Vast gigantic flames spread across the entire area, making the whole place as hot as one feels when standing right next to a huge bonfire for a while without moving, flames that stretched even up to the vast night sky, and spread across everything in sight in the town, burning it all away so effectively that none of the fire was even close to fading away, and the sickening smell of burning flesh and the stench of death filled the air.
A lone figure walked along the town's now flaming streets, among the vast deadly flames themselves, passing calmly through the burning and doomed town in the wake of the terrible destruction that he himself had caused, as all the townspeople died helplessly in the fire, the man stopped at the entrance of the town, and looked back to see Cloud standing behind him in the middle of the town, watching him with immense horror.
With long hair as silver as the blade of the extremely long sword that he wielded, and with a cape as black as the darkness itself, the man turned to face Cloud with glowing green Mako eyes, an evil smirk spreading across his face.
Cloud simply stood and trembled in terror as the man threw his head back and laughed, a terrible sound that chilled Cloud to his very core despite the flames around them, and that nightmarish laugh continued, even as his own flames consumed the man and threatened to devour him, the laughter did not cease, even as the flames swallowed him from sight…
Cloud Strife's glowing blue Mako eyes flew wide open with a start, and he sprang up to his feet in a flash, feeling his heart fearfully slamming hard against his chest like an anvil. Quickly, he shook away all thoughts and memories of that terrible day so long ago now, and his composure was soon restored as he calmed down, looking around at where he was.
He saw that he was in a large sewer that seemed to go on for miles in the distance, and knew that he was in the sewers for all of the Slums themselves, and he rather detested the very thought of it.
Suddenly remembering what had happened before, what Don Corneo had revealed to him and the others in the mansion, and remembering the Don's trapdoor, Cloud realized that he must have been dropping into here, and how long he had been unconscious for now, he had no idea, but knew he had to hurry it make it to Sector 7 to save it before it was too late.
Cloud looked urgently around the area of the sewers that he stood in, searching urgently for Tifa and Aeris, knowing that both of them must surely be nearby here too, with him. He then heard a moan, and saw something stir ahead of him. Cloud rushed over to the source of movement, and felt a great sense of relief as he saw Aeris get comfortably to her feet, and he walked over to her.
"Are you alright, Aeris? Are you hurt from the fall down here?" asked Cloud, concerned. Aeris shook her head, and smiled reassuringly at him, though she seemed troubled by the recent events they'd experienced.
"Yeah…I'm fine, Cloud. Don't worry about me, it wasn't that hard a fall even if it was a fair way down…" replied Aeris, quietly, though she was rubbing her head and wincing as she stood, but she did seem alright all the same. Satisfied, Cloud looked around the area, and found Tifa getting back up to her feet in the sewer, looking very troubled and saddened, as Cloud and Aeris both walked over to her.
"Are you alright, Tifa? Is something wrong?" asked Cloud, concerned by her rather glum, remorseful expression, though she seemed completely unhurt physically.
"Yeah, I guess I'm not hurt or anything, so I'm perfectly fine right now. But this whole situation with Sector 7 is all just so terrible. The thought of Shinra sending the Plate down over the Sector, crushing Barret and the others, along with so many people…it's just too painful to imagine. Whatever Shinra were up to, I never what it would be like this…I never thought they could come up with anything so terrible and heartless…" said Tifa, sadly, rather downcast indeed.
Cloud and Aeris were both completely silent in their own thoughts; neither of them knowing what to say that would offer any comfort in this time. They knew Tifa was right, and for all they knew, it might be over already, and the Sector might have been destroyed while they were unconscious. After a while, Aeris spoke up, trying to offer come small constellation.
"Well, at least the worst thing we've had to do, with all that business with the Don, is over and done with for good now," said Aeris, with a sigh of relief at the thought that she wouldn't have to go through that sort of situation again.
Suddenly at that very moment, as if right on cue after Aeris' words, fate played yet another twist on the three of them as a loud, monstrous roar came from deep within one of the tunnels in the sewer, in the distance in front of them, as they spun around to face its direction in alarm. It had sounded like a roar from a very ferocious and huge monster, and it was coming straight towards them. Cloud smacked his forehead.
"(She just HAD to say that, didn't she? Why does this sort of thing always seem to happen whenever everyone thinks they're safe for now? Now we've got to fight some beast as well as rushing to save a doomed Sector,)" thought Cloud.
"Um…on second thought…maybe the worst isn't over after all…and by the sound of it, not by a long shot," said Aeris, quietly, looking extremely nervous, as she held her staff.
The previously unseen monster roared ferociously, a rather threatening and wince inducing sound that echoed throughout the whole tunnels of the sewer, and the thing seemed to be coming straight towards them, as a large shape came from out of the tunnel shadows, and came fully into view, as Cloud and the others stared at it in alarm.
It was a massive beast with light blue skin, and large jaws filed with razor-sharp teeth, and it had two deadly horns on its head. It had yellow eyes, two arms that looked extremely strong with claws on the end of each one, two legs that seemed slow but rather tough, and a black scaly tail that swung behind it. It had a long, thin tongue that seemed to constantly hang out of its mouth, large amounts of drool spilling from its jaws.
For some reason or other, it also had strong metal chains on its arms that it moved about with effortlessly, and the creature seemed to use them as weapons with its arms, and the thing itself stood at about twenty feet, towering over them, it's head brushing the very ceiling of the sewer.
"What…what is this creature, and what does it want from us? Why is it down here?" asked Aeris, anxiously, as she took a step backwards fearfully from the massive blue-skinned beast that advanced towards them, looking hungrily at them.
"Before Don Corneo sent us all the way down here through that trapdoor, he said something about saying hi to something named Apps before it feasted on our skin and bones. I guess this is what he was talking about…this creature. This thing must be Apps, and if the Don seems to know it so well, then I'm guessing it must be some sort of pet of his. He probably feeds some of his enemies to it down here…which I guess includes us now, which is why this thing, Apps, is here. To devour us," said Cloud, grimly, and Aeris gave a squeak of terror. Cloud guessed that she had no previous experience at all with fighting this sort of monstrous opponent.
"I don't CARE what it is, I'm getting to Sector 7 to save the others, and this thing isn't stopping me!!" screeched Tifa.
As if were responding to this emotional outburst from Tifa, Apps stopped in its tracks before the three warriors who all had the weapons readied to fight it at any moment, but before they could do so, Apps suddenly roared even more viciously than ever, the sound both loud and terrible. Cloud and Tifa gritted their teeth against it, as Aeris covered her ears in instinct.
Suddenly, Apps raised its huge and muscular arms, with the chains dragging up along with them, and it slammed its muscular blue-skinned hands hard against its large chest the same way a big ape would do. Cloud looked on in complete bewilderment, until he suddenly heard something else coming in their direction, and it sounded like a huge deal of water was coming towards them, and Cloud's eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen.
Apps suddenly crouched down on the sewer floor, and clearly braced itself, as Cloud, Tifa and Aeris all saw a massive wave of sewer water heading straight in their direction from the tunnel behind the creature that had somehow caused it this monster wave that seemed to fill the area of the tunnel as it sped towards them, threatening to drown them.
Cloud and the others looked at the approaching wave in alarm and fear, but there was no way they could avoid it in time in the sewer tunnels with it coming so quickly towards them. With no other options, Cloud braced himself for impact as the wave washed over Apps and then struck Cloud and the others, completely washing right over them.
Cloud found himself suddenly under water, struggling to hold his breath in the foul mucky liquid, before the wave finally died down and washed away. Cloud struck the side of the sewer wall hard, feeling completely drenched and water logged, as he coughed and spluttered out the watery filth that he couldn't help but swallow, before murderous and darkening rage completely consumed him. He sprang to his feet, and looked hatefully at Apps, which had stood back up to its feet, growling at him. Tifa and Aeris both lay unmoving on the sewer floor.
"You're not getting your meal from the Don this time, you really picked the wrong guy on the menu now, you bastard!" yelled Cloud, as he sprang forwards in a flash and charged towards Apps, raising his huge Buster sword, and he leapt in mid-air as he reached Apps, who could make no move to stop him in time, as Cloud swung his sword at it. The blade struck Apps at once, and slashed through its left side, the sword cutting through its skin slightly, and dark blood dripped down from it, as Cloud landed back on his feet before it.
