Blades of Destiny
Chapter 3- Retribution
A whole year had passed since the Neo-Midgar project had gone underway. Indeed, Reeve's plan of creating Mako Reactors which actually recycled Mako energy back into the Lifestream had been a success and the inhabitants of Neo-Midgar had forgotten the destruction that had befallen them a year before.
Neo-Midgar was much larger than the original Midgar in terms of structure. It had spread out far, up to the deep brown, barren parts of the land that had once surrounded the old Midgar. Like the original Midgar, Neo-Midgar was divided into 8 different sectors, though much larger and much spread out that before. No longer was there a patch of barren land around the city- the surrounding area was completely full of green. There was something different about Neo-Midgar though: the reactors were nowhere to be seen.
Neo-Midgar had looked and felt different that the very first Midgar. Instead of it being a dark and metalic city like it was before, it was now a combination of techno-metallic buildings with the green and beauty of the Planet's trees and grass. In essence, the city of Neo-Midgar had both the ingenuity of humanity and the peace and tranquility of the Planet. Could this mean that the Planet is once again in tune with man?
***
3 people were sitting in a bar together drinking some beer. Consisting of 2 males and 1 female, they were all wearing a uniform of a suit.
"Are we on assignment?" asked the yellow haired girl who was with the men.
"No Elena, we're off duty." replied the man with long black hair.
"... oh." replied Elena. "But Reno, why don't we just be on alert or something in case something comes up from HQ?"
"... Elena. We're Turks. We know when we're needed." replied the bald man with sunglasses.
"But Rude..." retaliated Elena. Rude simply stared at her silently.
A few minutes later, a man with long straight black hair entered, wearing the Turks uniform. Elena, Reno and Rude stood up and saluted him.
"... at ease, Turks." ordered Tseng. At his command, the Turks sat back down. Tseng walked over to them, who ordered a drink.
"What's up, Sir?" asked Elena. Tseng didn't bother to look at Elena.
"Elena... you know you don't have to hold a grudge against Strife. He did not attack me in the Temple a year ago."
"I know... but isn't he our enemy?"
The other Turks looked at Elena with surprise. Rude was the first one to reply.
"... he is not our enemy anymore."
"I know, but..."
"That's enough Elena," said Tseng. "I've heard enough. It's time I relayed our orders."
"Orders?" wondered Elena. Suddenly, her eyes sparked with excitement. "YES! We finally have a job!" she shouted.
"Ehh..." began Reno. He didn't seem to be up to it.
"Reno, shut up and listen, alright?" ordered Tseng.
"Fine."
"Ok listen up, we're going to Nibelheim to investigate the sudden re-initialization of the Retro-Mako Reactor. Seems someone in the town's been fiddling with the old technology and we need to destroy it..." said Tseng. He then passed out long, red envelopes to each of them. "We each have individual orders and we're to follow them throughout the mission. We'll be accompanied by 5 SOLDIER members."
Elena opened her red envelope excitedly. When she read the papers in it, she had a look of great happiness on her face.
"These orders... they... they're directly from..." stuttered Elena.
Following suit immediately, the others opened their envelopes. Tseng also looked a bit surprised as he opened his and read the papers.
"... directly from the Commander..." said Rude.
"He... he wants us to report to him before we initiate the mission." said Tseng.
"It's from the Commander! I can't believe it!" said Elena, jumping up and down.
"Stop that, Elena. You're a Turks." said Reno. Everyone in the bar was looking at Elena.
"... oops." said Elena, blushing.
"Let's go." ordered Tseng. And, almost in unison, they left the bar for the Neo-Shinra HQ.
***
"Hey!" said a worker running towards another worker.
"Huh? What is it?" he replied.
"The Boss just gave us the plans for the coal reactor!" said that man. He was holding blueprints for a reactor specially designed to extract inert energy from coal.
"REALLY?!?!" jump the other man. He immediately took them and ran to the other workers, who immediately huddled around the man with the blueprints.
