A/N: Hello, and welcome to the third chapter in this wonderful fan fiction. I would like to thank those who actually reviewed on the last two chapters (virtual cookies for both of you), and those who alerted it (same applies to you). You are brave people. It's been a while since I've played FFVII, so if I'm off on anything, feel free to yell at me for it. That being said, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, a Chocobo named Bonny, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, or the knowledge to defend myself (other than 'go for the groin'). However, I do own this plot and brand, new, spiffy college books. =D
Edited on 17 Sept 2010 for errors and goofs. Yes, there is a difference between the two.
Ok, scratch the 'at least two days' estimate. We wound up staying a week at that god-forsaken farm. I did not think I could stomach another Chocobo pie again. In some odd twist of fate, Bill had assigned me all the chores for the barn, and Ronnie got to chill out in the house and cook and clean. Of course, that could have been due to the fact that I couldn't cook worth a flip and Ronnie did not do good around pointy objects a.k.a. nearly every farm tool imaginable.
While we were there we found out valuable information about the world we were on by cheating. Ronnie would ask Billy and Chole questions to see how smart they were, when we were really learning these things for ourselves. We were cheeky bastards, weren't we?
First thing was first. We were on a planet called Gaia. Why in the world this world was named after another name for Earth, I had no idea, but it was. Tons of monsters roamed the planet giving travelers a hard time, but most were garden variety and easy to dispatch. Very rarely were there monsters bigger than a Chocobo and even fewer were bigger than that.
Mako and Shin-Ra. Like two peas in a pod. Apparently, the people of Gaia did not use electricity like on our planet, but some type of green, glowy liquid that came out of the planet. Mako was used to power damn near everything, and was what turned Shin-Ra from a tiny electric company, to a giant ass military presence that pretty much ran the whole world. The Gaians were stupid idiots. That was like Earth finally accepting the dominance of Microsoft or Wal-Mart and letting them run the government instead of having democratic elections or something.
Also, Shin-Ra was currently at war with a country called Wutai. Bill didn't explain much of the reasons for this war, but it might have had something to do with Shin-Ra trying to shove a reactor in Wutai and Wutai's want for Materia.
Materia. According to Billy and Chole, Materia was this 'pwetty glowing wock' that allowed whoever used it to cast magic. Bill didn't know much about it either, so Ronnie and I were pretty clueless in that area. Though, we did find out that normal people usually could not get their hands on the stuff, and Shin-Ra's soldiers and army were the primary users of the strange rocks.
That threw a big wrench in my plan for busting out my aircraft. I had been expecting to go in there, maybe yell at a few people, and if push came to shove, use freaking force. I was pretty sure the plane had some live rounds left in it. I could probably shoot a few of them out of the way. But, if they had pwetty glowing wocks that could shoot other kinds of 'magic' at me...I highly doubted I could make it like that. Also, Bill mentioned the fact that Shin-Ra had a big huge building set on the plate of Midgar and it was full of tough security. I had no idea what it meant to be sitting on a 'plate', but ok. It seemed that a stealth operation was the way I was going to have to go.
Also, it would be foolish to go up there and say, "Yo, I'm the pilot of that plane you captured," if they thought it was enemy aircraft. Because then I would be an enemy and they would throw me in jail. They were humans and, just like all other humans, they had to have ways of dealing with criminals. So, they probably had jails. The Gaians seemed far too advanced to go around executing people left and right. I hoped.
In terms of supplies, it really didn't take long for Ronnie and me to get a little knapsack together of a few pieces of food and some of these weird things called potions that Bill gave us. He said we would probably need them on our way to Midgar since the number of monsters seemed to increase around there.
So, little knapsacks in tow, perched on the back of Bonny and Demon, and a few gil jingling in our pockets—it seemed we worked harder than we were supposed to thus we were paid—Ronnie and I waited for Bill to get out of our way so we could finally begin the trip to Midgar.
"Now, remember what I said. The monsters will be sparse until you get halfway there and then they'll start showing their ugly selves more often. As long as you're with your Chocobos, everything should be fine. Once you reach Midgar, they'll stop you and check you out before letting you in the slums, those are the parts under the plate. You'll have to take the train to get to the top, that's where the Shin-Ra Building is. Remember, security is probably very tight in there, so don't go anywhere without your I.D.s," Bill finished.
"Alright, Bill, we got it. Don't make any trouble and we should be fine," I said restlessly shifting in my saddle.
"I hope you get your plane back. Though, Shin-Ra can be very touchy when it comes to things like that," Bill replied taking a few steps away from the Chocobos.
"I hope for their sake they give it back," Ronnie mumbled.
Bill gave him a curious look. I cocked my head to the side, "I can get very angry when people mess with my things."
Bill chuckled, "I think I've noticed."
"Goodbye, Bill..." I said quickly, easing Bonny into a walking gait.
"Goodbye Ms. Saan, Mr. Ronnie!" Bill called after us, as I was already gaining speed. I needed to get the hell out of there. "Come back soon!"
Ha! Never! I hoped to never see that stupid barn again! And, just like that, we were making our way towards freedom, Midgar, Shin-Ra, and ultimately, my plane. I wasn't going to have to put up with country meals any longer. No more little children bouncing around the house while I tried to regain my strength and mental health on the couch from cleaning up Chocobo crap. No more freaking purple apples, which I was unfortunate enough to have shoved down my throat because Ronnie said they were 'good'; when they were really entirely too sweet for my liking.
"So, what's the plan?" Ronnie asked as the Chocobos finally broke out into a run.
"I don't have one," I replied nonchalantly.
"What?" The tone of Ronnie's voice meant he was secretly threatening me to come up with one, and fast.
I sighed, "I was just going to go waltzing in there and demand my plane back, but I don't think that's going to work. They'd probably throw us in jail."
"Why?"
"Because if they think it's enemy aircraft then we'd be enemies for flying it..."
"Oh."
"Also, if this was Earth, and someone just waltzed up to the government and said, 'Yo, give that back, it's mine', do you think they'd actually do it?" I asked looking at him.
