Final Fantasy VII: The Story 2nd Instalment

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Two

Gongaga

In the middle of the forest, Cloud and the gang soon found the small forest village of Gongaga. It was built in a large clearing where the trees had been cut away and the soil replaced by a fine dirt path, the inhabitants living in small houses that were scattered about throughout the clearing.

The first thing that they noticed as they entered the clearing was the immense silence that had spread throughout the entire village. There were so few houses and so few people around, it was hard to believe that there were people actually living here. A few of the houses had been bordered up, with planks of wood nailed firmly across the windows to stop people from seeing in.

The second thing they noticed was a graveyard built right at the entrance of the village. A large graveyard filled with old graves roughly dug in the dirt, topped by old gravestones of dark rock, the names of the dead carved roughly onto them. One man was standing at the entrance to the graveyard, almost like a guard. His face was sombre, the creases of an ever present frown forming on his face, and he wasn't even that old. There was also a woman inside the graveyard, kneeling beside one of the graves, and tears pouring down her face as she laid a bouquet of flowers in front of the gravestone.

While the likes of Tifa and Aeris looked on sympathetically at the graveyard, silently counting the many graves that stood there, Cloud turned away and took a few more steps into the village. He stopped again and peered up over the small cluster of houses in the far north of the village, above the fence that surrounded the village and kept it separate from the forest.

There it was – sticking out like a dark shadow that was a continuous reminder of the village's misery. It was another Mako Reactor, built not too far away from the village. In fact it looked a little too close to the village for comfort, but as Cloud looked a little closer he could see that it was no longer a problem.

The reactor was a total ruin. From what Cloud could see, the reactor was misshapen and broken down, many of its Mako-sucking towers fallen apart. It explained the growth of fresh plants and flowers, and the way the dark, dead soil was quickly being replenished with energy and life. Without the reactor there to suck up the Mako, there was no way the plants could die.

"A ruined reactor," Cloud muttered softly.

He glanced back at the many graves. They all looked like they dated from the same period, and Cloud slowly pieced the information together. There must have been some form of explosion at the reactor, one big enough to destroy it completely and stop the flow of Mako running through it. With the reactor being so close to the village, it had probably killed some of them. Evidence of that came from the remains of the reactor that were still lying in the village. It also explained the miserable faces of those few wandering in the village.

They soon left the lonely graveyard and headed into the village. Not many people noticed them enter – they were so wrapped up in their own miseries they didn't have the time to notice.

Cloud looked around at the few houses that there were. It was clear that many of them had been repaired, and he presumed that the ones that weren't bordered up were the ones with people still living in them. And although it was very obvious that Sephiroth had not come anywhere near Gongaga, it couldn't hurt to ask someone if they had seen anything and could help them.

He led the others towards one of the houses – the house in the most southern part of the village where the houses were not as damaged. It was one of the only few not bordered up and the door was partially open, making it seem like the only somewhat welcome house in the village. Even so he felt it was only polite to give the door a gentle knock before he pushed the door open and entered.

It was surprisingly homely inside – a complete change to the miserable atmosphere outside, although the house still carried with it an aura of loneliness and loss. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room with chairs around it, and even a vase of small flowers. A wooden floor creaked beneath his boots as he walked in, alerting their presence to the couple that were also standing in the middle of the room.

They were an elderly couple – not incredibly old, but old enough to show their years as patches of grey began to appear in their dark hair. Their faces were a lot more wrinkled than they should have been, brought on by the days of frowning with little to smile about. There were very few people who had not been affected by the explosion of the Mako Reactor. The woman barely noticed Cloud and the others enter as she sat on one of the chairs, adjusting the flowers in the vase, but the man glanced over at them and looked them over.

"You a traveller?" he asked, although his tone didn't sound like he really cared. He eyed them over one by one, until his eyes fell on Cloud's face and he finally began to look like he cared. "Hey, wait, that glare in your eye… you in SOLDIER?"

The mention of SOLDIER made the woman, his wife, drop the flower she was holding onto the table. She got up hastily out of her chair and looked at Cloud, a flash of sudden hope appearing in her old, worn face. Cloud felt a little uncomfortable as he felt her eager gaze on him, staring at the faint glow in his eyes.

