Obligatory Disclaimer:
I don't own any characters (or anything else, for that matter) you recognize from Final Fantasy VII, they are all the property of Tetsuya Nomura and/or Square-Enix.
Author's Note: Thank you Gabby-sama for your grammatical catch! *fixes it* I've read and re-read every page of this thing so many times, and I still miss things v.v; Thanks so much!
And in celebration of the A I got on my microbiology exam, another chapter! :D
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The following morning, Reno was very pleased to be awoken. He found that the person with a hand on his chest giving him a slight shake was Alcestis, and was all too happy to open his eyes to her gently smiling face, and her soft voice. "Reno, you have to get up now, sleepy head." He couldn't keep the stupid grin off of his face. He felt like a total moron. Even if Reno Ferren was in love, he didn't get stupid for a girl. But he was unbearably happy. Maybe this was what they called, what the hell was it, "swooning"?
"Okay, okay, I'm up. What's the problem, yo?" Reno said, standing and wiping the dirt off of his hands.
Tseng stood at the edge off the grass, right before it turned into the sands which surrounded Gold Saucer.
"Gold Saucer is about a ten minute walk from this point. But we have no idea if there is a WEAPON still out there." Tseng said, the rest of the crew standing behind him.
"And we have no way of finding out." Elena added smartly.
Reno stared at her, and cocked an eyebrow.
"You think there is, genius? Share." Elena said, thrusting her chin out.
Reno sighed, shaking his head, much to her chagrin. He picked up a rock that had been minding its own business on the ground, took a few running steps and threw it as hard as could towards Gold Saucer. The throw was magnificent – he heard somebody mutter something about professional athletes – and the stone landed relatively close to the Gold Saucer, within 75 yards or so.
They watched, stupefied, as within seconds, a large red and silver clawed appendage reached up, the sand swallowing the rock. Moments later, little hunks of gravel – presumably pieces of the rock – were spat back out onto the surface.
"Ooooooooookay, so… skipping across the sands is not the hottest idea…" Yetta said awkwardly. Reno reflected that it was good to see her coherent, even if she was leaning on Rude for perpetual support. She laughed and smiled a little bit, and then cringed, her ribs aching. "Perhaps we should've gotten a ride from the North Corel Ropeway station, eh?"
Tseng glared at her. "Brilliant. So good of this to occur to you now, that we're running out of supplies and desperately in need of a place to stay."
"Sorry, Tsengy-poo." She said, squeezing Rude's shoulder a little bit as she almost lost her balance.
Elena abruptly pointed a gun at Yetta's chest. "Do not call him that."
"Oh for Holy's sake, you damn rookie, put your gun down. Stop taking yourself so damn seriously."
Elena pouted a little at Cyrene's rebuke, which earned an "Oh, grow up, yo." From Reno.
"Any ideas on how to get there?"
"We could bypass it entirely and head to Cosmo Canyon." Rude said, speaking thoughtfully and for the first time in days.
"We don't have nearly enough supplies. The monsters would tear us apart between here and there, anyway. We need real rest." Oedipus said, contributing his two cents rather pompously.
"Like we're going to get it at the Gold Saucer anyway." Cyrene said. "Do they still have that awful ghost hotel?"
The group's silence answered her, and she muttered "Oh please, just shoot me now."
"That can be arrang-"
"Shut up, Oedipus." Tseng said. "I don't know why Rufus wanted you along, anyway."
"To make sure your incompetence didn't doom us all, I'm sure." Oedipus replied.
This time it was Tseng who raised his gun, and Oedipus raised his eyebrows.
"Put your weapon away, greaseball." Alcestis muttered. "Shooting each other is going to get us nowhere."
The gagighandi spoke for the first time. "My mage is quite correct. We need to work together or else we're all going to die, and I sincerely doubt that this was the end you all had planned."
Vincent, who had been characteristically quiet, also spoke. "I strongly suggest that we think of a way to get to the Gold Saucer before the rising temperature evaporates our blood in our veins."
Cyrene raised her hand a little, and Tseng pointed to her. "I had to do something like this with the Turks once-" She cut off sharply, her eyes starting to go fuzzy, and she closed them until she felt normal once more. "And I think there is a very simple way for us to reach that holyforsaken amusement park without much difficulty."
-~-*Å*-~-
"I'm not going to pretend I have any moral quandaries with this, but I still question its wisdom." Oedipus muttered.
The cliff overlooking the sandy pit which held their salvation in the middle had been nearby and actually not all that difficult to scale, which was not surprising since they had made their way up the grassy hill side of it with the cliff facing the gold saucer.
