Final Fantasy 7
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Nine
...You all right?
...Can you hear me?
Cloud didn't move, and remained motionless. He could hear the voice faintly in his head, the same as before, but he didn't recognise it or react to it.
"...Yeah..." was all he said.
Back then... You could get by with just skinned knees...
"...What do you mean by 'back then'?" Cloud asked.
What about now? Can you get up?
"What do you mean by 'that time'?" Cloud insisted on asking. "What about now?"
...Don't worry about me. You just worry about yourself now.
"...I'll give it a try."
He tried to move. He could feel it very distantly, as though his spirit was not completely attached to his body.
"Oh! It moved!" came a voice.
...How about that?
"Whew. I am glad."
Take it slow now. Little by little...
"Hello, hello?
"I know. Hey... who are you?"
"Hello, hello!"
The voice did not reply again, and Cloud's mind remained empty. Slowly he jerked his body one more time, and this time all the feeling came back to him. It felt as though his spirit had suddenly reattached to his physical body, making him jump violently and regain all feeling at once. His body ached heavily, and there were sharp pains under his head and back as though he had landed on something hard. There was also a gentle prickly feeling on the back of his neck and under his arms, but he couldn't make out what it was.
It was only as he began to come round that he remembered what had happened. He remembered the reactor exploding, and he had fallen from the bridge and into the depths of the slums below. The last thing that he remembered, was crashing into something hard before everything turned black and he was lost in the darkness, only to come round to the sound of that mysterious voice speaking to him.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes and blinked as a bright light hit them. As he focused more clearly he stared upwards towards a young female face that was looking back down at him. Cloud stared at her for a few moments and blinked before he suddenly sat up, slightly embarrassed.
"You okay?" the woman asked him gently, standing up. Cloud turned his head around to look at her. "This is a church in the Sector 5 slums. It suddenly fell on top of me. It really gave me a scare."
Cloud didn't answer and looked down. He was sitting on a rugged arrangement of broken planks of wood, which he had brought crashing down when he smashed through the church wood during his fall. He was also sitting on a beautiful flowerbed filled with brightly coloured flowers. It was the short lengths of grass and the flowery petals that had been tickling his neck. Seeing the planks Cloud looked up, and there, right above him, was the gaping hole in the church roof caused by his fall.
"...I came crashing down?" he asked, still dazed.
The young woman nodded at him. "The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall," she told him. "You're lucky."
"Flower bed..." Cloud said, confused. He looked back down at the flowers, which were lying crushed beneath his weight and those of the planks. "Is this yours?" Hurriedly he jumped up off the flowerbed before he could destroy any more of them. He picked up his sword from the ground and turned to the woman sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
"That's all right," the woman said. She smiled at Cloud as she glanced towards the flowerbed. "The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place." She turned away from Cloud and looked around the rest of the church. "They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar. But for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here. I love it here."
Cloud slowly nodded his head. Midgar and the land that surrounded Midgar was very dark and lifeless because of the Mako reactors sucking up the energy, but the flowerbed in the church was filled with brightly coloured flowers, and the grass was very green. He knew himself that grass and flowers could not be grown anywhere where there was a Mako reactor, but obviously, as the woman had said, they had no trouble blooming in the church.
"...So, we meet again," said the woman suddenly. Cloud looked down in surprise and saw the woman kneeling down beside him, tending to the injured flowers before they could die. She looked up into Cloud's face, and noticed that his expression was blank. She stood up and stared at him in dismay. "...Don't you remember me?"
Cloud crossed his arms and thought for a moment, trying to remember where he had seen this girl before, for she clearly remembered him. At first he could not remember her because he was still slightly dazed from the fall, but as he recovered a little more he could remember her. She was the flower girl in Sector 8, whom he had met after the destruction of the No. 1 reactor, and had sold him the two flowers he had given to Marlene and Tifa. He nodded.
"Yeah, I remember..." he said. "You were selling flowers."
The woman smiled in relief. "Oh, I'm so happy," she said. "Thanks for buying my flowers." She stopped suddenly, as though she had just remembered something. "Say, do you have any materia?"
Cloud tilted his head, confused by her question. "Yes, some," he replied. "Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."
"But mine is special," the woman told him almost boastingly. "It's good for absolutely nothing."
"...good for nothing?" he asked her. He shook his head. "You probably just don't know how to use it."
