Recently, someone contacted me about writing more "spin-offs" to "The Servant", namely in talking about what other espers were doing during the various FF games (such as in the first half of "The Chaos Legacy" and "The Kuja Saga"). In response, I say that "The Servant" alone is such a dominating project that I can't really tax myself to write spinoffs as well. Also, although Bahamut is my favorite, none of the other espers really jump out to me.
However, if any of you would like to do a spinoff from my fanfiction, I have no problem with that. I'd enjoy it actually. Just no Yaoi, Hentai, or other porn. :(
Three Months Later
Just as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the greatest monument begins with the setting of a single stone…so to did the fateful chapter in Gaia's history begin with a mundane, average phrase.
"Incoming transmission from the Dome, Admiral."
Ashiah looked up slightly from her chair. Her look was sour…but it was always sour nowadays. She rarely smiled now…except when she was killing people. She didn't seem to really care anymore if it was PPA or NSA either. She killed "traitors" as easily as she killed the enemy, and seeming with more joy sometimes.
On board the bridge of the Juggernaut, Ashiah's officers and crew tried to suppress their anxiety constantly as they went about their business. If she so much as thought you were looking at her wrong, she might pull out her sidearm and shoot. She had been getting more wild and mad over the past few weeks. It was steadily getting worse, what with how the situation was going for the NSA. Surplus food had gone dry a month ago. Now everyone from the lowest ditch-digger to the highest officer was eating basic rations. Just last week, they had cut down the food supply for impressed labor by half. This didn't sit well with them, of course. Now the taskmasters had to work twice as hard to make sure that they didn't figure out that the New Shinra Army was growing into a more and more pitiful state as time went on. If they did…they could be faced with revolts soon.
Yet the threat for revolt was no longer isolated to prisoners. Impressed soldiers were beginning to grow uncomfortable…and so were the ones who had signed of their own free will. The food shortage was the latest shortage they had been faced with. They had been running low on supplies for months, and power was beginning to be regulated as well. Individual watch stations were starting to have to bundle up rather than turn on the heat. And this was a bad time for it too… Everyone in the New Shinra was antsy about the events of three months ago. A large number of troops had flown the coop and were shot down…and then a massacre happened in New Junon that claimed two hundred lives in about one minute. Ever since that day…the sun had not shown again. Every day on the Northern Continent was bleak, gray, and cold. It was well into time for Spring…but Gaia didn't seem to notice this. The sun appeared to have burned away as the darkness day and night continued. People were getting fearful…and tired of being cold and hungry. Many were beginning to wonder why they had been stupid enough to support the cause of Shinra this long, now that the company was dead. Promises of money and positions were fading now…leaving only despair and fear.
Nowhere was that fear more pertinent than on the deck of the Juggernaut. It might not have been at first. After all, only the loyalist troops were picked to crew it. But it had become that way. Despite having hand-picked each crew member…Ashiah was growing more paranoid. She constantly thought that they were plotting against her behind her back. The slightest dissention or appearance of dissention was considered treason by her and meted out with death. It soon got that people didn't want to serve under her on board that vessel, knowing that she had a tendancy to kill her own crew. However…if they refused it when she asked them to come on board, she likewise accused them of obviously being a traitor for not wanting to join up, and they were arrested and often executed.
Some were still brave enough to go around Ashiah and complain straight to General Leers, mentioning her progressively worsening behavior. But Leers himself was not immune to the malaise. He frequently locked himself up in his room now…and on a few days he hadn't even come to his office. His will seemed to be rotting away within him too, and he had the appearance of a man worn out by far too many battles. He no longer acted smartly or responsibly, and ignored all complaints about Ashiah, saying he couldn't afford to replace her. Then, once the crew members were found out by Ashiah, they died as well. That soon rendered complaints futile.
Hence, Ashiah's own behavior fostered far more dissention and treasonous thoughts than the general situation. No one, however, dared talk of revolting. Anyone who even let the word pass their lips was dead. As such, a mutiny could not be organized. That left only "vigilantes" to act. Plenty of high officers around Ashiah had guns… However, they too didn't risk it. Without support from the crew or commander in chief, it would be considered an act of treason and they too would be executed. As a result, the crew was kept obedient and in check only by a thread of fear. For now they were secure…but the moment that it became more dangerous to stay with Ashiah than to betray her…and the moment one realized this…she would be dead.
Yet that wasn't a concern on anyone's mind right now. The crew had become cold and disciplined, and as such even Ashiah couldn't find any good reason to kill anyone. And so, things had been calm for a while. Matters went on as normal. People went about their duties of trying to protect the shoreline, watch for any invaders or dissenters, and try not to listen to Ashiah's insane rants every now and then.
Receiving this message was one of the few distractions they had nowadays. Looking outside the main screen offered only a bleak, stormy sea. It had been like this for three months…and it was so cold that no one could stand on deck for long without heavy clothing. That left them inside the Juggernaut, where "cabin fever" was beginning to affect them all. Even something like a message was a distraction, and soon the people looked to the communication's officer.
