Under Shinra's Nose

I woke up fairly early the next morning, still managing to get a decent sleep. I had wanted to ask the people in town about any rumours of a man in a black cloak but we were so tired last night we never got the chance. Maybe now that things had calmed down it would be possible.

It was still quiet and everyone was still asleep so I decided to head back down to the beach for a few minutes to myself. It wasn't the kind of beach I was used to by any stretch of the means... but it was still a beach and watching the sea cleared my head. Not that I'd swim in it though.

From the look of the oceans beyond the town it was early morning and this part of Junon would get to see the sun as it was setting. At least it wasn't as bad as Midgar, I suppose; here you got a chance to see the sun if only for a few moments.

I was trying to think of what we should do next. We could ask about here for information on Sephiroth but we needed to get to the upper city. That was my thought anyway. The more people we asked the more information we could get. I had the feeling knocking in the back of my head that we'd have to cross the ocean. Call it traveller's intuition, I suppose. Honestly it was probably better to talk to the group about it, especially Cloud. He was the leader after all.

I was genuinely a little surprised when I saw Angel sitting on the wall at the top of the stairs leading to the beach as I was coming back to town. She side glanced me and I said nothing as I started to walk past her.

"Morning, hero," she said flatly. I stopped walking away and turned to her, standing at the wall beside her as she sat.

"That supposed to be an insult?" I said rather defensively.

"If you want it to be," she shrugged. "Never seen it as a healthy choice, personally."

"Saving people? Yeah that's not your style, is it?" I countered. Angel scoffed in return. "I don't need to justify my actions to you, Angel."

"I don't care. I just don't playing hero is the best thing to do," she said. "And before you ask: no. It's not about that little girl specifically." She paused and bit her lip, thinking about going on. She then turned her face to meet mine. "I don't talk or involve myself but I watch: you've been doing this your whole life and what good's it done?"

"Spira's safe from Sin and Vegnagun," I answered. "It's been safe for years."

"And you're restless to find something to save again," she said. "You've nearly died for the hero's cause... no you have died, actually, for the hero's cause." I remember Bikanel and trying to stop the Guado from taking Yuna. "Your friends died too, briefly, and some of them have died. Being a hero gets people killed."

"So don't do the right thing?"

"You don't get it: I'm trying to warn you, you idiot," Angel groaned. We locked eyes for a few moments before she sighed. "I can see why Oblivion liked you the best. You're just like him. Always trying to play hero and save everyone. Look where that got him: his wife's dead, his family's gone, and his only living relative..." she trailed off and her eyes drifted to the side. She was quiet. "... His only living relative doesn't know where we stand."

"Oblivion never stopped loving you," I said. "He wants to protect you from the Superiors."

"And look where that's got him... but what do you know?" Angie looked away back to the sea. "He just dragged you in."

"I know a lot more than you think, Angel," I returned. I honestly didn't have time or patience for her shitting on what I believed in so I left to find the others.

That was when the music started to pipe up. Quiet at first, then it became louder and louder. It was cheery, upbeat, coming from above us. I spotted Aerith, Barrett, and Nanaki grouped together and talking so I approached them, hoping maybe they knew about the music.

"You guys wake up from that?" I asked.

"Kind of. I thought I was hearing things at first," Aerith smiled. The music faded out and then started up again. It sure was loud. "I'm guessing they're practising?"

"For a celebration?" I guessed alongside her. I thought about my words to avoid sounding like an idiot. "Am I forgetting a holiday or event that's happening today?"

"As far as I'm aware there's no major events happening," Nanaki said.

"Hell if I know," Barrett shrugged. He looked over my shoulder and I turned, seeing Cloud and Tifa. "You guys know what's going on?"

"No idea," Cloud said and Tifa nodded in agreement with him. "We should ask around."

"I'm actually going to see if that girl's okay," I informed them and headed off to her home. It wasn't actually too far away and I spotted her on the decking of her house. We made eye contact and I waved to her on approach. "Hey. Priscilla, right?"