Now the woman shook her head. "No, I do..." she insisted. "It just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's..." She paused for a moment and looked up at the sky in silent prayer, while Cloud just watched her. When she was done she looked down and turned to Cloud again, the smile back on her face. "Say, I feel like talking. Do you feel up to it? After all, here we are meeting again, right?"
Cloud shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Wait here," the woman told him. "I've got to check my flowers."
With that the woman quickly jogged over to the other side of the flowerbed. She stopped and smiled – something she appeared to do quite often. Then she knelt back down and began to tend to her flowers once more.
While she was doing that, Cloud looked around the rest of the church. It had clearly been abandoned and unused for many years, and the aisle benches were broken and crumbling, and were thick with dirt and dust. The floor was cracked and broken, and the flowerbed itself was growing up out of a large hole in the floor. Slowly Cloud walked around the perimeter of the flowerbed and stopped beside the girl as she tended to her flowers, and he could hear her muttering quietly to herself as she worked.
"Just a little longer," she was saying. She then blinked. "Oh!" She stood up and quickly turned to Cloud, who was standing behind her. "Now that you mention it... We don't know each other's names, do we... I'm Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."
Cloud nodded. "The name's Cloud," he introduced. "Me...? I do a little bit of everything."
Aeris grinned. "Oh... a jack of all trades."
"Yeah..." said Cloud. "I do whatever's needed." He stopped as he saw that Aeris had suddenly turned away from him. She had her hands over her mouth as she giggled to herself. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"
Aeris finally stopped laughing and turned to Cloud, shaking her head. "Sorry... I just." She suddenly stopped and looked over Cloud's shoulder. All at once her expression changed from one of laughter, to one of fear. She looked back at Cloud. "Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?"
Cloud tilted his head again. "...Yeah, that's right."
Aeris sighed heavily. She then reached out and grabbed hold of Cloud's hand, which made him jump violently. "Then, get me out of here," she asked him, almost pleadingly. "Take me home."
Cloud stared and blinked blankly, surprised by Aeris's sudden change. "Okay, I'll do it..." he said. He quickly added, "But it'll cost you."
"Well then, let's see..." Aeris said. She crossed her arms and thought for a moment. Then she smiled as she thought of the perfect idea. "How about if I go out with you once?"
This time Cloud really stared, and even jumped back unexpectedly. That wasn't the kind of pay he had meant. He usually only worked for cash. Then he remembered that this girl was living in the slums, selling flowers to earn her way, and so she could not afford to pay him the kind of money he would usually ask for. So eventually he nodded, and turned around to where Aeris was looking.
There was a man standing in the middle of the aisle's watching them. He had come in silently while Aeris and Cloud were talking, and it was his entry that had made Aeris so nervous so suddenly. He was dressed in a blue suit, although he wore it rather scruffily with his jacket undone and his shirt hanging out over his waist. His hair was long but tied back in a ponytail, with a few long strips of fringe hanging over his face. His expression was rather cold and cruel, and Cloud got the impression that he wasn't a friend of Aeris's. This was the reason why she had become so nervous.
"I don't know who you are," Cloud said to the man. "But...... You don't know me...?"
...I know you.
"Oh yeah..." said Cloud, just as he realised the man's identity. "I know you. That uniform..."
The door to the church suddenly burst open as three Shinra soldiers, clad in their blue uniforms and rifles, charged in. Aeris jumped and cowered behind Cloud as they ran up to the man in the aisles, seeming to laugh and snigger at the two as they were cornered in the middle of the church.
"Hey sis, this one's a little weird," one of the soldiers called over to Aeris.
Cloud glared. "Shut up! You Shinra spy!"
Another of the soldiers turned to the suited man in front of them. "Reno! Want him taken out?"
The man known as Reno slowly turned his head to the soldiers, his expression unchanged. He did not seem at all interested in Cloud, or intimidated by him.
"I haven't decided yet," was all he said.
Aeris ran forward desperately. "Don't fight here!" she pleaded with them. "You'll run the flowers." She turned and ran back past Cloud, and stopped beside a door leading out at the back of the church hall. "The exit is back there," she called to Cloud.
Cloud glanced back at Reno and the three Shinra soldiers, who were still laughing with amusement. He put one hand on the handle of his blade before he turned and ran after Aeris. She opened the door as he approached, and together they ran through, slamming the door shut as they ran through.
