Scars of the Past

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Heaven Knows it's a lonely way living on my own - I never thought that I would be this far from all I know - I gave you all the love in me, - But love is blind and now I see - The fool I've been believing you loved me - I waited so long for you - Now what am I supposed to do? - One day believe me you'll be sorry - You're gonna feel this pain - One day you'll see me and remember - The promises you made - Just wait and see how you'll be sorry - One day your sky's gonna rain - One day believe me, you'll come running - Back to me again (Steps - You'll be Sorry)

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Chapter 15 - Weapon Attacks

Rufus yawned, leaning on his desk as Scarlet, Heidegger and Reeve walked into his office. He glared at them as if he didn't want to be there one bit.

"Ok I want to make this short. The Mako Cannon is up and ready to go. It's going to be using the Mako reactors power as a bullet." He changed his glance to look at Reeve. "That's why, Reeve. It's your job to adjust the reactor's output." Reeve looked away from the President.

"I see." Rufus kept his glance on the black haired man for a few minutes then sighed. Scarlet stepped forward a little.

"Hah, hah, hah! Don't worry about adjusting it, Reeve." She punched thin air. "Once you open it up all the way everything will go full speed!" Rufus shook his head.

"Gya hah, hah, hah! The President's sure done it this time! If we can only defeat Sephiroth, the idea that Meteor will also disappear is based on different objectives!" Heidegger shouted, jumping around the room. The President sighed. The blonde woman wagged her finger at Rufus.

"Please remember, Mr. President... It was my idea to fire Mako reactor powered shells." The blonde man flicked the hair out of his eyes, and looked towards the surface of his desk.

"Will the shells really reach the far northern border?"

"Ah, hah hah! Of course!" She spun around to look at the cannon, that could be seen from the President's office. "But Mr. President, please do not call it a Mako cannon. This new weapon will be called......"She continued, turning back round, staring right at Rufus. "The Sister Ray!" The blonde man nodded and stood up, walking towards his window. Scarlet spun round and walked out the room, Heidegger following close behind her. Reeve reached into his jacket and turned off a receiver. He turned to Rufus.

"You sure we're doing the right thing?" The President nodded.

"This is the last resort. The Sister ray is the only resource we've got left to throw at him. If this doesn't work, we can only hope Avalanche do something....." He trailed off, letting his forehead land on the glass. Reeve put a hand on Rufus' shoulder.

"You're probably right." The black haired man began to walk over to the door. As he reached the door frame, the whole building began to shake. Both Rufus and Reeve fell to the floor.

"What the fuck is that?" The President shouted over the rumble. It then stopped dead. Reeve looked up.

"Weapon."

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"So tell me again why we are in the sewers?" Elena asked, as she stared at the green goo that was on her boot. She didn't even want to know what it was. Rude just looked at her as Reno sighed.

"Because we were ordered to....." The red head muttered. He lifted his foot up quick. "Ah shit, it's seeping through." The blonde started giggling. She stopped as the water in the sewers started to tremble on it's own. Then the everything around them started to shake. Rude managed to maintain his balance, while Reno and Elena feel face first into the water underneath their feet. The bald Turk just grinned. The red head lifted his head up first. "This is just great." He mumbled. Elena soon followed.

"Shit, I think I swallowed something." She yelled as she was spluttering. "What the hell was that?" Rude shrugged his shoulders.

"How the hell should I know??" Reno shouted back. The blonde just glared.

"This is just gonna be one of these days." She mumbled to herself as she started walking off down the tunnel. Reno and Rude following her. The red haired Turk caught up with Elena and put his arm round her.

"Cheer up babe, at least you're not the only one covered in this shit." She smiled.

"You always know how to cheer people up, even when they're covered in what could possible be shit." Reno pulled a face.

"You didn't need to remind me about that part." She laughed. Reno swore, removing his arm from her and dove into his top pocket while he was mumbling. He found what he was looking for. Shaking it a little, he put it up to his ear and grinned. Elena looked at him strangely. "Still works."

"Ah" The blonde said as it clicked in her mind what it was. "You gonna see if they know what it is......." Reno nodded. The three gathered round the device to listen in.

"This ain't good... Weapon came out of the sea and is heading straight for Midgar." Came Cait's voice through the receiver.

