Huh, I might actually get to finish this story this year, unless I end up editing my outline again. That might be a record for me.
Also, I made an error in a previous chapter. I said Barret lost his left hand, which is incorrect, it's actually his right. The image of Barret I was using as a reference was mirrored, and I didn't know it until a few days ago (I have since gotten a new picture). When I figure out which chapter I wrote the error in, I'll go back and fix it.
Just goes to prove I don't actually own the characters.
Department of Urban Development, ShinRa, Midgar
"Remind me again, why I have to help you?" Genesis glared at the head of Urban Development, who just smiled.
"You've had some experience in directing and moving troops, and this sector is the most difficult to navigate." Reeve calmly returned to the map. "Speaking of, how's the war going?"
"Not well." Genesis got up and began to poke around the office. Technically he was here for punishment for destroying another training room due to a summon. "Since when is there a reactor in Corel?"
"Not long, they're still building it, I think they're doing some tests on it this week." Reeve glanced at him. "We got reports of Avalanche's possible movements in the area, Lazard assigned some third class as guards." Genesis frowned.
"They should have sent at least a couple second class as well."
"Something about more pressing priorities, at least, that's according to Safety's Head." Genesis's frown deepened. Heidegger was a self labeled General, in charge of the troops stationed on 'home' soil. He was not in charge of SOLDIER.
"And Deusericus allowed that?"
"He couldn't object when the President agreed with Heidegger. A small squad of regulars was sent, and Veld sent a Turk as well." Reeve looked at him, and gave a small wry smile when he saw Genesis staring at him in shock. "Story of my department, we're never a priority."
Urban Development was considered a bit of a weak department, everyone in ShinRa was aware of it, but this . . . it was one thing to prioritize places that needed to be guarded, quite another to dismiss a viable security threat. Corel's reactor was still being built, and lacked quite a bit of security, it was a too-easy-to-pass-up prime target for any terrorist with half a brain cell.
Which just proved that Heidegger's intelligence was even less than that, if he actually had any, that is.
"Who did they send?" Reeve turned on a second computer monitor. The third profile that appeared was the one that caught his attention, though he resisted the urge to stare at it.
Strife. Mrs. Strife had mentioned her son was in Soldier, a throw away comment that Genesis had filed away for later, though he had never really bothered to look for her son even after their return. There hadn't been a point, and he would have needed a good excuse- his almost legendary lack of patience with others would have ruled out mentoring, and beyond that there really wasn't a good way to explain his interest, not without raising a lot of awkward questions.
Angeal might have gotten away with it, but he was already busy with Zack, and Sephiroth . . . that would have raised even more questions than if Genesis just went up to the guy and started talking.
"If you'll excuse me, I believe I have some more pressing priorities than evacuation plans to deal with. 'Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.'" Reeve blinked in surprise, and Genesis offered him a smirk and a wave before vanishing out the door to discuss the situation with Lazard.
Reeve watched him go, and then shook his head with a small smile. Reeve had met the other Genesis, when the other had randomly appeared in his office, wanting to see for himself what Tuesti was like, and had offered some information about various ShinRa projects. After that first meeting, Cloud became the middle man, and Genesis had once again faded to the background.
It seems time hadn't changed the other's habit of quoting Loveless, though.
Aerith's Church, Sector 5 Slums, Midgar
"- I managed to finally get up and take it down, but then Angeal looked at me with his 'you've forgotten something again' look, and I realized that my boot was still stuck in the mud." Zack finished as Aerith burst into giggles. "The really funny part was that the entire area around the boot was untouched, so if I'd have stayed there, I probably would have been fine."
"Sounds like a real adventure." Aerith finished whatever she was doing to turn and look at Zack, where he was reclining against a pew. "Are all missions that interesting?"
"Nope, sometimes, we just have to stand there and look impressive. Those are the worst, cause I'm not even allowed to move and I sometimes have to wear my dress uniform- which I still don't get the point of, because really, the things are so uncomfortable that if anyone actually did attack, there'd be no way for us to actually move quick enough to do anything." Aerith giggled again as he pouted.
