Where Are They?
Author's Note: This story is what I think happened to Cloud, Tifa and the others, and the whereabouts of Rufus and the Turks.
Cloud: I'm surprised that they were absent in the game.
Reno: If I found out that I'm dead in the next sequel, I'll kill Genesis myself!
Author(Tashasaurous): No killing outside anywhere, Reno sweetie. Okay, let's begin, and remember, I don't own the characters or Final Fantasy VII. The rights belong to Square Enix.
Chapter one: Evacuation on the Double!
Things seemed perfect for the household of Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Marlene Wallence and Denzel, and including Marlene's father Barret. It's been three years since the fated day, and a year since the defeat of Kadaj and his group. While the Stigma was sitll around, it wasn't much of a problem anymore, since WRO and a lot of voulenteered people were all around the world curing them with the Lifestream infused waters from the Church in Midgar.
But something felt...off. Cloud could feel it. For the past three weeks, the cure had to be put on hold due to something going wrong in Midgar, as a bunch of investingators explored the ShinRa building with a camera staff...and they went missing all of the sudden.
He just got home after another long day of making deliveries and found his 'family' in the main room, doing their usual thing; Marlene and Denzel playing, and Tifa cleaning up the counters. The Bar was closed for the day due to a celebration and a promise the adults made to the children. Cloud could only afford half a day off, but the others understood, since that someone had called first thing in the morning wanting a package brought to someone named Freya Laine from Mideel.
For some reason that he couldn't understand, that he somehow recongised her from somewhere, and that she even knew who he was, and even apologuised for what she did. Cloud didn't know what she was talking about, but he decided to worry about that later.
"Cloud!" Denzel and Marlene happily exclaimed as they ran up to him. The three embraced and Cloud let's out a small smile. Even though neither kid were his, he had grown to deeply love them in the past few years.
"Hey, kids." Cloud greeted, playfully ruffling Denzel's hair and gently patted Marlene on the head.
Tifa also went over to greet him with a smile of her own, "Cloud. How was the delivery?"
Cloud nodded towards his childhood friend and replied, "Same as usual," then thought about Freya and admitted, "Though somebody seemed to recgonise me today."
"Who?"
"Her name was Freya, and she even knew my name. She seemed familiar, but I can't think of how or why, though. I delievered a package to her and...well, she said sorry about not being able to help out. Wonder what she meant?" Cloud thought.
Tifa made a soft sound that seemed like a gasp, then looked at the children and said, "Kids, why don't you go up and wait for us. We'll be a little while before we go to Kalm, okay?"
While the kids were wondering what was going on, the kids obeyed and ran up to their rooms, while Cloud and Tifa went over to the bar and sat down on the chairs.
"Did I say something wrong?" Cloud asked.
"You probably don't remember, but back when..." Tifa struggled in forming what she wanted to say, "...Remember when you-know-who burned down you-know-where?"
Cloud grimced and nodded. He was thankful that Tifa didn't mention his worst nightmare's name or their former home where they were both born and grew up in. Not to mention that their friend Vincent had been locked up for a bit over thirty years. "Unfortunately." he replied.
"Well, other than you, Zack and you-know-who coming seven days earlier, there was a Turk there. She was around checking up on things." Tifa explained. "Her name was...Freya."
The spiky-haired man gasped softly. Now he remembered where he'd seen the Freya he met today before. More memories came back in his mind, back when he was in the military. While his head was still a bit fuzzy, one certain figure that he couldn't remember other than Zack came to mind. A young woman with ash-blonde hair in a long pony-tail, brown eyes, with a Shotgun in her arms, hinting that she may be a hunter, and in a Turk uniform.
"Now I remember where I've seen her before, and not just in Nibelhiem." Cloud recalled. "We both teamed at one stage back in Midgar. I can't remember what kind mission that was, but, I think she's the only Turk I've met that isn't...well, like the other four." he smirked as he recalled how stupid Reno and Rude could be, and how serious Tseng and Elena are.
