Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

i.

The rattle of the train calmed the guilty mind of Cloud, who was watching at the front window how the landscape moved forward to a dark, claustrophobic and insipid scene. It was almost like the film of his sad life. Between his legs and sitting in the corridor of the car, rested the body of another ex-SOLDIER, bleeding to death. His head was supported by Cloud's thigh, possibly dead. Maybe that's why he wasn’t hearing his warm voice guiding him, nor encouraging his path anymore.

His senses were numb and his thoughts shifted in an eternal loop of very recent memories. As if he had to erase them to assimilate new ones, the only thing he remembered was that day and he felt that it had been the trigger of everything. His pale skin wasn’t able to reflect the change in his mental state, wanting to cry and not even feeling the will to do so.

« What do I have to ... do? »

ii.

“More junkies?”

“Fuck... Help me get them out of here.”

“Dude, this one is dead ... They’ve killed him.”

“Move them out the way and be careful to not get the floor dirty. You don’t know how bad blood stains are to get out.”

On the pavement, Cloud opened his eyes with difficulty. He could barely focus on the objects in front of him, just blurred forms that sometimes moved. He searched for the recognizable silhouette of his protector among them, however he could not distinguish beyond his own arm, claiming him.

The pitiful sound of his voice barely caught the attention of passers-by, who had too many problems on their own to think  about others.

« Help... »

“Cloud? Cloud!”

The young man could catch the sound of footsteps approaching, but he couldn’t recognize anyone. He was so weak, he felt lost. Only the sounds managed to fill him with a certain degree of security. Did anyone know him there?

“Please, someone help me!” could be heard around there.

“Wait, isn’t he…?”

« Who...? »

Before he could have an answer, Cloud fell unconscious.

iii.

It was the first time he felt conscious in days. Awake on the bed, Cloud hugged his legs lightly while his gaze was fixed on the fabric of the rumpled blanket. He had some the time to appreciate the old room, somewhat ramshackle, but it was clean and did well its job. He had no complaints, except that he didn’t know where he was, what day it was or who he was. The name of ‘Cloud’ resonated in a kind of train station, but he didn’t know how to place that small memory fragment into a congruous setting.

He raised a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes tightly. Thinking so much had started to give him a headache.

Suddenly, the metal door of the room opened with a screech and, through it, the head of a brunette woman sticked out. Cloud looked right away, irritated by the sudden loud noise.

"I see you're already awake," said the long-haired girl. “How are you doing this morning?”

She came in with a tray of food and then closed the door with one foot. Because of the immediacy of her movements, it seemed that she didn’t expect an answer from him.

"Good... I guess," Cloud said, hushed and tired, forgetting his headache.

The brunette opened her eyes too much, like she had just seen a ghost. Although it seemed that it made her quite happy. She smiled calmly and left the tray by the foot of the bed.

“You already talk and everything. I was wondering when you would start doing so.”

She sat at the edge of the mattress as to speak, which made Cloud flinch. She caught it and secretly moved away from him, unsure.

“Sorry, I have so many questions…”

“Where am I?”, he asked suddenly, without looking at her.

“In my... well, our residence. It's a very long story, but basically we're on top of my bar, the Seventh Heaven.”

While the woman was taking a seat in a chair, Cloud remained in the same position, thoughtful. That made him doubt if he really was fully recovered and the silence didn’t seem to soothe her, so she continued talking.

“And you, Cloud?”. « Cloud... yes, that's my name ». “What happened?”

He answered by shaking his head lightly. He was supposed to be one with the questions, but it turned out that she knew him, so the pressure was even bigger when he had to answer her.

“I… don’t know… I don’t remember anything.”

“You mean you’ve completely lost your memory?”

Cloud nodded and finally looked up at the young woman. He wouldn’t ask for help,  but he needed someone lending him a hand to get his memory back.

"Then you don’t remember me..." she said with a small sigh, though not a defeated one. “I'm Tifa, your childhood friend.”

“Tifa …”, Cloud echoed, searching in the corners of his memory for something that could give him a lead.

Her name was quite familiar, as was her physical appearance. Soon he filled the empty gaps of his memories, bringing back encounters with her, but not many.

“I think I remember... We were neighbors?”

He knew he was right when he caught her friend's smile. It was strange to think of her as a friend, as he barely remember them having a strong friendship. He simply dismissed that thought and tried to give himself time to recall more of her.

“Exactly, on Nibelheim.”

“It was some time ago, right? Some… weeks?”

Cloud searched in Tifa for another smile which would confirm his remembrance, but he didn’t find it at all.

“Well... It's been a while longer." She smiled a moment later. “I am very happy to see you again and also knowing that you have fulfilled your dream.”

Tifa leaned a little forward to look directly at the striking blue of his eyes. Then she pointed them, but quickly sat up straight, since Cloud hadn’t reacted very receptive.

"You’ve become a SOLDIER all in all," continued the brunette. “I’ve also seen the sword you carried when we found you.”

She pointed it out with her thumb; the sword was in a corner of the room. It was then when he was able to recall his training in the Shin-Ra Headquarters, carrying the Buster Sword and fulfilling the most difficult missions entrusted to him. He couldn’t help but feel a pleasant pride flooding his chest; a very subtle smile was drawn on his lips too. However, he quit that job.

“Well, I'm not anymore” he clarified, although something Tifa said before kept him focused on another topic. “When you found me, was there anyone else with me?” the blonde asked, knowing that there would be more questions now.

"Yes," Tifa nodded. “He’s also a SOLDIER or... ex, I don’t know. He was badly hurt and at first we thought he was dead.”

“And…?”

“We brought him here to help him too. We assumed he was coming with you and…” at that moment, Tifa changed the subject. “Well, he's in the next room, but he hasn’t woken up yet.”

Cloud then fell silent and regained his state of self-absorption. Should he care about that guy? He had no idea who he was, nor did he remember his name or his face. Maybe that's why it was so hard to pretend that it affected him, so he just shrugged.

“I suppose you can’t remember him. His name is Zack, but you'll remember over time.” She tried to cheer him up.

Tifa got up from the chair and stretched her arms. She didn’t seem to plan on staying any longer, much less when Cloud gave her no sign of wanting to talk.

“You'd better have breakfast before it gets colder," she said as she walked to the door. “I have to prepare the bar.”

She opened the door, ready to leave, but quickly turned to talk again.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she cursed herself in silence for not being more polite to him. “You are at home, Cloud. If you need me, you know where to find me.”

But she received no response from his part, except for a nod. It was something like a way of thanking her for her kindness. Tifa was content with it and left the room.

Cloud waited a bit before releasing all the air from his lungs. He did not enjoy the conversation too much, nor Tifa's presence. Although he had managed to remember her in that dark sea of his head, he hadn’t found anything that sorted their relationship as friendship. And even if it was, he wasn’t in the mood to treat her like that. Maybe by eating a little, the discomfort would go away.

Then he looked at the food on the tray and a sudden nausea made him turn his face away.

« It’ll better if I don’t eat anything... »

He curled up on the bed and waited to fall asleep.

iv.

If he remembered correctly, it had been two weeks since Tifa had found them at the train station in Sector 7. Cloud had done nothing but take refuge in his head and in the four walls of that small room, where he built his security from the words of his friend. She helped him remember and draw a past he had forgotten. It was good to start, but he couldn’t stay there forever.

Seven days were enough for an ex-SOLDIER. He had good skills to fend for himself. He could leave this state of dependence without effort, earn a living as a mercenary and start from scratch alone.

« Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. »

But there was still something that disturbed him... Or rather someone.

Cloud left his room without first giving Tifa a warning. He didn’t think he had to give any explanations for a little break.

With the sword on his back, he took a step into the corridor and closed his door quietly. Then he remembered what Tifa had told him the first time they spoke.

His eyes slid to the only door next to his. His curiosity had grown over the past few days, as well the desire to recall more events. Being with Tifa had helped him and he wondered if visiting that Zack guy would be the same.

Making sure he had not caught anyone's attention, Cloud entered the room. It was barely illuminated by a source of external light, but he was able to glimpse the silhouette of a person on a cot. A young man with dark hair, pale skin with a somewhat gaunt appearance. If Tifa hadn’t told him about him, he’d have believed he was dead. He could see that he wasn’t when he approached him; his breathing was quite weak.

Seeing him didn’t bring back anything at all, only indifference. That made him think that he really didn’t know him and that it was only a coincidence that he was found with him. Should he feel pity at least? Not even that. Surely he wouldn’t be there when he’d woke up, so he could care less.

Cloud turned his attention to the clothes the guy wore, the bandages and the medicines that were used to heal his wounds, along with some materia.

“How lucky you’ve been...”

He shook his head for a moment and finally left the room.

It was going to be more complicated than he initially believed. Tifa didn’t seem very convinced when she learned what Cloud was planning to do, so she asked him to stay a while longer, at least until Zack woke up. He had no choice but to accept.

The coexistence then became necessary, something that Cloud wasn’t very comfortable with. Sometimes the clientele at the bar were very annoying, especially when they met four in particular. Tifa hadn’t formally presented them to him, but he suspected the reason very well. It was about being SOLDIER, now former. He supposed they were a resistance group or something. They called themselves Avalanche and they said they were helping the planet, but Cloud always saw them at the bar, eating and drinking. To the blonde, that sounded like a conspiracy story and he didn’t give them much credit.

Everything would have stayed the same if he hadn’t had his first quarrel with Barret, the leader and the one with a gun implanted in his right arm.

“Go back to those bastards. We don’t want you here.”

It was what he heard Barret say when Cloud returned one night to the bar. That didn’t end well for either of them and Tifa tried to excuse that guy because of the alcohol. Cloud's answer, surprisingly presumptuous, downplayed the man’s words. He had very clear which of the two was right and he didn’t need to reaffirm himself.

« "I don’t care what he thinks of me. Soon I’ll leave this place.” »

He kept saying in Tifa’s presence while she apologized on behalf of the group.

v.

A sudden yawn and a groan echoed throughout the room just as Tifa was picking up the dirty bandages from the table. She shook slightly and turned to Zack, who was shuffling in the bed in pain that he didn’t intend to keep quiet.

The young woman watched him closely and waited for him to notice her presence or, at least, to know if he needed anything. For the moment it didn’t seem to be serious and that reassured Tifa; she had put a lot of effort into healing his wounds.

"You woke up at last," she said dryly.

Zack lazed a little more until he noticed her sitting next to him, in a chair. At first it was difficult to recognize her, but it was her ... Tifa Lockhart, the martial arts expert and an excellent tourist guide.

“Tifa...?” With half-lidded eyes, he tried to focus his gaze on her; it was an uncomfortable coincidence. “Wow, it’s a small world.”

"So it seems," she said, her shoulders hunched, trying to take the situation with ease.

“Who was going to tell me that I would find you here…” Zack looked at the room. “By the way, where am I?”

“In the Seventh Heaven.”

“And that is…?” he raised his eyebrows.

They both looked at each other in silence and then noticed the tension that existed between them. Tifa ended up sighing and leaning back in the chair.

“It's my bar. We brought you and Cloud when we found you in the…”

“Cloud! That’s it!” Zack interrupted suddenly and straightened up in the bed with the intention of getting up. “Where is he?”

The brunette, before Zack did something stupid, grabbed him by one of his shoulders and held him in place.

“He’s okay. But he isn’t here right now, but he'll be back soon.”

Zack sighed with relief and then took both hands over the wounds of his gut. They were bandaged, without any blood stains and, although he had quite mobility, they still hurt.

“Thank goodness... I couldn’t forgive myself if something happen to him.”

That ignited the old anger of the woman, although  it wasn’t the most important thing now. Cloud worried her and Tifa needed Zack's help to solve some issues.

“In truth, he isn’t quite right. He woke up a week ago and... well…”

“What’s the matter?” he asked with concern.

“He doesn’t remember much. He barely knows who I am and he doesn’t even remember you.”

Zack blinked a couple of times, disheartened.

“Wow..." he ducked his head, but he quickly overcame his sadness. “Let’s not worry. Surely he needs more time. You’ll see how in a few days he will even remember the day he was born.”

His optimism didn’t infect Tifa at all.

“I don’t think he…”

“Come on, nothing happens," Zack insisted. “I know him and I know that everything’s gonna be fine.”

“No, no. It’s not that. It's just... I think there's something else. It's like he's not... Cloud." She said, not sure what she was saying.

“What do you mean, Tifa?”

“I've been talking to him these days and he's not setting his memories right. He even makes up new ones." She lowered her gaze, waiting for Zack's opinion. “I haven’t told him, I didn’t want to confuse him even more.”

However, he just fell silent and looked at the young woman as he drew a vague conclusion from all that. In a way, he was not surprised at what she was saying, the circumstances he barely remembered explained his friend's situation.

“I can’t tell you for sure what happened, but..." he tried to recall. “As far as I remember, Cloud wasn’t well. It’s possible that he hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

Zack made a small gesture of wanting to talk, but he realized that he also had small memory gaps.

The conversation between the two old acquaintances didn’t continue for much longer, as if the events and their encounter in the past had not existed. They only agreed that Cloud's situation didn’t look very good and that they would simply hide their concern for him. They didn’t want to pressure him or arouse doubts in him; it was something he should find out alone.

vi.

“Cloud!” Tifa's voice came from the bar.

There were not many people that night, so it was easy to get his attention. The blonde entered through the door of the bar and, as always, straight to the door that took him to the top floor where he could be calm and rested. Apparently, that night would be an isolated case, one in which he had to keep to Tifa.

For that reason, Cloud stopped and waited for her while he handed the bar over to Marlene, Barret’s little girl.

“Cloud, Zack woke up this afternoon." She flashed a somewhat forced smile as she clasped her hands behind her back. “You'd better go and pay him a visit. He’s looking forward to see you.”

“Me…?”

Cloud looked away.

They weren’t very good news in his opinion, but he agreed to see him anyway.

“Come on then," he said as he opened the door that would lead them to the stairs.

Zack was lying on the bed, filled up with the food Tifa gave him half an hour earlier, so that was the picture they found when they opened his room.

“Hey," Zack said when he saw them go through the door. “About time you finally showed up.”

He sat on the bed effortlessly. Apparently he wasn’t worried about the pain, knowing he was almost healed. Cloud had noticed that at once.

“Zack, stay still. You need to rest a few more days," Tifa reprimanded him with the hands on her hips.

Zack scratched the back of his neck, troubled.

“Sorry.”

“No one would say you've been lying on a bed for a month." Cloud added, crossing his arms and staying in the corner of the room.

“I'm as surprised as you are, believe me.”

Zack widened his smile and got up from the bed as if nothing.

“But what have I told you?” she repeated.

“I'm fine, I already took a walk around when you weren’t there.”

Sure of himself, he put both hands behind his head and Tifa crossed his arms, sighing heavily.

“You are a hopeless case, right?”

“Trust me. It's not the first time I’ve been riddled with bullets” and he felt very pleased of himself, as if it were something that happened every day.

Zack was a very active and optimistic person. It could be seen in his eyes and gestures. Cloud even thought he was going to do some squats any time.

Soon he saw Zack walking to him, extending a hand to make him feel integrated.

“Tifa’s already told me that you have memory problems, but I want you to know that nothing happens if you still do not remember me." He smiled calmly.

Cloud looked at the hand he held out to him and then looked up at his face. Zack didn’t look a bad guy after all, and his words took a great deal of weight off him, even when he thought he didn’t care at all.

Cloud nodded and shook hands with him.

“Nice to meet you again, Cloud." He began to shake their hands warmly. “I am Zack Fair and we met during our SOLDIER training.”

“Nice to meet you... I guess?” He answered as he released his hand and shrugged.

He wasn’t sure how to act in a case as strange as this, but Zack did not seem to expect anything in particular.

“Now that we have made the presentations, let's go to the main thing... will you join me in my career as a mercenary? I don’t promise large sums of money, but together we’ll have better success. What do you say?”

Zack's gaze was fixed intently on Cloud, as if waiting for his response immediately. But such effusiveness was disturbing him a little.

“That's just what it was... Well, yes, why not?”

Cloud saw him raise his fist in victory.

“Great! I have a good feeling. They will fight for our services, I see it.”

Something told Cloud that he would end up regretting this at any moment, but something good would come out of it.

« At least I think I’ll not get bored while traveling » , he thought.

He didn’t seem like a bad person, but at the same time, he worried that Zack might be too tiresome. Although by the cold look Tifa gave him, Cloud wasn’t very sure that it was the best option. Zack was supposed to know him; they seemed to have been friends in the past, so, with a little patience, he’d recover his memory thanks to him. What would go wrong?

Chapter Text

i.

Only five days passed since Zack's awakening and Cloud still couldn’t quite adapt to that company that would follow him for a long time. It was hard to admit that he needed him, but every passing moment, it felt less important for him to recover his memory. Was it really so necessary? What he did need was to be alone. He really wanted to be. For now it had been simple, because Zack was still resting while he was in charge of looking for customers in Sector 7. But only time would tell how annoying his presence would be.

Apparently, his luck would change that afternoon.

Tifa asked Cloud to stay around till four at the Seventh Heaven, along with Zack. She didn’t tell him the reason, only that it was very important.

“It's getting late," Zack mumbled.

Both were sitting at a distant table inside the bar, waiting for their friend to appear. Cloud stayed quiet, despite Zack's attempts to start a conversation; the triviality disgusted him.

“There comes Tifa.”

The young woman let herself be seen with a greeting the moment she passed through the back door. Behind her, that bully with the gun-arm. A man with dark skin and strikingly tall. From his looks, anyone would think twice before messing with him. Cloud, however, wasn’t scared of him at all. And apparently Zack wasn’t either, at least not in the same way.

“Who is the big guy?” Zack asked, glancing at his companion.

“His name is Barret Wallace," he answered. “I don’t know much about him, except that he has a grudge against us.”

“Huh? why is that?”

“Wait and you see it for yourself.”

He didn’t had much time to give any explanation, since they already had Tifa and Barret almost next to them. They both sat in front of them; Tifa looking somewhat nervous and Barret eyeing at them with harshness and a certain resignation. On the other hand, Cloud was indifferent and Zack watched them with enough attention.

The uncomfortable silence that followed was immediately broken by Tifa.

“Well... I hope you're all doing well." She cleared her throat. “I'm sorry I didn’t mention anything, but it's Barret's job to tell you.”

Zack and Cloud looked at each other and Barret's voice rose.

“You’re mercenaries, right? Well, I want to hire your services.”

Cloud crossed his arms and threw his back back until he found the back of the chair; Zack seemed more interested in it and his wide smile showed it.

“Of course, what is it—”

“I think you didn’t want to know anything about SOLDIER," Cloud interrupted, looking at Barret with disdain.

Barret's response was immediate.

“But you aren’t anymore," he said through clenched teeth, “so don’t get finicky now, spikes.”

Cloud went to stand up to face him, but Zack stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to remain seated, smile still on his face.

“Cloud,” Tifa warned him “settle down, okay? Barret has a good job for you. At least listen to him.”

He suppressed the desire to leave and fell silent, something he would do during the entire time the meeting lasted. Then, faced with a new silence, the older man went on with the explanation.

“What I'm going to tell you is extremely secret and I don’t intend to repeat it twice, so stay tuned." He leaned forward so he would not have to rise his voice. “My team and I are going to blow up the Sector 8 Reactor, but we need a pair to guide us as we move through there. One of my colleagues gave us a map, but I cannot risk unexpected incidents.”

“It's going to be complicated..." Zack breathed, who had also leaned forward to talk to Barret. “There’re a lot of security, identification doors and guards. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's a very risky job.”

“Do you think I haven’t already thought about that?” bragged Barret. “We have everything ready. We’ve managed to hack some identifiers in these last days and we aren’t clueless in battle.”

Cloud listened surprised. He never imagined that they’d do more than just sit and watch television, drink and complain about how wrong the world was going but not doing much more than that.

“So, what you're missing are two ex-SOLDIERS who are familiar with Shin-Ra’s implanted system..." Zack said as he stroked his chin. “Of course, we’ll be that help.”

Zack's smile satisfied the needs of Barret and Tifa, who saw their goal closer. However, there was still something important to talk about and Cloud was responsible for that.

“How much are you going to pay us?” he asked.

His indifference really drove Barret up the wall, who glared at the blond with a sneer before opening his mouth.

“Fifteen hundred gil fair enough for you?” he muttered.

Zack looked at his partner. The price offered for their services didn’t convince him that much.

“Fifteen hundred per head?”

“One thousand five hundred for the job." Barret clarified as he let the words fall between his teeth.

“That’s a pittance,"complained Cloud.

“A moment..." Zack interrupted the meeting and went to his friend's ear to negotiate better with him. “To begin with it's fine. They’re a revolutionary group and, if we do it well, they’ll surely want us to work more for them. We can ask for more next time.”

Cloud's expression relaxed a little. Zack's approach convinced him, although he had already lost interest in negotiating.

“Fine, but you take care of it.”

After finishing the conversation in private, Zack's smile showed that they had taken a good step. There wasn’t much to talk about from now on, so Cloud stood up and left the group.

“We take the job," Zack confirmed and held out a hand to Barret. “When do we get started?”

“Tomorrow night," Barret said. “Tifa will tell you the exact place and time soon. Do not fail us.”

A little soon to be able to prepare in conditions, but Zack agreed and both shook hands to close the deal. Cloud knew there would be some confrontation with Shin-Ra while they were there. There would be nothing that would resist them, but it’d be a good idea to practice a little and warm up before the day.

ii.

He leaned back on the dirty old tiles of Tifa's house as he watched the large plate that dimmed the sky. Cloud's memory brought to his imagination what the sky must be like that night, but surely, with the pollution, he’d hardly see a star or two. It would be a perfect break if it weren’t for the background noise: vehicles, people screaming in the bar and the continuous snore of the Mako power generators. Was it true what AVALANCHE was talking about? Cloud was convinced that, if he told Zack, he would think the same.

« Those are just hoaxes that people believe to feel that their unhappy life can be fixed. »

He and Zack hadn’t talked much since he woke up. Cloud didn’t want to talk either and he was grateful that he gave him space. The conversations that day had only been limited to the mission they accepted and the need to warm up the body a bit. Zack was worried because he had just spent a month in bed, however he was even more worried for Cloud; he didn’t exactly tell him the reason, but he didn’t like the fact that Zack underestimated him.

“So you were here." A voice came from the open window in the roof.

Cloud turned his face to recognize Zack, who easily came out of it and walked through the tiles to stop at his side. In both hands, he carried two swords: his and one more that he had just bought, apparently. Then Zack left them on the surface and sat beside him, without considering that he could be a bother.

“Thinking?” Zack asked.

“Something like that." Cloud replied as he straightened up and fixed his gaze on the shantytown horizon.

“It isn’t good to think too much. It makes us worry about the stupidest things.”

Cloud shrugged.

“If you say so…”

Zack responded with a silent laugh.

“I’m sure you were thinking about tomorrow and the little things that could go wrong.”

There were a few seconds of silence.

“Not really…”

“That's good," he said as if Cloud's response had been a pleasant surprise. “But we can’t be too confident either.”

The taller of the two, Zack, encouraged his friend to stand up with a couple of slaps on his shoulder. Then he continued speaking.

“We should train a little.”

“Now?” he inquired startled, glancing wide eyed at Zack.

“Of course!”

Now both standing, Zack handed Cloud the Buster Sword. He grabbed it by the handle with some hesitation, though he couldn’t deny that feeling to show Zack he had great fighting skills.

“I see you got your own sword," Cloud said, pointing to the one Zack was holding.

“That's right." He showed it to him with a smile. “You like it? I borrowed it from that girl... Jessie's the name. It’s beautiful.”

“The sword or the girl?”

A crooked smile appeared in Zack’s lips at the question.

“Let's leave it at that.”

Suddenly, Zack made the first offensive attack on Cloud to see how were his reflexes. Surprisingly and by the skin of his teeth, Cloud stopped the offensive with the already worn blade of his sword.

“Good reflexes.”

But Zack didn’t stop there, so he returned to attack the blonde with a couple of hits more, which he stopped more effectively. Cloud was forced to take a some of steps back, driven by the great force he was rammed with. Under their feet, some tiles dislodged from their place. It could be dangerous, but Zack had no intention of stopping.

The steel sounded loudly from the roof and Zack left no respite to his friend, only giving him a brief opportunity to defend himself from his attacks; maybe it was the only thing he needed to check. Arriving at the edge of the roof, Zack threatened to throw Cloud to the edge, a fact that he avoided after taking advantage of the split second falter that would destabilize Zack’s defense.

Cloud made his first offense when he hit his sword perpendicular to Zack's. An instant of struggle before, Cloud pushed him with all his strength and made him back a couple of steps. Zack, unfortunately, placed a foot on a loose tile and, with the inertia of the impulse, slipped and fell on the roof.

“Ouch…” he grumbled, somewhat resentful of the old wounds. “That was good, Cloud. Better than I expected.”

He approached the other and held out a hand to help him to his feet. He could have felt the pride of having beaten him, but he had no merit when Zack wasn’t entirely recovered yet.

“I've been training a bit these days," Cloud confessed as he let the sword rest vertically on the ground. “You could to do the same, but you’ve been doing good so far.”

Cloud's comment made Zack smile.

“You have a great sword," Zack dropped as he allowed himself the luxury of grasping it even if Cloud held it between his two hands. “Surely you have forgotten, but…”

They made a small exchange with their weapons. Zack began to examine the worn steel and then gave smooth lunges. Meanwhile, Cloud remained attentive to his companion, in silence.

“This was the sword I got when I got my 1st Class rank," Zack explained cautiously, then glancing sideways at his friend. “I'm very fond of it.”

Cloud's reaction was immediate and he cocked his head in confusion. Was it really Zack’s? But then... what about that memory he had when he achieved it? Maybe he lost it in those five years he had completely forgotten.

“I didn’t know it was yours. Sorry," Cloud apologized with some difficulty, scratching the back of his neck. “I'll give it back to you then.”

“No, no,” he refused, shaking one hand to dismiss the misunderstanding. “I want you to keep it.”

Zack approached and extended the sword to him. To swore by his kind smile, Cloud understood that there was nothing else that made him more excited. Then he nodded and they did the exchange of swords again. He didn’t fully understand the reason for this gift, but he wasn’t entirely interested in his motivations either.

