He watched from the window as the cannon drew energy from the reactors. He was expecting it, but was still surprised when the lights flickered off.
The building shook, the windows exploding outwards as the cannon fired.
He brushed his hair back, Mako blue eyes intent on the path of the energy projectile.
He could see the Weapon, far out in the water. It turned, and numerous pinpoints of light began firing towards Midgar.
Then the cannon's beam hit it dead center and kept going. The Weapon fell, and the beam kept going. It struck the barrier around the Northern Crater.
"Sir! Weapon's been defeated!!" "The barrier has disappeared!" "Sir! A mass of high-density energy is heading towards Midgar!"
He watched for a moment as the small light projectiles sailed past.
Then Rufus Shinra ducked, wrapping his arms around himself and rolling under the desk, as his office exploded around him.
~~~
The Turks were through. They were realistic enough to realize that. Shinra was through, they were through. It was all over.
Elena looked around the mess that had become of the top five floors of Shinra Headquarters. "Did you guys find anything?"
Rude shook his head no, and Reno stopped digging through charred metal long enough to push his sunglasses more firmly onto his head.
"I don't think there's much of anything to find here," he said, but nonetheless resumed digging.
Elena moved as close to the edge of the building as she dared and looked out, then up. Meteor hung in the sky, a constant threat, an imminent death. She sighed.
"Holy--!!"
She turned at Rude's exclamation and hurried over chunks of debris to where he stood. "What.. what is it?"
"Not what. Who." He stooped and picked up the burnt, barely breathing form from the blistered floor.
"Who then?"
"Let's just go. There's nothing else up here." Rude headed towards the stairs, carrying the body.
"A..alright.." Elena followed, Reno close behind.
~~
"The Meteor's headed for Midgar. If we take the helicopter and get as far away as we can..."
"We may escape? Are you sure?"
"No. Might as well try, though." Reno climbed into the helicopter, and the other Turks followed. Elena closed the door, and they took off.
There was silence for a while, as Rude carefully peeled layers of charred clothes from the body. The underlayers were less damaged, and the skin beneath all the close was virtually untouched.
Elena glanced questioningly at Rude.
"Fire-resistant material, I'm guessing," he said.
"Oh." She opened the first aid kit and rubbed some of the burn lotion onto a gauze pad, then carefully applied it to the blistered face. A bit of blood leaked from beneath the skin, and the figure groaned.
"What are his chances?"
"It doesn't look very good... But most of his vital organs weren't hit, so he may have a better chance than it seems."
"Oh." Elena tried not to let her disgust show as the burnt, blackened skin peeled off in thin layer. "Oh god... this is terrible."
"If he weren't unconscious, it would be worse." Rude wrapped bandages around the man's bleeding hands. A lot of skin had come off with the gloves.
Elena winced in simpathy pains. "Reno, how long?"
"Not too much further."
"We need to get him to a doctor."
"We can't go back to Midgar."
"There must be doctors somewhere else!"
"Yeah. Mideel. What's left of it."
"It's worth a shot."
~~
The doctor winced as he looked the form over. "Oh, you've applied some medicine.. that's good, but with these third degree burns, I don't know how much it will help."
"You have to help him," Elena said.
"I'll do my best."
~~
Reno and Rude helped with the reconstruction efforts in Mideel while Elena helped look after the patient. He had been unconscious for over a week now, and she was worried he wouldn't ever wake up. The good news was that most of his burns were healing well, and the doctor thought they could minimize the scarring.
Elena sat watching the sky to the north. Meteor had been going lower at an alarming rate, and now hovered just over Midgar... it was still falling. The sky was red, and something tugged in her heart.
A bright white glow hit the red, and Elena winced against the explosion of light, painful even at this distance. When she looked again, Meteor was still there, now descending through a pink glow.
She turned suddenly, as a sloshing sound reached her ears. A gasp escaped her as ribbons of liquid rose from the Lifestream Pool and flowed north, towards Midgar. Towards Meteor. Towards...
"Holy?" Elena mouthed the word that touched her mind. More and more of the Lifestream ribbons flowed, and the air was soon green with it all. Drops of liquid fell, wetting her suit.
Soon, the green sky touched the red, and an even larger explosion of light filled the sky. Elena covered her face with her arms...
Silence.
Pain.
It was all gone now, he could feel... nothing. The pain was gone... Wake up, you fool, don't just lie there...
He stirred. His limbs didn't want to respond to commands. He opened his eyes, and was greeted with darkness.
"Ah!" A voice he barely recognized as his own ripped from his throat, startled by the blindness.
"Oh dear.. calm down! Relax..."
He didn't even realize he had sat up until the hands pushed him back down. He groaned as some of the pain returned.
"He's awake? Oh, good..."
The bed shook a bit as someone sat on the edge, and a cool hand touched his arm.
"Can we take the bandages off soon?"
"Let me check and see how he's healing now..."
"Ow..." Some of the gauze was pulled away from his skin, and it hurt, as it had been stuck to him...
"Well, he's fixing up nicely... I suppose it's okay."
Bits of light filtered in as his head was unwrapped. He blinked... Everything was blurry.
"Whatever you do, Elena," said a very, very quiet voice. "Don't say anything about his hair."
He froze. His.. hair...?
"Uh-oh. I think he heard you."
~~
"Sir, please relax!"
He glared at the glowing blue eyes of his reflection. Most of his orange-blond hair had grown back in, and it had only slightly curbed his temper.
"You don't have to call him 'Sir' anymore, Elena. Shinra's through."
"Shut up, Reno," Rufus growled. "Just... shut up."
~Fin~
(Maybe I'll continue it if I get some good reviews. ^_~)