(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7 or the incoming songs, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Exit, Stage Left
Silver: Time for them to get the heck out of Midgar!
Exit, Stage Left
At the 45th floor…
"Okay… ready?"
"Yeah… this place is… just not the same anymore."
"When one becomes power-hungry, that person becomes blind to see that evil is on it's tail."
"True…"
"Right… in 3, 2, 1, fire in the hole."
BOOM! Rumble…!
Both Mira and Kunsel peeks in the room to see the damage and to her surprise and to his shock, the explosion did more damage than what they did in the 49th floor. "Wao… I think it is a really bad idea to combine the remaining C4, which were not used on some floors." she stated out, as the explosion manages to make some holes on the walls and destroyed quite a number of windows.
As the Ex-2nd SOLDIER assess the damage around, the songstress, back in her original outfit, tilts her head for a moment before shaking it. 'I swear I don't know if I'm going to lose my mind or murder that goddess… if the latter is possible.' she thought, as she scowls a bit before looking away when her new companion looks back at her.
"Well, this will rise the bounty on our heads…. Dead or alive." he points out.
"Yikes… but damage done, we need to shake them off on our real agenda and got the info we need." she points out, as she fix the strap on her shoulder. "Anyway, shall we go? I don't want to keep the rest of the team waiting."
"But…"
"Kunsel, we can shake them off. I swear to it."
"Well… I guess I'll leave the situation to your hand then."
"Okay, let's head to the lab, I'll introduce you to the rest of the party." she stated before she shakes her head. 'Ugh… there goes my three year of therapy and hypnotism sessions. I better cool down a bit or else… oh snap…'
As Kunsel is about to head to the elevator, he stops when he notices that she is not following and turns to see Mira is frozen on her spot. "Mira?" he calls out, but she did not budge. "Mira. Mira!" he called a little louder and went to her. "MIRA!" he shouts.
That snaps out of her trance and looks at him. "Wha?" she asked.
"Are you okay?"
"… Yeah." she stated meekly and she hastily walks pass him, she then looks back at him. "We need to get to the lab… I got a real funky feeling that something is going on." and it is no lie, she knew this is the time where Sephiroth kills the president.
As the elevator came, Mira takes one last look back and winces on what she sees… at least she knew why Minerva sees her different from the Cetras.
:::^*^:::
Arriving on the 67th floor, both Kunsel and Mira stick themselves on the wall and carefully threads around the facility… only to stop when they see the blood trail.
And Mira once more winces on what she sees again. 'Skrits… I wish to be blind, these are the last things I want to see ever.' she thought, as Kunsel kneels down and checks the trail.
"It's not fresh but it is slightly dry, it seem the one who did this was here a few moments ago." he stated after judging the blood.
"Crap… Riley!" she the remembers her best friend, then remembers the others in the cells. "Ugh, Kunsel can you try to find Riley? She's somewhere in the lab."
"Eh? Wait, where are you going?" he asked, as he stands up.
"I have to get the party out of the cells."
"I see, take this." he gives her a few potion and items needed. "Be careful."
"Right, and tell Riley your name and that you're with me, kay?"
The Ex-2nd SOLDIER gives her a thumbs up and left for the lab, then she makes her way to the cells, there she sees a guard dead and then winces on the "other" thing she's seeing beside the dead body.
"The door's open…" she hears a familiar voice and turns to see Cloud step out of the cell. "When did it open?" he then sees her and the dead guard. "Mira?"
"Before you say anything, I'm shock to see a dead guard as you are." she quickly stated and kneels down to see the wound on the dead body.
"You didn't kill this guard?" he asked.
"I'm a pacifist not a psychopath." she stated bluntly and gives him a look. "Besides, these damages are inflicted by a sword or a blade, do you think my keytar have a sharp edge?" she asked sarcastically as she looks back and reaches for the key, she froze for a second before she quickly snatch the key from the belt and gives them to Cloud. "Come on, get the others out, I have to check on the new recruit and Riley."
"What?" But before he can even asked about the new recruit, she immediately left. Snapping back to the situation he and the others are now in, he rushes back to the cell where Tifa is. "Tifa… Wake up!"
The female fighter groans as she groggily wakes up and looks at him. "What's wrong?" she asked only to snap herself awake when she sees the door open and the blonde is standing outside.
"Something's wrong. Look outside."
She immediately stands up and heads outside, there she sees the dead body. "I wonder what happened…" she gasped in shock and horror.
