Haunted
Leaf House, Sector Five Slums
Sonon had taken his time getting to the Leaf house the next day. He hadn't really wanted to do this.
"Thanks for coming. I know you might not want to hear this, but the kids want to finish Melphie's story. They're worried about her." Folia explained as Sonon crossed his arms. "I get the feeling she was a real person you knew. And someone who has returned to the planet."
"Yes. She died, saving someone from an out of control ShinRa war machine." Sonon explained. "I can't… I can't do that again."
"She was very brave." Folia said softly. "You are very brave to tell her story. I'm sorry I can't do more."
"You have children to protect and educate. You're trying to get them to question what they hear … that's brave too."
"Sonon … I know the real Melphie didn't survive, but stories don't have to be a reflection of reality. They can also be what you wished had happened. If you want, you can give Melphie the cat a happy ending. Have her beat the machine, or saved by another cat. It's your story, you can change the ending."
"… that feels like lying."
"Maybe. But Sonon, these kids already know how easy those machines can kill. They're in the scrap these kids scavenge. They're supposed to be hunting monsters, but they attack anything that moves instead."
"What?" Sonon stared at her, remembering how he had helped the ex-soldiers save a kid from the machines.
"We try to keep these kids safe and alive, and teach them how to run to avoid those machines. But sometimes, they get hurt, the scrap gives way, they don't see the machine until they're on top of it because it went into power down. Fair and Strife spend every morning clearing out the machines that arrive."
"Why hasn't anything been done?"
"Officially the machines are supposed to cull monsters, to free up troopers and soldiers for more important things … in actuality? The machines go after anything that moves." She sighed. "ShinRa does nothing to correct the problem, the best we can get is transferred to different departments. Sometimes we're told that there is no such thing as a malfunctioning unit."
Sonon stared at her in horror for a moment. "You're telling me that those things are known to malfunction and ShinRa still uses them?" His voice cracked slightly.
Folia nodded. "We think some of them are tossed down here because they malfunction."
Sonon had mixed feelings for this. On the one hand, it was Midgar. On the other, the fact that ShinRa didn't really care to protect the people in the slums … None of this had been mentioned by the Avalanche cell he was with. They were busy looking for regular corruption.
"So, do you want to save Melphie the cat?"
Sonon wordlessly nodded.
"Okay. Are you up for writing now or do you need a break?"
"I'll be back tomorrow, I need to get to Sector Seven before the wall closes. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Sonon felt like he was running away, pushing aside everything to focus on getting back to Sector Seven.
Once he was there, he hesitated going back to the clinic, to the Avalanche cell who didn't understand losing family, instead turning to go into Seventh Heaven. It was a little more crowded than he expected, and Tifa was moving around, serving food and breaking a drunk's arm when he tried to grope her.
Unfortunately, the only available seat was at the bar. He grimaced and headed to it. He needed a drink.
"Hey Sonon, welcome back. What can I get you?" Tifa smiled at him.
"… Got any rice wine?"
"Yep. Want it straight or mix it up?"
"Mix it up?" Sonon blinked. "How?"
"Trust me just a little." Tifa grinned and mixed up a drink. "Little Wutai. Rice wine, bourbon and vermouth."
"Okay …" he took the drink and sipped it. "That's pretty sweet." He blinked. It wasn't bad though.
"Most of them are." Tifa dropped a bowl of nuts in front of him. "Let me know if you need anything else, huh?"
"Thanks." Sonon looked up as Barret sat down at the edge of the bar with a grunt. Multiple tables were suddenly hurrying to finish their meals and drinks.
Sonon watched in confusion as within five minutes of Barret sitting down, the bar was cleared out.
"Should I be leaving?" Sonon asked.
"No." Tifa laughed. "Barrett's got a reputation for shooting his gun when drunk. Most people won't come in while he's here."
"Some of them can't handle straight facts, either. Marlene sleeping?"
"Yes, so don't start a fight you two." Tifa began cleaning up.
"Hmph, I don't start fights." Barrett grumbled. His gun armed hit the counter.
Sonon stared at it a moment too long, and Barrett noticed.
"Problem?"
