On the sixth day, Charlie gives up hope.
She comes to terms with the fact that her "friends" aren't coming for her rather quickly, opening the liquor cabinet at nine o'clock in the morning (the passcode is her birthday, just like the liquor cabinet at the villa) and hoping to drink herself to death.
Why would they? They would only be wasting their lives trying to save her, and it's not like she's necessary to their team to defeat Sephiroth. She's still just another Shinra to them, and indispensable. She isn't worth the trouble, and though she thought a Turk may have come for her by now, if only to talk, Charlie begins to suspect she can't rely on them either.
The difficult part is making her peace.
There are so many people that she's wronged, that she still needs to apologize to. She wants to tell Reeve everything she's been hiding from him, and she wants to apologize to Cid for destroying his dream, and she wants to apologize to Barret and Tifa for the plate drop, and for the bombings, and for everything Shinra has ever done to them.
She wants to apologize to Vincent and Nanaki for the actions of Professor Hojo.
She wants to apologize to Yuffie for the destruction of her homeland during the war.
She wants to apologize to Cloud, for keeping her suspicions close, for not being open and honest with him. She should have told him the moment Reeve came back empty-handed from searching through the SOLDIER files. She should have told him the moment he couldn't recall where he had gotten his sword from.
When Rufus comes into the cell for dinner, he is a different person. For the last few nights, he's been soft and kind, fussing over the scar on her neck, overly-courteous and gentle with her. He is so easy to give in to, especially when Charlie knows that she's going to die in a few days.
That night, half-drunk and wondering if this is the last night she'll ever have, Charlie allows him certain liberties that she's been denying him the past few days, trying to find the same comfort in his actions that she did when she was younger. He strips her down to her underwear, placing tender kissing from her clavicle to her breasts, over her underwear and on the insides of her thighs.
My only remaining friend, she thinks, running her fingers through Rufus's hair as he looks up, resting his chin on her stomach. He did the best he could with me. He loved me.
Rufus moves up the bed, holding himself above her. Charlie touches his straining triceps, hard beneath her fingertips. It's been a long time since she's seen her brother shirtless, but it's a pleasant sight. His skin is pale as snow, his shoulders freckled, narrow hips and a taut stomach.
"You're so beautiful, Charlotte," he breathes, kissing the tip of her nose and shattering her heart. "I love you."
Is this how he says good-bye? Am I going to die tomorrow?
"I love you, too," she whispers, too mentally and emotionally exhausted to feel any shame. It won't matter come tomorrow. Beginning tomorrow, she won't ever feel any shame ever again.
Rufus sits back on his heels, taking her right hand with his left and lacing their fingers together. He kisses her knuckles, sending a chill down her spine as she's reminded of the Temple of the Ancients, of Tseng's lips against her skin, one last good-bye before sending her on her way.
"Say it again," he pleads, slipping two fingers down her underwear.
"I love you," she says again, "I love—oh . . ."
It's been a long time since she's felt this way with Rufus. It's been a long time since she's felt such love in each of his touches, pulling noises and words from her that are mostly incoherent and breathy.
And afterwards, she can't help but cry, wrapping her arms around her brother's neck and sobbing into his skin. "Please, Rufus," she begs, clinging to him, "I'm your sister. I love you. You know that I do. Don't you love me?"
But she knows that Rufus will not relent. If he does not kill her now, following through on his promise, then he will lose the respect of the other executives (except for Reeve, who surely won't advocate for her death, despite everything).
He holds her, though, and Charlie cries throughout the night, wondering what she could have done to prevent all of this, a crushing amount of guilt weighing heavily on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
Maybe tomorrow, Rufus will give her something to write with, just to write some letters to leave behind . . . just to let her friends know that she never betrayed them, that she wishes them the best of luck, that she doesn't regret the time spent with them . . . that she would never blame them for what happened to her . . .
The seventh day, Weapon attacks.
Tifa wakes the seventh day, and it makes Rufus physically ill because he knows what he must do.
When Heidegger asks eagerly after the details surrounding Charlie's execution, Rufus decides to try and prolong it for as long as possible. He doesn't quite know what he expects to happen, but he isn't ready to bear witness to his sister's death.
