This is a little short, but I'm just too tired to write anymore of something remotely comprehensible. I really need to stop writing & editing at 2 - 4 in the morning.
OhJay, I just understood your screenname! (another reason I need to stop doing this at 2 in the morning). Love it! And now I'm thirsty...
cloti4life, yes, one of the earliest signs of Geostigma is intense bouts of extreme sarcasm! Actually, I thought of it because of "A Separate Piece." Toward the end the lead character is constantly cracking jokes, not because he's happy, but because he's been pushed over the edge and that's his coping solution. I'm not going to go that extreme with it, but I thought it was an interesting reaction to stress.
ledah13, I didn't even think of the double shuriken issue. Yuffie kind of gets on my nerves, so I've been delaying introducing her. I'll bring her in eventually.
022, You know EVERYTHING! Seriously, you need to write something because your writing style and vocabulary superb, plus you know every FF7 fact under the sun. I'll try to go back fix up the plot holes tomorrow. Glad you like my Cloud portrayal, because he's quite difficult to characterize. I'm much better at grasping personalities than maps.
"So she shot you and escaped," Reno repeated skeptically, "Tseng, do you think anyone, anyone, is going to believe that?"
"No," Tseng replied, "But they're going to pretend to."
"Care to elaborate?"
"I know too much for them to fire me, and I'm too important for them to just kill off easily without anyone noticing," Tseng said calmly, "Further more, they're going to have a hard time finding a replacement who's as good at this as I am."
"I wouldn't bet on that. When Shinra wants someone gone, they will be dead. But you know that, don't you? You're risking your career and life just to help this ancient girl," Reno criticized, "I thought Turks were supposed to be smarter than that."
"No, I'm doing it to get a contact on the other side. I can't investigate Wutai with Shinra watching me, so the best I can do is form an alliance with someone who can."
"Sure, but why must you form it this stupidly? You just happened to have engine problems and that's why you just happened to transfer to a different craft, purely coincidence that it happened to be one specialized for long distance. Then as you were transferring, she somehow got a hold of a subordinates gun and shot you, then escaped. Your story for what you've been doing the last few days while you were flying her to another continent is that you went to a medical clinic, then went looking for her, although you didn't send back any kind of report. That's about flimsy as stories get."
"Not quite. A mission report saying 'we crash landed and Cissnei disappeared' is as flimsy as it gets."
"There was more to it than that!" Reno argued, "But yeah, it's obviously total BS. But unlike you, when everyone saw through it immediately, I accepted that no one would believe it and changed it to the truth before it left the Turk's office."
"That, and Rude would have sent in a correct report that proved you were lying. Anyway, I didn't know when I would get another chance to talk to one of them, so I took it. If you had informed me sooner that Cissnei had run off and joined them, I wouldn't have taken that risk."
"So we're both equally stupid," Reno sighed, "No one is going to trust the Turks after this."
"Did they ever?" Tseng asked rhetorically, "At least maybe we'll be less involved in the AVALANCHE missions."
"This is quite a mess we're in, isn't it?"
"Hopefully it will blow over. If not, I guess death is just an occupational hazard around here. Good luck on your next mission, by the way. You're going to need it."
"Cloud" his mother's voice said as she materialized before him, her arms outstretched toward him. He hesitated to go to her. He wasn't strong enough to take care of her right now. But she needed him, so he didn't have a choice. As he walked toward her, her expression changed from welcoming to fearful, "Why did you let this happen?"
Fire surrounded them, engulfing his senses as his mother continued speaking, "Why didn't you save me?"
"I-I tried," he said helplessly.
Her eyes rolled back into her head as the flames licked at her skin, "Why did you let me die!"
"I didn't-" he tried to step away, but his legs wouldn't move.
"WHY DID YOU LET ME DIE?" she screamed. Blood ran from her now empty eye-sockets as she approached him, engulfed in fire. He looked for a way out, but there was nothing but fire. He turned back to his burning mother, but instead he saw a silver haired man with glowing green eyes.