Zack smiled as he watched her laugh. More and more, he found himself spending whatever free time he had with her. He really enjoyed the time with her.
"At least you'd look good." She offered. Zack was about to retort when he saw her eyes glaze over and she shivered as if cold.
"Aerith, are you okay?" He got up, but stopped from touching her, something telling him that it would be a bad idea. "Aerith, talk to me." She blinked, eyes refocusing. "Are you okay?" She leaned into his touch and he quickly pulled her into an embrace. Her skin was cold. "You can tell me, what's wrong?"
"I think . . . I think something bad happened, or is going to . . . Zack, promise me you'll be careful, okay?"
"I promise." He gently tightened his hug. "I'll be as careful as I can."
Reactor Site, Corel
"Well, this is boring, what do you think, Runt?" Weiss stretched as he walked around the half built reactor.
"That I should have gone with Nero." Weiss glanced at Cloud in mild amusement. The blond and his brother shared a common preference for silence, leaving Weiss to do much of the talking for all three of them. Not that Weiss minded, but unlike Nero, Cloud didn't have a problem going against Weiss, or shooting out a sarcastic comment or two when he wanted to challenge something Weiss said.
That, and it was fun dueling someone who's dual wielding ability extended to wielding two broadswords- Weiss preferred the early Wutai version of gunblades, but Cloud could keep up, even when Weiss was using practice ammo.
"You could have also gone with that Corel guy that's with Urban Development. Guy really liked the sound of his own voice."
"Pot calling Kettle." Weiss ignored that one, attention caught by something just ahead of them.
"The regulars are really useless over here, sleeping on the job." Even as the words left his mouth, Weiss realized his error as he continued to focus on the slumped regular. Namely, the large red stain on the figure's shirt. Cloud was already calling the alert when the alarm klaxons went off.
"Wallace is in trouble!"
Barret had been pretty much minding his own business as he watched the construction. There was a lady scientist there that Cloud and Reeve had vouched for as being safe, and a turk who was guarding her, though both were off taking samples and monitoring the progress made regarding Mako and what not. Barret hadn't really cared, all his instincts were screaming that the reactor was a bad idea, even though he knew it was a necessary evil they had to temporarily allow in order to finish ShinRa's current policies for good.
When Cloud's call came, he had just been able to hit talk when a sword came out of nowhere to take his right hand. Reacting, Barret got the hell out of the way before the second swing could take his head.
That didn't stop him from swearing, though. "The hell's your problem?!" Being the only discernible phrase that anyone else could catch.
Two shots rang out, and Nero was suddenly crouched near him. Barret cradled the stump close to his body, trying to figure a way to stop the bleeding, and unsure about using materia. He glanced up to see what was going on, and managed to see who was attacking, though there was already one dead body, thanks to Nero. One Raven, two regulars, Barret noted, but there had to be more regular Avalanche around, probably laying charges.
"What's going on?! F!" Prof. Rayleigh had appeared by his side, surprising him with her swear, as the Avalanche members vainished- and Barret distantly realized he was going into shock, and had probably blacked out for a minute. The female Turk was nearby in a shootout with someone(s). "Wallace, focus on me." She'd gotten a tourniquet on the stump.
"Where'd the Soldiers go?" He managed, dizzy from blood loss.
"Lower levels to keep the terrorists from blowing this place up."
Cloud cut down the two Avalanche that charged him, only to stumble as some idiot with a rifle got him in the leg. The lower levels were narrow, but had open ceilings, making them a good shooting range for anyone with a gun. Three more shots were fired as he took cover.
"Nero, we've got a sniper." Cloud called out, only to be met by silence. Cloud struggled to his feet, noting the lack of follow up shots. "Nero? Weiss?!" He froze at the scene that met his gaze.
Nero was hugging Weiss tightly, the guns he preferred to use lying at his side. The alarm Klaxons were joined by others, and Cloud absently lurched forward.
"Nero, get Weiss out of here, they're going to flood the lower level with mako!" Cloud didn't understand how the reactors worked, but he knew there were several mako wells and a reservoir in them, and most were designed with Spillways in case of emergency.