"Oh, you're right!" the woman said, and her face creased up into a smile. She walked over to Cloud and stood right in front of him. She was a good few inches shorter than he was, but he still felt a little intimidated by her eagerness. "Don't you know anything about our son?"

"His name is Zack," the man added.

"It's been about 10 years since he left for the city, saying he didn't want to live in the country……" the woman said, standing by her husband again.

"He left saying he's going to join SOLDIER. You ever hear of a Zack in SOLDIER?"

The old man put his arm around his wife and they looked at Cloud hopefully. It was clear that the worry of their missing son surpassed the misery that filled Gongaga, and why they looked so old for their years. Seeing someone from SOLDIER had clearly filled them with sudden hope, and they eagerly awaited Cloud's answer.

Cloud thought silently for a moment. He didn't really know what to tell them. Anything he said would surely make them even more worried, and as far as he could remember the name 'Zack' didn't ring any immediate bells. He didn't know everyone who had been in SOLDIER, and if he had left ten years ago, there could surely be no way he would remember anyone. Also, if ten years had gone by since he left, Zack could be anywhere in the world by now.

"Hmm… I don't know," he answered finally, although it pained him a little to say it.

As he had feared, the hopeful gazes of Zack's parents died right then and there. Their hopeful smiles were replaced once again by ten years' worth of frowns and miseries, making them look frail and old again. A tear filled the old woman's eye, and couldn't raise a smile as her husband gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Aeris was standing behind Cloud right then, standing silently with her head tilted to the floor and her long brown hair falling around her face and hiding her eyes. She could feel the same misery that the old couple were feeling, and as she watched her feet began to shuffle across the ground. "Zack…" she mumbled quietly, barely audible, although in the silence of the house it could just about be heard.

"Young lady, you know him?"

Aeris looked up and gasped, surprised that she had been heard. She looked up to see the gazes of the two parents now turned on her, the faint glimmer of hope slowly returning in their eyes. They were willing to hold onto any hope of recognition, desperate to hold onto some belief that there son was out there somewhere. Even though the chance was it was a very vain hope, there was no harm holding on to it.

"I remember he wrote to us 6 or 7 years ago saying that he had a girlfriend," said the old woman. "Could that have been you?"

Aeris stared, her mouth slightly open. Suddenly she shook her head fiercely and spoke more harshly than she had intended to. "That can't…" she said. She suddenly turned away and brushed rudely past the others, desperate to get outside into the fresh air again, away from the house. Cloud and the other stared at her, surprised at Aeris's sudden change in behaviour.

Everyone that is, apart from Tifa. Tifa had also become very quiet and sombre as the conversation continued, and could understand why Aeris had been so suddenly desperate to get outside. She was beginning to feel the same. The room seemed to be closing in on her and choking her. The whole atmosphere was…

"Zack…" she whispered, before she also turned and headed out of the door, leaving the others in total shock.

"What happened to you two?" Cloud asked, surprised by the two girl's change in behaviour.

He also went outside, leaving the others inside with the parents of the missing boy. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it, feeling strangely relieved to be out of the house. The sadness that filled the house and the village was overwhelming, more powerful than the sadness that filled the slums of Midgar and even Corel. It was making his heart pound, but he couldn't figure out why.

"…Zack," he muttered to himself, letting the words sound on his tongue and vibrate in the air. There was a strange feeling of familiarity as he said the word. "Zack. I don't know anything about the man. ……But that name sounds so familiar… Why…?"

In frustration he pushed himself away from the door and kicked a nearby stone, sending it flying into the wall of another nearby house, one that was bordered up and empty. Cloud stared. He was a little surprised at himself for reacting like that, especially since he was sure that he didn't know Zack. Still, it troubled him somewhat, for he couldn't place the familiarity. Maybe he had heard the name before in passing. Either way it wasn't important now. What was important was finding Aeris and Tifa, and finding out why they had reacted the way they did.

He found Tifa around the corner, standing beside another empty house. She looked rather agitated and was playing with her hair, tugging the dark lengths that surrounded her face as she moved from foot to foot, unsure of how to stand. She was also talking quietly to herself and didn't notice Cloud walking up behind her, not even when he stopped directly behind.

"Zack……" he heard her whisper.

"Do you know him?"

