Author's refined Note
So, I just wanted to say that I have changed odd little bits and bobs to most of the chapters, and there not really recognizable (I mean if anyone actually read my story and remembered what it was like before…), and I deleted that newbish author's notice that was up there before, because it sounded so… well newbish and pathetic, and I don't think it did very good with the intro. Anyway, I've come back from a very long period of dormancy, and I'm not gonna make up any excuse saying that my computer fucked up or anything. It was just a very, very long writer's block. So, enjoy and review (flames welcomed)!
Book One: Midgar
1
Reactor Number one
It was the dead of the night. Silence had settled over the Mako Reactor of Sector one, the constant mechanical hums being the only disturbance hindering the peace. Several guards garbed in the blue uniform of the ShinRa's armed forces patrolled the quiet corridors of the Reactor in pairs, each carrying rifles apiece.
In the lower part of the Sector was the train station secured by two guards, who were lounging about the platform languidly with their eye lids threatening to droop down.
They were awakened abruptly, one of them jumping to his feet from the ground in alarm from the piercing shriek of a train whistle. The whistle sounded loudly twice more down from the track, where a small pool of light was slowly making its way towards the platform along with the distant sound of a train's loud rolling.
One of the guards looked questioningly at the other, who shrugged back. "Guess the Reactor Labbies called for maintenance or repairs or somethin'." He said.
"Maintenance? In the middle of the night? You must be kidding." The other replied sounding dubious.
"Maybe it's urgent..."
Finally, the steaming charcoal engine came to a stop, giving off a last relieved whistle as if it was tired from its run, and was glad for the rest. The Guards stood watching the train, uncertain of what to do.
"Should we call one of them?" One of them said.
"Na," the other replied "We can handlit. You're right, probably is a maintenance crew or somethi–"
The Guard broke off suddenly when the door of the train's second compartment slid open with out warning, and a slim woman garbed in rough, patched clothing stepped out of the train, her dark, unkempt hair held down by a piece of red bandana. By her overall appearance, she truly looked like one of the mechanics who visited the reactor once in a while. One of the guards approached her.
"You must be the maintenance crew the technicians called. Is there an urgent–". The words died on his lips as the women slammed her gloved fist into the Guard's head, sending him flying into the wall. As he slumped down on to the ground lifelessly, the second Guard raised his rifle, his eyes widening apprehensively.
"What the hell -?" He began, but before he could get more words out a figure crashed down onto him from top of the train, knocking him unconscious. A lean, tough looking man in similar, rough clothes as the women straightened up, a look of great dislike for his adversary outlining his face, and kicked the unconscious Guard's head for a good measure before turning to the women.
She arched an eyebrow at the man in a disapproving fashion before turning to the door.
"The area's safe Barret, let get going." She called.
From the doorway, a short pudgy man stumbled out with a loud cry followed shortly by the crew's leader.
Barret Wallace, a dark skinned man of six foot four, age thirty five and the founder of the terrorist group – environmentalists as Barret would heatedly argue – Avalanche, was an intimidating individual. Barret was a very bulky and masculine man, his large body bulging with years of exercised muscles. The fault probably was this, that his head to body ratio was much too uneven, the latter being much too big. He almost always wore an angry scowl on his small, square jawed and bearded face which made him as ten times as intimidating. As if this wasn't enough to frighten anyone, a flaming tattoo of a screaming skull marked his thick upper bicep on the left, the cracking features of burning bone etched with eternal pain.
But none of this was the real source of Barret's distinctiveness. It was his right arm, or rather, the absence of it, and instead, surgically attached from his elbow was a gatling gun, and many people would question themselves – nobody would actually ask him, he wasn't a very approachable person – how does it work and how did he get it? Of course only Barret knew about it and he had kept it very discreet, even to his team members. A thick girdle looped around his waist with odd pockets hanging from it. No one probably ever asked what was in those either.
The big man cast a sweeping scrutiny for his surrounding before turning to the train door to confront the last person.
The final member of the small party stepped out of the train. Impassive blue eyes regarded Barret coldly as the young man placed himself in front of the bigger man with crossed arms, a strong air of arrogance emitting about him.
The young man was at least a head shorter than Barret. His face was pale and narrow, with jagged, blonde spikes of hair shooting up from his head, and his left ear pierced with a small, blue jewel. He was well built, looked quite handsome in his early twenties and seemed to be made entirely of cool, self-composure.
Large pieces of mismatched protective gear covered the young man's blue sleeveless uniform. Suffice to say, he wore the most unusual garments and accessories, including a rather non-descriptive bracelet on his wrist, which seemed to have a number of small circle cavities. One of these slots was occupied with a small green jewel like orb, which seemed to radiate with a soft energy. A large belt wrapped his waist; a very curious insignia adorned the buckle of the thick leather belt.