Unfortunately, the only mako currently in the reactor was in the wells, and that was not only unprocessed but there was still a lot of it; not to mention all the spillways tended to be located on the lower levels, and the odds of them not being in a potential spillway weren't good.
"Nero!" Cloud moved forward, and absently cursed as he almost went to the ground. Adrenaline was already starting to fade, meaning he could really feel what the heck happened to his leg, which was a lot worse off than he thought. Nero looked up at him, as a roaring sound began to fill the air. Cloud hit the ground as his leg gave out, and dark sparks began to fill his vision.
Dark sparks . . . He looked up in shock at Nero, who offered a small smile- and that was the last thing he got to see as suddenly he was falling in darkness, before slamming into what felt like metal. Gasping for breath, he struggled to see in the dark.
Nero was able to use his abilities. Abilities he'd only had in the future, after years of experimentation.
More importantly, he used them to send Cloud away, not save himself and his brother. Cloud cast Cura on his leg, before realizing that he didn't have a lot of magic left- at least, not enough to fix his leg. Grabbing his phone, he dialed a number as he tried to figure out where the heck he was.
"Professor Rayleigh is busy at the moment."
"Shotgun, it's Strife, I need help."
"Strife, where are you? Avalanche flooded the lower levels."
"I noticed," Cloud frowned, noting that light was starting to illuminate the box he was in- and then he realized that mako was leaking in through the door, "Shotgun, I think I'm in a service elevator, I think Nero shoved me in it."
"Elevators aren't working, Strife, they shut down as a precaution."
"Well, I just woke up in one, and it's starting to fill with mako. I have no idea what happened to Nero or Weiss, and my leg's pretty messed up." Cloud tried to stand. Getting doused with this type of mako was not going to be good for his health. "I can't stand."
"Hang on, we're going to find you, there's only one elevator currently on the lower levels, so we'll get you out right away."
"Better hurry." Cloud glanced at the mako just as it touched his leg. It burned, but not at the level he had been concerned about- it probably had managed to get diluted with something. Quite possibly water from the sprinkler system and plumbing, though he couldn't remember if that actually did anything to mako.
He really should have paid more attention to how the process worked, but he hadn't exactly cared. Still didn't. He levered himself up with his sword as best he could to get up out of the mako, before collapsing against the wall. He wasn't going to be able to stay like this for long, but it would be better than letting the mako cover him.
Shotgun skidded to a surprised halt as a familiar figure in red entered her view. "Commander Raphsodos!"
"What's the situation?"
"Avalanche has been taken care of, but the Soldiers are in trouble, at least one is trapped in an elevator on the lower levels, and it's going to fill with mako."
"Then let's go. Explain on the way." The Commander ordered, Shotgun nodded, and started running again as she explained the situation to the commander. "Is there any way to get the elevator running?"
"No sir, safety precaution. We'll have to get him out of the emergency hatch." Shotgun followed him as he sped up, and watched in surprise as he melted the doors.
It took surprisingly little time to get down to the elevator which was surrounded by mako, lighting up the shaft, Shotgun privately wondered if the commander hadn't been using Haste.
"Strife, can you hear me?" Shotgun opened up the hatch. The elevator was filled with mako up to the Third Class's waist, though it looked like he had gotten dunked in it. Raphsodos swore, and quickly moved to pull Strife out.
Genesis had to say he was mildly impressed with how stubborn the kid was, most would have just stayed down if they had slipped under the mako. The kid was soaked, but still capable of some movement, even putting his sword on his back before grabbing Genesis's other hand, though once he was out of the mako he seemed to slump.
"How are we going to get him back out?" The girl Turk asked.
He probably should have thought of that, before, but it was easy to come up with a solution. "We'll take him out the next level, then take the stairs."
It took a lot of maneuvering, and Strife did try to help, but they finally made it. Without a word, Genesis set off the sprinklers, drenching all three of them.
"Commander?"
