Days of Exile
Chapter 43 – Just the Two of Us
Previously on Days of Exile…
Rod shared his thoughts on the incoming Meteor and how it might affect the gang of boys whom he led before he became a Turk.
In the Shinra Building, Meia and Reeve discussed about various plans to help everybody in Midgar escape. There might be a chance that only Midgar would be destroyed, and everyone is holding on to that piece of hope.
13 January 0008
Reeve looked at Meia with a new admiration. She may be young, but she possessed trust in others that was as wise as an adult but as simple as a child's faith. AVALANCHE may be the solution that he needed to save the Planet, and Meia may very well be the solution that found him the confidence to do so.
The older man crossed his fingers thoughtfully. "I hope AVALANCHE will be able to stop Hojo and his plans." Meia raised her eyebrows. "Hojo has locked himself at the control tower, gaining complete control of the eight Mako Reactors in Midgar. He intends to give all the Mako energy to Sephiroth in the Northern Crater."
Meia's lips parted as she realized something. "His son…" she murmured.
Reeve stared at her in surprise. "How did you know about that?" He asked sharply. "No one but the executives knows about that."
"Um…" Meia chewed her lower lip and hesitated giving an answer. Eventually, she answered truthfully. She admitted her intrusion into Nibelheim Mansion. She explained how she read the reports of all the experiments, leading her to her capture. With Reeve, she had complete trust that he would handle her secrets discreetly.
The man looked at Meia, not believing that she really remembered every word that she had read in the mansion. "So you knew about Project G… and Project S, for that matter?"
"Yes." Meia said quietly. "I know that Hojo and Dr. Lucrecia Crescent are the parents of Sephiroth. It's… a little hard to believe, actually." She cringed. "But then again, I think about Heidegger being a faithful father and I think nothing can top that," she added with a cheeky grin.
The man was quiet, despite Meia's attempted joke. "What you've done was in complete breach of Shinra's policies. No one has ever had full access to the data in Nibelheim Mansion, except the executives of the Science department."
"You… You don't want to know everything anyway," said Meia. "It's horribly unethical, even by a Turk standard. But I only did what I did because I really wanted to figure out a way to stop Meteor."
"Did you find anything on Meteor?" Reeve pulled back the curtains to look outside. Meia gasped at what was outside. Meteor was looming right above Midgar. For sure when Meteor strikes, Midgar will be the first to feel its impact. Meteor was so dangerously close to the Planet's surface, Meia could see the large craters and crevices on the giant ball of fire.
When Hojo asked Meia the same question, Meia could barely give an answer before being dismissed flippantly. Reeve was not like that. He gave Meia ample time to think and answer. Meia quickly focused back on Reeve's question.
"Well… I did read on some reports on this scientist." She scratched her head. "He was one of the earliest scientists who studied on the Cetra race. His name was Professor Gast. He had mentioned that the Cetra has a particular kind of magic that can defeat Meteor, but he did not specify where and how to get this magic." Meia paused. "The only Cetra that I know is Aerith Gainsborough." She did not notice Reeve holding his breath slightly at the mention of her name. "Perhaps if we find her, she might help us."
The man cleared his throat. "You won't need to worry about that. We have… We have approached Aerith for help. She has already prayed for Holy."
Meia's face brightened. "Aerith? Really? She knew the spell?" She released a big breath. All this while, Aerith knew the workings of how to save the Planet? "But is it working?"
Reeve paused. He did not want to tell Meia about Aerith's death. Meia's friendship with Aerith did not come as a surprise to Reeve. During his observation of Aerith, he knew of her interactions with the slum children. It was not difficult to figure out that Meia was one of the slum children growing up with Aerith. He did not know how close the two girls were, but he would not find out today. No, it would not be too late to tell Meia after that.
In a quick-witted response, he explained that Holy has been summoned, but Sephiroth has been suppressing its power. Reeve assured the young woman that AVALANCHE will ensure that Sephiroth would be stopped. That was why the group came to Midgar – to stop Hojo from empowering Sephiroth further.
"For now, we have things to plan, and things to execute."
Meia sat a little straighter. "What can I do, Mr Tuesti?" She asked. It was time that she did her part to help, if there was any.
"Our first priority would be to evacuate the citizens, as soon as possible."
Meia's face fell at the news. "It's futile, isn't it?" She asked. "The purpose of Meteor is to completely obliterate the Planet, not just Midgar. It doesn't matter where we run to."
