"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."
Haile Selassie
Reno inwardly groaned as he heard Cloud shout at him to run. His foot screamed in protest as he followed Cloud down the hallway. He could hear gunshots behind him, and desperately, he pushed the pain in his foot away, and ran fast, catching up with Cloud. His entire body groaned from injuries. Goddammit Cloud...he thought bitterly. I'm sure even Scarlet's way of dying would be less painful than this. They ran several more feet, and Reno was surprised at the lack of footsteps behind them. They aren't following us? Reno wondered, turning his head to look behind him.
As Reno marveled at the empty hallway behind him, Cloud emmited a sharp gasp. Reno snapped his head around, but he realized in horror, he had reacted too late, and he hit Cloud at full running force and fell backwards onto his already bruised side. Silently cursing Cloud, Reno groaned. Through the pain that was racking his body, he felt hands flipping him over.
"Reno? Reno? Oh God, what the hell did they do to him?" an upset voice was asking.
Hey...Reno thought. I know that voice.
"Elena!" Reno said loudly sitting up so fast his head spun.
Elena gave a cry of distress and placed a hand on his back as Reno gave another groan.
"Is this Scarlet's work?" Rude asked angrily from Elena's side, motioning with obvious distaste at Reno's battered body.
Reno nodded and smiled weakly. "Hey don't worry about it...I've had worse and you know it."
Rude and Elena exchanged glances. Elena began to say something to Reno, but stopped as another conversation interrupted theirs.
"Yea, Barret called us all up early this morning." a slim teenager was telling Cloud. "I even brought all my materia! Oh yea, and we found all the weapons and materia and stuff they took from you guys."
She pointed to a pile that contained Cloud's sword, Reno's electrod, and Tifa's glove amongst many other things.
"Your stupid sword weighs a ton!" she complained.
Uhh...Yuffie I think...Reno thought trying to recall her name. Reno immediately recognized Cid Highwind and the strange dog-like creature.
"Barret and Vincent are up there keeping those SOLDIERS busy." Cid said gruffly. "So we better hurry up."
Red nudged Yuffie slightly. "Don't you have the keys."
Yuffie searched her pockets frantically. Cloud sighed.
"You gave Yuffie the keys?" he said, exasperated.
Yuffie gave Cloud an angry look, but Elena jumped up quickly.
"I have them." Elena said hastily. "Yuffie dropped them on the stairwell."
Elena proceeded to unlock Reno's cuffs and then Cloud's. They stood in silence for a minute.
"So..." Yuffie said, cutting into the akward silence. "Where to now?"
Cloud answered quickly. "We have to get to Tifa."
"She's probably at the gas chamber." Reno said. "Well what are we waiting for?"
Cloud, Elena, Rude, Red, Yuffie, and Cid all stared at Reno as he tottered on unsteady legs and a trickle of blood made its way down his forehead.
"Umm..." Cid said akwardly.
Rude scratched his bald head. "Reno..."
"What?" Reno asked rebelliously.
"Elena?" Cloud asked, turning away from Reno. "You know your way out of here right?"
Elena nodded. "Come on Reno...we're leaving."
"No way!" Reno said, backing away. "I'm coming too."
Red shook his head. "I'll go with them. They might need help if they run into trouble...besides...I kind of stick out here."
Cloud gave him a slight smile and nodded. Then, he took off with Rude, Yuffie, and Cid down the hall.
"Wait!" Reno shouted after them.
Elena shook her head at him. "When will you ever give up?"
Reno sighed and allowed Elena to help support him as they made their way out, Red walking beside them amusedly.
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Tifa sighed impatiently as she tried to brush off one of the SOLDIERS gripping her arm tightly. She stood several feet away from Scarlet who was facing a large video camera. Kale stood behind her, looking rather bored with the proceedings. Making a face, Tifa stopped her struggling and began to listened to Scarlet's little speech.
"We will get rid of the remnants of AVALANCHE." Scarlet told the camera confidently. "Starting with one of their key members, Tifa Lockhart. Later today we will be executing their leader, Cloud Strife. We are confident that after we take care of them, the rest of AVALANCE will be defeated easily."
These words caused Tifa's stomach to clench slightly.
"However..." Scarlet said, giving an evil little cackle. "In the meantime, we feel that it is in the best interest of the people, that we declare war on the remaining members of AVALANCHE and anyone who decides to help them."
Tifa smothered a gasp. War? she thought incredulously. How can anyone possibly believe that another war is in the "best interest of the people"...
The camera clicked off and Scarlet, trailed by Kale, approached Tifa smiling.
"Let's see if anyone helps your little friends after that." she said truimphantly.
Tifa wanted to slap her smile off her face. She resisted the urge to struggle against her cuffs. Instead, she shrugged listlessly.
