Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Final Fantasy.
Author's Note: Whisper's of Darkness, I went and double checked when Jesse hurts her leg, and it is before the train ride.
Also, at the moment this fic probably seems very similar to the game, but that will begin to change. As things start progressing I'm going to try to add some more plot to it. I have two main purposes for this fic. Number one is to make it enjoyable for you all to read and the second is to add some realism to the Final Fantasy 7 world. I'm going to try to give an explanation for things that weren't explained in the game, and eliminate completely unreal things like the characters walking inside of Cloud or Cloud using a jumping dolphin to climb up an electric tower.
Thanks for all the reviews everyone! By the way, I love constructive criticism.
I bit my lower lip to keep myself from screaming. I knew that would be a foolish thing to do, since it would only alert Shinra of our location. I had watched everyone before me jump and they all seemed to roll, avoiding any injuries and making the jump look effortless. Well, I bet it's no surprise that I have never jumped off of a moving train. My jump wasn't exactly as graceful as the others. They were able to roll and land on their feet, while I hit the ground and slid forward on my back, causing my shirt to lift up and leave painful scratches.
By the time I finally stood up, the others were already walking in the other direction. I kicked a small rock in front of me. Would it be so hard for them to wait a couple seconds more for me? As I was running towards them Barret was giving another one of his speeches. "None of you let your guard down, ya hear?" Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie all nodded sharply. "Now, move out." Another sharp nod from the three before they ran off in separate directions.
I winced a bit as my back began to sting a little. I attempted tilting my head over my shoulder to see, but the angle wasn't very good, but I could see red. I was bleeding, though I wasn't sure how much. Okay, I was a healer, this should be no problem. I tried concentrating, thinking that was all I had to do, but I still felt pain. Quickly I reached behind me and touched my back. Looking at my fingers, I noticed that they had drips of blood on them.
"Lindsey, come on!" I heard Tifa yell. There they were running off without me again. I guess I couldn't blame them. They probably didn't trust me very much. Why should they? They had met me less than twenty-four hours ago. I was still surprised they had allowed me to come along on the mission. I suppose I would have to figure out how to use my healing abilities later. Why did everything good have to be so difficult to acquire?
I was lost in my thoughts again, but was literally knocked back into reality. Here I was on the ground … again. It looked like Cloud had stuck his arm out right in front of me, causing me to hit it and ricochet backwards onto the ground. I was about to demand why he had done such a thing before I noticed the electric wall in front of me. I muttered a quiet "Oh." And then added, "You saved me, thanks."
Cloud looked toward the electric wall. "It wouldn't have killed you. It's only a sensor. I just didn't feel like getting caught right now." I looked toward the ground, not wanting to look right at him. I couldn't help feeling inferior to him. Cloud had been one of my favorite characters in the game, but now I was beginning to rethink that opinion.
"Hey, look what I found!" Tifa called over to the rest of us. Cloud and Barret walked toward her, and I followed after I had picked myself up off the ground. "We can use this." She said uncovering a small air vent.
Barret looked toward her with a look that clearly said you-can't-be-serious. "That's one damn tiny hole. You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No, way!"
"We're going down." Cloud said, simply. He didn't give any explanation, all he did was give the order. It seemed very Cloud-like. At least at this point in time.
"But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills." I would have expected a different answer from Barret. He acted like the leader of this mission, so why was he here taking orders from Cloud?
I looked toward the hole. Well, there was no way I was going to be the last one again. I was tired of getting left behind. "Let's go then." By the time those words escaped my lips I had already jumped into the hole. It was kind of like a slide… a very steep slide. I landed hard on my feet, causing pain to shoot up them for a second, but I had watched plenty of movies. And, I knew this wasn't the best place to be standing. I quickly hurried out of the way just in time.
Barret was the next one to come down the slide, a small scowl showed on his face. He landed in the spot where I had been standing only seconds earlier. A small smirk showed on my face, at least I had done something right. It looked like Cloud and Tifa had talked him into going, or maybe they had just pushed him down the hole. I wasn't really sure. I just couldn't believe he fit through the hole.
