ONE

We made camp about a mile or two into the gorge, well outta sight of the dead Midgarsormyr. No way were we gonna get any rest as long as we could see that giant snake impaled on the tree. So we pressed on until we came to a small cluster of trees off to the left with tall, sloping hills rising up on either side. After our harrowing journey through the marshes, we needed some time to rest and recover before heading into the mines. I didn't like the delay, but I knew we could use a break after all we'd endured in that hellish swamp.

So after discussing it for a bit, we decided to go ahead and stop for the day even though it wouldn't be dark for several more hours. As the skies cleared and the sun came out, we set up the tents, then took turns washing up in a nearby stream. It was close enough that we didn't have to walk very far, but sheltered enough by the trees that whoever was in there bathing had plenty of privacy. The girls went first—Tifa and then Aerith—followed by Barret. Then I took my turn, scrubbing up as best I could until I was clean, and Red went last.

We changed into some extra clothes we'd bought back in Kalm just in case—Aerith was always thinking ahead like that. I wasn't sure what we were gonna do about our dirty ones, but she was already on it. She'd bought some soap as well and was already gathering our muddy things while Tifa busied herself with cooking an early dinner and Red curled up by the fire I'd just gotten done making.

But it was Barret that really surprised me. Motioning to Aerith, he had her give him the small box of laundry soap. Then he sorted out the dirty clothes into two piles—colors and whites. Aerith had also bought a scrubbing brush, and after getting that out, Barret asked for it as well. I raised an eyebrow at the sight of him getting ready to do the laundry. This was a side of him I'd never seen before and had never suspected. I watched him and wondered what else there was about him that I didn't know about. Probably more than he let on.

"Didn't think this was your style," I smirked.

"I ain't exactly domestic, merc," Barret said. "But Marlene's clothes don't get clean by themselves. An' she's always loved jumpin' into them mud puddles outside the bar and splashin' like hell."

Tifa laughed as she cooked. "Biggs brought her inside one day and she was covered from head to toe, remember?"

"Oh, hell yeah," Barret chuckled. "Pain the ass to clean, too."

"Bet she was still adorable, though," Aerith giggled.

He grinned. "Always."

Red yawned tiredly. "Fascinating. Now if you don't mind, I think I will take a nap for a while. It's been a long day."

"That it has," Tifa agreed.

Barret picked up some of the dirty clothes, walked over, and thrust them at me. "Here, merc. Make yourself useful."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Can't get all these clothes down to the stream myself," he said. "So get up off your scrawny ass and get movin'."

"Fine," I sighed.

I ignored the girls' laughter and tried not to feel too self-conscious as I took the pile of clothes and went down to the stream with him and Aerith. Tifa joined us after checking on the food, and the aromas filled the air, making my stomach rumble. But as we walked, I thought about what had happened back at the edge of the swamp. Aerith seemed fine now and her color was better, but I knew that what Sephiroth had done in singling her out was bothering her.

"You okay?" I asked.

She looked at me. "Hmm? Oh, I'm fine. It's just… when he pointed at me, I felt cold. Like the inside of an iceberg."

I didn't like it. "Any idea why?"

"No," Aerith answered. A little too quickly, I thought as she looked away, but I decided not to press her about it.

"Well, try not to worry," I told her.

She smiled, her green eyes back on me again. "No need, Cloud. I've got my bodyguard looking out for me, right?"

I nodded. "You bet."

"Keeping me whole in every way," Aerith grinned. "And you know, you look awfully cute helping out with the laundry."

"Uh, thanks… I think," I said.

She winked. "Too bad Jessie isn't here to see it."

"Gotcha covered!" Tifa grinned.

Before I knew it, she was snapping a picture of me with her phone. By now I was getting used to their teasing, so I just sighed and let them have their fun. And as I thought of Jessie, I found myself missing her. I wished she was here with us, but she wasn't. She was somewhere out in the Midgar badlands, by my guess. Hopefully she'd get to Fort Condor in time to meet us there before the battle.

Putting thoughts of her aside for now, I looked at Barret. "So how'd you learn to do all this stuff, anyway?"

He stopped abruptly just a few yards from the water's edge, his eyes not on us but somewhere far away. He didn't answer at first, but I knew he'd heard me. He just stood there for a minute, a stack of dirty clothes and the box of soap in his arms. When he finally answered, his usually booming voice was oddly quiet, softer than I'd ever heard it before, and filled with an ache he couldn't quite hide.

