The Desert Prison

We weren't told anything when we were arrested by the Gold Saucer security and placed into custody. We had all of our stuff confiscated and then we were placed in holding briefly, only to be escorted to a dinky little lift and it started moving downwards. There was still no sign of Cloud, Aerith, Barrett, or Oswin, and the staff refused to answer any questions that we asked. We couldn't even talk to one another; as soon as we opened our mouths we were yelled at promptly to shut up.

After what felt like one of the longest rides on a lift I'd been on we reach our destination: the very bottom. Way outside of the Gold Saucer and into a run down town surrounded by vast desert. The group was shoved out into the open and left to figure things out on our own. When they had left we looked around to get accustomed to our surroundings.

"So… what exactly happened?" I asked Angel. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned sharply. I was a bit surprised when a more neutral look crossed her face as opposed to the angry one I'd been expecting.

"There was a shooting at the Battle Square," she started. "Unprovoked, most staff and renovation workers, plus a few guards. A few got out with major injuries and said it was a man with a gun-arm who had done it." I bit my lip and held back a curse. It couldn't have been but… who else on this planet had a gun-arm? "Security detained him and set out to capture the party. I heard them talking and… that's when I contacted you. I thought… you know, I don't know what I thought."

"You were trying to warn us," Tifa said. I furrowed my brow. In the whole time I'd known Angel she had never done that.

I'm trying to warn you, you idiot

Well, what she said back in Junon, I didn't pay much attention to it. Warning against me playing hero? She did say a similar thing before security caught us. Again, never thought about it.

"We need to go to Nibelheim and there was no point getting everyone… ugh I don't know!" She threw up her arms in frustration. "Honestly, I should have just left you all to deal with this yourselves."

"Did that thought cross your mind?" Nanaki asked. Angel paused, opening her mouth before shutting it again. She then sighed and gestured dismissively.

"Sure. We'll go with that."

"We should find the others and get some answers from Barrett," I decided.

"You don't think it was him, do you?" Tifa asked. I gave her a look and knew we were both thinking the same thing but didn't want to voice it aloud until we seen him. She nodded and looked to the group. "We need to stay close together. We don't know how big this place is or… who's down here."

The place was oddly silent for how big it was. Aside from the odd couple of people hanging around there weren't that many here. The buildings looked desolate, some rough shanty houses built up as well but left barren. It was like a hollow North Corel. The people we did come across looked really on edge, eyeballing our group as we passed. We were on edge too in case someone tried to do something. Few murmurs here and there and the odd person moving in the direction of us but we were all hyper-aware of our situation. The thing I was glad about was, in spite of having our stuff taken from us, Tifa and I fought with our fists, Nanaki had claws and fangs, and Angel could use fire magic. It just left Yuffie, who I didn't doubt could hold her own without her shuriken, but because she was the youngest I stuck to her side a little closer than I normally would.

"Can I just say, having a jail like this in an amusement park is just real messed up," Yuffie eventually remarked as we got closer to what appeared to be a more central hub of the town.

"Natural prison; you wouldn't get far in this desert without the right supplies," Nanaki noted. "But you are right; there's something very sinister about this being the roots of the Gold Saucer."

"Barrett said his hometown was nearby, right?" Angel said. "And if the town we passed was North Corel then…"

"You don't think…" Tifa turned on her heels and looked to Angel, "... this might be Barrett's hometown?"

"Destroy a community's livelihoods and build something shiny and grand on top of its bones? Sounds like Shinra's M.O," Angel shrugged. "It was just a thought but it adds up. Shinra own everything and everyone, so they'd probably use this place for people who they never want to see again."

We all turned in the direction on sudden and aggressive gunfire. We all paused for a few moments before realising that, if all weapons were taken, then the only person who could be armed right now is if it was built into them.

We ran into the house where we were first encountered with a body with fresh bullet wounds. Quickly glancing around, Aerith was backed up slightly from Cloud, hands clasped over her mouth, and Cloud himself was already in front of her defensively, Oswin as well though his hands were coated in frost. Near them, standing on top of a couch, was a toy cat that was standing upright with hands up in shock. On the other side of the room was Barrett. Aerith looked to us and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Guys! Thank goodness you're okay!" She exclaimed. Everyone looked towards us as we were trying to make sense of the scene.

"We're fine but what's happening here?" Tifa asked.

"Shit!" Barrett yelled. "I didn't want none of you to get involved!"

"Well it's too late for that!" Tifa returned. "We're friends, and we help each other out no matter what. We've been through worse than this together, right?" In return Barrett was silent, not looking at Tifa, not looking at any of us. She approached him. "Barrett… we heard what happened at the Battle Square… is it true?"

"No," Barrett's voice went into a quiet sort of defeat. He sighed and shook his head. "Four years ago, I said my friend Dyne and I were out of town for a few days. We were trying to make it back to town… to here… but the Shinra stopped us. They got us cornered and Dyne lost his balance on the cliff side by the rails. I tried to pull him back up but… the Shinra didn't stop. They hit my right arm… the hand I was holding onto Dyne with. I thought he died that day…" Barrett sighed again and sat on the old couch that was pretty much ready to fall apart. "I'd went back to the village myself to try find survivors… only one left was a little baby girl. I couldn't save Dyne but… if I could give Marlene a better life then maybe I could redeem myself."

I was a little surprised at the last note. I had no idea Marlene wasn't his biological daughter. And Angel was right, this was Barrett's hometown.

