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CHAPTER THREE – BLESSED HOPE

'If you've got something to say ... Why don't you say it ... If you've got something to give ... Why don't you give it to me ... Day after day I have to say it ... We're moving further from heaven ... And closer to the deep blue see ... 'Cause I have no secrets from you ... And I have nothing left to hide ... And I'm open to all your questions ... Why can't you reach inside ... Like I have ... And all those games you play ... Don't tell me how a man should be ... Some would say if you knew ... You wouldn't be here with me ... I still love you ... But I guess it's time to let you be ... 'Cause I have no secrets from you ... And I have nothing left to hide ... And I'm so tired of all these questions ... 'Cause maybe you just changed your mind ... Like I have When I was at your doorstep ... You told me to look around ... Said come in ... You and your heart sit down ... But you better watch your step ... 'Cause you're not far from the ground And one fine day this all falls down ... Like I have ... If you've got something to say ... Why don't you say it ... If you've got something to give ... Why don't you give it to me ... Day after day I have to say it ... If we've got something to save ... Why don't we save it? (George Michael : 'Something to Save')'

Grassy Plain. Afternoon.

Reeve stood on an outcropping of rock and, in a voice laced with hope and confidence, addressed the displaced populace of Midgar assembled before him.

"Shinra is dead. Midgar, it's symbol city, lies behind us in destruction. We stand here together, residents of the slums and of the plates, together for the first time since the rise of Shinra. That city behind us is the Midgar of blind ambition, of Shinra's overwhelming greed."

Reeve paused to look over the people who assembled before him enthralled with his carefully spoken words. He'd never considered himself more than just a 'nice guy', and he was certain that he wasn't a politician, but he had the dream of a new Midgar and the Turks behind him. He wasn't planning on using them to exterminate any dissent, but rather for their reputation.

What was left of Shinra was in shambles; the Shinra building itself was a toppled mass of metal, broken wood, and glass. There was no order to Midgar now. There were scattered remains of Solder, mostly third class, and plenty of Shinra guards around to be used as the foundation for a new security force. With the Turks behind him, he was certain the rest of Soldier's remnants would soon follow.

"I propose a new Midgar, one without plates. One where all can look up and see the blue sky and the stars at night. Where our children can play in fields of green grass. It will take time for grass to grow again here, but in time, without the Mako reactors gobbling up the Lifestream, plants will grow again. Grass will grow again."

It was true. Already in small places on the outskirts of what had been Midgar, new life was beginning to sprout. It was as though the Planet herself was welcoming them. Although, Reeve suspected that it was the high concentration of Lifestream that had gathered here to help Holy defeat Meteor. Regardless of the reason, it was refreshing to see new life sprouting on the barren land that the old Midgar was built upon.

As for himself, he had spent countless hours at his desk doodling and sketching his vision of Midgar when he was supposed to be planning and developing Shinra's version of reality, sorted by class and separated by huge metal plates from one another, leaving the poor trapped in a world without sunlight and the wealthy without the Planet at their feet. He wondered sometimes which group was truly the more unfortunate. But in the end, it seemed that the Planet had spoken, rendering her decision with absolute authority on the very question that often kept him awake at night.

The Planet had chosen a group from the slums, from the people who lived and toiled on her soil, to save her from the self-proclaimed gods who considered themselves too good to set foot on the very soil that had birthed them. She had further chosen others who walked the soil, and not the metal plates, as her Saviors.

She chose the pilot, who sacrificed his dream to save her, and the red beast, guardian of the people who kept her flame alive. She chose the dark one, victim of unspeakable cruelties at the hands of the evil madman who created the one who sought to destroy her. She chose the former Soldier, infused with her goodness, twisted by the cells of the alien beast, and she chose the Cetra, who could hear her cries of anguish, and who gave her own life to save her mother Planet. She chose the young ninja, vibrant and able to lift the tools needed from unsuspecting passerby and Shinra troops, and the coal miner, who had worked in the Planet, and who felt the need to atone for his part in feeding the raging corporation's ambitions. She chose the fighter, who had survived wounds inflicted by the Destroyer upon his descent into madness. And she chose the unsuspecting city planner, who had once fled the slums of Midgar to feed his starving mind, studying other cities, before returning to his own city with the false hope that he could make a difference in a city controlled by the almighty Shinra. But instead of making a difference he had been sucked into the ambitions of the corporation and used as just another of their seemingly unlimited puppets.

But now, here he stood, in front of the masses of people displaced by that same greedy corporate behemoth. Its monumental city and towering palace of corporate greed smoldered behind the mass of humanity, destroyed by the Planet's own defense mechanisms. She had fought back, and Shinra had paid for its sins.

The people before him had a new chance. A chance to reclaim what the Planet had intended for her people. The new Midgar would have no plates, no Mako energy. It was a monumental task, but as he looked out over the people assembled before him, their individuality lost as their faces blended into the sea of humanity of which that they were all part, he knew that they could do it. The cheer that rose from the crowd gave him the strength that he needed to continue.

Reeve stood there, basking in relief as the people of Midgar began chanting his name in support. He quieted them with a gesture of his hands and continued his speech, outlining more specific details of his plan to begin reconstruction. Many of the specifics he was not certain of, but right now they needed the baby steps of cleaning up the wreckage and searching for any possible survivors remaining from the devastation.

"All sectors of Midgar suffered damage. Sectors 2. 3, 4, and 7 sustained the most damage while Sectors 1, 5, 6, and 8 are still inhabitable. With the shelter here and the remaining shelter in those sectors, we should have enough resources to begin clearing away the rubble and rebuilding."

He knew his next words would be unpopular with at least half of those that stood near him on the makeshift platform. He wasn't intending for it to be punishment, but instead a symbolic step of cleansing. Tackling the destruction wrought by Shinra, and it had been their doing, not that of Avalanche. But he knew it probably wouldn't be seen that way as he glanced towards the Turks standing on one side of him and Tifa standing on the other, hostility passing between the two sides with him standing in the middle. For whatever reason they had all agreed to stay, and although he knew that it wouldn't be easy getting the two factions to cooperate, he was grateful to them all for staying.

"We'll start with clearing away the debris of the first sector to fall: Sector Seven."

Tifa fainted dead away at Reeve's announcement.