Chapter 3: Fall
Blaise was walking down a Dark corridor, he didn't know how long was he walking. He was hearing Noises, but he couldn't quite describe it. It was like a whisper, telling him to follow the path.
It was paved with red color.
He reached the door, he was about to open it but everything became clearer. Like a switch everything became visible. The corridor he walked in turned out was caged. On the other side of the bar there were people, pointing at him.
"You could have saved us." all of them whispered together.
"You could have spared the mourning of my parents." accused a little boy in a low voice.
"You could have spared the sobs of my children." accused a woman.
Blaise wanted to shake his head, but he knew, he knew he couldn't deny it, because he didn't even attempted to stop the whole bombing mission.
And now he noticed that it wasn't paved with simply red.
It was paved with blood.
He wanted to runaway, and the only thing he could was through the door.
However when he went through it he saw him!
The man responsible the death of everyone he knew!
The scenery was the warehouse where they were tortured. Around the man were the corpse of his father, mother, and brother.
The only corpse which wasn't there was his sister's.
The man had a bloodied lead pipe in his hand and a sadistic grin on his face.
"You came for a second round of me breaking-every-bone-in-your-lower-half? You're such a good sport kid!" he said mockingly.
Blaise was horrified, life didn't stopped toying with him. His legs gave away, from the shock.
"The...n is coming kid, and you'll jo-" the man couldn't finish it.
Blaise woke up in cold sweat, and a gasp. He was clutching his head. He franticly looked around to see where he was. There was Cloud and the trio of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie sleeping.
'It was dream...A nightmare.' he started to calm down. He looked at his watch. It was 5:46.
He lost his need of sleep after a dream like this. He would have decided to use the pipes, but after this. He used the machine, everyone else be damned if they wake up.
When he went up, he saw nobody was up. He decided to take a seat at a table, and wait, for the others.
Waking up before everyone wasn't unusual for Blaise. Even when he was in diapers, he often woken up an hour or two before others. Even then he often just waited for others to wake up.
Blaise's thoughts were the one thing the nightmare said. '-n is coming and I'll join?' he thought with confusion, but decided to drop it. After all it was only a nightmare.
He head to shake his head several times. He got what, 4-5 hours of sleep? He was thinking about going for a walk, when Tifa came down, surprised that he was awake.
"Good morning!" she greeted Blaise.
"Morning." he murmured back. Tifa noticed his eyes are baggy.
"Why are you awake?" She asked concernedly. "Don't, tell me...Wedge is snoring like a pig ain't he?"
Blaise gives a slight chuckle, but then he says in a sad voice."I wish that would be the reason for my loss in sleep."
After a moment of silence she asks. "...bad dream?"
Blaise stiffens, but gives a slow nod. He is having a mental debate if he should tell her or not, but Tifa continues.
"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." She reassures him.
"...I was…" Blaise starts to explain, but it comes out slowly. He was still mustering the courage to talk about it. "Walking... in a hallway." Tifa started to listen to him intently. "It was dark… but the floor...was painted with...red. After while...I reached a door. The lights turned on...And then" he now looked directly into her eyes. Tifa could see his eyes were watery. "Women...Men...Children...Pointing fingers at me...Each of them saying, 'I could have saved them'." He lost his voice when he said it. He wiped his tears away. 'Come on Blaise...Get your composure back, it was just a stupid dream.'
Tifa put her hands on his shoulder as a means to comfort him. 'He really taking this hard. But what this about he could have saved them? No one knew the blast would be this big… It's most likely just his conscience.' she thought sadly. 'Jesse I really hope that today's run will be have a lot-less casualties.'
Blaise thoughts were went to a different place. He remembered how much others had to comfort him.
He noticed how much of a pity party he's been throwing.
"...Sorry." He apologised. Tifa raised an eyebrow at this."Damn, I must be pathetic...Always pitying myself when others must have it as bad as me." he mumbled it out.
"Hey!" Tifa exclaimed sternly."Just because others have it bad doesn't mean you have to sell your misery short!" She then continues it in a softer tone. "It'll be better with time."
Blaise looked at her, bit surprised at the outburst, but then again she was right.
"Thanks Tifa." She just smiled in response. "So...Do you have coffee?" he asks.
The rest of the morning went more lightheartedly. Biggs, and Jessie were woken up by Wedge's snoring, but interestingly enough, Cloud slept like whose head was bashed.
Then Marlene and Barret were the next in line to wake up, they had breakfast and was waiting for Cloud to wake up.
In the early hours, Hojo was pacing in his lab. He was frustrated with two things.
