A/N: Thanks to all those who've commented so far... And just in case you're confused, the title comes from the Sector Five song on the soundtrack. ; ) Enjoy!

:: Chapter Four :: Underneath the Rotting Pizza

As Cloud wandered through the bleak, desolate slums, he wondered blankly whether, if there were no plate above him, the sun would be shining through by now.

He sighed. The slums depressed him -it was the dark, claustrophobic atmosphere and the dingy,drabness that gave an almost nightmarish impression. The people stared at him with glazed expressions on their faces as he walked past. They were the sorts of people you would have expected to live in the slums: drunks, rogues, thieves, beggars. However, there was one man who caught Cloud's eye, a man that did not look his way. Sitting next to a pile of rubbish and shattered debris, he sat in the midst of his ashen rags, chin buried in his chest, white foam gathering at the corner of his mouth. And then, something more caught Cloud's eye. On the man's upper arm was a tattoo. A tattoo of the number twelve. A tight sensation clamped around the pit of Cloud's stomach. It was just a normal-looking tattoo. So why did it make him feel so uneasy?

Cloud turned a sharp corner and was almost blinded by the bright light of a buzzing neon sign. Below it stood the open gate to Sector Six. Cloud stared up at the faulty sign.

"Sector Six," he mumbled to himself. "But why's the gate open?"

No sooner had he got the words past his lips, than a sound to his left startled him. Swivelling around abruptly, Cloud saw that someone had been standing and watching him. Before he could draw his sword, the person moved out into the dim light. It was Aeris.

"You're up early," she greeted rather sarcastically, a small smile on her face. Cloud was dumfounded. He hadn't in his wildest dreams expected her to turn up here and now.

"Were you going to leave without me?" she asked him, still grinning. Cloud found himself pouring out excuses in a rush.

"I couldn't let you come with me, Aeris, it's dangerous. You never know what kind of people hang round these places...Not to mentionthat Reno from the Turks could turn up again...you don't want him to cause you trouble again, do you...?"

She passed him a sardonic look, raised a well-marked eyebrow.

"Are you done yet?"

Cloud halted his torrent of nonsense and took in a deep breath. Why did he let himself get caught up in these things? He shook his head.

"Aeris, how can I let you go with me? You're a nice girl, you should be..."

"Staying at home, cooking, cleaning and doing the washing?" she interrupted, indignantly. "No way! Danger's my middle name - I'm always in trouble!" She didn't wait to hear his protests. "Now let's see. If we go past this gate, there's the Sector Six junkyard. Then there's the Sector Seven gate. From there, you should be able to find Tifa's Seventh Heaven!" She looked up at him with an eager expression. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Before he could even think of stopping her,she had walked right through the gate and into Sector Six. Shrugging, Cloud resigned himself to carrying on his journey with a new companion. He couldn't help feeling secretly pleased at having Aeris with him, though he was reluctant to admit it to himself. Shaking his head in disbelief at the whole situation, Cloudhurried after Aeris and into the Sector Six junkyard.

Wandering through the place for half an hour did nothing for Cloud's rathernervy disposition. The site stunk, and it was all too easy to get lost amongst the rotting piles of refuse and rusty hunks of decrepit machinery. Aeris seemed blissfully unaware of this however, and it was mainly her jaunty frame of mind that kept up their hopes of escaping the rubbish tip. When at last they did, they encountered a small enclosure that Aeris seemed very pleased to see. It was an ancient, disused playground.

"Wow, I don't believe this is still here!"

She walked up to the gate and pushed it open. It unfastened with a creak, the lock collapsing off its handle. Cloud walked up behind her gingerly.

"Aeris...shouldn't I be taking you back home now?" he ventured,somewhat unsettled byher cheerful countenance. She turned on him, indignant surprise on her face. "What?! Take me back when you've only just got here?!"

"Well, I thought you wouldn't want to stay round this place. And it's only good manners to take you back..."

She was incredulous.

"Good manners?! Cloud, what is it with you and all this chivalry?" She looked at the playground, then turned back to him. "Why don't we rest up a while before we move on? The Sector Seven gate is just up there, so you shouldn't worry about spending another age to find it."