"Come on, Tifa, get Aerith. I'll go help Barret and the others." he tosses the key for Aerith's cell, he then goes and open the cell door with Barret and Red XIII inside. He shakes them awake and Barret seems to be baffled on seeing the blonde.
"How'd you get in?" he asked out of confusion. "Why's the door open!" he then runs out of the cell and sees the dead guard. "The hell's goin' on!"
"No human could've done this." Red stated, as he too walks out of the cell and sees the dead body. "I'll go on ahead."
" I'll clean up back here, so you guys go ahead. And don't get caught by Shinra!" the AVALANCHE leader stated and grabs the body.
:::^*^:::
"Kunsel!" Mira calls and the Ex-Second turns to see her as he checks on a unconscious Riley on the floor. "Wha? You knock her out?"
"Uh, no, I just found her like this." he stated out with honesty. "So this is Riley?"
"Yeah, what happen to her…?"
"Well, judging by the place, it seems she got into a fight." he then looks at the tank that contains the Jenova specimen. "Plus that tank seems ripped out from the inside. In addition, there are some blade marks around, I think she got into a fight with a SOLDIER or something like that."
'Oh, I think I know who did this.' Mira thought, as Red comes running in. "Red."
"Mira… and who's this?" the feline creature asked.
"It talks?" the Ex-SOLDIER gawks and the songstress refrains herself from giggling as Red rolls his eyes.
"Red, this is Kunsel, he decided to switch sides after he learned the nasty tales about this company." the songstress explains and the feline looks at her. "What? He's good, plus an additional recruit wouldn't hurt."
"… Very well." then Red looks at the ripped tank. "The specimen…"
"It seems it became active." Kunsel explained.
"Active?"
"The tank is ripped out from the inside." pointing at the way the metal bend and the hinges of the door.
"So that thing is alive…? Mira?" Red asked, noticing her staring blankly again.
On hearing the feline, she quickly snaps back and shakes her head. "Uh? What is it, Red?" she asked.
"You've been staring blankly." Kunsel points out.
"Uh… sorry, there is something in my mind." she stated and cursed inwardly. 'Once I get myself some privacy, I'm going to have a talk with that goddess.'
Then they hear a groan and they look at the waking brunette, at the same time Cloud, Tifa and Aerith comes into the scene. "Oh my, is Riley okay?" Aerith asked.
"She coming thru." the songstress answered.
"IT'S A FRIGGIN MUTATED OCTOPUS!" Riley yells suddenly causing everyone to jump out of surprise.
"Uh… probably a concussion added." the ravenette added meekly.
"What happened here and who's this?" Cloud asked.
"Jenova Specimen… Looks like it went to the upper floor using that elevator for the specimens." Red explains. "As for him, he said that he quits Shinra after learning it's nasty story."
"They killed my friend, that's what they did!" Kunsel stated and the songstress gives the former Second a warning look as Tifa gasped and Aerith covers her mouth. "Do you think I would work for them after learning that they killed my friend?"
"Oh my…" Aerith stated.
"Shinra…" Tifa snarled the company's name with more hatred.
"Ugh… What?" Riley said, snapping the two ladies back as she gets up. "Uh? What's going on?" she asked.
"Riley, are you okay?" Tifa asked.
"If you call doing an extreme version of dodge ball, only it's not a ball but a freakishly long sword trying to kill you and witnessing that horrible thing walk out of the tank okay? Then I'm whoopee-do." the mime stated sarcastically, as she groan a bit and rubs her forehead.
"Long sword?" the Ex-Second asked.
"It's like 7 or 8 feet long." she stated and that snapped both attention of Cloud and Tifa. Mira notices this and they knew what's going into their heads, she is quickly on her guard just in case either of them tries to rat an answer out of her recovering best friend.
"There's only one who can use that extremely long sword." the Ex-Second said and looks at the group. "But he's dead… right?"
Mira shrugs, pretending she is clueless and looks at the others. She slightly cringes on seeing the grim looks on Tifa and Cloud, and turns away. "Uh… I think we should follow the blood trail, maybe we'll find out who did this." she quickly suggests.
"Man…" the mime said and gets up. "Give me a moment here, I need to get out of this gross-slime-covered clothes."
"Kunsel, go with the others, I'll watch over Riley here." the songstress said and the former SOLDIER gives he a look before nodding. "And remove that helmet, you're quitting remember?"
