A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of FoWD, and to the Epilogue, which I'm also posting today! Sorry if the ending seems abrupt (also after you've read the Epilogue). Suggestions on smoothing it out without adding shit-loads of fluff would be appreciated.
It will be awhile before I start posting FoWD – Homecoming, but I'm not entirely sure how long. I hope it won't be more than a few months, but I'll leave a post here, in CA, in SH, and in FoW when Homecoming is due to start!
Memorial
When all was said and done, other than some minor new damage to the city, there was shockingly little to clean up. The final city sweep only revealed a few Deepground members and criminals left to take care of, and an equally small number in the Shinra building itself. Most of that sweep was done by Scarlet's machines, which she and Reeve had been able to re-program to tell the difference between an attacker and a protector. When it was over, everyone could return to the Shinra building to get some rest, all of them knowing they'd have a lot of work to do come morning.
Verdot caught Lady Shinra that night to tell her what had happened in the President's office, resulting in both her and Rufus thanking him profusely, and the woman immediately said they could blame it on Deepground anyway. After all, they would likely have killed him themselves once they realized he wasn't going to be their figurehead. Then she started getting back reports of other happenings, and seething rage at some of the incidents kept her up most of the night.
The next few days were hectic. There were funerals to attend, announcements to make, a change in Shinra's leadership, and the new status of Deepground—what was left of it, anyway.
On the first of those days, Lady Shinra and Rufus went in front of the Press dressed in black—obviously mourning garb—to make their primary announcement to the city. It was the woman who began by saying, "It is my sad duty to inform you all that Marius Shinra, President of the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, is dead. There was a great deal about Deepground we weren't aware of until the attack yesterday, and that caused a tragedy. Many of you here in Midgar may wish to blame my husband for what happened, but the truth is, he had no more knowledge or warning than the rest of us. That became clear when we found him yesterday, slain at the hands of the Restrictors he trusted to guard him."
A shocked hush fell as everyone hung on to her words intently. "The Restrictors had also implanted digitally controlled electronic chips into the minds of the Deepground members, and it was they who gave the command yesterday, through those chips, for their members to attack civilians across the city. That also led to many more deaths. This tragedy is one we all hope not to see again, and rest assured, we are already working to that end.
"We must also take a moment to both mourn and thank Restrictor Veld Diama, who had been their leader, for realizing this was not an appropriate action for Deepground to take and to act quickly to shut down the control chips. By then, some of the damage had been done, and a clear line developed between those members of Deepground who simply wished to kill and torture, and those members who knew that was not what they should be doing. Some of you in the city likely recall being saved by members of Deepground. We have Veld to thank for them being able to make that choice."
The woman paused, then looked over at Rufus for a moment before facing the cameras again. "With Marius' death, a very old agreement between my husband and myself has been applied, and my son, Rufus Shinra, is now the President of Shin-Ra Company. I will remain as the Vice President, and will work closely with my son and the new executives we've had to choose for some of our Departments, but our path from here on out now sits firmly in Rufus' hands. Even in this time of sorrow, I still have hope for the future. If there was one thing Shinra always did, it was to teach people to be strong and to rally under one banner in times of need. Now is one of those times. Rufus?"
Rufus stepped forward to be a few steps in front of the woman without blocking anyone's view of her. "As much as it pains me to take Presidency of Shinra Company in this way, I firmly believe we can move this company forward in a positive direction without sacrificing its legacy. However, to prevent the tragedy of Deepground from happening again, that means some changes also must happen. In that, we have a catch twenty-two we need a way to break, so for today, I would like to present a preliminary plan of action to all of you. In truth, I have been working on this plan for about three years now, but never had a viable opportunity to present it.