Ashiah leaned back with a bored look, and waved her hand at the communications officer. "Put it on speakers."
"It's a classified message, FYEO, madame." The communication's officer immediately answered. "I'm printing it up right now."
Ashiah raised her head a bit more at this. The others in the room didn't look, but they too were a bit more intrigued. This was unusual. It wasn't often that these kind of messages came in unless something important was happening. This had her interest now.
There was actually a rather sophisticated device for sending these messages. The communication's console actually would print it out and then place it in a sealed, opaque envelope before giving it to the communication's officer, ensuring that it wouldn't be read. This happened right now, and after a moment of processing the communication's officer removed a manilla envelope that emerged from a slot on the console. Taking it up, she immediately stood, turned, and began to walk toward the Admiral.
A few moments later and she ascended the stairs and came to a halt next to her chair. She handed the envelope to her, which Ashiah readily accepted, and then turned to walk back to her station. Ashiah, on her part, flipped the envelope over, ran a finger through the seal to break it, and then pulled the paper message out with a fluid movement. She pulled it in front of her and quickly glanced at the confirmation code to determine it was real. Normally, the communication's officer and first mate would have to go through double checking the two parts of the code…but Ashiah was too untrustworthy. Instead, she memorized the latest one for this purpose. The message was soon confirmed as authentic, and so she looked down to read the text.
After a few more seconds…a smile spread across her face.
The Admiral beamed a bit longer at the message, before crumpling it up and shoving it into her uniform. On doing so, she leaned back a bit more into her chair. Her boredom had vanished. Now, she grinned as she looked rather pleased about the current situation.
"Ensign Brownell?" She called out.
The current communication's officer, who had just returned to her chair, turned and looked up to the Admiral. "Madame?"
"I want you to patch me into channels UL1-10."
The rest of the officers on the bridge stiffened a bit. The communication's officer did so more than anyone else. The "UL" designation was reserved for Unlisted Channels. Those were the ones that the Planet Protector Army and Wutai Gold Navy were utilizing. The General had ordered strict radio silence on those channels at all times. However…no one pointed out the error in the Admiral's judgment. No one dared. And so, after swallowing slightly, the officer turned back to her console.
"…Aye, madame."
"General…did you hear what I said?"
Ragnar continued to hesitate a moment. In the end, he moistened his lips slightly, but then nodded. "Um…yes…yes, ensign. Just…place it on my desk. I'll get to it."
Although Ragnar couldn't see this, the ensign looked at him curiously. He noticed that despite the fact that Ragnar was staring at him, he didn't seem to really be seeing him. With a bit of a nervous look, he slowly set the paper on the desk.
"Thank you. You are dismissed."
The ensign hesitated, but then gave a salute and turned to leave. Ragnar waited until he was gone before doing anything else, simply sitting in his chair and staying calm. But once he saw the man leave, and heard the door shut behind him, he immediately sighed and slumped slightly in his chair.
With a frown, he began to reach into his pocket for the Esuna materia.
So much for today's session… He grumbled mentally.
Three months had passed since Sephiroth and Aleron had performed their assault on Midgar Bay. Ruefully, Ragnar had told the higher officers in the WGN that the attack had been from a sort of "biological weapon" that was in the possession of the New Shinra, and that they had to trust him on this. It took a lot of persuasion, but eventually that was the excuse that the higher ups accepted, and all lower officers were told, "don't ask". The official story for Kalm was that it was a stealth bombing Gelinka. Although eyewitnesses of the event that had survived the initial blast expressed doubt, that was the general consensus. In the end, this only caused higher alerts and a reworking of all radar equipment, which had gone dead during the "strike".
However…nothing seemed to work quite so well anymore. Light seemed to be a bit dimmer, no matter how strong a battery or bulb was used. Engines didn't seem to put out quite so much power. Many people were unsettled by this…as well as the winter that would not end. Ever since that night, the sky had been dark gray every day. It didn't storm or thunder…but it remained gray and cold all the time now. Yet this wasn't only here. It was spread out all over the world. From orbital satellites…the world had vanished into a white ball. Below, people who never had many clouds or rain looked up in confusion and fear to the sky as to what this meant. Early on it was considered weather…but now people weren't so sure.
Yet through this all…the PPA continued its preparations.
Isuzu Industries as well as Wutai munitions companies were hard at work pumping out transports and armor for ships. Every last ship that could be found and made naval battle worthy (at least in part) was being implemented. At first, the big ocean liners were used. They could carry a few guns and stand up under armor. Barret himself had his first oil tanker emptied and commissioned as one of the newest "destroyers" in the PPA. It was actually good, because it could hold a reasonable amount of guns yet had a flat surface where their own Phoenix craft could take off from. It wasn't a Juggernaut, but it was useful. Barret had renamed it after Marlene's father: Dyne. Yet these big ships only lasted so long. After that, they had to rely on smaller ships like tugboats and cargo carriers. Those were nearly depleted too, and so now they were looking at fishing ships and small yachts. These latter ones would only really be good for throwing in a few shots while huddling beneath the bigger destroyers, but their numbers might still help.
