Sirius: Not entirely sure why it took you two weeks to finish chapter fifty, but you're now done with it, right?
Yes, unless someone catches a mistake, or something. I doubt it, though.
Harry: Full of yourself, much?
No, just confident. I'm pretty darn good, if I do say so myself, but I'm not perfect. I usually catch my mistakes right after I make them, so I backspace and re-type it.
Harry, Tifa, and Barret were led into a large auditorium, with rows upon rows of seats available for guests and reporters to watch the event. A large round fellow sat in the front row - Harry quirked an eyebrow at him. Why does he seem so familiar? His thoughts were cut off when Scarlet began to speak at the podium up front.
"Is everyone here?" she called. She glanced around the room and smiled sickeningly. "These are the ones who brought this madness into the world!" Several cameramen swung there cameras at them.
"The hell are these people?" Barret growled.
"Reporters. I take it our executions are going to be publicisized?" Harry grinned sardonically.
"So there is an intelligent one in your pathetic little terrorist group," Scarlet mocked. "Yes, we will be broadcasting your miserable deaths on national television."
"I'm sure it will be greatly entertaining," Harry smirked. "It'll be even more so when we escape."
"People do love drama," the large fellow agreed. He turned to the woman in the red cocktail dress. "Scarlet, why a public execution in this day and age?"
Scarlet stepped to the door that led into the gas chamber. "With the chaos resulting from the Meteor reports," the cameras shut off while the techs set one up inside the chamber, "we desparately need to rally public support...it's better that we punish somebody, anybody."
"Need to be seen doing something," Harry remarked.
"You make me sick," Tifa grunted.
Scarlet laughed as the cameramen came back out, testing the feed from the gas chamber camera. "They'll never admit it, but everyone loves this stuff!" She settled down as the cameras came on, the broadcast beginning. "We'll start with this girl." Scarlet motioned toward Tifa.
Barret began to struggle against his bindings. "If you've gotta do it...do me first!" he roared.
"Camera, this way!" Scarlet waved forward. "Make sure you get this! The audience just eats up tearful goodbyes!" The nearest cameraman zoomed in a little on Barret's face.
"Arrg!"
Tifa and Harry were dragged into the chamber. They were forcefully shoved into the two chairs before their cuffs were removed. Their wrists were then clamped down into the chair's restraints, preventing their escape. "What are you doing!?" Tifa demanded.
"This is my special gas chamber," Scarlet cackled. "Take your time and enjoy a slow, painful death." She slapped Tifa across the face. "Stuck up bitch!" She turned to Harry.
Harry smirked. "Pathetic."
Scarlet's eyes widened, as did Tifa's. "What did you say, you little twerp!?"
"Come on, Scarlet," Harry drawled, with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "If you really think that this chamber will kill us, then you give the 'dumb blondes' of the world a bad name. In fact, calling you a 'dumb blonde' is an insult to 'dumb blondes' everywhere." Oh, yes, he was enjoying riling her up. Even after her palm smacked across his cheek.
Scarlet pulled out a small syringe. "This is a partial antidote, you arrogant little twit," she said. "It won't save you from the gas; in fact, it'll only slow it down, prolonging your death." She jabbed the needle straight into Harry's arm and shoved the plunger, enjoying the pain Harry allowed onto his face as the chemical was ruthlessly emptied into his veins. "Enjoy your one-way trip through hell." Scarlet ripped the syringe out and left in a huff. The guard, which smelled suspiciously like cigarette smoked, hesitated a moment, before accidentally dropping a small, metal object at Tifa's feet and leaving.
"Cid..." Harry whispered, grinning at Tifa pointedly.
"When the gas starts pumping in, Harry, take a deep breath of air, as much as you can get, hold it for a few seconds, and let it out as slowly as you can," Tifa instructed. "Take a few deep breaths now, to open up your lungs a little, which will let you inhale more oxygen when the time comes."
Harry nodded. "Got it."
Scarlet's voice came out over an intercom. "Well now, the show's about to begin!" She laughed as the red power light on the camera in the chamber lit up. Suddenly, sirens began to shriek.
"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approachign! Attention all military personnel: take your positions!"
