Chapter 3: Devastation


The group had decided to wait in Midgar for the time being. Sephiroth was bound to come back. The only reason, that they could think of, for him kidnapping Garnet was to lure them into a trap. So they waited. And waiter. After 3 weeks of waiting Zidane looked like he was about to explode. His hair was a mess, and he had only been getting about 3 hours of restless sleep for the past six weeks. Cloud was trying to keep track of everyone while helping rebuild Midgar.

"We're going. Today. Now." Zidane said, waking Steiner, Freya, Vivi, Amarant, and Eiko.

The groggy Steiner looked at Zidane carefully for a minute, as if making sure that he wasn't dreaming. Zidane smiled back at the royal guard. "Common Rusty, we don't have all day ya know." This encouraged Steiner to get out of bed, and run after Zidane.

Zidane, however, was much to quick for Steiner, and after only a short while Steiner lay face first in a mud puddle. By now the rest of the group had gotten up and was ready to travel.

"May I ask where we are going?" Freya said, picking up her lance. Zidane had expected this quetions and had asked around Midgar for more information.

"The North Crater, located at the most northern of the planet." Zidane responded.

"How are we gonna get there hot-shot?" Amarant asked the question the group was thinking.

"Hey, I'm a proffesional thief aren't I?" Zidane tried to appear hurt, but traces of real pain were seen in his eyes. The countless hours he had stayed awake, thinking of what might have happened to Garnet, his Garnet.

"So where do you plan on stealing an airship?" Eiko this time.

"Planned that out too." Zidane said smugly.

"Well then let's get going!" Steiner said, jumping up and down in his armor, making the all too familiar "clankity clank."

Instead of continuing the insuing converstation, Zidane turned and left the room, with the others behind him, following him to the rebuilt Shinra building.

"This place doesn't exactly look like it is very friendly." Eiko said. Freya, who was standing next to the girl nodded in agreement.

"The airship is located at the very top of the building. It's state of the art, they just barely finished building it. Apparently the people in this dimension are a lot farther along on airship design then us." Zidane said, looking up the many floors of the Shinra building. "So what's it gonna be? Stairs or the Elevator?"

Freya thought it out for a moment. "Obviously the stairs, we will less likely be discovered that way." With that decision the group proceeded up the stairs. They moved at a running pace, trying to cover the many stairs quickly. Eiko tried to count the endless steps to pass the time, but soon found out that she couldn't count that high.

"Look...here's (huff) a sign (huff)" Zidane said, pointing to a sign with the number 34 on it.

Steiner looked at the sign for a moment, completely out of breath. "I (huff) think (huff) we're (huff) about (huff) half-way (huff) there." Steiner managed.

"I'd say not quite half." Amarant added, breathing fine. Then the group continued on up, their pace slower this time, trying to keep everyone together. Eiko and Steiner were slowly falling behind even with the more moderate pace.

"Let's take a break here." Zidane said, catching his breath once again. Steiner's red face nodded in agreement. "Look, here's another sign." Zidane once again pointed to a sign. "68. Humm, getting closer." After a few minutes they journeyed on through the huge building.

Finally, they reached the top. Eiko was in Zidane's arms, and Steiner colapsed upon their destination. "There's the airship." Zidane pointed at the giant mass of metal.

"Amazing." Freya said, looking at the ship with awe.

"They call it the NightHawk." Zidane had found this bit of information during his research time.

Amarant crossed his arms and looked at the ship, trying to appear unimpressed. But the ship itself dwarfed the Highwind in almost everyway. Even citizens of The Planet would stand in astonishment if they stood by the ship.

The group climbed the rope ladder of the ship to find themselves admist the most spectacular sight they had seen so far. Zidane walked over to the controls. "I THINK I know how to run this thing." He said, playing with the switches and levers for a moment.

Suddenly the ships engines lit up as the combustion process of the rocket propelent started. Everyone fell to the floor, including Zidane, as the ship blasted off out of Midgar and into the night.

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Elsewhere in Midgar, Tifa and Cloud sleep side by side in their home. A bright blast came in through the window. The two jolted up at the same time. Tifa, who wasn't wearing anything, didn't seem to mind Cloud's approving glance. But, quickly his attention was turned back to the quickly departing airship.

"Damnit..." He mumbled, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "50 thousand gil says it's Zidane."

Tifa grabbed her clothes, knowing well that they were going out, and responded, "Where do you think he's going? How would he have figured out where Sephiroth is?" She asked, pulling up her underwear.

"I dunno," Cloud mumbled, hoping around on one foot, trying to get into his boxers. Finally, the couple managed to get dressed and out to the gate. They made their way outside, now with Barret, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent, and Cid, in pursuit. Cid reved up the Highwind's engine and blasted off into the general direction of the airship.

A laugh echoed into the night as the airship turned into a small prick in the night's sky. A red energy orb appeared over Midgar. "The fools, I knew they wouldn't hold out forever." Mocked the voice. The energy orb grew in the night, casting shadows of red everywhere. The insomniacs began to scream in horror as they saw silver hair shimmering in the blood red light above the city streets.

Sephiroth then threw the glowing red orb into the panicking streets below. It made contact with the ground and exploded. People flew threw the air, some no more than a molten piece of fried flesh. Others screaming as their arms or legs fell to the ground, ten feet from where they lay. Sephiroth's horrid laugh rang out in their dying ears. Then the shock wave hit and the buildings were torn from the ground like they were nothing. More screams rang out, crying could be heard.

Sephiroth looked down at a crying baby, his mother was laying about 5 feet away. Only her head was missing. The baby wailed to the night, not knowing fully what had happened. He floated to the ground and stuck his Masamune into the baby's throught. He flicked his blade free of the blood and flew off, wondering how soon it would be until Cloud and the others returned.