The Future Imperfect
AN – a quick update! I managed to finish the chapter I was working on and thought… why not a midweek update? Plus I couldn't leave you hanging with the fallout from the plate collapse.
Chapter Eight
Angeal stepped away from the woman he had been crouching over, sheltering her from the raining projectiles. He straightened up and stared in horror. Where the sector seven slums had been but a moment before was now a tangled mess of concrete, metal and pipe work. The debris stretched as far as he could see, up to the gaping hole where the plate had once stood. His ears roared from the concussive shockwave that had swept them up, pelting those fortunate enough to make it out of the sector with rocks and metalwork. He looked around, they seemed to be in a children's playpark although nearly unrecognisable with the amount of rubble covering it. There was even a moogle slide that had a steel girder sticking straight of the top of it. He thanked whatever deity was listening that it hadn't hit a person.
Angeal dimly remembered scrambling out of a tunnel and then using himself as a human shield when he saw the debris headed their way. With another shake of his head he looked around, seeing a tall figure in a tattered grey cloak standing ramrod straight at the far side of the park.
He made his way over to Sephiroth, touching his friend's arm to let him know he was there. "You made it out, I see."
"Yes." Sephiroth replied absently, mind obviously elsewhere.
"You aren't hurt?"
"Not in any significant way." Sephiroth turned slightly towards Angeal so that he could see the faint scratches that were already healing on Sephiroth's face. "It is only superficial." He waved his hand towards his face and then turned back to face the ruined sector.
"Right." Angeal looked around to orientate himself. In the distance he could see the grey-haired woman – Marle, she had said her name was – talking agitatedly to a man carrying a gun. She nodded in his direction when she saw him looking, a gesture he returned. He looked at the devastation around them and felt anger swelling in his breast. These people didn't deserve this. No matter if they may have been harbouring terrorists, they didn't deserve for Shinra to decide to summarily execute them; their only possible salvation coming at the hands of a bunch of misfits, a probable-SOLDIER and one temperamental First Class.
Talking of which… he hadn't wanted to think too hard about it before, but if the plate fell then it meant that Cloud, Tifa and Genesis had failed. Which mean that… that…
"Sephiroth, have you seen Genesis?"
Even Angeal was surprised at the crack in his voice at the realisation that his oldest friend was probably now lost to them.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Cloud blinked, trying to get his bearings. He was surrounding by slabs of concrete, haphazardly strewn around as though dropped there. Which was pretty much what had happened, after all. Sitting up gingerly, he could see Tifa lying on her stomach a few metres away from him and Genesis not far from her. The SOLDIER was gasping in pain as he clutched his injured shoulder.
"You ok?" Cloud asked him curtly as he moved to Tifa's side.
"Landed awkwardly." Genesis gasped out, his voice sharp and without its usual lyrical nature. "I'll be fine in just a moment." Cloud nodded and left him to it, crouching over Tifa who was beginning to stir. She slowly raised herself into a sitting position, looking at the rubble around them. Cloud helped her up, then offered Genesis a hand. He took it with his right, bending down to retrieve his sword once he was upright.
Tifa walked towards the only gap in the concrete slabs surrounding them. Cloud followed her, not looking back to check whether Genesis came with them or not. Distantly they heard shouting.
"Hey! Is anybody out there?"
"Barret!" Tifa called, trying to move a slab by herself. Cloud placed a hand next to hers and together they were able to force it out of the way.
The sight that greeted them was bleak. Before, they had been surrounded by concrete and couldn't see the full effect of the damage. Now there was no mistaking it. The whole area had become a twisted mass of pipework, concrete and brickwork. Small fires had broken out in various places, adding an eerie orange glow and plumes of smoke that filled the air with an acrid stench. In front of them stood the former gates to the sector, now completely blocked due to the amount of debris that had fallen through. Cloud dreaded to think what must have happened to the sector beyond, it was completely flattened.
Frankly, it was a miracle that they themselves were alive.
"Marlene." Barret sounded broken, on his knees staring at the wall of rubble. "Marlene. Biggs, Wedge, Jessie. God dammit. God damn you all." He started punching the rubble with his remaining arm. Tifa moved closer and gently placed an arm on his back.