He tried to scream, but no sound came as Sephiroth's sword pierced his torso.
"You killed her Cloud," he said, his eyes alight with mad glee, "For I have killed her, and you are me."
Cloud awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for air. His hand clutched his sternum, but instead of a stab wound, there was only a dull ache in the long healed scar. His breathing began to regulate as the terror subsided.
He rolled over to look at the clock, 4:30, and brushed a stray strand of blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Why can't I just sleep through the night like a normal person?" he muttered, burying his face in his pillow. Just once, he would like to have a dream free of blood, needles, and fire.
There was a soft creek and his eyes snapped back open. He could here foot steps on the floor below of two people. Too heavy to be Tifa, Jessie, or Cissnei, and Zack was fast asleep on the other side of the room. His heart rate accelerated. It could be Wedge and Biggs, or maybe Barret. No, it couldn't be Barret. He could hear Barret snoring in the next room. The footsteps were right below them. Cloud jumped silently out of bed and grabbed the sword/gun crossover he now kept within reach when he slept at all times and walked down the hall just to make sure. He looked in the room shared by Wedge and Biggs, expecting to see the beds empty, but instead both of them were sleeping peacefully. He rushed silently back to his room.
"Zack," he whispered shaking his shoulder, "Wake up." Zack groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow.
"Shhh! Zack, get up!" Cloud whispered frantically. Zack looked at him sleepily. His eyes were glazed over, but concern slowly began to seep into his expression.
"What's wrong?" He whispered groggily rubbing his eyes.
"There's someone in here," Cloud whispered, slowly making his way down the hall past Barret's room, "They're too heavy to be one of the girls, and Biggs and Wedge in their room." Just then Barrett appeared in the doorway.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Shhh," Cloud gave himself over to paranoia. He could hear low voices in the kitchen. Slowly and silently, he walked down the hallway, Zack and Barret close behind him.
"So are we just supposed to take the two fugitives, and kill the rest, or take them all?" said a man's voice.
"Neither," said a second, deeper voice, "We take the blonde one. He's the only one Hojo wants. Fair dies along with the rest of them"
"That's cold," said the first voice, "I'd prefer not to kill Zack. And if Cissnei is here.." his voice trailed off.
"Reno," said the deeper voice, "We are Turks. We do our job, regardless of who it involves"
"And what if Rufus suddenly decides you need to die? Should I do it? I'm not killing Cissnei."
"It's Reno and Rude," Zack groaned. He new this would be a problem, not only because Reno and Rude were two of the best Turks of all time, but because he was going to have a hard time making himself kill such familiar faces.
"Barret," he whispered, "Wake up everyone else, and get out of here."
"Why me?" Barret asked indignant.
"Just do it. Cloud and I have handled Turks before," Even through the darkness he could see Barret was about to protest, "Please, if you love your daughter, you'll do it." Barret thought for a moment, then nodded and headed up the stares. Zack stood with his back against the wall, just outside the doorway of the kitchen.
"This isn't easy for me either. But I'll do it," Rude paused for a moment, "But if I take out Cissnei, then you have to take care of Fair."
"Fair enough," Reno said, not noticing the terrible wordplay, "I'll look up stairs"
"Reno!"
Zack tried to grab her arm as she ran past, but Cissnei was already out of reach. How had he not noticed her coming up behind them? Her stealth was scary sometimes. She skidded to a stop in front of the redheaded Turk.
"Before you touch any of them, you fight me"
"Hey, Ciss," Reno greeted her.
Her expression softened from defensive to mournful, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it, but I didn't know any other way," she stood just far enough away that he wouldn't be able to reach her with his EMR, "I don't want to fight either of you, but you know I will if I have to."
"Reno," Rude warned as he came through the doorway.
"What?" Reno moaned, casually tilting his head back toward Rude, "Can't I have a friendly conversation with my ex-coworker before we have to kill her?"
