Welcome back to another chapter! This chapter is going up a little earlier than it ordinarily would, because I am going to be up super late tonight and then crashing hard because of being at an event tonight, and I am not expecting to be up at a reasonable hour Sunday morning. The story continues to progress and evolve, and I wanted to address a point that had come to my attention. FF7 Remake is coming out in just under two months. I plan to obtain a copy. I plan to play it, and probably to beat the crap out of it. But, it's not going to influence the story. I've got pages of notes at this point, a framework, a solid direction, and a goal. To a certain point, this will follow the original adventure. Past a certain point, this story is going its own way, and will be indistinguishable from a completely new tale. Neither of these arcs will knowingly implement any new elements from the Remake's storyline. If stuff leaks in, it's because I thought of it first (or at least I thought of it before I played the Remake).
So, with that addressed, comments!
Mr. Haziq: It is a pretty shonen thing to pull a move out of one's ass in desperation, and by all rights Ranma is a fairly shonen hero when you look at him the right way. I always felt that, Hiryu Shoten Ha aside, Ranma was a very fire-oriented individual, and a lot of his existing moveset reflects that to some point or another.
Death of Snipers: Yes. Not saying more yet, though, wait and see. :)
Mordalfus Grea and doraemax: We'll see. I have more than a few very specific plans for the obvious cat.
And on with the show!
Chapter Fifteen
Rise, Fall
[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 11
A further thirty minutes of sprinting through the maze of abandoned train cars and fighting through vengeful spirits led them to the south end of the Sector 7 train platform. Aerith and Tifa ran past. Ranma stopped for a few seconds, seeing the conductor standing there, watching the events unfold on the tower. "Get the hell out of here!" she shouted. "Shinra's gonna drop the plate! Move!" and sprinted away before seeing the man's reaction.
Tifa and Aerith were standing in front of the pillar security gate as Ranma caught them up, trying to get the bystanders to flee. The sound of gunfire echoed from above. "I need a favor, Aerith," Tifa said firmly, grasping Aerith by the shoulders. "Remember how to get to the bar?"
Aerith nodded, puzzled, before understanding dawned on her. "The girl?"
Tifa smiled weakly. "Her name's Marlene. Please, find her, get her out of Sector 7, and take her somewhere safe."
Aerith gave a soft smile in response, and turned towards the bar, accelerating into a run. Tifa looked at Ranma, before pulling her hair over her shoulder, checking the red strip of leather coiled around the tail end, making sure it was secured tightly. "I hate to say it, but we can't focus on the civilians right now," she said, dejected. "They'll go or not, we can't save them all. Right now, our best chance to save them is to get up there and stop them from dropping the plate." She turned her gaze upwards. "Are you ready?"
Ranma nodded, but before they could step forward, there was a flash of light from above and a shape falling from high up the tower stairwell. A moment later the shape fell to the ground in front of them with a sickening thud that would remain with Ranma for a long time afterwards.
It was Wedge.
The man's arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and his torso was bloody from what looked to have been a close-range explosion. For fully five seconds, he did not move nor breathe. Then, suddenly, he sucked in a deep breath of air, coughed painfully, and his gaze fell on Ranma. "...came back…" he groaned, a faraway look in his eyes, as his face drew up in a gentle but pained smile. "...knew… you… make it…" And stopped breathing, his body going slack.
Ranma watched the light fade from Wedge's eyes, and felt something inside her break. She felt her eyes watering up with tears, her self-control in shambles, each breath seeming to catch in her throat as fear and anguish battered her from the inside. She couldn't keep them safe. She'd failed to protect him. She'd failed. She fell to her knees and felt the dam within her burst, her emotions spilling out, sorrow and anger and despair washing over her.
Tifa looked at her, no less affected by the death of a friend and compatriot, her own eyes welling up slightly. "We need to move," she said quietly, and turned to go.
Ranma's head tilted slightly in Tifa's direction. "What? What do you mean? He's dead! How can you... be that... cold?" she blubbered, her tears obscuring her sight.
Tifa turned around, lifted Ranma by her shirt, and slammed her back against the metal column holding the stairwell in place. "Don't," she started angrily, her own eyes streaming. "Don't you dare. Don't think for a second that I feel nothing. Don't think I won't mourn for Wedge." She took a deep breath, and slammed her fist against the stairwell column just above Ranma's head. "But our friends are still up there fighting, and if we stand here and do nothing, they'll join him here on the ground, followed by us. Followed by every last person who lives in the slums. Everyone we know up there right now is fighting to save as many lives as they possibly can. And Wedge... fought too. If we give up right now, then Shinra wins. Grieve later." She released Ranma, and tugged her studded gloves firmly into place. "Fight now."
