XI
CHAPTER XI
BREAKOUT
'Never thought you'd end up in a place like this. Not even after everything you've been through.'
"You again? Tell me…who are you?"
'That's what I wanted to ask you.'
"Huh?"
'Should you really be fooling around here?'
"What do you mean?"
'You seem to believe that all your problems will disappear by thinking about them, but they won't go away by just sitting around. You can't change anything by taking a step back and simply looking at it.'
"What are you talking about?"
'It's started moving…'
"What has?"
'Wake up!'
Cloud sat up sharply in a cold sweat, panting heavily, feeling his heart pound within his heaving chest. He groaned as he let his body fall once again against the cool plastic wall of the cramped prison cell, his stiff joints rebelling against the uncomfortable position he had assumed. How long was I out? Stretching his arms and legs, the blood began to circulate in his limbs, slowly eradicating the throbbing numbness. Glancing up with tired eyes, he saw Tifa asleep on the thin moulding mattress opposite him. She lay with her arms wrapped around her bare stomach for warmth, her shivering body curled in the corner.
Using the slimy toilet bowl as support, Cloud pulled himself uneasily to his feet. The single filament bulb atop the sealed doorway buzzed as he started to pace the room, its red light flickering as it traced his circular path. Peering through the barred grating on the door as he passed, he watched the armed sentry tap the butt of his rifle repetitively against an adjacent cell.
The situation seemed surreal to him; as if it were no less of a dream than the strange voice in his head. His tense mind began to filter the events of the previous weeks, trying desperately to form any pattern or meaning. The bombings; AVALANCHE; his very presence in the city. Why am I here? How did I even get to this point? With the pulsing thoughts and questions flooding his brain, it was almost a minute before he realised he was no longer upright. His arms swinging by his side, squatting so that his knees now touched his abdomen, he found that he had subconsciously returned to his old SOLDIER technique for dealing with stress. What am I doing? Get a grip, Cloud…
Rising slowly from his squats, shaking his head in disgust at his lack of control, he trudged towards Tifa and her makeshift bed. With a sense of defeat, Cloud slumped onto the foot of the mattress, leaning his head against the wall. After a few moments, the low reverberating sound of someone speaking reached his ears and, as he strained to listen, he could clearly make out the deep voice of Barret drifting from the cell next to him.
"…jus' what the hell you doin'?"
"I'm cleaning myself," replied Red XIII genteelly.
"But, d'ya have to do it like that?" moaned Barret.
"How else do you suppose I do it?" asked Red XIII. "Are you offering to help?"
"Don't be gross, man!"
"There is no need to be so offended…I was only joking."
"I'm sorry," sighed Barret. "It's just…I'm a bit on edge. So much's happened tonight, y'know. I lost my friends 'cause of President Shinra...an' when I finally got my chance to let him know exactly how I felt, I let it slip. Even after everythin' he'd done, all that asshole could speak 'bout was usin' Aerith to make his company richer."
"How do you mean?"
"Aerith's an Ancient."
"She…that girl is a survivor of the Cetra?" exclaimed Red XIII. "What does the President plan to do with her?"
"He told us the Ancients know the way to the Promised Land, an' that…"
"The Promised Land? That is not possible."
"That's what I said. I've only ever heard stories 'bout the Promised Land, so I don't even know if it exists."
"Grandpa told me that the Cetran Promised Land is something that has been misinterpreted for centuries."
"Grandpa…?" chuckled Barret.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothin'…just didn't expect someone like you to be sayin' 'Grandpa'."
"Yes, my grandfather, Bugenhagen."
"You know Bugenhagen?" spluttered Barret.
"You know Bugenhagen?"
"I learned 'bout the Study o' Planetary Life on the Worldwide Network. His work's one o' the main reasons I became part of an anti-Shinra group. What 'bout you?"
"It is a long story," mumbled Red XIII. "I would rather not speak of it now."
"Fine, but we gotta do somethin', man. What if the Promised Land ain't just a legend? What if the Shinra're right? They believe it's a place full o' Mako energy, which means if they get their greasy hands on it first, they'll suck the life from the land until it withers and dies. If that happens, the Planet's gonna get weaker…"
"And what do you think you can do to stop them? Be realistic."