"My wife taught me…" Barret murmured.

I exchanged a startled glance with Tifa and Aerith, both of them as surprised by what he'd said as I was. Tifa, in particular, looked stunned. She'd known him longer than any of us, had been friends with him for years, but apparently he'd never mentioned it to her before. I wondered if Jessie and the guys knew. Probably not, if he hadn't even been able to tell Tifa. I wondered why he'd kept it so private.

"Your wife?" I asked, putting down the clothes I'd been holding.

Barret nodded. "Yeah. Long time ago."

"What happened to her?" Aerith wondered.

"Don't wanna talk 'bout it right now," he said, his gaze still distant. "She was a good woman, though. The best."

She smiled gently. "I understand."

Moving up by the shore to stand on his other side, Tifa put a hand on his shoulder. "You miss her, don't you?"

"Every day…" Barret admitted.

"Well, we're all here for you," she assured him.

He looked gratefully at her. "Thanks, Tifa. Now, uh… you guys go on an' take a breather for a while. I got this."

"You mean we," Aerith quipped, taking the brush from him.

"Suit yourself," Barret shrugged.

Smirking, she turned to me and Tifa and playfully shooed us away. "Well, you heard him, guys. Get going!"

"Okay. Dinner should be ready soon," Tifa reminded her.

Aerith chuckled. "Great! Oh, and that reminds me. I think tonight would be the perfect time for us to have those s'mores. A nice little way for us to celebrate getting outta the marshes."

"Now that's a damn good idea!" Barret laughed.

"I'm sold," Tifa agreed. "Cloud?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright!" Aerith cheered. "Now, then, you two go on. Shoo! Barret and I'll join you by the time the food's done."

So Tifa and I headed back up to our campsite. Red was still asleep, the tip of his flaming tail twitching idly, and I found myself wondering what he dreamed about, if he even dreamed at all. At one point as I sat by the fire and watched while Tifa worked on dinner, I thought I heard Red murmur something about his grandfather, whoever he was. Aerith had mentioned to us once how Red's hometown was in a desert canyon far from here. Although he'd only told us a little about it himself, it was enough to get me interested in seeing it.

By the time dinner was ready, Aerith and Barret had returned from the stream with our clothes. They were damp but clean, without a trace of dirt or mud on them. I was impressed, to say the least. Aerith helped Barret lay the clothes out by the fire to dry as Red stirred and woke up with a yawn that showed plenty of sharp teeth.

We ate and talked for a while, enjoying the break and the chance to rest after being stuck in the marshes for so long. And this time, I didn't need the girls to pry me into trying dessert. It was actually pretty good. I only wished Jessie, Lena, and the guys had been there to share it with us. As twilight spread across the sky, I thought of them and hoped that they were alright, wherever they were.

"How's it look?" Biggs asked, his voice low.

We were crouching behind a pile of boulders on a low hill near the highway at the southeast edge of the badlands. Wedge and Lena waited quietly next to us, and the bikes were parked at the base of the hill and out of the way where they wouldn't be seen from the road. It had taken most of the day to get here, driving for hours with only a few breaks to stretch our legs for a bit. As we'd gotten close to our destination and the part of the rugged mountain highway more frequently used by Shinra, we'd gone off road to avoid being spotted.

The hill we were on overlooked the tunnel entrance, and as I gazed down at it through the hi-tech goggles I'd used during the tournament in Wall Market, I saw a bustle of activity, lots of vehicles going through one after another. My specs weren't just for night vision, after all. They were also a set of advanced binoculars. Aside from being able to zoom in and out and provide approximate distance and directional data, they could also detect signals across the entire EM spectrum and let me see in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges if needed.

After a moment, I answered Biggs' question without looking away from the tunnel. "Lots of vehicles going through the checkpoint. Troop carriers, looks like. And transports."

"Bound for Fort Condor, no doubt," he said.

"They've probably got a staging area not far from there," I nodded. "It won't be much longer 'till they're ready."

Biggs sighed. "Yeah…"

I pushed my goggles up above my eyes, then motioned for him and the others to follow me. We crept a little ways down the hill, enough so that we wouldn't be seen, and sat with our backs to it as the sun slowly went down and dusk slowly crept over the badlands. It would be night soon, and that would give us some cover.

"So what's the plan?" Lena asked.

