Final Fantasy VII
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Forty
When Cloud and the others finally reached the bottom of the rope bridge and onto the bottom ledge of Mt. Corel, there was absolutely no sign of Barret anywhere. He had run off somewhere, but they couldn't see him. Even when they called out to him he didn't answer them.
"Barret!" Tifa called. Her voice echoed throughout the mountain and sounded back to them, but there was no reply. She looked at Cloud, who shrugged back at her. He had no idea where Barret was.
"He is somewhere nearby," Red XIII confirmed. He was standing on a large chunk of rock, his head high to sniff the air. "His scent is still in the air." He took a deeper sniff. "There are others, too. Humans… and metal. But Barret is definitely there." He jumped down to Cloud.
"Hey," Aeris said suddenly, running over. "Has anyone else noticed Barret acting strangely since we entered Mt. Corel?"
Cloud nodded. "I always thought it was because of the Mako Reactor, but it's not like Barret to be quiet about it." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Normally he'd have a rant, going on about how much he hates the Shinra." He thought silently for a moment, before he looked up at Tifa. "Tifa, you've known Barret longer. What do you think?"
"I don't know," Tifa admitted. "I was part of AVALANCHE, but I didn't really know much about Barret. I just ran The 7th Heaven and kept people from intruding into the base. I didn't go on any missions until the No. 5 Reactor…" She turned away and walked to the edge of the ridge, looking down into the chasm. "Barret never talked about himself much, other than his beliefs that the Shinra were killing the Planet with their reactors. We – that is me, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge – never questioned him about it. We all shared the same hatred.
"Jessie had her own reasons for fighting the Shinra – her father was killed in a weapons experiment, and they blamed it on his incompetence, so her mother got nothing. Biggs and Wedge had their reasons too, as did I. Barret… I've never asked what his reason was." She turned back to Cloud, looking at him earnestly. "We just followed whatever he told us to do."
Cloud looked at her earnest eyes, and eventually nodded. He was about to say something to her when the sound of angry shouting echoed from ahead of them. Everyone jumped and turned towards the mountain path heading out towards the plains. Cloud signalled to the others to follow, and they ran down the path.
North Corel
More angry shouts could be heard as they ran – all human, as Red XIII had said. They sounded very angry indeed, filled with curses of outrage and fury, but there was no sign of Barret. They got closer and closer, until finally Cloud's team turned a corner and skidded to a stop, looking ahead of them.
Barret was standing just a few metres ahead of them between the mountain wall and what looked like the back of tent made of shaggy cloth. There were three men in front of him, a lot smaller than Barret, but they had extremely angry looks on their faces. Tifa made to run forward, but Cloud put his hand out in front of her to stop her. She looked at him, but he shook his head.
As they watched, one of the three men stepped forward and stood in front of Barret. The edge of his mouth twitched slightly as he struggled to contain the emotions welling up inside of him. Finally he swallowed, before suddenly clenching his fist and swinging it forwards.
It met Barret's jaw with a loud crack, and the others all gasped in shock, Cloud grasping the hilt of his sword. There was a momentary pause as the man stood poised with his fist in the air, and Barret's head tilted to the side from the punch, until the man finally lowered his arm and stepped back, his sudden burst of anger dying down just a little. Only when he stepped back did Barret move again, but he made no move to strike the man back. He just stood there, his face blank.
"Well, lookey here!" the man who punched Barret exclaimed mockingly, motioning to Barret. "Never thought I'd see your face again. They kick you out of another town or somethin'? You destroy everything you touch."
Barret remained perfectly still, his arms flat by his sides. Cloud noticed that his muscles were relaxed, as though he wasn't even angry. Normally Barret would have torn this man to pieces, but instead he just stood there and took the abuse that the man was throwing at him, ignoring the sneering faces of the other men.
"You got a lot of balls comin' back here!" the man continued, the anger rising again as he clenched his fists. He turned sharply and motioned to the land behind him. "Look at this place! It's all your fault North Corel turned into a garbage heap!" He looked back at Barret, who was still silent. "Why doncha say something? Or did ya forget what you done here already?"
