Whatever the actual cause of death, Habegger had not died easily. It was impossible to tell from the face, but marks on other parts of the body indicated that Habegger had been severely interrogated. Rufus quickly glanced around the room, but aside from the body, there was nothing else of interest. If Habegger had brought any documents or evidence with him, they were gone, presumably taken by the persons who had questioned, then killed him.
Then, with a sudden jolt, Rufus realized that murder and even outright torture could not fully explain the damage to the body and the amount of the missing flesh.
Habegger had been partially -eaten-.
Oh...good. The horror comes across nicely, especially with the way Rufus' mnd just refuses to process the body corectly, and he doesn't recognise what he's seeing at first. Makes hm more humman and sympathetic, at least for me.
"It makes no difference. He deserved to die. They all deserve to die."
Honestly? If the nightmares are even vaguely accurate I have to agree with Cloud here. And considering his experience with scientists he isn't going to question their validity.
"You and I were born of the same mother." Cloud cocked his head slightly. "You must have sensed it. She cannot see into your mind, but perhaps you can see into hers. A life of waking from one nightmare, only to find herself deep in another."
This confuses me a bit. There was only one baby in the dream, and the woman demanded her baby back, not her babies. So which one did it really happen to?
"Commander, the Tsviets are assembled. Deep Ground awaits your orders."
Cloud glanced over toward the pair.
"Nero."
The dark one bowed slightly.
"Weiss."
The pale one gave a barely perceptible nod.
I enjoyed this, the way Nero and Weiss clearly respect Cloud and obey him so readily. And it's a good use of canon material too.
As he sat on the roof and waited for Tseng and the others to arrive, Rufus gingerly explored his scalp. As he expected, his fingers came away wet with blood. He wasn't sure whether it was directly Cloud's fault or whether it had occurred when he fell, but it really didn't matter. His head hurt, both inside and out, and Rufus couldn't decide whether he wanted his recent experience to be real or delusion.
If it was a delusion, then that would be rather unfortunate for him, of course. Losing one's grip on reality was a singularly unpleasant prospect. But at least with that scenerio, Cloud would be his usual sane, if broody, self and the Planet would be reasonably safe.
On the other hand, if he wasn't imagining things and Cloud had somehow become a cannibalistic madman hellbent on a mission of revenge and destruction -- not to mention capable of commanding what Rufus suspected was his own private army of metahuman fanatics -- then everyone on the Planet had a very serious problem.
Compared to that, Sephiroth was arguably less of a danger. At least Sephiroth didn't have a private army at his beck and call.
It bothers me that Rufus isn't sure whch opton would be worse between him suffering a delusion, and Cloud turning into an insane madman, makes me think he's letting selfish impulses override his brain, but I like it that he can see Cloud as more dangerous than Sephiroth.