BOOK ONE: MIDGAR

TWELVE

"No, that's not what I meant!" Aerith's voice was a mixture of panic and rage as we burst into the Don's office, the double doors flying open with a bang. "NO, STOP! Just, just wait a second!"

My eyes found them at once, in Corneo's bed, and immediately my blood boiled as if it had been set on fire. He was lying on top of her, his hands tugging frantically at her dress as she struggled beneath him and his hips grinding against hers. Aerith ducked her head to one side and then the other as Corneo tried to kiss her. All he was wearing now was his shirt, which was completely unbuttoned, and he was busy trying to undress Aerith when Tifa and I ran in.

Corneo stopped and looked up when he heard us, and the moment he did, Aerith slammed her fist into his jaw. When Corneo flew back, snarling in pain and rage, I seized him by the shoulders and threw him off her, hurling him flat onto the mattress. He smashed his head on the headboard and looked up to find me standing next to the bed with my sword pointed right at him. I glanced over at Aerith as Tifa helped her up. "Are you okay, Aerith? Did he…?"

"No, he didn't get that far," Aerith shook her head and managed to give me a weak smile. "I'm alright. Thanks, Cloud."

Her long hair was all tangled and unkempt from Corneo's frenzied but futile attempts at passion, and her pink ribbons lay upon the sheets where he must have yanked them out and carelessly tossed them aside. That strange materia of hers glittered from where it had rolled onto the floor near her shoes, and her red dress was now a ruined mess that was torn in places with one shoulder strap hanging broken and useless. But in spite of all that, Aerith appeared to be alright. I still hated what Don Corneo had done to her, though.

I sighed. "I should have gotten here sooner."

"Cloud, don't start," Aerith raised an eyebrow as she picked up her things. "You came, and that's all that matters. So don't beat yourself up about it. You either, Tifa. I knew what I was getting into."

Tifa opened her mouth to protest and then shut it again right away. Aerith had read her perfectly, and I couldn't deny that she had a point. She had known the risks involved in coming here. What had happened wasn't Tifa's fault any more than it was mine. Aerith was a little shaken but otherwise unhurt, and that was the only thing that really mattered. Tifa must have been thinking that as well, because after a moment, she nodded and gave her a small smile.

"What the hell?" Don Corneo stammered. "Who's there? Who the hell are you people?"

Tifa glared at him. "Shut up! We're asking the questions now."

While Aerith went inside Corneo's bathroom to get changed, I kept Buster trained on our captive. He had pulled his blankets over his waist in order to cover himself up, and his frantic gaze darted back and forth between me, Tifa, and Buster. A moment later, Aerith walked back out, looking more relaxed now, more like herself. She was wearing her long pink dress and red jacket again, and she had fixed her hair, brushing it and tying it neatly back into the thick braid she liked. Her materia was nestled back into its normal place between the two ribbons as her eyes looked stonily at Corneo. "I'm sorry, Don."

After handing Aerith her staff, Tifa turned back to the Don. "What did your assistants find out? Why did you send Scotch over to Sector 7 to find Barret? Talk! If you don't tell us…"

"I'll chop it off," I promised, lowering Buster so that it hovered just above the man's groin.

His eyes bulged in their sockets. "No! Not that! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do."

"By who?" Tifa demanded

"No! If I told you that, I'd be killed!"

Tifa's gaze didn't waver. "Talk! If you don't tell us…"

"I'll rip it off," Aerith snapped, leaning toward him and putting her foot on the edge of the bed.

Now Don Corneo was sweating. It ran in rivulets down the sides of his round, pudgy face. "It was Heidegger of Shinra! Heidegger, head of the Peace Preservation Division!"

"The head of Peace Preservation!?" I breathed. This was far worse than I'd thought.

So Shinra already knew we had escaped from Reactor 5. I wasn't all that surprised, but worry gnawed at me nonetheless for the others, and I wanted to get back to them now even more. And if Heidegger was in charge, then whatever Shinra was planning had to be big. Very big and very, very ugly. I swallowed hard, not wanting to know what it was but at the same time needing to find out. I tightened my grip upon Buster's hilt and hoped we could get more answers out of Corneo.

