"Where is Tifa?" Cloud asks, looking all around. The interior of the bar is small, but comfortable and clean. The decor is sparse. A ceiling fan whirs overhead. There's a pinball machine and dartboard in one corner, and the mirrored shelves behind the counter are well-stocked with liquor. Judging by the size of the building from the outside, there must be several more rooms. A television is on low volume, showing nonstop Shinra news coverage.

The little girl keeps peeking at him from behind Barret's legs.

"First," Barret states, "you three smell like you just crawled out the damn sewers, so if you all plannin' to stay here, layin' low from Shinra, then you all takin' showers." He turns to the little girl. His tone softens considerably. "Marlene, can you please go downstairs and get clothes from Jessie's stash for this woman?" He gives Cloud a glance, too. "An' grab something from Biggs' stash. For Cloud."

Marlene nods and scampers away, looking at Cloud until she's out of sight.

Barret mutters under his breath, "Cuz ain't neither of them need their clothing anymore thanks to you."

Cloud opens his mouth to argue, but Barret isn't finished.

"You two." He points at Aerith and Nanaki. "I don't know what your damn story is, but I'm guessin' you also escaped Shinra hell. Get your asses upstairs and shower so I don't have to smell your awful stench anymore."

Aerith gulps. "Yessir."

The two slink up the stairs near the back.

"And you." Barret turns full attention to Cloud. "You better pull yo'self together and clean off that damn makeup before Tifa gets back. You shower after those two finish. And I don't even wanna know."

Cloud sighs. At least Barret gets right to the point.

"Shinra is dropping the plate," Cloud responds, exhausted. He sits at one of the tables. "I got the alert directly from headquarters. It isn't a trick or a joke. They plan to kill everyone in this Sector."

"Why this Sector?"

Cloud winces. "Because… they heard Tifa say it to me when you two were leaving the Tower. The cameras were recording. I guess they aren't taking any chances."

There's a long dense silence. Barret looks furious enough to rip Cloud's head off his body. Then he swallows and turns away.

"How long?" Barret asks quietly.

Cloud explains that he doesn't know. There's no precedent for this type of thing. And his phone's dead now so any further company messages are unknown. Could be hours, could be minutes. He's tried telling people on the street, but nobody believes him thanks to his face being plastered all over the news as a wanted fugitive.

"Don't worry," Barret says. "Ain't nobody 'round here gonna clue Shinra in to your arrival. But this plate droppin'... You really think they'd do something like that?"

"They'll blame it on your group. I've already seen them try to implode Reactor One with me inside. They don't care about anything except reputation and control. And now with President Shinra dead, all bets are off."

Cloud feels something touch the back of his neck. Spiderwebs. He brushes it away.

"And yes, we literally crawled through the sewers," Cloud says miserably. "The borders are locked down, above and below the plate. Shinra big guns are out hunting. They really want us dead."

Barret sits across from Cloud and thinks. Marlene returns with the requested garments.

"Can you bring that dress upstairs to that lady, baby girl?" Barret asks her. She smiles and leaves Cloud's clothes draped over another stool.

"Your daughter?" Cloud wonders after she's gone.

"Mmmhm, adopted. As I'm sure you can tell."

Another long silence commences. Cloud is realizing how tired he is. He washes his face and forearms at the sink behind the bar and inspects himself in the mirror. The damage from that nail bat left sore spots across his cheekbone where the metal impaled.

"When is Tifa coming back?" he asks Barret, dabbing his face dry. He can hear the shower running upstairs. Marlene sits at the top of the staircase, staring down at Cloud, hidden from her surrogate father's view.

"Soon," Barret replies.

"Can't you call her? We're wasting time."

"She'll be back real soon. And you still need a damn shower. 'Specially if you tryin' to impress her."

Cloud gives Marlene a tiny wave. Her eyes go big and she scurries away.

"Once Tifa returns, we are leaving," Cloud says. "All of us. And we've got to find a way to warn everyone else, too. This whole Sector needs to be evacuated."

"I believe you, but if you say Shinra closed all the borders, how we supposed to get everyone out?"