"...true. They'd probably be like, 'Hehe, mine now, bitch.'" Ronnie replied.
"Exactly."
"So, we're pretty much winging this?" He asked.
"Pretty much."
"And where are we going to live?"
... I hadn't really thought about that either. For the past eight days we had been living with an old man and his kids so, the thought of actually having to move into a house or apartment of our own never crossed my mind. I had been so caught up in thoughts about my plane and sweet revenge that I had failed to think ahead on more than just one aspect of my life. Why did I have to go and do a thing like that?
I sighed, "I don't know."
"Well, that's just great," Ronnie replied tartly.
I scowled. Yeah, okay, so our situation sucked ass. He didn't have to go and rub it in like that. I was trying my best to come up with things on such short notice, after all. I didn't see him coming up with ideas. I seemed to be the one thinking of everything! Excluding his idea for working to pay off our debt for staying the night, though. I gave him full credit for that. And, since I did, I was fully allowed to blame him for those seven days of hell.
One of the rolly, spiky things passed the path in front of us and kept going on its merry little way. I had half a mind to stop and let Bonny poke the damn thing to death with her beak. Once I didn't have to constantly think about cleaning up bird droppings and which Chocobo was eating the wrong kind of greens, I was forced to think about other things, and I was feeling pretty shitty about having to do so. There is great irony in that statement.
Gone were the days of mentally sitting on my ass. Where were we going to live? For how long would it stay that way? Where were we going to work? Then came the wonderful thoughts of, 'Oh, God, what happens if Ronnie and I spontaneously decide we want to have a family?' Not together, of course, that wouldn't happen for many reasons. The question still remained, however. Questions led to questions that led to their own questions and soon I found myself lost in a never ending 'thought spiral' that was leading me down into a depression.
We were all alone in the world. Sure, there were Gaians everywhere, but we were the only two Earthlings. That was a very depressing thought. One that I could not for the life of me get my mind off of. Earth's population had dropped substantially from billions to, like, two in the blink of an eye. However, Ronnie and I were on Gaia, not Earth, so did that mean there were no other humans from Earth actually left on Earth? Sure, maybe some of the shelters actually survived and didn't get burned to a crisp, but how were those left inside fairing?
Wow. I was pretty sure what I was experiencing was called a 'delayed reaction.' A very serious delayed reaction. When I almost caused Bonny to run smack dab into one of the porcupine things, I finally decided to pull myself out of my thoughts and pay attention to the damn road. Oh, hey, look. There was a road! Definitely did not see that there before.
"You alright?" Ronnie asked giving me a concerned look.
I blinked, stared at the rolling porcupine ball, then continued moving, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You seem upset," He stated.
Well, that's because I was. How observant of you.
"I was thinking, Ronnie. You should try it some time."
He gave me a look that clearly said he was not pleased with my answer then turned around and continued on. Demon warked as Ronnie forced him into another dash, and I followed his lead. Bonny took off, the quick jerk almost making me fly off. Perhaps I should have held onto the reins a little tighter... Finally deciding to put my thoughts behind me, alongside my stomach, I focused on what was in front of me. Both literally and figuratively.
Finding a house to live in and a family to settle down with could come later. Way later. For now I had to focus on getting to Midgar, into Shin-Ra, and finding my freakin' plane. I almost fell off the Chocobo when a thought occurred to me.
"OH GOD!" I groaned out as loud as I could.
"What?" Ronnie asked looking over his shoulder at me. Demon was still faster than Bonny.
"I.D.s!" I exclaimed, Bill's words finally sinking in.
"What?" Ronnie asked again, he had no idea what I was talking about.
"Bill! Bill told us to keep our I.D.s on us all the time, and that the Shin-Ra security would probably ask to check them a lot," I droned out.
Ronnie was giving me a look that clearly said that he had no idea where I was going with that.
"We don't have any!" I shouted.
Sure, Ronnie had his driver's license, but I highly doubted that a piece of plastic with the State of Tennessee printed at the top would work as one. If anything, it would draw further suspicion. After all, there was no Tennessee on Gaia. As for my driver's license... I couldn't even remember the last time I saw it. I could only pray that it had not been in the plane when they took it. That had my picture on it, and they would know straight away who I was as soon as I walked through the front door.
"Craaap," Ronnie groaned. "Surely not everyone on this planet has to have one. Their government can't be that extensive. It's just not possible. Maybe we can get by that or have them issue us one, or something."
He did raise a good point. It was impossible for Shin-Ra to have information on everyone that resided on Gaia. I didn't know this planet's population, but it had to be bigger than anything one lonely little military force could handle in terms of paperwork. Especially if it was only stationed in one city: Midgar.
"If we act dumb enough," I concluded, "that might just work."
"I don't think acting dumb will work for you," he said.
"Why not?"
"You're going to waltz in and basically demand your aircraft back at some point, right?" Ronnie asked.
Actually, the more I thought about it, no. No, I wasn't. I would probably sneak it out. "Go on."
"You're a pilot that can fly a very complicated machine that takes a great number of hours training to learn how to fly...and you're going to play dumb?"
Again, good point. Most pilots had to at least have a little bit of common sense about them. Saying something like, "Oh, I forgot my I.D. in my other flight suit" probably wasn't going to work. Dammit.
"We won't know unless we try," I replied, not believing a word out of my mouth.
-FFVII-
Monsters. Monsters-bloody-fucking-everywhere! Bill was not lying when he said that they would increase in numbers the closer we got to Midgar. The little bastard could, however, have warned us that they would increase exponentially. Then again, the farmer probably didn't even have that word in his vocabulary.
He also failed to mention the different kinds of monsters we'd run into. Not only were little rolling porcupine things following us, probably waiting for us to fall off our Chocobos or something, but there were giant, black wolf creatures, ugly emu things—unlike Chocobos, which are chickens—and the occasional motorcycle...thing. Yes, there were motorcycle creatures on Gaia. I'm not even going to stress how seriously messed up that was.
"You don't think any of them will try to knock us off, do you?" Ronnie asked as our Chocobos walked closely together.
