Chapter Seven: A Date in the Slumps
Cloud paused for but a moment at the edge of the garden, where clean soil and gray rock road yielded to meadows of contaminated dirt and metal scraps. He cast one glance over his shoulder towards the beautiful paradise that was Aeris's home, just to make sure no one was following him, and sighed in relief at spotting only an empty garden.
Part of him hated to leave such an idyllic scene such as that was. But the rest of him knew he didn't belong. The thriving flowers, the clean stream running through -- Cloud was an outsider to such simple pleasures. He shook his head and turned around to continue onwards.
And came face to face with a pair of green eyes.
"Leaving so soon?" Aeris said, smiling.
"Aeris!" Cloud shouted back as he leapt backwards in surprise. He glanced back at the house; there was no way she could have caught up to him so fast, let alone appear in front of him like that. He looked back at Aeris. "What are... how did you...?"
Aeris chuckled to herself. "I'll have you know," she began, with a smile to her voice, "that you can't get away from a unicorn that easily...."
"But I can't risk you becoming involved in this. It's too dangerous...."
Aeris scoffed.
"Aeris, I'm a member of Snowslide! The rebels!" The news didn't seem to bother the unicorn though; it seemed as if she already knew. "The Rin Sha want me dead. Doesn't that mean anything to you? ...like that you should stay away?"
"Oh, come on...," Aeris answered. "It's not like the Lurks were hunting you down back there. I'm involved too, whether you like it or not!"
"But... Aeris...."
"You're my bodyguard, right?" Aeris insisted.
"That job's over," Cloud responded, shaking his head. "I kept you safe, I brought you home . . . that's it. I'm my own agent again. Now please, I must go."
Cloud tried to shove his way past Aeris, but she refused to stand aside, instead taking a few steps back herself so as to remain in Cloud's way.
"Aeris...," Cloud stressed.
"Some mercenary you are...," Aeris chided. "You won't even accept your payment?"
Cloud stopped. What payment was she talking about? He remembered back to the scene in the sanctuary. Aeris had insisted on him being a bodyguard, and what did she pay him for it?
Cloud's mind fuzzed over. The earlier events he could remember well, but just what sort of payment did she agree upon? She hadn't given him any gold or silver up front, and he didn't recall giving her a price that she could pay later.
Damn it, was he doing a job for free? Why was payment the one thing to elude his memory?
"What... payment?" Cloud asked in confusion.
"A date, remember?" Aeris answered proudly. For whatever reasons he could not determine, it seemed that Aeris was more fond of the idea than Cloud himself was. "I know just the place -- it's right on the way to the Seventh District. Come on, let's go!"
"Whoa...," Cloud said, gathering what authority he had into his voice. "If I'm still your bodyguard, then I lead the way. You just tell me where to go and follow along, okay?"
Aeris nodded confidently, then stepped aside to allow Cloud to take the lead, and together they left the garden of her house, walking between the hills of city debris until they could see no more of the countless flora behind them, only the dirt and ugly scrap that they recognized as Midnight City Slumps.
Quietly, under Aeris's direction, Cloud led her through the Fifth District Slumps, past a ridge of old rusted piping forming its borders, and into the wastelands separating areas of the Slumps. A far distance to their left, Cloud could just barely identify the steeple of a tall building, presumably the sanctuary he had fallen down into after Snowslide's strike against the Fifth District's Refractor, barely visible through the smog as a heap of blackened metal beams and other still-burning materials. Off to the left lay a jungle of old materials long thrown down from the upper levels of the City, a thick jungle of scattered asphalt, decrepit construction vehicles, and corroded scrap from buildings long since demolished.
Aeris pointed to the left and he led the way into the urban jungle and its myriad of trails weaving through. The stripes on the asphalt ground might once have indicated a highway, perhaps a road from the pre-City area villages, or simply materials thrown down from the upper City levels during one of the rare maintenance projects. To theright it led, past an old crane whose claw-shaped grapnel looked ready and willing to pluck any civilians running underneath.
