CHAPTER FIVE

Slum.
Just the name of that gives a bitter, disgusting connotation. Nothing is more pitiful nor more pathetic than that word. It spells decay and decrepiteness. Decay in the sense of the rundown, rotting shacks and termite-infested wooden mobile homes. Decrepit in the sense of the people-- the poorest people on the planet.
These eight massive areas of Midgar are the last stops for all who enter. No one leaves the slums if they choose to stay in Midgar. Why is this? Well, the upper part of Midgar-- dominated by the tower of ShinRa Corporations-- is an expensive piece of property. There is certainly nothing better of a property than Upper Midgar, though; and that is what keeps attracting large quantities of people every year to immigrate into the metropolis. Granted, some have enough money to make it up there; but, most suffer the consequences of being manipulated and are forced to duel the elements beneath ShinRa Corp.
And here they toiled for the rest of their lives. Here they fight the voracious crickets that swarm upon the slum people's farms-- what little money they can muster to produce a single row of food-- and destroy the ripening crop. Here they fix and repair their shacks every day, fixing the same problem they fixed yesterday. Here their children run short-lived lives, contracting the smallest illnesses and suffering greatly from them. The death rate soars, but the influx of people swarming to claim some sort of wealth up in Upper Midgar help raise the slum population and always manages to maximize the slum total.
This is what Cloud saw as he wiped the blood off of his face, and Aeris healed his sprained hand.
Dirty children in the streets, rolling around in the deep mud puddles, earthworms sliding off their bodies, their hair a knotted, mud-splattered mess. Their parents, always with grim and hard faces, silently sweeping the same patch of dirt from their houses. The houses themselves-- tiny shacks or tents would be better words-- sagging from unbalanced weights; and most were, if made of metal material, rusting and missing boards, and some had vital parts of its frame practically eaten away. Bandits were everywhere in the slums, desperate people these bandits were. They had simply grown tiresome from their depravity, so greediness was a great asset to them. Cloud saw one at that moment knock a woman out on the head and steal her hard-earned five gil from her hands.
"These people look likely to snap against ShinRa at any minute," he mused to himself. Aeris caught it under his breath.
"AVALANCHE helps keep their spirits up. Without you, they don't have anyhting to fall back on and so suffer on their own property."
"Damn."
"I know, but they are slightly fond of me, too. Those green bottles I gave you, I give them those, too. As many children I find, I give them the Curaga, because-- if you think about it-- those poor boys and girls are probably swarming with diseases galore."
"Contagious?"
Aeris shrugged. "I don't know. It's a risk, but I don't care about that."
Cloud gave her a funny look and asked, "You have any more of those bottles, by any chance? Sorry if I'm depleting them all, but-"
"Oh, that's okay. I have more at home. Speaking of which, we're almost there. How's your arm?"
He looked at it and smiled. "Well, I don't know what you did to it, but it feels as good as new."
"Hm. Leave it to a guy to brawl it out, all macho style, but when he gets hurt guess who he looks up to."
"Hey, I don't know anything about medical things. Cut me some slack."
She laughed. "Oh, huh? So, if you had gotten a serious injury, you would have cried like a baby and died there from an unbandaged wound?"
"Well.....crying like a baby?"
"Yes, a baby. I swear you men are all the same."
"Well, you women keep dating us, so you must obviously like us."
She scoffed, but with a plesant air to it. "Heh. We just feel sorry for you."
"Uh-huh, sure." He pushed her lightly to the side.
She returned the push, a little harder than his. "You men are the sorriest things on the planet," she laughed.
"Oh? The sorriest? That's kind of a high recognition there."
"Oh, please," she giggled.
"Oh please nothing," he laughed and started messing with her hair. For a couple minutes, both of them just stood there laughing and messing with each other like a couple crazy people-- Cloud joshing her around and Aeris bopping him lightly on the head.
Suddenly, they found themselves in a provocative situation: Aeris against a brick wall and Cloud right up next to her, his hands supporting the wall and his face inches from hers. She looked up at him and giggled a little nervously. He cleared his throat and stepped back a little. He started to say something, but decided against it.
Aeris felt the same way, but she looked over Cloud's shoulder and saw a bright meadow in the background. "Ah, that's my house over there."
Cloud perked up. "Oh, that's cool. Um, wow, that looks like a nice house from over here."
"Well, let's go over there."
"Uh..y-yeah, that sounds good."

