Section 2

Scarlet leaned back in Reeve’s chair, glancing at her reflection in his computer’s screen. Her hair was perfect. Her face was flawless. Her eyes were thoughtful, though her mind was not pondering anything seemingly important. She was wondering how she could possibly persuade Reno to come back on her side. He was such a delight when he was a friend and a damned, obnoxious nuisance when he was a foe. It was a puzzle why he had left, but she could get him back. She would.

The possibilities were limitless.

And then the phone rang.

“Damn,” she muttered, leaning forward in the chair, her concentration broken. Who would want to call her at this hour? It was lunch time. Nobody worked at lunch time. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet time used for unwinding. Not endless phone calls.

“What do you want?!” she snapped into the mouthpiece after picking the phone up off of the cradle.

The voice at the other end was not a welcomed one. “Why so harsh, Scarlet?” Aeris asked, mock sweetness in her tone. “I didn’t interrupt your lunch hour again, did I? I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

“Cut the crap, Aeris,” Scarlet ordered, her own voice tight with barely controlled anger. “What do you want?”

Aeris clicked her tongue in a reprimand. “Temper, temper, Scarlet. You might want to consider therapy. I hear Dr. Huiji is very skilled in multiple areas of psychology as well as other things.” She quietly groaned, interrupting herself. “Oops… I forgot. I killed him. You’ll have to find someone else.”

“I don’t want to hear about your plunders and pillage, Aeris. I’m in the middle of something right now, and if you don’t tell me what it is you want, I’m going to hang up the phone.” The threat hung in the air but was never carried out.

“You aren’t after another guy, are you, Scarlet?” Aeris asked, a scold ready on her lips. “Let me guess. It’s that fool Reno that you’ve captured, right? Give him a few whacks with love from me. And a warning never to shoot at me again.”

Scarlet laughed shortly. “He’s already been kicked for being a bastard,” she informed. “I imagine he’s sitting down there with that self-satisfied smirk painted on his face while he licks his wounds.”

Aeris’ voice picked up a colder tone. “Well, kick him again. He ruined my manicure and lowered my self-esteem a few notches. I would feel so much better knowing that he was truly paying for that.”

Scarlet frowned. “What’s in all this for me?” she carefully asked. She didn’t want to be pulled into some stupid plot with someone as untrustworthy as Aeris.

“Nothing.”

Scarlet’s frown deepened. “Nothing? What kind of deal is this? I do a favor for you and get absolutely nothing in return? Not quite fair there, Aeris.”

Aeris sighed. “As my poor Cloud has just recently discovered, few things are.”

Scarlet’s eyes lit up at the mention of Strife. There was a man. The man. The man who had killed Sephiroth, the man who had saved the Planet, the man with the hair. Even Reno’s hair couldn’t compare to it. An evil grin spread across her features. Screw Reno; she was after the bigger fish in the pond. “How about you let me come visit Mr. Strife in return for this favor you ask?”

The answer was curt and sweet. “No.”

Scarlet ignored it. “What was that Aeris? You’re breaking up. I can’t hear you.”

“Cut the crap. I said no.”

“Was that an affirmative?” Her grin widened. “Great. How about tomorrow? I’ll give Reno a few more kicks, take a Polaroid, and you can see my handiwork.”

“Scarlet, no!”

Aeris’ voice was a mere screech as Scarlet returned the telephone to the cradle. Cloud Strife could still be hers. All she had to do was kill Aeris. Reno could be left to the dogs. Why stay with him when she could have someone so much better? Out with the old, and in with the new.

She stood and started to the door, her thoughts racing. What am I going to wear?!

Elena couldn’t believe she was doing this. It was despicable, it was foul, it was low. This was the last place she wanted to be right now. But here she was, standing in front of the Seventh Heaven, about to go have a chat with Tifa Lockhart against her better judgements. She wasn’t here for herself, though. She was here for Reno.

About an hour ago, she and Rude had persuaded a guard to spill his guts about the laboratory raid. Apparently they had taken prisoners who were, most importantly, alive. The guard hadn’t outright said Reno’s name, but Elena knew no one else with a “red fro” as the guard had put it. And then there was the mog and Reeve. Surely Tifa would be willing to help them if she knew that the Shinra had Reeve as well.

With one last tug at her suit jacket and a grim determination, she opened the door and entered the Seventh Heaven, unarmed.

Tifa glanced up from behind the counter, a fake smile on her face to greet the two newcomers. Her eyes were red from apparent lack of sleep and crying. Elena had seen the struggle as Aeris and her men had yanked Strife out from under Tifa’s nose. Somehow, seeing her hurt for the one she loved made Elena feel stronger about the own grief she felt for Reno.

The weak smile faded away as Tifa realized exactly who had come to visit her. She set the glass she had been cleaning down on the bar.

“Well, what do you want?” she asked, unafraid to voice her displeasure with a grim tone.

