Chapter Fourteen: Junon
If Midgar were a blot of pollution on the surface of the Planet, covered up with a shiny piece of tinfoil to hide its' ugliness, then Junon was Midgar's smaller counterpart. The original fishing village was hidden away beneath the 'Upper City', Shinra's military headquarters. In this case, the piece of tinfoil was not quite as big. While Shinra could ignore the slums, hidden away and separate from the plate, in Junon only military personnel lived on the base. Everyone else lived in the city below. It was a dull, impoverished city. Due to the pollution from the underwater Mako reactor, the fish had begun to die out, cutting of the city's main supply of income. Now, it was just a step or two above the Midgar Slums.
It was this scene that greeted the small AVALANCHE team as they entered Junon for the first time. They looked around briefly, taking in all the sights, before Barrett finally commented, "Did we even leave Midgar? Hell, this looks about the same!"
"It's better than the slums." Cloud said quietly, but his heart wasn't in it. Was everywhere the same? Was there nowhere that Shinra hadn't tainted and twisted into a mockery of normal life? He sighed, saying, "Well, let's hunt for any clues of Sephiroth we can find."
They split up, heading in different directions to speak to the city's inhabitants. It was a slow day, so most of the citizens were willing to talk. They had no idea that the scruffy people they were speaking to were anything more than travelers. They didn't realize it was the famous, or infamous in some cases, AVALANCHE.
All together, they learned that Rufus Shinra was planning to set sail for Costa del Sol that evening on his ship. He was going for an extended vacation, apparently, to relieve the stress of taking over the company. Of course he would have a few stowaways. AVALANCHE didn't have the money to take a real ship to the resort city, so, as Cloud put it: "It's the least Shinra can do. They can repay us for locking us up." With much sarcasm included, of course. The only question that remained was how to get up to the military base to actually sneak onto the ship.
They were walking around Junon, looking for an inn or café where they could sit and work out their plans. As they walked, children raced around, playing in the alleys and ruined buildings. It reminded them of Midgar, where children ran wild, orphans and family-bound alike, lacking any other place to play. They discussed their plans in low voices, but a child still came running up to them and asked cheerily, "Do you wanna get to the base?"
Barrett looked ready to say something angry to the child, probably full of profanity, but Aerith shushed him and knelt.
"Yes, but we don't want the Shinra to find us." she explained in a gentle voice. "Do you know a way up that we could use?"
The little girl shook her head, and there was a general feeling of disappointment throughout AVALANCHE. But then she looked up, and proclaimed, "Our Princess does!"
Cloud blinked. "Princess?"
"Yeah! She leads all of us kids!" the girl said happily. "Do you want to meet her?"
"Yes, please." Aerith asked. The girl grabbed her hand.
"I'm Julie! Come on, I'll show you!"
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They were led through the twisting streets of Junon, past abandoned buildings, through alleys almost too small to fit through, and around corners you couldn't even see until you were right on top of them. Julie pulled on Aerith's hand, letting go to move an enormous piece of plywood out of the way of a door. Cloud blinked at it, a faint memory stirring. Oy, Seph, don't scare us like that… It took forever to find a piece of plywood big enough for that doorway…The words were accompanied by the beginnings of a familiar migraine, so Cloud abandoned the thought, focusing instead on where they were being led. Julie scrambled through the doorway, and motioned them all to follow.
"I'm back!" she cried, running into the large courtyard in the center of four abandoned buildings. Several children playing looked up at her, but it was a sixteen-year-old girl casually throwing knives at a target that stopped and came over to them.
"Julie!" she reprimanded. "Grown-ups? You're not supposed to bring them here!"
"Sorry!" Julie said. "They were talking about how they want to get up to the base, and I know you know a way up…"
"Really?" Now the girl looked interested. She turned, calling to the other kids, "Guys? I'm going in! There's some people I hafta talk to!"
The children looked up. "Yes, Princess!"
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"So, you wanna go to Shinra's military base? Why?" The girl had taken them inside one of the buildings, and they were currently sitting around a large, comfortably furnished sitting area. This building had once been an inn, a long time ago. She brushed back her dark, chin-length hair and stared at them with wide eyes. "Who would wanna go up there EVER?"
"We need passage to Costa del Sol, and we're going to sneak aboard Shinra's ship." Cloud explained. The girl gasped.
"You're going to sneak onto a Shinra ship? Wow!" she gushed. "That's so cool!" She held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Yuffie. I lead the children of Junon, as of now."
"As of now?" Cloud queried, shaking her hand.
Yuffie nodded. "I got to this city myself only about six months ago. I'm the oldest here without parents, so they kinda adopted me as their leader! Isn't that cool?" There was a faint murmur of agreement from AVALANCHE, almost halfheartedly, and Yuffie grinned. "Stay here tonight, no Shinra or grown-ups at all come here. You can rest, and tomorrow we'll break into the base!"
Cloud couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, accepting her offer gratefully. They all took rooms in the abandoned inn, rooms where children weren't already staying, and then the boys went to sleep. Tifa and Aerith remained, talking to Yuffie.
"So why are you here?" Aerith asked the girl. She seemed very young to be taking care of all these children.
"I was on a quest for materia, but I kinda decided to stay here for a while." Yuffie admitted. Aerith seemed confused.
"Materia?"