"Aren't you the terrorist? Can't we just blow up the gates?" Cloud brushes the back of his neck again, another phantom touch.

"Ha, I like the way you think." Barret regards him with a smile. "Y'know, spike, you ain't half-bad. A little more tolerable when you ain't in a Shinra uniform."

Nanaki pads downstairs, fur puffy and clean.

"My nose is finally clear," Nanaki breathes out. "Though I think my senses are still burnt out. I can't smell anything. Except for you, Cloud."

Barret lets out a roar of laughter.

Nanaki doesn't understand. "No, it's because of the Mako. And...something else." He sniffs the air in Cloud's direction, who is feeling more uncomfortable by the second. "Something I can't quite… I thought I smelled it on Aerith, too."

Cloud grabs his clothes from the stool and says he's going upstairs to shower, and then they are finding Tifa and getting the hell out of this Sector. Nanaki's keen sense is unsettling, because Cloud knows what that second scent is. He's felt it since stumbling onto that thing in the Shinra basement. JENOVA. Those gene therapy treatments that saved his life—the ones Hojo obsessed over—were surely derived from those inhuman cells. How they survived Mt. Nibel and decapitation, he can't stand to speculate. And it's possible Nanaki only caught that same scent on Aerith because Cloud has spent so much time with her lately. Nanaki is just mixed-up.

It's a whirlwind of anxiety in his head. All he wants is to get Tifa to safety. He stands outside the bathroom door. Each second ticks them closer to oblivion.

It feels strange to be inside a place he knows is going to be destroyed soon. This hallway, this door he's waiting in front of, the piping in the walls, the pinball machine downstairs, all of it would be indistinguishable rubble soon, crushed flat.

The shower shuts off. He hears Aerith tinkering over the sink, dressing. She emerges in a blue and red checkered dress, hair drawn up in a towel. Without the dirt and grime and gaudy makeup, she is immaculate. She's holding the white materia in her hands.

"Oh, Cloud." She flashes a smile. "Sorry, didn't realize you were waiting right there. All yours!"

She takes the towel out of her hair. Long drippy strands fall past her shoulders. She holds the towel out to him.

"Here, I think this is the only one. Hope you don't mind sharing."

He doesn't. Not really. He takes it without a word.

The shower feels good, hot. It rinses away more than sweat and dried blood. His previous life is going down that drain, too. He's entirely separated from Shinra for the first time since leaving home. It's disorienting. There's no telling where he'll be in the next twenty-four hours. When the last of the suds swirls away and his skin is finally clean, he dries off and puts on Biggs' clothing. The shirt doesn't really fit, but it's all he's got. As he dresses, he notices bubbled scarring along his arm where the last transfusion had been injected.

Then he hears Tifa's voice downstairs. Everything else is forgotten. There's a rumble of voices as everyone talks and greets her.

By the time he gets downstairs, Aerith is telling everyone about their "adventures'' in Sector Six and Barret is laughing loudly. Tifa is all smiles, especially when she spots Cloud. His heart skips in her gaze. The intense desire to see her again, the culmination of that adrenaline holding him together suddenly collapses into relief with such velocity that he slips down the bottom two steps.

The noise interrupts the whole group, who see his clumsy descent.

"Um, hey, Tifa…" He put one hand behind his head casually like he's stretching. Like he meant to kinda fall.

"Cloud! I'm so glad you made it." Her tone of sincerity leaves him speechless. "Barret told me about the plate. And your friends have been filling me in on everything you had to go through to get here."

"Then you know how urgent it is that we leave right now. Let's—"

"Hold up!" Barret interrupts, eyes on the television. He turns up the volume.

The regular news program has abruptly changed. An alternative feed has somehow overridden Shinra's control. A fat man in a suit stands in front of a black background. He's sweaty and nervous.

"Citizens of Midgar! The truth must be told!"

"Ain't that the guy we saw in the Tower with Rufus?" Barret asks Cloud.

Cloud nods. That's Palmer, the lowest exec in the c-suite pecking order.

"I was a top executive at Shinra," the man on the screen says, "and I saw who really killed the President. It wasn't Cloud Strife, the renegade SOLDIER. It was General Sephiroth."