Tifa and Barret will be executed first, and that task is delegated to Scarlet, who has flown in for the very special event. Rufus can't help but notice that Reeve has decided to remain in Midgar, but he doesn't mind. The brute may do something stupid to stop the execution, and that's the very last thing he wants.
The Avalanche members are to be gassed, which will be painful, surely. A slow and suffocating death . . . is that what he wants to subject Charlie to? He had mulled over all the available options: a hanging (too exploitative), a firing squad (too impersonal), electric chair (too painful), injection (too experimental).
He could just let her live, at the cost of his empire.
What have I done?
And all the while, he hears her voice.
Just like Father . . . just like Father . . . just like Father . . .
Reeve takes the entire day off, hiding away in his apartment to focus on one thing and one thing only—saving Charlie and her (no, their) friends. After Rude had called to let him know Tifa was awake, everyone had departed Under Junon within ten minutes of that news.
Everyone has infiltrated Junon's Command Center, and with everyone in position, Cait Sith is able to sneak into the broadcasting room with the rest of the press, dressed in some ridiculous outfit to hide the fact that he's not even a human. As long as the cat keeps his head down, he should be fine. Yuffie had told him the disguise would work, but Reeve doesn't think he should have believed her.
Several rows of chairs have been set up in the broadcasting room, filled with cameramen and news reporters waiting for Barret and Tifa to walk in. Cait Sith sits down in the front row, and Reeve is forced to wait and wait and wait and wait . . . time ticking away slowly until the door is finally opened, and the cameras are readied.
Scarlet leads Tifa and Barret through the door, their hands tied behind their backs. While Barret looks healthy as ever (and rather defiant), Tifa doesn't look well, her skin waxy and pale, red eyes sunken. She doesn't even seem to have any fight in her, having just woken up after a week, taken at her most vulnerable.
The three of them stop at the front of the room, and Scarlet allows herself to be surrounded by microphones before smiling directly into the cameras, looking very pleased with herself.
"Now that everyone's here, we can begin." Scarlet clears her throat, tucking some of her hair behind her ear and gesturing towards Barret and Tifa. "These are the ones who brought this madness into the world! The ones that brainwashed the vice president, that tore Midgar apart with careless acts of violence!"
"We didn't brainwash the vice president!" Barret protests, shouting so all the world will be able to hear him. "Your vice president was the only Shinra out there fightin' for the people!"
Scarlet scowls at him. "Let's begin with the girl, shall we?"
Reeve tries to think quickly. There are far more people here than he thought there would be, but no one seems to notice anything is off. If need be, he could corner Scarlet once she leaves the room, hopefully find a key on her person to the gas chamber she's walking Tifa into, ignoring Barret's loud protests.
When Scarlet walks back out of the gas chamber, he gets his chance, but it's a rather unlucky one.
Everyone jumps collectively as a shrill alarm rents the air, piercing Reeve's ears through the monitor and his head. He holds his face in his hands a moment, listening to the announcement that comes through both the speakers and his brain, painfully.
"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching! All military personnel: take your positions!"
The alarm continues to cut through all other noise, but is drowned out rather quickly when everyone begins to scream, shouting at each other and dropping their gear to save their lives first. Even the guards that are at Barret's back slowly back away, escaping before Scarlet has time to scold or catch them.
"Weapon's coming!"
"Hurry!"
"Run!"
Scarlet calls after them all as they empty the room, fleeing an inevitable attack. Reeve finds himself panicking, the feeling of impending doom weighing on his shoulders. It's a perfect distraction, but a dangerous one, and one they hadn't planned for at all.
"Okay, Cait," Reeve breathes, dragging a hand down his face, "we have one shot at this."
I got it, I got it!
He can hardly watch, his heart leaping in his throat as Cait Sith approaches Scarlet, speaking of his own accord, as Reeve doesn't think he has the ability to even find his voice as of right now. All he can think of is Charlie, and if Tseng and Veld and Vincent have done their part, if they've saved her already.
"How does it feel now, Scarlet?"
Scarlet grits her teeth, clearly frustrated. Reeve has known her long enough to be able to see it written all over her face. "Here until the end, are you? I admit, I'm impressed." She puts her hands on her hips and sighs. "Right now, it feels . . . it feels . . ." She blinks a few times, and Reeve knows that the cat's done it, privately celebrating this small victory. "It . . . feels . . ."
