07. The Rescue
Both Tifa and Barret had insisted that they come, too; Barret said that it was only fair since Aerith helped Marlene; Tifa told him that she'd go crazy, if she didn't do something, and Cloud had let them both even though he didn't want to drag anyone into anything again because – well, because they both looked like they might find other ways to do something stupid, anyway. They both had that look in their eyes. And also, Cloud had seen the pillar fall and saw their dead eyes too, so he let them.
"Hey, you oughta know the building well," Barret was saying now, forcing cheerfulness into his voice. They had managed to climb up to the plate by a thick wire. A guard had spotted them as soon as the poked their heads out, but Barret had hit him with his gun-arm and now he was lying crumpled on the ground, unconscious. There wasn't any more guards in front of the Shinra building; busy cleaning up the mess in Sector Seven, Cloud assumed.
"Not really, now that I think about it." Cloud answered Barret. "It's actually the first time I've ever been to the… Headquarters." Which was weird, if Cloud thought about it hard, but he let it go. They were here to rescue Aerith.
"Well, I heard about this place before," Barret said. "Every floor above the 60th is special and not easy to get to, even for employees. Must be where they took the g – Aerith." He stood tall with his gun-arm hanging by his side, sweeping the place with his eyes. Everything felt deliberate, somehow, every flicker of the eyes and the forced laughter (bark) he let out sometimes, like it was all scripted; but that could just be Cloud. "The security's pretty light now. Awright, let's go!"
Cloud thought he was joking, and was about to say something to that, when Barret started walking to the front door. Tifa grabbed his arm.
"Wait, stop. You're not thinking of just walking right through the main entrance, are you?" Her voice was a little strange, too.
"Well," Barret shook of Tifa's arm, a little irritably. "What does it look like? What, you want me to knock first? I'm gonna kick some Shinra ass and you can't stop me!"
"That's not going to work!" Tifa's face was in between crying and laughing. She turned to Cloud. "Hey, Cloud, say something!"
"But I…"
"What's wrong with chargin' in through the front door? They're all at the – the site anyway! Ain't it right, Cloud? C'mon, you're the expert."
"Well, but…"
"That's so stupid! Everyone will be shooting at us! Are you gonna just walk in and say, take me to your leader?"
"Alright, guys, stop." Cloud finally had to step in between them. They were drawing too much attention from the people passing by. They had changed their clothes and done the best to clean up, but there were still specks of blood on the backs of their hands and the dust from the fallen pillar, the rubbles, was still matted in their hairs. "We have to calm down."
Tifa took a deep breath. "Right. Sorry, Cloud. I guess I just –"
"It's their faces," Barret said. They looked at him. He shrugged. "But reckon you're right. Whaddya want us to do?"
"We'll go around back, find a different route to sneak in." Cloud said, relieved that they have finally stopped bickering. He didn't think he could have taken any more of that. He didn't want to blame them, though. He knew better; living with death – he was the expert on that. Faces. Voices. Eyes.
After some snooping around, they finally found a side entrance inside the underground parking lot. A large column was hiding it from view. The door had gathered dust, possibly (hopefully) long-forgotten.
Barret yanked at the door first. It didn't budge. He took a step back, took a breath, and was about to kick it open when Tifa tackled his leg.
"Hey, Tifa! What're you doin'?" Barret hissed, as he stumbled to regain his balance.
"It's gonna make too much noise," Tifa said. "I'll pick the lock."
"You can do that?" Cloud said, a little surprised. He watched her work with some fascination; after several seconds, the lock opened with a soft click.
"There, done."
"Nice job, Tifa," Cloud said, and Tifa grinned at him. It occurred to Cloud that Tifa would make a better hero than him; perhaps they were getting this all backwards.
The door opened to reveal a long white staircase, coated with dust and adorned with spider webs. Barret made a face.
"Don't tell me – we gonna take the stairs all the way up to the sixtieth floor?"
Instead of answering, Cloud started walking up. A set of gray footprints on the dust followed him up the stairs.
"It's gonna be a long climb." He heard Tifa say, behind him. After some grumbling, Barret followed too. The dust had even coated the air, thickly, heavy and stale.
"Don't know – why – the hell – aw, spider!" Barret yelped. His breath was heavy and rumbling. Cloud glanced back at him doubtfully.
"Come on, Barret," he said. "Tifa's holding up okay. So am I. After all, we're only on…" he paused to check the sign. "The twentieth floor."
Tifa chuckled, which earned a glare from Barret. "Don't be too hard on him, Cloud," she said. "We lived in the mountains when we were kids. He didn't."
"That's a damn – good – point." Barret nodded at Tifa.
"What, were you a city boy, Barret?" Cloud said.