Palmer's eyes go to something offscreen. There are sounds of a struggle in the background, pounding on a door. Palmer looks frightened.

"Shinra doesn't want you to know this," he goes on quickly. "They think they can track this man alone and bring him to justice, but I implore all citizens of Midgar to assist. To be on high alert! If anyone sees the General—" He holds up a picture of Sephiroth in his prime. "—you must alert the nearest Shinra police! He was last seen in a long black cape."

A loud noise cracks. Palmer's eyes go wide. He's grabbed the camera and is moving. The angle stares up at his flabby chin.

"Citizens of Midgar," he huffs. "Citizens of Sector Seven. There is one more thing that must be known. You must evacuate. There is a plot to destroy the Sector Seven plate, crush everyone below and shatter everyone above. You must—"

The feed is cut. It buzzes into static, then black.

The regular Shinra newsfeed returns with a very troubled newscaster adjusting his glasses and blinking. The photo of Cloud is still up on the screen. The newscaster, obviously taken aback by the whole interference, throws some lines around about how "obscene" that broadcast from Palmer had been. The new President, Rufus Shinra, is already calling in to dismiss the entire episode as a "pathetic cry for attention" from an executive who's recently been laid-off.

Rufus's voice is cutting and arrogant over the phone line.

"Palmer has clear disdain for his termination and is actively trying to smear the company," Rufus says. "We're not aware of any such plot to destroy part of our magnificent city, and while its true the General has been missing for many years, he most certainly did not break into the most secure place on the planet and ruthlessly murder my father, our President. That deed was accomplished by that pernicious agent of Avalanche in our midst. A spy whom I trust the public will keep an eye out for and report immediately to authorities."

He drones on about how dangerous Cloud is, and Barret turns the volume low again.

"Sephiroth?" Aerith says. She looks at Cloud. "Is this one of the people you told me you thought was dead?"

Cloud nods, but now isn't the time to get into it. He briefly looks at Tifa, and her expression is flat, lips pressed together.

"Time's up," Cloud announces dourly.

Rufus has a cruel fanatical edge that makes Cloud uneasy. The old President may have been sinister, but Rufus seems unstable. If he's in charge, he will pull the trigger on the plate any second now with Palmer's betrayal.

"That man may have done us a favor," Aerith says, "by telling Sector Seven to evacuate. Maybe people will take it seriously."

Cloud picks up his sword and swings the sheath onto his back. "Let's get to that gate. There's no more time."

Nanaki says, "Are all the Sector borders closed?"

Tifa answers, "There are roads leading out of the city, but beneath the plate is walled-in. All exits have a gate or check-point. And I'm guessing those are all closed."

Barret picks Marlene up and puts her on his shoulders.

"I need a broadsword," Cloud says, not feeling quite as protected with a weapon so slender. "We need to hit the armory quick. And Aerith needs a weapon. Whatever is guarding the gate is going to be heavy-hitting and we need to destroy it. Then we open the gate and get as many people out as possible."

Nobody says a word. He's suddenly the de facto leader here.

"Well? Anyone got a better idea?"

Still nothing.

"Okay then. Let's get going."

Tifa carries a backpack full of explosives and detonators, though Barret explains they don't have much since their demolition expert was killed. The gang exits Seventh Heaven to find the Sector in a total scramble. Everyone heard Palmer's warning, and the message was loud and clear. Coming straight from a Shinra executive, albeit former, makes it credible. People are hauling suitcases and throwing belongings into vans and trucks. Dust is kicking up thick.

The armory is deserted, its owner evidently making for the gate with everyone else. Cloud grabs the largest broadsword he can find and swaps out his materia. He tosses a mythril staff to Aerith, and grabs a bunch of grenades for the hell of it.

Outside in the chaos, he hears a noise. Helicopters approach the gargantuan support pillars holding this section of the plate aloft. There's no Shinra logo on the black aircraft, but Cloud isn't fooled.

Tifa and Barret lead the way to the nearest gate out of Midgar. Marlene bounces along atop Barret's shoulders, taking in the turmoil with big brown eyes. She's clutching a stuffed toy moogle in her fist. The crowds fan out down all avenues in all directions.