"Let's just say we are hoping that Meteor might not obliterate the whole Planet," Reeve said quietly. "We've received reports yesterday that the collision that Shinra No. 26 made with the Meteor was not as futile as we thought." He crossed his fingers. "That collision made a small impact on the Meteor. A small part of Meteor has been chipped off, making it slightly off course in the Meteor's direction. It is of no doubt that Meteor will fall on Midgar, but if we are lucky, I'll say at most the entire eastern continent will be destroyed."
"An entire continent?" Meia made a face. "That's pretty bad, isn't it?"
"At most." Reeve emphasized again. "It's more like I'm putting all my trust on AVALANCHE. I believe that Cloud and the rest will do their best to reduce the Meteor's destruction, if not completely eliminate the threat." He glanced at Meia. "However, I need your help. I will need you to contact the Turks. All of them."
Meia's eyes gleamed with joy. "All of them?" She repeated.
The man nodded. "We need as much help as we can get. Getting just Reno, Rude and Elena will not be enough to evacuate all of them. I cannot trust Heidegger and Scarlet to have the foresight of saving people out of Midgar above destroying AVALANCHE. Therefore I can't employ the use of SOLDIER." Reeve took a deep breath as he admitted, "We need to help these people, on our own. We are talking about saving close to a hundred thousand people."
The girl's face glowed as she quickly made the connections. "Even… Even the people in the slums, Mr Tuesti?"
The man nodded. "No one should be left behind in the rescue." Rescue paced by his desk briskly. "It is easy to evacuate people from the Upper Sectors, but the slums are not easily accessible. I need people who have easy access to the slums…"
"Me," finished Meia. "Send me. I know the slums inside out. I have been to almost all the Sector slums."
"Exactly," nodded Reeve Tuesti. "You know the slums better, having been lived there before. Your photographic memory will serve you well in locating residences and the slum citizens. Let Kent and the Turks evacuate the Upper Sectors." He stood from his desk and walked towards a bookcase. "You will be in charge of ensuring the people in the slums are evacuated too. I've already informed your teammates that they will assist you in evacuation. I believe, however, that Cassie is too excited to wait any longer." Meia grinned in response. "Perhaps they have started the evacuation already, for all we know."
Meia nodded seriously. "Yes, sir. How many days do you think we have to evacuate everyone, the earliest?"
"I don't know. As soon as possible would be our best bet. I will inform you if I get any relevant details." Reeve pulled out an old, grey binder and setting it on his desk, he flipped through it neatly. Then, he gently removed an old document from the binder. "Here. This is the evacuation plan that I made a while back. You may use this as a reference, although many things may have changed."
From the looks of the old document, Meia wondered if it was really just "a while back". It was yellowed and the paper looked like it was a few decades old. However, the corners of the pages were still sharp and neat, a sign that no one had seen the documents since its first appearance. Meia peered at the paper and gave a soft gasp. "It's… It's the entire structure of the lower sectors!"
Reeve shrugged. "The President had requested for a segregation of sectors, to which I willingly obeyed." He paused. "I was a young and foolish man."
A young and foolish man with dreams, without reality. He thought. His rose-tinted dreams shattered very quickly. In order to keep his job, Reeve often found himself compromising and giving way. He gave in when Leon Shinra approved the building of the giant 'pizza' above the slums. He gave in when he was informed (not consulted) by Leon Shinra that they would be destroying the entire Sector 7. He gave in when he was not given a chance to rebuild it. He gave in when they insisted on increasing the Mako rates and outputs.
No more, he told himself. You want to live your life to better others, not only Shinra. Then do it. If this is really the fall of Shinra, maybe it is for the better of many people.
The girl did not notice that the man was in his thoughts, for she was in her own thoughts too. She spotted the watermark at the bottom of the page. "Mr Tuesti, this was dated in 1990." She said incredulously.
Reeve glanced at the watermark. "Yes, it is."
"No offence but… did you really draw this?" Meia frowned and did her calculations. "This thing is 18 years old…"
"I was 18 when I made this."
The girl's jaw dropped at the discovery. "You…" She lifted her hands off the paper, as though she was touching an ancient, fragile relic. "You made this at 18 years old?" She repeated. "That's… Gee," she slumped. "What was I doing when I was 18?"
"You were a Turk, fighting your life out with AVALANCHE."
"That was rhetorical, Mr Tuesti," she made a face, while Reeve chuckled warmly. Then, Meia remembered her eighteenth birthday. It was a soggy Thursday. She was stuck in Mideel with Cassie, chasing a wanted man. He allegedly had possessions of AVALANCHE documents. It turned out to be a wild goose chase. Meia and Cassie ended the day sneezing their noses off while soaking their feet in warm water.