Ranma took a deep breath, and nodded, refocusing herself. She wiped her tears away, and followed Tifa up the stairs, ready to unleash hell.
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The climb had been difficult. Shinra's troopers crowded along the stairwell up the pillar, guns at the ready. Few of them had ever seen real action, but fewer still were prepared for the two-woman onslaught as Tifa and Ranma ascended. In the close quarters, the standard issue heavy automatics the troopers carried became more of a hindrance than an asset, as the girls rushed each group, wedged themselves in the middle of their formation, and systematically picked them apart from the inside out. A single round had grazed across the top of Ranma's shoulder, but she barely noticed, almost instinctively grasping the materia in her pocket and hitting herself with a Cure spell before they approached the next landing.
As the landing came fully into view, Tifa saw Biggs, sitting with his back to the railing, pistol in hand and slowly raising it as she came into sight. She ran up quickly, kneeling by his side. "Hey, Biggs, it's me, Tifa," she whispered. "It's all right, we'll take it from here."
Biggs turned to face her. "Tifa... Barret's up top... with Cloud," he groaned out. "Had to… watch his back."
"I know, he's bad at keeping his blind side protected." She took out a Potion, but Biggs waved her off.
"Don't bother," he lifted his shirt, indicating the stab wound in his chest. "One of them troopers got me good... but I got him better." He chuckled, and coughed hard for a moment. "You should have seen Cloud... he fights like a demon. Never seen anything like it."
"Yeah, us Nibelheimers are made of tough stuff," she whispered, shoving the bottle into Biggs' free hand. "Take the potion. Keep watching our backs, there may be more coming. We'll try to come back for you when we're finished."
Biggs nodded, knocking back the drink as Ranma came up the stairwell. Tifa motioned to her, and they continued on.
Ranma glanced back, seeing Biggs raise his heavy pistol and sight down the stairwell. "Is he..." Ranma started, trailing off as they climbed.
Tifa shook her head. "I don't know." She looked up, seeing a set of aerial troopers coming in from above, soaring in on what appeared to be handheld helicopter rotors. "We don't have time to worry about that right now. We have to take these guys out, and help Cloud and Barret. That's all that matters right now." The aerial troopers touched down on the first landing above them, and Tifa squared her shoulders. "You still with me?"
Ranma nodded, dropping into a combat stance. "Yeah, let's take these clowns." And they plowed forward again.
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More aerial troopers arrived near the top of the stairwell, and began an organized descent to meet up with the two-woman whirlwind making its way up the tower. The aerial troopers used their reinforced rotor blades as weapons, slashing and stabbing at Ranma and Tifa as they approached. Moving down in rank and file, with heavy melee weapons and almost legionnaire-style reinforcing tactics, the previous tactic of getting into the middle of their formation became significantly more dangerous, and their progress slowed. But it did not stop.
Slowly, carefully, Tifa and Ranma picked the troopers apart, until one overzealous trooper broke ranks and leaped out, slashing one rotor-arm down in a brutal overhead swing. Against most opponents, having had the patterns of fighting against the troopers for the last five minutes ingrained into them and suddenly having a rapid change in tactic might have resulted in confusion and disruption. Unfortunately, the trooper made the mistake of targeting Ranma Saotome, a fighter who thrived on chaos. As the blade descended, she stepped into the empty space just ahead of the blow, grabbing the bottom edge of the rotor blade where it had been smoothed and blunted, and wrenched hard, dislocating the trooper's wrist.
"Tifa, down!" she shouted.
Tifa immediately ducked, and Ranma grabbed the trooper by the wrist and pulled hard, lifting him into the air, before she flung him bodily into the next six troopers ahead of them. Two more came at them, hovering over their fallen comrades and preparing to dive in and swoop through with their active rotors. Ranma waited as the first trooper approached, and saw the man shift his weight, signaling his intent to move. She inhaled sharply, and her arm moved in a blur, striking the man in the torso and the face over a dozen times before the inertia from the blows caused him to reel backwards, falling out of the tower in pain. Tifa grabbed at the other trooper's leg, pulling him off balance, and snapped the shinbone audibly in her bare hands, before pulling the man hard and slamming him ribs first into the tower that formed the central support of the stairwell. Without hesitating, she pulled again, and spun in almost a complete circle, slamming his spine against the pillar on the other side, before releasing him to fall limply to the metal stairwell atop his disabled comrades.
The two women rounded the final set of stairs, and were met by a disheartening sight. Jessie was laying on the topmost landing, slumped against the railing, arms crossed over her chest, with a bloody wound through one side of her neck. It looked like someone had deliberately placed her in that position. Ranma stopped for a brief moment and gave a respectful bow to her. In the center of the main platform beyond them, Cloud and Barret were standing back to back, fighting off a wave of troopers. A helicopter circled around the tower, someone on board taking shots at the two men.