Tifa jumped about half a metre into the air and turned sharply, clearly very surprised to see Cloud standing there. For a second she placed her hand over her mouth as though to stop her from talking, before she recovered and glared back at Cloud almost angrily, her fists tightly clenched by her side.

"N, no, I don't know him!" she said, her voice carrying a very obvious stammer as she struggled to speak.

Cloud tilted his head and looked at her. As well as finding it difficult to speak, Tifa was also shaking slightly, despite how hard she tried to hide it. Her fists were clenched tightly but they were shaking against her thighs. Tifa's face was also quite pale, as though something had really frightened her, and she was finding it extremely difficult to regain control over it.

"Your face tells me differently," Cloud said. He crossed his arms in front of him, waiting for Tifa's explanation.

"I told you, I don't!" Tifa snapped back in reply, stamping her foot hard on the ground and making the rock beneath her crumble.

Cloud stepped back and held out his palms. "A, all right," he said, giving in. Although he was a little surprised at Tifa's sudden defensive behaviour. She had never snapped at anyone like that before.

Tifa seemed surprised by it herself. She felt her face begin to flush red and she quickly turned away, not wanting Cloud to see her blush. She also didn't want him to see the tear that had filled her eye and was fighting to roll down her right cheek. She didn't want him to see her act so weak over one little thing.

"………… That sounds just like you," she said suddenly. Her voice was still choking a little, but her shaking was gradually falling back under her control. "Leaving home, and saying 'I'm joining SOLDIER!'"

Cloud stared at her, and his eyes softened as he realised why Tifa was acting so strange. He had done the same. Completely out of the blue, without any warning, he had made the same decision to go to Midgar and join SOLDIER. He had left behind his friends and his family. For all any of them knew they might never have seen him again, either. He figured that prospect had scared Tifa.

"There were a lot of guys like that back then," he said to her.

Tifa slowly nodded her head, and wiped the annoying tear away as it slipped out of her lid and onto her cheek, before it fell too far. Then she turned back to Cloud and looked at him. Although it was clear she had been forcing herself not to cry, she managed a faint smile at him.

"You must really be something to make it in SOLDIER out of a group like that," she said to him. "I really respect you…"

Nervously, Cloud scratched the back of his head. "I worked hard for it," he replied.

"Hard work pays off, huh?" Tifa assumed. She walked past Cloud and looked as though she was heading back to the old couple's house where the others still were. As she passed Cloud she suddenly stopped and looked back at him, the smile on her face wider and more genuine. "Cloud, thanks for caring." She then ran off towards the house, returning to her energetic self again.

Cloud watched as she ran back to the house. He couldn't help feeling relieved that Tifa was returning to normal. She was not the type of person to show any weakness, and although he often knew what she was thinking, he didn't realise this. Still, she seemed to be fine after a little encouragement, and that left only Aeris to find.

Aeris was a little further into the town, looking out at the ruined reactor in the distance. At least, that was what she appeared to be doing. In reality she was just staring into the space ahead of her, trying to ignore everything that was going on. She did notice Cloud walking up to her and glanced at him for a second, before she turned away again and looked back at the town.

"What a shock…" she said as Cloud approached, loud enough for him to hear. "I didn't know Zack was from this town."

"You know him?" Cloud asked, standing beside her.

Slowly Aeris nodded her head and moved some of her hair away from her face. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked him. "He was my first love."

Cloud had to think for a second before he finally remembered what she was talking about. It had been when they first met, when they were sitting together on top of the Mog-shaped slide in the Sector 6 abandoned playground. It had been soon after Aeris he had once been in SOLDIER, for it reminded her of her boyfriend and the fact that he had been in SOLDIER as well. She had never told him the name of her boyfriend, but now it became clear. It was 'Zack'.

"…………" Cloud muttered silently.

He didn't know what to say. It was no wonder that Aeris had reacted the way she did as well. It must be hard for her, to stumble across the hometown of her first love, only to find that his parents were also waiting for him to return. He didn't know what Aeris must have been feeling, having Zack's parents quiz her about being their son's girlfriend. It probably felt the same as when Cloud had talked about his own family, and how they were no longer around.

"Zack…" Aeris said, sighing heavily. "SOLDIER First Class. Same as Cloud."