At least the following year's birthday was much better… She tried not to smile too much as she recalled fondly the memory of Reno 'kidnapping' her into the deserted Banora ruins. How they had sat together in the still of the night, watching the green swirls of the Lifestream illuminate each other's faces and enjoying each other's company. No one knew that eventually they would separate, and see each other at specific, circumstance-controlled moments.
Reno… Her heart twisted in a way that she could explain. I have not seen him in a long time. I have to see him.
Reeve gave her a look of concern, to which she quickly brushed aside. Meia quickly stood from her chair, and nodded at Reeve. "Thank you for trusting me." She smiled. "I'll do my best to help out."
"All the best."
"I will update you again on the plan. If you have any other instructions, Mr Tuesti, do give me a call."
"Meia," said Reeve suddenly. "You are not my subordinate. It's just the two of us. Let's work together, and purposefully too."
She stared at the head of Urban Development, wondering just how surprised she could get in one day. In his words, he trusted her well enough to see her as an equal. For whatever reason that she could not imagine. He was gambling his chances, putting his trust in a young woman like Meia. She will not let him down. "Okay… Reeve," she said with a grim smile. "I anticipate a great time working with you to make this Planet peaceful again."
Meanwhile…
The living room of Rod's garage was filled with people, and filled with warm welcomes as Rod, Mason and Kido were recounting their time with Tseng in the hospital. Everyone was present, except for Veld, Elfe, Meia and Jasper. Jasper had promised that he would come to Midgar if he could afford the time.
The garage was too crowded for them, but no one seemed to mind. Laughter, and the occasional tortilla, tossed between the men as they taunted each other good-naturedly. Legend and Kido poured over a magazine specializing in the latest weapon upgrades. The girls talked briefly about what had happened for the last few weeks. Leia was looking really uncomfortable at the ease of the group, wondering if the light-hearted cajoling could cover their underlying anxiety at the problem above their heads.
At least, they had one problem gone. They knew of Meia's safety from Reeve's phone call just a short while ago. Their relief was tangible and for once, they did not care whether it showed.
Katherine raised both her hands up. "Alright guys, since Meia has been rescued by Reeve-"
"Correction," interrupted Haato, with a large grin across his face. "She saved her own butt out of prison. Atta girl, who knew that she have what it takes to break herself out?" He rocked against his chair. "She is more independent than she looks."
"Regardless, Meia should have considered a little more before doing what she did," piped in Alana, sitting by the corner quietly but firmly. "If this was a few years back, no one would look upon her failure kindly."
Legend looked up from his magazine and sighed loudly. "Yes, Meia did stupid things, without a doubt. However, times have changed for us all." He grinned at Alana. "You need to lighten up, just a little. Shouldn't you rejoice that your little disciple is safe and sound?"
"Of course I am," snapped Alana. "That does not mean that her transgressions could be forgotten as easily."
"Then we will leave the reprimanding to you then, Alana," said Cassie with a devilish grin. "I won't have time to even see Meia, if we are setting out to evacuate the people in Sector 1 slums."
Rod tapped his girlfriend's head lightly. "Aren't you going to wait for Meia to come back and we discuss it together?"
"But I wanna get out and get moving!" whined Cassie, rocking her chair in a manner that was not likely of a Mideel heiress. "I know!" She said suddenly. "Why don't we search for her too?"
Kido spoke up this time. "If we go off separately, it will be difficult to call us back again."
Legend nodded his head vigorously at Kido's reasoning. "Just stay in your seat, Cassie." He chuckled. "Meia should be back soon. Reeve gave her the job to plan the evacuation of the Midgar citizens."
His response was a big pout from the shotgun Turk.
Even from the Northern Continent, Meteor could be seen. It was a magnificent sight to behold. Scary, yes, but very magnificent. Just by looking at the new centerpiece of Midgar, anyone can guess that the Planet did not have much time left.
They do not have much time left.
A fair young man stared at the distant comet in silence. Behind him, his fiancée approached him quietly. "Hey," she said softly. The man stirred gently at her voice. "Mom said that she needs help in the kitchen… Do you want to…" She trailed off as she recognized the distant look in his eyes. "You know what? You just stay here, alright?"
"Heidi." The girl felt him take her by the hand. He pulled her closer. "Meteor is really close," he murmured into her ear. "We don't have much time."
