Ok – firstly, I'm so sorry it took like a million years to update the second chapter, but in this time I've had college troubles, I've been ill – and been involved in a big false scandal in which I was told by my doctor I was diabetic when the hospital I went to afterwards said I wasn't …
But Chapter 2 is here at long last…
I REALLY wanna see Advent Children NOW… But I can't so I'll have to wait I guess… Anyway, enough of my current AC fetish, it's time to move on. The sooner I can get the boring parts of the game over and done with, the sooner we can get to the cooler parts! Am I right?
Of course I am!
So let's move on to Chappy 2!
Darkness. Cold darkness and the sound of breathlessness on a deathly silence.
"Is everyone ok?" Jessie's voice was heard to call out and an immediate roll – call of the group carried out through a group of male voiced "yes's" as a light sparked up and lit up the small caverned area of which they hid.
Cloud blinked in the sudden dull flash, feeling his racing heartbeat begin to slow down. AVALANCHE, huddled together within the cramped and cold dampness of the rocky walls around them, Barret gasping for breath and fighting to control the wild grin upon his face, Biggs sitting back, hand over heart catching his breath next to Wedge sitting back smiling, pleased with the success of the mission as Jessie fought to steady her own breathing, sat down on a rock, plugging into a square shaped laptop on standby for use.
"That oughtta keep the planet goin' at least for a little while longer…" Barret nodded gleefully, punching the air. "Good work y'all! After we get outta here the drinks are on me!" he grinned as he pulled Biggs to his feet and giving him a complimentary pat on the back that almost resulted in Biggs getting slammed face first to the ground. But all in good sport as Barret laughed to himself, so happy to have spat in the face of Shinra Inc.
"Yeah, escaping sounds good…" Jessie nodded, looking around the enclosed space around of which they where trapped. "But I have to locate the most likely area of which we can blow ourselves out of here. If I get it wrong, we either starve to death or rot here, or Shinra troops'll dig us up and have us executed, so a little silence for the sake of concentration would be much appreciated…"
"Exactly how are you gonna locate a safe place to blow up?" Cloud enquired, as he got to his feet and walking over to look over Jessie's shoulder at the screen. Jessie blushed with a smile, pulling her neck over to the side to let him see. Cloud blinked at her sudden change of behavior towards him. It was just before entering the complex of the reactor she'd referred to him as the 'enemy'. Now she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush – but then again, considering the goings on and the fact that he had saved her life might have had something to do with it… He failed to notice Biggs narrowing his eyes towards him as he looked upon the flat screen of the laptop.
A complicated map of what he assumed was of the Sector that where currently, a small pink flashing dot on the screen bleeped in the bottom left corner.
"This is where we are right now, trapped with reinforced metal doors and rubble. Only one door leads to the back entrance of the reactor, and so we have to locate it and pray that it's not buried as I only have one bomb, far weaker than the other and with a link to my laptop computer. Once I hit input the code – "
"7th Heaven?" Cloud asked more out of sarcasm than friendliness, knowing that constant use of the same password wasn't the brightest of ideas, but Jessie gave a vigorous nod in his favor.
"Heh, yeah – didn't have much time to go thinking up multiple passwords – anyway, with the input of the password – I hit the detonator…"
"Or the 'Enter' key," Biggs corrected with a sharp glance towards them as Barret wandered over to peer over Jessie's shoulder, leaving Biggs to sulk on his own, and Wedge grin stupidly to himself as he bathed in the success of a mission he had taken part in. He was officially a Rebel Terrorist against Shinra! Never had a day passed that he had been prouder of himself!
Jessie shuffled to the side to make room for her leader, Barret as she continued on with her commentary.
"I hit the detonator…"
"Enter Key…"
"Biggs – shut up! I hit the Enter – Detonator, sorry. And then – boom! We're free to catch the train home and celebrate, and if I'm reading this right, then the bomb should be set…." She paused, lifting her head to look around, her finger poised to point before it snapped down in Wedge's direction. "…It should be set precisely where Wedge is sitting!"
"You sure?" Barret asked seriously. "Cos if we wind up trapped down here, I ain't gonna be a happy man Jessie!"