"So where does Dyne fit into all this?" Aerith asked, sitting next to Barrett. He have a small grunt and looked at his gun-arm.

"After I got Marlene out of here, I had to get my arm amputated," he started. "Tried using a prosthetic hand for a while but… guess you could say I was depressed, or angry, or some combination of the two. I wanted revenge on Shinra for everything they'd done. To Myrna, Dyne, Eleanor, Marlene, damn the whole fucking town! That's when I got the gun-arm grated in. The doctor said it was experimental, might not work, but I was too angry to care. Turns out I was the second person to get it done. The other guy… he'd got it on his left arm instead. Doctor really thought it was a fluke the with that operation. We were the only two to get it done."

"So you actively went to look for Dyne after that?" Oswin asked.

"Couldn't: doc said he just left in the middle of the night a couple days after getting operated on," Barrett shook her head. "That, and I had to take care of Marlene, and I had to get revenge on Shinra… shit and I just… I didn't even go look for him!" He stood up from the couch. "That's why I gotta find him now. I need to apologise… let him know Marlene's growing up to be a good girl… I gotta do this before I can rest in peace," he looked at us, "that's why I gotta go alone."

"So… do whatever you want?" Cloud said after a slight huff, folding his arms. "If that's what you want to hear then forget it. You die on me and I'll have nightmares. Thought you wanted to save the planet? Make it better for Marlene, right?"

"Shit man, then what are you going to do?"

"I'm going with you," Tifa said. "We're in this together. Dyne was fooled by Shinra like the rest of us, he might join."

"Right, then it's us three," Cloud decided. "Everyone else, we should try find a way to get out of here and get our things back. We'll use this place to regroup, sound good?" We all nodded in agreement.

"Good luck Barrett!" Aerith called as the three left.

"Watch yourselves out there," I added in just before they'd went out of earshot. I faced the group once they had gone. "Okay, a couple of us should stay and hold the place while we find out how to get out of here."

"Well if no one else is going to move the body," Oswin frowned and went to the man Barrett had shot down, pulling the corpse outside.

"Well Aerith, guess it's up to you to explain the stuffed animal?" Yuffie piped up, gesturing to the toy in question. "Cloud win that in the arcade or something?"

"Well excuse me, dearie, I can speak for myself!" Honestly I was a little taken aback by the sudden voice coming from the cat. Now that I looked at it properly, it was very similar to the dolls Lulu had, only with its eyes shut to make its expression look cheerful, slightly more in proportion to an actual cat and a lot more lithe can the stuffed toy versions she owned. It even wore similar boots, crown and cape, as well as gloves on its hands. The biggest difference was how animated this one was in comparison to when Lulu enchanted her dolls.

"Oh! Oh… what?" Yuffie yelled in surprise. "This thing talks? That's awesome! How much GP did you have to win for it?"

"I'm not a prize from the Wonder Square!" The cat threw its hands up in exasperation. I was pretty surprised about its accent; similar in some ways to mine, but not quite the same. Its was definity heavier. "I worked there! I'm a fortune telling machine!"

"A toy cat?" Angel deadpanned disbelievingly. The cat in question looked as appalled as it could be with its limited facial movement.

"The name's Cait Sith, I'll have you know," it said, "and I was the best fortune teller that Wonder Square had to offer!"

"So how did you end us down here?" I asked. Cait Sith paused and looked down sheepishly. Well as sheepishly as it could.

"Well, you see…" it started. "Well, I'd met your pals Cloud and Aerith up at the Wonder Square, offered to tell their fortunes and all that. That's when Cloud was asking about that Sephiroth character, hoping I could predict where he was. I mean I'm not just good for reading fortunes; I do consider myself good at finding things, or finding people." I tilted my head to the side with my brows still furrowed, which it took notice of. "Now, don't look at me like that! Anyway, so I went along and made a few fortunes, none too great or eye opening, until third time's the charm and got one that spooked even me!"

"What was it?" I asked, directing the question to Aerith.

"What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear," she said. I could tell she was as confused by the prediction as we all were. I turned my head back to Cait Sith for it to continue.

"I've never had a prediction like that before in all my years at this gig," it said. "I'm thinking, I'll never relax if I don't know what comes of this, so I made the decision to come along with you guys!"

"And Cloud was fine with this?" Yuffie was just as confused as I was.

"I wasn't taking no for an answer," Cait Sith nodded.

"Do you even know why we're looking for Sephiroth?" Angel said.

"Well, I haven't had the chance to be filled in," Cait Sith continued. "We were actually all on our way to gather up the rest of you when we passed the Battle Square. The blood was everywhere! Your friend Cloud genuinely thought it was Sephiroth until we saw the bullet wounds. That's when security got us, so I was guilty by association… guess it also means I'm out a job now, eh?"

"I'm sure they'll find… I don't know, a robot cactuar or something?" Angel said dismissively, which Cait Sith didn't like. He walked along the couch to get closer to where she was and looked at her, placing his hands on his hips in an attempt to look angry.

"Miss, I'll have you know that there's only one me!" He said. "Sure, I got plenty of bodies in case this one gets roughed up, but I'm not as disposable as you might think."

"Right," Angel said, unchanging in her tone. We heard the door closer and Oswin came back inside.

"Right, everyone, that's one job out the way," he said in reference to moving the body, "where do we go from here?"

"You, Aerith, Angel and Cait Sith stay here to keep the place safe, and wait for the others to come back," I said. "Me, Yuffie and Nanaki will try figure out how to get out of this place… or find someone who might know."