Cloud shrugged. He couldn't imagine himself convincing her that she shouldn't be wandering in this kind of place with a guy like him. Besides his sense of duty was being overruled by the pleasure of her company. He tagged along behind her into the playground and up to a dilapidated, crumbling slide. It had once been snowy white, but now dust had left it ashen, and its dome-shaped form had most of it's paint peeling. Aeris ran up to the back of it, climbed the ladder and sat on the top. She waved at him.

"Cloud, up here!"

Obligingly, but trying not to seem too willing, he climbed up the flaking ladder and sat down next to her. Aeris shifted her position so that the length of her arm rested lightly against his. A shiver fluttered through him. He couldn't recall the last time he'd felt a girl's touch like that. He looked down at her head of auburn hair. He could almost feel the warmth of her cheek touch his shoulder. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he looked away from her, anywhere. The uneasy instant was cancelled by her voice.

"Cloud," she asked unexpectedly, "what rank were you in?"

He started.

"What do you mean, 'rank'?"

She looked up at him.

"I mean in SOLDIER."

For a moment Cloud found it inexplicably hard to answer. In that short space of time he had completely forgotten. Then he remembered.

"I was in first class," he replied quickly.

Aeris looked down at her hands, twining her fingers together, in and out.

"Oh. You were in the same class as him," she sighed dreamily.

"Him?" Cloud was strangely perturbed by the wistful look on her face. She didn't look at him, and the yearning expression remained.

"My first love," she breathed.

Cloud felt ruffled. He edged closer to her, reluctantly spilling the words out.

"Were you...serious?"

Aeris seemed to awaken from her reverie and shook her head vehemently.

"No. But I liked him for a while."

Cloud settled back down, feeling disturbingly only half-satisfied.

"What was his name? I might have known him."

She looked past him again, her features brittly enigmatic, softly delicate.

"His name? It'd be pointless to tell you, really. It's all in the past..."

Before she could finish off her sentence, Cloud's stomach gave a disconcerting grumble. He clutched at his middle in embarrassment, willing himself not to blush.She grinned up at him.

"Hungry?"

Cloud nodded self-consciously, but she remained good-natured.

"There's this wonderful restaurant in Wall Market," she exclaimed. "Come on, I'll show you."

She led him promptly to Wall Market, and he was astounded to find that it wasn't just a market at all. It was almost the size of a small village from the look of things, filled with people and the insistent haggling of customer and salesman. The market's restaurant was nearby.

"It has an excellent Wutainese barbecue service," she put in cheerfully, as they entered the building. It was extremely busy, but it had a pleasant, cosy atmosphere. The smell of sweet roast duck and aromatic fried rice filled the room with a pungentyet fragrant perfume. The sound of a frying pan sizzling at the corner was almost mesmerising, and the babble of gossiping voices and thick layer of steam was almost soothing to the senses. Cloud sat at the nearest two-seater table, and was almost immediately served by the waiter.

"What'll it be?" he gabbled off almost ritually.

Cloud couldn't think of anything else - anyway, he'd hardly had time to glance at the menu as it was.

"Two Wutainese barbecues," he ordered hastily, keeping in time with the rhythm of the place. The waiter said nothing, but hurried off in a rush, and they were soon served with two appetising dishes. Whenthey werefinally full, they set off back to the Sector Seven gate.

It was harder to get through than the Sector Six gate. It needed a code to get through, but Aeris seemed to know it straight off already. The gate slid open and they both walked through.

"Well, here we are,"she said, closing the door again with the push of a button. "You should be able to get to Seventh Heaven easily now."

"Are you coming with me?" Cloud asked her, trying to sound indifferent to her answer. She looked at him with a small smirk.

"Funny. I was just about to say that there was no way you were going to get rid of me now."

He grinned at her.

"I thought you'd say that." He turned toward the Sector Seven slums. "Well, I guess we'd better go."

They began to walk through to the slums and the run-down shops. Soon the Seventh Heaven came into sight, but there seemed to be a strangely quiet atmosphere hanging round the bar. Aeris noticed the look of bewilderment on his face.