"We'll wait until after dark to make our move," I decided. "It won't be as busy then, so that'll be our best shot. Midnight oughta do it. We'll bust through the gate and go right into the tunnel."

She pumped her fist. "Awesome!"

I went on, bringing up a diagram on my tablet. "The tunnel's about five miles long and runs roughly in a straight line. Just a quick drive for a few minutes and we'll be on the other side."

"Well, that's good news," Wedge said.

"Yeah, but here's the bad news," I replied, looking at him, Lena, and Biggs. "There's another checkpoint at the far end. And if the guys down here let them know we're coming, they'll be ready for us, which'll make it that much harder for us to get out."

Biggs gazed at the diagram. "So we've gotta find a way to keep that from happening. Can you jam their transmissions?"

"No problem!" I assured him.

"Good," he said, scratching his stubbled chin. "Oughta do that just before we head out. It'll buy us time and should let us catch the troops at the other end by surprise. Still might run into some stragglers on the inside, though. So we should be ready to fight."

I nodded. "We will be."

"Even after we make it to the other side and get out, though, won't Shinra just keep on using this tunnel to send more troops and supplies and stuff for the battle ?" Lena wondered.

"There's gotta be a way we can close it," Wedge added.

I patted my belt pouch and winked. "Leave it to me! Still got some raspberries left, so Lena and I'll use a few to collapse the exit just as we go through. That'll slow things down for a while and hopefully reduce what they can bring against Fort Condor."

Lena gave me a thumbs up. "I'll be ready, Jessie!"

"Great!" I smiled. "For now, though, let's grab a bite to eat while we still can. We haven't had anything since we left Midgar, and we need to keep up our strength for what's ahead."

"Oh, I could definitely use some refueling!" Wedge agreed.

I laughed. "Don't worry, we'll get you topped off."

Biggs punched him playfully in the stomach as we all got up. "Yep! So relax, buddy. Better rest while you can."

"I will," Wedge said. "Just a little nervous, that's all."

"I'll take care of ya, honey," Lena winked.

She slid an arm around him as we headed the rest of the way down the hill to the bikes. We'd packed a large stockpile of food and supplies inside the Hardy's storage compartments as well as our backpacks, and so we were able to have ourselves a good dinner. Once Lena was done, she moved to sit behind Wedge, then started massaging his shoulders, brushing her lips across his cheek as she did.

He blushed. "Lena…"

"Feeling more relaxed now?" she teased.

"Yeah," Wedge admitted. "It's really nice. Just don't do go too far or I might just fall asleep right here."

Lena snuggled with him from behind for a moment before getting back to her massage. "I won't, Wedge. I've gotta make sure my big guy's ready for action. So eat up and leave the rest to me."

"Yes, ma'am!" he saluted.

Biggs and I chuckled as we ate, knowing Lena would see to Wedge. He filled up eagerly while she worked on his neck and shoulders. She'd given me a few massages too, back in Wall Market sometimes after our workouts in the gym together, and although she wasn't as experienced as Madam M, she was still pretty good at it.

When we were all done, we gathered up our things and pushed the bikes quietly along the base of the slope until we got to where it curved toward the highway. They'd be pretty loud once we started them up, so we brought them as close to the road as we could first. Then we got on, Lena behind me on the Hardy while Biggs settled in behind Wedge on the Gust. As I gripped the handlebars in my gloved hands and gazed at the checkpoint, I took a deep breath to steady myself.

Then I looked at the others. "Well, guys… here's where we find out if we were meant to leave Midgar."

"We can do this, everyone," Lena added.

"Yeah!" Biggs and Wedge gave us a thumbs up.

We waited there a while longer until the sky was nice and dark and the road was empty. Then, at midnight, I took out my tablet, tapped on it a few times as I hacked into the checkpoint's computer network, and sent a signal to jam all communications in or out. Then I put my tablet away, drew one of my blaze talons, and started up the Hardy. It roared to life while Wedge got the Gust going at the same time, and at a quick nod from me, we sped away toward the road.

The guard's eyes widened from inside his little booth when he saw us coming, but when he hit the switch for the alarm, nothing happened and no warning alert sounded—I'd disabled that as well. I smirked and Lena gave him a little wave just before we smashed the Hardy through the lowered gate arm, Biggs and Wedge coming up alongside us on the Gust as we all raced into the tunnel together.