"Someone has to make a stand," said Barret with determination. "As long as Shinra are around, there's always gonna be an AVALANCHE up their ass. I'll start by recruitin' new members. How 'bout you? You want in?"
"Supporting AVALANCHE is not exactly at the top of my agenda."
"Why not?"
"That is another long story."
"Don't you wanna help the Planet?"
"I'm all for preservation, but we are yet to even find a way out of this prison."
"Gods, you're so damn boring…!"
Growing impatient with the conversation, Cloud pushed himself away from the wall and again began to wander the short distance back and forth across the cell. He had become infuriated with his inability to conjure the faintest wisp of hope for the situation. He knew that their trial would be swift and would almost inevitably lead to execution, yet even with his superior strength, he was helpless to break from the enclosed confines. How had it come to this? A once-loyal SOLDIER First Class waiting to be sentenced by his former employers. Not since the whispered secrets he had heard many years before of the enigmatic mass SOLDIER defection had he thought of such an occurrence. His blood boiling, his anger taking control, Cloud lashed out at the wall, the powerful impact leaving a significant dent on the sturdy plastic.
"Who's there?" came a muffled voice from the other side.
"Aerith?" stammered Cloud, stumbling backwards. "Is that you?"
"Cloud?" she squeaked, the tone of confusion evident in her words. "Yeah, it's me. What are you doing?"
"Nothing…it…uh…it doesn't matter," he said quickly, catching the unimpressed glower of the guard at the doorway as he inspected the source of the disturbance. Tifa quickly unfurled on the bed, woken abruptly from her slumber by his outburst. "Aerith, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "So…you came for me. I knew you would."
"Well, you asked me to be your bodyguard, didn't you?"
"I guess that means I owe you a date. That was the deal, right?"
"Date…?" yawned Tifa, rubbing an eye as she joined Cloud at his side. "So you two…?"
"Tifa?" gasped Aerith. "What are you doing there?"
"Well, excuse me!" Tifa snapped defensively.
"Sorry, that's not what I meant," Aerith laughed. "I'm just so glad to hear your voice."
"Me too," Tifa smiled sincerely. "You did a brave thing for Marlene. You sure you're okay after what happened with that Turk?"
"Don't worry about Tseng. I'm honestly fine…" she insisted, pausing for a few moments before lowering her voice. "But…there was something he said that I have to ask you about…"
"Of course," said Tifa, moving closer to the plastic partition.
"Tseng told me that you three are from AVALANCHE," Aerith explained hesitantly. "Is that true?"
"Yes," answered Tifa, glancing up at Cloud with an expression of slight concern. "But, Aerith, you have to understand…"
"He said that you were different," she continued, "that you weren't the same AVALANCHE from before."
"That's right."
"I know he fought for a long time against the old AVALANCHE. I even met their leader once. Tseng told me to stay away from them because they thought I was special and wanted to use me as a weapon."
"You mean because you're an Ancient?" asked Cloud.
"So you know?" Aerith said quietly.
"President Shinra told us," replied Tifa. "But, we're not that AVALANCHE. They're gone now. Our fight is against Shinra. We've made terrible mistakes, but we just want to do what's right. You have to believe us."
"I do believe you. It's just…Tseng…"
"Do you trust him?" posed Cloud.
"I don't know," sighed Aerith. "I've known Tseng for years. It was always his duty as a Turk to keep me under surveillance and I guess protecting me when he had to was part of the job description. I suppose I trusted him to keep me safe. The last thing he said to me tonight was that he still has so many things to tell me. I don't know what that meant…"
"The Turks are our enemy," said Tifa. "If you want to feel safe without depending on Shinra, we can help."
"I guess…"
"But, Aerith…" she faltered, "there's…uh…some things we have to ask you too."
"What do you need to know?"
"When we saw President Shinra," Tifa began, "he spoke about your past, and how you and your mother had escaped one of the Shinra research facilities. Aerith…what happened?"