Apps let out a hideous shriek, but this time it was one of pain rather than one of threat, as the sword wound in its side was made, but to Cloud's astonishment, the monstrous beast then seemed to just shrug off the injury from that point on, paying no attention to it as it was of no concern, and Cloud had put his full effort into that attack. This situation already wasn't looking good.
Apps suddenly let out a monstrous roar, and suddenly raised one of its big arms in Cloud's direction and then swung it at him, as if the thing wanted to swipe at Cloud and strike at it with his claws, and by the look of it, if such a thing happened, it would have taken Cloud's head right off.
So it was lucky that at the exact moment this happened, Aeris had by now already sprang back up onto her feet in the sewer tunnel, and seeing what was about to happen to Cloud, she clutched a Materia on her quarterstaff, and it flared to life at once, green light bursting at the ground beneath her feet, as the spell was summoned with astounding speed.
Just before Apps could strike at Cloud, several icicles had appeared out of nowhere, and flew straight towards Apps, all of them striking it and shattering as they hit it, causing several cuts all over the creature's body, and causing it to withdraw and fall back in surprise. One particularly long and sharp icicle had suddenly struck Apps in its right shoulder, and ripped straight through it, lodging itself right in the middle of the shoulder. Its dark blood dripped down from it.
Suddenly though, to Cloud's disbelief and Aeris' horror, the huge blue-skinned beast simply raised one of its big hands, and clutched the icicle through its shoulder, and in only one mighty tug of sheer force, it had pulled the icicle from it at once, throwing it aside and shattering it to pieces. Its hole in the shoulder still clearly bled freely, but the monster itself just didn't seem to be affected by it.
"It…it just shook that off like it was nothing at all to it…" gasped Aeris, her beautiful green eyes flaring wide with astonishment and fear at the scene, while Apps advanced menacingly towards them both.
Suddenly, a slim but muscular figure came rushing out of the shadows of the sewers, and Cloud and Aeris both watched in surprise as Tifa came rushing out and charged straight towards Apps, her face a mask of fury. Leaping up to Apps' snarling face, she sent a kick towards it, her leg striking its face hard and causing it to stumble back slightly, then she struck it in the head again with her fists, but it suddenly straightened back up, and simply swatted her aside with one of its large hands. Tifa fell hard to the sewer floor, striking the side of the wall, as she winced in pain.
Furious, Cloud quickly reached for one of the Materia equipped to his sword and clutched it tightly, causing it to glow at once, and green light burst from the ground at Cloud's feet. A bolt of lighting came flying out of nowhere, and struck Apps with a flash of light. Apps stumbled backwards; looking as if it were dazed from the impact, but then it straightened up suddenly, and beat its fists on its chest once again. Cloud gasped in shock, and looked at the two girls.
"Watch out, it's going to summon up another wave!" shouted Cloud, in warning, but as the three turned to look at Apps, it had already crouched down and braced itself, and they could already hear yet another wave of sewer water coming straight towards them.
Tifa quickly sprang to her feet, and climbed the sewer walls with surprising grace for trying to get up such a slippery surface, and she leaped off it and grabbed one of the large sewer pipes overheard, climbing on top of it and holding on it tightly, bracing for the impact that would come.
Aeris clutched one of the Materia equipped to her staff in a frantic and quick motion of movement, the Materia glowing brightly at once, as green light burst from the ground right at Aeris' feet. A transparent, spiritual barrier suddenly seemed to form right around her, keeping her safe within it while also letting her see what was going on. Cloud had never seen this before, and would have gaped at this action too, like he had with Aeris' other talents, but he had to get to safety too.
Cloud rushed over to the wall, intending to use his sword to climb up it, and reach one of the pipes to hold on tightly to it, like Tifa was doing, but Apps had other ideas. Seeing Cloud about to climb away, Apps snarled and in a quick movement of both of its arms, it sent its metal chains all flying straight towards Cloud, as they each wrapped tightly around Cloud's whole body, and pulled him back towards it.
Cloud let out a cry of surprise as his body was dragged towards Apps from the chains, and suddenly Apps swung its both its arms around itself in a circle, swinging Cloud violently around as well, from the chains that had tightened around him from Apps' arms, and Apps then threw its chain forwards with horrifying strength and speed, sending Cloud flying like a rocket off the chains, and he slammed hard with a loud and sickening thud on the tunnel floor in the distance. He lay motionless.
There was a huge scream from Aeris, and Tifa shouted out Cloud's name frantically, but they could do nothing as the waves finally arrived, washing over Apps, which had braced itself for the impact again, and Aeris and Tifa, both protected from the waves, watched in horror as they reached the still motionless form of Cloud, washing his body away, and the waves went out of sight, taking Cloud with them.
Aeris screamed again, but it wasn't of fear, it was one of such fury and rage that anyone would have been completely shocked to hear it come from her of all people. As the magical barrier around her faded, she instantly clutched tightly at one of her Materia, not caring for her safety anymore, but for the first time she could ever remember, she wanted to attack, to kill. Green light burst from the ground beneath her feet as the Materia glowed brightly at once. And at that moment, flames suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as they all struck Apps at once, and did not fade away for a while, attempting to burn away the light blue skin of the monster.
Apps shrieked in clear and intense agony this time, now unable to simply shrug this pain off like with the other attacks used against it before. No, as the flames all spread across its whole body, slowly burning its whole skin and filling the air with the sickening smell of burning flesh, this was definitely the worst agonizing pain Apps had ever experienced.
The flames then finally faded away after ten seconds of burning all around Apps, but the flames had been so hot and intense that Apps was still shrieking in clear agony, it's skin now looking burnt and raw in many places.
Normally, Tifa would have been completely astonished at seeing such a powerful spell of Magic being summoned up by the strange flower girl, but she too was consumed by anger, and paid attention to little else. She rushed towards Apps as soon as the flames had died out, and now it was her turn to let her own rage loose on it.
Tifa sprang up into mid-air right before Apps, suddenly kicking it and punching it several times without stopping at all, striking and knocking its face around dozens of times, and forcing the thing backwards a bit from the fierce onslaught of fists and feet. Its monstrous face was clearly bruised and bleeding now, as Tifa ended her attacks with a final kick in the face, before she sprang back down to the sewer floor, panting for breath, but still looking angry and determined.
Clearly hurt and unable to shake that fact off this time, Apps seemed absolutely enraged as well, roaring ferociously once again, the imposing sound echoing around the sewer tunnels like before, but this time neither Tifa or Aeris were affected by it, they only focused on destroying the beast before them once and for all.
Apps then quickly beat both its huge muscular fists on its now rather burned looking chest, roaring furiously as it did so, and another wave of sewer water quickly sped over towards to them, in far greater speed than the other two waves had come. Apps didn't brace itself this time, with the burns now across its whole body, it would welcome the full impact of the wave of sewer water.
Aeris and Tifa were both caught out by surprise from the speed of this wave, and could do nothing about it this time as the wave struck them. Both girls found themselves under the depths of the mucky sewer water, and both held their breath intently at once, though it was getting quite difficult to do so, but as the waves finally faded down to nothing, both of them were able to gasp for breath, as they were both washed away down the tunnel, and struck the tunnel wall hard.
Both of them sat there on the tunnel floor, panting for breath rather painfully as they both choked on the foul water they had been forced to swallow, choking and spluttering achingly, and their bodies were both clearly bruised from the impact with the wall too. Apps, having not braced itself this time, had also been forced into the sewer wall because of the wave, as it slammed hard enough against the wall to knock the whole thing down where it had hit.
Apps got to his feet from the bits of rubble that were now the mere remains of the wall it had completely brought down, and it stood growling menacingly at Tifa and Aeris, towering over them, as it seemed to have recovered a little from its previous injuries due to the waves. Both of the girls, however, seemed to be struggling now.
Although she was clearly panting heavily for breath and choking a little as well, Aeris quickly got to her feet on the ground of the sewer tunnels, and she suddenly held out her staff in front of her, and then in an amazingly quick series of movements, she spun her staff around several times while closing her eyes and praying at her same moment.
Suddenly, some light blue and white magical energy appeared out of nowhere, surrounding both Aeris and Tifa, touching them both, and then vanishing, completely healing the injuries that they had both suffered, and they were restored back to full strength. Tifa stared at Aeris in complete astonishment.
"How on earth did you just do that, Aeris? How could you possibly heal us completely and so effectively like that without even using Materia in the process?" asked Tifa, looking both highly stunned and impressed.