We had been running, but after about three good dashes the Chocobos were plum to pooped to run at all anymore. It would have helped to know that they had something akin to an exhaustion meter. Though, I guess it was to be expected considering how every animal gets tired eventually.
"No," I replied.
"..."
"At least, I don't think. They shouldn't. Bill said we were pretty safe as long as we stayed on the Chocobos."
"And what if we fall off?" Ronnie asked staring at me.
"... In the unlikelihood that one of us fall off, it is the duty of the other one to snatch that person off the ground before they get eaten, squished, or ran over."
"What if both of us fall off?"
Why was he even asking that? What was the likelihood? I mean, come on. Really.
"Then we run like hell."
"We don't have a map, which way do we run?"
I mechanically turned my head to face him with a blank look. "There's a freakin' road right below our feet! What do you mean, 'Which way do we run?'"
Ronnie busted into laughter, tears rolling down his face. Oh, that little cracker. He had been joking with me all along and I had failed to notice it. I hated when he did that. Almost as bad as when Lance used to lie to me with a straight face and I would never catch on until he had to finally tell me, 'I'm joking.' It was times like those that I felt like the biggest dumb ass in the world, despite what my school grades said.
"Alright, smart ass," I huffed pulling my Chocobo away from his, "just for that, I'll leave you to get picked off whenever you fall."
Ronnie continued to laugh, wiping the tears from his eyes with the palms of his hands. I glared over at him which only caused him to start laughing and crying again. Fuck you, Ronnie. Fuck you...
Looking up ahead I could tell that we were exiting the small canyon we had been traveling in. The sides were getting closer and closer while at the same time losing their height. More than likely there was a clearing up ahead waiting for us, and I had the feeling that waiting in that clearing, just around the coming bend, was Midgar. Wonderful Midgar. Where my sweet, dear plane was waiting for me.
Sure enough, after taking a left we not only exited the canyon, but we could finally see the city we had been looking for. We hadn't made it far from the canyon mouth before something caught my attention. It had streaked by on my right side. Everything I learned in training kicked in, and I immediately jerked my head in that direction. Nothing was there. I narrowed my eyes.
I waited for a few seconds before continuing on, Ronnie already a few strides ahead of me. I knew there were a lot of monsters around and that they usually did not bother Chocobos, but something still felt off. Or, maybe it was just I was on edge.
Dammit! My head whipped around the other way and I stared off towards the left. I knew I had just seen something! I was not losing my mind. Something was out there and it was stalking us.
"What is it?" Ronnie asked, not really interested.
I glared at the space in front of me, then turned back around, "Nothing..."
If I saw it again, I swore to myself that I was going to chase after it. The monsters were bad enough when they walked around casually. I did not need one of them finally deciding that they were hungry, and that we would make great dinners.
A snarl.
That was all I heard before I was suddenly flying head over heels in the air.
"Sonya!"
I grunted as I hit the ground, tumbling over and over twice before skidding to a stop. I heard Bonny cry out in distress and then her crazed stamping as she took off running. Rolling my head over, world spinning as I did so, I could just make out her yellow form darting back the way we came. The damn bird was going back to the farm!
"Sonya!" Ronnie shouted at me again.
"Stay on the fucking Chocobo!" I screamed.
Quickly, I pushed myself onto my hands and knees and tried to clear my head. Falling off a Chocobo was definitely something I did not want to experience again. I could feel a dull throbbing in my right arm and I could slightly feel blood trailing down it under my suit. Whatever had attacked me must have grabbed my arm and yanked me off my Chocobo. That ruled out the spikes, emus, and the motorcycles.
"Three o'clock!"
I yanked my head to the right. A wolf. One of those big, black wolves had finally decided to take a chance and snatch a Chocobo rider for a meal. Oh, it was going to pay for that. I didn't need a gun to take the little pipsqueak out. I could crush its skull with my foot if I had to. Granted I would have to jump up and down a few times to do that, but the threat remained.
It snarled at me and charged. Dumb move. Never charge at someone when they can see you coming, that gives them ample time to dodge. Ronnie was screaming at me to do all kinds of things. Get up. Run. Get on the fucking Chocobo now. But, I paid no attention to him and focused on dodge rolling away from this crazed animal.
It missed, naturally. However, I had misjudged its agility and in no time flat it was already turning around for another go. Holy freaking crap, I'm screwed. I tried to get up, but only managed to shift my weight before the creature was upon me, teeth bared. It knocked me to the ground causing my knapsack's contents to dig into my back. Instincts kicked in and I brought my hands up to protect my face. The wolf's top jaw collided roughly with my right hand, cutting into it. On reflex, my right hand closed around its top jaw while my left went for the bottom. Yes, its claws were starting to dig into my suit trying to connect with flesh, but I was more worried about the sharp teeth mere inches from my face to care.
One second it was on me, snarling and trying to bite, and then the next I felt it ripped away from me and watched as its black fur quickly left my vision. I heard a thud and a whimper but before I could tell where it had landed, something grabbed a hold of the back of my shirt and yanked me right up off the ground.
"Oof!" I grunted as my stomach connected with a Chocobo's saddle. Well, that explained a lot.
"Hold on!" Ronnie shouted as he kicked into Demon's sides.
Hold on to what? Was the thought that passed through my mind as the bird took off at dashing speed. I bounced painfully with each stride as I lay sideways on Ronnie's saddle.
"Dammit! Bounce. Why couldn't you- bounce -have pulled me up- bounce -the right way!" I screamed.
Ronnie didn't answer me as he was too busy concentrating on avoiding various obstacles in our path. I couldn't see them as we approached them, since I was staring at the ground and Demon's feet as he ran, but I could see them when we passed. It seemed that the clearing to Midgar wasn't as clear as it looked before. There were a lot of rocks and boulders... Really rocky boulders... and spiky things. There were a lot of spiky things. Oh, look a blood trail. That was not a good thing to be seeing.
"Ronnie!" I shouted out to him. He didn't even slow down. "RONNIE!"
