The Power Within… Part 1
…6 years ago…
"Hand it over, already!" Snapped a Shinra soldier.
"N-No! It's mine and I'm not giving it to anyone!" Yelled a girl. She was only 15 at the time, and long, damp blackish-brown hair was hanging from the side of her face. She was grasping a gold heart-shaped lock. "You can't have it!"
"It's such a shame I won't even bother to listen to you! Boys, get the locket!" Commanded a man dressed in a Turks outfit. He had fairly long black hair, no it wasn't Tseng.
"Yes, Sir! Mr. Vincent Valentine, sir!" Replied a Shinra soldier, while another lunged towards the girl.
A man who was ducking behind a wooden table, called out to the girl. He whispered, "Tifa! Tifa, quickly run out the door! I won't get hurt by them, you have to escape with the locket! Hurry, now!"
The girl, Tifa, looked back at her dad, who was smiling. Tifa sniffed, "Okay…" She ran for the door.
Vincent Valentine, The Turk who was commanding the soldiers, gasped, "She's getting away! Cover the doors!"
The soldiers got at the doorway faster than Tifa could run. Her leg was injured and the floor was shattered with glass.
Tifa's dad sighed, "Oh no…" He began to silently get up and tiptoe into a secret door that led to the basement. He whispered silently, "Please, Tifa…be careful…"
Tifa gasped and looked around, "Dad! Where are you?"
Vincent smirked, "It's all over for you now. Hand over the locket!"
Just then, upstairs a voice kept repeating. It seemed to be coming from Tifa's room. The soldiers and Vincent looked around the house, muttering. Tifa quickly ran into the study and picked up one of her father's swords. She pointed it at Vincent. "Stay back or I'll kill you all!"
Vincent looked at the soldiers. He began to edge closer to the wall. "We'll be back little girl. We'll be back for the locket."
"Just leave my family alone." Tifa snapped, bitterly, gritting her teeth together.
Vincent stared at Tifa, angrily. "Evacuate!" He snapped at the soldiers, as they all fled out the front door.
"Hello, Tifa?"
Tifa looked upstairs. Someone's up there, she thought. She knocked on the basement door and her dad opened it. He was shivering.
"A-Are…they gone?" Her dad asked.
"They'll be back…Dad, please go somewhere else. It's not safe here anymore." Tifa assured.
Her dad smiled, "…Meet me in Kalm Town soon. I'll be waiting there." He grabbed his stuff and fled out the door instantly. He thought he'd stay in an Inn for the night, and leave for Kalm the next day.
Tifa ran upstairs. There was someone in the house, for sure. And pretty soon, she could hear someone playing her piano in her room. A very solemn, sad song. She walked into her room, to see a 16 year old spiky-haired blond boy in her room playing the piano. Tifa gasped, "Cloud?"
Cloud smiled, still playing the piano, "An Assasin's Spirit…"
"What?" Tifa asked.
"It's the name of the song." Cloud replied, getting up. "What happened?"
"Shinra was here again." Tifa answered. "And this time, they wanted this." She held up the heart-shaped locket in her hand.
"What's so important about that, that the Shinra want it?" Cloud asked.
Tifa opened the locket, and carefully brought out a gold materia. She sighed, "It's the rare gold materia. The Shinra need it to power a new machine they're building. A Mako machine. They predict it'll shield Midgar and the HQ, from what their Psychic Reader has said…but it's really going to destroy the planet. Plunging Mako deep inside of the planet, causing it to explode!"
"…What's the materia called?" Cloud asked.
Tifa gulped, and she looked at the sky outside of her window and she smirked, "…The Future…"
…6 years later…
Everyone was in the Highwind, enjoying the day, without bumping into Shinra, or anything that had to do with it. Tifa was standing by the front window, while Cid was piloting the plane.
Cid grunted, "…What's so interesting about the window that ya got to stare at it for so long?"
Tifa smiled at Cid, "Well, it's pretty nice to look at everyone outside, and see what they're doing."
Cid smirked, "That sounds so boring to me. It's like eavesdropping, except you ain't listenin'. You're lookin'."
Tifa giggled. She continued looking out the window. Just as they were passing the outskirts of Midgar, an army of Shinra soldiers, were lined up. Tifa gasped, "Shinra soldiers?"
Cloud rushed to the window and looked outside, "What are they doing?…Being lined up outside of Midgar like that."
Barret rushed to the window too, "Look at 'em! They lined up just like some guys teeth, he's been brushin' for 65 years, and they still look white!"
Cloud looked at Barret, then back at the soldiers. He gasped, "They're…armed?"
"With papers in bottles? I don't think that's deadly…" Tifa sighed.
Barret shrieked as the soldiers were about the throw the bottles at the Highwind, "Not if they throwing 'em at us!!"
Cid grunted, steering the Highwind in the opposite direction, "They're gonna trash up the engine!"
Just then, a bottle managed to crash through the window. Glass shattered all over the cockpit. Cid was still piloting, and Tifa got up from the floor. She gulped, and reached for the note that was inside the bottle. She picked it up, shook the glass from it, and read it. It said:
Tifa, don't you remember me?
We met back when you were 15. Cloud will remember, won't you?
Don't you know who I am?
Don't you know…"The Future"…
Tifa gasped, shuddered, shrieked, and moved back from the letter and the glass. She leant against a metal bar there was encircling around the cockpit just before there was the window, and she began to sob.
Cloud picked up the letter. He read it, then he dropped it. "Tifa…don't you remember?" He asked.
