, simply, have my cake and eat it. Sephiroth gave me the chance to 
become the president of Shinra. Of course he must have a game of hide-and-
seek, to repay for that. 
       Ten years have passed. Sephiroth has died, AVALANCHE has disappeared. I 
wonder where have they gone. They could still give them trouble. Oh yes, the 
little girl who came with Aeris. She is the daughter of one of them. What was 
her name again..? 
       “Sir!” A voice hollered over the icy wind. He turned and looked. It was 
Reno. He was shielding himself from the ice, squinting furiously. His red hair 
was tousled and messy, the look of one who just rolled off the bed.
       “I’d like to stay here a little longer!” He shouted over the wind, then 
turned back to admiring the city. Reno looked at the small figure standing at 
the edge of the cliff in disbelief and hunkered down, trudging down the cliff 
to the small helicopter where the other Turks were hiding from the icy 
weather.
       “I’d say, he’s mad! Who would like to stay out in the wind and admire 
some god-forsaken scenery?” Reno grumbled as he slumped against the wall of 
the helicopter.
       Tseng, who was sitting up front, frowned and looked out of the 
Plexiglas window. The figure of Rufus was still visible with its black coat 
against the white icy snow. Meanwhile, Reno was still ranting about the 
president’s weird behavior.
       Elena frowned at Reno and thrust him a cup of coffee she had poured 
from her ever-present thermos. “Shut your trap and drink this.” She smoothed 
her yellow hair, which had been blown in a snarled mess when Reno opened the 
door and let a whirlwind into the helicopter.
       Reno grabbed the cup and cradled it, savoring its warmth. “Honestly, 
you guys shouldn’t wake me up the last minute to come and accompany the 
president! Can you imagine how COLD it is when you have to hop around half-
naked for your clothes? I swear, I almost died!” Reno complained, sipping his 
coffee. Rude grinned, for he was there to witness it, and Elena smirked in 
amusement. The thought of Reno half-naked, jumping around and cursing loudly 
in his room was hilarious.
       Tseng cleared his throat loudly. “Men, we follow the orders of the 
president. We are at his beck and call, and that means we are on 24-hour 
alert. Even if it means going out to buy pizza in the middle of the night, we 
cannot complain. That is our job. I will not tolerate this type of attitude in 
here.”
       “Yeah, and if that guy wants a pizza in the middle of the night, I’ll 
personally slam the pizza in his face.” Reno muttered under his breath. Rude, 
who was sitting beside, chuckled at the sight of Rufus with anchovies, tomato 
sauce, pickles, pineapple dripping off his face. Nah, no pickles, it’ll cause 
bad breath. Rude laughed harder, nearly toppling over.
       Reno and Elena looked at the laughing Rude, with their jaws dropping. 
Elena leaned over and poked Rude. “What’s so funny?” 
       Rude looked up, tears streaming out of his eyes. “P-pizza,” was all 
what he could say, and he doubled up laughing again.
                                  *
       Rufus flung open the helicopter door and found the Turks drinking 
coffee and reading newspapers. Or rather, to be more specific, Tseng was 
reading the newspaper, Elena was watching him, Reno was sleeping soundly 
against the helicopter wall and Rude was busy slurping down his coffee. 
       Tseng hastily put down his newspaper and saluted him. “Morning, sir.”
Elena kicked Reno awake and they saluted him with a polite “Morning, sir.”
       He sat up right in front and Rude scurried in beside him. Slamming the 
door shut, Rude put on his headphones and started the helicopter. The snow 
around the helicopter danced as the choppers gained speed. Soon they were 
airborne, heading towards Shinra headquarters.
       “What’s new on the newspapers, Tseng?” He asked, running a hand through 
his blonde hair. It had grown, it was reaching his neck. He frowned. Maybe I 
should get a haircut..
       “Nothing much, sir, just about a dog saving a kid and mostly pop 
culture rumours.”
       “Mmhmm,” Rufus murmured absently, nodding his head.
       Behind him, Reno was snoring loudly. Rufus frowned in irritation and 
motioned Tseng to come closer. “Make him quiet,” he said quietly, and soon he 
heard a thud as Elena’s foot connected with Reno’s leg.
       “OW! What the-@#$%! What the hell did you do that for?” 
       “Shh! The president demands silence!”
       “Damn his silence! Why, I cou-mmpphff!” Rufus smirked, amused. If he 
had not guessed wrongly, Elena had her hand clapped over Reno’s mouth.
       “Sir, we’re reaching Shinra.” Rude turned to him. Sure enough, the huge 
building loomed before him, and he felt a swell of pride inside him. His own 
building. His own company. His. Mine.
       As soon as they landed on the ground, reporters from all sorts of 
hiding places emerged with their cameras in hand. Flashlights went off as he 
came out from the helicopter. 
       “Mr Rufus! I heard that Shinra had developed another weapon?” 
       “Mr Rufus..”
       “Hey Mr Rufus, look here!”
       “Mr Rufus!”
       Tseng hurried to escort him into the building. He turned and faced the 
mob of reporters. “Please, ladies and gentlemen, the President needs his rest. 
You could all come to the press conference later at the ballroom in this 
building. Goodbye.” Reno and the others escorted the President effortlessly 
through the sliding doors and into the darkness of the building.
       As he walked down the wine-coloured carpet, he whipped off his gloves 
and shook off his fur coat to awaiting maids standing beside the walls. 
“Tseng, is the ballroom ready?” 
       “Yes, sir, it has already been designed to Miss Aya’s preference.” Tseng 
said, hurrying beside Rufus, puffing slightly.