"Why you gotta make it – sound so –" Barret scrunched up his face. "And anyway, who is this girl? I mean, I'm all for helpin' her, don't get me wrong – she saved Marlene and I'd do anything for her – but who's she to you? Another childhood friend?"
Tifa had fallen quiet. She was watching him now, with an unreadable look.
"No, not really. We just met – today."
"Huh, then –"
"She needs help, and I can give it. Do I need another reason?" Cloud said dismissively, turning around. He started walking again. They weren't even halfway up yet.
"Huh," Barret said, dragging his feet. "Guess I had you figured wrong."
"Don't try to figure me out. It's creepy." Cloud muttered, didn't look back. He heard them following. Tifa had been quiet for some time now; Cloud wondered what she was thinking.
"It's not one of them endless stairways or somethin', d'ya think?" Barret asked after a while.
"No –" Cloud heard Tifa answer. "What even is an endless stairway?"
"Marlene, daddy wanted to see your face once more…"
"Barret –"
"Okay, awright, I'm climbin'."
When they arrived at level 59, they found that there weren't any stairs leading to the 60th floor.
"Looks like this is as far as we're gonna get by the stairs," Cloud said, tapping the wall absently, trying to think.
Barret threw his head back, flopping down onto the ground, panting heavily. "Good. Finally… made it… never wanna see no more stairs the rest of my life…"
Tifa looked a little tired, too, leaning against the wall next to Cloud.
"So what now? Do we –"
Her words were cut short by the exit door suddenly bursting open. Two guards walked in; their chatter ended abruptly as they spotted the three of them there. A moment of silence passed in which everyone was too surprised to act. Then,
"What's goin' on there, buddy?" Another guard called from the outside. And that was their cue; Barret jumped up immediately, and Tifa dropped down, as guns began to fire. Cloud ducked and rushed at them, out the exit door, taking the nearest one down with him. He wanted to look back to see if Tifa and Barret were okay, but no time – there were more guards out in the corridor, not just one.
Old reflexes took over. Soon it was his sword, slicing through the air and splattering blood and he grew calmer with every swing, every hit. This was familiar. This was what he knew. And then the fight was over. Cloud found himself standing amidst fallen bodies, pools of blood. Had he killed them? They weren't moving, at any rate, and Cloud clicked his sword in place behind his back.
"Clear."
Tifa and Barret, it turned out, had been right behind him. Barret muttered something about his speed (which sounded suspiciously like a compliment), and they hurried past him. When he didn't follow immediately, Tifa threw a glance back.
"Coming, Cloud?"
"Yeah," he said, taking a step forward. All the blood on his sword. So heavy.
But soon he forgot.
"Let's get outta here, quick." Barret said, jogging ahead. Cloud followed.
At the other end of the corridor they found another staircase (much to Barret's horror); they checked each floor as they went up. Mostly the floors were empty; storage rooms, empty conference rooms, silent offices. It looked like they had picked a good time. Most of the employees were probably busy dealing with the mess at – Cloud stopped his thought there.
There were a couple more fights when they ran into guards patrolling the hallways, but they all ended quickly. Soon they were standing in front of a door that read 66. Cloud put his ear to the door, listening for noises through the walls. Moments later, he nodded at Barret and Tifa: clear, no sound of hostilities.
They moved quickly, quietly. The corridor was empty, gray, like the rest of the building. They walked along the flawless marble. Just when Cloud was thinking this was another dead-end, an empty floor, he heard voices.
He stopped, holding up a hand; Tifa and Barret stopped also. The voices were coming from the next corridor. Cloud inched forward; with every step the sound got clearer, until he could tell the words apart. There were low voices; some excited, some worried. Cloud sneaked a peak.
The second door to the right was left ajar, and he could just make out a bunch of people sitting around what looked like a meeting table.
"Geez – that's a lotta suits!"
Barret whispered, almost in his ears, and Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Cut it out, Barret!" He hissed, to which Barret just shrugged.
Tifa threw a look at Cloud that was almost apologetic, and moved closer quietly. The three of them listened to the conversation inside the room.
"We have the damage estimates for Sector Seven," a man was saying. "Considering those factories we already set up and the investments, the estimated cost to rebuild Sector Seven is –"
"We're not rebuilding." A deep voice interrupted the man. Cloud recognized the voice as belonging to President Shinra. As did Tifa and Barret; Barret growled a little, and Tifa shushed him.
Cloud's heart began to beat a little faster. President Shinra was here. Which meant that they had come to the right place, after all. They were at the heart of Shinra.
"What?"
"We're leaving Sector Seven as it is, and restarting the Neo-Midgar Plan."
"Then the Ancients…?"
"The Promised Land will soon be ours. I want you to raise the Mako rates to 15% in every district."
President Shinra's voice had a sense of authority that was indisputable. The first voice fell silent. Then another voice, more chipper, chimed in.
