01.

The First Bombing

The reactor was glowing in sickly green. The air also tasted the same color as Cloud stepped through the small hole they had made in the fence surrounding the reactor. There was a bridge in front of them, and through that door was the real deal. Then it would smell really green. The smell of Mako always nauseated him to the core. How he had managed through SOLDIER was a question he didn't dare think about. Every SOLDIER was infused with small doses of Mako to enhance their physical strength.

A plump man stopped in front of the door. Cloud remembered him introducing himself as Wedge, right before they left Tifa's bar.

"I'll secure the escape passage," he said.

The leader, a bulky, dark man with beard like a bandit and a machine gun for an arm – literally – nodded his approval.

"Awright, Wedge. Be careful."

"Geez, we're really gonna blow this huge furnace up? That will be somethin' to see!" Wedge whispered excitedly, and there was a strange glint in the boyish brown of his eyes. Open curiosity that somehow left Cloud feeling agitated. It reminded him of something he couldn't remember.

The inside of the reactor was as green as he imagined. It was humming, pumping, like an angry beast. The lazy weight of Mako hung in the air as he breathed it in. Tainted with green. Green everywhere it made his head spin. He tried to look only at the path he was walking. A long metal bridge that led to the core of the reactor. It didn't look very sturdy, did it? Cloud frowned. What if it fell, and he fell, down into the green flames, hands clutching at nothing...

"Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"

Cloud flinched. He hadn't realized that his heart was beating so fast. He composed his expression, and looked up slowly. He lifted one eyebrow at Barret's smug face.

"No. After all, I did work for Shinra, you know."

As if the glint of Mako in his eyes wasn't proof enough. Barret frowned, but continued on with his speech.

"The Planet's full of Mako energy. It's the life blood of this Planet, but Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these weird machines…"

"Yeah, I know." Cloud interrupted him. Something inside him was rolling over itself. He wanted to close his eyes, and pull darkness between him and all these green. "I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry."

Barret finally fell silent. It was an offended silence, one that promised much venom in the future, but Cloud didn't really care. Like he said, he was done and out of here once they blew up the reactor or whatever.

They finally got to the end of the bridge, and a tall girl – Jessie, was it? - stepped in front of Cloud.

"Biggs and I got the code for this door."

It seemed like Biggs, an easy-looking guy with a lazy drawl, was staying behind to secure the escape path. As soon as they all stepped through, he held up his hand.

"Well, I'll be here, then. Have fun."

"We'll be right back." Jessie said. She, Barret and Cloud walked on ahead. Cloud wondered why they hadn't encountered anyone yet. Or anything, because big reactors like these were sometimes guarded by unmanned robots. Big ones, too. Cloud wondered if he should tell them, then decided against it. They probably already knew.

The elevator was big, as it was meant for transportation of Mako. The door screeched closed, and Cloud felt the familiar fear gripping his heart. Locked. No way out... The familiar crush of bone against the bars, then the unbearable weight in the chest. Panic. Cloud couldn't remember where he got his claustrophobia, but over the time he learned the trick of ignoring those fears by dumping them in some unused corner of his mind and locking them away. They were never really gone, though. Muted, but never gone.

"Push that button over there, Cloud."

Jessie pointed behind where Cloud stood. There were too many buttons – Cloud frowned for a second, wondering if Jessie was testing him, then pushed the biggest one. Fortunately, the elevator started to whirr and move. As if on cue, Barret resumed his lecture.

"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that." He said.

"It's not my problem." Cloud answered nonchalantly, because it wasn't. Barret didn't get it.

"The planet's dyin', Cloud!" He shouted, gesticulating wildly. Cloud didn't like how Barret's hulking body weight made the elevator smaller and smaller. How far were they going up anyway? Or down? Cloud looked uncertainly at the numbers climbing up on the panel. Something stuck in Cloud's throat, like a stone that was burning. He forced his voice out around it to distract himself.

