Final Hell

Chapter Four: Monsters in the Basement

"If only I had a hand grenade..."

Smoke filled his nostrils as soon as Cloud walked inside the main hall. Coughing, the blond squinted his eyes, trying to see in the dark. It was a mess, a ruined and decrepit place, like a graveyard and Cloud felt like a trespasser. But there was no avoiding it; he had to keep going.

The front hall was ash filled, with broken floorboards, and a chandelier that was hanging on its last chain. It had seen its final days many years before, even earlier than the fire had been. Nervous, Cloud avoided walking under the chandelier and stepped quickly up the stairs.

To the left or right...? He chose right, dashing up the next flight into a hallway. The first door he tried wouldn't open, the lock was broken. The next room was the same, but the third on the right gave results. With a creak, he opened the door and stepped into a small office.

In the center of the room was a desk, likely once owned by a Shinra executive, during the times of the hospital. Cloud stepped behind the burnt mahogany, surprised to see some documents had survived. Despite being aged greatly, he was able to read a bit.

New Turk deployment this week, two novices, and a reassignment for a junior. Prof. Gast requested, seems to think this new project is "of a relevance and level of danger requiring careful guidance". His associates seem unsure.

The rest of the page was blood covered, and the stench burned his nose. Frowning, Cloud left the desk with an irritated mutter.

He approached the bookshelf on the left wall. Dust covered the bindings, which he gently wiped away with a finger. Each one was a scientific text of some kind. His eyes wandered.

"Huh..." The man blinked, and leaned back. "Couple are missing..." There were three blank spots on the shelves: one on the second to bottom row, one on the middle, and one on the far left. "Wondered what happened to them?"

There was really nothing else to do in the room, so Cloud kept exploring. The next door on the hall was locked, but the room at the very end opened.

It was one of the old laboratory rooms, the ones they would take injured SOLDIERs to for extended treatment. Cloud had known many a man who had spent months in this chamber. Somber, he glanced at the empty beds, blackened and tinged with reds and yellows. "Why is this all still here?" He muttered. Shaking his head, he sauntered to the back of the room.

Something caught his eye on the right; he spun on his heel.

"Was that...?" Blinking, he moved towards the last bed and leaned to look under it. There was something there... reaching back, he grasped for it, when he felt a slight pinch.

"Ow!" He flinched, and frowned when he saw a bit of blood on his index finger. But he still tried again, determined, and this time he managed to extract a shiny object from under the bed.

"A scapel?" Cloud frowned. "Wasn't this the care ward?" They kept patients there; they didn't do surgery. Confused, he examined the worn tool, and after a moment's hesitation, pocketed it. "Never know."

Just before he was going to leave the room, Cloud opened the door and felt it hit something. He glanced down, and was again surprised.

"One of the books." He knelt, picked it up, and turned it about in his hands. Even more surprising; it was a diary. When Cloud tried to open it, the blood it was soaked in kept it glued shut. But a weak page near the front fell out of the binding. Cloud picked it up.

Two more recruits failed to pass compatibility test. Rising need for SOLDIERs has led to a need for more compatible DNA. Research required.

On a different line, it read:

Prof. Gast requires more time that we do not have. A replacement has been sought.

"Gast..." The paper on the desk had mentioned somebody by that name, Cloud thought as he retraced his steps to the library. Once inside, he examined the bookshelf. "Wonder where this goes?"

He glanced at the book again: Hojo's Log Twenty Three. There were more of the logs on the shelf. Cloud found the empty spot between 22 and 24, and filled it.

With that hall thoroughly explored, Cloud returned to the main stair case and entered the far left hall.

The first door on this hall opened, but inside was just an old bathroom. The next door opened as well, to another office. There were more documents on the desk, notes about patients, memos about meetings. One thing caught Cloud's eye, a key. He pocketed it.

The next door was jammed shut. Cloud then approached a door with a blood stained doorknob, that sent an eerie chill down his spine. After a short period of hesitation, he opened it.

This room was small, with a hospital bed in the center. Cloud thought of the cold metal in his pocket. "This is definitely the place they did surgery..." Cloud grimaced at the metallic tools, similar to the scalpel in his pocket, that lined the table nearby.