"Rate hike! Ha, what a brilliant idea, sir! And please include our Space Program in the budget!"
"Reeve and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increase," the President answered.
The first voice spoke up then, a little hesitant. "Mr. President, if you raise the rates, the people will lose confidence in…"
"An unnecessary worry. If anything, they will trust Shinra even more," the President said dismissively. "After all, we're the ones who saved them from the evil terrorist rats AVALANCHE."
The room chuckled politely. Cloud saw the back of the first man, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. He wondered who it could be.
"Who saved who? That dirty little…"
Barret growled beside Cloud.
"Shh," Tifa put a warning hand on his arm. Barret fell into a reluctant, fuming silence.
"Hojo, how is the girl?" The President was asking. Were they talking about Aerith?
"As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother. I'm still in the process of comparing her to her mother, Iflana, but for now the difference is 18%."
Specimen – what the hell was he talking about? But somehow Cloud found it hard to concentrate on what he was saying, his head and stomach crunching, crumbling; something about that man's voice – Hojo – sickened him. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"How long will the research take?"
"Oh, at this rate, a very, very long time. About 120 years. It's impossible to finish in our lifetimes. Or in the lifetime of the specimen too, for that matter. That's why we're thinking of breeding her. Then we could create one that could withstand our research for a long time, like we did with –"
"Yes, yes. But as I recall, that experiment didn't exactly go as planned, did it?"
"Well, times have changed."
Barret looked like he wanted to jump out and kill him where he stood; a sentiment that Cloud shared, but not yet – he gritted his teeth. They were still talking.
"What about the Promised Land? Wouldn't it hinder our plans?" The President asked.
"That's what I need to plan. The mother is strong… and yet has her weaknesses. I still need some time."
"Alright, then, you work on that, Doctor. That concludes our meeting. Oh, and please, answer your phone next time you want to disappear."
There were sounds of chairs dragging across the floor, people murmuring. Cloud, Tifa and Barret were just able to hide themselves behind a stone column before people started to pour out of the room. They were all in dark suits, except for one woman – she stood out in her brilliant golden hair and eye-hurting red dress. She paused, while the others walked on ahead. Then she turned her head to eye the corridor suspiciously and for a moment, Cloud thought that their eyes had met, but then her dark blue eyes turned away, uninterested.
After they had all disappeared, even the President with a Turk accompanying them (and it was sheer luck that the Turk hadn't noticed them, Cloud thought, being too busy listening to the President going on about his pork pie), Cloud let out a sigh.
"They were talking about Aerith, right?" Tifa said.
"I don't know." Cloud said, though he did. It couldn't have been anything else.
"So what do we do?" Barret said, adjusting his gun-arm. He had a stormy expression on his face.
"We find her. We follow the scientist."
"That sick bastard – Hojo?" Barret growled. Cloud nodded; just the mention of his name brought waves of nausea. His mouth was dry.
"Yeah. Hojo."
It wasn't hard to follow the sound of Hojo's footsteps, since the rest of the building was so devoid of it. Cloud watched him enter the elevator, and the number stopped at 67. They took the stairs; for once, Barret didn't complain.
"I remember him, now," he said instead. "That Hojo guy. He's in charge of the Shinra's science department – I knew I heard that name somewhere – Hey, Cloud, don't ya know him?"
Cloud shook his head. "No."
Although, something about that felt wrong, so wrong, clashing with something fundamental in his head. He shook his head again to dispel the feeling, opened the door to the sixty-seventh floor. They walked down the unsurprisingly empty hallway until they found a gray door that had Hojo's name on it. After listening with his ear to the door, Cloud motioned to Tifa and Barret: there was nobody inside. He cracked open the door.
The room was dark, mostly. There were tangles mess of wires and lines and cords covering every inch of the wall and most of the floor, which was lit by a faint shimmering light. The source of the light wasn't hard to find; in the center of the room was an enormous tank, from which a teal blue light was being emitted. And inside the tank, connected to thick hoses and tubes, was –
"Jenova."
It was barely a whisper. Blood flooded into his mind and eyes, making him see red – green – everything, so black, Jenova's lifeless head – he thought that he saw her eyes look up to him. He swore he saw her flinch, maybe smile, a cold assessment and an accusation. Cloud wanted to run away. He took a shaky step back and fell a thousand miles.
"Cloud – Cloud!" Tifa was calling him. Somehow her voice reached him, through the thick haze of his confusion, and he looked at her. She had her hands in a tight grip on his shoulders.
"Tifa?"
Her eyes were stained with Jenova's green, the Mako's green.
"Cloud, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Jenova. It's Jenova."
"That thing? What is Jenova?"
"Jenova... Jenova is… Sephiroth's… So they brought it here – Did you see?"
