"He killed your mother."

The words hit Cloud harder than any blow in battle ever had. It felt like someone had punched him directly in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and leaving him gasping for breath. Aerith had to be wrong, she must have misheard or misunderstood, there was no way . . . no way that . . . A cry tore free from his throat, piercing through the cold night air.

"I'm so, so, sorry Cloud."

As much as he wanted to argue, to fight, to say that it couldn't be true, deep down he knew that it was. Not only was it something Aerith would never be mistaken about if she was bringing it up, but it also fit Shinra perfectly. SOLDIERs were just tools to them, to be used and then discarded once they were done with them.

"Thank you for telling me," he said, once he'd managed to regain some of his composure. The stars were still a blurry mess in the sky above, no longer distinct pricks of light thanks to the tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how to bring it up, but I felt like you had to know."

"I appreciate it." He did, even though it hurt so much.

The connection between them went silent as Cloud closed his eyes and replayed the few memories he had of his mother. The time she'd made him a birthday cake before they'd lost their house. How warmly she'd smiled sending him off to his first day of school. The way she'd tried to cheer him up once they'd been forced to live on the streets. It had been years since he'd last seen her when they were separated, but Cloud had always hoped she was doing well.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Aerith whispered, breaking him out of his thoughts and dragging him back to the rooftop. "I thought becoming a Handler was a way I could help Midgar, something I could do to help the world become a better place."

"You can make that choice though. Walk away, find another job." He selfishly didn't want her to—hated the thought of never getting to interact with Aerith again, even if it really was the best option for her.

"What about you? I can't just leave you like this."

"Forget about me, I'm not worth worrying about."

"No! No, I . . . I can't do that, Cloud. I won't. Besides, we promised to go chocobo riding together, remember?"

He hesitated, unable to tell her. That SOLDIERs had a shelf life. That his was almost up. That they'd never actually be able to do any of the things they'd talked about. Maybe it was the selfish way to go about this, but he didn't want to place that extra weight on her shoulders—it was his burden to bear. And if he could make her happy with his remaining time . . . well, that was all that really mattered.

"Yeah . . . you're right."

"I know, what if we run away, leave this all behind us. We could go to Mideel, it's a neutral area, not caught up in all this madness."

Cloud smiled softly. The fact that Aerith wanted to stay with him filled his heart with joy. It was nice to imagine there could be a future for the two of them, even though he knew it was nothing more than a fantasy. Except . . . was it really? Without the fear of Shinra exacting revenge on his mother, there was nothing to keep him here anymore. Escaping would be challenging, for sure, but certainly not impossible, not for him.

"Okay, sure. Let's do it."

He heard a soft gasp from Aerith. "Really?"

"Yeah, why not. Screw Shinra, I'm done playing by their rules."

The sound of her giggle caused him to smile and he once again wished he could see what her face looked like as she laughed. "How, though? I'm sure they won't just let you walk out."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "That wouldn't work out well, no. I'll try and think of a plan tomorrow since I'll have the day off. Maybe I can sneak away in the middle of a mission or try to play dead. I'll come up with something."

"Sounds good to me, I'll work on coming up with some ideas too." She cut off with a yawn, pulling one out of Cloud as well. "It's getting late though, should we call it a night?"

"Probably not a bad idea, yeah."

"You doing okay?"

He hummed softly. "I'm good." He wasn't, but he didn't want Aerith to be worrying about him.

"Alright, well, sleep well Cloud."

"You too, Aerith."

The line went dead a moment later and he exhaled loudly, remaining motionless on his back. Slowly, he let the tears he'd been holding back break free, crying in silence on the off chance there was anyone around who might hear.

Cloud didn't know how long he lay there for, but eventually, his tears dried up and he got to his feet, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm. Looking up at the stars once more, he said a silent thank you to his mother for everything she'd done for him. Feeling a tiny bit better, he headed for the stairs and his bedroom.

Sleep hadn't come easily, but, thankfully, once it had arrived, Cloud had slept soundly through the night. With the entire day off, he had no real plans—outside of coming up with a way to escape somehow—although he did want to track down Zack to let him know everything that had happened.