Other than that, there were two things that made the man almost as prominent as Barret. The first was his eyes. Those cold, emotionless eyes were more than just icy. It had an unnatural glow to it, with vibrant swirls swimming in the deep sapphire pool. The next thing that was even more unnatural was the size of the man's huge sword slung across his back. The blade was about four feet long, almost tall as its owner and about a foot wide. On the base of the thick blade, another glowing orb was set into one of two slots, similar to the one on the man's bracelet.
He continued to watch Barret calmly with his cool gaze, his steady hand grasping the hilt of his giant sword jutting out above his shoulder. Just by the young swords man's eyes, the temperature around the place seemed to drop a little.
Before turning to his crew, Barret nodded towards the young swords man. "Okay then new comer, you'll be stickin' wid' me."
He received no answer, just another cold stare. Barret almost shuddered before he could stop himself. Turning to his men Barret roared "A'right Avalanche! Move out!"
As his three members headed around the bend, off the platform and out of sight, Barret spared a glance for the young man behind him before running after his crew. As he turned the corner, Barret came across his crew grouped in front of the security panel of a large, metallic door set on a high, obstructing wall. Opposite the gate were the quiet houses of Sector one lined against the empty streets, with the lights on each side dimly illuminating the whole street.
Biggs seemed to be busy with the door, and was connecting a set of wires onto the panel from a small device in his hands. Barret had no idea what the thing was, and the only thing he was sure about was that it would soon open the door for him. When it came to technology, he depended on the other members to do the job. His gun-arm was the single machine he had ever handled, and the thing was just as easy to use as any other weapons.
Wedge and Jessie stood around Biggs pointing and whispering at what ever the hell they were doing. Barret turned at the sound of footsteps, and saw his young mercenary running to join him. Surprisingly, he had his sword in hand, its blade smeared with blood.
"Wha' the hell took you so long eh? I thought you'd run off or somethin'!" Barret scoffed angrily.
The young blonde took his time to calmly wipe his blade on the side of his pants, leaving a trail of dark smudge on it. Then he took care in slowly setting his sword onto his back as if afraid of stabbing himself before turning to a red faced, fuming Barret.
"I had a little run in with some guards," He said impassively, ignoring the sudden murderous gleam on Barret's eyes. "Two fools who thought I'd be easy meat after you and your friends left. Guess they thought wrong, huh?"
Barret almost raised his gun-arm, but caught himself before he could blow the arrogant warrior's pretty face away. Jessie, who was watching, quickly came to the rescue, before her leader would explode and cause a dilemma.
"So, I heard that you worked for ShinRa... as a Soldier right?" She asked, gently laying a hand on Barret's right arm.
The blonde nodded, but with eyes still on Barret who looked ready to smash something down, namely, the young warrior standing in front of him.
"I never got a hold of your name you know." Jessie continued "If we're gonna work together then it'll be good to know each other's names..."
A few moments of silence passed with both men glowering at each other and Jessie holding her breath. Then the blonde turned his attention to the women.
"The name's Cloud Strife." He said finally "and I'm an ex-Soldier. I don't have anything to do with ShinRa anymore.
"That's an interesting name..." Jessie commented "Well Cloud, I'm Jessie, Barret as you should know already and–"
"I don't care what your names are" He said, dismissing her with a wave of his hands "Once the job is finished, I'm outta here with my pay."
Barret couldn't believe how far the spike head's egoism was going. His rage replaced with sudden indignation, Barret stepped forward to defend his party, ignoring Jessie. She seemed to be worried as if her leader would start another outburst.
"Hey you prissy ass punk. I dunno what kinda fancy shit ya' used ta get from ShinRa, but yore workin' for me now. Watch your attitude with my men."
The words seemed to have no effect on Cloud whatsoever. The ex-Soldier crossed his arms and turned away from Barret, ignoring him completely. It looked like there was no point of getting fired up again. He would have to deal with the arrogant fool in another way.
"Now, this is Jessie," Barret said as the women nodded tentatively. "That's Biggs, the thin one workin' on the door, and the short, fat guy is Wedge." He pointed finally at the pudgy man, who straightened up with indignant "Hey!"
It might have looked stupid, him explaining to another person who didn't seem to be listening at all. But Barret was satisfied to see Cloud's small smirk when he had introduced Wedge. Looked like this emotionless young robot was human after all.