As he explored, Cloud noticed something about the bed. His hands trembled as he reached out to touch it. "Restraints?" Frowning, the man saw the leather straps, blood soaked, and grimaced at the implications. "Surely the patients were unconscious...."

Suddenly, Cloud felt his feet lose traction, slipping in something on the cold ground, and as he struggled to keep his balance, fell forward onto his chest.

"Ah! Shit!" Cursing, Cloud winced, eyes catching sight of something metal. The puddle he'd fallen into was flowing towards a vent... Cloud's eyes widened. The key had fallen out of his pocket and was heading for the vent!

"Wait! Fuck!" Just barely, his fingers missed grabbing it, and down it went. The man slammed his fist against the ground.

It took him a moment, but he stood, and grimaced at the sight of blood coating his shirt and parts of his jacket. The substance covered the floor. Stomach churning, the man examined the walls, then turned and left.

Down the hall he went, past another locked door, up a staircase. There was a window to his left, halfway open. Cloud stuck his head out and glanced around, then down. The sight of light fluttering out from another open window below caught his eye.

"Is there something there?" He wondered. The man shrugged, and kept going up the stairs.

Three doors were in this hallway. Floor creaking as he walked, Cloud tried the first. It opened and revealed a bathroom.

It looked relatively normal, other than being extremely dirty and dingy. There was blood here as well, mostly in the far back corner at the last stall. Cloud moved to it nervously, slightly curious.

He knocked twice. "Hello?"

Nothing happened. Cloud shrugged, and turned to go.

Tap, tap, tap.

The man spun around. Shocked, he blinked, and almost stepped back to the stall. At the last moment he decided against it. "I don't want to know..." When he turned to go, another noise broke the silence.

Creeeaak.

Bones trembling, the man glanced back. The door had opened. Slowly, nervously, Cloud stepped towards it.

It was just a normal, albeit very nasty and in need of a good cleaning, bathroom. But there was something... Cloud stepped into it and saw a soggy book in the toilet.

"This is sickening..." He grumbled, removing the tome slowly. Half of the pages had disintegrated, the ink on the others totally ruined. Still, he took it, determined to place it where it belonged. Somehow it, ... it felt right to do so.

The next door was jammed, but the last opened.

Inside was a large attic space. Crates and boxes of paperwork and files filled the room. As he walked, Cloud swiped at cobwebs and ducked under pieces of the roof that had caved in. It was terribly musty.

Frowning, Cloud stopped walking at the back corner, where a large musical instrument case stood, next to a safe.

The blond kneeled by it, looking it over. It was locked tight, and he had no idea what the code was. He stood again.

Both halls had been thoroughly searched. Cloud returned to the library, ruined book in hand, to place it back on the shelf. Then he stepped back.

"Two back... where's the third?" He wondered. His eyes scanned the shelves. Then, with a gasp, it came to him. The book was already on the shelf; someone had placed it on its side above the other books. Cloud took it down and examined the cover.

"Holy..." This was not a log kept by the man Hojo; this was Sephiroth's Log 16. "He had a diary?" Cloud stared at the book for a moment, heart beating wildly. But then, the curiosity in his eyes dimmed to a darker, angrier hue. The man shoved the book back onto its place on the shelf, and turned away from the damned thing.

Something rumbled. Spinning around, the blond's mouth dropped open as he watched the book shelf recede into the wall, and then disappeared behind the other bookshelf. Behind it was revealed a stairwell, pitch black, leading down far into the darkness. Cloud frowned, surprised. It was almost too dark to see...

As his feet moved towards the stairs, Cloud glanced back one last time. Yet, even as he doubted, the man heard it. Maybe his mind only produced it, or maybe he really had heard the distant laughing... either way, his resolve became cemented, and with hard eyes, he descended into darkness.

-=-=-=-

When next Cid awoke, he was in total darkness.