"First and foremost, we cannot forget the deaths yesterday, nor the ones we felt three weeks ago. We need to remind ourselves why we don't do certain things, like trying to create private armies in hidden facilities, or ignoring people we know are threats because tracking them down would be an expense. To keep our people safe, no expense is too great, and I firmly believe it should not be the people who pay that price, but the ones who mean them harm. As such, Shinra Company will be covering no less than half of Midgar's remaining repair costs, and I will cover the costs of a monument to serve as a memorial in a location all of the residents of Midgar will be allowed to vote for."
He paused as a hushed murmur of surprise rose from the crowd, then went on as it died, "In the most preliminary investigations into Deepground since yesterday, most of that word from the surviving members, we learned that the entire core pillar and the Shinra building are being powered by a 'Reactor Zero', which is housed in Deepground. That means the Reactor in that hidden facility is the reason why the trains run and our building has power." That produced a worried out-cry, so he held up both hands in a 'wait' motion.
When silence fell, he went on, "I had already been debating presenting the idea of other power sources to my father, but he was often—resistant to change, like many people most of those present could name. Knowing a Mako Reactor is in such a place is problematic, and leaves us a prime location for a repeat of Deepground, a situation we cannot tolerate. As such, my proposal is for engineers who specialize in studying and developing other power sources to apply to Shinra Company starting today, and for civilians to have free access to Deepground until such time as we can shut down the Reactor there and fill in that cavern with soil so it becomes completely inaccessible."
When the words caused another shocked hush, he elaborated, "Perhaps I should say more accurately that those survivors of Deepground will no longer be housed there, and as such, it has no need to be a restricted area. A few SOLDIERs will be stationed at the Reactor to guard it from entry, but the lift will now be open to the public, and if you're agreeable, we can initiate regular tours as well as simply allowing visitors to enter and leave it as they like. Those who live and work in the Shinra building will also be allowed access to the facilities there. The rules will be the same as anywhere else on the public floors of the Shinra building."
Someone yelled out, "Why don't you just change over the power supply to the other seven city Reactors and close down Deepground right away?"
"Ah, good question," Rufus answered, not surprised at all. "The fact of the matter is that the other seven Reactors are already supporting Sector Five, and are only barely making ends meet. They can't take on any further strain without the city experiencing random power outages or planned brownouts to prevent a complete system drain. Until we have another functioning power source, we need that Reactor functional, otherwise the city will collapse under its own weight of power usage. The vast majority of that power usage is coming from those on the Plate, and I daresay you wouldn't want to see your lifestyles change due to lack of proper electricity supply."
A long silence followed, then Rufus said, "Finally, Deepground will be merging into SOLDIER. One of the key components for the SOLDIER program was lost entirely during the attack, so we have only what resources the Science Department had pre-prepared for SOLDIER infusions. Afterwards, we'll have to switch to basic Mako and some of the methods Deepground had used, though any of those will be entirely voluntary. Alongside that, we have plans to train up more people with the skills of Turks, and we strongly hope that doing so will compensate for the eventual loss of SOLDIER.
"Once all of those processes have been set in motion and have shown signs of progress, there will certainly be other changes and another address so everyone will be brought up to date. Are there any other questions about this preliminary plan?"
There were only a few questions, though he knew he would be getting many, many more from civilians over the next several days. Lady Shinra knew the same.
However, life went on, and despite those changes being implemented, there was still more to do in an ever-changing world.
FoWD
About a week after the incident, Tseng led Sonna down to the Sector 5 Slums. She was still jumpy, and the trip was wrecking havoc on her—though he certainly didn't blame her. He also hadn't been sleeping well since that incident with Heidegger. Also, seeing the way she behaved reminded him a great deal of when he'd first taken Ed to meet Aeris, back when he'd still been called Auryn. It suddenly felt like he was somehow coming full circle by taking Sonna to his makeshift family.
As they approached the house, they could hear barking and giggling, and he smiled at the now-familiar sound of Nina and Alexander playing. He looked out into the garden itself, and saw the girl sitting on a white, furry back as the monster ran happily along the garden paths. "Yay! Go another round, Alexander!" the girl grinned, and Tseng shook his head with a small sigh.