“Take good care of it, ok?" he asked pleasantly, a soft smile on his face.

Cloud responded with another nod and contemplated his sword for a few seconds. Suddenly, a question came from his lips without thinking.

“Zack, what happened to us exactly?” he asked when he looked up at him.

Zack pressed his lips and shook his head a couple of times after shrugging.

“I don’t know very well, but everything has to do with something that happened in your hometown. We fled from one of the Shin-Ra facilities, but President Shinra’s soldiers found us." He began to say a series of seemingly disconnected memories and it seemed he had no intention of get into details. “They almost killed me and apparently you brought me here.”

Cloud felt a deep disappointment when he didn’t get a conclusive answer. Zack seemed to notice and he didn’t repress his desire to approach the blonde.

“If it weren’t for you, I’d be pushing up daisies now." He smiled again, full of gratitude. “Thanks, Cloud.”

He didn’t say anything about it, because he didn’t even remember he did such a thing.

“Well, we'd better rest. Tomorrow will be a hard day," Zack suggested after putting a hand on his shoulder.

He didn’t wait any longer and threw a wave to Cloud before leaving the roof through the window. However, Cloud just watched him until he was out of sight. He decided to stay a few more minutes on the surface of tiles, making some time before going to sleep.

Then his eyes admired the great sword and the new symbolism it received that night.

« Thanks, Zack... »

iii.

Everything was ready. Barret didn’t stop walking from one place to another, confirming to the rest of his comrades that everything was under control. Cloud had been listening to the same speech over and over again, and was beginning to make him nervous. At least the rattle of the train was distracting.

They were on their way to Sector 8, specifically in a freight car that would stop right at the rear entrance of the north reactor. He could see the storage boxes thanks to the emergency lights, the Shin-Ra logo confirmed their destination. They were close.

“Good, we'll be in front of the Reactor in less than five minutes, so move your asses and get ready." Barret raised his voice to the team.

Immediately, AVALANCHE other three members, Biggs, Jessie and Wedge, moved. However, Cloud and Zack didn’t respond the same way to their client. They would obey, of course, but in their own way.

“Nervous?” Zack asked him.

“No,” Cloud said sure of himself, “I’m here just for the money.”

“Do you trust Barret?”

Barret reinforced his leadership with his deep voice and addressed the two mercenaries.

“Hey, you two! Less chatter! We’re about to arrive.”

Zack tried to calm their boss with a gesture by raising the palm of his hand. Then he returned with Cloud, who was quieter than usual.

“Don’t worry about that. You know I'm in charge of negotiations." He spoke with a convincing smile as he pointed to his chest. “I won’t let him get away without paying.”

The train began to slow down and Barret shouted again to the presents.

“Everyone at the doors now! Let's take advantage of the element of surprise.”

His teammates positioned themselves in front of the doors and Barret prepared to shoot in case Shin-Ra surprised them first. Then he pointed to the roof hatch for the two ex-SOLDIER, where they’d have to go. They both stood under the gate and opened it. Cloud was the first to poke his head through the opening and, squinting with the force of the air hitting his face, spotted the immense reactor rising before them. Soon he climbed completely to the roof of the car while maintaining a low profile. He looked at the platform that was getting closer and he got to see a patrol of five guards with their backs to them and a couple of train officials.

“Tell them to get ready to fight. We cannot waste time with a patrol," Cloud mentioned to Zack, who was waiting at the trapdoor.

Zack repeated his words to AVALANCHE and they soon opened their respective doors to the outside, just as the train stopped.

Both Zack and Cloud waited for AVALANCHE to create confusion among Shin-Ra's employees. Biggs and Jessie were the first to launch themselves to a hand-to-hand combat with the officials, knocking them out. Then Wedge and Barret had their guns aimed directly at the patrol that was being put in formation.

“Shoot them now! Quick!”

The enemy bullets flew in AVALANCHE’s direction, but completely deviated from their trajectory. Wedge and Barret were faster to open fire to the first row of three. Behind them, Zack and Cloud took advantage of the chaos to jump off the deck toward the last two standing guards. Closeness was his greatest advantage, so Cloud dropped the weight of his sword against his adversary's shoulder; Zack penetrated the other with the blade of his.

In a matter of seconds, the enemy squad fell to the ground.

The cheering of the AVALANCHE members was heard behind the backs of the two mercenaries.

“Leave that for later!” Barret interrupted before Cloud and Zack bragged of skills. “Let's move!”

He began to run towards the door of goods of the Reactor and, behind him, his teammates followed, who didn’t stop laughing for the first victory of the mission. Cloud thought that they hadn’t expected to beat the odds, if the victorious cheers were anything to go off of.

“Jessie, you know what you have to do.”

“Yes!” exclaimed the young woman when she reached the door commands.

Jessie, the technology expert, started opening the box that contained the cables and computing devices. Her task was to downgrade the system so that its fake identifiers could get them through without raising the alarm.

“Shit..." laughed one of the AVALANCHE members, Biggs of the headband, while looking at Zack and Cloud. “You are truly SOLDIERs... I'm freaking out!”

Zack smiled broadly because of Biggs' excited reaction towards them.

“Well, now we work for you," he said.

“Something you don’t come across every day. SOLDIERs working for a group like AVALANCHE... what a mess.”

“Wait... so it’s true that you are SOLDIERs?” Jessie exclaimed in surprise as she interrupted her work. “Aren’t we supposed to fight against them too?”

“Hold your horses, Jessie," Biggs tried to clear things up. “They were, but not anymore. Now they’re mercenaries.”

That explanation was enough for Jessie to continue her work; quite stressful knowing that Barret wasn’t taking his eyes off her.

Tho Biggs continued with the talk.

“And your names are? I don’t remember them.”

“Zack.”

“Cloud…”

“Right!” the guy smiled. “My name is…”

“I don’t care what you call yourself. When we finish here, I'm leaving." Cloud interrupted and broke away from the group formed around the door.

An awkward silence was made between Biggs and Zack, who looked at each other for a moment.

“Don’t take it into account. He's not very talkative," Zack excused the blonde, already accustomed to his asocial attitude. “Your name is?”

“Biggs. Hey, thanks for…”

“What the hell are you doing, Biggs?! I told you not to get involved with them!” Again another interruption, this time from Barret.

Biggs apologized to his boss and looked at Zack uncomfortably.

"We'll talk another time," he whispered.

Zack nodded. "That’d be better, don’t get into trouble because of me," he joked with a wide smile.

The back door opened without any mishap and Jessie rejoiced with a clapping.

“Good, our goal is behind this door." Barret pointed inside and looked at the whole group. “We’ll meet on the bridge in front of the reactor, understood?”

“Understood!” they answered in unison, except Cloud and Zack.

“Then what are you waiting for?!”

And with a gesture, he sent Biggs, Jessie and Wedge inside first. They disappeared behind the door with firm and rapid footsteps. Barret, instead, stopped in the doorway and detained Cloud and Zack, who were about to follow the rest of the group.

“If you both do anything suspicious..." he warned. “I’ll be watching you.”

“Hey, calm down,” said Zack to ease tensions. “You've already seen we're taking this seriously.”

However, Barret wasn’t entirely convinced of it. He just gave them a disdainful look and continued his way behind his group.

"If I were you I’d ignore him," Cloud said as a solution. “He’s as stubborn as a mule.”

Cloud was fed up with Barret yelling to them and his need for reaffirmation as a leader, so he preferred not to play up to him anymore. He just wanted to finish the job and to get back to his own business.

After that, he went through the door and Zack followed him in a hurry.

Right at the entrance, AVALANCHE knocked down the merchandise controller. Wedge, who had a handkerchief on his head and few extra weight, stayed in front of the commands room at Barret's request. Cloud and Zack crossed the long corridor and ignored the doors that could divert them from their duties. Despite the labyrinth of the Reactor facilities, both found their way to the security gates, which worked by levels, depending on the rank one had within the business hierarchy.

Cloud managed to spot Barret at the end of the room where they’d need the identifiers. A little further back, Jessie and Biggs were preparing the opening of the doors.

“You’ve finally arrived, snails," he exclaimed, stressed. “It’s the first time you’re in a reactor or what?”

Because of the face that Barret showed, he seemed very indignant.

"No, of course not," Zack said in the first place. “We worked on all kinds of tasks for Shin-Ra. I, at least, did work inside one for a while.”

"Me too," Cloud continued.

Barret nodded, somewhat incredulous at their statements.

“The planet is full of Mako energy, did you know? And everyone uses it every day…”

Cloud shrugged, something that made Barret more irritated.

“It’s what keeps this planet alive and Shin-Ra doesn’t stop sucking it with these machines!”

However, Cloud showed no interest and Zack scratched his head, searching a way to not let them fight again.

“I'm not here for an ecology talk. Can we keep going already?” Cloud mumbled.

At that moment, Zack signaled Barret to cut off the conversation. He grunted and after a moment, calmed down.

“Let’s go…”

The door to the first level opened with the victory shout of Biggs and Jessie.

"Guys, we've already managed to decode the doors with the fake ID," she said.

She advanced with Biggs to the next room, where another door awaited them. The rest of the group continued along the same path in pretended silence, although AVALANCHE lacked the liking for it. Biggs was amazed to have come this far, which confirmed Cloud's theory and the little faith they had in the beginning.

“All the people who surely died to get here... we are lucky," said Biggs as he accompanied his comrade to open the next door.

Another room opened before them. This housed the elevator that would take them to the underground floor where the Reactor’s core awaited them, the one that extracted the energy from the inside of the planet.

“Well, we split up here,” Biggs said goodbye since he’d be in charge of keeping the area clear. “Good luck, guys.”

"I’m trusting you," Barret cautioned and raised a fist at his comrade. “Let's keep going.”

Except for Biggs, they all went up the elevator. Jessie got into the bottom and pressed the button of the desired floor. Barret couldn’t contain the words and Cloud noticed it every time the older man looked especially nervous.

“The reactors are draining the life of the planet little by little. And soon everything will end.”

The blonde brought a hand to his forehead, tired of Barret’s obsession with the damn subject.

“It's not my problem, Barret. Cut it off.” Cloud finally answered.

“Cloud, the planet is dying!” Barret insisted in an attempt to awaken a hint of sensitivity in him.

Zack and Jessie looked at each other with bewilderment.

“The only thing that worries me is to finish this before security catch us.”

Barret could barely contain his anger at Cloud's aloofness. When Zack realized that the leader was having a hard time restraining himself, he placed himself between the two, just in case the fight escalated.

“There’ll be time to discuss this, okay? When we get to Seventh Heaven you can talk about everything you want, Barret." Zack said, looking directly at him, almost asking him to please stop talking about it, not at least in Cloud’s presence.

“Well... we've here," Jessie interrupted, uncomfortable with the tension in the elevator, and bolted out of there as soon as she could.

The rest left the cockpit and looked at the industrialized picture of the hidden part of Shin-Ra. The sound of the generator was penetrating, its interior dirty and devoid of personality, and, although Cloud tried to deny it, it was as if it absorbed the will to live. Maybe that was the reason why nobody worked down there and only security robots were in charge of that task. Though admitting it would be like agreeing with Barret and that displeased him.

“Come on, Cloud," Zack nudged his friend, who had stayed behind looking at the unnerving picture. “You standing here now and before you were hurrying Barret…”

Cloud ignored the teasing and he followed the path that led them to some stairs. The next floor was fair bit away, so the number of steps seemed to extend almost to the infinite. Far ahead of them, Barret and Jessie reached the next door.

Once they crossed its threshold, the construction of the reactor became more chaotic. It was an area full of mechanisms and valves, which indicated that they were very close to their destination. Everywhere Cloud looked, there was barely any floor, mostly a pile of levers, cranks, vertical ladders, and steel conduits, through which the energy was conducted to the different homes around Midgar.

“If I'm not mistaken, you'll have to continue down those stairs to the bottom," Jessie said, moving to stand next to the room’s control console. “I'll stay here to guard your backs.”

“Alright, Jessie. If you notice something strange, let us know," Barrett asked.

She nodded energetically and removed the pack from her shoulders. Then he approached Cloud and gave it to him with great care.

“The bomb’s inside," she warned, a playful smile on her face. “Try not to move it much if you don’t want it to explode in our face.”

“It’s that powerful?” Zack asked puzzled, while Cloud accepted the bomb without saying a word.

“Well of course! What did you expect? That we’ve done all this journey for nothing?” Barret blurted out.

“You’re right,” he corrected as he laughed, embarrassed. “But I mean... well, what does it matter? Do we attach the bomb already or not?”

“You two lead," Barret said, pointing to the stairs. “You know where to go much better than we will.”

Cloud carried the backpack on one of his shoulders and took the initiative of the group. He went down the first stairs to the next tortuously narrow path of tubes and bars, where it was easy to lose his balance. Anyone could fall into the void and not know exactly where it would end. The bottom was clouded by a thick layer of steam, which Cloud wondered of its origin and toxicity. For the moment they didn’t seem to be suffering the consequences and that was enough for him.

The three descended and crossed a dark corridor that led them to a long bridge. As it passed, a spacious room opened and, in the background, the Reactor’s core. There, the roar of it became unbearable to Cloud's ears the more he concentrated on it.

Barret hurried passed by them as they reached the core.

“When we blow this place, there’ll be nothing left but a pile of garbage," the leader said as the echo of his voice spread through the structure of the chamber.

Trailing after him was Zack and Cloud. The latter was removing the burden from his shoulder and letting it hang off his arm.

"Cloud, set the bomb." Barret said as he pointed to the power transformer.

That order confused Zack, which made him interfiere before Cloud did what he was commanded.

“Shouldn’t you be the one doing it?”

“I’m paying you to do it," the bigger man explained. “I have to make sure you're not setting us up.”

"Whatever." Cloud murmured under his breath.

He had no qualms about showing his disinterest. He simply advanced the first steps towards the core, ones that were becoming heavier as he got closer. Suddenly his vision turned dark and his ears caught a high-pitched deafening buzz. He was paralyzed for a few seconds, with his hands on his head, scared.

« What the…? »

Be careful!

It won’t be just the Reactor!

“Cloud! What’s…?”

He heard Zack in the distance, but he was unable to respond. That dissociation remained present until he had a real contact with reality. Zack was in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

“Huh…?”

“Cloud, something’s wrong?” He asked worriedly.

Cloud, coming out of that strange state, responded with his head with a forceful head shake. Although he knew it would be difficult to convince the other that nothing was wrong anyway.

“There’s no time for that!” demanded Barret. “Set up the damn bomb already!”

“Y-Yeah, sorry..." Cloud apologized.

Zack moved away now that the blonde was more recovered, and he knelt in front of the transformer. He pulled the bomb out of the backpack and pressed the single button that activated it. A countdown of ten minutes began displayed on the screen. A scant ten minutes.

“Only ten minutes to escape?” Cloud complained when he glared at Barret.

“What?!” Zack exclaimed knowing the limited time they had. “Ten minutes? Wait, you didn’t tell us that!”

“There's no time to discuss the details now!” replied Barret. “We have to get out of here now!”

He began to make gestures with his arms to hurry; they had to escape as fast as they could. However, the Shin-Ra alarms were activated throughout the reactor, diminishing any expectation of leaving without causing a stir.

“Shit! And now what’s going on?!”

From Barret's telecommunicator sounded Jessie's voice.

“ Guys, I have bad news. ”

“You don’t say!” Barret barked ironically. “Do something!”

“ I’ll try to access security cameras and mechanized doors, but I don’t promise anything. I’ll try to make sure they don’t leave us locked up here at least. ”

"Thanks, that sounds great," Barret said sarcastically. He was especially exasperated and turned to Cloud and Zack. “Let's move!”

But before they could take a step toward the exit, the sound of heavy thuds descended on their heads with increasing force, speed and menace. That couldn’t mean anything other than the visit of a robot-guard. Cloud hardened his expression and gripped the great sword behind his back.

"I don’t like how that sounds," Cloud admitted.

“Me either.”

“And what do you suggest we do then?” Barret asked desperately.

The noise ceased all of a sudden, which left the three hushed and even more on guard. They looked at each other and, suddenly, the machine fell from above in a roar that unleveled the platform on which they were standing. A robot three meters tall at the very least with a shape of a dangerous scorpion, was preparing to locate its first target. The group sought stability after the tremor as Barret managed to run towards the exit.

“Let’s run!”

“No!” Zack stopped him. “Running away will make us more defenseless. The Shin-Ra robots are very fast and smart, and are programmed to kill. If you want to have a chance to survive, we have to take it down.”

Barret gritted his teeth and then raised the arm in which he had his large gun encrusted, pointing to the machine. The Guard Scorpion fixed its objective in Cloud, why its first attack was directed towards him he didn’t know. From its head, a submachine gun came up and shot him. Cloud intuitively dodged the burst of bullets with a jump close to his companions.

“The fastest way would be dismember it!” Cloud thought up. “I’ll distract him!”

He assumed the role of bait, trusting his own life to Zack and Barret. The other two accepted the plan and surrounded the machine. Then they placed themselves behind it while the robot focused all its attention on Cloud, its current target.

The first thing he did was watch carefully the Guard Scorpion movements. A machine could be more predictable just by paying attention to its patterns. Cloud already knew that junk and its weak points, just as he expected Zack to know as well. For now he would only limit his attacks and keep it as still as possible. Hard work, but not impossible.

On the other hand, Barret and Zack took advantage of their favored place, wielding their respective weapons. Zack started with a straight thrust at one of the hind legs, but for the moment it was not enough to stop it. A lot of sparks came from the detached limb, which caused a small explosion that destabilized the Guard Scorpion.

“Barret, be careful not to provoke him too much or he will make us his targets too," explained Zack.

“And what the hell do you want me to do?!” Barret snapped, not knowing exactly where to aim.

“Its weapons! Destroy them! It has a laser at the tip of its tail, a submachine gun on its head and, if I remember correctly, a couple of cannons too. Just point and shoot!”

Barret cursed the machine and opened fire directly at the machine gun protruding from the top of the scorpion. The impact of the bullets deformed it, making the burst of the machine gun go off in all directions, turning it into a useless weapon. Zack, meanwhile, found the perfect moment to launch a new thrust into another leg of the five that remained. However, there was still not enough to make the robot fall to the ground.

It was noticeable that its movements were more and more clumsy and that Cloud was able to keep it entertained more easily with the provocations of his sword. But it wasn’t always going to be infallible. The attacks it was receiving from the rear caused the robot to turn with a jump, but a rather unfortunate one. The lack of hind legs left it on the ground, with no possibility of moving, except for the only offensive movements it had left.

“Take that!” Barret shouted with a jump of quick victory.

Suddenly, the tail of the machine began to rise and the inside of it to revolutionize; it was preparing the next attack, directed to Zack and Barret. Zack looked towards his back; the exit was a few meters away. Then he looked back at the sting that pointed to them.

“It’s preparing the laser." He frowned and took a step back. “Cloud, let’s hu—

And before he could finish the sentence, the tail of the Guard Scorpion collapsed next to a black smoke that didn’t augur anything good. Cloud took advantage of the machine’s immobility and his position to cut off its tail. That way the getaway would be more secure.

Zack beamed at his friend and signaled to Barret.

“Let's get out of here before the bomb goes off.”

Barret and Zack left the core room as fast as they could, Cloud behind them at the same pace. After passing through the labyrinth of stairs and conduits, the group spotted Jessie on the control panel platform, having a rough time with a stuck leg between the treacherous holes in the floor.

“Jessie!” Barret called her, overtaken the two mercenaries.

“Guys! What the hell happened in there?! I thought you weren’t gonna making out alive and that I was going to be the next.”

While Cloud and Zack hurried near them, Barret tried to help pulling out his comrade’s leg, but there was no way, at least not in his conditions.

"Shit, we almost didn’t make it," Barret confessed and then turned to the pair behind him. “You two, help Jessie! I'm going ahead and tell Biggs that we're coming.”

Cloud grimaced at the cheek the man gave them. It seemed that he was bossing them for everything and also detracting from the fact that, if they didn’t get to work for him, they probably wouldn’t have even arrived at the merchandise gate. He waited for the same response from Zack, but he didn’t find it. He already launched himself to help the girl.

"It has to be done little by little," Zack said as he pulled out Jessie's leg with great skill.

“Thanks, Zack." She said smiling and immediately moving away as fast as she could, trying not to waste any more time.

Cloud and Zack continued behind her.

The route to the emergency exit didn’t take them too long, it designed for the evacuation of all workers in case an emergency such as this arose. The difference was that they were the only ones aware of the danger of the explosion. And, as expected, Shin-Ra's guards had come to stop the resistance from escaping. Unfortunately, they had no chance with two former SOLDIERs, specifically trained for battle.

Time was running out with each step they took, closer to the reach of the bomb’s detonation. Going through the last corridors to the outside, the whole team was aware of the dangerous explosion when they felt how the foundations of the reactor rumbled under their footsteps and the flames heated the walls around them at an incredible speed. The construction material ignited and the detonation became even stronger.

AVALANCHE and the two mercenaries left at last to the streets of Sector 8, with a layer of smoke behind them, but above all, they were looking for air to breathe. They coughed because of the ash and moved as far away as possible from the newly formed chimney. Then Zack was quick to verify that Cloud was alright.

"This will give the planet a break... at least for a while longer," Biggs said with difficulty.

“Let’s hope so," Wedge answered.

Everyone gathered far from the smoke and occupied the space of the lonely plaza. If they didn’t hurry to leave, they would have the surveillance teams there in a heartbeat.

"Well, let's get out of here," said Barret quickly. “We’ll meet at the station. Split up, we'll see each other on the train. Remember, the freight wagon!”

After Barret’s insistence, AVALANCHE members scattered all over the place. A good strategy to be more difficult to find. The leader of the team was ready to do the same when he was interrupted by Cloud.

“Hey…”

“If it's about the money, remind me when we get to the hideout, okay?”

Cloud frowned. Something told him a long time would pass before he could see that money.

“Don’t look at me like that! Do you think I was going to bring it to the mission?”

He sighed loudly. He didn’t know why he was surprised, it was Barret after all.

"I'm leaving." He wasn’t in the mood for arguments, much less to endure the other man for another minute.

Zack scratched the back of his neck with some discomfort as Cloud marched towards the stairs that went up to the other level of the street. Soon he mended himself with a faint smile and raised his voice to his friend, something that Cloud saw when he heard him.

“Don’t get lost!”

Cloud responded with a simple hand gesture to reassure him.

"You'd better hurry," Barret said to Zack. “The train will depart in five minutes.”

And, before there could be any complaint, everyone left the plaza.

He wasn’t aware of the direction he took since he left the group. Seeking tranquility in the streets, he didn’t think the bystanders couldn’t be scared by the tremendous explosion. The inhabitants who spent the night outside, were surprised by this and now ran from one side to another, looking for security teams, their loved ones or just a clueless people to steal from.

In front of Cloud's eyes, as he walked along the crossroads, a young florist was a victim of a shove. The guy didn’t apologize, he just ran away with an insult towards her. Cloud felt something inside him stirring.

Strange... among all that destruction, the only thing that outraged him was that small gesture of abuse. Perhaps her delicate appearance and the impossible fact that she had flowers, aroused in him a certain righteous spirit.

That girl was dressed in a striking dress, the colour of a soft rose, her brown hair tied with a bow and a wicker basket full of flowers. She approached Cloud, who stayed still on the ground in the middle of all that chaos.

“Excuse me... do you know what happened?” she asked with concern.

Cloud quickly left his reverie and focused his attention on her.

“It would be better if you go back home.”

The florist was somewhat confused by his reply.

“I don’t even understand what's going on, but okay.”

She started to move on, but Cloud interrupted her with a silent voice.

“Listen…”

The florist turned and looked at him intently.

Cloud, until that moment, didn’t noticed the sudden and innate consideration that he poured in her and he spaced out for a moment.

“Hmm, nothing." Cloud finally answered dryly.

“Nothing? Come on... you can tell me!” She insisted with arched eyebrows and a little smile.

Cloud scratched the back of his neck, nervous at the stupid situation he had gotten himself into. He quickly thought of how to get out of it, unable to show her his cold side, not even the insecure one he was trying to hide. He had wanted to help her from the beginning and felt strange about it.

“It’s rare to see flowers around here." He pointed to the basket that she had hanged on one arm.

“Oh, these?” Seemingly, the comment made her quite happy ”You like them? They only cost a gil, in case you're interested in buying some.”

He responded with a nod, something that the girl was very excited about. Smiling with that innocence and simplicity, Cloud felt a warm complacency, one that he hadn’t had in his motivations since he woke up.

The florist handed him a beautiful yellow flower.

“Thank you so much! You're very kind.”

Cloud said nothing, something that didn't seem to matter to the florist. He immediately continued his way.

He watched her walk away and then contemplated the curious and striking flower between his gloved fingers. Finally he put the stem between the belt, its radiant yellow contrasting with the dark purple of his uniform.

He hurried on his way to the train station and took a shortcut through the second plaza. It had also suffered damage from the explosion. At any area he watched or listened, Cloud only heard the laments and the complaints of the citizens. Surprisingly, others applauded what had happened while letting out Barret's same conspiracy speech. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

Time pressed on him. Cloud ran to the station and, crossing the street, found himself in the middle of an intersection he didn’t recognize. A pretty ugly problem if he kept in mind that Jessie was in charge of keeping him anonymous and that it was impossible to travel from sector to sector without the train. And to worsen it further, Shin-Ra’s security guards had been following him.

“Hey, you!”

Cloud ignored the warning coming from behind his back and hurried on.

“One more step and we shoot!”

That was enough reason to make Cloud start running towards the right, where he was surprised by another group of soldiers.

“It's him, don’t let him escape!”

He was forced to continue on the opposite side, over the tunnel that kept the underground track hidden from the train. In front of him, another patrol pointed their rifles at him.

“Surrender, terrorist. You have no escape now.”

He was immediately cornered between gun barrels and the arrogant laughter of the security guards, himself on the edge of a precipice. He thought about throwing himself into battle, but the chance of being shot was too high. The sound of the train and the rattle of it shaking the foundations of the platform gave him an idea.

“I don’t have time to play with you.”

“Shut up! Surrender or…”

Cloud didn’t doubt, he didn’t take more time and climbed up the security railing.