"Ah yeah." he said and than takes his helmet off, revealing his dark brown hair and the blue mako eyes. What stumps her a bit is that he looks quite handsome, and she swears that all the male in Final Fantasy are metro sexual.
'Seriously… Square Enix… you make impossible good-looking men that you make fan girls go gaga on them… especially yaoi fans, especially them.' she thought as she takes the helmet and throws it away. "Another thing, make sure you keep your distance from Cloud." she hissed to him in a low volume and gives him a stern look. Kunsel gives her a nod and joins the others to follow the blood trail, once they left…
"Okay, you fought against Sephiroth? I thought you want to help him snap his humanity back?" the songstress asked as Riley removed the lab coat and she lends her wet wipes to her.
"Meer, trying yelling and asking him to stop when he is totally intent to kill any witnesses." the mime said and toss a pouch to her. "Mind attaching those C4 to the computers and hardware. I never got a chance to destroy those info when Silver-head arrived here first."
"Okay, but what happen?" as she proceed attaching them on the computers in this floor.
"Jenova happen… she's like a slimy zombie in Resident Evil, yuck." she shivered, as she finds a good place to change in private, quickly remove her slimy clothing and proceed on putting her outfit. "For some reason, they want me to survive… well, Jenova wants me to survive."
"Eh? Why?"
"No idea, my mind went blank when that creepy thing touch me." she shivers as she puts on her boots. "Her tentacles are slimy and cold!" she stated with her eyes twitching. "You're lucky you didn't meet Mrs. Creep."
"Not exactly." Mira deadpanned at her best friend, Riley look at her. "No, I did not meet the alien, but I did meet someone else."
"Who?"
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus and take it to the sky." Mira quotes.
"Genesis?"
"Uh no, I met Minerva."
"Eh? EH?" The mime nearly shrieks and looks at her best friend. "You met the goddess of this planet?"
"Yeah…"
"That's more better than my encounter with Mrs. Creep!"
"Actually, it's the opposite." the brunette looks at her and Mira quickly explains why and Riley looks stump, with one eye twitching.
"I don't believe that." the mime deadpans
"And I happens to last longer when it comes to magic." the songstress points out.
"Okay, I'll choose to believe it for now." the mime said in a deadpan tone. "But I don't get it, you have that and you wanted it gone. I'm starting to think you're not just a songstress…" then she pauses for a while and thinks. "Yeah, normal songstress don't do status-spells when they perform, in this world."
"Ugh, and the worse day ever."
"I met Jenova and Sephiroth yet lived to tell the tale, and you met Minerva and you have THAT ability." then the mime rethinks of it again. "I don't know… me, almost getting killed or you, got THAT."
"Okay, they're both bad." the songstress stated with a sigh, then she freezes again.
"You see something again?" Riley asked as she equip the pouch and her best friend nodded. "Considering Midgar is a massacre site, I say let's go meet with the others and bomb the rest later!" the mime then drag her best friend to the top office and they meet Barret along the way.
:::^*^:::
Once the three reunites with Cloud's group, they heads to the 68th floor and met up with Red XIII again.
" It looks like it leads up…" the feline points out and runs up the stairs.
They continue following the blood path till they arrive at the president's office. There, they witnessed the president sitting dead with a sword impaled on him at the back.
"He's dead… The leader of Shinra, Inc. is dead…" Barret stated out of shock, and is surprise that someone killed the president.
"Then this sword must be…!" Tifa gasped seeing the sword, as Mira comes to a freezing halt.
"Sephiroth's!" Cloud declared.
"NO…!"
"…Sephiroth is alive?" the bar maid asked.
"…Looks like it. Only Sephiroth can use that sword." the blonde Ex-SOLDIER stated.
"Who cares who did it!" Barret seems to shout for joy. "This is the end of the Shinra now!"
"The Promised Land is mine!"
Then Riley notices something and nudge Kunsel to a direction, and there he too sees something moving. He quickly made his move and caught someone.
"P, p, p, please!" The fat man squealed and both girls remembers that Palmer is the only witness in this scene. "Don't kill me!"
"You…"
Riley notices Mira's expression, she's paling a bit and light sweat is dripping down. She know what's going on and smartly elbowed her by the side. "Ow!" Mira yelped and glares at the mime as the brunette gives her an apologetic and concern look.
"What happened?" Cloud demanded.
"Se …Sephiroth. Sephiroth came." The fat man stutters.