"Who's that?" Sonna asked in a small voice.
"Nina, and the white fur under her is a white Bandersnatch named Alexander," Tseng told her. "She's Aeris' younger adopted sister, and Ifalna's adopted daughter."
Sonna blinked slowly, then asked, "A Bandersnatch lets a human child ride it?"
"We honestly aren't sure how that dynamic came about, but she calls him 'her puppy' and treats him like he's a normal dog. He even responds to her—and to everyone—like he's a normal dog. The only exception is in battle, in which case, he's as vicious as any other monster, his targets are normally just other monsters who want to hurt Nina or her family," the Wutain explained.
Sonna blinked at him—and then the white Bandersnatch suddenly halted in front of them and Nina launched herself into Tseng from the monster's back as she cheered, "Yay! Big Brother Tiger's here!" He reflexively caught her and pulled her close in a hug, happy to see her despite that so annoying nickname. She then blinked over at Sonna, then turned her gaze back to him and said accusingly, "You didn't bring Little Big Brother!"
"Who?" Sonna asked in confusion, feeling hurt by effectively being dismissed—and it showed on her face.
"Edward," he told her, then returned his gaze to Nina. "That was rude."
"'S not! Big Flower Sister will be able to help her, and I can't," Nina answered, grinning at the young woman. "And being sad is stupid anyway. There are lots of pretty flowers here, so go and find some you like! Big Flower Sister will make you a crown—she's way better at it than I am!"
When the younger Turk looked at him questioningly, he smiled faintly and nodded. "Go ahead. Aeris will find you when you're ready to be found. In the meantime, I'll see to Nina."
When she wandered into the gardens, eyes scanning over the white and yellow flowers, he looked down at Nina—who just repeated, "You didn't bring Little Big Brother!"
"That's because he's busy moving, Budling," he told her gently.
"Moving? Moving where? Is he going to go away again?" she asked in alarm.
"Oh, no, not at all," he told her, setting her on her feet and leading her towards the house by the hand, Alexander following. "He's just moving into his own apartment on the Turks' floors."
"Then, is he a Turk?" the girl asked in fascination.
"No, and somewhat yes," the Wutain answered thoughtfully. "I think most of us take him as an honorary Turk, and he definitely knows a lot of valuable things. He's good at research, too. Mostly, he's just going to do things like finding data in the library or archives for us, but he's not ready to go out on his own, and we're not really ready to let go of him yet, either. This was a good compromise to keep him close but legitimately let him have his own space."
"What about the Hounds?" Nina asked in a decidedly shrewd tone for a five-year-old.
"Verdot and Vincent have dissolved those factions, and most of them are tentatively starting to work together, even though they still somewhat gravitate to those of the faction they knew. And now, no one actually wants anything to do with Ed, so he doesn't need our protection anymore. With Elicia, he's okay to live in his own apartment now. Especially with what Yufi and Shelke did to Elicia."
"Huh?" the girl blinked at him as they stepped inside. "Who are Yu-fi and Shelke, and El-i-cia?"
Aeris and Ifalna looked up at the two of them as they entered, and before Tseng could answer Nina—or even blink—Aeris was hugging him tightly. He let go of Nina's hand to return his sister's hug, and they just stayed like that for several minutes before the fifteen-year-old stepped back from him and slipped out the door. When he looked up at Ifalna, she motioned to the chair beside her in a clear indication he should sit. A pouting, annoyed Nina followed him while Alexander followed her, and she promptly climbed in his lap, sitting with her arms crossed and a child-like glare.
"I think you'd better answer her, Tseng," Ifalna told him in some amusement.
"Fine," he sighed faintly, then explained who the girls and Elicia were, and finished off by telling Nina what they had done to the little robot by giving her five shockingly rare and useful Materia. She 'oh'ed' and decided she didn't need anything further, so hopped off his lap and ran back out into the gardens, the ever-loyal Alexander following her yet again.