“What the...?! Catch him!”

Too late, Cloud threw himself into the train tracks.

iv.

AVALANCHE and Zack entered the freight car after had been waiting for Cloud, but there was no sign of the man on the platform. The group was in the dark car while keeping a sepulchral silence, afraid to mention that something could have happened to Cloud on his the way to the station. However, Wedge was always the first to break the ice in the most inappropriate way.

“It’s weird that Cloud hasn’t appeared, right?”

Everyone was aware of the skills he had, but Biggs was the first to question it.

“If he’s been killed?”

"Impossible," Zack said incredulously.

He had more reason to think that Cloud could have been captured by Shin-Ra and at the same time he refused to think about that possibility.

“Why are you so sure?” Barret asked, his arms folded. “Doesn’t matter if you both are ex-SOLDIER or not, that doesn’t make you immortal.”

Zack pouted, although he didn’t let those words provoke him. Cloud was his friend and, as such, it was normal for him to trust that he was still alive. A mere supposition, even as likely as it was, wouldn’t make him doubt until he saw him dead with his own eyes.

At that moment, over their heads, knocks were heard coming from the deck of the car. They looked up, but it stopped in a matter of seconds.

Silence reigned again.

“Do you think Cloud would have fought for AVALANCHE until the end?” Biggs asked, looking at the rest.

That question asked in past irritated Zack a little. He didn’t say anything anyway because Barret raised his voice and surely there were quite a few that wouldn’t like the answer.

“How the hell do you think I'm going to know that?! Do you take me as a fortune teller?”

Barret finished his question with a loud slap in one of the storage boxes.

“If you weren’t all a bunch of useless…” he mumbled.

His companions looked down, at odds with their boss, but they knew that much pressure made him very angry, especially when he felt responsible for the death of someone.

“Barret, what about our money?”

A question asked by Wedge at the worst moment. Barret hit the box again.

“I-I shouldn’t have asked anything... sorry,” he corrected.

Above their heads was heard those strange knocks again, this time in the trapdoor of the roof. The members of AVALANCHE and Zack looked at each other and placed themselves on guard in case it was an ambush. With two shakes, the door opened and someone known descended almost in free fall.

“Cloud!”

Zack was the first to celebrate the arrival of his friend with a grin he approached the blonde. He didn’t take much time to shake him gently by the shoulders. Everyone else responded with relief, except for Barret, who stayed away and angry about the previous and unnecessary worry.

“It seems I’m a little late.”

Cloud remained in the center of the car, showing a somewhat impassive attitude as many other times.

“True! You're late!” exclaimed Barret, who approached the group and made his way to face Cloud. “And you also come here all cheeky after making a scene.”

Cloud looked away and shrugged.

“So what? It’s what I always do.”

Barret began to get irritated. Sparks almost appeared from his eyes.

“What?! You've had us all worried and you don’t give a shit!”

Cloud's attitude was more and more unimpressed.

“Were you worried about me?” he asked, quite not believing it.

That's what Cloud didn’t expect. Because of that, the tone he used was not exactly the friendliest.

"You..." Barret finally bursted. “You won’t get your pay, for coming up all cocky!”

After the reprimand Cloud received, Barret caught the team's attention with a clap. They quickly stiffen from their relaxed stands, they seemed to rather enjoying the dispute than being uncomfortable by it. Zack, on the other hand, remained on the sidelines until they finished yelling at each other.

“Move! We have to get out of here.”

And with wave of his arm, Barret went out the door that connected to the next car, followed in a row by Wedge, Biggs and Jessie.

Zack put the hands on his hips with an eyebrow arched, he faced the door and then turned to Cloud, directing a subtle smile to him.

"You've left everyone with their mouths open," he said as if everything had come to him as surprise.

Cloud, however, showed only an attitude of impassivity and sometimes superiority by a false excess of confidence, with which he intended to hide his true emotions. While in private, his haughty behavior was diminished for no apparent reason.

"They're very impressionable." He crossed his arms after diminishing his merit.

Zack jumped when he was under the trapdoor and closed it when he collapsed next to Cloud, who remained, as always, in a taciturn silence. His blue eyes locked on the blonde, inspecting him and suddenly a sing-song laugh came from his throat.

“Let's see... look at me." He searched for Cloud's gaze, which he tried to avoid.

“For what?” he protested.

Zack, with one hand, asked him to do it. Instead, Cloud withdrew his face in disgust. In the end Zack did it by force and rubbed the palm of his hand all over the blond’s face, cleaning it thanks to the leather of the glove.

“What on earth are you doing?” Cloud mumbled, pulling away.

"Your face is full of soot." Zack laughed. “Finish cleaning yourself,” he said, not risking upsetting Cloud even further.

Zack pointed out the areas where dark stains remained and Cloud, frowning, removed the last spots with the back of his glove. Suddenly, Barret appeared through the door waving a fist.

“What are you still doing here? They're going to start checking the wagons.”

After speaking, Barret kept the door open for the pair to go to the next car. The interior was completely empty, except for a couple of travelers and AVALANCHE members. It was quite dirty and the smell very unpleasant. It was as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time and neither seemed to be a concern for the owners. They even allowed it to be home for some vagabonds.

“Now, stop behaving like kids. Sit down and be quiet for a while," Barret ordered them.

The man began to walk down the aisle as he supervised travelers from outside his crew, in case someone started to get suspicious.

“It would be good if we rested a little, right?” Zack encouraged Cloud and took him to the empty seats that lay ahead.

They sat facing each other in their seats. Zack seemed more attentive to the events around them; Cloud, however, was more introverted, but that didn’t make him any less observant. Beside him sat a bald man that was talking on the phone about what had happened in the Reactor No. 1. People were afraid and worried about the consequences that Shin-Ra would take; those responsible weren’t going to go unpunished and Cloud knew it.

Biggs approached Zack, quite encouraged by the success of the mission.

"It seems they haven’t activated the security update for this train," he sat on the armrest of his seat and ran a hand over his head. “But surely tomorrow they will.”

“Hey, you can take a moment to sleep. You look tired.”

“It's just what I was about to do!”

Biggs yawned and sat next to Zack to take a nap for a while. The two caught Cloud's attention, especially Zack, who made a funny grimace when Biggs' head ended on his shoulder.

Barely a couple of minutes passed. Cloud finally enjoyed a little of the silence and alone time in his own space, something that didn’t last long; Wedge appeared at his side with a good-natured smile. For some reason he was excessively sociable with him and Cloud didn’t yet understand why. He only knew that he was annoying and also very insecure.

“AVALANCHE will soon become famous, you'll see. And that means that I’ll be too," he said with conviction, but he still sought the approval from others. “Do you think I'll succeed?”

Cloud remained in silence and ended up crossing his arms.

“What do you think?”

“Well, I've been feeling like I’ve been playing second fiddle all my life, but after joining AVALANCHE and trying to help the planet... I don’t know, it's like I feel capable of anything.”

He saw the big smile that appeared on Wedge's face and the brightness in his eyes, and he couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.

“Dreaming is free of charge.” Cloud said, at risk of sounding like a total jerk.

Wedge's face snapped a little. Apparently he didn’t expect such a comment.

“That was very cruel, Cloud... do you really think so?”

Cloud simply shrugged and didn’t continue with the conversation. He wasn’t being cruel, it wasn’t his intention to look like that either. He was just trying to get Wedge out of that cloud of unreality. How could he be so optimistic after blowing a hole in the reactor? At the most, he should be grateful of being alive, because the worst was yet to come.

Wedge sighed and returned to his place next to Jessie, who was preparing a couple of things on the car's information panel. Cloud noticed she eyeing him for a moment, but quickly turned to Zack a little embarrassed.

“Hey, Zack, can you come here for a moment?” she said, pretending with intent that the shared look with Cloud didn’t happen. “This can help you when you want to move around the city.”

His partner got up from his place, careful to not disturb Biggs, and accompanied Jessie to the front of the panel. Cloud pretended that he didn’t care, but he was listening to the didactic conversation about the train, the Sectors and Midgar in general. Jessie explained with great detail everything related to technology and computing, but above all, she seemed an expert in the operation of the train and the routes it made from one Sector to another. The suburbs were buried by a series of concentric plates that supported the second level of the city, Midgar, to a large central column and the walls of the suburbs. Within that column, the trains moved spirally between sectors and levels, all divided into eight parts and each one with a Reactor that provided electricity to its corresponding sector. As expected, the wealthiest families overlapped on the poorest, literally.

“Throughout the entire route there’re a few checkpoints that the system can read and identify each passenger’s IDs,” Jessie explained to Zack, who was very attentive to the lesson. “Anyone would say that we look suspicious. That's why I'm in charge of creating false documentation so that-”

Suddenly, the lights of the car started blinking periodically with a staggering red.

“Talking of the devil... that light means that we’re in a checkpoint. If everything goes well, the lights will go out without further ado, although we shouldn’t be overconfident. Anyway, we’re already arriving and they won’t waste time with us.”

Moments later, the wagon recovered its normal illumination. For now, they seemed to have passed control.

Cloud lost interest in Zack and Jessie, who seemed to get along quite well. They kept chatting about the city's train system and the new identifiers that Jessie intended to make.

Among Bigg’s soft snoring, Barret seemed the most thoughtful. He took advantage of the fact that Cloud was alone to start a small conversation or, as he was interpreting it, another attempt to know his thoughts.

“The suburbs can already be seen," Barret said as he watched through the car window. “There’s no day or night here... if it weren’t for that plate, we would see the sky.”

At that moment, Cloud got up from his seat to be able to observe from the same angle as Barret.

“A floating city above our heads... a pretty unsettling image.”

Barret stared at Cloud, confused by his words.

"I didn’t expect to hear that from you," he confessed. “You’re full of surprises.”

Cloud said nothing and continued to watch the depressing landscape of Sector 7.

“It's because of that shit that people down here are suffering," Barret continued. “We only breathe polluted air and, meanwhile, the Reactors continue to drain all the energy of the planet.”

He already knew this topic would come.

“Why not just move to the surface?”

“And what do I know? Maybe because they don’t have money or because it’s their home and they don’t care how contaminated it is.”

“I get it... no one lives in these shacks for fun," Cloud thought over it. “It's like this train; it can only move where the rails carry it.”

v.

The train arrived at its destination, to the same station where Cloud and Zack were rescued by Tifa and the others. Cloud finally stepped on firm ground when the others in the group left very excited for the success of the mission. Zack was waiting for him at the door, but he barely had time to meet and chat, as Barret demanded their attention with his powerful voice.

“Hey! All of you come here!”

Tediously, both approached Barret while he was surrounded by the other three. He looked around in case anyone suspicious would approach to spy on them.

“Well, guys. Today's mission has been a success, but don’t rest on your laurels because the worst is yet to come," he explained with great vigour. “I hope the explosion didn’t scare you because the next one is going to be even bigger. We’ll meet at the hideout!”

Barret made them scatter with a gesture and advanced his way to the end of the platform. However, Zack and Cloud preferred to go at their pace, together.

"I’m dying to get there and kick back for a while," Zack breathed as he put both hands behind his neck. “I’ll admit I expected a worse result.”

“Me too.”

Although the words of Zack were said to initiate a conversation with Cloud, it was very difficult to continue for him.

Zack's look was very curious on their way to Tifa’s, because he didn’t stopped observing him out of the corner of the eye. For a moment he felt uncomfortable that he had his full attention on him.

"I've been thinking for a while..." Zack spoke again. “Where did you get that flower?”

Cloud looked down at the flower that still stood upright at the edge of his belt.

“I bought it from a girl when I was on my way to the station.”

And for some strange reason, that made Zack smile gently.

“That's why you arrived so late, huh? You little charmer…”

Cloud shook his head repeatedly, giving too much to what Zack could imagine about it. His laughter was fueled by his rushed reaction, it seemed.

“Calm down, I was kidding," the taller admitted with a laugh.

“I only bought it.” he wanted to clarify.

An answer that seemed to leave Zack somewhat more confused. After having seen Cloud's behavior in the recent weeks...

“It’s for Tifa?”

Cloud had to make another silent pause, unable to explain why on earth he had bought a flower if he didn’t plan on keeping it or giving it away. He felt like an idiot.

“No…”

“And why don’t you gift it to her?” Zack suggested then. “She helped us a lot.”

Slowly, Cloud looked at his companion, who seemed to wait for a ‘yes’ in response. He wasn’t very convinced to thank Tifa with a flower, but how could someone tell him ‘no’ at that goofy face? Cloud didn’t question Zack’s suggestion, although he wondered why so much interest in that subject.

“Alright.”

He finally yielded and Zack awarded him with a good pat on the shoulder.

During the whole trip to Tifa’s neighborhood, they talked about the real reason why Cloud took so long to meet them on the train. They walked from the station to the beginning of shanties that shaped one of the poorest area in the sector. The ground was barren earth and its air was almost painful to breathe. On the way, it was easy to see piles of junk and garbage accumulating, or people taking advantage of what others discarded. Cloud hadn’t thought much about that until now, a subtle sense of grief began towards those people.

One knew that they arrived to the neighborhood when the shacks became a little more sophisticated. Even some houses that had formed a small open-air town many years ago still stood. That was the case of the Seventh Heaven, the most famous bar in the area. At his doors was Barret, looking for them with his gaze.

“Come on, slowpokes!”

As they arrived at the bar, a fuss formed inside thanks to Barret's coarseness. He got inside to remove all the customers who had lagged behind at the first warning at gunpoint. They came out in droves and went down the stairs with insults in their mouths. Meanwhile, poor Tifa apologized for the inconvenience he had caused.

The members of AVALANCHE took their place inside the bar, except for Barret.

“You went a little beyond the pale, dude," Zack said to Barret as he went up the stairs next to Cloud.

“Not at all! They were warned already.”

Cloud finished climbing and went straight into the bar, almost making it but Barret blocked his path. He flashed a half-sided smile and a somewhat unwelcome comment. And to emphasize, he pointed to the flower he carried on him.

“Looking forward to see your girlfriend, huh?”

"She isn’t my girlfriend," he answered dryly.

Cloud didn’t stop for a second to discuss the matter and moved inside.

"You’re so boring..." Barret mumbled.

Barret looked at Zack, who raised a shoulder and excused his friend offhandedly. Apparently he wasn’t surprised at Cloud’s attitude and didn’t seem to care either.

“He’s never been into that stuff.”

Both Zack and Barret stayed outside chatting and, just as Cloud passed through the door, Marlene, Barret's daughter, ran out from behind the bar to receive him, thinking he was his father.

“Daddy! Daddy!”

But as soon as she saw the imposing figure of Cloud, the girl retracted and went back the way she had come. She hugged Tifa's lap, pretending she didn’t mistaken him for her dad.

"Marlene, it's just Cloud..." Tifa told her with a reassuring smile.

She took both Marlene's hands and forced her to come out from behind the bar, beside her, but the girl bashfully refused. Meanwhile, the other three members of AVALANCHE watching the scene, gathered at a table to eat.

“You won’t say anything to him?” she insisted.

In the end, she got Marlene to come closer, just to have her come back to hide behind her back. For some reason, Cloud didn’t generate any trust… but he couldn’t care less.

"Welcome, Cloud," Tifa greeted him without losing the smile. “It seems that everything went very well. Where is Barret?”

“Outside with Zack," he said, pointing with his thumb to the door.

Silence settled between them, something that always made Tifa feel awkward. That's why she tried to break the silence.

“Did you argue with Barret again?”

Something that Cloud found hard to admit, but it shouldn’t matter to him. He just stood there without a word; he didn’t need to say anything, his friend knew the answer already.

“That's a ‘yes’, right?” she sighed as she held Marlene closer to her. “I have to wonder... Barret’s always bossing you around and you’re always getting into fights at the slightest provocation. I was worried, really.”

« What’s this? A lecture? »

“If I’m honest, you haven’t changed that much." She smiled with with a bitter expression on her face, but it changed when she noticed the flower that Cloud kept under the leather belt. “Oh, is that a flower?”

Tifa let go of the little girl for a moment so she could get closer to see better the flower, but she stopped halfway there, knowing how important personal space was for Cloud.

“It’s hard to see them in the city, but…”

When Cloud caught Tifa's intentions, he took out the flower and handed it stiffely to her. The truth was that he was only doing what Zack suggested to get rid of the flower.

“For me?” Tifa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Cloud, it wasn’t necessary.” The small gift brought a sincere smile to Tifa, who took the flower between her fingers and smelled its soft fragrance.

"It was nothing," Cloud said, downplaying the gift with a gesture.

He didn’t attach importance to that gift, but he worried that she would. At least he kind of felt at ease to thank Tifa for giving them shelter in her home.

“It's beautiful... thank you. I wish I could fill up the bar with a lots of them.”

Tifa turned to Marlene and squatted down to show her the flower.

“Marlene, come here” she encouraged the kid to gain confidence, which she achieved thanks to the outstanding yellow of the petals. “Look what Cloud’s brought.”

The girl looked with curiosity at it and Tifa, after looking happily at Cloud, placed the flower in the kid’s brown hair to embellish it. She ended up caressing it and then stood up from the floor to pay him attention again.

“I'm glad you're all ok.”

Tifa put her hands behind her back, ready to start a conversation since Cloud remained as quiet as usual. However, Zack and Barret returned to the bar, ruining any chances of peace and quiet. It was then that Marlene did run very determined to her father's arms.

“Hey, Marlene!”

Barret picked up his daughter from the floor and then sat her on one of his broad, strong shoulders. No one would say that this calm and affectionate guy was the same Barret who was in the Reactor setting a bomb.

“And that flower? Did Cloud give it to you?”

That left Barret quite shocked. He looked at Cloud and he simply pretended he wasn’t paying attention.

“And you thanked him?”

Marlene shook her head, to which she responded with a shy thanks for the blonde.

“You see? It wasn’t that bad.” he could heard Zack’s hushed whispering near his ear.

Those words grated on him without knowing the reason very well.

Since that moment, they had a little time to relax. Tifa and Marlene, along with Barret, returned to take care of the bar while the others enjoyed the drinks and food, though Cloud didn’t seem to be really interested.  Zack was already having a good time with Biggs, Jessie and Wedge at the table. The group quickly became aware of Cloud’s solitude, Biggs being the first to get his attention.

“Hey, Cloud! Why don’t you join us?” he said with the words a little dragged, showing him a bottle of whiskey.

Unfortunately, alcohol wasn’t an incentive for Cloud, much less if they were the company.

“Not interested.”

The group laughed, but Zack seemed somewhat more concerned about the situation his friend was going through.

“What?! Oh, come on..." Biggs hit the table with the bottle. “Do you think you're better than anyone because you were in SOLDIER? Zack’s much cooler than you.”

Something Cloud didn’t answer. He didn’t care what he thought of him or how different he was from Zack.

“Whatever... while you're with us, you're still a rookie to me,” he continued with a rather drunken laughter. “You should listen to me and drink a little.”

“Shut up, Biggs," Jessie said as she lift a hand to her face. “You’re making us all cringe…”

At last they gave him the space he needed, although their voices didn’t stop echoing loudly in the bar, interrupting Cloud’s resting at any time they were especially noisy. At least eating distracted him; some fries in sauce were enough. His prefered food caught Wedge’s attention, who turned in his seat to talk to Cloud.

“Tifa’s cooking is amazing, right?” He smiled, but Cloud knew better. He was trying to get closer and be liked. “That is why—”

"I'm not interested in your stories," the blonde cut him off before he ran his mouth.

The last thing Cloud wanted at that moment was to talk or listen to other’s life story. He knew very well what Wedge was trying to do, so he preferred to keep him in line.

Wedge then just kept hushed and turned back to the group.

Although Cloud's attitude towards others could be very draining, none seemed to stop enjoying themselves. It was as simple as leaving him alone.

The group barely finished eating and drinking when Barret raised his voice again. It seemed Barret didn’t know what breaks were. He called everyone to meet in the hiding place for the last meeting of the night. He approached the pinball machine on one side of the large room and, after pressing a button combination, a small wooden portion of the floor revealed that it was, in fact, a moving platform. It descended to an subterranean room, what Barret called ‘the hideout’. Behind him followed his henchmen and Zack along with Jessie.

Cloud sighed heavily and rose from his spot. He had no desire to continue dealing with Barret or the rest. He just wanted to leave, he needed to leave and escape from that burdensome social environment. And if he had to leave Zack on the way, he would.

Suddenly, as he marched towards the platform, Tifa's voice interrupted his path from behind the bar.

“Cloud, why don’t you sit here for a moment?”

He approached reluctantly to her and sat down in front of the bar, his eyes slightly narrowed and his arms on the surface. He could see Tifa from the side, drying some glasses with a rag; Marlene was a bit further from Tifa’s place, away from Cloud.

“Fancy something to drink?” she broke the ice easily this time.

“Not really.”

“Hey, don’t you trust my barmaid skills?” the brunette teased a little. “They say I make the best cocktails in the whole area... are you sure you don’t want to try?” due to her insistence, Cloud gave in.

“Alright, but not too strong.”

“Okay, give me a minute” Tifa smiled pleased.

She turned to the drinks she stored on the shelf and took only some soda and rum. In front of Cloud, Tifa began to mix the drink in a medium-sized glass.

“You know...? It’s really been a relief to see you come back in one piece.”

A statement that confused him a little.

“What’s this for? It wasn’t that bad.”

The response was kind of aggressive for someone as insecure as Tifa, he didn’t know if she could stand it. But she just left the drink ready in front of him.

“No, I guess not... after all, you were in SOLDIER,” and then she changed the subject. “Make sure Barret pays you.”

“Don’t worry," he said before giving the cocktail a good drink. “Once we have the money, we’re leaving... at least I am.”

He felt sorry for Zack, but he wasn’t going to continue under Barret’s command and his madness. It was a decision he had made on the fly and, apparently, Tifa didn’t like his idea too much because of how quiet she remained.

He took the moment to finish the drink and get up from the stool. Then, she hurried to make the blond stop before he could leave.

“Cloud…” her concern was blatantly obvious. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… why?”

“It’s nothing. You must be tired.”

Cloud stay stunned in the spot. He couldn’t understand Tifa's behavior most of the time but he knew something was on her mind, and she not to feel like telling him what.

“It’d be better if you meet with Barret.”

And after that, Tifa returned to her work with a seriousness like few other times, although she tried to hide it. Cloud, on the other hand, wouldn’t worry about that much more. He’d go down, talk to Barret, and leave when the man gave him his money.

Once down there, he found a pretty striking and jovial picture. The basement was composed of a kind of dirty and old room, but it accomplished the purpose as a hiding place. In the back was Wedge sitting at a table, Barret beside him energetically banging his fists against a punching bag while Biggs cheered him up; to the right, Jessie and Zack were front of a computer talking about the current news that came out in relation to the explosion.

"We've gotten ourselves into a shady business," Jessie commented, typing quickly. “The president has just mobilized a group of SOLDIERs.”

“Sooner or later he was going do it." Zack crossed his arms. “You went too far by blowing up the Reactor.”

And Cloud couldn’t agree more with him.

"I know that, but I'm proud of having created such a destructive bomb." She smiled lopsided and pointed to the TV screen. The images of a surveillance camera that caught the explosion were shown over and over again.

“Between us, the mission’s been a success mostly thanks to you," he complimented her. “And I’m sure you have other skills…”

Jessie stuck out her tongue, laughing. Then she ended up giving him a gentle blow on one of his arms.

“Silly… don’t flirt with me!”

Something that Zack responded with an amused laugh.

Cloud remained impassive in front of such conversation, not finding the slightest seriousness in all that. He was wasting his time there.

In that moment, Barret stopped hitting the punching bag and approached the rest of the crew.

"Hey, you two," he called as he tapped the gun-arm against his palm. “Was there someone from SOLDIER we overlooked back there?”

“No, I'm sure," Zack replied, to which Cloud also confirmed with a nod.

However, Barret looked at them incredulous.

“Really? I’m not so sure…”

“Believe us. If there were someone from SOLDIER in the mission, right now you wouldn’t be standing there saying that," Cloud challenged the older man.

He was tired of Barret questioning everything they told to him, but it was clear that Barret was still more tired of Cloud’s arrogant attitude. Both were on their limit after having accumulated so much anger.

“Is that so…?”

As he suspected it would happen, Barret lunged for Cloud and grabbed him by the collar of the sleeveless shirt, defying him with his gaze.

“You think you’re a hell of a guy just because you've been in SOLDIER, right?”

But Cloud remained unmoved by the accusation.

“Barret, calm down!” Biggs exclaimed when he saw that the situation could end really bad.

Biggs along with Zack, both stepped in between the two to separate them. Barret was a very strong man, so someone had to take a good blow before immobilizing him. Unfortunately Biggs was the one receiving it, who ended up on the floor with a good punch in the mouth. Zack, on the other hand, had managed to get Barret away from an surprisingly serene Cloud.

“Enough, Barret…”

“Alright, alright!” he said after getting rid of Zack's grip. “You may be strong… maybe all SOLDIERs are. But you, Cloud," he pointed him out firmly, "don’t forget that you’re now working for AVALANCHE.”

And Cloud still didn’t take his statement seriously, only now he tried to pretend he did, for the sake of Zack more than anything. He didn’t not want Barret to end up hitting him too.

"Don’t even try to go back with Shin-Ra,” Barrett said finally.

“Go back to Shin-Ra?” he mocked him. “You asked us a question, we answered... end of the story.”

After that, Cloud turned around and walked towards the platform.

“I'm going upstairs. I want to talk about my money.”

Exactly, Cloud was taking Zack out of the equation without even consulting him.

“What?” Zack said surprised. “Cloud, wait!”

“Let him go. Don’t you see he misses Shin-Ra?”

And that was enough to take Cloud to the final straw. With fists clenched and shaking, he ended up turning to Barret.

“Shut up!” he yelled angrily, louder than anyone present ever heard him. “I don’t give a shit about Shin-Ra or SOLDIER!” He took a deep breath before speaking again, his body beginning to tremble. “But that doesn’t mean I do care about AVALANCHE or the planet!

He frowned and, without waiting for a counterback, he marched from the platform to the upper floor.