"Did you say the Shinra!?" Tifa said. "What are they up to!? Talk! If you don't tell us, I'll smash it!"

She clenched her fist, and Don Corneo shuddered. "You're serious, aren't you? Oh, boy. But I'm not fooling around here, either, you know. Shinra's trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE. And they're really going to crush them. Literally. By breaking the supports holding up the plate above them."

"Break the supports?" Tifa staggered back, her eyes wide.

"You know what's going to happen? The plate's gonna go ping! And everything's gonna go bammm! I discovered that their hideout's in the Sector 7 slums. I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6."

Tifa's jaw hung open, and she started to tremble. "They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 slums!?"

"All those people…" Aerith gasped.

"Cloud!" Tifa turned to me, desperation filling her eyes and voice. "Will you come with me to Sector 7?"

I nodded. "Of course. I'm with you, Tifa."

My heart was pounding in the wake of Corneo's terrible revelation, fear suddenly swirling through me like a maelstrom. I wasn't afraid for myself, but for the others, especially Jessie. Ignoring the Don, I hurried toward the doors, the girls just behind me.

But as we reached the front of the Don's bed, he spoke again, more confidently this time. I was so intent on getting the hell out of here and hurrying back to Sector 7 to save Jessie and stop Shinra from dropping the plate that I overlooked the interior alarm bell that suddenly rang in my mind the instant I heard Don Corneo start talking.

"Just a second!" he called out, his voice sly.

I whirled on him. "Shut up!"

"No, wait, it'll only take a second. Why do you think I told you all the truth? One: Because I've given up on life. Two: Because I'm sure I'll win. Or three: Because I'm clueless. So, what's your answer?"

"Three," I sighed.

He sneered at us and quickly hit a secret button on the headboard. "Close, but no cigar!"

Before any of us could take a step, a trapdoor suddenly opened up beneath our feet, and we fell with startled cries into a darkened chute. Only minutes later, we splashed into a shallow channel of murky water, and a quick look around told me we'd landed down in the sewers. That and the smell. Mako mixed with sewage is not a pleasant odor, believe me. There wasn't very much light, just a dim glow from a few scattered bulbs on the walls here and there. The girls were nearby, both on their knees and apparently still in one piece.

"You alright?" I asked, helping Aerith up.

She smiled her thanks. "Yeah."

"Man, this is terrible!" Tifa grimaced as I went to her and took her arm. "I think I'll be in the shower for a week!"

"Well," Aerith shrugged. "At least the worst is over."

No sooner had she spoken, though, than there was a low growl and the shuffling of something large, muscular, and dangerous splashing its way toward us. I brought up my sword but couldn't make anything out at first. Tifa had her fists ready, and Aerith grasped her staff, her green eyes alert. When the monstrous thing finally showed itself, she blinked in astonishment and shook her head.

"Maybe not…"

At this time, I was on the 70th floor of the Shinra building, standing before President Shinra's wide, polished desk and trying desperately to talk him out of this horrific plan. I had to clench my fists at my sides to keep myself under control as Heidegger walked up, a smug smile upon that bearded face of his. I absolutely loathed that man and could never understand his callous disregard for others. All Heidegger cared about was himself and his own power.

"How are the preparations going?" the president asked.

Heidegger saluted, laughing in that hideous equine way he so often did. "Smoothly, very smoothly! I assigned the Turks to this."

"President!" I said, still unable to believe this was happening. "Are we really going to do this? Destroy an entire city sector simply to wipe out a group with only a few members?"

"What's the problem, Reeve?" he glanced at me and took a puff on his cigar. "You want out?"

I sighed and shook my head. "No. But I am in charge of the Urban Development Division. Because of this, I have been deeply involved in the building and running of Midgar. I don't want to see the city and its people suffer any further."

Heidegger laughed again and sneered. "Reeve, flush your personal problems along with the rest of your crap!"