His words came out broken, not quite forming a sentence. He was confused. These reactions that he had, that didn't make much sense.
"See what?" Barret sounded worried. It all sounded very distant.
"It moved. I thought it moved. Still alive?"
The memory, no, the vision; the memory? Of Jenova's empty gray eyes, hollow, looking back at him. He forced his eyes open (didn't remember when he closed them) and tried to concentrate on Tifa, Barret, his sword, anything.
"The head. Didn't it move? Isn't it moving?"
"There's no head, dammit!"
"No head?"
Cloud made himself look. The green glow threatened to overwhelm his senses, flowed into his eyes and nose and ears. Barret was right, though. There was no head. Just the body. The headless body of Jenova, connected to tubes and cords and floating in a thick jelly of Mako. Cloud looked away. Took a breath. He refused to be – weak, crazy – whatever – and if there was no head, then he could bear this, somehow.
Tifa's eyes were still brown, he reminded himself, under the teal blue reflection.
"I'm okay now.," he said. And before Barret and Tifa said anything, he turned and walked out of the room. Did not look back.
As soon as he heard the door close behind Barret, he started to walk faster again. If Aerith wasn't on this floor, then the next floor, then the next, until they find her. He pushed the vision (the memory) of Jenova's head out of his mind.
On the next floor, they found another door with Hojo's name on it.
Cloud burst in with his sword this time, not bothering to be quiet, not giving himself the time to hesitate. Tifa looked startled, and Barret muttered, finally, before he rushed in after Cloud, gun-arm poised.
"Aerith!" Cloud heard himself call. Something about Jenova (and the tubes, and the Mako pool, and Hojo keeping her headless body here – where the hell was the head, anyway?) had made him reckless, and in some part of his mind he regretted this, but it was too late and anyway, he saw Hojo jump up from his desk in the middle of the room.
"Aerith? Oh, is that her name? What do you want?" He asked, too calm for Cloud's liking.
"Ain't it obvious, nuthead? We're takin' her back!" Barret growled, cocking his gun.
"Oh, is that a gun prosthetic? Interesting. Can I have a look?"
Barret gasped. "No – you can't have a look – damn – you –" He seemed to be having a difficult time, finding a word bad enough for Hojo.
"Where's Aerith?" Cloud tightened his grip of the sword. Hojo didn't flinch at the sword pointing to his neck. He smoothed out his hair, looking a little wearied.
"There are so many frivolous things in the world."
"Shut up, will you?" Tifa said. Hojo looked at her, with an interest that raised some kind of an elemental hatred in Cloud's stomach.
"You are here to kill me? I don't think you should. See, the equipments here are extremely delicate… and without me, who could operate them?"
"As if we care about yer stupid equipment, ya stupid –"
"And," Hojo held up a finger. "A wrong touch, and… whoops. The whole place could blow up."
Cloud narrowed his eyes, trying to see if Hojo was bluffing. It didn't look like it. Hojo was, it seemed to Cloud, just a paranoid bastard enough to have some sort of self-destructing back-up plan in place.
Cloud lowered his sword.
"That's right. I recommend you think things out logically before you make any rash moves."
"What do you want with Aerith?" He asked through gritted teeth. He was holding the sword so tightly that it hurt.
"People misunderstand me. They like to make me out as some sort of a heartless demon… When, in fact, I'm simply lending a helping hand to some endangered species."
"Endangered species?" Tifa asked, voice disgusted.
"Yes, both the Ancients and the…"
Hojo never got a chance to finish.
"To hell with you, Hojo!" Barret was yelling, firing (maybe he didn't get Hojo's implications earlier, Cloud thought) into the glass door behind Hojo. Glass shattered; metal shrieked, and so did Hojo, his mask finally breaking.
"What are you doing! God, will you stop –"
"Barret –" And whatever Cloud was going to say didn't matter, because from behind the glass door Aerith walked out. "Don't shoot!" He yelled instead, holding Barret back. The damage was done, anyway. Hojo was scraping the pieces of his equipment from the floor, muttering. It was only a matter of time before he recovered enough to call security – they had to get out of here.
"Cloud!" Aerith looked surprised.
"Aerith – c'mon, we have to go –"
"Wait, Red XIII has to come, too."
"Who's –"
A blur of red caught his eyes. A strange red beast appeared behind Aerith's legs, flicking its tail and staring at Cloud with an ocher eye. Its other eye was closed by a scar.
"Didn't you hear a word I said?" Hojo yelped, jumping up. "I told you about the explos –"
"Shut yer yammerin'," Barret said, and knocked him out with a blow to his head. Tifa flinched.
"So how did you know he was bluffing?" She asked, stepping over Hojo.
"What? Whatcha talkin' about?"
"… Never mind."
