Chapter Four: Platefall
The next morning, Reeve was up bright and early. It wasn't by choice, but nonetheless, he tried to be remotely cheerful. He went into his control room, shutting the door and letting the dampers shut out all outside sound. Pulling the curtains off of the window, he looked out at the city he designed. Pfffft. It was a gigantic rotting pizza, with misery and despair all around. He had thought Midgar would be a dream city, a shining triumph on the planet's surface. When he pictured something like that, the first image that came to mind was the Gold Saucer.
Reeve laughed. Midgar and the Gold Saucer were like polar opposites in everything. Still chuckling, he sat down at his desk and flipped the switch to power up Cait Sith. As the image through Cait's eyes popped up on screen, he picked up the microphone. "Good morning, Aeri."
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Zack woke up Sephiroth and Cloud extra early, bouncing around in anticipation. When Cloud made a bleary grab for bread and the ancient toaster they owned, Zack grabbed him around the waist and dragged him away.
"Aerith promised she'd fix us a real breakfast!" he cheered. "Up and attum, Seph!" he shouted at the silver haired man. Zack pretty much dragged his two friends out the door, into the gray morning. Even the glaring noonday sun mostly was blocked by the plate. The scenery never changed, except to get dark at night. Zack led them through the tunnel into Sector 5. Sector 5 had most of the nice architecture, including the church Aerith lived in. Sector 8 was where the people who weren't quite wealthy enough to live on the plate were, including Elmyra Gainsborough. Sector 6 was Wall Market, which most self-respecting people avoided like the plague. Sector 7's only claim to fame was the Seventh Heaven, famous for it's excellent service and feisty bartender. The last time someone had gone in there looking to rob it, they'd been sent to the hospital with three broken ribs and a concussion.
"Seph, you're falling behind!" Zack cried.
"I don't want it to look like I'm actually with you two exploded porcupines." Sephiroth said dryly. Zack raised an eyebrow. Cloud had the most awful bed hair imaginable, with his blond spikes going in every direction, and Zack's hair looked like... well... Zack's unruly black spikes looked like they always did. His normal hair and bed hair were one and the same. Sephiroth was the only one who's hair looked relatively nice.
"I'm not... porcupine..." Cloud was, at best, still half asleep. Sephiroth took pity on him and let Cloud lean against him. "Zack... y'ra meanie..." His eyes started to close, and Sephiroth shook him awake again.
"We're almost there, Cloud." Sephiroth said, shooting a jade glare of death at Zack. Zack nodded, leading them around the corner and face-to-face with an old church. He went up and knocked on the thick wooden door. It opened almost immediately. Cloud woke up instantly at the smell of food coming from inside. A girl with long brown hair plaited into a braid, wearing a simple pink dress, smiled warmly at them.
"Hi, Zack." she said softly.
"Aerith!" Zack seized the girl in a tight hug. When he set her down again, he motioned to Cloud and Sephiroth. "My friends, roommates, whatever you want to call them."
"All right. Hello. You must be Cloud and Sephiroth." Aerith shook hands with them. "Would you like to come in?"
As they followed Aerith into the church, Cloud looked around interestedly. In the main room, most of the pews were still standing, although some of the old wooden benches were rotting away. Near where the altar would have stood, a large part of the wooden floor had been ripped up, leaving bare earth. Flowers grew in this small area; Wutainese lilies and honeysuckle. Aerith obviously took good care of the flowers for them to grow under the plate. Columns had fallen here and there, creating interesting ramps and ledges. Cloud figured you could get to the roof if you tried. Aerith led them to the rooms in the back. Cloud caught a glimpse of a bed and dresser through one door, before they entered the kitchen.
"I made blueberry pancakes." Aerith said. She set out the food on the kitchen table, commanding the boys to sit down.
"Thank you so much." Cloud said, taking a bite.
"Yes. Zack tells me all the time that's you're the best cook out of the three of you, Cloud. Did anyone teach you?" Aerith asked, pouring milk and sitting down beside Zack.
Cloud shook his head. Zack grinned and chimed in, "He can make gruel taste good!"
"Zack, for the last time, it's SOUP!"
"Both of you please just shut the hell up." Sephiroth grumbled. Aerith laughed.
"You certainly act like real brothers." Aerith noted, eating her own pancakes. Zack stuck his tongue out at Sephiroth, who glared pointedly at him. Cloud ignored them both, finishing his pancakes and milk.
When breakfast was done, they were sitting and chatting in the main room. Aerith asked about life in Sector 4, and how it was different than Sector 5.
"Well," Cloud began. "Most of the buildings in Sector 4 are just ruins. Like the one we live in. We had to patch nearly everything to make it livable. These buildings are more whole." Aerith nodded. Next she asked how they felt about the plate. "The plate sucks."
"It blocks all nature." Sephiroth said. "This is the only place in the city where I've seen anything alive. Although, there's a way up to the plate from Sector 4."
Zack gaped. "There is?"
"Yes. I found it a long time ago. It's for emergencies." Sephiroth mumbled. Cloud knew he meant that he'd used it to get down when he'd run away from Shinra. He didn't press the subject, and Aerith didn't seem inclined to either.
