Chapter 12: Sacrifice
Black Hole"Let me go back! I can help him!" Shera screamed as she grabbed for the lever releasing the lock on the escape pod door.
"Do that and you'll kill us all!" Crew Chief Burns shouted as he and the other technicians struggled to hold her back. Burns had been and engineer in the Space Program ever since Cid had been picked to first pilot Shinra's first rocket. He was there that fateful day the dream died, mourning its death with his protégé and also the day it was finally realized. The senior technician was an old man, in his late 40's with slightly graying hair. He had a small build and wasn't very strong, but had amazing dexterity with his hands. Cid had hand picked him and the others for a reason on this mission. They were all experts in each of their fields, simply the best of the best on the planet. Burns and the others all had cool heads in the face of danger and could turn the tide of dire situations in their favor with sheer ingenuity and determination.
Shera, however, was only adding to the mania that encompassed the entire spaceship. She had delivered a knocked out Cid to the escape pod with little over a minute left while at the same time Nanaki and Vincent seemed to be in the same position on the opposite side of the ship. They both were desperately trying to keep their composure among the escalating chaos as the ship gained precious foot over foot of distance between itself and the Black Hole. The Aeris' engines were almost drained of all fuel, now much lighter than before and doubling its speed away from the black hole. The plan was to wait until the very last moments of positive burst before launching all escape pods simultaneously. After that, it was a race to freedom. Every second was met with excruciating anxiety and at the same time with the highest level of courage from the brave crew.
Shera was clutching at the door handle, kicking and screaming at the group of men from the top of her lungs when it happened. In a symphony of wondrous noises, the escape pods initiated launch. Multiple clamps released in a blast of air and each sphere jettisoned outwards away from the main hull, "Initiating full burn in three, two, one," the pod came free from the rails that guided it and shot itself outside the perimeter of the ship. The engineers piloting each transport switched on their escape velocity rockets and prayed to god the captain's foolhardy plan would work. The blast from the small jets packed quite a punch, pressing all of the passengers into the backs of their seats. Intense friction from the black hole's hungry grasp shook everyone and everything roughly from side to side, causing the metal and each escapee to scream in cruel patience. The anxiety pushed everybody to their limits, and just as they were about to snap, it was all over. The gravitational pull from the universal anomaly lessened and both crews experienced an almost smooth ride to safety, thousands of kilometers from their original ship.
"Hey Burns," the pilot of the pod containing Red and Vincent said, "How is it looking?"
The channel between the two opened and Burns let out a sigh of relief, "We're out of harms way. Thank god . . ." he radioed to the other ship, "How's the fuel and course looking?"
"Fuel is gone, but the course is right on target. It may take a while, but the final blasts from our emergency engines should get us home," the pilot confirmed.
Red nudged his way to the small window as the pod gently spun on its axis away from the black hell that had caused so much trouble. His keen eyes opened up wide as he took in the amazing site. The escape ships seemed to have managed to put almost a thousand miles of space between the black hole and themselves. If he squinted, Nanaki could just barely make the outline of the ship. The lights of the Aeris were just bright enough to cause a faint glimmer against the void around it, but in a matter of moments not even that would be possible.
'Poor Cid,' the ancient thought, beginning to sob softly as his long tongue licked the fur under his eyes, 'he was stubborn till the end.'
The radio silence between the two spheres was broken by a sudden cackle that echoed through Red's ship. "Red," the voice called, "Red this is Shera. I have to tell you something."
Red walked closer to the transmitter and responded to her message, "What is it?""Red," Shera stuttered again, "Cloud . . . he . . ." She was finding it hard to come to grips with reality. How could she tell Red that the person that had rescued him from Shinra and stood by him when nobody else would had sacrificed himself? Deep down, Red somehow already knew what the scientist was going to say before she did, "He stayed on the ship!" Shera said as her heart sank in her chest, "He knocked out Cid and told us to save ourselves! I had no choice . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . . "
Nanaki sat in silence on the other side of the com, listening to her uncontrollable sobs as he came to terms with the horrible news. Most of the crew had listened, leading them to bow their heads the head engineer continued, "Red, " Shera's voice pleaded with him to say something, anything at all, "Red! Talk to me Red! Reddddd!" her voice shrilly shooting out of the com, "Please Red . . . don't make me feel all alone . . ."
For the next couple minutes the ancient sat quietly in his stooped position, listening to nothing more than static. He looked out the window and watched as the spaceship became smaller and smaller.
Soon Aeris would be in hell. God only knows what was going on in the mind of Cloud Strife.
The Spaceship Aeris
He had always been left out. He was the last one to get picked in sports, the last in line, the one that would have to wait until next year . . . Cloud had always wanted to be something more than what he was, to be involved in the bigger scheme of things . . . to be involved in it all. In the last two years these "things" seemed to have occurred all at once. His need had led him to a small group of freedom fighters based out of the dingy and dreary slums of Midgar. It was there that Cloud met lifelong friends he would join on a journey that spanned the entire globe, fully culminating in the toppling of an evil global organization bent on making the planet dependent on Mako, and then vanquishing the evil godlike man known as Sephiroth not once but twice. He had become a legend in his own time, a myth to those across the world. Cloud had brought
peace to millions of people.