Sounds of panic came in over the intercom. Harry smirked at Tifa. "Right on time."
Tifa looked quizzically at Harry. "You knew Weapon was coming here?"
Harry shook his head. "No, but I was counting on him to show up. I bet you five hundred gil that we can escape this room during the battle, because Weapon blasts this base and unknowingly opens up the outer wall of this room."
Tifa grinned. "Five hundred gil says we escape because Barret and Cid open the door to let us out."
"You're on," Harry agreed. "I would shake hands to make it really official, but we're just a little tied down at the moment." Tifa giggled.
"Damn! Why now!?" Scarlet's voice cursed.
"How does it feel now, Scarlet?" a familiar voice came in over the intercom. Cait Sith!? Harry thought, practicing deep breathing across from Tifa.
Scarlet seemed impressed. "Hmm, so you didn't run? I'm impressed. How do I feel? Right now...Ngaaaaaah!"
"Huh? Sleeping gas?" Barret asked, confused. There was sounds of combat, and some rounds were discharged from Barret's gun-arm (Harry briefly pictured the large man turning his back and looking over his shoulder to aim, which wasn't too far from the truth).
"I'm here to help!" Cait Sith announced.
"Why you...?" Barret gasped. "Ain't you part of Shinra?"
"Let's just say I'm against capital punishment. Besides, I hate this broad." The sound of Cait's foot kicking a body, followed by a feminine grunt, came out of the speaker. "Come on, we gotta help Tifa and Harry. I'll keep watch at the entrance."
The sound of Barret pulling on the door to open it, plus his swearing and cursing as he failed, made Harry grin. "It won't open!" AVALANCHE's leader finally growled.
The lights flickered as a massive BOOM! rocked the chamber, releasing the gas. "Now, Harry!" Tifa gasped. "Barret, help!" she called.
"Hold your breath! Hold on as long as you can!" Barret's panicking voice replied.
"Come on! We can't hold on forever!" Harry replied, taking a deep breath and holding it as Tifa instructed.
It sounded as though Barret jerked on the door a few more times before giving up. He pounded the door with his fist in anger. "Shit!" His footsteps ran away. "The Gas Room's probably locked from a different room!"
"Hmm, we gotta go with a different plan. Let's get out of this room first," Cait Sith replied.
"Tifa! Harry! I'll help you, I promise!" Barret cried at the intercom. From the sound of things, the door slammed shut behind them as they left the auditorium. Then, Scarlet's groggy voice cackled sleepily. "Fools. Now, you can't save the girl or the kid!"
Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head exasperatedly. He nodded at Tifa, then at the key her feet. She nodded and stretched her legs out, grabbed the key between the toes of her boots (Harry stoically watched her face, so as to avoid peeking at her knickers. Such a gentleman was he!) Then, she brought them up as she leaned down, grabbed the key in her mouth. She turned it around before sticking the key's teeth out, before leaning down to unlock one hand. With her newly freed hand, she hurriedly unlocked her other hand when she saw Harry's face start to turn blue from holding his breath. She stood up and looked around, before slamming her fist on a button. The air vents came on, venting the gas out of the chamber. They both began to breathe heavily, refilling their lungs with precious oxygen. Tifa unlocked the restraints on Harry's chair, pulling him to his feet as he panted.
Harry grinned around his heavy breathing. "Thanks, Tifa. What say we get out of here?"
"Works for me," Tifa returned his smile before tugging on the door. "Grr! Open up you little..."
Whatever Tifa had been about to call the door, Harry would never know. A sudden explosion erupted outside, but close enough to the gas chamber than Harry and Tifa clapped their hands over their ears to muffle the sound somewhat. The tower shook violently as beams of pure energy ripped open the walls, one of which was the wall to the gas chamber. It was plenty wide enough for even Barret to crawl through comfortably. A second later, an explosion similar to the one that released the gas sounded again, with a much louder and more concussive BOOM! than the first. Harry had time to muse that the reason was because the outer wall had been breached before wincing at the sheer volume. Several seconds later, the sound of some massive object splashing into the ocean reached their ears around their hands.
Scarlet pounded on the door. "What d'you do? Hey! Open it!"