When his gaze lifted to Ifalna's, she said bluntly, "You're blaming yourself for something outside your control again."
"But I could have stopped it sooner if I had—" he began.
"No," she said, and he stopped.
"But you don't know—"
"I don't really need to. It's pretty obvious what you're doing."
"I could have—"
"No."
That time, he stopped and just stared at her for a long, long time. Finally, he asked, "Why are you so sure of that?"
"Because I know very well what kinds of restrictions were on you and that you always risked retaliation by taking certain actions. You had to hesitate. There was no other way you could have reacted. And because you had to hesitate, you weren't able to act as soon as you may have liked. It doesn't change the fact that you couldn't have acted sooner, or the fact that you did choose to act. So stop blaming yourself," Ifalna told him, reaching up to pull him into a hug. "You've done nothing wrong, nothing to blame yourself for. And please, let go of those old memories. Calling them back while you're awake and aware is the reason you've been having trouble sleeping."
For a long time, he just sat with her, leaning his head on her shoulder as he worked his mind through what she'd told him. Sonna's recovery wouldn't happen overnight—his hadn't, either. But most of what he was doing to himself was just that, and Ifalna was telling him to stop creating his own problem.
Finally, he said, "I'll work on that, then."
"You'll do well," she answered, a smile and motherly warmth in her voice.
It was over an hour later when he finally left the house, only to see Sonna and Aeris tucked up against each other as the young Turk apparently dozed. It was the most relaxed he'd seen Sonna since the attack, so it was a nice sight. "How goes the healing?" he asked Aeris only just loudly enough for her to hear.
"She'll be okay now, I think," Aeris answered as quietly, smiling. "It will still take awhile, but she'll be able to move forward. I think the thing that helped her most was to be reminded that people are individuals, so just because one did something to her didn't mean anyone else would." She then paused and added impishly, "But, I really like her hair!"
As giggling sounded from across the garden, he smiled wryly at Aeris and found a place to sit near them to wait for Sonna to wake.
FoWD
Zack had been surprised at how much had changed in just two weeks. The Urban Development Department had nearly doubled in size, Deepground was now a fourth—and a fifth and sixth—faction of SOLDIER (which now also took women), and there were SOLDIERs assigned to units led by Weiss, Rosso, and Argento. They now dressed in the SOLDIER uniform, rather than the Deepground one, and lived on the same floors as all the other SOLDIERs. Angeal had offered to mentor him—he'd said yes—and city repairs were well underway. Oh, and the Memorial statue had been built.
Just then, he was heading out to see the finished work, walking through the city to the park space in Sector 6 which was right next to the hole Nero had put in it. He hadn't even known it had happened until after the fact—it hadn't dropped any debris, so he'd had no reason to look up. He was also getting the strong impression that the hole in that Sector was going to become part of the Memorial, as no plans had been made to rebuild it.
When he got there, he saw a massive black stone made out of a material he had no definition for. It was about three meters tall and around one and a half wide, but only a couple feet thick, and it had what he thought was a combination of bronze and iron winding around its sides and top, forming relief images. At the very top were two globes sitting side-by-side, one in iron and one in bronze, and down each side were two themes, one of AVALANCHE—the Ravens and other mixed monsters—and one of Deepground's former uniformed members and the metamorphose experiments.
On the stone itself, up the sides on the front, were tendrils of green which were a cross between wisps of energy and plant leaves and vines. The whole middle space of the stone was filled with names of the dead, separated by four headings, three of the major incidences caused by those groups and one of generalized deaths they had caused.
Standing in front of the stone, leaning on the rail which had been placed around it, was a blond boy with chocobo hair and wearing a Turk uniform, and he seemed out of sorts.
Zack paused to blink at the boy, then remembered the Turk named Stroud, who had been one of the first to see the cruelty of the invaders personally. After a moment, he moved over to stand beside the blond and asked, "Did you know anyone who died in this? I mean, besides the Turks we know did."
