"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
Bertrand Russell
For a moment, down on the ground, there was stillness as everyone looked skyward. But as the fighter planes and airships moved in, there were shouts of relief and triumph from half the fighters and fearful shouts from the other half. The bullets began whizzing down from the sky, and the tables turned. The recruits from Cosmo Canyon pressed forward, their spirits lifted by the sight of their airforce. But the presidents army began backing out.
"Retreat!" they yelled. "Retreat!"
Reno watched this from the cockpit of a fighter plane. He cracked a grin a took a sharp turn, showering bullets down.
"Whoa!" he said, letting the wheel straighten out as the plane shuddered violently.
Almost instantly, the radio in his ear crackled and a grizzled voice came through.
"The hell are you doin'!" Cid's voice shouted in his ear. "I thought you said you could fly dumbass!"
Reno winced and turned the volume down on the radio.
"Chill, old man!" he grumbled into his mouth piece. "I know what I'm doing!"
The only response he received from was a contemptuous snort, but a shrill feminine voice came through on the earpiece.
"He's right Reno!" Elena scolded. "You shouldn't mess around."
Reno's mouth hung open incredulously.
"Elena! You're supposed to be on my side!" he said sulkily.
"I am on your side!" Elena said hotly. "Which is exactly why I don't want you doing stupid things that will get you killed! Reno you can be such a-"
"Stop." Rude's voice commanded. "We should focus on landing and getting the antidotes to the hospital."
In their seperate planes, Reno and Elena both glared at their radios.
"About time someone makes some goddamn sense..." Cid's voice grumbled.
No one responded. There was a somber silence across the radios as everyone refocused on the serious situation they were in. It had been about five hours since the Turks had left Cosmo Canyon. They hadn't had any contact since then, and didn't know whether or not everyone was okay, or even alive. All they knew was what Vincent had told them when he called; Cosmo Canyon was under attack.
"Who's going to land first?" Reno said lowly into his mouth piece.
A moment's pause.
"You first Reno." Cid said gruffly. "Then Elena, then Rude. I'll go last."
Is that the first time Cid's said something to me without cursing? Reno wondered, carefully lowering his plane. The plane landed on the ground with a gentle thump, and a cloud of dust rose around it before settling back down. Reno grabbed the crate of antidotes, potions, and ethers that had been squeezed in behind his seat and stepped out. Dust from the other's planes settled on his clothing as they landed beside him. Rude, Elena, and Cid all got out of their planes.
It was eerily quiet around the hospital, besides the sound of fighting. Reno turned around to motion the others forward, but their eyes were locked on something behind him. Feeling cold dread in his stomach, he turned around. At first he was confused why the others would be so horrified by the large white tent, but as the moon peaked out behind the clouds, the light went straight through the tents and casted shadows on the white cloth walls. Bodies...Reno thought numbly. That tent is filled with bodies...
"Let's go." Rude said turning away.
They tore their eyes away. This is bad...Reno thought, beginning to sweat. This is really freaking bad...He looked over at the others. Elena was pale and shaking. Rude looked composed as ever, but you'd have to know him really well to see the tension in his face. Cid on the other hand-
"Open the goddamn door!" he shouted at the door, kicking it roughly.
The doors stayed closed.
"Who is it?" a timid voice asked on the other end.
"It's the goddamn antidotes." Cid growled, looking in deperate need of a cigarette. "That's who the hell it is."
There was a squeaky gasp at the other end, and a loud grating noise as though something large was being dragged away from the door. The door swung open and a nurse with dark cirlces under her eyes stood in the doorway.
"Thank God..." she said, almost crying as she took Elena's crate away from her. "Thank you so much..."
The other nurses and doctors swarmed towards the door, taking the crates away from them and beginning to fill syringes with the translucent liquid inside the antidote bottles. They all looked on the verge of tears, but they jumped into action immediately, injecting the immobile bodies on the ground with the antidotes. Nearly half of the bodies were covered with white sheets. They skipped those.
Reno and Rude both placed comforting hands on Elena's shoulders as she hastily wiped away a tear. Cid cursed and turned away.
"Come on..." Cid said gruffly. "We're no help around here...the battles over...let's go see how much damage has been done."
