Red Sky

Luxury is a Waffle from Kalm

"That fuckin' bastard son-of-a-bitch storm! Look what its done to my fuckin' ship!" Cid's rant was interrupted by a rasping cough that brought up blobs of phlegm. Spitting contemptuously into the swamp that had swallowed the Highwind, he turned his diatribe onto Yuffie. "If you hadn't grabbed the controls like that, we would've landed right by the Chocobo Farm - what the fuck did you think you were doing, brat?"

"Leviathan damn your stupid airship! The way it was pitching and things were breaking off and - uggh! It makes feel sick just thinking about it!" Yuffie's voice was shrill. The remains of fear and nausea were still apparent in her face but were rapidly shifting into her usual expression of cheerful defiance. Grey eyes flashed with a mixture of sly humour and injured innocence, as she aimed deft punches at the grizzled pilot who berated her.

Cid swatted the attacks aside with a grunt of disgust. "She could've weathered the storm easily if you hadn't interfered! That was the pride and joy of the Shinra air force, hell the pride and joy of the whole Planet! The greatest airship ever built. And now she's sinking to the bottom of a pit of shit!"

"Aw, give it up already grandpa!" Yuffie snorted. Turning away from the pilot, she stretched happily in the sunlight. It was a crisp morning, with a brisk breeze that carried away most of the fetid stench of the swamp. The sky was a subtle blend of greys and watercolour blues, all the more pleasant to look at now that the burning glitch of Meteor no longer dominated. It overlooked the vast plains of Southern Midgar, fertile stretches of green and yellow that spread for miles before disappearing into the hazy horizon. Yuffie couldn't help but dance and laugh, giving vent to her natural exuberance.

"Don't you get it Cid? It's over! Sephiroth's gone, Midgar's gone, Shinra's gone - oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a wonderful day!" she sang the lines of the song in an enthusiastic, if somewhat off key voice.

The two were the only ones awake. Cid had been too dismayed about the loss of his beloved Highwind to sleep and had crawled from his tent early that morning. He sucked hard on his cigarette, wondering whether anyone would notice if he pushed the Ninja girl into the swamp.

Yuffie had recovered from the battles and her airsickness with the elasticity of youth. Awakening that morning, she had felt a blessed sense of relief. Today would not be filled with endless battles, or the death of close friends. Today would be remarkably lacking in crazed madmen and evil corporate assassins. At least if she had anything to say about it.

There was a long sucking squelch from the swamp. Cid yelped, the cigarette falling from his mouth. "My baby! I knew a bit of mud couldn't hold you down!" He charged towards the sound, heedless of the mud that splattered over his boots and trousers.

"Hey! Dumbass, where you going?" Yuffie yelled from the shore, unwilling to follow him into the treacherous maze of clumped earth and rotting fungi. Hovering on the shore, she watched as Cid's rush carried him off solid ground and into one of the pools of sinking mud that could swallow up elephants without a trace. Cid floundered and cursed as he tried to scramble back onto the pathway, but the sticky molasses held him fast.

"Dammit Cid, why did ya have to be so stupid!" Yuffie advanced cautiously into the swamp, feeling out the path carefully. When she reached the struggling pilot, she held out a hand. "Give me the end of your spear! I'll pull you out!"

Cid reached round and pulled the weapon from his back. Dragging it through the mud, he attempted to hold out the wooden end to Yuffie, but as he did so it caught on something below the surface.

"Looks like dry ground," he grunted, and pushed the point down as hard as he could.

There was a bellowing scream and an explosion of mud. Cid shot into the air as a Midgar Zolom launched itself up from beneath him. Clinging to the spear with all his might, he realised that he had thrust it straight into the side of the great serpent's neck. As the Zolom coasted to a halt, its head far above ground, he kicked ineffectively at the air. Below him, Yuffie's eyes widened in shock as she looked up at the enormous mottled snake with Cid twisting and flailing with each ripple and bob of its body.

"I said you were a dumbass!" she screamed up at him. He shouted curses back at her, but she wasn't paying attention. Seizing the enormous shuriken she used as a weapon, she narrowed her eyes and focused entirely on the weaving, near drunken, movements of the Zolom.