Reno just stood and watched as Cloud and Aeris ran away from him, still seeming unbothered by their escape. He slowly walked forward down the aisle until he reached the flowerbed. He didn't stop as he reached the flowers – instead he walked right over them. The flowers were easily crushed under the weight of his boots, leaving them lying flat and crumpled behind him. He stopped in the middle of the bed, looking down in thought.
"They were... Mako eyes," he mumbled thoughtfully to himself. He looked up and turned to the guards. "Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work." He turned back and headed towards the door. But he suddenly stopped and thought for a moment, before he turned back to the guards. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers..." He turned and flicked his hair.
The three Shinra soldiers stared.
"Hey, Reno! You just stepped on them!"
"They're all ruined!"
"You're gonna catch holy hell!"
Beyond the door, Cloud and Aeris stood alone in the back hall of the church, which was in an even worse condition than the front of the church. All the staircases that led up to the balconies were broken apart, and some stairs just hung in mid air while their compatible counterparts lay in a heap on the ground. However, they could not afford to stand around and wait for Reno and the guards to catch up to them.
Cloud watched Aeris as she ran to the end of the floor and jumped over to the broken stairs that led up to the next floor. He wondered why she was so desperate to get away from the guards, or why they appeared to be after her in the first place. Still, she had asked him to be her bodyguard, so he ran to the end and jumped over the ledge towards her, where they continued to run up the stairs. They were forced to come to a stop just a few moments later as they reached a large gap in the floor ahead of them, which hung right over a long drop to the bottom floor below.
"There they are, over there!" came a voice.
Cloud and Aeris looked down in a fright as they saw the door to the hall thrown open, where it broke away from its hinges and tumbled to the floor. Reno and the guards then ran in and looked around in search of Aeris. They finally spotted her on the floor above.
"Cloud... that one!" Aeris shouted to Cloud fearfully.
Cloud nodded. "I know. Looks like they aren't going to let us go."
"What should we do?"
Cloud turned to her. "Well we can't let them catch us, can we?" he asked her. Aeris nodded. "Then, there's only one thing left."
With that Cloud turned to the gap bridged between him and the other side of the ledge. He took a step backward for a run, and then ran forward and jumped over the gap. He landed on the other side quite easily, where he rolled over on the broken wood. When he stopped rolling he climbed to his feet and signalled to Aeris.
"Aeris! This way!"
Aeris stepped up to the edge of the broken ridge and looked down. It was a frightfully long drop to the ground below, and with her long pink dress she wasn't totally sure that she'd make the jump. She swallowed hard and shook her head, not wanting to take the risk of falling into her pursuer's hands.
"All right," said Cloud, understanding. "I'll hold them off."
"Right," said Aeris. "Make sure they don't get through."
"The Ancient is getting away!" shouted Reno, sounding angry for the first time. "Attack! Attack! Attack!"
The three soldiers all raised their guns and aimed for Aeris, as she stood isolated on the beams, in plain view of their guns. The soldiers opened fire, and the bullets hit the underside of the wood around Aeris's feet. The wooden plank shook violently as it was riddled with bullets, and Aeris struggled to keep her balance. She eventually lost the fight and tumbled over the edge.
"Eaygh!"
"Aeris!" Cloud yelled.
Aeris landed on a pipe just beneath the floor, and slid down. She past Reno and the guards on her way, until she reached the pipe's end and fell onto the open basement floor, completely open and vulnerable.
On the ground floor, Reno glanced down at Aeris, as she lay helpless on the floor.
"Think we killed 'em?" he wondered aloud. "They shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!"
He signalled to one of his soldiers, who immediately ran to the edge and jumped down towards the basement where Aeris lay. The girl sat up as the soldier landed in front of her, and looked up fearfully as her attacker approached with his gun at the ready.
"Cloud, help!" she cried.
Cloud was still on the first floor, looking down helplessly as the Shinra soldier approached Aeris.
"Damn!" he cursed.
He looked around desperately for something he could use to help Aeris without getting shot himself. There was nothing he could use on the floor he was on – there was only broken wood lying around, and that wouldn't help Aeris at all. He looked up above him towards the roof beams, and saw that there were barrels placed on various beams.
"What's that...?" he wondered aloud. He then had an idea, and turned down to Aeris. "Aeris! Fight 'em!"
