Days of Exile
Chapter 26 – Execution
2 January 0008
The aches were subsiding; so were the endless waves of dreams. Dreams of how she wished she had prevented everything that had happened. The man whom she loved and respected grew dimmer and dimmer in her memory, and everything else started fading…
"… ding…" Tifa Lockhart murmured. From afar, she heard the faint grunt that could only belong to Barret. She slowly felt her limbs and became conscious of her own breathing. The glare of the light was so strong that she could see it even with closed eyes. "The glare…" she croaked, her throat parched. Her stomach racked with gastric pains. How long was she without food and water?
"You'll be better soon. You've been asleep for a long time." Barret's tone was soft and unlike his usual coarse self, but Tifa could not see his expression.
Tifa twitched a small smile. She doubted that resting more will quell her hunger pangs. "I'm… hungry…" She murmured. A soft rumble in her stomach agreed with her statement. She suddenly craved for pancakes. She used to make really good ones in Seventh Heaven, the bar that she opened in Sector Seven. But now that the sector is nothing but flattened debris… Tifa didn't feel like continuing in her thoughts.
"Hey, why don't you ask?"
Tifa finally could afford to open her eyes. No wonder the glare was strong; the light was directly beneath the table she was lying on.
… Wait? Table?
Tifa slowly got up from her lying position and looked at the light… the surgical light.
"About him," said Barret.
Tifa looked at him. She will ask about where she was later. "Because I'm scared," she whispered. After seeing Cloud being sucked up into Sephiroth's tomb, they left him and the crumbling cave. Tifa remembered being injured by this huge monster and that was the last she recalled anything.
"Don't worry," replied Barret. "I don't know what happened to Cloud either." He scratched his head sheepishly. Was it her imagination or did Barret look more fatigued? His beard grew and for some reason he did not trim it. "Guess I shouldn't tell you not to worry… None of them know if he's alright either."
Tifa's face creased with worry. "He's still alive… right?" Barret nodded with as much faith as he could muster. "How long… was I asleep?"
Her comrade counted the days. "Lessee now… Must've been about 7 days."
Tifa raised her eyebrows. So long? What had happened in this period of time? She could not even begin to guess how everything was, outside this room. "What about Sephiroth?" She inquired.
"You ain't over it yet. Remember that huge light, in the Northern Cave?" Barret asked. Tifa gave a brief nod and sat with her legs dangling off the operating table, shaking off her thoughts of unease as she looked around the room. "Since then, the crater's been surrounded by a huge barrier of light. Everyone knows that Sephiroth sleeps in the big hole, protected by the barrier." Barret sighed. "We can't do a damn thing about it. We just gotta wait till he wakes up." Barret paced around the room as if to help him recall better. "And on top of that, some huge monster called WEAPON has been on a rampage.
Tifa frowned at Barret. "WEAPON?"
"Remember that huge monster that was with Sephiroth, at the bottom of the crater? Well, it's up here now. They say it's some legendary monster from the past."
"WEAPON… is protecting Sephiroth?"
"Dunno. But he's up here goin' around tearin' shit up." Barret replied and Tifa responded with a ghost of a smile. Barret's crude mouth did not change after all. "Right now Rufus is fighting it. I hate to say it, but he's got guts." Tifa slid off the table and stood by the table. "We shoulda been the ones to destroy it, but we ain't got no time."
"Time…" Suddenly, a thought struck her. "… Hey! How about Meteor?"
She was answered with a grim silence; Barret only beckoned her to come towards him. Tifa quickly walked towards Barret as he flipped a switch. The blinds shot up, revealing to Tifa the orange-soaked landscape of Junon. But Tifa was not looking at Junon. She was looking up at Meteor.
It was massive. About ten times bigger than the moon (from the perspective of the Planet), the Meteor blazed with fire and hung in the sky like a beautifully dangerous chandelier. Tifa felt her body chill, how much more time do they have before this inferno hits the Planet?
She turned to Barret, whose face was set with solemn resignation. "Do we have to give up?" She demanded.