"Strange, there aren't that many who make First Class," Cloud said to her. "But I've never heard of him."

"That's all right," Aeris replied. She moved her hair out of her eyes again and turned back to Cloud, giving him a slightly cheery smile. "It's all in the past. I was just worried because I heard he's been missing."

"Missing?"

Aeris nodded, now running her fingers through the long strips of hair against her shoulders. "I think it was 5 years ago," she explained. "He went out on a job, and never came back. He loved women, a real lady's man. He probably found someone else…" She looked up suddenly as she realised that Cloud was no longer looking at her, instead looking at the ground with a rather grave expression on his face. "Hey? What's wrong?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Poor guy," Cloud said quietly. Aeris tilted her head and looked at him, wondering whether he was concerned over Zack's disappearance, or the fact that he had left Aeris without saying a single word.

"I don't really mind that I haven't heard from him," Aeris assured him. "But I feel for his parents." She put her hand on Cloud's wrist and leaned over to look into Cloud's eyes. "Let's go, Cloud."

Looking back at her, Cloud slowly nodded his head. Gongaga was a place with too many painful memories for everyone, and it was also clear that Sephiroth had been nowhere near this little village. It was probably best that they left the town behind and prayed that it found some glimmer of happiness at some point in the future.


The ruined reactor looked even worse as Cloud approached the reactor. There was wreckage all around the reactor and its small towers, the metal still charred and with thick layers of dark rust beginning to form across its surface. Although nature was finally beginning to win over the reactor, the land around it was still dark and dead. It would still be many more years before grass began to grow around it again.

Cloud had gone alone to the reactor, wanting to at least check it out before they moved on and left Gongaga in piece. Ruined reactors were often prime places for finding stray bits of Materia of all kinds, and he wondered if there would be anything they could use for their journey. They already had a prime collection of magic and summon materia, including the ones Yuffie had stolen along the way, but it could never hurt to gain more powerful materia.

It was deadly silent around the reactor. There were no monsters, which surprised him a little. Monsters loved to breed in ruined places where they could hide their young, but there were none in sight. Like the rest of Gongaga and the forests that surrounded it, they were silent and almost lifeless.

He stopped at the entrance and looked inside. Ahead of him was a dark path that led right up into the main part of the reactor. This was where the explosion had occurred. The metal had melted in many places and the doors had been blown apart, and the ground became darker as it was burnt away. Cloud went right up to this main part of the reactor and looked at the broken doors and charred insides.

"A ruined reactor," he said. He wasn't surprised that Shinra hadn't cleaned up the reactor and rebuilt it. Like Corel, they tended to disregard anything that was damaging to them. He bet they blamed the explosion on the people of Gongaga, and left them to clean up the mess.

As Cloud stood there looking at the wreckage of the Mako Reactor, a faint sound caught his attention. He turned around and looked back down the path, just as the noise grew louder and the source of the noise came into view.

It was a helicopter, flying rapidly over Gongaga and heading swiftly towards the reactor. Although it was still too far away for Cloud to see whom the helicopter was carrying, he could see the infamous Shinra logo painted on the side of the doors. The chopper flew all the way up to the entrance of the reactor and began to descend, unable to go any further because there was no room. Cloud remained where he was, wanting to see who was in the helicopter.

As the helicopter landed the doors opened, the blades still whirring as two passengers stepped out from the back of the helicopter. The first was Scarlet, stepping down from the chopper in her high red shoes and onto the ground, a look of disgust on her face, as she smelt the scent of rusty metal all around her. Behind her came Tseng, the leader of the Turks. Scarlet looked over at him and nodded, before they headed on up the path towards the spot where Cloud was.

"It's Scarlet, Head of Shinra Weapon Development," Cloud whispered to himself.

He watched for a few seconds more, before he turned and ran quickly round the side of the reactor, wanting to get out of sight before Scarlet and Tseng could spot him. He hid behind a large chunk of broken metal and peered out.

He saw Scarlet march firmly into the reactor zone and head towards the broken doors that once shielded the reactor's interior. Tseng stopped a few metres back, looking around for any signs of trouble, since he had probably heard from Elena, Reno or Rude that Cloud and his gang were in the area. So he kept a sharp lookout as Scarlet looked through the doors of the reactor, peering through the darkness.

