Second chapter! This ones a bit shorter than last time, but I feel it needs to end where it does. I'll probably put the next one up a bit faster as a result.
I find that reviews help me get more motivation to work on this. I got a lovely one for my first chapter which was what kickstarted me into action, so if you want more it would be cool if you could just drop me a line or two. Sorry, don't mean to nag! I'll be quiet and you can read the next chapter now.
After escaping, the group took temporary refuge in a dark tunnel. The floor was littered with debris, shards of broken metal scattered about the floor and destroyed pipes hanging from the grimy, dank walls. Apart from that it looked more like a cave than anything that could have been a building before the explosion. Barret looked as if he was thinking something over. He seemed quite solemn after what they'd just done. They had shut down some of Shinra's operations and cost them a lot of money in the process, but how would this effect the people? Many innocents would have died in the explosion or the fires that had broken out around the sector because of their actions. It was the same battle he had with himself every single time they did this. It was worth it, he knew that. Better for some people to die for the greater good than to all get killed because people stood by and let Shinra suck their planet dry.
"That should keep the planet going a little while longer." He folded his arms, looking around at the tunnel they seemed to be stuck in, "'til we work out somethin' better." The others stayed quiet. For all of the other real AVELANCHE members the ramifications of their actions seemed to be hitting them hard. Even Squall looked quite solemn at the moment. Cloud knew it was insensitive of him, but this still wasn't any of his business. He wasn't taking sides. The money was what mattered to him. Jessie seemed to be setting up some explosives near one of the larger piles of debris, attempting to find them a way out. She gestured for them all to get back and, not wanting to get caught up in some kind of blast, they all quickly complied. The explosion knocked all the debris down, clearing the exit so that they could carry on their way. There was now one more pile of flaming rubble, but there were so many others that it made very little difference.
"Awright, let's get outta here!" Barret seemed to have his energy back now that he'd had a bit of time to justify the night's events in his head. There was no real time to sit around feeling depressed about it, there was still plenty more that needed to be done and far too few people willing to do it. His voice contained renewed vigor, "Everybody rendezvous at the station in Sector 8. We'll meet up on the train." They all began to run off in groups, even Barret going off alone this time. He'd seen that the blonde SOLDIER had seemed unremorseful and had to get some time away from him so that he wouldn't end up blowing up in his face. The last thing he needed right now was to have Cloud come up and bother him again about when he would be getting some cash for all of this.
Cloud realised he was alone with Squall. That rather annoyed him because he'd wanted to have a word with Barret about his paycheck. The sooner he could get enough money to get away from this particular line of work, the better. If he got detained by Shinra for aiding terrorists then that would be bad news. The last thing he wanted was to go back there if he could help it. After shaking his head to clear his thoughts he glanced over at Squall, sighing and brushing a hand through his blonde spikes. This could perhaps be just a tad awkward.
"Time to get going, I guess." If he was going to be stuck with this guy he may as well get back to the others quickly to make their alone time brief. Better to be with a group of people he didn't care about than to be with one and be forced into conversation. After looking back at the man for confirmation and earning a nod, he began to head through towards the station.
The more they walked amongst the panicked natives to this sector, the more weirdly awkward Cloud felt. While he wasn't the type to be all that interested in idle chit-chat he couldn't shake the feeling that walking around in this silence with Squall was making him feel rather awkward. Should he say anything? He wondered which was worse: uncomfortable silence or forced banter. Occasionally he would let his eyes glance over in Squall's direction, becoming increasingly more perturbed by the fact that the SeeD seemed to be fine with the silence. Why wasn't he so lucky? Why was he so bothered by this all of a sudden?
Soon enough he was disturbed by an ever so slightly mocking chuckle, "You know, we might get there a bit faster if you took your eyes off me and kept them on the road." Cloud blinked, not realising that he'd spent a little longer than usual watching him this time, and when his eyes refocused it was plain to see that Squall had quite the amused smirk on his face. Cloud quickly shook his head, clearing his thoughts and making sure that not even the slightest shred of embarrassment showed.