He wanted to reinforce himself, especially in front of his friend, since he feared that Barret's words would make him doubt of their alliance. The truth was that he didn't understand why he cared in that instant moment... When did Zack become so important to him? If he only was one more guy among the others... but, just like Tifa, he felt a connection with him. He would simply ignore those feelings of attachment and that was he planned to do. Get rid of everything that tied him there and made him feel bad.

Arriving at the top floor, the presence of Tifa surprised him. Almost in front of her, he supposed she'd be looking to meet them downstairs, so he quickly slid away from her, toward the bar exit, without saying a word. Yes, it was very easy to run away from all of it.

“Cloud? Where are you going?”

Tifa went after him and interrupted his pace with that simple question. However, for Cloud, it wasn’t easy to answer, less and less as the time passed. That's why he didn't know what to say at all. Tifa seemed to know him better than he’d like to admit, almost like Zack’s case.

"You won’t stay with AVALANCHE?” she asked with disappointment.

“I'm sorry, Tifa…”

He could hear sighing from behind his back.

“The planet’s dying. Slowly, but someday it will," she said as she took a step closer to him. “Someone has to do something.”

Cautiously, Cloud turned around and looked up at her.

“Barret and the others are already doing something” he justified like that his imminent departure. “I’ve nothing to do here.”

“So... you’ll simply leave?” she asked with a reproachful tone. “After all we’ve been through as kids?”

That went directly to Cloud's wounded pride. Unable to remember almost anything of his childhood, Tifa attacked right where it could affect him most. Even so, he digged on his heels.

“Sorry…” he apologized again, already tired of talking.

“And you even forgot our promise…”

“What promise?” he worried to ask.

Tifa responded with a soft sigh and placed the hands on her hips.

“Try to remember. It was seven years ago.”

Cloud nodded slightly and tried to recall the the memory she was talking about, but with that much pressure... for now, there was only a small blurred cloud of something related to a plaza.

“It was in the park... remember?”

That was the key to visualize Nibelheim plaza.

"I think... I do," he acknowledged. “I thought you’d never come and I was getting cold.”

***

A young Cloud waited for his friend at the well in the center of the plaza. It was a beautiful starry night that lighted up the town with its dim light. He was sitting on the wooden ledges that made up the well structure, bored and alone. Despite being in the thick of summer, the night was quite cool and he hadn’t taken anything to cover himself. The cold made him shrink a bit in his place and, wanting to go home. Why did he think she would come?

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard behind his back. Cloud turned his head to find Tifa somewhat hurried, dressed in a little more clothes.

"Sorry, I'm a little late." she tucked in a strand of hair.

Cloud returned his gaze to the front nervously.

“Well... what did you want to tell me?” she asked.

Tifa sat on the ledge too, but keeping a distance with him.

"I’ll soon leave the village and go to Midgar.”

That answer made Tifa look down. Then she rested a heel on the ledge and hugged her own leg.

“Everyone’s leaving…”

Having more possibilities of finding a job in the city and Shin-Ra’s rising, the company required more workers to expand its energetic monopoly.

“But I won’t do it for a simple job," Cloud explained, afraid of giving the wrong impression. “I want to join SOLDIER and be the best, like Sephiroth.”

She smiled bitterly and looked up at the sky.

“Sephiroth... the great Sephiroth.”

Cloud nodded and stood on the ledge. Being little talkative, the social situation forced him to think of something to say, but he couldn’t think of anything. Nervously, he wanted to appear busy and managed to climb the well and sit right on the edge of the well's interior.

“Isn’t it very difficult to get into SOLDIER?” Tifa asked.

Due to Cloud's difficulties, in the end, she had to take the step to speak. However, the question was a bit treacherous, especially for herself.

"I’m sure I won’t come back in a long time," he admitted.

Tifa took some time to respond.

“If you do it right, you’ll be in the newspapers.”

“Maybe.”

"No... you have to be sure of it," Tifa said as she looked up at him.

Cloud, on the other hand, didn’t show a single bit of conviction. She knew it somehow and wanted to help him.

“Hey, why don’t we make a promise?” she smiled. “If you manage to become a SOLDIER and be famous, we could form a team. We would help each other if we were ever in danger.”

“What?” Cloud didn’t understand the reason of that promise.

“Whenever one of the two is in trouble, the other will go to the rescue. We’d be like heroes..." she explained eagerly. “I’d like to experience it, once at least.”

“But... why?”

"Come on," she begged sympathetically. “Promise me.”

Cloud thought about it for a moment and didn’t hesitate when giving an answer.

“Alright…”

And, above their heads, just a shooting star crossed the sky to seal their promise.

***

“You remember it already, right?”

He only just bowed his head.

“I’m not a hero nor am I famous. I cannot keep the promise.”

The memory, despite of bringing hope for a moment, did nothing but remind him of his failure. He forgot it and he surely never gave it enough importance if reached that point. He’d understand if Tifa was disappointed, but it was only a fool kid’s promise and he didn’t want to give it any value.

“But you fulfilled your childhood dream! You joined SOLDIER,” she tried to regain Cloud's trust. “Of course you can keep the promise.”

He were close to shake his head, apologize and turn around to leave, but from the subterranean room came Barret along with Zack and, apparently, with lots of things to talk about.

“Hey, wait a moment, SOLDIER!” Barret exclaimed as he approached him. “Do you want your money or not?”

Cloud looked at the outstretched hand, which offered him a good amount of money. Beside him, Zack smiled and, by the wink he dedicated to him, surely had convinced the man to pay him already. Cloud run out of words.

He took the money and began to count it; he didn’t want surprises, but he got them anyway.

“Wait... fifteen hundred?” he said with astonishment.

When looking up at Barret, he noticed the man ignoring that detail, but Zack's gaze told him what really happened.

“But…”

“But nothing!” Zack said, approaching Cloud and placing his hands on his shoulders. “If you leave us, I want sleep peacefully. You'll need the money while you're not here.”

“I thought you needed it as well.”

But Zack shook his head.

“I'll stay here for a while longer, don’t worry. I know how important it’s for you to be alone and that's why I’m doing you the favor.”

And even if Zack tried to hide it, Cloud suspected that his decision had hurt him... and Tifa too. He never imagined being so important to them, that they'd do anything to keep him close and, if that wasn’t possible, make the break up as easy as possible.

"Thank you..." he said quietly, lingering to put the money in his uniform pocket.

“But you'd better stay tonight," Tifa offered before he decided to leave. “Rest and get ready for tomorrow.”

However, Cloud wasn’t so sure now about his own decision. He looked at the three before him and then regained his confident attitude.

"Maybe I’m reconsidering it now..." he said as he handed the money to Zack and then faced Barret. “You’ve planned the next mission? We’ll do it for three thousand gil this time.”

Barret's face told it all.

“What?!”

Tifa and Zack, both so surprised by the sudden change of Cloud, ended up laughing, but fully happy to have him back. Especially Zack, who couldn’t help but jump to embrace the blonde to celebrate it. After receiving their warm greetings, Tifa thanked Cloud for the decision to stay a little longer.

And, without being able to avoid it, the bonds between friends began to narrow without the need of some memories.

Like that night, the next day would have more surprises. Barret thought that a new attack would be more destructive if they didn’t delay it. Everyone wanted to convince him that this would make the mission even more dangerous, but he didn't want to listen. At least he agreed to pay the three thousand gil.

Before everyone went to sleep, Wedge stopped Cloud for a moment... again, this time he was somewhat bolder with his statements.

“You always say you don’t care, but you're still with us... do you know what I think? I think that you really only want to have friends.”

Cloud had no answer for that, because he hadn’t even thought much about it. He just ignored it. Somehow he was afraid it might be true.

vi.

Cloud had just taken a bath and was now preparing to rest in his small room. He barely sat on the bed when someone knocked his door. He didn’t answered at all and, in a few seconds, Zack's head sticked out from the door, greeting him with a hand and a smile.

“Going to sleep?”

“It's three o'clock in the morning... what did you expect?” Cloud said as he leaned back on the bed and rested his head on the pillow.

What he should have expected is that Zack was a very active guy, so he wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t completely tired. Maybe he wasn’t either after all.

"Right..." he scratched the back of his neck and, without waiting for his permission, entered the room. “Mind if I stay a moment?”

Cloud shook his head, but he either promised he would give him his full attention. In that position, he was starting to get sleepy.

“It’s nothing, I only came because I was really surprised you decided to stay,” Zack said while taking a seat in the closer chair. “Seriously, I thought you were leaving for sure.”

His words left him with nothing to say, just looking at the old ceiling of the room. Anyway, he knew why he said them.

“Me too..." he admitted, but omitting all the details of why he stayed in the end.

“Was it Tifa?” he raised an eyebrow along a smile. “Did she press a lot?”

The suggestion made him sigh heavily. Then he shook his head, but wouldn’t say anything more that could reveal his feelings, ones that even he didn’t even understand or acknowledge.

"Well, what you should do is not provoke Barret so much." he crossed his arms as he leaned back against the back of the chair.

“He’s the one who won’t stop taking my comments personally.”

“Cloud... you know what I mean,” he explained. “I know you're just being yourself, but Barret is Barret and... look, just do your bit, okay? I've talked with him before and he's also going to try to not reach the limits of tonight.”

Cloud didn’t agree, but at least it was an agreement on both sides.

“Alright...I'll try." He yielded and closed his eyes. “He could start by not talking nonsense of the planet and Shin-Ra.”

That answer made Zack grimace, apparently not agreeing with Cloud’s thoughts.

"You haven’t even given him the benefit of the doubt.”

Suddenly, Cloud opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Zack. The blonde was convinced that Zack still didn’t care about that matter.

“Do you believe those conspiracy theories?”

Zack shrugged.

“Maybe. I have no reason to think otherwise either. Plus, they’re so convinced of it... Do you think if it were a fraud they would take the risk to put a bomb, knowing they wouldn’t make it out alive?” he explained his reasons of why he didn’t see it so preposterous. “Dunno, I don’t think they’re imagining all this...”

Cloud thought about it. He didn’t know why, but maybe Jessie was behind all that. He had seen them too close that day... and that could make Zack think about the subject. Or it was simply a strategy to hook up with her and, in the end, it turned out the other way around.

“If you say so..." he answered, now having second thoughts. “Anyway, they’re just wasting time. The planet’s already doomed.”

His pessimistic point of view caused Zack to suffocate a soft laugh.

“You didn’t changed at all deep inside.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that. Although you’ve lost your memory and I find you off in your head sometimes, there are times when I can see the same Cloud as always.”

He didn’t know how to answer to that. Nor what Zack meant either, but he supposed he could take it as a good sign. Cloud could hardly remember anything of his past in the last few days, but, that night, he could say that he managed to connect with a small part of himself.

Chapter Text

i.

He hadn’t rested very well nor enough. They should be ready for the next mission that morning. Sector 4 was their next destination and their target was the Reactor that supplied energy all the area. Barret’s rushed plan for that day was quite reckless, but they would be prepared for any mishap. Two destroyed Reactors would make Midgar to fall apart, although they would need to do much more to destroy the city completely.

Cloud was ready to meet the group at the bar. When he left his room, Zack was waiting for him to go down the stairs together. Incredibly, he looked much better than him.

Once downstairs, Tifa, Barret and the others were waiting for them eating breakfast. The scene was worth seeing: Tifa not being able to keep up with the dishes and drinks, Barret explaining to his daughter that they would return soon and the others shouting.

« What a way to start the morning... »

"I'm going to eat," Zack said as he approached the bar.

Cloud followed him and sat beside him on the stools. Shortly after, Tifa came at the other side of the bar to greet them. "Good morning, guys," she removed the dirty dishes from the tray. “You rested well?”

It was strange to hear good morning when in the slums was always dark. Cloud supposed it was the kind of comment that only someone non-native from Midgar would make, exactly as they were.

Zack, by his rested expression, seemed to have slept well enough. On the other hand, Cloud was the one with the worst face. He shook his head gently.

“Where was Barret sleeping?” he asked with annoyance. “I couldn’t sleep because of the snoring.”

Zack contained his laughter in the throat, while covering his mouth with the knuckles. On the other hand, Tifa placed a finger to her lips to silence them both; Barret was very close to them.

“Talk quietly," she whispered near them, leaning to both mercenaries. “If Barret hears you, he’ll get really mad. He’s always very irritable before missions.”

“You don’t say…” Cloud replied with a hand on his face.

"Hey, Tifa," Zack addressed her. “Bring us something to eat? Not too much tho.”

She said nothing and took care to put the food on their plates that she had previously prepared. Some coffee to accompany something solid and that should do. She placed everything in front of them and they both started their breakfast readily.

“I haven’t told you, but I'm going with you on this mission.” Tifa said to keep them informed, which made Zack react positively.

“Great, the more the merrier.”

Or maybe not. Cloud immediately thought that too many people on a mission would be excessive, and the mission itself was already quite dangerous. It wasn’t like he didn’t have faith in Tifa's fighting skills, but he couldn’t help but think she was left over and she would slow them down.

“By the way, before we get fully involved in the work," Tifa continued, unaware of Cloud’s opinion. “It won’t hurt if you buy some stuff. Since the security patrols have been doubled, it would be good if we were prepared. Make a good use to the pay Barret gave you.

Barret, who had been listening at that moment, got into the conversation. “Tifa’s right,” he approached them from behind. “We’re already leaving to the station. We’ll be waiting for you there, so don’t be late! Jessie wasn’t able to finish the false IDs for today, so we’ll have to search for another alternative.”

« Great... we’re in the dark today. »

And he didn’t know why he was yet surprised.

AVALANCHE didn’t delay getting out towards the train station. Tifa went with them after leaving the bar and Marlene under the care of a trusted worker. On the other hand, Cloud and Zack made the most of the their left time to make some shoppings in the surrounding stores.

It wasn’t a safe place, and they didn’t even have to live in there to know it. Some stores lacked clients due to previous robberies, poor condition of the merchandise or because of a shortage of money. Some owners were ruined, others took advantage of the need of people to raise prices. Fortunately, Cloud and Zack weren’t those poor people. It was strange going into a store and not find a clerk forcing someone to buy in exchange for one’s life, although worse things had been seen. The slums were a nest of bloodsuckers, traffickers, murderers, rapists and countless criminals. It was fortunate that they both didn’t have any problem with anyone... or rather fortunate for those people.

They didn’t take long to buy some supplies, avoiding especially dangerous shops. Even if they took the SOLDIER training, they still required a little extra help for the mission. So they bought some materia of different elements, one of each; fire, thunder, blizzard and a cure. It was a mineral created from Mako energy that, in high doses, could materialize. Depending on the type of exposure, these minerals could alter the environment in one way or another. This required an external factor, the human mind and a material that could distribute its energy. Shin-Ra created weapons and objects that were able to conduct that energy and direct it more easily to its target. By that time, the materia was adapted to the real-life settings, at least for those who could afford it; it was a product that many valued, people payed a dough for one, or even the savings of a lifetime. The connection between the materia and the human mind and the environment was still unknown. As much as it was being investigated, scientists found it difficult to find out the link that united one thing to the other. But SOLDIER didn’t care as long as it worked for battle.

Eventually they reached the platform where the train would head for Sector 4. As soon as both SOLDIERs arrived, AVALANCHE got into the first car. Soon after, Zack and Cloud followed.

Already inside, Barret sent the team to split up across the entire length of the train. A good strategy to not draw attention, but the strange thing about that morning was that almost no one could be seen inside the train.

While the group was scattering, Cloud recognized a man in a suit on his way, sitting with a harsh face. He was the same exact guy that guarded the last train the previous night. He couldn’t forget him, since he directed them a very scornful look, just like now, accompanied by an unfortunate comment.

“Again the same thugs? Lucky me…”

Cloud and Zack ignored him and continued forward. However, Barret, who was usually very attentive to the bad comments they received, approached the man to give him a good scare.

“Said something?”

But he didn’t have an answer.

“I’ll say it again… You said something?”

As he spoke, he got closer to the man and he shrinked in place, totally scared.

“What's going on? Why is this so empty today?” Barret insisted.

“Isn’t it obvious? It's because people like you!” He replied with concealed courage.

Barret was incredulous and punched the windowpane to warn him, he wanted details. The guy shouted with terror, completely intimidated by the imposing frame of Barret.

“A-Alright! You... You've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE said there’ll be more explosions. It’s obvious that people stayed in their homes. Only workers as devoted as me would go to work on a day like this…”

That confession made Barret suspicious and, and on a nervous breakdown because of the mission, he went off the deep end. He aimed directly at the guy's head with his gun-arm.

“You work for Shin-Ra?!”

“Oh dear!” He screamed again, holding his briefcase tightly to his chest. “Your threats don’t scare me!”

Barret’s gun-arm shook as he didn’t get the answer he wanted to hear.

“Barret! Stop already,” Tifa quickly stopped him before Barret ended up doing something stupid.

“Lucky bastard…” he mumbled.

Tifa apologized before that poor man and immediately took Barret to the front door of the first car where Zack and Cloud were waiting for them. The latter crossed his arms and eyed the others with excessive serenity.

“And what now?” Cloud asked.

Barret sighed heavily, facing the blond.

“Shit…” he later complained. “How can you be so calm? You get on my nerves.”

Cloud just shrugged. What did it matter to him? Another proof more that Barret lose his temper for any nonsense.

At that precise moment, the train started up with a soft rattle. From its inside, the mechanism that operated the train and the friction of the rails started to get louder and louder.

“Seems the wagons have been just connected,” Tifa commented, looking at both sides.

With so many interruptions, Zack had to intervene again with the same question his friend did.

“What are we gonna do now?”

“Let’s see… I’m sure Jessie’s already told you both,” Barret said with his arms crossed. “About the checkpoint and the security update to identify the intruders.”

“Something Shin-Ra’s very proud of,” Tifa added with a serious expression.

“Right. That’s why we cannot use our fake IDs until Jessie decodes the new security code.”

Suddenly,over a loudspeaker, the passengers were informed that it would still take several minutes to reach Sector 4 train station.

“We only have three minutes left until the checkpoint,” and as how Tifa said it, she was worried.

“Alright then,” Barret pointed at both mercenaries. “In three minutes we jump from this train, got it?”

They both nodded.

“But you even know your way around the train subway?” Cloud asked, convinced that Barret hadn’t the slightest clue what they were going to do from now on.

“As SOLDIERs, you should know that place like the back of your hands,” he reproached them, as if he had the right to do so. “We’ll follow you.”

“What a nerve he has…” Zack groaned in annoyance.

Cloud shook his head from side to side in disbelief. Improvisation wasn’t going to help them that day.

Then, Tifa approached the information panel next to the door and gestured Cloud to join her.

“Come here a moment. I want to show you something.”

Yes, it was what Jessie showed Zack the night before. Cloud went towards the screen and stood casually with one hand on the waist, next to Tifa.

“You haven’t seen this before, right?” She said cheerfully. “From here we can find out where to go when we get out the train.”

However, there wasn’t time for a further explanation. The emergency alarm activated and the red lights flickered non-stop above the passengers. For the moment it was safe, but it was quite unusual. Tifa looked up at Cloud with concern.

“Strange… It was supposed we still had time before the checkpoint.”

All of a sudden, over the loudspeaker, a warning was given of the activation of the intruders search protocol.

“What’s happening?” the brunette startled, turning towards the rest.

“What do I know?!” Barret scowled, meanwhile he tried to get in contact with Jessie through the talkie. “Jessie, answer me!”

To make matters worse, the emergency exit gates had been blocked. Zack confirmed it when he had put a hand on the gate’s handle and tried to open it.

“We’re trapped?” Cloud asked, but not affected by the obvious outcome.

Fortunately, Jessie appeared through one of the doors connecting the wagons. She came with baited breath, panting because of the run from the first wagon.

“Guys, we have to change of car! I’ll explain later!”

“Shit! Someone snitched on us…”

And Barret’s furious gaze fixed on both ex-SOLDIERs. He didn’t trust them that much after all.

“There’s no time for that!” Jessie insisted, urging the group to step on the next wagon.

AVALANCHE’s leader groaned and was the first to move forward, behind him Jessie, Tifa, Zack and Cloud.

The safety system blocked the doors as they moved from one car to the next. In all that chaos, the few passengers that got in the train that morning screamed as AVALANCHE passed by them. Cloud moved forward behind them, covering their backs, sometimes glancing at the rear of the wagons.

Once they stepped on the third car, they all halted, awaiting for Jessie to hack the door that blocked their path.

“When this is gonna end?!” Barret was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

“Hang on a little more! They’re going to do another search. If they catch us, we’re finished,” Jessie sighed disheartened, “but don’t worry, if we carry on as before, we’ll make it.”

Jessie got to open the door temporarily and she advanced to the next car, in which she got inside by shoving a train worker that was in the way. Behind her, followed the rest of the group. Moving forward wasn’t too complicated, unfortunately, they couldn’t go on their tracks. Biggs and Wedge, disguised themselves with two Shin-Ra uniforms that let them went unnoticed. They managed to open the emergency gate that the rest would use to jump from the train.

“We made it!” Barret cheered up the team after being all the way with his nerves on edge, “Let’s get out of here!”

He pointed the direction the group had to follow: outside from a train in motion.

Zack was the first taking the next step.

“See you down there!” he said goodbye to his companions.

Like if the mission was no big deal, he got close to the gate and leaped to the underground tracks. Despite Zack’s confidence, it wasn’t enough to encourage Tifa.

“Isn’t it dangerous?” she mumbled as she checked the speed of the train.

“A little late to say that, don’t you think?” Cloud told her. Maybe a bit too harsh, keeping in mind the woman’s insecurity. “Why you came if you knew the risks?”

Tifa hung her head.

“Because…”

“Hey, lovebirds! There’s no time to waste!” Barret shouted to hurry them. “Jump already!”

Barret’s pressuring cleared Tifa’s doubts, even if she seemed to be still scared, she didn’t want slow down her comrades. She just took a deep breath, stepped closer to the edge and jumped.

On the other hand, Cloud knew that Barret was watching him closely. He turned around to face his boss, thinking he might want to be the next to jump.

“Care if I jump first?”

“A good leader always stays until the end,” he said with resolve. “Don’t worry about me and jump.”

And now he was acting all honorable… Even if Barret tried to hide it, the blond had his suspicions of what kind of leader he really was.

“Don’t hurt yourself, ok? The mission has just started!”

Cloud shrugged his shoulders, apathetic towards Barret’s words. The man just said the typical talk that could be heard on b-movies. It came of fake… or maybe he was just being unfair to the guy.

Cloud finally approached the gate and jumped.

ii.

It took them some time to gather together on the train tracks; a dark place, lit only by the faint emergency lights. From time to time, the screeching and tracing of the trains echoed through the immense tunnels, but nothing dangerous at the moment. Since they had fallen into areas somewhat distant from each other, they only had to follow the same direction of the rails until they found themselves in a dead-end road. However, Cloud took the opposite direction so he didn’t meet with Barret first. He had never been alone with him and he didn’t want that to change any sooner.

Shortly after he came across with Zack and Tifa, and continued the path with them; it was a relief to see that they were fine, even after the dangerous fall.

Later, they reached the end of the tunnel and the three saw Barret, who was going from one place to another with impatience. Soon he noticed them and, the strangest thing of all, is that he didn’t even flinch. The usual would be him screaming and hurrying them up.

When they reached his position, Barret looked with disdain at Zack and Cloud, but especially at the blond.

“You have to be pleased, right?” Barret said, irritation creeping on him.

He took a few strides towards him and faced Cloud fiercely.

“What are you talking about?” he asked bewildered. Cloud had no idea what got into him now.

“Don't play dumb now!” he taunted the blond and suddenly grabbed him by the neck of his sweater.

With his remarkable strength, he managed to lift the weight of Cloud effortlessly, and then throw him to the ground.

“Barret! What are you doing?!” Tifa shouted and ran to Cloud, who had fallen badly.

Zack, on the other hand, had to handle Barret, stopping him by the arms.

"Dude, calm down!" he cried out, but Barret kept shaking with anger. “What's wrong with you?!”

“What happened on the train…” he mumbled. “No doubt it was all because of him! I knew he couldn’t be trusted!”

Dealing with Barret’s delusions, Zack pushed him gently and then turned him around to make the taller man face him.

“Are you listening to yourself? Cloud would never betray us!” he said very convinced of his words.

“Well, then how do you explain what happened? Someone had to warn Shin-Ra!”

Zack clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.

“Exactly! An who was the one threatening one of the passengers for no reason?”

At that moment, Barret began to growl, as he held the desire to punch him. His silence invited Zack to advise him.

“Shit, Barret... You have to control those nerves. We cannot afford to doubt each other now.”

Barret sighed heavily and rubbed his hand over his face.

“Alright, alright…”

In the meantime, Tifa helped Cloud to stand up. Luckily, he had only been a little dazed by the strong jolt. Back on their feets, they agreed it wasn’t the time to start arguing, but Cloud could no longer trust that his relationship with Barret would improve one bit.

“Well, at least I can say nothing has come up that could screw our plans," Barret confessed, who seemed somewhat guilty for being carried along by panic and rage. “We'd better not let our guard down until we get to the Reactor. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge should be preparing everything until we get there.”

“For what I could see in the information panel, this tunnel connects to the Reactor. We just have to move forward," Tifa commented before receiving the approval from her teammates.

After that small crisis, the group advanced through the tunnel until they found a single detour to a corridor hidden by a door. It opened to a wider one, which bottom’s was blocked by a security system. The four stopped in front of the lasers that worked as a fence.

“It's impossible to continue straight ahead," Cloud said, inspecting the place. “These rays are sensors that can detect any movement. At this point, only a fool would want to continue through it.”

As he spoke, his steps took him to a suspicious corner. At an intersection of conduits, he found a badly placed iron plate that caught his attention. He knelt down and, without any problems, he removed the piece of metal and discover an air duct.

“Good intuition!" Zack congratulated him. “It seems somes in Shin-Ra don’t take their work very seriously.”

Barret moved closer, next to Tifa and Zack, to inspect that hole and immediately shook his head. refusing to go inside.

“Are you saying that’s the only way?” Barret roundly refused to use. “Hell no! I don’t plan going in there.”

“You have a better idea?” Zack asked, who received a bad gesture from Barret.

Tifa came closer and, like Cloud, stuck her head through the conduit to see if it was safe, at least for Barret, to continue through it.

"Doesn’t seem to be anything that can get us stuck inside," she explained and then looked at Cloud.

