Chapter 1 - Destination: Midgar
I spun around. There it was, right behind me. And I spun around again, becoming dizzy. There it was, in front of me, as well as to my left and to my right. I was trapped between two spiked walls.
I looked up, and there was the clear blue sky. Doves flew overhead, and the sun shined brightly in the sky, telling me it was high noon. I looked back at the walls, closing in slowly but surely. "Crap," I muttered. I clutched the staff close to me and just stared at the spikes, hopelessly. I couldn't fly and I couldn't dig, and I couldn't run anywhere - the walls were closing in at all sides. So as sweat poured down my face I clasped my hands together, my heated palms still tightly holding my staff, and as the droplets of perspiration hit the dry caked mud I was standing on, I muttered a prayer. A useless one, or so I thought.
The spikes were about five inches away from me, and I awaited death. This wasn't how I expected to die, but I didn't think about regrets now. Just as soon as I had estimated the length of the spikes, a shout came from the sky and the whirring of a helicopter's propeller whizzed in my ears. In less than a second a ladder unrolled right before me, and the man's voice told me to grab on and climb. I didn't even hesitate as I tucked the staff under my left arm and took hold of the ladder with my right hand, as just as soon as I had gotten my grip, up up and away I went.
The pit was half full of sand, and I would've drowned in the desert before I'd have gotten spiked to death. As the helicopter lifted and flew forward, the rope ladder swayed and I swung forward, just enough so that a particularly long, thin spike managed to poke me in the ribs. I screamed, as the helicopter finally lifted up out of the reach of the spike walls, and nearly lost my grip as I became faint with fear. I tried not to look down as I climbed up the ladder, but couldn't resist taking a peek. Looking down at the ground was hard enough, but I even caught sight of the stream of blood slowly trickling down my dress, leaving a dark bloody stain on the soft pink material.
"Hurry up!" came a loud voice from the top of the ladder. "This thing can't hold your extra weight under it for too long!"
I groaned "Yeah, yeah," and climbed up the rest of the way. Once at the top, I collapsed on the floor of the helicopter on my hands and knees, then my staff dropped on the floor as I reached over to cover the wound at my side.
"You're lucky we got here in time. Rude saw you in that pit before we left the area of patrol."
I lifted my head weakly to nod a polite 'thanks', but somewhere, the name Rude registered in my mind, and wouldn't go away.
"What's your name, pretty girl?" the man who spoke kneeled down and looked me in the eyes, brushing the loose strands of hair from my face. His face was familiar too.
"A.Aerith," I managed to say, and sat up. As my vision cleared I managed to get a good look at the man kneeling in front of me. Before he could speak, I exclaimed, "Turks!"
The man smirked and crossed his arms, then brushed his hair back in a suave motion. "Hmph. I guess you remember us. Well, my name's Reno."
"Reno...and...Tseng.and...and Ella..," I stammered.
"It's Elena," came a firm, fierce voice.
I looked up at the blonde woman standing above me. She glared down at me, not full of hate, but of envy. I could see it in her eyes; she was almost turning green.
I finally managed the strength to stand up, and Reno stood up as well. I looked at all of them, matching my glare with Elena's, and kept the same glare for Reno. "Hmph. What a coincidence. The same group of losers that threw me into that god-forbidden pit is the same group of losers that rescue me from it."
Reno smirked again, and Elena threw a spitting glare at me again. This time I ignored it, and crossed my arms, standing in a defiant position, trying to cover up my fear. The Turks were very powerful and had like, the best weapons, and if I dared anger one of them, I would seriously face the consequences.
"You're not as soft spoken as you look, Miss Aerith," he said, crossing his arms and standing the same way I was.
"Yeah, well, I look like a lot of things."
"Like a wolf that needs taming, too?" As quickly as I heard the voice, a stick was upon the back of my head, and it beat me down. I rolled over onto my back and threw my hands and feet up to halt the staff, but looked into the eyes of Tseng, the leader of the Turks.
My arms and legs went limp, and I even felt like my bones melted away. Tseng was bewitchingly handsome, yet so horrifyingly evil. His stare seemed to burn away my skin and eyes, and I closed them so I would not feel the heat rushing to my face.
Tseng had my staff now in his possession, and immediately began emptying the materia from its slots. I heard the master materia drop to the floor, making little clinks and rolling about.
"Hey!" I cried. "Put my materia back!" As I expected, Tseng ignored me and continued to tamper with my staff until finally he took it steadily between two hands and snapped it clear in half with his strong arms.
I felt the tears rush to my eyes, even though they were closed, it stung because the one weapon I had held throughout the whole adventure with Cloud and the other Avalanche members and Shin-Ra resisters, I had used that staff. I had used the materia, I had defeated so many enemies with that staff. Even when Tifa died for me, I had used that staff on the cruel beasts that had attacked us, and used it to take out my revenge on Sephiroth. It meant so much to me, and now, it was no longer useable.
"Hmph. You'll have no need for such toys anymore when we get to where you're going."
