Chapter 52: My Last Breath

Hold onto me now

You know I can't stay long

All I wanted to say is

I love you and I'm not afraid

Oh

Can you hear me?

Can you feel me in your arms?

Holding my last breath

Safe inside myself

Are all my thoughts of you

Sweet raptured lights

It ends here tonight

My Last Breath – Evanescence

6:30 arrived. Deadline. At about 6:34 Aeris' mobile began to ring cheerfully. Reeve pressed enter and sent the virus to his second email account. He then changed screens and sent a second email to the address Barret had given him as Aeris answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Aeris, its Marlene. Dad said there was a problem with your mobile?"

"Uh, yeah. I was going to mention it last week, when I saw you. But I think it's OK now."

"OK, as long as Mike can get through to you. He'd kill me if your mobile went down!" Marlene laughed. Aeris laughed weakly and said,

"Look, Marlene, I need you to-"

"Hang on, my computer just beeped. I think I've got an email."

"Marlene, I've got to go. I'll call you soon, OK?"

"Aeris, wait-"

She hung up the phone. She looked over at Reeve.

"What did your email say?"

"I printed a copy off." Reeve said, passing her a sheet of

Marlene

We need your help. Delete this email as soon as you've read it. It's probably being tracked. Palmer has taken Cloud Strife, Aeris' friend, as a hostage. Aeris has been told to deliver 500,000 Gil to the corner of Millar Street tomorrow at noon. If she doesn't, Palmer will kill Cloud. I don't know what you'll be able to do, but if you can help, please do. DON'T TRY TO CONTACT US AGAIN. The mobile phone call is a distraction to keep Palmer busy while we send this email, but he's tapping the phone lines and he's watching us at the café. He might be able to track this email as well. If he finds out we're contacting he's going to blow up the café. Please help.

Barret, Reeve, Yuffie, Aeris, Vincent and Tifa.

"I think I got everything." Reeve said, as he turned back to the tracking device. It was half-finished already. Aeris nodded and looked around at them.

"We have to hope Marlene does something."

"Hey, my girl will know what to do." Barret said fondly.

They spent the night in the flat above the café. Barret brought out blankets and pillows while Reeve and Aeris helped Vincent up the stairs. They set him on the sofa whilst Tifa cooked a meal, since none of them had eaten for about 7 hours. Barret made up the beds in Tifa's old bedroom.

"Marlene and Tifa used to share, so we have to beds in here. Yuffie can use the spare mattress. Reeve can use the fold out bed and Vincent can have the sofa. See, we can fit plenty of people in here." Barret said, looking around.

"Dinner." Tifa called.

They flocked downstairs into the café. Aeris cast a nervous glance at the windows.

"Can we pull down the blinds?"

"Go ahead. If he wants to keep them open he'll phone." Barret said. They sat at the counter and ate the meal of Spaghetti Bolognaise.

"This is great Tifa." Reeve said.

"It's easy to make." Tifa said.

Conversation was careful, Aeris noted. They were careful not to mention Cloud or Palmer. She wasn't sure why. It just seemed too… painful?

Reeve tapped onto the laptop.

"I think the tracker is finished. We can keep track of you from here, Aeris, using the laptop." He split one of the key chains in two and placed the tracking device inside. Then he carefully glued the two edges back together and looked at the laptop. He had placed the trackers signal onto a map of Midgar.

"There it is. And here's Millar Street. We'll be able track your progress and then see where the bag goes from there." Reeve said, pointing to the map. Aeris nodded and Barret said,

"Everyone get upstairs. I'm going to make sure down here is locked up and then we're getting some sleep. We can't do anything more tonight."

At 11:30 the next day, Aeris turned to her friends.

"Tracker going?"

"Up and running." Reeve nodded. Aeris tried to say something. Barret put a hand on her shoulder.

"Aeris, I don't want you doing anything. Drop the bag off and then come straight back here. You can't do anything else and if you try you'll get hurt."

"He's right. Don't do anything stupid." Tifa begged.

Aeris nodded.

"OK. I'll… I'll see you soon."

"Aeris." Vincent said, looking up from his wheelchair. Struggling to his feet, with Barret helping him he looked at her.

"Aeris, I love you. If anything happens… you know that, right?"

"I know." Aeris said, touching the ring on her hand. The ring he had given her for Christmas.

Vincent kissed her. And then she opened the door. Looking through the windows at her friends, she turned and walked down the path.

It was a 20 minute walk to Millar Street. By the time she got there, it was five to twelve. Aeris made her way up the street. There weren't many people around. She reached the corner and looked around. No one was paying attention to her.

She looked at her watch. Two minutes to twelve. Her phone began to ring and she answered it.

"Hello?"

"It's Barret. Are you there?"

"I am, but no one else is." She said, still looking around.

"Stay right there."

"I'm not going anywhere." Aeris promised.

Twelve struck the clock. Aeris hung up the phone and looked around again. An old woman was crossing the street. A mother and child were heading towards the park. A man was walking towards her. She looked at him. As he passed he reached out and snatched the bag from her, but kept walking. Her phone rang again.

"Hello Aeris."

"You have the money." Aeris told Palmer.