"It was us. We did this."
"No, you can't think like that." Barret shook his head emphatically at her. "Whatever came before, it was Shinra that pulled the trigger today."
Tifa stood standing, fists clenched so hard that her arms were shaking as she looked at the remains of her home. "Yeah." She said eventually.
Barret gently took her fists in his hands. "Hold on to this… this anger, ok?" He pulled her in to his chest, wrapping her into his good arm. Tifa let the tears slide down her face.
Cloud watched on, feeling like an interloper. Genesis came up next to him, frowning at the pair in front of him.
"And who is that?"
"That is Barret," Cloud replied softly, not wanting to disturb Barret or Tifa. "He's a friend of Tifa's… and mine." Barret looked up at Cloud, who took a step towards his friends. "Barret, Marlene's safe."
"Huh?" Barret stood up a little straighter, eyes lighting up with hope.
"Aerith found her."
"Aerith… is that the girl they took?"
"Yeah, that's her." Tifa replied, finally turning back towards them.
Barret looked around at them all, gaze finally landing on Genesis.
"And who the hell are you?"
"Genesis Rhapsodos." Genesis replied absently, not looking at Barret but instead letting his eyes rove around the fallen sector.
"And why does that name seem familiar?"
"I am…. was, rather, a SOLDIER First Class."
"Another ex-SOLDIER? Where are you and your buddies all coming from?"
"Hm, so you were a SOLDIER." Genesis murmured softly, low enough that only Cloud could hear.
"And you still are." Cloud murmured back. Genesis frowned but didn't deny it.
"I asked Aerith to find Marlene and take her somewhere safe." Tifa explained. Barret's eyes widened and he took a couple of steps towards Cloud.
"And she did? You sure?" Cloud said nothing but turned and headed away from the gates to sector seven, deeper into sector six.
They hadn't made it far, though, when a shout from behind caused them to stop.
"Genesis!"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The relief Angeal felt when he saw Genesis emerging from behind a piece of concrete was palpable.
"Genesis!"
His friend looked as he tried to find where his name had been called from, Cloud stopping just ahead of him with a puzzled frown. Tifa stepped up next to Genesis, followed by a huge man who had a gun arm.
Angeal leapt down from his vantage point on top of the rubble, jogging up to Genesis's side and looking him over. "You got out? How?"
Genesis blew out a sigh of relief, possibly at also finding Angeal safe. "Zip wire." Was all Genesis replied. Angeal frowned and looked closer. There were lines of tension around Genesis's face and his lips were pursed tightly.
"Your shoulder hurting you?" He hazarded a guess. Genesis lifted his uninjured shoulder into half a shrug.
"That, and…" He gestured with a sweeping arm. Angeal nodded, not needing to say anything. The carnage was absolute and had near destroyed any lingering loyalty he may have held towards Shinra. Nothing was worth this.
"Our glorious leader?" Genesis inquired. Angeal looked behind him at the empty space, surprised Sephiroth hadn't followed.
"He's back there, he was clearing a path for people to evacuate when the plate came down. I'll go and get him." Before he could leave, Genesis managed to ask him one more question.
"How did the Turks take the girl?"
Angeal shook his head. "They showed up just as she was getting out a little girl… the one Tifa asked her to find." Both Tifa and the large man inhaled sharply as he said this. "They were looking for her, she made a deal with them I think. That she would go with them in exchange for the girl's safety. But why would they want Aerith in the first place? And how did you know?"
Genesis was about to reply when the large man bulldozed his way to the front. "She gave herself up for Marlene?"
"I think so…"
"Shit." The large man looked at Cloud. "You know where they would have taken her?"
"I hope I do - I'll take you there now."
"Well then, what we waitin' for?" The large man took off down the path Cloud had been leading them towards. He stopped when he realised the rest weren't following. "Well?"
Angeal sighed. "I'll go get Sephiroth." He said quietly to Cloud. "We'll come with you. I'd like some answers too."