Various small creatures scurried out of sight as Cloud and Aeris began making their way through the metal jungle about them, as their path led to the right around the old crane with its rusty claw hanging by an equally corroded cable. Cloud eyed it with caution as they walked carefully around the ancient machine, as if anticipating it to suddenly snap and fall on top of them. With haste they passed through underneath it, through the shadow it cast on the ground, Cloud ready to draw his weapon and take action in a heartbeat.
Their path curved towards the right, upwards through the tunnel of an old drainage pipe, reeking of foul liquids long since eaten through its polymer sheeting. Carefully Cloud led upwards, helping Aeris to avoid shards of glass here, and rusted metal there. With alternating looks up and down the pair of them climbed upwards and arrived atop a small hill of broken asphalt, surrounded by broken iron tie-rods and hollowed-out vehicle chassis long since abandoned by their owners. Cloud looked around, but found little sense of direction. North, south, east, and west, the trees of metal debris seemed to all look alike.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Cloud asked. "We're going to get lost in here if we just keep wandering around...."
Aeris pointed northwest. "Don't worry. I can almost see the place from here. We just have to keep going. ...that way." Aeris then pointed to a metal bridge leading west.
Whatever it was, the next leg of their path wasn't worthy of being called a bridge. An assemblage of loose I-beams bound together by netting and cable was more like it. There were no railings of other safety measures befitting a bridge, and the thing seemed to rock with each step. One false move, perhaps, and it would dump them into a toxic river composed of loose metal beams, shards of broken glass, and heaven forbid what else. And yet it was nothing more than the very passageway they themselves had walked through just minutes ago. Nearby stood that same crane, with its old claw casting a threatening shadow below.
With each step, Cloud feared the rickshaw construction might break underneath their weight and send them plummeting ten feet downwards to a most unhealthy landing amongst the debris. Yet the two of them continued, and arrived safely on a plateau of broken ashpalt on the other side. Ahead and to the left lay piles of trash long coalesced into impenetrable walls, and they walked across the small plateau, alongside the eerie old crane and its hanging, seemingly bloodstained claw.
No, that's just rust, Cloud reassured himself. Ahead of them lay an old wooden shanty the size and smell of an outhouse. Small creatures scuttled into dark hidings as they approached, for their path led right by it. Aeris pointed north, where a ramp of concrete blocks formed a misshapen stairway leading down to ground level.
Cloud heard something, a crunching sound, right next to him, off to the left. Monsters! Instinctively drew his blade and swung it in that direction. Wood splintered and flew as Cloud's weapon crashed into the wooden shanty aside him. A second swipe and he dismembered the other wall of that building, even before realizing what he was doing.
His thoughts caught up to him. What was he doing?
Over-reacting, Cloud told himself. He shook his head at his own folly; never before could he recall being so tense, so ready to strike at any threat, as this present job as a bodyguard. Was it the environment around them? The jungle of metal, that large claw casting a dangerous shadow to the ground. Or was it the smell? It seemed to be coming from the shattered structure. Curiosity overcame him and Cloud hazarded a look inside.
He soon wished he hadn't. Long ago, perhaps weeks or months, some poor thing must have died in there, its remains now a residence for local parasites and tiny scavengers. Nauseated almost to the point of vomiting, Cloud stepped away towards fresher air and tried to return his thoughts to his job. "Let's keep moving," he said as he led Aeris forwards, down from the small hill towards a passage lined by a wall on one side and a line of old, corroded oil drums on the other.
Why was he distracted, he thought again. Was it because of his client? Because she was a unicorn?
Cloud paused again as they rounded a corner, noticing the silence around them. He glanced to Aeris at his left side. "I don't like this...."
Aeris nodded silently as she walked a few steps ahead of Cloud. Cloud began to catch up, but suddenly his foot sank into a soft, waiting trap. Instinctively Cloud drew his blade as he struggled to free his leg from its grip. Then out the corner of his eye he spotted a monsterjumping down towards him.