"The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the Roboguards come."

"The what guards?" Barret frowned. In that same moment, the elevator bell dinged and the door opened up to reveal two robots staring right back at them.

It took three seconds for them to register them as intruders. Then the firing began, and the automatic defensive shooting shook the elevator.

"Get out!" Cloud yelled as he dodged a bullet. He drew out his sword. It clicked off the magnetic hook, the weight reassuring in his grip. He felt the Mako-tainted air brush his ears as he darted forward. The metal armor of the Roboguards sparked and crumpled under his sword. He heard gunshots. Barret had taken care of the other one. When Cloud looked up, Barret was frowning at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but shrugged and turned away. Jessie sad instead, "cool moves, Cloud."

Cloud didn't know how to answer, so he didn't. He slung his sword onto his back again. Click. The movement had cleared up his head somewhat. He felt lighter as he walked behind Jessie.

"I'll stay here, in case more of those… Roboguards, come." Jessie said at the base of the core, eyeing the steps upward. Cloud almost said that he would, too, but Barret was pushing him in the back and up the stairs. Great. More closed space. Cloud opened the door reluctantly and stepped through. The air was thicker here – thick with Mako. Even Barret shook his shoulders a few times as if to shake off the phantom weight. Cloud felt the air catch in his throat. He was afraid to let it get to the lungs. How long could a SOLDIER go on without breathing?

"Cloud, you set the bomb." Barret said suddenly, handing over a small silver device. Cloud searched Barret's face with suspicion.

"Why? Shouldn't you do it?"

"Jus' do it, dammit! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'," he growled.

"Fine. Be my guest." Cloud muttered and took the device.

Then the green turned into red. It happened so suddenly. Like blood was pouring out of his eyes, and everything was red, just for a second.

"What?" He breathed, trying to scrape some air that wasn't laced with too much Mako. He felt his head spin, blinking dumbly.

"What?" Barret repeated, alarmed, and started looking around himself. Cloud realized that a bomb was in his hands. Suddenly everything was so surreal, like he was watching from a dream, slower than usual…

"Didn't someone say," Cloud tried to formulate a sentence, make sense of his whereabouts. Barret was frowning and saying something, his rasping voice hard against his ear, but the meaning didn't register. And that wasn't the only thing he was hearing.

It was a voice – a familiar, no, a strange voice. Strange, because he couldn't say who it belonged to. Familiar, because...

Cloud strained to make out the words. What was it saying? All muddled. Confused. Red flickering with green dots. I am holding a bomb in my hands. Why am I holding a bomb in my hands? Wait, the voice, there again.

Watch out.

Then it was gone.

" … so, what's wrong?"

Barret's voice suddenly sounded loud and clear in his ears. Cloud blinked up at him. Blinked at his surroundings, which had returned to the normal hue of green. No red, no voices. No swirling.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, Cloud? Hurry it up!"

Barret said, a little impatient. Cloud shook his head. Right, the bomb in his hands.

"Yeah, sorry."

Cloud set the bomb for thirty minutes. It had taken roughly eight minutes to get here, including fighting off the Roboguards, so that should be enough time. The beeping started.

And so did the alarm.

"Damn, they know we're here! Heads up!" Barret cursed and shot out of the door. Cloud followed gladly, only to be confronted with three Roboguards, and one big machine guard that looked like a scorpion.

"Barret, I'll take the Guard Scorpion!" Cloud yelled as he slashed at its tail with metal spikes sticking out. Barret was already roaring, the sound of his gun-arm hot in his ears. Cloud dodged as the Guard Scorpion breathed out bullets, and kept his body lowered. He ran, went for the underside. A bullet clattered against his sword as he held it up at the last moment, the blade wide enough to cover his face. He struck, swinging the buster sword for maximum impact. The crunching. The electric buzz that exploded in a little fire. Squeaking of metal – but it didn't go down that easy.