"What?" He nearly screeched, "I'm trying to live here!"
"I'm bleeding!"
"So?"
"They can probably follow the smell, genius!" I growled at him.
Well, that worked in getting his attention because I heard him swear, but other than that he didn't do anything to aid me in this issue. Not much he could do. He could have pulled me up normally into the saddle so I could hold my arm and at least try to mask the smell of blood but it seemed like he was too busy to even attempt that. I didn't suppose he had any band-aids on him, either. What was that anime rule I saw years ago? Band-aids heal everything?
The potion! That had to be what the potion was for! After all, Bill did tell us to use it in case of an emergency, and I was pretty sure the situation counted as an emergency. However, there was no way in Oklahoma I was going to reach my hand behind my back and try to fish it out of my bag. That increased my risk of falling off and, as I've said before, I did not want to do that again.
"Ronnie, get the potion out of my bag," I gasped as I hit the saddle one more time.
"What?" He asked as if I was crazy.
"Potion. Bag. Now."
The bag zipped loudly as Ronnie yanked the drawstring open. I gasped as I saw the food fall out and towards the ground.
"No!" I screeched reaching for it. I missed.
"Dammit, Ronnie!"
"Gah!" Ronnie shouted as he yanked Demon's reins. The bird took a hard left causing me to nearly fall off, again.
"There are birds chasing me!" Ronnie yelled.
"POTION!" I shouted back.
I didn't give a damn about the birds! If the idiot would just have hurried up and given me the potion, which I guessed would heal me somehow, then maybe I could have prevented us from drawing anymore nasties. I felt Ronnie roughly shove his hand into my knapsack and the potion's weight leave it.
"Here!" He screamed thrusting it beside my head.
I quickly snatched it. The liquid inside the clear bottle was a strange blue color. Ignoring that fact, I bit into the corked top, ripped it out, spit it out, and then took as good as a swig as I could manage given my jarring motion.
"Bleh!" I said making a face.
That stuff was terrible! Ok, it wasn't the worst thing I had had to drink before but ew. My right arm and hand began to tingle. My eyes widened and I dropped the bottle as I saw what was happening. My injuries were indeed healing themselves—from the inside out. I gawked as I saw the muscle and flesh piece itself back together and whatever blood had leaked out of my body instantly dry.
"Oh my God, ew!" I screeched.
Yeah, okay, it healed me. I was healthy again. No more blood smell to attract monsters. But, that was officially one of the most disgusting things I had ever seen my body do. I wasn't able to relay my horrifying yet wonderful experience to Ronnie. One second we were on Demon, the next we were tumbling head over heels on the ground. I was really starting to hate that.
Amazingly, nothing of mine broke upon impact with the ground, all five times I hit it, and I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees once again. Oh, shit. Even though the world was still spinning I could see that one of the emu things had a hold of Ronnie by his knapsack. That was not good...
"Ronnie!" I cried out.
Shoving myself off the ground, I ran at the giant bird. Noticing my approach it let go of Ronnie's bag just in time to get my elbow in its ribs. I was pretty sure my elbow got hurt more than its ribs did. Ronnie, seeing his chance to escape, did, and he took off running towards the gates of Midgar. Which, now that I was not staring at the ground, I noticed were very close. So close that I could see the guard watching us in total shock.
At least, I was pretty sure it was total shock. His head was covered with this bizarre looking helmet that had three glowing lights where the eyes should be, but his mouth was in the traditional 'o' shape. Yeah, I was pretty sure that classified it under 'total shock'.
I shoved the bird with all my might, which wasn't much given the weight difference, and took off running towards the gates. I was a good ten or twelve feet behind Ronnie which meant if the bird was still hungry, it would be coming after me. And that was when I saw it. The fucking guard had a damn rifle leaning up against his leg. Dumb ass could have been shooting instead of gawking.
"Shoot the damn bird!" I screeched hoarsely.
That must have snapped the man out of whatever trance he was in because his hands immediately found their way to his gun. He brought it up to his face, butt resting against his shoulder, and aimed...at me. I was almost seven feet from this guy by now, Ronnie already on the ground beside him, what the hell was he thinking? That I was an intruder and needed to be taken out while the Emu From Hell was no problem and it could go about its lovely little day? Hell no, I did not think so.
"The bird, you fucking moron, THE BIRD!"
This time he actually listened to what I had to say. Quickly, he altered his line of sights from me to the emu creature. He fired just as I passed him, which instantly made my left ear ring, and I collapsed to the ground beside Ronnie. Out of my good ear I could hear a few more shots. I turned around and watched as the emu took three great strides towards us before taking a bullet to the head and finally collapsing to the ground dead.
Jeezus, what were those things made out of? The guard turned around and looked at Ronnie and me. Ronnie was already sitting Indian style on the ground trying to catch his breath; while I, on the other hand was trying to keep from collapsing.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I breathed.
"Uh..." The guard flinched at my outburst.
"We could have been killed and you just stood there with your gun and watched! When you could have been saving us!" I continued.
The guard looked away sheepishly. Wait, he did what? Yes, he just looked away sheepishly. Military personnel are not supposed to act that way! Not on the battlefield, at least. What the hell did Shin-Ra teach these idiots?
"You looked like you were from Wutai..." He mumbled.
My mouth fell open as I stared at him in disbelief. I quickly shoved myself off the ground, growling as I did so, and stood straight up in front of the man. His hand instinctively tightened around his gun, but I was too close. Not unless he was smart enough to think of pistol-whipping me with it, it was useless at that close of a range.
"Does it look like we're from Wutai now?"
"Well," he muttered, "no..."
"DAMN RIGHT, NO!"
"Saan, give the man a break," Ronnie cut in.
Both me and the guard turned to stare at him. I glared. Anger and frustration. That was what I was feeling and I was having a wonderful time letting it loose on this unsuspecting soldier. Why did he have to go and ruin that?
"It's been a long day for both of us. Let's just get in and do what we came here to do," Ronnie finished, looking up at me.