A beautiful sight.
Nestled in the crook of a small mountain slope was built a two-story house. Set aside from the slums by a long wooden bridge, the house was a marvelous piece of construction. It had a pink roof that strectched to the ground almost in the form of an A-frame. Gothic windows were cut in the roof's texture, and each window had a windowsill with a wonderful display of orchids and lilies. Crisp brick walls connected the roof to the soft earth, and on three sides of the house were large flower-containing bushes.
Another bridge connected the plot of land to another massive plot of land. On that side was an unbelievable garden-- the likes of which Midgar had never seen before. Row upon row, column by column lay flower after flower, each one blooming with such heavenly glow that Cloud had to cover his eyes.
Beneath the bridge ran, to Cloud's surprise, a steadliy flowing river. The water was pure and crystal clear, something not found in Midgar on a regular day.
"Are my eyes deceiving me, Aeris?"
She laughed and put her arm on his shoulder. "No, they're seeing the truth. This is the only place in Midgar worth seeing."
"How did you come across it?"
"My...mom and I discovered it when we had to move here. There's a waterfall down in the back. If you listen closely, you can probably hear it."
"A waterfall." They became silent for a while, slowly listening to the gently flowing water. The faint sound of a crashing waterfall was heard, and Cloud smiled-- this truly was the only place in Midgar worth seeing.
Aeris's hand slowly traced itself down Cloud's back and went down his arm to his hand. "Do your veins always pop out like this?" She asked it while she fingered one softly.
A lump grew in his throat. "U-Uh, almost always. They always seem to be there."
She smiled and looked at him. Something is on her mind, he thought.
"Come in and meet my mom."

Fragrances galore flourished in his face when he opened the door. They were pleasant-smelling, but a little too strong. The living room was quaint and inviting with paintings of famous people hanging on each wall. A flower wallpaper gave the paintings a nice contrast, and the pots with fresh tulips in them on each table helped create a unique image as well. There was no carpet, nor any rugs; but the tile itself was richly designed and pretty to look at.
Not a single thing was wrong with Aeris's house.
Aeris brushed a stray hair away from her face and yelled, "Mom, I'm home!"
A reply sounded from upstairs, and a couple seconds later a woman came down the stairs carrying a basket of clothes. "Oh, Aeris, I'm so glad you made it home. It's almost time for supper, and I was getting so worried, because- oh! who is this, Aeris?"
Aeris turned to Cloud and smiled. "Mom, this is Cloud. We met at the church, and he's now my bodyguard."
A worried look sprang immediately into the woman's eyes. "Bodyguard? Aeris. What happened today?"
"There's nothing to worry about, mom. Cloud stopped him good. I don't think he's going to bother me again."
"But..Aeris..there will be more and- did he really kill him?"
"The body's outside the church right now, mom. There's nothing to worry about."
The woman looked at Cloud, and a smile appeared on her face again. "Thank you, Cloud, for saving Aeris." She put down the clothes basket and extended her hand. "My name's Elmyra, and it's a pleasure to finally meet a decent man like you."
"Pleasure to meet you too, Miss Elmyra."
She smiled big and picked up the basket. "He's a gentleman, too. Please make yourself at home. You look beat-- well, I can imagine after doing away with one of those people. There's a guest room with a bed upstairs. If you're hungry, help yourself to anything you want here."
He widened his eyes. "Ah, well...I don't want to trouble you or anything, uh-"
"Oh, Cloud, it's no trouble at all. You've done a wonderful thing for me and Aeris. I can't thank you enough. Enjoy your stay here." She went out the door to clean her clothes in the river.
He turned to Aeris. "Why that's very nice of you two to have me here. I, uh, don't think I deserve such treatment."
She tilted her head to the side and asked, "Why do you say that?"
"I just...don't think of myself as a..uh..grand hero."
She smiled and rubbed his cheek with her hand. "I do."
He couldn't think of anything to say, so he watched her walk up the stairs to the bedrooms. She called down, "I'll make your bed for you. There's some drinks in the fridge if you want any, Cloud. We got soda, water...maybe a couple beers or so. Have your pick."
Cloud raised an eyebrow and said to himself, "A beer or two?"
He shrugged and walked up the stairs. He called up to her, "That's alright, thanks though. I..think I just want to get to sleep. Being knocked out for a while back at the church didn't really do anything for me."