Cloud rolled over on the ground as more shots were fired, leaving a smoking trail, burning the green air. He got up quickly, jumping up this time. He went for the head, straight. Twisted his body at the last moment, the momentum alone carrying the blade. As he fell, the blade sliced the machine from the head. With a last electric spark, it lay still.

He turned to help Barret finish off the last guard. As it fell down, broken, Cloud's eyes fell on the watch on Barret's good arm.

"Damn." He muttered.

"What now?" Barret growled.

"We have five minutes until detonation."

"What the hell?"

Those were the last words. Barret and Cloud stumbled over the fallen machines, racing through the bridge, Barret cussing loudly all the while. They came upon Jessie in the middle of the bridge, who looked confusedly at them for an explanation.

"Jessie, what are you doin'? Mister Genius here tells me we have five... four minutes to detonation!"

Barret yelled as he ran past. Jessie yelped and followed Barret, jumping over a low fence and practically sliding down the long ladder. Cloud followed suit, just a step behind. There was a clock ticking inside his head, counting down the minutes. Three minutes now…

Biggs had just finished opening the door when they reached it.

"Let's go!" He held it open. Cloud ran through, following the shadow of Barret. The world was shaking. His feet barely touched the ground. The second they did, he leaped again. Long strides with green air swooshing past the ears. He retraced the path they traveled earlier, stopping at the first door they unlocked. One minute, now…

Biggs started pushing the buttons as soon as he reached it. Heavy breaths. His fingers were trembling. Damn, he murmured under his breath. Cloud didn't tell him to hurry up. He counted the seconds in his head.

The door opened with a faint beep. Biggs reached out to open it, but Cloud swung the handle first. He held it open as they all ran through. No more time for words. Jessie was out, then she turned immediately, waited for Cloud. He stepped through the door and tried to close it behind him. The door was too heavy… it took too long to close. Barret grunted as he ran over to help Cloud push. The door beeped. His mind tripped over his senses as he turned right back. Barret followed. His instincts led the way. He stumbled through the door leading outside, and fresh air greeted him.

Wedge was waiting by the bridge. Instead of explaining, Barret just jumped over him, knocking both of them to the ground. Wedge squirmed. Biggs pulled Jessie down as well. Cloud flung himself to the wet grass. Had it been raining?

The reactor exploded.

For a moment, the world was strangely silent. Cloud thought he felt a wave of heat that scraped past the back of his head. This second was slow. In the stillness, behind closed eyes, he only heard himself breathe. He counted his breaths. Colorless air pumping in and out of him.

They were silent for a long while, even after the initial explosion died down.

"That should keep the Planet going... at least a little longer." Biggs muttered. That sentence hung in the air as Cloud watched with vacant detachment the remnants of the reactor. Burning up in flames, the green flames. They colored the night sky orange.

"All right, now let's get out of here." Barret composed himself first, jumping up to his feet from where they were all sitting. They followed him, brushing the wet grass off themselves. Barret stood tall, examining the firework show they had made.

"Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train!"

Apparently they had all done this before. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie nodded and started running off in separate directions. Jessie's shadow was the first to disappear among the trees.

"Hey, wait!" Cloud shouted after Barret as he started running, too.

"What?" Barret turned an irritated eye toward Cloud. "If it's about your money, save it 'till we're back at the hideout." He grumbled, and soon disappeared through the invisible road in the forest. Cloud was left alone in the clearing. Him, and the chilly air that clung to the bare skin of his arms. Some parts of his clothes were still a little wet from the rain-soaked grass.

"And I'm supposed to just take your word for it." Cloud talked to the empty shadow of Barret. Nobody answered. He figured he had no choice but to go to… Sector 8 Station, was it? Although he had no idea where that was. He started moving his feet. The trees wailed in the sudden gush of wind.

Sometimes he thought he saw someone watching him in the darkness, but he never turned his head to check. He was afraid there would be no one there. Just the wind, or the silent night.