Down on the basement floor, Aeris looked up fearfully at the soldier standing in front of her. Hearing Cloud's words she looked even more terrified, but eventually nodded.
"A, all right."
With that she stood up and faced the soldier. She had no weapons of her own other than her bare fists, and she wasn't strong enough to take him out in one punch. The soldier laughed in delight and amusement, for he knew he was stronger and much better equipped than Aeris was.
Still, Aeris had a plan of sorts. As she looked around she spotted a large piece of broken pipe lying on the ground nearby. The soldier spotted it at the same, and they both lunged at the same time for it.
Aeris reached the pipe quicker and pulled it towards her. The soldier cursed loudly as he fell onto the ground, and began to fumble for his gun to defend himself. He wasn't quick enough however, as Aeris had hold of the pipe and swung it around with all her strength.
There was an almighty cracking sound as the pipe connected with the soldier's helmet. The soldier dropped his gun and crumpled onto the floor, a long crack down the side of his helmet. He wasn't seriously hurt, just knocked unconscious, but he would have an almighty headache when he woke up. Aeris, surprised at the ease of defeating her attacker, kept the pipe in her hands as she ran on towards the stairs leading to the ground floor.
Cloud meanwhile, was busy climbing up the last set of stairs that led up to the attic beams that crossed over the whole of the church hall, in particular heading for the old heavy barrels that were balanced on the beams. The stairs were so old they were rotting, and as he climbed one step broke beneath him, and he nearly fell straight through to the floor below once more. He just managed to stay on the stairs by grabbing onto the other stairs, and began to climb once again.
"Eaygh!" came Aeris's terrified cry. "Cloud, help!"
Cloud looked down from the stairs, and saw Aeris at the bottom of the stairs leading to the ground floor. She had the pipe in her hands, but there was already a soldier standing on the stairs waiting for her, his gun at the ready and ready to fire at her. But there was nothing that Cloud could do just yet.
"Fight 'em!" he called.
Aeris nodded. "A, all right."
While Aeris began her fight with the other guard, Cloud continued to climb the stairs and onto the beams that overlooked the rest of the hall. The beams were just as old as the rest of the church, but they still looked fairly strong and could probably just about support him.
Carefully he stepped onto the thick beams. He had to be careful because the beams were not very wide, and was only just wide enough for him to stand on. But Cloud had good balance, and was able to make his way fairly quickly across towards the barrels.
He stopped very suddenly as the sound of gunfire could be heard, followed by Aeris's scream. Cloud stood frozen on the beams fearfully as he thought the worst. He had no need to worry though, for moments later there came a loud crack, followed by a painful grunt from the Shinra soldier. He looked down just in time to see the soldier fall and roll down the stairs behind Aeris, where he lay unconscious and defeated. Aeris then continued to run up the stairs, making her way gradually towards Cloud.
Now unfrozen, Cloud managed to make his way over towards one of the barrels. They were firm and very heavy, although he didn't know what they were filled with. He figured they could probably be pushed very easily.
"Cloud, help!"
As Cloud looked down, he saw Aeris standing on the stairs directly leading to the first floor directly beneath him. Her only weapon was lying on the floor on the basement floor, knocked from her hands as the final Shinra guard attacked her from behind as she ran up the stairs. Now she was defenceless, and at the mercy of the guard.
"Hold on a minute!" Cloud called down to her.
He turned back to the barrel and began to push it hard. It was indeed very heavy, and for a moment Cloud thought it might not move at all. Then eventually it began to move, and as Cloud pushed it more it lost its balance and began to fall towards the stairs beneath him.
It missed Aeris only by inches. It slammed into the stairs on its side, and began to roll down towards the guard. The Shinra soldier jumped back fearfully as the barrel rolled towards him, but he was not quick enough to flee from it. The barrel hit him and pushed him to the floor, rolling right over him before falling off the edge of the stairs and onto the basement floor below. All he could do was lie dazed as Aeris ran away from him and across the gap in the floor as she headed towards Cloud.
As Aeris climbed the stairs, Cloud held out a hand to her and helped her up. She was pale and shaking from her ordeal, but at least she wasn't hurt.
"Aeris, this way," he told her.
He led her carefully across the beams towards the large hole in the roof that he had created himself when he fell from the upper plate. He let Aeris go first through the hole and out of the church to safety, before he finally followed her.