Before she can finish her thought, she collapses to the ground, groaning.
"Sleeping gas?" Barret scoffs, looking wide-eyed at Cait Sith.
Without answering, Cait Sith rids himself of the ridiculous disguise, slightly amused at the look of complete bewilderment on Barret's face. "Turn around and I'll get those cuffs off. Don't worry, I'm here to help you!"
"What're you talkin' 'bout?" Barret asks, turning and letting the cat free him. He rolls his shoulders a few times, breathing very heavily. "Ain't you part of Shinra?"
"You didn't actually think we'd leave you here, did you? Now, let's get Tifa and get outta here!"
"Hold on a minute!" Barret says quickly, holding out a hand as Cait Sith moves towards the gas chamber. "What about Charlie? We're bustin' her out, too, ain't we?"
"Don't worry about Charlie. She's being taken care of. Now come on! We gotta help Tifa!"
The sea rages.
"Your orders, sir?"
Heidegger sounds panicked, which is unlike him. There had been a few close calls over the past week, Weapon sailing closer to Junon than he'd like, but always retreating at the last moment, as if scoping them out, preparing for an attack.
"The cannon," Rufus answers, looking out the wide windows of the control room. He can't abandon his post to relocate Charlie somewhere safe, so he can only hope the cell holds. It should be safe enough for her to wait out the storm. "Use the cannon."
Heidegger nods curtly, turning towards the men and women seated at the controls. "Open the cannon doors and activate the cannon!"
"Lock down the city, and bring out the small artillery," Rufus says again, and his order is followed by an anonymous, "Yes, sir!"
It takes a few minutes, as the cannon is slow to move. What it lacks in speed, Rufus knows it makes up for that lack of speed with power, but he still isn't certain it's enough to destroy Weapon.
"Preparations are complete, sir!"
Heidegger doesn't hesitate. "Fire!"
The cannon discharges, sending a resounding boom! throughout Junon. It rattles the windows and shakes the command center, making the floor tremble beneath his feet. The shot speeds across the surface of the sea until it's out of sight, and all is calm again, the alarm shutting off as all seems well.
Rufus holds his breath, waiting. "Did we hit it?"
Heidegger doesn't get a chance to answer. The alarms begin to ring again, screaming of Weapon's approach.
"It's heading right towards Junon!" one man shouts, standing at his desk. "Speed, fifty knots!"
"But we hit it dead on!" Heidegger scoffs, stepping up to Rufus's side and looking out the window. Weapon is nowhere in sight, but there's a disturbance within the water, as if it's going to breach the surface any moment now.
"Use regular firepower until the cannon reloads!" Rufus can feel his throat constricting, his chest tightening. Here is where he makes his stand, with his sister in a cell and Heidegger relaying orders in his ear. "We can't let Weapon reach the city!"
We can't let Weapon reach my sister.
"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching!"
"Damn," Tseng breathes, as alarms spring to life, flashing bright red down the steel hallway.
The uniform is restricting, and presses very uncomfortably against the swollen scar across his stomach.
It's the first time he's left the hospital room since being brought there from the Temple of the Ancients. He thought he might feel happier about it, but given the anxiety that comes with the possibility of not being able to save Charlotte from her cruel and untimely fate, as well as the anxiety of working alongside his old superior, Tseng can't say he's thrilled with his first mission back from the dead.
This is the last thing he needs.
The president must have had the cannon fired, because the entire building seems to shake for a moment, throwing him and Veld off balance as they make their way down the empty hallway towards Charlotte's cell and the control room where he'll be able to disarm the lock.
Within a few short minutes after the rattling of the cannon, the building is filled with the sound of the smaller artillery units firing constantly from just outside. It's nervewracking, not being able to see what's going on outside, only able to take cues from the alarms that continue to warn them of Weapon's quickening approach.
Whatever guards that must have been standing outside of Charlotte's cell have gone, likely assisting their fellows against Weapon. Tseng is thankful for that much, at least.
"I'll wait here," Veld tells him, helmet pulled low over his face. He takes up position outside the door, and Tseng continues down the hallway.
He would run, if it didn't hurt so badly. He regrets that he isn't able to run, in fact, because before he can make it to the control room, something seems to slam against the command center, throwing Tseng to the floor with a cry of pain as he lands on his stomach.