The three men glared at Barret sternly through their angry eyes. Barret looked slowly from one to the other, hardly able to meet their gazes. Yet he accepted their condemning gazes in turn, before he sighed heavily and lowered his head to look at the dry, dirt-covered ground.
"…I'm sorry…" was all he could muster as a reply.
"#!" one of the other men said with a grunt, looking down his nose at Barret standing pathetically before them. "You ain't even worth the effort."
The third man nodded in agreement. "Don't waste your time talkin' to that Techno-freak!" he snorted.
With that, the three men all turned around and walked away from Barret, back into the 'garbage heap' that they called North Corel. Barret still didn't move as they left, and he didn't look up either. Behind him the others continued to watch, Tifa with her hand over her heart and a look of sympathy on her face, as well as confusion. Why did the men hate Barret so much? She watched as Cloud released his hold on his sword and walked slowly towards Barret.
"You heard 'em…" Barret said suddenly. Cloud froze. Barret must have heard them approaching. He watched as Barret sagged heavily once again. "It's my fault this town was… destroyed…"
Before Cloud could say anything to him Barret was up and off, breaking into a run towards North Corel and out of sight once again. He jumped as he saw Tifa run past him, trying to catch up to him before he ran too far. Cloud left her to it – she would probably have a better chance at catching up to Barret than he or the others did. Still… he also wanted some answers. He turned and nodded to the others standing patiently behind him, and together they slowly walked into the town of North Corel.
Entering the town, they saw why one of the three men attacking Barret had called it a garbage heap. There was hardly anything left worthy enough to call it a town, other than what had been made out of rubble and rock and whatever else they could find.
There were a few rundown houses standing, but that was all. Some of the houses had been built out of rock, made as best they could by the coal miners still living here. But other houses were merely tents made out of cloth that was barely able to keep out the rain. It was a complete contrast to the lively holiday resort of Costa del Sol, full of brand new buildings and bright, light colours. This place was mainly grey, like the mountain.
As for the people living in North Corel, none of them looked very happy. Their faces were long and drawn with the hard times that had been forced upon them. There were few women around; probably in the homes making sure the children didn't play in the rubble. The men were outside either running the odd few stalls they had, or collecting bits of metal to try and make something that would get some revenue into the town. The stalls were not very good, the items they had were very basic, and some had clearly been repaired from bad damage, and it still showed despite their efforts. Cloud could see why they had built the town in this specific area – travellers had no choice but to pass through when crossing the mountain.
When Cloud and his friends walked past the stalls, they could see the hopeful faces of the people, praying that they would buy something to get even just a little bit of money in. Cloud wondered what had happened to these people to leave them in such a miserable state, but he felt he had a good idea.
He saw Aeris walk over to one of the stalls – an items stall. Even though there was nothing particularly useful on the stalls, Aeris purchased a small bangle. She felt so sorry for the people, she just had to give something, and she knew they wouldn't accept handouts from them. The owner of the stall thanked Aeris as she handed him the money, and Aeris just smiled.
She caught Cloud watching her as she walked away from the stall, and she shrugged. Cloud felt the corners of his mouth move into a faint smile that no one else could see, but Aeris noticed it. She just beamed back at him, making Cloud tilt his head to the side in puzzlement. What was she smiling about? For some weird reason he felt a hot flush began to spread across his face, and he quickly turned away from her, scratching the back of his head.
"Cloud," said Red XIII suddenly.
Cloud looked up, relieved to feel the flush fading from his face, and looked to where Red XIII was standing and nodding his head. Looking past the hound he spotted Barret and Tifa next to what looked like an air station. Sure enough, there was a sign nearby saying 'Ropeway Station'. There was a large blue air cab standing on the rails attached to large cables heading away from the town. Tifa and Barret were standing on the platform, Barret turned away from Tifa as she spoke to him, but he didn't seem to be listening.
Tifa looked up as Cloud and the others approached. She seemed relieved to see them, and Cloud was sure he could see tears in the corner of her eyes. She then turned back to Barret, who continued to stand with his back to them, as though they weren't even there. Aeris was the first to break the silence.