There was an abrupt sound of pressurized steam being released – and a triumphant 'Ha!' from Biggs – as the huge metallic door slid open with a rusty screech. Beyond the door, Barret could see a gigantic factory like building, silhouetted against the dark, night sky. Every now and then, the Mako Reactor would blow out gushes of blue-green steam out its many valve pipes. It was a sight that took most people's breaths away. For Barret, it was the main motive for what he had started, and it was the reason he was here tonight. For him, it was a sight that burned his eyes with white, hot rage.
Wordlessly, Barret started towards the reactor, weaving across the streets to the main entrance of the reactor. As he stepped through, Barret found himself on a walkway suspended far above an abyss of dark buildings below.
It was time. There was no turning back and once it was started, Barret would have to follow the chain and move onto the next reactors.
The clanking of his steps echoed in the chilly night air as he approached a fork, the walkway splitting into two paths. One led straight to a large door painted with a musty 'Sector Eight' while the other branched right to the entrance of the Mako reactor.
Barret halted at the intersection and turned to see rest of his crew approaching him, the ex-Soldier right behind them.
"Wedge, ya know what ta do." He said to the pudgy man "An' god help you if yore not ready wit' that door, you got that?" The rest were said with gruelling menace, his usual for Wedge.
The pudgy man saluted smartly, a small grin playing on his lips. "Aye aye Cap'in!"
As Wedge darted towards the large door leading to the next sector, Barret nodded to the rest of his crew and continued onwards to the Reactor.
Inside he found himself in a narrow corridor. It was empty, which was a surprise for Barret as he had expected few guards to confront with. On the other side of the corridor was a door, and with the quiet clutter of their feet on the cold, metal floor ricocheting off the walls, Avalanche crossed the empty space to the door.
Barret pushed the door wide open and came to a stop in a brightly lit room, which supposedly was the control area with its many machines and equipments. Like the room before, this place was also completely vacant of guards, and even the technicians. On the far end of the room directly opposite to them were door, and another one on the right side.
"So where to now Jessie?" Barret asked.
Confidently, the women pointed to the door at the far end of the room.
"I'm pretty sure it's that one over there." She said "Unless that blueprint I was studying is completely off, which I doubt."
They hurried to the door, carefully dodging the equipments on the tables lest one of them should knock it off and cause a ruckus. Once they reached the door, Barret stretched for the button.
"Wait up Barret!" It was Jessie "This door might have some sort of security lock on it. I think you should let me handle this." She said, pointing to a security panel beside the door.
Barret grunted in assent and watched as Jessie pulled open the panel to reveal and tangle of wires and started to connect them to a small device that looked like an odd calculator. After much connecting and pressing of buttons, the security panel gave a satisfying beep and the door slid open, revealing a small room with the set of elevator doors just opposite them.
"Biggs, it's your turn. Keep a tigh' lookout, an' run like hell if yore in trouble, goddit?" Barret said turning to the lean man as Jessie and Cloud headed into the small room. He nodded before sealing door shut behind him.
Barret turned to see that Cloud and Jessie was already on the elevator, and hurried to join them before the doors slid shut.
Compared to the size of its doors, the elevator was quite spacious and even with Barret's huge form in tow there was more than enough space left for two more people. On the wall of the elevator were two simple buttons, two glowing, red arrows pointing up and down. As soon as Jessie reached up and pressed the button pointing down, the compartment shuddered momentarily before beginning its descent below.
An awkward silence settled over the three, the only sound coming from the quiet moan of the elevator moving. Barret leaned onto the wall of the elevator with arms crossed, ignoring the uncomfortable hush and glanced at Jessie, who held her hands behind her back and was watching Cloud from the corner of her eyes, shifting nervously as if the uneasy silence was getting to her. Or maybe it was just the ex-Soldier, but then again Jessie was assertive and outgoing person. She got on fairly well with anyone she'd ever met.
Barret followed her gaze onto the young mercenary, who like him was leaning back on the side of the elevator, twisting the bracelet on his wrist idly with a vacant expression as if in a deep thought. Suddenly, Tifa's words from earlier at the Seventh Heaven Bar before the mission washed over him once more.
I know he'll be a great help, his dear friend had said, when Barret had voiced his distrust in the man, Sure he used be with ShinRa... but if I know Cloud, he never lies. If he says he's left them for good, then he has. I trust him as much as I trust you Barret... that means you'll have to trust him too.
Barret fought hard not to scowl right then, as he had at the Bar while making the promise with Tifa to at least try. How could he trust this punk, who had been a very member of the tyrant corporation he was trying to bring down, to help him in achieving that goal? To make matters worse, he was a part of the elite Soldier – or an ex as he persistently reminded them – which would have tied him even tighter to ShinRa. Not only that, the guy was full of himself, up to his neck in an arrogant streak. It was very hard to trust him in current circumstances, and he did not like the guy anyway.