"Yes, well, wisdom was hardly ever your strong point, now was it, Oedipus?" Cyrene said scathingly.
The ropeway that led from North Corel to the Gold Saucer took a path directly over the edge of the cliff where the party was standing. Alcestis was actually leaning against a pole which supported the ropeway.
Cyrene's plan had been simple. Her idea was simply to stop the next ropeway car approaching, and hijack it. Tseng had applauded her – it was a solid idea, not difficult to accomplish, and it did not require them walking an extra who-knows how many miles. Why, it would not even be all that difficult to get the ropeway to stop. The driver was legally obligated to stop the vehicle if "pedestrians" were in danger of being harmed. And if it didn't stop… well, they had a plan for that, too. So all they really had to do was wait.
Which was the plan's greatest flaw. They had no idea how long it might be until the next ropeway car came on through. So they were stuck waiting. And if there was one thing Alcestis hated, it was waiting when there was something to be done. She was, however, forced to accept that the party was only human, so-to-speak (Nereid certainly wasn't, and could Cyrene, Vincent and Oedipus truly be considered human?) and therefore needed proper rest and supplies. So she would give in. She would allow this one stop, this one concession, before she decided to actually fill her shoes in the leader capacity and drive them like dogs. She doubted that Tseng would stop her – he seemed as eager to get this over with as she.
No one else seemed to mind the waiting. Apparently the fact that they weren't being attacked was something of a relief to them, having had it happen almost every time they tried to stop somewhere. Tseng, Elena and a bruised Yetta were playing Chocobo Run, and utterly refused to invite Alcestis into the game. Oedipus was skimming through some kind of informational document he seemed to have pulled from nowhere, and Cyrene and Alcestis leaned against the same pole, not speaking, but comfortable. Finally. Alcestis had accepted Cyrene's hard personality as a way of protecting herself, and Cyrene had accepted Alcestis' use of black magic as a force driven by good. Alcestis believed that Cyrene's sudden – and subtle – acceptance had spawned from the appearance of her wise familiar. Speaking of whom, the gagighandi was nowhere to be found. She had said something about "special supplies" and disappeared entirely.
And of course, Rude and Reno, being young, male, and therefore, stereotypically stupid, had taken to a little contest of seeing who could throw a rock the furthest into the sands. Then they would delight in watching the WEAPON grind it up and spit it back out. After a few tosses, Cyrene shouted "Knock that off! It's bad enough we're going to be skating over the WEAPON's head in a tiny little car, must you antagonize the beast?"
Reno turned back, gave her a winning smile, and pitched his rock as hard as he could onto the desert. Rude smirked a little, and Cyrene sighed.
"I think I'm going to butt in on the game over there, if you don't mind."
"Go on." Alcestis said, smirking a little. The gagighandi quickly took Cyrene's place, dropping a basket full of materia. Nereid sighed, and said "For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you love him."
"Love who?"
"Don't be stupid."
Alcestis laughed a little. "I think it's the 'yo'."
"Mmhmm." Nereid's reaction was clearly sarcastic. She shook her head. "Sure. Just don't be with child until this is all done, please."
"Nereid, you really need to stop with that."
"Stop with what?"
"I'm not going to have sex with Reno."
"..."
"I'm not!"
"Believe whatever it is you would like to believe, dear."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"Charming young man, isn't he?" Nereid said, picking up her basket and trotting towards the card game.
"Charming isn't the same is as seductive, you know!" Alcestis said a little too loudly. Reno turned around and raised his eyebrows.
"Talkin' about me again, yo?"
"Shove off, Reno."
Reno chuckled, and Alcestis quietly pouted as she heard him turn and mutter to Rude, "Oh yeah. She totally wants me, yo."
Alcestis scrunched up her nose bitterly. She could hear the others at the card game having a little laugh at her expense. She fervently hoped that Karma would provide them with retribution.
Suddenly, she could feel vibrations in the pole she was leaning on.
A ropeway car was coming.
She stood, dusting herself off. The omnipresent hum of the approaching railway car had gotten the attention of the other members of her party, and in seconds the gil lying on the grass had disappeared (whether it had been distributed fairly or not, she did not know) the cards had been stuffed back into Rude's pocket, and everyone was standing at the ready. The basket of materia Nereid had brought was mysteriously gone, but she could see the newly obtained materia glinting in the various weapons of the party. Each stood battle ready. She could hear the electronic hum of Reno's electromag-rod charging, and stood at the ready to do her part, should she need to.