"Oh ye of little faith…" Jessie sighed getting to her feet, a small square of explosives in her hand as Wedge leapt to his feet and scampered to the far side of the blown – in cavern as Cloud, Barret and Biggs backed away from the setting of the bomb, watching carefully as Jessie pressed the small box against the metal sheet blocking their path to freedom and inserting the password of 7-T-H-H-E-A-V-E-N into it's programming, before turning on her heels and sprinting over to where the boys stood, snatching her laptop as she passed, and pressed her back into the wall of which the stood against. "You guy's ready?"
"Um… Jess?" Wedge piped up nervously, tapping her shoulder tentatively. Jessie turned to meet her smaller friend, as all eyes swiveled round to meet him.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"…H – how much power is in that thing?" he asked slowly. "I mean, it l – looks exactly the same as the other one did, and you saw what happened with that one…"
"Heh, yeah – that was kind of an accident, the website I got the information from didn't really tell you what would happen if you added a couple of million gallons of Mako to it…" Jessie giggled innocently. Her laugh echoed eerily throughout the confined space of the cavern and sounded like a menacing specter of some sort.
"Oh… yeah…. Right…" Wedge nodded, gone suddenly white in the face and shivering with fear. Jessie caught his look and frowned.
"Don't worry about it Wedge, this one's a lot weaker, and…"
"Just set it off already!" Cloud interrupted irritably with a sigh, folding his arms over his chest, flicking a loose group of hairs of his chaotic blonde spikes from his eyes.
Jessie jumped up suddenly, and Barret growled behind Cloud at his continuing disrespect for his friends.
"Yessir!" She nodded, slamming down on the 'Enter Key', or Detonator as she liked to call it, and all present instinctively thrust their hands up to their heads and turned away as the loud sound of force and fire erupted and a fresh new light spilled in and mixed with the orange glow of the flames.
Cloud was the first to allow his eyes to see the escape, and to his joy, Jessie had chosen her spot for setting the bomb perfectly, a wall of fire – easy enough to vault over was his only obstacle.
"All right!! Way to go Jessie!" Biggs complimented loudly, pumping his fists as he saw the fresh road to escape before him.
"Alright – we're not done yet guys," Barret warned ominously towards his group of AVALANCHE. "There's gonna be some Shinra Soldiers out there huntin' for suspicious characters, remember, we split up and rendezvous at the Train Station – ya'll clear on that?"
"Yeah – we got it…" Cloud muttered rudely, taking a run at the wall of flames, leaping into the air, up and over the fire in a somersault, feeling the somewhat discomforting thud of his back on the hard and rocky ground as he rolled over to meet the world outside of the cavern behind what was once the Sector One Reactor of Midgar.
He stared up behind the flames to witness Barret come roaring through the smoke and landing with a loud thud by his side, landing with a loud grunt as he turned to witness the twin leaps of Biggs and Jessie, hand in hand as they sailed over the fire to land delicately on their feet.
Cloud didn't know what had specifically happened to Wedge. All he knew was that all of a sudden, he was there and running around in circles, clenching his buttocks as smoke spilled from the seat of his pants.
Barret coughed once, slightly embarrassed. Cloud wasn't amused either.
"Y'know Wedge, you come right out of a cartoon, y'know that?" he spoke tauntingly as the roly – poly little man finally came to a halt, fanning the smoke away with his hands as he came to calm down.
"Alright guys," Barret cut in, stepping forth to make his authority known. "Split up – meet ya's at the Station, - you got it?"
"Yessir!" The triple reply coming from the comical trio of Biggs, Wedge and Jessie came across in a simultaneous salute.
"Yeah…" Cloud nodded, embarrassed by the company that he was in, wishing nothing more to be back at the bar with a fresh fistful of Gil, and with Tifa to talk to…
"Let's move out!" Barret finished, turning and mounting up a nearby set of stairs as Biggs, Wedge and Jessie scattered in all directions and disappearing behind rubble, or passed a wall, or down a straight path to the left.
