A/N: I would like to thank you for everyone who is interested in the story. Two reviews, received five favorites, and received twelve follows so far.
Rated R: Thank you for the compliment of the story. And yes is it a bit peeved of Cissnei codename but its will be ok. New name are hard to think of, so Crimson the new Cissnei codename will do.
BGShepard: Thank you for the comment. I hope you like the story.
Enjoy the chapter!
Crimson finished showering in the steam-filled bathroom of the room she and Cloud had rented. They were situated in an Inn on Midgar, having arrived from overseas by a small boat they managed to charter. After that, they bribed a merchant to take them from Junon into Midgar. Both of the rides were somber as Crimson dealt with the loss of Zack's home.
She helped the survivors get somewhere safe, but not everyone managed get out alive. And the loss of their homes meant that most of them lost everything they had. What the Mako Reactor explosion hadn't done, a missile strike inevitably did.
Once she had finished drying herself off, Crimson dressed in a blouse and pants before stepping out of the bathroom. Cloud was there, sitting at the window and staring up at the plate hanging above Sector 6. The Inn they had chosen was in the Wall Market, partly because of the price, but also because no one would be looking for them there.
He turned to look at her as she slipped on her socks and shoes, taking a moment to just observe her without much thought. "You're heading out?"
"I need to make contact with my inside source within Shinra," she explained. "He found some documents that may give us a clue to treating you."
"You're not heading to the building itself, are you?"
She tilted her head in curiosity at his interest. "Would you be worried about me if I did?"
The way she phrased it held some deeper meaning. It was the sort of thing that Zack would have made a playful jibe at, saying she'd come out fine. Cloud didn't rise to the provocation though.
He remained stoic, even as he said something that was completely outlandish. "Nah, it's just that I would have to storm the building to get you out…it's only fair since you pulled me out of the fire and healed me up."
She struggled not to chuckle. The idea that he would risk taking on all of army gathered there for her seemed completely foolish, but it still bought a smile to her face. That was something she appreciated considering the mood she had been in since they left what remained of Gongaga.
"Well, there shouldn't be any need for that. We're going to meet at a diner to discuss things in Sector 1, not too far from the Train Station. I won't be gone for more than a few hours, but do you want me to bring you something back?"
Cloud merely shook his head and then turned his attention out of the window. This time he looked down to the people walking below on the Wall Market, as if he was searching for someone. It reminded her of his reason for coming here in the first place.
"Once I'm done with that, I'll help you find whoever it was that you were looking for," she promised him. "It'll be easier with two sets of eyes rather than one."
"I suppose so," he said.
With that, Crimson slipped on a hat to cover her head and a jacket to hide her Rekka inside of. She wasn't expecting an encounter or anything, but being prepared could mean the difference between life and death. That was why she also had her materia on-hand as well.
She left the Inn behind and made her way to the station in order to catch the next train heading upwards.
[-oOo-]
Cloud waited until the former Turk was gone for about half-an-hour before he grabbed his sword and slung it over his back, attaching it with the magnetic holster. He couldn't sit in the room and wait for her to return. A SOLDIER didn't rely on others when it came down to it, others relied on them instead.
He left the Inn and made his way towards the park, where he felt that someone would be waiting for him. Even though he couldn't remember who she was, he had a feeling that if he saw something of hers then he would recognize her. It was a long-shot, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.
Once inside of the park, he found the disheveled landscape around him to be a contrast to what he remembered it to look like. Piles of trash and debris were piled up, when before it looked at least somewhat respectable. To expect anyone to wait for him here would be tantamount to asking them to die with all the monsters lurking in the distance. Not that he feared them.
He waded through the debris until he came across a wheel. It was connected to wood and metal that had been smashed at some point, most likely by one of the monsters traveling around the place. Cloud touched the wheel and—
Do you think we'll sell a lot of flowers?
"Flowers?" he murmured as the memory of words came and went. The headache subsided, and he recognized it was the remnants of a flower wagon that he had made for…someone. Who it was still alluded him, but he felt that he had an idea of what to look for now.
"A woman who sells flowers," he said to himself. "Shouldn't be too hard to find in a place like this. There's only a few places someone could grow them."
Cloud made his way towards a gate to Sector 7 as it opened, slipping through as a Chocobo-driven merchant's cart passed by. He walked through the crossroads and found himself in the slums beneath the plate. It was even dingier than Wall Market, with the most noticeable landmark being the 7th Heaven Bar found there. It seemed like a good enough place to start his search.
Brazenly, the ex-SOLDIER climbed the stairs, pushed open the door, and asked, "I'm looking for information on—"
"Cloud?" he heard from behind the bar stall. "Cloud Strife, is that you?"
The voice left the question he was about to ask dead on his lips as he recognized the dark brown-haired bartender. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Nope, she was still there, coming from behind the bar and inching towards him. "Tifa, you're alive?"
