::Chapter 10 - A Hidden Agenda::
Rain fell now, a mere hour after the Highwind met its doom. The water helped extinguish the flames that the wreckage created. Smoke poured over Nibelheim as the survivors made it back to town, soaking wet. Their faces had been covered with soot, but were now clean thanks to the water that fell from the sky.
"Does anyone live at your old house?" Tifa asked to Cloud, assuming they could stay there for the night.
"Well, when we were here last, someone lived there. but not my mom." Cloud said to her while scratching his head. He wasn't sure why Nibelheim felt like home again, even though he knew, and watched the town burn to the ground. Perhaps he would walk in and see his mom standing there waiting for him, ready to hear the stories of how he helped saved the world from destruction. Perhaps no one lived there now, and his old house would be deserted as the mansion that was nearby. The mansion itself looked as old and deserted as ever. It was clear no one had dared go near it.
"We'll settle down for the night and go into the mansion tomorrow morning." Vincent said, staring at the mansion's door. "I know none of you want to venture in there at night."
Everyone nodded in unison for Vincent's decision, and followed Cloud towards his childhood home. Slowly they approached the doorstep, waiting for Cloud to investigate the house for any signs of life. "I want to go in first, everyone stay here." Cloud said, while continuing forward. He slowly walked towards the door and reached for the handle, not knowing what was on the other side. Without hesitation he turned the handle and opened the door.
The house was indeed deserted. Cobwebs covered most everything from the windows to the staircase. There were no signs of Cloud's mom, nor were there any items that would indicate that she had ever been there. There were no photos, no clothing. No personal items which belonged to Cloud or his mother. It was apparent to Cloud now, that Shinra had recreated Nibelheim, everything from the water tower to the inn, to Tifa's and Cloud's own houses were recreated to match exactly as they were before the fire. This didn't seem to bother Cloud as much as wondering WHY the town was recreated and now deserted. The option was given to stay somewhere else, for Cloud's sake, but he insisted that it was all right to stay here.
Tifa started a fire in the small fireplace, and the rest of the night was spent drying off. Tomorrow the expedition would begin deep into the basement of Shinra Mansion, in search of Professor Gast's writings. These writings would hold the stories Vincent longed for, and this is all he thought about as he drifted away to sleep.
The sun rose earlier than usual that day, the tenth day since Meteor's destruction of Midgar. From this side of the world, you couldn't even notice that anything had happened. Everything near Nibelheim appeared as calm and as peaceful as it did weeks ago, before Meteor even appeared.
Inside the small house, everyone started waking up thanks to the beams of sunlight protruding through various windows. Cloud and Aerith now slept a good five feet from each other, apparently rolling in opposite directions during slumber. Red slept as far away from the fireplace as possible, and Tifa slept as close to it as she could without dying of the heat. Vincent got up during the night, and now slept on the stairs. Cid slept on Cloud's bed, and Barrett slept on Cloud's mother's vacant bed. Yuffie slept in the guestroom alone.
An hour or so later, everyone was wide-awake, ready to venture into the Shinra Mansion. It was agreed that a time limit of 10 minutes be put in place to ensure there was no wasting of time. After ten minutes, if nothing was found this mission was a failure. There was no returning for safety reasons. Vincent didn't need to take the risk of getting injured again, even though it seemed a fair risk to him.
The main door to the mansion itself was barred shut, and it appeared to have been that way since their last visit. Someone must've assumed they were trespassing and made sure no one else followed suit. Cloud found a crowbar and pried the wooden planks off the door.
Inside the main floor things appeared just as they had before, only now there was twice as much dust on everything. Everyone carried their own personal flashlight, as they made their way down the spiral steps that lead to the basement. The air was stale, musty, and humid. At the bottom, a few bats flew up towards the staircase, past Cloud and the rest, scaring the girls. Vincent stopped near the room where his coffin was kept. He turned and ventured into there. Inside, the lid remained where it was when he was found a while back. Vincent walked over and pushed aside his coffin to reveal a small hole in the ground, which housed a black safe.