"… Dunno."
Even her confident leader had no answers to everything, sometimes.
There was the sound of a sliding door and when the two of them turned around, Rufus Shinra walked in calmly. Even the neatly pressed trenchcoat and his immaculate hairdo can hardly cover the stress and fatigue on his face. However, the president of the electric company was covering his physical and mental tiredness well.
Another thought dawned on Tifa – they were in Junon, which is Shinra's turf. Are they captured? Is that why they are in this room with that weird operating table? Tifa resisted the urge to cover herself. What have they done on the operating table? Where are the others?
Rufus Shinra gazed at them passively. "I thought Cloud would show up to save you all… Professor Hojo wanted to check on Cloud too…"
Fear struck Tifa as she recognized the scientist's name and how he tried to conduct his experiments with Aerith. Did they experiment on her while she was unconscious? She sincerely hoped not. "What are you going to do with Cloud?" She barked.
"Sephiroth's alter ego…"
What?
The president of Shinra flipped his orange blond hair. "Meteor has been summoned… Essentially, it's all but over now." He took a few steps closer. "So, there's no need for you now. No, maybe there is an important task for you…"
Behind him walked in a large man dressed in a gaudy green military uniform. Heidegger, the head of Shinra's Public Safety Maintenance, spoke with a boisterous voice. "President! Preparations for the public execution are complete."
Barret snapped into a defensive. "Execution?! What're ya gonna get by executin' us?"
"You are to be executed for causing this situation," replied Rufus, as if it was the most logical consequence. "People are ignorant. They'll feel better as long as someone is punished."
Barret ran forward to the President, ignoring Tifa's cries to stop him. He clenched his fist and trembled with rage. "I take back what little praise I had for this damn jackass!"
"Well, enjoy your last moments together."
The blond strolled out of the room and Heidegger, sniggering, announced that he will bind them up.
Tifa hissed at Barret. "No chance of-"
Barret cut her words with a hand. "Don't even think of it." He whispered back. "They took our weapons and had us here for the last week. Don't worry, Tifa, Professor Hojo didn't experiment anything on you."
"The others?"
"Escaped."
Tifa heaved a sigh of relief. At least her other friends were alive and safe. If it happened that Barret and her are really executed, then at least they could still search for Cloud. In such a bleak situation, Tifa had no clue what to do. The only thing she thought of was Aerith. She died trying to stop Sephiroth, and instead of helping her, they were now powerless and on their way to their deaths.
Aerith… please watch over us in the Lifestream. Tifa prayed earnestly as the ropes were thrown over her body and tightened.
Now bound, Tifa and Barret were led to a dark auditorium with overhead spotlights. Tifa looked at the people seated in the auditorium, holding… cameras? Who are they? She thought. Barret had the same question and he shot it at Scarlet.
"We will be broadcasting your miserable deaths live on national television," replied Scarlet with a smug smile on her face.
"Scarlet," demanded Barret. "Why a public execution in this day and age?"
The head of the WEAPON Department paced about. "With the chaos resulting from the Meteor reports, we desperately need to rally public support... it's better that we punish somebody… anybody."
"You make me sick..." hissed Tifa.
Her response was Scarlet's hyena-like laughter. "They'll never admit it, but everyone loves this stuff!" Looking at Tifa, she smirked. "We'll start with this girl."
Barret struggles, but his cuffs were fastened tightly around him. "If you've gotta do it... do me first!" He growled.
"Camera, this way!" exclaimed Scarlet gleefully. "Make sure you get this, the audience just eats up tearful goodbyes!"
The execution that Shinra had in mind was the gas chamber. Tifa, Scarlet and a few guards entered the room. She felt a hard push and she almost stumbled across the room. "What are you doing?" She asked angrily of Scarlet, for it was her who did the act.
"This is my special gas chamber. Take your time, and enjoy a slow, painful death." Scarlet smirked.