"You said ShinRa's going to get their reckoning… what did you lose?" Sonon asked. "I lost my country …"
"My town, my family, and my arm. Damn Scarlet shot it off while I was trying to save … don't matter now. They're gonna get theirs."
"… Why were you labeled extreme? Nayo-" Sonon saw them both jerk slightly and then he had assessing eyes on him. He held up his hands. "I'm sorry. I thought you would notice." He was walking with Nayo a lot, she was a good guide.
"Probably should have expected that, heard they were jumping into bed with Wutai for resources." Barret huffed. "Those idiots still want to use Mako energy. The life stream, our planets life blood … ShinRa's draining the planet dry and they're worried about workers rights. The reactors have to go."
"Sounds like what our elders say." Sonon noted.
"Elders know what they're talking about. ShinRa can bury the truth as much as they like, it won't change anything." Barrett huffed. "Get rid of the damn reactors, that will solve things."
"Wouldn't that kill a lot of people?"
"We're not going to blow the reactors. Just damage the extraction pumps. No one gets killed." Tifa spoke up, bringing a bucket of dishes to the bar. "I don't want to stoop to ShinRa's level, but we know they only care about the mako."
"Your town …"
"… They have to answer for that, but I don't want to be the reason someone loses a father." Tifa admitted. Barrett looked away. "I suppose that sounds terrible to you."
"No." Sonon was surprised that he meant it. "I get it."
He wanted revenge, he'd do anything for it, but being anything like the monsters that killed so many people without a second thought he was enough to give even him a pause.
Still. ShinRa was gunning for another war, he wasn't going to lose much sleep if the people of Midgar were killed in the cross fire.
Honeybee Inn, Wall Market, Sector Six Slums
"I really look okay?" Zack fidgeted with his suit. Well, more more like suit pants and jacket over a regular pink collared shirt. Apparently they hadn't been able to get a button down dress shirt on him.
"Considering I know Bruno and Old Man Mooney ambushed you to get you into that suit instead of your uniform, yes." Aerith smiled. Her mother, despite the slight frown, had found a nice dress for Aerith to wear. She suspected there was a bit of a conspiracy going on for this date, because she had definitely seen Ms. Folia and a couple girls drop something off before her mother had 'found' this pink cocktail dress.
"I kinda feel bad, I broke the seams on the dress shirt they tried to put on me." Zack admitted.
Aerith giggled as they checked into the Honeybee Inn for the show. As far as the Inn went, there were a couple options: the floor show with tables and the bar, and the private rooms for more private shows. Exactly what the private rooms and shows were varied depending on what package one wanted. The private packages had cute names, the basic Pollen package which was included on the higher passes, including theirs, the Nectar package which had more liquor, the Honey package which included time in a hot tub, and the most expensive was the Royal Jelly Package which sounded like a spa.
Aerith wouldn't mind trying them all with Zack, but for an official romantic date, the floor show and drinks with the basic pollen room was a great start.
She'd met quite a few honeybees and they were all pretty nice, giving her tips on how to sell her flowers and what to do to the jerks who assumed 'Flower Girl' meant 'Prostitute' and tried to harass her.
They were shown to table near the front.
"Welcome! Is this your first time in our establishment?" A waiter in a tailed vest asked.
"Yep! And our first fancy date. We're gonna work our way up everything you've got!" Aerith gripped Zack's hand.
"Right!" He grinned at her.
"Inspired! Well, now what can I get you to drink to start? We have a pollen-tively lovely selection of honey based cocktails."
"Hmm, I'll try the Wildflower Honey Punch." Zack looked at her.
"I'll try the Bees Knees!" Aerith grinned.
"I'll bee right on that!" The waiter winked.
The other tables were filled with single and couples, though the singles didn't remain single long as they were joined by the honeybee girls and guys.
"I like this. It feels great." Aerith leaned against Zack.
"I think this is the closest to normal I've felt in a while." Zack admitted. "I wonder what the floor show is like?"
"Wildflower and Bees Knees! And our house special, the flight of the bumblebee!" Their waiter put down a honeycomb with six small drinks. "Along with the wildflower and bees knees, there's also the Honey Melon, Honey Moon Shandy, the Junon Honeybee, and the Queen Bee! Please enjoy with our compliments!" The waiter bowed.
"Thank you!" They replied.