And, of course, Ragnar was preparing.
This was part of it, actually. Ragnar knew he had to train his senses to be able to pick up more easily on danger. In order to do that, he had to strip himself of his other senses and rely on the spiritual faculties he was endowed with both from the Cetra and from Bahamut. To do this…he intentionally cast a Darkness spell on himself using the appropriate materia. The result had left him blind, although his eyes were still open. With his eyes blinded, he tried to act as normally as possible and go about his daily business. The only way to do that was to sense out the energy coming from other people, and the waves and ebbing it made as it moved around solid objects. By doing this, he could still "see" people, and detect his way in a 3D environment. It had been bumbling at first, and many ensigns and officers who worked here looked to him curiously more than once. But he had gradually gained the ability to at least approximate being fine.
Unfortunately, some things he couldn't deal with…like this paper. It was the order to commission the last batch of transports. However, he couldn't see enough to read. Highly advanced espers could focus their sense of touch so well that they could actually feel the ink depressions on paper and read. However…Bahamut had not been one of those with an exceptional sense of touch, and Ragnar only had half of his sensory capabilities.
With that in mind, there was nothing for it but to terminate his training of this manner for now. He soon felt the Esuna materia in his pocket. It was right next to the Darkness one, but it didn't matter. Each materia's energy signature was incredibly distinct. He might as well have been grasping a giant materia-shaped word, "Esuna". He took it out, held it in front of him, and activated his power. Moments later…and the black cloud over his vision dissipated, and the lights and colors and shapes of his office faded back into view. He sighed a bit as this happened, and as he replaced the materia he began to look for a pen.
He became conscious of some soreness in his neck as he did so. That was from another aspect of his training. Ragnar was a bit larger now than he had been three months ago in terms of muscles. That was due to his new workout regime. The weights had long since come in, and he had been putting them to good use. However, there was more than just weightlifting. He also strapped special weights to his wrists, ankles, and torso, and did exercises like running and jump rope as well. All in all, he was physically far greater than he had been a few months ago.
Of course, Ragnar could say the same thing about Cloud. Ever since he had that treatment, he had been keeping up with him fairly well. There was one area he was still deficient in that Ragnar was able to exploit as of late…and that was the ability to sense changes in the opponent. Naturally, Cloud wouldn't be expected to have that ability, but Ragnar was able to exploit it in their sparring sessions. He hoped this was a good sign, and that he could do the same when he fought Sephiroth… At any rate, their sparring sessions represented a good chunk of Ragnar's time now.
Then there was Aerith. She had been making gains too. He still wouldn't want to see her fight Sephiroth or Aleron head on, but she was capable of defending herself well. Though he was pleased with this, he still wondered what she had in mind in the future as far as Aleron was concerned… Also, this too took up a lot of his time.
As a result, he was constantly tired whenever he did sit down to work. One benefit of having Cloud weaker than him was that he never got too exhausted during their sparring matches. But now that they were taking each other to the edge each time, it left Ragnar drained even with his superior stamina.
But still…for better or for worse…it would be over very soon.
A rather loud bark suddenly separated Ragnar from his thoughts, and caused him to snap around to the noise. He soon found himself looking at the door of his office. The sound had come from the other side of it. However, Ragnar didn't take this as call for alarm or even unconventional. He merely leaned back and called out. "Come."
Moments later, the door swung open, handled by one of the guards outside. The fiery-red form of Red XIII softly plodded in a moment later. It was a pain for him to have to try and knock, as he didn't have well-developed knuckles. As a result, barking once to get in suited him just fine, even if it did resemble a "trained dog" in some ways. He could have always got the guards to knock for him, but usually he came when they weren't present, and so this was habit now.
The beast turned for the general and began to advance toward him. As he did, Ragnar noticed that Red XIII had a file tucked into his uniform sash. He had to carry it like that, having no fingers. Ragnar wasn't sure what this was for, but he didn't press it at the moment. He waited for the beast to finish closing and then sit down in front of him.
"I'm here to pick up the voucher." He announced.
"Oh…right." Ragnar answered after a moment, somewhat distracted. He looked back down to his desk a moment later, and began to search for a pen again. "I have it right here… I just didn't know you'd be coming so soon… Here."
The general finally saw one pen uncapped, and quickly snatched it up and turned to the contract. He tried writing his name, saw that there was no ink, and then frowned as he scribbled against the side of the paper. A moment later, and black streaks began to come out. With that, he turned and quickly signed the paper on the line, not caring that it now had a black blot on the side of it. As he did so, he spoke up again.