"Barret, what happened?" she asked simply.
Slowly Barret turned his head and looked at Aeris, right into her calming eyes. Looking into the eyes of the Ancient, he felt a pang of regret.
"Sorry," he said simply, still looking at her.
"What happened?" Cloud asked, repeating the question just a little more harshly. Although he had pretty much guessed what had happened to the people of this town and what Barret had to do with it, he wanted to hear it from Barret firsthand. After all, he might have been wrong, although he doubted it highly.
Barret turned his head further and looked at Cloud's stern face, before turning away from them all again. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, clearly trying to make a decision. Cloud in turn crossed his own arms and tapped his own foot, waiting for Barret to hurry and make up his mind. He didn't have to wait long, for a moment later Barret nodded to himself and turned back to them.
"My hometown used to be around here."
"What do you mean 'used to'?" asked Red XIII.
Barret shrugged. "It ain't here no more," he answered. "Heard it got buried… in just four years."
"But how could those people say those terrible things?" Aeris asked. Cloud glanced at her. Clearly she hadn't figured it out like he had.
"An' it's my fault," Barret said, making everyone jump in surprise. "ALL my fault."
The town of Corel was built at the edge of a small desert close to the edge of Mt. Corel and its neighbouring mountains. Being so close to the desert meant that the desert sands often blew in from the east and sent faint trails of sand across the streets, making it rather dusty. Even so, it was a calm and serene place.
During the day when the women were at home taking care of the houses, and the children were out playing on the sandy streets, the men would venture out of the town towards the even smaller town of North Corel. North Corel was built especially for the miners who travelled from Corel each day, entering the mountains for a long day digging coal before returning home when the sun set.
"…My hometown, Corel's always been a coal mining town," Barret explained. He felt slightly awkward having to explain his own past, but he went on regardless. "It's so dusty, but calm and so poor… A real small town, this one. That's the first time I ever heard the word 'Mako Reactor' mentioned since that time…"
The streets were quiet on that particular day, for it was a very important day for the mining town of Corel. Their mothers had taken the children inside, so as not to disturb the important visitors who had come in from the Eastern Continent in order to talk to the village leader. This meeting could mean big changes for Corel and its people, so they didn't want to annoy the visitors.
There was a luxurious red car parked outside the main house, bearing the all-familiar logo that signified it as a Shinra car. Sure enough, standing outside the house and around the car were four Shinra soldiers, clad in their blue uniforms, helmets down to protect them from the gradually rising wind, bringing with it faint specks of sand from the desert. Wherever they could, children peered through their bedroom windows and looked out at the soldiers, both in awe and also in fear.
Inside the hut, the meeting was well under way. Although many of the men had gone on to the coalmines for the day, the most important members and miners or the village had stayed behind and were in the village headman's house, along with the visitors from Shinra. Dressed seductively in her long silk red dress, completely out of place in the sandy town, and guarded by her own personal escort, Scarlet waited patiently for the leader's answer to her proposal.
Barret stood near to the couch in the middle of the hut, looking extremely anxious. He no longer had his gun-arm, and instead had two normal-looking hands, slightly blackened from days of mining coal from the mountain. He looked rather anxious, for the meeting had reached a deadlock.
"What are you going to do?" the village headman said suddenly, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had spread throughout the house. "The only one against this is Dyne…"
Everyone in the house turned to the man who was sat silently on the couch, his head lowered to avoid the gazes of the people. Like Barret, his hands were slightly blackened from coal mining, but he did not have an anxious expression. His expression was defiant, almost hateful. When the Shinra made their proposal to build a Mako Reactor in the mountain and replace their coal energy, he had immediately refused to cooperate. He had been mining all his life, like Barret, but clearly he was the only one that valued its importance.
"I am definitely against it, no matter what," Dyne said suddenly, lifting his gaze to look at the village headman. "There's nothing to talk about if you're thinking about throwing away our coal! Our coal's been protected for generations. Our father's, and theirs before them, risked their lives for it. We have no right to throw it away so easily!"