"I thought this may come up," Aerith responded pensively. She fell silent for a number of seconds, as if taking care in her choice of words. "For years, Shinra have taken a great interest in Cetran history. It seems that the Cetra's generations of knowledge and wisdom about the Planet is something that the President desires in his quest for power. Although, for him, it's nothing more than a way to increase his company's profits.
"My earliest memories are of spending all my days locked in a room like this with my real mum. We would have regular visits from different strange scientists, especially Professor Hojo. Although he was always performing tests on us, I think he found a certain attachment to us…or to my mum, at least. I can remember he once told her about a fellow scientist he had loved and married a long time ago, but his arrogance and allegiance to his work had prevented him from ever telling her how he really felt. I suppose, deep down, he still regrets losing her, and grown bitter because of it.
"Anyway, there was one scientist called Professor Raijincho who often spent time with us. He was a nice man and had very strong views on the way of the world. He made no secret to us of his disapproval at what Shinra were doing to me and mum. He came to visit us one evening after mum had gone through a difficult experiment and gave her something for the pain. I'll never know if it was deliberate or not, but he left the cell door unlocked.
"We escaped that night, my mum weaker than I'd ever seen her, and managed to get as far as the Slums. All I can remember is forever looking up at a distant black sky…well, what would have been the underside of the Plate, of course. I'm not sure if she had been ill, or whether the experiment had taken its toll on her, but mum never made it further than the train station. I believe her only aim was to make sure I was safe before she returned to the Planet."
"Did Hojo or Raijincho ever tell you why you were being experimented on?" asked Cloud.
"I was only seven, so I didn't really understand what was happening," said Aerith. "I guess it was all for the Promised Land."
"Is the Promised Land real?" said Tifa.
"I don't know," Aerith answered quietly. "All I know is:
Cetran children,
The Planet's from birth,
Speak with the Planet
And unlock its worth.
Cetran children,
The Promised Land waits,
With bliss never-ending
Beyond secret gates.
"…my mother taught me that."
"What does it mean?" whispered Tifa, as if enchanted by the lyrics.
"Beyond words…I'm not sure."
"Speak with the Planet?" questioned Cloud.
"The Cetra were Geomancers," said Aerith. "Planet reading was one of their gifts."
"Can you speak with the Planet?" asked Tifa.
"Sometimes."
"What does it say?"
"The city's really noisy and full of people," Aerith sighed. "I find it hard to do because I can't make out what the Planet is saying."
"Can you hear it now?" said Cloud.
"I only ever heard it at the church in the Slums; the only place I've truly felt serenity. My real mum told me that because of what Shinra are doing to the Planet with their Mako Reactors, Midgar is no longer safe. She said that someday I'd leave Midgar, speak with the Planet, and find my Promised Land. I thought I would stop hearing her voice as I grew older, but…"
With the last of her words, Aerith's voice trailed off. Only the guard could be heard in the silence that followed, again scraping his weapon against the cell doors as he patrolled the corridor. Eventually, the sound of broken sobs began to echo lightly around the prison. Tifa held her body against the wall in despair, longing to comfort her friend. Turning from her, Cloud returned to the bed and, exhaling deeply, he cradled his head in his hands, thinking only of what lay ahead.
"Cloud…"
"Jessie…what happened?"
"We weren't warned fast enough…" she coughed, the words hurting her as she spoke. "Cloud…I thought…I thought you didn't care about what happens…to AVALANCHE…"
"Jessie, try not to speak…"
"Because…of our actions…many people have died," she wheezed. "This is our…our punishment…"
"Jessie, please…"
"We fought for…the Planet, but…all we did was murder…in the name…of justice. Are we…really any better…than Shinra…?"
Cloud awoke, the image of his final exchange with Jessie still vividly imprinted on his retina. Bringing his eyes back into focus, he could make out Tifa on the mattress beside him, her face buried against his shoulder. She twitched in her sleep, stirring as he slipped his arm from beneath her. Sitting up, he sensed a chill on the air that had sifted in while he was unconscious, bringing with it a foul stench. Frowning, he raised his gaze towards the doorway, and felt his jaw drop immediately.
What the hell…?