I growled but decided to shut my mouth anyway. The guard, realizing the former conflict was resolved, quickly went about doing his appointed duties. Which consisted of interrogating all those who entered Midgar, apparently.
He snapped to attention, rifle by his side and barked out, "What business do you have in Midgar?"
I blinked, then blinked again, "We're going to the Shin-Ra Building."
"To look for a job," Ronnie quickly threw in.
The guard deflated before our eyes, "Oh, gosh. You're not going to report this to the boss are you?"
I sneered. Oh, this was perfect. Little soldier boy didn't want to be fired. I had to resist the urge to giggle with glee.
"Should we?" Ronnie asked. Ooooh, teasing. This was getting good.
"No!" The guard said quickly, spinning around to face Ronnie. "I mean, no. There weren't any serious altercations today so, I see no reason for this incident to be reported."
"You pointed a gun at me," I replied calmly.
The guard spun back around, "And I humbly apologize for that, ma'am! It'll never happen again!"
I smirked while folding my arms. Of course it won't, I thought devilishly, because I'm never going to see you again. But, for now, I'm going to enjoy your distress.
"Alright then," Ronnie said getting off the ground and dusting himself off, "are you going to let us in?"
The guard saluted, "Right away, sir!"
He ran over to the giant door with the number '06' printed on it in big white letters, fumbled around in his pocket, and pulled out a card key. Well, what do you know; they used the same kind of crap as we did on Earth. Yay, more coincidences I did not want to think about. After swiping the key, the door came to life. Ronnie and I stood back to get a better look at it as it slowly slid open.
It was slow. It was slow, and it was very thick. I could safely assume that the entire outer wall of Midgar was thick to keep monsters and enemies out. Now that we were closer, I could finally understand what Bill meant when he said 'plate.' Midgar did, in fact, have a plate consisting of giant slabs of metal and concrete that were suspended up in the air by God knows what. It was impossible to see anything on top of those plates from this angle, but I was sure there were probably more houses and things. If the Shin-Ra Building was on top of the plate, what was stopping other buildings from being there, too?
When the door had finally opened all the way, the guard stood off to the side and stood at attention once again. I raised a brow at the spectacle. First, he's a blundering oaf, then he's all spic-and-span soldier man. Shrugging off the guy's constantly changing behavior I walked forward and into the city. Ronnie stopped long enough to thank the man by giving him some gil, and then quickly followed.
"Well," he said, "that was fun."
I barked out a laugh.
-FFVII-
Wall Market. We were in part six of Midgar which was also known as Wall Market. How did I know? Because we passed a sign not too far back that announced it to the world in big, neon letters. In fact, almost everything in this particular part was neon signs accompanied by an occasional provocative ad. I was pretty sure we had just found the Las Vegas part of Gaia. I wished we hadn't.
The amount of cat calls I received were forgotten after I ran out of fingers to count them on. I didn't even bother to use my toes, they were too busy getting me the heck through this place and to a map. Of course, if I was honest with myself, I did look like I was asking for such behavior. I did have giant gash marks in my suit that could easily be classified as a 'fashion statement.' Why couldn't potions heal clothing, too?
Yet another wolf whistle.
"I think he likes you," Ronnie droned. It seemed he had finally run out of witty remarks to say.
I looked back at the guy we had just passed. He was not looking at me.
"Actually, I think he likes you," I said quietly.
Ronnie perked up, "Really? Where?"
I laughed. "He's already gone. He turned down that path back there."
"Dude, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Ronnie whined.
I cocked my head at him, "You've been here a week. Cool your jets."
Ronnie pouted, "But who knows when the next space rock's going to come down and kill us all?"
"You jinx us, I kill you," I replied casting him a sideways glance.
We made it past a few more buildings and a shop for something I didn't want to think too much about before I came to the conclusion that we were lost. Come to think of it, we were never found to begin with. Without thinking, we had simply walked into Midgar and assumed that the train would drop from the heavens allowing us to climb aboard to the Shin-Ra Building. Yet another brilliant move made by yours truly.
"Hey, sweet thing."
"Dear God, they won't stop," I grumbled, slapping my hand against my forehead.
I turned around to see a not-too-attractive teenage boy walking over to me. My mouth nearly dropped. Oh, so now I had minors hitting on me? Well, that was just lovely. I resisted the urge to scream and run in the opposite direction. A plan. A plan was developing within my mind, and the poor child was going to be the unfortunate victim of it.
We had no I.D.s. The only thing we did have were a few pieces of gil, thanks to Ronnie's tipping skills, and a potion or two in Ronnie's knapsack. The kid more than likely had an I.D. on him. He was about to be robbed.
I smiled sweetly at him, "Hello."
"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" He asked.
What's a boy like you trying to pick up women like me? I almost countered, but decided to keep my mouth shut. I did not have any right to judge this kid, though I couldn't help but wonder what his parents had been teaching him. Did his parents even know where he was? Putting those thoughts aside I went back to my plan.
"Oh, just thought I'd go out for a stroll around the town," I replied. "What about you?"
Ronnie cocked an eyebrow at this. He had no idea what I was planning on doing, and for him, my behavior was very unusual, indeed. I wasn't one to go and start flirting with strange men, let alone boys, that I did not know. That was a given considering I had ignored all the other ones who had commented me on my outfit…or how well I looked in it. I ignored his stare.
The boy sneered, "The same. Want to go get a drink?"
Resisting the urge for one of my own eyebrows to rise (how young was this kid and what was the drinking age on Gaia?), I tried to give my best damn seductive smile…which probably wasn't a decent one since I was not knowledgeable in the art of 'flaunting oneself.' Seduction is hard to pull off for a tomboy.
"Only if you're buying."
The boy's face lit up. He had just 'scored' with a woman who was at least six years older than him. I figured he was going to have a hell of a story to tell his buddies whenever he got back home. Too bad he was going to be missing his I.D. when he did so.
"Uh, Saan?" Ronnie asked. I could tell by the tone of voice that he was fearing for my sanity.
