4

To Sector Seven Slums

At the moment, Cloud Strife was furious with himself. He had gotten to the calmer and cleaner part of Sector eight, and so far had managed to avoid running into any sort of trouble. But now he was lost. The silent neighbourhood was totally unfamiliar to him; identical apartments lined the sides of the paved streets in an orderly fashion, forming a checkerboard of buildings divided neatly by intersections.

From the intersection he currently stood, all three ways of heading left, right or straight ahead seemed indistinguishable to each other, with each street meeting up at another intersection. It was now obvious that he would miss the train and Barret would throw a right tantrum.

Cloud stalked down the street, the soft thuds of his boots being the only sound audible in the quiet night. He had no idea where he was going, and frankly didn't care as his thoughts were entirely else where. The penetrating emerald gaze of the flower girl still lingered in his mind, vivid and for some reason, almost disturbing. The meeting with the unusually friendly and pretty girl had totally knocked him off his feet, making him look like a giddy little fool. Cloud was angry at himself for losing his posture in front of someone else like that. It wasn't as if he had never seen a pretty example of a female before – although this one was exceptionally different, and there was something about her that Cloud could quite not put a finger on.

Lost in the reverie of thoughts which he was not quite accustomed to (and which he seemed to be having quite frequently since the beginning of the mission) Cloud continued to walk aimlessly down the street–

"Hey! You there! Stop right now! You're comin' with us!"

Cloud froze in his track, and slowly turned to face two of the blue uniformed ShinRa guards, with their rifles aimed directly at him. The ex-Soldier cursed softly. This was what he got for his stupid thoughts about a girl he had met for mere seconds.

"About five foot seven, Blonde and carrying a humongous sword," one of the guards said to the other "Yeah, this is him alright. You're under arrest buddy. Put the sword on the ground slowly and don't even think about running."

And running was exactly what Cloud did. The guards began shouting, but luckily for Cloud they did not shoot. They must have been orders to capture him, Cloud thought as he turned right as soon as he reached an intersection. But as he did, the ex-Soldier skidded to a halt. Two more ShinRa guards stood in his way also armed with rifles a piece. They too demanded for his arrest and did not open fire, giving the ex-Soldier time to pivot sharply away from them. He quickly headed for the other way and dared a glimpse behind. The guards were in hot pursuit and seemed to have doubled in numbers.

So he had managed to run into the paths of the hunting party, all out to get him. Cloud swore once more, with all sorts of regrets forming as he dashed towards yet another intersection. Why didn't he just attack the guards when he saw them? Why did he come this way? And why did he have to speak to the flower girl in the first place?

Cloud felt he was losing his head completely again. No, he was going to escape, and find his way to the train station where the train would be still waiting for him with Barret and Avalanche in tow. But these thoughts did nothing to fill the frustration he felt when several more guards burst into view from all sides of the streets. Cloud wheeled around and to his dismay, saw that he was completely surrounded.

"Okay buddy, that's as far as you go." A guard said in triumph as the rest closed in, forming a semicircle around him.

Cloud backed off slowly "Hey, hey. I have no time for games fellas." He said as nonchalantly as possible, while his eyes darted back and forth, searching desperately for any cracks to escape through. Then his foot hit a row of railings. Below, behind him, a rail way track stretched forth from a tunnel and Cloud realized that he was standing on an overpass of the train track where his ride would pass through, or might have already passed through. Dread filled the empty pit of his stomach.

There were a little more than s dozen guards around him. Maybe he could take them on… No, he would be dead before he could take a step. Their numbers were double more than what Cloud had gone against at the Reactor. Maybe if he used his Materia and with a bit of luck he could… No, he though once more feebly. If he was caught here, then it would be finished. All hope seemed lost… and then it came.

With a lurch of his heart came the glorious sound of a train rumbling along, as the ground shook slightly beneath his feet. Anticipation filling inside him, Cloud took a peek backwards and recoiled slightly as a sudden blur of charred black streaked into view from the tunnel. If he did not get on now, he would definitely miss it, and worse, get caught.