"To spending time together." Aerith held up her glass.
"Time together, and new adventures!" Zack tapped his glass against hers.
They both sipped their drinks, and then began sampling the other's from the flight.
The dancers were amazing and the music… there was something so beautiful about the moment.
It might've been the alcohol, but Aerith finally felt Zack relax next to her.
The alcohol definitely made her head a little bit fuzzy by the time they were escorted to the pollen room, a very nice room with a couple loveseats and a honeycomb floor.
"How can I bee your entertainment tonight?" The Honeybee assigned to the room asked.
"Think you can teach us to dance? That looked fun!" Aerith smiled.
"Of course!" The Honeybee smiled.
There was a slight problem with that plan, as Aerith was leaning on Zack a bit. She was pretty sure the Queen Bee had more alcohol than the other drinks in the flight and her drink combined.
Zack solved it by getting her to one of the loveseats. "I'll dance first, when you can feel your feet again, we'll dance together, how's that?"
"I'm good with that." Aerith agreed, accepting the suit jacket. "More than good." She added, seeing how tight the shirt actually was, the suit jacket had hidden that detail.
The Honeybee started the music and began teaching Zack to dance while Aerith watched.
He started out a little stiff, but by the time Aerith regained feeling in her feet, he was moving pretty good as she clapped her hands to the beat.
"Okay, ready!"
The pollen room had the shortest time limit, but Aerith hadn't minded, dancing with Zack had been fun.
"That was fun." Aerith noted as they walked out, Zack shrugging on his suit jacket.
"It's a good thing I didn't promise your mother to get you home before curfew."
"That would've been a terrible promise to make. Let's see what else Wall Market has to offer, huh?"
The Honeybee slipped back to the dressing room.
"I just had the cutest couple. Emotionally and Aesthetically." She informed the group.
"Which couple?" Another bee asked.
"Turns out one of the ex soldiers is dating that sector five flower girl, and oh, they are cute together!"
"Oh, I thought the two soldiers were together. You should see them battle in the coliseum." One of the guys noted, helping a girl adjust her bee end. "Sugar we may have to take this off and reattach it that way."
"They do bring the flower girl as a healer occasionally, maybe it's a threesome and they take turns for dating?"
"Possibly."
"Where's my lipstick?"
"Need to change! And the room needs cleaning, I don't know where he ate before he got here, but he's pretty sick." A girl rushed in.
"Heads up, we got a jealous wife trying to start a fight!"
"Who gets the butter tea guy? He's here early."
"I get him, I know CPR if something goes wrong. He didn't bring any friends, did he?"
"No, and that's the weird thing, has anyone seen those Turks lately? They couldn't possibly have gotten rid of all of them, right?"
"Chikaboo, I love you, but you really need to pay more attention. And no, looks like he just has a couple troopers for a security detail. They're outside the VIP entrance."
The staff of Honeybee Inn continued their jobs.
Train Graveyard, Old Sector Seven Station Switchyard, Sector Seven Slums
"So, what exactly do you need me for?" Cloud asked. The job request had been vague, but Biggs had offered a thousand gil plus whatever Cloud could find.
"Welcome to the train graveyard. There's usually rats and drakes, but some say it's haunted." Biggs explained. "Adults don't want to be here at night because of the monsters, but lately some kids have started daring each other to spend the night because of the ghost stories. Try and prove themselves. We know of five kids who dared each other earlier, so we're going after them."
"You ever do it?"
"Nah, I was raised in Sector Five, there you spent the night at the cemetery. Hard to disappear there. This place, though …"
"A maze of old trains. Easy to get turned around when scared." Cloud frowned. "Or trap yourself in a corner, running from a monster."
"Exactly." Biggs sighed. "And I see two of our kids already."
The two headed over. Though by the time they navigated the two trains in the way, there was just one. A girl who pretty much jumped out of her skin when they showed up.
"Uh-oh." She stared at them, wide eyed.
"Yeah, you're busted. Time to head home." Biggs informed her.
"I can't! I'm supposed to keep the fire going!" She pointed to a fire in a trash can and a pile of wood.
"Smoke signal, huh?" Cloud looked up at the smoke. "Biggs, stay with her. I'll find the others-" he frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"There's multiple smoke signals."