The first is that the Ancient was still missing for his experiment with the creature he dubbed 'Red XIII'
And the second was who could have made the planet to freak out. Yes. Who indeed
With the energy reading the way it spiked up couldn't have been because of the Lifestream made into Mako. There was also no damage to the planet itself. So the only logical conclusion, was it was a being who came up there. The energy reading from the spot the anomaly happened, had fresh lifesign readings.
'I can't wait to have a 'chat' whoever made the planet have a 'Heart attack' ' he was madly giggling in his head.
Blaise went out to purchase a Bolt materia for himself, however he forgot how costly it was for him at the moment. It cost 600 and he only had 200. 'No magic for me for now.' he mentally sighed.
While he went to a trip Tifa informed the rest of them about his nightmares. Jesse felt extremely guilty and she already did the necessary modifications so it would only blow up the reactor itself. Cloud nodded in understatement, same with everyone else. Although Barret. 'I shouldn't have thrown him into the this so quickly.' he thought.
"Back." Blaise came back. "Can't buy a freakin materia, they are fucking expensive!" Blaise cursed, He saw Cloud was awake up. "So, are we going?" he asked the obvious question. He glanced at his watch, and the time was 11:30 am.
"Marlene you watch the store while we're gone!" Tifa said to her. Marlene gave a cute firm nod.
"Okay! Good luck!" With that the team
While they were heading to the train station, Blaise couldn't help but ask.
"Shouldn't someone be with Marlene? What if someone tries to harm her?"
"No need to worry," Tifa answered. "Nobody would dare. For one people around here knows who is that little girl, and most people actually like her! The other is Barret himself of course. If anyone so much as thinks of kidnapping her, well…"
"That does make sense." replied Blaise, who felt stupid for asking the reason why they would leave Marlene home alone.
After they got unto the train, Barret as usual started barking orders.
"Yo!This ain't no private car! Split up!" Jesse, Biggs and Wedge complied and went to the next car.
A man in red suit mumbled something. "...hoodlums again. God don't I have just all the luck…" and he sat down.
Barret ran past him, to check if there are any security on the next wagon, but caught something about 'hoodlums'
"You say sumthin'?" he asked in a calmly but when he got no response he asked again threateningly.
"I said "you say sumthin"?" and went in front of him.
"Yo, Look at that. It got empty all of a sudden." The gun-armed man exclaimed. "What's going on?"
The man started sweating, and out of fair exclaimed a "Damnit!" and fearfully started to answer the question.
It's...e-empty because... o-of guys like you..." Barret slammed his fist next to him to 'encourage' him to stop the stuttering."You've seen the news right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would to Midgar in a day like today."
Barret at this pointed his gun-arm at him "You working for Shinra?" The man in suit started to hold his head and looked down in fear. "I won't give into your demands!" But luckily Tifa and Blaise stepped up.
"Barret!" Tifa yelled at him.
"This is absolutely unnecessary!" Blaise told him. Barret reluctantly lowered his arm.
"Fuck! You lucky shit!" and with that left the terrified man alone.
"So what are we gonna do now?" Cloud calmly asked.
"The hell are you so calm about? You busting up my rhythm!" Barret asked, still worked up about the man.
"What rhythm?" Blaise asked then snarkily responded."You are always worked, up there's no rhythm!" He turned to me.
"Is it your turn to piss me off?" Barret asked.
"Nah, I'm feeling merciful, Cloud's is already overkill for your nerves." Blaise chuckled, While Cloud smirked.
They finished to connect the train, and they started heading towards the reactor.
Cloud went serious mode. "So,what's our next target?" Barret decided it was the time to mock him.
"Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work!" after a moment he decided to drop the attitude.
"Awright..I'll tell ya!"
"Jessie might have told you, but there's a security check point at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all trains."
"Which Shinra is very proud of." Tifa snorted.
Barret decided to continue. "We can't use our fake ID's anymore…"
The voice announcer told the time and that they are going to arrive Sector 4 station soon.
"That means we got three more minutes to the ID check point." Tifa concluded.
"Alright in three minutes we are jumping on train, got it?" Barret asked and Blaise nodded.
Tifa went with Cloud to check the Railway monitor, but the alarm went off
"Strange, the Checkpoint should be farther away." she said in thought.
"Type A security alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search for all cars will be conducted!"
Jessie came into their car in a hurry.
"What's happening?" Tifa asked her.
"I'll explain later, hurry get to the next car!" She exclaimed hastily.
"Fuck...Someone blew it!" Barret cursed
They hurried through two cars before the alarm came to a stop.
"Car #2:Locked down. Upgrading to warning level 3."
"We clear!?" Barret asked Jessie she shook her head.
"Not yet. They are starting another search. If we're caught we're done for!" But then she reassured us with good news. "Don't worry, If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it!"