"But listen, Dyne," Barret said reasonably, trying his hardest to make Dyne understand. Dyne was a very traditional man, with traditional thinking. Although he himself was also fond of their tradition as coal miners, he knew that things had to change for the better. "No one uses coal nowadays. It's the sign of the times."
"Right," Scarlet said suddenly. "Everything is Mako, now. It'll be all right, Dyne. Shinra, Inc. will guarantee your livelihood once the Mako Reactor is completed." Dyne looked at her, clearly not convinced, although everyone else was.
"Listen, Dyne," Barret said, trying again. "I don't want my wife, Myrna, to suffer anymore."
Dyne bolted out of the couch angrily. "I know how you feel!" he said, almost shouting in the house and surprising everyone. "I feel the same way too, damn it! But even so, I won't give away our coal mines!"
He stopped shouting as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he spun around to face the village headman. "Dyne…" the leader said calmly. "You've got to understand."
Dyne stared angrily at the village leader, until his eyes softened and he felt the grip on his shoulder slackened. Slowly Dyne turned his head and looked at Barret, and then gradually around at everyone else in the room. All the other miners had all made up their minds. Every last one of them, born and bred in Corel and spending all their days in the mines, were prepared to give up their coal in the hope of an easier life run by Mako. Through the corner of his eye he could see Scarlet's smug smile as she realised she had won.
Dyne also realised this then, and he sighed heavily. He let himself sink back down onto the couch, his thinner frame sliding easily into the soft cushions. He lowered his head to the ground. Like Barret, his thoughts drifted to his own wife, Eleanor, and his young daughter, Marlene. Even with the coal there wasn't much money in the town, and Eleanor did have a hard time taking care of Marlene all those days by herself. If there was Mako energy, he would be able to spend more time with her, and her life would be easier. Dyne sighed. He had no other choice but to give in.
So, slowly, Dyne nodded his head.
"That's how the Corel Reactor was built… …and completed. We all thought it would bring us an easier life."
An ear-bursting explosion sounded from within one of the houses of Corel. The window turned charcoal black just seconds before it shattered, sending shards of glass into the air. Flames erupted from the broken pane, followed by a cloud of thick, black smoke that poured out of all the broken windows and into the air. The smoke rose up in large, choking clouds and spread out over the town of Corel.
All around the town, the rest of the houses were on fire as well, set alight by torches thrown in through the open doors, and flame throwers that had targeted each house specifically. Nearly all the houses had fallen down, their frames lying in pathetic flaming shards on the ground. The flames continued to lick through the rest of the houses still standing, until they lost their own fight and crumbled to the ground.
There were people running everywhere as the fire spread rapidly throughout the town. A few people who had made it out of their houses had fallen once they were outside, caught by either the flames or by the choking smoke. One man, who had just escaped the burning inferno that had once been his home, lost his battle for survival and fell face forward onto the ground, his last breath choked out of him by the smoke, along with the rest of his family.
"It happened when Dyne and I were out of town for a few days," Barret said. He looked down at the ground. "Corel was burned to the ground by Shinra troops. All the townspeople… all my relatives… Everyone… everything…"
"Shinra troops?" Cloud exclaimed. "What for?"
Barret narrowed his eyes angrily. The flames of the fire were almost burning in his eyes as he remembered seeing the flames ripping through his hometown. "There was an explosion at the reactor," he explained. "Shinra blamed the accident on the people. Said it was done by a rebel faction."
"That's so terrible!" said Tifa in horror. It reminded her of Sector 7, when dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of innocent civilians were killed when the Plate fell, all just to get rid of AVALANCHE. She closed her eyes silently for a few moments – a silent prayer to the many more people dead because of the Shinra. Now she hated them even more than before.
"Well, I guess that's true," Barret admitted. "But more than Shinra, I couldn't forgive myself." He folded his arms and turned away, his face sour as he pouted in disgust. "Never should've gone along with the building of the reactor…"
"Don't blame yourself," Tifa assured him, giving him a comforting tap on the shoulder. "We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then."