Soon, Cloud found his way to the city square. It was a pitiful excuse for a square in a pitiful city. The buildings around it were broken or in the process of breaking. The night hung in heavy cobwebs of darkness, but Cloud had a feeling that it would be dark even during the brightest day. It would normally be quiet, Cloud guessed, but not right now. He supposed the news of the explosion had already reached the city's complicated veins underplate. People were whispering, running around. More than once Cloud picked up the word AVANLANCHE breathed out in hushed wonder. He carefully made his way through the people, willing himself to become invisible.

Except, a girl was approaching him from the far end of the square.

"Hey, sorry…"

"Me?" Cloud said, looking around. The girl had a light smile playing at her lips. Soft brown hair, green eyes that reminded him of forests – forests not real, in dreams. She was holding a loosely knit basket with flowers in it; yellow flowers that looked like the sun the slums had lost.

"Yes, you. Can you tell me what happened? What's everyone going on about?" Her laugh was soft like her smile. And for some reason, Cloud didn't feel like telling her that the city's reactor had just exploded. That he was the one who'd done it. He shook his head slowly instead.

"No, I don't know anything." He paused, waiting for the girl to walk away, for it to be a silent passing that would mean nothing years from now.

Except she didn't go. Cloud felt a silly kind of panic rise to his chest, a thought that maybe she was waiting for him to say something, so he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Don't see many flowers around here."

His eyes were fixed on the blur of yellow in her basket, refusing to meet her eyes. Her gaze followed his, and she carefully picked one flower out of many and held it in front of him. Her smile was golden this time.

"I know. Do you like them? They're only a gil...?"

"Uh, sure." Cloud murmured as he dug around his pocket for change. The hard texture of a coin was exchanged for the brittle yellow petals.

"For your loved one." The girl smiled as she closed Cloud's hand around the stem of the flower that she had wrapped in a piece of newspaper. Then she was walking away, the complex alleys soon hiding her from view. Cloud stood there some more, wondering what to do with the flower he held in his hand. A few people glanced at him as they hurried past. Realizing that he was probably looking like an idiot, Cloud started walking again. Fortunately he soon discovered a battered sign that read 'Sector 8'.

Eventually Cloud reached a three-way intersection. A railroad track was running out from a tunnel beneath the bridge. Cloud let out a muffled sigh. That there was a train track there meant that he could probably reach the station if he followed it. He reminded himself to be pissed off at Barret when they met up, for making him wander around in an unfamiliar city.

Cloud moved his feet closer to the edge of the bridge and peered down. Now, if he could figure out just which way the track went…

"Hey! You there!"

An unfamiliar voice, but it was also something very familiar. Cloud snapped his head around to find himself surrounded by a bunch of people. Identical masks and helmets were all covering their expressions.

"Shinra soldiers?" Cloud murmured, frowning. What business did they have with him?

"That's him!" Someone shouted. They moved a step closer, guns pointing at Cloud.

Even as adrenaline rushed through his veins instinctively, Cloud couldn't help but be confused. What did Shinra want with him? Didn't they get it, that he quit?

Except, maybe, quitting wasn't an option anymore. Come to think of it, Cloud had never met anyone who'd quit Shinra. He frowned, some piece of forgotten memory scratching at the back of his head.

"That's as far as you go." Someone called as they moved closer to Cloud. Cloud found himself backing away, but then the heel of his feet hit the low fence of the bridge. He heard distant rumbling as the earth beneath him shook. The train was approaching from the right.

That gave him an idea. He couldn't have fought, anyway, with a yellow flower in his hand. Cloud strained his ear for the sound of the train. Was it close enough? The soldiers were inching closer cautiously, like he was a dangerous beast they had finally cornered. Maybe he was. Something about this situation was strangely familiar to him. Finally, Cloud decided that enough will have to be enough.