Then they hit a barrier of terrified citizens, and Cloud soon sees why.

Up ahead, the colossal iron walls demarcating the city exit are sealed tight, and guarding this side are two hulking machines. The Shinra logos have been scrubbed clean, but Cloud recognizes the multiple armored legs, the heavy guns mounted on either side of the armature, and the long jointed tube protruding from the chassis, terminating in a vicious metal point.

"The fuck are those!?" Barret asks. He turns to Cloud for the answer.

"Scorpion sentinels." Cloud doesn't know the official name, but the design is clearly meant to mimic the arachnid. Even the legs twitch in synchronized pairs.

The two sentinels sweep over the crowds with their green sensors. People shout and jeer but nobody dares step into their boundaries. Scattered corpses lay in the dust, bleeding from gaping bullet holes. Tifa secures her fighting gloves. Barret puts Marlene down and tells her to stay put.

"We gotta take down these suckers, but you just stay away and I'll be back for you." He gives her a kiss on the forehead, then straightens and clicks the ammo feed for his gun-arm into place.

"Two of them…" Tifa says with apprehension. "What's the plan, Cloud?"

He's only fought one of these before, and it nearly killed him.

"They have electrical fields," he remembers, "and guided missiles. Those cannons are no joke. And that tail can produce a focused laser that will burn anything to a crisp."

"Sounds like a fair fight," Barret boasts.

"We'll focus on one at a time. Try to keep their attacks spread out. If any one of us gets hit by both tail lasers simultaneously..."

It's clear the outcome is death. Tifa and Aerith nod. Nanaki stomps his paws in anticipation.

"I'm ready," Barret says.

"No," Cloud answers, "you're really not."

Barret rushes in, full of spitfire. Immediately, both sentinels turn their attention to the new threat. Cloud groans and dashes in after him.

"You coulda waited until we all go in together!" Cloud shouts.

Barret is already firing and can't hear Cloud over the roar of gunshots. But the bullets barely dent the thick metal surface. One sentinel chugs rounds in Barret's direction. Cloud slashes at the other's legs to get its attention. The sensors lock onto Cloud, and the system goes into defensive overdrive. Its front legs smash into the earth, electricity jolting out. Cloud thinks he's far enough away but the current arcs to him, throwing him back. He hits the dust, wincing.

From the corner of his eye, he sees Tifa beneath the other mechanical beast, pummeling the casing of its underbelly. Nanaki draws ranged fire while Aerith jams her staff into the joints of one of the legs.

Barret is next to Cloud, casting Lightning in a wave of green light. The bolt cracks and stuns the sentinel for a millisecond. Cloud runs in for another attack, slicing across and down. His blade scars the chassis, but does not penetrate. The sensors swarm onto Cloud. A red light blinks in sequence at him. There's a tiny whir as hatches open. Missiles blast out, honing in on their target.

Cloud zigzags to avoid the barrage, missiles exploding hot on his heels. The heat singes the back of his arms. The missiles keep coming. This thing has Cloud locked in its sights. Barret charges another wave of Lightning at it. The electricity interrupts its sensors for just long enough for Cloud to bolt forward and strike at one of its exhaust ports.

The monstrosity swivels and bangs its arms into Cloud, crushing him in a vice grip. The sudden pressure squeezes his breath out, and despite his struggling, the claws only tighten. The edges of his vision grow dark. He cannot suck any air into his lungs.

Then he hears the rapid patter of fists against metal. Tifa is beneath him, pummelling one leg and spinning kicks into its joints. It's enough to avert the machine's attention and it drops him hard. He hits the dust, coughing. Aerith is beside him.

"You okay?"

She deftly smacks away an oncoming missile, exploding it into the ground out of harm's way. Cloud nods and gets right back up. He sees Barret and Nanaki working on the other scorpion, slamming it with bullets and tearing at its delicate joints. Wires are exposed where Nanaki has been ripping away.

On this sentinel, Tifa's attacks are finally denting the panels protecting the motors. One of its legs begins to seize up. Cloud joins her, slicing at the panels. Fighting alongside her feels seamless, effective. Until a sudden spark of electricity flings them both away. The sentinel suddenly leaps up and stomps on top of Tifa, impaling her with the spike of its legs.