The building shakes violently, and he hears a faint crashing that comes from within the control room. Pushing himself to his feet and breathing very raggedly, Tseng continues, looking down to find blood seeping through his uniform, warm liquid dripping down his front and sticking to his skin.
He throws the door open to be met with a horrible sight. A few steel beams from the ceiling must have fallen during the impact, impeding his way to the control panel, which has taken a terrible hit. The monitors that should show the inside of Charlotte's cell are all blank, and Tseng swears loudly, his head swimming with pain.
"No," he rasps, trying to push the steel beams away, "no, no, no, no . . ." It's no use. They aren't going to budge, not even with Veld's help.
In fear of not making it in time, he forces himself to sprint back to Veld, at a loss. The only way to enter the cell now would be with a keycard, which would only be on the president's person, given that the president trusts no one with his own sister.
But Veld isn't alone. His helmet is off, and there's another man standing with him, with long and dark hair, dressed in a uniform that matches their own. "Is the door open?" Veld asks quickly at the sight of Tseng returning so quickly.
"No, the control panel was damaged," he answers through gritted teeth. "We need the keycard."
"Sure. You wanna just walk right up to the president and ask him?" Veld tries to force the door open, pushing and pulling and kicking. "Damn! We have to get her out of there!"
"Stand back," says the other man, positioning himself in front of the door. "I can get it open."
Something causes the entire cell to shake beneath her feet. She throws her shoulder against the door, hoping it will open. Even Dark Nation puts his front paws up on the door, taller than her on his hind legs, barking loudly alongside her cries for help.
The flashing alarm has cast most of her cell into shadow, coloring everything red.
After a while, she stops. No one is coming for her. No one will even remember she's here while Weapon is approaching. Stopping Weapon is the priority. Saving her is not.
"Come on, D," she urges, patting her thigh as she moves away from the door. "We'll find another way out."
Dark Nation whimpers pathetically, probably coming to the same realization that Charlie just has. Leave it to Rufus to leave behind the only two things that may still love him.
She throws herself against every inch of wall, hoping that one of them will break away to reveal a secret bunker or a secret underground tunnel or a secret escape path. But she finds none of those things, and after going around the entire cell, her shoulder is aching terribly and she knows that she's trapped.
Rufus's pup is beginning to panic, running in circles, restless. When Charlie puts a hand atop his head to calm him, he growls at her, but doesn't bite. She doesn't fear receiving a bite from Dark Nation, but she wouldn't blame him for it if he did.
She looks around for anything she may have missed before. She looks for a phone, a computer, some way to communicate to someone that she's still in here and needs a rescue. If someone was watching the cameras, certainly something would have happened by now. Either no one is watching her anymore, or whoever it is doesn't care about her and her desire to save herself.
There's another jolt of force, and this one throws her to the ground. She lands hard on her hands and knees, and there's a boom! that sounds too close for comfort. A few glasses fall off the counter, shattering upon contact with the ground, and the half-empty bottle of wine she had drank last night rolls right off the table, landing with a clunk! on the carpet beneath the dining table.
Without any other ideas, Charlie and Dark Nation hide themselves in the bathroom, locking the door. She sits with her back against the wall, facing the closed door and holding the trembling pup as the building continues to shake.
At least she isn't alone. At least, when Weapon destroys Junon, she and Dark Nation will die together.
"Cid! It's Yuffie!"
Cid looks out the bridge windows of the Highwind, following Nanaki's line of sine. A short distance away from the airport, close to the cannon, something that looks like a flare shoots up into the sky. "Okay, let's get this airship started," he says, relaying a few commands to the engineers who have taken over his ship. "Vince and Lottie should'a been here by now."
"They've probably been slowed down with Weapon's attack," Nanaki reassures him. "I'm sure they'll be here soon."
The Highwind begins to power up, and Cid can't say he's not excited. The floor begins to tremble as the controls light up on all the panels, monitors flickering to life. Despite this tremendous accomplishment of stealing the Highwind, Cid feels his stomach twisting and turning, unable to think of anything other than Charlie.
"We're not leavin' without her," Cid tells Nanaki, catching sight of three people riding the elevator towards the airship, all of them very familiar, Yuffie still in her dumbass press disguise. "We gotta wait for her and Vince."