Heidi looked up and stared at the sight, visible miles away from them. "I know you will do all that you can to help us, Randy." She smiled. Randy was one of the main young men leading Icicle Inn in a time of doubt and despair. Thanks to his frank but sincere concern, many townspeople trusted him to help them. "I never doubted you," she assured him.
"There will be consequences that none of us can accept." Randy Ederfeld clenched his fists tightly. "We might lose each other, or the people whom we love."
"Inevitable." Heidi said quietly. "But we have to stand strong for the people around us." The newly-engaged couple fell silent for a while, both thinking about the same thing all of a sudden. "Randy," she said softly. "About Meia…"
"Don't." Randy's reply was rough and unemotional. "Even bring up her name anymore."
Heidi bit back a sigh. Randy had been upset about the matters of Meteor, but mostly affected by a truth he had learnt a week ago. I find it so hard to think that Meia is a Turk. She thought. She is only my age! How could someone so young be in the Turks for so long?
Even though Randy refused to mention Meia anymore, Heidi hoped that she could find the Midgarian girl as soon as possible. Meia had been close friends with them for many years. She should at least be given a chance to explain herself. Put a closure to their relationship, if need be. She glanced at Randy's face, grim and disturbed. She knew that Randy was more hurt than angry at Meia, but he was not letting it go easily. More than a week had passed since Leia Glasko revealed that they had been working under Shinra as Turks, but Randy was still upset about it.
Heidi took a deep breath. She had to be bold about this, if not this incident will never end properly. "We should find her and talk."
"I've got better things to do."
"I know…" Heidi said, glancing at Meteor. "I know you feel horrible about what you learnt about Meia, but you need to give her a chance. Maybe she did not have a choice, like Mr Haato. I don't believe that she would be so cruel as to take people's lives on a whim and destroy people for the selfish good of Shinra…" She trailed off, realizing how stupid and naïve she sounded.
"Heidi…" Randy said with a low voice. "It's not about Meia being a Turk that I'm angry about. Of course, I'm pissed off to know that she was a Turk. What I'm upset about was that she never told us about it." Heidi saw that Randy was angry… and hurt. "All these years, she had been by us, listening to our woes and unhappiness towards Shinra's tyranny to the Planet. All that time, she was a Turk!
"I cannot imagine what it must be like," continued Randy with a frustrated groan. "How could she not tell us? In the end, it's just the two of us fools for thinking that the three of us had a great and lasting friendship. I bet Meia must have been laughing at our ignorance the whole time-"
"No!" Heidi shouted. "I don't believe Meia would be making use of us like that!" She bit her lip and sighed. "I don't want to believe that."
Randy took her hand. "I cannot forgive her," he said passionately. "She was not honest with me, with us, from the start. How can we go on like that?"
His fiancée stared at him. "Would things have gone differently if she was honest with us from the start?" She asked frankly. "She knew that we hated Shinra, of course she wouldn't have dropped the bomb on us. Would we be able to see her objectively as a friend if she was honest with us from the start?"
Her words struck a chord close to Randy's heart. He knew what Heidi meant. "... Who would know?" He said angrily.
"Indeed," said Heidi, leaning against Randy's chest with a sigh of regret. "Who would know?"
Meia had no idea why she was still donning her disguise as Matilda Ederfeld. She was wanted as a captive. Hojo was not around, but he could come back from the Mako Reactor control tower anytime he wished.
Alright, maybe I know why I wanted to keep the disguise still. She tugged the wig that she was wearing. I have to return this wig to the rightful owner, Marshall's box, first. Maybe she should take a quick trip back to the Turk floors and deposit her wig… if she knew the password to the Turk floors. I hope Tseng returns to Shinra as soon as possible. He is the only one who can vouch for my integrity here.
She gave up the idea of going to the Turk floors. Maybe I should just go back to Rod's garage to report my safety first. She decided. Change into something way more comfortable and restrategise. Then-
Her thoughts were cut off when she saw at the lobby, the lanky figure of a redhead. Blood rushed to her head in excitement and anticipation. "Reno!" She called, instantly regretting her action. She had just called Reno in the Meia way, dressed up as Matilda Ederfeld. Flirting or not, "Matilda Ederfeld" was not supposed to be in a close friendship with Reno.
The redhead turned to her. Meia saw the softening in his "business-only" expression as Reno stared at her… and shouted in a surprisingly relieved tone…
"Meia!"
Yohohoho, I know. What a huge delay in the chapter update. Even now, this chapter is uploaded without full proofreading. Oh nevermind about that.
What was the last part all about? I'm sure you smart people can guess. But you only can confirm in the next chapter! Toodle doo! (scoots off)