Road to the Sky

            "So, how are we getting to the ShinRa building?" asked Tifa as the group walked away from the Gainsboroughs' house.  "I don't even know how we can get out of the slums."

            "Yeah, thas' right," said Barret.  "ShinRa's shut down all the trains to an' from the slums since they found out how much we was usin' 'em to bomb their shit."

            Cloud's heart sunk upon hearing this.  This was news to him.  The trains were the only method of transit between the slums and Upper Midgar.  "I don't know," he said.

            "Dammit, there's gotta be some way ta get outta here!" exclaimed Barret, punching the air in frustration.

            "Like what?" snapped Cloud.  "You know as well as I do that the trains are the only way to get out of the slums, unless we leave Midgar altogether.  And a lot of good that would do us."

            "Wait!" exclaimed Tifa excitedly.  "I just remembered!"  Barret and Cloud turned to face her expectantly.  "On my way to Corneo's in Sector 6, I overheard some kids talking about some wire or something coming down from above near Corneo's mansion.  They claimed that it went all the way up to the plate!"

            "You're taking the word of a bunch of kids?" said Cloud, crossing his arms.

            "An' hell, even if it does go all the way up to the plate, you think we're gonna climb that whole damn way?" asked Barret.

            "Do we have any other choice?" asked Tifa.  There was that.

            "Don't matter!  None o' us is climbin' a fuckin' wire all the way ta the plate, even fancy-ass ex-SOLDIER here!" said Barret.

            "We might as well check it out," said Cloud.  "Tifa's right, it does seem to be the only way.  And who knows?" he said, shrugging.  "Maybe there will be a way to skip some of the climb."

            "Whatever, let's do it," said Barret.

            The three navigated the chaotic ex-highway that Aeris had first guided Cloud across, and made their way to the Wall Market.  They seemed to immediately draw the attention of the shoppers milling around.  Upon seeing the three, every bystander would without fail acquire a frightened expression and either shrink away or flee inside the nearest shop.  Of course, Cloud thought.  He, Tifa, and Barret were not only murderous terrorists, but they were also dead due to the collapse of the adjacent Sector 7.  In other words, not people one would want to encounter on a pleasant shopping expedition.  He grinned slightly as they jogged through the market to the far end, where Corneo's mansion lay.  Their journey was uneventful, as even beggars feared to approach them, and about twenty minutes later they stood in front of the Don's mansion.

            "I'd love to pay that sleaze back for what he did to us," said Cloud, fingering the sword on his back.

            "Another time.  We're almost to the wire, I think," said Tifa, taking his arm and guiding him past the mansion, down a dark back alley.  A mass of graffiti was visible on the walls, but Cloud's eyes were drawn instead to a black thread descending from above.  "There it is," said Tifa.

            "There it is, a'ight, but like I been sayin', there's no way we can climb that thing all the damn way ta the top!" said Barret.

            "Well, let's see if we can find anything else," said Cloud, eying the top of the fairly short painted wall.  He grabbed the wire and hoisted himself up until he could see what lay beyond the wall.  "Bingo," he said.

            "What's bingo?  What's bingo???" demanded Barret.

            "A junkyard," said Cloud.

            "What the hell good is a junkyard--"

            "Come look for yourself," said Cloud.  Cursing under his breath, Barret grabbed the wire and with great difficulty climbed to join Cloud.  "Shit…" said Barret quietly as he got the joke. 

            This was no junkyard in an ordinary sense of the word, but a vast field of towers of garbage akin to those Cloud and Aeris had traversed in Sector 5.  "There's our way up," said Cloud.  "Let's go."  Tifa followed them atop the wall, and they leapt down into the junkyard.  Cloud surveyed the towers.  Nearby Cloud spotted what appeared to be the tallest one, extending far up towards the plate above.  Jogging over to it, Cloud grabbed onto an old rusted car-body near the base and immediately started to scale it.

            "I don' like this," remarked Barret.  "What if this thing topples over with us way up there?"

            "Then we're screwed," said Cloud simply without looking down, and continuing his ascent.  Tifa followed him and eventually, so did Barret, muttering under his breath.  The climb was difficult.  Not only did Cloud have to find decent hand and footholds and keep from falling, but he had to keep from dislodging the piece of trash on which he was climbing, or from shaking the structure enough to cause the whole tower to fall, as Barret had predicted.  But despite the need for caution, Cloud felt rushed.  He knew that Aeris was held captive above, with horrible threats in store unless he could get her back.  "And I will," he thought determinedly, grabbing an old stove and hoisting himself up once more. 

            But even as he reflected on the necessity of haste in order to save her, another side of him was analyzing the validity of this view.  Why go through all this trouble for someone he hardly knew?  Because she's the last Ancient, he answered.  He couldn't let the ShinRa have her.