Cloud nodded once and leant against the corrugated metal that lined the pathway. Tifa went to placate the large man, while Genesis took up a posture mimicking Cloud's on the opposite side.
"I guess you're waiting here then." Angeal muttered to himself, rolling his eyes at the smirk Genesis sent in his direction.
"I don't want to have to go through the indignity of scrambling back over that." Genesis gestured to the rubble pile. "We'll give you a few minutes."
Angeal took a running jump to help himself get up the concrete slabs, using his hands to grapple over the top before leaping down the far side with a bound. He landed heavily, causing the pile to groan, and he winced as he waited for an avalanche of debris behind him. When the only thing to move was a small amount of dust that trickled down the edge to land at his feet he exhaled in relief. He stood and brushed himself down, wincing apologetically at Marle who was watching with her hands on her hips.
"You be careful, young man." She looked past him at the rubble. "How bad is it? And is the path to Wall Market open?"
Angeal assessed the mound. "It's not too deep, a bit unstable. It's a mess by the old gates but the path seems clear afterwards. There are a lot of people milling around, I think anyone who got out of Sector Seven through the gates is probably stuck on the far side."
Marle nodded, tapping a finger against her lips in thought. "I'll see if I can get some help shifting it then, we need to find out who is and isn't accounted for and we can't do that if we're stranded in two different places." She turned her gaze back to Angeal. "Are you staying or do you have something better to do?"
"Not exactly better but I need to head out for a bit. I'll come back though and I'll bring some help. Some friends are the far side, I only came back to get him." He nodded over at Sephiroth, who was standing where Angeal had left him and staring up at the sky.
"You look after him." Marle said softly, touching Angeal's arm gently. "I think this is hitting him hard." She moved away before she could hear Angeal's incredulous snort. Sephiroth had lived through many things as the poster-boy of Shinra's war effort and the pinnacle of the SOLDIER program. Whilst what had happened to Sector Seven was terrible, it hardly ranked top amongst the scale of horror that Sephiroth had borne witness to.
Except… maybe Angeal was wrong.
Sephiroth's gaze was blank as he focussed on the space where the plate should have been. The dark night was beginning to give way to day, and the dawn sky glowed brightly in stark contrast to the darkness of the oppressive plate that still covered the rest of the city.
"Sephiroth…" Angeal started tentatively, his heavy-set face expressing concern. "Are you well?"
Finally, Sephiroth looked away from the sky and turned to Angeal. His eyebrows drew together, radiating confusion.
"I don't know." He said eventually, looking back at the ruined sector. "In Wutai, I saw whole villages burned to the ground. Ancient monuments destroyed because they were used as a base for guerrilla fighters."
Angeal sighed. "I know you were there for a lot of the worst fighting…"
"So why," Sephiroth continued as though Angeal hadn't spoken. "Why do I feel so…angry?" He looked his friend in the eye and momentarily let slip of the impassive mask he wore. Angeal was taken aback by the level of confusion and pain there.
Crossing his arms across his chest, Angeal looked up at the missing plate. "I don't know, but if I had to guess… because this was murder. Murder of innocent people, who had no warning and no chance to escape. People that you had a connection with, however small it was. You were helping them. Even in Wutai, where you were at war, you only killed those who opposed you. Not indiscriminately."
A confused frown crinkled Sephiroth's brow, an expression that was alarmingly foreign on his face. "How can I continue to work for a company that believes this is acceptable? That there was no other way?" He softly snorted. "I doubt they even tried to find another way."
Angeal shook his head, closing his eyes as he exhaled deeply. "That… I can't answer for you. I can't even answer it for myself."
He unfolded himself and faced Sephiroth. "Come, Genesis is safe. He's with Cloud and Tifa on the far side of this. They are regrouping to decide what to do next."
They both easily scaled the rubble again, finding Genesis exactly where Angeal had left him. Cloud also was waiting patiently, his eyes closed. Tifa was talking with the huge man with the gun arm. As they arrived, the large man was shooting them suspicious glances whilst shifting his weight from side to side.
"Genesis." Sephiroth greeted softly. "Cloud."