"Grab him!" One of the soldiers shouted. Three closest to him started to move forward, but they were too slow. They lunged for him, but he was gone already. There was a short moment in which his feet touched the air, feeling it try to grab his ankles. He couldn't see their expressions. They were wearing their helmets, in any case, and the moment passed too quickly. Seconds later, he landed on top of the train racing past. He stumbled and felt gravity trying to pull him apart, but held on. A tunnel was approaching. He ducked just in time. It just barely scraped the end of his hair. The wind hurt his ears.

Out of the tunnel, he straightened, looking over his shoulder to the spot where he had leaped from. The soldiers were still standing about, looking his way. Cloud thought he smiled a little, but it was swept away by the wind too quickly.

"Cloud never came." Wedge mused, fingering the device he was working on. It looked like a harmless toy, but Jessie knew better. Then she frowned at his words.

"Wonder if he was killed?" Biggs said casually, and Jessie flinched. Sometimes Biggs freaked her out by his nonchalance about, well, everything.

Jessie was crumpled between two large black suitcases. They were traveling in the luggage car, again, and she thought that the air was more suffocating than usual.

"No way." Barret said simply, from where he sat still like he was the largest luggage in the car.

There was a loud noise at the roof of the car. Wedge rolled his eyes upward, as if that could tell him what it was. Jessie played with the end of her ponytail. Her thoughts were strangely empty.

"Say, do you think Cloud's…" Biggs started again, and Jessie shot him a black look.

"He ain't dead, Biggs. You said he was ex-SOLDIER, right?"

"I know, Jess. I was wondering if he was going to fight for AVALANCHE." Biggs lifted his eyebrow at Jessie. She shrugged. She hoped he would. It would be… a valuable addition. What with his skills, and… yes.

Biggs looked at Barret next. Barret shifted in his stony position uncomfortably.

"The hell would I know? I look like a mind reader?" He grumbled as he drummed his large fingers on a nearby crate. Jessie thought about mentioning the words 'fragile, handle with care' on the side of that crate, but didn't bother. She shrugged again.

"If y'all weren't such screw-ups…" Barret didn't finish that sentence. Biggs smirked, leaning back against the wall. Jessie mimicked his lopsided smile. So Barret thought they needed Cloud as well.

"But what about his money?" Wedge frowned.

"Maybe he got lost or something." Jessie thought out loud, and earned some incredulous looks from the others.

A louder bang, and closer too.

Then the window opened. Wind gushed through.

"Cloud!" Wedge screamed. Jessie snapped up her head.

Cloud was swinging into the room, one arm holding the windowsill for support.

"Cloud?" She called dumbly. Even Barret made some gurgling noise as he stared at the ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary, hopefully about to turn terrorist. It was a surprised silence, tinged with disbelief and maybe shock, too. Jessie stared as Cloud stepped through, closed the window behind him, straightened his shirt and found an empty spot near the window. He settled down as if he had been there all along, and not just arrived from outside a moving train.

This all happened very quickly.

Realizing that they were all looking at him, Cloud hesitantly opened his mouth. Jessie hoped he was about to explain.

"Looks like I'm a little late," he said.

"You damn right, you're late!" Barret shook his head, exasperated. "Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!" He rolled his eyes, to the effect of mountains rolling onto themselves.

"It's no big deal." Cloud shrugged, brushing Barret off. Barret wasn't one to back down so easily, though.

"Havin' everyone worried like that! You don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!" He fumed.

There was a slight pause. Jessie flicked her gaze from Cloud to Barret, then back again. Cloud had his eyes screwed, like he was concentrating on something really hard. For a while no one said anything. Barret was still red, but it was taking more and more effort to remain that way. Cloud didn't snap, or yell back, or jump out of the window again, like Jessie half-expected him to. He just sat there, staring. Jessie found that was more unnerving. The train shook from time to time, but the tension in the air didn't. It remained there like it had stones strapped to keep it from darting out the window.