       “Mm, how is the Weapons department going?” He asked. He stepped into 
the posh elevator and Reno pressed the tope 60th floor button. 
       “Miss Scarlet says that everything is going quite smoothly,” Elena 
said, in a professional tone, unlike her normal one.
       “Good, I want a report by the end of this week,” Rufus said as he 
stepped out of the elevator. He turned and addressed the Turks. “Make sure 
that security is tight for today’s conference. And don’t forget the music and 
refreshments.”
       “Arrangements have already been made, sir.”
       “Excellent. I’ll see you later.”
       “Yes sir.”
       The elevator’s doors closed, and Rufus turned again and headed upstairs 
on the carpeted spiral staircase to his own office. 
       “There you are.” A lovely young woman stepped out of the shadows as 
Rufus sat down on the leather chair, her black curls glinting in the light. 
Dressed in an elegant blue gown that made her ice-blue eyes even brighter, she 
was beauty herself. 
       “Aya, you still haven’t changed your ways. I could get a heart-attack 
if you keep on scaring me.” Rufus said, turning around, a smile on his lips.
       Aya giggled childishly, her laughs tinkling like glass bells in the 
wind. She ran up the few steps and sat herself on his lap, twining her smooth 
arms around his neck. 
       “I still can’t believe we’re getting married!” Aya said wistfully, 
twirling on her long silky curls. 
       Rufus caught her hand and kissed it. “Why, you don’t want us to be 
together?”                                  
       She laughed that tinkle-bell laugh again. “No, silly, I mean, we just 
knew each other for such a short time,” she said, absently stroking his coat 
lapel with her other hand.
       Rufus examined the porcelain-like hand. An elegant white-gold ring 
adorned her middle finger, a square-cut diamond sitting on the middle of it,  
winking at every eye, catching everyone’s attention whenever they saw it.
       Aya was the daughter of a rich man, Jean, living in the Gold Saucer. He 
ranked second richest behind Dio, the owner of Gold Saucer. He met her at a 
social function, where her every move and gesture were absorbed by him from 
his vantage point at a corner, sipping his wine. Nobody knew how they met, how 
they courted each other. They only knew that she was his fiancée. 
       “Have you chosen the gown yet, dear?” Rufus asked. Aya’s eyes brightened 
and she chattered excitedly about her gown.
       “It’s going to be gorgeous, Rufus! It’s ivory-white, with this long, 
long, train and this matching jewel crown! Shall we get the same for the 
bridesmaids? I already made an appointment with the designer for the fitting. 
Do you think that dark blue is going to suit my dress? I was wondering whether 
you will be wearing the blue or red tuxedo..”
       Rufus lost track of her chatter. His thoughts wandered back to the top 
of the cliff, where he thought of the little girl who was accompanied by Aeris 
that day the Turks caught them. Another year later, they have caught her in 
order to blackmail AVALANCHE into letting Cait Sith follow along. Her big 
brown eyes were clouded, her mouth set in a pout. 
       Tseng had kneeled beside her. “What are you pouting for?”
       Silence. She was unsure; was he a bad guy, or a good guy?
       “I’m not a bad guy. Trust me! Your daddy asked me to take care of you 
when he was gone.” 
       “Yoo’re lying! Daddy doesn’t trust Shinra at ALL! Yoo are a baddie! 
AVALANCHE’s gonna beat yoo up!” The little girl had tried to pummel Tseng, but 
he held her easily at arms’ length. Then, suddenly, he screamed in rage. 
       “Ouch!” He shook his right hand and glared hatefully at the little 
girl, who “humphed” and looked away. Teethmarks lined the side of Tseng’s 
right hand. He hurried out of the door and shut it. Rufus, who was sitting 
opposite of the two-way mirror, smirked. Trust Tseng to be so careless. As the 
door snicked shut, Rufus saw the little girl take out a dried flower, red in 
colour, from her pocket. He watched as she stroked the flower’s petals, while 
whispering softly, “Cloud..Daddy..Tifa…Aeris..Jessie..Biggs…Wedge..” Then 
she looked up at the two-way mirror, looking directly into Rufus’ eyes, as if 
she could see him. 
       Tears brimmed at those impossibly big brown eyes and spilled out. She 
crumpled into a ball, sobbing quietly. “Daddy..daddy, where are yoo? I missed 
yoo! I’m scared, Daddy.”
       “Rufus? Rufus!” Aya’s voice cut through his thoughts. He shook his head 
slowly and looked at his fiancée. 
       “I’m sorry, I’m just preoccupied with my thoughts. I’m a little busy 
now, why don’t we have dinner at the Ancient Tavern and discuss these later?” 
Rufus said, rubbing his temples.
       “But I wanted so badly to tell you about my new gown..” Aya pouted, 
rubbing his arm with her index finger. 
       “I’m sorry, darling, I’ll make up to you, okay? I promise.” She relented 
and let him kiss her cheek. 
       “I’ll see you later, then,” Aya kissed him on the cheek and rose from 
his lap in one fluid motion. He watched as she walked slowly down the stairs, 
her gown rustling softly around her. She turned to smile sweetly at him. 
“Goodbye, Rufus,” she said softly, then disappeared down the spiral staircase. 
       Rufus let out a breath of air and leaned back against his leather 
chair.  He spun around in his chair, seeing the city of Midgar, winking 
flirtatiously at him. He furrowed his brow, thoughts crowding his mind. What 
was the girl’s name? I’ve got to meet her, and destroy every remaining piece of 
AVALANCHE, no matter how insignificant.