Stuck in place but still armed, Cloud impaled the beast with the blade of his sword as it came down. A piercing scream cut through the air as his blade sank up to the hilt and the creature landed on top of him, knocking him to his side. Cloud kicked it off of him as he freed his front foot from the ground, then removed his sword fom it.
"Cloud?" Aeris called, turning back suddenly.
Cloud blinked in disbelief as he came to realize the situation: He had snagged his front leg up against some old rusty chains, and in struggling to free it, had shaken the pile of old chemical drums, causing one of them to fall upon him. The ear-splitting scream was, no doubt, merely his blade cutting through the container's thick metal shell.
Cloud blinked again, figuring out what once was a perfectly legible label on the container. Judging by the peculiar symbol emblazoned upon the drum, it must have said 'Biohazard'.
Cloud sheathed his weapon and sighed. Once was excusable, but twice? Why could he not merely focus on his current job, like he had for so many past employers?
"Are you okay?" Aeris asked.
Cloud shook his head. "This is definitely not my day...."
"Don't worry, we're almost through. It's not much farther," Aeris smiled.
"That's good," Cloud shrugged. "This place is getting dangeous...."
Aeris giggled to herself.
"What, did I say something funny?"
"Oh, nothing...," Aeris answered, still smiling. "You're the only dangerous one around here. The path is perfectly safe -- I've taken this road dozens of times...."
"Let's get going then," Cloud nodded as he trotted ahead of Aeris, trying to focus on his job and ignore the scenery around him. The pair trotted through shadows resembling the jaws of some monster, even though they were nothing more than old electrical poles obscuring a lone overhead light. They walked across a shimmering, boiling lake, which turned out nothing more than a small sea of glass shards -- and safety glass at that. They climbed quickly through a chemical-filled exhaust conduit, which was really nothing more than a large pipe with puddles of water collected within. Around another gigantic, waiting arm they travelled, the arm being nothing more than another wrecked crane. By now Cloud was starting to ignore the seeming danger around them. It wasn't real; it was merely his imagination trying to distract him from his job. He would escort Aeris to wherever it was she wanted, collect one short date as his payment, and then continue on towards the Seventh District to find his comrades, Lockheart and Berett.
Finally, after several quiet, odd minutes of walking, climbing, and winding in seemingly endless circles, they arrived at the end of the maze. Ahead of them lay a wide open space, a stark contrast to the claustrophobic road they had just walked through. Filling this space lay what seemed to be an old child's playground. A sandbox lay on one side, its sand long congealed into mud, no longer fit (or safe) to play in. A broken swing-set lay to the right, bereft of its seats and now posessing only several hanging, rusted chains. Next to the swings lay a trio of rotted wooden seesaws, and in the center of it all lay two large metal domes thta young ponies, presumably, once climbed inside of and all over and used as forts. One was taller than the other, and bore a simplistic, smiling face, out the mouth of which spouted forth a dented metal slide for a tongue.
Centuries ago, this would have been a paradise to any kid in the neighborhood. Now it was merely an afterthought, a memento of the era long gone by. Empty, lifeless; only an occasional breeze played in the park, chiming the old chains of the broken swings as if yearning the old days, before the great upper plate of Midnight City blocked out the sun.
"Up here," Aeris directed as she climbed the rather steep metal stairs leading up the larger fort. Cloud, though, stayed on the ground, looking around the decrepit park.
"Which way to the Seventh District now?" Cloud inquired.
"Leaving so soon? I thought you wanted a date. Come on, the view's great from up here!"
"It's only eight feet off the ground, how great could it be?" Cloud asked.
"You'll never know from down there," Aeris chuckled.
Cloud shrugged at the invitation. Looking up, he gauged the distance carefully, and then with his wings launched himself upwards, ten feet into the air, and landing easily on the top level of the small structure. Cloud looked around, and was surprised at what greeted his eyes.