Making his way to the mess hall, it was easy enough to pick out his friend thanks to his distinctive, spiky black hair. Cloud dropped into the chair next to him, munching on a strip of bacon as he thought of a way to break the news.

"I'm out, Zack."

"Oh yeah? Heading to the big city for your date?"

Cloud frowned. "I'm not joking around, I'm done with this bullshit.

Zack eyed him in confusion before his brow slowly rose. "Wait, you're actually serious. What the hell happened?"

"They killed my mother."

There was a long pause as Zack's eyes widened in shock. "Oh. Shit. I'm sorry man."

"Not as sorry as I'm going to make Shinra," Cloud muttered.

"That probably means my old man isn't around anymore either then," Zack said softly, slumping back into his chair.

"I mean, maybe there's a chance, but knowing Shinra it doesn't seem too likely."

"Yeah . . . Think we should tell anyone else?"

"Who?" Cloud asked bitterly. "None of the others had hostages taken. Angeal was the last and they killed him two years ago."

"Fair enough. So, what's your plan then?"

"Escape. Make Shinra pay. Nothing too complicated."

Zack quirked a smile. "Now that sounds like fun. Maybe I should tag along, certainly sounds more enjoyable than sticking around here and waiting for them to finish us off."

"Was kinda hoping you'd be on board. It'll certainly make things a lot easier to not have to try and do this alone."

"It's not like either of us has anything to lose at this point," Zack continued. "We stay, they kill us eventually. We try to leave, maybe they do anyways, but who knows, maybe we manage to make it. I bet you wouldn't mind getting to meet your girlfriend, ehh? Spend the rest of your lives together?"

Cloud flushed. "She's not my girlfriend. We're not like that." Even if he wished they were. "Aerith is just a good, kind, friend."

"Sure, if you say so," Zack said, giving him a knowing smile. "All the more reason for me to join you. If she's still available then—"

"Zack." He glared at his friend, surprised at how annoyed he felt.

"Fine, fine, I'm only joking, no need to take it so seriously, Mister Absolutely Not In Love."

"Always gotta be such a jerk . . ."

Zack reached out and tousled Cloud's hair. "You know you love it."

Grumbling, Cloud pushed him away with his elbow, doing his best to keep a straight face and not smile. "I shouldn't have mentioned this, could have been my chance to finally get rid of you."

"So, how are we making it out?" Zack asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Not sure yet, honestly. I figure our best bet is in the middle of battle since it's when they have the least control over us. Other than that . . ." He shrugged.

"Right, well, we've got some time to think about it at least." Zack got to his feet. "Finish up your breakfast and then come find me in the training hall, I bet we can come up with a solid plan by tonight."

Cloud nodded. "Sounds good to me." Turning back to his meal, he dug in with vigor. It was a relief to have Zack on board, with them working together, it seemed almost impossible for them to be able to fail.

Aerith was on her way to grab some food for lunch when the alarm blared through the hallways.

"All Handlers, report to your stations immediately. This is not a drill. Wutai has launched a surprise attack. I repeat, all Handlers…"

The message continued on, but Aerith had already spun in place and begun racing back to her room. She'd heard of situations like this happening in the past but hadn't expected to experience one so soon after becoming a Handler—especially considering how rare it was for Wutai to catch them off guard. A feeling of dread suffused her as she ran, the last time this had happened two years ago, a horrifying thirty percent of the SOLDIERs had fallen in battle.

Staggering through the door to her room, Aerith slammed the door shut behind her before throwing herself down at the desk. She quickly punched in her activation code, activating the CommLink while the monitor flickered into life.

"Cloud!"

"Whoa, what's got you all excited?"

"It's Wutai, they're attacking!"

He laughed softly. "I know. Aerith, Wutai is always attacking, there's no need to get so worked up about it."

How was he so damn calm? Didn't he understand how serious this situation was?! "Not like this! The initial estimates are in and . . ." Her blood ran cold. These numbers couldn't be right. "There's six hundred of them Cloud."

