Chapter 4

It took a little while to get Mrs. Herron and the girl who was apparently her daughter settled down. Mrs. Herron's son remained unconscious and I had to lift him up and put him in the hotel room's bed. Finally, with a promise that I'd wait around the next morning to let them thank me; I went back to my room and dropped off to sleep once again.
My rest remained uninterrupted for the remainder of the night, and soon I could hear someone knocking. I woke up and the knocking continued. I went over to the wall, switching on the light first, and opened the door. It was Mrs. Herron's son standing there, obviously recovered from the night before.
"Ummm…" he said, "I hope I didn't wake you up."
What was the point in telling him the truth?
"No," I said, "I was up."
"Good," he replied, "my name is Dennis…I'd like to thank you for helping my family last night."
"Well," I said, "my name is Zack, and it was just something that I needed to do."
"Yah, well," he went on, "there's not a whole lot of people around here that would have done what you did…standing up to those guys like that…my mom would like to thank you personally so when you're ready she'll be downstairs."
I thanked him and closed the door behind him as he left.
It didn't take me long to strap on Reaper and load up by bag. With nothing else to carry I turned off the light and closed the door to my room, locking it behind me.
I walked downstairs and found Mrs. Herron waiting for me.
"If you want to use the bathroom to shave you can," she said, "I'll just wait here."
I thanked her and decided that I did indeed need a shave. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I took of my trenchcoat and hung it from a hanger nailed into the top of the door. I then stood in front of the mirror and scratched my beard, still unsure as to what I was going to do with it.
I liked being clean shaven, and yet I figured that I probably didn't want to be recognized by anybody…it might make for awkward situations. In the end I came to a consensus and gave myself a short and clean-cut goatee. Happy with the end result, I washed my face with water, put my trenchcoat back on, and walked out to find Mrs. Herron waiting almost exactly as I had left her, only now with her daughter and son standing to wither side of her.
"So…" I started, "what was that all about last night?"
Mrs. Herron nodded slowly, as if trying to find the right words to begin with.
"You know of a man named Don Corneo?" she asked.
"No," I said, "should I?"
"Well," she said, "he used to be the most powerful man in Wall Market…since Wall Market is basically Sector 6; I guess you could say that he was in charge of the entire Sector."
"Go on," I said, becoming interested.
"All that might have been alright," Mrs. Herron said, "but the man was a pervert. He got rich with his 'Honey Bee Inn'." She said the name like it was a curse, "and you can imagine what kind of things went on in there." I had a vague idea… "Anyway," she continued on, "my husband and I both hated the whole business, but you never wanted to talk bad about the Don or else you usually ended up sleeping with the Whole Eaters." I didn't ask what Whole Eaters were because I got the idea that I probably didn't want to know. "Our twins," she said, "you've met Dennis and Laura, were still young then and we wanted to keep them safe from this sort of thing. Unfortunately, after my husband died it got a lot harder to keep Laura a secret, and the Don eventually found out about her. He thought that she should work for him…and you knew what that meant. Laura refused, but he threatened our whole family and so she finally gave in. She only worked at that horrible place one night though. After that the Don got into trouble with Shinra, which was right after Sector 7 collapsed. He had to go into hiding, and Laura escaped. However, even though she only worked there one night we found out that she'd gotten pregnant. I asked my son to go and find the father (my son has a lot of friends you know), so that we could get him to take care of my daughter and the child. It wasn't to be though," Mrs. Herron said, the memories obviously painful. "He turned out to be a hotshot business man and politician up on Sector 4's top plate, basically putting him out of our reach." She continued, "Then Corneo's right hand man, Kotch, came into power. He took over the Don's business and all his old contacts. He's basically become the new Don and he wanted Laura back, and when he found out about the baby, he wanted her to get rid of that too. We weren't going to let him do that so we acted like we'd sent her away while keeping her hidden in the inn. Last night Kotch's men found her…those two were some his most dreaded agents. Who knows what they would've done if you hadn't been there?"
I shook my head, "I just did what I needed to do Mrs. Herron…I told your son before that there was no way I'd have walked out of there…it just wouldn't have been the right thing to do." Dennis nodded approvingly while Laura, his twin sister, still stood there serenely, cradling her baby in her loving arms.
"The right thing huh?" Mrs. Herron said, "not a lot of people seem very interested in what's right anymore…just in what gets them money and power."
"That may be," I said, "but I really have to get going."
"Where," she asked.
I didn't see why I shouldn't tell her where, "Sector 7."
"You know how to get up to Sector 7?" asked Dennis.