"This is the last of it, right?"
"Correct." Red XIII answered with a nod. "The transports are already under construction. They just wanted this to confirm the payment for it. Wutai's last batch leaves for Midgar Bay in two days. With these two combined, we should be able to ship the last 20,000 troops to the Northern Continent."
"Good." Ragnar answered as he finished signing. "How long for those transports to arrive here?"
"About a week."
The youth paused here a moment…but then sighed and shrugged as he pushed the contract back over to Red XIII. "Can't be helped, I guess…though I wish we had a bit more time. Five days should be plenty though."
"So we are a go then for the 19th?" Red XIII asked.
Ragnar looked back up to him and nodded. "Yes. I don't want to wait any longer than that. The Gauntlet of Zeus could be ready any time now, and we've frankly been lucky that we've lasted this long without it complete. That's one good side to this crazy weather. It's probably making it impossible to work up there."
It was finally time. For months both Ragnar and the PPA had been preparing for the final conflict. Now the skeleton of their initial barebones plan for an invasion was beginning to flesh out, and they were in full scale preliminary preparations. In two weeks time from that day…the final operation of this war would play itself out. The Planet Protector Army and Wutai Gold Navy were going to make their last big push…and hopefully end the war.
All troops were gradually being called off of civilian or domestic duty and were being assigned into divisions. Everyone was getting a new breakdown on rank for when they transported, unloaded, and fought in combat on the offensive. The munitions of the major destroyers were being reloaded, and light damage was being repaired. Artillery crates had started to dump off their cargo on shore yesterday, and this morning the first vehicles had begun to arrive. Over the next two weeks, these materials would be loaded up, and troops would gradually be assigned to more coastal areas. Midgar and Edge would gradually be demilitarized in anticipation for their invasion, right up until the last day. Then they'd make their move.
Just two weeks…and then the fate of this war would be decided.
And in just two weeks…Ragnar would begin the path that would take him back to Sephiroth for their final meeting…
One major concern regarding Midgar and Edge was still on Ragnar's mind, however. These 20,000 troops were the last soldiers they were unable to transport. Once they received their shipments of new transports, that would change…but he wondered if it was better left alone. Although he had no intention of failing in this operation…for doing so at this point would make them lose far, far too much…he wondered if he should have left them behind anyway as a contingency plan. Part of the next two weeks would be a suggested migration away from this area and more toward Fort Condor, where the natural mountain range would hopefully provide some protection against the Gauntlet of Zeus if it became operational… But these people would need someone to maintain order and lead them, and the Planet Protector Army should have one division left if the rest of them fell. He almost wondered if the 20,000 should be left behind to guard them. However…in the end, he decided against it. By most estimates, they had only a slight numbers advantage on the NSA. They needed this number to tip the scales.
Ragnar looked back down to the beast. "So…are you still insisting on coming?"
The lion/wolf snorted. "I've been out of action far too long, general. I'll be glad to finally be in the front lines again. I have a warrior's blood in me, remember."
Ragnar gave a shrug. "I know…but I thought that maybe I could have left a capable leader behind me."
Red XIII snorted again. "I haven't despised constantly having to do work for you all this time just to take a boring desk job at the most critical moment. I went for the eye of a 100-foot mutated dragon just one year before I met you. I think I can handle a few New Shinra divisions. Besides…Reeve has a good grasp on the situation. He's more capable than he looks. However, on that subject…"
Here, the beast turned to his side, where the folder was being kept. He grasped it with his teeth and pulled it out. He turned back to the desk afterward and lightly set the folder down in front of the youth. Ragnar looked down to it curiously as Red XIII pulled back and explained.
"I was perfectly serious three months ago when I said I'd like to find a replacement for myself as your 'army babysitter'." Red XIII began. "I believe I found a good candidate there."
Ragnar smiled and chuckled. "The war's going to be over in about two weeks, Red."
The lion/wolf merely shrugged. "Perhaps. But I went to all that trouble, so I supposed I might as well show you who she is."
Ragnar began to undo the tie on the folder as Red XIII explained further.
"She was one of the first to join the Planet Protector Army. She seemed to think that one of the prisoners that the New Shinra Army took might have been her sister. She had a history of fighting against the original Shinra, though she never quite joined up with AVALANCHE, apparently. Probably didn't know that much about them…"
The tie was finished, and Ragnar began to open the folder.
"She has lots of experience in technical research. She was working for Reeve at Moogle Enterprises before she joined. But she has good leadership qualities too. She's also rather hardened. I can only expect that. After all…losing one arm and an eye to a shrapnel explosion from a fragmentation grenade and living a normal life afterward requires one to be rather solid."
Ragnar turned over the cover page, and looked to the main dossier, which included a picture of the woman on the front.
He instantly froze as something within Bahamut's memory saw the woman and clicked.
…I've seen her before.