The alarm came in again, and they started to run for another three cars. Cloud was bit behind, because someone stole some gil off of him.
"We made it! This way!" Barret showed the way, to the door, which he opened. The train went at least 50 km/h speed!
"We are gonna dive outta here!" Barret ordered. Blaise however was afraid he would sustain damages from jumping out of a moving train!
"Ain't I gonna be full of bruises when I jump-" Barret interrupted Blaise.
"Stop being a chicken, we got potion so no need to pee yourself!"
"...Scary..huh." Tifa murmured to Cloud.
"Too late to say that now." Cloud sighed. "Why'd you come along anyway?"
"Because…" Tifa couldn't really tell him that something didn't add up with him.
Luckily Barret was there to save the day!
"Hey you two! There ain't no time for that!" he stepped out of the way, and Tifa prepared to jump.
"I've made up my mind! I'm gonna jump" she said resolutely.
Tifa jumped first.
Cloud turned to Barret eyebrows raised. "You don't care if I jump first?" Barret shook his head.
"A leader always stays till the end, don't worry about me, just go!"
Cloud was about to jump when Barret came up for an encouraging speech.
"Yo, don't go getting your spikey-ass hurt! It's only the beginning of the mission!" Cloud shrugged. And jumped out.
Blaise was the next in line he took a deep breath, and jumped out shouting. "FUCK MY LIFE!" afte he jumped out he was rolling the ground, from jumping out. Luckily he was alright, and Tifa and Cloud was heading towards him.
Barret wasn't too far away, so they managed to quickly regroup.
"Good so far everything going as planned." Barret declared proudly.
"Better not let your guard down till we get to Sector 5 reactor. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie got everything ready for us so move it!" Barret ordered. And they started heading forward.
After a short walk, they reached the security sensors
"Those are Shinra security sensors, we can't go through here." Cloud informed the group.
Cloud also noticed duct there and decided to examine it.
"That's one tiny hole you telling me to squeeze into that to get under the plate? No way!" Barret said disbelievingly.
Tifa also examined it. "There seems to be nothing that'll get us stuck in this air duct."
"Yeah but we can't come back here if we take this route." Cloud told them. Blaise decided to pitch in.
"It's not like there's any other way from here. Let's take this route"
"Kid's right let's use it." Barret agreed with Blaise.
Blaise went down last, but he already heard Cloud using his sword There were two grashtrike which he disposed of.. They went through the air duct, down the ladders, and through another duct, where they found Jessie standing watch.
She noticed them and had an ashamed expression on her face.
"Sorry guys it was my fault...I made Cloud's ID special, I put my heart and soul into it, but I failed."
Barret was about to tell her something, but Blaise beat him to the punch. He went to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing's ever going smooth, fuck ups will happen so you have nothing to be ashamed about." Blaise comforted her. She gave a small smile at the gesture.
"Thanks, but I want to keep this to a minimum."
"You better!" Barret admonished her.
They continued down the lower plate. They met Wedge by a latter. He told them the Reactor is up that way. They found Biggs by the end of the lower plate, where you could see into the reactor staircase.
"Hey guys, we are going back to the hideout, we are counting on you!" Biggs told them, and started to get the others.
They entered the reactor itself! They slid down the pipe which was quite fun for Blaise. There was one thing it was possible to sum up the atmosphere of the reactor.
Silent
No workers, nor security, which was funny considering the game had tons of enemies here.
"I don't like it." said Barret as they were going down the ladders.
"You think it's a trap?" Tifa asked, but Barret didn't say anything.
As we were reaching the core, Cloud had another episode.
"Damnit, pull it together man!" Barret yelled at him.
"...Tifa?" Cloud murmured
"Hmm?" Tifa hummed in question.
"No.. It's nothing, forget about it." Cloud dismissed it. He then proceeded to set the bomb.
"All right Let's get outta here!" Barret exclaimed, and then they made haste to the elevator.
They entered the elevator and went top, and there were three switches.
"Jessie told me we need to press these all at once." They nodded and Barret, Cloud and Tifa lined it up to press the buttons, while Blaise decided to keep an eye out.
"On three!" Barret instructed.
"One, two...Three!" they pressed it at the same time and the big door opened. And they started running.
There was a fork in the railings, but Barret motioned "This way!" he was about to run to it when a Shinra soldiers came out.
"Shinra soldiers!?" Barret exclaimed.
"SHIT! The hell is going on?" Barret didn't understood. They did everything correctly.
"No wonder, the reactor it was empty... It was a.." Blaise concluded but Cloud decided to finish it for him.
"Trap."
They heard loud footsteps from the reactor.
It was President Shinra in the flesh.
"Presi...President Shinra?" Barret exclaimed in disbelief.
"Why is he here?" Tifa asked the obvious.