Aeris was right: From even this meager height, Cloud could see over and across most of the junkpiles surrounding and inhabiting the District. Off in the west Cloud could clearly see the central Pillar supporting the Seventh District, and the tops of buildings in the Slumps. Northwards lay nothing more than a seemingly endless forest of scrap metal not much unlike the one they themselves had come through earlier, and to the eastwards lay another Slumps settlement nearby the central pillar supporting the Sixth District.
"What's that place?" Cloud asked, pointing to the lights in the east.
"Those are the Sixth District Slumps. We just call it the Wall Mart. They have more shops and more variety there than anywhere else in the City...."
Cloud looked at the neon signs embellishing some of the establishments, but couldn't identify what either the signs or the buildings were. Even so, the sickly yellow and red lighting seemed to echo a sense of loathing, of vice and crime, across the thick air of the Slumps. "It doesn't look like a friendly place."
"There are a lot of businesses, but no houses. The constant smell of alcohol, smoke... it's worse there than anywhere else, even in the Slumps . . . say, Cloud?"
"Hm?" Cloud looked at Aeris, wondering what sort of question she might ask next.
"You were in Stallion, right . . . I've been wondering, what was your rank?"
Cloud's memory sparked like one nearby light pole flickering and burning out at a most fortuitous moment. "Brigadier, first class."
Aeris nodded. "Ah. He was a brigadier first class too...."
"Who?"
"Oh, nobody in particular," Aeris said, shaking her head. "Just... an old friend I had. You look a bit like him...."
"What was his name?" Cloud asked. "I might know him...."
Aeris chuckled to herself, then pointed to the west and abruptly changed subjects. "Say, the Seventh District is that direction. It's just past that gate over there.
Cloud nodded to himself; it sounded like Aeris didn't want to talk about an old friend -- no, perhaps something more like an old flame.
Cloud shrugged. If she didn't feel like talking, he'd have no business pushing. "Well, I had better get going. Lockherat's got to be wondering about me by now...."
Aeris giggled. "So that's it, huh? I knew it."
"No, it's not like that," Cloud objected. "I've known Lockheart for years. We grew up together; we're just friends. There's nothing --"
Cloud fell short when his eyes fell upon a strange vehicle heading their way from the gateway to the Seventh District. It was an old-fashioned carriage carriage, constructed out of brightly red-painted wood (or at least it seemed like wood), rolling on four large wooden-spoked wheels. The driver sat atop it, holding a pair of reins as its feathreed steed drew the carriage forwards. And what a strange beast it was! Covered in golden yellow feathers from beak to tail, and standing at least ten feet tall, a strange bird wearing a leather harness drew the carriage across, walking across the garbage and metal on the ground upon two legs that were themselves taller than any pony, each leg brandishing a trio of claws as large and sharp as knives. While the overall appearance of this large flightless bird seemed slightly humorous, Cloud's eyes kept a fix upon its large claws. Sure, it looked docile -- but with claws like those, Cloud wouldn't want to see it in a temper.
"Who is that?" Cloud asked to Aeris as the carriage drove by them.
"He's here again," Aeris muttered. "He's a travelling merchant. He comes to the City only every fortnight or so. When he does, he goes around selling and delivering goods to ponies. I wonder where he's headed today...."
As the cart began to draw away from them towards the lights of the Sixth District Slumps, or the wall mart, Cloud noticed a peculiar passenger riding along inside the carriage. The mare waved back shortly as Cloud stood there watching.
"Lockheart...?" Cloud muttered under his breath.
"That was her?" Aeris asked, sounding concerned. "That's odd... the chocobo merchant isn't known for giving rides... well, except for...."
"Except for what?" Cloud asked. "Why isn't she tending to the café like she should? I don't like this." Cloud jumped down from the play fort they were standing on, landing softly but firmly on the ground.
