He didn't know what had happened to his shirt. Or his jacket, for that matter.
He might have ripped them off and torn them up for impromptu bandages, somewhere back there when he'd been shoving people into the elevators to the slums. Shinra secret, only for emergencies ... well, Shinra was dead and if a big flaming rock wasn't an emergency, he'd ... go work at the Saucer in a chocobo suit. His hair kept getting into his eyes; it was singed around the edges. A holstered gun was hanging on his belt; the soldier who'd practically forced it on him had told him people were turning into raving lunatics, for god's sake take the gun and some spare ammo. Cait Sith's controls were hanging in a pack on the other side of his belt.
The lunatics hadn't been violent; he'd managed to find a few reasonably sane people and send them in the direction of the elevators. He was going down by an engineer's tunnel that would drop him in Sector Two; he had to hurry or the tunnel might collapse. He tripped over something, and looked down. An arm.
A man's arm, in a familiar uniform - although the blue was almost invisible under the gore. Heidegger. If there were any more pieces of him around, Reeve couldn't see them. He was too numb to have any reaction other than an inane thought about not having to hear him complain about how soft people were these days.
Something moved; Reeve grabbed a piece of metal, dropping it with a clatter when it burned his fingers and palms. Whatever it was, it moved again. He walked warily closer, wincing at the pain in his hands.
Red and black and red-streaked gold - dammit, Cloud had said Scarlet was dead. Scarlet should be dead, from what Cloud and Vincent and Elena had said about the fight.
She let out a hoarse, thin cry of pain, and Reeve started toward her, then stopped. This was Scarlet, and no matter how badly she was wounded, she was dangerous. She struggled to move another few inches, and collapsed into a boneless heap. He walked cautiously closer, until she registered the noise and managed to look up at him.
Her face was cut and torn, one eye and one nostril sealed shut with clotted blood; the open eye wasn't focusing on anything, maybe even not seeing anything. A few steps closer, and he could see the horrible burns over her body, that her dress had burned away and her stockings had melted into her skin.
He felt vaguely sick; Scarlet had been capable of driving him right to the edge of homicide, but even then, all he'd wanted to do was shoot her, or break her neck, just make her stop whatever she'd been doing. She made a tiny sound of pain and began to cough, bloody spume trickling out of her mouth. Her hair was burned off in places, and what was left was streaked liberally with blood.
She turned her head when he knelt down next to her; her eye seemed fixed on his face, but he didn't know if she recognized him. He would have been surprised if she was capable of recognizing anything. The gun wasn't as heavy as he expected and warm from the heat in the air, painful on his burned hands; Scarlet closed her eye when he put the muzzle against her forehead. He pulled the trigger, the kick startling but not as strong as he'd expected; Scarlet's body jerked violently as a small spray of blood and brain matter came out of her skull. She lay limp and utterly still, though her skin was hot to the touch. There was no pulse, and he pulled his hand away, wiping it on his pants.
He stayed there a moment, staring at her corpse with a sort of blank fascination. Then he put away the gun, shoved himself to his feet, and turned his back on her to find the tunnel down. It was still there, and he hurried as fast as he could, hoping none of Hojo's escaped pets had chosen this place as somewhere to hide.
By the time he reached the bottom, his legs were shaking and he thought he'd never catch his breath again. Sector Two, when he stumbled out of the tunnel, was ominously quiet, and dark; Mako had never been supplied legally to the slums, but even the alternative power systems were failing. Someone had come up with candles and oil lamps, but the glow hardly cut through the darkness. Reeve blinked, willing his eyes to adjust, and cautiously walked forward. There were people huddled around their lights, most of them staring at nothing in particular; even the children weren't crying.
Reeve stumbled several times, skinning his palms, ripping his pants, and making his cracked ribs ache. The sudden brightness when he turned a corner made his eyes water; it was only three or four lanterns, close together, but more light than he'd seen down here yet. He could just make out someone sitting near the lanterns. The figure turned toward him, then stood up.
"Are you looking for help?" the man asked warily.
Reeve frowned at the vaguely familiar voice, and stepped carefully into the light; the barrel of a shotgun followed his every move. "The Sisters at the orphanage know me ... Mother Superior said I'd be welcome."
"Reeve," the man said, and swung the gun away from him. "You made it off the plate." He moved enough into the light that Reeve could make him out. "Where is Elena?
"Kalm," Reeve replied, trying to remember the name. Alejandro, that was it. "She's not badly hurt."
Alejandro studied him and nodded. "How badly injured are you?"
"A few cracked ribs," he said. "My hands are burned, but they hurt too much for the wounds to be serious."
"The Sisters will take care of you," Alejandro said, pointing to the door. Reeve stumbled on the way, Alejandro catching his elbow to keep him on his feet.
Two cots had been stuffed into the foyer, with two women and five children huddled asleep on them under a few thin blankets. There was a tired-looking soldier sitting in a chair with a rifle across his knees; he looked up, seemed to recognize Reeve and Alejandro, and looked back down. An exhausted young Sister who Reeve didn't recognize cleaned his hands and found a bit of salve to put on them; there was nothing to be done about his ribs.
Alejandro spoke to the soldier and went back outside. The soldier heaved himself to his feet, left his rifle on the chair and said, "There's a room upstairs. Think you can make it?"
Reeve looked at the stairs. "Think so."
"Come on," the man said. Reeve, after the first flight, was concentrating entirely on keeping his legs moving. After the second flight, he was trying not to simply collapse; the soldier gave him some support, enough to make it up the last flight. He sagged against the wall and caught his breath.
"You could have run," the soldier said.
Reeve blinked at him. "Up those stairs?"
The soldier shook his head. "No. Out of Midgar."
Reeve frowned. He could have hitched a ride on the Highwind, but nobody should know about - oh. He probably meant pulling executive privilege and commandeering a helicopter. "Yeah," he admitted. "Guess I could have."
"So why didn't you?"
He couldn't honestly say he hadn't thought about it; he could have hitched a ride to Kalm, at least, maybe gone all the way to the Crater. But he'd be less use than even Cait (which was rather embarrassing, especially since Cait hadn't been built as a battle robot), and someone had to organize the exodus off the Plate. "It's my city," he finally said.
"Hm. Come on." The room was halfway down, a tiny space crammed with two blanket-crammed pallets, a tiny lamp on a rickety table and a chamber-pot. Reeve collapsed onto the pallet and was asleep almost immediately.
He woke some time later to the sound of someone snoring; the room was dark, he'd have to wait for dawn. But there wouldn't be a dawn here in the slums, and there weren't any windows to let it in anyway. He closed his eyes against the darkness, then opened them again, realizing that the gun and Cait's controls were missing; he felt cautiously around the edge of the bed until his hand brushed cold metal and a lumpy pouch.