"Might I remind you, Heidegger, that your daughter is also part of that group?" I pointed out. "If you go through with this, she'll be killed along with everyone else. Is that what you want?"

"She's made her choice, Reeve! Now she'll pay for it along with the rest of those sewer rats she calls friends!"

I stared at him, unable to believe what I had just heard. "You… you would… kill your own daughter?"

I hadn't thought even Heidegger capable of such heartlessness, but I was wrong. Then I remembered what Jessica had entrusted to me, the files and other evidence that she had found proving that her father had murdered his own wife and so many other people in that train accident late last year along with his responsibility for the incident in Reactor 3. I hadn't wanted to believe that he would go this far, but now I realized I couldn't afford to make such assumptions.

Heidegger shrugged. "She had her chance to leave. She refused."

As if that makes it right. I stood there, hating him more now than I ever had and wishing that there was a way I could force his hand. And then an idea came to mind. It was time to use what I had been given. "I know you were behind the malfunctions in Reactor 3 and the Sector 6 train crash, Heidegger. If you don't rescind those orders to the Turks at once, I'll see to it every news station in town has the story by tonight. You'll be finished. The president won't allow the company's image to be tarnished, and this would destroy it beyond repair."

"And how do you plan on proving it?" he snarled, his bearded face turning a rather satisfying shade of red.

"Let's just say my evidence comes from a very reliable source."

Heidegger stood there fuming, but before he could reply, President Shinra cut in. "That will be enough, Reeve. The plan will go forward as scheduled. And the details of the incidents you mentioned will remain classified until further notice."

"But, sir!" I protested, whirling on him.

Heidegger's smug grin was just infuriating, as was that damn horse laugh. "You lost, Reeve. Get over it!"

I sighed, trying one last time. "The mayor's against this, anyway…"

"Mayor?" Heidegger snorted. "He just sits in this building all day feeding his face! You still call that a mayor, Reeve? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do!"

He saluted the president and left. I watched him go as I stood there shaking with barely restrained rage. I hated him, and I hated myself for being so helpless. Despite everything I had tried, the Sector 7 plate was still going to come down. Amanda, I'm so sorry. I fought so hard to keep your daughter safe, like I promised you. But now… More than anything, I wished there was some way I could change things here, a way I could make things better for Jessica and everyone else in this city.

Although I didn't like how AVALANCHE did things, I understood why they had struck against us and why Jessica had joined them. There were plenty of things about Shinra I hated, too, but I didn't believe that violence was the answer. But neither did I believe that killing them and so many other innocent people was right, either. I knew AVALANCHE could have been held responsible for their actions without such death, including their own. But although I hated it, my colleagues didn't share my beliefs, leaving me helpless to stop what was coming.

President Shinra walked around his desk and put a hand upon my shoulder, but his gaze showed as much sympathy and compassion as a hungry shark. "You know the mako is drying up. We can't keep the city powered for much longer at this rate. So we just have to sacrifice a few thousand people to save thousands more. It's for the greater good. You might want to remember that."

"The greater good?" I wondered, very much doubting that.

"You look tired, Reeve. Why don't you take a couple of days off and go somewhere?"

Ignoring the implicit threat, I stormed out of the office and headed into the main elevator. As the lift descended, however, an idea came to me. I had driven Jessica down to the slums in the first place, so maybe I could find her and drive her back up here and also try to get as many other people to leave the area as I could. There wasn't much time, so as soon as I reached the first floor, I ran outside, jumped into my car, and drove to Sector 7, praying I wouldn't be too late.

The beast was huge, with a tough turquoise hide, a lashing tail, two curved black horns sprouting from its head, and muscled arms as thick as tree trunks. Around its thick wrists hung a set of broken chains, and its beady yellow eyes glared hungrily at us from above a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth like razors. The word "Aps" was tattooed into its thick skin, and it barreled toward us with surprising speed, closing the distance in mere seconds as it splashed its way down the sewer channel and swung its massive fists at us.

