Chapter Five: Dirge for the Fallen
Reeve was in his control room, watching the plume of smoke rise from what was now the ruins of Sector 7. He had not approved of such drastic action just to get rid of a rumored rebellion. All of the innocent people that had been killed would not help to improve the public's view of the Shinra company. He glanced at the screen, where Cait Sith was on standby, watching for any sign of the group's return. He hoped with all of his being that they hadn't gone running into Sector 7. If they had... Reeve didn't want to think about it. They weren't dead. They couldn't be.
The door to his control room swung open, startling him. No one ever came in here. The brass plate on the door reading "Reeve Tuesti" glinted in the light from the window. He had moved it from the door of his office, since he spent much more time in here. He squinted against the light as it was harshly reflected into his eyes, trying to see who his unwelcome visitor was.
"Tseng. Good to see you." he said, attempting to be polite. The Wutainese Turk looked at him calmly.
"Reeve... Why did you tell them the plate was being brought down?" Tseng asked. "They didn't need to know that." He himself was friends with Aerith. He had known her for a long time, ever since Professor Hojo had asked him to capture her. She was the last living Cetra, and Hojo wanted to study her. Tseng became friends with the young woman, and had been keeping her away from Hojo. If she died...
"They deserved to know. The blonde-haired boy had friends in Sector 7. He had a right to try and save them." Reeve said. Tseng sighed.
"You may have killed them all." he said quietly, turning to leave. Reeve paled. Was Tseng implying that they hadn't survived platefall?
"Oh, Shiva..." he breathed. He looked back at the screen showing Cait Sith's view. "Damn it..." He was attached to Aerith too. He had been assigned to spy on her since she was little, through Cait. He had grown up with her, and the thought of her dead was too much to bear. Reeve grabbed his coffee, trying to calm his nerves. He'd just have to wait and see.
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"Cloud? Cloud? Oh, Shiva, Spike... Don't be dead..."
Cloud was woken by a voice, calling his name. He groaned in pain, feeling like his whole body was one giant ache. He was aware of lying next to Zack, his friend's arms securely around him. He blinked, blearily opening filmy blue eyes. "Zack...?"
"Thank the gods!" Zack said. He pulled Cloud into a sitting position, letting the younger boy lean against him. Cloud looked around. Tifa was sitting against the wall, wrapping a bandage around her ankle. Barrett was trying to calm the hysterical four-year-old that was his daughter Marlene. A completely unharmed Aerith was kneeling by Sephiroth, trying to see if he was all right. Zack reached into his pocket, his other arm still around Cloud, and pulled out a small, glowing orb.
"Zack... Is that... Cure materia?" Materia was forbidden in the slums, for many reasons. One being Shinra's fear that the people would use it against them.
"Yes. I took it from a Shinra guard." Zack ignored the disapproving glance from Sephiroth and held it up. "We need it more than he does. Let me see your back, Spike." Cloud abruptly realized that his back hurt. He pulled up his shirt, finding a huge gash on his back. "You got hit with debris." Zack explained. That was when Cloud noticed that they had made it to the tunnel. Zack cast the Cure spell, and Cloud felt healing warmth covering his back. Zack gently probed the injury, making sure it was fully healed, before getting up and going over to tend Tifa's ankle. Cloud leaned against the wall, eyes roving over the group.
"We aren't all here." he murmured. Tifa glanced up.
"Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie didn't make it." she said sadly. "Ow!" Zack had prodded her ankle a bit to hard. "They got caught under the plate. There's no way..."
Cloud closed his eyes, wishing that they could have done more. If they had, maybe the others would still be alive now. Sephiroth sat up, Aerith apparently satisfied with the state of his health, and glared at Zack. "You know Shinra will come after you for the materia. Food, sure. But materia? That's a serious crime."
"No one will ever know it was me. The only ones who know are you guys. And you aren't going to tell." Zack laughed, slipping it back into his pocket and coming over to sit beside Cloud. He looped an arm over the smaller boy's shoulders, hugging him close. "It wasn't your fault, Spike. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"Just someone else I couldn't save... like my whole hometown..." Cloud mumbled. Zack rested his chin on top of Cloud's head, trying to comfort him.
"Cloud... Shhhh..." Zack murmured. "You need to stop beating yourself up over that, Otouto. You're family, now. Seph's and mine." Cloud buried his face in Zack's shoulder, and Zack let him. Knowing that Cloud still had emotional scars from the burning of his hometown, he just sat and let Cloud absorb whatever comfort he needed. Aerith finally offered hesitantly, "You can come back to my church." Tifa shook her head.
"Nah..." she said. "Barrett and I will be fine. They didn't know who the members of AVALANCHE were specifically. We will fight on!"
"Damn straight." Barrett added, not minding to curse since Marlene had fallen asleep. "We'll show those Shinra bastards who rules here! The people, not their damn suits and Turks and fancy damn SOLDIERs."
"All right!" Zack said, trying to be cheerful in light of the circumstances. Tifa nodded, heading out into Sector 6 with Barrett close behind, carrying Marlene. Zack stood, helping Cloud to his feet, and nodded to Aerith, telling her that they would accept her offer. Aerith led the way back to the church, and a joyous stuffed animal was there to greet them.
"You're alive, Aeri!" it yelped. Aerith scooped up Cait, hugging it.
"Yep." She set the plushie down, only to be hugged from behind by Zack.
"You are an angel." Zack laughed. Aerith turned red and tried to squirm away. Zack kissed her on the cheek and released her, glancing at his friends. "We survived, and that's what's important."
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Reno couldn't believe his ears.
"What the hell? You dropped the Sector 7 plate?" Reno howled at Rude. "You crushed the Seventh Heaven! How am I supposed to get plastered now, yo?"