"Gast never mentioned this safe before, but Hojo slipped about it once. I don't know the combination, but if we search the lab over there we might find something." Vincent said, dusting off the safe. "Supposedly this safe holds everything important Gast kept a log of. We should be able to find out what was done to me that allows me to heal faster than normal humans."
"Well, let's go find that combination." Cid muttered as he headed out of the coffin room. "Where is this room exactly? This door down the hall?"
"Yeah, that's the lab." Vincent said, hobbling down the hall to the other door.
"Remember, we've only got six minutes to find this combo, or else we've got a safe we can't do a thing with." Cloud said, beginning to go through books.
"Split up. You three go search that end, we'll search this end. Red, search the floor for anything you might think could be it."
Books began flying as everyone frantically searched for this six-digit combination, with only five minutes remaining. Logs were thrown about, individual pieces of paper were thrown into various piles. Potential number combinations were stashed for using. Tensions flared as time winded down. The number of potential combinations rose, as time ran out.
"Alright, we've been in here ten minutes. Let's get out before something caves in on us. We've got about 2 dozen number combinations to try, so we'll just have to go with what we've got. or find a way to break the seal." Cid trailed off while leading everyone out of the lab and back towards the staircase. "Let's go, let's go. I don't want to stay down here any longer than we have to."
Footsteps pounded on the wooden steps as everyone quickly made their way up towards the first floor. Barrett led, carrying the safe, followed by Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, Aerith and Cloud. Red left early, unable to stand the heat. A minute later everyone surfaced back on the main floor near the entrance to the basement.
As Cloud stepped off the final step, a lout rumbling could be heard. The spiral steps themselves crumbled and fell apart, falling down the round stairwell they were housed.
Heads turned and peeked down the hole watching the stairs smack the basement floor.
"See. Another minute down there and we would've been killed." Cid said, in amazement as he dropped his cigarette out of his mouth.
Rain fell now, a mere hour after the Highwind met its doom. The water helped extinguish the flames that the wreckage created. Smoke poured over Nibelheim as the survivors made it back to town, soaking wet. Their faces had been covered with soot, but were now clean thanks to the water that fell from the sky.
"Does anyone live at your old house?" Tifa asked to Cloud, assuming they could stay there for the night.
"Well, when we were here last, someone lived there. but not my mom." Cloud said to her while scratching his head. He wasn't sure why Nibelheim felt like home again, even though he knew, and watched the town burn to the ground. Perhaps he would walk in and see his mom standing there waiting for him, ready to hear the stories of how he helped saved the world from destruction. Perhaps no one lived there now, and his old house would be deserted as the mansion that was nearby. The mansion itself looked as old and deserted as ever. It was clear no one had dared go near it.
"We'll settle down for the night and go into the mansion tomorrow morning." Vincent said, staring at the mansion's door. "I know none of you want to venture in there at night."
Everyone nodded in unison for Vincent's decision, and followed Cloud towards his childhood home. Slowly they approached the doorstep, waiting for Cloud to investigate the house for any signs of life. "I want to go in first, everyone stay here." Cloud said, while continuing forward. He slowly walked towards the door and reached for the handle, not knowing what was on the other side. Without hesitation he turned the handle and opened the door.
The house was indeed deserted. Cobwebs covered most everything from the windows to the staircase. There were no signs of Cloud's mom, nor were there any items that would indicate that she had ever been there. There were no photos, no clothing. No personal items which belonged to Cloud or his mother. It was apparent to Cloud now, that Shinra had recreated Nibelheim, everything from the water tower to the inn, to Tifa's and Cloud's own houses were recreated to match exactly as they were before the fire. This didn't seem to bother Cloud as much as wondering WHY the town was recreated and now deserted. The option was given to stay somewhere else, for Cloud's sake, but he insisted that it was all right to stay here.