Cloud put away his sword, went over to Aerith and the strange beast – Red XIII, she's called it.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yes. I – thanks, Cloud." She turned to Tifa and Barret, too. "Thanks, Tifa. And – you must be Marlene's daddy."
"Hey, how'd you know?" Barret said, brightening up. "She talk about me?"
Aerith smiled. "Yes. I recognize you from her description."
"We can introduce ourselves later," Cloud said, interrupting them. He was looking at the elevators through Hojo's open door, and the numbers were climbing. "We have to move out, now."
"I'll help you out."
An unfamiliar voice came from behind. Cloud looked back, startled, and found Red XIII staring at him, straight.
"It talked?" Barret gurgled. Red XIII shot a look that might have been a little contemptuous.
"Aerith helped me out, and you're her friends."
Cloud glanced back at the elevators; the numbers were steadily increasing. Sixty, now.
"Tifa," he said, turning back. The clock was ticking inside his head again, like it did in the reactor. "Take Aerith, use the stairs. We'll meet downstairs."
"But what about –"
"We'll buy you guys some time. Look, I'm counting on you, okay?"
Tifa nodded, took Aerith's hand and started to run. Cloud watched them go, felt the clock, turned to Red XIII and Barret.
"We'll deal with the guards coming now, and follow."
"Fine," Red XIII nodded. Barret cocked his gun without saying anything.
The elevators chimed cheerfully; the doors opened slowly, too slowly and then guards – no, something else, strange creatures in black armors – came pouring out. Red XIII was fast; he leapt forward, a red blur, and Cloud followed him with sword drawn. Barret's gun was firing already.
Even as he slashed, stabbed, sliced through the creatures, he couldn't tell if they were humans or monsters, hidden behind black cloaks. All he knew was that they didn't fall easily; they stumbled back up, somehow, with their guns, like they couldn't feel any pain. Up, up again, and soon Cloud was losing count. Was this the same one he'd stabbed just a moment ago?
Then it was over. He looked down at the tangled mess of – bodies – and Hojo was nowhere to be seen. Probably escaped amidst the confusion.
"Awright, let's go," Barret said. Cloud stepped over the black cloaks and started running toward the staircase.
"Aerith, you all right?"
"Yes… is that blood?"
Realizing what she was staring at, Cloud wiped off the blood from his face.
"It's not mine," he said, hastily. Feeling suddenly a little awkward, he turned away, to find Red XIII and Barret talking.
"… I have the right to choose, too. I don't like two-legged things."
Red XIII had a deep voice that was shadowed, and it was hard to believe that the half-lion, half-cat-looking creature was actually talking, and not just moving its lips.
"What you sayin'? What are you, anyway?" Barret said, his voice filling the small storage room they'd found two floors below; Tifa and Aerith hadn't gone far, with batches of guards coming up the stairs too.
"An informed question, but difficult to answer," Red XIII said, to Barret's annoyance. "I am what you see."
"Stop talkin' that kinda philosophical nonsense."
"I will tell you what I can, later, but first, we must get out of here."
"You know the way?" Cloud asked. The guards hadn't found them yet, but it was only a matter of time.
"I have a keen sense of smell."
Cloud considered him; in the end, he nodded, because there really was no other choice.
Apparently, though, Red XIII did know his way around the place. They walked silently, nerves fraught with tension, but didn't encounter anyone.
Until, that is, they walked straight into a group of Turks.
"Planning on using this elevator?"
Cloud recognized the man as the one who'd taken Aerith, the man in a short black ponytail. He didn't recognize the other man, who was bold and wearing dark glasses. He stood still like a statue, but Cloud knew that he could draw his gun in a second, fire in two. Alone, he could've risked it, but with the others…
"What's this, a trap?" Barret growled.
"Would you press 'up', please?" The sunglasses-man said, gesturing at the elevator button.
"Where are you taking us?" Cloud asked. He was searching for a way out in his head, but didn't see one. He shouldn't have let his guard down like that, trusting Red XIII… He reached out for the button.
In a second, two sets of hands were on him. The bald man and another Turk were grabbing his shoulders, pushing him against the wall beside the elevator. Cloud gasped, breath knocked out of him.
"Don't try anything. You don't want Aerith to get hurt now, after all you've done." The ponytail-man, who Cloud assumed was the leader, said.
"I was just going to –"
Something cold strapped his wrists. Handcuffs. This was not going well.
"What do you think –" Barret stepped forward, his face red, but the Turk held up his hand.
"Now, let's play nice, for each other's sakes. Our orders are to take you to the President's office."
And there really was nothing they could do. Barret glared at the Turks, but had no choice but to follow them. The cuffs jingled against Cloud's wrist, bruising his bones. He didn't waste energy resisting; Barret, on the other hand, never stopped twisting and swearing and thumping his feet that both he and his captor were exhausted by the time they arrived at the President's office. Red XIII was chained; his low growl was a constant back-noise, making all of them a little uneasy.
