Days of Exile

Dear readers,

It is with utmost embarrassment that I come to you. Apparently ffnet decided not to send me review notifications to my email address anymore. And they have not sent a single email to me for the last month! (Yes, since Chapter 35 or so.) To think! All this while I thought you guys abandoned me! *cries and throws self at your feet* I'm sorry that I doubted you! I had no idea that some of you were still reviewing faithfully (albeit a change of names!). I'll talk more at the end of the chapter.

Back to business!

Aha, finally a chapter with no canon FF7 events. From here, my scenes will be used more from "On the Way to a Smile – Case of Shinra". From here, we will finally see more of Meia, but the day is not over yet!

Oh, by the way, the scenes are definitely not described in chronological order. It's such a chaotic day that most of the scenes probably happen simultaneously.

Enjoy!

Chapter 40 – Escape

Previously on Days of Exile…

While the former Turks were debating about whether and how they should rescue Meia from the Shinra Building, Shinra was facing one of its biggest battles in history. Sister Ray successfully defeated the Diamond WEAPON and dissipated the energy barrier in the Northern Continent, but as a result Rufus Shinra was missing in action.

Reeve's day really has gotten worse. Hojo locked himself in the Mako tower to input more Mako energy to Sephiroth. Also, Reeve was in a tug of war of trust between AVALANCHE and his colleagues – both did not trust his actions and motivations. In the end, Heidegger and Scarlet took matters into their own hands and threw Reeve into captivity, but not before giving a cry of help to AVALANCHE, Reeve's last hope of getting the Planet saved.

All this being heard by Meia over her earpiece, who seemed to have a plan up her sleeve…

13 January 0008

Reno and Rude saw the attack on Midgar a distance away.

They had taken the chopper "for a spin", as decided. On air they saw the clash between Shinra and WEAPON, but they were too far to see anything clearly. They did, however, clearly see that bright blue light splitting across the horizon. In haste, they flew the chopper back to Midgar. Halfway back, they were alarmed to see yellow bursts of lights sailing across Midgar and beneath their helicopter.

"I am not liking this, yo?" said Reno with a shake of his head. "Not at all."

They could barely land on the helicopter pad safely, because the top of the Shinra Building was in flames. Both Turks got off the helicopter and ran back into the building in silence. It was not that they were not used to ruin and destruction of buildings. They are Turks, after all. The Shinra Building was a different story, however. Being a Turk comprised little paperwork, and their missions required them to travel a lot, so the Shinra Building was like a home to return to after work.

Not only that, the Shinra Building was the venue of their fondest memories of being a Turk. Through all the hard times that Reno and Rude went through as Turks, the majority of it were spent in the company of their former comrades. Times when they were scolded by Tseng and Veld, times when they would tease the girls out of boredom and they get teased back. Times when they would head out for a drink after day's work, times when they lost motivation because of their jobs' demands. When they were out of the Shinra Building, their "Turk mode" was on, along with their inhumane determination to complete the job at any cost. When they were back to rest, that switch was "off", and they cajoled and pranked each other like simple-minded children. The Shinra Building was where most of their lives could restart. In some cases, their lives started only when they were in the Shinra Building as Turks.

When Reno and Rude found out that President Rufus Shinra was missing, their unease grew. Many witnesses saw the WEAPON's fire striking the top floor of the building, but no one had heard of any news of Rufus since. The whole building was in a mess, in terms of manpower and systems management.

"I swear," cursed Reno. "These people who just resign at the sight of danger should just get their heads bitten by a chocobo. So much for company loyalty."

"… They are not expected to stick with the company through thick and thin," answered Rude.

"Which is why I say we gotta revise our contracts with Tseng a little."

Both agreed that the safety of Rufus Shinra was the top priority, so they waited for the elevators leading to the top floor.

"This thing isn't moving," complained Reno, kicking at the elevator doors.

"It looks like the emergency lock system was activated," observed Rude.

"They managed to get that working pretty well," commented Reno sourly.

A voice behind them spoke. "Reno, Rude. Take the stairs."

The two Turks stared at each other at the sound of the new voice. As they turned around, they spotted a familiar face, with long, dark hair. Someone who should not even be alive.

"Tseng!"

"What's wrong?" Tseng asked with a raise of an eyebrow. Reno and Rude stared at their leader, dumbfounded.