"… I know some people used to live around here, but everyone cleared out about a year ago." Biggs frowned. "That's when the monster attacks got worse."
"… you said you brought radios?"
"Yeah. Pretty old though. Range is very short."
"We're going to need them." Cloud took the headset. "Check in every five minutes?"
"Sounds good."
"Are you going to be Watchdog and Stamp?" The girl asked.
"Might as well. The radios aren't that secure."
"Sure. Whatever." Cloud agreed, though he felt ridiculous. "I'll check the smoke signals first."
It was a maze, with different breeds of rats and something that moved to fast to see.
Ironically, the first kid, a boy, slammed into him, trying to outrun some rats.
Cloud cut them down quickly, before turning to the wide-eyed kid.
"You okay?"
"Uh-huh." The kid nodded.
"Stamp to Watchdog, got one kid, bringing him back."
"Copy that." There was a brief burst of static and Cloud grimaced.
Biggs started looking over the kid as Cloud headed back out.
The third kid, a girl, was crouched on top of a train. Cloud almost missed her.
"You okay?" Cloud hopped over to her.
"I'm stuck!" She looked up at him in a panic. "Something growled, then something hit the train, and my foot went through!"
"Take it easy, focus on breathing." Cloud instructed. Her leg had gone through a rusted patch of the train's roof. "Stamp to Watchdog, found another kid, she's injured." He carefully extracted her leg. "Think you can stand?"
She whimpered and shook her head.
"Okay, I've got you." He scooped her up into a princess carry. "Hold onto my neck, okay?"
"Okay." She tightened her grip.
Something growled as they started moving, making her whimper again.
"Shh. It's okay." He got her back to Biggs, at which point, one of the remaining kids screamed.
"Cloud-!"
"I'm on it." Cloud moved as fast as he could to follow the screams, which cut out just as he rounded another train.
Crypshays. They had swarmed the kid. Any elemental materia could take care of them, and Cloud attacked before they realized he was there.
The monsters abandoned their prey to deal with the threat Cloud posed.
The kid was whimpering and cut up, but still alive.
"Kid, need to check you over. Hold on."
On most regular people, cures just worked on superficial wounds. Regen and restore materias worked on deeper injuries.
How strong the caster and how healthy the victim also played a factor in how well magic would work.
Most low level healing spells could buy a person time to get to a doctor.
With Soldiers, however the results were varied.
A potion and a quick curaga closed the small ones and partially closed the deeper ones, but the kid went pale and Cloud scooped him up rather than cast again.
"Stamp to Watchdog, kid's hurt pretty badly, got a potion and curaga, but he's gonna need a doctor." Cloud grimaced. "Possible shock, I think."
"Wa- Sta- ca-" Was the reply.
Followed by someone that wasn't Biggs laughing.
"Train eleven to station, we've had to emergency stop-" the headset played. Cloud resisted the urge to toss the headset, heading to the smoke signal.
Someone giggled and Cloud could feel a headache coming on.
"Cloud!" Biggs called, and Cloud realized he had been heading to the wrong smoke signal. The other kids bundled up the injured boy in a couple tarps to act as blankets.
"We're still missing one, right?"
"Oliff was looking for treasure." The injured girl piped up. "One of the trains wasn't properly cleared or something? It was an old inventory sheet."
"Know which train?"
"No. But it rhymes with seven." She grimaced. "I misheard him and he laughed when I said train seven, saying I was close. We split up after."
"Everyone alright?!" Wymer with a couple watchmen and a doctor arrived.
"Called them when you said the girl was injured. Good thing too. And I'm going with you this time." Biggs explained.
"Okay." Cloud allowed.
Biggs was surprisingly professional, keeping an eye out for monsters and a good enough shot to take down the rats before they got close.
"Nice shooting." Cloud offered.
"Thanks. One of the ShinRa troopers trained a couple of us kids. He died in Wutai a couple years later. Some of the older Watch members are former troopers."
Someone in black stumbled out from a train, startling them both.
"Hey! You okay?" Biggs approached and Cloud followed. "He's like Marco."
"Je… no… va." The figure moaned and lurched towards Cloud. "Se… phir… oth."
"What?" Cloud backed up as everything went green.