But, promises were promises and Barret hated breaking them, especially to someone dear as Tifa. He would just have to keep a sharp eye on him, until the time came when the ex-Soldier could prove his loyalty.
Barret's thoughts were interrupted by Jessie, who as it turned out couldn't take the pressure of the silence and tried to spark up a conversation with Cloud. Barret snorted. As if it would last long, much less if she could even start it.
"So Cloud, you've been in here many times no doubt." She said "I was wondering if you could tell me about the inner workings of the reactors. I'm not too clear on the inside stuff."
Slowly, the ex-Soldier raised his head, his expressions unreadable as he eyed Jessie. For some reason, his gaze flickered to Barret, before answering in a reluctant tone.
"I'm not so into the proper workings of it either. I was placed here to guard and protect it, not to go around with a wrench and repair things. Soldiers were seldom sent to reactors anyway. Only when nuts like us started to sprout and gather ideas about vandalizing the place, we were sent to catch them."
He paused briefly, almost as if to see how Barret would react, and then continued.
"As you should have noticed by now, the reactor reaches several hundred metres below ground level – even past the slums – where the actual gathering of Mako from the Life Stream is done. Then Mako is transported above to be burned just like any other fuel, to be used as a highly efficient and non-polluting energy source-"
"My ass" Barret spat suddenly "Highly efficient and non-polluting? Yeah, but wha' the hell man, the thing is suckin' up the Planet's life, its blood! It's dyin'! What's the point of havin' clean air when we can't live on the planet no more, huh?"
The ex-Soldier turned his icy gaze to Barret. "I don't care what happens to the planet." He answered in a manner to match his stare. "We'll be long dead by the time the Planet is dry, it's not my problem."
Barret felt his temper mounting again. He could almost feel his prosthetic arm – his prosthetic! – itching to rise, then thought better of it. Instead, he leaned back once more and glared at him, imagining the blondie's head blowing up into a thousand pieces.
Another few minutes passed, with Barret glaring daggers at Cloud and Jessie uncomfortably watching both them from one to another, when the elevator's descent began to slow, until it came to a final stop with another shudder. Barret straightened, ready to exit and as the two doors slid open, he froze.
Only about four paces from the elevator were three of the blue uniformed guards, each carrying rifles apiece, who looked just as surprised to see them there as he was. Time seemed to slow as no one moved or made a sound, staring at each other in wide eyed apprehension. Finally one of the guards snapped out of his reverie first. He raised his rifle and shouted.
"Who are you? You do not have authorization to this place! Don't move and put down you weap-"
The guard never finished the sentence. A blue-grey blur sped by Barret and everything seemed to happen at once. There was a gun-shot, a scream from Jessie followed by a deathly gurgle from the guard, who toppled lifeless to the ground, his head dangling from his neck by an inch of skin.
Barret had just a second to adjust to what had happened, before the speeding blur was charging towards the second guard.
The ex-Soldier had his behemoth sword in hand and was dashing towards the guard with incredible speed. The guard did not even have time to scream as the giant blade tore through his middle, blood spurting furiously. But the ex-Soldier was not finished there.
Barret was enraptured by the deathly performance. The mercenary moved with certain grace that seemed unachievable with the weight that he was carrying. He moved with a deadly, wolf like grace, he was one with the big hunk of a metal.
Barret watched in awe as man and blade moved as one towards his final confrontation like an uncoiling snake, leaping high into the air just as a panther would. The guard could only watch as death soared to him, and seemed to have forgotten the rifle in his trembling hands.
Almost within a metre from the petrified guard, the ex-Soldier's descent began to slow as if he was defying the very laws of physics, as he twisted his entire body and lashed out with his boots, catching the guard on the side of his protected head, sending him soaring over the platform railings and out sight.
It all happened in mere seconds and yet, Barret could not believe what he had seen. As he stepped out of the elevator and onto the massacre, the ex-Soldier calmly bent down among the bodies and pool of blood, and wiped the red from his sword on the guard's uniform.
Cloud whirled the sword in his hands easily in a refined finish before sheathing it on to his back, and turned to the gaping Barret and Jessie as if nothing out of ordinary had happened.
"Well? Are we gonna stand here all day?"
Oh yeah, the thing that actually got me back on my feet was CloudLov3r's review. I mean, I did call him/her a fag, but s/he actually praised my fic, and had nothing to flame about it! I was soooo amazed! So I just wanna apologize to him/her right now for that insult, but CloudLov3r… you're still a fag. You flamed so many well written stories, I possibly can't stop calling you a fag, so sorry!
And plz review all you ppl, even if you thought it wasn't good enough. I've realized reviews are what inspire me to write!