Chapter 9: And thus...
The child plodded towards his best friend, already bored from the lack of activities. He could barely read, so the books that made this place famous were out of the question... especially since they were very grown up books. Sighing, the young non-human wondered why he had decided to come here with his uncle. The sight of his best friend, staring into the fire reminded him of the reasoning. Coming here was the only time he got to see any of his friends.
The boy moved next to the large red animal and sat down. He creature turned to look at the new arrival and smiled softly at the lizard-boy who risked severe boredom all the time, just to come and visit him.
"You decided to come again." It was a statement of fact, not a question.
"Yup. You can always count on me to come every chance I get. I'm dependable like that."
"So you are."
The red creature looked back into the flames, frowning. Today was the anniversary of that fateful day, so long ago.
"You thinking about your dad again, ain't you?" The lizard-boy asked, interrupting his musing.
"You know me too well. Yes, today marks the day that he abandoned all, in his cowardice."
"Least you knew your dad. I was found remember? Why? Why was I left in the middle of nowhere? Is it because of what I am? Am I that much of a frea..."
"What you are, is a very good person, who I'm honoured to call my friend." The creature uninterrupted him, before frowning. "Who's been calling you a freak?"
The lizard-boy pointed over towards a large group of boys, who were playing a game of some sort.
"Ignore them. They don't know what they're talking about. They've actually said worse things to me."
The boy shrugged, staring glumly into the flame. The world darkened, but nobody seemed to notice.
'Welcome back to the world of the living.'
I groaned, putting a hand to my head, as the events from earlier came rushing back to memory. And that dream... was that a dream? Most of it had already faded from my memory, but I remembered the gist of it. What did it mean?
'That you're taking a dream you had when you were unconscious far too seriously? I have dreams all the time... they don't mean anything.'
Maybe Spike has a point; maybe I am taking this too seriously. But something told me that I shouldn't just disregard it like that. Uh, maybe Spike's right, maybe I am crazy. Sighing, I looked at my surroundings. We were in the park again, only now there was rubble from the destruction of Sector 7 lying around; a few girders had wedged themselves into the same slide that Cloud and Aeris had sat on. Tifa was casting cure on herself, while Barret picked himself up, off the ground, looking a little dazed. Cloud was standing to the side, deep in thought.
I look towards the large doors that had led to Sector 7 and sigh as I noticed that it was completely blocked off by the remains of the plate. Barret turned and noticed the blocked doorway as well, and widened his eyes in shock. I faintly heard him mutter 'no', in disbelief. I took a step towards him, but his scream of anguish made me retreat a nice, safe five steps.
"Marlene! MARLENE! MAR---LE---NE!" Barret cried out, eyes wide, punching the debris. "Biggs! Wedge! Jesse!" Is he crying? Ok, that was one of the last things I'd have expected from Barret, but then again, I'd probably be the same in his position. "Dammit! Goddammit! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL! What the hell's it all for? ARGHHHH!"
Cloud chose now to step in. "Hey, Barret!"
As did Tifa. "Barret!"
As would I have done, had I known that it's better to let some things run their course. He believes he lost his daughter and three of his friends. While I know two of those friends and his daughter are safe, I really doubt that he's going to be able to listen properly, not until he's let out all that pent up energy. And this is me talking from how I would be in the same situation. Barret continued his screaming.
"Hey!" That was Cloud trying again.
"Barret, stop… Please stop, Barret." And Tifa again.
"Just let him be." I say, taking advantage of Barret gasping for air. "That's exactly how I'd react, and I wouldn't listen to reason until I've released all that negative energy."
Anything else I'd have said would have undoubtedly been drowned out by Barret screaming again, this time firing his gun-arm at the debris. I sat down, waiting for a nice round of silence, that'll come… Eventually.
It wasn't that long before Barret finally seemed to just give up. He finally stopped screaming, banged his head against the wall, and stayed there, sobbing. Tifa took a step towards Barret, cautiously. She hesitated a moment, before speaking.
"...Barret...? Marlene is... I think Marlene is safe." She told the big guy.
Barret looked at him, eyes bloodshot. He gave a confused 'huh,' prompting Tifa to continue.
