Final Fantasy
Project VII
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Chapter II-Search & Rescue
Thirty-Three Years Later...
It was finally over... The bloodiest war since the Wutai War between Shinra seventeen years ago. So many people lost their lives on that fateful day of Omega's awakening. Now that the fight against Deepground was over, the real struggle began... picking back up their lives and starting over once more.
The same was true for all the members of AVALANCHE. Cloud Strife and Vincent Valentine were no exceptions. Cloud was waist deep in debt and bills. The delivery service had fallen into a five tear slump ever since the Deepground Crisis in Midgar five years ago. It was getting harder each day for Tifa and Cloud to keep bar in Edge stocked and open as well as the fuel cost for the delivery service. Reeve had caught wind of the Ex-SOLDIER's struggle and gave him several loans to help Cloud get back on his feet again and pay off bills. Throughout the last five years, Cloud was sent on various missions as sort of 'favors'; mostly just search and rescue. He had hoped that this would be his last mission/favor and he would be able to get back to the things that mattered to him most. His family and friends, but like usual, work seemed to rear its ugly head especially when when Tifa didn't want it. Cloud often incurred the wrath of an angry Tifa whenever he ran off on those mission/favors.
Reeve called him one day, asking him to help out with an investigation in the Deepground base underneath Midgar. In particular, Reactor Zero. He claimed there might possible survivors or remnant forces still trapped inside. Cloud, slightly irked by the request, accepted it. This time, Reeve promised to call it even. Tifa was certainly not please with Reeve's request, or the fact that Cloud gave into Reeve's request so quickly. His only excuse... "We owe him." Cloud was basically just returning the favor. A favor he and Tifa didn't much care for. As for Vincent, he lost everything. The initial attack in Kalm left his apartment a smoldering mess of charred wood and broken glass. Over the next five years, he lived with Tifa and Cloud while he did some bounty hunting on the side to pay bills and feed himself. Then he remembered Shinra Manor. The building had been long since abandoned since Sephiroth burned the town to the ground seventeen years ago. Only problem was, it was in need of some major repairs and everybody was busy putting their lives back together. Everybody except Yuffie. She seemed more than happy to help. His restoration project was put on hold when Reeve called him back into action.
There were several thoughts running through Cloud's mind while he drove though the ruined city of Midgar, but the ones that kept repeating themselves were I'm so tired of fighting. I just want to live out the rest of my life in peace with Tifa, but every time I get settled in, something breaks out and I have to take care of it. This is my last mission Tifa. I promise.
Vincent was already waiting for him at the old Shinra building in the heart of Midgar. He seemed a lot more content than usual and a bit more social, too. "Vincent, how are things back in Kalm?" "A bit better. Manged to get a few things gathered up." "What are doing after this?" "Yuffie's helping me work on the mansion in Nibelheim after we finish this." "Yuffie? I thought you couldn't stand her?" "True, but she's the only one that volunteered to help." With that, they set off into the ruins of Shinra's former headquarters. Cloud and Vincent spent the next several hours trudging through the rubble of the abandoned Shinra building in their attempt to reach the president's elevator. Cloud was the first to break the overwhelming silence that hung in the air. "Kind of quiet don't you think, Vince?" "I believe that's because nobody's trying to kill us this time." "Yeah, it's... wait. Did you just make a- ". Vincent quickly shot back "It's sarcasm. It doesn't count." he said as kicked in a door that led to the Deepground elevator.
After a lengthy ride down the elevator, they arrived at the entrance of the Deepground base. Cloud almost strained his neck looking at the enormous entrance in front of him. "Wow, that's a bit excessive. How did you ever manage to get it open last time." Vincent strode over to a small panel on the side of the door. "Like this." with a press of a button, a thick, black, cloud of smoke hissed from the door as it groaned to life and slowly opened. "Smart ass."
Inside, they found what seemed to be the ruins of a large city. "To think that there was an entire city hidden fi plain sight. Do you think this city might have been Midgar before the plates were set up?" "Maybe. Who knows, but lets discuss about this later. We have a good ten to fifteen kilometers before we reach the reactor." They began their journey through the ruins of the underground city. The former streets of the city were still littered with fallen Deepground soldiers and various machines. All of them, Vincent's own handy work. Many people didn't believe that all those soldiers here, a whole organization consisting of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, fell at the hands of one man and the demons that he carried inside of him for thirty years. Now here they were, searching for possible survivors in this mess, but from the looks of things out here, they probably weren't going to be successful.