Tifa looked at Cloud. "Remember what?" She whispered. "How Shinra totally destroyed my family that day. When my dad left town for Kalm. When Shinra was searching for The Future."
Cloud sighed, "Y-Yeah…"
"Of course, I remember!…And I wish it was all a dream." Tifa sniffed.
Barret read the paper too, "Whoa! More like a nightmare!"
"Well what were they talking about?" Cloud asked.
"They were talking about…The Future…How the plans to build that Mako machine have been found…by Hojo, Rufus, Scarlet, Heidegger and the Turks…and they still need…The Future…" Tifa replied. "I still can't let them have it!"
"Where is it anyway?" Cloud asked.
Tifa brought out a small leather pouch attached to her belt. She opened it and brought out the same heart-shaped locket she had 6 years ago. Then, she put it back in the leather pouch and sniffed.
Vincent, who was watching from a corner, gasped, "The Future!…I actually saw it with my own eyes…but-no! I'm not with Shinra…like I was 6 years ago…I'll help fight Shinra…But Tifa, I'm sorry…I won't get involved with Shinra again…" Vincent nodded.
Yuffie was behind Vincent listening silently to what he was saying. She gasped when she heard the last few words, and grabbed Vincent. She tugged him to the front of the cockpit and snapped. "You're a traitor, Vincent Valentine!"
Cloud looked at Yuffie. He sighed, "Yuffie, Vincent isn't with Shinra anymore."
"Yeah, Vincent's just as much on our side, than he'll probably ever be!" Tifa agreed, smiling.
"Well, I heard him say something! Something about-"
"Alright! All of y'all, get off the plane!" Cid interrupted. "We all gotta get some fresh air sometime, and I think now's a perfect time!"
Yuffie sighed, "Y-Yeah…I guess you're right."
Everyone filed out of the Highwind. It was pretty breezy outside, but not that hot. They were just outside of Gongaga, relaxing, when a couple of Shinra soldiers came along, and threatened to shoot at them.
One of the Shinra soldiers snapped, "Freeze! Don't move!"
The other soldier ran around them. "Don't you dare pick up a weapon!"
"Commander! It's safe now." Hollered a soldier.
Just then, the commander came out. He was holding ropes, and was loading a shotgun with 15 bullets. "Good job boys." He began, handing the soldiers the rope. "Tie 'em up!"
"What are you doing?!" Cloud snapped, angrily.
The commander pointed his shotgun at Cloud, "Don't talk, boy, or you'll be the first to go!…That goes for the rest of you!"
Tifa gulped, "Why are you doing this?"
The commander switched the shotgun at Tifa. He then sighed, and put it down. "You must be Tifa Lockheart…am I right?"
"Why would you care?" She snapped.
"Shinra has some unfinished business with you…Boys, take her away!" The commander commanded.
"Wait! Not her!" Vincent hollered out.
The commander looked at Vincent and gasped, "Vincent? Vincent Valentine of the Turks?"
"Formerly of the Turks!…I don't want anything to do with Shinra!" Vincent snapped.
The commander's face grew dull. He sighed, "Take the girl."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers replied, following Tifa onto an airship.
"You can't do that!" Vincent and Cloud gasped.
The commander hopped on the edge of the airship, as they were about to take off, and he grinned, "But boys…I already have…" He cackled as they flew off to Midgar.
Barret grunted, "How the hell're we supposed to get these ropes off?"
Cid grumbled, twisting around, reaching his pocket. He shook it hard and out dropped a pocket knife. He picked it up and sighed, "Found it!"
"Found what?" Everyone asked.
"My pocket knife! My hidden treasure and escape route just for situations like this!" Cid explained. He then put the knife in his hand and began trying to cut the ropes. After a few good tries, he succeeded in cutting the ropes. Then, he did the same for everyone else.
Cloud got up and began to run to the Highwind. Barret hollered out to him, "Cloud, where're ya goin'?"
"Where's the Highwind?" Cloud replied. "We need to get to Midgar, and fast!"
Vincent sighed, "This is all my fault…"
"Why?" Yuffie snapped. "It's not like you set up this whole thing! Ha ha!" Yuffie slapped Vincent on the back and giggled as she walked towards the rest of them.
Vincent sighed again, "But Yuffie…you don't know that…"
In the Highwind, Cid wasn't piloting, Cloud was. Cloud grumbled, "Can't this stupid plane go any faster?!"
Cid grunted, "Hey! You keep your mouth shut! If you ever want to-"
"Hey Cid." Barret muttered.
"What?!" Cid snapped.
"Leave the boy alone…after all, how would you feel if someone you've known for a long time and cared about was kidnapped by the Shinra?" Barret asked.
Cid grunted, "I'd beat up the Shinra. And that's all I'd care about then….but…you gotta hand it to 'im. He's handling this like a real man would."
The Highwind made a crash landing on the outskirts of Midgar. Cloud ran out of the plane, followed by Yuffie and Vincent.
Vincent huffed, "Cloud, slow down!"
"Can't you wait for a split second?" Yuffie hollered, still trying to catch up.
Cloud stopped running, "Listen…I can still remember what Tifa told me 6 years ago…Shinra threatened to kill her family that day in Nibelheim…Her dad even had to leave his own house because of them…"
"So…" Yuffie began. "We'll help you fight Shinra…won't we Vincent?" She glared at Vincent.
Vincent sighed, "Y-Yeah…I'll help too…and I won't be persuaded to join Shinra…again…"
END OF PART 1
Author's Note: Tell me if you like it! Review please? ^_~