"That's why… that's why I get so pissed off!" the man shouted suddenly. His gaze fell down on his gun-arm replacing his right hand. He placed his left hand firmly around the cold metal barrel, feeling the unnatural texture that should have been flesh, blood and bone. It was so unnatural, an eternal reminder. "Not only did they take advantage of me…… But I lost my wife, Myrna, too…"
He went silent then, along with everyone else. In the background they could hear the sound of scraping metal across the rocky floor, able to guess what happened after the fire. The survivors, however many they were, left the burned ruins that was Corel and settled home in North Corel, saving whatever money they could to survive. Aeris wanted to go back into the town and purchase a few more bangles, but Red XIII put his tail out in front of her and shook his head. The people of North Corel may have been poor, but they also probably didn't want the pity of outsiders. Aeris looked at him, and then slowly nodded her head.
"Hey, everyone!" Everyone turned to look behind them, towards the small office box that stood at the corner of the platform. A man was leaning out of the small window, looking at them with a look of impatience. "If you want to go to the 'Gold Saucer', hurry and get on!"
Cloud looked around at the sombre and somewhat weary faces of the others. Barret had turned away from them all again, refusing to meet anyone's gaze, but he got the impression that he was glaring at the ground and cursing the Shinra in his mind. Tifa and Aeris both looked down, their gazes to the floor, thinking about Barret's story. He could see no expression in Red XIII's face, and Yuffie looked like she wasn't even listening, turned away and polishing the sharp edges of her shuriken. Cloud remembered Aeris asking him on the ridge before Mt. Corel if they could stop at Gold Saucer, and he didn't see the harm in just going there…
"Ride the Ropeway?" he asked aloud.
Aeris looked up at him and smiled, clasping her hands together happily as she nodded her head firmly. Cloud nodded back, and headed towards the open doors of the air cab. When he disappeared inside, Barret sighed heavily.
"Dyne was my best friend," he said, half under his breath. "We was close ever since we was kids…" He shook his head firmly, shaking off the memory, and headed into the air cab after Cloud.
Tifa, Aeris and Red XIII watched as Barret disappeared inside the air cab. They half expected – and half hoped even, that they would soon hear Barret's angry voice yelling at Cloud for some reason or whatever, meaning that Barret was picking up and things would get back to normal. But as they waited, they heard no sounds coming from the air cab.
"I never knew," said Tifa softly. "Barret never said a thing…"
"…………" said Aeris.
"…………" said Red XIII.
Behind them, Yuffie was still busy polishing her shuriken with a cloth, her expression growing darker with every second that passed. Eventually she threw down her cloth and turned sharply to the others, her eyes glaring.
"I'm not sympathising with Barret!" she shouted, so suddenly that it made Tifa and Aeris jump. Red XIII slowly looked up at her as she shook her fists. "He never should have trusted Shinra, Inc.…"
With that she turned on her heels sharply and stormed off towards the air cab, almost throwing the door shut behind her, although with its weak handles it swung back open again.
Tifa watched her go in, her face silent. She again began to wonder about everybody's reasons for fighting Shinra. She had her reason, just like Cloud had his, and Aeris and Barret, too. Even Red XIII had a reason, although Tifa wondered if he really did plan to leave the group when they reached his hometown, wherever that was. He had never said anything.
She had to wonder about Yuffie, though. Even though it was clear that she didn't like Shinra one little bit, she had never said anything about that being her reason for going with them. In fact she had quite literally forced herself onto the team, but no one had refused her. She was a talented fighter, despite being only sixteen. She was also a Materia Hunter, and she was good at her job. Tifa wondered what her true motivations were.
"…………" she breathed silently. She looked down for a moment, before she forced a smile on her face and turned to Aeris and Red XIII. "We better go on!" she said, trying her hardest to sound cheerful.
Aeris looked back at her, and Tifa realised that she had been thinking exactly the same thing. Slowly Aeris nodded, and the three of them all entered the air cab that would take them to the Gold Saucer.
Emerald: Apologies for the lack of symbols in the - ahem - swearing. For some reason removed them. Beats me why.