"Six hundred? Damn, they're really pulling out all the stops this time, aren't they? Are they all together in one group?"

Aerith blinked. What? Why did that matter? "No," she said hesitantly. "They're in two roughly equal groups but spread pretty far apart. They must be planning a flanking maneuver or something."

"Or something."

"Please tell me you've come up with some kind of plan to get—"

"Nope, not yet, haven't had time."

Everything was falling apart. Why did this have to be happening right now? They were supposed to have had the day off, giving them time to come up with a way to get Cloud out of this nightmare. Instead, the situation had somehow escalated into what had to be one of the largest conflicts yet in the history of the war. It was too much to deal with.

"I see," she said, trying her hardest to keep her voice from wavering. "Well, I guess we'll just have to deal with this while we come up with something on the fly."

A voice that wasn't Cloud's came over the CommLink, and she recognized it as belonging to Heidegger, the man in charge of coordinating the war front. Since he'd connected directly to her, Cloud wouldn't be able to hear his voice.

"Handler, you and your asset are to work together with ranks two through ten to clean up the group that's managed to get behind our lines. They're a top priority since they could break off at any moment and potentially become a threat to Midgar. The remaining SOLDIERs will handle the other group. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." She wanted to object to Cloud being called an asset, that he was a human being, but knew now wasn't the time.

"Good. Do try to not let us down."

A faint hum indicated that he'd ended the connection. Fuming, Aerith bit back a retort, she had more important things to be worrying about at the moment.

"I just received our instructions, Cloud. They want you to be part of the team to deal with the group that's circled around behind our lines. You'll be backed up by the other members in the top ten ranks."

"Figures," he muttered. "Nothing like thirty to one odds . . ."

"Cloud . . . I know you're strong, but I have a horrible feeling about this."

"What, you don't have any faith in me? I'm hurt. Trust yourself then, I know I certainly do. We've come this far and you've never let me down."

It was hard not to smile at that, and Aerith felt some of her concerns slightly recede. "Promise me you'll be careful, okay?"

"It's a battlefield," Cloud replied, laughing softly. "But yes, I want to come out of this in one piece as well."

The helicopter flight from the base to the deployment area was filled with taut silence. Even though she wasn't there with them, Aerith felt like she could feel the nervous tension in the air. Watching them speeding towards a massive cluster of red markers on the overlay certainly didn't help to lessen her fears. The idea that only ten of them stood any chance against thirty times their numbers seemed laughable, except this was far from a good joke.

By the time the helicopter landed, her stomach was in knots and Aerith felt like she was going to be sick. The ten SOLDIERs loosely spread out, giving each other enough room to maneuver, but not so much that they could be easily singled out. She couldn't tell which dot belonged to Zack, but she hoped Cloud's friend was close and would be able to help him if things started to go badly.

"I finished the book by the way," Cloud said, breaking the long silence between them.

It was such an abrupt shift in topic that it caught Aerith off balance for a moment. "Oh? What did you think of it?" She wasn't sure now was the best time, but it was undeniably nice to not focus on the impending battle.

"I liked it. I was really happy that the heroine's sacrifice wasn't in vain and that she played a huge role in stopping Meteor. Of course, I still think it would have been better if she didn't have to die in the first place."

"Who would have guessed you were such a romantic," Aerith teased, a small smile on her lips.

"There it is, the teasing I was expecting last time." Cloud made a soft huffing noise that only caused her to grin even more.

"It's not a bad thing! I think it's super cute." Aerith blushed as she realized what she said after the words were already out. "Anyways, I've got a recommendation for another story if you're interested," she hurried to finish.

There was a short moment of silence before his reply came through. "Oh? What's it about?"

"It's another fantasy story with a group of heroes fighting to save the world. This time, instead of a Meteor, they're facing off against a giant, flying whale."

"A . . . flying whale? You're joking."

"Nope! Dead serious."

"Does it have a happier ending?"

Aerith hummed. "I guess you'll just have to read it and find out."

"Fair enough, what's it called?"