"Oh right, you don't know yet, do you? Basically, I can be capable of several different talents and techniques that all other people can only dream about. I can't explain to you why that is right now, since there's no time, but healing someone completely even from dying, as long as they're conscious, is one of the my useful capabilities of mine, I find. Like back in the church I go to, I had to use it on Cloud to…" began Aeris, but she stopped speaking suddenly, as he remembered what had happened to Cloud, and she then turned to glare at Apps, which was advancing menacingly towards them both.
"Alright, on the count of three, we both give attack this thing at the same time, and give it everything we've got…for Cloud. We'll finish it off once and for all; I know we can do it, Aeris. Okay then, ready? One…two…three!" shouted Tifa, and at once, both girls sprang towards Apps to attack.
Aeris swung her quarterstaff at Apps, and Tifa swung her fists and feet at Apps at the same time, as they both struck Apps several times each, with their own particular weapons, but Apps merely stood still, seeming indifferent.
Roaring dully this time as if it was getting rather board now, as Aeris and Tifa kept striking it with their respective weapons but seemed to be causing it no harm at all, Apps suddenly raised its tail from behind its back, and swung it forwards at Tifa and Aeris, both of whom didn't see it in time, as the tail smacked them hard away from Apps across their bodies with immensely strong force, sending them both falling backwards and landing hard onto the sewer floor, both of them now clearly bruised and battered from the impact, as Apps towered above the two weakened girls, its tongue hanging from its mouth, and drool spraying from it.
In a quick movement of its arms, with Aeris and Tifa both too injured from the sheer force of the tail's strike to do anything about it, Apps quickly wrapped all its chains around both the two girls, and lifted them up in mid air just above its monstrous head.
Apps looked up at the two trapped girls as it held them above in its chains, and it suddenly opened its huge mouth wide just below them, its massive jaws looking ready to chew, as it began to loosen the grip of the chains to drop both Tifa and Aeris right into its mouth at the same time, right about to eat both of them alive using its teeth at any moment…
Suddenly, something came coming out from the vast darkness, an object that seemed to shine among it all in all its glory. Apps halted for a moment, as this object came into view along with the very person holding it. The object was a certain massive sword, and the person holding it tightly it in his hands was none other than Cloud Strife, and amazingly he seemed to look in perfect condition and up to full strength now despite the earlier attack against him. Something in Apps' eyes seemed to say that it was highly shocked to see Cloud alive, but the Ex-SOLDIER gave it no thought. All he cared about at that moment was slicing this thing to pieces once and for all, for daring to do what it did to him, and most of all, for daring to eat his two dear friends at this moment.
With a cry of immense rage and hatred, Cloud charged towards Apps in a flash, his sword held high in his hands, as he rushed over to Apps, which looked too stunned for a moment to even make a move, and wouldn't be able to react in time anyway, as Cloud leaped into the air just before it, and swung his sword right at Apps' tail, slicing the whole thing straight off Apps in an instant, spraying the whole place with Apps' dark blood as the lifeless limb fell to the ground.
Cloud landed back onto the floor of the sewer tunnel comfortably on his feet, as Apps shrieked in overwhelming agony, its dark blood quickly spreading out from the hole where its tail used to be, and it appeared to be losing a heck of a lot of blood as it spread everywhere, which could only mean that it was surely dying, and could not save itself.
The chains holding Tifa and Aeris loosened as Apps was focusing only on its intense agony now as its blood spread out from it, and both girls fell from the air, but Cloud quickly caught them before they could hit the floor, and sent them down gently on the ground, as Apps still shrieked and swayed on the spot as it still bled heavily.
Cloud clutched a Materia on his large sword, green light bursting at the ground beneath his feet as he did so while the Materia glowed brightly. Some light blue magical energy then suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and surrounded both Tifa and Aeris, vanishing as it all touched them, healing them completely at once. Both girls, now alright again, stood to their feet, looking confused as they saw Apps writhing about in agony and bleeding intensely, until they then looked in the other direction and saw Cloud, looking perfectly alright.
"CLOUD!" shouted both Tifa and Aeris, joyfully at the same time, as they rushed over to him, and they both hugged him tightly, Tifa at Cloud's left and Aeris at Cloud's right. Cloud was rather surprised and taken aback by this.
"Hey come on…you two, let go…I can't breathe…" gasped Cloud, as he was hugged tightly from both sides.
Looking rather sheepish, Aeris and Tifa both let go of Cloud and smiled happily, before the three of them turned their attention back to Apps, who was still clearly shrieking in agony, and was still dying due to blood loss, it seemed.
"What happened to that thing…Apps? And just how did you survive that chain throw and that wave earlier, Cloud? I thought you were dead for sure from those attacks, so what happened?" asked Aeris, rather urgently, and Tifa looked very curious to know as well.
"I just sliced its whole tail off, that's all. Looks like I hit a main weak spot in it while doing so, which I guess explain why it's so weakened and dying now. As for me, well after the wave earlier, I was washed back down the tunnels, knocked out but not dead. When I awoke, I used my Restore Materia several times in order to recover, just like I used on you two, so then I rushed back down the tunnel, found and saved you guys, and here we are," explained Cloud.
Without another word, Cloud suddenly rushed forwards over to Apps, as his sword held high and tightly in his hands, as he leaped in mid-air, and swung his sword down at the dying beast. The blade slashed right through Apps' chest, giving it a clear wound across it and more blood flowed from it, as Cloud landed back on his feet.
Tifa also quickly sprung into action, and leaped up right onto Apps' back, as the monster stumbled about in its intense pain, not noticing her climb onto it. Tifa reached its head on top of it, and at once, she swung her fists down at it at the same time, both her fists striking Apps' eyes so hard and with such strength that it blinded both at once. Now blind as well as dying, Apps shrieked in sheer agonizing pain, while Tifa leaped off its back to land on the sewer floor.
Aeris now took action as well, as she swung her staff with all her might at Apps' legs, and succeeded in sending its feet out from under it, and tripping it up. Apps fell with a loud crash to the ground, unable to get back up in its agony.
Green light burst from the ground beneath Cloud's feet as he clutched a Materia on his Buster sword, the Materia glowing brightly at once. A bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere in the sewer tunnels, and struck Apps hard, sending it flying backwards across the ground, before it slid to a stop, paralysed by the lightning bolt, and quickly dying.
Nevertheless, Tifa felt consumed with murderous rage as she thought of how much time that this beast had made them waste, when it was clear that every second would count if they wanted to save Sector 7, and this monster had made them waste so much time, that it was probably already too late now, everyone in Sector 7 might be dead at the moment, and it was all because of this creature wasting their time and stopping them from helping and saving the people.
Tifa rushed forwards at that moment, running over to the already dying huge beast that lay on the floor of the sewers, but Tifa wanted to make it suffer even more for what it had done, she felt a strong desire to just let her rage loose on it and pound every inch of it she could reach.
Tifa reached the large head of Apps itself as it lay, and she immediately went to attack it, though the beast was now helpless to stop her, as she unleashed a fearful onslaught on the dying creature, her rage and hatred towards it overcoming her completely.
Tifa swung and rammed each of her fists and her feet several times at Apps' head with terrifying speed and sheer strength, striking the creature over and over again for what seemed like ages without stopping, hitting it mercilessly and holding none of her strength back. Even after it's skull had been completely smashed in by her blows long after she had killed the beast, she still did not stop, her rage still consuming her. Aeris looked horrified at the scene, and Cloud finally stepped over to Tifa, he'd had enough of seeing her behave like this now, the battle was over, as he firmly stopped Tifa, and pulled her away from the dead form of Apps.
"Stop that right now! That's enough, Tifa! It's over now, just stop this, it won't help any of us at all to attack a dead corpse all day, so stop trying!" shouted Cloud, firmly, as he tightly held Tifa back from Apps' body with his arms, as she twisted and struggled around in his grip, before she stopped suddenly, and burst into miserable tears instead.
"Don't, Tifa, just don't…" said Cloud, uneasily, as Tifa sobbed onto his shoulder, leaning herself tightly on Cloud, who patted her on the shoulder, and held her awkwardly in comfort, not knowing what else to do. Aeris stood watching in silence, also not really having any idea of what to say.