"Yeah..." she nodded and spoke quietly, looking at my face but more specifically my scars. "My grandparents told me about you. Um... thanks for saving me."

"Don't worry about it. As long as you're okay that's the important thing," I smiled. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but... actually do you have any idea what the music's for?"

"You don't know?" She tilted her head to the side questioningly. "Shinra's having this huge celebration for the new President. Not that he'd come through here. It's all the fancy stuff up top while we get nothing."

"I should have known," I sighed. If I'd learned anything from travelling and being a pariah back on the Pilgrimage, it's that your pursuers are always on top of you. We'd need a plan. "Thanks anyway, you take care."


I rushed back to the group and we waited for everyone to arrive back to discuss what we knew. The other residents had pretty much said the same as Priscilla, so the upper city would be heavily guarded. What we also learned was that Rufus was planning to cross the ocean, by way of boat, in pursuit of Sephiroth. So now we had to figure out how to cross the ocean as well. Well we had to figure out how to get to the upper city first.

"The elevators will be guarded and they'll be on the lookout for us and anyone suspicious," Tifa noted in thought.

"So let's just charge in and taken them on," Yuffie suggested.

"I'd rather they not know we're here," Aerith added.

"Well we don't have a lot of options and I'm not sitting on my butt waiting for them to get a head start," Yuffie returned. I looked to Cloud for a solution, hoping he'd think of something. He did seem to have an idea so I waited for him to divulge.

"There were support towers on the beach," he noted. "Not sure where they'd lead us but they've got to take us to the upper parts."

"So climb up that way?" Barrett finished. Cloud gave a nod.

"No! You can't go that way!" We all turned to Priscilla. I'm not sure how long she'd been there for. "Electric currents run through those towers, so it's really dangerous..." everyone kind of looked defeated at that. "Um, are you guys fighting the Shinra?"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded.

"Um, I might be able to help," Priscilla reached into her pocket and pulled out a whistle. "I was in the ocean training Mr. Dolphin when that monster attacked. He could help you get to the top of the tower safely."

"How?" Cloud asked.

"Mr. Dolphin jumps when I blow the whistle, and there's a pole at the top of the tower that's safe enough to walk on and you can reach the city from there."

"Have you done this before?" Cloud asked and made Priscilla look down bashfully.

"Um... maybe?" Was her answer.

"So we can climb to the upper city that way," I mused.

"Well, Cloud, looks like this is on you," Barrett said. "You figure a way up and we'll follow you."

"Uh, what?" Cloud sort of blankly looked at Barrett in surprise.

"Someone should go with him, considering his track record for falling off high things," I half joked, gaining a look from him.

"Well I'm sure you'll catch him if anything happens," Aerith smiled. I gave her a look, then glanced at Tifa who was quietly giggling. Thanks guys. "Stay safe, you two!"

"Fine. We'll try get access to the elevator while the parade's on. Security should be a bit lax then," Cloud decided and I followed him and Priscilla to the beach. I looked the tower up and down, watching some currents spark through it. Reminded me of the towers in the Thunder Plains.

"Well it doesn't look too dangerous," I mused quietly. Cloud turned his head to look at me.

"What?" The way he was looking at me you'd think I'd grown a second head.

"Well nothing's too dangerous as long as you're careful," I said and started pointing up to the tower. "I'm not an expert but there are points where the current is at its strongest. We'll only be able to jump so high and we'll have to climb the rest."

"I see," Cloud nodded. "I'll go first. You follow my lead."

I nodded in agreement and we both swam out to the tower. I won't lie I didn't feel totally comfortable with a dolphin propelling me upwards who knows how far, I feel like there was a whole lesson about this we were sorely missing. Could it hold our weight? How far would we go up? Would the dolphin even do it for us? If I climbed the tower it would take longer, I'd probably get hit with currents, but I knew I could get to the top just by climbing. I was weighing up a safe uncertainty against a dangerous certainty and... Cloud said he would go first.