Surprisingly, it was Rude who found his voice to speak first. "… You're alive, Tseng."

"As you can see for yourselves," replied Tseng matter-of-factly. "But now isn't the time to explain."

"Yeah." Reno nodded profusely. He did not need to hear any explanations anyway. The pure fact was that Tseng was alive. That was all they needed to know. Inside, a heavy burden was lifted from Reno's heart. He was relieved to see Tseng alive for the reason of being able to hand back leadership. Through the crisis, Reno knew for sure that he lacked the discipline to organise and foresight to plan. More than that, Reno was thankful to see Tseng alive, but for the reason of being able to see his long time comrade and respected friend again.

"Mr. Tseng!" A voice of young woman rang out from behind them. As they turned around, Elena was standing there, with pure disbelief on her young face. She did not try to hide her happiness at Tseng's safety. With a cry of relief, she ran and almost tackled Tseng into a hug.

"Oh come on, Elena. You know I want to hug too," said Reno, spreading his arms at Elena.

Elena, thinking that Reno meant that he wanted to hug Tseng too, said happily, "Don't mind me, Reno. Go ahead!" She released Tseng and nudged Reno closer to him.

"… I'll pass." Reno said, glancing at his leader's unamused face sheepishly.

Tseng placed a firm hand on Elena's shoulder and looked at his three Turks, who had been handling the Meteor crisis in his absence so well, with a hint of pride. "Come on. Time to get to work."

Here goes nothing.

Meia released a bloodcurdling scream. Soon, footsteps came running and the guard's face appeared by the window.

"What happened?"

"There is a rat!" Meia screeched. She sat perched on the edge of her bed, trembling.

"Oh." The guard relaxed. "It's just a rat. Where is-"

"Nooooo!" Meia whined and shook her head vigorously. "I hate rats! Please get it out!"

The man was taken aback. "But it won't harm you, miss. Besides, we are not called to do such menial jobs."

"Please, I'm begging you." Meia's desperation drove tears into her eyes. "I cannot be in the same room as them. Noo!" She squealed again. "There it is! It just… argh! Please! I beg of you!"

"Alright, alright, I'll come and get the rat out." The guard hastily pressed a few buttons on the keypad. "Gee… girls…" The door slid fully open.

With a loud roar, Meia pounced from the bed and kicked the guard in his upper abdomen. The guard was thrown back by the force and landed on his back. Meia stumbled upon the floor, but got up onto her feet before the guard could. She pulled back her arm and, remembering what Rude taught her about punches, gave the guard a neat uppercut.

The guard groaned. "You… tricked…" He rolled his eyes up and knocked out of consciousness.

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed, are you?" Meia shrugged and gave an apologetic look. "I'm sorry that I tricked you. I have some things to do, and some people are waiting for me."

A loud gasp grabbed her attention. Turning around, she saw another guard who appeared at the corridor. "You've escaped!" He stuttered.

Meia assumed a fighting stance. "Stating the obvious, of course." She was not afraid of taking on the guard, though he was bigger than her. She had been eating all her meals and did mini workouts without causing any suspicion from the guards. As long as she was out of her cell rooms, she had no worries at all. Meia swiftly stepped up closer to the second guard. As the guard reached for his PHS, Meia smacked his hand, sending his PHS flying across the corridor. With no chance of reinforcements, the guard now grabbed his other weapon – the EMR. It was not a challenge for Meia too. Reno was an expert on the EMR, and Meia had a lot of practice fighting Reno.

Meia could help but smile as she fought. Being cooped up in that small cell for one week did nothing good for Meia. Finally, she could stretch her limbs a little, even if it was through fighting. Through her earpiece, she knew there was a commotion going on with Cloud's group too, but she could not really make it out because she was focused more on her own fight.

Her focus was not in vain. Finally, while the guard was momentarily distracted, Meia swung her leg up over her head – Kunsel's perfect roundhouse kick. The guard's face met the force of her kick and the big man staggered, leaning against the wall for support. He stared at Meia in utter disbelief. "That kick – where did you – only Kunsel –"

Meia sighed. "Sorry, I don't have time to explain to you, and you should be concerned with other things at hand." In her hand was the EMR that the guard dropped while he was being kicked. The guard frantically looked around him, as though he needed to confirm that it was his EMR that she snitched from. Meia waved it around and gave a few test spins.