Is it possible to die and go to hell twice? He wondered vaguely, head reeling in pain. He felt slightly torn apart, as if dogs had been pulling on his limbs with their teeth, and he was woozy from blood loss. But he wasn't bleeding anymore, and he felt somewhat whole. His leg burned.

The mechanic was lying down on something slightly cold, in complete darkness. Squinting he tried to see anything at all and was unable. Cid lifted a hand and hit wood with a thunk.

"Shit!" The man flinched as if he'd been hit, arms flying up. Thunk! Thunk! Slightly panicky, the man began pounding his fists against the wood. Thunk! Thunk!

"Fucking hell!" He added his feet to the mix, shaking the box with his movements. Something cracked, and after a little more beating, Cid managed to shove the lid off.

He scampered out of the coffin, visibly shaken, face pale as ash. "Fuck on a fuck tart!" Cid shouted, hands on his knees. For a moment he focused on breathing in, breathing out. Then he looked around.

The Captain was in a small, dimly lit room filled with rows of coffins. There were at least six or seven tossed haphazardly around the room, nailed shut. He'd been lying in one just like them.

What had happened? He'd been in the reaper's arms, about to be as dead as oil fuel when MAKO was discovered. Then... then what? There had been... there was... Frowning, Cid tried to remember how he'd survived the encounter with the hellish creature.

"Fucking hell..." Frustrated, Cid vented his rage on the coffin that had housed him, kicking it over. The coffin rolled and hit another larger coffin in the center of the room.

For the first time Cid noticed this coffin. It was much larger than the others, as if it had been built for a man of six or seven feet. It was black, unlike the ordinary brown wooden ones around it. Slightly nervous, Cid moved towards it.

He knelt by the thing, examining it, when he noticed words on the front. Cid read half of them before declaring, "Fucking mumbo jumbo" and standing back up.

When he did, the box moved. The mechanic cursed loudly and jumped back, hands curling into fists. What would it be this time, a zombie? A demon? Shera's family ready to make him pay? Cid wasn't sure which sounded most unappealing.

The cover slowly slid back, slowly and silently. Cid stayed still, forcing himself not to move, only watching as something rose out of the darkness. To his surprise, it was none of what he'd thought it would be. It was a man.

He was about the height of the coffin, a long thin form shrouded in a torn red cloak. From behind messy jet black hair, crimson eyes blazed, framed by a feminine face.

Cid watched in fear, still nervous from before, half of his body saying run, the other saying fight. The stranger stood only a foot from him, stoic and silent, as Cid waited, unsure of what to do.

Just as the man opened his mouth and spoke, Cid decided. "What are -"

The mechanic punched him.

-=-=-=-

The trip across the sea took much too long. Tifa was about to jump over the side and swim to the Western continent, and she might've if Shalua hadn't held her back. As it was the woman was pacing the deck even as the ship docked. She was ready to leave, and leave now.

"You know Nibelheim's another two hours away." Shalua told her, trying to calm her down.

"Weren't you the one saying we had to get to Cloud before he went into the town?" Tifa spat. "What if we're too late? What if he's there already?"

The woman frowned at the hidden desperation in Tifa's voice, having felt it many times herself. "Then... we will have to brave the town."

The younger woman blinked. As Shalua turned away, sighing heavily, Tifa took in the many wounds on the elder's body, which she'd only hardly noticed before.

"You've tried getting into that town a lot... haven't you?" The brunette murmured.

A few crewmen approached the women, one announcing that their car had been unloaded from the cargo hold. Neither woman heard him. Shalua haltingly lifted her eyes, and Tifa noticed how one seemed to be faded, almost injured.

There was fear in those eyes. Soul numbing, mind altering fear. The kind of absolute terror one finds in death, in the unknown, in damnation. Tifa felt her own resolve crumble, her anger fade to puzzlement as she wondered what could create such horror and revulsion.

"I can't give up." Shalua whispered. "If Cloud's in there, I'll follow him."

Tifa heard the strong voice, and the slight tremble underneath it. Then, surprised at her own strength in the face of fear, she nodded.

"I'll follow him too." She murmured. "I... I'm all he's got left."

What she left unsaid was what was left for her.

