Hey, boys and girls! waves This is my first fic to be posted on and one of the few that I have written. So be gentle. cowers I thought there weren't enough fics about the original AVALANCHE members...they are so under-appreciated. That was my motive for this fic. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII...grrr...snarl...
I Wish You Happiness
My breathing grew more and more unsteady as I climbed those many, many steps up the Sector 7 pillar. Blood was flowing freely like a fountain from the gaping bullet wound in my side and spilled out onto the stairs. I wished I could just collapse right there, close my eyes and fall into a prepetual slumber, but I couldn't. There was one thing I had to do; one thing I've been putting off for years. It wouldn't be so difficult now that I was so close to death. I was glad that he wasn't anywhere to be found...he made it all so complicated.
"Hey Biggs." I awoke to that familiar voice of my long-time companion.
"Whaaat...? I was sleeping, Jessie," I whined. She giggled a bit.
"I just wanted to tell you that Barret hired a mercenary to accompany us on this next mission. He said the guy used to be in SOLDIER." My eyes widened, and I stood up suddenly, causing myself to fall back onto the couch in our hideout, dizzy.
"What? Why in the hell would Barret hire one of Shin-Ra's dogs? Is he out of his mind?" Jessie got up and headed to the pinball machine used to lift them to the upper floor, Tifa's Seventh Heaven. But she looked back at me.
"Used to be in SOLDIER, Biggs." And she headed up. I lay back on the couch and closed my eyes.
I guess I was wrong about the guy, about him not being trustworthy. But that didn't mean I still didn't like him.
The blonde, spiky-haired mercenary sat away from us on the train headed to the reactor while Barret was explaining our mission.
"Hey Blondie. You listening?" The man looked up with his glowing Mako eyes- the eyes that bug me to this day- and nodded, not saying a word.
"You better be. I'm paying you for this, remember? Anyway...where was I... As soon as we get off the train, we take down the Shin-Ra people standing guard. Then we make our way into the reactor..." And he went on. The ex-SOLDIER didn't say a word the whole time...he just say there, looking all bad-ass. I thought he was just being stuck-up, but Jessie kept looking over at him and smiling.
We got off the train quickly and didn't waste any time taking the guards down. I flipped one over my shoulder skillfully, and looked over at Jessie. She didn't see my awesome maneuver. She was watching Cloud. I shook my head and took off around the corner, and Wedge and Jessie followed.
Cloud and Barret eventually caught up to us, and I could tell they had gotten into a battle.
"What's your name, anyway?"
"...Cloud." As Cloud said this, Jessie sighed. I glared at the man and told everyone to keep moving.
The rest of the mission was carried out according to plan, but when Jessie didn't come back up the elevator with Cloud, I got worried.
"Cloud! Jessie never came back up! Man...there's only three minutes until detonation! We need her to decipher the code!" I was ready to go in after her, but Cloud stopped me and went down there himself. What a frickin' showoff.
Well, he certainly took his sweet time getting Jessie back up here. I seriously thought for a moment that they weren't gonna make it.
"Thirty seconds till detonatoin! C'mon, Cloud!" Barret was hollering, tapping his foot anxiously. "I think we're gonna have to get going without them." I looked back at him with panicked eyes.
"Barret! We can't just leave Jessie!" I yelled at him. Wedge nodded in agreement with me.
Suddenly, the elevator door opened, and out came Jessie and Cloud. I sighed in relief as I ran to help my limping friend.
We escaped in one peice. Later, back at the hideout, Cloud revealed his selfish side as he demanded his pay from Barret.
"200 gil."
"I can only give you 100 for now."
"I did your mission, now give me what you promised." I could see Barret's fists shaking with rage, but Tifa ran up to him and convinced him otherwise.
"Man...that money was for Marlene's schoolin'." What a heartless bastard. I sighed. But I looked to my left when I felt someone grab my arm.
"Come on, Biggs. Let's go stock up on some more items. That mission sure did wipe us out." She smiled sweetly. I smiled warmly back at her. For a while there, I thought that all she could think about was Cloud.
Time for another mission came...and yet again, my attempts to impress Jessie failed. That stupid ex-SOLDIER was hogging all the glory. "We're counting on you, Cloud." "Set the bomb Cloud." "You can do it, Cloud." Even my own best friend, Wedge, had grown to like that stupid mercenary. The traitor. What was it about Cloud that made him so special?
The Shin-Ra robot, defeated, self-destructed. The explosion was loud, and I wrapped my arms around a very frightened Jessie protectively.
What was this? Cloud was hanging off the edge of the hole that the explosion had made. I held Jessie closely so that she didn't have to see. I knew Cloud was going to fall.
When he finally did, I felt relieved. All my problems were over. He was gone. I could be the best again. Jessie would finally notice me. But Cloud did save Jessie's life. And the way Jessie looked at the hole after Cloud fell...she looked devistated.
The next few days went by very slowly. Everyone seemed so down, and even I felt a bit guilty for all my harsh feelings towards the ex-SOLDIER.
"Barret, do you have the next mission planned?"
"Don't...talk to me right now, Biggs. Alright?" I blinked. Even Barret was depressed over our little temporary fighter-for-hire? Geez.