“But it won’t be a way out of the Reactor. It's narrow and there's no way to climb once we're down," Cloud continued with his observations.

And apparently they were enough to convince Barret.

“Yeah right, you don’t care because you're a shrimp," Barret huffed. “Well, that's it, let's not waste more time." He went ahead of the three to be the first to get inside. “I wonder when those Shin-Ra pigs are going to find us.”

The four finally got inside the conduit without much difficulty, except for Barret, who found it a little narrow; but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be solved with a little shove.

Through the air duct, they reached the maintenance gangways of the sector plate. It’s was the one that connected to the air system that kept the Reactor cooled. It was a space of large dimensions, only suitable for specialized in the field. It had an important number of ladders that connected to other rooms and other conduits.

In the distance, they could recognize Wedge, who pointed to the stairs they had to take to reach the Reactor. Later on, the same landscape awaited them again and again; Jessie was in charge of giving Cloud the bomb and Biggs also helped the group to pinpoint the road at each split. The other members of AVALANCHE would wait for Barret and the rest in the hideout, once their infiltrate mission had been completed.

In a matter of minutes, the four arrived at one of the large Reactor maintenance rooms, where the big energy warehouse was located. To save money on the Reactors construction, Shin-Ra had built all of them with the same blueprint, so finding the way to the core wasn’t complicated.

Once again, before the imposing structure, Cloud could confirm that the feeling he felt the previous time wasn’t just a coincidence. In there, the energy and functioning of the transformer acted as a means to weaken his psychic qualities.

The group walked through the platform in front of the core, Cloud stayed a little behind while  he removed the pack off his shoulder that contained the bomb. His gaze raised and followed the huge conduit that ascended to a dark infinite. Suddenly, he felt as if that machine was trapping his mind and neutralizing it. His legs lost strength without he realizing it. He fell on his knees, his arms wanting to stop the fall, however he didn’t get good results. And, without further ado, Cloud passed out on the ground with a strange memory projected in front of his eyes…

It was the same place where they were, or maybe was in another Reactor located in another place. Five years ago, Tifa was kneeling next to someone's body... her father’s. He was dying from a sword wound. In a pitiful echo, the girl's sobs flooded the Reactor.

"Dad..." she called him with sorrow.

In the middle of the silence, an imperceptible whisper emanated from the lips of the dying man.

“Sephiroth...?”

At Tifa's surprise, the tears plowing through her cheeks stopped and her sadness turned into rage.

“Sephiroth did this to you?!” she exclaimed, expecting a statement from her father.

But that statement didn’t come. Tifa insisted with a gentle shake on his father's shoulders. Her caresses and voice no longer made him react.

“Dad…”

Again the tears came back to her eyes, but this time fed by anger, revenge. And her whimperings became heartbreaking.

“Sephiroth... SOLDIER... the Reactors... Shin-Ra…” she cried with hatred and shrank into herself. “I hate you all!”

Without being really owner of her acts, blinded by the brutality her father had been murdered, she got up from the floor holding the weapon that penetrated her father’s chest and ran into the inner room of that Reactor.

The memory stopped there and Cloud's consciousness returned to the present. He felt his chest squeezing by moments and his eyes almost blurred with tears. Around him were Tifa and Zack, who had placed him in a more comfortable position to check on him.

“Shit, Cloud..." Barret complained from afar. “Control yourself a little.”

Tifa's concern soon overshadowed how badly Cloud took that comment.

“Are you alright?” she asked with a worried frown on her face.

“Tifa…” after recognizing Tifa’s gaze, he called her, the bitter memory that was brought to memory still too present.

Her brown eyes regarded him with doubt, but Cloud had nothing to say. He just shook his head softly to put the subject behind.

Meanwhile, Zack used his strength to straighten him from the ground slowly.

“Can you stand on your feet?”

With his strength, he managed to lift Cloud’s weight, who had regained his autonomy and the strength of his body. But he didn’t really need the help to get up and recover the backpack with the pump; Tifa and Zack left Cloud's side. However, that didn’t mean that they weren’t any less worried.

“Come on, I've wasted enough of your time.”

Cloud headed towards the transformer while Zack glanced at Barret. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the blond, as if he really could be able to do something to betray them.

Cloud placed the bomb and activated it without any mishap. Unlike the previous day, it seemed that no robot scorpion would fall over their heads, so ten minutes were, once again, a reasonable time.

“Fine, let’s take advantage that the alarms haven’t been activated," Barret said. “Jessie told me how to get out of here. We just have to follow the same path we did yesterday.”

The group followed the exit direction from inside the Reactor. Thanks to Jessie's intervention and her knowledge, the path to the way out became very simple. At some point it was necessary to knock out a couple of guards who were securing the place, but it didn’t carry any trouble for the mission... for now.

The passage finally came to an end and, to their right, was the last bridge they had to cross to the exit.

“Over there!” Barret pointed as they ran towards that direction.

One after the other continued with the relief of completing the mission, but to their surprise, the road was blocked by a row of Shin-Ra soldiers who aimed directly at them.

"Shit ..." Barret cursed.

Barret turned around to take the opposite route. This one had also been blocked with other soldiers.

“More soldiers ?! What the hell is going on?!”

“A trap…” Cloud whispered.

They should have imagined it. Everything was too quiet, too much for their liking.

The group positioned themselves in a way that would let them act in case they had to fight. Zack and Barret were the first to take an offensive position with their weapons as the soldiers cornered them at the intersection of the bridges.

At that moment, from the main door to the interior of the Reactor, appeared the prominent figure of a man, dressed in an expensive wine-colored linen suit and a cigar on his lips. He was escorted by a pair of bodyguards. With such ostentatious presence, it was impossible for them not to notice him.

“President... Shin-Ra?” Barret said perplexed.

“What is the president doing here?” Tifa asked not less shocked than her friend.

Cloud frowned as he placed one hand around the hilt of the Buster Sword.

It was obvious why he was there; he wanted to see with his own eyes how his guards got rid of AVALANCHE.

The president approached them without fear, trusting fully in the work of his employees. Then he spoke to them when he took the cigar out of his mouth.

“So you are those... AVA-whatever.”

“AVALANCHE! We are AVALANCHE!” Barret repeated, irritated by the difficult situation. “Never forget that name!”

Suddenly, Cloud took a couple of steps forward to talk to Mr. Shin-Ra.

“It's been a long time since we saw each other, president.”

But the man, by the expression he showed, did not seem to remember him at all.

“Oh, yes... You are that SOLDIER who joined AVALANCHE. There wasn’t another one?” His gaze drifted to the others behind him, looking for Zack. “Oh, now there he is.”

Shin-Ra approached them slightly to appreciate the features of both, specifically their eyes, the mark of SOLDIER.

“Zack Fair, if I'm not wrong. Strange... You were one of the best SOLDIERs we had." He took a puff on the cigar before he continued talking. “I thought you were dead. Well, you’ll be soon enough." Then he turned to Cloud again. “And you... What’s your name, traitor?”

He frowned, outraged that he had not been recognized by the president himself.

“Cloud…”

“Apologies, Cloud. But you cannot expect me to remember everyone's name. Unless you become another like Sephiroth." He sighed and then bit his lip.

“Sephiroth...?”

At the mention of that name, Cloud noticed how his body paralyzed. He took a step back, his gaze almost far away.

"Oh, Sephiroth... He was so brilliant..." the president praised with a wistful look. “Maybe too much.”

Barret stepped forward in front of Cloud, pushing him aside with one arm, making him stand behind his big frame.

“We don’t give a fuck about all that!” He snapped. “This place is going to blow at any time. It's what you deserve!”

The president snorted.

“A pity that such good fireworks serve to get rid of scoundrels like you…”

“Scoundrels?! Is that the only thing you can call us...? Scoundrels!” Barret scoffed at him. “You guys are scoundrels! You are killing the planet, which makes you the king of all the scoundrels, so shut up now, asshole!”

Shin-Ra shook his head, tired of Barret’s bad language. He couldn’t stand more ordinariness.

"You bore me," he answered without further ado. “And as you can see, I’m a very busy man. If you allow me... I have a very important dinner to attend.”

“A dinner?! Don’t come at me with that story! I haven’t even started with you!”

Barret almost rushed towards the president, be he was stopped by his companions when they grabbed his denim vest.

"Oh, do not worry," Shin-Ra laughed at the group. “I won’t leave you without giving a small gift before.”

The president snapped his fingers and immediately they heard roar of an engine igniting from somewhere. The echo it created distorted the sound, making it difficult to discern its origin.

“What's that noise?” Tifa said, looking everywhere.

She and Barret crossed the intersection to the left in search of that sound. For some reason, the guards in that direction had disappeared.

“It must be some robotic unit," Zack replied, staying at the intersection of the footbridges next to Cloud.

In the background, the victorious laughter of President Shin-Ra could be heard.

“Sharp intuition. I expected no less from an ex-SOLDIER... I present you the ‘Air Buster’, the new robot-guard created by our Department of Weapons Development. I’m sure that the information extracted from your bodies will be very useful for future experiments.”

From the left bridge, in which were Tifa and Barret, appeared what effectively Zack and the president had confirmed. A robot of an humanoid aspect that moved thanks to some energy drive motors.

"’Air Buster’...?” Cloud whispered as he observed the machine, still feeling somewhat disoriented by the new events.

That battle would be difficult, with that new robot model it would be hard to find a weak point.

The arrival of a helicopter startled the team when they were concerned about the ‘Air Buster’. The transport of the president stopped on the footbridge, stirring with its blades the air around them.

“Now, if you excuse me…”

The president got on the helicopter aided by his bodyguards.

“Wait, President Shin-Ra!” Cloud exclaimed, intending to find out more about Sephiroth, but the manager soon left the place.

"Son of a..." Barret muttered.

And, in pure rage, Barret aimed his gun-arm at the helicopter and started firing. However, the armor was too thick for his bullets to do some damage.

Suddenly, the ‘Air Buster’ advanced at a great speed against Tifa and Barret, who were right in front of it. The robot-guard charged at them, making them both fly off a couple of meters further, preventing Barret's bullets from reaching the helicopter. Apparently, the machine was also programmed to defend the president.

“Shit..." Barret mumbled, getting up off the floor next to Tifa. “We have to do something with this thing!”

“And what do you think we are doing?!” Zack scowled, holding tightly the hilt of his sword.

At that moment, Zack and Cloud took advantage of the position of the robot-guard to advance through the intersection and stand behind it. Now they had it surrounded in both flanks, making it impossible for it to do more damage with his charges. The drive motors were too dangerous if they gave the machine land to use them.

“But what is this thing?! It forms part of SOLDIER?” Tifa asked, raising her fists as she recovered from the previous blow.

“Of course not! It's just a machine," Zack explained.

“I don’t care what it is! Let's destroy it!”

After Barret's war cry, he fired a first burst of bullets into the machine's frame. A lot of sparks flew out of its shell, but only deformed it. The ‘Air Buster’ fixed the target on Barret and began charging the laser placed at the level of its head. In a matter of seconds it fired the first attack on him.

“Shit!” Barret grunted as he moved against the railing, suffering the first injuries. “My bullets didn’t do anything!”

The touch of the laser scorched his vest and the heat almost burned his skin.

"Looks like it has a breastplate that covers its entire front," Tifa discerned.

Her observation helped Zack and Cloud, who were behind the robot-guard. Two consecutive attacks penetrated its structure, however it was not enough to destroy the computer that made it work. Knowing where the protective frame was, they assumed that the program should be on the front, securely protected. Zack withdrew his sword without problems, nevertheless Cloud’s Buster Sword got stuck.

“I can’t remove the sword!”

What a moment for mishaps. Cloud was trying to use the handle of the sword as a lever, but there was no use.

The ‘Air Buster’ recovered from the attack moments later and rose from the ground, turning around with the help of the drive motors, towards both mercenaries. Zack was waiting for it with his sword raised. At the same time, Cloud was forced to abandon his own sword, leaving him unarmed next to his partner.

“He’ll see!” Barret shouted aiming a shoot at its weak point.

Meanwhile, the machine was preparing its next laser against Cloud and Zack, something that Tifa immediately noticed.

“Barret, stop shooting!” She exclaimed. “I have an idea.”

Before it turned around to counterattack Barret's previous attacks, Tifa ran to the machine, jumped on the stucked sword and boosted herself up in a second jump to the robot-guard's shoulders. Holding on in the nooks of its structure, she reached the head, which housed the laser beam charger and its cannon. Gathering all her strength, Tifa ripped the device off, which, in the middle of the load, was very dangerous. She threw the scrap into the void and quickly returned with Barret in a calculated jump.

The head of the ‘Air Buster’ produced a small explosion and a lot of sparks. The laser charge command was useless, so now it had to use its arms to make its next attacks. Having Tifa and Barret back in its sight, the machine approached them, but before it could even lay a hand on them, Cloud returned to take a hold on his sword, but this time it was not to retrieve it. Using in his favor the materia he had loaded into it, he activated the affine element of the mineral. Suddenly, a shock of electricity caused the short-circuit of the robot, stopping its attack, and more importantly, its destructive behavior. Unfortunately it didn’t end there.

Programmed to finish with its objective until the end, the self-destruction system activated and the machine bursted with an explosion that destroyed a piece of the bridge and threw Cloud to the air, along with the Buster Sword. Before falling to the void, he blindly managed to grab a piece of wire that jutted from the concrete platform that formed the footbridge.

The smoke of the explosion dissipated in a few seconds and his companions could see the danger in which he was.

“Cloud!” Tifa shouted across the bridge.

Zack, that was in the opposite side, had to lean out to the abyss to find his friend hanging from a pitiful wire.

“This place is going to blow at any moment!” Barret pressured Tifa and Zack. “We have to go!”

Tifa turned immediately to Barret, between worried and surprised. “You plan leaving him here?!”

“Want to stay and die?!” he answered frowning at her.

It was evident that Barret was fighting for the survival of the team; Cloud was only a lesser evil, a small sacrifice for the cause. He would have done the same.

He knew they couldn’t do anything for him from that distance... Not even Zack.

“Zack! Please, help him!” Tifa pleaded anguishly.

“I’m trying...!” he said with effort, while extending his arm towards Cloud as much as he could, but he still needed a long distance to reach his hand. “Cloud, take my hand!”

And he really was trying, but it wasn’t that easy. He was clinging to a wire that was too thin and slippery. No matter how hard he tried to climb, his weight and strength caused the wire to lose its stability. With just trying, it caused the piece of iron to bend even more and Cloud was much farther from being saved.

“I...I can’t!” Cloud bemoaned, giving up. “You have to go!”

“See?!” Barret exclaimed. “Even he doesn’t think it's gonna work. Let's move on!”

And even if Cloud insisted on them to let him go, he was the first of them all that didn’t want to die there. But he knew better.

“Are you serious?!” Zack shouted angrily. “I'm not leaving without Cloud…”

“You idiot…!”

Zack had to recline on more over the edge, stretching his arm further towards a more hopeless Cloud. But Zack had lost the ability to help him from the moment he took more than half of his body out the platform.

“Cloud..." he begged him to try a little more.

“Cloud, please! Listen to him..." Tifa cheered him up to make a last effort.

But he knew that neither Zack nor Tifa would give up until they saved him. He was flattered that he was important enough to risk their lives for him, but he couldn’t let anyone get hurt by a simple, unrealistic stubborn action. Cloud lowered his head and did not wait another moment to let go of the wire.

iii. 

Zack saw Cloud fall and disappear amid the pollution of the suburbs before his eyes. There wasn’t even an instant to try to reach for him again.

“No!” Tifa cried distraughtly, dropping to her knees. “Cloud…”

Her eyes started welling up with tears. Zack, on the other hand, was completely in shock. He couldn’t believe that Cloud had just died.

“Don’t stand in there!” Barret insisted. Although he didn’t seem to care, Cloud's sacrifice somehow left him in a bad mood. “We have to get out!”

At that moment, from the inside of the Reactor, the explosion of the bomb was heard. It would be a matter of seconds before the shock wave reached their place. It was enough warning to make the three mobilize. Zack jumped to the other side of the bridge after taking a little run and followed his companions until the exit of the Reactor.

Soon they found their way to the outside, the flames and the smoke left by each opening of the structure of the Reactor, drowning everything that remained in its interior. They almost did not tell it, but thanks to Cloud's sacrifice, the three of them were able to save themselves... and a little more time for the planet. The group, after leaving, didn’t look for a place to hide, not before recovering their breaths after the long race. The adrenaline had tired them and the emotions were somewhat hidden under the pressure. Zack struggled not to think about what they had left behind and avoided looking at Tifa, who was ashamed of not being able to do anything, just like him. Barret was the only one who still kept his feet on the ground.

“We shouldn’t stay here much longer," he said, ready to go to the train station.

That cold-blooded attitude put Zack on his nerves, unable to understand how Barret could be so calm after what he had urged them to do. He wondered if Cloud had been carried away by Barret’s insecurity, because from what he had seen up there was that his friend, indeed, let himself drop on purpose.

“And that's it?” Zack snapped at Barret. “How can you stay so calm after leaving Cloud behind?!”

Unintentionally, he raised his voice too loudly, like his footsteps, that came abruptly close to Barret. It seemed hypocritical from Barret that, after having criticized Cloud's impassivity so much, now he didn’t flinch when Cloud fell to the abyss. In fact, he didn’t even move a finger for his comrade, which was even worse. And somehow he suspected the reason.

“It’s because you still distrusted him?” Did you really think that he led us to the president's trap?!” He shouted in his face. “That he worked for him?”

Meanwhile, Tifa remained alien, thinking only of that raw moment and allowing herself to be absorbed by Zack's emotions. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. That promise they made as children was once again irrelevant.

On the other hand, Barret was slowly losing his patience and he just wanted to punch Zack.

“Shut up, Zack! Shut up!” he shoved him to get away from his side and see if Zack came to his senses. “Do you think that this hasn’t hurt me? It’s true! I never liked Cloud, but I’ve seen the work he had done for all of us. I never thought it was his fault!”

Zack suppressed all the anguish as he could while Barret spoke frankly to him.

“But I wasn’t willing to waste more time and put both of you also in danger because of him. You really thought you could save him?! You can’t blame me for watching over you two! If it weren’t for Cloud, now you would be dead too!”

“Just shut up both of you!” Tifa demanded, close to an imminent crying. She couldn’t stand more the yells from both men. “Cloud is dead... What else does it matter what we did or what we stopped doing...?”

Zack didn’t have any counterargument against Barret. Cloud let himself fall for them, to give them time to flee from the explosion. After all his efforts to keep him alive, by his side, he now lost the only best friend he ever had.

Without saying a word, Zack put a hand over his eyes, moving away from them when he felt he could no longer held the tears. He squatted on the floor and tried to hide the sobs with his arms, without success.

Barret said nothing, but Tifa approached the raven-haired and knelt by his side. She didn’t get to hug him, but she tried to let him know that she shared his feelings by touching his shoulder. Despite the great differences they had, she was the only one who felt sorry for Zack, because like him, she suffered the same sorrow, the same loss. A friend who, although he had forgotten them, struggled for them until the end.

Chapter Text

« Are you alright? Can you hear me? »

“Yeah...”

« Back then you always got your own way… Although that day you scratched your knees. »

“What do you mean by ‘back then’?”

« What about now? Can you stand up? »

“I’ll try…”

“Oh, finally you move!”

« How are you feeling? »

“Thank goodness…”

« Do it slowly, little by little... »

“Hello?”

“I’m on it… Hey, who are you?”

“Hellooo!”

Cloud slowly opened his eyes with difficulty. Was he dead? If he wasn’t, it felt as if a truck had run over him. However, under his back, there seemed to be something that mitigated that penetrating pain. Little by little he began to recognize what was in front of him: the tall, old roof of a church that seemed abandoned. An artificial light penetrated through it intensely, almost blinding him. It was because the roof was full of holes, perhaps because of the passage of time or…

“Are you okay?”

He suddenly heard a girl's voice. Cloud sat down with some struggle, confused, because for a moment he thought he was alone there. Once seated, he could better recognize his surroundings; the previous comfort was due to the fact that he was lying on a bunch of flowers. Some white and yellow petals caught on his back and hair, as well as some pollen. Cloud shook his head and turned to her when he heard her melodious laughter.

“Where am I…?” he asked as he stopped to look at her crouched right next to him.

And he came to a halt to think… Yes, she was that florist from whom he bought a flower.

“In an abandoned church in the slums of Sector 5” she answered.

Cloud could only respond by lowering his eyes and scratching his head. He really didn't know what to say to her. He was only thinking about how he had reached Sector 5, although it was easy to explain knowing that the reactors were between sectors. It was a simple coincidence.

“I think it was because of the explosion. Suddenly a lot of trash fell and then you fell from above too.” She pointed with her finger toward one of the holes in the ceiling and then laughed gracefully. “Seriously, I got scared because you almost crush me.”

“Did I fall from so high…?”

Not even he believed it. How was someone able to survive from such a high fall?

“That's right,” she said as if it wasn't the first time she saw something like that. “The roof and the flowers must have shielded you from the fall. You've been very lucky.”

Suddenly, after realizing that he had destroyed all that beautiful flower garden, Cloud stood up and moved away from them. He finished shaking the dust and pollen from his clothes, but he wasn’t feeling very well for ruining the florist's work.

“I’m sorry…”

She shook her head and straightened from the ground next to him.

"It doesn't matter." She smiled, waving a hand. “The flowers are very resistant here, but I think it’s because this is a sacred place.”

The girl put her hands behind her back and contemplated the beauty of the church and, although it was falling apart, it brought a deep peace.

"They say it’s impossible for plants to grow in Midgar," she continued. “But for some reason, they have no problem doing it in this place. That's why I like being here so much.”

At that moment, the florist turned to Cloud and tilted her head.

"And apparently we meet again," she said smiling.

Cloud nodded.

"You were the one selling flowers in Sector 8, right?"

“Oh great! You remember me,” she giggled with enthusiasm. “Thank you for buying me a flower. You were very kind.”

After those words, the girl stepped away from him and bent down to begin removing the remains of debris that had fallen from the roof. Cloud, on the other hand, felt a little nervous. He haven’t been good with conversations and the silence reminded him of the explosion of the reactor, of Tifa, Zack, Barret... Perhaps it would be best to return with them and let them know that he was still alive.

Cloud began to walk around the flowers, thinking about how to say goodbye. It was strange, but the kindness of the girl and the strange aura that surrounded her, it brought out the best of Cloud, but also other attitudes he never thought he had. And before he could say anything, the florist turned to him again.

"By the way, won't you have materia by any chance?"

"Yes, I have some." He put a hand behind the back of his neck. “It’s odd not to find it in stores nowadays.”

"Oh, I disagree." The girl shook her head, laughing. “I have a piece of materia a bit special.”

At that moment, she turned her head to point to a piece of that mineral she now used as an ornament in her hair tie.

“See? It's the only thing it can do, ”she teased, dismissing her laughter and waiting to see some reaction in the other.

But nothing came from Cloud, just a gesture of strangeness.

"I don't think so... Maybe you don't know how to use it," he said as he crossed his arms.

"Hey, I do know," she reaffirmed. “But this one in particular does absolutely nothing.”

The florist shifted her hands to her hair tie and unhooked the piece of materia so she could show it to him. It was of a rather particular tone, a mixture between aquamarine and white, and so bright that it gently illuminated everything around it. Cloud had to confess that it was the first time he saw a materia like that one.

“I don't know why, but I feel safe having it with me.” While saying that, her jovial expression turned into something more bitter. “It was from my mother…”

Cloud knew he shouldn't pry more about it. The way she said it, it seemed that something unpleasant happened. He could go on with the conversation, but that girl was so talkative that he didn't have time to think of some good words.

“Sorry, I think I'm talking too much,” she smiled, completely dropping what she was talking about before. “Do you feel like talking? Since we are here, we could take the opportunity to get to know each other a little more.”

She put the piece of materia back on her hair tie and put her attention back on the flowers and the remains of rubble.

“As you like,” Cloud replied. “I don’t mind it.”

"Good, can you wait a moment?" she said, crouching down next to the floral bed. “I’ll check up the flowers. It will be just a minute.”

Cloud nodded and he headed towards a column, withdrawing a little from the flowers so as not to hinder her work. Until that moment, he didn’t realized he did not question staying more time around that place. He was certain that in less than an hour she would get tired of trying to talk to him, say goodbye and hopefully never see each other again. For the time being, she was a pretty nice girl, a little weird at the same time, but he was the least indicated to criticize her personality. Besides, he would put his hand in the fire that Tifa and Zack believed him dead.

Maybe it didn't matter taking a little while before meeting them again.

"Just a little more," she informed.

He shook his head and pointed out that she could continue with her work, but she kept on interacting with him very naturally.

"Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. How clumsy,” she knocked his head gently before standing up and walking towards Cloud. “I’m Aerith, the florist.”

Her lips formed a smile as she held out a firm hand.

Meanwhile, at the doors of the church,  someone made their presence clear with each step towards the church’s interior.

"I’m Cloud..." he introduced himself as he took the girl's hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Cloud!" Aerith said, still smiling, as if she expected to hear more from him.

He noticed it late and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I... Well, I do a little of everything."

He didn’t have a suitable word to define what he did and "mercenary" was perhaps too superficial. But... since when had he started to give importance to that? What does it matter?

"Oh, so you're quite a handyman..."

Cloud nodded and, as he acquired a little confidence, he proved it with the size of his biceps.

"Sure, I do whatever it’s needed," he said very proud of his abilities.

However, and for some reason, his attitude made Aerith laugh. Cloud, on the other hand, did not quite understand what that laugh was due to. She didn’t believe him?

"What’s so funny?" he asked  a little disconcerted.

"I'm sorry, it's that..." she calmed her laughter slowly, apparently having no intention of hurting his feelings. “Sorry, Cloud. I think I’ve chosen a bad time.”

Something caused Aerith to completely change her behavior. Her gaze indicated that she wasn’t comfortable and Cloud noticed. Aerith managed to point out that, the one who troubled her, was right behind him. He looked back and spotted the stalking presence of a guy dressed in navy blue.

"Don't let him get close to you..." she whispered.