He couldn't really do much with Cait without waking up whoever was snoring on the other pallet, but maybe he could look in and find out what was going on; he might be able to find out how much longer they had. He sat and picked up the controls, fitting the gloves over his hands, and the headset with goggles over his head; he tapped the controls on the side of the headset, and the Highwind's bridge appeared on the goggles.
The only people on the bridge were two of Cid's pilots; the third was probably sleeping. Outside, he could hear snoring from the bunkroom, loud enough for two or three people. Cait hopped up the stairs to the deck; Vincent was often up on deck at night, and sometimes Nanaki as well. The night sky looked sick, even through Cait's greyscale sensors; Meteor was a scar of light in the distance. There was no sign of Vincent or Nanaki, but he heard voices to the left.
Cid was leaning on the railing, looking out over the water; Yuffie was standing nearby, close enough to talk.
"Shut up, brat," Cid said, sounding remarkably calm.
"Whatever, geezer," Yuffie replied, sounding tired but not annoyed. "Man, can't we just get there already? I hate waiting."
"You say 'are we there yet' and I'm throwing you off," Cid grumbled. "Fuck, kid, what're you in such a damn hurry for? This ain't a damn joyride."
Yuffie shrugged. "What, I'm supposed to want to sit around, listen to Vincent being depressed and Barret bitching?" She thumped the railing. "Gawd, Vincent acts like killing that freak's gonna be a crime or something."
Cid shrugged and lit a cigarette. "Huh. What's it to you, brat? Wasn't your town that burned."
"Bombs took care of that," Yuffie said. "Guess you know all about those, huh?"
Cid blew a stream of smoke into the wind and finally said, "Guess so."
Yuffie nodded and leaned on the railing, looking out over the sea. Reeve expected her to yell at Cid, but she was quiet instead. Cid knocked ash off the end of his cigarette.
"Must have been near the end of the war," he said. "Some groundhog swore up and down that a little girl executed his buddies. Didn't believe it back then."
"Maybe you should have," the teenager replied.
Reeve turned Cait to go back belowdecks; he didn't have to spy on them anymore, and whatever had prompted this conversation, it was none of his business. He'd have to try again later to find out how much time was left.
"Don't puke all over the ship," Cid said. "Gotta hit Rocket Town tonight and
the Crater tomorrow."
Reeve, sending Cait down the stairs, couldn't make out Yuffie's reply.
When Cait was safely stowed back on the bridge, Reeve set him to recharge and took off the headset and the gloves. He put them away carefully and lay back on the bed, uncomfortably reminded just how little he knew Avalanche. He wouldn't have been surprised by Vincent talking to Tifa, or to Cloud. Nanaki and Vincent wouldn't have been surprising. Cid and Yuffie were some of the least introspective and most argumentative people he knew.
Two days. In two days, what could he do? Nothing would drive the people left on the plate to the slums. If Avalanche won, if Meteor was stopped ... Midgar would still be uninhabitable without the reactors to power it. No water, no sewers, no power; they could burn imported wood for fuel, but the supplies wouldn't last that long.
Junon couldn't handle an influx of refugees. Junon was going to have power problems itself, when the reactor was shut down. Cameron would - he hadn't heard from Cameron. He hadn't heard from Cameron since she'd brought him those reports. He'd been so overwhelmed with Turks and Avalanche and Hojo and Scarlet that he'd never followed up. He'd lost his cell phone somewhere along the line, even if the thing would work properly down here.
He was too awake, now; he had no idea how long he'd slept, or what time it was, but maybe there would be someone else up outside. He left the room quietly, closing the door carefully behind him, and walked downstairs; the orphanage was very quiet. All the books were gone, probably sent off with the orphanage's children; the women and children were sleeping soundly on their cots.
"May I help you?"
He turned, startled; the speaker was a man close to his own age, probably a little older, dressed with black with a white collar.
"You startled me, Father."
"You're Reeve, yes?" At his nod, the priest went on, "I'm Father Thomas. I have a pot of tea in the office, if you'd like a cup."
Reeve followed him down the hall to the office and sat down. The priest poured him a cup of tea.
"I should pass on Mother Superior's thanks," the priest said. "With your help, all the children were evacuated out of the city."
"Good, I'm glad they made it." He doubted anywhere was really safe, but
at least there wasn't a giant flaming rock hanging over Kalm. He hoped
Marlene and Elmyra were all right; they were still better off there than here.
Elena could take care of herself, probably better than he took care of himself;
even if she couldn't, Rude and Reno would take care of her.
The priest poured two cups of tea. "I hope you take it plain," he said.
"That's fine," Reeve said, accepting the cup.
The Sisters and the children had gone to the chapterhouse in Kalm; the chapterhouse in Junon had been overwhelmed with people fleeing Midgar. Reeve found himself absently doodling plans for a solar power plant on the priest's desk blotter.
"That's quite interesting," the priest said, brushing away Reeve's apologies. "I can see how you reached the top so quickly."
Reeve shook his head. "I got there because I walked on enough people," he said. "Talent alone doesn't - didn't - count for much in Shinra, at least past actual repairs."
"Did you want to walk on people?"
"No. But you get high enough, and it's either keep climbing or fall ... and falling's even worse." The Turks took care of anyone who fell. It was usually discreet, of course, easily passed off as a suicide or sudden heart attack. But it was swift and inescapable. Or it had been, at least; the Turks hadn't had time to go find Palmer. "Not many people get to just retire from Shinra. Now ... Both Presidents Shinra are dead, nobody knows where Palmer is, Hojo went nuts and shot himself up with god knows what and died, Heidegger got blown to bits and Scarlet's lying up there somewhere with a bullet in her head. I don't know if my engineers, my secretary, or any of the staff got anywhere safely, and I can't even be sure that all the reactors won't blow up if Meteor hits. Of course, if it does, it probably won't matter anyway." Scarlet was - he didn't regret it, really. She'd done enough to deserve being shot. It was just everything else that got to him.
He'd given his secretary his cat, his laptop, and the cash he'd had on hand and told her to go to Junon and give everything to Cameron. It might not have been one of his better ideas, now that he realized he didn't know whether Cameron was all right. He wondered if she'd even made it out of the city; he'd been too busy trying to get people into the slums by then to have time to think about it. He knew Elena had made it to Kalm; Vincent had said something about not being convinced leaving the Turks in charge of the remaining military was wise. Reeve wasn't all that sure it was either, but leaving no one in charge was probably worse. The Turks at least could command respect and keep the soldiers under control.
The priest poured him another cup of tea. "These last months must have been terrible."
"I didn't have a lot of time to think," Reeve replied. "This is the most unstructured -" unwatched, Turk-free "time I've had since ... since Sector 7 fell."