"He's soaked in Mako, it's better to get him rinsed off sooner rather than later." Genesis glanced down at the sodden 3rd class. In this light, he really did resemble his mother strongly.
"Weiss, Nero?" Strife muttered, trying to move, and Genesis winced, recognizing the names of the other Soldiers that should have been there. A glance at Shotgun and the Turk shook her head sadly, giving him his answer, and confirming what he already thought. Damn Heidegger and his priorities, it cost them two good soldiers.
"We're still looking, just focus on yourself, Strife." A lie, but they didn't need the kid to fall apart now- he could do it after he recovered from being dunked in mako.
It took a little longer on the stairs, but they finally got out to where the medics were waiting.
Myrna ignored Eleanor's pleas for her to wait. There were several troopers, but none tried to stop her as she went past, holding her husband's spare pass. She focused on the man in Red who was apparently in charge and talking to a long haired blonde with a shotgun.
"You two shouldn't-" The blonde started, and Myrna didn't miss the way she gripped her gun.
"My Husband, Barret, where is he? He was working here." The man looked blank for a moment, but the blonde blinked in surprise.
"Mr. Wallace's being looked at by our medics." The woman relaxed. "Would you like to see him?"
"Please."
"Mrs. Wallace, how- why did you two come up here?" The man stopped them.
"Some fool in brown was trying to stir up the town a short bit ago, saying the reactor was going to blow." Eleanor explained. "He's in a holding cell, if you want him, my husband and some of the others are guarding him. We couldn't get a hold of Barret, and the Mayor forced us to wait to walk up, just in case the reactor did go." The man nodded, then turned to talk to the troopers.
Barret was sitting up in the makeshift infirmary, sitting right next to a young soldier that wasn't really moving.
"Barret!" He blinked in shock as Myrna hugged him, arms moving to return the hug. Eleanor was the first to notice that he was missing his right hand.
"Barret, what happened?" Barret moved his arm as Myrna twisted, trying to see what Eleanor was asking about without letting go of her husband.
"One of them Avalanche, almost took off my head." Myrna gripped his arm. "I'm alright, otherwise, I got the hell out of the way, but Spikey there and the other two, they didn't do as well." He glanced at the boy. "His leg was pretty bad, but they've gotten it patched up and the medic says he'll be fine." Barret turned his attention back to the two women. "What are you doing here, I didn't think they'd let anyone up here for a few hours."
"I borrowed your other pass and didn't take no for an answer." Myrna muttered, making Barret chuckle.
"That's my girl." Barret glanced at Cloud, trying not to wince. The last time he had seen Cloud that still, the young swordsman had been covered in blood and more than half dead. It was a memory Barret didn't like to remember.
Cloud didn't want to wake up. He had a long experience of waking up and finding things had gone completely wrong while he was unconscious, ranging from Meteor to Yuffie's pranks (and most recently, Weiss's bright ideas on the battlefield) and a part of him knew he wasn't going to like waking up this time.
"Hurry it up Runt and wake up."
"Sh'up Weiss . . ." He muttered, opening his eyes to see black and red. It took a moment to realize it wasn't Vincent (thankfully he didn't say anything). "Huh . . . Commander?" Cloud blinked, confused, Genesis shouldn't be here.
"Strife. Good to see you awake."
"How long was I out?" And where was Weiss? He knew he had just heard the other, but it didn't look like there was anyone else in the area.
"Not too long actually, we're still waiting on the idiots to send an actual medical chopper."
"The others?"
"Wallace lost a hand, but he's at the Corel Clinic, Rayleigh and the Turk are fine . . ." The commander paused, before continuing. "Unfortunately, we haven't found any sign of your teammates."
" . . ." Cloud closed his eyes. "Thank you for telling me, sir." He wasn't sure what he felt at that point, but well, he wasn't feeling much of anything, other than concern about how he was going to explain how he knew it was Nero that put him the elevator, without revealing the other's abilities.
"The Turk Shotgun will be by for your report in a few minutes." Genesis stood, "I need to go check on what's keeping the chopper." Cloud just nodded, and watched the man go.