"Did you see him?" The blonde demanded once more. "Did you see Sephiroth?"
"Yeah, I saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!"
"I know you can hear me."
"You really saw him?" The blonde Ex-SOLDIER wanting more answer.
"Uh! Would I lie to you at a time like this! And I heard his voice too! Um, he was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land."
"Then what? Does that mean that the Promised Land really exist and that Sephiroth's here to save it from Shinra?" Tifa asked with a hint anger and suspicion in her tone, both girls knew the female fighter does not believe that Sephiroth is good.
'Okay, maybe I should start giving the bar maid a therapy first.' Mira thought.
'And… there she goes… again.' Riley thought.
"So he's a good guy then?" Barret said
"Save the Promised Land? A good guy? No way! It's not that simple! I know him! Sephiroth's mission is different!" Cloud snapped.
'Sephiroth is actually a tragic guy… Blame the fruit-loop" both girls thought at the same time. Then they hear something and turns to see a Shinra Helicopter by the window, Palmer uses this distraction to shake off Kunsel's grip and ran for the copter that is hovering by the balcony.
"Rufus! $ *%! I forgot about him!" Barret swears.
"Rufus? You mean the dead president's son?" Riley asked.
"Yep, it's the idiot's son." The AVALANCHE leader replies, seeing the copter, they wasted no time to go after it, heading to the balcony.
"Are you okay?" the mime asked the songstress.
"I'm good, I just need… adjustments." her best friend replied as Cloud and Kunsel burst the door down. There they see Palmer scrambling into the copter, as a blonde man in a white suit seem to be thinking and ignoring the sudden barge of the balcony door.
"So… Sephiroth was actually here. …By the way…" he stated and turns to see the group. "Who are you guys?"
"I'm Cloud, former SOLDIER First Class!"
"Kunsel, former SOLDIER Second Class!"
"I'm from AVALANCHE!" Barret shout out.
"Same here!" Tifa declared.
"Travelers!" Both Mira and Riley stated, then they look at one another.
"…a flower girl from the slums." Aerith admitted.
"…a research specimen." Red stated calmly, as both girls stares at the last two.
"They don't have much confidence, do they?" Riley whispered to the songstress and she replied with a shrug.
"What a crew." he sighs as he comb his hair back, for both Mira and Riley the gesture he used reminds them of a guy-trying-to-flirt-with-a-girl. "Well, I'm Rufus. The President of Shinra, Inc."
"You only President, 'cause yer old man died!" the AVALANCHE leader snaps at him.
"That's right. I'll let you hear my new appointment speech." Rufus stated and approaches the group.
"…Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working." he looks at Aerith, who looks back at him with contempt which he merely shrugs off and walks to Cloud and Kunsel. "The population thought that Shinra would protect them. Work at Shinra, get your pay." He looks between the 1st and 2nd. "If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help you. It looks perfect on the outside." Then he raise his hand. "But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man." as he walks back to his original position. "A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."
"He likes to make speeches just like his father." Tifa said, clearly not amuse on having a new tyrant ruling other Gaia again.
"I wonder if he heard about karma." Mira whispered in a deadpan tone as the mime holds her giggles.
Then Cloud turns to Barret. "Get outta this building with Aerith!" he barked at the AVALANCHE leader.
"What?" the black man seem shock and confused on that.
"I'll explain later! Barret! This is the real crisis for the Planet!"
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"I'll tell you later! Just take my word for it now! I'll go after I take care of him!" he hears Barret agreeing to his suggestion and the group left. But then, Riley steps up and stands beside him, he looks at her.
"What? You think I'll let you do this alone?" the brunette stated as she takes out a pair of tonfas, she just looted from a pair of troopers.
"I can handle this."
"Nope, not leaving you."
"Riley! Just go!"
"Not listening, blondie!" the mime snaps back and on cue a mutated cat, which Riley recognizes as Dark Nation, jumps out of the copter and lands beside Rufus. "See!" she bluntly points out the mutated cat. And the Ex-SOLDIER seem slightly annoyed at the new excuse.
:::^*^:::
"I'll assist Cloud, you better watch over Aerith."
"Are you sure about this?"
"No big, besides I got this."
"Did you stole those?"
"Yeah, I'm starting to think that I should get bit of better weapons, of sorts. Anyway, you better prepare yourself for the elevator fight."
"Okay, be careful."
"Same to you."