Elena moved into the bar room, slowly, hoping that Tifa wouldn’t take that as an act of aggression. She cleared her throat. “We need your help,” she stated nonchalantly, though the words stung her deeply. Asking an enemy for help… she shook her head.

Tifa frowned at her words, her gaze flickering past Rude. She leaned forward on the counter. “Give me one good reason why I should help you,” she growled. “All you’ve ever done is make my life a miserable hell.”

Elena couldn’t suppress her anger. “You ungrateful wench!”

“I’m ungrateful? What do I have from you that I could be grateful of?” She wiped a drop of water from the bar with her rag, shaking her head. “I can’t think of a thing.”

Elena frowned. “Not to me. I could care less what you think of me! I’m taking about Reno.”

Tifa snorted, her brow creased. “So? What about him? I take note that he’s not here.”

“You’re sharp.”

“I despise sarcasm,” she declared, her voice quiet with anger.

“I live for it,” Elena replied. “You’re really clueless, aren’t you?”

“About what?” Tifa sighed. “I’m getting tired of these games, Elena. I don’t have time for this. You can leave now. The exit’s right over there.” She pointed to the door to punctuate her words. Elena didn’t give it so much as a glance.

She narrowed her eyes, her lips a thin line, tightly compressed with her anger. “Who do you think shot Aeris off of you at the laboratory?” she asked. “I can tell you that it wasn’t one of your people.”

Tifa wasn’t buying Elena’s words. “What were you doing there, anyway? I can tell you it wasn’t to help us.”

Elena set her jaw. It was now time for the moment of truth. Should she divulge the Turks’ secrets just to get help from her enemies? Would it be worth it? She glanced back at Rude, but he only gave her a small shrug, offering no guidance. Elena turned back to Tifa, slowly nodding to herself. She would. She owed at least this much to Reno.

She took a deep breath. “We were there on a job for some doctor who hired us out.”

Tifa nodded, realization coming across her face. “Oh, that’s right. The Turks are mercenaries now.”

Elena expected the words to hide some sort of jeer and was nonplussed when they didn’t. She shrugged it off and continued. “This doctor, Nygel Something-or-rather, wanted us to swipe Black Materia from his own lab. A real loon. Then he told us to give it to Reeve.”

Tifa nearly did a double-take. Black Materia? This was bad. That thing had nearly destroyed the Planet once and now it was on the loose? She shook her head but continued on trying to find out what the Turks wanted. “So, you’re saying that in essence you were hired by Reeve?”

Elena shrugged. “I don’t know who hired us. It could have been Reeve, but the doctor could’ve also been scared out of his mind and pulled a name out of thin air. All I know is that when we got there, you had already started fighting the Shinra. Some time in that confusion, Reno got it in his head to help you and pulled off a coupla shots at Aeris. He was taken down doing that. We never found the Black Materia. We don’t know where Reno is.”

Tifa bit her lower lip, thinking over Elena’s story. It fit the scenario too well to be false, but something told her that Elena wasn’t telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She arched an eyebrow, expectantly. “And? What happened that you aren’t telling me?”

Elena inwardly cursed, glancing back at Rude. She had hoped that she wouldn’t have to divulge this little secret, but they needed Tifa’s trust too much not to. What she said next could either gain that trust or destroy whatever trust they had already attained.

Elena cleared her throat. “Actually, there was a misunderstanding.”

Rude groaned. “Oh, cut the crap, Elena,” he growled. “Miss Tifa, I am truly sorry for my actions, but it seems as though I blew a hole through that mog Reeve’s little cat is always running around on. You have my deepest regrets.”

Tifa covered her mouth with one hand in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting that to be the rest of it. And she wouldn’t have expected them to tell her. The Turks must really need help, she thought, her gaze shifting from between them. Turk and truth are not two words I would normally associate with each other. She nodded.

“I don’t know why, Rude, but somehow I believe you are being sincere. I trust you. I’ll help you.”

The breath Elena finally realized she had been holding escaped her lungs in a whoosh. She struggled to maintain her cool. “Thank you, Tifa.”

Tifa managed a small smile. “Don’t thank me, yet. We still have to find Reno.” She grabbed the Turk by the arm, pulling her out of the bar and down the hall. “Tell me about this Black Materia…”

Yuffie frowned from where she was hiding, slowly opening the door leading out into the bar. Black Materia? Gawd! She couldn’t believe it. She had swiped the Black Materia from the laboratory and out from under the Turks’ noses? Unbelievable. But she couldn’t give them the materia; she couldn’t trust them easily with it. After all, this was the junk that had nearly destroyed the entire Planet. She hurried out of the Seventh Heaven.

“Cid?”

Cid didn’t stray away from his work to look for the voice. He knew who it was; it was the one person who had managed to imprint the Highwind with the putrid stench of her bile. It had taken weeks for him to get the pleasant aroma of oil and grease back into its rightful place. He continued welding down the connection between the fuselage and the wing, sending a spray of sparks into the air.

“Cid!”

He clicked the blowtorch off, removing the protective covering from his face, turning to face the persistent annoyance. “Go away, Yuffie. I don’t have any materia.”