Finally, Tifa stopped sobbing and drew away from Cloud, steadily calming herself down, but Cloud could see the tears still clearly reflected in her beautiful brown eyes, and he saw a terrible feeling of defeat and hopelessness in her expression, making Cloud feel rather downcast himself. At last, Tifa spoke up to them.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted back there, but I really wanted to punish that monster for making us fight past it, for making us waste so much time down here struggling to stay alive against it, when we could be helping the others defend Sector 7, and all the citizens from Shinra instead. But now that we've had to spend so much time down here, we've already lost our chance of saving the Sector and the people there. The Shinra will already have begun their plan long ago, and Barret and the others can't possibly hold them off there alone for too long by themselves. That's why I was so angry…because now we're already too late to do anything to save the Sector in time…Marlene…Barret…Biggs…Wedge…Jessie…the people of the Slums…all of them are going to get killed, all because this beast Apps delayed us down here…" said Tifa, in a sad voice.
Aeris then stepped towards her, and placed a firm but comforting hand on her shoulder. Tifa looked round at Aeris, who smiled at her in reassurance, but looking very determined all the same.
"If you really do care about them all, if guarantying their safety and lives really does mean that much to you, then don't just give up hope on them now, Tifa. Never give up hope, not until you know for sure that it's all over. Besides, from all the things I've heard about it, it's not supposed to be that easy to destroy the Pillar, and that means Shinra will take a while to bring it down, right? So let's not give up hope until we actually KNOW for sure that the Plate has fallen," said Aeris. Tifa nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah…you know something, I think you could be right about that, Aeris. Maybe Shinra haven't had the time to succeed just yet, maybe Barret and the other are still alive, and Sector 7 could still be intact right now. Alright then, in that case we still have plenty of time left to save the others, and there's still hope of completely stopping the Pillar's destruction from Shinra. So let's get going over there right away, at once," said Tifa, with renewed confidence and optimism.
Cloud and Aeris both nodded in agreement, and at once the three of them climbed up a nearby ladder as fast as they could, then ran further along a sewer, down another ladder and climbed up the stairs at the other side of the tunnel. They then ran further along the sewer, picked up a yellow Steal Materia that Tifa equipped into one of the slots in one of her fighting gloves, and they climbed down a nearby hole.
They then came to a path in the sewer, and walked along it, down some stairs, up some other stairs at the opposite side of the tunnel, and then they ran along the path and climbed up another ladder until they reached a manhole cover in the sewer, to their relief. Cloud climbed the ladder leading up to it, wiped the cobwebs off the manhole cover and pushed it aside, and then climbed out of the sewer, looking around him.
"(Well, on the bright side, at least we've made it out of that sewer and back up to the surface. But by the looks of it, we've made it up into a large, abandoned maze of trains…the Train Graveyard…)" thought Cloud, as he looked at the area.
Looking around at the area that he stood in after coming out the sewer, Cloud saw dozens and dozens of different types of abandoned old train cars around the entire place that lay almost atop one another, all bunched up together, in a sad state of permanent disrepair. Lights flickered on and off constantly from most of them, and the slow buzz of sparks flew from some of the exposed wires that had dropped into puddles of stagnant water that lay around the place.
The old Train Graveyard, as it was commonly known by in Midgar, smelled like oil, burnt rubber, and distant memories that seemed to linger around the place. A thick air of depression appeared to constantly hung around the Train Graveyard like a blanket, and Cloud could feel it settle on his mind. If there was anywhere in Midgar that people made up haunted horror stories about, than it was always the Train Graveyard that they focused it all on.
Cloud quickly turned to face Tifa and Aeris, who had both just climbed out of the sewer manhole, and both of them looked around at the area that they now had to travel through. While Tifa was still looking intently around the area of what may seem like the quickest route to Sector 7, Cloud looked over at Aeris, suddenly feeling immensely guilty that he had brought her into all this, that he had dragged her into this mess in the first place, it was all his fault she was even here. Aeris quickly noticed the expression on Cloud's face, and looked at him as Cloud then spoke up to her.
"Aeris, I don't know how to say this…but I want you to know that I am really sorry about all of this…that I got you mixed up in this whole big mess we're in. All I intended was for you to come with me to Sector 7, but now I've got you mixed up with Wall Market, Don Corneo, and now it's because of me that you're involved in this Sector 7 disaster too. I never meant for any of this to happen like this, if I only had known…" said Cloud, guiltily, but Aeris shook her head at him firmly.
"(Is he STILL going on about all that? And just when I hoped he had stopped saying things like this, he mentions it all yet again. He's always saying how this is all just too dangerous for me, but I think by now that I've proven to him that I can handle it all so far, I can handle being in a bad situation, so I have no regrets about being here, because I can come out of it safely. Besides, I'm already deeply involved in this situation, and there's no way I'm ever backing out of it,)" thought Aeris, as she spoke up to Cloud with a frown.
"Don't you even think about telling me to just go on back home, Cloud, I'd never be able to forgive myself if I just left you two and the other people in Sector 7 to this terrible plan of Shinra's by just heading home. I would go crazy just thinking about it if I did such a thing, so I'm coming along to help out too, and that's final. I'm already involved in this too much to just back out of it now," said Aeris, flatly.
Cloud sighed heavily to himself, knowing full well that she was right, but still couldn't help but feel a sense of unease and guilt towards the subject. Tifa then spoke up, having carefully planned out a quick route to Sector 7.
"I've studied this area around here, and I know the area of this place well, since it's right next to Sector 7, and I saw details of the area of the Train Graveyard from one of Wedge's maps back in the hideout below the bar. From here, we can make it to Sector 7 as quickly as possible, if we can just simply get past all of these trains by climbing and walking across them in the northern direction, which is forwards from this sewer manhole, then we should be able to get out of here, and arrive from there at Sector 7 in the best possible amount of time," said Tifa. Cloud nodded in understanding, looking thoughtful.
"Back at Don Corneo's mansion, you had a hidden radio device planted onto you, right? Even if it's most likely destroyed now from the fall into the sewers, I beat that Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie will already be at the Pillar, defending it. I just hope the Turks haven't made it there yet," said Cloud.
"That's true, I guess they would all know about what's going on here, they would have listened to what Don Corneo had revealed to us, so they must have went to defend the Pillar at once. But I really don't know how long they can hold off Shinra by themselves for. And as for Shinra…well, I always knew President Shinra could be kind of harsh and cruel towards his enemies at times. But I had never once thought, even in AVALANCHE, that he would go this far to destroy us. Wiping out a whole Sector and countless thousands of people just to get at us," said Tifa, with a shudder. Cloud snorted in response.
"Why are you so surprised that the President would take such a drastic act like this, Tifa? He'll do anything at all to deal with his enemies and any threats to him, even take the lives of people who aren't even involved. The man always acts like he has ice water for blood, he's never shown any compassion or mercy whatsoever to anyone. To him, other people are no more than bugs to be squashed," said Cloud, darkly.
"Couldn't you have thought harder and picked a better metaphor to use for that sentence than that, Cloud? It's been used so many times already, it's just getting far too old by now," said Aeris, grinning slightly, while Cloud merely shrugged indifferently. Tifa grimaced in distaste as she once again looked around the area.
"I really do hate being here in this place, it's no wonder nobody comes in here, I don't blame them at all. It's just so cold and lonely around the whole area. It feels like a haunted and silent tomb in here, cursed by the course of time," said Tifa, with a frown of disdain.
Aeris nodded in agreement, shivering slightly due to both the cold air and the loneliness of the Train Graveyard, while Cloud looked for signs of the Pillar. He felt immense relief as he spotted the very top of it in the distance, not too far from where they were, but the most important thing of all was that it was still standing, and they still had time to save it.
"I can just about see the very top of the Pillar from over here, looking far in the distance, but I don't know how much time we have still left before Shinra can still set the bomb, or for how long Barret and the others can still hold them off for. Let's just hurry, we'll need to get there right away," said Cloud.
Full of renewed hope and confidence as they noticed the top of the Pillar still stood proudly intact, Cloud, Tifa and Aeris began to make their way in the direction of Sector 7 and the Pillar at once, rushing as fast as they could past and through the ruined trains in the Train Graveyard. Each of them were hoping beyond hope that they would still make it there in time…
At the beginning of the stairs of the Pillar, guarding it and using the back of the pole of the Pillar for protection from the gunshots that would fire back at him, Biggs sprang out once again while the soldiers reloaded their guns. Taking a grenade from his belt and pulling the pin, Biggs threw the deadly object as far as he could, as it flew right at the Shinra soldiers, who all screamed upon seeing it, and tried to dive out the way, but many could not make it far enough in time as the grenade then exploded.