"Tifa!" hissed Cloud, shaking her ferociously. "Tifa, wake up!"
"What?" she groaned groggily as she came to. "What is it?"
"The door's open…"
"Huh?" she said alertly, spinning to face the gaping entrance. "When did this happen? And what's that smell?"
"I don't know," Cloud shook his head, tentatively climbing to his feet. "Something's not right…"
"Take a look outside."
Edging forward, taking short, quiet steps, his pulse racing, Cloud peered slowly around the ingress, examining the corridor. The momentary blindness of a passage lit by fluorescent lamps of glowing white faded quickly to reveal a thick smear of dark blood across the silver linoleum floor. Following the trail with his eyes, he grimaced slightly as he saw the gruesome sight of the disfigured guard, his body twisted and dumped awkwardly at the end of the row. The infantryman's helmeted head hung loosely over his blood-stained chest, with what remained of bone and flesh protruding from the oozing wound on his gut.
What happened here? Has there been another major security breach?
"What's wrong?" Tifa whispered with concern, reading Cloud's sullen expression.
"I…I don't know…" he murmured, beckoning her towards the doorway. "See for yourself."
"Oh my Gods!" she gasped as she joined him, holding a hand to her mouth. "Murdered…?"
"Well, he certainly didn't do that to himself," replied Cloud, starting cautiously along the passage, absorbing the scene as he strove to make sense of it all.
"Where are you going?" said Tifa, hurrying after him.
"He should have the keys to the other cells on him."
Other than the faint squelching of Cloud's boots against the ground as he stepped carefully over the trickle of red, the prison block was shrouded in deathly silence. The concept of such a brutal slaughter taking place merely feet from them without their knowledge was one that caused great restlessness in him. His agitation was not aided as he approached the corpse, observing the detail of the man's demise. Uneasily shifting the rifle and a strand of exposed intestine from across the guard's groin with his foot, Cloud tore the keycards marked '2' and '6' from his belt, handing the former to Tifa.
"You go get Aerith," he instructed. "I'll let the other two out."
Nodding, she scurried the short distance to Aerith's cell, swiping the keycard on the electronic panel and letting herself in. Cloud strode briskly past her as she did so, ignoring what had been his own cell as well as the trio opposite in his rush to release Barret and Red XIII from their dwelling, the last in the block. With a purposeful swipe through the lock, he entered, startling the two from their rest.
"What the…?" cried Barret, turning sharply from his position in the corner. "How'd you get in?"
"Come with me," he responded urgently, tossing the keycard to the floor as he gestured for them to follow. Making his way back down the corridor, Cloud saw Tifa emerge from the first prison with a bewildered Aerith, both hesitant to look upon the dead guard.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Barret called after him.
"See for yourself," invited Cloud, stopping before the crooked body.
"He must've been savagely attacked," gulped Aerith, pulling herself closer to Tifa.
"But, by what?" Tifa said worriedly. "No human could have done this."
"One of Hojo's monsters?" suggested Barret.
"Actually," corrected Red XIII, inspecting the man closely, "I believe this is a sword wound. A precise and fatal stroke; this was done by someone with great ability."
"My thoughts exactly," Cloud said gravely. "There aren't many around who could perform a kill like this, and I don't think we should stick around any longer to find out. We should get outta here while we still can."
"Agreed," nodded Red XIII.
Cloud led them warily from the Cell Block, their hastened steps reverberating along the narrow passage. The lamps of the corridor had been dimmed, causing the plastic walls to glimmer in the faint blue light cast by the bulb above a twin set of electronic doors at its end, deliberately rendering only the Shinra Diamond across them visible from the prison. Arriving at the doorway, they drew to a halt, Cloud raising an arm for the others to hold their positions. Reaching out, he grabbed the panel and slowly pulled, unsurprised that the door offered no resistance as it should to being parted.
The scene that awaited them on the other side was worse than he had anticipated. Streaks of deep red had been sprayed across the high windows that lined the junction to the main hallway, the reflection on the glass revealing the slain bodies of the researchers and technicians that lay around the corners, their severed limbs and mutilated figures coated in their own blood. The shadows of the dead danced hauntingly and without order in the trembling light of the Department of Biological and Biochemical Development, as if their souls were desperately trying in vain to leave the world of the living.