When he got to the second floor, he saw Aeris making his bed in one of the rooms. At that minute, something happened to him and in a brief second he felt in love. she had let down her hair from its braided form. It now lay in a marvelous fashion all the way down her back. He knew, though, that he had to control himself. She probably didn't want to stray down that path. Or what if she wanted to?
He shrugged that idea off and went into the room.
She looked up at him. "Where are you headed, Cloud? I've been wondering that for awhile."
He had to focus a little bit before he could answer. "U-Uh, to Sector...Seven. Yeah, Seven. There's a bar there, where I'm supposed to be."
"Tifa's Seventh Heaven?"
"A-Ah, yeah, but how did you know that?"
"That place is famous-- for maybe more than one reason."
"Well, it gets a lot of seedy people, but.. there's nothing about it that's seedy."
She smiled. "I didn't say it was seedy. I said it was just.. famous."
He looked to the floor. "Well, that's where I'm headed. I guess, tomorrow, bright and early."
She nodded her head, the smile still on her face. "Mm-hmm. Bright and early." Finished with the bed, she went over to him. A scented perfume came from her body that tested Cloud to his limit. "I personally can't thank you enough, Cloud, for what you've done for me today." she cupped his face with her cool hands. "Thank you," she whispered and kissed him lightly on the lips. She exited the room, and he watched her body sway back and forth as she went into her room and shut the door.
Damn, she's beautiful, he said to himself.
He closed his door and jumped onto the bed. It smelled like perfume, but it was a bed and he didn't give a damn if he woke up smelling like a girl in the morning. Sleep lassoed him almost immediately, the last thing on his mind being the sweet, soft lips of Aeris on his own.

The Wutai front was all in front of him. Swords raised, eyes a bloodless stare. Expressionless faces glared at the Midgarian front, as the latter tried in vain to counterattack from the surprise move the samurai made on them. Hundreds of Midgarians lay dead in their own pools of blood, most in pieces, some without heads; the cannon-propelled blasts had jarred the canyon headquarters of ShinRa's forces at 0300 hours.
Now, Cloud Strife, the new captain of the army met his first match and he charged his men at the onslaught.
Swords clanged, bodies sliced in half. Someone's eye went flying into the heavens. Midgarians and Wutains alike fell in pieces on the red rock, tripping others into their deaths. One by one, each wave of both opponents were cut in unstoppable blood-splattering. New waves were cut down by friendly crossfire, swords flew out of the owner's grasp and chopped others into bits.
Suffering from three open wounds, Cloud looked up and quickly regretted doing so, for at the moment a sword sliced his stomach apart, blood splattering everywhere. Sound diminished, time stopped. He fell onto the ground, landing into his own blood. His eyes were covered in blood, but he made out a dim figure clutching a dripping sword. All action was soundless and seemingly unaware of the figure's prescence.
The figure was John ShinRa.
"You fucker!!" Cloud yelled, but the yell was not powerful enough and President ShinRa drove the sword into Cloud's throat.
 He woke up screaming, sweat covering the bed.

Nightmares were common to him, ever since the war's end, but he never understood them. He never thought that they had meaning.
This one though...
..this one had meaning.

The house was quiet, and he figured they were deep sleepers. He looked down at the bed. Where it had been fresh-smelling four hours ago, it was now sweat-stained to the point of aversion.
The house was too quiet, and that disturbed him as he looked at the fresh new clothes on his bed. They were nice fabrics, and they were probably that of Elmyra's late husband. A white buttoned shirt, a pair of dark brown pants, and black shoes.
"Not bad, "he said quietly and put them on.
They fit perfectly and he was amazed at this. A bottle of Curaga lay on the desk drawer, and he put that in his pants pocket. He sheathed his sword, which had been cleaned somehow without his knowing of it, and opened the door. A light shone in Aeris's room, and he stopped in his tracks. Thinking quickly, he went back into his room, shut the door, and went to the window.
He opened it and looked down. There was nobody outside, and the stillness was awesome in retrospect. There was an intricate latticework running along the wall that was durable enough to climb down on. He started to climb down when he thought of something. He went back inside.
Aeris was a beautiful girl, and he felt kind of terrible to be leaving her like this. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a note. He opened his door and stopped. The light was off, a good sign-- maybe. He tiptoed quietly to her door and positioned the paper on her doorknob and went back to the window.