Cloud was alone. For at least a moment anyway as he got himself together and yawned and stretched, his muscles still sore from the battle with the Guard Scorpion, but Limit Breaks had that effect on a guy…
Deciding to follow the path of Barret, Cloud set off at a steady jog swinging passed the iron railings and up the carelessly sculpted stone steps, unable to see the AVALANCHE leader nor detect any visible clue leading to which direction he could have went.
Oh Well.
Cloud turned to face what was left of the city of Sector One. It was dirty, smelly – any specific area of Lower Midgar suffered these problems. It wasn't exactly known to be the healthiest place to be. – but Cloud couldn't help that.
He ran through the streets, the panic from the explosion still frantic, people running to and fro – Cloud had to blend in, play the frightened civilian. Had to copy all of the people running in their fright to reach safety.
After all, it was exactly what everyone was doing at that specific moment. Everyone except…
With wide and innocent green eyes, she looked around frantically, as though confused, slight fear written across her beautiful face as she clutched at the basket of flowers under her arms, Cloud could only blink in wonder at the young lady he saw standing in the middle of the streets, dressed in a plain pink summer dress, topped with a small and tight red cotton jacket she looked around, her long nut – brown plait swinging gently with her movements, and she gave a cry as a terrified young man shoved passed her, violently throwing her to the ground, her basket scattering over the ground.
She looked so dismayed, sitting up and pulling the delicate posies back into her basket, and as the streets began to clear, Cloud felt his assistance was sorely needed.
Running up to her through the streets, now practically empty, he approached her from behind. Her long hair was tied in a soft white bow, wrapped around a small greenish - white orb that looked suspiciously like Materia.
"Here, let me help," Cloud offered and she turned around swiftly with a slight gasp. Her eyes where large and green and pure in a face of clear white skin, and they locked into his for a few minutes, before she smiled up at him, her pink lips turning upwards with a grateful look of happiness.
"Thank you kindly sir!" her voice was so sweet and suited her looks so well as she moved aside so he could crouch down and help her with her task.
"Hey – it's no problem Miss!" he swallowed, getting to his knees and scooping up the soft fine stalks and petals and dropping them into her basket. It was a relatively quick process, and took no more than a few moments to complete before Cloud got to his feet and offered his hand to help the young lady get to her feet. She took his help with a sweet smile and hoisted herself to an upright stance, dusting herself off, before looking back up at him with her beautiful big eyes.
"Thank you again - very much sir!" she bowed slightly, and Cloud felt his cheeks glow pleasurably above his smile, absent - mindedly lifting a hand to the back of his spiky blonde quills.
"Don't mention it!"
"Um…" she paused pulling back her hands a little, her slender wrists bound in golden bracelets as Cloud came to notice. "This… this may be a silly question, but… could I ask sir – what has happened here?"
Cloud blinked in surprise at how she could possibly not realize that the once overly dominating peak of the Reactor of Sector One was now reduced to a pile of rubble by a huge explosion that ripped through the air not ten minutes ago. But he didn't wish to patronize his pleasant company.
"Nothing – hey, um…" he paused, his mind racing to think of something to change the subject to. He spied the basket of flowers under her arm. "Uh – don't see many flowers around here nowadays!" he pointed out foolishly, his mind cursing him for bringing up such a stupid comment. It was true enough though. Conditions where far too volatile for flowers of any sort to grow here! The woman looked down and she grinned suddenly.
"Oh these? I sell them around here for a little bit of spare Gil – do you want one?" she blinked up at him, her innocence shining like a beacon before his eyes, and he thought it a sin to say no.
He came into a real smile.
"Sure! Ok, how much?"
"Normally, they're just a Gil – but seeing as you helped me…" she paused, picking up a particular pink and red flower – not unlike the colors she was wearing at the present moment, she reached over and fixed it to his breast. "It's on the house!"
"Flowers on the house, huh?" Cloud repeated the quirky statement, lifting the flower to his nose and smelling it, inhaling the faintly sweet scent luxuriously. "Thanks!" he turned back to the young lady with a nodding smile, which she returned.
"You're welcome! Bye bye!" she finished with a friendly wave and turned away, walking out of the city with a feminine stroll, she turned back to look in his direction, and her head twisted back to where she was going ever so quickly upon seeing that he was still watching.