For a moment she was compact and still, and then she unwound, flinging the shuriken directly up into the underside of the Zolom's long jaw. Blood sprayed as the four blades ripped through the muscles and tendons that operated the mouth, and the Zolom gaped in pain and dismay. Lashing out with its tail, it attempted to snatch her into its coils, but Yuffie rolled neatly out of the way and caught the returning shuriken. Flipping back onto her feet, she took aim once more and cast the weapon to where Cid's spear had already embedded itself into the serpent's throat. Ripping easily through the plated skin, arterial blood spurted from the wound. The Zolom reared, lashing the swamp into a froth of blood and mud. For a moment it hung screaming, flailing wildly in mid-air. Then, with a crash that sent waves rippling through the swamp in all directions, it landed on the pathway, dead.

With his feet able to find support, Cid yanked his spear from the dead serpent's neck, causing a fresh spray of blood. Using the long pole as a walking stick, he began striding from the swamp.

"Before that shockwave brings 'em all down on us," he said grimly. Yuffie nodded and hastened after him.

"Did I mention you were a dumbass?" she said conversationally as they made their way back up to the tents, dripping mud and snake blood with every step.

"Yeah, you did as a matter of fact," Cid growled in reply.

"Good. Because you are, you know."

"And you're a brat, you know that?"

"Yep."

"Well... good."

"Good."

They slumped sulkily next to their respective tents, and set about trying to clean themselves up. Yuffie was interrupted in her efforts by Tifa, who emerged from the tent they shared in a cascade of shiny dark hair, tanned supple skin and that subtle exotic perfume that always clung to her. Yuffie immediately felt small and childish, as though she had been caught making mud pies by her sensei. She flushed guiltily and looked at the mud they had tracked through the camp.

"Oh Yuffie! You're awake - and hurt?" Tifa looked at the blood and mud dripping off the slender figure of the ninja girl with immediate concern. "What happened?"

"Oh, I'm fine! A Midgar Zolom kidnapped Cid and I had to go rescue him." Yuffie said with exaggerated bravado. "Nothing I couldn't handle!"

"You didn't rescue me brat!" Cid roared from the other side of the camp. "I was more'n able to handle it!"

"You didn't look like you were handling it!"

There were groans from the other tents as the argument punctured the morning silence. Blinking sleepily, stretching stiff muscles and yawning as they crawled from their sleeping bags, two more members of Avalanche emerged into the fresh air.

Avalanche was a strange group. Thrown together from all across the Planet, their friendship had begun as an uneasy alliance against Shinra and Sephiroth but had gradually hardened into strong loyalty. Of the original terrorist group only Tifa and Barret remained. Tifa had the traditional dark colouring of a Nibelheim woman, along with the stocky, muscular build of one. Curvaceous and soft, with long thick hair and a gentle smile that was complimented by wide brown eyes, she reminded one of chocolate: silky smooth and irresistible. Stood next to the angular and energetic Yuffie, that impression was intensified.

Barret was also dark, with a brooding, angry expression on his face that never quite vanished. One tree trunk arm ended in an enormous fist that looked large enough to crush a man's head with one squeeze. The other ended in an enormous gun that had been grafted into his flesh. It was extremely heavy, but Barret brandished it as if it were a toy. He had a bullet head that was topped with short bristly hair and should have seemed too small for his widespread shoulders and chest, but was balanced by a lean waist and hips. Exaggerated and snarling, Barret was almost a stereotype of a muscle man, and yet he moved with the balance and grace of a dancer.

There had been Biggs, Wedge and Jessie, but they had been killed.

Tifa pulled Yuffie to her and began scrubbing at her face. Yuffie squirmed in her grasp, protesting volubly, and Barret snorted at her struggles.

"Yer look li' a gutter rat from th' slums! No one in their ri' minds would think yer a Wutain Princess!"

"Is Cloud around?" Tifa asked anxiously. The spiky haired warrior was unpredictable at the best of times, and might well have evaporated like morning dew.

"'e's still in th' tent," Barret gestured his gun arm towards the flap he had just appeared from. "Damn sleepy head!"

Tifa glanced from Cloud's tent to the one remaining tent and smiled as she saw Red XIII panting miserably in the heat. Normally a lean bristling animal with the power of a wolf and the grace of a cat, he wilted in any excess of heat. Sprawled across the grass with his tongue lolling from the corner of his mouth, the only remaining guardian of Cosmo Canyon looked as though he was about to melt. His tail twitched from side to side, the flame at the end barely visible.

"Alright, Red?" Tifa called over to him, "I've got some water here if you'd like some!"