"What happened to them?" Aerith whimpered, her voice dry as she fought back tears.
"This is serious…" Cloud said, his own thoughts racing.
"We have to leave," urged Tifa. "Now."
"Our weapons…" Barret grunted, tapping the empty barrel of his gun-arm. "We can't go nowhere 'til we get 'em back."
"The surveillance room," Cloud recalled, beginning towards the intersection. "I saw that blonde Turk leave them there before we were locked up."
Turning right into the main hallway as he came to the end of the passage, he was met by many screaming expressions wrought with horror. The image of the burning townspeople flashed in his mind, the memory still fresh after five years, brought flooding back by the cruel and torturous way the scientists had been similarly massacred. Inhaling deeply, Cloud closed his eyes, feeling his way into the nearby control room they had passed earlier.
Ignoring the dead technician sprawled against the surveillance monitors, he quickly spotted his Buster Sword set against the steel cabinet at the far side of the room. Snatching it up, he felt a comfort as his eager fingers wrapped around the dark red leather of the handle. Slotting it onto the magnetic holder on his back, he glanced up to see Barret feverishly feeding one of his thirty-five millimetre bullet belts into the slot on his gatling-gun, wrapping the other bandolier around his waist. Returning to the corridor, they found the others waiting outside. Cloud stopped in his tracks as he realised that their faces were etched with dread, each of their frightened gazes focused only on what lay beyond.
"Cloud…look…" mouthed Tifa, a quivering finger pointing over his shoulder.
He slowly turned, his eyes moving back and forth in what seemed like an age as he scanned each piece of his surroundings, processing them one by one to establish the cause of his comrades' fear. Through the tall entrance to the Sample Storage Chamber, whose iron shutters now hung limp and twisted, he could see that the chilled mist of the vast room had all but dissipated, leaving a clear view of the expanse.
The numerous wild creatures and monsters confined in the transparent capsules that had earlier been gnawing and scraping at the glass were now shrinking with terror at the rear of their cages, their howls and cries reduced to nothing more than a low whine. The yellow ahrimans had wrapped themselves in their wings, defensively blocking out their environment, while the crimson hounds lay flat on their stomachs in panicked obedience. Every one appeared to be cowering from a single location; the metallic domed container on the opposite side of the room.
"It…" he croaked, the words catching in his throat, "it's gone…"
The abnormal pink radiance of the Jenova capsule had dispelled, with only a faint glow lingering inside the gaping tear on its surface. The thick doorway had been ripped completely from its hinges, thrown carelessly against a stack of smashed crates which now seeped a hazardous black chemical across the floor beneath them. The iron walls of the dome had been bent forcefully outwards in a bizarre manner, the jagged metal reaching out from the withering organic matter inside. From the mouth of the wound, there came a blotched path of blood, snaking across the room to the wide circular cage that Red XIII had inhabited. The substance was unnatural in colour, the dark red an anomalous stain on the cold floor.
"It seems that it was taken to the upper floor using the specimen elevator," concluded Red XIII, ending the silence that had fallen over the group.
"This is bad," muttered Cloud, unable to shake the disturbing realisation that was mounting.
"What is?" frowned Barret, not comprehending.
"The body of Jenova…it's been stolen."
"What do you think it means?" asked Tifa.
"I…I don't know," replied Cloud, pushing between her and Aerith as he strode determinedly into the Storage Chamber. "But, I have to follow this trail. I have to know where it leads…"
"Cloud!" roared Barret. "We have to get outta here!"
Dismissing the protests, Cloud began weaving his way amongst the maze of upturned crates and boxes, his mind set on the metal grate on the northwest corner of the space. A haze of unsettling thoughts obscured his vision as he marched swiftly towards the small elevator; pulsing recollections of the headless humanoid he had witnessed earlier that night filling his head, demanding that he learn the truth. Jenova...the killings…why has this happened? Why tonight? Yanking the railing aside and stepping aboard the lift, he looked around to see the others sprinting after him, struggling to match his pace.