"Bye!" he called back, with a wave, feeling his shoulders sink as he watched her leave almost regretting to see her go. As he turned with a sigh, placing the flower back into the position of where it was first pinned by the enigmatic Flower Girl and focusing his attentions back to the task at hand, he came to realize that the last train of the day was the one he was to catch with AVALANCHE.
Looking up to the clock of the Sector, as every Sector bore, the sickening realization dawned up him that he had less than a minute to get to the station.
"Shit!"
Turning into an alleyway, Cloud sprang off into a full – blown run, with a desperate fear of missing the Midgar Metro on the journey to Sector Seven. The loud thud of his boots echoed through the now empty streets of the rubble – lined Sector, and rang aloud through the air, the reverberation bound to attract attention towards him, and he cursed himself for it.
He cursed even louder when he came to the City Square through an alleyway – a wide multi – pathed section serving the top of a train tunnel, to meet two Shinra Guards awaiting him, their defensive stances awaiting his approach.
"Halt!" came the order, aloud and clear, but Cloud didn't have time for this, the station wasn't far away, and he needed to be there so badly, he needed to be on that train!
Ignoring the order, but not taking the time to draw his own weapon, Cloud somersaulted over their heads, landing five feet away, and turning a sharp left, only to skid to a halt as two more guards, a third and fourth leapt before him, guns aiming towards him, and Cloud knew he couldn't waste precious time to fight them at such a desperate occasion, knowing that he was jeopardizing the safety of the other AVALANCHE members, and even more so if he where captured. Spinning on his heels he fled, hearing the hail of bullets behind him as hot chips of lead zoomed passed his head, smashing off of his sword with loud clanging noises.
Cloud almost dropped dead with disbelief as a fifth and six leapt out on him and the whistle of the train was heard in the distance, as he could only back away, edging nearer the edge of the tunnel, the stony banister the only thing keeping him from falling upon the rails as the six men in uniform closed in on him.
"Don't have time for this…" Cloud muttered, frustrated but not defeated, feeling the ground tremble slightly, knowing that this was his last ditch attempt to meet up with AVALANCHE.
The trembling strengthened, the rumbling of the train leaving the station and heading for the bridge, and Cloud pressed his back against the wall, waiting desperately to hear the roar of the train passing below him. Time seemed to slow down in these moments. He knew that he could probably take the guards, but then he may miss his final chance and kiss his pay goodbye!
"C'mon, how long does it take??" Cloud muttered looking frantically over the edge, and as if on cue, and with a roar of steam, that large, filthy gray metal tube of the Midgar Metro burst from beneath, and Cloud took his chances and with a one last gulp of air, he leapt from the bridge with the precision of a cat.
"Is he fuckin' nuts??"
"Shoot him!!"
"Don't let him escape!!"
Cloud did not hear these cries from his would – be captors as his feet hit off of the heavy metal hulk of the train as he snatched a protruding wire to prevent himself from flying off of it to his probable death – or being crippled for life as a result of sustaining injuries.
Cloud did hear however the pattering of bullets behind him as they proceeded to open fire, but the train was too fast for them and soon, Cloud was out of their sights.
"Thank Christ for that!" he sighed to himself as he began a steady crawl in his new mission to locate AVALANCHE.
"Cloud never came…" Jessie piped up in the tense silence of the cargo link of the train as she sat huddled to herself upon a large sack of what she presumed was mail. She couldn't bear to look at Barret, for the man was livid with fury, sat on a box stiffly, his dark eyes bearing fire within.
"Well, that's jes' too bad!" he grumbled tightly, not even bothering to look around towards her, his blood pounding heatedly throughout his veins.
Biggs swallowed nervously as he tried to remain the casual cool one of the group, leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest. He knew this probably wasn't the best time for conversation, given Barret's foul mood as a result of Cloud's absence, but there was something itching at the back of his mind, something he couldn't resist to ask.
"Think he was killed?"
All eyes swiveled around to him, Jessie's wide and frightened at the thought, Wedge's were big and hopeful for the paradox of Biggs' statement. Barret's where hard and flinty as he lifted his head towards Biggs, swelling with anger.
