This took AGES to write! Seriously I can't believe the extent of my Writers block! It's so annoying!
Anyway 1 chapter to go after this and then this is done. So here is the next chapter, probably has many grammar and spelling mistakes but I'm tired so what I've done so far tonight should be fine.
I could see the panic as it spread over the faces of the group surrounding me. Each of them looked around to try and see my face which I'm sure held a blank expression as my mouth went dry.
"Aerith, try to get any children out of the sector, make sure Marlene is with your mother and take as many children with you as you can," I told the girl to my right. I didn't need to turn to know she would be nodding in acceptance of the idea. "Oh, and watch out for Tseng, don't let him capture you," I added before sending her off. I noticed Zack stood close to Tifa now while she and Cloud were wrapped in each other's arms.
"Zack, evacuate anybody you can. I want the rest of you to help him," I said I noticed everyone start to move and realized I couldn't fight Reno alone. "BUT," I added quickly causing everyone to stop and look at me. "I want Tifa, Cloud and Barrett to stay here with me. We have another job to do…" I told them with a sigh. I heard the pounding feet as the others took off in all directions after Aerith.
I turned to the ones that were left and pointed to the place the helicopter had landed. Each pair of eyes followed my finger with determination.
"We need to take out the detonation system!" I told them. I looked over their expressions; they ranged from determination to worry. I softened my own determined face to look at them with a pleading face.
"It won't be that hard, I promise," I said with a soft smile as I help out a hand hoping someone would take it to show me they would help. Barrett smiled at me and placed a hand on mine and as I looked to Cloud and Tifa I noticed they were smiling too before each added their own hands to the pile.
"For our happy future," Cloud announced causing me to break out into a large grin as I looked at him. We broke our hands apart but smiled at each other.
"It won't all be sunshine and roses, you know. You will have to leave when this is done, the whole of AVALANCHE and you will need to find and defeat Sephiroth before it's too late," I told them seriously as we started to walk. We didn't want to scare people and we now had time to tell people to leave while they had the chance just in case we couldn't stop the detonator.
"Sephiroth is dead," Cloud told me in a sour, cold voice. I was shocked he had said it. I turned to him to see a face of stone. "Vincent said he was killed by an overdose of some chemical in Hojo's lab," he added to show the information's legitimacy. I sighed and looked down, shaking my head.
"Sephiroth can't be beaten that easily…" I told him hesitantly. I saw all the faces scrunch in confusion. "And besides, JENOVA is the one you need to fight for now. Sephiroth is hidden in the northern crater meaning: you can't get to him, even if he was dead he would just be in the lifestream and the planet doesn't want him there so it will just… kinda…" I searched for the word but couldn't find it so I ended up just making gestures.
"Spit him out?" Barrett supplied for me. I nodded at him as we walked on in contemplative silence.
"Basically you will need to kill him away..." I told them looking back with a small sad smile. Everyone looked at me with unreadable sad expressions but I ignored them all and just looked up to the large plate pillar that stood tall and proud above the slums holding the many millions of people up on top of us.
"Okay, we need to get over there!" I shouted. I broke the silence barrier quickly and looked back to see if everyone was listening before I started running in the direction of the pillar. A shocked three people followed me quickly and as soon as we had climbed to the top we were greeted by the two Turks who were always seen together: Reno and Rude.
The two stood with cocky smirks and proud posture like they didn't have a thought to that they may lose.
"Hey, yo," Reno snickered as he bounced his weapon off his shoulder. Rude was poised with his fists ready to fight.
"Ah Reno and Rude. My least favourite ginger and the lovable mute," I teased I knew it was just going to rile them up but that was my goal, if I got them a little angry they wouldn't be thinking as properly as they should. I noticed all the others on my side seemed to send me glares.
"Oh? Think your tough… erm?" Reno made a gesture as if to ask who I was. It seemed we were having a civil conversation while waiting for the detonator to go off. I didn't have time for this…
"I'm Tia and I'm going to kick both your butts in 2 minutes flat," I told them sweetly as I pulled out my gloved and pulled them over my fingers.
"Oh really? Well I could use a bit of a workout," Reno joked as he got into fighting position. I let out a small noise of amusement before lunging forward to block his oncoming attack.
With a battle yell the Cloud and Tifa tried to fend off Rude while Barrett tried to punch in codes that could stop the detonator.
I punched at Reno's lower half while blocking his attacks and while he was off guard, I kicked him in the face. I heard a crunch as my shoe hit his nose and then a thud as he fell onto the floor.