There were too many Turks and guards in the President's office, Cloud noted with a sense of doom. The President wheeled around in his chair as they walked in (for dramatic effect, Cloud assumed), holding an unlit cigar in his hand.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Ancient girl and… the rest."
"Hey, we're –"
Before Barret could provide an unnecessary information, Red XIII interrupted.
"She's a survivor of the Cetra?"
"What's a Cetra?" Cloud asked, feeling a little disoriented. He looked at Aerith, but she wasn't looking at him. She looked – a little sad, if Cloud had to say, and for some reason Cloud felt guilty about that, like it was his fault that she was here. Maybe it was.
"The Ancients. They called themselves the Cetra. You do know who the Ancients are…?" The President, now that he had them in chains, was taking his time, twirling his cigar. "They were a race of people who lived thousands of years ago – now, of course, they're just a forgotten page in history."
"And –" Cloud started. He had to buy time, while he thought of – there must be something he could do, some escape plan he hadn't thought of yet. He searched the office with his eyes, but all he saw was a wall of Turks (impenetrable), a too-high (and probably bulletproof) window. "What do you want with the Cetra? What's it to you?"
"The Cetra can lead us to the Promised Land."
Aerith looked up at that. She was still quiet, though, and the President was still talking like she wasn't there in the room – not as a person, at least, just an asset.
Cloud recognized the mention of the Promised Land in the meeting they'd overheard earlier, but still he couldn't figure out what it was.
"The Promised Land? Isn't that just a legend?" Red XIII asked. President Shinra looked oddly pleased that he'd asked that question.
"Some say. Some don't – who knows? Even so, it's just too appealing not to pursue. It's been said that the Promised Land is very fertile in Mako."
"Neo-Midgar," Tifa said suddenly, understanding. "That's what you were talking about."
"You overhear that somewhere?" The President chuckled. "Yes. The Promised Land, when we find it, is where Neo-Midgar will be built – with its abundant Mako. Shinra's new glory."
"Quit dreaming!" Barret shouted. "You'll just kill the planet more!"
"Oh, I disagree. A man's got to dream," the President said smoothly. "Anyway, I'm done with you now. Take them away."
Then the Turks were all moving at once, the sunglasses-man grabbing Barret again. Barret tried to shake him off, almost succeeded, but –
"Come on, this isn't a show," said the ponytail-man, who was grabbing Cloud's shoulders. He pushed, the barrel of his gun on Cloud's back. Cloud met Tifa and Aerith's eyes as he was walking out; they were each being escorted by two guards, as well. He wondered what they were thinking. All that bravado, and now – back to Shinra prison (except he was pretty sure he'd never been to the Shinra prison).
The building was big, and it was a long way from the 69th to the underground cells. Barret was to be taken to a separate cell, the ponytail-man explained. Then they left them in the dark, in a bare cell, together; sound of the door locking, then they were alone. No light. Somewhere far away, water was dripping in scanty drops.
"So."
Aerith's voice was disconnected, in the dark, something separate from material things, the metal walls, the water drops.
"Aerith, I'm sorry –" Cloud started, straining his eyes in the dark.
"You came for me," Aerith cut him off. "Thank you."
Cloud hesitated. Tried to see through her voice, and failed. Aerith was – in the short time he'd known her – a mystery. Sometimes he had this notion, sometimes, that he knew her very well. That they had shared some secret (blue, yellow, white, insanely bright) together.
"Well," he finally said. "I am your bodyguard."
"Bodyguard?" It was Tifa, somewhere to their left.
"Oh… yeah, it was this… situation we had – earlier – when I fell in the church." Cloud explained, a little flustered (for some reason), glad of the darkness that covered his face.
"Some Turks came for me, and Cloud rescued me," Aerith said. Her voice was light.
"Yes, but now – look at us." Cloud said. There was bitterness in his mouth. Silence was heavy. There were water dripping in some other floor, but they probably couldn't hear it. Cloud wondered where Barret was. If they would see him again.
"Aerith, can I ask you something?" Tifa said suddenly, breaking the silence. Cloud felt Aerith's shadow shift, facing Tifa now.
"Yes?"
"Does the Promised Land… really exist?"
Aerith hesitated a little before she answered. "I… don't know. All I know is that the Cetra were born from the Planet, they speak with the Planet, and they unlock the Planet."
She sounded like she was reciting someone else's words. Cloud wondered what the deal was, really, with her being an Ancient. President Shinra looked at her like an asset, she was a mission to the Turks, but to Cloud – she was just a girl.
Aerith continued. "And then… the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness."
"So what does that mean?" Tifa asked.
