"I hate dis shit! Why did we agree to do this?" Billy paced around on the roof-top. Ray placed the rifle he was holding onto the brick ledge of the building and craned his neck around to look at his friend.
"Because we need the money to get out of here. And we really need to get out of here...!" Ray leaned back down and snatched the rifle off the ledge. His beer belly rested against the ledge of the building as he looked down at the streams of people coming out of the municipal building in Junon. "I just want to shot him dead and move on!" Ray leaned up a bit and stared down at the crowds of people.
"Yeah...just shot him so we can go and drink!" Billy stopped pacing and stood directly behind his friend. Ray's hands were shaking terribly; the novice gun-shooter in him was showing now. Ray leaned forward a bit more.
"I got to wait for Reeve to come out idiot or I can't shoot him!" Ray screamed out. He let the gun go a second and stood up. He rubbed his hands on his pant legs; hoping to clean the sweat right off of them.
"What did you say?" Came a voice. Ray leaned down and picked up the gun again. He kneeled down near the ledge and aimed downward at the crowd of people.
"I need to wait for Reeve..." Ray stopped when he felt a gun barrel pressed against his skull. Sweat now poured out of his forehead at a record pace.
"Now drop the rifle and I won't shot you in the back of the head" Rude calmly stated. Ray instantly dropped the gun and held his hands up over his head. "Now stand up and turn around slowly. Keep your hands in the air" Ray stood up on his shaking knees and turned around. Ray gulped down hard; Rude held the gun right to his forehead. Beyond the gun he saw Billy laying on the ground while Reno stood over him, twirling his nightstick in his hand.
"So Overton didn't want to wait..." Ray trailed off. Rude titled his head; his sunglasses reflecting the bright sunlight off them. "So you're gonna kill us and be over with it?" Rude turned around and looked at Billy; laying on the ground and shaking in fear.
"When did you plan to meet Overton again?" Rude demanded to know. Ray felt his stomach rumbling inside him. He kept his mouth closed and swallowed the horrible-tasting vomit.
"When we finished the job...at my bar...!"
"And you're bar is?"
"It's Ray-Jay's Pub...it's down on the main drag...oh please don't kill us...! Tell Overton to give us another day!" Ray fell to his knees and held his hands up in a cup form. He liked like a beggar asking for another piece of day-old bread.
"You are scum. I shall treat you like it" Rude took a few steps backwards and held the gun perfectly still; the aim on his left eye. Ray just closed his eyes. But the flap of skin over his eye could not stop the bullet from ripping through it. Ray's body slumped backwards against the stone ledge. The blood spilling from his head matched the red color of the bricks. Reno stepped away from Billy and laughed.
"Goodbye bitch-face" Reno chuckled. Rude held the gun at Billy's head. But Billy jumped up and took a few running steps forward. Reno jabbed him with the nightstick, shocking Billy. Billy's hair went straight into the air and his arms went flying upwards. His body fell to the ground and shook like a leaf in a wind storm. Rude walked up and looked down at Billy's shaking body. "Fucker made me work" Reno chuckled as the gun-shot shook the air around them.
"Are we close? You know, it's about to rain..." Tifa grabbed the straps of the back-pack and held them firmly. Phoenix stopped walking and glanced to the left.
"This is it" With that he jumped over an old washing machine and walked up to the broken metal door of the building. "As they say, home-sweet-home" The metal door fell off the hinges when Phoenix pushed it open. The hallway was darker than a midnight sky.
"I can barely see..." Tifa commented. Suddenly the hallway filled with a silver light. Phoenix held his hand up and turned around to face her. Tifa looked down and repressed a grin that threatened to sneak onto her face. "That does help..."
"Very well" Phoenix moved forward down the silver-hazed hallway; stepping over rocks and other rubble. Tifa jumped over a big stack of rocks and looked backwards towards the door; it was just as dark outside as it was inside the hallway now. Phoenix pushed open another huge metal door and walked into a laboratory. "Here we are" The silver haze was gone; a few electric lights remained on in the room.
"How did those lights stay on?" Tifa asked as she shrugged the back-pack off and placed it on the ground. When no answer came, she walked over to a desk and looked down it. "So what are you looking for? Anything I can help with?" She crossed her arms and glanced over at him; he blasted a lock off a filing cabinet then sat down on the ground and pulled the bottom cabinet shelf open.
"I thought you were only coming to take me back to Cloud and Aeris" Phoenix pulled out a folder from the bottom rack and flipped it open. Tifa put her hands on her hips and jabbed her boot onto the cement. Looking back at her for a moment softened his face. "In the closet to the left there...I believe there are some more clothes for me. Check in there-"
"Don't order me around" Tifa shot a glare at him. Phoenix's eyes went wide as he put the folder down. His eyes blinked a few times; he looked like a little kid who was confused by a homework assignment. "Look...ask me. You don't need to make it an order. Just ask" Tifa explained. Phoenix lips moved to the left of his face; he looked even more like a little kid.