Tifa crossed the platform first, leaping into the fray with a flying split kick that knocked down a pair of the assaulting troopers. Immediately after landing, she charged shoulder first into the nearest standing trooper and plowed two more to the ground. Ranma followed quickly behind, flipping forward into a heel drop that landed on the ribs of one of the fallen troopers, making sure he stayed down. She rolled quickly to her feet and began working her way through the line of soldiers on the opposite side, raining blows down on them. Cloud took advantage of the confusion within the ranks and sprinted forward into the middle of a squad, spinning his blade around himself like a rotor, carving through the men without mercy, before locking blades against a sergeant. Barrett set his gun-arm to full auto and fired controlled bursts into the troopers, picking them off and covering his comrades.
As the numbers of Shinra personnel dwindled rapidly, the gunner on the helicopter switched to an automatic weapon as well, firing with abandon on the four members of AVALANCHE and the men they were fighting. Several more troopers fell to the opening volley. Cloud dashed quickly to Tifa, holding his Buster Sword up to deflect the shots. Barret and Ranma dove for cover behind the pillar, Barret continuing to whittle down the remaining troopers.
Before any of them could react, three figures jumped off of the helicopter and landed on the platform. Ranma recognized all three immediately: Reno and Rude of the Turks, plus the blonde girl she hadn't got a name for. The girl took out a pair of pistols and fired at Cloud, rooting him to the spot as he guarded Tifa. Rude charged forward and barreled into Barret, then turned before Ranma could mount an offense and grabbed her firmly by the arm, spinning rapidly and flinging her bodily into Barret, knocking both of them to the hard metal platform.
Reno moved confidently, almost strolling to the console at the peak of the pillar. He placed his palm against the screen, watching as it shifted from red to green, then pressed the button to one side. "And… done," he called out. "Mission complete, yo!"
The gunfire stopped. Reno gestured to Rude, and he slowly backpedaled, arms still raised in a boxer's stance. The girl closed ranks with them as well. Ranma stood up and glared at the trio, then her gaze went to the computer terminal, glowing green. "What…" she choked out, not wanting to believe it. "What did you do, Reno?"
Reno smirked, running a hand casually through his hair. "We did our job."
Tifa stepped out from behind Cloud. "You idiots!" she shouted angrily. "You're going to kill everyone!"
The blonde stepped forward and leveled her guns at Tifa. "Don't move," she ordered, but Reno waved a hand at her dismissively.
"They can't do anything to stop it, Elena, let them talk if they want," he responded calmly, lowering his arm.
Ranma glared at them. "I spared you," she pleaded, "all of you, and you decide to repay that by doing this? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Reno shook his head. "Don't get us wrong, yo," he said, turning his back. "Just… orders."
The helicopter swung back around, and leveled itself with the platform. Barret leveled his arm, preparing to fire at the chopper. "We go down," he shouted, "and you go down with us!"
Elena swiveled one gun to meet Barret. "Wouldn't do that if I were you," she said calmly, tilting her head to one side. A second helicopter rose up behind them, with a small platform extended on one side. A familiar silhouette was sitting on that platform.
"Aerith!" Ranma shouted.
Tseng leaned out of the passenger east of the helicopter, holding a pistol in his free hand and pointing it directly at Aerith's head. "All our bugs in one place," he yelled triumphantly over the sound of the rotor, "ready to be squashed! Anyone moves, and this will get messy!"
Aerith leaned forward quickly, but it was clear she was shackled to the helicopter somehow. "Tifa!" she called out quickly. "Don't worry, she's safe-" Before she could say more, Tseng backhanded her with the hand holding the pistol, leaving a mark on her cheek visible even in the distance.
Cloud slowly slid his blade behind him, clipping it to his back. "Not very professional, Reno," he said just loud enough to be heard.
"Nah," he replied, glancing down briefly, before looking up to meet Cloud's luminescent gaze. "But it got your attention, dinnit?" Rude and Reno stepped into the first helicopter, being covered by Elena, who jumped aboard at the last minute.
"My orders… were to capture the last remaining Ancient," Tseng said aloud, pulling his gun back to his side, leaving the barrel pointed vaguely in Aerith's direction. "And to eliminate AVALANCHE. It's taken a long time, but now I can finally report two successes, in one night. Oh, before I forget… President Shinra sends his regards, AVALANCHE," Tseng announced. "He asks you to enjoy the fireworks." Both helicopters pulled away from the platform. As they vanished into the distance, the sound of an energy buildup began to make itself known, a whine of electric power coursing through the pillar and surrounding area, gradually increasing in pitch.