-=-=-=-

Shalua managed to make the two hour trip to Nibelheim in a record one hour fifteen minutes. She would've made it sooner if the blue lights hadn't flashed and the siren blared, signaling them to pull over.

"Wonderful..." Shalua groaned. She punched the wheel, while Tifa merely rolled her eyes.

"It's not like you were going ninety miles." The woman muttered. Shalua pointedly ignored her as the officer walked to the window.

Window rolled down, Shalua leaned over towards the tall, dark skinned man. "What can I do you for?" The brunette next to her almost gagged.

How obvious can you be? She rolled her eyes again. Then, Tifa did a double take, glancing wide eyed at the window. The cop had the same surprised face.

"Tifa!?" The deep voiced man spat. It was all she could do not to groan. Of all the cops to get us...

"Hi... Barret." She mumbled, trying desperately to sink into the leather seat. The giant of a man glowered at her, gripping the roof of the car.

"What the hell are you doing speeding around in the middle of nowhere!?" Barret roared, right in Shalua's face though the woman hardly winced.

"What are you doing patrolling around nowhere?" Tifa countered, confused as to why her friend was so far away from Corel.

The anger in his mood didn't fade, but he let out a grunt. "There's not a road here that don't have a cop on it for miles. Search and rescue mission." He explained, standing up straight and pointing to the woods behind him. "An airship from Midgar went missing around here somewhere."

"Went missing?" Shalua muttered, a frown set into her face.

The cop cursed. "Just fucking disappeared off radar. No crash sight, nothin'. We ain't found shit either."

As Barret spoke, facing the foggy woods, he didn't notice the two women behind him, wide eyed, turning to look at one another.

Tifa seemed most confused, but Shalua's eyes soon narrowed, as she bit her lip and gripped the steering wheel tight.

"But that's not what matters right now." Barret muttered, turning back to them. "What the hell were you two doing going ninety down the fucking road!?" The man crossed his arms, glaring intimidatingly.

"Looking for someone." Shalua explained. "It's important. And I'm afraid we're in a hurry."

"Where to?" The cop glowered, and Shalua glared back just as hard.

"Town called Nibelheim. Ever heard of it?"

Barret's angry facade melted into shock. He turned towards Tifa. "What do you want with that hellhole?"

"Cloud's gone there." Tifa told him, voice trembling slightly on the word "Cloud". "I"m going after him."

Sneering, the man turned his eyes on Shalua. "And you?"

"I'm just along for the ride." She smirked at his disapproving gaze.

"Well... I'm afraid you two will have to come with me." The man ordered. "I can't take you to the precinct, but I'll take you to the search sight for now. Then maybe you," He pointed at Tifa, "Can explain why the hell I'm picking Denzel up from the airport tomorrow morning while you're here joyriding!"

The mother felt her heart clench. "This is serious. I didn't just give Denzel to you to go waste time."

"Right." The cop shook his head and stormed back towards his cruiser. "Just follow me."

As he stalked off, Tifa collapsed against the chair and groaned. The other woman rolled up the window and started the car back up.

"Don't worry." Shalua said, still smirking. The tired woman turned to glare at her.

"And why the hell not?" She asked.

Shalua turned and smiled. "I have a hunch he's taking us in the right direction."

-=-=-=-

Halfway down the infernal, rickety staircase, which twisted and curved away into the darkness, Cloud realized he might've made a mistake. The stairwell lacked a railing protecting him from falling; pitch black, thick musty air was choking him, and sight was nigh on impossible. The blond was ready to curse his lack of foresight when the worst happened.

Cloud took a step and felt his foot fly out from under him, body crashing down onto the faulty steps. The entire staircase shook frighteningly, dust flying into the air, as Cloud's head throbbed. Wincing, the man's heart skipped a beat as he extended his hand and realized how close he'd been to careening off the stairs.

Click, click. The man blinked. Click. Sitting up, he tried looking for whatever it was, but had to resort to feeling for it. eventually, his sore palms found something round and smooth nudged between two floorboards. It felt slightly warm, and somewhat familiar. A smile came to his face, and after a bit of concentration, gentle effervescence lit up the steps. Cloud actually laughed when he saw the Red materia in his hand.