"Would you mind looking in there for clothes?" Phoenix responded. Tifa nodded and walked over to the closet. She turned the handle but the whole door fell off at once; she had to jump back to avoid getting hit by it. She kicked the door aside and looked in the closet.
"Wow...two gray jackets. A boatload of choice there...wait, I see some plastic wrapped stuff...wow. Black pants and black tanktops. They sure left you a lot of choice...hey, another back-pack!" Tifa picked up the back-pack and tossed five shrink-wrapped clothing packages into it. "Do you want the jackets too?"
"Yes. This is my last one. I lost the other ones" Phoenix tossed the folder to the side and pulled the next one out. Tifa nodded and looked back at them. She pulled one off the rack and jammed her left arm down the sleeve. Phoenix sneered and looked over at her. "Those are mine. You cannot...well, you should ask, correct?" Phoenix once again looked like a little kid. But now, he looked like an eager kid in school; waiting to learn. Tifa grinned and took the jacket it off.
"That's right. Do you mind if I wear one? It's getting cold outside" Tifa asked with a gentle grin on her face. Phoenix nodded his head; only a faint trace of a smile crossing his face. A tiny roar of thunder reached into the office area; it must have been ten times louder outside the old laboratory.
"By all means. Just place the other one in that new back-pack" Phoenix went back to looking at his folders. Tifa smirked and packed the jacket on top of the shrink-wrapped uniforms. "I will have more room to place files in now"
"So what files are you looking for?" Tifa zipped the back-pack and carried it over to him. "Sure you don't want any help with them?" Phoenix looked up at her; his expression not angry but not confused either; just very serious. She put the back-pack down and unzipped it. "If its personal, I can just look at the names on the files and tell you. I won't invade your privacy" Phoenix took a breathe and nodded.
"Anything that says Project Re-birth or Project Phoenix is what I am looking for" Tifa sat down next to the back-pack and pulled a folder out of the rack. "Thank you" Phoenix placed the folder had been looking at inside the back-pack and pulled out the next one. A few moments passed until Tifa put the folder into his back-pack and pulled out a new one. Another thunder clap entered the lab.
"Project F.L.I.P..." Tifa muttered. She flipped open the folder and began to read the cover-letter. "Project F.L.I.P is a subset of the Re-Birth Project. Project F.L.I.P, or Fabricated Lifeform Interspecies Prototype is the creation...you want this one too?" Tifa closed the folder and looked over at him. Phoenix nodded; his head was still buried in his newest folder. Tifa slide it into the back-pack then rubbed her chin. "F.L.I.P...Flip. That's what I'm gonna call you" Tifa declared. Phoenix looked over at her again; he no longer seemed to care about the file. "Look, the name Phoenix seems...it reminds me of him to much. And face it, that don't sound like a teenager's name. Flip though...Flip is you, for sure. With all the back-flipping and stuff you do. From now on, you're Flip" Tifa smacked his shoulder and pulled out another file. Phoenix stared at her a moment before smirking and returning to his file.
"I don't know why I let her go talk to him" The Ultimate Weapon clanged along the cement as Cloud marched down the road. "They're probably fighting. Or worse, screaming at each other. Man..."
"I don't think they're yelling or fighting...I don't think" The Princess Guard bounced off the ground while Aeris walked down the road. "Tifa seemed to feel bad. And Phoenix won't start fighting with her if she don't start...I think" Aeris gulped and stopped walking. "Do you think they're fighting?" Cloud stopped a few steps ahead of her and laughed.
"I think they argued a bit. But Tifa would have headed this way if they had fought. Phoenix is pretty set on getting his files. And we would have heard them fighting; look how well sound travels" Cloud pointed out. He looked forward and let out a deep breathe. "I probably shouldn't of said they were fighting"
"No!" Aeris screamed then let out a tiny giggle. She walked forward and tapped the back of his leg with her staff. "You didn't need to make me worry more" Aeris walked ahead of him and looked all around the former city. Piles of garbage and broken pieces of buildings remained where people once gathered. They moved silently past all the debris and garbage until they reached the sector where her church had been. "Maybe this was a bad idea..."
"Nonsense. I bet we find your church...did you...you plan on taking some stuff? As a memento?" Cloud kept looking around sharply; his eyes looking for any sign of it. Aeris stopped walking and stood still. The wind blew through her hair; her red jacket flapped around her chest. She gripped the staff tighter still and took a single step forward.