Ducking beneath its swinging arms, I dove into a forward roll and slammed my foot into the beast's knee as Cloud slashed at its side with his sword and Aerith let loose with a burst of cold right in its ugly face. The thing roared, staggering backwards as it snarled in pain. It jumped up and drove both its fists into the water, sending huge waves of muck splashing at us. I leaped up over the top of them as Cloud did the same, both of us flipping over in midair.

As I descended, I struck with a hard, swift kick right to the chest of the monster Corneo called Aps as Cloud used the momentum from his own descent to slice his sword into the thing's shoulder. A quick glance behind me as I landed showed me that Aerith had hopped up onto the concrete walk on the right side of the channel to avoid the waves. She unleashed more of her ice magic, hitting Aps in the chest this time as I spun to the left to dodge a descending fist and returned the favor with my own, hitting Aps with a series of quick punches.

The beast roared in pain, then smashed its arms at Cloud, sending him flying onto his back. He brought his sword up just in time, holding it out in front of him like a shield as Aps showered him with blow after blow. I charged at the thing, jumped up onto its hunched back, and hit it with a string of punches and kicks into its spine while Aerith kept on blasting Aps with her ice spells and smacking it with her staff. Leaping straight up into the air, I did a complete flip and jammed my feet down one after the other right into the monster's ribs in a pair of swift kicks. There was a loud crack as its bones broke, and the beast's roar this time was louder than before, rattling my eardrums, but its reaction was fast, much faster than I had anticipated.

Before I knew what was happening, Aps rose up, grabbed me with one huge hand, and threw me right into the nearby wall, shattering the damp ceramic tiles with the force of the impact and filling the air with dust and debris. My back struck it hard, and pain exploded throughout my body. I coughed and let out a startled gasp as I fell to the floor, and as I rose up onto my hands and knees, I saw Aps charging toward me. I struggled to stand, but the pain made it too hard. Every time I tried to straighten up, I wanted to scream.

Then Cloud was there, hitting the beast with three quick crosswise slashes that left glowing lines of energy in their wake for just a moment before they finally disappeared. Aps froze, suddenly unable to move as the power of Cloud's attack left it totally paralyzed. While he seized the opportunity and sliced at Corneo's pet again and again, Aerith hurried to me, concern on her face as I still fought to get back to my feet. Then I remembered the Cure materia embedded into my glove. I tried to use it, but the pain was too much. I couldn't concentrate to bring forth the magic, and the spell fizzled out before I could finish casting it. But then I felt Aerith's hand on my shoulder.

"Here, let me help," she said, kneeling next to me.

I nodded, taking the materia out of my glove and handing it to her. She fit it into an empty slot on her staff, then cast the spell. Sparkles of green energy surrounded me, and then the pain began to fade away as my injuries healed. It still hurt a little bit, but not enough to bother me anymore. I stood up and smiled. "Thanks, Aerith."

"No problem. You want this back?" she indicated the Cure materia.

I shook my head. "Why don't you hold onto it for now?"

She agreed, and we turned back to face Corneo's monstrous pet. It was moving again, but more slowly now, injured and bleeding in over a dozen places. I raced in, throwing a few more punches before hitting it with a high, spinning roundhouse kick that sent the creature stumbling off balance. Cloud took advantage of the opening with a series of quick cuts across monster's chest and arms as it shuddered under the impact of another of Aerith's blizzard spells, barbs of frost biting relentlessly at its leathery hide. The beast lurched forward, grabbing at me and trying to bite me in two, but it overcompensated and missed, leaving me with a perfect shot at its ugly head, one I wasn't going to miss.

I grinned. "Gotcha now!"

Setting myself up with my arms out wide to either side, I dashed in as fast as I could and did a blazing somersault kick to the monster's jaw. I felt bone shattering at the impact, and as I landed, I saw Aps fall onto its back and roar in pain. Before it could get up, Cloud leaped high into the air and slammed his sword down right onto the creature's chest in a vicious overhead chop that clove its heart in two. Aps twitched and lay still, lifeless and unmoving, in the murky water as quiet settled over the sewers like a heavy blanket.