"Right before they took Aeris, she said, 'Don't worry, she's all right.' She was probably talking about Marlene." Tifa concluded.
A small spark of hope seemed to light up in Barret's eyes, and he stood up straight, looking at the martial artist.
"R...Really?" He obviously couldn't believe the good news. But then another thought hit him. "Biggs... Wedge... Jesse..."
"Wedge died, even before the pillar was destroyed." Cloud informed him
"But..." I interrupted. "I told Biggs and Jesse to get the hell out of Sector 7."
Barret gave me a look, one that demanded an explanation.
"Think about it, we escaped by a fluke. There just happened to be a wire that we could use to escape. If that hadn't been there, we would be dead. Assume that had happened, and I hadn't told Biggs and Jesse to get out of there. They'd be dead too. Now, what would be left of AVALANCHE? Nothing. Not a thing. Zip. Shinra would have truly won." I paused, and looked at Barret, continuing when I noticed realization dawning on him. "Now, the same thing, only they had left, there would be two members left, who could then go into hiding, hire more recruits, and eventually continue the resistance. So long as one of us remains, AVANCHE lives in a sense."
"And that way, no deaths will be in vain. Because there will still be a fight against Shinra." Barret concluded, grinning.
'You really thought that through, didn't you?'
Yup.
Barret then started laughing, and ran up to me, grabbing me in a bone crushing bear hug. Oh god. I think he cracked my spine. Tifa, giggling doesn't help me. Jesus Christ, you save a couple of people and your reward is death by crushed spine.
"Can't... Breathe..." I gasped.
Still laughing, Barret dropped me and gave a loud whoop. Dear god, that guy needs to control himself, I'm not entirely certain that my spine is in one piece. After another minute of laughing, Barret finally calmed down, sobered by another thought that entered his mind.
"This is all screwed up! They destroyed an entire village just to get to us! They killed so many people..."
"And still failed to kill all but one of us." I wheezed out. "Overkill... but in vain."
"…are you saying it's our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?" Tifa asked, looking horrified.
"No, Tifa! That ain't it! Hell no! It ain't us! It's the damn Shinra! It's never been nobody but the Shinra! They're evil and destroyin' our planet just to... build their power and line their own damn pockets with gold! If we don't get rid of them, they're gonna kill this planet! Our fight ain't never gonna be over until we get rid of them!"
"But it does show that the Shinra use bludgeons, but with the finesse of a scalpel." I muttered, drawing looks from both of the AVALANCHE veterans. "There were much more subtle ways they could have killed us, but they used the most deadly method, one that seemed to lack finesse of any kind. But... in the case we survived... who do you think will be getting the blame for the Pillar's destruction?"
"Us." Tifa realized. "They place the blame on us, and then do a 'rescue operation' to make themselves look the heroes."
"It was obviously well thought out. It was made so that in the event we survive, however slim that may be, we would look like proper terrorists, who are killing innocents for the hell of it, not just an anti-Shinra faction."
"FUCK!" Barret cursed, punching the wall.
Sighing, I turned towards Cloud, who had been very silent throughout this, and found him just staring at the ground.
"Yo, Cloud." Barret called out.
Cloud ignored the Mr T lookalike and walked off, in the direction of Sector 5.
"Yo! Where's he think he's goin'?"
"Aeris' home was that way." I muttered.
"Oh yeah, that girl. What's up with her?" Barret wondered.
"…I don't really know… But she's the one I left Marlene with." Tifa informed him.
"Damn! Marlene! Tifa. Spike. There ain't no turnin' back now."
"There's been no turning back since we decided to actually fight Shinra rather then just talk about it." I smirked.
Barret chuckled, gesturing us to follow him as he charged after Cloud. I'll admit, I don't like the idea of going through this place again, and can you blame me, last time, I was attacked by a freaking HOUSE. Oh, and chased by a swarm of scorpions. Thankfully, we has a more able fighting party, and if we meet another house, I still have that Limit Break waiting. It occurs to me that I should have used my Limit on one of the Turks. Well, we beat them in the end, so... meh. We didn't manage to beat the house, so I'll focus my best attacks on the house.