The next to come down was Cloud. He landed carefully on his feet, bending his knees as he did to take in some of the impact. He stepped away from the hole, his arms crossed in front of him as he waited for Tifa to jump down, so they could leave, but she didn't appear right away like everyone expected. "Tifa?" I called up through the vent, but there was still no reply. Cloud, Barret, and I all waited silently for her to answer. I don't know about the others, but I was definitely worried. Cloud looked up toward the vent as if searching for a way back up it, but the climb was too steep. There was absolutely no sound, except for the occasional clanking of pipes, until another kind of clanking sounded. It was coming from above us.
"Tifa." Cloud explained. My head tilted to the side a little, showing that I didn't understand what he meant. "Some kind of fight is going on up there." With the sound of a small explosion the clanking sound stopped.
"I'll be right there guys!" I heard Tifa saying, but her voice showed a hint of uncertainty. I wondered what could have caused it. My thoughts were cut off as Tifa came crashing out of the vent, landing hard on her stomach. She let out a small 'oof' sound as she hit, laying there for a couple seconds before picking herself up. Previously Tifa had been a lot more graceful than that. What had happened?
Obviously Barret had noticed as well because he was the next to speak. "What's wrong wit you?" He asked looking at the female member of AVALANCHE. When Tifa turned to look at us it was obvious by looking at her eyes that something was wrong. They were bright red. Not simply bloodshot, the entire part of the eye that was meant to be white was colored red. The skin surrounding the eyes also appeared a bit red and swollen.
I stayed silent even though I had a couple questions I wanted to ask. There was already so much I didn't know. If I kept asking questions, then I would just make myself stand out. I didn't want that to happen.
"Do any of you have any eye drops?" She asked. She was facing us, but it didn't look like she knew exactly where any of us were. It looked more like she was looking past us. Eye drops, now what was that used for in the game. Oh, yeah, darkness. So, she must have been pretty much blind right now.
Cloud and Barret both told her 'no' and then the two turned to look at me, waiting for a response. I simply shook my head. Eye drops weren't really something I had ever found useful in the game.
"We should keep walking. We don't want to take the chance of them figuring out we're here." It appeared that Cloud was already attempting to take over the role of leader and Barret didn't look too happy about it. Though, he didn't say anything either, probably because he agreed. "Lindsey, you help Tifa."
"Okay." I said nodding and heading over toward the other female.
"Wait." We all turned to see what she had to say. "I was attacked by three smoggers." If I remember right, smoggers were robot type monsters. They were teal and yellow in color. They must have used smog on Tifa to inflict her with darkness. "They weren't hard to beat, but when they were killed it made an explosion." I'm guessing that was how the smoggers died. They didn't just turn red and fade away, they exploded into different pieces. "The explosion caved in a part of the tunnel. I don't think it will take long for Shinra to realize something happened."
"Damn." Barret swore. I could understand why he was upset. This just made are already difficult job even harder. "Then, let's go."
"I'll only slow you guys down. Go on ahead. I'll just try to find Biggs, Wedge, or Jesse and walk back with them."
The idea made sense, but I didn't agree with her. "And, how are you going to find one of them when you're blind?" I looked toward Cloud and Barret. "I'll stay back here with Tifa, you guys can go on ahead. I'm not much of a fighter anyway. We'll catch up with you before this place explodes." Cloud and Barret agreed and sprinted off toward the center of the reactor. In a hurry, now that they knew they wouldn't have much time.
"Thanks, Lindsey." The fighter told me. She rubbed at her eyes, which only caused them to become even redder.
"How long are they going to be like that?"
The female shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Until I get some eye drops or until it wares off, but who knows how long that would take. I'd rather just get back to sector seven and get some drops."
I nodded. Now there was just one problem, I had no idea where to go. This place looked a lot different than it had in the game. I guess it would be best to go with Tifa's original idea and try to find some of the other members of AVALANCHE. "Do you think Cloud and Barret will be okay?"
"Of course! They may not get along all the time, but the two of them are great fighters. The Shinra soldiers around her are no match for them." I nodded feeling a bit relieved.
The sound of footsteps caught my attention. This couldn't be happening now. I wasn't strong enough to fight and Tifa was unable to see. I grabbed Tifa's wrist and started running in the opposite direction that the footsteps were coming from. "We have to get out of here!" Tifa wouldn't admit it, but she was probably having a hard time keeping up with me. It must be hard trying to run while you're blind, especially when you have to trust someone you just met.