That had been . . . odd. The Genesis he had known would have been giving him hell for ending up in a death trap like that, and more than a little sarcastic. Then again, the Genesis he had known had slightly longer hair, wore a slightly tattered leather duster and armor, and had an annoying habit of sneak attacks with Fire spells for greetings. Not to mention a Goddess fixation.
The goddess Minerva, also a physical manifestation of the lifestream depending on who one asked. Cloud frowned, as a tentative memory popped up, of going under the mako and having someone haul him back up. It probably wasn't Minerva, but still, someone in the lifestream had helped him out.
Weiss and Nero were gone, too, and Nero had used his ability to send Cloud away. Which opened a whole lot of questions that they didn't have answers for. Cloud closed his eyes and sighed. He'd have Vincent and Reeve, maybe Rufus, look into it. They had a lot more information about the past than he did.
To tell the truth, he hadn't wanted to come back at all. He had been moving forward and recovering just fine, and there had been too many risks with time travel that he hadn't wanted to take them. Especially if he had ended up alone, he relied on all of them to keep his sanity intact, especially Tifa and Vincent.
Tseng, of all people, had been the one to convince him to go through with it, before the time travel had become necessary, instead of optional. Cloud let out another sigh. It was just weird, going through this life, and getting attached to people he had never even met before . . . and losing them, too. He still had no clue how he would react to meeting Sephiroth, and he really didn't know how he would react if he ever met Zack again. He could admit to going out of his way to stay away from any place that Zack could be, mostly because he was so afraid about how he'd react. He'd even stopped visiting Aerith as often, once he had heard that she and Zack were spending a lot of time together. The others might accuse him of running, but given how badly his mind had fallen apart (mostly thanks to Hojo, Sephiroth, Jenova and Mako), he was wary of anything that could cause a relapse.
He wasn't the trooper that had become friends with Zack, and Zack wouldn't be the slightly disillusioned man that had dragged him around for over a year of running from Shinra, and then got killed facing down an army because he wouldn't abandon Cloud to save himself.
Cosmo Canyon
"Nanaki, you need to calm down- RED!" Yuffie finally raised her voice in a shriek, forcing the Guardian of Cosmo canyon to look at her. "Thank you, now will you tell me what's wrong? Are you still upset at that Shears guy?" Yuffie had hidden herself when the group of Avalanche scouts had come into the Canyon, and had tried to recruit the people to their cause. Some of the younger adults had agreed, but Nanaki had gotten into an argument with the group's leader about Avalanche's methods. The group had left not long after that.
"It's not that, Yuffie."
"Then what is it?"
"It's Deneh." Nanaki shook his head. "I really wish I knew what she was thinking . . ."
"I'll go ask!" Yuffie beamed, and rushed off, only to stop when got to Deneh's room. Nothing had been disturbed, but Deneh's spare materia bracelet was gone. "Uh-oh." Yuffie had a feeling she now knew exactly what Deneh had been thinking.
It was the same type of thinking that had made Yuffie sneak aboard Cid's plane, and come to Cosmo Canyon.
"Red is not going to be happy about this." Yuffie turned. "RED! OLD GEEZER! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!"
Miles away from Cosmo Canyon, Deneh caught up to the group of Avalanche members.
"Guardian Deneh . . ."
"Why did you follow us?" Shears looked at her.
"My Partner might not agree with you, but I do. Please, allow me to help in your fight against ShinRa." Deneh met his gaze. "I am an adequate materia user, and capable of fighting."
"I am honored to have your support." Shears nodded, and the group began to move again, Deneh keeping pace with their Chocobos. She wanted to see the world like Nanaki had, and she wasn't going to keep waiting for whatever signal he was waiting for.
And there we go. Deneh has decided to go with Avalanche, Questions have been raised about Nero and Weiss, and Genesis and Cloud have made a slightly awkward first contact with each other. (Not to mention, we've had a brief glimpse into Cloud's real thoughts on the time travel). More shall be revealed throughout this part, and not all of it good.
I did say this was going to be the part with a lot of the action, didn't I?
