Past and Present
They flew through the gate as the upper sector crashed down noisily behind them, flames and sparks spewing from the ruined circuitry. The small playground they had landed in was now shifted several inches away from the gate, but nobody seemed to notice. As soon as Cloud, Tifa, and Barret had picked their bruised and battered bodies off of the ground, they were in a sullen state. They had failed to achieve their goal. They had not only failed to prevent those under the plate from death but also those who lived on top. Never having experienced failure before, Cloud plunked down at the bottom of the pink slide, his head buried in his gloved hands. How could I have failed? Cloud thought to himself. Could there have been anything I could have done to prevent the pillar's destruction? How could I have let Aeris go? Tifa stood anchored to the ground, staring intently at the wreckage as if someone would emerge from the solid mess of steel. Barret, who wasn't quite as quiet as the other two, stood trembling for a second or two, but suddenly broke out in a mad dash towards the wreckage.
"Biggs! Wedge! Jessie!" he screamed hoarsely, smashing his fist against the unmoving metal blockade, "Now, it's the second time that Shinra's screwed things up for me," he whispered furiously to himself, pounding the wall until his knuckles bled. Suddenly, the magnitude of his loss caught up with him. "No, Marlene!" he screamed in renewed fury, yanking on the trigger of his gun. The bullets bounced off of the unrelenting wreck, creating an unbearable noise. When this ceased to work, Barret smashed his head futilely in defeat against what used to be the gate to Sector 7, tears pouring from his eyes. Tifa, broken from her tranquilized state, quickly ran up to him to calm him down.
"Barret, it's all right," Tifa reassured him with no avail, "I'm sure somebody managed to survive the destruction. We'll get back at Shinra for what they did today, don't worry." Barret, still mourning his loss, didn't hear a word about what Tifa said. He shoved her away, signifying that he wanted to be alone. Suddenly, something clicked in Cloud's mind. Aeris, she said something about someone being safe. Who could she have been talking about?
"Barret, Marlene's all right," Cloud said suddenly, getting up from his spot on the slide. Immediately, Barret stopped his sobbing and looked over at Cloud, his forehead bruised from his banging it against the gate.
"What? How could that be possible?" Barret exclaimed, clearly stupefied by Cloud's outburst. Cloud turned away and began to walk towards the entrance to the playground, towards Aeris's house, mumbling something inaudibly. "Hey, I'm talkin' to you!" Barret yelled as he ran after Cloud. However, just as Cloud stepped into the Sector 6 Slums, something went off in his head. They can't have the last of the Ancients because I'm the last of the Ancients. What? How could I be an Ancient? I don't even know what they are!
"Hey, get a hold of yerself, man!" Barret's voice boomed at him. Wrenched away from his thoughts, Cloud found himself on the ground. What in the world is wrong with me?
"Sorry, Barret. I think that Marlene may be at Aeris's house," Cloud said, leading the way through Sector 6. Picking his way through the lumber stacks and crumbling asphalt, Cloud and his party of weary fighters stumbled towards the haven where they hoped to find Marlene.
It was dark by the time they arrived at Aeris's house. Suddenly, Cloud paused before the redwood door, almost afraid to knock on the door. Suddenly, the door opened of its own accord. "Come on in," a tired voice beckoned. Hesitating, Cloud and the others stepped through the doorway, finding themselves in a dimly lit room with Elmyra.
"I guess you already know this," Cloud said, bracing himself for what might come, "but the Shinra have Aeris. We tried to stop them, but they destroyed the entire sector. I couldn't stop them." To his surprise, Elmyra nodded glumly.
"I know," she said quietly, "Aeris came here with a little girl, Marlene her name was, followed by the Shinra. She knew the girl couldn't run away from them, so she told them that she would go if they left Marlene alone."
"Marlene's my daughter, ma'am," Barret said, swallowing as he spoke up, "I'm real sorry about it, and I'll try to get your daughter back here if I can."
"You, her father?" Elmyra spoke, astonished, "How could you leave a little girl alone like that?"
"I know, I know," Barret muttered apologetically, "But I have to do what I gotta do, or else Shinra will suck all the life outta the planet. But I love Marlene, yes I do. I can't stop thinking about her, and when I'm away, I don't know what will happen to her," he rambled.
"I know, and I understand. She's safe for now. You can go see her upstairs, but I want to talk to you all for a bit before you do," Elmyra explained.
"Is it about the Ancients?" Cloud asked, "When I last saw Aeris, the Turks said something about having the last Ancient." Elmyra nodded, "Sort of, but I'd like to start at the beginning, when I first met Aeris."