A guard moved in to take off Tifa's handcuffs. Before Tifa could even rub her sore wrists, Scarlet shoved her into the chair. Tifa's back ached as she smacked against the old chair. Scarlet then motioned the guard to fasten Tifa to the chair.
"Stuck up ^%$#&!" Scarlet spat and slapped Tifa across her face. Tifa took in a sharp breath and felt the sting of the slap spreading across her cheek.
What is her problem? Tifa frowned. Scarlet strode out of the room and the guard followed after.
Back in the auditorium, Barret was wrenching the cuffs off in vain. Scarlet laughed at his pathetic attempts. "Well now, the show's about to begin. Ha, ha, ha!"
Suddenly, a red light flashed across the room and a siren wailed. Over the noise, the man's flustered voice spoke over the system. "Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching! Attention all military personnel: take your positions!"
The effect was immediate. Everyone threw down their things and fled the room except for Barret, Scarlet, some guards and an odd looking round fellow. Scarlet unsuccessfully tried to retain them while the round fellow hopped towards Scarlet.
"How does it feel now, Scarlet?" He asked. Barret frowned at the voice. It sounded oddly familiar…
"Hmm, so you didn't run?" remarked Scarlet. "I'm impressed. How do I feel? Right now…"
She didn't finish her sentence. Barret heard the sound of gas and suddenly Scarlet fell backwards with a groan.
Barret stared at the woman, completely unconscious. "Huh!? Sleeping gas?"
The round fellow spun around, removing his coat. Cait Sith! Barret exclaimed in his head. Is he really here to save us?
The two guards beside Barret readied their guns. "Weirdo!" They mocked.
Barret quickly ran over to Cait Sith, who undid his cuffs. Cait Sith was muttering under his breath and Barret caught some words, like 'making fun' and 'boss'. He would've questioned him there and then but he knew that the more pressing issue was with the two guards in front of them. Despite not being equipped with Materia, they quickly disposed of the two guards.
He stared at the stuffed creature in bewilderment. Cait Sith beamed. "I'm here to help!"
"Why you...? Ain't you part of Shinra?"
Cait Sith lifted a paw to stop Barret from asking further. "Let's just say I'm against capital punishment." It shifted its shoulders to look like a nonchalant shrug. "Besides... I hate this broad..." He paused briefly to collect his thoughts again. "Come on, we gotta help Tifa."
Just that it wasn't easy. The door to the gas chamber was locked.
Meanwhile, WEAPON fast approaches...
On that fateful day when Meteor was summoned by Sephiroth, five WEAPONs, who were defence mechanisms from the Planet, escaped from the deep recesses of the Northern Crater. In the last week they have been travelling around the Planet terrorising humans and causing danger to everyone.
The WEAPON responsible for causing Tifa to be in a coma for seven days is known as the Ultimate WEAPON. As for the current WEAPON that Junon was facing, its name is the Sapphire WEAPON. How their names came about is a mystery, for no one ever sat down to officially give them a name. Perhaps their appearances attributed to their names. Perhaps someone just needed to name them to differentiate between the five of them.
Rufus Shinra stood behind his desk and looked out of the window, a window that was large enough to substitute an entire wall. The sunset was beautiful, but that was not what he was admiring. Behind him, he could hear Heidegger running (more like waddling) in.
"It's WEAPON." The head of Public Safety panted.
The President barely acknowledged his presence. Instead, he spoke softly. "There's been so many attacks lately. Can we handle it?"
"I believe so. Your orders?"
"No need to ask."
He could not be bothered to see how Heidegger reacts. It must be a salute, or something that showed respect, but Rufus did not want displays of respect now. He wanted results – He wanted that WEAPON dead.
"We'll give it a shot from our big cannon," Rufus heard Heidegger say. "Open cannon doors! Activate cannon. Target: Weapon!"
A huge rumble penetrated the entire city as it prepared itself for lockdown. Buildings were immediately covered with metal plates and from beside his office, a cannon extended. Someone ran in again and announced that the preparations were complete. Without further ado, Heidegger gave the command to fire.