"I just called in and told the higher-ups AVALANCHE is at Seventh Heaven. If you don't kill them, they will," Rude started toward Cissnei, ready to attack, and Zack quickly found his face a few inches from Reno's EMR. He wished he had his sword, but the umbrella beside the door would do just fine. Zack Fair, once again taking on Shinra with rain resistance implements.
Reno was good, but he was better. The redheaded Turk was forced back a step with every swing. Sparks flew from the now slightly chard umbrella as electricity surged through it. Zack's fingertips began to go numb as electricity flowed into his hands from the handle as the umbrella made contact with the EMR. He wasn't sure if he could keep his grip or not. He slashed full force, trying to end the duel quickly before he lost feeling in his entire hand, but it backfired.
Reno met his his swing with an equally forceful blow, sending the umbrella flying from his numb hands. Out of the corner of his eye, Zack saw Cissnei locked in an equally intense fight with Rude until Cloud smashed the flat side of his sword against Rude's head. He fell to the ground, out cold. Zack's attention returned to Reno who still hadn't moved from his position with his EMR extended toward Zack's face. Rather than victorious, his expression was conflicted. He lowered his arm and retracted the EMR.
"To hell with it," Reno muttered and casually walked over to his fallen companion.
"Oh no," he said, emotionlessly monotone, "Looks like I left the exit wide open"
"Reno," Cissnei choked out in shocked joy, "Are you really..."
"See ya around," The other three watched in amazement as Reno lifted the larger man over his shoulder with apparent ease.
"What? I'm a Turk," he shrugged with his unladen shoulder, "What did you expect?"
"Look! A distraction!" Zack shouted, pointing over Reno's shoulder before running for the exit. Reno spun around dramatically, a rather impressive feat considering he was "spinning" with Rude's weight as well.
"What! Where!" Reno overacted as he searched the area behind him. He then turned back around and did a halfhearted impression of being surprised and angry at Zack's flight.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" Reno put a little more effort into his last epic evil villain line "You can't run forever, Fair!" Cissnei laughed softly before following Zack. Even Cloud cracked a smile.
"Come back and fight you cowards," Reno called after them. Once the door closed his playfully sarcastic voice turned serious, unsure whether he spoke to either himself or his unconscious partner, "That was stupid. I'm worse than Tseng. They're probably going to kill me now... But maybe it was worth it."
In the street outside Seventh Heaven, they met up with Tifa, Barret, and Marlene.
"Where are the rest of them?" Zack asked
"I went upstairs first to get the girls. Jessie said she would go get Wedge and Biggs," Just then Barret caught sight of Reno exiting the building with Rude over his shoulder. He immediately lifted his gun-arm to fire.
"Stop!" Cissnei jumped in front of him, "He let us go. He isn't going to hurt us!" Barret was about to yell back when a loud humming drowned him out.
Jessie appeared in the doorway of Seventh Heaven and started to shout something that no one could hear as the helicopter flew over head.
"Jessie! Get out of there!" Tifa yelled frantically, but there was no way Jessie could hear her. Even if she had, it would have been too late. In one shot, the entire building before them lit up in flames.
"JESSIE!" Tifa screamed. She ran toward the burning building, but Cloud caught her and pulled her back.
"Let go of me!"
Just then, a second airstrike collapsed what was left of the chard structure. Tifa stopped fighting. She stared wide eyed, frozen for a moment, then sank into Cloud's arms.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Barret shouted at the helicopter as is began to fade into the distance "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
Cloud watched the rubble burn. Fire. Bright, hot, destruction. Just like in Nibelheim.
"DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!" Barret screamed, trying to shoot at the helicopter as it shrank into the distance.
In an instant, their home was gone.
"Oh no," Tifa's eyes were still wide and blank, "No, no, no"
"We need to get out of here," Cloud said emotionlessly. His years with Shinra had taken his ability to be horrified. He would grieve later, but shock no longer registered. Zack nodded in reply.
"They'll be back," Zack's voice was tired, but still strong somehow, "Come on."