That's the last conversation Mira and Riley have, as group goes down to the 69th floor when Aerith stops for a moment.
"Cloud... I just thought of something." the Cetra thought.
"Don't worry, he got Riley to watch over his back." the songstress points out.
Still unsure, Tifa decided to wait for the two and ushers the others to head down. After a short debate between Barret and the bar maid, the group heads for the elevator as the female fighter is left behind. Mira quickly presses the down button and to her surprise that the door opens immediately. They quickly file into the elevator and she press the down button, the songstress immediately checks her equipment and materias, along with the items.
'Okay… I got my materias and some of Zack's materias….' she thought as she digs and checks each one of them. 'Okay, Bahamut FURY out, I don't think we got the space to summon such beast here… Dualcast is good…' she thought and takes the independent materia, placing it into the only free slot she got. 'Let's see… I don't think the Blizzard will do good with the Hundred and Heli Gunner.' she then puts away her Blizzard materia and replaces it with a Shinra-Manufactured Barrier Materia, she notices the difference between the natural materia to a man-made one. 'Wow… the feeling is a bit choppy on this one.'
As she puts on a Tri-Thundaga… Kunsel alerts the group with another elevator which is moving fast than the normal. When the other elevator comes to their level, there they saw a heavy armed tank and shoots the glass away as the others lay low. Mira quickly conjures out a Barrier to protect the others, but the said protection is short lived and faded away.
'Note to self, throw away man-made materias back into the planet, Shinra sucks on making it.' the songstress thought as she and the others gets up.
Barret wasted no time firing away as Kunsel cast his own Thunder at it. Aerith doesn't have any materia, so she rushes to her and provide cover. "Here." Mira stated as she manage to take out a Fire and Cure. "I found these in some storage, plus I think the Cure materia is able to cast Cura."
The brunette thank her and equips the two materias, as the songstress gets up and cast Thunder twice at the machine. Red got hit a few times but that causes him to use his Limit Break on the tank, and once he returns back to our side Aerith cast Cura on him. Then there is a short explosion erupted from the tank and it's machine guns are turn away.
"Yes! We got it now!" Barret shouts out with glee, when Kunsel notices the head.
"Not yet!" the Ex-Second shouts and positions his sword in defense.
"Barrier!" the ravenette quickly cast a barrier to herself and Aerith, thanks to the Dualcast. The Hundred Gunner shoots at them with the Main Artillery, the other three without barriers scrambles to get out of range. But fighting in an elevator is really an obstacle, Kunsel nearly trips over Red as Barret kept shooting back and standing firm on his spot as a bullet or two miss his foot by an inch.
Mira keeps casting Thunder and Tri-Thundaga on the tank and cast Haste on the party to speed up the battle. And before the tank could shoot it's last artillery, both Kunsel and the songstress cast thunder and frying it's circuits completely.
"Is it over?" Aerith asked as the tank slumps with a bit of sparks and small explosions. Then they hears something shifting and gears clanking in the tank, and it wasn't long till the Heli Gunner emerges from the tank.
"Next time, don't jinx it." Mira quips at the flower girl as the flying machine zips around them and what remains of the tank exploded into tiny bits.
She quickly cast thunder at the flying machine, only it zips around a lot and she miss. The flying machine shoot back with it's cannons and the group scrambles to get out of the way, as Mira cast Barrier at Kunsel and Aerith. She then quickly ducks down when the machine attempts to attack her with a drill and cast Thunder at it before zipping away.
"That machine is starting to get on my nerves." as she cast another Thunder at it, only it got miss again. "Oh come on!"
"Relax…"
'Uh?'
"Let it flow and take form."
"Let it…" she whispers, as unknowingly relaxes her stance and stretch her hands out like she is going to catch water. She feels the electricity flowing out of the two materia and pouring itself into her hands.
And to the party's surprise, wings sprouts out from the gathered Thunder spell of the songstress' hands.
:::^*^:::
"Why do you want to fight me?" the newly appointed Shinra president asked, as he sets his shotgun.
"You seek the Promised Land and Sephiroth." the blonde Ex-SOLDIER snaps at him.
"Hm, exactly." Rufus answered back. "Mm? Did you know that Sephiroth is an Ancient?"
'Ancient, my ass.' Riley thought, as she grips on her new weapons hard. 'You and your company just created the world's own friggin end.'
"…A lot has happened. Anyway, I can't let either you or Sephiroth have the Promised Land!" Cloud shouts at him.