            "I don't care about that," Cloud corrected himself.  "Ancient or no, Aeris is Aeris."

But you do care.  You must care.

            "Well, we made it.  What now?"

            Cloud looked up to see Tifa standing beside him, looking expectantly at him.  The three of them were suddenly safely atop the tower of garbage.  Cloud's head whirled as he tried to adjust to this sudden change of surroundings.  The tower swayed perilously as Cloud stumbled about.

            "Shit, man!" shouted Barret, grabbing Cloud and steadying him.  "The hell's the matter with you???  You tryin' to get us killed after we climbed all that?"

            "But I…" started Cloud, but deemed it better that he not tell about his black out.  He held a hand to his head, trying to forget it himself.  "Sorry," he said, regaining his composure.  He looked around, seeking an answer to Tifa's question.  "There's the wire," he said, pointing to a thin black line extending downwards about fifteen feet away.

            "You think we can jump that far?" asked Tifa.

            "One way to find out," said Cloud, and without preamble ran towards the end of the tower and leapt.  Extending his hands, he grasped the wire, swinging back and forth with his momentum.  "Next!" he called.  Tifa backed to the far edge of the platform, then took off in a run and jumped, easily clearing the distance and grasping the wire a few feet below Cloud.  They turned back to look at the third member of the party.

            "There ain't no way!" said Barret.

            "C'mon, Barret," said Tifa.  "You can do it!"

            "Not like you have much of a choice," added Cloud, though he had his reservations.  Barret was certainly strong, but his upper body more so than his lower, which would impair rather than help him in this situation.  Barret cursed, eying the formidable distance.  "A'ight, here goes," he said nervously, backing up slowly.  He let out a mighty roar as he ran and, when he reached the edge, he leapt with all his might.  He sailed through the air towards them like a cannonball, but before reaching them started to drop.

            "No!" cried Tifa.  Barret reached out desperately as he dropped and grasped the wire with his fingertips.  He drew it towards him and grabbed onto it, halting his fall.  The wire jolted violently, and Cloud feared for a moment that it wouldn't support all three of them.  But the wire was sturdier than it looked, and it held.  Cloud breathed a mental sigh of relief, and was about to start climbing when a rumbling sound from the side drew his eyes.  The tower, already shaken from his and Tifa's jumps, finally gave in to the massive Barret's, and fell apart, junk flying in all directions to litter the ground far below.  Barret whistled.  "Good timin' that thing had," he commented.  Cloud nodded, then began his climb to the nearby plate.  In a matter of seconds he reached the artificial sky.  There was, however, no hole in the plate anywhere nearby.

            "Barret!  Fire at the plate!" said Cloud.

            "Heh heh.  No problem!" said Barret from below.  Grasping the wire with his left arm, he raised his right and opened fire on the plate near Cloud's head.  The metal screamed under the impact of the bullets, which, instead of penetrating the target, went ricocheting off in unpredictable directions.  Cloud heard several scream right by his head.  "STOP!" he called, and Barret ceased fire.  Cloud surveyed the plate.  "Hardly even a dent," he remarked.  Which, of course, made sense.  The thing supported the entire city of Upper Midgar; it would have to be sturdy.

            "Well, what now?" asked Tifa.  Without a word, Cloud drew his Buster Sword.  Wrapping the wire around his left forearm to free both his hands, he gripped his sword and with all his might thrust it up into the plate.  It sank in up to the hilt, and Cloud drew it towards him, slowly making a gash in the plate.  Strangely enough, water started seeping through the new hole.  He repeated the process several times, and in a few minutes had carved a hole large enough for them to climb through.

            "Alright, Cloud!" said Tifa.  Cloud climbed up through the hole, emerging into the sewer systems of Upper Midgar.  "Great, more sewers," thought Cloud as he looked down at the foul water lapping at his ankles, thought at least enough water had fallen through the hole he had made to prevent him being knee-deep in filth.  Tifa soon rose through the hole herself, but Barret showed no signs of rising.

            "Waiting for anything in particular?" asked Cloud.

            "Shit, man, how d'you expect me to climb all the damn way up there with one hand?" demanded Barret from far below.  "Ya gotta pull me up!"

            "Screw that.  You're on your own," said Cloud.

            "Cloud!" protested Tifa, astonished.

            "Kidding, kidding," muttered Cloud, and he and Tifa took hold of the wire.  It took both of them pulling with all their strength, but finally they were able to pull the wire up high enough to raise Barret to the hole.  Barret promptly climbed through, and Tifa and Cloud both bent over, trying to catch their breath.

            "Oh, come on!  I ain't that heavy!" said Barret.