She didn’t leave but, instead, sat down on top of a crate filled with scrap metal and bits and pieces of the plane. A wide grin was painted on her young face. “I know. I stole it all already at that laboratory. Do you want it back?”

He pulled himself out from under the Gay Boat, examining the job he had just finished. He set the blowtorch on top of the wing. “Keep it,” he said absentmindedly. “Materia won’t work against the woman we’re fighting. But you ain’t the truthful, repentant type, so why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”

Yuffie cringed. “Actually, I was wondering if you could do a favor for me?”

Cid pulled a cigarette from his pack, setting it in his mouth but not lighting it. “Depends on what it is.”

“Hide this somewhere.” She held up a small blue-black sphere, its curves twinkling in the light. He didn’t need to ask to know what it was. He hid his shock.

“Where’dya get it?” he asked. Yuffie shrugged.

“I found it.”

Cid chuckled. “I’m sure you did.” He immediately sobered at the sound of Aeris’ voice. Take it. Give it to someone you trust, someone Aeris can’t touch. Instinct was screaming at him to throw the materia into the deepest ocean, but he nodded solemnly. “Give it here, and I’ll mail it to someone when we get back to the Seventh Heaven.”

Yuffie grinned. “Sure, but you gotta tell me who it is. It’s still my materia, y’know.”

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Yuffie, can I speak with Cid alone for a moment?” Tifa winced as Cid visibly stiffened at the sound of her voice. Yuffie glanced between them before hopping off of the crate. She started walking away but broke into a run when she thought they weren’t looking.

Cid turned around to look at Tifa. “Yes?”

She shifted her weight from one foot to another, breaking her gaze. Red burned at her face as she stammered for words. “I didn’t mean to… I mean, I was angry… I didn’t mean to take it out on you…” She trailed off, looking back into those horrible Mako eyes. She wasn’t expecting them to be glowing with mirth. Her brow furrowed in anger. “And I’m sorry! And I was wrong! Are you happy?” she growled.

He chuckled, a broad grin lighting up his features. “You’ve never told me you were wrong before,” he declared. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

She half-shrugged. “But you did ruin my bar. You’re lucky that blood didn’t soak into the floor ’cause I’d be out here killing you instead of apologizing.”

“That’s nice.” He nonchalantly picked up the blowtorch, re-igniting the flame. He brought the edge of the flame to the end of his cigarette, lighting the smoke before snuffing out the blowtorch.

God, you’re weird, Aeris declared.

Tifa’s brow furrowed. “You are strange.”

Cid grinned again, laughing at both their words. Tifa pursed her lips. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

He shook his head, unable to smother the smile on his face. “Nothin’.”

Neither said anything, listening to the waves crash against the shore in the distance. The wind blew across the plain, ruffling their hair and clothing. Silence reigned, though it was not as uncomfortable as some of the silences they often shared.

“Cid?”

He glanced up from the ground at the sound of her voice, taking the cigarette from his mouth and blowing a trail of smoke into the breeze. He flicked the ash from the end of it before returning it to his mouth. “Yeah?”

“Elena and Rude came to the bar today, and they asked for my help,” she explained. “I said I would give it to them.” She stopped, waiting for any type of input he might give her.

He merely shrugged. “So? It’s not like they’re still working for Shinra, and if they were, they’d be working for Reeve. What’s the problem?”

Tifa smiled smally. “Well, you see, Barret’s gonna get pissed when he hears…”

Cid nodded in understanding, a grin coming to his face. “I know. Just forget it. I think he has deep-rooted psychological problems that begin with his obsession with Mr. T. ‘I pity da foo’ who wears blue suits.’ ‘I pity da foo’ who don’t watch Fat Albert.’ ‘I pity da foo’ who ate my Mr. T cereal.’ ”

Tifa shook her head but laughed nonetheless. “One of these days, he’s gonna hear what you say about him, and I’ll pity da foo’ who insults Barret.”

“Who’s insulting Barret?” he asked, his most innocent expression painted on his face. “I was talking about someone else.”

“Yeah, right. I believe you.”

Cid grinned. “Good, ’cause that way Barret’ll never know any of my smartest insults.”

Tifa grabbed his arm. “They’re not smart; you’re just stupid,” she said, though there was no sting hidden in her voice. She started pulling him back to where she had tied the chocobos. “Come on, let’s go meet the Turks.”

“Are you back again?” Reno asked, glancing at her as she walked into the doorway. He groaned, leaning against the stark wall of the cell. “I was rather hoping you’d carry out my wishes and just… die.”

Scarlet smirked, but her eyes were cold. “Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.”

Reno just shrugged at her words, too tired to bother to voice any smart remarks. She waited for one and was surprised when he didn’t take the bait. She hid her shock well, merely standing in the doorway. She made no move to enter the room.

“You’re losing your touch, Reno,” she declared, smoothing a wrinkle out of her tight dress. “I was expecting another one of your delightful charms.” She ran a hand over her hair, checking to make sure it was in perfect order. “No matter. I’m after a bigger man now.”