First you lock us in this weird place, and now you're telling us to come out?" Tifa asked.
"Make up your effin' mind, woman!" Harry shouted in agreement. He and Tifa chuckled before escaping through the rip in the wall. "I win the bet, Tifa," he added in a quieter voice.
"Talk later. Escape now," Tifa grinned, waving him forward. They nimbly climbed down the outer wall of the tower, using the damage to the building as foot- and hand-holds and ledges. Above, a couple of guards began to give chase, but one-by-one they lost their grip clumsily and plummeted past the duo to their deaths.
"Oh, wow," Harry paused, chuckling. "I didn't think anyone could be clumsier than Tonks!"
"Who?"
"Friend of mine back home."
"Hey!" Tonks cried indignantly, shaking her wand at the television's representation of Harry. She was oblivious to the sparks shooting from the tip of her wand, however. Remus and Ron were laughing openly, Ginny was quietly giggled, and Hermione was unsuccessfully attempting to contain her giggling. Tonks scowled at them all.
"And she'd probably threaten me grevious bodily harm if she heard me say that," Harry chuckled as he followed Tifa onto the stable ground of a massive cannon barrel. They ran out to toward the end blindly, Harry checking his Materia and his weapon in a precautionary manner.
"Sounds like we would get along fine," Tifa panted lightly. They stopped at the end, with the only way out being, well, down into the ocean.
Scarlet's voice snarled. "Our little game of hide and seek ends here." The blonde woman, her face contorted in fury, stepped between them and the way they had come, trapping them. A single guard stood behind her. "The execution may have been unsuccessful, but your death by falling from here and crashing into the water below might be pretty exciting." She reached forward with a shocking speed and slapped Tifa. "Stuck up to the end!"
"You're one to talk," Harry replied suddenly.
Tifa rose up and slapped the blonde back. "Quit slapping me, you old wench!" Suddenly, the two women began a slap-fest, leaving Harry and the guard to stare at them in shock. Tifa, being a martial artist and the stronger of the two, slapped Scarlet several more times, then pulled back her gloved fist and socked the blonde, sending her sprawling to the ground.
"God! I can't stand it!" she cried. She waved at the guard. "Take her away!"
The guard stepped forward, but Harry whipped out Gryffindor's Sword (again, not a single one of their captors thought to take their weapons and Materia) and growled, "You should've called in sick today, bub."
"Now it's time to pay up," Scarlet cackled, standing up. "I'll really drop you if you don't settle down."
Several guards began to gather behind Scarlet. Harry sighed and tucked his sword back into his belt. He turned to Tifa and shrugged apologetically. "Well, I tried."
"It's the thought that counts, Harry," she quipped.
The sound of an airship's engines roared into being around them. Tifa and Harry looked up at saw a blimp-like ship come down in the air to a hover above them. A small, dark figure threw a rope over the deck's railing. The wind carried Barret's voice down to them. "Run! Run to the end of the Cannon!"
Harry turned to Tifa. "Ladies first," he cracked, waving her forward. Tifa smirked and ran and leapt, grabbing the rope as it swung by her. Harry turned and smirked at the stunned Scarlet and her equally-stunned guards. Harry touched the Earth Materia in his bracelet, and cast Quake2. As the cannon rumbled and rocked, they all but Harry fell off their feet. "Have a nice trip!" He turned and leapt into the air, reaching for the rope. "See you next faaaaaallll!" Harry briefly panicked as the wind swept the rope away from his hand, but Harry threw his hand forward again and caught the rope near the end of it. He snaked his arm around it and gripped it tightly as the airship pulled up and flew away. Barret began reeling them in.
Several terrifying minutes later, Harry was at last pulled to safety on the deck of the ship as it flew south. "You two okay?" Barret asked.
"My cheeks hurt a bit," Tifa admitted. "Forget about that, what's this all about?"
Cait Sith spoke up. "Well, I'll catch the details later. In any case, this Airship, the Highwind, is now yours."
They went below deck. "Dammit!" Barret growled at the stuffed cat. "Why didn't you tell me you could fly an airship!?" He shook his head. "I thought...they was gone for good."