"Hmm… So you must be that...what was it?" he asked in a unconcerned voice.
"AVALANCHE! And don't you forget it! And you're the President huh?" Barret asked rhetorically
Cloud went past Blaise. "Long time no see, President."
"Long time no see?" The president was confused, but then it clicked."Oh...you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE." He concluded. "I knew you'd been exposed to Mako, from the look in your eyes…Tell me traitor...What was your name?"
"Cloud Strife."
"Forgive me for asking." he apologised in a mocking tone."But I can't be expected to remember each person's name. Unless you become another Sephiroth of course." it seemed he was in thought for a second. " He was brilliant, perhaps too brilliant."
"Sephiroth…?" Cloud had a faraway look in his eyes for a second.
Barret started to have enough of being ignored and pushed past Cloud and Blaise.
"Don't give a damn about any of that! This place is going up with a big BANG soon!
Serves y'all right!"
President Shinra was unphased by this outburst.
"And such a good waste of fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you."
Barret was boiling by this point. "VERMIN!? Thats all you can say VERMIN!"
"Y'all Shinra are the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN so shut up jackass!"
"You are beginning to bore me… I'm a very busy man so if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner to attend to." His dismissive attitude just pissed Barret more off.
"Dinner?! Don't give me that! I haven't even started with you yet!"
"But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." With that the President snapped his fingers. A loud buzzing noise could be heard.
"What is that?"Barret asked, as everyone narrowly dodged as Air-Buster came to the scene, giving the Shinra soldiers the que to high-tail it.
"Meet Airbuster, a techno soldier our weapon development department created him." He introduced to us.
"I'm sure the data it'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us for future experiments."
...Techno-Soldier?" Cloud murmured again in question.
"Now if you'll excuse me." With that a Heli came to pick up the president. Cloud tried to hold him up fruitlessly.
"...Shitbag." Blaise murmured
"Yo guys, we gotta do something about him!" Barret caught their attention, as Airbuster was pushing both Tifa and Barret back.
"Cloud, Blaise help!" Tifa shouted for them."THIS is from SOLDIER?" Tifa asked fearfully.
"No way it's just a machine!" Cloud exclaimed.
The line up was Cloud and Blaise from behind, and Tifa , Barret in front.
Inwardly Blaise cursed. 'Am I going to fall down with Cloud?' he snapped out of his thoughts when Cloud Bolted the robot. He shooted back with his gun from his back, which they were able to dodge.
Barret was shooting at him, and Tifa started casting Ice on him. 'Cloud must have gave her the Ice materia when I wasn't looking.' thought Blaise. He dodged a few gunshots, and was able to make two successful hits on his back, and he was turning towards them.
"Blaise, when I give you the signal give it everything you got!" Cloud ordered Blaise.
"Got it!"
Cloud and Blaise had to dodge, because the machine wanted to ram them, and sprayed bullets like crazy! Blaise managed to deflect a few of them, but Cloud had to step in, and deflect most of it for him. On the otherside Tifa did a beat rush, and Barret a Big shot.
'This fucker can take a lot!' Barret thought. Buster turned around again.
"Now!" Cloud barked. Blaise went fully at him and he noticed something. His weapon had a blue glow! 'Is this my Limit break?' he thought. He jumped up and did an overhead slash to the thing, followed by Cloud's braver which made the robot explode.
Blaise was just out of the reach of the explosion.
"It's gonna blow! We have to go!" Barret exclaimed.
"It's too far away for me to jump, and Cloud is a hanging on a thread!" Blaise yelled to Barret. He tried to reach for Cloud but it was too far for him to reach.
"Please don't die, I want to tell you so much Cloud!" Tifa begged.
"You gonna be all right?" Barret asked one stupid question.
"Worry about yourselves!" Blaise told them.
"Take care of Tifa." Cloud told Barret.
"Allright. Sorry about this." Barret apologised to them.
"Don't talk like this is the end!" Cloud snapped.
And the Bomb exploded. The ground shook from it, which made Cloud hand slip, and Blaise lost his balance, and fell over the railing. He hit something on his way down, and fell unconscious.
Blaise was walking down a corridor, he didn't knew what he was doing there. Everything was pitch black. Although he noticed something while walking to it. With every step, the floor behind him crumbled, making it impossible for him to turn back.
He was walking. He heard a voice, beckoning him to stay on the path. But although the voice was rather assuring, it felt sinister. It made his skin crawl. 'It wants to use me doesn't it?' he asked himself cynically.
However he stopped. Because a feeling something that he really wanted to feel in this darkness was one thing.
Warmth.
That's what he felt. He started feeling like his back was against something.
Something soft. And then there was light behind from him, which was bright as the sun, and green as grass.