"It was a long time ago, during the time of the Wutai War. Every man was drafted to go to the front lines. Every day, us women would go and wait at the train station, hoping to see our loved ones return safe. It wasn't until one day that I found a very young mother lying on the steps of the station with a very young Aeris. I'd say that she was about three at the time. The mother said to me, 'Take Aeris somewhere safe and keep her away from Shinra…" It wasn't very long before she passed away," she stopped for a moment to wipe away a solitary tear.
"Anyway, I took care of Aeris for many years, but she was, well, different. You couldn't tell when she was little, when she was around four or five, but when she got older, she would just happen to know things spontaneously."
"Like what?" Cloud asked, puzzled by what she meant by "spontaneous knowledge."
"I remember, when Aeris was six, she ran down the stairs one warm summer evening and told me that someone dear to me had died and that she had spoken to him just before he returned to the planet. At first, I had no idea where she had gotten this idea in her head. I thought that she had been making up stories again. Yet, a week later, I had gotten a notice from Shinra that my husband had been killed during one of the assaults on the capital city," Elmyra continued, trying not to burst into tears from the memories, "And that very fall, Shinra agents came and tried to take her away."
"Turks? The guys in the black suits?" Cloud asked in disgust, the Turks where everywhere something dark and dirty was going on.
"Turks? Yes, I guess that's what they were. Anyway, they said that Aeris was very special, that she was an Ancient. I didn't quite understand why these people were so important and so special, but then they said some really weird stuff. They started describing events that I had indeed observed in Aeris. Knowledge of her quirks really spooked me. I didn't know what to say. They described everything that I found Aeris could do that other children couldn't. Yet, I didn't turn Aeris in to the Shinra, even though they offered me a very large sum of money, enough to make me as rich as the people who live in the mansions on the upper plate."
"What the hell!" Barret roared, "They offered you a sum of money like that and you didn't give Aeris to the Shinra? Either you're one mighty saintly woman or you're outta your mind!"
"Barret, you have to shut up. That has absolutely nothing to do with the story, so keep your mouth shut unless you have something relevant to say," Cloud muttered so softly that only Barret heard.
"No, I'm neither," Elmyra continued solemnly, "I didn't give her over because Aeris tried so hard to hide her unusual attributes. She even shouted to the Shinra agents- Turks I mean, that she couldn't do anything that they said she could. They never came back after that episode, but I think they still suspected she still had the powers of the Ancients. They began to stalk her, follow her. She always managed to escape them until now, and there's nothing I can do to get her out of the Shinra building."
"The Shinra building? That's where they're holding her?" Cloud said sharply, the beginnings of a plan forming in his head.
"Why, yes. The building's seventy floors high isn't it? I know that President Shinra keeps all of the most important labs in the building," Elmyra responded, surprised, "You're not going to attempt an infiltration are you? That would almost be suicide! Nobody but a member of SOLDIER… wait, you were part of SOLDIER weren't you?" Cloud nodded seriously, still deep in thought.
"Wait, if you're gonna infiltrate the Shinra building, I'm with you!" Barret interjected proudly, as if he expected applause from his small audience. He received none. "She saved Marlene, and I'll be damned if I don't do anything to pay her back! Besides, Shinra and me are like wolves and sheep!"
"I'm coming with you two," Tifa piped up quietly, "I've got my own reasons though." When they stared at her, she said quickly, "To keep Barret from going crazy, for example." Cloud remained suspicious, she had some other motive, but there wasn't time to think about something like that right now.
"Say, can you take care of Marlene for a while longer?" Barret asked, pleading with his "poor puppy" look, or at least as close of one he could get. Elmyra rolled her eyes at him, fighting down the urge to burst out with laughter at Barret's hilarious mixture between I-am-useless and I-am-a-fearless-leader look.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind," Elmyra replied, keeping her face straight.
"It's probably not safe to stay in the city though, you had better get out of here," Cloud warned wisely. If Shinra were to retaliate on their infiltration, they would most surely come here to pull some underhanded maneuver. Nodding to the rest of the group, the three warriors headed out of the door in single file. Once outside, Cloud turned to the other two.
"Do you have any idea how in blue hell we're gonna find a way up there?" he asked. Barret simply scratched his head and didn't answer. After a moment, Tifa spoke up, "I'm sure there's gotta be someone in the Wall Market who knows how to get up to the top plate without going through the train stations." Since they had few other options, Cloud decided to go with Tifa's advice. They returned to the Wall Market without much trouble, the large commotion of the falling plate probably spooked monsters and humans alike away from the area.