I nearly died laughing. The boy gave him a look with such anger and jealousy I thought he could slice the air with it. I was his woman, Ronnie could fuck the hell off before he got his face beat in. I decided to play along with it.
"What?" I growled.
Ronnie blinked in confusion. Why was I yelling at him? However, the trick worked. The boy was now looking at me expectantly. He probably figured that Ronnie was an old boyfriend or something, and that if I was going to shoo Ronnie off, he'd have my complete and undivided attention.
"Uh…nothing, I guess?" Ronnie asked.
I glared at him then walked over to the boy and took his arm in my own, "Come on, let's get out of here."
The poor, ignorant fool. This kid was extremely too trusting. Ok, so maybe he was being fueled by hormones and decided to ignore the fact that I was leading him towards an alleyway, but honestly. We quickly turned the corner. I have no idea what this kid thought I was going to do in an alleyway of all places, but he probably wasn't expecting me to throw him up against a wall.
"What—?" He tried to ask me before my knee quickly thrust its way between his legs…hard.
Naturally, the boy doubled over in pain, but before he could scream, I thrust my knee up into his stomach, and then struck him over the back of the head with my closed fists. He hit the ground and knew no more. That took care of that problem. Now all I had to do was snatch his I.D. from his wallet and give it to Ronnie.
"Ronnie!" I called out to him, leaning my head out from behind the wall.
I wasn't half surprised to see him still standing where I left him, dumbfounded. He turned around at the sound of my voice, "What?"
"Get over here!" I commanded.
"… I thought you would want some privacy to-"
"Get over here, now," I growled. He did not want to finish that sentence.
Hesitantly, Ronnie made his way over to where I was standing. His eyes widened when he noticed the unconscious body.
"What did you do?" He asked looking at me with uncertainty.
"I kicked his ass so we could take his I.D., what does it look like I did?" I replied calmly.
I bent down and started to rummage through his back pockets. No wallet. Ok, front pockets' turn. Bingo. Yanking the battered piece of leather out of his pants' pocket, I quickly began to thumb through it. I had no idea what a Shin-Ra I.D. was going to look like, but I figured it would probably be the thing that had his name and photograph on it.
"I don't know you anymore…" Ronnie half-whimpered.
I looked at him with a blank expression. It was the only way we would be safe to get on the train. Even if the I.D. had a photograph on it, at least Ronnie somewhat resembled the poor man who was lying face down on the ground. We could get by with saying that he had grown up some since the last photo was taken, or something…
I finally found the I.D., a small piece of plastic with, sure enough, a photo, name, address, and all that wonderful stuff, and pocketed it, then shoved the boy's wallet back where I found it. Ronnie made a face.
"You're a lousy thief," He remarked.
"Why?" I asked, not really caring.
"If you're going to rob him, at least take his money. We could use that."
I glared at him. I wasn't doing what I was because I wanted to; I was doing it because I needed to. Call me a hypocrite, but I didn't consider myself a thief. Sure, I was taking the kid's identity, but nothing else. I didn't need anything else. In fact, somewhere in the back of my mind I probably suspected that after we were done using it, I'd mail it back to him. Maybe throw in a 'Get Well Soon' card for good measure.
"I'm not going to take his money, Ronnie," I finally responded, "Now, grab his feet."
"What? Why?" Ronnie asked.
"Grab his feet…" I reiterated.
Ronnie sighed but walked over to us. I got behind the kid, placed my arms under his, and lifted him up. Ronnie followed suit by picking up his feet, and we began carting the boy off. We didn't get far. I caught a familiar looking uniform out of the corner of my eye and froze. Turning around I saw exactly what I dreaded to see.
A guard had just rounded the bin and was in the process of stopping us. I had to admit, our situation did not look good. There we were, standing in the middle of an alleyway holding an unconscious teenager as if we were up to no good. We weren't up to any good, but the guard didn't have to know that.
"Officer!" I shouted at him urgently, "Thank god you're here!"
Well, he definitely hadn't been expecting that. Most suspects tended to run away whenever the cops showed up, they didn't greet them with open arms and give them cake for their troubles.
"What's going on here?" The man barked.
"This poor man just collapsed!" Ronnie jumped in. Good. He was onto my plan.
The officer frowned and walked his way over to us, "Are you sure you weren't the ones to cause him to collapse?"
Damn. The guard wasn't as dense as the first one we had encountered.
"No! Does it look like we did?" Ronnie exclaimed.
"We were just passing by when we heard something hit the ground hard. We were afraid someone was getting mugged! When we checked, we found this kid lying face down on the ground!" I shouted in hysterics.
Television was a wonderful thing. It taught one many handy skills that would aid him/her later on in life. Like self-defense and acting skills—commonly known as fighting and lying. The guard stared at us hard. He wasn't quick to believe the shit we were cooking up. He was probably more experienced. That was good. I loved to see cops and soldiers who knew how to do their job. I just wished he didn't have to do it with me.
"Why are you just standing there?" I asked quickly.
The guard jumped a little, "Uh..."
"This guy needs help, do something!" Ronnie shouted.
"What's going on over there?"
"Did something happen?"
"Is somebody hurt?"
It was like a tidal wave of concerned citizens had shown up out of nowhere, and all of them were trying to 'rubberneck' the scene before them. The guard had his hands tied now. He was forced to interrogate us like he should do and then see to the fallen teenager, or be a good boy and appease the masses by showing concern for the public—attend to the boy first, and then ask us questions. I chose his options for him.
"Oh my gosh, take him!" I said as I shoved the boy at the guard.
The guard fumbled with the body for a second before finally getting a hold of him. Ronnie quickly let go of the boy's feet and took off running. Ok, that I had not calculated on. Don't leave me here, you bastard!
"I'll go get help!" he exclaimed over his shoulder, passing me a look.
"... Wait!" I called after him, "You don't know your way!"
"Halt!" The guard exclaimed, "Get back here!"
No chance in hell was I going to turn around and get busted. That guard had no choice now but to take care of the boy and probably get a statement of some kind. By the time he did all that, we would be long gone and there would be no one left to chase.