"No way!" he confirmed loudly, his glare increasing in its cruelty towards his allies. "Perhaps if y'all weren't such a bunch of Screw – Ups…" Barret finished with an angry smashing of the crate at his side, and Wedge jumped upon the impact and huddling away.
"Poor Cloud…" Jessie whispered, slowly shaking her heads, failing to see the glances from Biggs and Barret.
In the next few moments of silence, AVALANCHE sat still, save for the soft shuddering of the train as it thundered down the rails and through the Sectors.
There was a sudden commotion above them, and all within the cabin looked upwards towards the tiny grating above them, yet saw nothing. They heard the clatter, and could have sworn they had heard the frantic cry of "Shit!" from above. They went back to their own business. Probably just another attempted stow – away. No big deal, they where common nowadays, and anyway, the security system would get him once they reached the particular checking area.
Wedge was one to know when and when not to speak, but like Biggs, there was something he felt he should ask. It wasn't as morbid a statement, but he was unsure how Barret would react to it.
"Um, Barret?" he squeaked, timidly, almost freezing as Barret's stony stare hit him head on. "Um… what about our money, aren't we…?"
Barret's fist once again smashed the up – side of the crate by his side, and Wedge took the hint.
"Ah… Heh, never mind!" Wedge laughed nervously, huddling back into his seated position and looking away from Barret.
More silence pursued, tensed by Barret's overpowering anger, and no – one took it upon themselves to try and make him angrier, knowing that Barret was kind of man who held the muscular ability to tear telephone directories in half with one swift jerk (or at least he would if he had two hands) and hated to think what he might do if his anger began to overheat.
The door of which Biggs stood next to opened slightly with a bang, and Barret leapt to his feet.
"Biggs, get back!" he ordered, taking aim with his Gun – Arm as Biggs and Jessie leapt to their feet holding defensive positions of Martial Arts, ready to take on any dangerous intruder that might decide to show his face.
A single foot slipped into the gap from the outside and kicked the door open with a precise and strong kick, and the intruder swung in from where he hung from his fingertips and landing on both feet in the center of the room, and Barret lowered his gun and Biggs and Jessie lowered their guard.
"Cloud!" Three simultaneous cries from the trio of Biggs, Wedge and Jessie as the figure lifted his soot – blackened face, blond spikes filthy and matted with the stuff, but nevertheless, he grinned.
"Sorry I'm late!" he quipped lightheartedly as Barret stormed over to him.
"You're damn right you're late!!" he bawled in his face. "The hell d'you think you're doing?? Jeopardizing the entire fuckin' mission!? I gotta a good mind to kick your scrawny ass you little prick! Why the hell…?"
"Barret, calm down, he's here now, isn't he?" Biggs ran in between the two, gently separating Barret from the slightly breathless Cloud, looking up into his leaders face. "We did it – mission accomplished!" he grinned with a nod.
Barret paused for a moment, contemplating Biggs' words before realizing that they where true.
"Yeah," he grunted finally, before shoving Biggs out of the way nonetheless to get to Cloud. "Don't let it happen again, got it??" he snarled before turning around and opening the door to the next compartment.
"Huh! Cheery…" Cloud muttered to himself as Wedge came up to him with a grin on his face.
"Way to go Cloud! We'll all do better next time!" he nodded enthusiastically, turning around and following Barret with an intermediate jog.
"Good work back there." Biggs complimented, giving Cloud a companionable pat of the shoulder before following Barret and Wedge out of the door, through the link and into the next compartment.
"What's with the friendliness campaign so suddenly?" Cloud muttered, drawing a hand back across his filthy forehead before looking down upon the flower on his chest.
It was quite clean and undamaged, surprising considering the delicateness of the petals. He shrugged it off. It was only a flower after all.
"I'll close the door,"
He turned around to see Jessie behind him, sliding the door of which he had entered shut with a drawing scrape.
Smartly turning on her heels, she approached Cloud, a slight blush to her cheeks.
"You're filthy – hang on a sec…" she rummaged through her pockets and withdrew a clean handkerchief, and before Cloud could protest, it was in his face, and Cloud's face turned from black to red out of embarrassment. He had been no older than six years old the last time someone had cleaned his face for him.