"We will."
Something is slamming against her door. Something hard, something not human. It can't be human, because no human could possibly be hitting it with such force. It even makes Dark Nation anxious, who nuzzles against her side in the bathroom and continues to bark threateningly, curling around her in a protective way.
Charlie closes her eyes when she hears the door break. She's eager for an escape, but not at the cost of running into a monster face-to-face. But there are footsteps coming closer, echoing against the hard floor of her cell, and there's more than one person, it seems, moving into the bedroom . . . moving towards the bathroom . . .
Her breath hitches as the doorknob to the bathroom turns, and Dark Nation growls.
The door opens to reveal an infantryman to her, the front of his uniform stained slightly with sticky blood. Still unsure as to how he might have made those noises, Charlie pushes it to the back of her mind. To her surprise, Dark Nation doesn't launch himself violently at the guard, but instead sniffs at the guard's exposed hand, giving it a lick and nuzzling into his palm.
It makes sense when he takes his helmet off, giving his dark hair a shake and letting it tumble down his back, damp with sweat and knotted at the ends. With the helmet tucked under his left arm, pressed against the side of his body, a very pale and sweaty-faced Tseng extends his right hand out for her.
For a moment, she just stares at him, her chest heaving and her brain completely short circuiting.
"Am I . . ." It's the only plausible explanation. His hand remains in front of her, waiting for her to take it. ". . . dead?"
Tseng shakes his head. Her eyes flick to the pool of blood spreading on the front of his uniform. "Don't worry," he says quickly. "Let's get out of here."
Charlie reaches out to take his hand, half-afraid that he'll disappear the moment she expects to feel his skin against her own. This is impossible. Tseng had died at the Temple of the Ancients. But when she puts her hand in his, his palm is clammy and his skin is warm and she squeezes tight just to make sure that he isn't about to disappear before her eyes.
Tseng pulls her to her feet. She knows that they need to hurry if she means to escape, but she can't help it. Charlie knows that this can't be real . . . he can't really be standing right there . . . he can't really be alive . . . he can't have survived . . .
Charlie reaches up with her hand, finding that she can't breath. She touches the ends of his hair, the scratchy skin of his cheek, the collar of his uniform, shaking her head. "Is it really you, Tseng?" she breathes. "Am I dreaming?"
"No, it's really me," he answers with a small smile. "Reeve saved my life. He had me brought to a hospital here, in Junon, and claimed I had been killed-in-action."
Her eyes burn with tears. "Reeve . . . saved you?"
Tseng nods, opening his mouth to speak, but Charlie doesn't give him the chance to. She wraps her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder, so overwhelmed with emotion that she doesn't quite know what to do with it. Once the cell begins to tremble again, they pull away from each other, glancing around as the alarm begins to flash once more.
"Come on. Let's go." He glances down at the mutated dog, sighing and adding, "And you, Dark Nation."
Leading her out of the bathroom by the hand, Charlie finds two others waiting by the cell door with her. One of them is Vincent, but not Vincent, rather his "other form". That explains the inhuman strength it must have taken to knock the door completely off the wall, which lays by the table, caved in slightly.
The other is a man in another uniform, his helmet pulled down over his face.
"You came for me," she says to Vincent, her heart swelling.
"Of course," he replies in a rasping voice.
She lets out a half-sob. How could she possibly think they would leave her behind?
"Well, well, well, isn't this cute."
Charlie freezes, clinging to Tseng's hand as she focuses her gaze on the third man, still a stranger to her. But he can't be a stranger because she knows that voice, knows that voice better than anyone's.
He takes his helmet off, revealing a mess of graying hair that was once a soft brown color, and there's a rough beard growing on his cheeks and chin, uneven and patchy. Something seems to have softened him in the last few years. He looks tired, more so than she remembers, and far less intense. The lines at the corners of his eyes are more pronounced, but when he smiles at her, those lines are hardly noticeable, even endearing.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you, little princess."
She feels faint. Perhaps she looks it, too, because Tseng slips an arm around her waist as her knees give out, catching her before she can crumple to the floor.
"We need to go," Vincent reminds them, nodding towards the opening in the wall. "There should be a car waiting to take us to the Highwind."