Red Materia was usually used to cast fire, but SOLDIERs were taught to control their magic and the flow of it. A good SOLDIER could make a red materia glow like a lamp for hours at a time.

"Thank Shiva for small mercies." He muttered, standing up slowly with a hand on the wall. The rest of the journey passed by uneventfully.

When his feet hit dirt, Cloud heaved a shaky sigh of relief, and turned to look around. Despite the materia's shimmering light, Cloud couldn't see much. Looking up, though, and seeing how many stairs there were, almost made him sick. The snaking monster disappeared into shadow ten flights up. Frowning, Cloud tried to pierce the dark in front of him with his eyes; he could see a tall, long hallway, but the length and dim light kept him from seeing what was beyond. Nerves choked him.

"No going back," He strode, albeit stiffly and slowly towards the passageway.

The first door he came to opened, revealing a messy office inside. It must've, at one time, been shared by many. Four cubicles split the room, each with a bloodsoaked desk. Cloud moved the light over each, avoiding looking at family photos and personal belongings. He examined documents. Most he saw were unimportant; though he did see a newspaper spread out on the desk, destroyed by time and soaked in... something. One of the articles was circled.

Nibelheim Doctor Found Dead: Investigation Underway

With a frown, Cloud moved away, to the next desk. He left the room soon after. Through the dank hall, he kept exploring, searching room after room that he could. He found no other clues or useful items, and eventually found himself at a dead end.

An angry growl echoed round. "Damn it!" The blond kicked the dirt. The door in front of him required a key, a key that was likely the one that had fallen out of the blond's pocket earlier. Fuming, Cloud turned to go and almost didn't notice the last door in the hall.

Something about it was... foreboding. Cloud brushed his hands over the dying wood, glanced at the door knob. The door was chained shut, a heavy padlock on the chains. he'd have to have a key for this door, too. A wrinkle formed on his brow as he thought back, trying to come up with something. How to move forward? There had to be a way...

"This door can't be locked up so tight for no reason." Cloud murmured, stepping back. "Must be something inside..." Resolved to open it, Cloud turned and left the hall, prepared to make the long trek back up the stairs. Maybe he'd missed something.

Just as his foot set down upon the bottom stair, something in the air changed. Something flipped; like a coin spinning midair, and finally hitting the ground, new side up. The small light in Cloud's hand allowed him to see very little, and then it went out. Cloud flinched.

"What-?" He fell silent at the noise, the distant rumble, the sullen creeping, like old wallpaper being gently torn down. The cold, dank air became hot, burning hot, like the Devil's breath, and the rooms around him suddenly seemed alive.

Cloud sped up the stairs, despite his lack of sight, careening blindly towards the distant upper floors. He had to get out - he had to get out!

-=-=-=-

After a short twenty minute drive through the woods, Barret led the two women to a large parking lot, where at least twenty police cars were parked. Police dogs on leashes barked wildly, while lights flashed in the twilight. It was slightly surreal, watching from behind the dingy window as blue and white flared and all around shouting echoed. It was even beginning to drizzle a little over the frantic search teams.

"Hey." Tifa snapped out of her thoughts. Shalua had a hand on her shoulder. When the brunette turned to her, the younger nodded towards the far corner. Tifa turned to see a long, sloping hill, leading up.

"That's Mt. Nibel." Tifa murmured, heart fluttering in her chest. "Nibelheim's on the other side."

"I know." The driver murmured. "If this cop hadn't found us, we'd be there by now." She sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "Still, this airship business sounds suspicious. Perhaps we should check it out."

Tifa wasn't really paying attention, to busy thinking and staring at the magnificent white peak miles ahead of them. Are you already there, Cloud? Breath fogging the window, she placed a hand there, and leaned her forehead against it. What are you thinking? What in the world are you looking for?

Eventually Barret parked in one space, and Shalua parked next to him. Tifa slowly got out of the car, legs numb from the long drive, hands tingling from anticipation of... something. Her mind was far away as she followed Shalua and Barret around the "command center" of the search.