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Nine
...You all right?
...Can you hear me?
Cloud didn't move, and remained motionless. He could hear the voice faintly in his head, the same as before, but he didn't recognise it or react to it.
"...Yeah..." was all he said.
Back then... You could get by with just skinned knees...
"...What do you mean by 'back then'?" Cloud asked.
What about now? Can you get up?
"What do you mean by 'that time'?" Cloud insisted on asking. "What about now?"
...Don't worry about me. You just worry about yourself now.
"...I'll give it a try."
He tried to move. He could feel it very distantly, as though his spirit was not completely attached to his body.
"Oh! It moved!" came a voice.
...How about that?
"Whew. I am glad."
Take it slow now. Little by little...
"Hello, hello?
"I know. Hey... who are you?"
"Hello, hello!"
The voice did not reply again, and Cloud's mind remained empty. Slowly he jerked his body one more time, and this time all the feeling came back to him. It felt as though his spirit had suddenly reattached to his physical body, making him jump violently and regain all feeling at once. His body ached heavily, and there were sharp pains under his head and back as though he had landed on something hard. There was also a gentle prickly feeling on the back of his neck and under his arms, but he couldn't make out what it was.
It was only as he began to come round that he remembered what had happened. He remembered the reactor exploding, and he had fallen from the bridge and into the depths of the slums below. The last thing that he remembered, was crashing into something hard before everything turned black and he was lost in the darkness, only to come round to the sound of that mysterious voice speaking to him.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes and blinked as a bright light hit them. As he focused more clearly he stared upwards towards a young female face that was looking back down at him. Cloud stared at her for a few moments and blinked before he suddenly sat up, slightly embarrassed.
"You okay?" the woman asked him gently, standing up. Cloud turned his head around to look at her. "This is a church in the Sector 5 slums. It suddenly fell on top of me. It really gave me a scare."
Cloud didn't answer and looked down. He was sitting on a rugged arrangement of broken planks of wood, which he had brought crashing down when he smashed through the church wood during his fall. He was also sitting on a beautiful flowerbed filled with brightly coloured flowers. It was the short lengths of grass and the flowery petals that had been tickling his neck. Seeing the planks Cloud looked up, and there, right above him, was the gaping hole in the church roof caused by his fall.
"...I came crashing down?" he asked, still dazed.
The young woman nodded at him. "The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall," she told him. "You're lucky."
"Flower bed..." Cloud said, confused. He looked back down at the flowers, which were lying crushed beneath his weight and those of the planks. "Is this yours?" Hurriedly he jumped up off the flowerbed before he could destroy any more of them. He picked up his sword from the ground and turned to the woman sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
"That's all right," the woman said. She smiled at Cloud as she glanced towards the flowerbed. "The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place." She turned away from Cloud and looked around the rest of the church. "They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar. But for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here. I love it here."
Cloud slowly nodded his head. Midgar and the land that surrounded Midgar was very dark and lifeless because of the Mako reactors sucking up the energy, but the flowerbed in the church was filled with brightly coloured flowers, and the grass was very green. He knew himself that grass and flowers could not be grown anywhere where there was a Mako reactor, but obviously, as the woman had said, they had no trouble blooming in the church.
"...So, we meet again," said the woman suddenly. Cloud looked down in surprise and saw the woman kneeling down beside him, tending to the injured flowers before they could die. She looked up into Cloud's face, and noticed that his expression was blank. She stood up and stared at him in dismay. "...Don't you remember me?"
Cloud crossed his arms and thought for a moment, trying to remember where he had seen this girl before, for she clearly remembered him. At first he could not remember her because he was still slightly dazed from the fall, but as he recovered a little more he could remember her. She was the flower girl in Sector 8, whom he had met after the destruction of the No. 1 reactor, and had sold him the two flowers he had given to Marlene and Tifa. He nodded.
"Yeah, I remember..." he said. "You were selling flowers."
The woman smiled in relief. "Oh, I'm so happy," she said. "Thanks for buying my flowers." She stopped suddenly, as though she had just remembered something. "Say, do you have any materia?"
Cloud tilted his head, confused by her question. "Yes, some," he replied. "Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."
"But mine is special," the woman told him almost boastingly. "It's good for absolutely nothing."
"...good for nothing?" he asked her. He shook his head. "You probably just don't know how to use it."