And then…
"Helloo!" A female voice called out. It was sweet, innocent.
Blaise groaned, he felt his back sore, but where he laid it was so comfortable that he could lay there for days without any problem.
He slowly started to pry his eyes open. And she saw her.
Aerith.
Although Blaise was amazed how otherworldly she looked. Not a cetra, not human.
"An angel?" Blaise asked in a low voice, and then he blushed from embarrassment. Not only sounded cheesy but also dumb.
Aerith blushed but she hid it and giggled. "I'm afraid not." she giggled "It's funny the last guy who fell down said something similiar."
Cloud was also starting to wake up.
"Flowers?" Blaise asked. Then carefully got up and jumped away from them."We didn't meant to crash land here." Blaise apologised and rubbed the back of his neck.
"That's alright." She assured us. "I've seen you before. You were the guy who saved that kid a few days ago." Blaise was shocked. "I can tell you didn't took pleasure in it, still it was a very nice thing of you to do."
"You really think so?" he asked. She nodded. Cloud got up. "Sorry for landing here." he apologised but then realised who she was.
"I remember you, you were the girl I brought the flower from yesterday." She smiled at his observation. "By the way where are we?" he asked.
"You are in the sector 5 slum church." she answered.
"Cloud I think you should get off the Flower bed." Blaise told Cloud, who now realised on what he was stepping. He apologised again. "These flowers are resilient if they could survive both our weights." Cloud stated while a bit surprised.
"The flowers here are resilient, and they don't grow in Midgar but for some reason they do here. I love it here!" Aerith answered."What's your name?"
"Blaise."
"Cloud. And yours?"
"Aerith."She replied. "Say do you have any materia?"
"Yeah, I have some." Cloud answered. "Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."
"But mine is special, It's good for absolutely nothing." she laughed.
"...good for nothing?" Cloud was perplexed he never heard of a materia that doesn't do anything.
"Maybe you just don't know how to use it." then pointed his thumb at Blaise."He never used a materia before and I explained it to him yesterday."
"Hey! Not my fault you ain't gave me a materia even for the mission!" Blaise sulked.
"I do know how to use materia it just doesn't do anything." She explained.
'It does something, but you won't be around to see it.' Blaise thought sadly.
"You guys know the way?" Aerith asked. "I could escort you guys out of here!" Aerith offered.
"We would appreciate it." Cloud accepted.
"Wait here, I'll just check the flowers." with that she went to check, while Blaise picked up any debris that fell on it. "Thank you." Aerith thanked Blaise.
"By the way what are you guys doing?"
"A little bit of everything." Cloud answered in a boastful manner.
"Oh, a jack of all trades huh."
"Yeah I do whatever's needed."
Aerith laughed. "What's so funny? Cloud asked a bit irritated of getting laughed at.
"Sorry I just…" Her apology was halted when she noticed a Turk in the doorway. All three of them turned towards him.
"Sorry bad timing on my part." Aeris apologised.
"I recognize that uniform." Blaise murmured
"Say Cloud have you ever been a bodyguard?" Aerith asked in a whisper."You DO everything, right?"
"...Yeah I can do."
"Can you take me home?"
"Ok... but it'll cost you."
Blaise decided to chime in. "I'll do it for free of charge."
Aerith smiled at Blaise's direction, then turned back to Cloud.
"How about one date?" she asked. Cloud's expression basicly said 'deal.'
Cloud turned towards the Turk.
"I don't know who you are but…" he seemed to think for a second. Blaise decided to help him out.
"Cloud he's a Turk." Blaise deadpanned. "Not many other people like wearing blue suits."
The Turk was surprised that he instantly knew that he was a Turk.
"You're quick to jump to conclusions but, I'm impressed."
A few Shinra soldiers came in. "Reno want to take them out?" asked one of the MP.
"I haven't decided yet." he replied nonchalantly.
"Don't fight here!" Aerith spoke up. "You'll ruin the flowers!"
Aerith ran back, and both Blaise and Cloud followed her.
Reno accidently stepped on the flowers."Those were Mako eyes. And that boy recognised me instantly. I'll have to report this to Tseng." Reno said in thought. He turned around.
"All right, back to work, back to work." he then was about to follow them. "Oh and don't step on the flowers!" Everyone laughed at him. " You just stepped on them. You ruined them all.
The way to the top was fairly simple jumping around. When they got to the top, MP's were hot in their trails.
Both Blaise and Cloud jumped and to the otherside. Aerith was about to jump when she lost her balance due to the bullets, and she fell down.
"Aerith!" Both of them shouted in worry.
To Blaises surprise instead of going for the barrels, Cloud jumped down, to personally guard Aerith.