"Cloud!" called Tifa.
"I thought you wanted to get out of the building?" he said, hesitating.
"Not without you," answered Aerith, panting.
Perplexed, he paused until each of them had boarded the cramped elevator before slamming the safety grid over to begin upwards. They were brought moments later to the sixty-eighth floor Fusion Chamber, the wires grinding nervously to a halt under the weight of the five. The area was as it had been, but for a continuation of the bloody trail extending from the large cell in which Aerith had been trapped. Unlike the winding motion it had taken on the floor below, the smear was a direct dissection of the room, its destination of the 'Unstable Specimen' corridor unmistakeable.
Hurriedly making their way past the incinerator and alongside the raised walkway of the chamber, the group followed the blood into the broad passage. An eerie silence had fallen over the untamed monsters beyond the impenetrable laser doors of the hallway, the scent of fear evident as they passed their paddocks. A handful more corpses were strewn randomly across the floor, forcing the party around them as they retraced the steps they had taken only hours earlier to the main stairwell. The automatic door was jammed open by the body of a Shinra infantryman, his lifeless form slumped in a seated position against the frame. Climbing over the soldier, Cloud stopped as he entered the landing, exhaling deeply.
"Looks like it goes up," stated Red XIII from behind him, his tone foreboding. "What do we do?"
"I have a really bad feeling about this," insisted Aerith.
"I need to know…" Cloud maintained, glancing back at their worried faces. With a lasting breath, he drew the Buster Sword, and continued on.
Slowly ascending the stairs, he cautiously edged around the increasingly-irregular patches of the dark blood. Splattered lines of the strange substance marked the walls by their side, smudged across paintings of significant worth, dripping from the plaques beneath. At the height of the steps, the stairwell opened into a small hallway whose only exit was a severed door marked '69: Department of Presidential Administration'. A faint hum of rerouted electricity sounded from the card reader aside the door, useless now that all that remained were mere splinters of plastic and steel, and traces on the wall of the powerful sword strike that had cleaved it in two.
Through the doorway was a grand open-plan office space, made up of many workstations partitioned by long panels of pine and oak. At the northern wing of the level, beyond the administrative area, a row of board rooms and individual offices could be seen through large curtained windows, their luxurious interiors and lavish entrances boasting the elitism of the Shinra Executive. An employee lounge area complete with sofas and vending machines was situated in the southwest corner of the foyer, adjacent to which were two express elevators, whose ajar doors revealed an unreserved view of the blackened overcast skyline above Midgar.
Tracking the path of blood over the silver floor, Cloud saw the trail move west from the hallway, passing the foyer and along the wide aisle of the secretarial space before him. Pacing stealthily between the workstations, he felt the beating of his heart increase as he was led past the carved mahogany desks to the sweeping twin white marble staircases which grew towards the Presidential Office. The steps rose symmetrically in an arcing motion opposite one another; one towards the north, and one towards the south. They were each supported by tall pillars of magnificent artistry as they scaled the vast walls to the seventieth and final floor of Shinra Headquarters, and at the base of one such pillar were cast the broken bodies of two SOLDIER sentries, tossed from their post like weightless toys.
Studying the dark blood as it staggered up the marble and purple carpet of the southern staircase, Cloud's mind began to break down, failing even to register the restraining pleas of the group as intense waves of apprehension washed over him. With an uncontrollable haste, he darted up the steps, clearing two at a time. His rapid ascent was brought to a sudden halt at their apex when his frantic gaze fell upon the centre of the Great Hall, but only as the others assembled around him did Cloud fully understand the enormity of the scene.
All was still amidst the bright office, the white light of the lamps atop the stone columns radiating with blissful ignorance. The bloody smear had vanished as it approached the top of the stairs, leaving no hint of residue, evaporating into an atmosphere that whispered only death. As it had always been, the focal point of the room was the enormous desk that stood before the gleaming windows of the Presidential Office, bearing now a more disturbing sight than they could have imagined. Silent and unmoving in his majestic throne, pinned by a long, slender sword to his desktop like a skewered animal, was President Shinra.
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