"I imagine that kept you busy. It certainly kept us busy. We had ... quite a few laypeople from Sector 7. They had family here."
Busy. He hadn't slept for the better part of a week, trying to shut down all the power leaks into the ruins, get the biohazard teams moving, reclaim what few bodies were recognizable, and arrange a mass memorial service for the dead. Technically, memorials and the like were the Mayor's department, but he was no use at them. He made a decent speechwriter, though. Reeve wondered briefly what had happened to the Mayor; he'd abandoned the city early on. Maybe he'd embezzled some funds and flown to what was left of Mideel. "What did you do?"
"What could we do? We held a memorial for the dead, and we counseled the living," the priest said sadly. "Some of our people died fighting the Shinra because of Sector 7. Some of them turned to drink and drugs. Some of them committed suicide."
"The Plate has - had - nothing without Shinra. The liquor stores were were doing booming business right up until the end." He sighed and changed the subject; the nightmares had been held down by exhaustion, and he couldn't afford them now. "What are you doing now, Father? There's a lot of people down here now."
"We're trying to organize food, clothing and blanket distributions," Father Thomas replied. "Counseling the living, burying the dead."
"There isn't much time," Reeve said. "Maybe a week. The pillars ... if Avalanche fails, the pillars will be the strongest place if Meteor hits. I don't know how much it will matter if Meteor hits."
"We need to get supplies and people there," Father Thomas said, quickly making a note, "as soon as possible. How do you know how long it will be?"
Reeve sighed. "I know Avalanche." Not very well, but enough for now. "I ... well, I lost track somewhere along the line. I was supposed to spy on them for Shinra, and then I was spying on Shinra for them, all at the same time, and I don't know what I'm doing now. Other than trying to save something, somewhere."
Father Thomas looked at him, troubled, but said only, "I see. I hope I can trust you to be working to save the people here and now?'
Reeve nodded. "Here, now, and hoping there's something left to be saved afterward."
"Then perhaps you can help us as soon as you've rested." The priest stood and pulled a pile of clothes from the shelf. "You do need some clothes."
Reeve looked down at his bare chest and stained, ragged pants. "I guess I do," he said. "There isn't much time, Father."
"If you're sure," the priest said, and at Reeve's nod, "Well, why don't you get dressed while I find you room to work?"
The clothes were large and somewhat musty, but clean; Reeve raked his fingers through his hair to get out the worst of the tangles before the priest came back. Father Thomas returned with a stack of clothing, a box full of mixed tools and another box full of broken appliances - space heaters, lanterns, radios, toasters. "If you come with me, the children's playroom is empty -you'll have plenty of room to work. One of the Sisters wants to store these there; if you need something concrete to do, feel free to work on them."
Reeve took a box and followed the priest to a large room filled with child-sized furniture in various states of disrepair, with an overflowing toy-box in one corner. "You'll probably be more comfortable on the floor. The children were quite upset at having to leave their toys, but we couldn't get both children and toys out." The toys were as shabby as the rest of the room. "I'll leave you to work. If you need anything, I'll be in my office for another few hours."
"Thank you, Father." Reeve changed clothes, began triaging the appliances, and thought about where he could scavenge battery packs to get them to run. Space heaters would be particularly useful. He wouldn't be able to get anything from Avalanche for hours, until the rest of the crew woke up.
He worked for several hours, slept, then followed Alejandro to all the pillars to cache supplies and disable the destruction mechanisms, as others marked out places in hopes of a semi-orderly exodus. He came back, ate some bread, and hooked into Cait; it was daylight, but no one was talking much. Tifa was sleeping. Yuffie was busy sharpening her shuriken and cleaning off her makeshift armor. Cid was banging something around and swearing, and Vincent was watching the water. Cloud and Nanaki were on the bridge.
"Reeve," Cloud said warily. "What's happening?"
"Nothing in Midgar," he replied. "Yet, anyway. Everybody's kinda in shock."
"What about the Shinra?"
"That would be me," he said. "The soldiers wanted someone with a plan that made sense; they're not interested in making trouble right now, they just want to live like everyone else. The Junon branch might be up to something, but there's nothing they can do right now."
Cloud nodded and relaxed slightly. Of course, he could probably hack Cait in two without breaking a sweat. "So what are you here for?"
"Trying to find out what's going on here," he said. "You heading on out?"
"Not yet," Nanaki said. "We still need to replenish our supplies and repair equipment."
"Besides, you and the girls insisted the rest of us had to wash our socks." Cloud grinned at the cat. "So we borrowed Shera's washer and dryer last night."
"They stank," Nanaki said firmly. "So did most of the rest of your clothing."
"Yeah? Yuffie thought you needed a bath ..."
Nanaki flattened his ears and changed the subject. "We aren't going to the crater for another few hours."
"Sephiroth." Cloud frowned, eyes distant. "Think we all should do some thinking before we go after him. Reeve, you coming?"
"Yep. Cait's body, my brain," he said.
"Okay. Come back in four hours. We'll have a meeting then."
"Right, Cloud." Cait bounced back to his spot at the back of the bridge, and Reeve shut him down to conserve his power.
"Is it starting?" Alejandro asked.
"Not yet. But soon." Reeve rubbed his neck; for some reason, possibly Cait's height, his neck got sore after plugging into Cait. "They're meeting in four hours. I'm going to get some sleep before then."
Alejandro nodded. "What about Meteor?"
"No change yet," Reeve replied. "Probably best to go ahead and get people moved."
********
The orphanage was quiet, almost everyone else huddled around the pillars. Alejandro was sleeping on a pallet nearby, Neve reloading her pistol.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Nothing yet," Reeve said, carefully removing all Cait's controls and setting them on the makeshift table. "What are we all fighting for? I want us all to understand that. Save the planet... for the future of the planet... Sure, that's all fine. But really, is that really how it is?" "We're just ... we have a little time before Meteor hits. Time to step back and think a little." He stood up and stretched. "I think I'm going to take a walk."
"A walk. You want to take a walk."
Reeve shrugged. "I think better when I'm walking or fixing something. And there's nothing fixable left." Alejandro had found several battery packs and various kinds of batteries; Reeve had cannibalized parts to get a few space heaters, electric lamps and flashlights working.
Neve collected flashlights and guns. "Fine. A walk."
The slums were darker than before, all the lamps, lanterns and torches taken with the people sheltering around the pillars. Bits of metal and glass glittered in the the light from their flashlights, once the red gleam of a cat's eyes; the cat hissed and backed away when Reeve reached out to it. Dogs barked somewhere distantly. A doll lay abandoned in the dirt, glass eyes staring blankly at the ceiling; its dress had been often mended, the crooked smile repainted. Reeve picked it up, dusted it off, and tucked it under his arm. There were signs of recent fights between sectors, and monster incursions into sectors.