"My ship?" she breathes, unable to keep up.
"Cid wouldn't see it that way, but yes."
They encounter no trouble with guards on their way to the back exit. Pipes are beginning to burst with the force of Weapon's attack, and just when they think they're in the clear, something explodes from behind them, sending Charlie tumbling forward, her hand slipping from Tseng's.
As Vincent helps Veld to his feet again, Charlie rolls Tseng onto his back, looking down at his torso. The front of his uniform is soaked in blood again, and she panics, trying to not to think about the way he had looked at the Temple of the Ancients, suddenly paralyzed with fear.
Tseng closes his eyes and clenches his jaw as Dark Nation licks at the stain. She has to do something. She refuses to leave him behind again.
"Come on, I've got you," she says shakily, looping one of his arms around her neck and pulling him into a standing position, one arm around his middle and her free hand clutching his.
When Veld slings Tseng's other arm around his broad shoulders in order to help, Charlie feels like she could cry.
Vincent continues to clear a path for them, pushing aside fallen beams and burst pipes with ease. The three of them follow the red of his cloak as quickly as they can, Dark Nation's breath hot on the backs of her legs. When the back door is opened (forced open by Vincent's super-strength, as the keypad has been damaged in the attack), they're greeted with a brutal scene.
The car that meant to take Charlie to the airship is burning savagely, the flames reaching high into the sky. There's a driver hanging halfway out of the driver's seat, clearly dead. The ground has begun to crack and split with the tremors and the streets are filled with guards running back and forth, the apartment buildings closed up to protect them from another attack.
"Where's Rufus?" Charlie asks, knowing that none of the men she's with will have an answer for her, not bothering to ask again when she doesn't receive an answer at all. "How are we going to get to the airport now? Will we make it if we walk?"
"No. We're going to fly."
"What?"
Vincent spreads the wide wings on his back, and Charlie isn't as afraid of him this time. It's still Vincent, and it's the only available option that will get them there quickly.
"Go on, Charlotte," Veld urges her, giving her a reassuring nod. "We'll be fine here."
Tseng pulls his arm away from her shoulders, detaching himself from Veld and Charlie in order to lean against the outer wall of the command center, propping himself up. She's distracted by the feeling of strong arms wrapping around her, one of them metal, holding her close.
Charlie closes her eyes, allowing herself this little moment, savoring it, appreciating that it's not a dream. One of Veld's hands cradles the back of her head. "Thank you," she whispers.
"Hey." He holds her out at arm's length for a moment before placing a hand on either side of her face. "Tseng and Reeve told me everything." He smiles sweetly, a smile she hasn't seen in a long time. "We are so proud of you. And I know your mother would be damn proud of you, too."
She smiles back at him, accepting the warm kiss he presses to her forehead. It is happiness she has not felt for a long time, not since he disappeared without a word. As Charlie pulls away, she looks past him at Tseng, who has been watching the entire time, hunched over against the wall.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure he gets the help he needs. Us Turks have to look after each other."
She has to believe him, but that doesn't mean that she isn't frightened, especially after what happened at the Temple of the Ancients. It's hard to forget what happened there, especially when she dreams of it so often. Just in case, however, she steps up to Tseng as Vincent waits for her to finish saying her tearful good-byes, all while the city burns around them.
"I'll see you soon," he rasps, holding out his hand. Charlie takes it in her own, squeezing, wishing there was something she could do to help him, wishing she could take them both with her.
She's just so happy they're alive, that they're together, that she gets to see them again, even if it's the last time. She's already said her good-byes to Tseng once, and she isn't ready to do it again, and perhaps he understands that, and understands her reservations. What more can she say? He knows that she loves him, knows how she feels.
"Okay," she says.
Tseng releases her hand and Charlie takes a few careful steps backwards before turning completely, running to Vincent's side. Dark Nation follows, as if expecting to go with them. She kneels down in front of Rufus's dog, hoping that her brother will escape with his life, hoping that she doesn't have to hear the news that he was another casualty of Weapon's.
"Stay with them," she tells the dog, his hard face nuzzling against her own, his tongue dragging warm saliva across her cheek. In any other circumstances, she would protest and push him away, but this is not an ordinary farewell. "They'll take care of you until Rufus comes back for you."