"You really believe that the sight of you strikes fear in people's hearts?" Tifa asked lightly. "It's a pretty disturbing sight...but hardly frightening."
"You little bitch..." Scarlet hissed, raising an arm to strike her.
But she lowered her arms as the lumbering footsteps of Heidegger approached them.
"Scarlet..." he wheezed, his out of shape body heaving from running.
"What?" Scarlet shrieked. "What is it?"
Heidegger, still panting, straightened up.
"The other prisoners...AVALANCHE..." he took a break to suck in air. "AVALANCHE is here...the other prisoners got away."
Scarlet let out a shrill screech. Tifa couldn't help but crack a smile. They came...she thought hopefully. And Cloud and Reno are safe...Cloud is okay...
Scarlet's eyes were wild as they heard the sound of footsteps.
"You two!" she said, motioning to the SOLDIERS on either side of Tifa. "Keep them busy."
They nodded and let go of Tifa. She made to run after them, and towards her friends but Scarlet let out another shriek.
"Grab her!" she shouted to Kale.
Tifa let out a growl of frusteration as Kale threw her over one broad shoulder and clamped her legs down so she couldn't kick. Her head bounced roughly against Kale's back as he shot down the corrider after Scarlet. Her rough ride ended in a large conference room. Kale threw her to the ground roughly. Tifa scrambled quickly to a sitting position and watched him lock the door behind Scarlet and Heidegger. Scarlet was seething.
"You!" Scarlet shouted, pointing a sharp fingernail at Kale. "This is all your fault! How did they get in? I should have you executed for this!"
Tifa turned her gaze from the still hissing and spitting Scarlet to Kale. He was leaning idly against the wall, ignoring Scarlet. Tifa narrowed her eyes as she saw him fingering the handle of his sword. She looked to his face, and tried to not to shudder at the insanity in his mako eyes. Kale noticed Tifa watching him and gave her a smirk.
"Are you even paying attention to me?" Scarlet screeched.
In a swift motion, Kale pulled his sword out, and plunged it straight into Scarlet's chest. Scarlet looked at the sword in shock for a minute, and then slumped to the floor inches away from Tifa. Horrified and disgusted, Tifa backed away from the blood leaking out of her body. Kale was laughing. Tifa wished she wasn't cuffed so she could cover her ears. Heidegger's beady eyes were wide and afraid.
"You answer to me now." Kale said to Heidegger. "Do you understand?"
"Yes..." Heidegger whispered.
Kale took a step towards him, fingering his bloody sword. "Yes?"
"Yes sir." Heidegger gulped.
"Good, good." Kale said cheerfully. "Now my first bit of business as President...hmm perhaps I should continue this war that Scarlet started. What do you think, tubby?"
"Yes sir." Heidegger said again.
A manic gleam appeared in Kale's eye. "In fact...now that I'm President...I should declare war on anyone who disagrees with me! That would be the best way to keep them under controll."
Tifa watched him, horrified. He's completely mad...she thought. This guy is out of his mind! Suddenly, two hands reached out from behind her, one closing on her shoulder, another over her mouth, stopping her from screaming.
"Shh." a voice whispered in her ear.
Immediately she stopped struggling and the hands let go. She felt movement around her wrists, and a quiet click as her cuffs came off. Tifa threw a nervous look in Kale's direction; he was still rambling on. Quickly she turned around. Cloud's face peeked at her from under the conference table. He was hidden by the floor length table cloth. He motioned for her to follow him.
Tifa ducked under the table cloth and followed Cloud on her hands and knees. They came to the end of the table, and Cloud looked back at her.
"Here, Tifa." he said softly. "Go in front of me. There's an air vent right here."
She nodded and squeezed past Cloud. Carefully, she pulled aside the table cloth. Yuffie and Rude's anxious faces were peering at her from behind a metal grate. When they saw Tifa, Yuffie's face split into a huge grin and some of the anxiety faded from Rude's usually impassive face. Expertly and silently, Yuffie removed the grate. Tifa climbed in, Cloud behind her.
"I'm glad you're okay!" Yuffie whispered, giving Tifa a brief hug.
Hunched over, the small group crawled through the air vent.
"These should lead to outside," Rude said in his usual quiet voice.
By the time Kale noticed Tifa's absence and let out an enraged scream, they were already long gone.
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"Are you sure this is where we were supposed to meet?" Reno asked for the thousandth time.
Elena sighed and exchanged an exhausted glance with Red. Ever since they had healed Reno's wounds, he hadn't shut up. They were on a beach several miles away from Junon. A large rock formation blocked them from sight.
"This is definately the right spot," Elena said to Reno miserably.