Like in the ones in Midgar, bright red lights lined the walls on each side, flying past us in a blur as the highway unrolled beneath our tires. Keeping my eyes alert and my weapon ready, I felt my heart pounding with exhilaration as the roar of the bike's engines filled my ears. So far, so good, but the hard part was yet to come.

"There are probably still some Shinra forces in here with us," I told the others as we drove. "That last group that went in. We'll catch up to them pretty soon, so you'd better get ready!"

"Oh, man!" Biggs groaned.

Wedge gulped. "Uh-oh… just like that?"

Lena laughed. "Hey, no need to worry! We'll take them by surprise and blast our way through before they know it!"

"Exactly!" I agreed.

We sped onward, flying down the road, and barely a minute later, I saw company ahead of us. A few squads of Shinra motorcycle soldiers, several armored trucks bristling with guns, a pair of troop transports, a handful of moth slashers, and a swarm of drones. Way too much for us to face all at once, but if we could draw a few of them away at a time, it would make them a lot easier to handle.

"You see them?" I called.

Biggs nodded. "Yeah. Better hang back 'till they spot us."

I had the same thought. "Right! No sense rushing into the hornet's nest. Not yet, anyway. Let 'em come to us."

"What do you mean, not yet?" Wedge gaped.

I laughed. "Trust me!"

Biggs hefted his gun and grinned. "Famous last words."

"Not today!" I winked. "Saved from death by her loving prince and reborn from the ashes of her fallen home, the rebel princess races with her friends through the neon-streaked night!"

"Here they come!" Lena yelled.

Sure enough, two motorcycle troops had slowed down to confront us while a pair of slug-ray drones flew back in our direction, sparkling with electrical energy. The soldiers opened fire as soon as they were in range, but we both swerved our bikes aside just in time, and the bullets chewed into the walls instead of us.

Biggs swore. "Damn! Straight to lethal force?"

"What, so you'd just pull over if they asked nicely?" I quipped.

"Eh… you've got a point," he admitted.

Gunning the Hardy's engine, I sped up until I was alongside one of the troopers. Then, as he took aim again, I whipped my left arm out in a tight arc, swiping his gun from his hands with my blaze talon as Lena blew him off his bike with a few quick shots.

"Teamwork!" she cheered.

The other trooper rammed into the Gust just as Biggs fired, and he missed as the impact jolted him and Wedge. At the same time, I had to yank the Hardy hard to the right to avoid a blast of electricity from one of the drones. It just missed us, striking the road nearby instead. Before it could try again, I used my blaze talon to throw a small, searing wave of bright orange energy at it. The drone exploded in a blaze of fire and smoke as Wedge slammed his bike into the soldier's while Biggs shot at at him again, this time hitting him dead on.

As he tumbled away and his bike crashed, the other drone built up its energy and got ready to fire. But Lena was faster. I heard a soft click behind me as she powered up one of her new guns, and a second later, she let loose with a series of devastating blasts. Her lightning-enhanced bullets flew through the air in a bright, sizzling streak of bluish energy and tore the drone apart in a blinding explosion.

"Did you see that!?" Lena shouted. Then she kissed her gun barrel. "Damn, I love these things!"

"Sure did!" I laughed. "Nice work!"

She giggled. "Thanks!"

"Heads up!" Biggs warned. "More incoming!"

This time, two moth slashers came at us, the mechs on their spiked balls rolling up the road until they were in our midst. I cut and slashed at the nearest one, blocking its spinning saw while Lena fired several of her lightning shots at it. The mech trembled but held, and as I sliced it again, I heard the other one go after Biggs and Wedge. It wasn't too far away, just on our other side, and as I fought, I came up with a plan that would take out both mechs at the same time.

"Hang on!" I told Lena.

Just as Cloud had done when I'd ridden with him in the Corkscrew Tunnel the night we'd hidden the bomb for Reactor 5, I spun the Hardy around in a complete circle, my blaze talon slashing across both mechs as I did and tearing deep, burning gouges along their sides. The blade's range didn't go as far as Buster's, but it was enough. The moth slashers crumpled and fell away as the Hardy faced forward again and we drove on, closing in on the rest of the Shinra forces.

I glanced over my shoulder for a moment. "You okay, Lena?"

She nodded. "Doing great back here!"

"Awesome!" I chuckled.

"We've got more company on the way, though," Lena said, pointing ahead of us with her gun.

