(I'll
warn you just one more time, then I'll leave you alone. ^^
"Brothers
in Arms" and "Earth and Hell" and possibly the best pieces I have ever done.
But they aren't easy to take.
Still
interested? Read on!)
Dr. Niles Yale stood with his back
to his window, gazing down in mild shock at his most recent experiment. He wondered
suddenly if he should call someone; tell them what he had just discovered, just
done. Sometimes, victory is best experienced alone, he thought in the
silence that followed the girl's awakening. But it's worked…it's really
worked…He continued to gaze down at her, as she brushed her short blonde
hair out of her eyes, and blinked in the light from the lamp that was shining
down on her. Quickly, he averted its direction, not taking his eyes off her
once. "So, my dear Elena, you've finally come round," he purred.
Elena slowly sat up on the table
where she was lying. "What…where…how?" Looking up at Dr. Yale, she cringed,
shrinking back from him. "Who…are you?" Yale was disappointed. This was a Turk?
One of the elite fighting force of long gone Shinra? This…frightened child? Maybe
it's a side effect of dying, he thought, mildly amused. One loses,
hopefully only briefly, their sense of courage. He caught her as she almost
fell off the other end of the table, steadying her with the other hand. "My
dear, you must lie down, you've had an…interesting experience, and it can't be
very good for your system." She stared uncomprehendingly at him.
Again, he was disappointed. Perhaps
this is not such a victory as I thought. If this girl and the other two have
lost their memories or senses, they won't be of any use to me at all. I must
try to preserve whatever is left of this one, and be more careful with the
other two. I can't have this all go to waste, and I only have one opportunity.
Who knows if I'll ever be able to do this again…and what if I can?
Returning to the present, he focused again on Elena, and noticed that she
seemed to be becoming more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes narrowed, and
she looked up at him again, not the frightened girl anymore, but suspicious,
prepared Elena. Good…
"Why…am I here?" She stood slowly, cringing
at the pain in her chest. Looking down, she saw the wound where she'd been hit
only a few days ago, and gasped, backing into a wall, and sinking to the floor.
Shaking her head violently, she whispered, "I'm dead…I'm dead…I'm not supposed
to be here…what is this?" Lunging to her feet, she grabbed unsteadily at Dr.
Yale's arm. "What have you done to me??" She demanded. "I'm DEAD." Smiling, he
shook her off, and gestured to a chair nearby. Still with a mildly hysterical
look on her face, she felt her way the seat. "I'm afraid you don't understand.
You aren't dead. You're quite alive. I've…revived you, my dear. You're alive
again. You're very lucky I-."
"No…" she cut him off, feeling her
chest where the wound was still healing. It shocked her that it was healing. It
shouldn't be healing, because it was a death wound. She was dead. It wasn't
right. "Reno…Rude…" She buried her face in her hands. "What have you done to
me??" Dr. Yale was slightly puzzled. "Why, I've given you back your life, I've-!" "NO!" Elena stood
up. "I don't HAVE a life, not anymore! Everyone I ever cared about is dead! I
want to be dead! I'M NOT ALIVE! I'M-ugh." She tripped, and went sprawling to
the ground. Yale shook his head, and extended a hand to help her up. She
ignored him, pulled herself up by herself…and then sagged against the wall.
"Unh…I'm not…alive…" Yale recognized
her weariness kicking in, and nodded. "No, but you will be in the morning.
Sleep now…"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Elena awoke the next morning,
she could sense noises in the room around her. Slowly opening her eyes, she
looked around, taking in anew the scene she had barely come to terms with the
day before, and quickly shutting her eyes again, not wanting to see it, to take
in the fact that she was here. Standing up and looking around, she noticed that
the noises were not coming from Yale. In fact, she couldn't see him anywhere. A
sudden thought caused her to put a hand to her sheath. Sure enough, there was
her second gun, safe and sound as it had been when she'd been cut down, without
enough time to draw it. Taking a deep breath and looking around she held the
gun before her, aimed at her heart, and closed her eyes, preparing…
"Ah, Elena, you're awake, good." The
voice behind her startled her into dropping the gun, and she whirled around,
glaring. Yale walked in through the doorway, and picked the gun up off the
floor. "Can't have you destroying all my hard work, now can I?" He said
cheerfully, placing it in his own belt, and turning again towards the doorway.
"Come, girl, there's someone I want you to meet." "Why," she asked, building
volume in her voice, "won't you let me DIE?" He turned back to her.
"Because…well, all in time. I told you to come. You'll like this, trust me." He
waved a hand at the door, and called out, "Come in!"
A tall man with extremely tousled
red hair walked uncertainly into the room. He stood in the doorway, and cringed
as another man, wearing dark sunglasses, who had darker skin from his own, and
no hair, bumped him into from behind. Both stared at Elena, breathing hard, not
speaking. "Reno…" she whispered. "Rude…"
Then she was running, and she ran
towards them, throwing herself at them and they were all embracing, and there
were tears in her eyes, and she saw them in Reno's, and trickling down from
Rude's characteristic glasses. No one said anything for a long time. Then Elena
slowly turned to Yale, saying, "I…I thought they…were dead…why?" She bit her
lip, and asked, "Why didn't you tell me they were alive?" "Because, dear girl,"
he said, smiling thinly, and gesturing at a group of chairs around him, "That
would have ruined all of this." "All of what?" Asked Reno, who still hadn't let
go of Elena. "Well now, shall we talk about that? Come, come, and sit down. I
have quite a lot to tell you."