Panic interrupts Cloud's flow.

Nanaki is here, jaws clamped on the weak leg's joint, and Aerith and Barret are keeping the second sentinel occupied, but Tifa isn't getting up. The scorpion sweeps its sensors onto Cloud, unable to locate Nanaki's squat body beneath it. Cloud lets it target him, pausing to draw out the healing energies from his materia. He sends an arc of refreshing light onto Tifa. It's barely enough to pulse her awake, but she'll be okay. He exhales with relief as she stands and flexes her fists, giving Cloud a quick nod of thanks.

The crowds watch in a mix of disbelief and cheer. Cloud is dimly aware of them at his periphery. His focus is on the myriad of blasts and missiles, on the locations of his companions, of the state of the thing he's trying to destroy. He's watching for that tail to raise.

Suddenly, Tifa's attacks aren't making contact. She stops, confused. A forcefield shimmers around the sentinel's body. Tifa retreats to Cloud's side, out of breath. He watches it, cautiously adjusting into a defensive stance.

"A barrier?" he remarks. "Never seen this type of defense system before…"

"So what do we do?"

"Go to the other one. I'll keep this one busy."

She darts off, leading into the other sentinel with a powerful kick. The barriered sentinel shoots another round of missiles at Cloud, who runs around it in a wide berth. He throws a few grenades, but the damage is minimal. It's clear the barrier must be destroyed.

"Need my help, spike?" Barret is next to him, spraying bullets. They don't make contact. Barret grunts and casts Lightning. It's ineffective. "Shit, what the hell we do now?"

Cloud dodges another blast of gunfire. He sees Tifa in the clutches of the other sentinel, being squeezed to death, but Aerith and Nanaki are right there to help her, knocking at the base of the metal contraption with desperate force.

"Ain't you the expert?" Barret yells at him.

There must be a generator. Then he spots it. A panel is exposed beneath the dented metal plating, and a small battery appears to be pulsing in time with the barrier.

"There!" Cloud shouts. "Attack that rear panel!"

The sentinel swivels, and Cloud ducks to keep his head attached. Barret concentrates fire onto the generator. Cloud stabs at it, peeling it open with the tip of the blade. The forcefield wavers and vanishes. Barret lets out a cheer, firing bullets into its sensors and finally cracking one.

Suddenly, the sentinel leaps high. It's legs contort to a ninety-degree position and it attaches to the wall of the gate like a spider. Barret and Cloud stand together, staring up.

"All yours," Cloud says.

Barret scoffs. "Ain't you got materia, too?"

"Oh right." Cloud coalesces a cone of ice around the scorpion's chassis. A bracket shudders and freezes.

Then the tail mechanism raises.

Cloud glances at the other sentinel on the ground. It, too, has a protective barrier up. Aerith has already found the generator, though, and is bashing at the weak point while Tifa and Nanaki juggle missiles and cannon fire.

"The tail!" Barret says. "We gotta take cover!"

Cloud looks around. There's nothing but innocent people and—

"The other scorpion! Get behind it!" Cloud yells.

The metal tail charges with white searing energy, accumulating an orb of killing power at its tip. Cloud and Barret stand behind the second sentinel with Tifa, Nanaki, and Aerith. The barrier has been destroyed on this one, but everyone can clearly see the tail charging on the other.

"Don't give it a clear line of sight," Cloud instructs, though it's hard to stay together with the second sentinel throwing salvos and discharging waves of electricity from its damaged appendages.

The tail laser is ready, holding from its overhead position. The sentinel can't get a lock on any target.

"It won't fire on its own," Tifa notes.

"Too bad," Aerith says between gasps.

Cloud gets an idea. It's a stupid idea, but it might work. He runs into the open, sword poised.

The tail pivots onto him. The end brightens. And a massive beam of energy shoots onto Cloud. There's a split second where he regrets it, where he holds the sword in a perfunctory block that he knows will do nothing, but he's successfully positioned himself between the two scorpions.