Six Months Earlier
Woman with one arm and eye… Men walking like monsters… War… Explosions… Those guns… People screaming… A girl with a face like a woman… A horrible beast… More screams… A horrible all consuming hand… A demigod who laughs like an insane old man… A giant monster…big as a city…and some hellish gargoyle circling it…
"No."
Bahamut snapped his head back. He found himself gasping. This latest vision had been intense…seizing him and appearing to wring the life out of him. However, it was over now. The vision faded. It remained burned into his memory briefly…but this too began to die. He saw again the glass floor stretching beneath him, and the empty blackness going out around him for an eternity. He steadied himself here a moment…before he remembered what small, simple phrase had called him out from that vision. At that, he turned and looked down to the boy.
He was sitting calmly on the floor, but frowning at him.
"You shouldn't have seen that." He sternly said. "You were supposed to focus on Midgar."
Bahamut breathed a bit longer, continuing to calm down a bit from seeing that intense vision. Then, however, he crooked his head slightly and shook it.
"I…I saw something different…" He began. "While I was looking at Midgar…my eyes wandered toward the center of the city…toward some great sealed door…and when I looked in…all of those visions came flowing out."
"They do not matter." The boy simply answered.
Bahamut turned and looked back to him.
"You were looking down a branch of time's river, but it wasn't the one that you were on." The boy explained. "The tributary of that branch has passed, and so you were now looking at nothing. You were looking at a time that never was, and never will be. Perhaps in some reality somewhere it would have come to pass, but the current timeline has changed too much. Too many contrary turns were taken as time moved along down the river."
The esper still hesitated.
"There were soldiers…" He started to say. "But they weren't the New Shinra. They had their emblem…but they were something else. And they were trying to…bring out this giant monster…" The esper hesitated again here…remembering some of the ancient knowledge that the Planet had given him years and years ago, and the theories that Leviathan had made. He looked out into oblivion as he saw it in his mind's eye.
"It looked like…Omega."
"None of it matters." The boy simply answered. "That time has passed."
Bahamut turned back to the boy here. "If it doesn't matter, why did I see it?"
"That branch of the river was an especially large one. Very wide…very fast. It would have concerned the future of this world as much as Sephiroth concerns it now. You saw it because you looked at one of the key things that would have brought it about. One was that the force that would have become the New Shinra disbanded on hearing that Midgar was destroyed. This is another. You looked at the door in Midgar. In our timeline, the war with the New Shinra became global knowledge two days before a survey crew would have discovered it and tried to open it. On opening it, they would have unleashed a large part of this future. Not all of it…but some of the worst of it."
Bahamut was silent after this. Those visions… The boy said that they meant nothing, but they had been more vivid and real than some of the visions he had seen about the existing timeline. That had to have been a powerful future indeed. He wondered if the reason he was seeing them was because part of this future could still come true…
"Forget that future." The boy instructed. "Concentrate on doing what you came here to do. Every second you delay is a second you cannot change."
Present
This woman…was one of the key players of that future.
Ragnar could see it clearly now as Bahamut's memory registered it. He had seen this woman once before, briefly in that vision. And now he was seeing her again. He supposed…he shouldn't have cared. He saw many people in that vision that he had seen in present day. Of course, they were members of the PPA now and not whatever other organization he saw. The same should work for her.
However…he couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled on seeing it.
Ragnar's face stayed frozen, and his lips were curling a bit uneasily. His eyes were wide as he stared at that fragment of the alternate universe staring back up at him in the picture. It was indeed a woman…a woman with messy, long blond hair tied back in a ponytail, and a pair of wire-thin glasses across her nose letting her one remaining eye look at him.
It didn't take long for Red XIII to see this unease, and look a bit curious.
"…Are you alright?" He asked. "Do you know Mrs. Rui?"
Ragnar stiffened once, but then looked up to Red XIII. His face was still rather nervous-looking. He swallowed once, however, and steadied himself out as best he could. "Um…no. No, I don't. I mean…yes…but not in person. I've…I've seen her…before…"
Red XIII crooked an eyebrow. Even if he wasn't intelligent, he could smell emotions on the breath of other creatures. "Are you sure that's all?" He asked.
Ragnar swallowed once more, but then straightened up as best he could. He gave another nod. "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing. Really. I just…got caught off guard by her face, that's all."
"If it's about her disabilities, need I remind you that I too have only one functional eye?"
"No…seriously, I'm fine. I just… I'm alright now."
Red XIII continued to look curiously at him. Ragnar continued to try and smooth himself out…tried to push the terrible visions that Bahamut had seen out of his mind. The beast waited for a few moments longer, bu then drew himself back a bit.
"Well…I'm recommending that Mrs. Shalua Rui be promoted to Major."
Ragnar gave a ready nod. "Sure, sure…fine. I'll sign off on that. Um…" The youth stiffened a bit here, but then leaned forward a bit on his desk. He tried to look calm and businesslike, folding his arms in front of him and appearing normal. "Um…Red…" He began again. "Do…do you remember our investigation after that incident with Hoeng?"