"It sounds like Sector 4 is not so bad, compared to some of the other sectors." Aerith said. All of them immediately cringed, thinking of Wall Market. "I wonder if..." She was interrupted by a polite knock on the door. "Come in!" she called.
The door at the front of the church opened, and a tall man came in and walked to the back. He was wearing a nice suit and tie, and his semi-long black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail. He looked like he was from Wutai, or Wutainese decent. Aerith bounced up to give him a hug immediately.
"I apologize, Aerith. I did not realize you had company." he said politely. Aerith shook her head.
"It's okay, Tseng! This is my boyfriend, Zack, and his roommates." All three of the boys reeled back in sheer surprise. Tseng? The leader of the Turks? Did Aerith know who she was talking to?
Zack recovered first, saying, "So this is your friend from above the plate? Nice to meet you. I'm Zackary Donovan." He shook Tseng's hand.
Cloud stood. "Cloud Strife, sir."
Sephiroth looked infinitely uncomfortable as he shook Tseng's hand. "I'm Sephiroth... Crescent. Sephiroth Crescent." He hesitated a moment before the last name. Realizing that if anyone from Shinra was going to recognize him, they'd know him by his first name anyway, he shook Tseng's hand unafraid.
"A pleasure to meet you." Tseng said politely. "Aerith, would you and your friends like to accompany me up to the plate?"
"Really, Tseng? That would be wonderful." Aerith said. She turned to Zack and was about to ask him if he would come, when the bedroom door swung open. The robotic stuffed cat, Cait Sith, tumbled out, looking as flustered as a stuffed animal could. Aerith hurried over and scooped him up. "Cait, what's the matter?"
Zack, Cloud, and Sephiroth blinked as she talked to the toy. They were even more surprised when it responded. "Aeri, I've got bad news! The Turks found AVALANCHE, and are going to drop the Sector 7 plate!"
"What?" Aerith exclaimed. She missed the death glare that Tseng shot at the plushie. "But... so many people will die!"
"I don't know, Aeri!" Cait wailed, distressed. "It's too late!"
Cloud suddenly straightened, going pale. "TIFA!" He dashed from the church, determined to reach his friend. Sephiroth was bodily shoved out of the way of the door, and the spiky blonde head of hair was gone.
"SPIKE! YOU CAN'T GET THERE IN TIME! COME BACK!" Zack hollered after him, but Cloud ignored him, running on. "Come on, Seph, we have to catch him!" Zack sprinted after his friend, Sephiroth close behind. Tseng glared at the plushie, as Aerith followed the two.
"I'll deal with you later." he murmured, before following the group.
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Cloud raced through the tunnel that led to Sector 7. He had to get to Seventh Heaven, before...
He grabbed a boy, running past, and said breathlessly, "Tell everyone you can, to get to another Sector, now. The Turks are going to blow the plate." The boy nodded, frightened, and ran off. Cloud thought to himself with a dry laugh that the upper plate was probably already evacuated. He turned down a side street, and saw AVALANCHE running towards him.
"Platefall!" Jessie shouted. "I recognize an explosive like that anywhere!"
"We gotta go!" The man he assumed was Barrett Wallace said. He carried a young girl tightly to him, his daughter, Marlene. Cloud nodded, catching Tifa's hand and running back in the direction of the tunnel. They were close, a few blocks away, when a horrendous explosion ripped through the air. As one, they turned to look, seeing the fireball blossoming around the support pillar. The plate shuddered, the one section of it starting to slip from its' space.
"RUN!" Wedge shouted, pushing them all forward. Cloud turned and promptly crashed into someone.
"Zack, Sephiroth!" Tifa cried. Zack motioned for them to run. Most people were heading the opposite way, towards Sector 8, because even in a time of crisis they wanted to avoid Wall Market. As they ran for their lives towards the tunnel to Sector 6, a huge cracking sound was heard. Biggs pointed up, to where a bit of the steel plate had fallen. It was like slow motion. The steel fell, hit the top of a building, and knocked a large chunk of stone off of it. The stone fell, well, like a stone. It hit the ground just behind the group, trapping the leg of Wedge, who had tripped over some debris. Jessie and Biggs immediately broke off to help him.
"Go on!" Jessie yelled. "We'll get it off and follow!" She and Biggs began to slowly shift the rock off of Wedge's mangled leg. They stared a moment, but Sephiroth and Barrett forced them to go on. They were ten feet from the tunnel when the plate dropped.
Jessie's last view was of Wedge's smiling face.
"Thanks, Jess." he said. "I was starting to worry that we wouldn't make it." Jessie smiled back at him, tilting her head up to look at the plate. She looked over, seeing the others nearly to the tunnel, and then took Wedge's hand to pull him up. That was the last move she made. At that moment, the plate fell.
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Li: So sad! But alas, I had to... On another note, no one got a Rufus plushie! Sorry guys. At least I updated for you. As usual, it might be a long while to the next chapter. But I've gotten up through chapter 14 in note form on paper. Yay for me. And as Last Order looms ever nearer, one question remains... What will I do with Zack? Hehe...
EDIT: Not much to change here, just some grammar. Still, one closer to being done!