"Hmph!" The prison warden mocked. "It's not a toy, lady. You better return it to me this instant. It will be embarrassing if you electrocuted yourself back into the cells."

Meia's smug smile surprised the guard. "You don't have to worry. I have… good teachers." Without warning, she lunged for the attack, keeping the EMR in her hand but not using it. Even though she had observed Reno use his EMR countless times, she knew that she should not reveal what she could do until she was sure of her victory. When it came, she raised the EMR high and struck the guard hard on his temple. The impact sent an electric shock that stunned the guard into unconsciousness. He slipped onto the floor and then, the place became quiet again.

That was close. Meia sighed in relief. I better get out of here before anyone notices. She walked out of the corridors and tuned her earpiece to hear AVALANCHE better. Cait Sith's voice rang out to her, and Meia realized that it was Cait Sith tuning out AVALANCHE so that she could hear him. "Meia!" Cait Sith's voice was loud and clear in her earpiece, though she could not answer. "Reeve has been taken away by Heidegger and Scarlet. They knew of our double spy job and boy, are they not happy!

"Right now, there's no knowing whether you can even help Reeve. First things first, you need to get out of that place."

"Already done so," muttered Meia to herself, though Cait Sith could not hear her.

I guess while Cait Sith busy himself with "setting me free", there are really two things that I must do first.

She stealthily but briskly walked through the corridors leading to Professor Hojo's laboratories, the guard's EMR still held tightly in her hand. It would not be much help against more formidable adversaries like SOLDIER, but it will do for now, until she got what she wanted.

To her surprise, the corridor was empty. Apart from the two unconscious guards in the cell, Meia believed that there was no one else on this level. In the Shinra Building, after Floor 61 to 70, security was not as tight as compared to Floor 60. That was because the executives did not like having too many people around. Even security cameras were few and far in between, Meia expertly dodged out of sight of the camera's vision.

Still, there would be an occasional guard or SOLDIER lurking around… but there was not.

What is happening out there in the streets? Meia thought. They must have activated virtually every man out of Shinra, I guess. Not a problem for me at all.

Gently pushing the swing doors of the laboratory, she peeked in. The laboratory was empty too. Right across the laboratory, placed in a box, were her precious equipment. This time not being discreet at all, Meia ran over, throwing away the borrowed EMR at the same time. She grabbed her double guns – a chrome gun given to her by Alana years ago, and a standard Shinra issued gun for Turks. For the smallest second, Meia wondered why nobody suspected anything when they took her guns away. Surely they would question where she got the Shinra issued gun. Well, she could think of her answers later.

Meia slipped her diamond bangle over her arm. It was welcoming to feel the tingling sense of magic as the equipment and Materia were equipped. Unlike others, Meia had the mental capacity to support many types of Materia without suffering any backlash. Once her diamond bangle was on, she need not worry about fighting. Magic offense was her biggest trump card, and a strategy that she hardly used. She preferred to show her 'abilities' with her double guns.

Now…

Meia walked closer to Professor Hojo's desk and gave a cry of joy. Sitting on the table was her most prized possession – Tihan's metal bird. She gingerly picked it up and cradled it against her chest as if it was alive. I am not going to ever bring this around. She vowed to herself. The metal bird was the last bit of her Sector 4 childhood, the only souvenir reminding her of her origins. The thought of potentially losing that... well, she would rather not.

She gave herself the luxury to snoop around the laboratory some more. On Hojo's array of computer screen, there were some words splayed across the screens. All of them read the same thing: Matilda Ederfeld. Match not found.

Meia sighed her tension out. Indeed the Shinra databases took about two days to scan through any information about her. Hojo probably had not seen this yet. Meia was definitely not going to stand around and speculate. She needed to leave the Shinra Building, or at least this floor. She could not help but wonder, Where is Hojo? Yet another question that she would entertain later. Her escape was more important.

Finally, she pocketed her metal bird and stood straighter. She was ready for anything that was in store for her.

Tseng and Elena went to handle evacuation matters, leaving Rude and Reno with the incomplete job of finding Rufus Shinra. Climbing the long flight of stairs was no joke, but they managed to reach the destroyed President's Office, panting and remarking that they needed more exercise.