I felt a soft, soothing breeze whispering around me, and the rest of the pain from my injuries disappeared. I looked up to see a pale, milky white light glowing just above Aerith's outstretched fingers, and then a moment later it was gone, the wind sweeping over herself and Cloud as well before dissipating. In the sudden stillness, I suddenly remembered all the terrible things we had found out from Don Corneo, and a wave of despair crashed over me so quickly and so completely I could barely breathe. My legs buckled, and found myself sinking to my knees again and holding myself. How could we possibly get there in time? Was the pillar still standing? It might have already come down, for all we knew. Was anyone even still alive?

"It's too late…" I breathed, unable to fight my sudden hopelessness. "Marlene… Barret… the people of the slums…"

Aerith was there in an instant, however, gently helping me get back to my feet and holding me by the shoulders. She looked me right in the eye when she spoke, her gaze firm and unyielding. "Don't give up, Tifa! Never give up hope! Never! It's not easy to destroy the pillar, right? We can still stop this from happening."

As if her touch had driven it away, I felt the crushing weight of my despair lift and disappear. Aerith was right. What had come over me? I shook off my doubts and nodded firmly, taking her shoulders in return and drawing strength from her. Aerith pulled me into a brief hug, and I returned it gladly, grateful for her help and encouragement. It seemed like she knew how to heal more than just the body.

Feeling greatly renewed, I let go of my new friend, and we shared a determined glance. "Yeah, you're right, Aerith. We still have time! Let's go! And… thank you."

With Cloud leading the way, we ran through the sewers, climbing up a short set of stairs that led up out of the channel and onto the ledge running alongside it. I was glad to be out of the water, and we had just reached the top when I noticed a sparkle of yellow out of the corner of my eye. Signaling the others to wait a moment, I turned and went over to the far corner where a small yellow materia orb lay on the floor near a metal grate covered in grime.

I picked it up and gazed intently at it as I focused upon the energy pulsing inside it. A moment later, I sensed it was a Steal materia. Some monsters and machines carry useful items that, if you're quick enough, you can snatch before their owner even knew you'd done it. Of course, anyone can try to steal things. But what the materia does is, it enhances your speed and agility to make it easier, until you can eventually move so fast that you can attack and steal at same time. Naturally, the thieves and thugs down in the slums love materia like this, though fortunately not very many of them know how to use it.

A moment later, we saw a small opening in the floor where a metal ladder slick with moisture from the clammy air in here descended into the gloom. The passage we were standing in ended a few feet away in a blank wall, so we climbed down the ladder and into another section of the sewers. The unpleasant smell of waste and mako mingling together wasn't quite as bad down here, although it did still make my lip curl in disgust when it hit my nose.

We hurried on down the tunnel, staying out of the water where we could, and before long we found a second ladder, this one leading high up to the ceiling and out of the sewers. I breathed a sigh of relief at the welcome sight, but before we could go any further, there was a sudden series of splashes behind us as about a half dozen turtle-like creatures suddenly leaped out from under the water, each of them brandishing a trident as they charged toward us.

While Aerith focused and let loose with her ice magic, Cloud and I rushed in, his massive sword and my fists making a lethal combination that quickly drove the sahagins back. Laying into one with a few quick jabs, I sent it flying away with a brutal uppercut into its jaw. Beside me, Cloud took down another sahagin after parrying a hard blow from one of those tridents. We fought back-to-back as Aerith alternated between slinging frigid shards of ice and cold at the sahagins and crushing them with skillful, spinning blows from her staff.

Ducking under the swinging trident of the sahagin I was fighting, I decided to try out my new materia. I saw the leather pouch hanging on the thing's belt, and maybe something useful inside. I concentrated for a minute, and then with a quick flash of yellow light, I darted my hand in so fast that my arm was little more than a blur of motion as I moved. My fingers latched onto a potion and yanked it away.