Now the woman shook her head. "No, I do..." she insisted. "It just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's..." She paused for a moment and looked up at the sky in silent prayer, while Cloud just watched her. When she was done she looked down and turned to Cloud again, the smile back on her face. "Say, I feel like talking. Do you feel up to it? After all, here we are meeting again, right?"
Cloud shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Wait here," the woman told him. "I've got to check my flowers."
With that the woman quickly jogged over to the other side of the flowerbed. She stopped and smiled – something she appeared to do quite often. Then she knelt back down and began to tend to her flowers once more.
While she was doing that, Cloud looked around the rest of the church. It had clearly been abandoned and unused for many years, and the aisle benches were broken and crumbling, and were thick with dirt and dust. The floor was cracked and broken, and the flowerbed itself was growing up out of a large hole in the floor. Slowly Cloud walked around the perimeter of the flowerbed and stopped beside the girl as she tended to her flowers, and he could hear her muttering quietly to herself as she worked.
"Just a little longer," she was saying. She then blinked. "Oh!" She stood up and quickly turned to Cloud, who was standing behind her. "Now that you mention it... We don't know each other's names, do we... I'm Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."
Cloud nodded. "The name's Cloud," he introduced. "Me...? I do a little bit of everything."
Aeris grinned. "Oh... a jack of all trades."
"Yeah..." said Cloud. "I do whatever's needed." He stopped as he saw that Aeris had suddenly turned away from him. She had her hands over her mouth as she giggled to herself. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"
Aeris finally stopped laughing and turned to Cloud, shaking her head. "Sorry... I just." She suddenly stopped and looked over Cloud's shoulder. All at once her expression changed from one of laughter, to one of fear. She looked back at Cloud. "Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?"
Cloud tilted his head again. "...Yeah, that's right."
Aeris sighed heavily. She then reached out and grabbed hold of Cloud's hand, which made him jump violently. "Then, get me out of here," she asked him, almost pleadingly. "Take me home."
Cloud stared and blinked blankly, surprised by Aeris's sudden change. "Okay, I'll do it..." he said. He quickly added, "But it'll cost you."
"Well then, let's see..." Aeris said. She crossed her arms and thought for a moment. Then she smiled as she thought of the perfect idea. "How about if I go out with you once?"
This time Cloud really stared, and even jumped back unexpectedly. That wasn't the kind of pay he had meant. He usually only worked for cash. Then he remembered that this girl was living in the slums, selling flowers to earn her way, and so she could not afford to pay him the kind of money he would usually ask for. So eventually he nodded, and turned around to where Aeris was looking.
There was a man standing in the middle of the aisle's watching them. He had come in silently while Aeris and Cloud were talking, and it was his entry that had made Aeris so nervous so suddenly. He was dressed in a blue suit, although he wore it rather scruffily with his jacket undone and his shirt hanging out over his waist. His hair was long but tied back in a ponytail, with a few long strips of fringe hanging over his face. His expression was rather cold and cruel, and Cloud got the impression that he wasn't a friend of Aeris's. This was the reason why she had become so nervous.
"I don't know who you are," Cloud said to the man. "But...... You don't know me...?"
...I know you.
"Oh yeah..." said Cloud, just as he realised the man's identity. "I know you. That uniform..."
The door to the church suddenly burst open as three Shinra soldiers, clad in their blue uniforms and rifles, charged in. Aeris jumped and cowered behind Cloud as they ran up to the man in the aisles, seeming to laugh and snigger at the two as they were cornered in the middle of the church.
"Hey sis, this one's a little weird," one of the soldiers called over to Aeris.
Cloud glared. "Shut up! You Shinra spy!"
Another of the soldiers turned to the suited man in front of them. "Reno! Want him taken out?"
The man known as Reno slowly turned his head to the soldiers, his expression unchanged. He did not seem at all interested in Cloud, or intimidated by him.
"I haven't decided yet," was all he said.
Aeris ran forward desperately. "Don't fight here!" she pleaded with them. "You'll run the flowers." She turned and ran back past Cloud, and stopped beside a door leading out at the back of the church hall. "The exit is back there," she called to Cloud.
Cloud glanced back at Reno and the three Shinra soldiers, who were still laughing with amusement. He put one hand on the handle of his blade before he turned and ran after Aeris. She opened the door as he approached, and together they ran through, slamming the door shut as they ran through.