"Hello, Cloud." Sephiroth smiled at him as the lab formed around him.
Cloud forgot how to breathe.
"Cloud!" Someone grabbed him and for a moment he felt like he was pulled out of the lab and back to reality.
Biggs had a grip on him, gun pointed at the figure in black as it wandered off.
"Biggs? What-?"
"They don't normally talk. Just moan." Biggs glanced at him. "That one was talking … Are you okay?"
"… I don't know." Cloud admitted. "I … you heard him?"
"Yeah. Did you know him? They usually just moan strange words and don't recognize people around themselves. Marle's pretty upset about Marco."
"No. I don't." Cloud watched the cloaked man stumble off. "At least, I don't remember if I knew him."
"Sorry." Biggs offered. "Forgot about your memory."
"Not your fault. Let's get the last kid and go home."
Childish laughter surrounded them both for a second, followed by glowing handprints and what looked like blood splatter.
"I'm already haunted, leave me alone." Cloud informed the air.
Biggs pulled him through the train as the doors closed.
"Let's find train eleven. That's the most likely number."
Train eleven was just an engine and one car which had a roof partially caved in, and thankfully the kid was inside the car
The final kid was alive and struggling to uncover the chest that was partially buried by the caved in roof.
"Okay, Oliff, time to go home." Biggs informed him.
"I've almost got it."
"We need to go, more monsters will come out at night."
Giggling cut off the boy's response. A lot more glowing paint appeared on the walls, including handprints that looked like the owner had tried to grab onto the wall and was dragged towards the chest.
The radio clicked on. "Train eleven to station, we've had to emergency stop- gon- mon-" it cut off with a scream.
"Okay then."
"I got it!" Oliff had gone back to the chest. "Treasure-"
Cloud wasn't sure why he cast barrier on the kid, but he was glad a second later as tentacles erupted from the chest knocking all of them back in a frantic movement.
Cloud hit it with fire, earning a screech.
Biggs had the kid covered as he fired at the tentacles.
"Aim for the chest!" Cloud shouted, hoping that the headset picked it up.
"Right." Biggs switched to shooting the chest.
Cloud kept casting fire until there was another screech and the monster dissolved into the lifestream.
"How does a monster fit in a chest?!"
"… Reminds me of something Zack told me about." Cloud checked over the other two, Biggs was scratched up and the boy had a hole in his shirt that showed skin that was starting to bruise, with a possibility of it being worse inside the kid. Cloud used his restore materia ignoring the flash of black out of the corner of his eyes. "He was opening a chest and a monster jumped out. I think one chest had a summon? I kinda dozed in and out when he talked."
"Any treasure?" The kid asked, then yelped as Biggs grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Oliff, you almost died because that chest had a monster in it. You are lucky Cloud thought to cast barrier on you, look." Biggs whirled the boy so he could the multiple holes punched through metal. "Now look at your shirt."
"Oh." Oliff went pale.
"Nothing there is worth your life. Let's get you home." Biggs pulled the kid to the door.
Cloud lingered behind and picked up a turbo ether and the Gil left behind. That done, he followed.
Hopefully he could slip back to Sector Five soon.
End Note: Sonon's feeling sympathy for the slum residents and Barrett's extremist cell.
This will be changing future events.
(I may add some Rebirth stuff whenever it comes out, but mostly using the original game for most future stuff)
So, Honeybee Inn resembles a nightclub/strip club. I had to check Wikipedia for information about them. Those types of places actually have pretty strict rules for how customers act with their employees.
There's usually a main stage, and then there are private rooms in two types the basic private room and the champagne room which is a private room with champagne.
Original Honeybee inn had a hot tub scene, so I added a couple different types of rooms based on research.
All drinks mentioned are real drinks, by the way, I just googled drinks made with honey. Only one I didn't add was Meade.
For those of you who play Legend of Zelda breath of the wild or tears of the kingdom, you'll notice a familiar name. And a familiar side quest of searching for characters.
There are only two locations for monster in a box in final fantasy vii lore. Temple of the Ancients in the original game, and Gongaga in Crisis Core.
Next up: Kunsel makes his move, Barrett and Tifa have a conversation about the upcoming reactor bombing, and an undecided third event because I can't decide between Tseng or Reno.