"Cloud, what's wrong?"

"It's just...quiet." he replied, as they neared the building. They walked up the staircase in step, both warily. At the top, Cloud opened the door with a silent push of the hand. There didn't appear to be anyone inside, though the lights were on.

"Tifa?" he called into the stillness.

Abruptly, there was the sound of thudding footsteps on the stairs, and Tifa appeared, looking flustered and out of breath. She greeted him with a look of incredulous consternation.

"Cloud! Is that really you?! I thought you were dead!"

She looked as if she would run to him and hug him, but stopped when she saw Aeris.

"Who's this?" There was an edge to her voice that spelt trouble. Cloud noted it and tentatively introduced his companion.

"This is Aeris. She helped when I fell from the reactor in Sector Five. Plus, she helped me get back here. Aeris, this is Tifa, my childhood friend."

Aeris smiled in her usual unpretentious way, seeming quite comfortable with the awkward meeting.

"Hi, Tifa, nice to meet you. Cloud's told me about you." She looked round the room in appreciation "Nice place you've got here."

Tifa seemed to become a little more relaxed.

"Thanks," she replied, then she suddenly shook her head. "I'm sorry I was so off-hand, it's just..."

Aeris cut in quickly.

"Oh, it's not what you're thinking. Cloud and I are just friends."

"Oh, Cloud and I are just friends too," Tifa added as soon as Aerith had finished her sentence.

Cloud looked at them both with a sense of irony. He suddenly had this premonition that if he wasn't very careful, a disaster of drastic proportions might occur between the three of them. Aeris noticed the grimace on his face and suddenly broke into a wide smile.

"Poor Cloud, here we are, saying he's nothing!"

Tifa grinned, then let out a sigh.

"Really though, Cloud," she said suddenly. "I'm glad you're back."

"Why, what is it?" he stared round. "And where are the others? Is Barret okay?"

"You'd better sit down," Tifa said, and when they had, she let out a deep breath.

"You see, it all happened after we lost you. We got out before the bomb exploded, but our escape wasn't as effective as we'd hoped. The Shinra caught us, but we put up a fight and got free.

"The trouble is, Barret realised the President would try to find a way to get rid of us for good, and make the slum people think we were the villains to make this effective. Knowing Barret and his contacts, he went off and threatened some men into telling him the Shinra's plans."

She paused, looking up at Cloud with large, frightened eyes.

"They're going to destroy Sector Seven, Cloud!"

"What?!" Cloud was shocked "They can't do that! How can they possibly do it?!"

"It's simple," Tifa explained fearfully yet patiently. "They're going to destroy the pillar that holds up the plate. When it crashes down, Sector Seven's slums will be wiped out! And the worst thing is, they're going to blame it on AVALANCHE and say it was our doing!"

"But that's terrible!" Aeris exclaimed. "All these people will die!"

"Where are Barret and the others?" Cloud asked quickly.

"They went to see what was going on at the pillar," Tifa replied breathlessly. "He told me to look after Marlene until he came back."

Cloud stood up quickly. Tifa looked at him nervously.

"Cloud?"

"We've got to go," he told her, without a second thought.

"But..."

"Tifa, Barret needs all he help he can get!" He turned to Aeris, but she stopped him before he could speak.

"Yeah, I know... it's too dangerous for me."

"Sorry," he apologised, truly regretful.

"Look, if you really want to help," Tifa interjected quickly, "could you please take Marlene to a safe place? She's upstairs, asleep."

Aeris stood up and nodded.

"Of course. You two had better get going before anything bad happens."

Cloud took a deep breath in and turned to Tifa.

"Let's go."

"Good luck," Aeris put in.

"We'll need it," Tifa finished.

There was a babble of noise going on round the pillar as Cloud and Tifa approached. It seemed that the Shinra were already up to their dirty work. Groups of people were gathered beneath the column. It was a large, metal construction, with stairs running up around it to the top of the plate. Dropping down would mean quite a fall, and certain death.

A man noticed Tifa nearing the group.