The cannon released a huge burst of energy out into the sea, where they had predicted the location of the Sapphire WEAPON. A resounding sound wave flooded back and hit Junon. Rufus felt the trembling of the ground but not once did he take his eyes off the horizon. For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
Rufus broke the silence first. "Did we get 'em?"
"Seems so..."
His heart sank when the alarm went off throughout the base. "Weapon approaching! Speed, 50 knots! ... It's heading right toward us!"
"It can't be! We hit it dead on!"
Finally, Rufus turned to look at Heidegger. He could tell that the big man was a little nervous to address his failure in front of him. "How about the cannon?" He asked directly.
"It'll take time to reload."
"Then use regular firepower in the mean time!" There is no time to retaliate! Rufus thought, but he could not voice it out to his men. They depended on him to provide the confidence they need. Despite their attempts to subdue the WEAPON, it was clear that their attempts were failing...
As the gas continued to seep out of the pipes, Tifa Lockhart told herself countless times that she had to hang in there and not give up. I still want to see Cloud! She thought. I need to know that he's alright!
Barret had promised her that he'll be back to rescue her but her heart plummeted when Scarlet's laugh was heard from the other room. I can't count on Barret to save me now! I have to... hmm?
Tifa thought she had struck gold when she saw something glinting on the floor. You're joking... Is that the key that fastened me to this godforsaken chair? The guard must have dropped it on his way out. Score! Without hesitation, Tifa edged off her chair and used her legs to reach for the key on the floor. It was tiring to reach for the key. Tifa felt uncomfortable when her skirt began riding up her legs. Soon, she took the key off her legs with her mouth and unlocked the cuffs that were holding her down.
Satisfied with her small victory and full of relief that she was dead yet, she quickly stopped the gas supply. The door to the auditorium was obviously locked and she had no way out. "Open it... !" She said through gritted teeth.
No sooner the words left her mouth, there was a huge explosion that threw Tifa quite literally off her feet. Her back slammed against the door and she fell back onto the floor. Then she heard a loud bang in retaliation, but with all the smoke, Tifa saw nothing. It was when the smoke cleared that Tifa saw the gas chamber with a brand new gaping hole in its wall. In the distance, she saw a majestic creature, blue and serpentoid, writhing in pain. With a screech, the Sapphire WEAPON fell back into the waters.
On the other side, Scarlet shrieked. "What d'you do? Hey! Open it!"
"First you lock me in this weird place, and now you're telling me to come out? Make up your mind!" With that, Tifa made her way out of the gas chamber from the gaping hole. She stared below her; hundreds of metres below her into the endless ocean was not a friendly welcome, but neither was she willing to return to Shinra. Shaking the complaints off her head, Tifa climbed down the side of the Junon building.
Upon first impact, Rod tensed. "What was that?" He asked.
Then, when the red lights started flashing and the announcement was made for preparations against WEAPON, Rod, Mason and Kido stared at each other in horror. Had Jade WEAPON come to look for them? Quickly, they flipped open their PHSes and found that indeed, the Mako radar was swinging around crazily.
"If that's the Jade WEAPON, we need to get out of this place," advised Kido. "We cannot afford to have WEAPON coming all the way to the building just for us." Mason nodded and quickly sent out a message to the other Turks to inform them of the news.
"Wait a minute," said Tseng, trying to sit straight but due to his injury, failed miserably. "What is WEAPON?"
As Rod began to explain what Jade WEAPON was and why it was going after the exiled Turks, Kido and Mason swiftly moved to the window and stared out into the sky. The orange-soaked sky showed no signs of the Jade WEAPON.
"Strange..." Kido murmured. The Jade WEAPON was insectoid in appearance and travelled by flying. It would be the easiest to spot from a distance. "It's not flying in the sky..."
There was a huge rumble that almost shook the building. In the distance, Kido saw metal plates covering the entire city and above him, he saw a large cannon extending from the offices above. A white pulse of energy shot out into the sea, which brought waves rippling back its impact. Then, there was nothing.