"My church" Aeris dropped her staff and ran right into the old church. Cloud bent down and picked the staff up. He gripped it and looked at the church; it looked old but always had. The siding of the church was falling off in numerous places; it revealed the old brick walls of the church. The stained glass windows remained in together for the most part; a few had cracks crossing over them like spider-webs. Cloud spied upwards; the dark clouds were beginning to gather in force. He sighed then looked towards the roof.
"That hole never did get fixed" Cloud smirked. Suddenly Aeris came sprinting out of the church; her boots smashing off the ground at a remarkable rate. "Hey, whats-" Aeris yanked his arm and pulled towards the church. Cloud stumbled; both his sword and her staff in his left hand. "Hey, what's the rush!?"
"You got to see this! You will not believe it!" Aeris tugged him inside the church and right towards the flower bed in the church. Cloud stumbled along as they rushed back the decaying benches. When they reached the flower bed, Aeris let him go and pointed at it. "Look!"
"How..." Cloud muttered softly. Aeris smiled and kneeled down onto the soft earth of the edge of the flower bed. It had not been cared for months. But still, a few tiny flowers were blooming at the edge of the flower bed.
"Midgar was the center of the planet's energy. The Lifestream was so strong here...before Mako Reactors and human beings stole that energy. That's why Meteor destroyed Midgar...that's why it was allowed...this place has suffered to much" Aeris gently pushed some dirt closer to the little flowers and smiled. "This place belongs to the planet now" She stood up and knocked some dirt off her dress.
"We came close to dying off...didn't we?" Cloud tapped his sword off his boot. He looked down when he felt a trace of her green eyes on him. Aeris turned back around and looked down at the blue flowers; a few rain drops hitting them.
"Perhaps you...and us...deserved to die. The Cetra should not exist anymore" Aeris stated. Something hit Cloud; his eyes went pale and he felt sick in his stomach. Cloud walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry...I...I'm sorry Aeris" Cloud squeezed her shoulder and closed his eyes. Aeris turned around and looked at him. She opened her mouth but shut it; she just took his hand in hers and closed her own eyes. "I will never forget that day. That moment. I...I wake up still and think of it. I let you down..." Aeris put her arms around him gently; her shoulder resting on his shoulder.
"Don't..don't you dare worry about that. We both did what we had to do. We both saved the planet...just don't you dare do this to yourself over me" Her green eyes let a few tears flow onto his shoulder. And she felt a few drops on her back. And while it was raining, she knew it was not rain drops.
"Hey...you're not the last one anymore. A positive" Cloud laughed; the type of laugh you use to hide tears. Aeris laughed herself as she pushed away from his shoulder; she did keep her hands on his shoulders though.
"More than another Cetra. A brother...you just don't worry about that...it happened Cloud. You did your part and I did mine. So forget it...DUCK!" Aeris grabbed Cloud's shoulders and fell forward.
"Boom!" The rocket went flying over top of them and slammed into the old piano that was at he back of the church. The old pipes fell forward; they fell a mere foot away from their heads. Cloud rolled off Aeris and pulled his sword out.
"How? You're dead!" Cloud screamed. Aeris' eyes went wide as she scrambled to her feet. "Run Aeris! I'll take care of this!" Cloud took a step backwards. Boomer tore through the doorway; his shoulders and head knocked out extra room so he would fit through. He stalked towards them; his rocket launcher aimed directly at Cloud's head.
"Barrier!" Aeris spun her staff around; Cloud could see the glass-like barrier go up in front of him. She took a few steps back and glanced to the left. Boomer held the rocket launcher up and hissed.
"Boom!" Cloud stood his ground and watched the missile soar at him. He braced himself at the last minute; the rocket smashed into the barrier; the force of the rocket sent a blast of wind the other way.
"The barrier is almost gone...!" Cloud took another step back; his eyes going wide. Aeris ran over to him and grabbed his arm.
"Remember the last time we escaped from here?" With that she let go and went running into the back room. Cloud nodded and ran towards the right of the church.
"I'll buy you time!" Cloud screamed. Aeris turned around and gave him a look, but went running into the back room anyways. "Hey, you big ugly..shit!" Boomer came rushing at Cloud; he tore right through the old benches like they made of cheese. Cloud jumped up onto a bench and leapt at the beast. The Ultimate Weapon came down at a 45 degree angle; the aim was the beast's neckline. But the rocket launcher intercepted the sword. Cloud landed on a bench and pressed downward. "Come on you-" His words were cut off when Boomer's massive hand wrapped around his neck and lifted him upward. He tried to chop at the hand but the rocket launcher kept blocking him.
"Let him go!" Aeris pushed the barrel with all her might at the beast; it smashed into its knees and sent it stumbling backwards. In the process it let Cloud slip free. Aeris grabbed his arm and went rushing into the back room of the church. "Now will you come!" They both went rushing up the broken stairs as fast as they could. Boomer stalked forward; his massive arm knocking the benches out of the way. He stomped right on the flowers as he walked into the back room.