Not looking at the ground, he descended the latticework. A sharp point in the structure caught his wrist and he cursed softly to himself. He waved his hand to still the pain and then resumed descending. He jumped to the bottom, straightened out his fine, new clothes and turned around.
"Bright and early, huh?"
Cloud shouted, jumped back, and hit his head on a protruding piece of the latticework. As he was rubbing his head, he saw her barely holding in her laughter, not in the least bit upset with his sudden desicion. "A-Aeris, the heck are you doing out at this hour? Pretty girls like you need their beauty sleep, don't they?"
"Ah, cut the crap, Cloudy," she said nicely with a smile, "you and I both know that you were going to do this. Mom knew, too."
"D'oh," Cloud said, worried." A-Ah, I'm sorry for this, but-"
"No need to be sorry. I argued with her last night anyway. She didn't want me to go, but I won the situation. Cloudy, I shall personally escort you to Sector Seven. I go there a lot myself, anyway."
Cloud started to protest, but he knew he would lose so he said, "Do you really know the way?"
Aeris laughed, "Just come on, Cloud."
She ran off into the slums, her long braided hair waving behind her, leaving Cloud shaking his head in wonder.

Sector Six was a small section of basically no human population at all. A pile of wreckage from unknown sources. Plans of reconstruction were presumably underway, but ShinRa most likely didn't give a damn about the slum's condition. The two journeyers made their way slowly through the wreckage over to what appeared to be a small playground. It was now almost morning and Aeris looked a little tired. "Hey, let's rest a bit by that swing set over there."
Cloud cracked his neck and replied, "Fine with me."
The playground had seen better days, but a swing set and a see-saw were still durable to rest on. A decrepit slide shaped in what appeared to be a moogle-- one of those weird cartoon things Cloud remembered seeing at the Gold Saucer-- lay in the center of the playground. A sandbox with jagged pieces of metal embedded in it lay directly behind the slide.
"An unsuspecting kid wanders into that box, hoping to make a sandcastle, but suddenly finds a sharp metal blade up his ass, " Cloud mused to himself.
Unfortunately, Aeris heard that and snapped, "Cloud! That's an ungentlemanly thing to say!"
"Well, look at it. Cripes, this place needs a little work done to it."
"Come sit by me, please." She patted the adjacent swing.
Cloud obediently walked up to her. The swing screeched as he sat in it.
Aeris looked a little sad. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Cloud sucked in breath. "You heard?"
"Oh yeah. A whole lot of cussing and screaming. Was about to come in, but I didn't want to alarm you. Do you want to tell me anything about it? It might relieve some pressure off your chest."
"Nah, some things are better kept inside."
"Hmmm."
They sat silently swinging back and forth, looking at the ground. A slight breeze rolled through the playground enlightening the mood somewhat. Cloud hastily thought of things to say, and then remembered a rather important incident.
"What was Reno after you for? As far as I can decipher from his actions, he was going to bring you to ShinRa for an experiment of some sort?"
She sighed a mournful sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"Remember him calling me an Ancient?"
"Yeah, what is that? I've been all over the world, seen a lot of people. Never heard them call themselves that."
"That's because, I'm the last one. The only one of my kind left on this planet."
Cloud churned that through his mind. "Wait a minute, Elmyra-"
"She's not my mom," she said quickly. "No relation whatsoever. It's...a long story, but the point is is that I'm the last Cetra on the planet. Here's how it goes Cloud. I belong to a clan that was predominant on this planet, called the Cetra. They were very industrial and lived comfortable lives...until certain events happened. One by one each of them fell, and now look at me, I'm the last one. That's why I'm an Ancient-- I represent the only known history of my clan. The only one left."
Cloud was totally in shock, and did not know what to make of it. However, one thing did click in his mind. "Aeris?"
She looked at him.
"I don't know what you are, but I'm going to find that out later. Right now, the only important thing, as I see it, is to keep you safe. You say ShinRa has been looking for you for quite a while?"
"Everyday is another trial. Yesterday, though, I found that there is hope afterwards."
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Well, I may not be much into hopeful situations. During the war, I never had hope in any situation. Each day was hell, but that's not the point I'm trying to make."
Aeris looked at him with a loving expression as he knelt down in front of her. "ShinRa will not get you, okay. Are you listening to me, because I am making an official promise here. Whatever happens, under any circumstances, you will not fall victim to any tortues that they put you under. I know this guy, Hojo. Creepy dude. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is-"
"That you'll rescue me if I'm in danger, and protect me when I'm with you?"