Reno merely gave her a sideways glance. “The mog’s over in the corner. You’re free to have him. He’s not a big conversationalist, though.”

Cait Sith looked openly hurt at Reno’s words. “That’s not nice. You’re being inconsiderate to Mog’s feelings.” The mog growled an assent.

Reeve grinned. “Cait Sith, I’m sure that Scarlet isn’t really after your mog. She’d much rather prefer to have Palmer. Two men and a half can fit into him.”

Scarlet raised her eyebrows, looking at Reeve with a glint of menace in her dark eyes. “Reeve, have you been taking lessons from Reno, or did you have the brains to think of that yourself?”

Reeve shrugged. “You’d be surprised at the insults my mind can think of.”

Scarlet sniffed indignantly. “It’s always the quiet ones.” She turned her gaze back to all the occupants of the room. “However, I did not come here to exchange insults.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Reno muttered.

Her angry gaze snapped to him. “Watch your step, Reno. You’re already on my *&%$ list.” She cleared her throat. “I came because of a little favor for a friend of mine.”

Reno’s brow creased as if to tell her that he didn’t care why she had come. She knew he didn’t care at the moment. He would soon enough.

She sauntered into the room, her steps small due to her tight dress and high-heeled shoes. “It has been brought to my attention by this friend of mine that you have disgraced her and, worse yet, injured her. Not very chivalrous, Reno.”

“You can send her my regards,” he said dryly.

Scarlet shook her head. “No, she doesn’t want your regards. She probably would like to see you dead, but, alas, it will not be so. You are my prisoner, after all. However, it would not do to have her angry with me considering our shaky coalition. Therefore, Reno, I must do something.” She walked next to him, her heels allowing her to stare face to face with him and not be dwarfed by his height. “What shall I do?”

“Like I care?” he asked, even though her question was clearly rhetorical. “Shoot me, kick me, whatever. Just make it quick. I hate long waits.”

“So do I.” She brought a clenched fist back and punched him across the jaw. He fell back, tripping over his own feet and hitting the floor with a thud. The air exited his lungs in a whoosh, and he heard a clear ringing in his ears. The iron taste of blood filled his mouth, the crimson liquid dribbling down his cheek from a split lip.

Scarlet loomed over him like the ominous cloud which drowned the light from the sun and smothered the life from terra. She cast a shadow over his face, darkening the world from his eyes. He wiped the blood from his lower lip with his hand as he pushed himself back up. Her foot came down onto his chest, the needle thin heel of it boring painfully into his breastbone.

“You, Reno, are the hungry puppy that gets beaten yet continues to get up and beg for scraps,” she hissed. “Stay down.”

She pulled her foot off of his chest, turning around in a frenzy of color. Her hair flared away from her head as she turned and bounced as she walked quickly to the door. She pushed the guards out of the cell before leaving herself. The door slammed behind her, ringing through the small cell with a metallic clang that somehow shattered all their fervent hopes and wishes of ever escaping.

“I object to this course of action,” Barret declared, his expression dark with mistrust and anger. “How do we know we can trust ’em?!”

Tifa shook her head, sharing a knowing glance with Cid. She had foreseen this; she had known that Barret would not like this plan. It was a good idea, an excellent alliance, and perfectly sound. Of course Barret wouldn’t like the plan. Tifa sighed.

“Barret, you don’t have to live with them or even share a meal with them. Hell, you don’t even have to trust them,” she said. “They came to us for our help. They’re under our control, if you’d prefer to see it that way. But I think we owe our help to at least Reno. He did, after all, save me.”

Barret snorted. “That shot coulda been from anywhere.”

“But it wasn’t. So, regardless of whether you’re gonna help me or not, I’m going to help them.”

“Even if it means losing Cloud?” he asked, his brown eyes cold.

Tifa frowned, her own tawny gaze freezing over like a puddle in winter. Her brow furrowed with anger. “That’s a cheap shot,” she growled.

“The hell it is!” He leaned closer to him. “Stop bein’ a damn hypocrite. Ya know ya ain’t gonna stay here and find Reno. Ya owe it ta him ta get the rest of us helpin’ them Turks, but ya don’t owe it enough ta help ’em yourself. Cloud means more ta you than Reno ever will, and I know that, and Red knows that, and Cid knows that. And you know that.”

Tifa looked away from Barret, unable to hold his gaze. She felt her face burning with embarrassment and shame. He was right. Nothing Reno, or anyone for that matter, could do would make her place him higher in her heart than Cloud. It wasn’t his fault or Cloud’s fault. Just hers.

After an awkward moment of silence passed before Tifa cleared her throat to speak. “I guess this means you think I’m selfish.” She glanced at him. “And I am.”