The blond started and looked over at Zack, gaze puzzled and wary, then turned back to the stone. "Not personally, but the names...some of them are of people I watched die. It's...not really a nice reminder."
"...Then why are you standing here if you don't like the reminder?" Zack asked curiously, though he had a feeling he knew why—he'd gone through it, after all.
After a pause, the young Turk sighed softly and explained, "They shouldn't have had to die. I was right there, but I couldn't save them, even then. I keep—thinking I'm not good enough, or that I should have died instead..."
And the SOLDIER sighed and said, "That's the same thing I used to think after one of my best friends forced me to drop him so he fell to his death. That was in the bombing nearby. We...were caught at the edge of the blast zone and even though I caught the edge of the debris at the broken edge, and managed to grab him, he realized I couldn't keep holding both our weight. So...he made me drop him to the ground below. I kept thinking I should have been the one to die, that I was too weak, but my mentor, he told me to honor those deaths, and his death, by living. After all, in my case, he literally died so I could live. And even if that was a little different from yours, I still think it's good advice."
"How?" the blond asked, his self-disgust obvious.
"First, because you were just a new arrival to the Turks—you didn't have the training or the experience to have done more. Second, even if you'd had the training, I doubt you could have done more in those circumstances. And third, you shouldn't be blaming yourself for what the Wutains did. I've seen a lot of shit since coming to Midgar, and it hasn't all been nice. But every time I look at most of the situations around me, I'm seeing a very clear line in who was actually responsible for what—and a whole lot of people are blaming themselves for things they didn't do. You did your best for them, and they still died, so don't you think you actually have a responsibility to live so someone remembers them?"
For a moment, the blond blinked at him, then returned his gaze to the Memorial before saying softly, "But I only remember how they died...How they...Is that really what they would want someone to remember?"
"Then find out who they were. That's the sort of thing Turks are really good at, right?" Zack offered.
When the blond blinked in surprise, he knew he'd gotten through to him, and a small smile formed on the blond's lips. "Thanks," he said, turning to face the SOLDIER. "I'm called Stroud. You?"
"First Class Zack Fair," the black haired sixteen-year-old grinned. "If you're feeling better, how about we go to a restaurant nearby for lunch? Food always tastes better with company!"
A small chuckle emerged from the younger man, but he agreed, "That sounds nice. I haven't been eating especially well lately with all the chaos and memories and all, so—I'm suddenly starving."
With a laugh, Zack slung his arm around the blond's shoulders to lead him to a small diner he knew was nearby, saying, "Then let's get some grub! You've gotta keep your strength up!"
...
As the two walked away, they didn't see Rosso watching them, her gaze thoughtful, or hear her say, "If moving forward is strength...Then nearly everyone has that. It just looks different from person to person."
She turned to look at the Memorial, finding it shockingly evocative. It wasn't anything as simple as the invader and Deepground imagery, it was the green tendrils along the sides. Those were representing Lifestream energy, life and growth and harmony. To have that surrounded by those who would snuff it out, and for those delicate tendrils to still be so prominent, so powerful...
Nodding, she said, "Life is strength. There is nothing more powerful than a desire to live, and to move forward. I suppose that's where Deepground went so wrong. As long as people won't let themselves die, won't let themselves give up, Deepground would always have met resistance and been stopped. Now I understand."
With a sudden smile, she eyed the Memorial for a minute before thinking of something she could leave there to honor those dead. If life was a cycle, they would have another chance, she was sure of it.
...
A few minutes later, a new visitor to the Memorial that day saw a red, many-petaled flower carved into the stone below the list of names, growing from a stem the same color green as the tendrils on the sides of the stone.
A blooming flower in colors often associated with life energy.
Hope.
END
So, this is the official end of FoW - Dimensions! Enjoy the Epilogue, and thanks for sticking with me right to the end, everyone! :D