Making a supreme effort, Red XIII lurched to his feet and staggered over to the woman, who poured water from a flask into a bowl. He lapped at it greedily, the muscles in his throat contracting as he gulped it down.

"Thank you, Tifa," he said in his thick growl when he had finished. "I needed that."

"Who's not awake yet?" Tifa glanced around the group. "Cloud... Vincent and Cait?"

"Vincent weren't in the tent when I woke up," Cid growled. "I figure the fucking Goth's done a runner."

Tifa frowned. "Maybe," she said. "I guess he didn't really have much reason to stay... still, you'd have thought he would've told us if he was going to do that."

"Cait is getting firewood," Red XIII said. "He will be back shortly."

"I'll start getting breakfast together," Tifa said cheerfully.

Yuffie glanced at her. "Another horrible camp breakfast? I wanna go to a restaurant!"

"Where th' hell we gonna find a restaurant out in the middle of th' plains?" Barret retorted.

Yuffie scowled. "Let's go someplace that has one! Let's go back to Wutai!"

"How?" Cid said. "The Highwind's gone, and it'd take us weeks to walk to Wutai without it! Stupid brat!"

"Ahh! Don't call me a brat! Let's go to the farm then!"

"The prices there are pretty high," murmured Tifa.

"Then we'll go to Kalm! I love their waffles!" Yuffie bounced to her feet. "Just please no more burnt sausages and beans!"

"I'll ask Cloud," Tifa stood up. "You go see if Vincent's anywhere in sight."

Yuffie shot off enthusiastically, leaving Tifa to walk over to the tent Cloud and Barret had shared. Pushing back the flap, she looked in hesitantly.

Cloud was lying in the sleeping bag, his hair rumpled and his fringe flopping down over one eye. A ray of sunlight from the flap put burnished gold and white highlights into his spikes, and bleached the colour from his cheek. One arm was thrust out from the sleeping bag and lay along the canvas floor of the tent. His muscles were not the pumped up bulges of Barret's, but flat, hard and wiry. His eyes were closed. His breath came slow and deep.

There was strain in his face. A deep crease had settled in the centre of his forehead as though he was permanently frowning, and there was tension in the muscles of his jaw.

"Cloud?" Tifa whispered, unwilling to wake him. She, more than anyone, knew the stress he had been under. His false memories and brainwashing. The battles, leading them inexorably towards the final showdown between him and Sephiroth. The eruption of the Lifestream, bringing with it the brief sight of Aerith.

He mumbled something and turned his head away from her.

"Cloud!" She said louder, knowing that Yuffie would be impatient.

"Uh... Tifa?"

He opened those uncanny eyes, a blue so sharp and bright it could chisel through granite. Even softened as they were now, with sleep, they could still run Tifa through. She stuttered nervously, her normally assured demeanour gone.

"Yuffie... I... ah, that is. We were wondering if you wanted to head to Kalm. Yuffie is pretty anxious for some real food."

"... Sure. I guess. What time is it?"

"About eleven or so. I think everyone wanted to sleep in."

"Doesn't surprise me... I half thought I'd wake up and find everything had been a dream." Cloud frowned, and sat up. "I still can't quite... is Meteor gone?"

"Yes... The sky is beautiful today."

"I wonder if... " Cloud shook his head. "Kalm you said?"

"Yes."

"Seems as good a place as any I guess," he rubbed a hand across his temples.

"Are you okay Cloud? You seem rather..."

"I'm fine." Cloud looked up quickly at Tifa and smiled. "Just feel a bit lost, that's all. We've been on one track for so long that I can't really get to grip with the idea that we can do whatever we want now."

"Yes," Tifa smiled back. "It does feel strange."

There was a silence. Cloud shifted uncomfortably in the sleeping bag, losing himself in thought.

"I guess I'll see you outside?" Tifa said uncertainly.

"Yeah... I... Tifa?"

She paused, silhouetted in the flap.

"Do you know what you want to do?"

She stood there for a while, looking at the tousled haired warrior. I want to marry you. I want us to go to a little town somewhere and live happily ever after. But she couldn't tell him that. Instead she smiled her gentle, sympathetic smile and said "I don't think any of us really have any long term plans at the moment. Maybe we should just focus on recovering."

He nodded and crossed his arms on top of his knees. She left him, returning to the rest of the group.

Staring out to sea, Vincent stood motionless.