As they approached a large make shift tent, another cop hurried over to them, one that Tifa recognized. "Heeey!" The short Asian chirped, black hair cut into a bob. The woman was bouncy, excitedly hugging Barret as he approached. The tall, gruff man threw her off with blush on his face.

"Not on the job, Yuffie!" The man spat, indignant. The girl simply grinned, hands behind her back as she backed away. Then she produced his wallet. The man's eyes went wide.

"Wha -! Hey! Stop messing around!" He tried to snatch it back but she jumped away, moving beside Tifa. Her grinning eyes caught sight of her.

"Tifa!" The girl raced over and hugged the older woman. "What are you doing here?" She leaned back and smiled wide. "I heard we were babysitting Denzel this weekend, but I didn't know you where coming!"

The woman gave a half smile. "I didn't know either. I ... bumped into Barret on the road." Sheepish, Tifa ignored Barret's grumbling and hugged Yuffie back. "It's good to see you." It really was; Yuffie's bright smile lifted her spirits.

"It's too bad you showed up right now. Everybody's deployed to the search. There's supposed to be about three hundred people missing around here, but we haven't found a thing." The woman pouted childishly. "So everybody's kinda standing around waiting for orders. But there's nothing to do. Not a hint in sight."

During her short speech, Barret tried sneaking up on Yuffie. At first it seemed he might succeed. Then, just at the moment he went to snatch back his wallet, the hyper woman leapt away. She laughed as Barret shouted and cursed loudly, jumping away and sitting on the back of his cruiser.

"Get back here brat!"

Instead of obeying, Yuffie merely smirked and opened his wallet, counting the bills. "Hmm... not too much in here..." She removed a quarter from it, spinning it in the air and catching it in her hand repeatedly.

Barret stomped his heavy boot on the ground, approaching her. "Dammit kid!"

Chuckling, Shalua leaned towards her partner. "Quite the duo. They always this loud?" She asked. Tifa didn't reply. Confused, Shalua leaned forward a little to get a look at her face. "You all right? You look pale."

Tifa's eyes were clouded over, her body frozen. "I... I don't know..."

Yuffie kept giggling at Barret's anger, not taking him seriously, still flipping the coin. "Come on, you big lug! Not my fault you're so slow!"

Finally the older man lunged for her, picking her up by the shoulders, as she struggled and fought, and snatched the wallet from her hand. "Hey! Lemme go!"

"Tifa?" Shalua shook the woman's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

The brunette heard nothing of it. Sweat poured down her brow, her fists clenching and unclenching, as her eyes remained trained on the coin. It had been forgotten, flipped one last time by Yuffie before she was snatched, and was now falling as if in slow motion. Tifa watched it turn and spin, light reflecting bright off one side, a dark tinge on the other. It continued to fall... and fall...

Until it hit the ground, bouncing lightly off the dusty pavement, dirt flying, as the metal landed dark side up.

Tifa's eyes widened further, mouth falling open, as her heart knew, just knew, that something was horribly and irrevocably wrong.

"Tifa!" Shalua shouted. The young woman wrenched herself from the other's grasped, spinning on her heel and breaking into a sprint towards Mt. Nibel.

"Cloud!" She shouted, shoving through the police officers, racing around cars. She hardly heard the shouts of her friends behind her. "Cloud!" Everything became a blur, and she could only see the imposing mountain ahead, the blockade that kept her from her friend, that kept Cloud hostage. "Cloud!!!"

Hands grabbed her shoulders, and she screamed, tears pouring down her face. She kicked, she writhed, she struggled as if her life depended on it. A life did depend on it; not hers, but his.

"Tifa!" Shalua screamed, catching up to Barret as he held her down. "Tifa, calm down! What's happening? What do you see?"

"CLOUD!"

But the brunette only screamed and thrashed, gnashing her teeth. Her friends watched in horror as she became a mindless panic; the coin on the ground, dark side up, totally forgotten. Yet it still laid there, by the car, a slightly haunting feel to it, a sort of morbid warning.

And Tifa continued to scream.

"CLOOOOUD!"