"I can't really say that Freya and I were close friends, but she was a nice person. Similiar to Reno, but not that much." Tifa giggled, "Now that I think of it, I only hate ShinRa is because of Hojo, the old President, Scarlet, Hedeigger, and the military."
"I used to hate Rufus, but, to tell the truth, I guess we can't really blame him for Sephiroth going all crazy, or the Turks, and especially not Reeve, and diffenately not Vincent." Cloud agreed.
Tifa nodded, then suggested, "You should find Freya and tell her that she's forgiven. Let her know that it's not her fault, and that, maybe we can hang out sometime."
Cloud liked the idea. Besides, other than Tifa, Zack and Freya were Cloud's two closest friends before meeting Barret, Marlene, Aerith, Nanaki, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, Reeve, and Denzel. "Maybe I should." he finally said.
Then the TV behind them made the sound of World news appearing, and they heard a male announcer say, "Three weeks ago, our crew left for Midgar."
"However, the group's whereabouts' still remain unknown. What really happened down there?" the female announcer added, causing both Cloud and Tifa to turn and watch the news, curious themselves.
"Tonight, for the first time, we give you the final transmission that was received before all contact was lost." The male announcer concluded. The anchorman's faces were soon covered by a video that expanded from the corner of the screen which showed a young broadcaster and several men in heavy work uniforms at the front of a large building.
"For the past three years, this door has remained sealed," she said. "However, those seals are about to be broken. There are no records of this place located deep within the Shinra Building, another of the companies' secret's revealed recently. According to an investigator's reports, there is evidence that people were once transported here."
"Shinra's secrets..." Cloud thought, frowning. "How many did that stupid company hide?"
Tifa shuddered a little, "I really don't want to know."
"If rumors of the Shinra Company conducting human experiments are true, then this may be where those nefarious deeds were carried out. To bring you this exclusive footage, Channel Seven news has teamed up with volunteer Organization...wait, I think I see something now..."
Cloud mentally groaned, and said, "It wouldn't surprise me that Rufus knew something about this."
"Call me crazy, but I don't think that's the case." Tifa thought.
The blonde haired man stared at her as if she was totally crazy. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Before Tifa could answer, the phone on the wall began to ring, catching their attention. Cloud got up to get it while Tifa turned the volume down.
"Hello?" Cloud answered.
"Cloud. It's me, Reeve. Listen, you need to get yourself, Tifa and the children out of Edge, now." it was Reeve, and he sounded stressed and on edge.
"Is something wrong?" Cloud asked, before glancing briefly at the televison, and his eyes widened as the breaking news poofed up and the footage on the TV changed to a low quality video of some of these people in uniforms, with their weapons raised high.
"Kalm is attacked. I'm on my there with WRO as we speak. Vincent is there, and well, I'll tell you later. Right now, Edge could be in danger due to DeepGround." Reeve explained.
"DeepGround?" Cloud wondered. Then he understood and replied, "Alright, we'll evacuate right away." then he hung up.
He turned to Tifa who immediately understood the situation and said, "I'll get the kids." already on her way to the children's bedroom. Cloud in the meantime, pulled out his PHS and dialed the number he really didn't want to ring, but knew he had no choice.
It was about damn time that ShinRa would clean up their mess.
"Somehow I don't think you'll be safe here, boss." Reno spoke as he stood in the living room with Rude, Tseng, Elena and President Rufus Shinra at the Healen Lodge. They just witnessed the Breaking News about what happened.
"True, but at the same time, I cannot allow myself to stand by and let these strange men plot something that could very well mean the end of the world." Rufus pointed out.
"We'll do what we can to start up evacuation." Tseng said calmly.
Just then, Reno's PHS buzzed, and he pulled it out, flipped it open and answered whoever was calling him, "Yo?"
"Reno, I need to speak with Rufus. It's about those guys that are attacking Kalm." it was Cloud, and he sounded pissed.
The red-spiky haired man rolled his eyes and grumbled, "What? Don't I even get a, 'Hey, how'ya doin.' or, 'Hi'? I have no idea what the hell these blue-suited guys are, just so you know."