The lion/wolf now looked rather puzzled indeed that Ragnar was bringing this up. "Yes… Why?"
"I…I was kind of busy around that time. I never got a good look at the report." Ragnar answered. "Did we find anything else?"
Red XIII paused a moment, both out of remembering and out of confusion at Ragnar's behavior. But eventually, he shook his head.
"No. The area was clean." He answered. "There were a few specimens there…but they were just animals or monsters. We reasoned that a mako reactor had to be powering the area, but we never could figure out where just from that zone. We were able to cut the power source to that area, so that there was no more drain from wherever it is. Frankly, it was a maze. It's unlikely that even Hoeng knew where everything was, or had a quarter of that area explored."
"So no more signs of life?"
Red XIII shook his head. "None except for rats…maybe a few mutant creatures."
Ragnar felt himself inhale deeply and exhale. He began to truly calm down at this point.
"Although…"
The youth's relaxation stopped here, and he grew more attentive.
"We did find one thing." Red XIII continued. "It was part of the wider search, as we were expanding into the more ruined parts of Midgar to try and find other entrances. There was one giant metal door beneath the central structure of what used to be the Shinra HQ Building. We reasoned it led to some classified area that wasn't on any maps. The controls were smashed. It would have taken a few days to restore them to the point where the door could be opened again. Although it's interesting that you should bring that up. Reeve said that the area was a top secret zone that only Heideggar, Scarlet, and Hojo knew about. Rufus wasn't in power long enough for the knowledge to be transferred to him, and he himself was never high up enough on the 'pecking order' to find out. But he said that it was most likely some sort of armored shelter for munitions. He suggested that we might open it up to see if we can use it as a bomb shelter, or see if there's anything in there that we can-"
"No!"
Red XIII cut himself off as Ragnar, his eyes widening with each word that the canine had said, suddenly spat out that command. He looked to him with dead seriousness.
"That door is off limits." He said in a quieter, but even sterner tone. "It's completely classified. No one ever opens it. Ever. It's not an option for any purpose of any kind, be it military, industrial, salvage, commercial, or even residential. The door stays locked. Do you understand?"
The beast was rather taken aback by all of this. Ragnar had turned wild in the span of a few moments, and it unsettled him. He stared back at the wild man looking at him. However…Ragnar began to grow aware of this, and gradually forced himself to calm down further. He eased back a bit more in his chair.
"…I'm sorry, Red." He said after a moment. "But…you have to trust me on this. That door can never be opened. I can't explain it to you right now, but after this war is over we'll all get together and I'll tell you all why it can't be considered. But for right now…I need to make sure nobody goes anywhere near that door. I need you to trust me on this. Alright?"
Red XIII calmed down a bit as well now, seeing Ragnar speaking in a more rational and controlled tone. He looked back at him for a few more moments, but then finally gave a nod.
"…Alright. Whatever you say, general."
"So it's all set?"
"Yep." Tifa answered as handed off the last dish to Aerith. "I know the kids probably won't like it too much, but I trust them a lot better over there. Even if Cait Sith was around, I'd still prefer that they were at Isuzu Industries."
Aerith gave a nod as she began to dry.
Tifa kept looking at her. "…I'd also prefer it if you were staying."
The Cetra paused here for a moment. She was smiling before…but now her face turned a touch grim before she kept drying. She looked down at the plate.
"…I've got to go this time." Aerith answered. "I've got something I have to do."
Tifa stared at her a bit longer as she continued to dry. She didn't mind that her hands were still covered with suds at the moment. Both women were going through a daily ritual that they did around lunch…the dishes at the Seventh Heaven. Aerith had to be here until Ragnar showed up to take her to practice, and Tifa was here to be with the kids a few hours before she had to go back to training. She was glad for the time with them…especially considering how they were.
Denzel…was still grim over what happened to Azure. After all this time, he was still angry and upset about it. Tifa was beginning to fear that he was never going to get out of it…that he was going to be this way for years to come. Cloud's grudge for Sephiroth had lasted that long…and now he was passing it on in this family… What more…whenever she wasn't home…Denzel would do things like go downstairs and drag out Barret's old punching bag and start beating against it. She could tell now from how calloused his knuckles were that he had been doing it. Or he would take his practice sword out and swing with it for hours… His palms would be rough then.
It made her hate the man even more. She hoped that Ragnar and Cloud were right…and that this would be the last time they would have to deal with him when they went north.
Yet it still made her nervous when she heard about Aerith's intentions as well. She had seen the woman die once. She didn't want to see it happen again.
"…You're not alone, Aerith." Tifa continued. "You don't have to face him alone."
"This isn't about facing them." Aerith answered as she set the dish on the pile with the others. "This is about something else…something that only I can do."