"Yes! Materia, so that I can…!" She caught herself, amending quickly, "So I can become a stronger ninja!" She sighed. "I wanna make my dad happy, and proud of me."
"That's a good goal." Aerith said. "I hope you succeed."
Yuffie seemed to be weighing a thought. She sat quietly for almost a full minute, before blurting, "Can I come with you all?"
"You don't even know where we're going!" Tifa exclaimed. She and Aerith were thinking the same thing. Even if this girl was sixteen, and a 'ninja', they could not involve a child in this. "And what about the children?"
"Oh, there are others who led before I came. I can find 'em and ask 'em to lead again. That simple!" Yuffie smiled. "No problem at all!"
"But…" Aerith tried to say, but Tifa held out a hand to stop her.
"It's all right. I like her spirit. If anything, she'll be able to 'become a stronger ninja' by coming along." Tifa glanced at Yuffie. "But this is on one condition. If, at any point, we ask you to leave, you must do as we ask. It's for your own safety." If we find Sephiroth, and things go badly, we can't involve her…
"Awright!" Yuffie cheered, and both girls couldn't help but giggle at the ninja/thief's antics. Both shared a look, imagining the expression on Cloud's face in the morning when he discovered that they'd picked up a new companion for their strange quest.
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Cloud had blinked tiredly at them, simply shaking his head in exasperation when they told him the news. He asked Yuffie quietly, "So, where is this secret way into the base?"
Yuffie grinned, leading them out of the ring of buildings and into the city. She made a beeline for the waterfront, where an abandoned well stood silently. "It's a bit damp, but it's an excellent passage!"
"We're supposed to climb down that?" Cait Sith demanded. "I'll get wet! I can't get wet!" Aerith shushed her toy, instead peering down into the well. It didn't seem very deep, but the stones were covered with moss and lingering damp. A layer of water could be seen at the bottom. Yuffie assured them that it wasn't very deep, but they looked less than thrilled. It was a slippery climb to the bottom, but they found that the water did indeed only rise to their knees. Footing was treacherous, as a wrong step would find them slipping and landing on their behinds. Yuffie led the way, a flashlight held in her grip, as the others followed. The tunnel went on for a long time, before it gradually began to angle up. The water got lower, till it merely splashed like puddles when they stepped in it. Yuffie stopped beside a ladder and pointed up.
"This comes up in a storeroom. We can filch some uniforms from there and go in disguise." She scurried upwards, thief-like quickness coming in handy. Once all were up, (although no one was really sure how Red made it) they sat down on some crates, attempting to dry the bottoms of their pants, as well as socks and shoes, before searching for uniforms that fit. It wasn't hard. There were uniforms of every shape and size, for all types of people. Tifa and Aerith coiled their hair and tucked it under their hats, trying to semi-disguise the fact that they were women. There were women employees, but the less attention the group received, the better. Aerith found a large duffel bag and arranged Cait Sith in it. There was nothing to be done about Red, he was too large and heavy to be stuffed in a duffel bag, but he didn't exactly look normal either. They decided to just go with it, and if anyone asked them a question, they'd bluff their way out.
They ventured out into the hallways of the base. Inside, it didn't seem too much different than the rest of Junon. It looked like no one ever really bothered to clean, and there was junk everywhere. Cloud stopped a man, who looked like he was one of the lowest ranks possible, and asked, "What happened? It looks like a bomb went off in here!"
"Rufus Shinra is leaving on a ship for Costa del Sol in twenty minutes and is demanding that everything be perfect! No one has had time for anything else! Especially not cleaning!" The man hurried on down the hall, and Cloud looked back at his friends. "Okay. Twenty minutes. How hard can this be?"
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Eighteen minutes later, they were sprinting down the hallway to the hangar where the airship was, since Cloud had gotten them lost and going the wrong direction not once, but TWICE. As they ran for the closing hatch, several soldiers tried to get in the way.
"Hey, where are you going?!? Do you have authorization?"
Yuffie flashed a card, or a piece of paper, or something, at them, and they immediately backed off, muttering things like "Go on," and "Sorry." They tore onto the ship, immediately heading for an out-of-the-way back room and sighing in relief.
"Yuffie, what did you show them?" Tifa asked, looking briefly at Aerith, who was taking out Cait Sith, before shifting her gaze back to the thief.
"I made fake authorization papers! They aren't right, but going that fast, nobody would stop to check." Yuffie said proudly. They all stared at her for a moment, then began to laugh. Yuffie was clever, they'd give her that.
"I'm just glad no one asked about Red." Cait Sith chimed. Even he sounded happy.
"They were all to busy catering to 'Prince Rufus's' every whim." Barrett growled. "Fucking stuck up little brat… Thinks he owns the world."
"He pretty much does." Cloud pointed out.
Barrett glared at him. "Shut up." He sank back against the crates he was sitting against, as everyone burst into laughter once again.
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Oh. My. GOD. I am sooooo sorry for the late update! I would whine and make excuses like SOLs (which are HELL on paper in the annoyance caategory) or colorguard tryouts, but I know y'all don't want to hear it. Suffice to say, I'm REALLY sorry.
Cloud is directionally challenged. Kinda like me. Anywho, my school computer goes away on May 30, so after that expect much slower updates for the duration of the summer. The library's two-hour computer time limit SUCKS.
I love you all! Once again, SORRY!
Li