"Now!" Cloud screamed as they both pushed a barrel off. Boomer looked up and got hit right in the head with one of them. Cloud grabbed Aeris' hand and went running towards the hole in the ceiling. "Let's go!" Aeris climbed out the side of the hole as Cloud looked down; the beast shook its massive body, leaned back, and let out a blood-curling roar. Cloud jumped through the hole and ran towards Aeris; she stood at the edge of the church; the pouring rain covering over her like a shower.
"We gotta go find Tifa. And Phoenix! We can't stop this thing alone!" Aeris cried out. Cloud grabbed her arm and nodded. Behind them, a rocket went flying up through the open hole in the church. Cloud jumped towards the next building over; Aeris going along side him. They landed on it with a thump and rolled down the slanted roof. As they fell off the roof and towards the ground, Cloud wrapped his arms around her and let his back brace their fall into the ground. "Cloud! Why would you...!" She jumped off him and kneeled down. "Cure..." She muttered as the soft green glow went from her staff onto his body. Cloud shook his head; the rain drops flying off of his strands of hair.
"Let's go!" Cloud scrambled to his feet and went running past the church; Aeris in tow right behind him. Aeris looked over her shoulder at her beloved church. The huge stain glass window on the side seemed dark, even in the darkness the storm had created. Then it cracked; the crack started at the center and spider-webbed outwards in second. For a second was all the time it was in existence; the glass erupted outwards as the huge mass of monster burst through it. The pieces of colored glass rainbowed to the ground; they fell just like raindrops would. Boomer leaned back and flung his arms to the side; his roar shattered the next window down. Aeris looked forward and pushed her body even harder; the rain drops covering her body. But they were not the reason she was shaking.
"I wish the rain had waited!" Tifa held an empty folder over her head in an attempt to keep the rain off her maple hair. She hopped over a large puddle and skipped over the next small one. Phoenix walked a few steps behind her; his hands around the straps of his back-pack.
"You always seem to have something to complain about" Phoenix marched right through the puddles. Tifa hopped over the next puddle and turned around; the folder sagging all over from all the water.
"This coming from the man who never talks" Tifa trumped him; she spun around on her left heel and took a step right into a puddle. "I am not liking this rain" Tifa jumped out of the puddle and took a few more steps forward. "And don't comment on it. I love the rain. I love watching it; I love walking in it. Just...I'd like to get home" Tifa turned around and looked at him. "Can I ask you a question? Where does your staff go?" Phoenix held his right arm outwards and shook his wrist; the staff popped into his hand at once. "How'd you do that?"
"Feel inside the right sleeve of your jacket. Inside there is a pocket; it was designed to hold a small weapon" Phoenix spun the staff around in his hand; Tifa could see that the staff grew larger as he spun. No raindrop that got in its way stood a chance. "The staff can be expanded to this size or kept at a mere 10 inches. That is why it is so light" Phoenix twisted his wrist; the staff collapsed onto itself. "It gives me an element of surprise. It lacks materia space but I am no good with that" Phoenix twisted his wrist a different way; the staff went back up his sleeve.
"You're a Cetra and a Jenova! How can you not be good with materia?" Tifa shifted the folder to drain the water off the side. Phoenix shrugged and jammed his hands into his pockets.
"It's one of my blank spots..." The rain dripped off his silver hair and onto his face; the streaks looked like tears but were not. Tifa tossed the folder to the side and chuckled as the thunder boomed in the sky.
"Hey, it's ok! Some people stink at materia" Tifa turned around and began walking down the puddle-laden path. Phoenix put his hands back on his back-pack straps and strolled down the road behind her. "You know it would mean a lot to Cloud and Aeris if you came back with us" Tifa looked over her soaking brown hair at her teenage companion.
"I'm aware-"
"It would mean the world to your sister, Flip. Consider it" Tifa smiled at him and turned forward; her soggy brown hair whipping in the air. Phoenix grinned his small grin and followed behind her again. "You know, we'll-" A loud boom interrupted her. Both of them froze in stride; neither moved for a second. "That was not thunder..."
"It is dead! I killed it!" Phoenix's pride shouted out. Tifa shook her head; her hair was pasted to the sides of her face. Each individual rain drop seemed to hit their heads.
"Look, maybe it lived. Maybe its a different one! It's something and I think its best if we find the others!" Tifa took a deep breathe before breaking into a sprint forward. Phoenix watched her run forward; his eyes hazing over. He let go off the straps of his back-pack; his hands balled up into fists of hollow pride.
"I killed it...I killed it..." His palms opened outward; Phoenix watched as the drops of cool water splashed on them.
"Flip...let's go...Phoenix!" Tifa screamed out. Phoenix shook his head and began to run after her. The rain thumped the ground along with his boots.