"Too late, Shinra has begun combat with the Jade WEAPON." Kido groaned.
"Well, we'd better go before it really shows up here." Rod remarked. They quickly equipped themselves and just as they were about to go, Mason's PHS rang. Mason picked it up and as the conversation went by, his eyes grew wider. Muttering thanks, he ended the call and looked at his two colleagues with a hint of amusement, but more seriousness.
"KK just called." Mason explained. "She told us to hold our horses. It may be Jade WEAPON, but it could be... um... another WEAPON."
"What?" Rod exclaimed.
"Look out of the window!" Tseng shouted.
Just as he said those words, there was another explosion. This time, when all of them turned to look out of the window, they saw a large sea snake creature receiving a headshot from Junon's cannons. Its body glittered with blues and yellows, looking very magnificent indeed. However, the large creature seemed to have been defeated by the cannon and plummeted into the waters.
"... What was that?" Rod breathed out.
"... That could be one of those WEAPONs, and definitely not Jade WEAPON." Mason said quietly.
"Wait... one of those?" Rod exclaimed. "How many more did KK say there were?"
"... Five."
Rod cursed under his breath while Tseng took a deep breath and shook his head. The Jade WEAPON was the exiled Turks' problem, but if there were five more? Tseng dared not believe how Reno and Rude were handling this. He hated to be sitting in the bed for so long when he could literally see outside his window Meteor descending onto the Planet. But the wound that Sephiroth gave him was too severe for him to move.
He worried that Reno and Rude will be too overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work to do and mess to clear. Not that he doubted their abilities, but whatever they were facing was Planet-level importance – no one can handle all that easily, not even him.
"Our little game of hide and seek ends here."
Behind Tifa was the grand sunset that Junon was famous for, but she was not enjoying the scenery. She was staring at Scarlet, the head of the Weapons Department, strutting up along the Mako Cannon. Despite being able to climb out of the gas chamber through the gaping hole made by the Sapphire WEAPON, Tifa soon found that she reached a dead end. Behind her was the end of the Mako cannon and apart from jumping hundreds of metres down into the crashing seas, Tifa had no other way of escape. Tifa took a deep breath, amazed at how tired and weak she felt. She held her breath as long as she could in the gas chamber, and still she inhaled quite a substantial amount of gas.
"The execution may have been unsuccessful, but your death by falling from here and crashing into the water below might be pretty exciting." Tifa tensed as Scarlet walked up to her. Suddenly, the woman slapped Tifa. "Stuck up to the end!"
Gee, WHAT is her problem? Tifa thought furiously. I've done her no wrong at all! "Quit slapping me! You old wench!" Tifa slapped Scarlet as well. There was a rush of adrenaline through Tifa's weak body when she did so... And so Tifa decided to put her adrenaline all into good use. Scarlet shrieked as Tifa attacked her mindlessly, until Scarlet fell back with a loud thud.
"God! I can't stand it!" To the soldiers behind her, Scarlet ordered, "Take her away." Turning back at Tifa, she threw her hands up in a frustrated manner. "Now it's time to pay up. I'll really drop you if you don't settle down! Kyah ha ha ha!"
Run...
Tifa looked up, for that was where she thought the voice came from. Then once more, she heard the soft voice; it was shouting but it only came out soft because wherever this source was at, it was far away.
Run to the end of the Cannon!
Tifa spun around and briefly stared at the ocean. Well, jumping into the ocean makes more sense than to resubmit myself back to Shinra. I'd rather listen to nonexistent voices any day. She sprinted towards the end of the cannon, ignoring cries of protest from Scarlet and the guards. Her heart was beating wildly. Was she really going to jump down and... The words died in her mind as she looked down.
Instead of seeing the foamy white waves, a large airship hovered at the bottom. It quickly rose, revealing Barret.
Barret! Tifa all but shouted with joy and relief.
He waved and shouted her name, though she could not hear over the chugging of the airship. Behind her, she could hear Scarlet scream her orders. Quick as lightning, Barret grabbed a roll of rope and tossed it over the side of the airship.