But Cloud didn’t put Aerith's concern into consideration; he was just a sleazy-looking guy. That’s why Cloudd approached the first steps towards him, perhaps to show the young woman that he could easily kick him out of there.

"Go on, go on," the stranger said from his place, using a rather joker tone. “Don't worry about me, I'm doing fine alone.”

Cloud shrugged and returned with Aerith, who seemed to have something to say.

"Cloud, you said you know how to do anything, right?" she asked very seriously. “Have you ever worked as a bodyguard?”

He nodded.

"Then get me out of here and take me home."

Aerith's request confused him. He looked back again at the guy back there. Maybe he was underestimating him.

"Okay, but it won't be free."

"Well, let's see..." she looked thoughtful as she murmured a series of meaningless things, until she found something. “How about a date?”

The young woman's smile confused Cloud even more, as he didn't know quite well if she was being a tease or she was really serious. Was she that full of herself? It wasn’t a very polite treatment in his opinion, however he was not going to reject the offer she had put on the table. Surely, as being poor, she would have nothing better to offer, except for an afternoon of walking and talk.

Cloud said nothing for the moment, just distanced himself and then talked back her.

“I’ll think about it.”

And then the mercenary headed down the corridor between the two columns of wooden benches, wondering what the stranger wanted. The closer he got, the worse was the feeling he had about him.

"I don't know who you are or where you came from..." Cloud said. “Or I do...?”

« I think you know him. »

Again that inner voice affecting Cloud's senses and accelerating the rhythm of his memories. This time it was just a small flash.

"Wait... I do know you," he confirmed, stopping a couple of feet away from the guy. “That uniform…”

Cloud wondered what he was doing there. Maybe he was after him, but he was almost sure it was something to do with Aerith.

Suddenly, three Shin-Ra soldiers appeared at the front door of the church. They seemed to have found something very funny, because as soon as they entered they began to snicker. One of them managed to articulate a phrase among the laughter, talking to Aerith.

"Hey, pretty, what a weirdo you've scouted this time."

“Shut up! I know you're Shin-Ra spies,” Cloud interjected quite infuriated.

But that response caused even more cackles among men. Cloud frowned and looked for the Buster Sword behind his back, however and until that moment, he didn’t realize that he had lost it in that explosion.

"Reno, do you want us to get rid of him?"

"I haven't decided yet," he replied, although the fact that he had extended his nightstick left no doubt about his intentions.

“Don't even think about fighting here! You’re going to ruin my flowers!” Aerith exclaimed, more concerned about the plants and not about the violence that would take place. “You know where the exit is.”

At that moment, Aerith pulled Cloud's arm and dragged him toward the back door of the church. With light steps, they would be able to leave them behind soon enough to escape. Cloud then verified that it wasn’t the first time they were chasing her.

"Come, follow me," she said as she led him to the wooden stairs that connected to the upper gallery in the anteroom. “It will take them a while to reach us, but by that time they won’t be able follow us.”

She seemed very convinced that Cloud trusted Aerith's calculations. Treaded the last stairs, the two continued along a walkway to a small gap on it. They had to jump to the other side to reach the next platform. They both, although Aerith with some clumsiness, jumped without more mishap and climbed the steps to the next scaffold. Meanwhile, through the lower door, Shin-Ra's patrol appeared with their rifles held high; and behind them, Reno.

"What are you waiting for?! Shoot!”

Reno pointed to Cloud and Aerith, and the soldiers soon aimed and shot them. From such a distance and with its objectives in constant motion, it was difficult for them to succeed.

"They won't make it easy for us," Cloud muttered, who made sure to take up the space between Aerith and the soldiers.

"I know, but we can't let them catch us," she said, pointing in the direction they had to take.

Cloud nodded and led the way to another scaffolding void.

"I'll go first."

With a great calculated jump, he reached the other side. Then he urged Aerith with one arm as he watched the guards aiming directly at her.

"Aerith, quickly!"

"Don’t let them scape! Shoot the Ancient, damn it!” Reno shouted throughout the church.

And, without further delay, the patrol shot Aerith the moment she jumped. It was inevitable that she would fail to calculate the jump and, consequently, she was hanging from the edge of the other scaffold, about to fall. Cloud rushed and grabbed her by the arms, helping her up effortlessly.

"In the nick of time..." she panted rashly.

Cloud, accompanied by Aerith, continued on their way to some old stairs that led directly to the beams that supported the roof of the building. Above these were barrels strategically placed. It seemed to be Aerith's work.

"Don't stand there, idiots! Go up and kill them!” Reno ordered and the soldiers mobilized.

Meanwhile, Aerith walked along the crossbars until she reached one of the barrels. She looked down, waiting for the first soldier to be placed just at a specific point on the lower floor, and immediately pushed the heavy barrel. It fell fully on the stairs and then gravity and inertia did their job, stumbling over two soldiers; however, the third managed to dodge it.

"Cloud, push the other barrel!" she pointed the one just above the next stairs. “Just wait for him to come up to do it!”

And he did what he was asked. The next and last barrel fell on the last soldier following them, ending the persecution. Cloud looked out to see if Reno was going after them, but he had disappeared completely, probably because he no longer had any chance to fulfill his mission.

Cloud  must admit that he was surprised by the skills Aerith possessed. Her appearance wasn’t at all threatening, but she could manage well alone if circumstances allowed. Still, she wasn’t a combat expert and it showed.

Aerith sighed with relief and ran a hand over her forehead.

"We did it..." she smiled and then turned to Cloud. “Come this way.”

She began to walk through the beams until the roof opened. Cloud followed behind her and they both met abroad. Aerith needed a few moments for a pause and sat on the tiles, panting.

"I’m sure you've noticed," she said with some difficulty, "but it's not the first time they come after me."

"That's what I suspected," Cloud said, who had also sat down to rest beside her. “That Reno... he’s part of the Turks, I'm sure of it.”

"I don't know them."

“They’re a Shin-Ra organization and are responsible for finding possible candidates for SOLDIER.”

In Aerith's case it was a bit unlikely, but everything could happen.

"And they have to do it at gunpoint?" she said incredulously. “Rather, it seems the typical scene of a kidnapping.”

Cloud shrugged, just before looking at her.

“Well, they also do the dirty work for the company. You know... Espionage, murders and surely kidnappings.”

"That makes more sense," she replied as she hugged her knees.

"But what I don't understand is why they go after you," Cloud continued. “You don't look like a person who gets into fishy stuff or something like that.”

"You're right," she confirmed after resting her chin on one of her arms. “Maybe they think I have what it takes to be SOLDIER.”

"Maybe... Would you like to join?"

"I don't know." The girl's expression became somewhat hesitant and suddenly she stood up. “But what I do know is that I'm not going to get caught by those people!”

Aerith's spirit infected Cloud and they both set forth on their way.

She took an alternative path, just in case the Turk was still chasing them. They were in the middle of a landfill made up of trash that, as the years went by, more waste accumulated. Both moved through the remains of what were once appliances, cars or even the foundations of a house. Later they arrived at the shantytown and continued their steps through tinplate roofs. Cloud led the way; however, Aerith was beginning to have trouble keeping up that she was far behind.

“Wait!” she exclaimed in the distance. “I’m telling you to wait!”

She insisted a little more and Cloud stopped to wait for her. Shortly after, Aerith stood before him. She was panting heavily, red-faced with the effort.

"Why don't you go a little slower?" she said between sighs. “If don’t tell you anything, you leave me on the road.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow and took a fairly casual stance.

"Damn... And I thought you had the makings of SOLDIER," he joked without thinking.

Aerith opened her eyes in surprise and didn’t hesitate giving him a gentle smack to his arm as punishment.

"Hey... You’re so mean!"

Did the comment really bothered her? He doubted for a moment, but Aerith soon released a singing laugh, which, after reassuring him, provoked another laugh in him.

"You should see the face you've made!" She said in a laugh, then calmed down. “Really, I'm glad you finally smiled.”

The comment made Cloud think for a moment. Until that moment, he didn't realize that he didn't even remember the last time he really laughed.

"By the way, you're in SOLDIER, right?" She said, making the conversation more serious.

"I was," he said. “How did you know?”

"I know from your eyes..." Aerith replied, still looking directly at him. “They have a very special glow and color.”

Not everyone knew about the relationship between SOLDIER and the shade of their eyes, unless one had previously met one or had interest in the subject.

"It’s the mark of those who have been exposed to Mako energy," he explained. “Did you meet someone from SOLDIER?”

"You could say that, but it doesn't matter now," she smiled.

That question caused Aerith to close a little, although she made the effort to downplay it. So Cloud decided not to insist.

"Let's keep going!" She pointed to their destination. “Come on, bodyguard!”

Broadening her smile, Aerith advanced through the rooftops first. On that occasion, Cloud decided to just follow her so as not to leave her behind like moments ago.

Later, the two went down to firm ground. She moved towards a single direction among all the rubble and finally turned to him.

"Thank goodness, we've already come down," she sighed and put her arms on her hips. “Now we have to continue towards my house, which is over there...” she indicated the way. “I think we have mislead those Turks, but better safe than sorry.”

Which meant that the bodyguard task was still in force.

The area through which they set out was right next to the wall that divided the sectors. It was depressing to see how an immense concrete wall separated the places as if it were a prison, but it was only an excuse to spend the money of the locals in taking the train.

After a long time walking through scrap metal, garbage and some homeless people, they arrived at a small shanty town. Surprisingly, the locals had no violent behavior and were quite kind to their peers, unlike the ones Cloud was accustomed to see. It was strange in a place where poverty, mental illness and the government’s repression controlled their lives.

"People are very poor here, but we help each other to keep on going together," Aerith said as she walked between the houses in one direction. “Now we’re taking care of a very ill man. I think he worked for Shin-Ra too, but he can't speak or move at all…”

Suddenly, she turned to Cloud.

"Maybe you could help him... Do you know what might be happening to him?"

But he could only shake his head.

"Listen... I'm not a doctor."

Cloud felt bad for not being able to offer as much help as he initially believed, but he felt relieved that Aerith understood it.

Down the road Aerith's home was waiting for them. After passing a bunch of rubble, a rare landscape in Midgar and much less in the suburbs was illuminated by a bright spotlight and the green of the plants. Aerith previously told him that they grew only in sacred places, but they had flourished at her home too. Cloud had no idea how it was possible, but the fact didn't stop being in front of his eyes.

Aerith took Cloud by the arm and dragged him to the entrance of his house.

"Come, you have to meet my mother!"

“What...? What for?”

He slowed his steps, but the girl insisted on inviting him to her home, pulling even more on his arm.

“And why not? Come on, don't be shy! You’ll see it won’t be that bad.”

Cloud insisted with another gentle struggle, however she had already opened the front door to her house and he didn’t want to make a scene.

The interior looked very clean and cozy. Her house was built in wood and he could tell she lived quite well despite the poor quality of some objects. Cloud couldn’t help inspecting the place, ignoring that Aerith's mother was right next to the table in the living room. She was folding the laundry.

"I'm home, mom!" She exclaimed smiling and very proud of the new guest of that day. “Look, this is Cloud, my bodyguard. Cloud, she is my mother Elmyra.”

Cloud scratched the back of his head, not quite sure what he had to do in those situations. Certainly, Aerith had put him in a compromising situation. Luckily for him, her mother was more worried about her.

Elmyra examined him carefully and then returned her attention to hers daughter.

"Did they follow you again?" she said hurriedly as she approached Aerith and found that she was fine. “Tell me, are you alright? They haven't hurt you, have they?”

Aerith got a little nervous, apparently because she didn't understand her mother's distress. That's why she smiled, as if trying to convince her that everything was going perfectly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted. “Cloud was with me all the time.”

Elmyra calmed down and talked to him.

"Thank you very much, Cloud." Grateful, she took his hand and shook it in earnest. “I’ll prepare you something to eat later. I have to continue with the laundry.”

The woman returned to the table where she was folding her clothes and took it in her arms before heading towards the bedrooms on the upper floor. At that moment, Aerith turned to Cloud, who was a little impatient to leave. Maybe that's why the girl didn’t risk inviting him inside the house.

“What are you going to do now?” Aerith asked as she put her hands behind her back.

“I have to go back to Sector 7. Do you know if we are far from there?" Just because he didn't plan to take the train any time soon. "I have to go back the bar from a friend.”

"Oh, a friend or a... friend ?" she said in a rather mischievous tone, looking directly into Cloud's eyes.

“What...? No!” he retorted flatly as he shook his head.

Aerith began to laugh, which caused Cloud to get a bit embarrassed.

“Don’t get so worked up, it was just a joke," she said after her laughter calmed down. “Okay, what do you think if I show you the way to Sector 7? I know a shortcut.”

But he replied again with the same gesture, refusing.

“Are you still kidding? Why would you expose yourself again? They almost catch you today.

"I'm used to it," she answered naturally.

But that answer did not convince him.

“Are you sure?” he sighed when he put a hand to his face. “ I don't know... I think you’d rather…”

"...I would slow you down?" she finished Cloud's sentence. “And why? I haven’t shown you what I’m capable of?” Aerith got a little serious, as if underestimating her had offended her. “Do you expect me to stay cool after what you were going to say?”

“I…”

After what was said, and after provoking a response of surprise and confusion in Cloud, Aerith went to the stairs of the house and gave a shout to her mother.

"Mom, I’m taking Cloud to Sector 7!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the railing. “I’ll be back in a while!”

She didn't seem to be very aware of the dangers that were outside. Cloud was impressed because there was no fear in her, not even distrust or insecurity. That was precisely why they looked after her, both he and her mother.

Elmyra quickly went down the stairs, before her daughter made the decision to leave without even waiting to hear some words of good sense.

"But, dear..." she tried to stop her by putting hers hands on Aerith’s, but then she sighed, giving up. “Who I pretend to fool? I won’t be able to convince you of anything.”

Because when Aerith got an idea into her head, no one could change her mind... and Cloud knew it already.

"What if you go tomorrow? It's getting late and you're probably tired.”

Aerith was hesitant at first, but then she nodded happily. She approached her mother to give her a hug.

“Okay, mom!”

"Come on, go and make your bed."

She immediately let out an embarrassed giggle and soon marched upstairs and obey her mother.

That situation was used by Elmyra to get closer to Cloud, who had been waiting for the mother and daughter to agree. He had expected to be left alone, but staying there one night was tempting as well.

"Those eyes..." Elmyra said with some distrust. “You're from SOLDIER, right?”

Cloud nodded.

"I was, actually."

However, it didn’t seem to mean anything, since her look of disapproval didn’t changed at all.

"Listen... I don't know how to say this without sounding impolite, but..." she took her time to think about the words. “Could you leave at dawn without Aerith finding out? The last thing she need is for another SOLDIER to hurt her feelings.”

Cloud didn’t know how to interpret that, but he was almost certain that it had to do with a possible SOLDIER that Aerith had reservations to talk about. He couldn’t deny that he was curious about the subject, however he was unable to tackle it, neither with the mother nor with the daughter.

“Alright, as you wish.”

He didn't question anything and, with Elmyra's permission, Cloud went upstairs where Aerith was finishing fixing her room. He checked on her by looking sideways from the hallway and, unwittingly, she spotted him. She left her room quite animated for what would await for them the next day. Maybe it was the impression she wanted to give.

“Are you nervous?” she said with a smile. “You have to cross Sector 6 to get to the 7. The 6 is quite dangerous, so you better rest tonight.”

"Yes, it’ll be for the best."

"By the way... If you want to have dinner, you just go down and my mother will prepare something for you."

"No, thanks... I think I'll go to sleep now."

"Alright… you room’s the one over there," she pointed to the room next to hers. “Good night, Cloud.”

Aerith said goodbye without erasing her smile and then went downstairs, leaving Cloud as much space as he needed.

He entered the room and closed the door. The first thing he did was taking off his boots and accessories that protected him from various attacks, and then lay on his bed when he turned off the light.

He must admit that he had been wanting to be alone for some time. Aerith was a very nice girl, but even he had his limits. To top it off, among his concerns, was the one about the Buster Sword. He wouldn’t have minded if it weren’t for the meaning the sword acquired not long ago . He promised Zack that he would take care of it and, in less than two days, he had already lost it. But how could he avoid what happened in the reactor? Still, that couldn't take that guilt off of him. He had no idea what he was going to say to his friend when he saw him.

Cloud sighed heavily and rubbed his face. He lay on his side and watched the shadows produced by the nightlight coming from the window. Only then he could sleep.

Chapter Text

« You look so tired. »

“...?!”

« It’s been a long while since you’ve slept on a bed like this. »

“...You’re right.”

« How was the last time? »

Yes, it had been a long time since he had returned home since joining the ranks of Shin-Ra. For how long? Two? Three years? Cloud went to visit his mother, who hadn’t stopped keeping in contact with him by letter; however, Cloud never returned them. She was looking forward to seeing him again and the young man had no choice but to do her that favor. If she hadn’t been so insistent, Cloud was sure that he wouldn’t be there now, lying on his comfortable bed and having his protective mother strolling along his room.

He didn’t even look at her.

"Look how tall you’ve grown..."

She hadn't stopped repeating that since he came through that door.

"You must be always surrounded by girls," she said with a smile.

"Not really..." Cloud confessed, helpless on his bed, but wanting to avoid that subject.

She seemed to notice, so she kept insisting. It was as if she didn't believe him at all.

"I'm worried about you." She approached Cloud and sat on the bed beside him. “There’re so many temptations in Midgar... I’d feel better if you settled down and looked for a good girlfriend.”

Cloud struggled to not be affected by his mother's words.

«I’m sick of this.»

“I'm fine…”

"I think she should be older than you, to take care of you, don't you think?"

“...”

"Yes, I'm sure that's what you need."

«Mom, shut up!»

“Not interested…”

Cloud opened his eyes and looked at the clock hanging on the opposite wall; it was growing late for him. While he regained consciousness, the uncomfortable memory of his mother returned to his mind, turning his stomach.

Being as quiet as possible, he finished dressing and left the room. As Elmyra asked him, Cloud crossed the hall without attracting attention and, past the stairs, he didn’t delay in leaving the house. He just had to go through Sector 6 to get to the 7, but with Aerith's warning and how dangerous it was, he wasn't sure he could manage doing it alone without his sword. Still, it wasn’t a thought that frightened him.

He followed the path they had taken the day before to the fork, one of its paths visible on the high wall. If he remembered correctly, there was an opening in a section that likely would connect with the next adjacent sector. Convinced of being able to get out of there, Cloud approached the crack in the wall, but a surprise separated him from his destiny.

"Aerith...?"

Cloud ran to her with concern.

"What an early-rising guy you ended up being," Aerith said in a singing tone.

He replied with a sigh and looked down. Cloud noticed that that comment came with a little reproach.

"You have to understand... How could I let you come knowing the dangers? I don't even have a weapon to protect ourselves with."

Aerith tilted her head and ignored his excuse.

“Are you finished?

Cloud scratched his nape and, looking up, saw her revealing the Buster Sword from behind her back. The boy's eyes widened in shock.

"How did you find it...?" He said as he approached and took it in his hands by the hilt.

"One of the scrap dealers who live near my house picked it up," she replied without erasing her smile. “I asked him very kindly and he gave it to me. And again, you’ve been very lucky.”

He held the sword tightly and breathed with great relief.

"Thank you, Aerith..."

“Is this worth as payment for your services?” she suggested amused.

"Yes, I think much more than that."

Cloud snatched the sword behind him, feeling safer.

"Well, let's continue then."

After that, Aerith led the way through the crack in the wall.

The landscape was still the same at every place they stepped on. Always, in the distance and on other platforms, buildings and houses of the lower classes were visible. Cloud and Aerith had to take a shortcut that forced them to cross the suburbs of Sector 6. Cloud was grateful that the plates were wedge-shaped, as the paths closest to the center of the city became much shorter between sector and sector.

After a long walk, Aerith confirmed that they were near an old entrance to Sector 7, which was rewarded with a playground. It was quite old and abandoned; in the background there was a that huge door that Cloud doubted that it was for public use, but he would find a way to enter.

"We’re here," she said once they crossed the entrance to the park.

Then she turned to Cloud, who was inspecting the new place.

"Thank you, Aerith." He looked back. “I guess this is a goodbye. Can you go home alone?”

The truth is that Cloud was quite worried that something would happen along the way.

“Oh, it’s true!” she dramatized with one hand on her forehead. “What am I going to do now?!”

Aerith's theatrical tone made Cloud think twice before underestimating her. And she didn't seem to like when people did it.

"Was that what you wanted me to say?" she changed her expression to a more neutral one. “The answer is no, I won’t.”

Cloud sighed and shook his head.

"I already thought so... And what do you want me to do? Take you with me?”

"It would be a good idea, though..." she played innocent, placing her fingers to her chin. “Wouldn't I be meddling into your affairs?

Aerith's gaze was very attentive on him, as if she were waiting for his reaction. It was clear that she was just trying to provoke him, for him to realize that his thoughts about her were totally unfounded.

“Well…”

"I’m sure you were thinking exactly that," she smiled before tapping his arm. “We’ll soon find a way to return to our homes without having to worry about each other.”

Cloud looked down after scratching behind his neck. Was she worried about him?

"Hey, why don't we take a short break before continue?" She suggested as she advanced into the park.

Aerith's smile conveyed the longing that that place seemed to give her. She walked among the small attractions as if she were recalling her days when she was a child. Then she stopped in front of a peculiar cat-shaped slide.

"I can't believe this is still here..."

And her excitement made her to relive a moment of her childhood. Laughing, Aerith climbed onto the slide and sat on the top. From that height, she observed a distracted and taciturn Cloud, something she tried to change.

"Cloud, look at me!" she called his attention and greeted him from her high position. “Come up here!”

Cloud came out of his state and, without understanding very well the reason why he should accompany her, he just did it. It could be said that he had been playing along since he met her. But he didn't quite understand why he cared so much to protect her; she was just a stranger.

Then he made her company on the slide and kept some distance with her.

"What rank did you have?" Aerith asked.

"Rank of what?"

"You know, as SOLDIER."

Cloud scratched his head in embarrassment for not having realized it before.

"I had..." Strangely, he hesitated a second before answering. “First Class.”

The answer made Aerith smile bitterly.

“The same as him…”

"Like who?" he asked, hoping to know more of Aerith's past.

"The first guy I liked," she confessed. “But it wasn’t serious. I just... I liked him for a while.”

"Maybe I know him," Cloud said as he turned to face her. “How was him called?”

Aerith’s expression ended in a broader smile. In spite of everything, it didn't seem like a topic that bothered her too much. He saw her lips open to respond, but suddenly the great door of Sector 7 opened behind them, interrupting their conversation. They both looked back and saw a chocobo pulling a strange and luxurious car without a cover. Cloud could recognize Tifa dressed in a suggestive light blue dress, sitting on it. The car advanced along the road into Sector 6.

This caused Cloud to immediately get off the slide to run after the vehicle, but it was moving too fast. He finally stopped in the middle of the road and, shortly after, Aerith met him.

“Who was she?” she asked. “She was dressed a little... weird.”

"She’s…” something difficult to name, but the only word that approached their relationship was - “my friend Tifa…”

"Then let's go get her!" Aerith exclaimed before running away in the same direction of the car.

Cloud didn’t have time to react. He had to follow Tifa, but he couldn't take Aerith with him. The reason? She was too kind to get involved with people like them. He had already allowed her too much by accompany him and couldn’t take it farther, when he knew the problems she also had with Shin-Ra.

"Wait, Aerith!" he called to stop her. “Go back home! I'll take care of this... just…”

But there was no response from her. Cloud sighed helplessly and followed her down the narrow stretch. Later on, one of the most dangerous places in Sector 6 was waiting for them:  Wall Market.

ii.

Certainly it wasn’t a place to walk or spend the night. Wall Market served to bring together the worst people and perpetuate their crimes and the oppressor culture: drug traffics, weapons and even people, specifically women. Society hadn’t made much progress in the recent years and, although a process of social evolution was sought in the past, Shin-Ra and its philosophy of excesses and corruption completely broke that change. Its hegemony over the economic, political and military state had done nothing but develop in people an instinct for survival and competitiveness that didn’t go beyond money and selfishness.

Cloud was looking for Aerith among so many businesses and locals of dubious morals, which extended into endless doors and streets; finding her would take too long. What now? He was supposed to take care of her. However, he didn’t have to go far to be surprised by her presence, which was waiting just a couple of establishments farther. It was risky, yes, but he had his eyes again on Aerith.

"This place gives me the heebie jeebies..." Aerith said as she glanced behind her. “That guy over there hasn't stopped looking at me since I arrived. We should find Tifa as soon as possible.”

Cloud could imagine the kind of restlessness she was experiencing… that place was not made for women.

“Better if you don’t separate from me.” Cloud said while taking a step towards her, wanting to let her notice she wasn’t alone there.

“Sure… you’re really looking forward to it, right?” she joked as she put both hands behind her back and looked at Cloud with a very mocking expression.

“T-that’s not what I meant”, he excused himself, hiding his nervousness, which provoked on Aerith a light giggle.

“I know! I was just kidding.”

Right after, Aerith clasped Cloud’s arm and started walking on a random direction, almost dragging Cloud with her.

“I don’t know where we should start… This place is huge”, she said while looking at both sides.

At those early hours there were few people wandering around, but some of them already looked rather devious. Still, Aerith seemed not to care about it and, overly-confidently, she approached the first guy she saw. He was near the entrance to a shady and narrow road, and seemed to be a little nervous.

“Excuse me, sir… Have you heard the name Tifa around by any chance?” Aerith asked him civilly.

But the man didn’t pay any attention to her. Just mumbling without sense came from him and, between his hands, a card that he was fidgeting with quite restlessly. He looked very stressed about something.

Cloud, clearly upset for Aerith naivety, tugged her arm lightly and distanced her from that man.

“Let’s move on… He’s loaded on stimulants.”

“Perhaps he hasn’t heard well the question…”

Aerith repeated herself, this time more closely, and the man snapped out of his absorption.

“Tifa… Tifa? Isn’t she the one working on…?” he asked overexcited, looking at both sided repeatedly.

“Where?” Aerith inquired.

“Ugh… Don’t make me say it!”

Cloud clicked his tongue.

“Say it,” he demanded.

The guy shook his head nervously, but soon he seemed to change his mind, since he pointed them out the place, just around the corner of the road.