"Well…" I said, "I think I've found a way…but I can't be sure yet…"
"Take Laura with you," Mrs. Herron interrupted, "please take her with you. Kotch won't hurt us, both my son and I are very highly respected citizens, but he'll get at my daughter if he can. I you have a secret way into Sector 7 then maybe you could get Laura out of here…out of that disgusting man's reach. Please do this one last favor for us."
I wasn't really prepared to take on another person, but once again I just couldn't leave the family hanging…not after everything else I'd done.
"Fine," I said, "I'll do it." Laura smiled as did Dennis, they both had nice smiles. Mrs. Herron was about to say something else but I interrupted her. "She'll need a weapon," I said, "and Materia if you have any."
"That man Jimmy left his knife here last night," Laura said. It was the first time I'd heard her talk, and it was a truly charming sound, like the singing of a nightingale in a cool summer twilight. 'She could be a wonderful singer if she wanted to be,' I thought to myself.
"Alright," I said, "you go get that and anything else you think you'll need, but remember to pack light. I'm going to get some food; I'll come back when I'm finished." Worried looks were exchanged, but all agreed to my plan.

About ten minutes later I returned with a pack that was heavier than before, filled with nonperishable food-stuffs that I figured would survive the trip best. There was no one at the front register, and I could hear no one in the inn at all. I became very worried indeed and began a search. I could find no sign of struggle, yet the house continued to be strangely silent. I continued on back, coming to the door leading to the kitchen. I opened it slowly, expecting to be attacked by some hidden intruder. Instead, I found Mrs. Herron and her two children sitting around the kitchen table with heads bowed, as if expecting the end to come any second. Mrs. Herron had her back to me and the door, but she could still hear it creak as it opened.
"You can try to get my daughter sir!" she said, "but you'll have to get through me first!" She whipped around clutching a very large meat cleaver. Her eyes opened wide in surprise, and she almost dropped the cleaver. "You…you came back?" she gasped. Dennis and Laura both appeared to be dumbfounded.
"Of course I came back," I said, "why wouldn't I?"
"Well," said Mrs. Herron, "it's just that we thought…well, we thought that you were just giving an excuse to get out of here…the whole 'I'm going for food'. Now, I wouldn't have blamed you for leaving, but…you came back!"
"Yes," I said, "I'm back…and what is the cleaver about?"
"Oh, this…" she looked a little ashamed, "we heard someone come in and we thought that Kotch had just been waiting for you to leave and had sent more men. I figured that if we were going out we might as well go down fighting."
I nodded; I think I had at least a rudimentary grasp of the situation.
"So…where's the knife and supplies I asked you to pack…here's the food," I said, plopping the leather bag down on the table.
Oh my goodness!" cried Mrs. Herron, "we didn't think we needed to pack since we were sure you'd run off…you just wait right here and we'll get Laura ready as fast as we can!"

Five minutes later she was totally ready. She was wearing a white shirt with a tan vest and some blue jeans made out of an extremely thick material. She also had a pair of leather boots on and a belt. Perhaps by luck alone, Jimmy's sheath had fallen out during the fight, and she'd stuck this in her belt along with the knife. The weapon might have been little more than a small dagger to Jimmy, but to this young woman it would serve as a short sword quite nicely. On her back she had slung a baby carrier, and her little child now rode there, fast asleep. I had to admit, looking at her, that she was very beautiful. She had deep sea-green eyes and wonderful chestnut brown hair like her mother and brother…and Aeris. When I remembered Aeris I was struck with a slight pang of guilt for taking so much time, and I decided that I must get to Shinra HQ as quickly as possible.
"OK," I said, "are you ready to go?"
"Wait a second," Laura replied, and grabbed a small purse with things I suppose she thought she might need. "Now I'm ready," she said.
"Fine," I replied, "then let's get going."
We got out of Wall Market quickly enough, it seemed like everybody had seen the fight last night because as we came past everyone hide and tried their best to avoid us…or maybe just me, like the plague. At first I thought that they might simply be afraid of me, and then I remembered that a powerful gangster would be after our hides very soon, and that innocent civilians would probably be considered acceptable losses in a fire-fight.
Luckily, either Jimmy had not returned to his boss, or Kotch had yet to give his reprisal, but we met with no resistance as we left the bright lights and flashy colors of Wall Market…not to mention the noise, far behind. In any case it did not take us long to make it back to the abandoned play ground.
"I remember this place," said Laura, "I used to play here as a child."
I thought about saying something, but stopped. The two of us just stared at the broken corpse of a slide, the remains of a broken swing…forgotten memories coming back too late to defeat the remorseless march of time.
"Come on," I said, "If this path doesn't work we'll need to find a new way…and I want to be out of Sector 6 by dark."