One of the guards seemed to realize what he was about to do and shouted to his companions "Hey – what the – get him! He's gonna jump!" But it was too late. As every single guard lurched forward, Cloud heaved himself over the railing hoping that the last of the train would not pass by in his fall. His foot hit the bumpy roof with a jolt and was immediately thrown onto his back from the train's accelerating momentum. A bit shocked from the swiftness of things, Cloud lay there for a moment with the wind cutting past him and then he realized that with an amazing stroke of luck, he had managed to escape.

"He never came…" Wedge said quietly, sitting against one of the crates in the luggage compartment of the train. "Do you reckon he went off on his own? Or maybe…" he trailed off glumly when no one responded.

For a moment, the compartment was completely silent, except for the rumbling of the train and the rattling of the luggage. Across from Wedge stood Biggs, leaning against the wall with his eyes staring blankly off in space, and next to him sat Jessie, crouched on the floor seeming as vacant as Biggs. But it was obvious that they, like Wedge, were plainly worried about the ex-Soldier.

Barret though, was the only person showing some signs of life, occasionally giving an unfortunate crate or a suitcase a beating with his enormous fists. The arrogant berk was going to pay for making everyone worry like this. Of course, Barret himself was not worried at all. Why would he for such an arrogant bastard that cared about no one else but himself? No definitely not. But, if the ­­­­­­ex-Soldier turned up with that irritating smirk of his, Barret was going to kill him. And if he was dying somewhere out in the dark, Barret was going to hunt him down and kill him anyway. Then he heard Jessie's trembling voice break the silence.

"Barret… do you think- maybe- what if he got hurt and… what if-" she quavered, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Hell no!" Barret cut in roughly "Mark my words; he'll keep his sorry ass alive just to get his pay. I won't be surprised if he manages to drag his smart mouth to headquarters askin' for his money wid' his spiky ass still intact." This did not seem to comfort Jessie by the least.

"Hey Barret," this time it was Biggs, who had snapped out of his blank state also "Do you think – if he does come – do you think he'll stay and keep fighting with us?"

"Tha' hell would I know, eh?" he growled an answer, which completely contrasted with his thoughts "Wouldn't give a shit if he went back ter' rejoin the frickin' ShinRa! Why would you fools care anyway?"

Another long, awkward silence followed, but again it did not last long.

Bang!... Bang! Everyone jumped at the sudden noise. "What the hell…?" Barret began, but another series of banging cut him off, apparently coming from outside, and this time seeming more persistent than before. Then the banging ceased as abruptly as it came. Without warning, the large sliding door of the compartment skimmed open, revealing the dark tunnel walls rushing by outside. There was a sharp intake of breaths from the uneasy Avalanche members while nothing seemed happen for a moment, then a blurring figure flew through the open door and landed in the middle of the compartment with a loud thump.

"Cloud!" Jesse, Biggs and Wedge shouted all at once, as the ex-Soldier straightened, dusting himself off imposingly. He looked oddly windswept, with his spiky hair seemingly more unruly than before.

"Looks like I was a bit late." He said most casually and turned to Barret, who was lowering his gun-arm slowly with a look of – could it be? – weary relief on his dark toned face. It was gone in flash though, replaced by his angry scowl with his eyes ablaze.

"A bit late? A bit late?" He growled menacingly, rising to his full, towering height. "Damn righ' you are! Waltzin' in here an' makin' a big scene! Ya' had everyone worried sick! Shit, ya' don' give a shit 'bout no one but yerself!"

Cloud smirked widely "You were worried about me? I'm touched." In fact, he was astounded. The big man worried? And for him?

"What!" Barret roared, his face red. "This is comin' outta yo' pay, spikey ass!" Then he whirled upon the unsuspecting others who were watching anxiously. "Get up from yo' asses! We're movin' to the next car!"

With a final glare for the smirking ex-Soldier, Barret stomped towards the door leading to the next compartment, leaving the rest in an oddly uneasy silence. Though uneasy it was Cloud saw that everyone else was smiling slightly in relief.