Another set of footsteps could be heard from the direction we were running, unless I found us a place to hide we were going to be caught. My eyes frantically scanned the room in search of a hiding place. "This way!" I whispered, turning to the left. "Duck down, we have to stay quiet." Tifa nodded.
There hadn't been many hiding places in the room because it was pretty much open. The only place to go had been a small dead end hall. All we could do was hope the soldiers didn't come this way… let's just say I had never had the best luck. Please, let this one thing work out for me.
"Hey, did you hear anyone in this room a couple minutes ago?" One of the soldiers asked. From the sound of the footsteps, the two groups of soldiers from opposite sides had met up.
"Yeah. After that explosion up by the tracks we were all sent to check it out. People are saying it was probably AVALANCHE, planning on blowing up another reactor."
"Everyone search the room!" One of the soldiers commanded. In order for him to give orders like that, I guessed he was probably of higher rank than the others. The sound of footsteps heading off in all different directions echoed throughout the room because of the metal walls. One set was heading in our directions.
I was out of ideas, but we couldn't get caught! Okay, I just had to think. Tifa was blind, but she was the only fighter here. I was supposedly a healer and I couldn't even do that right! I looked toward Tifa wondering if she had any ideas. She seemed to be prepared for a fight, despite being blind. Her fists were up and she was staring in the direction the footsteps were coming from.
I stared straight ahead, I was out of ideas. Looks like we were going to be caught… I'm such an optimist. As the soldier turned the corner, he jumped back a little, as if he hadn't expected to see us there, but that was only for a second. He was soon shouting about how he had found us.
"I'm sorry." I told Tifa, knowing this was all my fault. I should have found a better hiding place.
"Don't worry. We'll get out of this." She told me, trying to be strong, despite the situation appearing hopeless. Who knew how many soldiers were out there. Seven more soldiers appeared next to the one that had originally found us. Tifa stood up, holding her fists out, ready to fight.
I stayed back, unsure what to do. These were humans. I couldn't fight another human. My eyes were wide as I stayed backed up against the wall. But, surely, Tifa couldn't take them all out by herself. Even if she could see, I was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to.
I watched her fight, despite the odds. The first soldier that came at her soon fell to the ground after a kick to the head. The kick had hit him directly in the temple, so hard that I was almost positive he was dead. If the blow hadn't killed him, then I was pretty sure his neck had been broken. Blood dripped from the dead mans mouth, a small puddle forming around his head. I couldn't look at him and my eyes drifted back towards the fight.
After seeing one of their comrades fallen, they decided to gang up on Tifa. With so many coming at once she couldn't use her ears to tell where they were. Now, she was just blindly throwing punches. Hitting the soldiers every once in a while, but not with direct hits. There was no way she could win with four guys attacking her at once, the other three were coming after me.
A gun shot was heard, and less than a second later Tifa screamed and collapsed down to one knee. Blood was dripping from her left thigh where she had been shot. With her on the ground one of the soldier took advantage of it and hit her over the head with their elbow. I couldn't tell if she had blacked out or been killed. I was hoping it was the earlier.
"You're turn." One of the soldiers said as he stepped toward me.
"Maybe AVALANCHE will learn to stop taking innocent lives." How could they say that? How could Shinra blame us for taking lives? They were the ones killing people. They were the ones that were going to destroy everyone in Sector seven.
"Shut up!" I yelled, reaching for my waist and grabbing the dagger. I ran towards them, no thoughts except to inflict pain. I hadn't realized yet how foolish of a move it was. The first soldier grabbed my wrist before the dagger came close to him and twisted it painfully. I heard the bones crack as I attempted to twist my body as my wrist moved to try to avoid the pain. Somehow I ended up on my back, definitely not the best position to be.
A nearby soldier kicked me in the side, while another placed his foot on my stomach to hold me in place. The first one still held my arm. I tried willing myself to stay awake, but it was too much. I looked toward Tifa. Tears stung my eyes. It was one thing to bring this upon myself, but I had dragged her down with me. It was all my fault. "Somebody help!" I yelled, before blacking out.