I showed her the way up the pile of debris, while she showed a surprising amount of fortitude when it came to the awful smell that seemed to saturate most of Midgar. 'Of course,' I reminded myself, 'she has lived here her entire life and you've only had a couple of days to get used to this giant dung heap.'
However, overall she seemed unimpressed with my hole.
"This is it?" she asked, "why, a rat could barely fit through this." I'd forgotten that I'd put the metal plate back in front of the tunnel the day before to hide it from passersby. I quickly removed the steel plate (which came off a lot easier this time), and turned back around to hear apologies…none came. "You want me to climb through that?" Laura asked, a little exasperated, "why, you have no idea how far up it goes, or even if it hits a dead end. We could go crawling around in there for days and never find our way out to the top." Well, so much for gratitude.
"Listen," I replied, "I checked it (well I had…sort of…if you count a cursory glance as 'checking') and it goes up for a while. The only reason that I had to stop my search was because it was getting late and I wanted to find someplace to sleep. Now," I continued, "I didn't ask to have you along, I'm doing it as a favor. If you don't like it then I suppose you can walk back home."
She gasped, I'm not sure if it was genuine remorse or fear of Kotch, although I suspect the former (she really did seem to be nice person), and she immediately apologized for her reckless comments.
"But," she said after she'd apologized, "How will I get my baby up through there? The tunnel is too tight for me to fit through with him on my back."
"So," I said, "The baby's a boy?"
"Yes," Laura replied, "I named him Christian Glen Herron Jr., after my father."
"It's a nice name," I said, although I thought it a little fancy for a child born under the unfortunate 'circumstances'.
"Thank you," she replied, "but you still haven't answered my question."
"Yes…well, ummm," I started, at a loss for words, "could you…maybe…flip the baby carrier around so that it's up against your…'chest' instead of your back."
"It's not designed to do that, it's only supposed to be placed on the back," she said, thankfully ignoring my embarrassment.
This was a problem, and I sat down to think it over. It wasn't long before an idea came into my head, and, getting my own backpack, looked inside to see if there was enough room in there…there was.
I flipped the pack around and motioned to Laura, "put him in here."
"What?" she was horrified.
"Listen," I repeated myself, "put him in the backpack, there's enough room in there. I should be able to fit in the tunnel with the backpack in front…it's the only way."
With much reluctance Laura put the baby into the backpack so that it would ride like a carrier. Without the baby in it, the real baby carrier became quiet flexible and I knew that Laura would not have any trouble with it. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to fit up the hole, but luckily the baby was still asleep and I wasn't forced to deal with a bunch of crying.
"I'm going up first," I said, "you can come up right after me." Laura nodded and our journey began.
I fit through the tunnel, though barely, but I was still thankful for that small blessing.
The first leg of the trip was one of the most difficult. The tunnel did indeed remain wide enough for us to pass through, but more than once I ran up against some obstruction blocking the path, and then we'd spend five to fifteen minutes trying to dislodge it so that we could continue. Christian, it would seem, was a very relaxed baby, and slept nearly the entire climb. That didn't make the trip much easier though. I had to constantly pay attention for fear of leaning up against the tunnel wrong and crushing the tiny life that was trusting me totally with its survival.
There was little talking, both Laura and I were completely focused on the task at hand, and usually only the occasional grunt of frustration or sigh of exhaustion would tell me that I was even being followed. It was dark in there too, completely dark so that it was impossible to see where you were going, and only gravity itself told me that we were still traveling in a roughly vertical direction.
I knocked my head for about the thousandth time and cursed softly under my breath. Laura yelled at me for, as she put it, 'poisoning Christian's young and vulnerable mind'. I really didn't know what she was talking about, but I agreed to not curse around the baby…or Laura after she yelled at me again for not being a gentleman. She sure could be pushy when it came to her baby. 'Its that whole maternal instinct thing,' I thought to myself while another voice continued to tell me that 'John' would have been a much better name for the baby.
In any case we made good time considering, even so it still took us all of the morning and much of the afternoon to work our way through the warped tunnel. We came up to a point where we could actually crawl up using the Sector 7 side of the concrete wall to push our backs up against. After that the going was a bit easier, and it wasn't long before we were greeted by the jaded lights of Sector 6. We crawled out to find ourselves on top of the concrete barrier between Sector 7 and Sector 6. The top of it had been badly damaged during the collapse, but we could still rest there. Behind us rose the ruin that was Sector 7, before us was a vertical drop into Sector 6 that would have ended most certainly in death. Although much of the open sky over Sector 7 was still obscured by Sector 6's top plate and the wall of debris behind us, I could still tell that night would be setting in soon.