Reno just stood and watched as Cloud and Aeris ran away from him, still seeming unbothered by their escape. He slowly walked forward down the aisle until he reached the flowerbed. He didn't stop as he reached the flowers – instead he walked right over them. The flowers were easily crushed under the weight of his boots, leaving them lying flat and crumpled behind him. He stopped in the middle of the bed, looking down in thought.
"They were... Mako eyes," he mumbled thoughtfully to himself. He looked up and turned to the guards. "Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work." He turned back and headed towards the door. But he suddenly stopped and thought for a moment, before he turned back to the guards. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers..." He turned and flicked his hair.
The three Shinra soldiers stared.
"Hey, Reno! You just stepped on them!"
"They're all ruined!"
"You're gonna catch holy hell!"
Beyond the door, Cloud and Aeris stood alone in the back hall of the church, which was in an even worse condition than the front of the church. All the staircases that led up to the balconies were broken apart, and some stairs just hung in mid air while their compatible counterparts lay in a heap on the ground. However, they could not afford to stand around and wait for Reno and the guards to catch up to them.
Cloud watched Aeris as she ran to the end of the floor and jumped over to the broken stairs that led up to the next floor. He wondered why she was so desperate to get away from the guards, or why they appeared to be after her in the first place. Still, she had asked him to be her bodyguard, so he ran to the end and jumped over the ledge towards her, where they continued to run up the stairs. They were forced to come to a stop just a few moments later as they reached a large gap in the floor ahead of them, which hung right over a long drop to the bottom floor below.
"There they are, over there!" came a voice.
Cloud and Aeris looked down in a fright as they saw the door to the hall thrown open, where it broke away from its hinges and tumbled to the floor. Reno and the guards then ran in and looked around in search of Aeris. They finally spotted her on the floor above.
"Cloud... that one!" Aeris shouted to Cloud fearfully.
Cloud nodded. "I know. Looks like they aren't going to let us go."
"What should we do?"
Cloud turned to her. "Well we can't let them catch us, can we?" he asked her. Aeris nodded. "Then, there's only one thing left."
With that Cloud turned to the gap bridged between him and the other side of the ledge. He took a step backward for a run, and then ran forward and jumped over the gap. He landed on the other side quite easily, where he rolled over on the broken wood. When he stopped rolling he climbed to his feet and signalled to Aeris.
"Aeris! This way!"
Aeris stepped up to the edge of the broken ridge and looked down. It was a frightfully long drop to the ground below, and with her long pink dress she wasn't totally sure that she'd make the jump. She swallowed hard and shook her head, not wanting to take the risk of falling into her pursuer's hands.
"All right," said Cloud, understanding. "I'll hold them off."
"Right," said Aeris. "Make sure they don't get through."
"The Ancient is getting away!" shouted Reno, sounding angry for the first time. "Attack! Attack! Attack!"
The three soldiers all raised their guns and aimed for Aeris, as she stood isolated on the beams, in plain view of their guns. The soldiers opened fire, and the bullets hit the underside of the wood around Aeris's feet. The wooden plank shook violently as it was riddled with bullets, and Aeris struggled to keep her balance. She eventually lost the fight and tumbled over the edge.
"Eaygh!"
"Aeris!" Cloud yelled.
Aeris landed on a pipe just beneath the floor, and slid down. She past Reno and the guards on her way, until she reached the pipe's end and fell onto the open basement floor, completely open and vulnerable.
On the ground floor, Reno glanced down at Aeris, as she lay helpless on the floor.
"Think we killed 'em?" he wondered aloud. "They shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!"
He signalled to one of his soldiers, who immediately ran to the edge and jumped down towards the basement where Aeris lay. The girl sat up as the soldier landed in front of her, and looked up fearfully as her attacker approached with his gun at the ready.
"Cloud, help!" she cried.
Cloud was still on the first floor, looking down helplessly as the Shinra soldier approached Aeris.
"Damn!" he cursed.
He looked around desperately for something he could use to help Aeris without getting shot himself. There was nothing he could use on the floor he was on – there was only broken wood lying around, and that wouldn't help Aeris at all. He looked up above him towards the roof beams, and saw that there were barrels placed on various beams.
"What's that...?" he wondered aloud. He then had an idea, and turned down to Aeris. "Aeris! Fight 'em!"