Eleven more soldiers were killed in the process, blown to bits in the explosion that left another hole in the ground. The other Shinra soldiers headed for cover behind some houses in the Sector and fired back at Biggs. Biggs leaped backwards behind the back of the Pillar, out of the way of the line of fire, and he looked down at his shotgun, fully reloading it while he waited for the moment to strike again.
But because he was crouched down behind the Pillar and therefore not facing the entrance of the Sector, Biggs never saw the new enemy who suddenly arrived in Sector 7, and walked up calmly to the Shinra soldiers. It was Rude of the Turks.
Quickly and thoroughly observing what was currently going on here at this particular area, Rude ran to where the soldiers were firing, hidden behind the houses of Sector 7, and seeing him, Rude walked up to a Shinra soldier in red uniform unlike the others blue ones, and the Turk knew this meant that this guy was in charge of this unit. The leader of the unit noticed Rude, stopped firing and saluted to him, while the rest of his troops kept attacking. Rude spoke to him.
"You, I want your report of this current situation here, soldier, and I demand you inform me of your name as well," ordered Rude. The red uniformed soldier obeyed.
"Rude of the Turks, it is a honour, sir! My name is Trolpier, sir, assigned commander of this group! As for the situation here, one of the terrorist scum of AVALANCHE is currently hiding behind the pole of the bottom of the Pillar, at the beginning of the Pillar's stairs, sir! He's effectively guarding the place, and is using guns and grenades to hold us back the moment we take any step closer, so we are forced to retreat back again. This enemy appears very cunning, sir, it seems we are at a loss of dealing with him," explained Trolpier, formally with a salute, and Rude nodded in understanding, though he frowned.
"Let me get this straight. Only ONE of the rebels is holding your ENTIRE unit back, 'commander Trolpier'? This situation sounds more like a case of complete incompetence for you and your men to me. Why don't half of your men fire at one point, and then the other half fire at another while all of you advance closer to the rebel?" questioned Rude, sternly.
Trolpier spluttered and gawped in response, having no more words to say for this statement, and it seemed he hadn't thought of this until now. Rude shook his head at this, but knew this only meant one thing.
"You're new to this whole 'leading a troop' job, aren't you, Trolpier? Don't bother answering me; I can see it in your face, and in this situation. But don't worry about it, just watch and learn. I'll take care of this terrorist myself…" said Rude, darkly.
"What should we do in the meantime, sir? What's your full plan for taking out that AVALANCHE member?" asked Trolpier, curiously, hoping to amend for his earlier error.
"Just have ALL your troops firing at the terrorist for now, don't stop until I give you my signal. While you're all firing at the terrorist, he will be hidden, but I'll be waiting for him to spring back out once you all stop firing. When he does, I'll fire my own gun at him, as he has not seen me yet. When I've aimed at the position he will appear at, I'll give the signal, and then all of you stop firing at once. Understood?" asked Rude, sharply, as he explained the plan. Trolpier saluted at once.
"Understood, sir! I shall go inform the troops right at this moment!" said Trolpier, and with another salute, he rushed over to his troops, and gave them their new orders while they still obediently fired at where Biggs was hidden.
Rude took out his own handgun, checking its ammo, and saw that it was fully loaded, though only a few bullets would be needed to finish the job. Rude held the gun tightly in both his hands, and aimed it the area that Biggs was hidden at. Once he was ready, he quickly signalled to Trolpier to stop firing. Trolpier nodded quickly, and ordered the other troops to stop too. The gunfire ceased, and Rude concentrated hard, aiming right at where the terrorist was posed to come out…
Biggs had heard the gunfire finally stop again, knowing the soldiers would all have to take the time to reload, and with his shotgun fully loaded now, and none the wiser about Rude being there and targeting him, Biggs sprang out from his hiding place, as he aimed his shotgun towards the helpless soldiers at once, and prepared to fire…
Rude saw the AVALANCHE anti-Shinra rebel spring out of hiding place, none the wiser about the fact that by doing this, he was sealing his own fate. With his gun aimed right at the place where Biggs had leaped out, Rude had concentrated hard on the aim and time Biggs would leap out, and as soon as Biggs came into sight, Rude pulled the trigger and fired his gun…
Biggs had sprung out and aimed his shotgun right at the soldiers, and was just about to pull the trigger, when suddenly something happened to him that he had never expected or could even have anticipated.
A bullet had suddenly struck Biggs straight in the chest.
Biggs was thrown backwards by the force of the bullet that had struck him, so that he landed hard on the first few stairs at the beginning of the staircase, shocked by the unimaginable intensity of the pain that suddenly coursed through him, and he looked down at his chest. His own blood was quickly starting to spread from him where he knew the bullet had struck, and it was spreading so quickly that he knew that could only mean one thing. His time was finally up.
With that fact fully on his mind, and feeling unbearably intense agony spread across his whole body, Biggs straightened back up again, the wounded rebel screamed his defiance at Shinra as he opened fire with his shotgun to the astonishment and fear of the soldiers. Five of them fell dead to the ground as the spray of pellets struck them, and the rest quickly ran for cover from the gunfire. Rude coolly stood his ground though, and aimed his gun at Biggs once again, and fired…
This next bullet directly struck Biggs in his left leg, and his blood immediately began to flow from that as well, spreading down his dark green jeans and staining the ground along with the blood from his chest. Biggs now hung onto the metal railing of the beginning of the stairs that he stood on, blood pouring from the bullet wounds in his chest and leg. With his left leg now limp and useless, Biggs could no longer stand, and had to lean on the railing for support, as he then bravely opened fire with his shotgun once again.
Four more unsuspecting soldiers fell dead to the ground in another spray of small but deadly pellets. The rest took cover once again, surprised by the resistance that this wounded rebel still insisted on giving them. Rude was impressed, and respected this rebel's brave acts, but pulled the trigger and fired again.
The third bullet directly struck Biggs in his right arm this time, the same arm that was holding the shotgun, and at once, the weapon flew away from Biggs' grasp, and over the railing of the stairs, falling and landing on the ground about ten feet away from where Biggs leaned heavily against the railing, blood now pouring from his wounded arm as well, hanging limply at his side as he leaned over the railing for support, gasping painfully in his agony, and starting to feel cold and drained now, the fight had completely been taken out of him.
"(So…this is it then…this is how it ends. Fighting to save a whole Sector…against the very empire that's slowly destroying the Planet…so I really am going to die after all…but at least I put up a good fight against them like I promised myself…the others will take it from here now…AVALANCHE will succeed, even without me, I know. Never quite imagined myself going like this…so many things happened that I never expected to…heh, looks like Cloud never showed up to help…maybe he really doesn't care about us or the Planet after all…maybe there is no hope after all…)" thought Biggs, as he leaned over the railing for support, his blood spreading from his wounds, and he was steadily but surely dying, just like the very Planet that he had given his life to fight for.
Biggs looked around at where the soldiers all were, and he finally turned and looked into the eyes of his killer, which were completely hidden behind dark sunglasses like they always had been. Biggs recognized him as Rude of the Turks, and knew it was him that had shot him like this. At least that was some small comfort, being killed by one of Shinra's strongest.
Rude turned away from the scene of the dying terrorist, and he found that he felt no triumph at all, only a rather solemn and empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that unnerved him slightly, but he turned to face the Shinra soldier troops, showing none of his emotion to them, as Trolpier, new commander of the troops, saluted to him.
"Sir, that was most a most amazing display, sir! The troops all hold you in the highest honour; it is no wonder you are of the Turks, sir! It is a great victory we have earned here against this rebel scum. Now we can go up those stairs and storm the Pillar to deal with the rest of the terrorists once and for all. And we will finish off this scumbag who rebelled against us," said Trolpier, triumphantly. Rude looked for a long moment at Biggs as he hung dying over the railing of the stairs, then he finally looked back at Trolpier and shook his head.
"No, just leave him be. There's no point finishing him off now, he's already done for, give him time to die in his own peace. And I'm now ordering both you and your whole troops not to go storm the stairs of the Pillar. Evacuate this Sector at once, and never come back here, all your parts in this mission are now over," said Rude, sternly. Trolpier gaped at him.
"B-But…but sir…!" protested Trolpier, stammering, not believing what he had just heard. Rude turned to glare at the new commander, who gulped nervously at the look.
"Are you questioning my orders, Trolpier? No…? Good, then get out of here at once, and do not come back. If you don't obey this command, I will have you all reported to Shinra, and you most certainly will not want that, I promise you. And besides, we need at least some of the rebels alive when we destroy the place, just to show that there was some purpose and need for the destruction of this Sector. Now go at once!" barked Rude, sharply.
