The story behind the man in white, the cold elusive businessman of many mysteries, is not a tale of overcoming hardships and happiness like most would believe that it was, or that Rufus was simply a twisted induvidual with no past. The latter of two would be more true, however, still false. The true story behind the man who never bleeds and never cries; is one of pain, torture, and eons of struggling and unhappiness. Whenever happiness came within his grasp, it would be violently ripped away. Hence these building blocks of terror built into the man who he is now, but, even so... There is much to see behind that sadness and torment that lies within his empty sky colored eyes.


Where to begin, as the question is always asked. It begins with his parents. His father, the rough and greedy tyrant of the uplifting Shinra Company, was expanding its profits and what abilities it had with its scientific knowledge. Shinra was no longer a simple weapon's development company. Oh no, that was a section of its entire own now. They profited smaller businesses that made anything from napkins to cars. The Shinra name was everywhere, most of which people didn't even know about. The people of Midgar didn't believe that Shinra controlled every way and whim of their lifestyle. President Gerald Shinra was not a man to be triffled with.


But then he met her, and everything seemed to change. A girl of Honeybee Inn, where the late President attended on an almost regular basis; they all knew him there. Except this one girl. He hadn't seen her before. With her long wavy golden hair, that seemed to be the very threads of an angel; and her perfect, perfect body. The way her smile graced those of others, the way her glimmering sky colored eyes captured the hearts of many as she danced and twirled for them. Yes, this woman had to be otherworldly.


He started attending more often. Making reservations, to see only this woman of beauty. The President, like many other men, had a heart for the woman. The woman by the name of Isabella Eletra. This woman, who always smiled for him, always graced herself for him, was the ideal and perfect woman to represent Shinra.


After a brief relationship that lasted a few months, the two wed. Isabella now held the name of Shinra, and she couldn't be happier otherwise. But things sadly would take a turn for the worst.


Work grew tiresome. Stressful, almost unbearable. The larger Shinra grew, the more enemies and competitors it obtained. Fending them off was getting increasingly difficult, and Gerald was almost always drowned in the office with work. Isabella, now pregnant, was not even able to tell the father. She worried for him, and her developing child within her. The stress however became too much for the President, and slowly he went insane. He was going everywhere, tearing down every business he possibly could, increasing their profits and the numbers of Mako Reactors, the new energy source of the day. Eight circled Midgar. There were four or five more spread through out the continent. All fully active to the max extent.


The creation of Materia. The growing of monsters. Things seemed to be getting worse to the public eye, but Shinra relished in such things. Gerald was a changed man. Drinking away his stress, smoking through a box of cigars almost every day, he become an angry man and tended to lash out on the least likely targets, namely, his dear wife Isabella. She was late in her pregnancy, round and full, and Gerald was increasingly hating the idea of a miniature him or her running about the household. They had constant fights; Isabella would just not hear it. She was going to birth this child and love and care for him or her to the best of her ability whether or not her husband liked it.


And so the bundle of joy was born into a rather dark and dreary world. One that was only made optimistic by the oblivious ones. Isabella was such. She refused to believe that the world was such a terrible place. She blanked out anything that came on the news, didn't listen to her husband's co-workers. The child was born in a regular medical facility, and Isabella was on her own with only the few doctors and the mid wife. Her husband was much too busy to attend. The child had a head of soft golden fluff, a healthy baby that cried not long after he emerged. Isabella cried as she held her child, her son. After the company's colors, she named him Rufus, the name of red. Rufus Jeanathyn Shinra. It was the only thing in the world that Isabella cared about now.


Rufus grew into a beautiful boy. Taking his looks after his mother, many of Lady Shinra's friends took a fast liking to him. Isabella loved her son dearly, and took very good care of him. But as the years slowly went by, things got increasingly worse. Rufus would have to stay at day cares during the day, because Gerald began making sure that Isabella was kept moderately busy. But she always managed to get off earlier than she was supposed to, to care for her son. Rufus hardly ever saw his father, and most of the time that he did, it was when his parents were bickering. Isabella tried to shield Rufus from all the horrible things that went on, but he was a brilliant child, his intellect taken from his father. Rufus knew that not all was well.


As he grew older, just past the toddler age, Gerald had Rufus drowned in heavy tutoring. He had classes all day, learned things that children probably shouldn't. But he learned fast and took well, wanting to make his father proud, but more his mother. She was very proud of him, but Gerald forbid her to give him any positive encouragement. So Rufus studied, day in and day out, reading every book on the shelf, and exceeding even most middle school level students. He became a quiet and for the most part anti-social child, using up all his time in his studies. He didn't like being around other kids his age; he didn't like to play or do things that all little boys should be doing. No, his schooling was much more important. It was what daddy wanted. It was only the start of his corruption that should have never taken place.


The biggest strike to his heart however, was on a fatal day not long after his eigth birthday. Mommy and daddy were fighting again, and this time it was really bad. Gerald owed some dues, Isabella wanted to pay them, he didn't want her to. He tried to make her understand the works of things, but she just didn't get it. A conflict erupted, of what was right and what was wrong. Gerald blamed everything, claiming that Isabella was out of her mind. Isabella called him an egotistical hypocrite. Saying one thing and doing the other.