The sounds of movement and excited talking around the hospital awoke Cloud from his light doze. He had fallen asleep with his ear pressed up against Tifa's heart; every other pulse in her body was now too weak to detect.
"Do you hear that Tifa?" he whispered, sitting up. "Something's going on outside..."
A flurry of excitement exploded in his stomach. He perked his head up, listening raptly.
"Tifa!" he said joyfully, kissing her hair. "Antidotes Tifa! I think they're here!"
He stroked her hair back and looked at her for a minute. Tifa's face was pale, drained completely of the light pink on her cheeks, her lips were turned down, no trace of the smile that usually graced her face...but she was holding on still. She's going to wake up soon...Cloud thought, pressing his lips against her feverish skin. And I can tell her I love her and maybe if she's not too tired, she'll smile and then we can get out of this hospital...and go to sleep in our own bed...and all of this will just be like a nightmare...
"Mr. Strife?" a voice said from the other side of the curtain.
"What did I tell you Tifa?" he whispered into her ear. "Here's the nurse...everything will be okay now."
The nurse pushed the curtain aside. She held a syringe in her hands.
"The antidotes came." she said, looking years younger than she had the last time Cloud saw her, hours ago when all hope seemed lost.
Cloud hopped up from the bed, boyish excitement taking place of the anguish that had plagued it for so many hours. He watched as the nurse carefully injected the antidote into a vein in Tifa wrist. Cloud hovered over Tifa's face, waiting for signs of life.
"She's not waking up..." he said, turning towards the nurse, crestfallen.
The nurse patted his arm gently.
"Give her time, Mr. Strife." she told him. "A least a half-hour."
Cloud looked up at the clock. It was four-fifteen in the morning.
"Four fourty-five." Cloud said, turning to the nurse for confirmation. "Tifa's waking up at four fourty-five."
I said at least a half hour...the nurse thought, exasperated. But she couldn't bring herself to dampen Cloud's spirits as he cracked his first grin in hours.
"Mrs. Strife will wake up around four fourty-five." she said softly, stepping outside the curtains.
Cloud laid back with down with Tifa, pulling her limp form close again, making sure he could see her face. He kept his eyes fixed on her face, waiting for her eyes to flutter open.
Reeve, Barret, Yuffie, Reno, Rude, Elena, and Cid all stood together on top of an unbroken portion of the wall and looked down at the destruction below. No one made a sound. Yuffie, who had been revived from her injuries, gripped the edge of the wall and peered over. The others hung back slightly, shaking their heads. The amount of damage was unbelievable.
"It will take at least two months to repair the wall." Reeve said, breaking the silence.
Yuffie turned on him, seething.
"The wall?" she hissed. "You're thinking about the wall?"
Reeve hung his head. I wish it were the wall that I were thinking about...he thought, fighting the urge to tear the rest of the wall down out of despair. Instead, he patted Yuffie's back as she burst into tears.
It didn't sound like the battle was over. The sound of bullets being fired and weapons clashing was gone, but the fort was far from quiet. Recruits howled in anguish, lifting the dead bodies of their comrades and friends off the ground. Reeve forced himself to watch. How many mothers and fathers lost their child today? he wondered. How many people lost friends, brothers, husbands? He hid his face in his hand.
The group shuddered as a cold wind blew through the fort. The Turks stood close together, looking at the horror that had occurred in their absense. Even though she would never normally allow it, she let both Reno and Rude put arms around her shoulders. At least they aren't telling me not to be weak...she thought. An instant later, she hated herself for that bitter thought, and burst into a fresh round of tears.
"Coulda been us jus' as easily as them." Barret said hollowly.
The others looked up, the break in silence shocking them for a minute.
"Marlene coulda been a orphan right now..." Barret said
Shera...Cid thought sadly, watching as bodies were carried off the battle field. I wonder how many of them had some silly woman waiting for them...some silly woman they loved to death.
Yuffies tear-stained face popped up, startling Reeve and everyone around her.
"Tifa!" she said, her tears stopping. "Come on guys, we gotta go see her and Cloud!"
She sprung up and began descending the wall, the others close behind her. Reeve hung back for a minute, giving the desolation one last look-over. I wonder...he thought as he climbed down. Are we finally beginning to understand the true meaning of war?