"Tifa, Barret's up there with the others!" he pointed upward. A gunfight was going on and there were various Shinra helicopters trying to land. Miraculously, Barret had managed to hold them off. Tifa raised her hands and quietened the crowd of hysterical people.

"Listen, you lot have got to find a safe place! When this pillar collapses, the plate'll kill you all! Move out, now!"

The people began to disperse reluctantly. Obviously they had been enjoying the excitement of a showdown between AVALANCHE and the Shinra.

Cloud and Tifa began to climb the huge flight of steps. They hadn't got far when they saw a bundled heap on the floor. It was Wedge.

"Wedge!" Tifa ran up to him, turned him over on to his back. His round, pasty face was pale, drawn, tired. There was a gaping gunshot wound to his chest.

"Tifa...Cloud..." he choked.

Tifa bent over him, trying hard to fight back tears.

"Shh, Wedge, you'll be okay, you'll be okay!"

Wedge smiled in resignation, shook his head.

"Nope, not this time Tifa... not now..."

Cloud knelt down, examined the wound. He knew Wedge wouldn't make it. Gently, he spoke to him.

"Wedge...where are Biggs and Jessie?"

"Biggs fell...Jessie too...they were both shot..." There were tears in the man's eyes as he gasped for breath. "...Cloud...Jessie says... 'goodbye'..."

"Wedge!!" Tifa cut him off, gripped his shirt with whitened knuckles. "You're not going to die! I won't let you!"

"Tifa..." Wedge smiled at her as best he could, " I was always just a coward. But right now, you and Cloud...you gotta help Barret. Let me die in peace."

Tifa nodded numbly. Laying Wedge back down tenderly, she stood up and looked at Cloud with watery eyes.

"These Shinra bastards!! We've got to take them out!!"

They both began to sprint up to the top of the pillar. Barret was there, holding back the helicopters with his gun. He turned in surprise when he saw Cloud and Tifa.

"Cloud!! You're back! So you're stayin' with AVALANCHE after all!"

Tifa ran up to him.

"Barret, Wedge is dead! We can't let this go any further!"

Barret gritted his teeth.

"These Shinra scum! I'm not lettin' them get away with this!"

The whirr of helicopter wings drowned out his voice. Cloud, Tifa and Barret turned to face the sound. A man was at the helicopter's door and he jumped lithely from the flying machine and on to the pillar platform. Cloud gasped in recognition.

"Reno!!"

Reno, unruffled as ever, began to advance casually toward the group.

"Ah, the name's Cloud, if I'm not mistaken," he replied, mockingly. "And we meet again so soon."

"Shut up, you Shinra bastard," Barret hissed. "You think you're so hot jus' 'cos you're gonna blow this joint to bits, don't you? Well, you gon' haveta get through me first!"

He aimed to fire, but Reno put out a hand.

"I must warn you that you are surrounded by our newest Shinra helicopters. It would be quite futile for you to shoot me - unless you really want to end up as a corpse full of holes on the floor."

"You can't do this!" Tifa cried. Reno noticed her presence, and cast an approving eye on her.

"Hmmm." He walked casually up to the three and caught Tifa roughly by the chin "I wouldn't want to have to hurt you, my dear. We wouldn't want you to have your pretty face scratched now, would we."

Tifa wrenched her face out of his hands.

"Let's see if you would," she seethed through grit teeth, and with the words, thrust her fist right into Reno's left cheek. He sprawled back, shock moulded onto his bleeding face.

"You bitch! How dare you...!"

Cloud fleetingly realised Reno's face was his weak spot. The man was a narcissist. He couldbarely hide his laughter at the absurdness of it all.

Reno continued furiously.

"Now I'm really mad! There's no way I'm letting you three get away now!" He walked calmly to the pillars' computer system and flourished a small device. "In five minutes, this goes off. It's time for you lot to say bye bye."

Turning round, he fixed the bomb to the side of the system. Then he ran back to where the helicopter was waiting, wiping the blood from his face with a look of relish.

"Sayonara!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Barret, ignoring the threat of helicopter gunfire, let out a few rounds from his own gun in Reno's direction. But Reno was fast. He dodged, jumped deftly into the helicopter - but in the process didn't escape unscathed. A bullet just managed to catch his right leg. The helicopter whizzed off heedlessly, it's passenger safely inside.