Barret looked down the edge of the pillar as Tifa ran towards the control panel. "No time to get down that way," he muttered. "Tifa! Can you disarm it?"
Tifa's fingers moved frantically over the keyboard. "Not enough time," she answered, "the console on this thing looks like it only responds to a remote prompt. I can't shut it off. I can't even get into the system from here!" She curled both fists together and smashed the keyboard in frustration.
"Gotta move, then," Cloud insisted, pulling them back to the current situation.
Ranma glanced about. "Where? We can't get down in time and there's nowhere else to run!" But Cloud was already moving towards a support cable connected to the platform at an oblique angle. He grabbed the cable firmly, and drew his sword, severing the connection to the platform in a single, clean stroke. "You want to get down on that?" she yelled in incredulity.
"It's fly or die time," he responded, his tone serious. "And I'd rather go down swinging, if you get me."
Barret nodded, grabbing the cable firmly as Cloud passed it to him, wrapping it once around his gun-arm, and sliding the trailing edge of the cable around his foot in a climber's loop. "Everyone on board! Right NOW!"
No further arguments were needed. Tifa climbed into Barret's lap facing outward, and Ranma slid in facing Tifa, wrapping her arms around the both of them as best she could. Cloud clambered awkwardly onto Barret's shoulders, grabbing the cable above them. As the primary charges began to blow beneath them, Barret hopped off the railing, angling his descent slightly for the cleanest swing he could manage. The secondary charges blew above their heads, taking out the support pillar at the ceiling, and the rest of the pillar began to crumble even as additional explosions began to go off.
There was a brief, shuddering drop, as the plate above fell to the point of tension on the various power cables and sewage pipes running between the plate segments. For one moment, it appeared that it might stop there. But the infrastructure was not designed to support the weight of the plate on their own. A groan of metal fatigue, the sounds of pipes and cables being pushed to the breaking point, and then beyond that point.
The plate went into freefall. For a long moment, the only sounds that could be heard were the collective screams of thousands of civilians, above and below the plate, as the structure fell over three hundred feet, crashing into the ground with a whoosh of displaced air, followed immediately by the utterly final slam of millions of tons of steel and concrete collapsing into the ground, taking with it the lives and livelihoods of every person within its reach.
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The bottom end of the swing had the four passengers moving at well over any kind of safe speed, but such methods of travel rarely include brakes. Barret released the cable just past the fulcrum point, and all four passengers skidded and bounced across the uneven dirt and pavement.
Moments later, a cloud of dust and smoke erupted from the falling plate behind them, followed by a deafening crash. Cloud skittered rapidly to cover Tifa, and Barret rolled to protect Ranma. Scrap and shrapnel fell from above, and the dust blew in sideways, tearing at them like a sandstorm. A massive steel girder, spinning end over end, flew in from somewhere out of sight and impaled a playground slide less than five meters from Tifa's head.
After what felt like forever, the sound and vibrations faded. The dust and dirt settled, and the group slowly came to their feet. Their surroundings were pockmarked with the scars and trails of debris that had flown past and embedded deep into the surface. The gate into Sector 7 stood, a testament to its original engineers and the durability of its construction. Beyond that gate lay a solid wall of crushed and compacted steel, smoldering wood and ash, and miles of concrete and asphalt now shattered into pebbles. Nothing could have survived such a fall, above or below.
Barret staggered forward, his grief palpable as he stared, unblinking and disbelieving, at the wreckage of his former home. Tears streamed down his face, as his rage and despair boiled up through his body and out his mouth in a single, soul-wrenching cry.
"MAAAAARRRRRLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNEE!"
A/N: Twenty years on, and this scene still hits me just as hard as that first day I sat down and started playing it.
The original version of this chapter started with Ranma basically going berserkergang on truly witnessing death for the first time (Wedge), mad with grief and rampaging brutally on every Shinra trooper covering the stairwell. That version was a thousand words in, before I realized I was going to be writing Ranma as suffering from severe PTSD for the rest of the story if I committed to that. While that's an important thing to be aware of in reality, the chapter was slogging as a result of the push through the incoherent rage, and I realized the story overall would become... very difficult. So I scrapped that version, and rewrote it here. The grief is still here, and will continue to be present, but we're going to skip over minimizing actual legitimate trauma within the fanfic.
As things stand, this chapter was intensely difficult to write and to edit. I feel I'm getting a little better at fight scenes as I go, but it's still hard work for me to visualize a good fight and then describe it in words in a way that isn't... well, boring. Still, progress is progress. Aside from that... the scale of destruction in this final scene was difficult for me when I played the game, and is no less difficult now. It's pretty hard stuff.
This chapter title, and the following two, contain a music reference. Bonus points if you spot it.
Hope you like it! Comments and feedback welcome!