Upon entering the crowded marketplace, Cloud was about to scream in frustration. Who were they gonna ask to get them to the upper plate? It seemed so unlikely that anybody would even want to go up there, not to mention knowing how to. At least people are still around, Cloud thought, amazed at the milling crowds. It seemed as if they didn't notice a huge plate smashing down a couple kilometers away.
"Look, I don't think that we can possibly get through all these people as a group. Let's split up and meet up at the weapons and armor outlet." Cloud suggested. Thus said, Cloud and the rest of his rescue squad spent what seemed like eons elbowing their way through people and asking random bystanders whether they knew how to get to the top plate. When he finally got to their meeting place, he saw Tifa standing alone.
"Has Barret been here yet?" Cloud asked, knowing that Barret was apt to run off and not listen to instructions.
"Yeah, he's gone into the stupid store over there," Tifa said sullenly, "He told me to wait here for you." Cloud rolled his eyes, annoyed but not angry. After all, he did expect Barret to do something stupid like this. Presently, Barret came running out with a new attachment to his arm.
"Check out this awesome AK-47 attachment I got on sale!" Barret sputtered excitedly, seemingly unaware that the AK-47 attachments had been quite popular a couple of centuries ago. When Cloud stared at him, he continued, "Oh, and concernin' the mission thing. Some random guy ran up to me with a message from someone. Apparently some damsel in pain sent him to come find me. Said I'd probably be 'round here or something."
"Well? What did the damn note say?" Cloud asked icily, not mentioning that Barret probably meant to say, "damsel in distress". Barret was bound to forget something critical. Like what exactly was written in the note. Barret pulled out a smeared sheet of paper. In less than perfect handwriting, someone had scribbled: Train system unsafe. Try going to alleyway next to Don Corneo Mansion for electrical router. Maybe train tracks and other router cables will allow for upward ascent.
Well, what exactly is all this supposed to mean?" Cloud asked Barret, "I think this is pretty bad news. It looks like Shinra knows what we're up to. Who else would know what we're up to?
"I don't know," Barret said hesitantly, "But I got this strange feeling that Jessie's behind all this. It does look somethin' like her handwriting. I just don't know how she got wind that we wanted to get to the upper plate."
"You know, for once in your life, you might actually be right," Cloud mulled, full of thought, "I've only seen Jessie's handwriting just once, so I can't really tell. I'm just wondering how she could have gotten outta there alive."
"Beats me," Barret shrugged, "I don't think it's the Shinra though. They probably think we're already dead."
"Either way, we should check out this alleyway near the Don's Mansion," Tifa suggested wisely, "We don't have much choice. We might as well hurry up on our excursion." With that, the three partners headed off towards the mansion. As they drew towards the mansion, Barret spotted the dark and narrow alleyway that was just barely visible in the dimly lit area. Heading down the alley, they presently found themselves facing a dead end. "Let's see, there should be some kind of thick cable around," Tifa spoke out, her voice unusually loud in the dead silence that accompanied them. Cloud pointed out the thick black cabling that rose out of the ground straight up to the bottom of the plate.
"We're supposed to climb up that thing?" Cloud said incredulously, "It's a little more than a skinny pipe! How's it supposed to hold all of us up?"
"Hey, to you it might be some skinny old pipe," Barret piped up, "But to me, it's the golden thread of hope!"
"Barret, I thought I told you not to try and use analogies because they always suck," Cloud grumbled, setting foot onto the bottom of the electrical router. "It seems to be stable enough," he evaluated, setting his full weight on it to see if it would hold without too much swing. Hugging the round cable, they wormed their way up the cable, fearful of what might await them at the top.
"Damn! I sure hope we don't gotta do this all the way up!" Barret complained. It would sure be a pain if they were forced to worm the entire fifty meters through the plate. Soon, however, they appeared on the top of the crumbled wall that used to separate the two sectors. Looking around him, Cloud noticed a long railroad track that looked like it had come down with the plate and was now dangling freely.
"Oh dear God," Barret whined as the wind shook the tracks so violently that it actually swung back and forth as if there were already a heavy weight on the bottom, which was somewhere in the rubble.
"It isn't like we have any choice, do we?" Cloud said reasonably, setting foot on the bottom rung of the ladder the tracks had become. "Come on, it won't be so bad after we get started." Silently following suit, Barret and Tifa slowly placed themselves on the tracks and began their ascent. About a third of the way up, a heavy wind rocked the tracks so violently that Cloud nearly lost his grip on the steel sides. I hope that this damn thing holds, he thought. Soon they found themselves immersed in the internal workings of the plate. There wasn't so much rocking anymore, since they weren't in the open. However, now they had to watch out for the slicing fan blades that kept the electronics from overheating. Cloud had the ominous feeling that they would slice the tracks in two, thus sealing their fates. Suddenly, he found himself at the top of the ladder. Crawling safely onto one of the thick tubes of wires that carried power to the city, Cloud stared amazed at how close they had come to practically falling down.