"Can you at least take us with you?" Tifa asked. "Not run off again?"
The Cetra swallowed and exhaled, and then turned back to Tifa at last. "I can't make that promise, Tifa. If I do die again…then I only want it to be me."
The woman stared silently and ruefully back. Anxiety was clearly filling her expression. Seeing it began to make Aerith nervous as well, it seemed. The Cetra was growing uncomfortable. And so, she spoke up again a bit more brightly, forcing herself to smile again.
"But it's still more than two weeks away." She reminded her. "And after this is done…we can all go back to having normal lives."
Tifa paused on hearing this. Her head bowed slightly, and she seemed even more upset than before. Aerith noticed this, and her own smile faded and turned to concern. She put the towel down and turned fully toward her.
"Tifa...what's wrong?"
The woman paused, but then sighed as she began to wipe her arms off on her apron.
"…Nothing I shouldn't have expected for a long time." She simply answered. "I do have a lot of reasons to be happy. The Seventh Heaven's all fixed up and ready to reopen. Cloud wants to start planning the wedding right after we're done with this mission. But…" The woman trailed off here, and looked nervous once again. She stood uncomfortably a moment as she lowered her arms. Aerith waited and kept her eyes on her. At last, Tifa turned slightly toward her.
"Barret…is ready to have Marlene move back in with him."
Aerith's own face immediately went dark and withdrawn. She too bowed her own head. "Oh…"
"She's still really young. She still needs to live with an adult." Tifa went on. "And…I know she misses her father… It doesn't really matter what happened with her real father. Barret's as close as a real father as she's ever had since she was a baby. I know she belongs with him…but…"
Aerith leaned back a bit.
"…But you've been as close as a real mother as she's ever had since she was a baby for three or four years now too."
Tifa sighed again. "But I'm not her real mother."
"Barret isn't her real father."
"But he's closer to her than…"
"You're pretty close too." Aerith interrupted. "You've cooked for her, sent her to school, dressed her, bathed her, held her birthday parties and holidays, tucked her in at night and told her stories. I'd say that makes you pretty close to her."
Tifa turned and looked fully to the Cetra. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that you have a right to be unhappy and upset about this." Aerith answered. "After all you've been through with her, you're entitled to feel a bit depressed about this. If it's a question of who loves her more, then I'd be hard pressed to say that you don't. I know you love her very much too. And you've had her under your roof for a long time. I'm not saying that you should tell Barret you're keeping her or anything. I'm just saying that you can go ahead and be sad without thinking that this makes you a bad person."
Tifa paused here again. She looked down for a moment, thinking over what Aerith had said. The Cetra waited patiently, standing there and looking back to her with a gaze that showed her pity and concern. The former woman sighed once again in the end.
"…I just don't know what it's going to be like here seeing her empty bed every day. Or expecting to see her at the table and she's not there. Every time I think about it enough I start misting up…"
Tifa cut herself off again, and stood still once more. A few moments went by, before she sharply exhaled and leaned up a bit more, trying to wave this off and change the subject herself.
"This weather sure isn't helping." She spoke up.
Aerith stiffened a bit at this and looked a bit more uncomfortable.
Tifa gestured up toward the sky beyond their ceiling. "Dark clouds day in and day out… It's always cold. Everything seems more drab and more…" She fumbled for a moment for the right word, but then finally said something that unsettled her as it escaped her lips.
"…Dead." She finally managed, and hesitated again. "And it's like this all over the world. It's almost…"
Here, however, she trailed off. She seemed to realize something...and it appeared to scare her. She kept staring off into space instead, thinking about this but saying nothing. Aerith, although still looking a bit anxious, looked up to her again.
"Almost what?"
"…Almost like how it used to be in Midgar when the reactors were in full operation…in the wastelands…" Tifa slowly responded…growing wide-eyed as she did so. She began to fully realize the significance of what she was saying as she said it, and it made her more nervous. "It was always night…it was always cool…"
Tifa stopped here and turned back to Aerith. The Cetra looked anxiously back at her.
"Aerith…I know this started happening that night with Sephiroth and Aleron. You…don't think…?"
The Cetra had taken quite enough grim, depressing news for this morning.
She abruptly smiled.
"Let's go see if the kids want to play a board game."
"Pssh! Whoo! Pssh! Whoo! …Pssh!"
With a clang, Cloud let the bar down on the bench press. However, unlike most bench presses, this one was made of reinforced thick steel and riveted to the ground so that it would be able to hold the weight of the massive amount of weight that Cloud was lifting. The bar itself was reinforced out of a special grade of steel to keep from warping from the weight itself. At any rate, once it was down, Cloud rolled forward into a seated position, and panted as sweat dripped from his brow.
Reeve, nearby, raised an eyebrow.
"You know…when I heard that General Ragnar wanted this equipment special made, I thought it crazy enough that there would be any one person on Gaia who could lift it. But seeing you both using it…"
Cloud didn't answer. He just panted for now, trying to get his breath back.