But as soon as the planet achieved this peace, there was suddenly no need for heroes anymore, and especially no need for a mercenary like himself. Without work, the need for money, or even shelter, Cloud had no motivation and pulled away from the routine of everyday life. It happened gradually over time. There were occasional stints where he would hang out with friends for parties, dinner, and the sort, but little by little he pulled out of these engagements. In a matter of months, invitations became fewer and farther apart, and before Cid had come to Nibelheim they had stopped altogether. Even Tifa couldn't find the words to explain Cloud's eventual social collapse.
Many of his friends believed that when Cloud lost control of himself to his nemesis Sephiroth a second time during their battle in the compressed dimension, leading to the deaths of Rinoa, Barret, and many others, he just ceased to care anymore. He didn't want to allow himself to get close to anybody for fear that the same scenario could repeat itself again. But it was neither that nor any other theory anybody could come up with that correctly explained the fabled hero's withdrawal.
Cloud had experienced something worse than a broken heart in Limbo right before he had returned home. In the last few seconds when his body was fading away, he saw Aeris. He had outstretched his hand to her, and in that gesture expended a lifetime worth of hopes, dreams, love, sadness, and hate. It ended up having a profound effect on his psyche, leaving him as nothing more than an empty, soulless shell; a shell that would let nothing inside or out of it. He ceased to grow as a person, to feel for others much the way he had learned from his friends along their long, arduous journey.
Of course he wasn't devoid of all emotions. Cloud had latched onto two feelings before he left the sea of nothingness called Limbo and held them to his heart tightly; Compassion and Despair. They weren't good bedfellows, causing him anguish and extreme anxiety at times, but they had kept him going over the months. The thought of dying at any second would scare anybody, but knowing that it could happen to anybody reinforced Cloud's feeling that he was still part of the bigger picture. In the grand scheme of life we all seem insignificant, but to know that others feel the same way and still keep going makes it all worth it. Finally confronted with the situation, all he wanted to do was share it with somebody.
"Fuel Levels critical," the computer warned its sole occupant, " Shutdown in five seconds."
By the time the message was complete, it had already begun. Cloud smiled in disbelief as the ship shut off all around him. First it was the engines, then the lights . . . soon life support would falter and become non-existent, but it didn't matter to him. He had finally become part of something worthwhile, and his sacrifice was justified. Cloud walked over to the small window by the pilot's seat and held his breath. Each step he took lasted longer and seemed sharper as the cockpit grew increasingly colder and quieter. The view outside didn't seem any better. Outer Space hid any sight of the escape pods and returned a glare just as cold as the atmosphere of the lifeless ship. Cloud's breath fogged up the window just as the ship was jerked backwards one more time by the black hole. It was getting really cold in the cabin now . . . the chill was turning Cloud into an ice cube. Layer by layer of skin tightened up as the freeze entered his body.
"So . . . . . c . . cold," Cloud murmured to himself. He lifted his palms to his biceps, rubbing them over his flesh to keep warm when he suddenly remembered those three simple words he had heard during liftoff. Cloud thought back to their liftoff weeks ago and repeated the words that had been whispered to him, 'Embrace the cold '. But what did it mean? Die? Embrace the chill of death? No, that couldn't be . . . but what was left in a ship that had no thrust left whatsoever and was being dragged into the most destructive force in the universe? The freeze began to slow down his reflexes but Cloud had to find a way to continue. He searched his memories for anything . . . something that Cid had told him about the ship in case of an emergency that might have slipped his mind.
Cloud scurried around, looking for anything that could save his life as the gravity came back on. The forces of the black hole sent the ship into a nasty spin and slammed the hull relentlessly, ripping away parts of the Aeris before sucking the debris into its swirling mouth.This time the pull on his body was much worse, causing Cloud to fall awkwardly onto his stomach, grabbing frantically onto a bar sticking out of the ground as the new center of gravity tried to pull him to the back of the ship. He grimaced as instruments came undone and tumbled in his direction, slamming into his arms and head, doing everything in his power to keep from falling towards the back of the ship. The memory hit him like a bolt of lightning as the familiar events unraveled around him.
Cid had built the entire spaceship around the remains of the escape plane from the glorious Highwind.
His spiky, golden hair bounced as the former mercenary snapped his head around, searching for the trigger that would give him a second chance at life. In his panic a panel flipped down and began to flash red with the blinking words "EMERGENCY".
"Yes! I'm not done yet," Cloud screamed as he used his arms and upper body strength to pull himself towards the lever. Scrambling up the walls using frozen pipes and other fixtures, the former Shinra soldier saw his saving grace within his grasp. Just as he was about to reach for the handle Cloud's grip gave way, his hand slipping on ice that had formed on the pipe from perspiration.