"The new weapon should stop him, right?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know if it's ready or not..."

"Hey! What's gonna happen to Marlene!?" Came Barret's stocky voice

"Doncha worry none, Marlene's in a safe place. She's with Aeris' mama......... Barret!!.......... What was that scratching just now!? As long as Marlene is safe, who cares what else happens, right? I been itchin' to say this to ya fer a while now! When ya blew the Midgar No. 1 up, how many folks d'ya think died?"

"...that was for the life of the planet. Ya gotta expect a few casualties." The black man mumbled.

"A few? Whaddya mean 'a few'? What may be a few to y'all is everything to them who died...... Protect the planet. Hah! Y'all sure sound good! Ain't no one that'd go against ya. So ya think ya can do whatever y'all want?" Cait yelled.

"I don't wanna hear that from no one in Shinra..." Barret mumbled again.

"......nuthin' I can do 'bout that..."

"Go Cait Sith." Reno muttered.

"Stop it!" Cloud shouted.

"Cait Sith...... Barret, he knows what he did. What we did in Midgar can't be forgotten no matter what the reason. Right? We haven't forgotten, right? I know you. You can't quit the company because you're worried about the people in Midgar, right? ......Cloud?" Came Tifa's voice through the device.

"OK! Let's go! We'll beat Weapon ourselves!"

The device fizzled out. Reno threw into the sewage water below them.

"Damn machine..... Come on we'll go back up top." The other two Turks nodded and followed the red head.

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Rufus was stood staring out of his office window, at the fight going on a few miles away from Midgar, between Emerald Weapon and Avalanche. He also watched, as Avalanche made their way back to the Highwind, leaving the Weapon standing there. Rufus felt like the beast was staring straight at him. Maybe it was even laughing, he couldn't tell. Heidegger's voice through his intercom interrupted his train of thoughts.

"Hah, hah, hah, Mr. President, preparations for Sister Ray are now in order." Rufus turned to face the intercom.

"Hah, hah, hah! Anytime is fine." Scarlet's voice added. The blonde man turned back towards the window and nodded.

"......Fire." He watched below as the Mako reactors powered up to feed the Sister Ray with it's much needed energy. One by one the reactors managed to power up, letting Mako energy flow through the pipes connected to the huge gun, hanging over Midgar. The cannon began to shake, as a purple coloured halo appeared round the end of the gun. Rufus watched in awe. He'd never seen anything like it. The halo then disappeared into the end of the cannon. After a few seconds, a blue beam shot out the end, heading towards the huge silver coloured beast in the countryside beyond. All the windows in the building shattered, the blonde backed away a little as the cold Midgar air, gushed into the room. Rufus stared as Weapon noticed the huge beam of light heading it's way, and retaliated with it's own attack. Several short beams of yellow light shot off towards Midgar. The blue beam blasted through Emerald Weapon and continued on to it's destination. Rufus grinned. Maybe the plan was going to work after all. The beast fell to the floor, bouncing a little. Still staring through the window, Rufus heard the intercom go off again.

"Sir! Weapon's been defeated!! The barrier has disappeared!" He moved back towards his desk, looking up at the ceiling as the operator spoke again. "Sir! A mass of high-density energy is heading towards Midgar!" Rufus sighed, moving back to the window. He continued watching as the yellow lights got closer.

"Guess I'm not any better off than you old man." He mumbled. He stood motionlessly, as some of the first beams hit the tower. He blinked. He then noticed one of the yellow beams heading straight for him. Another one hit the building, making the blonde lose his balance a little. He doubled over as a blast hit the actual office, consuming everything. Several shots followed, destroying the top top floors of the Shinra building, including anyone who was up there.

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Reno watched, his mouth wide open as the top floors of the Shinra Tower went up in flames.

"Holy Shit...." Elena stood beside him, Rude on her other side. They all just stared at the yellow flames that had engulfed the building.

"Does that mean he's..........." She trailed off.

"I don't know El." Rude answered.

"What's gonna happen now........" No one answered the blonde. Reno turned round and marched back into the sewers. Elena looked at Rude then followed him. "Where are you going Reno?" She whispered as she caught up with him. He spun back round to look at her.