"It's your own fault." Rude said, his expression betraying no emotion. Reno gaped like a fish. Rude was almost amused, as the color suddenly drained from his face.
"Damn... I didn't... when I was drunk... Did I?" When Rude nodded, Reno cursed colorfully. "Damn it! But why the fuck did you have to tell Tseng and Rufus? AVALANCHE is minor. Why are you so scared of them?"
"They have the people behind them. If they began to lead, people would follow, whether they realize it or not. How could you know for so long and not tell? That could be considered traitorous." Reno was too worked up to answer the question.
"Rude, all those innocent people! What the fuck were you thinking? What the fuck was RUFUS thinking?" Reno yelled.
"You're a Turk, act like it." was all Rude said as he walked out the door. Reno cursed for long moments into the empty apartment, before going to get his dinner.
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The following day, they held a memorial for the lost AVALANCHE members in Aerith's church. Zack had carved small pictures into stones, setting them up beside the flower garden. An image of a pistol for Wedge, a grenade for Jessie, and a Fire materia for Biggs.
"Jessie... Biggs... Wedge..." Tifa sniffed unhappily, clinging to Cloud's arm. She had met them just after arriving in Midgar. Just like Cloud had found family with Sephiroth and Zack, Tifa had found family with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge. Cloud patted her on the back comfortingly. Aerith walked up to the front of the room, touched the carved stones gently, and began to speak.
"We are here to honor three brave souls who gave their lives in the fight against Shinra. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, even though I personally knew them for only a short time, were some of the bravest people I know. When Wedge was trapped, Jessie and Biggs could have kept going, and they would be here now. But they showed a loyalty that only the kindest people possess, and went back to aid him. I'm sure that if it had been any of us, they would have stayed to help. Let us pray to Gaia, that they are at peace in the Lifestream."
Tifa clung to Cloud's arm, crying quietly. Zack hugged Aerith. Barrett even let some tears run down his face. Cloud snuck a glance at Sephiroth, shocked to see tears glimmering in his jade eyes. He wasn't crying, specifically, but he had definitely been moved to some form of emotion. Aerith moved to lay some picked flowers against the makeshift tombstones, and Tifa burst into sobs.
It was much later, when Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack had gone back to their home in Sector 4. Cloud had immediately thrown himself in one of their old, squashy armchairs. Sephiroth sat down more decorously, and Zack turned on the radio.
"The investigation into what caused the tragic fall of the Sector 7 plate has been halted under orders from the Shinra Company. No comment was offered as to why, but it is estimated that the death toll will reach..." Zack turned the radio off again.
"The death toll doesn't matter." Sephiroth said quietly. "We lost three important people today. Hearing of anyone else will just add to the sorrow. We know people died. Why does it matter how many?"
"Shinra bastards have stopped the investigation on purpose." Zack growled. "Their own Turks blew the damn pillar. They don't want anyone finding out." Cloud stared blankly into the glow of the small lamp. Zack got up and pulled Cloud into a hug, saying softly, "Cloud, it wasn't your fault. They went back to get Wedge. Wedge would be dead now anyway. There wasn't time. Jessie and Biggs chose to die with him, rather than let him go alone. If you had helped, you would be dead too, Cloud."
Cloud whimpered, so not acting his age, but unable to help himself. "I'm sick of not being able to help anyone. I'm sick of people dying in front of me, around me, for me, when I can't save them."
"I know, Otouto." Zack murmured. "You can't keep drowning in guilt, though. In fact, you can't drown at all. We'd either starve, or I'd poison us. Since Seph and I can't cook, you know." Cloud choked on a laugh, a brief smile lighting his face. Zack grinned triumphantly. He had succeeded in dragging Cloud out of his sorrow, for the moment. Sephiroth had watched the entire scene with mild amusement. His adopted younger brothers complemented each other perfectly: Cloud to mope and Zack to make him stop. He smiled, watching them, but in his minds eye seeing another time and place, and other children playing.
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Reeve grumbled upsetly as he left the control room for his office. What did Tseng want again? He hadn't read the memo all the way. He stormed down the hall. Cait Sith was "taking a nap", at least in Aerith's eyes. When he reached his office, he opened the door, finding the Turk already seated in the chair near his desk. Reeve came in, sitting in his high-backed chair (a gift from Rufus), and looking at Tseng expectantly.
"We need you to do us a favor." Tseng said. "You are familiar with Sephiroth, ne?"
"Who isn't?" Reeve said in surprise. "He blew up half the science building to get out of here. Who could forget?"
"He will be coming here shortly." Tseng said. "We are leaving him a note. We need you to tell us where we can leave it so he will find it. You see him when you observe Aerith, right?"
"Hai... How will you get him to come? I doubt he would readily come back here." Tseng smiled. He reached into a folder on his lap, withdrawing a single picture and holding it up. Reeve peered at it, and pulled back in surprise. "They're... They..."
"You recognize them, ne?" Tseng said, with a satisfied smirk. Seeing the question in Reeve's eyes, he added, "Yes, they are here. If anything can make him come back to us, they will." The Turk stood, sliding the picture back into the crisp manilla folder and smiling slightly. "Good day, Reeve." He was gone. Reeve sat back in his chair in shock. What the hell was going on?
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Li: Hi, guys. Sorry for the long wait. Three more weeks of summer and then it's back to school and school laptop. Yay! Anyway, this was basically just a filler chapter. The plot is moving, just kinda slow right now.
Oh, and as for the Japanese... I won't use a lot, just a little. Here's translations for so far:
hai - yes
Otouto - little brother, what Zack calls Cloud occasionally.
Next chapter will hopefully be up shortly after school starts. Sooner if I can manage. See you next chapter!