            "My arms beg to differ," remarked Cloud.  Tifa muttered an agreement, massaging her sore muscles.

            "Whatever!  Let's just get outta here!" said Barret.  They started walking through the muck, not having any real idea where they were going.  After several minutes of trudging, they came across a ladder leading up to a manhole.  "'Bout time!" said Barret.  "Had my fill o' sewers."

            "You have no idea," said Cloud, as he grasped the rungs of the ladder and started climbing.  He pushed up the manhole cover and peeked up through the hole.  They were in the middle of an upper-class neighborhood, with pleasant little identical houses and fake turf lawns.  Looking up, he saw the enormous ShinRa building looming above.  He was about to climb out, but hesitated, thinking.

            "What're you waitin' for?" demanded Barret from below.  "Let's get the hell outta here!"

            "No," said Cloud at last.  "We should get to the ShinRa building through the sewers.  It'll be more secretive."

            "Dammit, I don' care 'bout secrets!  I just wanna get outta this damn sewer!"

            "Cloud's right, Barret," said Tifa.  "Cloud, can you see the ShinRa building?"

            "Yeah."

            "How far away is it?" asked Tifa.

            "Only about a few miles," Cloud estimated.  "Let's go," he said, replacing the manhole cover.  climbing back down.  Barret cursed, but made way for him to drop back down into the sewers for them to resume their trek.

            "This is it," said Cloud, looking out from the manhole.  This was the seventh they had visited, with Barret growing increasingly agitated each time.  But they were finally there.  Cloud climbed out of the manhole and looked up.  There it was.  The enormous ShinRa building dominated the night sky above them.  It was in reality made up of several different structures, with the tallest being a one-hundred floor tower stabbing up into the sky, overlooking all of ShinRa's massive domain of Midgar.  So here he was, about to attack his previous employers.  How things had changed.  Long ago, he had dreamt of nothing else but being a SOLDIER.  Then he had achieved his dream, and served ShinRa alongside his hero, Sephiroth.  Until that fateful day when he returned to his hometown.  He shook his head.  SOLDIER, Nibelheim, Sephiroth… all of them were in the past now.  All that mattered was Aeris.  He grit his teeth and strode forward purposefully.

            "Damn," said Barret, peering up at the massive ShinRa building.  He had never seen it this closely before, but seeing the power and scale symbolized by their headquarters only strengthened his resolve to take them down.  He had, after all, been dreaming of storming ShinRa for a long time.  Of course, he had pictured himself having more than three people with which to do it, but if this was the way it had to be, then he couldn't think of two more worthy comrades than Tifa and Cloud.  Tifa was a lightning-fast, talented martial artist, and Cloud, though Barret would never say it, was indeed an incredible fighter, both with magic and with that huge sword of his.  So this was it.  Barret clenched his fist.  "Let's do it."

            Tifa stared up at the ShinRa headquarters in awe.  She had never realized just how large the thing was.  She gulped nervously.  She was scared, she had to admit.  Scared of failure, of course, but there was also a part of her that was scared of success.  She wasn't sure why, but she was afraid of rescuing Aeris, of what might happen afterwards…no, it didn't matter.  Rescuing Aeris was the right thing to do, and that was that.  But the lines between right and wrong had been blurring recently.  Even so, surely rescuing an innocent prisoner from a corrupt corporation was right.  Wasn't it?  She had so many questions, but no way to get answers.  The only thing she could do was just go along with the course of events in which she had been swept up.  Taking a deep breath, Tifa started to follow Cloud and Barret, calmly walking towards the stronghold of the most powerful organization in the world.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So yeah.  I didn't really understand how the whole "climbing the wire to an impossibly vertical road of random junk that happened to lead to ShinRa HQ" thing worked, so I changed it.  Whoop-de-doo.  And yes, I know this was a short and absurdly uneventful chapter.  Didn't intend for the journey to ShinRa tower to be so lengthy, but it just kinda was, and I was forced to make it into its own chapter.  Terribly sorry.  More interesting stuff next time.


Stratadrake:  Sorry to keep you in suspense about sneaking in vs. Barretting in (hee hee, I just made Barret a verb!)  Next chapter, I promise.  Anyway, if the dialogue fits, I'll sometimes use it.  Naturally, due to the fact that the game is a translation and that it perhaps focuses on gameplay rather than optimizing the plot, I will change plot, including dialogue, when necessary.  But before I write, I like to read over the script of the game so generously donated by Neko-Underworld, and sometimes if the lines are good, I'll keep 'em.  As always, thanks for the corrections and advice.  And P.S.: what are the other good FFVII novelizations?

SleepingStarz:  Similes, eh?  Not my cup o' tea exactly, but they certainly are effective at times.  Maybe I shall try to work one in here and there.