"HEY! WHA' ARE YA FOO'S DOIN'?!?!" shouted a large man with one arm. Immediately, he began shooting in the air with his right arm, immediately getting the attention of the workers.
"Agh! It's Barret!" they all shouted.
"Why y'all slacking off?!?! Hurry up and build that damn reactor already!" ordered Barret with his stern voice.
"Yessir!" they all shouted in reply. And they all started running towards the coal mine in the mountains.
"Corel'll never get back on track if none of dem foo's ever start working again..." mumbled Barret to himself.
"Daddy!" cried a little girl, who was running towards Barret.
"Marlene! How many times do I 'ave ta tell ya never ta come here to Corel until we finish the reactor?!?" said Barret.
"I'm sorry, I missed you and I couldn't help but go to you..." said Marlene as she started to cry.
"Agh! Don' cry! Jes' next time, you tell your Papa that you wanna come along, alright?" said Barret softly.
"... okay..." replied Marlene.
"Good. Now c'mon we'll go to da mines and check on da reactor. After dat, we'll go back to North Corel, okay?"
"Okay!"
And Barret picked the small girl up on his shoulders and he walked to the mines.
***
"Sir!" shouted a SOLDIER Cadet. His eyes were Mako green. He was wearing a long sleeve purple shirt with 2 shoulder pads and a blade suspender with matching purple pants and black boots. He was trying to catch up with someone as he turned the corner of the 1st floor of the SOLDIER Branch of Neo-Shinra HQ.
"Sir!" he shouted again. Finally, the man he was chasing after stopped in his tracks. He had been chasing after Cloud Strife the Commander of the new SOLDIER.
"What's up, Cadet?" he said with much curiousity.
"Sir," began the Cadet, "we just got this request from the Turks branch!" he finished, handing Cloud a small, business sized red envelope. He opened it and read it silently. Afterwards he pocketed it and looked back at the cadet with a smile.
"Cadet, find SOLDIERs 4th class Kent, 4th class Mikail, 3nd class Rein, 2nd class Genko and 1st class Meta and tell them to report to the Commander of the Turks. Tell them..." said Cloud. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and thought for awhile. Finally he said, "tell them, they have a mission." And with that, the Cadet ran towards the elevator which lead to the Turks branch.
***
"ATTEN-TION!" shouted Tseng, and Reno, Rude and Elena lined up in a horizontal line with Tseng standing a few feet away from them, his left arm spread out in command. Once they were aligned, Tseng nodded and dropped his arm, lookind directly at a man with a red cape who had his back turned. Reno, Rude and Elena did the same and looked at him.
"... Hello, Turks." said the man, who continued to have his back turned.
"You asked for us, Sir?" said Tseng.
"Yes. You 4 in particular." he said with a very monotone voice.
"But why us, Sir? You could've sent the other Turks who are here..."
"... You 4 are the best of the Turks. That is why I asked for you 4." Immediately, Elena started to blush, but Reno jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow lightly. Elena felt like punching Reno, but didn't want to do so in the Commander's presence. Suddenly, 5 SOLDIERS entered the office in perfect flight platoon squad form, and did so with incredible ease and without an officer.
"... so. You are the 5 SOLDIERs Cloud sent. Interesting." the man in the red cape said as he turned around. The Commander of the Turks was Vincent Valentine, the enigmatic and mysterious shadow of the party who helped destroy Jenova a year before.
"Yes, Commander Vincent, Sir!" said a rather enthusiastic female SOLDIER.
"Meta," said Vincent "I am looking forward to seeing you in action. I've heard a great deal from Cloud about you. If you are as good as your fellow SOLDIERs say, you may end up being a Lieutenant sooner than you think..." with that, Meta, the 1st class SOLDIER smiled slightly.
"... enough." said Vincent. As always, every word he said was in monotone, yet he had a stern sort of feeling in his voice which usually made all those around him stop. "It is time for you to start the mission. Get out of here." ordered Vincent. And with that, the Turks and the SOLDIERs left. Elena, though had stood there, looking at Vincent entranced.