Barret placed a comforting, gentle hand on her shoulder though he towered over her like the thunderous peak of a mountain. The anger was seemingly gone from him, and a small smile lit his lips, gone almost before it had appeared. “Ya ain’t selfish. Ya just love him. Me? I would have anything for my Marlene, probably even if it meant leaving a couple of yous out to dry. #@$%, Tifa, ya can’t decide who ta love; it just happens.”

Tifa nodded slowly. “But I am being selfish, right? First and foremost, I owe it to Reno to help him out.”

Barret merely shrugged. “That’s nothing you can’t repay atta later date. Reno’s gonna be around for a long time. Turks are damn hard to kill.”

She looked up to the face of the man beside her, a sudden hope coming to her eyes. “What are you saying?”

A grin formed on his features, broadly shining through his normal grim tones. “Ya do whatcha have ta, and so will I. Break the team up. I’ll help out your Reno; go get Cloud.” He shrugged at his sudden change of heart. “Get there as fast as ya can, ’cause this here train’s never going to catch up with ’em if ya keep makin’ stops.”

The table was immaculate, beautifully set due to hours of tedious and meticulous work. Shimmering silver lined with gold lay perfectly placed beside the delicate china. Whitened wax burned brilliantly in sterling candelabras, the light from their wicks glimmering at the edges of the crystalline glasses and the clear liquid within them. The mouth-watering aromas of delicious foods wafted through the air like the salt on a sea breeze, concentrated yet not overpowering, strong yet not unpleasant.

Despite all the pleasing foods and tranquil atmosphere, there were thousands of places Cloud Strife would rather be. He would even prefer to be back in the darkness of the North Cave, absolute in his loneliness… no, not there, not there; never again would he dance for someone else like that. Never again.

Puppets dance for masters… why can’t you see?

He shook his head as if to rid himself of the voices – or voice, more appropriately – that haunted him now. Was it the voice of the mighty Sephiroth, attacking his mind with the spirit of evil, shadowing his hopes, shattering his dreams? He didn’t know, but Cloud didn’t want to fight these battles against a foe who could neither be hurt nor expelled from his thoughts. He was tired of the insults and the lies that this voice hurled at him from the darker portions of his mind.

Lies or truths?

Wicked laughter echoed between Cloud’s ears, an infinite cackle that somehow seemed borne on the wings of the past but was a constant reminder of the future to come. Of what he was to become if he let himself slip into the darkness like he had at the North Cave. He wouldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t.

“You’re not eating,” came a voice. “Why not? Scarlet was kind enough to bring a little extra. Eat.”

His gaze snapped up from the plate of delicacies and fine gourmet, meeting with the eyes of his captor, ice blue on sparkling emerald. His face hardened in silent anger, a frown forming on his lips.

“I’m not hungry,” he declared darkly. He felt like the little boy dressed up neatly in his finest to have dinner with too snippy aunts, anxiously waiting to be released and freed back to his life of romping around in the dirt and mud. If it was at all possible, his expression grew more ominous. “May I be excused?”

“No, you may not,” Aeris snapped. “Not until you clear off your plate.”

Cloud’s frown widened. “You know there’s a distinct difference between hunger and appetite. If everyone ate in accordance to their appetite, we’d all be fat blobs sitting around on our asses and watching soaps all day. I’m not hungry.”

Aeris stood, slamming her silverware down onto the lace tablecloth. “Fine! Starve then. Do you see what I have to put up with?! He’s like a little child willing to do anything just to spite me!”

Scarlet gave Aeris half of a smile, her painted lips quivering. She nodded her head smally, raising an eyebrow as she looked over to Cloud. “I see, Aeris. I can really sympathize with you. I’ll gladly take him off of your hands.”

Aeris frowned. “I bet you would.”

“And what’s it to you?!” Scarlet demanded, rising as well. “You obviously can’t appreciate him.” The smirk returned to her face, and she winked at Cloud. “I can.”

Cloud squirmed, a sudden pit of dread welling up in his stomach. He had faced countless dangers and somehow managed to come out on top, but that little gesture frightened him more so than most feral beasts. He looked anxiously for any way to escape.

“And what do you mean by that?!” Aeris demanded, her face clouded with anger. Her voice lowered to a quieter and far more dangerous level. “Just what are you insinuating?”

Scarlet laughed shortly. “You know exactly what I mean.” Her face became stone, harder than the marble on which she stood. “He’s too much of a man for you.”

Aeris frowned, her brow furrowing and her eyes narrowing. “So what does that mean to you? If he’s too much of a man for me, he must be a helluva lot more than you can handle.”

“You bitch,” Scarlet growled, clenching her hands into fists.

“Slut.”

Scarlet’s features softened. “Why, thank you.”

“You would take that as a compliment, you two gil whore.”

“And what are you? At least I don’t have to kidnap my men.”

Aeris snorted. “What was that stunt with Reno? A walk in the park?”

Scarlet frowned. “He was an enemy. Enemies get captured and taken prisoner.”

“And have you make googly eyes at them,” Aeris added, small smirk twitching her lips. “And then some.”

“So I know how to have a good time. More than I can say for you. You’re idea of a good time is the rack and a hot poker.”