"Ready?" Vincent asks.
"Just a second," she begs, half of a mind to stay behind with Veld and Tseng, with her family.
"Charlotte," Veld tells her, loading Tseng back up, draping his arm around his shoulders again, preparing to escape themselves. "Go. We'll be okay here, little princess. We'll see each other again."
Charlie pauses, looking at Tseng for some kind of confirmation. Is that what they want? They want her gone? They want her to leave? They want me to be safe. They want me to be away from Rufus.
"Go," Tseng croaks, and this time, Charlie will not disobey him.
Vincent lifts her like his new bride, and Charlie wraps her arms around his neck to keep herself steady, never looking away from Veld and Tseng, even as Vincent's wings carry them above the command center, oblivious to the world around her, oblivious to the monster seeking to destroy the city. No one even notices them, too busy trying to stop another attack from occurring.
And just like that, they're gone.
It's only when they're out of sight that Charlie feels safe enough to cry, exhausted from having to be strong when all she wanted to do was collapse into Veld's arms for the rest of eternity, to be loved again, truly loved.
"He calls you 'little princess'," Vincent remarks as they make for the hovering Highwind, still at the airport, but prepared to take flight any minute now.
Charlie laughs humorlessly, a short little exhale. "Yes," she answers, "he does."
There's another resounding boom! that shakes the Highwind.
Cid pushes himself up against the engineer working the flight controls, waiting for the go-ahead, and presses a button to ask Yuffie aboard the deck, "What the fuck was that?"
Yuffie's voice comes back to him, sounding very far away and weighed down by static. "The cannon hit Weapon! It's down!"
"What're we waitin' for?" Barret shouts, looking towards the command center. "We gotta go save Tifa! We've wasted too much time!"
"Lottie and Vince ain't back yet!" Cid protests, knowing damn well that they've been waiting too long. Something is terribly wrong, but he can't wait around for her forever. It's likely that they were caught up in an explosion, or maybe Charlie decided to stay behind with her brother.
"Hey guys!" Yuffie's voice calls to them again. "Think you might wanna come out here and see this!"
Barret whirls around to face Cid, taking off towards the deck. Cid follows him, instructing the pilot to take off in two minutes, no matter what. He feels guilty about it, but he knows that Charlie would be angry with him if Tifa died because he couldn't be bothered to get to her in time. Cid would prefer neither of them die, and hates that this decision has been forced on him, especially when his own wants and desires misalign with the rest of his friends'.
Surely they would save Tifa over Charlie.
The moment Cid and Barret join Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Nanaki on the deck, Yuffie points up to the evening sky, tinged red and gray by the fires that rage within the command center and the city streets.
Cid sees what she's pointing at. At first, so far away, it looks like the shadow of an oversized bat, flapping its wings towards the Highwind. As it gets nearer and nearer, he sees that the oversized bat seems to be holding something in his arms—no, not something, but someone, someone with light blonde hair and pale skin.
And the thing carrying her, it isn't an over-sized bat at all. It's very recognizably Vincent, but twisted and deformed and fucking monstrous, but the color of that red bandanna is unmistakable, and pieces of the Shinra uniform he had been wearing sticks to him like it's his very skin.
He touches down very lightly and gracefully upon the deck, ignoring everyone's wide-eyed looks as he sets Charlie down and changes back into himself with a few grunts, a flash of light, and the crunching of bones as they reset themselves, his wings forcing their way into his back again.
It's a gruesome sight, but Cid can't pay much attention to it now. All he cares about is Charlie, and the fact that she looks absolutely fine, and that her eyes are alight with something that reminds him of the days spent at base camp, tending to the Shinra No. 26.
They start towards each other, but Charlie's progress towards him is impeded by Yuffie, who flings herself at Charlie in a way that's completely unexpected. If Charlie is annoyed by this, she doesn't show it, instead smiling as Yuffie wraps her thin arms around the vice president of Shinra's neck, lifting her legs off the ground as Charlie hugs her back.
"You made it!" Yuffie shrieks.
"Yeah," Charlie breathes, a smile on her face. It looks as if she's been crying, but it's hard to tell because she looks so fucking happy. When Yuffie finally lets go, the moment is gone. "Thank you for coming for me."