I put my conflict aside and watched as Priscilla blew the whistle, the dolphin diving underneath the water, darting beneath Cloud and, in one swift motion, propelled him into the air. He did actually go pretty high and he had, through some fluke I guessed, caught onto a piece of the tower's structure. He pulled himself up and started climbing further up to the city. Guess it was my turn then.

I braced myself and heard the whistle. It was a strange feeling being shot up into the air the way we had been but I had no time to think about it as I had to focus on grabbing a part of the tower so I could climb.

Again, it felt like some fluke that I managed to grab onto the tower and pull myself up. I followed Cloud's path to the top and we reached a ladder that maintenance would have used for tower checks and repairs. Getting to the top of the ladder I could help but be taken aback by the huge, gorgeous construct before us. It was stunning, not as colourful as some of the ones we had back in Spira but even still it was a beautiful build of an airship. I must have grinned from ear to ear looking at it. I would be amazing to be on an airship again.

"That must be how Rufus is crossing the ocean," Cloud said.

"He's got style, I'll give him that," I nodded. "Right. I'll gawk later. Let's find the elevator leading to the lower city."

We took an elevator down into the building nearby the dock, hearing some noise coming from inside. Cloud made me wait outside while he went in. I heard some more noise and yelling but no fighting. It fell quiet for a few minutes and I poked my head in. I quickly ducked back out when three soldiers and a commander came out one room. Then I was about to punch a soldier that came through the door.

"It's me!" Cloud hissed quickly.

"Shit... actually wait that's a good idea," I replied looking at the soldier grunt uniform. "Where'd you get it?"

"In the locker room there. Look there's no time they think I'm in the army and I have to get to the parade. Get the others up here while it's going on, okay?" Cloud didn't even give me time to reply before he rushed through the door, some more yelling happened, then it was silent. I waited another couple of moments before pushing the door open, seeing a locker room door left wide open. Thanks Cloud.

I darted in quickly and checked for spare uniforms. Just my luck there were a good number of them, fresh and clean, probably to take precautions at the amount of soldiers here so one wouldn't be left without. That wouldn't do for Shinra. I put it on, hiding my own clothes I the corner of the room, and darted out quickly. I looked around the hall, seeing exit signs to various locations. The one that did interest me, however, was labelled "Lower Junon Elevator". Perfect.

I went in that direct, taking a deep breath and holding myself high because I knew someone would be there. Thankfully it was one lone soldier. I approached him quickly and with purpose.

"I'm here to relieve you of your post. You're required at the parade," I said deeply and evenly. He looked at me and I couldn't gauge his expression beneath his helmet.

"Really? Who says?" Fuck. I don't know. "Eh, screw it, beats hanging around here while everyone else gets the good jobs," he started to walk away then turned around again. "Also, you see any of the President's guard coming this way, I was ordered to redirect them to the port. The airship isn't ready to fly."

"Of course," I nodded and saluted, waiting for him to go away. Not ready to fly yet? So much for me getting on that airship. Still it's better than going to the wrong place and Shinra getting ahead of us.

Once he was gone I opened the doors to the elevator and headed inside, going on the long ride down to the lower city. I could hear the music starting up again and was hoping we had enough time to pull this off.


Reaching the lower city I did get a couple puzzled looks and some angry ones as I rushed to find the others. Sure enough the were at the inn and were all on high alert when I burst through the door.

"Guys, don't, it's me!" I announced, hands in the air to surrender. I took off the helmet when everyone relaxed a little. "We don't have a lot of time; follow me and I'll explain on the way." I literally didn't waste a moment in rushing back to the elevator, worried something would throw a spanner into the works. Thankfully the elevator wasn't too far away and everyone had managed to grab their stuff and follow. I doubled checked everyone was there and hit the button for up. I took a breath in to ease myself. "Okay. So we're going to disguise ourselves as Shinra soldiers to get through the city unnoticed. The initial plan was to take the airship across the sea but it's not ready yet, so Rufus Shinra is going to have to go by boat."