"I don't really know," Aerith said, apologetically.
"You speak with the Planet?" Cloud asked, just to fill the dark, wet silence. "What does that mean?"
"It means… I can't really explain. I hear these noises – full of people, full of… things. I can't always make out what they are saying."
Hearing voices. Something stuck at Cloud's throat. I know what you mean, he almost said, but didn't. Instead, he asked, "You hear it now?"
"No. I only heard it at the Church."
"Well, then –"
A click, much too loud in the darkness of the cells. Cloud stopped speaking, his senses growing sharp. He waited for something to happen.
Then there was a breeze tickling his cheeks. A creak, and he heard Red XIII sniff at the air.
"What is –" Tifa started to whisper, just as a single light crept forward (poured forward, it seemed, suddenly).
"The door's open," Cloud realized.
"What?"
Cloud ran to the door. The cell was a single, square metal room, and the door immediately opened to the lit corridor. Cloud held his breath, carefully looked out through the crack and found a guard lying dead, a pool of blood around his face-down head.
"What is it?" Tifa asked, her voice cautious.
"A guard's dead," he told them.
"Who…" Aerith started to say, but Red XIII sprinted forward, past Cloud, slipping out through the open door. The door fell open, the fluorescent light blinding them all for a moment.
"Later. First, we must make our escape," Red XIII said. Cloud nodded.
"Let's find Barret first. He should be somewhere in this corridor too."
Cloud grabbed the keys from the guard's belt. The keys were drenched with blood, but Cloud didn't think about that. They walked down the corridor quickly, until they found a door that read Warning – Dangerous Prisoners. Cloud looked back at Tifa, who raised her eyebrows but nodded.
There was a guard sitting slumped on a plastic chair outside that door, already dead. His arms hung loose by his side, dripping blood from the fingertips.
The keys were slippery in his hands. He fumbled with them for a second; then the lock clicked open, revealing Barret, slumped against the wall.
"How'd you get in?" Barret jumped up, surprised. "The hell's goin' on?"
"Didn't you hear anything? The guard outside is dead," Tifa said.
"As was the one in front of our cell," Red XIII said. Barret shook his head.
"Again – what the hell's goin' on?"
"I don't know," Cloud said. "But let's get out of here."
"I'll lead the way," Red XIII said, flurrying past before none of them could say anything.
"Like the last time…" Cloud heard Barret mutter, but they followed Red XIII anyway. Strangely enough, they didn't run into anyone along the way – and no alarm, either. Even if the guards had died before they could report anything, the security cameras should have picked them up by now. Being preoccupied by the eerie stillness of the building, it was a while before Cloud realized that they weren't heading outside, but back the way they came.
"Wait!" He said, stopping, and Tifa almost bumped into his back. "Where are we going?"
Red XIII looked back at him. "I am following the trail."
"Why?"
"No human could have done this." Red XIII's one eye was impassive, his voice (his strange accent, turning at the wrong places) ringing in the empty corridor. They were already halfway there. "I smell something…"
"What? You smell somethin' what?" Barret asked, irritated. "Hey, Cloud, should we be listenin' to this – this –" Barret struggled, trying to find a word to describe Red XIII.
"It smells like you," Red XIII interrupted. "It's familiar. Bloodier, but like you."
"Me?" Cloud asked, feeling a little numb. Blood was much too loud in his ears. Had always been, ever since he got the Mako; heard too much, saw too much. Always. But he had this feeling, now, this premonition. He turned to Tifa and Aerith, who were watching him with eyes that looked oddly similar. "You guys – go on ahead. I have to – I have to check this out."
"I'm not leaving you here," Tifa said.
Cloud looked at Aerith, who only shrugged. "I never listen to you, remember?"
"That's true," Cloud said, feeling (traitorously enough) relieved.
"Hey, ain't you gonna ask my opinion?" Barret complained.
"Well, Barret, if you wanna go…"
"Who said anythin' about goin'? C'mon, better get this done, then."
Red XIII turned around without saying anything, and started leaping up the stairs.
The chase ended, finally, in front of the President's office. Cloud stopped and stared at the door. There was a blood path leading out from the inside – or maybe leading into it. Everybody was breathing heavily from the long run up the stairs (the elevators had been out of order), but Cloud's head felt ragged, blood twisted, and now he thought he smelled it to.
Like me. Bloodier, but like me.
He hardly felt himself walking to the door, and then his hand was turning the knob. The door swung open.
The President was staring at him, slumped against his chair.
Or, rather, the former President Shinra (he had never learned his first name); he was impaled by a long sword, eyes open and staring, a thin line of red trickling down his chin.
"He's dead," Barret said. Cloud hadn't heard him come in. "President Shinra is… dead?"