Cloud's eyes shot open and his gaze locked with Sephiroth's. Genesis greeted them with a half-hearted wave, then rolled his eyes towards Tifa and the large man.
"Tifa is just trying to persuade Barret that we aren't demons in disguise." The redhead huffed, standing up straight. He turned to Angeal and Sephiroth. "He seems a bit sceptical."
"Are you surprised?" Angeal asked softly. "Technically we still work for Shinra, and they just did this." He gestured around him.
"Hmph." Genesis pouted but let it slide. He watched Sephiroth curiously. "What's up with him?"
Angeal was surprised to see that Sephiroth and Cloud still appeared to be engaged in a private battle of wills, but before he could say anything Barret was barrelling over towards Cloud.
"So we gonna go to where Marlene is now?"
Cloud finally broke his gaze and led the way down the path. "Towards Sector Five. Where we hope she is."
The large man shouldered past Cloud and stood in front of him. "Tell me she is! Give me something to hang on to! Even if she's not, I won't blame you for it, I swear."
Cloud looked at Barret sceptically, watching the fight fall from the large man's eyes. "Who am I kidding, I'd probably try to tear your head off." Barret sighed, casting his gaze over the SOLDIERs behind Cloud before turning and continuing along the path. Tifa jogged past Cloud and placed a sympathetic hand on Barret's arm as they walked along.
Cloud considered the SOLDIERs behind him. "Know anything about Ancients?" He asked them. Angeal looked blank but Genesis frowned.
"I have heard stories… I thought they were a myth."
"They come up in planetology books." Barret paused and looked over his shoulder towards Cloud. "Meant to be the original stewards of the Planet. Could even commune with it, talk to it and stuff."
"That must be why the Turks wanted her so badly." Cloud thought aloud as he followed Barret.
A burst of static hit him, almost driving him to his knees as a flashback came into his mind. Sephiroth, a crueller version than the one walking behind him. "Within my veins flows the blood of Ancients. This planet is my birth right."
Cloud staggered under the memory, blinking his eyes open to see the path in front of him again. Yet on the path, only a couple of metres in front of him, stood a pair of dark boots. Stumbling backwards into a steadying hand on his elbow, Cloud lifted his gaze slowly to see a long leather coat, giant silver shoulder pauldrons and silver hair.
A soft noise came from behind him, but Cloud couldn't turn to see. The figure in front gazed straight at him, his lips curling cruelly and cat-like eyes focussed only on Cloud.
"You have failed again, I see."
Cloud struggled to form words as he took another step backwards. A flash of red in his periphery vision showed Genesis watching him with concern, his hand still steadying Cloud. Not that Cloud could respond, as he couldn't tear his eyes away from the image of Sephiroth stalking closer.
"But through suffering you will grow stronger. Isn't that what you want?" Sephiroth set a hand down heavily on Cloud's right shoulder, the one not covered by armour. Cloud kept staring straight ahead, but he was aware when the man turned to face him as a puff of air blew across his ear.
"Interesting." Sephiroth murmured. "And unexpected, perhaps. An opportunity for him to see what is to come." The pressure left as Sephiroth continued behind him. Cloud heard his footsteps for just a few moments more, before a final, quiet hiss.
"But he should not seek to possess that which is not his."
"Cloud?"
On hearing Angeal's voice, Cloud spun around – and looked straight into the shocked eyes of their Sephiroth, peering out from the depths of the grey cloak he was still wearing.
Genesis stepped back into view, having lost his grip on Cloud when the blond turned. "What was that about? Are you injured?"
"Cloud?" Tifa had noticed they had stopped and was at his other side peering up at him, concern etched into her expression. Cloud dropped his gaze to her.
"It's nothing. Let's go." Before he set off back towards Barret, he made the mistake of glancing at Sephiroth again, to find the green eyes still pinned on him and filled with questions. Cloud half shook his head, trying to signal that now was not the time. To his relief Sephiroth remained silent, while Cloud followed Barret and Tifa towards the Sector Five slums.
Could felt the weight of Sephiroth's gaze burning into him every step of the way.