'This makes so much more sense than it was in the game. Thank you!' Since they weren't in need of help, Blaise decided to manheld the barrels. While Cloud was dispatching of them with ease, Blaise was able to join the fun when he pushed the 'last barrel' unto the MP. They both looked at him.
"What? You're bodyguard is already overkill." Cloud smirked at this comment.
"Aerith this way!" Cloud showed the way, through the structure, and they all jumped through the crack of the roof.
Aerith was panting. "They are looking for me again…"
Cloud blinked at this."You mean this isn't the first time they've been after you?"
Aerith bit her lower lip. "No…" she answered truthfully.
"They're the Turks." Cloud told her. Aerith hummed questioningly.
"The Turks are part of Shinra." Cloud decided to elaborate."They scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER."
"This violently?" Aerith asked. "I thought they were kidnapping someone."
"They also involved in a lot of dirty stuff." Cloud answered, and turned towards Blaise.
"How were you able to recognize them so fast?" Cloud asked curiously. "Have you had a run in with them?"
"No…" Blaise answered truthfully."I...just recognized him because of his uniforms." Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Who else would be in the slums in fancy suits?" Blaise rhetorically asked. Cloud seemed to accept this, but on the inside he was in thought. 'How could he recognize one if he never had a run in with them?' but he decided to not pry. It also may be that he heard of their uniforms from someone, however unlikely.
"Why are they after you anyway?" Cloud asked Aerith. "There must a reason right?"
"I don't really know." Aerith lied. "Maybe they think I got what it takes to be in SOLDIER!" she said jokingly.
"Maybe you do." Cloud shrugged. "You wanna join?"
"I don't know, but I don't want get caught by those people!"
And with that the Trio decided to make their way through, the mountains of junk.
Blaise was barely able to keep up with Cloud, but he still fared better than Aerith.
"Hey! Wait up you two!" she yelled. She caught up to them, and she was practically out of breath.
"Stop..Don't leave me." she panted. Cloud chuckled at this.
"Funny...I thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER."
Blaise chimed in. "I'll go back and tell them they got the wrong address."
"You two are terrible." she pouted, but all three of them laughed.
"Cloud…" Aerith started after the laughter died down. "Were you in SOLDIER?"
Cloud was silent for a second before he answered. "I used to be. How did you guess?"
"Your eyes. They have a strange glow." She answered.
"That's the sign of being infused by Mako. A mark of SOLDIER." Cloud elaborated and asked.
"But how did you know about that?"
"Oh...nothing." Aerith decided to deflect.
"Nothing…?" Cloud asked in confusion.
"Right, nothing!" Aerith told him surely. "Come on let's go "bodyguards"! Aerith teased them.
"But I didn't signed up for it!" Blaise whined.
"What else would you call yourself after helping me?" Aerith asked, but there was something about the way she asked. A small sign of caution. But Blaise didn't noticed it.
"A decent human being, who helps the owner of the flowers, after sleeping on the flowerbeds?"
He asked back jokingly.
"Good enough." She giggled back.
Soon they reached the end of the junk pile, and jumped down the road.
"My house is nearby. Let's go before he comes." Aerith told them. On their way to the slum part, they took a turn to where Aerith's house was but someone shouted with evident hatred and venom in his voice.
"YOU!" Blaise turned around to see the guy name Fli and a few other thugs.
"I told you I'll get you, you shitface but I never thought it would be this soon."
Cloud turned back. "You know him?" He asked. Blaise nodded stiffly.
"Yeah." he in a low voice. "I accidently killed his boss, while they were harassing a kid."
"'Accidently'" Fli scoffed. "You stabbed him your sword!?"
"I wouldn't have stabbed him if he would have tried to jump at me!" Blaise retorted. Fli whistled, and a few extra thugs came out of hiding.
There were 10 overall.
"You're outnumbered." He declared smugly.
"No...he isn't." Cloud stepped up.
"And you are?" Fli asked.
"I'm not answering to deadmen." Cloud declared coldly.
"Cloud this is my problem not yours." Blaise told him sternly.
"I'm on guard duty at the moment for Aerith. I can't have you drag the time." Cloud said nonchalantly.
"Showoff.." Muttered Blaise.
After a moment of silence Blaise gave up. "...Thanks." Cloud just smirked back.
"Let's get them boys!" and they started to run at them.
Except.
Cloud finished them off with one swing of his sword.
He pulled his blade over his shoulder and smashed it into the ground.
It took a second for Blaise to realise that he used Blade Beam.
Let's just say, that Fli. was dead the moment it hit him, a few of them crashed into piles of junk, and the rest fled like bitches.
"That was...Quick." Blaise muttered out in a dumbfound expression on his face.