Aeris’ will snapped, her anger overcoming her. “Tramp,” she snarled, lunging forward. She rammed into Scarlet, her nails biting deeply into Scarlet’s flesh. They both went down in a collection of shrieks and yowls.

Cloud watched the fight, wide-eyed until it finally came to blows. Then, he saw that this was his chance for escape. Slowly, he stood from his chair and started walking from the hall in which they had been eating.

Aeris gave Scarlet one more whack to the head before she stood, wiping the blood from a split lip. Her gaze landed on Cloud’s empty seat, her eyes widening in surprise before narrowing again in anger. She turned back to Scarlet who was just now attempting to regain her composure as she struggled into a kneeling position.

“You bitch,” Aeris growled. “Look at what you’ve done! You’ve let him get away.”

“Me? You’re the one who started the argument.”

Aeris frowned. “You would blame me for this situation. Scarlet, my dear, you’re trying my patience.” Her blue staff appeared in her hands, forming from the very air. “He is mine.” Before Scarlet could so much as scream, the blue staff, crackling with energy, sliced deeply into her neck, cutting through tendons and bones, slashing her trachea and her spinal cord. Blood slowly oozed from the wound, flowing from her severed veins and arteries as her headless body toppled to the ground. Her head rolled several feet away, her lifeless eyes staring into eternity, slightly widened in surprise.

Aeris rose, the staff disappearing from her hands in a few wisps of blue. “Cloud!”

Cloud stopped in his tracks as Aeris’ cry echoed through the arching halls and empty rooms of the City of the Ancients. The shear ferocity of the call was enough to freeze his blood and twist his innards. And then he started running.

It was a while since the last time he had been in this city. She had died, then, and he would have given anything to have her back alive. Now there was nothing he wouldn’t do if it meant her death. Nothing. And somehow that scared him. Was it because he was no better than Sephiroth? Was he just like him? His legs pumped faster, ignoring the small stab of pain where the gunshot had been partially healed by Aeris. And he ran.

You’re weak. Weak, weak, weak… scared of that weakness…

Cloud shook his head in a silent denial, his lungs burning as he pushed himself far beyond his limits. It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t be another Sephiroth, so tired of being used, of being a puppet that he would wish someone dead. Had he always been like this? He ran, but the questions and fears would not disappear. They were always there; they were forever haunting him like he was some animal waiting to be poached. He could not run; he could not hide. There was nowhere to go when you were running from yourself.

He ran around a corner and met with a flash of blue right in the face.

Pain exploded in his head as he fell backwards, hitting the ground with a ringing blaring through his ears. Whatever breath he had left in his body exited his lungs as he fell, leaving him gasping for breath. The salty iron taste of his blood mingling with his sweat ran over his lips, the obvious source his nose.

He was afraid to look up, all to aware of what he would see. He knew who would be there with her face hard with anger and her eyes narrowed dangerously with her rage. He knew what was coming. And he braced himself for it. He was not surprised when the first blow landed.

“How could you do that to me?”

Cloud didn’t respond, cringing and closing his eyes against the biting pain that accompanied the blue light. But by closing his eyes, he was only facing a more dangerous foe. Darkness crept up on his mind bringing with it the very nightmares that had awakened Cloud at night gasping for breath. The green drowning…

“Well, what dya think?”

Tifa slowly sucked in her breath, her gaze flitting over the monstrosity in front of her. The Tiny Bronco – well, Gay Boat – had had a complete refitting and sported a new structural design. The propellers on the wings had been flipped around to face the front of the plane. The cockpit had been expanded to fit three, even if it was a bit squished. The bright apple red color was faded and washed away to a more delicate pink. Gleaming metal mottled the places where Cid had patched the body. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t look very sturdy.

Vincent cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head. “It’s delightfully tacky, yet somehow unrefined,” he declared, looking over the plane. Tifa glanced at him while Cid beamed at the praise his brainchild was receiving.

Tifa was not as willing to accept the plane. “Are you sure it’ll fly?” she asked, watching the grin fall from Cid’s features.

“Sure it will. That wing ain’t gonna fall off again, either.” He pushed and pulled the one wing, rocking the entire plane. “See? No problems.”

“No problems?” Yuffie blurted. “Look at the paint job. It looks like a blind man did it!”

Cid frowned. “It faded, alright?” He glanced at the plane, grimacing at the puce-pink that it sported. “It’s reminiscent of your time aboard the Highwind. They call this color ‘Ode to Yuffie’.”

Yuffie wrinkled her nose but kept her mouth shut. Barret raised his eyebrows in doubt, slowly shaking his head. “I dunno. It doesn’t look like it’ll fly.”

The pilot sighed, rubbing his brow. “It’s either this or wait for the Highwind’s engines to start working again. It’ll fly, trust me. Besides, you’ve the best pilot in the entire Midgar Area to fly you there.” He held up his hand to cut any comment that Barret was about ready to blurt. “Don’t insult me, please, Barret.”