When Cloud finally opened his mouth again, Jessie had been considering jumping out the window herself.

"You were worried about me?"

Cloud's eyebrows rose slightly. The pale blue of his eyes reflected off the dim light, shivering.

Silence. The train kept rumbling.

Biggs was the first to burst into laughter. Shortly after, Wedge followed. Jessie felt her own giggles rising, tickling her chest. She looked over at Barret, then couldn't contain it anymore. She fell over from laughter, clutching her stomach. She hit her elbow on the luggage as she fell. It hurt, but she couldn't stop laughing.

"What?" Barret roared. He started thumping on the crates again, and something definitely broke this time.

The laughter shook the small compartment. Wedge wiped a tear from his eyes. Barret was fuming, smoke coming out of his ears... and Cloud sat in the middle of it all, expression as solid as ever. He had his arms crossed, looking at Barret with an unreadable face. Jessie hiccupped into another burst of laughter.

"I'm... I'm, takin' outta your money, hot stuff!" Barret roared.

And Jessie couldn't possibly say why this was so funny, but it was. She rolled over into another fit. Barret graced her with a deathly glare.

"Come on! We're movin' out!" He shouted as he stomped out. The train was slowly coming to a stop. The screeching noises. Jessie took a breath to calm herself.

"Hey, Cloud! You were great back there..." Wedge whispered as he hurried after Barret. Biggs was next. He clapped Cloud on the shoulder, still smirking silently. He soon disappeared through the doors in between compartments. The train was still moving, but very slowly. It would stop soon.

"Hey, Cloud?" Jessie called from behind. Cloud, who was just about to follow Biggs out, turned. His expression was still cryptic. Everything about Cloud was a puzzle. You never knew what to expect, what to figure.

Jessie was going to grin, maybe give a thumb-up for making Barret explode all over the place like that, when she spotted a dark smudge on Cloud's face. Must have been from the... top of the train, or something. It was just below his left eye. It was hidden by the shadow before, but in full light the contrast was clear. He had such a pale skin. Gave Jessie the impression of withering away, now more so with the ash smudges.

"Uh, you have something on your face," then she added, "hot stuff," trying to keep the laughing to the minimum. Cloud was frowning, searching his face with his hand. His fingers traced somewhere near his nose.

"No, it's..." Jessie finally reached over to locate the smudge for Cloud, after watching him fumble. Her fingers touched the skin under his eye. It was just ash. She brushed it off. Cloud blinked, a startled look briefly passing through his airy expression. A moment of pause, then, "Thanks," he said. His face had returned to normal.

Jessie realized, quite abruptly, that they were standing so much closer than she thought.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Glad you could join us." She said quickly, stepping back. She tried to look natural as she put some distance between them, suddenly afraid of something she couldn't name. Cloud's eyes followed, unreadable emotion rising and then falling.

"Yeah," he said simply, and then walked out.

Jessie thought she saw a smile, a faint one, the kind that wouldn't normally be called smiles. Even that, she couldn't be sure. Maybe it was the beginning of a smile.

The train finally came to a standstill.

"Last train out of Sector 8 station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 A.M, Midgar Standard Time."

The announcement echoed throughout the train platform. Not many people were still around, this late at night. Wedge had explained to Cloud that taking the luggage car was for precaution, what with the crime scene not far from the station. Biggs said that was a lie, they took the luggage car because they didn't want to buy tickets.

"Couldn't," Jessie corrected, looking around. She nodded, looking content. "Great. Not many people… means we actually get to travel in one car, right, Barret?"

Barret grunted.

"As for the earlier question, we couldn't buy the tickets, because it'd be too dangerous to be buying stuff with our real IDs. We are terrorists, you know." Jessie flashed Cloud a wide grin. Cloud nodded.

"An' we don't hafta parade that around, crackhead." Barret snarled, looking around himself. They were alone in a wide area. The rumbling started in a distance.

"Chill, Barret. No one heard that." Jessie gave an easy shrug.