There was a steady breeze, which caught the strands of hair that fell across his face and made them dance. It grabbed also at his cloak, but was unable to lift the heavy material. It settled for causing it to ripple hypnotically. In front of him, the waves mirrored the hypnotic movement, rising and falling and singing the quiet wild rhythms of the sea.

Vincent closed his eyes and smelt the brine in the air. The sharp under taste of salt, overlaid with layers of other, more mysterious scents.

His ears tuned to every baritone roar and every melodic splash that made up the ocean's song. He swayed with it, felt the rich chaotic harmony merge with the pulsing beat of his blood and slowly lost sense of everything except the feral music.

"Vincent!" Yuffie's voice shattered the spell and he spun to face the ninja girl. Pulling short his reflex draw of his pistol, he sighed.

"Yuffie."

"Man, I've been looking all over for ya! What'd you walk all the way out here for anyway?" She glanced at the thin strip of grey sand and pulled a face. "Jeez, you wanna go to a beach you go to Costa del Sol! Not this spit of nothing!"

"Anyway, Tifa says you gotta come back to camp so we can head over to Kalm and have some of their gorgeous waffles for breakfast! You ever had Kalm waffles? Man, they are the greatest! They drizzle this syrup over them too - oh yeah!"

"I shall return immediately." Vincent said mildly. He fell into step beside the chattering ninja.

"You know, now that all this is over, I'm gonna travel the world and try all the different restaurants! I used to eat the most brilliant meals back in Wutai, before I left to become a materia uh - ah - before I started collecting materia! Then I was living off bugs and frogs and nasty stuff like that for a while, and then I joined up with you guys and it's been like - camp food for sooo long! Don't you just get tired of sausages sometimes?"

"Indeed."

"I do! Which is why I wanted some decent food for a change - Godo took me to Kalm once, when I was about seven. He was on some political whatchamacallit, which meant he was away all day every day, so I just hung out with the kitchen staff at the hotel we were staying at! It was them who first let me eat the waffles, 'cause the rest of the time they fed us Wutain food as a gesture of, y'know, respect. Only it wasn't very good because they didn't really know how to do it properly. So I used to not bother eating much of the meals, and just eat in the kitchen afterwards. All the proper Kalm stuff, y'know?"

"Quite."

"What kind of food do you like Vincent? Oh gee - since you're old I bet you had all the traditional Wutain stuff from before they had Mako powered cookers! Like - like - ooh, did you ever eat any of the Tabemono Sutairu no aru Hitobito before it got banned?"

"Hmm... I was only an infant when the ban was put in place, but there was a small restaurant in Midgar that specialised in Hitobito style food. I couldn't speak for its authenticity, but it was certainly very pleasant."

"Is it true all their food is really, really spicy?"

"Not all, but a fair amount is. They believe that the spicier a food is, the closer it becomes to the food of Ryuu-hi. Red pepper is sacred to them, for it is the essence of the fire dragon's breath - according to legend."

"I wanna eat some!"

"You might be hard pressed to find anyone who remembers the recipes - the restaurant in Midgar was the only place I knew of, and that was years ago." Vincent frowned. "Even if it had still existed, I doubt it would have survived last night."

Yuffie pulled a face. "I'm glad Midgar is gone! Shinra was mean and stupid!"

"You're not entirely wrong, but still... Midgar was not just Shinra. It was in some ways a more diverse representation of the world's ethnic traditions that many of the towns the cultures originated in."

"Huh?"

"What I mean is... as Shinra gradually expanded their empire by introducing Mako power into all the cities and towns of the Planet, they also homogenised the culture of those places. Wutai is the most blatant example, for they turned their traditions into a tourist attraction. By allowing their beliefs to assume a shoddy and fake exterior, they soon forget what originally inspired them. But in Midgar, Wutain refugees held onto their beliefs and continued to follow the traditions as they had always followed them." Vincent raised the metal claw that had once been his right hand and flicked a strand of hair from his face. "With some adaptations of course, to allow them to assimilate into Midgar - but still truer than those in their home towns."

"I sort of get it... but it was Shinra's fault Wutai turned into a silly tourist resort! So who cares if Midgar is gone? We'll soon go back to the proper way of life!"

Vincent looked down at the skinny girl beside him and sighed inwardly. Of course she wasn't to know of the seamy underside of Wutai's 'traditional' way of life. He did, and shuddered at the memory of it.