The beam hits him, tears through him. He falls, purposefully. The metal of his sword grows impossibly hot with the blast. He drops it, searing his palms, and the laser rips right into the other sentinel. The beam cuts through half its legs and amputates one side of its head clean off. One arm cannon falls to the dust. The legs crumble. It lurches, crippled, on the three remaining legs near the front.

Then its tail raises.

"Oh fuck," Cloud hears Barret say.

He can't get up. He can't see anything except the plate above, the scorpion still perched on the wall. Target destroyed, it leaps onto the ground, landing with legs on either side of Cloud like a predator coming to consume its kill. His sword is somewhere but he can't reach it. A cannon aims at his face. He tastes blood in his throat. And Mako. Always that awful taste of Mako.

Suddenly, Tifa is over him. She pulls him up, dragging him out of harm's way just as the cannon fires. Her grip hurts his burnt skin. The pain is incredible. Barret is yelling something. His ears are ringing.

Adrenaline allows him to stand. He leans on Tifa then spots his sword, fallen a few paces away. Dizziness engulfs him, but his senses are returning. He leaves Tifa's protection and picks up his sword. The other sentinel's tail is almost done charging, but it is tremendously damaged and sputters black smoke.

"Keep attacking while its tail is raised…" Cloud says as loud as he can.

Barret hears him and shoots nonstop into its legs, destroying two. Wires hang, and Nanaki tears at them.

Tifa and Aerith are with Cloud. He tries to cast a Restore, but he can't concentrate enough. His body feels depleted. The materia is useless.

The sentinel's tail shoots a laser across the landscape, aiming right at the trio. All three are thrown by the force of the blast as the laser scalds into the earth at their feet, missing them thankfully due to the sentinel's malfunctioning targeting system. Cloud rolls to a stop on top of Tifa. Disoriented, he looks down at her. He wants to ask if she's okay but there's too much blood in his mouth. It drips down his chin. She twists him off, then helps him to his feet. Somehow he's held onto the sword.

"C'mon, let's finish this," she encourages him.

Her smile gives him strength. He holds up the sword, muscles protesting wildly, and attacks at the first sentinel. Barret throws another bolt of Lightning onto the second, stunning it, and Nanaki breaks off another leg. The sentinels inch together, harmonizing their movements. Cloud does not let up, and Tifa is right there battering the exposed engines. He cuts off components and tubing. Oil leaks out.

The sentinel freezes up. A new sound initiates. The chassis shudders, expelling Cloud and Tifa with a fresh jolt of electricity. The cannons go inert, but missiles continue to fly from its hatches.

"What's it doing!?" Tifa breathes out in exasperation.

The engines no longer whine. The wires no longer sizzle. The smell of oil ceases.

"Self-repair," Cloud assesses. "That's right, a lot of these weapons have an auto-repair…"

Tifa looks like she's about to rush in again, do more damage before it can fully repair.

Then both tails raise, heating up.

The group backs away together. The metal tips charge their lasers simultaneously. The scorpions are poised for overkill. Salvos continue. The remaining cannons fire. The team dodges and circles, but nobody can get close.

Cloud's resolve plummets.

"I-I can take another hit," he tells the others. And maybe he can. But two seems impossible.

"Get beneath them?" Aerith suggests.

But the sparks of electricity aren't quitting at their bases. Wave after wave protect the underside.

Barret is a hailstorm of bullets, puncturing the one on auto-repair. Cloud casts another Ice, shedding the last of his focus to freeze off another joint on a damaged leg.

It isn't enough. The beams are charged. There is nowhere to hide. The crowds sense the danger and scatter far back. Cloud stands in front, sword up like a shield. It won't matter, but maybe he can give his companions enough time to attack after the beams discharge. He sees one sensor lock onto him. He looks at Tifa.

The two scorpions merge the lethal shot into one mega burst. The beam is wide enough to engulf them all in immense heat. Cloud shuts his eyes.

Except the killing fire doesn't reach him. He opens one eye, sword held so tight his hands hurt.

There's wind all around him. Around all of them. It's gentle and refreshing, soothing. It swirls and wraps upwards. The lasers have actually reached them, but somehow the wind is surging energy through Cloud. The lasers scorch his skin yet it heals instantly. The pain strikes every molecule, but it doesn't bring him to his knees.