"Sir, I..." started Elena. Vincent merely turned around and looked out the window. Elena hung her head and began walking out.
"... good luck, Elena." muttered Vincent. Elena stopped in her tracks and looked back at Vincent. She stood at attention and saluted him.
"Thank you, Sir!" she said, blushing.
"... Indeed." said Vincent emotionlessly. Elena though, felt extremely giddy when she heard him say that.
"Elena!" said Reno quietly from the door, "Get over here, NOW! Tseng's gonna get mad at ya!"
"Oh! Right!" she said, walking out of the office of Vincent.
***
Cloud was sitting in his room alone, remembering the past. Most of his thoughts though were of the beautiful and gentle flower girl he had fallen in love with... the same flower girl who had summoned the power of Holy upon the Planet along with the force of the Lifestream to stop Meteor. He closed his eyes and remembered the conversation he had with Tifa Lockhart, his childhood friend whom he now loved very much....
"Cloud..." said Tifa who was making a drink for Cloud in her bar in Sector 7. "It's not your fault Aeris died..."
"Maybe... but I could've done something to help her... like push her out of the way, or to block the Masamune's blade with my own body..."
"And sacrifice yourself just for her?!?!" shouted Tifa "She saved the Planet in exchange for her life! She knew she wasn't going to live long. And even if you did help her, you would've died in her place...."
"Better me than her! She..." Cloud had began to cry. Remembering Aeris was very painful for him. "She... she didn't deserve to die that way..."
"Oh Cloud..." she said as she took Cloud into her arms for a loving and comforting embrace. "You know better than that... there wasn't any way for you to save her..."
"Tifa..." he said as he peered into her beautiful red eyes.
"Cloud..."
"Aeris... did you have to die...?" he said, looking up at the ceiling of his room in the SOLDIER branch of Neo-Shinra HQ. "Maybe Tifa's right... I'm the one holding you down on this Planet. It's time for you to go to your Promised Land I guess... goodbye... Aeris..." he said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep....
-End of Chapter 3
Chapter 3- Retribution
A whole year had passed since the Neo-Midgar project had gone underway. Indeed, Reeve's plan of creating Mako Reactors which actually recycled Mako energy back into the Lifestream had been a success and the inhabitants of Neo-Midgar had forgotten the destruction that had befallen them a year before.
Neo-Midgar was much larger than the original Midgar in terms of structure. It had spread out far, up to the deep brown, barren parts of the land that had once surrounded the old Midgar. Like the original Midgar, Neo-Midgar was divided into 8 different sectors, though much larger and much spread out that before. No longer was there a patch of barren land around the city- the surrounding area was completely full of green. There was something different about Neo-Midgar though: the reactors were nowhere to be seen.
Neo-Midgar had looked and felt different that the very first Midgar. Instead of it being a dark and metalic city like it was before, it was now a combination of techno-metallic buildings with the green and beauty of the Planet's trees and grass. In essence, the city of Neo-Midgar had both the ingenuity of humanity and the peace and tranquility of the Planet. Could this mean that the Planet is once again in tune with man?
***
3 people were sitting in a bar together drinking some beer. Consisting of 2 males and 1 female, they were all wearing a uniform of a suit.
"Are we on assignment?" asked the yellow haired girl who was with the men.
"No Elena, we're off duty." replied the man with long black hair.
"... oh." replied Elena. "But Reno, why don't we just be on alert or something in case something comes up from HQ?"
"... Elena. We're Turks. We know when we're needed." replied the bald man with sunglasses.
"But Rude..." retaliated Elena. Rude simply stared at her silently.
A few minutes later, a man with long straight black hair entered, wearing the Turks uniform. Elena, Reno and Rude stood up and saluted him.
"... at ease, Turks." ordered Tseng. At his command, the Turks sat back down. Tseng walked over to them, who ordered a drink.
"What's up, Sir?" asked Elena. Tseng didn't bother to look at Elena.
"Elena... you know you don't have to hold a grudge against Strife. He did not attack me in the Temple a year ago."