He heard Cloud groan and said, "Cut the crap and just put Rufus on. I don't have much time since Edge is being evacuated, since you're being lazy and all."
"Alright, listen you spikey-haired chocobo-head!" Reno shouted, getting irritated, "All you had to do was ask nicely! I asked for you nicely a year ago, didn't I?"
"Reno, just hand over the phone." Rufus sighed in annoyance, starting to get a headache already. The other three would probably agree.
"Reno...Off!" Cloud hissed.
Reno sighed and replied, "Tch, fine, whatever. He's asking for the phone anyway." then handed the PHS to Rufus and said, "It's for you."
"Obviously." Rufus sighed, before placing the phone to his ear, answering, "Cloud, I gather that you believe that I have something to do with this new threat, am I right?"
"What do you think?" Cloud asked sarcastically.
"I'll take that as a yes." Rufus sighed, "And considering that Reeve is your ally, he warned you about this and that you and your family are being evacuated." that was not a question.
"I know you. Smart-ass as always. Anyway, Reeve also told me about the group, which are named Deepground, and I know that you have something to do with that." Cloud answered.
This was something Rufus did not expect. "Deepground?" he frowned deeply about this. "What else did Reeve tell you?"
"Don't lie to me, Rufus." Cloud warned, "Think about the sudden disappearence that happened in Midgar three weeks ago. Not to mention the disappearence of people in Junon. You something about Deepground and I want an answer."
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about Deepground, and yes, I am aware about the incidents in Midgar and Junon recently." Rufus answered, then thought about a connection, and replied, "However, now that you mention this, I'm beginning to believe that this Deepground troops have something to do with this."
"Pah. Like you don't actually know about all of those secrets." Cloud mumbled.
The young Shinra sighed again, "You know as well as I do, Cloud. I was never close to my father, even for his death by the hands of Sephiroth three years ago, and, gladly, I would've killed the old man myself."
"You nearly did." Reno whispered to himself as he and his co-workers listened. Though the Turks were now supicious about 'Deepground' themselves. None of them, not even Tseng, had ever heard that kind of thing before either.
There was a pause, before Rufus heard Cloud sigh and then the man on the other side said, "We need to talk to Reeve about this, somewhere where Deepground won't find us."
"After the evacuation." Rufus agreed, nodding to his suboittates who nodded, knowing that silent order to get on with it.
"Fine. I think Kalm should be okay to talk since WRO is taking care of things." Cloud decided.
"We'll meet you there." Rufus replied, then hung up and ordered his Turks, "Evacuate Edge without getting captured, then we are to meet Cloud Strife in Kalm once things have settled down a little."
"Are you sure that Kalm is alright?" Rude asked.
"With WRO, it will be." Rufus nodded, "And I have a supicious feeling that a certain Ex-Turk would be aiding them."
Reno quirked an eyebrow, then remembered something, "Who? Vincent?" having remembered that about a month ago when he visited Kalm, he met up with Vincent who had moved there recently.
"Shouldn't we warn the other former Turks, sir?" Elena pipped up.
A short pause, before Tseng looked at Rufus who nodded, then the Director of the Turks nodded, "Affirmative. Let's go."
The others nodded, and made their way outside to the helicopters to begin the new mission.
As soon as Cloud finished the phone call, he, Tifa and the kids were out the door immediately just as people around them were in a major panic, just like in Kalm.
Suddenly they heard a young girl screaming, and when they turned to look, to their shock and horror, were a couple of strange dog-mutan monsters in the same uniforms of Deepground chasing her. The girl had a toy Moogle in her arms.
"Katie!" Cloud, Tifa, Marlene and Denzel cried out. Immediately, Cloud took out his Fusion swords, and just as the monsters closed in on Katie, Cloud swung and slashed at the enemies, killing then instantly. Katie looked up, then wrapped her arms around Cloud's waist and began to cry.
"Katie, are you alright?" Cloud asked, holding the trumatized child who shook her head. He then sighed and said, "C'mon, it's not safe here."
They met up with Tifa and the other two kids, then made their way to Cloud's bike-Fenrir, without being seen by other incoming Deepground soldiers.