Now as an adult, he found it pretty humiliating, and he pulled back rather suddenly. Jessie seemed satisfied with the fact that the once spotless white handkerchief was now smeared with dirt and soot, probably beyond the aid of a wash.
"That's better, least you look a little bit more presentable!" she giggled lightly, hands behind her back and teetering to and fro on the balls of her feet.
"Uh, yeah – thanks a lot…" he returned coldly. Jessie did not catch the sarcasm.
"It's alright!" she nodded with a grin, her cheeks now pink, and Cloud found himself becoming nervous.
Was this her discreet little way of hitting on him?? Did she LIKE him?? He'd only known her for less than three hours!
"…Yeah…" he replied, the only word coming into his mind as he backed off a little bit. Jessie sighed and cocked her head to the side.
"Y'know, I never really got the chance to thank you for saving me back there, and for waiting for me when I fell and stuff…" she began. Cloud was awestruck! It seemed the only men woman would take these days where the ones that had to save them first, Tifa's promise and now this??
"It's no problem, really!" Cloud dismissed with an accidental laugh that sounded quite feminine, and Cloud cursed himself from the inside as Jessie gave a girlish titter.
"Well, I'm just glad that you're ok!" she smiled, running passed him and entering the next compartment, looking back over her shoulder with a blush to the crests of her cheeks.
Cloud stood alone in the musty cargo compartment, eye twitching, and his inexperience with girls proving to put him in a rather vexing predicament.
"Jeeze!" he whistled under his breath, following the examples of his fellow AVALANCHE teammates and into the passenger link of the train.
Upon entering, he found Barret seated rather comfortably in the velvet – cushioned seating, humming some sort of tune that Cloud did not recognize. Biggs was once again trying to play the role of the 'Lone Cool Guy', leaning by himself by the compartment door to the outside. Wedge was messing around with the computerized map of the Midgar Railway system, whilst Jessie idly made her way down the aisle to join him.
As Cloud made his way down the aisle to be nearer AVALANCHE, he spotted a young man, clothed in a suit of a maroon color making rather hostile glances towards each and every one of them – Barret especially, being the muscular hulk of strength that he visually was.
"Thugs and Hooligans – God, don't I have all the luck…" he was heard to mutter to himself before catching sight of Cloud, whose face was the only exposed part of him that was not smeared with blackish brown junk that the train had spewed out. The man turned his nose up towards him with an air of superiority before turning on his heel and storming out of the compartment.
"Whatever… freak…" Cloud muttered to himself as he came level with Barret, and made moves to sit down in the seat facing him.
Catching a glance out of the window, Cloud frowned at the ominous darkness encircling the world on the outside.
"Get's dark pretty early here, doesn't it?" he spoke aloud towards his team leader. Barret gave a small chuckle.
"Ya haven't been in Midgar long, have ya Cloud?" he asked as the young mercenary turned to face him. "C'mere, I'll show what the deal is," Barret offered, jerking a hand over his shoulder and motioning to the window.
Cloud blinked, surprised that Barret was actually taking the liberty of trying to be friendly towards him, when Cloud would have normally expected a snort of laughter and being called something along the lines of "Dumb Ass" or something.
But being in an argumentative mood no longer, Cloud obeyed, getting up from his short – lived seat and walked over next to Barret, hopping on the line of seats on the opposite side of where he was moments before and looking out of the window.
"Look up," Barret pressed on, and Cloud did as ordered. "Whaddaya see?"
Cloud squinted upwards as he looked out of the window, confusion stirring up in his skull at what he saw – or rather, what he didn't see.
"There's no…" he began, to be interrupted by Barret's deep and dominating tones.
"Sky? Damn straight there's no sky, wanna know the reason?" Barret asked, with a soft hint of anger picked up his voice – not directed at Cloud, or anyone around for that matter.
"Shinra Inc.?" Cloud replied, taking a wild guess. Barret nodded once.