Tifa started a fire in the small fireplace, and the rest of the night was spent drying off. Tomorrow the expedition would begin deep into the basement of Shinra Mansion, in search of Professor Gast's writings. These writings would hold the stories Vincent longed for, and this is all he thought about as he drifted away to sleep.
The sun rose earlier than usual that day, the tenth day since Meteor's destruction of Midgar. From this side of the world, you couldn't even notice that anything had happened. Everything near Nibelheim appeared as calm and as peaceful as it did weeks ago, before Meteor even appeared.
Inside the small house, everyone started waking up thanks to the beams of sunlight protruding through various windows. Cloud and Aerith now slept a good five feet from each other, apparently rolling in opposite directions during slumber. Red slept as far away from the fireplace as possible, and Tifa slept as close to it as she could without dying of the heat. Vincent got up during the night, and now slept on the stairs. Cid slept on Cloud's bed, and Barrett slept on Cloud's mother's vacant bed. Yuffie slept in the guestroom alone.
An hour or so later, everyone was wide-awake, ready to venture into the Shinra Mansion. It was agreed that a time limit of 10 minutes be put in place to ensure there was no wasting of time. After ten minutes, if nothing was found this mission was a failure. There was no returning for safety reasons. Vincent didn't need to take the risk of getting injured again, even though it seemed a fair risk to him.
The main door to the mansion itself was barred shut, and it appeared to have been that way since their last visit. Someone must've assumed they were trespassing and made sure no one else followed suit. Cloud found a crowbar and pried the wooden planks off the door.
Inside the main floor things appeared just as they had before, only now there was twice as much dust on everything. Everyone carried their own personal flashlight, as they made their way down the spiral steps that lead to the basement. The air was stale, musty, and humid. At the bottom, a few bats flew up towards the staircase, past Cloud and the rest, scaring the girls. Vincent stopped near the room where his coffin was kept. He turned and ventured into there. Inside, the lid remained where it was when he was found a while back. Vincent walked over and pushed aside his coffin to reveal a small hole in the ground, which housed a black safe.
"Gast never mentioned this safe before, but Hojo slipped about it once. I don't know the combination, but if we search the lab over there we might find something." Vincent said, dusting off the safe. "Supposedly this safe holds everything important Gast kept a log of. We should be able to find out what was done to me that allows me to heal faster than normal humans."
"Well, let's go find that combination." Cid muttered as he headed out of the coffin room. "Where is this room exactly? This door down the hall?"
"Yeah, that's the lab." Vincent said, hobbling down the hall to the other door.
"Remember, we've only got six minutes to find this combo, or else we've got a safe we can't do a thing with." Cloud said, beginning to go through books.
"Split up. You three go search that end, we'll search this end. Red, search the floor for anything you might think could be it."
Books began flying as everyone frantically searched for this six-digit combination, with only five minutes remaining. Logs were thrown about, individual pieces of paper were thrown into various piles. Potential number combinations were stashed for using. Tensions flared as time winded down. The number of potential combinations rose, as time ran out.
"Alright, we've been in here ten minutes. Let's get out before something caves in on us. We've got about 2 dozen number combinations to try, so we'll just have to go with what we've got. or find a way to break the seal." Cid trailed off while leading everyone out of the lab and back towards the staircase. "Let's go, let's go. I don't want to stay down here any longer than we have to."
Footsteps pounded on the wooden steps as everyone quickly made their way up towards the first floor. Barrett led, carrying the safe, followed by Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, Aerith and Cloud. Red left early, unable to stand the heat. A minute later everyone surfaced back on the main floor near the entrance to the basement.
As Cloud stepped off the final step, a lout rumbling could be heard. The spiral steps themselves crumbled and fell apart, falling down the round stairwell they were housed.
Heads turned and peeked down the hole watching the stairs smack the basement floor.
"See. Another minute down there and we would've been killed." Cid said, in amazement as he dropped his cigarette out of his mouth.