"When I have counted it and made sure that everything is in order Mr Strife will be released. In the mean time I want you to return to Barret's Café until I contact you for a last time. Who phoned you yesterday?"

"It was Marlene Wallace."

"I suspected as much. If you told her about this-"

"I didn't. She doesn't know anything."

"Good. Because you wouldn't want to place another friend's life in danger, would you?"

"You're safe."

Palmer hung up. Aeris looked around but the man who had taken the bag was gone. She started back towards the café but when she was just ten minutes away stopped as someone called her name.

"Aeris!"

James was on the other side of the street. He waved. Aeris nodded and jumped as her mobile rang again.

"Who is the boy?" Palmer's voice asked testily.

"I know him from university."

"Don't speak with him." But James was already crossing the street.

"What are you doing?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Keep walking." Palmer hissed.

Aeris looked desperately at James.

"I have to go."

"But-"

"James, get out of here!" She cried. Palmer spoke in her ear.

"You're trying my patience, Aeris. Walk away."

She tried to push past but James followed.

"Aeris, what's wrong?"

"James, you have to get out of here." Aeris said. James' eyes fell on the phone.

"Who are you talking to?"

"I've had enough." Palmer said and hung up. Aeris stared at the phone in horror.

"Aeris, what's going on?" James asked.

Just then a man with a hat pulled low over his face ran past, hitting out at James as he went. James cried out and fell to his knees. Aeris stared after the man and then gave a start of shock when she saw blood on James' hands. She knelt down and looked at him. The man had had a knife in his hand when he had hit out at James. It had gone right through James' thin t-shirt and had left a deep wound. James had gone unbelievably pale and was trembling.

"James, hang on." Aeris said desperately. She ripped off her sweater and pressed it against the wound.

"OK, here's what we're gonna do. We're only ten minutes from the café. If we can get there we'll be OK. Can you stand up?"

He nodded weakly and she helped him up.

"Lean on me." She told him. Slowly, they started down the path towards the café.

It took them at least 15 minutes. Aeris rapped on the door and they all looked up in surprise.

"Aeris, what's going on?" Tifa said as she opened the door.

"Help him. He's hurt." Aeris said. Reeve and Barret held James up, taking him to a chair and sitting him down. Barret winced at the wound.

"What happened?"

"I met him ten minutes away. He started talking to me and Palmer told me to go past but he just lost his temper. Palmer, I mean. And he must have told someone to get James because this guy went running past and stabbed him." Aeris said.

"We need to call an ambulance." Reeve said. Tifa shook her head.

"We can't. If we do, Palmer will kill Cloud."

"Tifa's right. Reeve, pull down the blinds. Tifa, grab the first aid kit. James, can you hear me?" Barret asked.

James nodded, although he was still extremely pale.

"OK, I'm gonna patch you up. Yuffie, didn't you take a first aid course?"

"Yeah. Let me see." Yuffie said, pulling away the sweater. She pulled a face. "Gross. OK, bandages, antiseptic solution and coffee."

"Coffee?" Reeve asked.

"Yeah, this guy looks like he's about to pass out." Yuffie said, glancing up at James.

Barret sat Aeris down, as she was shaking slightly.

"Did you drop the money off?"

"Yeah. Palmer said that once he'd sorted it out he'd let Cloud go." Aeris said. Vincent took her hands in his.

"You're cold."

"Is… is he gonna be OK?" She asked. Yuffie looked up.

"Can't be sure. It's pretty deep and we can't tell if it hit any organs. We really need to get him to a hospital but if we do we're all dead."

"Tifa, pass me the phone." Aeris said. Tifa handed it over and Aeris dialled her dormitory room number. She got the machine.

Hey, this is Aeris and Tifa. Leave a message and we'll get right back to you.

"What are you doing Aeris?" Palmer's voice said.

"I knew you'd still be paying attention. I need to get James to a hospital."

"James… oh, the boy?"

"Let me take him to hospital. I won't stay, I'll come right back."

"I'm afraid I'm not willing to risk that."

"He might die!" Aeris cried.

"Then he shouldn't have tried to get in the way." Palmer said calmly. Aeris gritted her jaw.

"What do you want from me?"

"I have everything I want, Aeris. There's nothing you can offer. If the boy dies, it's nothing to me. By the way, if you try to contact me again, you will regret it."

He hung up. Aeris slammed the phone onto the cradle. Vincent touched her shoulder.

"Aeris, it'll be alright."

"No, it won't. I got Cloud kidnapped, I got James hurt, I nearly got you killed. And now we're trapped in here until this madman decides he's bored of screwing us over and kills us all!"

"It isn't going to get to that." Reeve said. Aeris looked at him.

"What makes you so confident?"

"Because I know where Palmer is and I know how we're going to stop him."

(A/n: Thanks for the reviews! Cheered me up greatly. Lol, and yes, I am a Corrs fan. A big one. I can't believe only one person commented on that! Never mind. So James is back… can't wait to see what people think of that! Lol, please review. I have an exam tomorrow and it'd be nice to open my emails afterwards to a large inbox of reviews! And as for the number of storylines... god knows! I get an idea, I put it in! It started off as a simple romance and is now a bit of everything!)