Even Aerith was amazed. The rest of the to her house went quietly.
Aerith's home was. Beautiful.
Like finding Gold in a Coalmine. 'Where did that metaphor came from?" Blaise thought.
Out of the corner of his eyes he sees a cover materia. Aerith was about to open the door, when Blaise told her to "Wait." and then rushed into the back of her garden to pick up the materia.
"Saw it out of the corner of my eye." He was about to handed it over to her, since this is her territory.
"No, you can have it." She said smiling to him. "You were the one who found it."
"You sure?" Blaise asked uncertainly.
"Yes I'm sure." and then she opened the door to her house.
"I'm home mom!" Aerith said, and Elmyra came out of the kitchen.
"This is Cloud and Blaise, they are my bodyguards." Aerith introduced them to her mother.
Blaise sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at him calling a "bodyguard". 'I can barely even protect myself!' he thought.
Elmyra was confused. "Bodyguard…?" then her expression turned of concern. "You mean you were followed again!?"
"Are you all right!? They didn't hurt you did they!?"
"I'm all right, I had them with me!" She assured her mother.
The mother of Aerith sighed in relief. "Thank you both!" with that she went upstairs.
"So...What are you two going to do now?" Aerith asked them.
"Is sector 7 far from here? We want to go to Tifa's bar." Cloud asked Aerith.
"Uhmm….Hello, I did walk there from here." Blaise said slightly offended he ignored he came through here.
"Do you remember the route?" Cloud asked in a monotone voice.
Blaise thought for a moment and realized something.
He didn't have a clue how he got there!
Seeing the realization on his face, Cloud continued. "There you go. With the state Tifa found you, it's only natural."
"Is…" Aerith started. "Tifa a girl?" Aerith asked innocently.
"Yeah." Cloud answered plainly.
" A girl...friend."
"G-girlfriend? No way!" Cloud spluttered. Blaise just laughed at the display and Aerith giggled.
"You don't have to get that upset…" Aerith then was in thought for a second.
"Let's see, Sector 7? I'll show you the way there" Cloud groaned at this.
"You gotta be kidding me, why do you want to put yourself in danger again?"
"I'm used to it." Aerith gave a simple reply. Cloud was surprised.
"Used to it!?" Cloud cried it out. "...I don't know...getting help from a girl." muttered Cloud.
"A girl!" Aerith yelled, she was clearly offended. "What do you mean by that!? You expect me to sit by and listen after hearing you say something like that!?" Before anyone could protest.
"Mom! I'm taking them to Sector 7, I'll be back soon!"
Elmyra came down the stairs.
"But dear…"She tried to protest but she give in. "I give up. "You never listen once you've made up your mind." Aerith smiled at this. "But if you must go why don't you go tomorrow? It's getting late."
At this Blaies checked his watch, and he was surprised that it was 19:46
"Yeah you're right mom." Aerith agreed.
"Aerith please go make the bed." Elmyra asked her, she nodded.
Elmyra then noticed Cloud's eyes.
"Those eyes… Sorry but were you in SOLDIER?" she asked Cloud.
He shrugged. "Rather I used to."
"I don't want to sound ungrateful, after you helped my daughter but." she hesitated for a second.
"Could you please leave before Aerith wakes up?" Blaise knew that it's impossible, because Aerith is a goddamn wizard, who'll wait for them.
"That's what I planned to do." Blaise spoke up, and looked at Cloud who nodded. "She already has enough on her plate."
"Thank you very much." She thanked them and both of them went upstairs.
They went upstairs, and Aerith finished tidying the bed.
"Sector 7 is through Sector 6. Sector 6 is a bit dangerous so you should rest up." Aerith warned us.
They were about the door to their rooms when Aerith spoke up again. "Cloud, Blaise." they turned around. "Good night."
"You too." Blaise said back.
Cloud turned to Blaise. "You take the bed I sleep on the floor."
Blaise wasn't going to argue. Cloud slept on the floor. "Night." Blaise said to Cloud, and they both were fast asleep.
Reno searched the slums to no avail. The target escaped, and he needs to report this to Tseng. To Hojo must to his pleasure. A few days ago something made the planet freakout, and he wants to find the cause of it. He made a device, that can detect of the who or what it caused if should a Turk come across it.
He was surprised by two things today.
One: A guy from the church, was able to recognize him.
Two: The device responded in the church. It was either of the two bodyguards.
'This is going to be a long night.' Reno thought in annoyance.
"Blaise wake up." Cloud shook Blaise awake. It was a dreamless sleep.
After he was woken up by Cloud, they tiptoed down the stairs and out of the house.
They met Aerith shortly after they exited the slums.
"Well you guys are up early." It's true, It was around 5 am.