"I see. I guess this means we won't become friends." and then the dark feline charges to strike the brunette down. She jumps away as she spins her tonfas and charge back at the feline. Meanwhile, Cloud attempts to land a hit on the new president, only to take a defensive position when Rufus shoots him. But he immediately stops when he sees the brunette cast Mantra Magic towards him and avoids it.
'What the heck?' Riley thought dumbfounded as she saw how he avoided her spell. 'Did he just dance or something to avoid that?"
Once more, he shoot but this time he aims for Riley and Dark Nation switches to the blonde Ex-SOLDIER. But the brunette takes this as a chance and charges to the new president. Rufus sees her about to attack, he shoots at her but only to miss as she zig-zags toward him. And it didn't take long till, she got close and lands two strikes on his abdomen and chin.
'Oooh… That's going to give him a split chin.' she thought smugly as she quickly jumps away from being shot point blank. She quickly backs away and avoids the bullets, she then tries to help Cloud only she have to dodge the bullets and couldn't help him.
"Aye… you're getting on my nerves." she hissed and attempts to strike him down again, only to hit something else than her intended target. "Wha?" she utters only remember that Dark Nation have the ability to protect it's master. "I hate that… cat-dog thing…?" she stated angrily with confusion as she yelps when she felt her left arm hurt and jumps away. 'Need to get rid of that thing!' she thought.
Then suddenly she got an answer, when a creature appears and stomps down Dark Nation harshly. Both men are surprise seeing the new creature, but Riley recognizes what beast it is. 'Is that a Griffon?' she thought. 'It looks… different.'
True to her thought, the new creature is more white and electric blue with dark gray beak and claws. She knew the monster is an air-type, but it puzzles her on why it can emit electricity. Before Dark Nation could bite the claw off, the griffon releases a strong shock which causes for the dark creature to wail in pain. And that shock is enough to kill it.
Seeing his dark companion electrocuted by the Griffon, Rufus decided to retreat. "Heh, that's all for today." and grabs the Shinra Helicopter's landing bar and got away from the scene.
"Hey!" Riley shouts, as well as the Griffon roars at it and then it looks at the mime. "What are you looking at?" she snaps and looks back at the creature, only to hear it cooed and purr.
"Seriously?" as the Griffon rubs it's head on her shoulder, but she didn't expect the static. "Gah! My hair!" she yelps when her hair spikes up.
"It's… friendly…" Cloud said, a bit surprise to see such a friendly monster. He kinda expect it to be another Rufus' pet or a wild specimen from the lab, but not this. Not letting their friends wait any longer, both of them heads to the elevator with the Griffon just behind them. Once they meet up with Tifa and she is also surprise on seeing the Griffon just behind them, they quickly heads off to the elevators.
:::^*^:::
"That's a lot of people outside."
After recovering from their last battle, Mira's group just arrived on the ground floor and finds out that they are trap.
"&^&%…surrounded, huh? If I was alone this wouldn't be a thang but, I gotta reputation to protect." The AVALANCHE leader stated with a shrug.
"You all get out while you can. It's not you they're after…it's me." The flower girl said.
"Yeah, well that ain't happenin'. You got caught up in this over Marlene. Now, it's my turn to watch out for you!" he said to her and then turns to the entrance. "Ok, playtime's over for you jackasses…"
"…thank you, Mr. Barret!"
"Who you callin' Mr. Barret? That don't sound right!"
"Got any plans?" Kunsel asked Mira, as Red and Barret exchange banter.
"Well… no, Riley is the usual risk-taker in all this." the songstress replied.
"Barret!" they turn to see Tifa at the balcony and she's waving at them.
"Tifa! Where's Cloud?" Barret hollered back
"Everyone, over here!" the bar maid motions them to go to her she is right now.
"Huh? What's up? Where's Cloud?"
"Don't stand there like a footstool and get up here!" Riley shouts and the groups are gobsmack on what they're seeing.
"Riley, is it safe to ride on that?" The Ex-Second asked, seeing the Griffon she's riding on.
"Yeah, it kinda wanted me to ride on it. Why…?" The mime replied.
"Because that's the creature Mira created out of her Thunder spells!"
"Ay-WHAT?" and the mime looks at her best friend as the songstress flush at that and turns away. 'Oh, we will so have a talk after this!' she thought, as she gets the Griffon to herd the group to where Cloud and Tifa are.