Sector 5 seemed reasonably safe. The tent cities had been taken down, forgotten things scattered over the ground: toy soldiers, a t-shirt, a broken plate. The ruined church was empty, the flowers still blooming.
"Who got flowers to grow down here?" Neve asked.
"A woman named Aeris," he replied, breathing in the scent of the flowers. "I ... never really met her." He'd known she'd been sought for and finally re-captured, but with Sector 7 and his reactors, he'd been too busy to investigate Hojo's lab, even if he'd wanted to. Hojo's lab was - had been - probably his least favorite place in Shinra, after Scarlet's office. And once she'd thrown in her lot with Avalanche ...
Well, at the time he hadn't had any idea what was going on, really. He'd hated Avalanche for blowing up the reactors and for giving President Shinra an excuse to collapse Sector 7. He'd finished up Cait and sent him along with them to have a chance to get back at them, to turn them in to the Turks and see them get the punishment they deserved.
Nanaki had been the first one to shake his composure; he knew Hojo was insane, but he hadn't realized how complicit President Shinra had been in his insanity. Nanaki had had nothing to do with destroyed reactors or fallen plates; he'd been a prisoner along with Aeris. But handing Avalanche over meant sending Nanaki back to Hojo.
Vincent had been locked in a crypt for almost thirty years before this had started, and Vincent had enough demons, literal and figurative, without letting Hojo at him again. And that was only if Hojo survived the encounter; Vincent would probably kill him, and find out who had betrayed them. Reeve couldn't decide, and really didn't want to think about whether Vincent, Vincent's demons, or the Turks were going to kill him more painfully. And then there was Yuffie, who'd been busy with highway robbery before meeting Cloud; he wasn't sure she wouldn't have helped blow up reactors (though blowing up the Shinra building itself was more her style), but she hadn't blown anything up.
He'd thought Avalanche was just a pack of semi-delusional radicals with bombs, that Lifestream was just a story, that Mako was just an unusual energy source, that the wasteland around Midgar was from pollution.
"There's somewhere else I'd like to go," he said to Neve, and walked through the sector to Elmyra's house. No one seemed to have looted it yet, and the flowers in the yard were fine. He suspected Aeris could have made flowers bloom almost anywhere.
He'd been wrong about so many things, done so much damage because he was convinced he was right. Even Barret had been right about the Lifestream, even if his real motivation was just wanting to destroy. Cloud had been delusional ... but not about Lifestream, or the Planet, only his past, and that was Hojo's fault, for cracking his soul down the middle. He'd never really believed in souls before; church had been a social formality. He believed in machines, and buildings, and the work of human hands. God had been sort of a old man with an unpredictable temper; his machines and his blueprints were predictable. Apply this much stress here, and this would break, unless these reinforcements equalized the load.
"I never was a religious man," he said, more for the sound of a voice than anything.
"Mm. The nuns scold me regularly for not appearing at services often enough."
"I went to church - Mulrond - when I was a kid," he said. "But it never really meant anything to me." He touched one of the flowers, pollen staining his fingers. "Signed up with Shinra, and religion's a nice company image - President Shinra liked appearing at the 'right' church with the 'right' people - and nothing more than that. Being really religious was a good way to get fired."
"Mm. So you stopped being religious at all?"
"I guess I'd really stopped in college," he said. "But at Shinra I was mostly busy trying to do my job and not get eaten alive. I tried ... not to be as bad as some of my colleagues." He'd mostly been busy , budgets and maintenance and firing incompetent workers, and bribing the good ones into sticking around. "After a while, it was just habit."
And then came reactor bombings and Sector 7, Cait spying on Avalanche and himself on his own company. After Sector 7 ... he knew perfectly well what good in Shinra there was tended to corrupt quickly. He'd heard about Corel, but ... he'd never been to Corel. He hadn't watched Corel burn, but he'd seen Sector 7 fall. He'd tried to protect what he could, after that, from Avalanche and his own company.
So he'd spied on both of them, trying to keep his city in one piece and get the people who'd blown up parts of it. And he'd kidnapped Miss Elmyra and betrayed Avalanche to Shinra. If he hadn't, he'd be dead. But because he had, Aeris was dead, and Cloud had been cracked apart; Reeve wondered if Cloud had really pulled himself back together, or if this was as much an illusion as the earlier Cloud. Reeve himself had solved the puzzle to shrink the Temple into the Black Materia. Without that, Meteor wouldn't be hanging in the sky, and Aeris might not be dead ... and Cloud might still think he was someone else. Reeve didn't know what to think about Cloud. Maybe something else would have broken him. Maybe not.
If he'd betrayed Avalanche again, it would have handed Cloud over to Hojo. Nothing could have put Cloud back together again, if Hojo had him long enough to break him. Reeve didn't think it would take very long.
"You think we can take some of these flowers back? People might feel better with a few flowers."
"Aeris is dead," he said quietly. "But I don't think she'd mind at all." Aeris had grown her flowers to give them away as much as sell them, and she'd never seemed very interested in holding onto things or money. She'd been very kind and generous, too much so for her own good; he wondered how she'd survived in the slums. But then again, the Turks had been keeping an eye on her, and no one interfered with anything the Turks claimed.
She might well have died anyway. They were going to the Temple no matter what, and the Temple would have led Aeris to the City ... and the others would have followed, and Sephiroth might still have killed her. But none of them would have sacrificed themselves for the Black Materia, or he didn't think so; and maybe at least there wouldn't be a Meteor.
"What happened to her?" Neve asked.
"She was murdered," he said. "It was at least quick. But go ahead and take a few flowers, she wouldn't mind. Really."
He could sit out everything else. He never had to pick up Cait's controls again. Cloud might not even say anything about it, and the others weren't his problem. But he was responsible for this, even if he didn't know how much. He was partly responsible for Aeris' death. Those were good reasons, really, but were they the truth? He was going along, even if it was as Cait and not himself, because he wanted to see this through to the end. He hated leaving things unfinished
He helped Neve get the flowers and went back to the orphanage. Cloud had given them some time, enough for Yuffie and Nanaki to go home and come back again; Reeve spent it getting everyone situated around the pillars, moving supplies, and sleeping in preparation. Alejandro and Neve insisted on staying at the orphanage with him; he was grateful for the company, even if they were there more to keep him under control than to keep him company. He washed stale bread down with stale water, took a deep breath, and plugged into Cait.
"Well lookey-here. The Shinra manager's come back," Barret said.
"I may be stuffed, but I'll work really hard!" Reeve said. "Midgar is as prepared as it's likely to get."
"Guess that's everyone," Barret said.
"What about Yuffie?" Nanaki asked. "She isn't back yet."