Cloud and Vincent finally reached the fabled Reactor Zero. The mako reactor that started the trend that drained the very life from the planet itself. "Vincent, lets take a break. We've been walking for twelve hours and my feet are killing me." "What about the fiends down here?" "Don't worry, Tifa packed a tent for us, just in case." Cloud set the insanely heavy backpack on the floor and began unzipping the vast amounts of compartments, searching for it. "This is the last time I let Tifa pack for me." Cloud set up the tent and unrolled a couple of sleeping bags. "Which one of the sleeping bags do you want, Vincent?" "You go ahead, I'll stand guard." "You sure?" "I've been asleep for thirty years. I'll be fine." "Okay then. Goodnight." Cloud crawled into the tent and zipped it closed.
For once, Cloud's usual nightmares didn't come to haunt him. Instead he found himself in a dark, empty room filled with the sounds of sobbing and crying."Please... somebody help me... Mom... Dad... I'm scared."Confused, he answered back to the mysterious voice Hello? Is someone there? "I... I just want to go home." Where are you? "I don't know. It's so dark. I can't see" Hang on. Cloud started running the direction of the sobs for seemed like forever. A man appeared in a flurry of black feathers. "The gift... is mine and mine alone. Stay away... if you value your friends' and family's lives." The man then vanished in that same flurry of feathers as if he were never there. The sobs died out as well. Cloud was left scratching his head, wondering What the hell was that? And what kind of gift was he talking about?
A loud ringing from Cloud's alarm on his cell phone brought him back to reality. He lazily stretched and groaned, still groggy and a little sore from the trek through the city. "Vincent, you still there." A simple reply of "Yeah" came from outside the tent. Cloud unzipped the tent and crawled out of it, yawning. "Get enough sleep?" "Yeah."Cloud lied. "So where do want to start?" "We'll start from the bottom and work our way up. Do you still have the Life-Cam?" Cloud reached in and pulled out what seemed to be a small video camera and flicked a switch on the back of it. "What's this supposed to do again?" "Its supposed to be able to pick up human life signs." Cloud pointed it in the direction of the reactor. A small blip appeared over the map of the reactor on the screen. "Looks like we got a hit. It looks like it's coming from the second floor. It's weak though. Picking up a lot of fiend activity there too." Vincent was already loading his prized weapon, the Cerberus. "Lets hurry then." Vincent had a good feeling the fiends were getting restless. They were about to enter one of their nests.
On the second floor of the reactor, the fiends broke the silence and started their attack. One of the fiends launched itself at Cloud, teeth bared and claws ready to rip into flesh, only to be met by one of Cloud's many swords. He blocked the attacked and bisected the fiend like a hot knife through butter. "Never gets old, does it Vincent?" Vincent spun around and fired several shot in the dark. Two fiends skidded across the floor beside him, dead. The other fiends took notice and started backing away slowly, still snarling at the two. "Looks like they're backing down." "At least for now... let's go before they try again." Vincent replied as finished reloading his pistol. Cloud nodded and started walking in the direction of the signal. The signal led them to a door marked PRIVATE. "The signal's coming from inside the room. Vincent, cover me."
Vincent gave him a slight nod. Cloud gripped the doorknob and pushed it in slowly, one hand gripped firmly on his sword and the other on the door. Cloud gazed in.
Instead of finding the usual desk stacked with papers inside, Cloud and Vincent stumbled upon what seemed to be a small research lab of some sort. Two sides down the length of the lab were lined with large cylindrical glass tubes. "These look like stasis tubes." Cloud shined a small spotlight on one of the tubes along the wall. "Looks like they haven't been used lately." Out in the far corner of the room, one of the tubes seemed to be still occupied. It was the only one that was still lit and was probably what gave the room that eerie mako glow.
Vincent was the first to notice "Cloud, you might want to take a look at this." Cloud stepped lightly over the broken glass to the far corner of the room. He jerked back suddenly at what he saw. It was a woman, but it wasn't any ordinary woman. She bore the silver locks of the devil himself, Sephiroth. The woman was slenderly built and slightly taller than average. Her complexion was pale, almost snow white, probably due to the lack of sunlight for so long. Vincent started looking around for a computer. "Hojo must have been working on a separate project during the Deepground crisis." Cloud noticed a plate etched with writing on the side of the tube. "I don't think so. Plate says she's been down here a good while. At least thirty- something years." Inhuman screams filled the reactor once more. The fiends were becoming restless again. No doubt that there would be more this time around. "Vincent, time to go. You find the control panel?" "Yeah, Shelke's just about has it." A beep confirmed the release. Simultaneously the locks opened on the tube, followed by hiss as tube slid up. Water drained out the bottom. "Vincent, I need your cape." "..." "I need it. The girl... she's naked. Please?" Cloud said red-faced, trying to look away. Vincent reluctantly unbuckled his cape and tossed to Cloud. Cloud quickly wrapped her up in it and picked her up. "Now lets the hell out of here!"
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A/N: Enjoy it? Yes? No? Tell me... if you dare.