"Yes. With my life, if that comes to it."
Tears started to come to her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, catching him by surprise. "You are the greatest man I ever met. And I know you will keep your promise. i just know it." Her mouth moved towards his, and he went along with it.
Right as they touched, a loud sound broke the peacefulness, and a gate opened. Aeris's arms slid down Cloud's chest and both of them turned their heads to see a horse-drawn carriage enter the Sector Six slums. It had an advertisement sign on it that read HONEYBEE INN-- TONIGHT'S SHOW: TIFA LOCKHEART. Tifa, herself, was standing at the back of the carriage in a skimpy bra and panties outfit that was see-through. The carriage headed east, straight for Wall Market.
"The hell! That was Tifa!" He stood up and watched the carriage take her away. "What in God's name is she doing?"
Aeris stood up and looked at Cloud. "Was that the owner of Seventh Heaven?"
"Y-Yeah, but...hm, something's going on. I wonder where the rest of AVALANCHE is right now. This situation doesn't look good."
Aeris gestured to Wall Market. "Why don't we ask her then?"
He looked at her in disbelief. "Aeris, HONEYBEE INN is a strip club. A whole crowd of sleazy men hang around that joint. D'ya really want to cross their paths?"
"No, but you're my bodyguard, aren't you?"
"Well...yes, but-"
Aeris then took his arm and brought his body close to hers. "Then there's your answer. Besides you want to find out what the hell's going on, right?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I do."
"Then let's go." She marched him down the slum road on into the gates of Wall Market-- a metropolis in its own self.

"Heidegger, our time is coming," President ShinRa said around the prescence of his giant cigar. "AVALANCHE is hiding in Sector Seven."
The surprised General looked at him, the nervousness that he had just felt ever since the president entered the room melted away. "H-How did you come about that?"
"Well, to answer that wonderful question, General," he mused blowing a smoke ring into the air, "we must first go back to earlier events. You see, guards are posted at every station in every Sector-- except for Six, since nobody lives there. Guards deal with passengers every day, checking their identity, feeling them up, all kinds of stuff.
"News would get out, you see, if a member of AVALANCHE were to board the train. Odd thing is, they keep boarding our trains and we don't know how they do it...until now."
"What, sir?"
"One of our very own guards, our very own elite guards, has decided to stray down the road to perdition, General. The road to perdition, he has sided with AVALANCHE!"
"The fucker!"
"Exactly."
"He should be killed!"
"Exactly."
"Exterminated!"
"Exactly."
"Obliterated!"
"Exactly, but wait! who's job is it to properly screen every guard we have every couple of weeks or so?"
"Eh...oh."
"EXACTLY! Now, there's a problem now, isn't there. But, General, there is a bigger problem that has been found out and flushed out. You know Palmer, right? Hojo's assisstant. He says he has always had a sneaky suspicion of the guards posted there, one in particular. Goes by the name of Charles Smithers."
"Oh, I know him, sir. Ignorant bastard, he is, sir."
"Then maybe you should have canned the fucker before all this shit occured, huh!"
Heidegger cringed, expecting a blow. None came and he looked up to see ShinRa thinking.
"Palmer went down to Sector Seven," he continued, "and spoke with Smithers. You know Palmer has an eye for mal-doers, if that is a word. Anyway, he told me that after five sentences he knew this guy was letting AVALANCHE use his train stations with no charge or felony. Palmer brought him here and Hojo did...oh god..major stuff to him. Had his skin ripped off piece by piece, eyeballs gouged, tongue taken out, stomach impaled, heart ripped out by Hojo's own grasp. He crumpled up the dead body in a box and shipped it to the guard's family."
Heidegger cringed.
"But, I gave the order for it, so I don't give a shit." He blew another smoke ring and checked his watch. "My son will be coming any minute to show you his platoon of Air Combatants that will soar over Sector Seven. My guess is AVALANCHE is still down there. I am sure Cloud is dead, so they will have no problem with the rest of them.
"General, your orders now are to work with Rufus, arrange the battle plan, and commence the action. Get to it now!"
"Sir!" He saluted and ran off, thankful for not receiving any injuries from this meeting.
Meanwhile, ShinRa laid back in his chair and dulled out his cigar. "Where is that prick Reno when I need him?"