Down on the basement floor, Aeris looked up fearfully at the soldier standing in front of her. Hearing Cloud's words she looked even more terrified, but eventually nodded.
"A, all right."
With that she stood up and faced the soldier. She had no weapons of her own other than her bare fists, and she wasn't strong enough to take him out in one punch. The soldier laughed in delight and amusement, for he knew he was stronger and much better equipped than Aeris was.
Still, Aeris had a plan of sorts. As she looked around she spotted a large piece of broken pipe lying on the ground nearby. The soldier spotted it at the same, and they both lunged at the same time for it.
Aeris reached the pipe quicker and pulled it towards her. The soldier cursed loudly as he fell onto the ground, and began to fumble for his gun to defend himself. He wasn't quick enough however, as Aeris had hold of the pipe and swung it around with all her strength.
There was an almighty cracking sound as the pipe connected with the soldier's helmet. The soldier dropped his gun and crumpled onto the floor, a long crack down the side of his helmet. He wasn't seriously hurt, just knocked unconscious, but he would have an almighty headache when he woke up. Aeris, surprised at the ease of defeating her attacker, kept the pipe in her hands as she ran on towards the stairs leading to the ground floor.
Cloud meanwhile, was busy climbing up the last set of stairs that led up to the attic beams that crossed over the whole of the church hall, in particular heading for the old heavy barrels that were balanced on the beams. The stairs were so old they were rotting, and as he climbed one step broke beneath him, and he nearly fell straight through to the floor below once more. He just managed to stay on the stairs by grabbing onto the other stairs, and began to climb once again.
"Eaygh!" came Aeris's terrified cry. "Cloud, help!"
Cloud looked down from the stairs, and saw Aeris at the bottom of the stairs leading to the ground floor. She had the pipe in her hands, but there was already a soldier standing on the stairs waiting for her, his gun at the ready and ready to fire at her. But there was nothing that Cloud could do just yet.
"Fight 'em!" he called.
Aeris nodded. "A, all right."
While Aeris began her fight with the other guard, Cloud continued to climb the stairs and onto the beams that overlooked the rest of the hall. The beams were just as old as the rest of the church, but they still looked fairly strong and could probably just about support him.
Carefully he stepped onto the thick beams. He had to be careful because the beams were not very wide, and was only just wide enough for him to stand on. But Cloud had good balance, and was able to make his way fairly quickly across towards the barrels.
He stopped very suddenly as the sound of gunfire could be heard, followed by Aeris's scream. Cloud stood frozen on the beams fearfully as he thought the worst. He had no need to worry though, for moments later there came a loud crack, followed by a painful grunt from the Shinra soldier. He looked down just in time to see the soldier fall and roll down the stairs behind Aeris, where he lay unconscious and defeated. Aeris then continued to run up the stairs, making her way gradually towards Cloud.
Now unfrozen, Cloud managed to make his way over towards one of the barrels. They were firm and very heavy, although he didn't know what they were filled with. He figured they could probably be pushed very easily.
"Cloud, help!"
As Cloud looked down, he saw Aeris standing on the stairs directly leading to the first floor directly beneath him. Her only weapon was lying on the floor on the basement floor, knocked from her hands as the final Shinra guard attacked her from behind as she ran up the stairs. Now she was defenceless, and at the mercy of the guard.
"Hold on a minute!" Cloud called down to her.
He turned back to the barrel and began to push it hard. It was indeed very heavy, and for a moment Cloud thought it might not move at all. Then eventually it began to move, and as Cloud pushed it more it lost its balance and began to fall towards the stairs beneath him.
It missed Aeris only by inches. It slammed into the stairs on its side, and began to roll down towards the guard. The Shinra soldier jumped back fearfully as the barrel rolled towards him, but he was not quick enough to flee from it. The barrel hit him and pushed him to the floor, rolling right over him before falling off the edge of the stairs and onto the basement floor below. All he could do was lie dazed as Aeris ran away from him and across the gap in the floor as she headed towards Cloud.
As Aeris climbed the stairs, Cloud held out a hand to her and helped her up. She was pale and shaking from her ordeal, but at least she wasn't hurt.
"Aeris, this way," he told her.
He led her carefully across the beams towards the large hole in the roof that he had created himself when he fell from the upper plate. He let Aeris go first through the hole and out of the church to safety, before he finally followed her.