Trolpier jumped and nervously saluted in response, before ordering his remaining troops to flee Sector 7, and soon they all did so, as Rude watched them rushing out the entrance gate, and they were soon all out of sight.
Rude looked up at the top of the Pillar, seeing that Reno was still attacking the other three rebels in the helicopter, and knew that Elena was with him as well. The rebels seemed to be still alive, but wouldn't be for much longer at this rate, and Reno would leap from the helicopter and set the bomb.
"(Soon the plan will be fully complete, and AVALANCHE will be no more. Sector 7 will be destroyed; both the upper and lower city, and the rebels will all be killed once and for all, ending all resistance against Shinra. I may as well leave now, I'll no longer be needed here, I've done my job now just as I will always do, no matter what the consequences. But still…despite that, this just doesn't feel right…)" thought Rude, disturbed by these thoughts, but quickly shook them off, and with another look back at the Pillar, he run towards the front gate of Sector 7, quickly leaving and fleeing the Sector.
Barret, Jessie and Wedge hid behind the pole of the Pillar at the very top of it on the large platform with the system controls, keeping the helicopter at the opposite side of the pole to them as it circled around the platform (which was ruined slightly from the gunfire earlier) trying to get at them.
But at that moment, Jessie turned to look over the edge of the platform of the Pillar, and saw with immense horror and alarm that, far below them at the bottom, Biggs had been shot as he now leaned over the metal railing of the stairs for support, looking in a very bad way indeed.
"BIGGS, NO!" screamed Jessie, frantically, and forgetting the plight she was currently in, with the fear and frantic worry that had surfaced intensely within her, she leapt out from behind the pole, and rushed over to the stairs of the Pillar to go down, just at the same moment the helicopter hovered nearby it, the open side door facing Jessie's direction.
"JESSIE, STOP! DON'T DO IT!" roared Barret, his eyes wide with alarm and horror as he and Wedge saw Jessie rush towards the stairs, not noticing a figure had stepped onto the side platform of the helicopter, a female Turk with blond hair who was looking at Jessie, and seemed ready to leap at her.
At Barret's frantic warning, Jessie suddenly noticed that the helicopter was beside her, but before she could do anything to move aside, the blond haired female Turk had already leaped from the helicopter straight at her.
Barret could only watch in horror, as Jessie was struck hard in the face with a loud and nasty thud as the female Turk kicked her hard with her foot in mid air before she landed on the platform. Her face bruised and bleeding from the sudden kick to it, Jessie let out a cry of surprise and fear as the hit caused her to lose balance on the edge of the stairs, and she tripped and fell off the edge of it, falling backwards, and then tumbling hard down the stairs with a loud thud each time she did so, and she found herself flung off the edge of the stairs at the top, where the ground would meet her far below…
But at the last moment, Jessie grabbed the very edge of the stairs with her hand, and with tremendous effort and fear, she managed to pull herself back up onto the stairs, and stood on it, panting heavily, her heart pounding in fear at what had almost happened. She winced in clear pain, as her body ached all over from the hard tumble down the stairs, and blood ran down her face at where the female Turk had struck her.
Back up on the platform, Wedge quickly raised his silencer pistol gun and fired it right at the female Turk who stood before the stairs, but the Turk quickly rushed down the stairs, and the bullet struck the railing of the stairs instead, just an inch away from hitting the female Turk.
Wedge cursed to himself in sheer frustration, and he knew that this mysterious female Turk, who appeared to be a new recruit of theirs, was going down the stairs after Jessie, who would soon be in grave danger.
But before Wedge or Barret could do anything about it at all, the helicopter suddenly opened fire on them again, and they had to scramble out the way, and with the helicopter keeping the two of them at bay, there was no way they could go down the stairs to help Jessie.
Jessie stood up on the stairs, as her attacker rushed down them, and stopped just before her. The two of them glared at each other, ready to fight each other at any moment's notice, their weapons each armed and at the ready, and both warriors knew that this would be a battle to the death.
"And just who are you supposed to be? I've hacked into the Shinra Internet itself, and analysed and researched on all of Shinra's data files, even on the Turks as well. And there was nothing in those files about there being a female Turk in the ranks," said Jessie, suspiciously, alert and ready for any sort of attack from this enemy. The female Turk glared at her.
"That's because I'm a new recruit, I got promoted to the ranks of the Turks just two days ago, and already I'm on a very important assignment for Shinra Incorporated, by helping them destroy you terrorist scum once and for all. And believe me, I have every intention of helping to fulfil that mission. My name's Elena, by the way. Just make sure remember it on your way to hell," said Elena, with a snarl.
Elena wore a posh dark blue navy suit (a Turk uniform), which was neat and tidy, not a bit out of place, and she had blond hair and brown eyes, and she seemed to be in her early twenties or so, meaning she was fairly attractive. She worked for Shinra, just like the other Turks.
Elena had just recently joined the Turks, and she was now working with Rude, Tseng and Reno. She had a special talent of throwing any type of grenade or bomb flawlessly, with amazing accuracy, so she never missed her target when throwing a grenade or a bomb.
"On my well to hell? You're wrong about that, you know, neither me nor my friends are the ones at fault here; it's your damn corrupted Shinra Incorporated empire who are the villains and devils around here! They're the ones sucking the Planet dry just for their own selfish desires, and they're the ones trying to kill all the people in this Sector! All me and my friends are trying to do is to stop their evil acts!" snapped Jessie.
"Oh yeah, is that so!? Then what about the Mako Reactor N0.1's explosion in Sector 8 that you terrorist scumbags caused intentionally, knowing the full consequences of what would happen there!? What about all of the innocent citizens, all the people who lived in the city, all the people that had nothing to do with Shinra's actions at all!? Did you bastards make any move to spare the people there who wanted nothing more than a peaceful life!? Did you even stop to think about them, or were your selfish desires against Shinra so important, that you would just heartlessly take all their LIVES away!? My whole FAMILY was in that city when you evil bastards blew up that Reactor, and now they're all dead along with everyone else, and it's all because of you AVALANCHE SCUM!! So don't think that Shinra are the only villains here because you're all no better than they are!!" shrieked Elena, angry tears reflecting in her eyes.
Jessie stopped short, her eyes wide and horrified as she listened to the female Turk and the full meaning of her words, and when she had finished, Jessie took a few steps back from Elena in complete shock and shame, tears spilling forth from her eyes as she knew that Elena was absolutely right. With a big effort, she finally spoke back to Elena, in a tone of immense sorrow this time, as she hung her head in shame.
"You're right…you're absolutely right that we destroyed the Reactor, killing all those people in the process, and we knew the consequences of our own actions. But you've got to try and understand that we never meant it to happen, we never felt any desire to kill those people, there was just no other way around it. I know that's no excuse for what we did, but we were never proud of it afterwards, and we still regret what we did to this day. And that's a promise," said Jessie, firmly, remorseful. Elena stared at her for a moment, before shaking her head.
"I don't believe you, I can't trust anything that any of you murderers say. All I know is, your group is responsible for the deaths of my family. I joined up with the Turks afterwards even for life if need be, to get my revenge against you!" said Elena.
Without warning, Elena suddenly struck. She swung her hand out, and slapped Jessie hard across the face with immense force, knocking Jessie backwards down the stairs a little, before she stopped and stood still again. Her cheek was now bruised and even bleeding as the burning pain from it flared, but Jessie still shook her head.
"I don't want to do this. Even if you are a Turk, even if you do work for Shinra, I still really have no desire at all to fight and kill you. After hearing from you what suffering my own actions have caused to you and others, I don't want to hurt you; I feel that I have done that enough already. You can try to kill me if you wish, but I will not fight you," said Jessie, firmly.
"I went through all the effort of joining up with the Turks before other candidates just so that I could one day find at least one member of AVALANCHE, and kill that person when I did, then I would be satisfied that I had gained vengeance. Despite what Shinra does to the Planet, and will do to this Sector, I will still serve them faithfully for giving me the chance to get even with you rebels. And I will continue to do so, even after I kill you now and gain my revenge, and even after this whole Sector is crushed, and your resistance group is no more!" screeched Elena, as she seemed to erupt with fury.
Suddenly, Elena took Jessie by surprise as she slapped her hand across the face again, and then did the same thing with her other hand as well, across Jessie's other cheek. Jessie found herself being slapped hard and repeatedly by the female Turk, and felt her face being pounded and bruised heavily from the attacks, blood flowing and pain flaring up.