Reno wasn't the only one impatient. The sun was already sinking below the horizon. What's taking them so long? Elena wondered anxiously.
"Get down!" Red said suddenly.
Elena and Reno ducked under the rocks. Eventually Elena heard it too; the sound of approaching chocobos. The chocobos came around the rock formation, and they all came out, sighing in relief as they recognized the chocobo riders as the others. In the front, looking slightly worse for wear, were Vincent and Barret who had been keeping the SOLDIERS busy while the others snuck Cloud and Tifa out. Yuffie swung down from her chocobo, energectic as always. Cid and Rude dropped of their chocobos, looking tired. They all collapsed on the sandy beach, with the exception of Rude and Vincent who perched on the rocks in a bit more dignified manner. Elena looked up to Cloud and Tifa.
"Umm..." she said quietly, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Everyone looked to her, then followed her gaze to Cloud and Tifa who were kissing quite contently.
"I knew it!" Reno said amusedly.
The members of AVALANCHE watched them for a minute, mouths slightly agape. Barret and Vincent both turned away with slightly melancholy smiles. Both of them had lost the love of their life; it was a similarity they shared but never acknowledged. Red just shook his head, but Yuffie looked absolutely crestfallen.
"Cough it up!" Cid whispered smugly to her.
Yuffie's lower lip quivered slightly as she dug into her pockets and handed Cid a pile of gil and materia. She sighed sadly.
"Hold on a second!" Cid hissed. "You still owe me five-hundred gil and Bahumut! We made a bet you little-"
Yuffie gave a nervous and mischeivious grin.
"So..." she said loudly, causing Cloud and Tifa to break apart. "It seems like you two are alive and well..."
Everyone laughed loudly as Cloud and Tifa blushed. Cid scowled at Yuffie.
"I'm not done with you..." he said under his breath.
Cloud scratched his head nervously. "So uhh...what next?"
"You two and Barret are welcome to stay at Cosmo Canyon..." Red said, hiding a smile. "Along with anyone else who needs somewhere to stay."
"Oh!" Tifa said, her cheeks still tinged pink. "I can't believe I almost forgot..."
Everyone turned towards her. Her blush faded and a grim look came over her face. Cloud, Rude, and Yuffie looked grim too. They obviously knew what was coming.
"Scarlet is dead." she said quietly. "Kale, one of the SOLDIERS killed her. Before she died, she declared war on AVALANCHE and anyone who helped us."
They exchanged heavy looks, but Tifa wasn't done.
"Kale decided to take over, and continue the war she started." Tifa shook her head sadly. "But this guy is insane...he's completely delusional."
Tifa broke off with a hopeless sigh. Cloud's hand found hers and gave it a squeeze.
"So...what now?" Barret asked grimly.
Cloud hesitated slightly. "If Kale is planing on waging a war against us...we have to be ready for him."
"I can talk to Pops." Yuffie's peppy voice supplied helpfully. "He's been through war before...he'll know what to do."
"Thanks..." Cloud said gratefully. "But what about the rest of you?"
"My invitation to stay in Cosmo Canyon is still open..." Red said quietly. "I don't want to put Cosmo Canyon in danger...but it is a good place to turn into a fort."
Everyone looked unethusiatic at the idea of a fort. The idea of another war was extremely unsettling.
"No one's going to like the idea..." Cloud said softly. "But we have to do what we can to be prepared."
Cid sighed. "I can get to work on the new model for the Highwind...and train a few pilots."
"Okay." Cloud said. "So Cid will go back to Rocket Town. Yuffie is going to Wutai to ask her father for help, and me, Tifa, Red, and Barret will begin establishing a fort in Cosmo Canyon. What about the rest of you?"
"I can go back to Midgar." Vincent said in his quiet voice.
They all turned his way.
"Back to Midgar?" Cid asked looking confused.
Vincent bowed his head. "I can easily go about places unnoticed. We will need someone to keep us up to date with what the enemy is doing."
Cloud nodded his agreement.
"What about the people in Fort Condor?" Tifa asked. "They know a lot about battle tactics...but they're located awfully close to Midgar. They'll be wiped out if we don't do something."
"We can take care of that." Reno said motioning to Elena and Rude. "We can warn them and then bring them to Cosmo Canyon."
Tifa gave him a grateful smile.
Cloud sighed. "That's everyone isn't it?"
They all nodded. With the prospect of a war on the horizon, they were all extremely uneasy. Now that a plan was established, they exchanged tense goodbyes and set off. Tifa felt her stomach clench with anxiety as she watched her friends go their seperate ways, but the feeling lessened slighty as Cloud caught her eye and smiled.
I guess you have to take the bad with the good...Tifa thought as they set off to begin a war.