Ronnie and I weaved our way in and out of pedestrians and streets. Who knew it could be so cramped in such a giant city as Midgar? Cramped and stuffy. The air down below the plate was awful. Of course, it stood to reason it would be since Shin-Ra seemed dumb enough not to install something that even resembled a ventilation system. But I digress.
Tiring of running, I snatched a hold of Ronnie's suit collar and dived into the building beside us. We stood by the door catching our breath. I paused and looked up. Tables, clinking of glass, bar counter, and a man behind said counter polishing shot glasses and giving us a look. I always managed to find the best places to hide in. I'm not even sure if I was being sarcastic or not.
I straightened up. I had to at least try to look normal. Again, that was a little hard to do with my suit ripped in places. Ronnie stood up and looked around.
"Now what are we going to do?" He asked quietly.
I didn't answer him, and instead walked over to the bar and sat down. Ronnie took the chair next to me.
"Anything I can get you two?" The bar keep asked. He was still eying us suspiciously.
"No, thank you," I replied.
"Actually, do you have a-"
"No, thank you," I almost growled glaring at Ronnie.
The bar keep shrugged and went to attend a customer a little further down the table. Ronnie was giving me this look. The best translation would be, 'I was almost just arrested by a cop from another planet, why can't I have a drink?'
"You don't even know how much they cost, or if we can afford them," I remarked.
"We have two hundred gil," he replied.
"We had two hundred gil. One hundred apiece. How much did you give that soldier?"
"...fifty."
I sighed and let my head hit the counter with a loud thud. Great. By that time, we had way less money than we had started out with. That was just perfect. Good going there, Ronnie.
"Well, sor-ry, but I was expecting us to already be at the Shin-Ra building by now," he huffed.
Frankly, I had, too. I had underestimated the time it would take to get through Midgar, even with its huge size. I could have never guessed such a big city was really tiny and maze like on the inside. Surely the top wasn't as crowded as the bottom. If it was, I feared we would never get there.
"Heh, you don't know where the Shin-Ra building is?"
I turned my head, forehead still resting on the counter, to see who it was that had spoken. A young man with bright red hair, red tattoos under his eyes, and wearing a blue-ish black business suit was sitting two chairs over from us, a glass of alcohol in his hand. So far, that man was the most intriguing character I had met. His hair was unkempt, yet stylish, and his shirt was left a little undone. He seemed to carry a bit of 'style' around him that much was for certain.
"We're not from here," I droned. "We're from Rocket Town."
The man blinked and frowned.
"Kinda far away from home, aren't ya?" He asked swirling his drink around in its cup.
One day I was going to have to find a world map and find out just where the hell Rocket Town was because there were a lot of people remarking how far away it was. It was really starting to get on my nerves. I opened my mouth to respond, but the man shrugged and continued.
"What do I care? I'm on my break," he took a drink. "The Shin-Ra building's on the plate."
I blinked and stared at him. Oh, really now? Was it?
"We knew that," Ronnie piped in. "We can't find a way there."
"Take the train."
"We can't find the train," I whined.
The man cocked his head to the side and gave us a look.
"You have got to be kidding me," he said, "You come to Midgar looking for Shin-Ra when you don't even know how to get there. Talk about a bunch of morons."
"With all the trash here, we can't find anything. I can't tell what's supposed to be a playground and what someone's living in, except the stink is different," Ronnie shot back.
The stranger laughed loudly.
"I guess you're right about that," he said. "The Slums are horrid compared to life up on the plate. I only come down here when I have a job to do, or because I want a drink." He paused and grinned lopsidedly at us, "The booze is cheaper down here."
So, the place was called the Slums, as in capital 'S'. That seemed fitting enough, what with the trash, smell, and smoggy air. The sky couldn't even be seen for Chrissake! Why would anyone want to live down here? Then again, they probably didn't do it willingly. Most of the people we had passed seemed to be pretty poor judging by their clothes. I would have figured that all of Gaia was like that if Mr. Suit hadn't shown up. One probably needed a decent amount of money to live up on the plate. I wondered what the guy's job was.
"Anyways, I'm feeling generous today," the man said taking another drink. "You can catch the train in Sector 7 at the station."
Catch a train at a train station. Wow. That didn't seem like that bad of an idea. The reason I hadn't thought of that sooner? I honestly did not know. There really didn't seem like many other places one would find a train. With that lovely revelation in mind, I stood up and walked away from the counter. I was going to find that fucking train station if it killed me. Ronnie, catching the hint that it was time to go, got up and followed after me.
"Though... I wouldn't mind knowing what business you have with Shin-Ra."
I looked back at the man and hesitated. I thought he didn't care... He was on his 'break', whatever that meant. I was starting to think that the topic of Shin-Ra was a touchy subject no matter where I went. Perhaps we should refrain from bringing it up anymore to avoid drawing suspicion towards ourselves. Ronnie decided to dig our way out of this one using the same excuse he had used last time.
"We're looking for jobs," he said matter-of-factly. Should I have been worried that he was so accustomed to lying?
The man grinned around his glass. He set it down on the counter and the bar keep immediately came over to refill it.
"Is that so?" he asked smirking, "Then tell them Reno sent you. I'm sure they'll give you a job."
I could feel the hair on the back of my neck bristling. That explained why this man had such a spiffy suit. He worked for damn Shin-Ra! Note to self: Stay away from any other people wearing suits. The situation I found myself in was going to cause problems. One of Shin-Ra's employees knew what we looked like. I could just see Ronnie and I standing in a line-up of criminals and the red-headed man pointing at us, beer glass still in hand, shouting, 'That's them!' If I hadn't been so terrified of getting caught, I would have laughed.
The man seemed to be a bit of a smartass. Based on that, I decided to play with it. Act like a friendly person and you stood a decent chance of getting on someone's good side. If we left him with a good impression, maybe we wouldn't be in that line-up after all...
This time I smirked, "You sure do seem full of yourself."
Reno laughed again before turning around to face the counter, "What are you talking about? I'm the best they've got."