"Where will we go?" Marlene asked
"I don't know," Zack had forgotten there was a child with them. No one so young, so innocent, should have to witness this. He tried to sound confident when he answered, as though everything would be fine, "We'll come up with something. Cloud and I lived on the run for months. It's amazing how little you can really survive on. There is no better motivator than necessity."
"We could go back to the house I was staying in," Cissnei suggested, "Just for the night. Then we'll move on"
"You were right," It was Tifa's voice, but Zack had never heard her sound that broken, "We should have left."
"That's the second time they burned my home and killed my friends," She shook her head, "You'd think I would have learned."
"Teef," Cloud said, the icy cold in his voice had been replaced by a tone sad and weary, "I was there too. I worked for Shinra so I knew more about what they can do than you did. This wasn't your fault"
"But it was my idea to stay. I didn't want to give up having a home again, and I was willing to risk our lives to keep it. If I hadn't wanted to stay Brigs, Wedge, and Jessie would be alive right now."
"You don't know that," Cloud said, "Shinra might have found us anyway."
Tears welled up in her eyes, "I killed them," Tifa folded her hands in front of her mouth as she cried.
"It wasn't your fault," Zack told her, "If there's anyone to blame, it's me. I brought us here with an entire army chasing us"
"You thought we should leave too," Tifa shook her head. She took a deep breath, "Don't waste your energy trying to make me feel better. Let's just go."
"I'll kill them," Barret seemed to finally be coming out of shock, "I'll kill every last one of them."
"Not all of them," Cissnei contradicted, "Reno let us go"
"Zip it, Turk," Barret snapped, "It was your lot that found us" Cissnei opened her mouth to argue, but changed her mind. They walked silently for nearly half on hour.
"Daddy," Marlene said with a yawn, "I'm tired. Can we stop for a little?" Barret picked her up and carried her on his back. Soon, the sun started coming up.
"I love the sky," Zack said dreamily as the light cast red and orange hues across the horizon.
"What's so great about it," Barret muttered. It wasn't really a question, but Zack answered anyway.
"I didn't used to appreciate it much either, but after four years, you really start to miss it," Zack wandered if Angeal was watching from up there. He had seen Angeal the day he escaped from the reactor. Maybe he would turn up to help him again. Or maybe his mind was just more shattered than he thought and communing with the dead would become a regular delusion. But even if it did mean he was crazy, he still wished he could talk to his mentor. 'Do you see me, Angeal? Do you see how hard I tried? How far I've come?'
"We're here," Cissnei said, the dark circles under her eyes becoming apparent in the growing light. They trudged inside, not caring what amount of dirt or ash came with them.
"Daddy, are Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie gone?" Marlene asked, her innocent brown eyes focused on her adoptive father.
"Yeah," he said, putting his arms around her, "They're gone."
She climbed into his lap and curled up leaning on his chest, "Where did they go?"
"Somewhere a hell of a lot better than here," he didn't even notice he used a curse word in front of Marlene. Tifa sank into an armchair with a vacant expression, all of her usual warmth gone.
"Okay, I know everyone's tired, but we need to come up with a plan" Cissnei said, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.
"I know you were a Turk and all," Zack said sleepily, "But even you can't think of a plan right now. Go to bed, Cis. We'll talk about it in the morning" Zack then caught sight of the sunlight streaming in the window, "Or late afternoon"
"Jessie and I were going to make pizza tomorrow night," Tifa said distantly, "Everyone likes pizza. We thought it would be a good way to bring everyone together. We were going to look for a good movie to watch, do something fun for once. I guess we should have done it yesterday instead."
Cloud silently placed a blanket that had been draped across the couch over her shoulder's. She didn't seem to notice, she just continued to stare into the distance.
"I'm sorry, Teef," he said, then headed upstairs to find a bedroom.
"Yeah," she said, finally responding to the world around her, "Me too."
Cloud's dream courtesy of me watching "The Exorcist" at 2 in the morning. Awesome movie, but holy crap was that girl creepy (the spiderwalk!)