“That way…”

“Oh, thank you so much!” Aerith thanked him with a smile on her face.

“I said enough… Leave me alone!” 

Before his rude petition, they both jolted and moved away from the man. But Aerith seemed to be still surprised by the man’s behaviour.

“Poor man… He needs help.”

“Poor man? He wouldn’t had second thoughts in abusing you.” Cloud said, wanting to make she realize how innocent she was being.

“I know, but it’s not about what’s he capable of, but what is making him that way. It’s sad.” 

Cloud hadn’t seen it that way, but he didn’t agree with her in the slightest. 

Both continued down the road, where the signals on the establishments didn’t throw any light on where Tifa could be, however, Aerith was making sure to ask for directions, just in case. For how Tifa looked with that dress, it could be a glamorous place and frequented by men.

A chill went down their spine when, before their eyes, a flashy sign loomed over the place, illuminating a establishment that left little to the imagination about its purpose.

“The Honey Bee Inn…” Aerith read outloud. “Why would Tifa be in a place like this if not for…?”

“No, Tifa would never do something like that.” Cloud said before she could finish the question. He didn’t see his friend working on a prostitution business even if he was paid a million gil. He was sure of it. 

“There’s only a way to find out. Maybe by asking all those men we can know more about her doings.”Aerith suggested as she pulled Cloud’s arm once more, walking to the desperate clients waiting at the door of the manor. Apparently, the establishment was filled to capacity. There was a long line and everyone had to wait outside for their turn to come. But he didn’t expect to see someone on the line, someone that Cloud recognized in no time.

“Wait, Aerith… I think I know one of them.”

After saying that, she released his arm and stepped aside.

“Ok! I’ll wait right here!” she agreed quite fast to his request. “Come back soon…”

Cloud stared at her, confused by the sudden change of her behavior.

“You sure…?”

Aerith just nodded with her head and Cloud shrugged, not giving it a second thought.

 In a moment, he approach the group of men drooling like zombies around the manor’s door. It was guarded by a thug that dealt with the ones that dared to get too close; and by his side, Zack. Cloud was starting to comprehend the situation, but he couldn’t wrap his head around that Tifa was behind a fishier business than he already expected.

“Zack…?” he interrupted the conversation that Zack was having with the thug.

Zack turned his face to the voice that called him and it immediately went from a confused expression to pure joy.

“Cloud…?!” he exclaimed with a mix of surprise, happiness, excitement… the truth is Cloud didn’t know how to describe it.

His eyes started to shine bright and, before Cloud could foresee what was coming, Zack hugged him so enthusiastically that he hoisted Cloud up from the ground; it wasn’t too complicated, knowing the great height difference between them both. Short after, Zack released him, falling again on firm ground.

Cloud was struggling to put some space between them for a while. It was rather touchy that Zack was so happy to see him, but the prolonged physical contact annoyed him greatly.

“But… How?! We thought you were dead!” he exclaimed with his eyes never leaving Cloud, like if he wasn’t able to believe it just yet.

Zack shook Cloud’s shoulders and he ended up swatting his arm to stop him.

“I also thought I wouldn’t make it.” He said with a grimace.

Zack couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear, eager, like if he was getting ready to jump and hug him again.

“And not even that made you more affectionate.”

“It wasn’t a big deal.” Cloud said, underestimating Zack and Tifa’s regard for him. “By the way, what are you doing here?”

“And what about you? Because what a place we ended up meeting,” he answered as he caressed his chin.

“Tell me about it…”

On that instant, Cloud turned to his back. He had to tell Zack about Aerith… but she disappeared among a crowd.

“I came with someone… a girl.”

Cloud started to walk to a circle of men that formed around her.

“A girl? How could you leave her alone with all that mob of creeps?” Zack questioned while following his steps.

“Believe me, it wasn’t that easy…” he shrugged. Cloud already learned to let Aerith have her way.

And around her, the cheers from the men didn’t let the other dirty comments to be heard, but it was easy to imagine them.

“What’s going on here?” Zack said with a firm tone of voice. 

Due to his heroic nature, Zack showed up before them, overtaking Cloud. With a pair of shoves, he get rid of two drunks, which provoked a jeering from some of the men and, when they took a better look at Zack, they ran off. When he finally was in front of Aerith, an uncomfortable silence formed between them.

Cloud sensed something odd, because he didn’t see any kind of reaction from any of them. Zack was too silent and Aerith… she seemed to be waiting for something.

“Zack, this is Aerith,” Cloud introduced her, in an attempt to break that strange silence.

“I know who she is.”

Zack scratched the back of his neck. His expression swinged between the same happiness he showed before with Cloud, and something like sorrow. Cloud knew then that something more deep was going on between them. Of course he knew it, Aerith told him at the playground and, before that, her mother.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Aerith scolded him, placing her hands on her hips.

“No, no, no,” he shook both his head and hands before himself. “It isn’t that at all. To be honest… I’m very happy to see you again.”

Zack smiled gently and Aerith answered the same way. It seemed they didn’t need more than that as a greeting after so long.

“I hope you have a good excuse on why are you in a place like this,” Aerith said with her hands at her back, looking at him rather amused.

“Well, believe it or not,” he crossed his arms with a challenging gaze, “business brought me here.”

“Yeah, right…” she dismissed his words, waving a hand in front of him, incredulous. “Are you looking for Tifa as well?”

“What? No, I’m helping her.”

At last they approached the subject that really interested Cloud.

“Helping her? I saw her leave Sector 7 and coming here in a carriage,” Cloud said. “I don’t know what are you up to this time, but I’m sure it isn’t good.

“And you’re not wrong. Tifa got herself into a very shady business,” Zack confessed. “It’s a long story and,” he looked at both sides, “this isn’t a good place to share it.”

When the three of them agree a place to talk, they returned to the entrance to Wall Market into a small restaurant, somewhat empty.  That place made Cloud suspect, who wasn’t very convinced of the good quality of the food and drinks served. However, Zack and Aerith didn’t seem to care and got inside to take a seat on a solitary table.

Soon, the drinks were served and the special daily menu, which the three of them shared.

“As I was telling you,” Zack continued with a shrimp on his mouth. “The thing is…”

Suddenly, Cloud shook his head and interrupted his friend to shut him up. Aerith then rolled her eyes.

“Okaaay, I’ll cover my ears,” she said as she placed her hands at both sides of her head. “You can talk now.”

 Somehow, Aerith always knew what others expected her to do, something that she agreed to… sometimes.

“So, this all began when we returned from Sector 4,” he explained to Cloud. “We found out that a guy followed us. And you know how is Barret, right? So he got a great deal of information and he told us a name.”

Before continuing, Zack filled his mouth with more food.

“Does ‘Don Corneo’ ring a bell?”

But Cloud shook his head.

“He’s a tycoon that leads the prostitution business and human traffic on this district. We got to find him thanks to that assistant of his and we figured out that he lives around here, but he never leaves his mansion.”

“And you can’t just sneak in?”

“Are you crazy? That place is highly watched and getting inside… We would be digging our own graves,” Zack replied while taking a sip of his beer. “The only way to get in is to follow his rules. This guy is looking for a girlfriend and Tifa offered herself as bait to catch him off-guard and interrogate him. But there’s a problem. Three women are chosen on each visit to his mansion and he picks one of them. If he doesn’t choose Tifa, we’re finished.”

Cloud didn’t like how it sounded. It seemed a good plan, but they didn’t have any guarantees that it would work.

“And you say Tifa’s in there?”

“That’s right, and she’s waiting for other girls to show up.”

“Alright, but it doesn’t explain why you were in front of that other place,” Cloud asked him.

“That’s Don Corneo’s other business. I was hoping to find some other info we could look past.”

Words that Cloud should believe, but he didn’t care if they were true or not.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop myself from listening,” Aerith chime in their conversation as she removed her hands from her ears.

Cloud dragged his hand on his face, tired of Aerith’s meddlings.

It was supposed that he should protect her from conspiracies. Cloud as well as Zack knew that there was no way to convince her to return home. And things were getting worse.

“If Don Corneo needs three girls, that means I can show up at his mansion as a candidate, right?” she suggested quite optimistic.

However, Cloud didn’t agree with her.

“No, you can’t do that,” he remarked. “Are you really aware of what kind of place we’re in?”

And for some reason, his words roused a subtle smile in Aerith.

“And what do you expect me to do?” she questioned as she leant her chin on one of her hands, looking at him. “Are you saying you want to come with me? Since you are so reluctant to leave me alone…”

Zack just leant back on his seat with his beer on hand and looked at them arguing with a smirk on his face.

“How do you pretend to get me in?” he inquired rhetorically. “Zack said it before, showing up just like that will cause a fuss. So no, I can’t let you to go alone, Aerith.”

She just rolled her eyes back, quite exasperated.

“Besides, we also need to make sure Tifa’s alright,” Cloud mentioned thoughtful until he noticed Aerith’s amused expression. “What now?”

“Cloud…” she blinked slowly and then looked at him. “Why don’t you show up as another candidate? I think that’s the only way for you to keep an eye on me.”

Zack shook his head, unimpressed by Aerith’s plan, while Cloud put his best poker face and then hided behind his hand. He knew she would come up with some original idea. Even if Aerith dramatized a little bit, she was going completely serious with this.

“Come on! Set that manly pride aside and let’s get in the mansion! You’re worried about Tifa and want to help her, right? I think it’s the best option!”

But Cloud insisted, shaking his head.

“It’s not gonna work…”

“Why not?” she asked puzzled. “We have to try at least.”

Cloud sighed tediously and eyed Zack, begging him for help to make Aerith to forget that plan, but he didn’t get a response from him.

“And why don’t you ask Zack?”

“Are you joking?! No one would believe I’m a woman even if I put—!”

On that instant, Zack received a kick from Aerith from below the table, shushing him.

“Do you have a problem with that?” she told him off.

“No, no…” Zack rectified a little achy. “In any case, Cloud is the one that doesn’t want to leave you alone. If he’s really worried, he should be the one handling the matter.”

“Alright, I’ll do it…” Cloud accepted out of a sudden, since they weren’t leaving him another choice.

The surprise was shown then on Zack and Aerith’s faces.

“Well said!” she praised. “Now we’re going to need a dress, heels, a nice hairstyle, accessories and make-up. And I don’t think they’re going to be cheap.”

Just thinking about it made Cloud anxious. It was going to be an identity change, a swap of role he wasn’t sure to perform as naturally as he should. What if they were caught in the mansion and everything went down the toilet? That was the only thing that worried him.

The three of them finished their meal and left the restaurant, heading now to a clothing shop. Aerith insisted that it shouldn’t look like a carnival costume, so they had to take the subject very seriously.

At the exit, the man from earlier that pointed them out the way to the Honey Bee Inn stopped Cloud; and for his looks, he had something very important to say and give. He first grabbed his arm and handed him a card.

“If my wife ever finds out… I don’t want it!”

He finally left as fast as he came, leaving Cloud quite confused.

“What’s that?” Zack said as he snatched the card from Cloud’s hand. “Honey Bee Inn Member…”

“What are you doing there?” Aerith called them from behind with both hands in her hips.

Both turned around quickly at her, Cloud with an expressionless face, but Zack was more excited than normal. He kept the card in his back pocket and smiled.

“Nothing, nothing,” he lied as he passed his arms over the shoulders of both Aerith and Cloud and carried them with him. “Let’s go to that store!”

Finding the clothing store took them a little more than expected, since they were surrounded by many stores. They stumbled upon one that seemed decent enough. It had a half empty window display, but the inside had a wide range of clothes. They got inside and Aerith lead the way to the counter where the person in charge was attending her last client.

“Hello,” Aerith greeted. “I’m looking for a pair of dresses.”

“On sizes or tailor-made?”

In that moment, she turned to Cloud to analyze his complexion and then she returned to the clerk.

“One of them tailor-made, yes.”

But that response made the person in charge to grimace.

“In that case, you’ll have to wait…”

“How so?”

“Nothing… It’s about my father. He’s the one making the dresses, but he’s going through a tremendous depression and nothing motivates him.”

“Oh… poor man,” Aerith words were tinged with sadness. “And there’s no way we can contact him?

“Well… he’s at the bar next-door knocking back a few drinks, as always.”

“We can talk to him and convince him to return.”

“Please!” the clerk pleaded them. “If you could help him, you’ll do me a great favor. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“You’ll have your dad back,” Aerith promised her.

The mentioned bar was almost deserted and quite dark; they searched for the tailor there. It wasn’t difficult to find him because he practically was the only one drunk. He was rather old and, specially, he was alone. Aerith didn’t waste a second to approach him with all her good intentions.

“Excuse me, are you the manager of the clothing store next-door?”

“Yeah, what do you want?” he demanded sharply.

“Make me some clothes,” Cloud requested just like that, somewhat insecure as for the details.

“I don’t make men’s clothes,” the guy blurted. “And I’m not feeling like trying either.”

Aerith frowned quite unhappy with his negative and she turned to Cloud with a plea.

“Please, let me take care of this… We need that dress as soon as possible,” she whispered to them. “Go and grab some drinks if you want in the meantime.”

Both Zack and Cloud went to sit at the bar without saying a word. The pressure that Cloud was feeling in that instant was leaving him with no desire to talk, so the silence between them went on. However, Zack didn’t seem to enjoy it. After rejecting the services of the barman, Zack turned to Cloud with half smile.

“Hey, I was wondering…”

Cloud looked at him sideways and saw that Zack was reaching his back pocket to take out something. But he stopped as Aerith approach them with the tailor. He went right to Cloud to take some rough measurements and then he left the place.

After Aerith said goodbye to the man, she turned to her two friends and smiled quite proud of achieving her goal.

“He said he’ll have the dress finished for tomorrow, in the meantime we can gather the other things.”

Cloud didn’t know how she got to convince the tailor to make him a dress, but that only meant there was no turning back. He had to accompany Aerith to Don Corneo’s mansion, passing himself off as a candidate and the idea was getting more uncomfortable as the time passed.

iii.

Zack suggested the idea to rest on his safe house , which was just a room from a shit-hole inn that he was using as a place to keep Tifa’s belongings and for her to change clothes as soon as she finished with Don Corneo. It wasn’t very reliable, but they at least had a place to take a break, to gather and above everything, for Aerith to not suffer an assault when they couldn’t keep her company.

They obtained the cologne, hair accessories, some jewels and make-up. Those weren’t especially expensive thanks to Aerith’s great bargaining skills; even in the slums, the products were excessively expensive.

The night drew in enough and the three were resting on their rented room. Zack was restless for quite some time, like if he was searching for the right time to do something. Cloud noticed it despite of his tries to ignore him and get some sleep. Zack went on until Cloud heard him speaking.

“I think I’m going for a walk,” Zack said after standing up from his bed and stretching his arms.

He was heading for the door until Aerith held him up for a bit.

“Okay! Don’t be too late.”

“Don’t worry,” he assured her as he scratched the back of his neck.

He then looked at Cloud that, in spite of trying to be distracted, he was conscious of Zack’s eyes on him.

“Come with me, Cloud,” Zack encouraged him.

But those words made Cloud to give him his full attention. He didn’t understand why he should accompany him.

“Why…?”

“Come on…” he insisted.

Cloud left a deep sigh and accepted without choice.

“Have fun!” Aerith said goodbye once they went out the door.

When they left the inn, Zack took a relieved breath. Cloud still didn’t know what he was hiding, so he decided to ask.

“Why do you want me to go with you?” Cloud said while rubbing one of his eyes due to tiredness.

Zack let out a small chuckle.

“What? And not make use of this?”

In that instant, he took out the Honey Bee Inn member card and showed him; and Cloud wasn’t excited about it one bit.

“That’s what you were hiding from Aerith?”

“I know she doesn’t like that kind of places and I admit I’m very curious…”

 Cloud observed the crowd of that night, now more bustling than hours before.

Zack’s words were understandable, but he couldn’t stop mulling over something. Both Zack and Aerith didn’t give any signs of a deeper relationship and, even so, their complicity could be seen from a mile away. 

“You had something with her?” Cloud asked finally.

Those words made Zack to take another deep breath and rubbed the back of his head. Then he smiled bitterly.

“Not exactly…” he admitted. “You think it might bother her? Because I rather don’t know it before making a possible mistake.”

He already knew he was doing something questionable, however, there was a part of his nature that didn’t seem to want to control those impulses. Zack would rather apologize than ask for permission, but Cloud was sure of something: Zack was a very noble man and he didn’t have to be his voice of conscience.

“Do whatever you want.”

When they get in front of the doors below the illuminated sign of the famous manor, they were crowded with snoopers. On that occasion, two thugs guarded the entrance and controlled the crowd that, for what Cloud could see, they were waiting for the doors to open to take a look at the inside.

“Come on, Cloud!” Zack urged him to get in with him.

“What…? Me too?”

“Of course, dummy! We’re going to have a good time, you’ll see.”

He thought he was going to wait for Zack at the outside. Cloud wasn’t very convinced of wanting to get inside of that place. It didn’t called his attention, but he was curious of how the business worked. So he accepted the invitation.

Zack showed the member card to the thugs, with the possibility to invite another person.

Both got inside the establishment, to the vivid image of the indecency of that society. Marble floors, wooden walls forming honeycomb panels and luxurious ornates on gold and lights so bright that made him wonder if that place was really at Wall Market. The girls were walking up and down on suggestive bee costumes; they seemed very busy. The unpleasantness was expressed on Cloud’s face but Zack, on the other had, observed quite curious but he dared to joke about it.

“It’s extravagant even for me… But I’ve only been on this kind of establishments once.” he commented.

Apparently, Zack was more decent than he thought… or seemed to be.

Taking advantage of that no one was attending them, Zack walked discreetly to one of the room’s doors and tried to open it, but it was closed.

“But what are you doing?” Cloud asked confused.

“I’m testing the waters,” he smiled slyly and then he leaned to the keyhole. “These are done like this on purpose, for voyeurs.”

“And you are one?”

“I just want to know how they work here…” he said after a pause. “What the hell…?” he muttered later. “Wait… Wait a second… Isn’t that…? President… Shin-Ra?”

In one instant, Cloud was pushing Zack aside a little bit to see at the other side too.

The keyhole, that was big enough to be able to see the interior, showed a rather big room, decorated with a sumptuous medieval scenery. It didn’t seem that nothing sexual was happening inside.

“So this was the « dinner » he told us about…” Zack said with a laugh.

Soon they were interrupted by one of the bee girls. A forced smile appeared on her lips.

“Pi… I mean… Gentlemen?” she rectified with a slight cold sweat showing up on her forehead. “This is your first time at the Honey Bee Inn?”

They both straighten at the same time, embarrassed by the awkward interruption.

“Uh...That’s right,” Zack nodded, smiling nervously. “It’d be nice if you could explain us how this place works.”

The bee-girl stared at Cloud. That made him to stay more rigid on his place; that was too much for him.

“S-sure! Let’s see…” Nervously, she walked to the first door placed at one of the sides of the hexagonal room. “These doors lead to different rooms with diverse themes. Now most of them are occupied… If you aren’t interested on the free ones, you can wait for the other clients to finish.”

“Which ones are free?” Zack asked.

The employee smiled more anxiously and walked again to the other side of the room to point out the two doors that were available.

“The ‘Surprise Room’,” she said as she pointed the right one. “And the one on the left is the ‘Group Room’.”

They both looked at each other.

“I think I’ll go with the ‘group’ one,” Zack said with his arms crossed and a smile full of intentions.

Cloud knew well the reason. The truth was that the name of the room didn’t leave anything to the imagination.

“Fine,” Cloud answered. “I’ll wait you here.”

He threatened to walk off from there, but Zack stopped him by his arm.

“Come on… Treat yourself.” he insisted. “I know this things might not be your scene, but give it a try to relax for once.”

Then, before he could express his own opinion, Zack dragged Cloud to the ‘Special Room’.

“My friend chooses this one!” he exclaimed at the bee-girl to get the room ready; he then whispered to Cloud. “If you don’t like it, just get out. Don’t force yourself to enjoy it because of me, okay?”

He winked at him and, once the door was open, he pushed Cloud gently to the inside.

“See you later, Cloud! Have fun.” He said goodbye before disappear by the doorstep, leaving Cloud with mouth agape.

“Just wait a moment until we get the room ready,” the girl stuttered uncomfortable before closing the door suddenly.

Cloud remained then inside the room without possibility of speaking for himself. How could he let Zack drag him to that place?

«I’m getting out of here.»

He went to open the door, but it was locked.

«What the…? What kind of establishment lock their clients up inside the rooms?!»

That situation was making Cloud very tense. He looked for a way to get out of the place, but there was just that exist. A room without windows, a big bed and, at its feet, a kind of jacuzzi; everything decorated like it was a child playroom. He sighed and gave up. He’d have to wait for that surprise, which he hoped not to be too bizarre.

To kill some time, Cloud begun to inspect the room, drived by the morally questionable decoration of the place. And, all of a sudden, he felt his energy leaving him bit by bit. He tumbled over the bed and, seatted, he turned his gaze to the jacuzzi. He was be very tired from that rough day, but it wasn’t the best place to fall asleep. Then, thinking he was seeing a mirage, he distinguished something hidden behind the space between the wall and the jacuzzi. Was that a person? Cloud got up from the bed with a nuisance and, as he got closer, he found out who the person was. His heart throbbed hard inside his chest, not believing what he was seeing: the person who lay on that hidden place wasn’t anyone but himself, huddled and his gaze fixed on him.

“What…”

Cloud took a shimmery step backwards. His legs lost strength and he started to suffer a terrible headache that made him to kneel down. He tried to calm it down, gripping his head, but it was useless.

«What are you doing in a place like this?»

The pain increased and his endurance wasn’t enough to bear it. His body lost strength too little by little.

«You think your problems will go away if you don’t think about them?

That getting laid will make everything to go away?»

Cloud ended up passing out on the floor.

«You won’t change anything by sitting back and doing nothing, staring at the problem.»

“What are you talking about...?”

«Don’t stand there still.»

“What…?”

«Wake up...»

Something started to shaking his body up, whispering at him, but he couldn’t move nor react to any of it.

«Wake up!»

Cloud opened his eyes all of a sudden and noticed the violent slaps he was receiving from a corpulent man.

“Wake up, boy. What a fit you had!”

And he straightened quickly. He observed he was on the same room, on the bed, and very close to that man’s presence; he was dressed with a rather tight swimwear. Cloud immediately pushed him away with his arm.

“Hey, what's gotten into you? After helping you…” he grumbled with a boyish tone. “The youth of today…” he said as he got up from the bed. “At least one thank-you would be nice.”

But Cloud wasn’t in the mood for anything, not even for formalities. The hunky employee of the manor left the room with an angry look.

Cloud ignored everything that surrounded him and, feeling a lot better, he got up from the bed and headed to the room’s exit. In front of the door, the bee-girl who attended them at the entrance was waiting for him. She looked like she had something to tell him.

“I’m so sorry of what happened, sir,” she apologized with a curtsey and then she gave him a small sack. “Accept this gift for the trouble we’ve caused.”

He looked inside the sack and took out a white lace lingerie outfit. Cloud’s face said everything in that moment.

“Underwear? Why would I want…?” he made a pause. “...Nevermind.”

Cloud put everything back inside and finally left the room.

Zack was waiting for him outside, quite worried about him. Apparently his agenda was interrupted because of Cloud’s incident; he wouldn’t be there waiting if it weren’t the case.

“Cloud!” he approach him with a concerned look. “Are you alright?”

He nodded, but he wasn’t entirely sure.

“Let’s get out of here…” he answered.

He knew they shouldn’t had visited the inn.

Before his petition, they both abandoned the manor. Cloud was already recovered of the smothering feeling produced by that strange interior voice. He didn’t understand what was happening to him, why it was making him feel so bad and making him remember his insecurities and the worst moments from his life. He was feeling pressured on subjects he never cared about, nor even familiar with, and now…

“You’re fainting quite often lately,” Zack said. “Ever thought on talking about that with a doctor?”

Cloud kept silent. He just walked with a haunting gaze.

“I see you’re not feeling well… It’s alright,” Zack comprehended, not wanting to pressure him. “You know you can count on me and talk with me about anything that troubles you, right?”

Somehow, those words helped Cloud to calm down. He didn’t intend on talking about it, but Zack’s interest was welcome.

“So, you won’t show me what they gave you?” Zack changed the subject to something more trivial.

At that time, Zack snatched the little sack that Cloud was holding on his hand, leaving him no time to properly react.

“Give it back,” Cloud blurted out.

He tried to get the damn sack back, lunging towards Zack, but he could take out what was on the inside much faster. He took the lingerie set of panties, bra and tights, and Zack arched a brow. He finally eyed at his friend with an amused smile.

“They took you for a perv or something?” Zack couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Cloud was feeling utterly embarrassed, somehow the choices and gestures unconnected to him defined him nevertheless. But Zack was so open when talking and he showed too much confidence that Cloud could bear with his remarks.

“I don’t know, but it hasn’t been a nice experience.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that anymore,” Zack placed his hand on his shoulder. “You don’t like it. Period. I’ve been a little rude back there, trying to drag you to my territory. Shouldn’t have force you into this.”

But Cloud just downplayed what happened there, shaking his head.

“Whatever…”

They both returned to their rented room at the inn. Thinking that Aerith could be sleeping already, they got inside as quietly as they could. Suddenly, the lights of the room turned on and they could see her sitting on her bed, cross legged and leaning slightly to the switch on the wall.

“Why you both came in sneaking?”

A reason to make her suspicious, but if she was ready to welcome them it was because she already knew.

Zack and Cloud had to feign normalcy, like if they hadn’t done anything bad. But the truth was that they didn’t bother on hiding it from her from the beginning.

“We thought you were asleep,” Cloud said as he walked straight to his bed to lay on it at last.

“It’s not that late…”

Aerith stared at both of them and she focused her attention to the little sack that Zack was holding on his hand.

“Did you go to the Honey Bee Inn?” Aerith asked quite serene.

Cloud couldn’t care less about giving any sort of explanation. He felt like another victim of Zack’s brilliant ideas.

“Yeah…?” Zack replied while scratching the back of his head. “How did you know?”

Aerith pointed out the sack, which had the logo of the business. It seemed that her ability to know everyone’s intentions and her cunning were because she was incredibly observant.