"It's—" The brief moment of levity came to a crashing halt as the enemy lines suddenly surged forward, charging directly for the waiting SOLDIERs. "They're coming!" she yelled, realizing how pointless it was to say that after the words had already left her mouth.

"Stay calm, we've got this. Let me know if anyone is coming up from behind or if you notice anything unusual, okay?"

"Right, got it."

The now-familiar noise of battle dominated the connection between them as the fighting began—the sounds of weapons clashing, voices screaming, and the occasional explosion drowning out nearly everything else. Aerith felt herself growing numb as the fight drew out. Considering the overwhelming disadvantage, the SOLDIERs were doing shockingly well, a clear indication of how incredibly powerful they were. Even so, they were being pushed away from each other step by step as more and more enemies flooded in to surround them.

"Five coming up on your right. There's a group circling around to flank you. They're bunching up on the left." Aerith did her best to keep Cloud fully informed of everything she could see, but it never felt like enough. Countless Wutai soldiers had already fallen and yet it seemed to make almost no impact on their numbers.

One of the green dots vanished.

"Cloud!"

"Stay focused. I told you this was how things went when we first met."

"But—"

"There's nothing we can do about it now and I need you to stick with me."

She bit back a sob, watching as another swarm of red dots engulfed one of the other green dots. Doing as Cloud asked, she focused on him, trying her hardest to ignore how much of the monitor was red. Thankfully, he seemed to be doing well for the most part—his area of the battlefield much clearer than the rest.

"There's a hill a bit to your right, if you can take control of it you should have an easier time fighting them off."

"Got it, thanks."

A third, fourth, and fifth SOLDIER fell in quick succession. Every time one of them died Aerith's fists clenched tighter and tighter—her nails digging into her palms. This couldn't be happening, couldn't be real. It had to be a nightmare, except she was trapped and couldn't wake up.

Cloud was now completely isolated, surrounded on all sides by a thick wall of red dots slowly closing in. Her earlier advice of taking control of the hill now seemed foolish as there was nowhere else for him to go. Had she made a mistake? Aerith didn't have time to second guess herself as the enemies pushed forward, charging up the hill.

As if it wasn't already enough, a lone, red dot was hurtling from the edge of the satellite's range directly for Cloud. To make matters worse, the computer system seemed to be struggling with the number of enemies as even Cloud's dot had turned red for some reason. Thankfully, he was still marked with the familiar star icon although even without it her eyes had never strayed from his indicator.

"There's too many Cloud," she sobbed. "They're coming at once on all sides, I don't know what to do!"

He let out a long, drawn-out breath. "It's fine, Aerith. I think I always knew it would end up like this. It was nice to hope, you know? Just . . . don't blame yourself for this, okay? It's not your fault. Thank you for everything."

Time seemed to stop. "Cloud?"

"Please don't forget me, I'll always be there for you."

It felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Aerith gasped for breath, numbness flooding her body. This wasn't happening. This couldn't happen. Her lips moved, but no words came out.

"I love you," Cloud said.

The line cut out. His dot on the monitor vanished.

Cloud learns the fate of his mother and the news understandably hits him very hard. Up to this point, he'd accepted his fate since it meant keeping her safe, but now that that's no longer a factor, Aerith's able to persuade him to actually decide to escape. Of course, he has to let Zack know, both because he wants to help his friend, but also because he knows Zack's dad was being held captive as well. The two of them end up deciding to attempt to escape and decide to come up with a plan.

Unfortunately, time doesn't seem to be on their side as Wutai launches a surprise attack that arrives at the worst possible time, strange how that worked out… We also get our first instance of Shinra talking directly to Aerith using the CommLink. The top ten SOLDIERs are ordered to deal with half of the enemy forces that are somehow separated from the others and also happen to be on the opposite side of the battlefield, behind friendly lines. Odd.

Despite how good they are, the SOLDIERs are no match for odds that extreme and slowly begin to fall one after the other. Even Cloud ends up getting overrun… or does he? Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion next week!

Next Chapter: Freedom