I opened my eyes, they now were not filled with sadness and pain but shock, anger and hate. "I'm not going anywhere with you," I sneered back, sitting up and finally standing. In my anger, I scooped up the materia quickly then turned to look out the window. We were far from the dusky desert of the Gold Saucer Area and flying over the ocean.
"You're not going anywhere away from us, sweetie-pie," Reno interrupted, stepping forward and snatching the materia from my weakly clenched hand.
I spun around and sent a fist out for Reno's face on impulse, refusing to let him take the last weapon items I had for my own. Just as quickly as I sent up my fist a tough hand flew up to block mine, and he closed his grip around my fist and twisted my arm back around, so harshly I cried out, and dropped to the floor.
"You ... you! You're evil, but I never knew you were so cruel!" I refused to cry as I stood up once more, holding my twisted arm in the other. I didn't make a move to get my materia back as I helplessly watched Reno tuck the materia into his suit jacket pocket and brush back his hair with another suave motion. He hadn't answered my remark, and simply looked to Tseng.
Tseng nodded, as if he had received a telepathic message, and looked back to me, grabbing my upper arm firmly, yanking me closer to him. He leaned close and whispered loudly in my face, his warm, stinking breath filling my nostrils and making me gag. I thought I smelled a faint whiff of ale. "You're going to the Shin-Ra headquarters to work for Rufus Shinra himself. This is considered an honor, so you better be on your best behavior else I'll snap your neck up more than Reno snapped up your arm." With that, he released me, and I fell back onto my bottom again.
I rubbed my aching arm gently, wincing at the thought of having my neck snapped with such greater pain than my arm ached now. I usually wasn't so weak, but the shock of everything I'd been through up until now was seriously slowing me down.
"I..don't want to have anything..to do with that rat Rufus," I growled under my breath, trying to build myself up again.
"Hah, that is hardly your choice to make. He's looking for someone to be his personal test subject, and as an Ancient, you'd make the perfect specimen." Tseng rubbed his head briefly, then crossed his arms again.
"I've already been Hojo's lab rat, I'll not be Rufus's," I replied hoarsely.
"Why, Hojo was a rat himself. His experiments were futile and a waste of Shinra's money. But since Hojo's death, Rufus has been planning his own experiments. You should feel honored, you'll have been his first official experiment." Reno said.
"No!" I cried, standing up again. This time I felt in such a fighting mood, I even had ideas of taking over the helicopter and flying back to the Promised Land on my own. Little did I know that the idea wouldn't fly too well.
"I demand you take me back-" but before I could finish, a gun barrel knocked me over the side of the head and I blacked out completely as the Turks' helicopter flew closer to its destination: Midgar.
I spun around. There it was, right behind me. And I spun around again, becoming dizzy. There it was, in front of me, as well as to my left and to my right. I was trapped between two spiked walls.
I looked up, and there was the clear blue sky. Doves flew overhead, and the sun shined brightly in the sky, telling me it was high noon. I looked back at the walls, closing in slowly but surely. "Crap," I muttered. I clutched the staff close to me and just stared at the spikes, hopelessly. I couldn't fly and I couldn't dig, and I couldn't run anywhere - the walls were closing in at all sides. So as sweat poured down my face I clasped my hands together, my heated palms still tightly holding my staff, and as the droplets of perspiration hit the dry caked mud I was standing on, I muttered a prayer. A useless one, or so I thought.
The spikes were about five inches away from me, and I awaited death. This wasn't how I expected to die, but I didn't think about regrets now. Just as soon as I had estimated the length of the spikes, a shout came from the sky and the whirring of a helicopter's propeller whizzed in my ears. In less than a second a ladder unrolled right before me, and the man's voice told me to grab on and climb. I didn't even hesitate as I tucked the staff under my left arm and took hold of the ladder with my right hand, as just as soon as I had gotten my grip, up up and away I went.
The pit was half full of sand, and I would've drowned in the desert before I'd have gotten spiked to death. As the helicopter lifted and flew forward, the rope ladder swayed and I swung forward, just enough so that a particularly long, thin spike managed to poke me in the ribs. I screamed, as the helicopter finally lifted up out of the reach of the spike walls, and nearly lost my grip as I became faint with fear. I tried not to look down as I climbed up the ladder, but couldn't resist taking a peek. Looking down at the ground was hard enough, but I even caught sight of the stream of blood slowly trickling down my dress, leaving a dark bloody stain on the soft pink material.
"Hurry up!" came a loud voice from the top of the ladder. "This thing can't hold your extra weight under it for too long!"
I groaned "Yeah, yeah," and climbed up the rest of the way. Once at the top, I collapsed on the floor of the helicopter on my hands and knees, then my staff dropped on the floor as I reached over to cover the wound at my side.
"You're lucky we got here in time. Rude saw you in that pit before we left the area of patrol."
I lifted my head weakly to nod a polite 'thanks', but somewhere, the name Rude registered in my mind, and wouldn't go away.
"What's your name, pretty girl?" the man who spoke kneeled down and looked me in the eyes, brushing the loose strands of hair from my face. His face was familiar too.