But that wasn't it. Cloud stared, transfixed, at the long line of silver that had impaled the President to the desk, holding him upright. He knew that sword. He knew – his chest ached.
"Whose sword is this? It's so long," Tifa said, her voice barely above a whisper. It was terribly quiet in here, save for the occasional drops of blood.
He knew that sword.
"Sephiroth's."
Tifa turned to him, surprised. "Sephiroth is alive?"
"Looks like it," Cloud heard himself say. His voice felt barely connected to his body, floating in the blood-thick air somewhere. "Only Sephiroth would – could – use that sword."
"Why would he kill the President?" Tifa asked.
"He had his reasons."
Cloud took a step back, suddenly dizzy. Sick. His chest ached.
"Hey, who cares who did it and why? This is the end of Shinra!" Barret boomed, voice loud and excited. Tifa was about to say something to that, when a hiccup interrupted them. Cloud turned around quickly. Apparently, a man had been sitting there beside the door all along. His suit was spattered with blood, but he looked unharmed otherwise. He could have been a twin brother of the President; and Cloud was confused for a moment, before he remembered the man's face as one of the Shinra Executives. Palmer. He was in the news a lot. It looked like he had been knocked out and just woke up.
"P –please, don't kill me!"
"What happened?" Cloud took a step. Palmer shrank, face distorting.
"Se… Sephiroth. Sephiroth was here."
"Did you see him? Did you see Sephiroth?"
He still had hope, in some small corner of his mind, that the whole thing was just a mistake – somehow – and Sephiroth was dead, like Cloud remembered him being. Only, Palmer was nodding vigorously.
"Y, yes! I saw him. I saw him with my own eyes!"
"Are you sure it was Sephiroth?"
"I know, I saw! And I heard… his voice, too. He was saying something about not, not letting us have the Promised Land, or something." Palmer stuttered. He took a hand to his face, smearing blood like war paint. Cloud watched, feeling distant, only the ache in his chest was alive.
"Then what?" Tifa frowned. "Does that mean that the Promised Land really exists, and Sephiroth is here to save it from Shinra?"
"Huh? So he's a good guy, then?" Barret sounded confused.
"No," Cloud said. He shook his head. "No, it's not that… simple. I know – knew – him. Sephiroth's mission is something else."
Just then, there was a deafening sound; the wall-windows shattered in a thousand pieces; one shard slit Cloud's bare arm, drawing a thin line of blood, but he barely noticed the pain. He saw, in the corner of his eyes, that Aerith, Tifa and Red XIII had taken cover behind the desk. Barret had taken the blunt of the explosion but had his gun-arm protecting his face.
A Shinra helicopter was floating in front of the broken window. Palmer shot past him, running towards the helicopter before none of them could say anything. Someone held out a hand from the inside.
"Rufus!" Barret shouted, suddenly; even his booming voice was almost drowned out by the noisy stutter of the helicopter. "I forgot about him, dammit!"
"Rufus Shinra. The President's son." Tifa said. "I guess – he's the new President now –"
Cloud wasn't really listening. He stood, against the wind, a gray sky the backdrop of the roaring helicopter. He thought he saw the ponytail-man inside. It was too dark to make out the people clearly.
A buzz, and someone – Rufus Shinra, presumably – was talking through the speaker. Cloud couldn't see his face, just a shadowed outline of someone in the front seat.
"Who are you?" The voice said. "Are you with Sephiroth?"
"No," Cloud said. "I'm trying – I'm going to stop him."
"Well, then. Maybe we'll be friends," Rufus called, his voice flat and mechanic. Cloud couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Not that it mattered –
"As if I'd ever mix with a schemin', soulless –" Barret yelled from behind Cloud.
"And who is this?"
"My name's Barret Wallace and you better remember it! I – we're AVALANCHE!"
"Ah. AVALANCHE." Rufus's voice turned a little sour. "Not one of father's greatest achievements, that Sector 7 business."
"I won't let you have the Promised Land," Cloud said. Nor Sephiroth.
"Hm. Then maybe our paths will cross again."
Before anyone could say anything else, the helicopter was taking off. A fresh rush of wind forced Cloud to take a step back.
"So," Tifa said in the aftermath, in the middle of broken glass and spatters of blood, with the dead President Shinra staring through dead eyes. "What now?"
"Did you – did you mean what you said about stopping Sephiroth?" Aerith asked. Strands of hair had fallen out from her braided ponytail in the mess. Cloud looked away; stared at the sword still sticking out from President Shinra.
"I don't know," he finally said. "Looks like this is gonna get complicated."
"I'll say." Barret said, scratching his head. "Finally got rid of President Shinra only to be replaced by a younger, sleeker 2.0…"
"Well," Tifa said, picking her way through the mess to the door. "Whatever you decide, we'll be here to help."
"Who's we?" Barret asked, skeptically.