"How are we gonna all fit on Fenrir?" Denzel asked worriedly.
Before any of them could answer, a large van drove up and stopped before them, and to the group's surprise, were a group of people wearing Turk uniforms. A man with glasses and a scar, another was another young man with spiky red-hair, like Reno's, but different, another was a young woman with urban curly hair with matching eyes and a Shuriken, another young woman, a bit older, looking almost like an bit older identical version of Elena, a tall man with orange hair and sunglasses, and finally, Freya, back in her Turk uniform, shotgun at ready.
"This way, quick!" Freya cried out.
Not that Cloud trusted the Turks, he just never saw this many before. Still, he'd rather be with the Turks right now than being killed or getting his family killed by Deepground.
While Tifa loaded herself and the children into the van, Cloud drove Fenrir into the back of the van which closed up and as the Turks drove away as many Deepground soldiers as they could, they too re-entered the van, and took off immediately.
The red-haired Turk pulled out his PHS and dialed a number before talking to whoever he was calling, "Rafe, what's your status?"
"# %^! There's too many of them! Can't even get the citizens away for long!" the man named Rafe on the other end cursed loudly, causing the redhead to flinch the phone away briefly at the loud screeching noise.
"Dude, just calm the hell down and just get yourself and the others and everyone in the city outta here!" He quickly said.
"At this rate, these guys are like killing machines, like Scarlet's robots or-$#&%! Retreating on the double!" Rafe then hung up, and the redhead grumbled.
The oranged haired Turk then asked, "That bad, huh, Rod?"
Rod-the redhead-, just glared up at him and muttered, "Shut up, Legend."
In the meantime, Freya approached Cloud, Tifa and the children, asking, "Are you guys okay?" bending down to the upset three kids' level, checking on them.
"Just a bit shaken." Tifa replied, "I didn't expect to see you again, Freya."
Freya shrugged at the martial artist, "I was around town 'cause I felt like it, and it turns out to be a good thing too."
"So, you guys are the Turks too? Other than Freya, I haven't seen any of you before." Cloud muttered as he looked at the other Turks.
"Former Turks, actually." The scarred-faced Turk corrected, "We went into Exile almost four years ago."
"Exile?" Cloud repeated in shock.
Rod smirked and replied, "Blame that on Rufus' old man. He, Scarlet and Hedeigger wanted us dead, even though we saved the world before Sephiroth showed up."
"You guys saved the world before Sephiroth came back?" Tifa asked, puzzled.
"Long story." Freya sheepishly said, then added, "Don't worry, we're on your side."
"We may not be Turks anymore, but you can't really leave the organization, because once you're in, you're a Turk even if you quit or retire." The Urban woman added, then turned her attention to Cloud and said, "I'm relieved that you came out of the Mako Poisoning, Cloud."
Cloud and Tifa blinked in surprise.
"You know about me?" Cloud asked.
"Uh, Cissnei? Now's not the time." Legend worriedly warned.
Then, a PHS rang and the scarred-faced Turk pulled out his PHS and answered, "This is Haruto."
"It's me, Veld. I want all of you to meet me in Kalm. It seems that the situation is a lot more troubling than expected. Oh, and five familiar faces are waiting here as well. Make sure all of you get here safely." However this Veld was, he immediately hung up as soon as he called.
"Was that the ol' man?" Legend asked, having his arms crossed to his chest.
"Indeed. He wants us to meet him in Kalm." Haruto replied.
"Actually, we need to get to Kalm too." Cloud spoke up, having overheard the conversation. Then he looked at the former Turks and asked, "Do any of you know about Deepground?"
"Deepground?" The blonde-haired female Turk asked.
Rod shrugged, "Can't say we have."
"Why am I getting the gut feeling that it's related to Hojo's sick experiment thing?" Legend grumbled. Everyone looked at him with both glares and question looks. He shrugged cluelessly at them, "What?"
Cloud sighed. 'Whoever Deepground is...maybe Hojo had something to do with it.'
First chapter up! Next one is something interesting. Look out for future chapters, and don't forget to review.