"I know... but isn't he our enemy?"
The other Turks looked at Elena with surprise. Rude was the first one to reply.
"... he is not our enemy anymore."
"I know, but..."
"That's enough Elena," said Tseng. "I've heard enough. It's time I relayed our orders."
"Orders?" wondered Elena. Suddenly, her eyes sparked with excitement. "YES! We finally have a job!" she shouted.
"Ehh..." began Reno. He didn't seem to be up to it.
"Reno, shut up and listen, alright?" ordered Tseng.
"Fine."
"Ok listen up, we're going to Nibelheim to investigate the sudden re-initialization of the Retro-Mako Reactor. Seems someone in the town's been fiddling with the old technology and we need to destroy it..." said Tseng. He then passed out long, red envelopes to each of them. "We each have individual orders and we're to follow them throughout the mission. We'll be accompanied by 5 SOLDIER members."
Elena opened her red envelope excitedly. When she read the papers in it, she had a look of great happiness on her face.
"These orders... they... they're directly from..." stuttered Elena.
Following suit immediately, the others opened their envelopes. Tseng also looked a bit surprised as he opened his and read the papers.
"... directly from the Commander..." said Rude.
"He... he wants us to report to him before we initiate the mission." said Tseng.
"It's from the Commander! I can't believe it!" said Elena, jumping up and down.
"Stop that, Elena. You're a Turks." said Reno. Everyone in the bar was looking at Elena.
"... oops." said Elena, blushing.
"Let's go." ordered Tseng. And, almost in unison, they left the bar for the Neo-Shinra HQ.
***
"Hey!" said a worker running towards another worker.
"Huh? What is it?" he replied.
"The Boss just gave us the plans for the coal reactor!" said that man. He was holding blueprints for a reactor specially designed to extract inert energy from coal.
"REALLY?!?!" jump the other man. He immediately took them and ran to the other workers, who immediately huddled around the man with the blueprints.
"HEY! WHA' ARE YA FOO'S DOIN'?!?!" shouted a large man with one arm. Immediately, he began shooting in the air with his right arm, immediately getting the attention of the workers.
"Agh! It's Barret!" they all shouted.
"Why y'all slacking off?!?! Hurry up and build that damn reactor already!" ordered Barret with his stern voice.
"Yessir!" they all shouted in reply. And they all started running towards the coal mine in the mountains.
"Corel'll never get back on track if none of dem foo's ever start working again..." mumbled Barret to himself.
"Daddy!" cried a little girl, who was running towards Barret.
"Marlene! How many times do I 'ave ta tell ya never ta come here to Corel until we finish the reactor?!?" said Barret.
"I'm sorry, I missed you and I couldn't help but go to you..." said Marlene as she started to cry.
"Agh! Don' cry! Jes' next time, you tell your Papa that you wanna come along, alright?" said Barret softly.
"... okay..." replied Marlene.
"Good. Now c'mon we'll go to da mines and check on da reactor. After dat, we'll go back to North Corel, okay?"
"Okay!"
And Barret picked the small girl up on his shoulders and he walked to the mines.
***
"Sir!" shouted a SOLDIER Cadet. His eyes were Mako green. He was wearing a long sleeve purple shirt with 2 shoulder pads and a blade suspender with matching purple pants and black boots. He was trying to catch up with someone as he turned the corner of the 1st floor of the SOLDIER Branch of Neo-Shinra HQ.
"Sir!" he shouted again. Finally, the man he was chasing after stopped in his tracks. He had been chasing after Cloud Strife the Commander of the new SOLDIER.
"What's up, Cadet?" he said with much curiousity.
"Sir," began the Cadet, "we just got this request from the Turks branch!" he finished, handing Cloud a small, business sized red envelope. He opened it and read it silently. Afterwards he pocketed it and looked back at the cadet with a smile.