Tifa quickly motions them to board a truck with her driving, as Kunsel takes a motorcycle and Cloud appears on a motorcycle of his own. They then drive up to the next floor and then out of the building by shattering the glass window, Mira, Barret and Red have to duck down as the Shinra Troopers tries to shoot them down. Riley, on the Griffon, steer it towards the troopers and sent them some Thunder spells, as the group landed safely on the freeway. Cloud and Kunsel readies their swords against the incoming Shinras, as the mime and the Griffon tails behind the truck just in case. The two Ex-SOLDIERs fights the incoming Shinra soldiers on motorcycles, those that are able to slip them off are shock away by the Griffon or is shot down by Barret.
"Mira, can we keep him?" Riley joked as she smirks at the fallen trooper and the hybrid cries in victory.
It wasn't long till they see the dead end and Riley sees a big vehicle just behind them.
"Uh-oh, incoming!" the mime calls out as the Griffon uses Thunder to immediately weaken the machine. Once they reach the dead end, they stop and disembarks their vehicles.
Tifa quickly uses her Limit Break, but the last two strikes didn't land as the Motor Ball attempts to strike back at her. Luckily, she is protect by the Barrier spell that Mira quickly casted and the female fighter quickly backs away. Both Cloud and Kunsel charges in to slice it's arms off, only they got hit by the spike wheels.
Riley is ready to cast her own Thunder at it, when she feels something on her materia. Looking at it, she suddenly gains the knowledge to cast the Thundara. "Wow, my materia just leveled up." she quips and cast the stronger spell at the machine, giving it more damage. And she wasn't the only one, Mira sings to cast Haste on the party, she then dances with the song. And the next thing she know, the group sees the machine moving slowly and the mime recognizes the move. "Mira, are you Slow Dancing?" the mime asked.
The songstress stops for a moment and shrugs and the next thing they know, the machine is moving normally and nearly scorch them with it's Twin Burner. Once the fire stops, Red quickly jumps on the machine and rips one of the sensors off as the songstress continues with the Slow Dance. Barret manages to shoot the two of the six spike wheels flat, as Aerith heals the party. Riley tosses one of the ethers to Aerith as she drinks one herself, and the Griffon once more cast Thunder at the machine.
"Man, is there a quick way to end this?" Riley mutters to herself. "This battle is much more faster in the game than in real-life WHOA!" The mime yelps as the Griffon swoops down and drops it's rider off near Aerith, nearly stumbling on her. "Hey! What's the big idea!" she shouts back at the Griffon.
Then the next thing… the Griffon releases strong electrical charges and it's body turns into a powerful mass of electricity.
"Uh… Mira, did you train it to do that?" the mime asked her best friend, who shrugs in confusion and surprise.
Then the Griffon flew around, gaining speed, before it goes into a dive right to the Motor Ball. The brunette mime shouts everyone to duck down, seeing the Griffon is going kamikaze on the machine. Seeing the beast attempting to get rid of the machine in one strike, the group quickly drop flat on the floor as the Griffon and the machine connects. Explosion is heard and the highway shook, but amazingly is able to hold such shockwave and damage. Looking back up, they saw the machine completely wreck and twisted with a bit of sparks going off. Slowly, Riley walks to the debris and to her relief she finds the 350 gils intact. But to her disappointment, the Star Pendant is somewhat welded into the metal and she couldn't take it.
"Well, what do we do now?" Barret asked, as Riley packs the gils as she continues staring at the welded pendant with dismay.
"Sephiroth is alive. I…I have to settle the score." Cloud stated.
"And that'll save the Planet?"
"…Seems like it."
"Awright, I'm going!"
"I'll go too. …I have things that I want to find out." Aerith pipes up.
"About the Ancients?" the blonde Ex-SOLDIER asked.
"…Many things."
"You might need us, it'll be easy to have some experience travelers with you." Riley stated as she walks back to Mira's side.
"Same here." the songstress agrees.
"I guess this is good bye, Midgar." Tifa stated.
Once they located where the cable is, the group have a short debate on who's going first. And it is decided that Kunsel would go first, since Red does not have any oppose-sable thumbs and needed to be carried down. It is followed by Riley, then Tifa, then Aerith, then Barret and there's a short mental battle within Mira's mind before she goes next as Cloud insisted to be the last one. Riley have no problem with climbing down a rope or cables, however Mira fears of dropping dead from such extreme heights causes her to move more slowly and carefully than the others. Once the ground is a foot or two closer, she gladly let go of the cable and landed with a bit of glee.