'No!' Cloud thought as he desperately clawed to grab onto something else. His body slammed hard up against an out jutting metal before finally managing to stop his body against the wall. However, he had lost half of the distance and time was quickly running out. Things weren't looking good for Cloud but suddenly they got worse . . . again.
"Hull strength down to 50," the computer warned. Cloud was amazed that power was still running through the thing. A couple seconds later it came back on, "Hull strength to 45," The ship was starting to buckle. Cloud had to act soon. He summoned all his remaining energy and forced his way back up the wall, making sure with each reach that he wouldn't slip. Once he made it back to where he was before, Cloud jumped over to the pilot seat and pulled his body upright and came face to face with the lever.
"Hull strength 35," the time was almost up for the ship, its destruction was inevitable.
"Here's to living," Cloud smirked and pulled the lever. It extended halfway down before locking itself in place, "Nooo! No, no, no! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" Cloud shouted in disbelief as he tugged the handle as hard as he could. But it wouldn't budge another inch no matter how hard he tried. Ice had gotten into the emergency unit and ceased all its functions.
"Hull strength 20. Time left to breech, two minutes," Cloud was really getting tired of that thing.
It was do or die now. He continued to pull the handle down with his left hand and began to slam his fist down as hard as he could on the steel to break the ice.
"Come on you stupid fucking machine!" with the curse the lever moved down a little. Figures . . . Cid never could get anything to work unless he cursed at it. Cloud continued to hit the box and swear and the lever continued to slide out. It had become so cold that you could almost see the profanity forming in the mist coming from Cloud's mouth.
"GOD DAMNIT!" with one last slam of the fist the pull lever fully extended and Cloud heard hundreds of gears and mechanisms going to work around the ship. Rockets powered up and auxiliary power lit up the cockpit and re-activated the life support. Hydraulics sounded only too soon enough, acknowledging the release of the escape plane from the main hull. Cloud sat in the pilot seat once again and strapped himself in while breathing a sigh of relief. The separation blast kicked him back into the seat before the thrusters kicked in shot him forward. Soon he would be safe and on his way home.
Outreaches of Black HoleNanaki had watched for the last couple minutes until the spaceship was overwhelmed by the darkness. He was about to give in and turn away when a ray of hope alerted him. Nanaki saw some faint lights flicker on followed by a small explosion located near the Aeris.
"Everybody look!" the canine shouted with joy.
Cid had awakened in the other escape pod and crammed his face along with Shera's into the small window to see what Red was talking about. They all saw the ending of another small explosion then cheered happily when they saw the escape plane making its way towards their position.
"That son of a bitch!" the recovering Cid cheered in disbelief before reeling from the pain in his head that the yelling caused him. A little bit softer he said, "He did it!"
Escape ShipThe explosion added to the propellant from the ship moved Cloud fast enough and far enough away from the Black Hole that the ship became free from the black monster's restraints and flew unhindered. Cloud saw the main body of the Aeris through the window in the back of the ship as it began to slowly crumple and disappear. He snickered at the thought of what the computer was going through at that exact moment.
He continued to watch until the ship hit the middle of the spatial gate and disappeared entirely. Satisfied that he was safe, Cloud found the com button and opened up a channel to his friends in the escape pods, "Guys," he announced calmly, "I'm alright."
A transmission came back to him right away in the form of hysterical laughter and cheering.
"You did it Cloud!" Shera praised him jubilantly from one of the pods, "I don't believe it but you did it!"
Red was the next one to reply, "Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again . . . you hear me?"
Vincent's voice appeared in the background as Red continued to transmit, "What's going on?"
"Cloud is alright Vincent! He saved us all from the Black Hole! Don't you remember?" Red scolded Vincent and then laughed out of relief as he beckoned the dark man to the com panel. In light of all the excitement, he had forgotten that Vincent had been passed out for the last hour or so. Cloud waited a minute but all he received was a cold "thanks". Vincent was back to his old self again, emotionless to the end. The normality of it all was a breath of fresh air to the once tense environment of the Aeris.
"Don't worry about it Red," Cloud broadcasted. I'm almost on top of you guys. We'll dock those things with the escape plane and get everybody back together."
"I can't wait to get some leg room again, "Crew chief Burns joked with the rest of the crew in his pod. The all laughed in agreement.
Shera radioed Cloud on the com as he got closer, "I'm going to walk you through the docking procedures, alright Cloud?" She asked him.
"Right, what's the first step?" He responded.
"Turn off your rockets now and use the thrusters to position yourself, then . . ." Shera stopped right in the middle of her sentence as she looked out her window at what was behind Cloud's ship. The Black Hole was expanding with amazing speed, reaching around all three ships in a matter of seconds and closing in on them.
"Cloud get out of here now! Save yourself!" Shera screamed hysterically as she fumbled with the buttons on the pod to move it.
"Wha?" Cloud looked behind his ship but it was too late. The deep black void flew towards him in an evil wave and absorbed everybody.
End Book I