"It's nothing. I was just gonna say that you did a good job back there." He'd come up with a quick excuse and had played it off coolly enough. Why had he been staring? He shook the question off and just chalked it up to the fact that he barely knew who this guy was, so had just been giving him a look over to see if he really could be trustworthy. It was a reasonable enough excuse.
"Fair enough. You didn't do too badly yourself. For a SOLDIER, I mean." There was always that hint of haughty amusement in Squall's voice every single time he opened his mouth. That annoyed Cloud. Who said SeeDs were any better than SOLDIER? They had a rivalry of sorts, he knew that much, because the SeeDs tended to think that Shinra's finest hadn't earned their power through plenty of training and had only gained it through reckless treatments and controversial experiments. On the other hand, SOLDIERs were of the opinion that SeeD were fairly obselete in a world where there were rarely any sorceress attacks. In a way, both sides had valid points. It didn't change the fact that he didn't appreciate being looked down on like that.
"Oh?" The blonde murmured, glancing at Squall coolly, "Didn't think I'd bother with my full strength when nothing there could pose the slightest challenge to someone like me. Figured I'd drop it to about the same level as you so that we were an equal party." He suppressed a smile when the SeeDs brow furrowed with just barely concealed annoyance, taking pleasure in the fact that he'd not been the only one insulted. The man didn't seem to want to say anything back so he just carried on walking them through the burning Sector.
The two of them continued until they got to a street corner that would take them even closer to the train station they were supposed to be regrouping at. Cloud had been brushing past the people walking about on the street, but stopped when he saw a woman around his age get pushed to the ground by a man who was scurrying about in a panic. He frowned, ready to go and stop him and ask him to apologise for knocking her, but he scarpered at the sight of a man advancing on him with a fairly intimidating sword on his back. He sighed and settled for helping her up off the ground instead.
"What happened?" the girl asked, looking up at Cloud in slight confusion. Well, she didn't seem hurt. That was a relief. He watched as she brushed off her mid-length pink dress and she checked her plait to see if the ribbon securing it was still present and accounted for.
"You should probably get out of here. It's not safe at the moment." Cloud didn't even notice Squall walk off ahead of him to the train station. The brunet had become fed up with waiting for him to finish his little chit-chat with this girl and had instead headed off to the station. They were better off not travelling in groups anyway.
The girl nodded, "Oh, okay. I'll let you get going then, your friend seems to have walked off without you." She gestured down the pathway that she thought the man had taken, but he'd already disappeared from view. She was slightly alarmed when Cloud cursed and headed off in the same direction, but decided to let him go. It was strange, that sword had seemed so familiar... perhaps they'd meet again.
Cloud had set off after Squall quickly, becoming quite annoyed at his behavior. Why had he just run off without him? He could have at least said something! Surely he hadn't been taking that long talking to that girl. Soon enough he came to a fork in the pathway that he'd taken. Ah. Which way was the station? He was less knowledgeable about the streets of Midgar than he'd originally thought. After some dithering he strode purposefully down the right path, figuring that the quieter path was probably his better option.
After some walking he approached a dark, dingy alley. Perhaps this wasn't the right way after all. By the time he noticed the guards patrolling the perimeter it was too late. There were cries of, "Hey! You there!" and he had to quickly reach for his sword to deflect the bullets that were soaring towards him. His lightning fast reactions allowed him to catch them easily with his sword, the collision causing sparks before the projectiles ricocheted off the sturdy metal. Now that the men were advancing on him he began to fight, but there seemed to be too many. How would he catch the train now?
Then he heard it. The familiar chugging and whistling of the train was approaching ever closer, all he had to do was get to the edge of the archway and make a leap of faith when it got close enough. He charged one of the soldiers that was in his way and threw himself over the edge. This was it. He just had to hope that he landed safely.