"That wasn't even one minute," I told him as he attempted to get back up. I walked closer and pushed him down again and looked down at him while he looked up with a defeated look "Don't worry, you will get stronger, I just need to protect the ones I love, now…" I told him as I saw the other two finish off Rude until he fell on the floor.
"Guys… I have no idea of what codes to use!" Barrett called at us in a bit of a panic. We all turned in his direction and ran over. The mission had suddenly become 'press as many buttons as possible and hope it works!'
None of the codes worked, we just kept getting the same thing:
Invalid code, please re-enter code
Invalid code, please re-enter code
Invalid code, please re-enter code
Invalid code, please re-enter code
I let out a growl of frustration as I slapped down all the keys in my hands range. I pulled my hands through my hair in frustration and growled again before I was able to calm.
I felt a presence next to me and saw a face that I knew belonged to Angeal Hewley.
"If this is Shinra's code then it will be 10-27-22-41. Those are that guy's favourite numbers and the codes he always used for top secret projects,'
I nodded in the direction of the voice and typed in the code I had heard. A green light blinked and stopped the countdown I could see flashing on the screen. 'Code accepted.' Flashed up before a whirring of the mechanisms started whirring down.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and all the tension seemed to disappear. The panic below continued but one by one each of us on the ledge of the pillar smiled and realized we had foiled the plans of Shinra.
To the side of me I saw Tifa and Cloud hug each other close and to my other side I saw Barrett punching his fist up into the air in delight at our success. I smiled slightly before I heard the blades of a helicopter as it drew near.
Please don't have Aerith… I thought as I took in a large gulp of air. Instead of seeing Tseng and Aerith I saw another person. A male with long black spiky hair was inside the helicopter with Tseng banging his fists of the sides.
"Zack!" Cloud called as he tried to run forward but I held him back with my hand.
"Tseng, let Zack go!" I shouted up angrily. He looked down on me with a confused glare, he noticed the bodies of Reno and Rude on the floor next to Barrett and grew angrier.
"Maybe we can swap," he said in a cold but thoughtful voice. I felt my glare soften as I signaled for Barrett to bring over Reno and Rude. I looked up at Tseng's face and imagined him from the future.
I hadn't seen him often throughout time so his face wasn't as familiar as other's to me. I knew he used to keep his long hair in a ponytail but now it just hung down on his shoulders and flapped in the wind made from the helicopter blades. I nodded to Tseng to show I accepted the trade and he soon turned the helicopter to park in an empty space a little way away from us.
We all ran down the stairs to the place with the limp bodies of Reno and Rude in tow. We knew Tseng would hand over Zack readily seeing as we had two of his team members with us.
When we got there we noticed Tseng who was standing with one hand clasped around Zack's arm while an angry Zack glared at him.
"Ah, you're here," he said to us before turning and looking at Reno and Rude as if they were burdens.
"Give us Zack first," was all the reply Tseng got before he let out a humorless noise like a chuckle and pushed the black haired man forward.
"Of course. He isn't much use to me anyway…" Tseng said as he pushed Zack towards us. Zack fell forward into us and we were shocked as Reno and Rude both sprung up –clearly not unconscious- and ran into the helicopter.
"We shall meet again, mark my words," Tseng threatened as he got into the Helicopter with a wave of his arm. "And next time, we shall take the Cetra and the SOLDIER!" he added as the engines whirred and took the Turks away. As soon as they were out of sight I turned to Zack.
"You okay, buddy?" I asked as I helped him to his feet.
"Fine…" he mumbled back gruffly. I knew he would most likely feel a little weak for being captured but he hid it well as he perked right up as soon as he turned around to the rest of the group.
"So! Let's go back to the bar and work out a new plan of action!" he said with a smile. I was glad Zack had turned back to normal so quickly but I was still a little worried about everything that was happening here.
The rest of my time in this day was spent working on panic control and finding all the members of our team. We also talked about the future and what was going to happen as far as their quest was concerned. Cloud and Tifa spent the whole time cuddled up to each other and I just smiled at them happily knowing that could be the future me that I could be.
They all decided they would leave on a quest immediately to find the Black and White Materia's and then go on their quest to stop Sephiroth and Jenova. With Hojo already gone they had a bit less to do than we did and a bit of an easier ride with Hojo not there to help Serphiroth anymore.
At the time when I left I was talking to Cloud about his mother and my father. He said they were doing fine and that they had settled in fine in the time they had been there so that all the locals accepted them fully. There were no Shinra in Kalm so when Cloud needed a place to get away from it all he and Tifa went to Kalm for a few days. To me it sounded like a perfect reality.
I remember seeing Angeal for the last time before being pulled into my new reality that I could either choose or reject….