3

A Flower Girl

"Well. It's done and done." Biggs said breathlessly with a smile. "That should keep the Planet going, just a little longer." Wedge seemed equally happy, as he hopped about the caved in tunnel joyously with a large grin fit enough to split his face in two

Despite the fact that they were trapped and slowly running out of air, both men were in a brilliant mood. Cloud watched the pair as they danced around each other in circles merrily, laughing like immature teenagers. To him, they looked pathetic, like naughty little children who had just caused a great mischief under the noses of the big adults and had had gotten away with it.

Cloud turned from the happy two to watch Jessie and Barret crowded together on the opposite side of tunnel, obviously trying to find a way to get them out of the mess they were in. Moments later, they both straightened and dashed back towards where Cloud was.

"Get back everyone!" Jessie's yell was followed by a blast of explosion as the debris crumbled to bits, opening up the way to freedom. Flames danced in the mouth of the exit as a result from the explosives and one by one, Avalanche threw themselves out through the ring of fire and into fresh air safely.

Rolling back onto his feet, Cloud straightened up to find himself in a dusty alley surrounded by the backs of looming buildings with piles of junk littered everywhere. A set of stairs trailed up towards a bend that apparently lead to the open streets of Sector eight. Panicked screams and shouts filled the night sky from the people still roaming the streets, and pretty soon the whole neighbourhood seemed to be up and bustling in panic as the windows dotted about the apartments lit up. The mouth of the tunnel behind him still cackled with flames as Barret leapt out with an unnecessary yell, followed lastly by Wedge who managed to light his pants up from jumping straight through the fire.

"A'ight Avalanche! S'not finished yet," Barret said, ignoring the yelping Wedge as the fat man rolled madly across the ground in a comic attempt to kill the flames "Rendezvous at the Sector Train station! Split up, an' make sure ya' don' run into any guards! Move out!"

Jessie and Biggs saluted smartly and disappeared up the stairs in a flash, followed shortly by Wedge who now sustained a hole in his pants, and a red raw bottom. As he saw the last of Wedge disappear, Cloud turned to Barret and was a bit taken back to see the big man clambering over the scraps of trash in another direction.

"H-hey! Wait a minute-"

But he was cut off immediately "If this is 'bout yore money spike, it's gonna havta' wait till we're back at hideout, now get going!" With that, Barret climbed over the dump and vanished from sight.

The ex-Soldier stood there stupidly with his mouth gaping open. That wasn't exactly what he was about to ask, but he couldn't do anything about it now. With a frown, Cloud set off on his way to the Sector eight train station without further ado.

Once he had ascended the stairs Cloud came to a stop at a large plaza. There was complete chaos everywhere. People were running across the square, many screaming in absolute terror as they scuttled about the place. Some were merely in a state of confusion, peering about and wondering what just had happened. Smouldering chunks of what seemed to be the wreckage from the reactor lay everywhere, while a few had managed to fly into buildings surrounding the plaza. An old theatre next to the alley was in a complete mess as it burst into flames; the debris from the reactor had completely demolished the entrance.

Amongst the pandemonium, Cloud had a dim chance of attracting attention to himself. The ex-Soldier dodged about the place while people still ran amok in confusion and panic, then he saw big, spiky letters spray painted on the brick wall he was crouching beside. Cloud straightened to read it.

Don't be fooled by ShinRa!
Mako energy doesn't last forever!
Mako is the Planet's life source!
The end is in sight!

Protectors of the Planet: AVALANCHE.

Cloud snorted loudly. There was only one person in the world dangerously brave or stupid enough to have done this. Cloud couldn't see why Barret was risking his life for the Planet, and not only that, but against the world's most powerful entities alive. ShinRa was not a force to be reckoned with, especially if you were a ragtag bunch of low life individuals from the slums.

Lost in his thoughts, Cloud continued his way to the train station. As he turned a corner, he collided hard into someone, his forehead coming intact with the other person's. The ex-Soldier merely stumbled backwards rubbing his forehead. The person he had collided was down on the ground – apparently a women by the look of her pretty pink dress and ribbons, and long brown hair, braided down her back – and was rubbing her forehead also.

Cloud held out a hand, but could not help but feel a little annoyed "Hey lady, you should watch where you're goi-" He began indifferently as the women took his hands, then froze in mid sentence, as a pair of dazzling emerald eyes looked up at him from under wavy locks of hair. Her eyes widened abruptly, as if in a sudden surprise or recognition, and flickered to the Buster Sword jutting out behind his back, but her surprised look disappeared as quickly as it had come.

The women, or more like a girl, hoisted herself up, dusting dirt off her dress. "Thank you, sir." She said in a beautiful, chime like voice, smiling deeply. Cloud tried to say something, but his tongue seemed to have swollen up. She was very pretty indeed – and how else could he say it, pure and innocently beautiful? – even with a coin size bruise forming on her forehead. He suddenly felt dirty, felt not worthy enough to touch her as if he would taint her purity with bloodstained hands. It was really an odd thought, but it did not feel wrong.

The girl quirked a finely lined eyebrow at him as Cloud continued to stare at her, and even that was done in a charming way "You came from the direction of the blast, right?" she said suddenly "Could you please tell me what happened back there?"

"Nothing," he answered mechanically. The girl quirked her eyebrows at him once more. He had no intention saying that at all, and then realized how stupid he must have sounded. At least he had regained his power of speech.

As Cloud opened his mouth to say that it was not safe to be out here, the girl bent over to pick up a basket that she had apparently dropped when they had run into each other. Cloud's eyes widened at the contents. Arrays of beautiful flowers filled the basket, arranged according to their colours. How long had it been since he had seen his last flower?

With what he had intended to say completely forgotten, Cloud looked up from the display of colours and aromas to see the girl beaming at him, her large green eyes alight with mixture of pleasure and amusement "Do you like them? They're only a gil each" She said.

Cloud was in an honest surprise. "You don't see many flowers these days." He said as he fished out a coin from his pocket. In fact, there were no flowers in Midgar at all… or should not have been in this case.

The girl took it with a benignant smile and handed him a blue flower in exchange. "Oh, thank you! I figured it'll go with your pretty eyes." She said.

The ex-Soldier felt his face heating up slightly from the unusual comment. He tucked the flower into his pocket rather awkwardly and turned to the serenely smiling flower girl. "Well err… you – you should get outta here." He said in a vain attempt to regain his composure "It's not safe to be out alone in a place like this." And before even the girl could reply, he swept past her in a hurry.

She watched him dash off in haste, watched him until he disappeared from view in the distance, her smile fading slowly. He was exactly like him. His uniform, his arrogant stance that seemed to come naturally to him, his incredibly large sword and… his glowing, Soldier eyes. It all painfully reminded her of him.

The flower girl gazed down the street once more with a shuddering sigh, then dusting her pink dress thoroughly she set off the opposite way, her determined and open smile ready on her face.