Finally, as she was struck by this fierce and extremely painful onslaught of hard constant slaps, Jessie lost her temper and snapped, as her own hand swung out and slapped Elena hard across her face. Elena staggered backwards, but Jessie wasted no time, and thumped her right in the nose, and there was a crack as it broke. Elena screamed in pain, before Jessie slammed a fist into her stomach, forcing her to the stairs.
As Elena lay on the stairs, her face aching, her now broken nose bleeding, and her stomach feeling winded and pounded from the blow, Elena gasped in pain and terror as Jessie then whipped out the last dagger she had now, and brought it right down to Elena's throat, holding the blade right above her very skin as Elena tensed and remained very still and scared.
But just as she prepared to deliver the final blow to the female Turk, Jessie suddenly hesitated, and the dagger still remained just above Elena's throat, unmoving. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that it would be for the best for her sake now if she just killed Elena, Jessie still just couldn't bring herself to strike down the Turk that she and the others had already caused so much pain to.
"(I…I can't do it…I just can't bring myself to do it. She's only fighting for her loved ones that she's lost, just as me or any other person would. I've done so many terrible things with the others…but if I struck Elena down now, then I truly would be no better than Shinra, and I never want to be like that at all, no matter what…)" thought Jessie, as Elena then spoke.
"What's wrong? Why don't you just kill me now? Why not just kill me off for your own selfish sake, just like you and your friends all did to my family at the Sector 8 upper city?" asked Elena, angrily, though there was a tone of fear in her voice as she remained absolutely still, the dagger over her throat.
"Because me and the others are honestly all much better people than to reduce ourselves to such a low level like that, that's why. Because no matter how you want to look at it, we're all better people than Shinra could ever hope to become, and that's why I'm not going to sink to their level," said Jessie, firmly, as she lifted her dagger up, and put it away.
But at the very moment Jessie had moved the dagger away, Elena had quickly sprang right up to her feet in a flash, and as she stood back firmly on the stairs, she shoved Jessie backwards hard, who hadn't been expecting it at all, and she let out a cry of surprise and alarm as she felt herself falling.
Wasting no time, Elena reached into her suit pocket, and pulled out a previously hidden and unseen object from it. It was a grenade, and as Jessie began to fall backwards down the stairs, Elena pulled the pin from the grenade, and flung it right in Jessie's direction. As Jessie tumbled painfully down the stairs, the grenade flew into mid-air, and as it came falling down right towards her, it suddenly exploded no less than five feet right above her.
The result of this attack was immensely horrifying, and had very nasty results. Jessie's body slammed faster down the stairs now, propelled by the force of the explosion that had happened right above her. She rolled down the stairs violently several times, somehow not falling off the edge, before she finally came to a stop near the mid-way point of the staircase. Finding herself horrified and stunned at what she had just done, Elena rushed down the stairs, and stood over Jessie, her eyes wide in immense terror as she saw the state she was in.
"(Oh my god, oh my god. What the hell have I done, why did I just do this to her when she spared me…? I never wanted it to be like this at all…not like this,)" thought Elena, horrified as the stared down at Jessie's ruined body.
Her torso now looked completely torn and ragged, her back seemed to have split open, leaving a pool of blood flowing around her, her arms both hung limply at her sides on the stairs, and her legs looked like they were close to being torn completely off.
Her head was the only part of her that had been untouched by the grenade explosion, as she suddenly moved her head slightly, raising it up a few inches to look in Elena's direction, she didn't have the strength to move any further, or move anything besides her head.
And as Elena stared in horror at the dying terrorist, at the ruined form of the once intelligent, bright, lively and pretty girl that she had fought no more than two minutes ago, Jessie then spoke slowly, in a very weak and barely audible tone of voice.
"Are you satisfied now…? Is this what you wanted…?" whispered Jessie, slowly, tears pouring from her eyes, as she knew she was likely to die at any moment, feeling so drained already that the pain was quickly leaving. Elena shook her head wildly, tears pouring from her eyes as well.
"Why didn't you kill me back there? Why didn't you finish me off when you had the chance? You could have still been alive, you wouldn't have ended up like this!" screamed Elena, in a rather shrill voice, as her tears spread.
"I already told you why…because AVALANCHE aren't like Shinra at all…because unlike them, we all have hearts, and right now we're fighting to save people…something that Shinra never even think about…none of us would ever sink so low as to commit horrible acts for our own benefits and enjoy it like Shinra do…we all feel shame of our actions…and because of my part in it all…I will…accept death here and now…as punishment for my deeds…but please…leave here at once before this place gets destroyed…don't die needlessly for Shinra…just leave here at once…please…" whispered Jessie.
Her brown eyes wide with horror and terror at the scene she unexpectedly found herself in, that she herself had committed, Elena obeyed Jessie's words at once, and at that moment, she fled down the rest of the stairs of the Pillar as fast as she could, never once stopping or looking back as tears spread forth from her eyes.
Feeling disgusted with herself and sick at what she'd witnessed, Elena stopped towards the bottom of the stairs, and leaned over the metal railing at once. Unable to stop herself, she gagged and vomited over the side. As soon as she had regained herself again, she ran off the stairs and then quickly ran through the gate and fled Sector 7, running as far away from it as she could and never looking back, though she knew that she would never be able to run from the nightmares that this experience would cause her to have…
Meanwhile, at the very moment when all of the terrible events over at the Sector 7 Pillar were happening, Cloud, Tifa and Aeris were still continuing to walk through the Train Graveyard, unaware of it all, trying to get past the wrecked trains, and were journeying to Sector 7 as fast as they could, as they each ran past the ruined trains, climbed up and over some that were blocking their way, and then went back down them again on the other side, and continued on.
Some flaming barrels of oil were still strewn about the Train Graveyard, long forgotten, giving light to the whole place whenever the train lights had gone out, before they would flicker back on again. The bright fires cast shadows of broken steel across the tarnished sides of the other ruined trains that lay around the whole area. Rats scurried from corner to corner, knocking over debris of the trains.
If one were to take a peek in the window of one of the ruined trains, they would see that the inside of the train cars were surprisingly well preserved despite the outer appearance of the train. An old dining car led the way from one part of the Train Graveyard to the next, and the inside looked much better than the sad, dismal outside.
The plush red leather seats were covered with dust and were torn in a few places, but were otherwise still in good condition. The menu had been shattered by what looked like bullets, and so had the mirror beneath it. Old soda jerks and beer taps had been broken in half, their shining ivory heads lying on the floor like useless garbage. These trains would have all once been in regular use, and would have proudly run along the tracks. Now they were broken beyond repair.
"(It's all useless now…everything in this whole place has gone to so much waste because of Shinra…and Sector 7 might suffer the very same fate…)" thought Tifa, sadly.
Tifa began to wonder what the last days of this dining car were, what the people were like, and maybe what they had discussed. Back then; Shinra Incorporated had been a mere weapons company in Midgar, not a Mako industry that now took control of the whole Planet itself. People probably sat here during lunch and picked up the newspaper, flipping through it and grumbling about the sad state of affairs in Wutai.
The sudden deadly and extremely fierce war between Shinra Incorporated and the once great nation of Wutai had taken a terrible toll on everybody, especially Wutai. They had lost to Shinra Incorporated, and with it their freedom and the pride and glory of their nation, since the whole place is now only a tourist attraction.
And it was all thanks to Sephiroth that Wutai had lost, and Shinra had won…because of the victory of Sephiroth himself. Tifa shuddered fearfully at the mere mention of Sephiroth's name in her thoughts, and didn't dwell on it any longer, not wanting to remember certain things in her past.
Cloud, Tifa and Aeris quickly climbed past all the trains in urgent silence, as they got up the ladders and past all the other obstacles that stood in their way, and finally at long last, they came to the Sector 7 train station that stood right next to the Slums of Sector 7, and the Pillar that stood in the middle of it. A man was standing by the train, a man who worked in there judging by the look of the uniform he wore. Cloud, Tifa and Aeris rushed over to him at once.
"Please, tell me, what's going on here? What's happening in the Sector 7 Slums, is the Pillar alright at the moment?" asked Tifa, urgently, asking her questions in a frantic rush. The train worker nodded, looking solemn.