Tears formed on the corners of her eyes and she threw herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug.
[-oOo-]
Kunsel sat in a small diner found in Sector 1, situated above the plate and close to the Train Station. It was some distance away from the Shinra Headquarters, around a corner and out of the way. That made it an ideal spot for an undisturbed coffee and sandwich, or exchanging information that could be considered vital to certain individuals.
He was dressed in a black pea coat and pants, with a pair of shades. The eyes of someone who was infused with Mako were too recognizable, so he hid them to remain as discreet as possible. There he sat with his hands resting on top of a folded newspaper, deep in thought.
Luxiere hadn't returned from his mission, and it was made clear he had died in the line of duty when they sent men in to clean out his room of personal belongings. The reason was unclear, and he didn't get any answers from Heidegger besides the fact that he was down a team. Another friend gone and the truth covered up, adding to the growing list.
Kunsel wondered if he should simply cut his losses when it came to the company and clear out, before he died next. There were measures in place for him to slink out of the city, with some resources stashed in Kalm. One quick stop and he could disappear somewhere that the company couldn't reach.
"Mind if I borrow that paper, if you aren't reading it that is?" he heard from the seat behind him, pulling him from his thoughts. The voice was familiar, if soft, and he could see the red hair hidden by the cap from the reflection in his drinking glass.
He took the folded newspaper and passed it to her. "You should check out the main page. It has interesting tidbits on the latest research into Mako by Shinra."
"I'll hand it back when I'm done," she said.
"Nah, I've read everything in it already." He rose out of his seat and stretched. "I'm feeling a bit stiff after sitting here so long. I think I'll just take a walk and get some air."
He left out of the diner with that said. There was a park nearby, with a little spot tucked away out of sight and mind. He'd wait there to see if he had been followed, or if she had been instead.
One thing he learned in dealing with information was that you could never be too careful.
[-oOo-]
"Where have you been all this time?" Tifa asked Cloud as they sat at a table together. "I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn't find you."
"I've apparently been comatose since what happened in Nibelheim." He felt the weight of the stares he was getting from the other people there, more than a few of them wary because of his eyes. He did his best to ignore them. "I only woke up not too long ago, and I thought you had died."
Tifa's eyes sharpened, and her brows creased. "What do you mean?"
"It was five years ago now since Sephiroth destroyed Nibelheim," he clarified. "You chased after him to the Mako Reactor."
"You were there?" she said, surprised.
"Yes, I was dispatched as the second SOLDIER joining him in Nibelheim," he claimed. "You acted as our tour guide during that time, until Sephiroth went mad and set fire to the town. You said that you hated Shinra, SOLDIER, and Mako Reactors, and then…."
Cloud's hands tightened into fists. "I remember that day, watching you be cut down by his blade… I thought the wounds were fatal."
"That's…" She shook her head, shifting her words in the process. "No, I… barely made it. Zangan saved me and brought me to Midgar. I searched for you, but I couldn't find you."
"I… can't remember well what happened after I chased him down," he admitted. "Only that I confronted and killed him before I succumbed to my injuries. I only woke up a few weeks ago, heading towards Midgar to find someone and to get work as a mercenary, but I ended up in Gongaga under the care of someone else—a woman."
Tifa held her chin in thought. "Why did she take you that far away?"
"She said it was a favor for someone else, and explained that I was captured and experimented on for the last few years while comatose. My memories are foggy at some points as a side-effect from the mako poisoning, and my body ended up weak from the long period of inactivity. Gongaga was a safe place to hide, but eventually Shinra came after us and they burned the village to the ground."
There was a loud bang on the table behind them as the large man with a prosthetic gun-arm slammed it onto the table. "That's what they do!" he snarled. "They're destroying this planet, and when push comes to shove, Shinra destroys everything and tries to cover it up. They need to be stopped."
"Barret," Tifa said as the man rose to his feet and lumbered over to Cloud's table.
"Can he be trusted?" Barret asked.
Tifa nodded her head. "Cloud is… even though it's been a long time, I do trust him. He's not the kind of person who would tolerate what they've done."
He nodded and then faced Cloud. "You said you were going to be a mercenary, right?"
"That's right," the ex-SOLDIER said.
Barret looked him square in the eyes. "And you don't feel any sort of attachment to your former workplace?"
"Obviously not," he said, returning the man's stare. "After everything they've done, how could I?"
A grin stretched across his face. "Then I got a job for you."
[-oOo-]
"Looks like neither of us was followed," Crimson said as she leaned against a wall, next to running water.
There was a stone fence about eight-feet high in the park, with an aqueduct on the other side of it. A small platform big enough to fit two people was there, hidden from view. Out of sight, and with the water muffling their voices, it was the perfect place for clandestine meetings.