"A.Aerith," I managed to say, and sat up. As my vision cleared I managed to get a good look at the man kneeling in front of me. Before he could speak, I exclaimed, "Turks!"
The man smirked and crossed his arms, then brushed his hair back in a suave motion. "Hmph. I guess you remember us. Well, my name's Reno."
"Reno...and...Tseng.and...and Ella..," I stammered.
"It's Elena," came a firm, fierce voice.
I looked up at the blonde woman standing above me. She glared down at me, not full of hate, but of envy. I could see it in her eyes; she was almost turning green.
I finally managed the strength to stand up, and Reno stood up as well. I looked at all of them, matching my glare with Elena's, and kept the same glare for Reno. "Hmph. What a coincidence. The same group of losers that threw me into that god-forbidden pit is the same group of losers that rescue me from it."
Reno smirked again, and Elena threw a spitting glare at me again. This time I ignored it, and crossed my arms, standing in a defiant position, trying to cover up my fear. The Turks were very powerful and had like, the best weapons, and if I dared anger one of them, I would seriously face the consequences.
"You're not as soft spoken as you look, Miss Aerith," he said, crossing his arms and standing the same way I was.
"Yeah, well, I look like a lot of things."
"Like a wolf that needs taming, too?" As quickly as I heard the voice, a stick was upon the back of my head, and it beat me down. I rolled over onto my back and threw my hands and feet up to halt the staff, but looked into the eyes of Tseng, the leader of the Turks.
My arms and legs went limp, and I even felt like my bones melted away. Tseng was bewitchingly handsome, yet so horrifyingly evil. His stare seemed to burn away my skin and eyes, and I closed them so I would not feel the heat rushing to my face.
Tseng had my staff now in his possession, and immediately began emptying the materia from its slots. I heard the master materia drop to the floor, making little clinks and rolling about.
"Hey!" I cried. "Put my materia back!" As I expected, Tseng ignored me and continued to tamper with my staff until finally he took it steadily between two hands and snapped it clear in half with his strong arms.
I felt the tears rush to my eyes, even though they were closed, it stung because the one weapon I had held throughout the whole adventure with Cloud and the other Avalanche members and Shin-Ra resisters, I had used that staff. I had used the materia, I had defeated so many enemies with that staff. Even when Tifa died for me, I had used that staff on the cruel beasts that had attacked us, and used it to take out my revenge on Sephiroth. It meant so much to me, and now, it was no longer useable.
"Hmph. You'll have no need for such toys anymore when we get to where you're going."
I opened my eyes, they now were not filled with sadness and pain but shock, anger and hate. "I'm not going anywhere with you," I sneered back, sitting up and finally standing. In my anger, I scooped up the materia quickly then turned to look out the window. We were far from the dusky desert of the Gold Saucer Area and flying over the ocean.
"You're not going anywhere away from us, sweetie-pie," Reno interrupted, stepping forward and snatching the materia from my weakly clenched hand.
I spun around and sent a fist out for Reno's face on impulse, refusing to let him take the last weapon items I had for my own. Just as quickly as I sent up my fist a tough hand flew up to block mine, and he closed his grip around my fist and twisted my arm back around, so harshly I cried out, and dropped to the floor.
"You ... you! You're evil, but I never knew you were so cruel!" I refused to cry as I stood up once more, holding my twisted arm in the other. I didn't make a move to get my materia back as I helplessly watched Reno tuck the materia into his suit jacket pocket and brush back his hair with another suave motion. He hadn't answered my remark, and simply looked to Tseng.
Tseng nodded, as if he had received a telepathic message, and looked back to me, grabbing my upper arm firmly, yanking me closer to him. He leaned close and whispered loudly in my face, his warm, stinking breath filling my nostrils and making me gag. I thought I smelled a faint whiff of ale. "You're going to the Shin-Ra headquarters to work for Rufus Shinra himself. This is considered an honor, so you better be on your best behavior else I'll snap your neck up more than Reno snapped up your arm." With that, he released me, and I fell back onto my bottom again.
I rubbed my aching arm gently, wincing at the thought of having my neck snapped with such greater pain than my arm ached now. I usually wasn't so weak, but the shock of everything I'd been through up until now was seriously slowing me down.
"I..don't want to have anything..to do with that rat Rufus," I growled under my breath, trying to build myself up again.
"Hah, that is hardly your choice to make. He's looking for someone to be his personal test subject, and as an Ancient, you'd make the perfect specimen." Tseng rubbed his head briefly, then crossed his arms again.
"I've already been Hojo's lab rat, I'll not be Rufus's," I replied hoarsely.
"Why, Hojo was a rat himself. His experiments were futile and a waste of Shinra's money. But since Hojo's death, Rufus has been planning his own experiments. You should feel honored, you'll have been his first official experiment." Reno said.
"No!" I cried, standing up again. This time I felt in such a fighting mood, I even had ideas of taking over the helicopter and flying back to the Promised Land on my own. Little did I know that the idea wouldn't fly too well.
"I demand you take me back-" but before I could finish, a gun barrel knocked me over the side of the head and I blacked out completely as the Turks' helicopter flew closer to its destination: Midgar.