Then the striking began. Rufus watched in horror, as his father beat his mother to the ground. When she didn't fight back, he stood and turned on him. But Rufus wasn't afraid. Angry that he could harm his precious mother in such a way, Rufus attacked. But he was still much too small and weak. Gerald instantly flung him into a wall, and Rufus did not get up. Before Gerald could inflict anymore bodily harm to his own kin, however, Isabella came and protected her child. When she refused to move, he pulled out his gun, and shielding her only son, she took the bullet that ripped through her breast. Rufus became very still, very pale, as her crimson blood coated his worn clothing. The shine in his eyes completely faded at that moment.


Of course, Rufus would mourn for the only one to show him true light in the world. Kindness, forgiveness, and love, no matter what. He had meant everything to her, and vice versa, and now the only light he ever truly exprienced was now gone. But whenever Rufus cried, his father would beat him. Rufus was much too weak, as his father told him. He needed to toughen up and stop being such a baby.


So, that was what his father truly wished? For his son to become an emotionless tank of strength, durability, and wit? He would become more than his father could handle. So Rufus took up secret training with Veld, Tseng, and the other Turks; studying by day, training by night, become the best he could possibly be. He took up any opportunity, any challenge, while at the same time, grabbing any book he could get ahold of, no matter how thick or complicated. Rufus would read it all until he understood everything.


Rufus grew. He grew stronger, powerful. His emotions, day by day, slowly had mesh wire spun around them, until they grew into the thick barricade that no one could penetrate. He could outsmart any one of the scientists within Shinra HQ, except Hojo, whose mind was all my attached to himself. Rufus supposed he was close to that mark, but he wouldn't allow himself to be. Unlike Hojo, he would take in everything life had to throw at him, and force himself to keep standing. All for what father wanted, and not out of love or wanting his attention. For revenge. Revenge for stealing the one thing Rufus ever truly loved on this planet.


By the time Rufus was in his mid teens, Gerald began to see how problematic the issue was becoming. Rufus could actually think for himself; he didn't wait for answers or to be told what to do. Oh no. Rufus could put together and organize entire operations all on his own. Operations that were a little more successful than they ought to be. It was then that the last President realized the true dangers that lie; Rufus had the entire platoon of Turks on his side, and under his command. He knew all the inside tricks and how everything worked within the company. He knew nearly everyone's name, what they did, and what they were good at. Rufus saw the potential destruction in every being, and Gerald did not like this one bit. He did not want his son to put ideas into their head.


Rufus had officially become a threat, not only to society, but to him and the company. He knew far too much; much more than any boy or even man should know. The Turks also trusted him. The President did not believe that to stand out very well. Smelling conspiracy and other dangers, Gerald did something he wanted to do since Rufus was a child... Send him away. Exile. So, given a fake amount of reasons for his leave, Rufus was sent away to Junon to fufill business that "required dire attention," that Gerald was not able to attend. But Rufus was not stupid. He didn't fall for folly little tricks that his father thought were ingenius. He went anyway.


When Rufus discovered he had no chances, and no way of returning however, he grew angry. So he studied even more. Read all the books, all the studies; that he could find within the Shinra Mansion at Junon. He watched the military, learning everything about them. He learned everything about the Sister Ray. How it functioned, and what it was capable of. Corruption sunk even further into Rufus's brain and fragile state of being. Even as he was away, Rufus still continued to organize operations with the Turks and make phone calls under an anonymous alias to try and get other outside parties and terrorist organizations to bring his father down. Still his efforts were fruitless, and he grew even more angry.


Then the whole fiasco started. A reactor at Midgar exploded. An anonymous terrorist organization was obviously the cause, Rufus knew. Reactors didn't just blow up. Someone would have known and fixed the issue before it could occur. Just like that, events began to increasingly unfold. Sephiroth was a mad man on the loose. Rufus remembered him for having burned down Nibelhiem years ago. Now he was out on a rampage, killing and terrorizing. This terrorist group, making themselves known as AVALANCHE, were chasing right after him. But Rufus could see their plan... They were trying to hinder Shinra first; to bring them down. They knew that Shinra was the evil behind it all, the evil that created Sephiroth, founded Jenova, and spread its poison through the world and sucked away at its life with its reactors, only to create more evil. It was true, and AVALANCHE was trying to stop it.


Rufus watched their progress. AVALANCHE attacked every sort of Shinra-related function, including Don Corneo's Honeybee Inn. Hardly any of this was on the news, but Rufus found it all out through outside information. Namely his Turks. It would only be a matter of time before the group grew bold again and attempted another real attack upon Shinra Inc. This was the opportunity he had. He grinned maliciously. This AVALANCHE group was going to do exactly what he wanted, and it would leave the door wide open for him to take over. And he would let them do it.


Now at the age of twenty-one, Rufus saw it as his time to take the reigns. He'd waited all his life for this moment, and he would not miss it. He boarded a helicopter and headed straight back to Midgar.






(more to come.)