The she looks around and notices something different… but her attention is snapped when Red announces that he'll go with them until he reaches his hometown.
"Then… Let's go!" the blonde calls
"We need a group leader for our journey. 'Course only me could be the leader." the black man stated smugly as both Riley and Mira rolls their eyes.
"You think so…?" Tifa asked
"It would have to be Cloud." Aerith added.
"I vote for that one." both Riley and Mira stated, the group looks at them as they shrugs.
"$*$&%…awright. Go Northeast to a town called Kalm. If something happens, we'll meet up there. 'Sides, we can't have 8 people strolling down the fields. It's too dangerous. Split us into 2 parties…" the black man stated.
"Make it three, the more spread out we are, the more safer it is." Mira suggested.
And they agreed to the plan, on the first group is Cloud, Aerith and Barret, the second is Kunsel, Tifa and Red, while both Mira and Riley remains together. Cloud's groups heads out first, they waited for fifteen minutes to past before Kunsel's group moves out. As they wait, they listen to a few of Mira's songs as the mime checks her pouches. Once the first fifteen minutes came, Kunsel, Tifa and Red sets off and bid the two to see them in Kalm.
Once they are out of sight….
"Okay girl, let me see the 'girls night out'." Riley stated as the songstress rolls her eyes with a smile and hands her touch phone. "Watching candid movies is a better way to spend time." her quips with a smirk.
"Riley, we have to leave in ten minutes actually."
"Eh, why early?"
"We're suppose to visit someone, remember?"
"Oh yeah… sorry bout that, puppy." the mime apologizes at the air, the remembers something and looks at the songstress. "By the way, how did you created that Griffon?"
:::^*^:::
Once ten minutes pass, both Mira and Riley traveled to the cliff where Zack died.
There they stop for a moment and Mira takes out a fresh flower, placing it on the ground.
"Don't worry, we'll keep our promise on watching over them." Riley said, as Mira arms her keytar. "You're going to sing for him."
"Yeah, we didn't give him a proper farewell… since we are so focus on looking after Cloud." the songstress stated and fixes a few stuffs on her keytar. "Sorry if you might not understand this, but the song is in Japanese… or Wutainese in this… world's term… something." she thinks for a moment before shrugging it off, and begins playing a song both she and Riley recognize.
Hitomi no oku ga boyake te mie nai
Kokoro no soko no kimochi wa aru no?
Mira sings, as Riley smiles a little and clasp her hands together and silently prays.
Sekai no subete wo te ni shi ta toshite mo
Sore ga anata no shiawase na no?
Why kodoku na sora wo miageru no?
Why waratte mise te yo
Kotoba ni suru no ga heta na
Anata no seikaku wakaru kara
'Everything will be fine, Zack.' Riley thought, as she prays in her mind. 'We're watching over Cloud and Aerith now, there's no need to worry anymore… although, I'm a bit sad… you and Aerith are meant to be with one another… I kinda wished that the Lifestream would given you a second chance.'
Jiyuu na hito wa bukiyou de?
Jiyuu na hito wa fuan de?
'Also, please help me… I want to give Sephiroth back his humanity, Mira and I know why he became mad. So don't be too angry on him… no one have given any love or truth to him. So do not worry… we'll make things right. Promise.'
Why kodoku na sora wo miageru no?
Why waratte mise te yo
Kotoba ni suru no ga heta na
Anata no seikaku wakaru kara
Shinji te mi te
Why...?
Once the song ended, Riley finishes her prayer and they left for Kalm.
"Do you see him?" the mime asked.
"No... I think he returned to the planet."
"Oh well... at least he's in peace."
Back at the cliff, there is a green spark before it vanishes with the flower.
Silver: This chapter have so many edits… I'm telling you, and still not happy with this. Sorry, I was on at artist art roll… KINGDOM HEARTS 3D! Knjsnsfhsfusrhfsjnbfligbvd! No I don't own a 3DS, that's my cousin's and I was frankly on a KH roll, lol… Even if I don't understand Japanese, maybe a little but not the rest of the conversation. NEKU! Or is it Neko…? Considering he got a cat as Dream Eater… pun on the name, anyone? XD! Anyway, they are finally out of Midgar! Yes! Onwards to victory! Erk… wrong one… meh, read and review, folks.
P.S. And yes, thanks to Minerva, Mira is able to see dead people.