"Yeah it's the fuckin' Shinra! That asshole of a President built a bunch of Plates up there to house the executives and the ones important to the stupid company he's runnin'. Got everyone holed up down here in a bunch of Stinkin' Slums with crappy jobs runnin', all the pollution and shit up from up there comin' down here. Think he's tryin' to make a point that he thinks he's worth a whole fuckin' load more than anyone else down here…" Barret trailed off from his vicious mini speech, turning away from the window.
"I don't get it…" Cloud voiced aloud. "If things are so bad down here, then why don't people just move?"
"Get real Cloud!" Barret sighed. "Y'think folks are livin' down here because they wanna? Most profits down here go up to Shinra, and a lotta guys can't afford to leave… Or don't wanna leave the land they grew up in, no matter how polluted it gets. Y'know the illness and mortality rates down here are over seventy fuckin' percent compared to them other cities like Junon, or Cosmo Canyon, or Wutai cos them inconsiderate pricks up there think that they're worth so much more that they can spew out their toxic shit onto people down here…"
"Gotta play the hand we're dealt," Cloud shrugged with a yawn, flipping around to turn away from the window and sitting down with a stretch. Barret glared fiercely at him but said nothing. Said nothing due to the fact that Cloud's savior came in the form of Jessie, spinning around on her heels and calling him over, that rouge tiny upon her cheeks burning brightly.
"Cloud! Come and have a look at this with me!"
As he erected to his feet, he couldn't help but notice Biggs' irritated grunt as he looked away, pretending not to care. Cloud in all honesty really didn't see why – he wasn't interested in pursuing a relationship with Jessie.
"What have we got here?" Cloud asked, looking over Wedge's form at Jessie's side to look at what appeared to be a digital screen upon the computer, a map of the entire city of Midgar.
"You've not been in Midgar long – so I'm gonna explain a few things!" Jessie giggled, and Cloud knew that this was just a pathetic excuse to keep his attention. "Now, look here," she began, trying to sound formal, indicating the screen and the different sections of lower Midgar. "Lower Midgar is made up of seven sectors – once, they did have real names as towns – but no – one remembers them any more, so now we just call them Sectors."
"How can everyone forget the name of a town that's been inhabited since its creation?" Cloud asked. It seemed incredibly stupid that people had forgotten the names of seven large towns.
Jessie shrugged.
"Beats me – They where all Sectors for a good few years before I was born, so…"
The abrupt flash of red put a stop to her words and the members of AVALANCHE instinctively looked up to the ceiling.
"Security Surveillance Check – no biggie." Wedge dismissed as the red flashes came to a sudden stop and Cloud was put through a rapid dint of blinking to allow his eyes to recover from the sudden flashes as he heard Jessie's whisper.
"Stowaways and crap, looking for suspicious characters – anyone can tell we look suspicious so we use Fake ID's – still making yours!" she added with a quiet giggle in her voice.
"Man…" Cloud muttered, rubbing his eyes, not appreciating the lack of warning before the Check. "They never take into consideration the effects flashing lights have on some people?? Someone coulda taken a fit or something!"
"Like you'd give a flyin' fuck!" Barret grumbled, getting to his feet and gripping an overhead pole. "Ya'll get ready – Train stops very shortly."
Agreeing with Barret's estimate, Biggs Wedge and Jessie followed his example, taking a tight grip on something sturdy and solid as the train began to slow down to come to a complete and utter halt upon the station where the train was to terminate for the day.
As the station guard opened the train door, he was taken aback by the springing form of Biggs, somersaulting out of the door, his palms landing smack on the ground to push himself back into the air into a flip as Jessie cartwheeled out of the train door and passed the very confused guard.
"We got a troupe of performing gymnasts here??" he scratched his head watching as Biggs caught Jessie around the hips and swung her in the air as the pair laughed over their success of the destruction of Mako Reactor of Sector One as Wedge timidly jumped out of the door to approach his duo of teammates, still laughing as they spun around, each holding a hand up for Wedge to High Five.
He broke into a wide grin as he jumped to connect palms and the three embraced in a group hug as the guard decided to ignore them.