"I don't like it either," Aeris said, jumping down after him. "The merchant also takes jobs from the local slumlords. That's the only reason I can think of why he'd have a passenger on board...."
"If that's so, then who's he taking to her in the Sixth District?"
"The baron of these parts is a shady fellow called Borneo. Von Borneo, actually, and he's got to be the lowest scum of them all. ...if that's where your friend is headed, then --"
"-- Then I'm going after her! It could get dangerous...."
"Then I'm going with you," Aeris volunteered.
"What? No... I'll go alone. I'll make sure Lockheart's safe, then it's back to the Seventh District. You just... um...." Cloud found himself staring into a pair of angered green eyes.
"Go home? Is that what you want me to do? No way. What if you get into trouble, hm? Who'll come looking for you?"
"Well...."
"I'm coming along with you. And that's final!" Aeris insisted.
Cloud shrugged. He looked to the eastwards, but now the bird-drawn carriage was gone from view. He scoffed. "We lost him. Come on!"
Aeris chased after him as Cloud ran off towards the east. If they hurried they might catch up to the merchant in no time, possibly ask a few questions about what he was going to do with his passenger on board. But as they chased on, past a few corners, they spotted no sign of the carriage other than a few clouds of dust flickering about in an otherwise windless area. There was no doubt about it; the merchant must have gone this way.
Cloud came to a halt as the path veered left into a dark, foul-smelling area, lined with slightly rotting old buildings and retrofitted trailers. A large sign above them clearly read, in blinking yellow and white lights, the Wall Mart. Cloud looked down the main avenue of this small merchant's villa, past the hanging orange streetlights and vagrant ponies huddling around drum cans for warmth. The merchant had to have come this way. But where would they look?
"The wall mart," Aeris introduced. "A fine place to shop, but you wouldn't want to live here, what with the baron and his gang. They keep order by his word, and their force."
"I don't like this place either," Cloud answered. "Let's just get in, find Lockheart, and get back out."
Author's Notes:
Once again, procrastination strikes and it took me considerably longer to work on this chapter than I was expecting.
One of my objectives for this version of the chapter was to find an appropriate 'break' point, so that I can pace the events leading up to the Seventh District's destruction, rather than have, say, a very long chapter here and a very short chapter there.
Another one of my objectives when I rewrote this chapter was to portray the passage through the maze of garbage and debris that clutters the roadway between the Fifth District Slumps and its neighbor, the Sixth District. I have read several other FF7 novellizations, and there are indeed varying interpretations on just how it happens. Some authors might spend virtually no time describing the travel, and others allow it to take longer by introducing monsters. No doubt, those who have played Final Fantasy 7 know that the monster population in that area consists mostly of the leech-like "Whole Eaters" and the building-monster called "Hell house". While an encounter with the local monsters here and there is easily excused as artistic license, I've grown a bit tired of Cloud and Aeris almost always running into a pack of monsters in this particular area, at this particular time. It's almost a fandom cliché. So, when performing this rewrite of the chapter, I decided to play the monster-encounter angle, but without introducing any actual monsters into play. Midnight City is not the most dangerous of cities, and the small creatures that might pose a danger to travellers are themselves scared of the inhabitants. So this time, as they pass through the veritable jungle of junk, there are no monsters to encounter. Or are there? Cloud is on edge throughout this sequence, and in two occasions attacks what he thinks might be a monster, but is actually harmless scenery.
It was fun to write, but in retrospect I'm not so sure how it fits with Cloud's being a mercenary. I'll have to give it more thought, and perhaps write a new version of this sequence later.
For the next chapter, Cloud discovers where Lockheart is, no doubt in the paws of the district's slimy baron, von Borneo. How can he get to her without causing a scene? And why is Lockheart there in the first place? What information does Borneo have, and what will it cost the rebels to find out?
Disclaimer:
Final Fantasy 7, its original characters, and its original plot are, of course, productions of Squaresoft Inc. (now Square Enix, LLC). And My Little Pony is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.