“The wing fell off you said?” Red asked, closely scrutinizing the structure of the plane. “Are you sure it will hold against the stress during the flight?”

As if on cue, the entire group started bickering and talking, the noise level around the plane rising considerably. Even the chocobos chirped and scratched at the earth in an attempt to gain attention.

Tifa shook her head, massaging her temples of an ache which had settled there. This was getting nowhere fast. Red blabbed on about the durability of the plane while Yuffie wailed about the color. Barret and Cid seemed to be stuck in a argument of whether or not the plane would actually make it off the ground. In fact, the only one who didn’t seem affected at all by the overpowering rabble was Vincent, but that was to be expected. He was always the cool one. Right now, Tifa could feel her anger slipping away quite quickly.

“Shut up!”

All the people gathered there stopped talking, mid-sentence, and turned their attention to Tifa. She felt her face burning but didn’t apologize or back down. She needed to be a leader now, for Cloud.

“Alright,” she said. “That’s better. Now, here’s the way it’s gonna work. There’s six of us here. We’ll break the group in half, so there’s gonna be two groups of three. One group will go to the City of the Ancients to look for Cloud –”

“Why there?” Yuffie asked. “I mean, how do ya know to go there?”

Tifa shook her head and didn’t answer her question. “It doesn’t matter, Yuffie. You’re going to stay here as part of the second group which will break Reeve and Cait Sith out of the slam.” She raised her hand. “No but’s, Yuffie.”

Cid grinned. “Yeah, I don’t want the Ode to Yuffie to become authentic.” Barret and he broke out into laughter which was abruptly cut off by a glance from Tifa. Cid cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, joined shortly by Barret.

“You guys are worse than two street boys,” Tifa scolded. “Show some respect. It’s not her fault she gets motion sickness. Apologize.”

“Sorry,” Cid muttered. He felt like he was back in high school and got caught at a prank. A smile broke through his supposed shameful expression.

Yuffie’s brow furrowed, a pout forming on face. “What’re you grinning at?”

“Nothin’. I was just thinking about prank I pulled in high school.” At her questioning glance, he cleared his throat. “Ah, there was a bunch of clubs, you know, basic stuff. And I, naturally, participated in a club devoted to the wonders of aeronautics. But there was always this damn wuss group hanging around and revving up their hotrods or whatever the hell they were. They had little cubby-type things they kept all their tools and crap in. So, I decided to throw their lockers out of the top story of the school and into the snow as a winter break gift.”

Tifa raised her eyebrows questioningly. “And?”

Cid looked thoughtful for a moment. “And it would’ve worked, too, but I didn’t take into consideration the wind factor.” Barret snorted. Cid gave him a sideways glance.

“Wind factor, my ass,” he declared, crossing his arms.

“Mine too,” Cid agreed. “I put a locker through one of their windshields. They were pissed. The principal gets on my case, yelling and screaming ’bout the school having rules and crap. So this skinny little wuss guy gets out there and starts jabbering at the principal about a straight wind, getting all technical. The principal’s freakin’ clueless, everybody’s yelling, and I finally ended up with two months of detention.”

“Is there a moral to this story?” Vincent asked, an utterly vacant look in his eyes.

Cid shrugged. “Actually, yeah. If I hadn’t gotten caught, I probably wouldn’t be here. That wuss guy was Palmer.”

“Ya mean Palmer wasn’t always fat?” Barret asked incredulously.

“Nah. He was a skinny ass, too.”

Yuffie frowned. “Man, you guys had all the fun! In my school, they won’t even let you pull the fire alarm between classes!”

Red XIII cleared his throat. “Uh, I think we’re all out here for a mission,” he said, his one eye looking from person to person, “regardless of what you were allowed to do in class.”

Tifa nodded. “Red’s right. Where was I?”

“The Ode to Yuffie,” Cid interjected. Yuffie shot him a menacing glare that he promptly chose to ignore. “Yuffie’s stayin’ here.”

“Okay,” Tifa rubbed her hands together, cracking her knuckles. “Red, it’s obvious that the Gay Boat won’t accommodate you comfortably. You can either live with that for a coupla hours, or you can stay here as well.”

Red sat back on his haunches, a sheepish grin on his face. “I think I’ll stay. I have a feeling whoever goes is going to get a bath.”

Cid turned a glare reminiscent of Yuffie’s on Red which the beast ignored. “It’ll fly.” He crossed his arms over his flight jacket. “You guys have no faith.”

“It takes more than faith to fly across an ocean,” Red argued.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tifa ordained. “I like a good swim now and then.” Cid frowned but didn’t say anything. “I guess that means you’re with us, Vincent seeming how Barret’s leading the second group. You okay with that?”

Vincent merely shrugged, swinging his cape behind him. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Can you swim?” Red asked, his tail whipping the ground in merriment.

Cid’s face turned an interesting shade of dark red, and he shook violently with his anger. “You *#$&@# &%)#@*-#$^@*! I’m gonna kill you!”