We caught up to Cloud easily enough, he was moving cautiously, which meant slowly, but safer. He probably felt the same way I did. Who wouldn't, a giant house actually standing up to you in a battle is pretty traumatizing. Barret and Tifa moved so that they were either side of Cloud.
"Cloud! Take me to Marlene!" Barret demanded, earning a nod from the spiky blond swordsman.
"You're going to help Aeris?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah… But before that, there's something I want to know."
"What's that?"
Cloud hesitated a second before answering. "…It's about the Ancients."
Cloud paused a moment, frowning, before giving a strangled gasp and dropping to his knees, looking like he has a migraine. Knowing, vaguely, how he felt, after my earlier trip through hell, I crouched down next to him.
"Hey, you alright?"
Cloud nodded, accepting the hand I held out for him. Grunting, I pulled him to his feet.
"Pull it together, man!" Barret ordered the mercenary.
Cloud winced at the big, black man shouting orders down his ear and nodded. He took a step forward, but stopped, immediately, eyes wide. Frowning, I followed his line of vision and gaped.
"Is that the same one?" I asked, hesitantly.
"I think so... that gash on the side was caused by me." Cloud grunted.
'By The great Lizard... What the hell does it take to kill a house?'
Technically... we can't...
Oh yes... The House is back. How... Oh dear God what do I say? We have to fight a freaking house! Last time it almost blew me up, and then fed me to the scorpions. Speaking of which, I hope they don't come again, being chased by a swarm of insects is embarrassing... unless its bees or wasps... then it is a perfectly normal thing to do. Anyone in my position would agree.
Little story about me here. I don't like bees or wasps. Fact. I used to be alright around them, so long as they weren't stinging me. Again, fact. Wanna know what happened? I woke up one night and found a bunch of wasps (or bees, I didn't check) all on my pillow, right next to my head. Damn near gave me a heart attack. I was lucky I wasn't stung. But anyway, back to the story...
Tifa and Barret stared at the house, briefly, before turning to look at me and Cloud.
"You two got into a fight with a house?" Tifa asked, skepticism dripping from the tone of her voice. "And lost... seeing as it is still standing.
"We may have been able to kill it, but Spike got himself chased by more scorpions then I cared to count." Cloud justified himself.
"Well excuse me for not fighting them. Unlike you, I didn't have a healer focusing her undying attention on me." I snapped, glaring at Cloud.
I think the house got bored of waiting, because before Cloud could respond, a missile landing between us, exploding... as most of them usually do. Whoops, Cloud seems to have landed on his head, oh deary me. Oh well, at least it shut him up.
In a fancy move, (one of the likes I'd never have been able to have done back home) involving a twisty flip, I slashed at the house, preying that the thing wouldn't squirt its ink at me. I think I got lucky, because the house made a very un-house-like sound and jerked backwards. I tensed up for a second, preparing to use my Limit, while Barret did his thing, which involves lots of bullets coming out of his arm, (you know what I mean) and Tifa cast thunder on it.
Oh, drat, Cloud isn't out cold, and did you know that he was a mouth that would make a sailor blush when he's given proper incentive. I grunted and charged at the house, thrusting my gunblade towards it. The weapon stabbed into the wall, causing whatever actually lived inside the house to growl. In pain, I hope. Then, my trigger finger started to push the trigger as fast as it could. I counted twenty shots before I stood back, the power that comes with a limit fading. I watched as the house opened up... I dunno how to describe it, it's when it's injured and goes into its second battle form. But then it just... fell apart and vanished into thin air.
Silence, except for the wind.
We're all looking at each other.
Only one thing to do...
…
…
...LETS GET JIGGY WITH IT!
I flipped my gunblade (Tidus style), caught it and swiftly slid it into my sheath. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cloud doing his sword spinning routine, and I'm sure Barret and Tifa were doing their normal victory poses. Damn, I think if someone were to walk in on us, he'd either see a bunch of complete nuts... or a cool looking group. Or both.
The victory dance over with. I turned around to look at my comrades properly, and widened my eyes in disbelief. This road does not like us. Without even bothering to warn my friends, I just turn tail and make a run for it. Every man for himself.
In case you haven't guessed, the god-damned scorpions are back.
Just for your benefit, we'll skip the whole being chased part... last time was more then enough.