"I just couldn't stop there looking at that!" He shouted. Elena stood back at little. He sighed. "Too much shit has been happening lately............. I just wish it would all go away." He said more quietly. She stepped back up to him, leaned her head against his chest and hugged him around his waist.

"It'll all be over soon." He sighed again.

"Yeah, but how many of us will be left." He whispered, hugging her back.

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"Scarlet! Heidegger! What's going on?" Reeve asked as he walked into the Board Room, Scarlet was stood staring at the black haired man, while Heidegger had a phone pressed up against his ear. The fat man turned towards to two other Shinra Executives in the room.

"Strange. I can't reach the President." Reeve looked at Heidegger.

"Not the President. To Sister Ray!" He asked, nearly shouting. He knew damn well what had happened to Rufus, he didn't need to think about it. Scarlet was still looking at him.

"Ha, ha, ha. What is it Reeve? You're speaking strangely." She said. Reeve shook his head.

"None of that matters! The reactor's output is increasing all by itself!" He shouted. Scarlet looked shocked.

"Ww, wait a minute. That's not wise! It must be cool for three hours or it won't work. Reeve, shut off the machine!" He shook his head again.

"We can't do that! It's inoperable!" He pulled out his PHS and held it up to his ear.

"Someone has switched the machine over to mainframe operation! We can't operate it from here." Said a voice on the other end of the phone.

"What about the mainframe? Who!?" He turned to Heidegger. "Hey, call the mainframe!" The man picked up his phone, then frowned and put it back in his pocket.

"Huh? Why are you giving orders?" He asked.

"I don't give a damn about the details!!" Reeve continued listening into his phone as the operator connected him to the intercom, that was situated at the mainframe, at the top platform of the Sister Ray.

"Ha, ha, ha...... Just you wait, Sephiroth. I'll give you all the Mako you want." The voice that was heard said. Reeve knew instantly who it was

"Hojo, STOP! The cannon, no, Midgar itself is in danger!" Reeve could just imagine Hojo smirking.

"Ha, ha, ha...... One or two Midgars? ...It's a small price to pay."

"Hojo! HOJO......!!" The mad scientist didn't answer. Reeve could hear him ranting on though.

"Show me...... Sephiroth. It should be near... Ha, ha, ha...... Go beyond the powers of science... Before your presence, science is powerless... I hate it, but I'll concede to it. Just... let me see it. Ha, ha, ha......" Reeve then cut off his phone. He shook his head. Trying to listen to two conversations at the same time wasn't helping him.

"We're sunk. Hojo's doing this on his own......" Reeve looked at Heidegger, who had an evil gleam on his face. "...? ...? H, huh!? I don't like this......" He looked down towards the floor. "......We can't stop it." Heidegger was still staring. "I can't make you trust me......" Heidegger's expression changed for a split second then went back to a smirk.

"We'll have to shut down the reactors........." Scarlet whispered, so low that Reeve's couldn't have heard her.

"No way! If we shut down the reactor, all hell will break loose!!" She looked up at the black haired man, and Heidegger, who was still grinning. Scarlet clicked on what was happening and shook her head. Reeve carried on talking. "Yeah, it's easy to shut off the reactor's pipe valves...... But the reactor made a path for the energy to escape from below. Once you open that, it'll be impossible to close it until everything blasts out... And we can't try to stop the energy from gushing out........"

"An explosion....." Scarlet whispered. Reeve looked at her.

"This blast'll be way stronger than when the number one reactor blew up!" He looked at Heidegger. "Looks like Cloud and the others are on their way. Stay out of the way!"

"Ghaa haah hah hah! Don't be so ludicrous! I don't recall you giving me any orders! The Peace Preservation will give their best effort to make the enemy retreat!" The fat man stamped his foot. "Because of them, I...... I..!" Reeve shook his head.

"That's a private matter......"

"The President is dead! Now I'm doing things my way! Ghaa haah hah hah!" Heidegger raised his arm and pointed towards the black haired man. Two guards appeared. Reeve looked at them and sighed.

"Hey! Wait!!" He shook his head. "Cloud, everybody! Sorry...... But!! But you'll come, won't you!?" He whispered. Scarlet sighed as the two guards dragged the black haired Shinra executive out of the room.

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