"Her? She ain't coming back," Barret said. "Least she didn't take our materia this time."
Yuffie promptly dropped out of the open ceiling and shook her fist at him. "How can you say that? I was sick as a dog all the way back!" She bounced in place and shook her fist again. "I'm not running away at the last minute and letting you guys get all the glory!"
Cloud stepped forward and tossed her a package of seasickness medicine, which she caught easily. "Welcome back, Yuffie."
That stopped her for a minute, and she grinned suddenly. "You're being nice all of a sudden, what happened?" she teased, and ducked around to stand over by Nanaki. She swallowed the medicine quickly.
"Thanks everyone," Cloud said.
"Didn't come back for you, spiky-headed jerk," Barret said. "Came back for Marlene. She's all that matters to me. Guess it's just my feelings. Got nothin' else to say."
"And someone else," Nanaki added. "Someone who isn't here with us now, but left us a window of opportunity."
Cloud walked to the front of the bridge and bowed his head. "Aeris. She smiled until the end. That smile will just be frozen on her face if we don't stop this." He paused and looked up, then turned around to face them. "She should have reached the Planet, Holy should have moved. Something's holding her. We have to let her go, set her free."
Cid looked around. "Anyone changed their mind?"
No one had. Cloud nodded. "I'm counting on you, Cid."
"Yeah, yeah, there's a couple levers here that've been buggin' me for a while now." He ran over to the instrument panel with a distinctly gleeful look. "Let me try them out."
"This is our last battle. Our target is the North Cave. Our enemy is Sephiroth!" Cloud stepped forward, determination clear on his face and in his voice. "So let's move out!"
Cid flipped the levers, and the Highwind started to shake and shudder, metal screaming and the sound of great gears grinding. Yuffie dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Nanaki's neck; Nanaki had his paws splayed on the floor with his claws out. Reeve had Cait drop on top of the moogle and hang on; it was undignified, but less so than getting thrown all over the deck. He couldn't see what the others were doing from that position, but he heard Cid whooping like a kid who'd just gotten the best present in the entire world.
The flight smoothed out after a few seconds, and Cait climbed back to his proper place.
"We're almost there," Cloud said. "We're on our way, Sephiroth."
"I'm gonna stick it to him," Cid exulted.
Red alarm lights flashed and an alarm sound. "What's going on?" Cloud demanded.
"Losing control! Some force messing with the controls!"
The Highwind's three pilots came running in and charged directly to the panel to help.
"Get the hell outta here, flunkies! Didn't I tell you all to go home!?" Cid shouted, not daring to look away from the controls for more than a second. They were moving of their volition, sending the ship into a dive.
"Captain, this is our home!"
"Stop trying to act so cool," Cid grumbled, trying not to sound pleased. "All right, you jokers, hold me down with everything you got! Geronimo!" He grabbed the controls and gave them a hard shove, and the Highwind shook and rattled as it hit top speed. Cait dropped down onto the moogle's head until the flight stablized.
No one said very much on the way; they rearranged materia and checked weapons, dozed a little, and waited. Reeve spent the interval adjusting Cait's controls and refining the sensors to give the best report through his equipment.
"Ten minutes," Cid announced finally.
Now people got up and moved around. He heard Yuffie and Cloud discussing motion sickness - Cloud had gotten sick when he'd been in the Army, and Yuffie trying (rather half-heartedly) to talk Cloud into signing all the materia over after the battle.
"The time for flying is past," Vincent said quietly; Reeve nearly jumped out of his skin, because he hadn't heard the man come up. Metal-toed boots should make noise. Nanaki padded up next to him.
"Yeah, it sure is," he replied.
"And the gate to tomorrow is in the depths of the earth," the other man mused. "Perhaps it is appropriate. I am relieved to be reaching the end of this road."
"You think we're not coming back?"
Vincent shrugged. "I do not know. Even if we win and live, it will be a new road, all the sins of the past expiated."
Cloud was speaking to Tifa up front; he said something, posing, and Tifa clapped her hands, suddenly looking delighted and energetic again.
Cid left one of the pilots at the control and stomped around the bridge, saying something that made Tifa and Cloud both laugh, punching Yuffie in the shoulder (she punched back), and wandered back to Cait and Vincent.
"Hey, Reeve. Ever seen that play Loveless? " he asked.
"Yes," Reeve said. He'd seen it four times, actually; twice with a girl in high school, once with Cameron, and once on his own.
"Yeah? Really?" he replied. "They've been doin' that play every summer since I was a kid, an' I remember seein' it just once. I was in Midgar interviewing to be a pilot. Had some free time and thought I'd catch the play everyone was talking about." He shrugged. "Now, I'm no big fan of the theater or anything, but this thing put me to sleep, just like I thought it would. Finally during the last scene, the guy next to me woke me up tellin' me my snorin' was too loud." Nanaki's tail twitched, and he dropped his jaw in what Reeve suspected was a grin. "So about all I really remember of that play is the end."
Reeve remembered too, the lines coming to mind even as Cid repeated them with over-dramatic gestures.
Do you really have to leave? At the last show he'd seen, the actress had said those lines so quietly, as if she already knew the answer and still hoped to hear something different.
I promised. The people I love are waiting. Just that - no recriminations, no excuses. He'd only told her the truth.
She'd turned away then, not completely, but enough. I don't understand. Not at all. But ... please take care of yourself. Not anger, but bewilderment and loss.
Of course. I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here.
"I remember thinking when I heard those lines, 'Damn! What the hell's he talkin' about?' But, you know... now I'm not so sure." He looked away and rubbed his chin, thinking of something or someone else. "I think I understand."
"I wouldn't have expected that from you, Cid," Vincent said.
"Me either," Cid said, just before the pilot yelled for him. He yelled back, insulting the pilot's intelligence and competence, then stomped back over and landed the Highwind himself.
Reeve was appalled at the sheer size of the Crater; Jenova, or whatever Jenova had landed in, must have been huge. Traveling down the crater - climbing down unstable walls, sliding down patches of loose rock - took hours, and the wind was terrible. Vincent gave Tifa his cloak, and Barret, Cloud, and Cait huddled together in front to shield everyone from the worst of the wind. The caves at the bottom were no warmer, but the wind was cut off at least. The ground here was crazed, jutting up in places and then falling down, and navigating that was painful; the edges were sharp with ice. Cait was going to need some repairs if they made it through, and everyone had bloody scratches and cuts. The tunnel opened out into a broad area with two more passages leading away.
"We'll take a break," Cloud said, looking at Tifa. She was grey with exhaustion, and sat down with her back against a rock.