The train arrived shortly after. As they filed in, Cloud's ears caught a trail of a conversation. Two men, talking and gesturing at the newspaper. They had a tired businessman look about them. Cloud thought they might be working for the Shinra.

"You see the headlines in the Shinra Times?" One of the man was saying, stepping into the train. The other shrugged.

"About the Reactor? Of course I did."

The doors closed behind them. The train began to whistle. The first man found himself a seat. He shook his head.

"The terrorists… they say they're based somewhere in the slums. Makes you question…"

"What the hell am I doing here, right?" The second man let out a short laughter. Cloud saw Biggs lean against the wall beside the two men, snickering to himself.

The stranger, oblivious to the fact that he was in fact sitting in front of the said terrorist group, kept on talking.

"Blowing up a Reactor! They sure put some thought into this one. They must have a real calculating leader."

Jessie managed to cover the laugh into a cough. Quite a violent one.

"Miss, are you okay?" The second man in suit frowned in concern. Jessie nodded weakly, face distorted.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I… got scared too! You know, what with the terrorists in the slums. They could be in this very car, you know!" Jessie's eyes widened. They met Cloud's for a moment, and Cloud was sure Jessie was going to give in, break into a fit of giggles, but she bit her lips and didn't. She managed to keep a straight face as the man looked wildly about, eyes lingering a second longer on Barret.

As soon as they moved into the next car, Barret snapped.

"Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shut up!"

"Okay, calculating leader." Jessie rolled her eyes. Wedge giggled.

They were mostly silent after that. There was no one else in the car. Cloud sat by the window, looking out the window. The blurs swept by his vision like paint smudges. It was dark. Sometimes a lone light would come and go, blurring into a long trail and erasing the reflection on the window for a little while. But the reflection always came back. Cloud stared at his own face, looking into the compartment. It looked foreign to him.

At some point he must have fallen asleep. When he suddenly woke up, everyone save for Barret was dozing. Cloud closed his eyes for a moment longer, thoughts and dreams swirling. He realized he still had the flower on him. He took it out of the inner pocket of his jacket, half-expecting it to be a dream. The flower girl, that seemed so long ago… and surreal.

But it wasn't. And miraculously, the petals were mostly still intact, too. Cloud stared at the yellow petals gently curving like a wave, and thought of something he couldn't remember. He thought the shape of the flower was familiar. Not from today, but from long ago. Maybe another lifetime.

Barret's eyebrow rose as his eyes caught sight of the flower, but he didn't ask and Cloud didn't say anything. There was silence, but it wasn't too uncomfortable.

It was Barret who spoke first.

"If that plate weren't there… we could see the sky." He said. Cloud looked past his mirror reflection and to the giant plate blocking where the sky should be. Underplate, in the Midgar slums, it was like living in a shell. Always the air threatening to crush down on you. Always the same underside of a plate where stars should be. Always dark.

"A floating city." Cloud considered that for a moment. Searched for the right word. He decided on unsettling. "Pretty unsettling scenery," he murmured. The word wasn't quite right, but it would do.

"Huh? Never expect to hear that outta someone like you." Barret said, gaze boring into Cloud. Cloud just shrugged. He didn't bother asking what that meant. " … You jes' full of surprises." Barret decided, then turned his head back to the window. His words were slow. "The upper world. A city on a plate… It's cuz of that damn pizza that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air."

"Then why doesn't everyone move onto the Plate?" Cloud wondered, without really asking. They could have made the plate big enough for everyone. They didn't even have to make it in the first place.

"Dunno." Barret snickered a little, as if Cloud had said something funny. "Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or maybe 'cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."

Love their land. Cloud thought about that one. "I don't know… no one lives in the slums because they want to." Then the rest of his thought came pouring out before he understood its meaning. "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

He thought about that one too, and decided it made sense. So he sat back and watched the foreign reflection and the dark city beyond it.