"Hey, there's the camp!" Yuffie broke into a run when she saw the tents appear. Vincent followed more slowly.

"I found him! I found him! Can we go now?" Yuffie yelled. The entire of Avalanche had gathered outside and were busy packing up the tents, sleeping bags, and general equipment of a large camp.

"Don't be impatient," growled Red XIII around a mouthful of tent peg.

"I'm starving! C'mon!" Yuffie danced round the group, hopping over guy ropes and sidestepping piles of torches, ropes, food and flasks. Cid thrust out his spear and tripped her up, sending her flying into a half-collapsed tent and knocking it over in a billow of canvas.

"You want your fucking breakfast, then bloody well help us pack!"

The refugees swamped Kalm.

Kalm was a pleasant, homey town that had co-existed with the sprawling urban mess that had been Midgar for as long as anyone could remember. It was the kind of place Shinra employees retired to, and the kind of place that teenagers left to make their fortune elsewhere. It had a range of family-owned businesses and a few small farms that could be run with four or five people. The only thing that looked out of place was the Mako reactor that had been built in the centre - a shining edifice of slick metal surfaces and stencilled letters

Stood amongst cobbled streets and trellised houses, it had gradually taken on a derelict air. Weeds thrust up through the ground around it, and an old tire leant against one shiny surface. There was no rubbish, as Kalm prided itself on its community services program, where every bored and frustrated teenage vandal would find themselves spending long hours with a bin bag and a litter-picker.

It had become the central focus point for a sea of refugees. Attracted by its familiar shape and the insistent ozone smell of Mako, both the slummers and the platers had battled for prime positions near it. It smelled of home.

Now the square in which it stood was filled with bobbing dirty faces of every shade human skin could be. The strange hum of a several thousand voices carrying out different conversations hung over them, a babble of different accents and languages merging into one insistent melodic rise and fall.

To Vincent, it sounded a lot like the sea.

They had arrived to find the outskirts of Kalm a mud pit of people who hadn't had the power or need to fight for a place in the square. The old, the sick, the young and those loyal to them had entrenched themselves in the areas around the outer buildings. They had overrun farmlands, destroying fields of crops. Many had stumbled into an orchard and the trees had instantly been stripped bare of their fruit. The farmhands and orchard workers had fled mutely from the horde.

Avalanche had made their way, wide-eyed, through the mud and people. They stood now, overlooking the massed ranks that had congregated around the reactor. There was no way to penetrate the crowd. The square had been packed tighter than a sardine can, bodies pressed so closely together they formed a solid, impenetrable wall of flesh.

"Shiva..." Tifa said weakly, the first word any of them had uttered since arriving.

"I guess there won't be any waffles," Yuffie said sadly.

Red XIII stirred uneasily. He felt the oppressive weight of the throng far more from his lower perspective, and his nose had been rendered useless by the overwhelming smell of human sweat. He didn't want to think what could happen if they panicked and stampeded. He would be crushed: a hideous death by trampling.

"They must all be from Midgar," Cloud said resignedly.

Cid leant heavily on his spear. "Damn straight. Must be... hell, must be more than a million here."

"The population of Midgar ran into the billions," Tifa said.

"Even if only a tiny proportion survived... that's still a lot of people." Cloud went as though to massage his temples, but caught himself. "They'll probably starve to death."

"We can't let tha' happen!" Barret roared, immediately incensed. "These poor buggers ain't done nothin' to deserve starvation! Most of 'em are from th' slums! We gotta help them!"

"I agree," Tifa said wretchedly, "But how? We can't just produce a load of food from nowhere! We don't even have the Highwind anymore."

Cloud stared at the mob. He was incredibly tired. Every muscle ached and his head was a throbbing mass of pain and had been since Tifa had awoken him from his uneasy, dream filled sleep. He supposed that this was a side effect of Sephiroth's death. He had been linked to the silver haired psychopath, however unknowingly, and his death had probably caused all kinds of weird responses.

He was aware that he had been exposed to more Mako over the past five years than anybody else on the Planet. His memories had been scrambled, all his circuits put under the influence of Jenova's son. He had battled mechanical monstrosities, mad scientists, entire armies of Shinra Guards, assassins, and random wild beasts. He had taken an emotional battering: he still hadn't fully come to terms with Aerith's death, nor taken stock of his confused conflict of emotions over Tifa. He had climbed glaciers, explored wild forests that had been shut off from humans for centuries and braved ancient temples.