I headed to Jessie's house. Maybe I could've taken over to the Wall Market or something, bought her something real nice.
When I got there, she invited me in. Her voice was quiet and she seemed out of it. She was on the couch, watching something on TV.
"Hey you wanna go to the Wall Market with me? I mean...I could take you out to eat at one of their restaurants, and we could go buy stuff. We'll have a great time, whaddaya say?" I put on my best grin, but she looked up at me sadly.
"I'm sorry, Biggs. I just don't feel up to it. I'm a bit...tired. You understand, right?"
"...of course, Jessie." I shifted my feet a bit. I had had enough of this. That Cloud wasn't gonna ruin my life. "Look, Jessie, I'm sure Cloud's fine." I sat down next to her. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I looked back at her questioningly, and she threw her arms around me and started sobbing into my chest.
"No, Biggs! No one could have survived that fall. He's dead...we'll never see him again." I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back a bit, comfortingly.
"Shh...Jessie. Listen. We know Cloud. He's gonna show up some time during the next mission, just at the right time, when we're all in trouble, with that cocky grin on his face and say, 'Everything's gonna be all right.'," I did my best imitation of his voice- man, this was hard. "And then he'll take control of the situation and everything will be all right." She sat up and looked into my eyes.
"You...don't mean it." She laughed a bit. "I can tell you don't like him. But...thanks. I needed that, Biggs." She hugged me one more time, and then I left.
When we found out that the Sector 7 pillar was being attacked by Shin-Ra (Wedge was the one who first found out and came running.), we immidiately rose up to stop them. Maybe this was the time when the people of Midgar would finally understand that AVALANCHE was good.
It didn't go as glorious as planned. With only four of us, we were seriously outnumbered, and we all got injured pretty badly, fighting the guards. None of us even made it to the top. But Jessie was trying hardest out of all of us to get there. It seemed as if she was suddenly inspired by Cloud to try her hardest.
I kept climbing those stairs, although I knew it was all a lost cause. AVALANCHE was done. We fought bravely all these years, but Shin-Ra finally sunk to an all-time low and overpowered us. My pace slowed; I knew I was going to die.
Wait.
I couldn't die.
...Jessie. I had to tell her. Cloud was gone. We were about to die. It was now or never. I winced from the minor wounds to my chest as I looked up the spiral staircase and up the pillar. My face doned a grim expression; I couldn't find her. She was too high up.
Bang.
A Shin-Ra fighter caught me off guard, with the consequence of a bullet now in my side. But he was quickly killed off by Barret's gun-arm, much to my relief. I nodded in thanks to our leader, who appeared extremely concerned of my wound. I lowered my head and kept moving upward.
I started seeing dots, and even getting a bit dizzy. Blood loss. I really hoped my death wasn't going to be that slow and painful...I was starting to feel a bit afraid. I clutched my side, in some desperate, futile attempt to stop the flow of blood. It was a nice try, anyway.
Suddenly, I heard running footsteps underneath me. I looked down to see a rushing blonde.
Damn that Cloud.
"Biggs! Are you all right?" I snickered.
Did I look all right?
"I'll be fine. Go on without me." He nodded, but looked back down. A few hundred stairs back, Wedge had fallen. Cloud raced down to help Him.
Wedge...I felt so guilty. I couldn't go down to see him. I would have collapsed if I tried to climb down the stairs.
Soon I felt the need to grab onto the railing for support. My clothes were drenched with blood, but I trudged upward.
Jessie...
I fought hard to keep myself from collapsing. My legs just didn't agree with me anymore. I had to stop and take a breather, but I promised myself that I would keep going after that.
After what seemed like an eternity, Jessie came into view; she was on a platform near the very top. In my own happiness, it took me a bit to realize the reason she was on the ground was because she was badly injured, like me.
"Jessie...!" My voice was hoarse and quiet; it barley came out at all. Jessie didn't hear me. I had to get closer.
"Jessie!" Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Cloud came running from behind me and ran to where Jessie was laying, and knelt down.
"Cloud..." She put a feeble hand to the side of his face. "I'm glad...I got to see you...one last time."
"Don't say 'last'."
"It's all right..." she mumbled in a voice weaker than mine. Mustering all the strength she had left, she wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck and kissed him on the cheek. Cloud returned her embrace, and set her back down.
"I'll come back for you, Jessie." He then took off up the remaining stairs.
My heart froze. She loved him. Not me. I loved her. She loved him. It took me a moment to get all these thoughts through my dying mind.
Why...?
My pace climbing the stairs slowed to a great extent, but I kept climbing. I actually made it up to her, but my main focus at the moment was keeping my breathing steady...and, well, keeping alive.
I stumbled as I made my way to her, and stopped at her side, looking down.
"Jessie..." She heard me this time. Opening her eyes slowly, she smiled feebily.
"Yes?"
I put my hand to my mouth as I coughed, and a crimson liquid oozed through my fingers and dripped down my hand. Everything started spinning. Yup, this was the end.
"I...wi...wish...I...w..."
"What, Biggs?" I stumbled and fell backwards off the platform, to meet my death.
I wish you happiness.
Well, there ya go, I hope you liked it. It really isn't like me to make Cloud look like such a jerk... snuggles Cloud Reviews are appreciated. Let me know how I did!