Cid built a small fire, and Vincent boiled some of the store of water for packets of instant soup. Cloud took a bowl of soup to Tifa, who drained it; he hardly touched his soup and gave the rest to her. Yuffie sat near the fire, as close as she could without being scorched; Reeve dropped the moogle nearby. Cid slouched on the moogle's other side. Vincent sat next to Tifa; he didn't finish his soup either, and gave the rest to an apparently starved Tifa. Nanaki prowled the edge of the circle, watching the darkness beyond, occasionally pausing to lap at his soup. Tifa offered Vincent his cloak back and he shook his head.
When Tifa had regained her normal color and didn't look quite so tired, Cloud got up. "We'll split up here. Call if you see anything. Cid."
"Yeah?"
"Take the left path. I'll take the right. Mark the walls so we can find you if we have to."
After a few minutes of discussion, the rest of Avalanche split up. Tifa, Vincent, and Barret went with Cloud, the others with Cid.
There were signs of human, or Cetra, handiwork here, and the further down they went, the more of them; stones were aligned too precisely, dead bushes grew too regularly, and occasional broken objects, like bottles and pots, littered the path. Cid left bold, vaguely obscene marks on the walls, less to keep from getting lost than to proclaim 'We were here'. The path split again after a while, and Cid looked at it for a while.
"Better head down," he said, marking the appropriate wall. "Nanaki, take the rear. I'll be in front."
They'd gone a fair distance down the path when Yuffie said, "Cid, listen."
"What, kid?" Reeve, listening, finally sorted out not-so-distant scraping and thuds, like something large moving.
Cid heard it too; he ground his cigarette under his boot. "Shit. Sounds like a goddamn dragon. Keep your guard up."
"Maybe it just wants dinner." Yuffie didn't glance back up the path, though the line of her body suggested she was paying close attention.
Cid shrugged. "Long as I'm not on the menu, I don't give a damn."
They followed the path on down, Nanaki's tail providing almost as much light as the lanterns. The sound of the dragon never quite went away, and slowly got louder. The path was becoming a road, cracked and broken stones that had clearly been cut and placed, broken stumps that might have been lamps along the edges. There was a little more light here, though Reeve couldn't tell where it was coming from.
"It's pacing us," Nanaki warned.
"Damn. Clear area down there," Cid said, pointing. "Move!"
The sound was getting much louder, practically on top of them by the time they got down the path to a broad stone-paved plaza. "Cait, you don't fight, you heal us."
The dragon was huge, with fangs nearly the size of Cait's moogle. It roared, and Cid took advantage of its temporary distraction to drive his spear into a weak spot in the scales on its chest. Nanaki called down a barrier spell as Yuffie backflipped out of reach when the dragon tried to bite. The dragon inhaled.
"Duck!" she shouted, and everyone flung themselves flat on the ground as the breath weapon crackled in the air above them.
Cid scrambled to his feet and lunged at the weak spot again, his spear scrabbling over the scales when he missed. Yuffie slashed at the dragon's tender nose when it tried to bite; it screeched and lashed its tail, knocking Nanaki down. Cait tossed him a lesser potion and Nanaki got back to his feet; the cat attacked the dragon's nearest leg, trying to hamstring it. Cid managed to slash the dragon near the jaw when it tried to bite Nanaki.
"Go for the joints!" he yelled.
Yuffie jumped over the tail and slashed it near the base, a stream of black ichor erupting from the wound. The dragon howled and lashed its tail angrily, howling again as more ichor streamed from the wound; Cid was knocked flat, Nanaki out of reach, and Yuffie mistimed her jump and was knocked into a section of broken wall.
Cait managed to cast a healing spell on Yuffie before having to dodge the dragon; he cast another one on Cid as Yuffie pushed herself to her feet. Reeve wasn't sure what she was doing - Cait's sensors were registered odd wind patterns, and a quick shift into thermal imaging showed gathering heat. The thermal sensors showed a sudden discharge of heat at the dragon.
The dragon screeched and yowled, thrashing wildly as whatever Yuffie was doing blasted it, and then fell down stunned with an almost-pitiful yowl. Cid stabbed it in the eye, shoving his spear in almost to the end, and the dragon convulsed violently and died.
Cait cast a final healing spell on everyone and bounded over to Yuffie. Cid forced a potion down her throat and checked her for signs of concussion.
"Anything broken, kid?"
She shook her head and got somewhat unsteadily to her feet. "Nah, just bruised up. Come on, let's keep going."
The plaza, with its cracked, broken and sometimes partly melted stones, led down to a ruined city. Reeve wondered how anything had survived the crash that made the Crater, but the ruined seashell buildings hadn't been damaged directly by impact; if they had, they'd be rubble. Instead, some were almost intact, others half-destroyed. The roofs had fallen in on some, and others had holes knocked in the walls. Some of the holes were scorched and melted, and some of the scrapes and slashes on the walls did not look to be monster damage.
"Should we investigate?" Nanaki asked.
"Haven't got time," Cid said, turning away from the city. "Come on, path's that way."
They heard noises behind them, but the local monsters were more interested in scavenging the dragon than attacking them. Nothing else attacked them on the way down, along a path that became less and less man-made, though they heard quite a bit of noise, and saw a little green thing in a robe peer at them from on top of a rock. They eventually reached another cavern, with multiple paths converging into it, and a long, long series of floating rocks leading down. The others were there already.
Cloud looked up, relief flickering in his eyes. "Took the long way?"
"Guess so." Cid ground out a cigarette and lit another one.
"Take a break," Cloud said. "We have a little time."
Tifa was already gray with exhaustion, and sat down without grace or dignity; Barret handed her his half-full water-bottle and she drained it. Cloud dug a battered energy bar from his pocket and some kind of medicine and gave it to her, worry crinkling the edges of his eyes. Tifa looked like she wanted to refuse, but took them anyway. Reeve wondered what was wrong with her; she'd been sick rather often lately, and no one else seemed as utterly exhausted as she did. No wonder Cloud was worried; in that condition, she might not make it to Sephiroth, much less through the fight that was coming.
Yuffie slumped down between the moogle and Nanaki. Cid sprawled nearby and cleaned some of the dragon blood from his spear. Cloud stared down into the pit, thinking. Vincent stood next to him, but faced the other way, watching for anything that might emerge from the caverns.
Once Tifa was looking better, Cloud turned back to them. "Okay, everyone. Move out!" Tifa handed Vincent back his cloak; he put it on and shrugged it into place.
The stones underfoot seemed oddly less than solid. The light played tricks on Cait's sensors, and the hiss and crackle of Lifestream was a constant, disquieting sound. The experience became quickly surreal, as the cavern above disappeared from view, leaving only an endless procession of stones floating in sourceless light. Shadows flickered in and out with nothing to cause them, until one shadow stayed, and grew larger and darker every second.
Tifa, looking healthier than she had in the cavern, looked up. "Something's coming!"