Red XIII’s grin was washed away as the pilot lunged for him, and he turned tail and pounced away. Cid grabbed the beast’s foot as he struggled to start running. “You think you’re just gonna insult my Gay Boat and get away with it?! Never!”

Red kicked a mouthful of dirt into Cid’s face, causing the pilot to curse again as he spit it from his mouth. “You &*$#@%!” he yelled as Red started running. He staggered to his feet. “Get your ass back here!” They both disappeared behind a crest in the plains, invisible except for an occasional yelled obscenity. The rest of the group stood there in stunned silence. The chocobos cooed to themselves as though they were laughing at some private joke. Although the group didn’t know what it was, they soon followed suit.

Except for Vincent who quietly turned away, the hurt growing within him like a bottomless pit. Lucrecia kept coming back at him, an relentless thought that would never let him be. He couldn’t laugh with them. His soul was far too scarred to be healed by simple laughter.

…feel small? weak, pathetic… fool…
not pathetic… not weak… not foolish
…nothing? not strong, either… what are you?
…
proud? … ha! proud cloud, proud cloud thunders… rains… lights…proud cloud cries teardrops for his mother…
…your mother…
…for his love…
…your death…
…for his life…his life is shorter than the air…life is the air which is no life at all but fervent wishes by peasants for his storms to go away…
the world is cruel, demon…you’re dead…
am i? stupidity was a strong point…i’ll live on forever with my mother…what have you got?
…
no love… no life… hatred, anger, weakness? pride… proud cloud was always too proud to leave without a show of light electricity scraping through the air… destroy those peasants… free the hatred bottled up with a downpour of rain floods a clap of thunder for their fears a flood for their fields a gust of wind to blow them away until all they have left is those shattered hopes for a good year… good year for storms… how many die?
… no one dies… i’ll not kill…
proud cloud is always a constant… unrelenting… unsympathetic… ready to kill… ready to flood…destroy, maim, kill, hunt them down with your rains pounding upon their heads filled with fervent hopes turned to desperate wishes for relief from proud cloud stays forever… destroy their unsympathetic voices with your anger… shout louder at them until they listen… don’t let them win…
… i won’t let them win… never win… i’ll win, i’ll show them there’s more to me than pretty summer nights…than sparkling lights reflected from my depths… gaze upon my fatal beauty… i’ll show you…
you will? weaknesses… proud cloud is blamed for deaths, proud cloud won’t stay forever… fickle thing…
…i’ll never die…
…you won’t live forever… light will come… cold will come… night will come… pain-filled losses and mourners crying for their dead… you won’t live, you’ll won’t keep fighting…
…
they’ll be others… stronger… better… no false pride, no soiled dignity to crush… no untrue strengths to wade through on the search for a falsified truth… no pain…
… my pain…
… your pain… you deserve it… proud cloud’s too proud to cry… are you crying?
…
you will… you will…murderer of innocents, destroyer of purity, prophet to lies… kill those you love with your rage… kill those close to you with your hatred… you suffer so shall they…
…no… that’s not true…
look at your truth… gaze into that mirror into your soul, your foul wicked soul, hell-bent on vengeance, knee-bent to pride…
i’m not like that…
saw your reflection? i saw it… so little hope for life in that twisted image upon the wall protecting yourself comes crumbling down and i saw you there… destroyer…
…i’m not…
neither am i, but there will be more after me and after you disgrace the name with your death and your pride… no hope left… so little hope left in this world at all…what are your hopes?
i have no hope… no hope for anyone… the world is a just a group of oppressed people sitting around in their privates hells waiting for someone to lift them from the dirt and the dust before they crumble to bones…
…
what are your hopes?
a pessimist in our midst… who will be that fool trying to help a world of people too weary and scarred by life to help themselves… will it be you? you’ll be the flood that will scar them and hurt them and kill them and drown them until there is nothing left and you are alone…
i won’t…
you will… i did… once i had strength… now i have less than those fatigued warriors standing up against the forces of life… they say only the strong will survive, but it is always the weak that will kill you…
who are you?
no one… i used to have a name, just like i had a face and mind filled with life and happiness… no more… nothing is the same, proud cloud to ride on free in the air… no more spring rain…no more happiness for me… nothing… not one bloody thing…
i’ll not be like you…
ha! little man wants to be big… you can’t stop this…your pride will have you my dear, dear friend, as anger had the black-caped man and power had me… it was all for nothing…
who are you?
…
who? tell me…
…proud, proud cloud, put your head on my shoulder and cry for awhile… i am you and you are me and we are one and the same… somehow the same…surprisingly different yet somehow the same.
i don’t want to be like you… i’ll have happiness…
…in solitude with no one to love you and your stupid, stupid hurt… you’ll die sooner or later alone and lonely, cold and hurt, no loving fire to help you… they all leave sooner or later… we all do…
who are you?
…
…
…proud cloud ready to pour his wrath upon the world…
…
…my proud, proud cloud…vengeance is best served cold…

© Junj, 1998

Go on to Section 3