He felt that he deserved a break.

For a moment he swayed, desperate to give into his exhaustion and just walk away from it all.

Then he took a deep breath, straightened and looked around at his companions. "We don't have the Highwind, but we do have the Chocobos. Tifa, you'll come with me. We're going to ride to Junon. We can use their resources to organise aid. They'll be far better equipped than Kalm to handle this sort of influx. Cait?"

The robotic cat leaped to attention. "Yes sir!"

"Can you find Reeve?"

Cait Sith leaned his head to one side considering. His crown slipped crookedly over one huge ear. "I'm not sure, I lost all contact with him when Midgar fell. But I can sure try!"

"Good. We're going to need him. Barret and Cid, I want you to recruit as many people as possible. We're going to need organisers. I don't care if they're Shinra or whatever; we need fighters and people able to keep the peace. This is a riot waiting to happen. Get everyone formed into groups; make them feel like they're doing something useful! Building shelters, fires, collecting wood - that sort of thing."

"You want me to recruit Shinra bastards?" Barret snarled.

"Yes." Cloud's intense stare met Barret's glower head on. For a moment the two stood locked in a battle of wills, but it was Barret who looked aside first.

"Fine."

"Good. Yuffie, Vincent and Red. You three will go hunting and foraging. Anything edible, get it to Reeve so he can distribute it. Got it?"

Yuffie pulled off a complex and snappy salute, accidentally smacking Cid's arm in the process. "Sir, yes sir!"

"Immediately," Red said, swishing his tail from side to side. He welcomed the chance to get away from the bombardment of human sound and smell.

"Good. Let's mosey!"

Avalanche broke apart. Cait urged his moogle steed into the square. The stuffed exterior stood no chance, but the metal structure rammed its way through the tightly packed throng with the power of a small bulldozer. Barret and Cid headed away from the square, into the less dangerous outskirts of the town. Yuffie, Vincent and Red raced away from the town altogether, aiming for the grassy plains they had just come from. Tifa fell into step beside Cloud, as he took up a steady march that would devour the miles to the Chocobo Farm where Cloud kept his most successful crossbreeds.

"How are you going to convince Junon to help us?" Tifa asked, as Kalm receded into the distance. "It will still be run by Shinra, won't it?"

"Most likely," Cloud said. "But I'm pretty certain they'll listen. With Midgar gone... an army needs a leader Tifa. Otherwise it just falls apart."

"I guess."

They marched in silence for a while, as the sun began to slide slowly from its zenith. It was a golden afternoon, the air rich with the smells of autumn. A bustling wind, coming in fits and spurts, swiftly dried the sweat raised from their steady jog and took the worst of the afternoon heat away. When the tiny dot of the Farm appeared on the horizon, Tifa spoke again.

"They're still Shinra though... our enemies."

Cloud frowned, but didn't reply. Tifa continued.

"I mean, consider what they're responsible for. Can we really forget that and join sides with them?"

"Shinra isn't evil."

"... What do you mean? They dropped the plate - "

"Shinra didn't," Cloud interrupted. "A couple of members of Shinra did. I think... I think most people joined up because it was the only way forward. They didn't know. And even the people that did carry out the worst of Shinra's plans... most of the time they were only following orders anyway." Cloud frowned. "The people who are really responsible are the ones who made the plans... everyone else just trusted in them, or just assumed they would take the responsibility."

"People shouldn't follow orders like that!"

Cloud shrugged. "They couldn't know. Maybe they thought it was for a greater good. Maybe they were just afraid. But we can't hate every single last member of Shinra... not when most of them never did anything worse than guard duty."

Tifa shook her head. "I don't think so. They all helped keep Shinra going, and that's evil in my opinion."

Cloud shrugged. "Maybe. But then... everyone who wasn't actively trying to topple Shinra was indirectly aiding them. Are you going to say Avalanche are the only good people on the Planet?"

"Of course not! But there's a big difference between a slum dweller forced into thievery just to survive, and a guard whose job it is to shoot people who try to trespass into a power company!"

"Is there?"

"Yes!"

"Suppose someone became a guard to escape the slums? It's just about survival. It always is." Cloud felt his head throb, and sighed.

"There's more to life than just surviving. There's love and kindness and doing good... saving the world."

"Sometimes I think that all of that is just..."

"What?"

A pause.

"Surviving."