"Yes, but Shinra's attacking. There's some guys defending it…but I heard that the Plate was going to fall, crushing the Sector and this station too. I've worked here so many years, and I can't bear to leave here. If there was time, I'd escape, but this station is my life, please save it," said the train worker.
"What are you saying? You're willing to just give up your life for your job, for your workplace? You should just leave here right now, you'll get yourself killed!" said Aeris, looking clearly concerned. The train worker smiled humourlessly.
"Thank you for the concern, miss, but like I said, I've worked in this station for as long as I can remember, it's like home to me, and people here in the Slums still love their homes no matter how bad it all gets. If this station goes, then I go with it too, for it's my life, and I just have no other purpose without it. I know it sounds strange, but…" began the train worker, but at that moment, Cloud interrupted.
"But you're staying here because life is a lot like a train. It can only go where it's rails will take it, and nowhere else," said Cloud, thoughtfully, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu. The train worked grinned and nodded, clapping his hands together, and both Aeris and Tifa looked at Cloud in surprise.
"Yes, that is it exactly! Thank you, my wise young friend, now you go off and defend that Pillar from Shinra with the rest of your AVALANCHE friends. I've seen your description on the Shinra news, and I know you people are fighting for the right cause here, so don't give up! Save this Sector and defy Shinra once and for all!" declared the train worker.
Cloud nodded and smirked, glad that he had found one person from the public that supported AVALANCHE at the very least, that was some small comfort in this drastic situation that they were in, knowing they weren't entirely hated by all. Then without another word, Cloud rushed forwards in the direction of the Sector 7 Slums and the Pillar, and Aeris and Tifa quickly followed him, while the train worker waved after them. Tifa glanced back at saw this, and felt some comfort among all the fear and anxiety that coursed through her.
"(Goodness, that was rather odd back there…what a strange man. But we promised him that we'd save Sector 7, and we owe it to both him and everyone else here to carry out that task, we'll do it no matter what,)" thought Tifa, determinedly.
Cloud, Tifa and Aeris quickly ran along side each other, rushing towards Sector 7, nodding pointedly to themselves as they all knew what they had to do, and they raced to Sector 7, hoping and praying that Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie could hold off Shinra Incorporated for a while longer, and that they were perfectly alright in the process, even though it seemed like an impossible dream, as they came closer and closer…
Barret Wallace cursed and scrambled back behind the pole of the Pillar at the top platform again, as the helicopter whirled around in their direction, threatening to shoot them down full of several pellets. Wedge was crouched down beside Barret, also hiding away from the helicopter.
Both of them had to run back to the other side of the Pillar as the helicopter flown around to their direction again, and then the same thing would happen once again to make them go in the other direction. As Barret and Wedge were crouched down behind the Pillar, gasping and panting heavily for breath, Wedge suddenly stood up.
"Okay, that does it, I've had enough of all this! This is just getting us nowhere at all! Shinra plan to blow up this whole Pillar and bring down the Plate to crush and destroy the entire Sector, and while Jessie and Biggs are fighting bravely in this Pillar somewhere, all we're doing is running from the enemy like cowardly rats, and I'm TIRED of it!!" shouted Wedge, angrily.
"Wedge, you damn idiot, what the HELL do you think you're doing!? Get down at once, we gotta wait until Tifa and Cloud come here to help us, until then we've gotta avoid getting killed by these bastards hunting us here. Now stay back here, or you're gonna get hurt!" hissed Barret, sharply, frantically gesturing for Wedge to get down. But Wedge didn't move at all, and with a heavy sigh, Wedge then spoke up.
"Throughout all the months that I've been in your proud service, Barret, I've always worked for you faithfully, and I always followed every single one of your orders too, even to the death if need be. Back then I was always scared, I was always terrified out of my wits, but these last few days have shown me that no matter what happens, I really have played my part for the Planet, however small, and it won't be forgotten. And when I think back on that, I'm suddenly not afraid anymore and that includes now too. So I'm sorry about this, Boss, but for the very first time, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disobey your orders now, and for the last time too. I'm taking down that copter now, or else it will eventually just shoot us down, and that Turk will place the bomb. I'm not letting that happen," said Wedge.
"No, Wedge, DON'T!!" screamed Barret, as he suddenly realized what Wedge was planning to do. He sprang to his feet at once as he went to restrain his loyal friend, but he was now already too late. Wedge had leaped out from behind the pole of the Pillar, his shotgun in one hand, and his silencer pistol in the other. The helicopter turned around, and face Wedge, hovering before him, as Wedge suddenly shouted out.
"Think well of me, Barret!!" called Wedge, as he sprang forwards in the direction of the helicopter. The flying machine fired its spray of pellets at him at once, but Wedge quickly rolled across the platform and out of the way, in surprising grace for someone so far and overweight.
Immediately he sprang back up, and facing the side of the copter, he fired both his guns at once, right at the weak point of the flying machine. His pellets and bullets all struck the fuel tank of the copter that he had aimed it at, and at once, several holes had been made in the tank, and fuel slowly spread from them at once. The copter swayed noticeably while hovering, the pilot was now struggling to keep it up as it began to lose fuel, and soon it would crash. Reno of the Turks stepped out of the struggling copter, his face a mask of fury, as he aimed his fully charged up Nightstick right at Wedge.
"You're DARING to mess with Shinra and the Turks like this, huh, fat boy!? Well, being fat, I guess you like to taste things, so what don't you have of little taste of THIS!!" yelled Reno, as the tip of his Nightstick suddenly glow brightly, and a small red meteor of energy appeared at it. The Turk Light.
Wedge immediately leapt to the side, out of the way of the Nightstick's aimed direction, but unfortunately for him though, Reno had already been anticipating that he would do this, and jerked his aim to the side at Wedge now was, before he then instantly fired the small red meteor of energy straight at him.
"NO, WEDGE!!" screamed Barret, and could only watch in horror, as the Turk Light slammed not into Wedge, but it struck the part of the platform right in front of where he had been standing. There was a huge explosion of red light had filled the whole top of the Pillar, and Wedge suddenly found himself flung backwards by the force of the attack, causing him to fly right over the edge of the platform itself.
Wedge let out a cry of surprise and fear as he now found himself with no floor below him, found himself in mid-air twenty feet away from the edge of the platform, and the ground was a whole fifty metres far below him. Then at once, unable to do anything about it, his body plummeted to the ground far below him, which he knew would kill him on impact.
"NO!!!! BASTARDS!!!!" screamed Barret, as he sprang out from the pole of the Pillar too, and relentlessly, he opened fire on the Shinra helicopter, not caring anymore, not caring about anything else expect blowing the thing to bits, as his gun-arm fired several shots of bullets after bullets.
The bullets all struck the helicopter in several places, but the machine still flew around, and quickly rushed out of the way of his line of fire. Suddenly, the last bit of fuel had quickly poured out of it due to Wedge shooting holes all over the fuel tank, and the copter wavered for a moment, before it stopped entirely and fell. Barret looked over the platform edge to see Reno leap out the falling copter to safety with a parachute.
Barret cursed as Reno went safely out of sight and danger, while the helicopter fell with a loud crash to the ground far below, at the opposite end of the Pillar to where Wedge had fallen. The copter exploded at once, killing the abandoned pilot inside of it with a huge ball of light and fire that spread up for a moment, before quickly dying down, as the ruined helicopter burned with flames all around it.
But Barret knew that Reno was still alive and safe due to his parachute, and was probably already on his way back up to the top of the Pillar with the bomb itself in his grasp, since Barret had seen him with it, and the leader of AVALANCHE prepared himself for the Turk, ready to end this whole situation once and for all.
But moments before all this, just after he'd began to fall, Wedge gritted his teeth and absolutely refused to scream as he began to fall the fifty metres to the ground and his instant death, he would not shame himself by acting like the coward he had once been, and was so ashamed of, long ago.
"(I'm going to die after all…but if I had known all this and had the choice given to me right now, if I would fight for the Planet, I still would do so, I would still follow the same course to help protect its survival. Because I'm no unimportant sidekick anymore…)" thought Wedge, as he braced himself for the impact with the ground that would claim his life instantly as he fell closer and closer towards his death.
But unknown to him and everyone else however, at that very same moment as he fell, a light of sudden hope for the whole situation had just arrived and surfaced in the Slums of Sector 7, a hope that the rest of AVALANCHE had long been since expecting. Cloud, Tifa and Aeris had all come and arrived at the Sector 7 Pillar at last, and they were ready to fight and save all of Sector 7 now from Shinra, once and for all…