"Jenova." Cloud's voice was flat and dull, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. A single violent shudder shook him when Jenova soared up from the depths.
She was nothing Reeve had expected, nothing he could have expected. Jenova was a grotesque cross between a bloated, legless spider and a human, with tentacles instead of arms, and the perfectly formed breasts on the human torso only made the whole more repulsive.
She struck out with her left tentacle first, knocking Cid and Vincent off their feet, then with her right, knocking Cait and Yuffie flat. Cloud attacked the human torso, tearing a gaping wound in her abdomen. Cait clambered back upright and cast protective magic on the closest people first, and then on everyone else. Cid tried to pin the left tentacle down with his spear, but Jenova ripped the tentacle free and nearly tore the spear out of his hands.
Yuffie cut off the tip of the right tentacle with her shuriken; Jenova knocked her flat again, and she sprawled for a moment, disoriented, before scrambling to her feet. Nanaki roared, the air glimmering around him, and a great metal figure rose up behind him to fire blasts of brilliant white light at Jenova. Jenova shrieked, alien harmonics and tones that overloaded Cait's aural sensors. Yuffie hacked off more of Jenova's tentacle, kicking the remnants off the floating rock; Cid stabbed the bloated sac with his spear; thick, steaming greenish liquid oozed out of the hole, burning the rock platform.
Cloud attacked the human torso again, nearly severing the head this time, and Jenova collapsed, the sac bursting. The main gush of whatever the stuff was fell away from them, dark blobs falling with the liquid. Enough of the liquid fell on the platform that it began to disintegrate along with Jenova, toppling them down.
Reeve couldn't tell what happened next, but it was suddenly dark, impossible to tell if they were moving; he couldn't be sure the flickers of light on the edge of his vision were real or a malfunction. Then someone grabbed him and spun him around, to see the light they were all rushing towards.
"Holy!" someone exclaimed, and someone else said, "But why isn't it moving?"
"Sephiroth!" said someone else. A black and silver form flew between them and Holy, a long slender sword in its hand.
Reeve missed what happened next, other than movement and crashing, as Cait's visual and aural sensors overloaded again. When the sensors came back online, they were in a cavern, and a monstrous form was emerging from the depths.
"What the fuck is that? " Cid demanded.
"It used to be Sephiroth," Cloud said.
The thing might have looked like Sephiroth, if Reeve had been able to look past the two torsos(both with heads), malformed wings, glowing sphere in the stomach, and sick coloring. The mouths on both heads moved constantly, but if the noise was intended to be speech, Reeve didn't understand a word. Cloud, Tifa and Vincent were in front of the thing, everyone else on a higher platform to the left.
It only attacked with magic; after a hasty series of healing spells on Tifa and Vincent, Cait, Nanaki and Cid cast a series of protective spells over everyone. Vincent summoned Bahamut; Cloud and Tifa attacked the smaller head after the dragon had scorched the thing. Yuffie called Leviathan, but the thing seemed hardly fazed by the onslaught of water. Nanaki attacked the left wing; Vincent shot at the right one. Cid tried to attack the sphere in the middle, but his spear only glanced off. Cait cast more healing spells when the thing attacked again.
Yuffie joined Nanaki's attack on the wing, and Tifa switched places with Vincent to attack the other wing; the attacks staggered everyone, and Cait threw potions and cast healing spells in an attempt to keep everyone at least on their feet. Cid attacked the larger torso, with minimal success, while Vincent and Cloud attacked the smaller one; the wings fell limp, and then the smaller torso. Cid, Yuffie, and Nanaki concentrated their attack on the sphere, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent on the larger torso, and Cait renewed all the protective spells and cast more healing spells. The glowing sphere cracked in a web from where Cid's spear had hit it, and again when Yuffie's shuriken carried bits of it away, and Nanaki's attack shattered it completely, the light dying as the material slid away.
With everyone but Cait attacking the torso, it fell apart in minutes, the whole thing falling in on itself and sliding back into the Lifestream.
"Is - is that it?" Tifa gasped.
Cloud shook his head. "Can't be. Too easy that - what's that?"
The Planet screamed and the cavern trembled, and wind blasted up from the bottom of the pit as something rose from the depths. They saw the great black-feathered wing first, then the golden halo over silver hair. Sephiroth's face, blank as a statue of an angel, rose before them, green eyes cold and mad. The torso was as perfect as any ancient sculptor could have dreamed, but where the legs should have been were two pairs of white wings. A gleaming star hung in space before him. A mad angel by a mad sculptor, more horrible than the deformed demons he'd learned about in church.
Cid lit another cigarette, swore a blue streak, and readied his spear.
Tifa collapsed on the first hit, Barret on the second, and Nanaki on the third. Cait cast frantic spells to get them back on their feet before another attack could kill them, and before Cid could get off a protective spell, the fourth attack dropped Yuffie and made Vincent scream. The gunman glowed, and disappeared, the bat-winged demon appearing in his place. Cait got Yuffie back on her feet just as Cid got off the first round of defensive spells, and Cloud attacked. Cait cast the next round of defensive spells while Cid threw potions.
Cait could barely keep track of what was happening; Cloud cast a spell and the star shattered. The demon's attack did little apparent damage, Nanaki's tore loose a few feathers. Yuffie's energy attack left Sephiroth slightly wounded. Black feathers rained down after Cloud and Tifa attacked, and then he lost track completely as he cast healing spells and renewed defensive spells after Sephiroth's next attack. The rest of the battle was a blur of blood, feathers and spells, Cait's sensors overloading and resetting, and rising panic.
The final attack left Cloud barely able to stand, coughing up blood; Cait cast the last healing spell he could on him and started rummaging for potions. Cloud raised his sword and attacked in a series of leaping slashes too fast for Cait to process, tearing great gaping wounds in Sephiroth's torso, severing the black wing, and shattering one of the white ones.
Sephiroth screamed in rage and pain, the blank face suddenly alive with shock and disbelief. Feathers fell from the wings, tumbling in the rising wind from below. Skin flaked from the wings and the bone dissolved into dust. The halo tarnished and fell to pieces, disintegrating as it fell. The perfect face and the perfect torso aged and decayed, the green eyes surrounded by rot until they went out last of all. The world went dark and wild when the eyes closed, and they were thrown around, Lifestream loud in their ears. They landed hard when the wind stopped, but it was still dark. Someone finally turned on a lantern.
"Is ... is it over?" Tifa asked.
"It better be," Yuffie said. "Anybody got any potions left? Nanaki's leg is all ripped up."
Vincent tossed over a bottle and Yuffie poured potion over the wound. "How are we gonna get out of here?" she asked.
"Shit. Don't know where we are," Cid grumbled, shoving himself to his feet and starting to look around. Once the potion kicked in, Yuffie started looking around too.