Cloud shook his head in disbelief. "How could I ask you when it could be dangerous?"
Aeris gave a long sigh. "You done? Come I take you two to Sector 7." With that she went forward, and they followed.
While they were making their way on the cracked path they saw something which was slowly making it's way towards them.
Aerith cursed. "Hell house." She said and get her staff ready. Cloud and Blaise drew their weapons as well.
They decided to make a pre-emptive attack on the thing. Aerith had an Ice materia, so he used that, while Blaise and Cloud attacked it from opposite sides. After a slash or two it showed it's true form.
Cloud was able to dodge it's ramming attack. Blaise did too albeit narrowly.
The thrashing around continued, but as a final desperation attack, from the House.
He did a Suicide-drop on Blaise. He felt as the whole weight of crushing, him and slamming him to a wall.
His head was bleeding, and coughed up some blood as well. Cloud ended the creature's life by vertically slicing in two. Aerith quickly ran to him and a light blue energy formed in her hands. She used healing wind to stop the bleeding from him.
After a moment Blaise felt his wound heal and closing. He was fine but still had blood on him.
"You ok?" Asked a concerned Aerith. Blaise just smiled.
"Thanks to you yes." She then pulled out a handkerchief from her pockets.
"Hold still" and started cleaning the blood from his face. Blaise blushed.
"I-I can do this-s too you know." Blaise stuttered out.
"No need to be embarrassed about this." She said. "Wait, don't tell me it's because 'you're getting help from a girl'" Aerith pouted. Blaise snorted.
"I'm not a sexist." She smiled at this. She finished cleaning him and put it back into her pockets.
After a good ten minutes of walking they arrived at the Sector 7 entrance, and the playground.
While Cloud and Aerith were talking, Blaise's mind went somewhere else. He was leaning next to the slide. She looked at Aerith, and she had a sad look in his eyes. 'As if life laughs at me.' So far, Aerith reminded of her sister. The kind, smart nature of her sister. She didn't want to see the parallel. He doesn't know if his sister was left alive, or she met the same end as the rest of them did. 'And I will have to see her go away too?' he shook his head at that.
'FUCK . THAT!' he denied it. 'Even IF I have to take her place, there is no way in hell she will die!' but that fire quickly as it came died down. '...Yeah...Like I have the power to do that. So far nothing has changed. Everyone so far had to save my ass.' he was now looking dejectedly at the ground.
'What did I put down on the table?'
"...You ok?" Came the sudden concerned voice of Aerith.
"...I'll be...I hope." Blaise gave an honest answer. Before Aerith could pry about it a Chocobo came in with a Tifa on it's back. Aerith started to follow it to Wall Market.
"Wait!" Cloud shouted after her. "I go alone, you go home!" but she didn't listened.
One thing Blaise was sure about,
He won't cross-dress. Even if It would be funny to see Cloud in a dress, that double-edged sword doesn't worth it to him.
"Cloud!" Blaise got his attention. "You go get Tifa, I get back to Barret and ask him what we missed!" He nodded and headed off to Wall market, while Blaise went to Sector 7.
Blaise was sprinting to Tifa's bar. He bursted through the door, and everyone was shocked to see him, alive.
"Blaise!" they all exclaimed.
"Nah, I'm just a ghost!" He joked but their faces paled. "Kidding!"
"Where were you?" Barret asked.
"Me and Cloud fell down to Sector 5 slums church, we met a flower lady, helped her escape the turks, rested at her home, and saw Tifa on a chocobo wagon, and Cloud went after it while I came here to ask you what the fuck is going on." Blaise finished his quick recap on the events.
"We saw a guy spying on us, and told he was working for Don Corneo, Tifa went to interrogate the guy." Barret explained.
"Why would a Don spying on us?" Blaise asked the obvious, to keep up appearances.
"No clue, but I have a bad feeling about it." Barret told him.
"...Damn it, of course!" Blaise played as something clicked in him. They looked him in curiosity.
"He must be hired by Shinra!" Blaise exclaimed. "And, IF he already knows we are here…"
It clicked for Barret as for the rest. Their faces was horrified, and it made perfect sense for them the reason Corneo was snooping around here.. "Kid, you are a genius!" Barret praised.
"Wedge, Biggs, Jessie we need to prepared should Shinra come!" Barret ordered and everyone nodded. However they all looked outside. There was a helicopter coming.
'This will be my test!' Blaise thought. 'If I can even save an extra life from the crashing plates, I just may worth a damn!'
Aaand done for this chapter. Sorry it took an extra day, but was lazy to write on Saturday, and Sunday. In fact I just wrote the rest of the chapter from when they exit to the Church roof.
And I just realized I misspelled Jessie's name for two whole chapters ;(
See ya guys later!