Wedge started for the next carriage first, a large boyish grin on his wide face. "You did great!" he said happily and slapped Cloud's back before proceeding through.

Biggs followed shortly "We'll do better next time, eh Cloud?" He said, grinning just as widely as Wedge.

Now the compartment was empty save for Jessie and himself. There was a noisy shuffling of feet from behind. Cloud turned to see Jessie closing the sliding door of the car which he had flown in though. When she turned to face him, her look of relief transformed into slight amusement.

"Oh, Cloud! Your face is covered in soot!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe his face clear. Cloud felt his face heat up slightly behind the fabric "There we go!" Tucking her cloth back into her pocket, Jessie started for the next car "Say, thanks for saving me back there – twice." She said pausing at the door, and smiled in appreciation before proceeding through.

Cloud did not follow through immediately and instead stood rooted to where he was, feeling glad that Jessie had not seen him blush. He felt stupid, just like he had with the flower girl from the streets before. It really was not like himself to be acting like that at all. Maybe he really was sick, considering the voices he had heard back at the reactor too. Cloud shook his head vigorously and walked through. Why was he thinking about it? It wasn't such a big deal anyway.

The passenger carriage was at least double the size of the storage car and two rows of tattered seats flanking the narrow passage down the middle of the car. Other than Barret and the trio, two more people occupied the seats. One of them, an old rugged beggar, looked up from where he lay on the seats as Cloud passed.

"More of ya', hmph! Can't and old man git some shuteye in his own home? Tcha!" With that he rolled over onto his side, turning his back on the ex-Soldier. Nonplussed, Cloud continued past the grumpy beggar and the past the other passenger swathed in a long trench coat. The shifty looking man visibly flinched when Cloud passed by, casting him a casual glance. Perhaps his glance could have been a cold glare, which was a usual for him, with the effect of the giant sword on his back could have made him fierce looking as Barret.

Cloud almost snorted aloud at the thought. Then again, who could be ferocious as Barret? Sitting casually on the seats alone was the big man himself, his head turned to the windows, watching the passing darkness in an unusual silence.

Leaving the big man to his own thoughts, Cloud proceeded past him to where the rest of Avalanche were. The three stood at the end of the car, near the door leading to the next carriage. While Biggs and his pudgy little companion were in an animated conversation off to one side, Jessie stood by herself, her eyes bright with interest as she studied a small monitor attached to the train wall, lost in it as if nothing else in the world was more important.

The loud thumps of Cloud's boots brought her back to earth, causing her to take her eyes off the screen momentarily. She gestured him to join.

"Hey Cloud, have a look at this," She said and pulled him towards the small screen eagerly. "It's a map of Midgar and it's railing system. Cool isn't it?"

Cloud forced himself to nod as he watched the screen blink to life. This certainly was no interest to him at all, but the look on Jessie's face was one of such wonder and delight, that he could not come to voice his thoughts aloud.

"You know, I really like this kinda stuff you know…" she began with a bit of mournful air "Things like Bombs and machinery. I've always dreamed of becoming an engineer or some sort. But… being born in the slums… and well, many things happened and… oh you wouldn't want to know." She did not give him the chance to reply and pushed a small button.

"Okay, it's about to start." A small holographic image of a wire-framed structure appeared. It was a large circular plate, supported by a number of pillars below. The plate, divided into eight equal sections, surrounded a looming tower in the middle.

"This is a model of our city Midgar, as you can see." Jessie began, her voice changing suddenly as if she was giving a lecture of some sort "The plate rises hundred metres above ground level, and there's a main support pillar at the centre that acts as the backbone of the city. There are other pillars as well, eight to be exact for each of the sectors. And of course, there are eight reactors for each sector as well."

Jessie paused for a second then suddenly leaned in closer to him, her voice dropping to a bare whisper "The reactor we blew up was the number one reactor at the northern section of the city. Then there are number two, three and up to eight, all the way around the city, and each reactor produces electricity for the city, mainly for their own sector… by sucking up the Mako." She added, with a fierce scowl.