"Well . . . it was all Cait Sith's idea, really," Cid tells her grudgingly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We just went along with it."
Charlie turns to face the cat, who approaches slowly, jumping down from his moogle. "Cait Sith?"
"It was nothin'," Cait Sith replies, kicking distractedly at the ground with one of his oversized shoes. "Couldn't leave you behind."
She sinks to her knees, putting her hands on the cat's shoulders, eyes brimming with tears. "Thank you," she breathes, smiling through her tears. "You have no idea what that means to me."
Cid grumbles to himself, feeling a little left out, but Vincent gives him an elbow to the stomach to shut him up.
"You're not mad?"
Cid doesn't think they're talking about the rescue mission anymore, but doesn't know how else they may have been communicating. As far as they were concerned, Charlie was pretty damn closed off from the world.
"No," she laughs, giving her head a shake, still crying beautiful fucking tears. "I'm happy. I'm . . ." Charlie bursts into laughter, laughter that sounds more like heavy sobs than anything, but she's still smiling, and there's nothing else to indicate that she feels anything but pure bliss. "I am so happy."
She wraps her arms around the toy cat, and the both of them hold each other for a moment. Cid can't help but feel a churning in his stomach, jealous of whatever stupid fucking son of a bitch is on the receiving end of her hug, wondering if he feels that winning Charlie's favor is a victory for a poor Shinra sucker like himself.
Cid clears his throat as the Highwind begins to take off, just like he had told the pilot. Good to know he's got a crew that can listen to and follow orders. Charlie and Cait Sith break away from each other, looking around as the airship rises off the ground.
"Sorry 'bout this, honey," Cid tells her, glancing over the railing and grinning wildly. Finally, it's mine again! "Hope you're not too pissed off at me for stealin' your airship."
She smiles brilliantly at him, knocking the wind out of him. "It does have your name on it, I suppose."
"Mr. President, sir!"
Rufus is halfway down to his sister's cell when he gets the news from a guard that sprints up to him. The hallways are in bad shape, and with the steam spilling from bent and broken pipes, it makes the air thick and sticky. "What is it?"
"It's the vice president, sir! She's gone!"
He blinks stupidly, unable to process this little bit of information. "What do you mean she's gone?"
"It looks like she's escaped, sir. Or rather . . . it looks like someone broke her out."
"Meaning?"
"Perhaps you should have a look for yourself, sir."
When Rufus is brought to the cell, it's to find a rather odd sight. The door has been pushed right inside, a large dent in the center as if someone had punched it over and over and over and over again, but surely no human could have done something like this.
Dark Nation is whining on the sofa, his head down. At the sight of Rufus, he leaps towards him, strangely affectionate, rubbing against Rufus's legs as if he were a cat. He barks once, and runs out of the cell, waiting for his owner to catch up.
"Did you check the security footage?" Rufus asks, completely bewildered, stepping backwards towards his dog, hoping to find some answers.
"The control room was damaged during the first attack, sir," the guard replies sheepishly, shrinking in front of the president. "The footage isn't available after that, but she was definitely in here before Weapon came."
Unable to think of a logical excuse, Rufus follows Dark Nation through the winding hallways of the command center, until they arrive at a back door that's been dealt with the same way the cell door had been.
There's nothing out here but the skeleton of a burned car (and the charred skeleton of a person who had been in the car). Dark Nation puts his nose to the ground, sniffing sniffing sniffing. There's something dark on the ground by the outer wall of the building, and Rufus kneels down to inspect it.
Someone had been bleeding here. There are several drops on the ground, but no trail to follow. Could it have been Charlie? Is that why Dark Nation is so interested in the blood in the first place?
A gust of sudden wind stirs the hair at the back of Rufus's neck. A shadow crosses over him, large enough to be Weapon itself all over again. A thrill of terror shoots down his spine, but he turns around to face his enemy, only to find that it's no Weapon at all.
The Highwind soars above him, flying away from Junon, hoping to put as much distance between themselves and the city as possible. Rufus swears loudly, watching as the Avalanche girl is pulled up onto the deck, clinging to a rope.
It's only when someone leans over the railing to pull her up that his heart starts to beat a little faster.
Charlie's onboard that airship, looking very much alive.
He closes his eyes, so relieved that he could faint.