"Cadet, find SOLDIERs 4th class Kent, 4th class Mikail, 3nd class Rein, 2nd class Genko and 1st class Meta and tell them to report to the Commander of the Turks. Tell them..." said Cloud. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and thought for awhile. Finally he said, "tell them, they have a mission." And with that, the Cadet ran towards the elevator which lead to the Turks branch.
***
"ATTEN-TION!" shouted Tseng, and Reno, Rude and Elena lined up in a horizontal line with Tseng standing a few feet away from them, his left arm spread out in command. Once they were aligned, Tseng nodded and dropped his arm, lookind directly at a man with a red cape who had his back turned. Reno, Rude and Elena did the same and looked at him.
"... Hello, Turks." said the man, who continued to have his back turned.
"You asked for us, Sir?" said Tseng.
"Yes. You 4 in particular." he said with a very monotone voice.
"But why us, Sir? You could've sent the other Turks who are here..."
"... You 4 are the best of the Turks. That is why I asked for you 4." Immediately, Elena started to blush, but Reno jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow lightly. Elena felt like punching Reno, but didn't want to do so in the Commander's presence. Suddenly, 5 SOLDIERS entered the office in perfect flight platoon squad form, and did so with incredible ease and without an officer.
"... so. You are the 5 SOLDIERs Cloud sent. Interesting." the man in the red cape said as he turned around. The Commander of the Turks was Vincent Valentine, the enigmatic and mysterious shadow of the party who helped destroy Jenova a year before.
"Yes, Commander Vincent, Sir!" said a rather enthusiastic female SOLDIER.
"Meta," said Vincent "I am looking forward to seeing you in action. I've heard a great deal from Cloud about you. If you are as good as your fellow SOLDIERs say, you may end up being a Lieutenant sooner than you think..." with that, Meta, the 1st class SOLDIER smiled slightly.
"... enough." said Vincent. As always, every word he said was in monotone, yet he had a stern sort of feeling in his voice which usually made all those around him stop. "It is time for you to start the mission. Get out of here." ordered Vincent. And with that, the Turks and the SOLDIERs left. Elena, though had stood there, looking at Vincent entranced.
"Sir, I..." started Elena. Vincent merely turned around and looked out the window. Elena hung her head and began walking out.
"... good luck, Elena." muttered Vincent. Elena stopped in her tracks and looked back at Vincent. She stood at attention and saluted him.
"Thank you, Sir!" she said, blushing.
"... Indeed." said Vincent emotionlessly. Elena though, felt extremely giddy when she heard him say that.
"Elena!" said Reno quietly from the door, "Get over here, NOW! Tseng's gonna get mad at ya!"
"Oh! Right!" she said, walking out of the office of Vincent.
***
Cloud was sitting in his room alone, remembering the past. Most of his thoughts though were of the beautiful and gentle flower girl he had fallen in love with... the same flower girl who had summoned the power of Holy upon the Planet along with the force of the Lifestream to stop Meteor. He closed his eyes and remembered the conversation he had with Tifa Lockhart, his childhood friend whom he now loved very much....
"Cloud..." said Tifa who was making a drink for Cloud in her bar in Sector 7. "It's not your fault Aeris died..."
"Maybe... but I could've done something to help her... like push her out of the way, or to block the Masamune's blade with my own body..."
"And sacrifice yourself just for her?!?!" shouted Tifa "She saved the Planet in exchange for her life! She knew she wasn't going to live long. And even if you did help her, you would've died in her place...."
"Better me than her! She..." Cloud had began to cry. Remembering Aeris was very painful for him. "She... she didn't deserve to die that way..."
"Oh Cloud..." she said as she took Cloud into her arms for a loving and comforting embrace. "You know better than that... there wasn't any way for you to save her..."
"Tifa..." he said as he peered into her beautiful red eyes.
"Cloud..."
"Aeris... did you have to die...?" he said, looking up at the ceiling of his room in the SOLDIER branch of Neo-Shinra HQ. "Maybe Tifa's right... I'm the one holding you down on this Planet. It's time for you to go to your Promised Land I guess... goodbye... Aeris..." he said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep....
-End of Chapter 3