"Sorry," Cait replied, not sounding apologetic at all. "But I had to do something to trick the enemy. Come on! Everyone is waiting!"
"Everyone? Everyone's here!?" Tifa gasped.
She and Harry ran up onto the bridge and were surrounded by their friends. Cid laughed openly. "Welcome to my airship - the Highwind!" Tifa walked forward and looked around, silent and somber. "What's wrong!? You should be more excited than that!"
Red took a break from greeting Harry personally to shake his head at the grizzled old pilot. "Cid..."
Cid rubbed his head. "Yeah..."
Tifa shook her head sadly. "Not enough crew."
"Well, it takes all kinds," Cid quipped.
"Tifa," Cait called. "I'll give you information on the Shinra. Ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
Red looked up at Harry. "Do you think we aren't strong enough without Cloud? Do you think we can't save the Planet alone?"
"I think we can do it," Harry replied immediately. His grin grew. "We're heroes, remember? Heroes always come up with a rock-solid plan in, like, five minutes, and save the world! Besides," he added, shrugging, "how do we know Cloud is dead? Has anyone actually seen his body? If there's no body, don't assume someone is dead."
"Meteor is coming, and Weapon is on the rampage," Tifa said softly, bringing a sudden quiet. "At a time like this, I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." She shook her head. "No idea at all..."
"Get a hold of yourself, Tifa!" Barret growled at her. "C'mon, let's think about this! No way we can get offa this train we're on!"
"...If only Cloud was here, everything would be fine," Tifa muttered. "Cloud would...Stand that cocky little way he did, and tell us what to do." She nodded. "He'd say, 'Everything's under control, Tifa.'"
Harry smirked at Red, who shook his head in exasperation. Harry strutted up to Tifa and tapped her shoulder. When she looked at him, Harry stood in Cloud's cocky little pose and said, "Everything's under control, Tifa."
Tifa giggled, while Barret shook his head. "Tifa...when'd you become such a wimp?"
The former bartender smiled sadly at Barret. "I'm sorry, Barret. I'm kind of shocked myself. I'm so depressed."
"And Tifa..." Red added, stepping forward. "The reason why we all thought it was Cloud was because..."
Tifa cut him off with a nod. "I know. That's why I want to make sure. That's why I have to see him again."
"I didn't dislike him," Cid grunted, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Gotta admit he was a strange dude. Just when you thought he was cool, he'd go and do some damn fool thing. And when you thought he was smart, he'd show how stupid he was." He rubbed his head thoughtfully. "Everying about him from his movements to his speech was kinda odd. Knowin' what I do now, I can see why he was that way. Well, as long as you stay alive, you just might see him again someday, so cheer up, sis." He chuckled.
Tifa nodded. "I'll be able to see him someday."
Cid agreed. "If we can find out where he is, the Highwind'll get us there in no time."
Red XIII looked thoughtful. "Maybe...Cloud is still stuck deep in the North Crater, where the ground cracked and swallowed him up. Buried in the depths of the underground..."
"Deep within the earth..." Harry mused. "Are you talking about the Lifestream, Red?"
Nanaki nodded. "The Lifestream sometimes gushes out to the surface from the cracks in the ocean floor. I heard that such a place exists." He sat on the stairs. "Maybe, just maybe, Cloud's -"
"Wahh! Captain Cid!" the pilot manning the ship's controls cried.
Cid glanced at Tifa. "Tifa, sorry, but I've gotta show this moron how to land the ship. Don't worry, it'll be done in a minute. Oh, and Tifa...No matter what your goal is, you've got to be prepared. Go to your room and get ready for our operation."
Barret grumbled. "What? Does Cloud always gotta be around? We did fine without him in the beginning? Right?" He peered at Tifa. "An' what happened to that tough girl I used to know? Where'd she go to?"
"I put a lot of things for the operation in your room," Cid concluded. "So go get them in order. My hands are full, so I'll excuse myself here!"
Harry looked around. His gaze landed on Barret, Cid, Tifa, and Red XIII. "Well...what now?" he asked.
Phew. That's a longer chapter than normal.
Sirius: Oh really?
Harry: Yes, really. Can we take a break now?
Sounds good to me!
Ron: Quidditch!
How did he get here?