Both men were in a special area of Isuzu Industries. Both this company and Moogle Enterprises had special areas for employee exercising (one of the fringe benefits), and they included weightlifting. However, this area was set aside specifically for just two men. Although Ragnar had only requested much heavier than normal weights three months ago, he needed a special room with extra supports to keep the weights from pounding holes in the floor when dropped. They also needed special equipment that could support the weight, such as the bench press that Cloud was using. There was also a cycle and a treadmill, but those went unused. Both Cloud and Ragnar had simply strapped weights to their arms, legs, and torso, and then went out running.
Cloud had spent most of his time in training over the past three months. Ever since the treatment, he had been running, swimming, sparring (both with swords and fists), and weightlifting daily. The results had been good. He was able to outlap anyone in the swimming pool. His stamina and speed had increased dramatically, and he had increased his reaction time while getting lighter on his feet. His skills at fighting stronger opponents had increased thanks to sparring with Ragnar…although they tried to keep it a secret after their first session. They had drawn a crowd of about thirty on their first sparring session with both having strength increases, who had seen and heard sparks and fire for a mile away. There was little left of the sparring ground after that match, and so they had to move away to a different location afterward.
As far as overall strength, Cloud had just managed to finish ten reps with 3,500 kilos. Surprisingly, Ragnar seemed to be back in his old position of just slightly weaker than him. His maximum was 3,250 kilos. Of course, he didn't spend as much time training as him. Although he tried to develop a system similar to Cloud's, he had his own duties to take care of. After all…in just two weeks this war was going to be decided.
Two more weeks…and we meet again.
Cloud exhaled once more, and then began to stand up. "…I appreciate you looking after the kids while we're gone." The ex-mercenary told Reeve as he stood. He snorted a bit to himself afterward. "We're always leaving them behind, it seems… Now I know how Barret felt."
Reeve looked a bit rueful himself, but then gave a shrug. "Don't worry about it. They know how important this is. And we'll have a great time. Maybe we'll go chocobo riding one of these days. And we'll be able to get ahold of you every day. I've got the strongest radio broadcasting system known to man." To accent this, he reached for his side and held up his own personal radio.
Cloud managed a bit of a smile at this, but he still had a lot on his mind. He had been working hard since the infusion, but he wondered if it really was enough. There's be no way to find out until he crossed swords with Sephiroth again…and then it'd be a little too late to worry about getting stronger. And, of course…there was what he had to think about after this was over.
The thought still made him sweat a bit more than the workout.
Reeve seemed to sense the paling. He cracked a smile. "Thinking about you-know-what again, Cloud?"
The ex-mercenary exhaled and straightened. "It's finally going to happen. After five years… I can't believe I waited all this time. I hardly know where to begin. I've been thinking of fighting for so long…"
Reeve snickered a bit. "Well, as the old saying goes, these are the kind of problems you want to have and all that."
"That's not all though." Cloud answered, turning to the man. He hesitated a moment here, for he seemed a bit nervous about saying this too. However, he swallowed and stabilized himself. After that, he grew more decisive. "This probably makes me more nervous than the wedding, because I haven't ever really thought of myself as a father. But as soon as we're a couple, I'm going to-"
Cloud's voice was interrupted as his radio suddenly went off. He frowned a bit, and snapped his head over to his shirt and sword piled against the wall. Sitting on top of it was his radio. However…he didn't stay focused on that long. He became confused as he realized he was hearing it from somewhere else too. He turned his head again…and saw Reeve looking down to his side as well. The man hesitated, but then slowly removed the radio from his waist and held it up. The call signal continued to ring through it. It did so on Cloud's too. He looked up to the ex-mercenary curiously.
"That's odd. We're on different channels, right?"
Cloud looked back to his own radio, and with a wrinkled brow began to approach it. Yet as he walked toward it, the ringing suddenly cut off. A voice came through instead, sounding like it was in stereo since it was coming from two speakers.
The voice sounded very cruel and very malicious.
"Hello, members of the Planet Protector Army. And if anyone from Wutai is listening, keep doing so because this concerns you too. This is Admiral Ashiah of the New Shinra Navy. I received a message just about fifteen minutes ago that was classified as for my eyes only. However…I couldn't resist telling you all about it, mainly because I'll love to imagine you all pissing yourselves when you hear this…although it would be more fun to listen to you beg for mercy and the chance to surrender. Rest assured…I myself will be quite deaf to those pleas.
"The official final timetable is in. The Gauntlet of Zeus will be complete and ready to fire in exactly 72 hours. Actually…it's about 71 hours, 43 minutes at this point. At that time, Midgar and Edge will be annihilated, and after a half hour of cooling Wutai will follow.
"Enjoy your last three days of life. Goodbye."
To be continued...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah...about what I said about "Dirge of Cerberus"...
I changed my mind. :P