"Thanks for the fake ID, by the way," she added. It was how she caught the train so easily after sneaking into the city. "I'm not going to ask who you got to make it, but it worked perfectly."
"You end up being strange bedfellows with a lot of people when it comes to building an intelligence network." He took off his glasses, showing his eyes off. "Though it did cost a bit to get it made well enough."
"I can compensate you with Gil," she offered, reaching for her wallet. "How much?"
Kunsel shook his head. "Information will suffice. I'm looking into what happened with Luxiere, but I've gotten nothing on it from Heidegger. Normally he'd throw a tantrum and abuse someone while screaming the problem, but this time he's been rather tight-lipped."
"… I didn't see what happened personally since I was evacuating as many people as I could, but he was at the center of the missile strike that Shinra launched at Gongaga." Crimson shrugged her shoulders. "I imagine that it killed him."
She was fairly certain it was true. Cloud had been outmatched when they fought, but she found him alive and the Buster Sword was covered in blood. It was easier to tell him the missile did it, and not the sword of a man who he admired.
Kunsel exhaled softly and shook his head. "He was a good man, if a bit power-hungry."
"Gongaga burned and innocent people died on his call," Crimson said, unwilling to see it that way. "Calling him good is a stretch from what I saw."
"He was following orders from above," Kunsel countered, putting back on his shades. "Not everyone is willing to go against the system they were trained into. You should understand better than anyone. After all, the Turks have a reputation for a reason. I was recruited into the SOLDIER program by one, and they weren't exactly gentle about it."
Her lips pursed thin, unable to deny his words. It was true for the most part.
"How did it feel to be on the other side?" Kunsel asked. "Normally, the Turks make things like what happened in Gongaga possible. You were the newest member, but I doubt that the years you spent with them left you without some blood on your hands because of the company's orders."
"… I hate it," she admitted, after a pause. "Before all of this, I used to think that for all the evils of the company and all the dirty secrets, the good done outweighed the wrongs. But I just can't see things that way anymore. The fact that such orders could be given without consideration for the people caught in it is simply inexcusable."
"Shinra is a behemoth of a monster, corrupted from the inside out," Kunsel pointed out. "We're simply two people who recognize that, but it doesn't change the fact that there is nothing we can do about it."
"I suppose you're right." That was a bitter realization. So much so that Crimson changed the topic just to get away from it. "On those files you gave me, there didn't seem to be any detailed information on mako poisoning or Cloud's memory condition. It didn't tell me much more than I already knew about symptoms and causes, but nothing on treatment."
"Hojo keeps a lid on things," he said. "The Science Division is the hardest one to get hooks into, let alone his personal files. You'd need to either get into his office or get the answers out of him directly."
"Of course he would have the answers…." Crimson sighed. "He was the one that had captured Zack and Cloud. There was no telling what kind of experimenting he did on them until Zack managed to escape."
She didn't want to risk it, but if the answers were with him then she just had to capture him and get what she wanted… one way or another. "I don't suppose you would know when he'll leave the building, or where he lives?"
The second-class SOLDIER shook his head. "That quack doesn't leave the building unless there's a research site to visit. And any time he's outside of his lab, he's under heavy security. I hate to say it, but if you want him then you'll have to get him on the inside."
A low grumble left her throat at the thought. It looked like she really was going to have to pay a visit to headquarters, no matter how suicidal it seemed. "I can think of a few ways of getting into the building, but I'd need a keycard with high enough clearance in order to get to his laboratory."
"I'll see what I can do," Kunsel told her. "But after that I'm getting out of Midgar. Picking up tidbits of information is one thing, but sneaking you inside is another story."
Crimson acknowledged his point. "I can't thank you enough. It was only because you stayed behind that we made it this far in the first place."
"It's what Zack would have wanted," he said before he jumped over the wall and left the park.
Crimson waited for ten minutes before she climbed the fence, giving him enough time to get clear and throw off suspicion that they were together if someone was in the park. She ran simulations through her head about the various ways she could get inside headquarters without being detected. It could take some time to get things in order, so she'd need to tell Cloud and pick up some supplies too.
And then there was helping Cloud finding the person he had came to look for. If he really was borrowing from Zack's memories, then they must have been important to him. It left her feeling a little jealous, which was silly since Zack was gone now.
Part of her wanted to visit the other Turks too, since they were like family. But she wasn't sure she could look at them the same way after that talk with Kunsel. The Turks had done a lot of questionable things in their time, and knowing that tarnished the image of them that she had.
It felt a bit dirty in the end, going against the company by infiltrating headquarters when Tseng had risked a lot by setting her free. If she got caught, everyone in the group might end up being purged. She didn't want that to happen either….
Before she could brood on the conflicting thoughts any longer, something went horribly wrong. The Mako Reactor exploded in a wave of force and flames, and screams filled the air with acrid smoke rising into the night sky.