"Shit, look at that," Cloud rasped, pointing at the severed train tracks, "If those rails hadn't become bent so badly, we might never had made it up here. The worst part is that I don't know which way we can go now."
"Well, I don't think there's another set of train tracks that we can take to get to the upper plate," Tifa remarked, staring into the vast workings of the city, "I guess we're going to have to go through all those things in there." She pointed towards the dark area that the tube led to.
"Are you crazy? We don't know whether the tube's gonna drop and send us flying down to our doom!" Barret yelled, receiving a cold stare in response.
"Don't you have a light attachment on your AK-47 attachment?" Cloud inquired, hoping that it did."
"Uh, I dunno. I don't really check out all the technicalities…" Barret grumbled, searching his grafted gun for a switch or button, "I don't see one!" he finally concluded, throwing his hands up in defeat. By some miracle his arm whacked an adjacent tube, and hitting a small switch. Suddenly, bright floodlights illuminated the dark area. "Well, whaddya know! I'm a genius!" Barret pronounced. Cloud took one look into the now bright labyrinth and noticed that the tube curved upwards.
"I guess we found our way up, if you're willing to risk your neck crawling up this damned tube," Cloud said resigned. There wasn't much of an alternative. Barret gulped fearfully, mumbling to himself all the while.
"I swear, I'm never gonna listen to you again," Barret complained as he hugged the tube for dear life and inched his way upwards.
"Oh, stop whining and hurry up," Tifa called up from below, receiving yet another whimper from Barret as she prodded him gently. "You big baby, I didn't know you were scared of heights!" At this, Barret sped up ever so slightly, but it seemed to suffice.
"When are we gonna be able to walk again?" Barret continued, as Cloud disappeared into a tangle of wires. Rather than receiving a response in words, Barret heard a loud screeching noise, like metal being torn apart. "Damn! I didn't sign up to fight something on this damned place!" In saying so, a slop of mud fell on his face. "Whaddya think you're doing?" he roared, as more of the slippery mixture was dumped on his face.
"I've found a way into the upper sewers," Cloud called down, "I thought you might want to know."
"What? You mean this is shit that's fallin' down on my face? I'm coming up, and you'd better not be lying about getting out of this mess!" Barret roared back furiously. Yet, he climbed up faster than anyone had ever seen him climb before, and minutes later, the three were standing in a metal tube of sewage.
"Will you look at that. It's the royal sewage. What a privilege," Tifa joked, "Even the walls are made of titanium alloys. The three picked their way through the waste, looking for something that might lead them to their ultimate destination. Fortunately, the upper class has much more brightly lit sewers than those down below, but it still took them half an hour to find their way to a chrome ladder that led up to a manhole.
"Careful, we wouldn't want to get this far just to be run over by one of those damned motor bikes," Tifa admonished, as they climbed up the ladder.
"Tifa, nobody would be up and driving. It's pretty much midnight about now," Cloud reasoned, as he poked his head up through the manhole. Just as he did so, he heard a deep rumble, and upon turning his head, he saw a speeding motorcycle coming towards him. "Oh shit!" he swore, ducking down below as the bike zipped by.
"Nobody driving, eh?" Tifa smirked, trying to hold in her laughter.
"Well, nobody sensible. I guess those guys up there aren't so sensible after all," Cloud grumbled, pulling himself out of the sewers, "The coast is clear now. Let's get outta this fix." After the three had gotten out of the disgusting sewers, Cloud replaced the covering and looked around.
"Well? Where are we?" Barret asked gruffly, staring down the street. Cloud remained fixed, but looking in the other direction.
"We're right where we need to be," he replied in awe.
"What? The hell does that mean?" Barret roared. Upon turning around, he saw what Cloud meant. They ended up right in front of the great marble staircase that led to the Shinra building. For a moment, all three stood stock still, but after that moment they broke into a run, charging up the stairs. Just when Cloud was going to charge through the double doors, Tifa warned, "Wait! Isn't it better to take some covert way?"
"There isn't one," Cloud said quickly, even though he knew there was a side staircase, "Anyway, let's make some noise."
"Now you're talkin' my language!" Barret yelled, patting his grafted gun.
"Wait a second, I've got an idea on how to get in there with a bang," Cloud said with a devious look on his face, "Now, here's what you gotta do…"