"Here," I said, "take the baby." I took out Christian and put him back in his mother's carrier, then I flipped my backpack back around onto my back…the way it was supposed to be.
"What now?" Laura asked.
I looked out over the ledge, down into the world far below, and then looked up towards the heavens above.
"We keep going up," I replied. I guess that she was too tired to argue because she made no move second guess my decision. Truth be told my arms were ready to fall off as it was, carrying the baby AND the supplies on my shoulders for most of the day had really done me in. However, I still had a long climb ahead of me before I could rest, and the determined look in Laura's eyes told me that she wasn't ready to give up any time soon. So, turning around, we started to climb the side of what had once been the top plate to Sector 7.
The climb wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. The wall was actually sloped ever so slightly inwards, so that I didn't need to put all my weight onto my shoulders all the time. As before, I led the way, but it wasn't until darkness had begun to fall that we finally reached the top, and walked out into a world of blue sky, warm sun, and complete and utter desolation. All about us Sector 7 lay, totally destroyed, a shadow, no…a ruin of its former self, and me rising up out of the darkness to break the sacred silence that saturated every brick, wire, and street. I felt like I was walking in a place that no man should be…a place where death was known better than any other.
Where the reaper's scythe had reaped a greater harvest I do not know, only that the place once known as Sector 7 was now a graveyard…a jungle of stone and steel and blood.
Laura gasped as she came crawling up behind me. There was nothing to say…nothing that could be said. Thousands has died here. I could imagine how it must have been…the mako lines exploding, roads crumbling, buildings falling through into the slums below, and the slums…I didn't even want to think about it…to see the world coming down about you, to know that there was no escape from the steel fiend rushing down upon you…there was nothing to say…
"Oh…" Laura gasped, "I never thought it would be so bad…"
And above us, sitting like an unholy idol amidst the monstrosity, the city of Midgar strewn about its feet like a pagan offering, was Shinra HQ.
I knew it from the moment I laid eyes upon it, there could be only one base for Shinra, and this was it. I stood in awe and disgust at its magnificence. It stood like a mockery to the divine, an alter to sin, there was an aura of doom about it that made one shiver, it was debauchery, lawlessness, greed, and apathy incarnate…it was evil. This was no 'feeling' that told me it was evil, I knew not to trust simple feelings…I KNEW that this massive building rising above us was wicked to the core…the memories told me of its malevolence and cruelty. The greed, murder, hate, and violence all came back to me like a geyser from hell shooting forth its burning sulfur fumes, but worst of all, I could remember loving it all. I could remember the bars, the laughing, the drinking, the drugs, the fighting, the deals, the clandestine wink and knowing look, and I could remember enjoying every second of it. It was a 'me' that I hated so vehemently that I would have destroyed it any way possible if I could have, but it wasn't an option. To destroy 'him' I would have to destroy myself because deep down, I knew that 'he' was still there, and that I was 'him', and I still had work to do. Perhaps someday…but those were not thoughts for the moment, right then I needed to find shelter, and Laura was starting to look worried.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yah," I replied, "I'm fine, let's just find someplace to spend the night."
She agreed with a nod, but asked no questions, and for that I was grateful.
I did not dare enter one of the nicer buildings, I had a good idea of what we might find, but we still needed to find someplace to sleep because it was getting very dark indeed. The lights of the city were eating away at the stars, the light pollution sucking up the starlight just like Midgar itself fed on its misshapen denizens.
So, with no other options left to us, we continued walking in towards the center of Sector 7, away from the lights and noise…it was like walking through a cemetery. However, luck of some kind seemed to be with us because it was not long before we found what appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse. I checked the inside quickly, but found nothing, and called to Laura to come in. The warehouse had been built out of brick, and had survived the disaster relatively well except for a hole or two higher up in the walls. The inside was very dark despite the windows which lined the tin ceiling. They turned out to be so dirty and grimy that direct sunlight itself had a difficult time piercing the filth, but it was also getting cold, and I didn't want Laura or the baby to catch a chill. So, leaving the pair I went off by myself and found an old wooden crate. I dragged it back along with another one that I found and chopped them both up with Reaper for firewood.
Unfortunately, the only fire-type spell that I had was Flare, which I thought might be just a little too powerful. I inquired as to whether Laura had brought any matches…she hadn't and neither had I, which left only one option. I told Laura to stand back, and I dragged most of the firewood back with me, leaving a small pile in the middle of the concrete floor to act as my target. I focused on my Contain Materia, and let off a single Flare spell that sent a large part of the wooden target flying in the form of charred splinters and sparks. However, a few pieces remained, and they were burning brightly. I dragged the firewood back over and built up the campfire with extra fuel. I let Laura use the backpack as a cushion, and then went in search of something for her to sleep on.