Till this day, Tifa cannot explain what kind of desperation drove her to do such a dangerous thing. She ran and leapt off the cannon, reaching for the rope. Her hands grabbed wildly... at nothing. Suddenly, Tifa plummeted towards the ocean. She thrashed against the air in vain... until the rope swung back at her. She desperately grabbed the rope with both hands and winced as her body swung violently with the momentum of the rope. Her body will be sore tomorrow, but safe.
I'll never do such a crazy thing again, said no one ever, for Tifa was laughing triumphantly at the turn of events. "Goodbye!" She laughed at the Junon facility as the airship where her comrades were piloting flew around Junon and into freedom.
It was only then that Tifa really paid attention to how beautiful the sunset looked in Junon.
Midgar was very quiet when Meia returned. It was, after all, a few hours before midnight. Not many people were out in the streets at this time, apart from people in Sector 5. From the Upper Plates of Sector 1 where she just entered, she looked up at the Mako Reactor. Just weeks ago, the new AVALANCHE managed to detonate the structure, but now it was up and running as though it had never been disturbed at all.
Keeping her thoughts to herself, Meia continued to walk to Sector 2, where Rod's hideout was. Cassie and KK were at home, discussing plans about WEAPONs that Meia was too tired to pick out the details. Upon seeing her, the two of them immediately asked their concerns. Meia grinned and assured them that nothing happened while she was in Nibelheim. Seeing how tired she looked, Cassie and KK did not enquire further about her findings and let her sleep early.
Being back in Midgar felt good; Meia was glad to wash off the grime over the last few days. The shower in the Nibelheim Mansion was cold and Meia could not afford to take her time with it. The hot water was welcomed gladly and Meia took a long time to wash herself clean. Clean and comfortable, Meia sat back on the bed, still quiet in her thoughts. Finally, she knew that thinking will not do her any good. Picking up her PHS, she dialled Reno's number.
"Whoever you are, damn you to hell for calling at this hour," Reno's groggy voice and crude greeting was the first thing she heard. "Don't you know that we've got to work tomorrow?"
"I'm sorry!" Meia squeaked, glancing at the clock. She was aware that it was past midnight, but she never knew that Reno slept so early.
"... Meia?" Reno called, his sleepiness clearing. "Meia, is that you?"
"… Hi, Reno."
She heard a volley of curses and she almost flinched. She didn't know if the curses were at her or not. "Dammit Meia," Reno scolded. "Where have you been the last week?"
"I... I went to visit Leia and Haato in Icicle Inn." Meia almost stammered, and instantly felt ashamed that she was lying to Reno. Still, she did not change her explanation.
"What's with your phone?"
"Um... new number." Meia answered. Her heart was thumping like a drum for a conviction awaiting an execution. Reno was hardly fooled by lies and made-up stories. "The old one is not in use."
"Where are you?" Reno asked. "I am coming to see you."
"No," said Meia firmly. "You need your rest. Judging by the fact that you're sleeping at this time, I'll say you need a lot of rest."
"... You're right," replied Reno, surprisingly her. She had expected a bit more fight in him. "I'm a little swamped up with work and Tseng..."
He trailed off. Playing along as the unknowing person, Meia asked, "What happened to Tseng?"
"Nothing that you need to worry your pretty little head about." She could imagine Reno grinning over the phone. "Tomorrow. We'll meet tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." Meia repeated.
"You should sleep soon too. Night."
"Goodnight." And they hung up.
Meia tossed in her bed and closed her eyes. However, she did not manage to sleep much, for she spent a long time sorting out a lot of information in her little head.
Hello everyone, I'm really quiet the last few weeks, huh? I'm sorry, I haven't been doing anything else but work and sleep. Okay, so maybe I watched anime… because compared to writing fanfiction, I've not completed an anime series in years!
Anyway, my break is coming up soon (in 5 weeks' time!). Hopefully I can use that time to get some writing done. As usual, please read and review, it'll mean the world to me!