Then it was over, the sahagins either dead or routed, and we found ourselves alone again. Not wasting any time, we hurried up the ladder, none of us caring where it led as long as it was out of here. It didn't take very long to reach the top, and as Cloud pushed off the manhole cover above us and climbed outside, I felt a light breeze brush past my face. I breathed in the fresh air deeply and followed after Aerith until we both stood together on the ground outside with Cloud. We glanced around, taking in our surroundings, and a shiver suddenly raced through me as I finally saw where we had emerged.

We were in the middle of the Train Graveyard.

I'd heard many stories about the place, and while I wasn't sure how much I believed them, I still couldn't help feeling uneasy as I glanced at the abandoned husks of countless wrecked trains. An eerie quiet hung in the air, a stillness I found I didn't much like. The graveyard stretched across endless rows of rusting, crisscrossing tracks while overhead, the plate frowned at us, and I could almost feel its immense weight bearing down on me. Cloud glanced over at Aerith, his concern for her evident on his face. "Aerith, I got you mixed up in all this…"

"Don't tell me to go home," she said, her voice and narrowed green eyes leaving no room for argument.

Cloud nodded. "Alright. So how do we get back to Sector 7 and the pillar from here?"

"If we can just get past these trains," I answered, "we should be able to get out of here. The station is just past the outer edge of this place. I don't think it's that far."

We started moving, climbing over the tops of the trains where they blocked the path or hurrying through their abandoned carcasses. None of us spoke. There wasn't any need for words. We all knew what we had to do and how much was at stake. Here and there as we went, I thought I saw something hovering out there in the dark, but whenever I tried to get a better look at it, it faded away so quickly that I had to wonder if I wasn't imagining things. It couldn't be ghosts. Could it?

We were almost through when they appeared right in front of us, a trio of white, translucent figures that floated silently above the ground. One of them gestured at me, and I gasped and doubled over, clutching myself and feeling weaker, drained as though some of my strength had just been stolen from me. I grimaced and lashed out at the spirit with a few quick punches in response, but I hit only air as the ghost vanished before coming back a second later.

A peal of thunder suddenly shattered the silence as forks of bright blue lightning struck at the shadowy spirits, and I heard their wounded screams echoing in my mind as Cloud lowered his arms in the wake of the spell. Then I felt my strength return as Aerith used her Cure magic to restore me. This time, when I struck one of the ghosts with a pair of spinning kicks, it screeched and dissipated like fog ripped apart by the morning sun and didn't come back.

We finished off the other two ghosts, our spells and attacks making quick work of them, and then we moved on. It was only a few minutes later that we reached the train station, and I saw that the attendant was still there at his post. I couldn't remember ever having seen him leave it in all the years I had lived in Midgar. What was his name? It had never even occurred to me to ask him. I had passed by him so many times on my way to other places, but now I couldn't.

I went to him instead. "You should go. It's dangerous here now."

"I know, ma'am," he said. "I heard a rumor that the plate is going to fall, crushing this station I've worked at for so long. But I just can't bear to leave. I've seen a lot over the years, so many comings and goings, so much emotion, and so many hard things. I know what's coming, but… I don't want be anywhere else."

"What's your name?" I asked softly.

He smiled. "Jenkins, ma'am. Tom Jenkins. No one's ever asked me that before."

Blinking back sudden tears, I hugged him. "We'll stop this thing if we can, Tom. I promise. And then you can come to the bar with us and tell us your stories."

"Thank you, miss. I think I'd like that."

Stepping off the platform, I waved to him and rejoined the others. Tom nodded, waved back, and stayed where he was, where he'd always been. My fists tightened in resolve, and I swore to myself I would save him and all the other people here, that I wouldn't allow Shinra to carry out their terrible plan and claim so many innocent lives. I saw my own determination reflected Cloud and Aerith's eyes. They knew it too, had made the exact same promise to themselves that I had. We had to stop Shinra. We had to save Sector 7.

Free of doubt and despair, I ran with my friends to the pillar.