Aerith stands in the center of this whirlwind, staff raised, eyes closed. Her hands are clasped together around the staff as if in prayer. She's crafted this astonishing energy somehow. Tifa and Barret also look around in disbelief. Nanaki stares up at Aerith. She is healing all of them simultaneously, negating the damage from the lasers.

The lasers cease, and the wind drops. Aerith falls, exhausted, and the two scorpions lower their tails. There's no time to wonder how it is possible they are all alive. Cloud and Tifa charge in, finishing off the sentinel in repair mode with renewed energy and frightful desperation. Barret shoots Lightning into the other, finally sending it into auto-repair, as well. The healing wind did more than protect them. It gave them a second chance. The machines fall apart beneath their assault. Smoke billows. Gears squeak. Metal siding falls off. Wires twist. The legs collapse, and at last the sensors go dim on both.

The whirring engines halt. The tails crash to the ground.

Both monstrous contractions collapse in a huge spray of oil and dust. Then the creaking metal stops.

Cloud wipes sweat away and sheathes the broadsword onto his back, instantly looking around for Tifa and Aerith. They are unharmed, relatively. Barret and Nanaki stand on guard, trained on the inactive scorpions as if they may come alive at any second.

"Is it… over…?" Aerith asks, brushing strands of hair from her face.

The only sound is the helicopters overhead.

"C'mon, we gotta blow those doors," Cloud says.

Tifa grabs the backpack of explosives stashed on the sidelines and hands it to Cloud. He approaches the gate. The controls are dark, and the systems are unresponsive to any Shinra codes he knows, so Tifa and Barret help him attach and arm the explosives to the seams and hinges.

Then, Cloud notices, the helicopters are gone. It's suddenly very quiet. He peers up at the support beams, dread in his stomach.

A terrifying boom suddenly explodes beneath the plate. A huge fireball rips through the air, releasing smoke and flame in a deafening roar. The crowd gasps and screams. The pillar begins crumbling. Giant slabs of concrete crack and the plate itself groans.

"Oh gods, we're too late…" Tifa whispers.

"No," Cloud says, feverishly working the last of the explosives. "No, just keep going."

It will take at least thirty seconds for the blast to reach them. He has to keep going. He finishes planting the bomb in his hands, and everyone backs away. Parts of the plate above are falling, crushing the inner areas of Sector Seven. Falling chunks roll towards them.

Barret slams his fist on the detonator once they are clear, and the entire gate lights up with miniature explosions. The gate shudders. Panic is taking over the crowd as the plate above continues to fall in nightmarish progression. But the controls at the exit gate are not destroyed. The seal is not broken.

Through the clearing dust, everyone sees the lower hinge has at least blown open. The scorched metal is melted and blasted, and a wide archway leads to the open plains beyond the city. The crowd converts into pure chaos, pushing and colliding in desperation to reach the exit. Cloud pulls Tifa through first. Then Aerith and Nanaki. Barret is searching, looking.

"Marlene!" he shouts over the roar of the plate collapsing. "Marlene, where are you!?"

Cloud sees the little girl pressed in the stampede. She is crying, twisting the moogle doll to her chest. She sees Barret, but the crowd is overtaking her. Cloud runs to her against the fear and frenzy. He knows he's faster than Barret, and he pushes through the hectic mess. Countless individuals steam past him, screaming and crying.

A wall of chalky ash blots out the horizon, rolling towards them at remarkable speed. The noise of it is impossibly loud. Cloud can't even hear the people right next to him anymore. He locks onto Marlene, not letting her out of his sight, and scoops her up. She's paralyzed stiff in Cloud's arms as he races towards the exit.

There's a bottleneck. People press and push. Shouts come from underfoot from those being trampled. Cloud can't help everyone. He sees Barret ahead, who notices Marlene and tries to clear a path so Cloud can reach the exit faster. It's useless. The steel beams overhead squeal as metal crushes metal, imploding.

A sudden despair closes around Cloud. He won't make it. None of these people will. The exit isn't wide enough to get everyone out in time.