A few seconds later, Scarlet retracted her head and shook her head fiercely. "……Hmph! This isn't any good either," she huffed angrily, her blonde hair swaying around her face. "You only get junky materia from junky reactors." She gave the side of the reactor a sharp kick with her heel, and walked back to Tseng. "This reactor's a failure," she snapped at him. "What I'm looking for is big, large, huge materia. You seen any?"

Tseng thought for a moment, before shaking his head sorrowfully. "…No, I haven't seen it," he said, cautious not to arouse Scarlet's fierce temper, which could rise at the slightest little thing. "I'll get on it right away."

"Please," said Scarlet, who thankfully didn't sound as angry as she would normally have been. "We could make the ultimate weapon if only we had some." Cloud's ears pricked up at the words 'ultimate weapon', and he leaned in a little closer to hear more of what Scarlet was saying, whilst being careful not to make himself visible.

"I just can't wait," Tseng replied.

"With Hojo gone, the Weapon Development's been getting a bigger budget," said Scarlet.

"I envy them."

"But," Scarlet added, suddenly looking rather thoughtful. "Even if we make the perfect weapon, could that stupid Heidegger even use it?"

Tseng didn't reply, and simply looked away from Scarlet and towards the floor. Scarlet looked at him in bewilderment for a second, before her mind clicked and she realised why Tseng was looking away.

"Oh… sorry!" she exclaimed in mock sincerity. "I forgot Heidegger was your boss! Ha ha ha!"

Again Tseng said nothing, and simply waited until Scarlet had finished her laughter, almost in hysterics at her own non-existent witticism. When she finished she took a deep breath and fanned herself softly with her hand to cool herself down. Then she turned back to Tseng, forcing the smile away as she grew serious once again, the novelty of the joke over.

"Let's go," she said sharply, and brushed past Tseng to head back to the helicopter. Tseng followed her in silence, refusing to say a word.

Once they were out of sight, Cloud stepped out from behind the fallen metal and went back to the reactor door. He could just see Scarlet marching off ahead of Tseng as she went back to the chopper, calling out rudely to the pilot to open the doors for her and to help her in.

"…Big, large, huge materia?" Cloud asked aloud, his voice quiet against the loud whirring of chopper blades. "An ultimate weapon? The perfect weapon? Just what are the Shinra up to…?"

He took a step back away from the reactor as the helicopter doors closed, and the chopped began to rise in the air. Once airborne, the helicopter turned around and headed off the way it came, disappearing over the trees of the forest again until it disappeared into the distance, allowing Cloud to move out of hiding again.

Standing in the middle of the abandoned reactor for a minute, Cloud crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floor, thinking hard. What was this weapon that Scarlet was so keen to create, and why did she need huge materia to create it? Huge Materia? The term rung a small bell in Cloud's mind, but he didn't think it was important right then. What bothered him was the Shinra, and whatever it was that they were planning alongside their search for Sephiroth and the Promised Land.

While he was thinking, he found himself moving towards the open reactor doors. It was very dark inside the reactor, and Cloud had to push himself up on the sharp edges of the doors to fully see inside. There, through the darkness, was a small, sharp glint of red light.

"There's something shiny back there…" Cloud said.

Pushing himself up further, whilst being careful not to fall and cut himself on the sharp edges of the doors as they stuck up around him, Cloud leaned in and stuck his hand into the darkness. He fumbled around through the shadows for minute, until his hand closed around the familiarly firm and smooth surface of a materia ball. It came free easily, and Cloud pulled it out.

He sighed with relief as he saw it was another summon Materia ball – this one he recognised quite easily. The image contained inside like a locked picture – a bare-chested warrior with strong muscles, it could only be Titan materia. Although a fairly rare form of summon materia, it was often used in SOLDIER for field-based combat. He put it safely in his pocket, with the plan to adjust it into his collection later.

With all that over and done with, Cloud began to head back towards Gongaga. He spared one last glance at the reactor that had caused so much misery for the village, before he turned away and walked on without looking back.


EMERALD: There's chapter two for you. Sorry for the week or two delay, but I got a new game to play with. Shadow Hearts: Covenant – brilliant game. I see another novelisation for the future! Although I still have to play the first one, too.