She reflected for a moment on whether or not she could actually pull it off. She had actually argued with Cyrene about it, explaining to her, "My ability to move things is only so great. I can toss people who are for the most part un-moving, but I'm not sure I can stop something that's already in motion, particularly something quite so large and with as much momentum as a ropeway car."
Cyrene had nodded taking this into consideration. Her eyes had darted around strangely, as though in REM sleep with her eyes open, and finally said "Well... The car is supposed to stop anyway, and as long as you can slow the vehicle, we should be able to jump on. Magic is our best bet. But if you can't manage it, we can find a technological way to bring it down. Like having Tseng shoot the engine. Once we're inside, we can find some way to get it moving again. If you can't stop it, maybe you can get it moving again."
Alcestis had nodded apprehensively. She had a bad feeling about this.
As the ropeway car approached, she found herself sweating profusely. It was not stopping – she was going to have to try. She raised her staff towards it. Sparks began to fly as it visibly slowed, ever so slightly. With every second that passed, she found that her every breath was a rasping, ragged struggle. She put both hands on the staff, and found it shaking in her hands. It was as if the physics of the situation, the momentum, was struggling against her magic. Her peripheral vision became nothing - she was suffering from tunnel vision. She shuddered slightly with disgust as beads of sweat sloped down her face and back. As the ropeway car slowed significantly enough for the party to leap onboard, she found herself barely able to stand. Reno grabbed her around the middle, and flung her onto the car, following himself.
Tseng was pointing his gun at the passengers, a calm, cool, controlled leader. Alcestis fought the feeling of unconsciousness, and found that she had a new respect for Tseng for the manner in which he handled the civilians.
"None of you shall be harmed as long as you cooperate." He said, relaxed, collected. "We don't want your valuables. We want to get to Gold Saucer, and so do you. No problems. Report us and be shot. Say nothing and have a nice vacation. Your choice." Tseng said. A little boy to his left said to his mom, "Hey, he's cool!" Tseng blushed a little. Elena giggled.
"What's going on back here?" The driver wandered out of the control room. Tseng pointed the gun at his face. "Take us to Gold Saucer or get a bullet in the teeth."
The driver nodded, turned around and sat down at the controls. After a few minutes, the party felt the car begin moving again, much to their relief. Yetta sighed and leaned on Rude, who blinked absent-mindedly. Apparently, he had become used to Yetta using him for support. Tseng kept his gun out, but sat, along with Elena and Cyrene. Oedipus stood next to the driver's canopy, Vincent stood in the back, ever-silent, but flashed a rare smile at a small child who had begun to play with his cloak.
Reno took the seat closest to the entrance they had leaped through, holding onto Alcestis. Nereid laid at her feet.
"She over-exerted herself in stopping this vehicle." Nereid said, nudging the half-conscious mage. Alcestis could hear her familiar speaking, but could not bring herself to speak. She could not see anything, and had no idea whether her eyes were open or not.
"We'll get her some real rest, yo. A nice hotel. Keep her on bedrest. She wouldn't be interested in the kind of crap they have here anyway, yo."
"You seem strangely concerned about her, scoundrel. I thought you were the devil may care type?"
Alcestis could feel Reno's arm firmly about her waist. "Yeah, well...I thought so too, yo."
Alcestis did not see, but felt someone approach them. She managed to make a small moaning noise. It was the most she could do to warn Reno.
"Who gave you the right to just jump on like this?" A man's voice said. He sounded nervous, but determined.
"We did, yo." Reno replied. "Do you have a problem, sir?"
"I'll... I'll throw all of you off myself!"
"Who do you think you are, punk? A first class SOLDIER? The next great Sephiroth? Sit your ass down." Cyrene said.
"I... I know magic!"
"I know guns." Elena said, pointing one at his forehead.
"In fact..." Tseng said. "We all kinda know guns."
The man looked around. He was looking down barrels everywhere he turned. The red-cloaked man in particular seemed menacing.
"Well, you're not all so tough. Look at her."
"Let's see how you look after you stop a ropeway car." Alcestis gave a weak, almost-awake smile. It was Rude's voice.
"Doesn't make her any less weak."
"Don't make us participate in senseless violence. You won't like the outcome." Yetta's perky voice said. It was obvious that holding up the gun was straining her damaged tissue... but regardless, she was doing so. "Just don't screw with us. Don't you know who we are?"
"I... It doesn't matter. I could care less! This is wrong!" The man said.
Alcestis, unable to fight back, felt herself being lifted on one side and tugged on the other.
"Let her go-"
"All right. Fine!" the man said.
Suddenly, Alcestis felt a wind at her back. Was she falling? She couldn't tell. She was no longer conscious.