Ronnie went to comment and, though I could tell he was only going to joke, we didn't have time. We had to get out of there and fast. I grabbed a hold of his wrist and dragged him away. Once outside, I let him go.
"How good are you at pick-pocketing?" I asked suddenly.
"Stealing from more people?" Ronnie replied, folding his arms and leaning against the wall.
I gave him a dark look. I didn't like calling it that, but that was what I was planning on doing.
"Yes," I hissed. "How good are you at pick-pocketing?"
"Better than you are. Remember that one time I stole a pen from a cop...right underneath his nose? I've gotten better," he sneered.
I rolled my eyes. It seemed Ronnie's bad habits hadn't died down since the last time we had met back on Earth. I did not find that a comforting thought.
"Want me to go steal you an I.D. now?"
"Yes," I replied quickly.
"I'll try to pick someone hot," he snickered before starting to walk off.
"The hell you will!" I shouted after him. "They have to at least look like me!"
Ronnie waved a hand over his shoulder to tell me he understood, then disappeared into the crowd. I sighed, pressed my back against the concrete wall, and slowly slid down it. He and I were in for a long ride, I could tell. The fire that had been driving me onward was slowly dying out and I was beginning to give up. Plans always seemed good in the planning stage, but whenever they were put into action something always seemed to fuck them all up.
I waited by that wall for nearly ten minutes. Ten minutes that I was left with only my thoughts. I wasn't too surprised to find them depressing and dark and all around not full of much hope. I missed only having to think, 'I must get my damn plane back!' Instead, now, I was stuck with, 'How are we going to find the train?' 'What are we going to do after we get there?' 'Will these stolen I.D.s actually work?' 'What is the Shin-Ra building going to be like?' 'Should I even be going to the Shin-Ra building?' I had half a mind to go back into the bar and steal Reno's drink. At that point it seemed like just as good of a time as any to start drinking.
I saw Ronnie coming back and pushed myself off the ground. It was time to stop thinking and start doing. If things didn't go the way I had planned then it didn't really matter. Humans were surprisingly adaptable creatures. We would just have to adapt and move on. Be that without a plane, without a home, or in prison.
Ronnie reached out, the I.D. held firmly in his hand—where I couldn't see it... I stared at him. He grinned at me. Him grinning was never a good thing when he was trying to hand someone something. Many people used to get a handful of gum back in school. Chewed gum...
I squinted at him. His grin grew wider. Yeah, I definitely wasn't going to like what he was about to give me. I extended my hand out anyway and he dropped the I.D. into it. He was smart enough to make it land face down, so I had to turn it around. I did not like what I saw.
The picture of the woman staring back at me had black hair that was cut short. She reminded me vaguely of the Aeon Flux woman. I did not look like the Aeon Flux woman. I had long, really dirty blonde hair that bordered on brown. There was no way in hell any guard would believe that the woman on this I.D., Miriam was her name, was me.
"Ronnie," I said calmly, "this does not look like me."
"I know!" Ronnie exclaimed, all smiles, "but at least now you have the incentive to get your hair cut like the Aeon Flux chick."
I gave him a blank look. I couldn't even respond to that. Pocketing the I.D. anyway, I turned around and walked away. Ronnie followed. After a few moments of silence, Ronnie spoke up.
"You're not going to get an Aeon Flux haircut, are you?" He asked.
"No," I replied.
He dropped the subject after that. As we walked we passed a sign that just happened to tell us which way Sector 7 was. Wouldn't you know it? It was located right beside Sector 6! Wow... Now that we had a good clue as to which way we were supposed to be going, it didn't take us long to get there. Having finally gotten tired of being lost, I decided to stop and force Ronnie into asking an old man nearby how to get to the train station. I hated talking to strangers.
The man pointed us off in the right direction and we went on our way without another word. Once we made it to the station, it was obvious how someone like me could have missed it. It didn't look like much of a station. Not like the stations on Earth, anyway. Most train stations, or subway stations, had tons of people crowded around a tiny little platform waiting to get on the approaching vehicle. Those stations also used to be very big or underground. This station was none of those. It was simply a little platform next to some train tracks with two or three people standing around waiting and what looked like a ticket person nearby.
I pulled Ronnie aside before we got to the platform.
"Here," I said. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the boy's I.D. from earlier, and handed it to him.
Ronnie took it and gave it a once over. His eyebrow raised, "I like how you give me an I.D. that has the name of my cousin on it."
"Oh, whatever," I groaned while waving a hand in dismissal, "it'll still work. If the guy asks for our I.D.s then just say that your picture was taken a few years ago, and I'll say that I'm wearing a wig...or was wearing a wig...or something like that."
"That sounds like a very good idea," Ronnie remarked sarcastically.
"Well, it's not my fault you chose someone who didn't look like me!" I yelled.
The people hanging around the platform gave Ronnie and I strange looks. I stared at them, causing them to go about their business. Ronnie laughed.
"True. True. So, when does the train get here?" He asked.
Like I should have known the answer to that question.
"The train will be here in five minutes!" The man in the red outfit, the aforementioned ticket salesman, shouted.
"Wow," I said looking at Ronnie. "We got damn good timing, don't we?"
"Apparently," Ronnie replied nodding.
We both walked onto the platform and stood, waiting for the train that would carry us to the top plate. Then, from the top plate, we would make our way towards the Shin-Ra building. I was pretty certain that I wouldn't need a map to get to that particular place. Big, huge building sitting smack dab in the center of the city. Only a blind person could miss a thing like that.
A/N: If you've actually reached this author's note, I commend you. The ending seemed a little rushed to me; but, perhaps you thought it couldn't come soon enough. It seems I'm trying to do too many things in one chapter. But, it's only because I know what I want to say, and have so little time to say it...and so little patience to write it. Especially after reading twenty-five pages in Management and Supervision in Law Enforcement. Gag me with a sock, and after you're doing that, I would appreciate to hear your thoughts in the form of a 'Review.' Thank you.
Edit: Wow, this is old. Not like old-old, but it was my first semester of college… I'm a sophomore now.