"Where's Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"He's already impersonating a soldier," I said, putting my helmet back on. "We're going to have to be quick, so follow me once this thing stops."

Again, no time wasted getting into the locker room and changing. I grabbed my clothes from their hiding stop and shoved them in our bags, as did everyone else. Everyone bar Barrett and Nanaki. Barrett's build just didn't fit the standard Shinra uniform and Nanaki, well, he wasn't bipedal. We'd have to get them on the ship somehow... but how?

"So do we wait here for Cloud?" Aerith asked.

"Actually we're better waiting outside on the docks. Easier to hide or blend in," I suggested, walking out to the dock with everyone in tow. I looked up at the airship, kind of disappointed that we weren't going to fly in it right now. It would have made things so much quicker, and we could have tried to commandeer it for ourselves.

"It's amazing," Aerith said almost breathlessly. "I can't believe we're not going on it."

"Yeah, it sucks," I agreed. "Have a feeling we'll be on it eventually."

"What gives you that idea?" Aerith asked.

"Call it a hunch," I shrugged. I did have a good feeling that we would get to be on that airship at some point. "But, promise Aerith, we'll be on that airship."

"Have you been on one before?"

"Yeah. Honestly the feeling is... it makes you feel so alive," I tried to explain, albeit poorly. "Especially when you're outside, you feel the wind on your face, you can watch the ground speed on underneath you, you're so close to the sky... you really have to experience it for yourself I can't justify the experience."

"Sounds awful..." Yuffie groaned. We heard a voice and we were on alert as, very suddenly, a man in a white coat almost barged through the door, two slightly younger looking people, man and woman similarly dressed, followed suit.

"This is utterly ridiculous. Trust Shrina to change plans at the last possible minute," the lead man groaned, his face looking a little sour. "Honestly I don't know why I expected anything better from them."

"Sir, shouldn't we be heading to the boat now?" The man asked, causing his superior to spin around seamlessly from his stride and halt the two in place.

"My equipment is already on that airship. If the crew want to healthy and avoid cleaning vomit for the trip, I need my equipment," he said deliberately slowly. He then caught sight of us and, still frowning, straightened himself. "I take it you're all here to help transfer my supplies?"

"We are, sir," I answered quickly.

"Wonderful. The two of you can go to the ship and assemble the medical bay," the man ordered. "Will two of you escort them? If Shinra sees them without an escort I'm sure he'll be distraught."

"Of course, sir," I nodded and looked to Barrett and Nanaki, urging them to go. Tifa went with them to deter suspicion.

"Are you... Shinra?" The woman asked.

"I work in the engine room," Barrett answered very convincingly.

"And the... dog?"

"... He catches rats."

"Now if the rest of you will follow me," we split off, the rest of us following this really irate doctor. Least he seemed to be medical rather than whatever category Hojo filed himself under. He lead us through the airship to the medical bay, a number of boxes sitting neatly on a desk. The man picked up a larger bag and ordered us to carry the boxes, instructing us to be careful as the equipment and supplies were delicate. It was a quick in and out, kind of disappointing, but at least this meant we'd be on the ship.

"Um, can I ask something?" I heard Yuffie say, walking to the man's side as he took the lead to the ship. She was trying to sound as masculine as she could.

"Yes?" He sounded a little calmer though he probably was a hair away from becoming pissed again.

"Is there anything for motion sickness in these supplies?" I noticed the man's face soften slightly, mostly in his eyes. He pushed his glasses up on his face.

"Once we arrive on the ship and I've gotten organised I should have something," he told her.

While we travelled to the boat I became increasingly worried that Cloud wouldn't be there and none of us could exactly give him a quick phone call to notify him. I was hoping there would be time between getting to the boat and it leaving for Cloud to get there but I had no idea how much of a risk exposure would be. I hoped to get a better idea once we arrived on the ship. Once we were all accounted for it was a case of staying out of Shinra's sight until we reached the other side.