Yale
led the shaky and confused threesome out of the room and down the hall, towards
a closed door marked "NO ENTRANCE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION." He unlocked it with a
key he seemed to pull out of nowhere, and opened it, gesturing for them to
enter. Reno led in after a brief hesitation, but they did not take the chairs
he pulled up for them. Shrugging, he sat down in one himself, and leaned over
towards them, keeping his cool and gracious smile on his face. "Take a look
around this room. What do you see?" They looked. It was full of different kinds
of machinery, none of which they could recognize or understand. In one corner,
there was a large tank filled with greenish liquid.
From the blank expressions on their
faces, Yale decided to take the initiative. "This is the room in which I toiled
for days and days, to produce the end result that is standing before me…you! You
all must realize what an incredible accomplishment this is! The dead can be
brought back to life! And you! You have a chance for another life!" His face
was becoming more animated as he spoke, and his eyes glittered as he thought
toward his further goal. This really could happen in my lifetime, he
thought, as he continued.
Elena finally spoke up. "Then…why
did you do it? How did you do it? I'm so confused…but…" "Let me explain," he
said, cutting her off. "While I was working, I discovered a substance that
could be created by mixing particles of the very lifestream with…other elements
that I must keep secret. When administered in regulated doses, consciousness
and life can slowly be returned to a member of the deceased! When I discovered
it, I immediately tried it out on you. And you see…" he looked at them, not
finding it necessary to finish the sentence.
"But…then, you can bring us all
back!" Said Reno, suddenly becoming excited, and squeezing Elena's hand. "All
those who died saving earth! All of our friends!" He stopped when he saw Yale
shaking his head. "I'm so sorry," he said, sighing. "But you three were the
only bodies recovered. The aliens took all the others away. There's no one else
left to save. I really am sorry. It would be wonderful to get back our loved
ones." Shocked yet again, Elena fell back into a chair. "Why…us? Why only us?"
He smiled. "Because I went in to the battlefield and salvaged you before they
could. You see, I need you to help me with a little something."
Now was the hard part, he knew. He'd
have to phrase it carefully, as this would be a whole new and sudden concept
after all the shocking news they'd just heard. Now was the moment of truth.
"You see," he repeated, "I think that the people who do remain, the people who weren't
fighting, they need someone to lead them, someone…to send them in the right
direction. I think that…well, that if you helped me, we could be the leaders
that sent humans back into the battle of life. Of course, it may take a bit of
forcefulness here and there, but you're quite used to that, I know. We could
set everything right, conquer a new planet in my-ah, our name. So…what do you
say? Will you help me? Of course, you don't need to decide now…"
Reno stared at him for a few
minutes. The true implications of the speech had not been lost on him. Yale
wanted power over the remaining humans, and he wanted them to enforce it.
Shaking his head, he knew he'd had enough power by fear and such. That had died
with Shinra. The glare on Elena's face and Rude's impassive silence made it
quite clear. They weren't interested. Yale sighed, shook his head, and then
smiled sadly. "No? Well, you really can't be expected to decide now. I'll give
you some time, of course, and you can come and tell me if you change your mind.
Until then, why don't you go have a look around our shelter? Although, I don't
suggest going outside…reality isn't pretty anymore." With that, he left them to
find their own way.
As Yale left the room, Elena stood
up, and walked silently over to her companions. No one spoke for a long time,
until Reno let out a long sigh. "We…have been given an opportunity, haven't we?
We'd better go see what we have to deal with." In a closely huddled group, all
three moved out of the room, and down the passageway from which they'd
originally come. At the end was a door, unmarked, which Rude cautiously opened.
On the other side was what looked like a rather expensive hotel hallway, lined
with doors, which were all marked with numbers. Elena blinked in confusion as she
looked around, and then saw a door open on the left. A brunette of medium
height walked out, straightening her round-rimmed glasses on her nose, and
pulling on a white lab coat. "…Shera?" she asked quietly.
Shera turned around, and dropped the
mug of coffee she'd been carrying, spilling it all over the floor. "Oh my god,"
she whispered, backing in the other direction. She stumbled and tripped over a
chair, and fell on her back. Elena rushed over to help her up. "You-you're
dead…" murmured Shera. Elena helped her up. "I know this is a little hard to
take," she replied, "but think how we must feel."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour or so later, in Shera's
room, Elena finished explaining their untimely appearance. Shera leaned back in
her chair and closed her eyes. "Then…people can be brought back to life…" She
swallowed. "If only I'd had time to save…" she trailed off, and a tear trickled
down her cheek. "But then, he'd always wanted to die fighting." Elena gripped
her hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry." Shera wiped the tear
away, and leaned forward, sighing. "Well, I can't say there's anything you've
come back to. It's all gone, really. Everyone…" she stopped, then regained her
composure slightly. "Most people were killed, either in the battle, or the
onslaught afterwards. There isn't much left, I'm afraid. All that's there is
us, and this old hotel, aside from a few broken buildings here and there. Then,
afterwards, they just got up…and…left. All that slaughter for nothing…"