I saw she was right. Another group of motorcycle troopers, four of them, were slowing down enough to get closer to us while also putting some distance between them and the other Shinra vehicles. Two more drones joined them as well, flying like giant, mechanized gnats as they flew quickly up the road toward us.

"A-team's here," I warned.

Wedge gulped. "Uh, I don't like the sound of that!"

Biggs swallowed, tightly gripping his gun as he stared at the group of incoming enemies. "We're not screwed, are we?"

"Don't be such a wuss!" Lena snapped.

"One thing after another…" he sighed. "C'mon, Wedge, gun it!"

Wedge grimaced. "I am gunning it!"

"We're good," I assured them.

Biggs grunted. "Nothing about this is good!"

I couldn't deny that. "You got me."

"Fair enough!" he said. "Alright, then! Let's do this!"

I revved the engine and shot forward, whipping an arc of energy at the nearest trooper and making him lurch aside with the impact. Then two others dropped a pair of small grenades in our path. I swerved just in time to avoid the blast as the other went off almost on top of Wedge, knocking the Gust back a little bit.

Biggs and Wedge recovered only to find one of the drones waiting for them. But then, Lena quickly shot it down, and the guys sped right through the debris. At the same time, I accelerated until I was speeding alongside one of the grenade soldiers and swept him off his motorcycle with a few slices of my blaze talon.

"Look out!" Lena yelled.

Another grenade blast went off right in front of us, too close for us to avoid, and the Hardy shook with the impact. But the explosives were small since we were underground and the troopers didn't wanna bring the whole mountain down on top of them, so the detonation didn't do much more than singe us a little and knock us around. Still, it wouldn't be good for us to get hit too much by those things. I gunned the engine and whipped another arc of energy at one of the soldiers. He fell from his bike with a startled shout as it crashed.

Lena blasted another when he tried to shoot at us, then we trashed the second drone together, her electrified bullets and my blade making short work of it. That left only one more soldier, who was trying to ram Biggs and Wedge into the wall. Wedge returned the favor as Biggs shot at the guy, slamming the Gust into the other bike to try and break free. The soldier nearly lost his grip on the handlebars but somehow stayed on, ramming them again and again.

"Little help here!" Biggs called, blasting at the soldier.

"On our way!" I answered. "Lena!"

She cocked the trigger of her gun. "Ready!"

I pulled up on the Shinra soldier's other side, and as Lena fired her gun, throwing off his aim and jarring him loose from the Gust, I sliced my blaze talon through the frame and severed his bike's front wheel in a single quick stroke. The motorcycle suddenly spun upward in a crazy forward spin and crashed straight into the ceiling, exploding on impact and abruptly cutting off its rider's startled scream.

"Nice work, girls," Biggs chuckled.

"Next to us, you guys look like kids on trikes!" Lena teased.

I laughed. "You're damn right they do!"

"Hey!" Wedge blinked.

Biggs just smirked. "You would too if that ex-SOLDIER boyfriend of yours was here, Jessie. No doubt about it."

"True enough," I smiled. "He's got some pretty hot moves."

"I don't doubt it," Lena giggled.

My cheeks flamed a little as I realized exactly what she was talking about. And she wasn't wrong, not by a long shot. But I didn't have time to get her back with a witty zinger of my own. We were coming up fast on the rest of the Shinra forces, and from the looks of it, it wouldn't be easy for us to fight our way through them.

Several armored trucks, about three or four, sped down the road in each lane along with the two troop carriers. Turrets were mounted atop each truck and manned by Shinra soldiers, and the doors on the backs of the troop carriers slid open to reveal a swarm of drugged-up grunts. Three more motorcycle troopers raced alongside them, and maybe one or two more were in front of the whole mess.

"Look sharp, guys!" I shouted. "Now the real fun begins! Don't try to take 'em all out. All we gotta do is get past them to the exit and then blow it just as we get out. Nothing to it!"

"Uh, if you say so," Wedge stammered, his eyes wide.

Lena reloaded her gun. "We've made it this far, Wedge. Only a little further to go. Then we'll be home free!"

Punching the throttle, I floored the gas pedal, and Lena and I shot down the tunnel, Biggs and Wedge speeding along right beside us. We all braced ourselves as we got ready to find out if our journey had only just begun or if it was gonna end here and now.

I readied my weapon. "Time to run the gauntlet!"