"We should hurry - ahhh!" Cloud grabbed his head and fell to his knees. "He's ... laughing at me. I can hear him..." Cloud's body fell limp, like a puppet with broken strings.
"Tifa! Don't go after him!" Cid yelled. "It's unstable!"
"But he's - "
"He'll be fine! Cocky little bastard is always fine!"
There wasn't anything to say to that. If Sephiroth was still lurking somewhere, no one but Cloud could get to him. Cait didn't have any potions left, but he found some bandages and wrapped up people's injuries the best he could. Yuffie kept looking for a way out, even after Cid gave up and sat down, until the earth began to shake. Loose rocks and unstable walls began to slide. She sat down next to Nanaki and dropped one arm around his neck, pulling her knees up to her chest. Tifa was watching Cloud, waiting for any sign of returning intelligence.
"Buck up, brat," Cid said, lighting a cigarette. Reeve wondered how'd he managed to keep his cigarettes and his lighter through all this. "You knew the odds like the rest of us."
"Shut up, geezer," she said, a crack in her voice. "I thought we were gonna die in the fight, not like this." The earth shook again, part of the platform they were sitting on crumbling away.
"Guess not," Cid said laconically. "We did the damn job, brat. Rest of the world's got a fighting chance."
"Why isn't Holy moving?" Tifa asked.
Cloud twitched, head lifting; he reached out toward Tifa.
"Cloud! Come on!" she shouted, reaching down to him. "Cloud!"
Cloud suddenly blinked, intelligence and awareness flooding back into his eyes; he grabbed Tifa's hand and scrambled up to her platform as the ground under his feet collapsed, and they jumped up again when that platform fell in. Tifa pointed across to show Cloud that everyone else had made it through.
Reeve, with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, realized he might be the only survivor, because he wasn't really there. He would have to record everything, so that no one could forget. They weren't particularly good people, but they deserved to be remembered, what they'd done deserved to be remembered. What Shinra had done had to be remembered, as a warning to any survivors of what not to do again.
The ground cracked and shattered, leaving them with a tiny platform, and a great dark hulk fell to lodge itself overhead, sending huge rocks tumbling.
Cid looked up, his expression that of a man whose God has just granted a miracle, and his cigarette fell forgotten out of his mouth.
"That's my airship! What were those idiots doing?" he shouted, scrambling to his feet. "Come on, dammit, she's got her engines in the right direction!'
Cid went across first, then Tifa. Vincent and Cloud threw Cait's moogle onto the ship, and Cait clung to Yuffie when she jumped across, sliding down the vertical deck to slam hard into the stairs. Barret came next, then Vincent, and finally Cloud.
"Hang onto your shorts!" Cid shouted, grabbing an unmarked lever at the control panel.
Reeve didn't know whether the kick from the engines or the roar of Holy rising sent them flying, but fly they did, the Highwind shooting up like the Shinra 26, until they burst into the air above the crater. Holy blazed up past them, Meteor in reverse, shooting south.
"Cid!'
"Midgar, I know! Come on, you morons, we got a job to finish!"
The Highwind shot across the sea after Holy, faster than it had ever gone before, halving the time to Midgar. Holy was a brilliant circle under the burning Meteor, blocking it from the city.
"It's so quiet," Tifa said uncertainly. Reeve realized that the hisses, pops and clicks, the strained metal groans and shearing supports he was hearing were in Midgar, not on the Highwind . The terrible, sharp cry he heard next wasn't on the Highwind either, but Holy rippled violently, thinned out, and became nothing over the city. Meteor pushed through the emptiness, right over Shinra Tower. The building bent, twisted, began to flatten, and exploded. Reeve thought he imagined the noise; surely it couldn't penetrate down to the slums.
"Wait a damn minute," Barret growled, looking around. "What's gonna happen to Midgar?"
"I had everyone take refuge in the slums," Reeve said, waving his arms to get Barret's attention. "But the way things are now..." He was surprised to realize he was crying; he wiped the tears away with the back of his hand. He only remembered crying three times in his life; when he'd broken his arm falling out of a tree, when his grandfather had died, and when Aeris had died. He'd hidden those tears as much as he could, and no one seemed to have noticed. But now ... no one had planned for an enormous meteor crashing onto the Plate. The pillars might not be safe, they might just delay the inevitable, and maybe delay wasn't such a good idea.
"Forget Midgar," Nanaki said. "We have to worry about the Planet."
"Wutai's gonna be destroyed too," Yuffie said blankly, looking at Meteor. "That thing's gonna trash everything."
No one said anything else. Cloud sat down with his back against the railing and his arms crossed over his chest, his face furious. Cid pounded on the railing. Tifa turned her back on Meteor, staring out into the darkness.
"What's that?!"
Cloud turned his head to look, then got up. "Lifestream," he said, his voice unreadable.
Tendrils of light were rising in the distance, pouring into a great stream aimed at Midgar. Reeve felt something happening around him.
"Lifestream," he said, remembering that Neve and Alejandro might still be there. "Lifestream's rising!"
He could feel it now, see it if he closed his eyes behind Cait's goggles, a bright wash of power and strength, shapes in the stream he couldn't quite make out. The light was brilliant even with his eyes closed, and he remembered something he'd heard a long time ago. Looking into the face of God would blind you, if you looked away, but look into it until you were blind, and you could see. Reeve opened his eyes and looked into the light, until he couldn't see.
The light resolved into shapes, passing by in a blur; Reeve caught trees and bushes walking, housecats running at the side of great hunting cats, dogs running with wolves, and flocks of chocobos. There were human figures, or things like looked like humans, some armed, most unarmed. There was a woman in plain clothing, with a bright ribbon in her hair, walking arm-in-arm with a man in a lab-coat; they were leading numbers of people dressed like the murals in the Ancient Temple. A knot of people strode past, their arms and armor old, their faces largely young, men and women in old-style priests' robes, in knightly armor and magicians' gowns, a few with horned crowns. Their leader wore light armor and carried a heavy sword; his hair was caught back in a short ponytail, and his eyes seemed older than his unlined face could account for. He saw a great pride of cats with flaming tails next, cubs and adults both, the cubs playing around the adults' legs, and one pair racing past roared a greeting to someone beyond him.
He wanted to join them; he felt himself pulled toward Meteor, to follow the great crowds marching to Midgar.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Aeris said, catching his arm and stopping him.
"Is this ... is this what Lifestream is?" He'd had no idea what he'd been destroying. No idea at all. He found himself with far more sympathy for Vincent and his talk of sin, because he could work until he died and not atone for destroying this.
"It's different for everybody. But you can't watch it very long, silly cat, or you want to jump in." She kissed him on the forehead, and Reeve fell into a quiet, gentle darkness.