The touch of cold phantom fingers curls up his neck. It reaches into the back of his hair, pressing on the top of his spine. He can't brush it away while holding Marlene, so it continues searching, coiling, digging into his skull. It brings a spark of power into his body. He surges ahead, consumed with survival instinct. He's faster than the others, and stronger. Marlene hides her face in Cloud's chest.

A choking smell is in the air like burning chemicals and metal.

Somehow, he's made it to the gate. Barret grabs Marlene and shoves through. Cloud pulls himself out and spills onto the open highway. All he sees is people running ahead.

Then the final part of the plate collapses like thunder clapping down on his head. A shockwave throws him into a wash of noise and darkness. The sun is removed. A sea of ash coats his skin, covers his mouth. He feels bodies near him, but he cannot see or hear. Everything is pandemonium. He hits something hard and rolls beneath it.

It goes on forever, this cacophony. He tries to breathe, but his lungs only find dust. He coughs.

Then it's over. The crashing ceases. His ears ring. His head hurts. Blood dribbles down his temple. He's beneath a car, pressed into the concrete highway. He crawls out, and the damage he sees is staggering.

All of Sector Seven is gone. The plates circulating Midgar are incomplete, a tooth missing. The skyline looms in a surreal haze. It's mid-morning but the sky is dim like twilight. Black smoke plumes from smoldering wreckage. The air is filled with ash like snowflakes.

"T-Tifa? Aerith?" Cloud calls.

He can hear others moving, stumbling in this new hellscape. People cough and yell out, but his hearing is muted. The pounding in his head isn't going away. His sword is still sheathed on his back, and the Restore materia thankfully provides one last round of relief. The smell of burnt chemicals and ash covers everything.

"Barret? Marlene?"

"Here!" Barret answers. He's near an overturned van with Marlene. There are corpses all along the highway, crushed by debris or sheer force.

Marlene remains in Barret's arms as they search for Aerith, Tifa, and Nanaki. Nanaki is crouched at the side of the road, unharmed, and Tifa and Aerith are nearby, walking like ghosts in the aftermath. They are part of a lucky hundred or so that escaped.

Tifa is crying without sound, just tears streaming down her dirt-lined cheeks. Cloud can't comprehend this level of destruction. An entire city sector. Thousands of lives. All because of them.

"The Sector is…" Tifa cannot finish the thought. Her voice breaks with emotion.

Everyone stands in silence, looking at Midgar. A child wails in the distance.

"Ain't no low Shinra won't stoop to," Barret spits. Then he turns to Cloud. "Thank you for gettin' my baby girl."

Cloud waves away the thanks. He looks at Aerith.

"How did you do that?" he asks her. "How did you save us from those tail beams?"

She fidgets. "I-I don't really know. I've always been able to call upon the Planet for help in desperate situations." She speaks of the planet as if it were a living sentient thing.

The others don't reply, staring dumbstruck at the magnitude of destruction before them.

"Was it the materia?" Cloud asks.

Aerith shakes her head, but says nothing more. There is a long silence as the party considers the broken city, the tyrannical motives behind such devastation. Tifa is shaking, arms tight around her chest. Nanaki howls mournfully.

"We can't stay here," Cloud says. "I know it feels like we have to help the survivors, but we need to get away from Midgar right now. The Sector is destroyed, and the only hope we have is that Shinra believes we are all dead. Let's keep it that way."

Nobody responds. Emotions are simply too drained. Adrenaline has fled into sorrow.

"What's the nearest town?" Cloud continues. "Refugees will be heading there. Maybe we can blend in and figure out what to do next."

Barret speaks, his voice hollow. "Kalm. A mining town to the east."

Then that's where they'll go. The logic meets no argument.

They search the highway for a working vehicle and find an old pick-up truck. Other survivors have done the same, and vehicles putter along, leaving the city limits. Cloud sits on the flatbed with Nanaki and Barret while Tifa drives. Aerith and Marlene sit in the front.

They say nothing to each other as the city diminishes on the horizon. The ruins are even more prominent from afar. The gaping chasm of smoke and ash is a deep dark wound. There's nothing that could be said. No words to fill the void of what they'd survived and escaped together.