"No one's here," said Reno.

"… Yeah," Rude replied.

"You've checked carefully three times?

"Everywhere."

Reno tapped his EMR on his shoulders casually. "So he's alive," he guessed hopefully.

"But where could he be?"

There were fallen pieces of debris from the ceiling to the floor. Reno and Rude heaved many of them, searching carefully for Rufus. He was not under the debris.

"Back to the drawing board?" Rude asked.

"You mean we walk down the stairs to the main lobby again?" complained Reno, massaging his aching thighs.

"At least we are walking down the stairs."

With Meteor closing in, a powerful storm picked up and the Midgar sky was darker than ever. However, the Turks ignored the winds and continued looking for Rufus. They would not stop until they found his body or corpse.

Back at the entrance of the Shinra Building again, they went through a door, where the "Executives Only Emergency Room" was located. The previous President Leon Shinra built the room very plainly, sturdy with no decorations at all.

"Nothing here," yawned Reno. "Let's go, Rude."

"Wait," said Rude. He pointed to a part of a wall. "The colour's different."

Upon closer examination, Reno found out that it was coloured a shade lighter than the other walls, but he saw no significance in that. Many interior designers accented their wall colours, this room could be no different. "It's just a wall, Rude."

Before Reno could finish, the wall shook. A panel of the wall sank into the floor and disappeared. They stared at each other in shock, and looked into the hole. Another small room inside.

"Anyone there?" Reno called out, but as he was about to peep in, Rufus' face appeared.

"Good work," the young President said weakly, before collapsing to the floor.

"Boss!"

Rude walked into the white room, past Reno who was looking over Rufus. Rude recognised the room as an emergency shelter. Taking a quick glance around, Rude saw four buttons on the keypad, still lit up but were quickly dimming again. Rude recognised the four numbers as the birthday of Rufus Shinra.

Reno called his attention. "Rude, go find a doctor. And check outside while you're at it." Rude asked how Rufus was doing, to which Reno replied, "He's sound asleep." The soft breathing noises of the sleeping Rufus made his point. "Looks like he's relieved to find us again," laughed Reno weakly.

"I'm glad," said Rude seriously, before turning to go outside.

Of course Rufus Shinra would not die. How could he? He was the President of Shinra Electric Company, the monopoly of Mako-generated energy in the Planet.

When WEAPON attacked the building, Rufus doubled over to lesson his impact. The impact was as great as he had expected. Wood and metal parts fell from the ceiling. Rufus rolled underneath his desk to avoid the falling pieces. He was prepared for death when he watched the WEAPON's fire flying across the dark sky like shooting stars. However, when he fell onto the floor, he was angry. Angry at himself for accepting his death so easily.

No. He thought furiously. I will not go down as the shortest living Shinra. If I were to die, Shinra will surely fall.

WEAPON might attack again. He needed to escape. Quickly. As Rufus glanced around the tiny corner under his desk, he spotted a small switch engraved with the letter "L". Surely it was used for emergencies if it were to be placed in such an inconspicuous place. Without hesitation, Rufus pressed the button. In an instant, the area that he was lying on loosened, and Rufus found himself sliding on a hard slope. Downslope he began to slide, with thoughts mocking in his head.

In the end, I still think I'm going to die. Rufus rolled his eyes. And not only that, it looks like I'm going to die inside an air duct that runs around the building's walls and floors. It's ridiculous. What would everyone think once they found my corpse?

He could imagine the news writing lines such as, "Right in the middle of a battle in which the Planet's life was at stake, the President of the very Shinra Company that had the power to fight with the enemy dies. Inside an air duct."

Rufus laughed dryly. Such a jest. It's a pity I can't see myself now. But what is it with this air duct? There's no reason why it should be built at such an abrupt angle. And that L switch—

Then, Rufus suddenly remembered a conversation he had with his father close to twenty years ago. He finally raised his voice and laughed.

By the way, I really like this chapter. Finally, some fight scenes! And a lot of different characters making their appearance. Why can't every chapter be as action packed as this?

So I've written back all review replies on my blog, so do pop by to check out what I've written for you! It's aichioluv dot blogspot dot com. And scold me if I left you out! Once again, thank you. I love you guys so much. You've made my day so complete.

Now I gotta go do something about that emo blog post I made…