Most of the boxes that I found were empty, but I kept on looking, using the dim glow of the fire as a guide through the gloomy night. Eventually my search was rewarded when I opened a box to find a bunch of electrical equipment. This would not have meant much, except that the equipment had been padded with hay, which still appeared to be fairly fresh. I continued my search and in the end was able to also scrounge up a box full of jackets. I dragged both boxes back to the campfire.
Laura seemed very content, Christian was sleeping happily in her warm embrace.
"He got a little fussy while you were gone," she said, "so I fed him and he went right back to sleep. He should be fine for the rest of the night now, he's really a very quite baby you know."
I couldn't help getting the impression that she really didn't even know that I was there, that she was totally focused on her little baby boy. Her face was literally radiant with motherly pride, and I couldn't help but think that Christian was lucky to have such a loving mother.
"I found a bed for you," I said, breaking her daydream.
"Oh!" she looked up suddenly, "you really didn't have to…"
I waved my hand for silence.
"I found some reasonably fresh hay, and some jackets that you can use for a blanket." I thought she was going to try and protest again, so I caught her mid-syllable, "and you're going to use it too. Your baby's got the right idea, you need rest."
"But what will you do?" she asked.
"I'm going to stay up as watchman," I replied, I figured that someone needed to keep an eye out for danger in a place like that.
"Now you listen," she said, "you're not going to stay up all night. At around twelve you're going to wake me up and then you're going to get some sleep…understand." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and I could see that arguing was going to be useless, she seemed to have her heart set on helping out in some way.
"Alright," I gave in, "I'll wake you up at midnight, but for now you need to get some sleep"
I laid the hay on the floor in the rough shape of a bed, and after Laura lay down I covered her and Christian with the pilfered jackets. I then chopped up the two boxes the bedding supplies had come in, and added them to the wood pile. It was only after Laura had fallen asleep that I had realized that I had no way of telling time.
"Whatever,' I thought to myself, 'just wake her up when you know you're about to fall asleep.'

Out in that barren wasteland of destruction, through the gapping hole in the roof and wall, I was, for the first time, able to see the stars. There were so many of them strewn about the sky like thousands of tiny pearls, and with no electricity or lights in Sector 7 to dull them, the wonderful array of heavenly bodies shone unblemished. I could see so very little through my little window, and yet, they brought me comfort. Like when I rose from the first real sleep after my sickness and the mere sight of life…any life, had warmed my heart, now my spirit seemed lifted, or lightened of a heavy load. The fire crackled gently; casting its warm light on Laura and the sleeping child, so beautiful together it was as if they were in a completely different world from me.
The void inside tainted my soul, made me feel dirty, I knew this, and yet, even after what Laura had been through she exuded a purity that I had not seen more than once or twice before in my entire life. The first person I had known whose innocence was so complete was my mother. Although I could remember very little of her, the memories of loving hugs and fresh baked cookies resurfaced for a moment, bringing a smile to my lips as affectionate memories were recalled of my days at home with my family. I could remember my mother's bright warm smile, so unselfishly loving; it had greeted me after so many afternoons spent adventuring in the forest as a child and after so many romps with friends…it was one of my strongest memories. Then there had been the accident…
I could remember almost nothing of this event, only that my mother had grown so very sad. She didn't smile after that, and I remembered that many of my friends were gone…had disappeared in…in an explosion? All that I could remember was the noise, the horrible screeching of tearing metal that tore through my heart like the screaming of demons…afterwards…that was when I had decided to leave…
Then there was Aeris, a woman who I felt sure I had once known so very well, and yet now there was nothing there. I could remember her coming to me when I was sick, and I could remember when she stopped me from dying, but past that that everything dimmed and sunk into the darkness of my mind as if it had never existed, but it should…I knew it should…I had known Aeris before insanity and madness had gripped me in the arms of the void…but it was gone now, and I did not know if I could ever recover it again.
My mind was like a shattered mirror, I could see some things in its cracked and twisted surface, but everything was warped, ruined, deluded so that I could never make full sense of anything.
Then, of course, there were the voices. They were not there all the time, and sometimes they seemed to react to me and sometimes…sometimes they seemed to have a mind all their own. And with the voices came the void, always it would follow, the feeling of the abyss that had swallowed me once and spit me out…it wanted me back…it hungered, this I knew in the very depths of my soul. Yet I could do nothing about it.
So I continued to brood, adding some wood to the fire occasionally, and I would continue to think on these dark thoughts as the moon rose overhead, and midnight approached.