Her voice became normal once more as she continued on, her scowl gone in a flash "Well, that's what we're trying to stop isn't it? Anyway, each sector used to have a name… it was years ago though, when I was still young. No one remembers it now… and they're referred to with numbers." Her eyes suddenly filled with sadness. "That's the kind of place this is now…"

With a sigh, Jessie reached for another small button near the monitor. The image suddenly zoomed in below, towards one of the pillars supporting a section of the plate.

"This is the route this train takes down to the slums" she began more briskly this time, as a small dotted line trailed down the pillar in spirals to the ground level. "It spirals around the pillar like that and every time we pass the centre of the pillar, the ID sensor on the train is activated, so that the system could check the identities of each and every passenger on the train. Then the information is collected back at the ShinRa headquarters so they could catch any suspicious people who are wanted, people like us to be exact."

She gave a reassuring smile at the look on Cloud's face "Don't worry though. I designed fake ID cards just for the occasion." Just as the words left her mouth, the room was bathed in a flashing red light. Cloud jumped slightly as a red beam of light swept over him, than onto the rest of the passengers who seemed unfazed by the process. As the red light faded, Jessie giggled silently at the ex-Soldier's reaction. "Don't worry, we're safe for now." She said with another reassuring smile "Anyway, thanks for listening Cloud!"

As he watched the women join her companions, Cloud silently thanked her for not continuing any further and turned to the seats, taking one opposite to Barret, who had been silent for an unusually long time.

"Look ou' there," the big man said suddenly in a strangely soft voice, his eyes still fixed to the window "Y'can see the surface now." And sure enough, as Cloud turned to see through his own window, the bare, dusty looking ground was only metres below. "Ya' really can't tell f'its night or day below here. If the plates weren't up there… then we could see the skies… the stars…."

Cloud watched the big man and his sudden odd behaviour in silence. Barret continued, his voice hardening as he went on "The plates… the upper world… Shit, s'all cuz o' that frickin' pizza on top the people in the slums are sufferin'. There's nothin' but dirt an' shitty air fer' the people ter' breathe down here. Those damn reactors make it worse, suckin' the life outta the planet like that, destroyin' everythin'"

"Then why don't the people just move up to this upper world?" Cloud asked. Barret's dark eyes met his in a long silence. For a moment they stared at each other, until Barret turned back to the window with a shake of his head, a frown creasing his brow.

"Dunno man. Maybe cuz they ain't got enough money fer the high class world 'bove. Or maybe… cuz they love their land… no matter how dark an' polluted it gets."

No more words came as both men stared out the windows at the dark and rugged surface of the slums, lost in their own thoughts.

This man, these people, they were so different. Just being with them made Cloud feel alienated. Unlike the others living in the slums, they did not wallow in hopelessness. They were doing what they had deemed as right. They took action, risking their lives for the good of others, unperturbed against impossible odds. Why?

Against impossible odds. They had no chance against a power as strong as ShinRa. So why were they doing this? What was to be gained from all this? Why did they carry unnecessary duties on their shoulders willingly? Genuinely for the good of others? For the love of their planet? It made no sense at all. They were throwing their lives away, why? For what?

Why was he here then? What was his purpose of being here with them? There was a simple answer to that. For himself. His purpose of being here was for the money. For his own benefit. He did not care for the planet, the slum dwellers or anybody else. What was more important than one's own welfare? His peace of mind and happiness for himself? He had always been independent, and relied on only himself. In this rugged world, no one could be trusted. There was no room for weakness and dependency on others. To live, you had to be strong, or be crushed by the larger forces in life.

So why?

The train continued to roll down in spirals, almost noiselessly as if not to break the poignant silence in the atmosphere of the slums below, as Cloud left the question unanswered. A bored voiced of a female conductor drifted from the intercom above him. "Last train out of Sector Eight Station. Last stop is Sector Seven, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is Twelve Twenty-Three AM, Midgar Standard Time..."

The message was less than a buzz to him, as Cloud thought, and continued thinking in silence until the train came to a stop; he would never understand the people he was working with.