"Damn!" Barret cried.

Tifa had run to the bomb. "Cloud, how do we stop this?!"

Cloud hurried to the device. It was like none he'd ever seen before. He pressed desperately at the buttons.

"It must be a new kind of bomb," he answered, giving up. "God, how did the Shinra come up with this one?"

The sounds of another helicopter approaching made them look up. Another man was standing at the open door, and he too wore the Turks uniform, but with a panache and grace that Reno lacked. His long black hair was streaming behind him in the swirling wind, and his eyes were two dark slits.

"There's no point in trying to deactivate the bomb," he said in a firm, smooth voice. "It is being programmed to explode direct from the Shinra Headquarters. You might as well save yourselves first."

Barret rushed forward, his eyes ablaze.

"And who the hell are you?!"

"My name is Tseng," the man replied softly, "and I am the leader of the Turks."

"Oh yeah?" Barret yelled back. "Well I think I'm gonna take you down with this bomb!"

He put his arm out to shoot, but Tseng stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might injure our very distinguished guest."

From inside the helicopter, someone was pushed forward roughly. Cloud jumped.

"Aeris!"

Aeris did not attempt to struggle, but she began to call out to them loudly.

"Tifa! She's all right! I took her back to my home! She's safe! She's...!"

Her words were cut short by a resounding slap across the face from Tseng. The force of the strike sentthe girlreeling backward across the floor into a crumpled heap.

"Aeris!" Cloud took a step forward. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of this!"

Tseng did not lose his poise.

"I'm afraid that is quite out of the question. You may as well say a last goodbye to your friend right now. Even if you do survive the bomb, you won't be seeing her again for a very long time."

"What do you mean?" Cloud cried, his voice almost inaudible against the helicopter wings.

"I mean that the Turks have been assigned to find the last remaining Ancient, and that now we can finally report our mission as accomplished," Tseng replied, tactfully avoiding the question. "President Shinra has been very keen to see that we gain Miss. Aeris' co-operation. Now..." He waved to the man at the helicopter controls with a rapid movement of the hand "...I have some important business to attend to. Forgive me for cutting our time together short."

The helicopter clamoured away into the distance. Cloud stared after it and Aeris in frustration. Shaking his head, he punched the pillar viciously.

"Dammit, why this?!"

Tifa wore a petrified expression.

"Cloud, we've got to get out of here!"

Barret suddenly interrupted them.

"Hey, you guys, come here!" He held out a long wire in his hands that had been broken from the plate by the razor-sharp helicopter wings. "This is our only hope of escape."

"We're going to swing out of Sector Seven?!" Tifa was horrified by the notion. "It's absurd!"

Cloud grinned, grabbed on to the line and climbed the pillar railing so that he stood at the edge.

"I'll admit, it's a novel idea, but it's our only way out, Tifa. Unless you want to go down with the bomb. Or get squashed by the plate."

"All right, all right, I guess we'll have to." She climbed up behind Cloud and held on to him. "I'm counting on you, right?"

Barret gripped on to the wire and turned to the others.

"Right, we're movin' out!"

He pushed at the rail with his foot; and they were in the air, sailing out of Sector Seven, just as the bomb detonated behind them. Cloud managed to look back over his shoulder as the impact forced them away. The pillar was crashing to the ground, into the slums, and into all the innocent people down below.

The President watched from the window of his room, the fans buzzing seductively, tickling the back of his neck. The helicopters were there, whirring busily back to HQ, and the plate was falling downward, and there was nothing but smouldering dust, and then silence.

It wouldn't cost much, he thought, only several million slum people, a few hundred Shinra employees from the top of the plate. It didn't matter. He had the girl - he had the Promised Land. Midgar was his whim, he could rebuild Sector Seven whenever, and if ever, he wanted.

The President sighed with sudden boredom, and turned away from the sickening sight, the strains of Haydn's The Creation flowing passionately behind him.

Next: The remnants of AVALANCHE set out to rescue Aeris...