Barret and Cloud leapt from the train simultaneously walking casually towards the trio, Cloud's face red with their performance. The platform was bare, a pale stone that served for it with a lone lamppost and a neighboring graveyard for broken trains and a play area for wildlife and monsters. The only sign of any sane life that didn't make the area anymore boring or dangerous where the two punks hanging by the lamppost.
"Good work ya'll – let's get back and rest up – we got more work tomorrow waitin' for us so do what ya gotta do then get plenty of sleep!" Barret instructed with a smile as they came into a huddle.
"Woo – yeah! Don't mess with da AV – UH – LANCH!" Biggs stated loudly in glee for his victory. Cloud blinked at him twice.
"You're a dork." He spoke clearly and to his face as Barret shunted him violently from behind with his hand, giving him a warning glance before turning to his allies.
"Let's go guys!" Barret smiled and set off at a steady walk, turning to the side and walking casually through his fatigue, still sore from his fight and escape, his abs still bloody from where he had taken the hit from the Scorpion Robot. But he didn't care – He had led the first real rebellion against the Shinra that hadn't resulted in immediate failure!
The air was warm and sickly with a smell that churned Cloud's stomach as he walked. His hair was still sticky with the amount of filth in that the train had spewed forth, and the smell of the dirt on him combined was almost unbearable.
The official AVALANCHE members didn't seem to notice. Perhaps they had gotten used to it, having lived here longer than he had. Cloud didn't know – and didn't care – he needed the money for this job, and he was damn well gonna get it…
A huge shadow loomed down upon him, and Cloud couldn't help but look up to see the huge tower that planted itself into the middle of the ceiling plate of Sector Seven, tall and full of wires and metallic constructed frames.
"Plate support beam." Biggs explained shortly, catching him staring up at it. "If anything happens to that, everyone in Sector Seven can kiss their asses goodbye, cos they're gonna get crushed to death." He nodded grimly, looking up to the heavy structure. "Well – let's go! The 7th Heaven's just round here…" he said as he walked away, and Cloud felt himself shudder at the though, imagining himself in such a position – to be looking up to the plate rushing down towards him and every man, woman and child in the area, and the incredible fear that would surge through their hearts in their final moments.
"Man…" he whispered, backing away as he made to follow AVALANCHE, and hearing the loud call of: "Cloud, shift yo ass and get the hell over here!!" He turned and ran to catch up, through the twisting paths of rubble to come to a small slum town. As he caught sight of Barret disappearing into a relatively well – kept hut, he noticed the exact structure of the homes and buildings around him, constructed of junk, pieced together to create buildings, people looked miserable and downcast.
Cloud's senses snapped alert as he heard the sound of Gunshot and a sudden spray of young men fled from the hut.
Junkies.
It was all too obvious judging from the swagger coming off some of them as Barret chased them angrily from the hut.
"- Don't you EVER let me catch ya's in here again fuckin' crackheads!!" Barret threatened loudly, his temple pulsing with his fury as Cloud stepped up to the hut's entrance as Barret countered the sniggers coming to him with an evil glare before turning to Cloud. "Goin' to see yo little baby?" he grinned, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
"Huh?" Cloud's brow knotted in confusion as he rubbed the area of his arm that Barret had punched.
He'd have a bruise there tomorrow…
Barret sniggered.
"Never mind man – go in – she's waitin' for ya!"
"Yeah – Tifa Slutty Big – Tits is waitin' for ya woo – hoo!!" one of the Druggies laughed loudly, making thrusting motion's with his hips whilst his friends laughed and egged him on, and Cloud felt his anger begin to rise, his hand reaching for his sword – but Barret saved him the trouble.
"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL MY FRIEND FUCKING SON OF A –" what followed was what was predictable to be an unpleasant scene as Barret proceeded to chase the now terrified junkie, as Cloud decided to enter the Hut – as he had figured it to be the 7th Heaven…
Entered the hut to make a decision that would ensure him a role in a much bigger game with destiny and fate within the Earth…
Again, I'm sorry it took so long. And I'm sorry that it was crap. I personally thought this part of the game was incredibly boring… Chapter Three will NOT take so long to post up, and after all this boring stuff's outta the way, we can get to the more interesting parts of the game!
Anyways…
Until Next Time!