“Uh, right…” he knocked lightly his head. “It was no big deal. It was full of creeps.”

Zack tossed Aerith the sack.

“Yeah, right. And you aren’t one?” she huffed. “I know you took the poor Cloud with you to not feel like a weirdo alone.”

«Poor… Cloud?»

Aerith started to take out what was inside the sack. And Zack kept trying to excuse himself.

“I was just taking a bath with some guys—”

 Suddenly, he was interrupted by Aerith’s astonishment when she took out the lingerie.

“They really gift this stuff there?!” she stared at both of them quite disgusted. “Seriously, what a bad taste…”

She talked so firmly that Cloud was surprised.

“I told you,” Zack said. “But Cloud can use it for tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right…” his suggestion made her to stand up from the bed enthusiastically. “That’s a great idea! So it will more believable!” 

Cloud felt a shiver run all over his body and he hid his face under the pillow. He cursed himself for not getting rid of the lingerie before that could happen. How he didn’t see that coming?”  

Their weak giggles lowered a little and Aerith continued with their plan while putting the lingerie back inside the sack.

“Okay, now we are only missing the dresses and the shoes.”

Aerith approached Cloud’s bed, by the side where she could see his face better. She patted one of his sides in a friendly way to catch his attention.

“Cloud… Cheer up. Everything will be alright,” she said fondly while holding her giggles back.

But there wasn’t an answer from his part.

“Give him some time, Aerith,” Zack suggested.

When they took the liberty to talk about him, in front of him moreover, made him feel judged. It bothered him; he wanted them to shut up and leave him to play his role in peace, without laughs nor comments involved; how they decided for him, speak out about him and made him the center of attention. Especially Zack. He felt more ashamed at his side, even if Cloud received just respect and support from him.

iv.

The next day, Cloud woke up with the smell of breakfast in their room. It wasn’t nothing special, but Aerith’s optimistic attitude made him start the day a little better. He hadn’t slept well, still unconvinced that their plan would work out and, like if she sensed it, Aerith was always there to make him gain more confidence with a simple smile.

“Where is Zack?” he asked when he finished his breakfast.

“He went to Don Corneo’s mansion to notify that we’re going too. We should go to the fashion store to get the dresses, so hurry up!”

Aerith waited for Cloud to get ready and both headed to the store. They arrived just when it was opening and they waited until the shopgirl had everything in order for them to come in. Inside, the tailor was waiting for them while he was taking out the clothes from a plastic bag.

“I’ve been all night making your friend’s dress. He’ll have to try it on and see if I have to make some changes,” he told them.

“Thank you so much,” Aerith thanked him with a bright smile and she took Cloud’s dress in her arms.

She had to interrupt Cloud’s contemplation at the store for a moment.

“Ready?”

He just sighed heavily. He took the clothes and went to the fitting room of the corner.

The seconds went by… and those turned into minutes and Cloud was wondering how in hell he had to put the dress on. Looking at himself in the mirror didn’t solved his doubts, since he avoided it completely. 

“Cloud?”

The sudden sound of Aerith’s voice at the other side of the curtain flustered him.

“I don’t know if I’ve put this on rightly…” he answered.

Aerith suddenly invaded his intimacy by stepping inside the fitting room with him, and Cloud’s first reaction was to hide himself from her gaze.

“W-what are you doing?!” he exclaimed as he turned around with his arms covering part of his body.

He saw Aerith trying to appreciate the dress without any kind of prejudice, but he just couldn’t let her see him.

“You have to come out to let the tailor see you,” she encouraged him. “Perhaps he’ll have to make a tweak or two.”

Cloud shook his head, roundly denying it. But his stubborn behaviour softened when Aerith held his arms and slowly made him turn to her.

“Okay, let me see you first…”

He finally gave in, but he kept avoiding Aerith’s eyes, thinking he would ignore her attention that way.

“Oh, it really suits you…” she said with a fond smile, making him to spin around. “Why are you trying to hide yourself?”

Cloud didn’t say a word.

“It’s okay,” she answered gently and patted his arms. “Everything is going to be alright.”

Something that Clouds wasn’t very convinced of, but Aerith tugged him to take him out of the changing room. The tailor confirmed Aerith’s words. The dress didn’t need any changes and Cloud returned to the fitting room to put on his SOLDIER uniform. In the meantime, Aerith took care of choosing her own dress. To finish their outfits, they bought a two pair of heels that combine with their dresses and payed the bill. Aerith looked so happy with the purchase and she kept insisting on how good she visualized Cloud’s looks once they were ready.

When they got to the inn, Zack was already there; he was waiting for them. For Aerith’s insistence, he had to kept alien to the process.

Aerith took care of herself first. She wore a night dress in color garnet with a simple ponytail as hairstyle; nothing otherworldly, but she looked remarkably well on it. Later was Cloud’s turn, where she started with the hidden details. She filled the bra with some handkerchiefs to create a bit of volume on the chest area; then it was the tights turn and the lace panties. She later helped him with the dress. It was a deep violet color, modest styled that fell to the ground; the footwear were a comfortable pair of shoes and barely without heels so he wouldn’t have trouble with walking. As for the makeup, Aerith did a more than a decent job, however, after some progress, Cloud had to stop her. He standed up from the small armchair and avoided completely the mirror where he was looking at himself.

“Sorry, I can’t keep up with this…”

She blinked a couple of times, confused.

“Don’t say that!” she tossed the tools over the side table and approached Cloud in shock. “Why that sudden change of mind?”

However, Cloud had no intentions of admit his true reasons.

“Feeling embarrassed?”

He stayed in silence. He simply couldn’t believe how far he was willing to go to help someone.

“No… It’s nothing like that, isn’t it, Cloud?” she stood in front of him and holded his face between her hands. “I know you’re having a rough time understanding your own feelings, but now you have to worry just about yourself. You’re doing this for Tifa, right? Then, let’s do it.”

She let go if his face when she finished talking and Cloud, grimacing, returned to the armchair and seated on it.

“Finish quickly,” he blurted out.

“Yes, ma’am!” Aerith exclaimed more happier.

Getting back her makeup tools and taking the time needed, Aerith finished putting on him the cosmetics, a rather discreet one, but it made his eye color to pop up. Then she continued with his blond hair, which she brushed. With some hair extensions and accessories she created a quite natural ilusion of a braid that fell over one of his shoulders.

“Well, I’m not an expert, but…” she smiled proudly when she take a better look at the change. “It looks really good!”

Aerith hurried Cloud to watch himself at the mirror. He doubted for an instant, but finally he dared to see at his own reflection. His first reaction was of total surprise and later the impossibility of recognizing himself.

“I don’t know what that face means, but I’ll take it as a compliment,” Aerith joked. “Alright, can we go now?”

They both got out of the bathroom, she was showing off, but Cloud opted for going unnoticed behind her.

“Zack! How do we look? We pass for a real thing or it’s too obvious we’re gonna kick Don Corneo’s ass?” she asked as she tugged Cloud’s arm and dragged him at her side.

Zack stood up straight from the bed to take a better look to them, surprised by the absolute change Cloud did in a matter of two hours. Aerith also looked very elegant.

“You both look great,” Zack answered with a big smile. “And who said anything of kicking the guy’s ass? It’s just an interrogatory.”

“He doesn’t seem to be a good person if he goes around selecting women like if we were… things. I won’t let him lay a hand on us,” she declared while she took Cloud to the exit door.

Cloud, for the moment, didn’t dare to say a word.

"Should I… Escort you or something?"

“No need. It’s around the corner,” Aerith said confident. “Besides, Cloud’s here to protect me.”

Those words were accompanied with a rather teasing giggle, something that Cloud answered with a click of his tongue.

“I’ll wait you here then,” Zack said goodbye to them. “Come back as soon as possible. You won’t get too far with those dresses.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!”

Both Aerith and Cloud got out the inn and headed to Don Corneo’s mansion. It wasn’t too far, but they had the same chances of bumping with the worst of the slums. Just what Cloud wanted to avoid since he agreed to that plan was to be the center of attention. The catcalling weren’t missing in their path and the lustful gazes from unknown men fixed on them, believing themselves owners of each women that passed in front of their eyes. Aerith seemed more used it despite of how uncomfortable it was, however Cloud was more affected by that harassment, nothing that he had experienced before and his problematic attitude was inciting him to get into a fight.

“We have to endure this a little more,” Aerith hurried him.

Once they crossed that section, they arrived at the luxurious doors of Don Corneo’s mansion. It was a huge building built in wood and illuminated with powerful spotlights, as if it were a cult monument. The extravagance of Don Corneo said a lot about the type of person he was and they would use it in their favor.

In front of the gate was the doorman who kept an eye on every new visitor that came to the mansion.

“Ladies…” he greeted them with a certain tone of condescension. “Are you coming for the love of Don Corneo?”

Rather, the ‘ payment ’ for Don Corneo.

Both Cloud and Aerith nodded and the man’s smile accentuated and Cloud was tempted to knock all his teeth out.

“Then come in,” he reasserted before opening the doors and stepped aside to let them pass through it. “You’ll be received as you deserve inside.”

The interior was even more bizarre. Everything was absolutely unpolluted, even the polished black granite floor. Wooden pillars rose to the ceiling from which a large spherical lamp hung, illuminating a spacious solitary hall. Something strange except for the owner that was a bit paranoid.

On the western side of the room was a small reception, took up by a redhead. He seemed to hold the position of butler and keep track of all the girls who passed by.

“Hi there, cuties,” he talked to them. “Your names?”

The two approached to give more naturalness to their visit. Aerith, as always, was in charge of the social part; Cloud was too busy to remain as unnoticed as possible, but in that place he had the unnerving feeling that he was being watched. 

"My name is Aries and she is Cloudia," she said confidently, because by the time they found out they were not trustworthy, they would be far from the mansion.

"Alright..." he wrote the names in his notebook. “I will notify Don Corneo. Wait here in the meantime.”

The butler pointed to some padded seats just behind them and then disappeared through the back door of the reception.

"Now is our chance," Aerith murmured and began to walk on tiptoes, even with heels on. “Let's go find Tifa.”

And without making the slightest noise, Cloud grabbed the skirt of the dress and followed her upstairs. On the upper floor, two doors were distinguished from a larger central door. They tried to open the first two, without success, but in the last one, they found a second stairs to a dark underground.

"Do you think Tifa’s down there?" Aerith observed as she descended the steps behind Cloud, grabbing the iron rail. “What a place to leave the visitors.”

“It’s the only door we could continue anyway,” Cloud answered.

As they approached the basement, the stairs and themselves were more visible. Cloud set foot on that large room that seemed taken from an explicit horror movie. A set so sinister that it was strange to see that Tifa was, indeed, there in that room full of moisture.

As soon as he ran into his childhood friend, Cloud turned on his steps and walked towards a corner, waiting for Aerith to take the lead. No, he didn’t want to see Tifa’s reaction to learn who he was.

“Are you Tifa?” Aerith asked.

While she stepped on the floor of the underground room carefully and approached the brunette, Cloud preferred to remain oblivious to their conversation.

"Yes," Tifa replied with reservation. “And you are...?”

“I’m Aerith,” she said with a smile when she introduced herself. “Nice to meet you at last, Tifa. Cloud and Zack told me a lot about you.”

Tifa blinked a couple of times confused. The fact that she mentioned Cloud caused her to lower her gaze and show a rather mournful expression.

“I see… And I suspect you’ve come to help me, am I right?”

“You suspect well,” Aerith answered with her hands behind her back. “And not just me, right Cloud?”

Aerith turned to him and Cloud tensed, not moving an inch. He felt forced to turn his back at them, as if that gesture would save him from the shame at that point.

“Cloud…? Is that you?”

Tifa walked towards him, and he acknowledge then that it was a waste of time not to resign; he had to face the situation. For that reason, he turned to Tifa and the characteristic color of his eyes revealed his identity. She couldn’t contain a smile, forced by tears. Like Zack did in front of the Honey Bee Inn, she didn’t believe that he would survive that fall, so she didn’t restrain her desire to hug him and convince herself that he was really there.

“You’re alive!” she said in a slight sob. “How is that possible…?”

Cloud let himself be embraced by Tifa, although a little ashamed as he returned the hug.

“I don’t know either, but Aerith helped me a lot to get… here.”

 Soon the hands on her shoulders indicated Tifa that he hug should end there, something she agreed without delay. Cloud was relieved that she didn’t commented anything about his new appearance, something that, if he stopped to think, was quite evident.

“But… what are you doing here?” Tifa asked more calmly, looking at them.

“Zack informed us of your plans,” Cloud said. “Then Aerith offered to help you… and then I was next.”

“Cloud was very worried about us.” Aerith revealed with a wide grin.

A detail that made Tifa to smile weakly.

“You look great, Cloud,” she praised him, but he dismissed her words instantly. “So… are you going to present yourselves before Don Corneo with me?”

“That’s right.” Aerith said. “It’s what you needed, right?”

Tifa nodded more lively.

“We have to work on a plan,” Cloud suggested.

“We’ll need the mansion cleared in case Don Corneo notices our trap,” Tifa mentioned. “What about the one that Don Corneo chooses makes time while the rest clears the way to his room? The moment we three gather together, the interrogation will begin.”

And before they could agree to the plan, up the stairs, the red-haired butler came down with a rather authoritarian look.

“I told you to wait at the reception,” he blurted out as he encouraged them to go upstairs. “Today’s women… You really believe yourselves owners of everything,” he murmured. “Come on, go up. Don Corneo is waiting.”

Behind the butler, the three accomplices followed the path to the end of the stairs. On the upper floor, the redhead opened the front door to the office of the famous Don Corneo, owner of Wall Market. The office was a large elongated room that had the same style as the rest of mansion. Columns and pedestals with busts and luxury objects stood on each side. In the background, Don Corneo was behind his desk, dressed in gold necklaces and a robe of animal print, and at his sides, his two subordinates.

Don Corneo was a blond guy, already in his fifties, wanting to show the world how much power he had, so both his mansion and his appearance dripped extravagance and at the same time luxury. From his position, he looked at the three as if they were mere toys.

“Alright, girls!” exclaimed the lackey. “Line up before Don Corneo.”

Something they did without questioning, but the situation was uncomfortable and distressing at the least, especially for someone like Cloud; he was unable to remain calm while feeling the stare of so many men.

Don Corneo then leaned over his desk, attentive to the beauty they exhibited. He seemed to be very surprised.

"Good... You all three are very beautiful," he said as he rose from his chair and circled his desk to face them. “Tho you are more beautiful from closer...”

“Which one of you should I choose?” He asked rhetorically as he walked in front of each one, focusing on their particularities. “I know you are dying to spend a night with me, but I cannot opt for all three… I am very devoted man to one woman,” he said, as if that were a misfortune. “So I’ve made a decision.”

Don Corneo casted a last glance and then smirked.

“Tonight I choose…” he waited a few seconds and reverenced before Cloud. “This healthy girl!”

Aerith and Tifa turned their gazes to Cloud, astonished.

“W-wait… I mean, are you sure…?” he looked so nervous that Don Corneo found it exciting.

“I love girls that play hard to get.” He said with a very lecherous look.

Don Corneo turned to his lackeys and clapped a couple of times.

“Alright, you can take the other two.”

 Thereafter, Tifa and Aerith disappeared through the door next to the lackeys, leaving Cloud and Don Corneo in an awkward loneliness.

“Well, shall we begin, kitten?” he said in a loving and condescending tone as he approached to grab him by the hip and take him away.

Cloud was restless, but he said nothing, wanting to maintain his current identity. He allowed Don Corneo to drag him to his bedroom.

There was a large bed there, the perfect lighting for an evening of unbridled passion and a lot of flashiness that made the sight unbearable. Don Corneo closed the door once they were inside and led Cloud to the bed, where he made him sit. The he sat down next to him and waited excitedly Cloud’s first step.

“We’re finally alone…” Don Corneo breathed staring at Cloud. “Your eyes are so gorgeous and you are so beautiful…”

Cloud felt increasingly more irritated, unable to lead the situation where he wanted. What was he supposed to do now? Tifa hadn’t given him the details to make time, so he would have no choice but to follow his game and leave untouched at the same time. While he was asking himself those questions, Don Corneo seemed to be really into his apparent shyness.

“Come on, kitten… Come with daddy…” he encouraged him in an even more suggestive tone as he removed the knot from his robe.

Sensing his intentions, Cloud stood up from the bed, but was stopped by Don Corneo, who grabbed his hand.

“Hey, don’t be shy,” he pulled his arm to make sit him again, this time so closely that Cloud could felt his breath on his face. “We are completely alone now…”

He began to caress his back and hair; which Cloud endured without a word.

“You’re so cute … I can’t stop looking at you.” He raised Cloud’s chin to make him look at him, but there was no way. “Tell me, you like me as well?”

But his opinion was far from what Don Corneo wanted to hear, so he kept it himself.

“That’s a no? After presenting yourself here, you reject me now?” he said with a disappointed tone of voice. “You  already have a boyfriend?”

Cloud immediately shook his head and Don Corneo responded with a pleasant smile.

"Then I have a chance to win you today... And, what do you want to do? What can I do to earn your love?”

Although he disliked the idea, keeping in silence would only cause him to suspect. Thus, he forced himself to answer.

“Don’t know… Whatever you want, da...ddy…?”

He knew that he would end up regretting having said that, since Don Corneo responded very happily to his initiative by leaning more towards him.

“Goodness…! You want to kill me, dear?” he said with a more than impatient tone. “Alright… I want you to kiss me on the lips.”

Cloud felt a heavy lump in his throat, struggling between spoiling the plan or, on the contrary, giving in to Don Corneo’s wishes to keep his role until Tifa and Aerith came. He really had no choice, so he swallowed with difficulty, closed his eyes tightly and slowly approached Don Corneo’s lips, wishing with all his might that something interrupted that moment.

Suddenly, as if his prayers were heard, Tifa and Aerith stormed in the room, something that Cloud took advantage of to get rid of Don Corneo’s intentions and get out of the bed.

“Don Corneo, you’re in a good mess!” Aerith exclaimed.

“What the hell…?!” the man cried out. “What are you two doing here?!”

“Shut up, it’s not you who asks the questions now,” Tifa answered.

Both approached towards the bed’s foot. Cloud met with them to face Don Corneo, who was completely surrounded with no way out.

“Tell us everything your assistant have found out,” Tifa continued. “Talk if you don’t want to end up beaten to a pulp!” she said as she cracked her knuckles loudly.

 Don Corneo cringed on the bed and covered himself with an arm.

“No! No… Alright, I’ll talk… I’ll tell you everything I know…”

“Then talk!”

"I was ordered to find out information about a man with a gun-arm."

They already knew that and Tifa was beginning to get impatient.

“Who ordered it?”

“You can’t ask me that… If I tell you, they’re gonna kill me!”

Aerith leaned towards Don Corneo and challenged him.

“You really think we’re letting you get away with it without telling us anything?”

Don Corneo was forced to give in and growled.

“It was the Head of the Public Safety!” he confessed.

“Wait, isn’t that Heidegger, the President’s right hand?” Cloud asked.

“That’s true…” Tifa said in shock. “What’s Shin-Ra up to?!”

Tifa ended up circling the bed and preparing one of her fists against Don Corneo. It didn't look well for him.

“Hey, chick. Calm down.” Don Corneo insisted. “I’m not fooling you! Shin-Ra wants to destroy Avalanche, but they need to know where’s their hiding place before because… Well, they plan to crush them, literally.”

“What do you mean?” Aerith asked fearfully.

“What you’ve heard, sweetie! They’re gonna blow the pillar that supports the entire weight of the sector’s plate.”

“They’re going to destroy all Sector 7?!”

None of the presents could believe that Shin-Ra had the cold blood to kill the entire population of a sector because of a small rebel group.

“The truth is that I’m glad to live in Sector 6…”

“Shut up!” Tifa snapped at him, threatening him with her fist. “We have to tell Barret as soon as possible! You’re coming with me, right?”

Both Aerith and Cloud nodded to her offer and the three didn’t waste one second more. Tifa and Aerith took the lead, however, before Cloud crossed the exit door, Don Corneo stopped him. By that time, they were the only ones in the bedroom.

“Wait a moment, kitten…”

“Shut it.”

“No, wait… Just one moment. I want to ask you a question,” he said as he crawled across the bed to the headboard. “How do you think people like me feel after spitting the whole truth?”

Cloud didn’t understand that question out of nowhere, but he answered.

“Nothing, that’s for sure. Because either you aren’t aware of the seriousness of the matter or you have nothing to lose.”

“Exactly!”

Don Corneo extended an arm towards a hidden switch and activated it. Suddenly, a trapdoor opened under Cloud's feet and he fell into the underground. Don Corneo's victorious laughter gradually diminished as he was falling until he tumbled on a dark place.

The fall caused him a slight stun, from which he recovered quickly when he heard a distant voice.

“Cloud!? Are you there?”

Aerith’s voice caught his attention, and Cloud looked up at the roof opening; he saw her peeking out of the trapdoor.

“Aerith…?” he called her worried. “What are still you doing here?! You have to get back to Sector 7 and warn Barret!”

“But, you’ll be fine there?!”

“Yes… It’s a bit dark, but I see a way out… Go back with Zack! I’ll try to get out of here…” Cloud said, not very sure of it.

“You’ll find the way out!” Aerith exclaimed. “See you in Sector 7.”

“Yeah… See you...!”

Cloud heard Aerith’s footsteps getting away from there and he knew then that he was on his own now.

Chapter Text

i.

President Shin-Ra had just concluded his second reunion with the department chiefs of his company. The planning had started and there was no turning back. It hadn’t been necessary a very rigorous votation, since they all shared the hatred towards the rebel group Avalanche and any mean used to destroy them was justified. However, the disagreements appeared from time to time, and almost always from the same person.

Shin-Ra was finishing the last cigar of the night as he listened the dispute between two of his department executives. Even so, he prefered to watch the gorgeous views of the city his headquarters provided, the tallest building of Midgar, but since Avalanche blew two of its reactors, the landscape had lost its charm.

“Do we know how the preparations are going?” he asked.

Suddenly, his staff members fell silent to pay him all their attention.

“Smooth as silk, sir,” Heidegger answered, holding back his laugh. “I assigned this mission to the Turks,  there’s nothing to worry about.”

But Shin-Ra had his doubts. After all, Avalanche had two ex-SOLDIERS on their side and they had destroyed two reactors.

“I hope you’re right… Or I’ll have to manage without your services, like I did with our last Head of Weapons Development.”

Not a very sutil threat, but it was a reminder of his great power in the company. Those who failed him had to suffer the consequences. He couldn’t allow any more mistakes.

“Mr. President,” another executive interrupted. “Do we really have to carry through this? Destroying a rebel group that small and like that…”

“There’s a problem with that, Mr.Tuesti?” he looked at his employee severely. “Are you going to resign now?”

“It’s not that,” he feared arguing his President too much, “but, as Head of Urban Development, I’ve been involved in the construction and functioning of the city of Midgar. That’s the reason why—”

“You’re late, Reeve,” Heidegger talked over his coworker. “You should had said all that this morning’s meeting.”

“The mayor is against it as well…” Reeve continued, like if that detail had any practical value.

But that only made Heidegger to laugh raucously.

“The mayor you say? The only thing he does is wandering around the building and stuff himself with donuts!” after his funny remark, his laughter calmed. “Now, if you excuse me, Mr. President…” 

Heidegger left Shin-Ra’s office, cutting Reeve off.

Finally, the president approached to his executive and placed an arm around his shoulders.

“You’re tired. Why don’t you take two days of rest somewhere else? I know some good places and, if you still feel stressed, I could change you to another department.”

Tuesti didn’t say a word, unable to test his boss’ patience farther.

“We’ll destroy Sector 7 and we’ll blame Avalanche for it. Then we’ll use that attack to send our rescue operation on the Mayor’s behalf. And then we’ll recover the money we’ve lost from the destruction of the other reactors,” Shi-Ra released Reeve’s shoulders as he approached his desk again. “See? You don’t have to worry about anything, Reeve. Everything’s under control.”

Reeve just nodded and then left the office too, giving his president some intimacy. Shin-Ra got back to his seat next to the large window and, with a glass of wine, he waited for his plan to accomplish with success. 

ii.

Cloud had fallen to the sewage system of Sector 6. Some kind of pond softened part of his fall, but now he was soaked from head to toes. Luckily, it wasn’t too deep and he could touch the bottom. It wasn’t necessary to talk about the smell down there, knowing that it dragged all the residual waters from a lot of establishments of the slums. 

He looked up at the aperture on the ceiling. The light coming from it permitted Cloud to barely see what was around two meters from his position; it wasn’t enough. He could distinguish a small passage, which end was illuminated by small emergency lights. But suddenly, the trapdoor was closed, taking away any advantage that Cloud could have had in those circumstances. His restrained grunt resounded in that place and he started to walk through the contaminated waters to the only direction that the passage could lead.

At the first step, he felt something snagging on his ankle and pulling him at the bottom of the pond. Cloud sank on the reeking waters, pulled by the force of something that wasn’t animal, even less human. His first movement was to extend his arms to find any object to hold on to. He quickly grabbed the bars of the lateral ladder and hanged on with enough strength to not be hauled in deeper. Cloud climbed the bars to the surface and took his head out the water. He breathed deeply before he was dragged again to the depths with much more strength. In that moment, the last metalic bar he was holding tight gave in and Cloud was pulled again to the depths of the pond, but this time, with greater force. Whatever that being was, it threw him with such energy, that he blazed past out the water and impacted against the wall. Cloud fell to the small walkway around a little tank, now weakened by the critical hit on his side. As soon as Cloud could, he sat up straight with the bar still on his hand and started to run through the walkway with that uncomfortable dress, running away from the monster. Cloud followed  the perimeter, guided by the path the walls formed to the illuminated passage.

The light there was better and the running waters that followed the narrow stretch were less deep. But the roar of the beast revealed its proximity just behind of Cloud and, before he could keep running, his ankle was caught again. Under the light, he could distinguish a black tentacle that hauled him against the water’s surface. Cloud hit the tentacle with the bar before it could submerge him to the water completely. The monster freed him with a cry of pain, but it wasn’t over yet. He readied himself as he recognize under the dim light the shape of an octopus that could stand on two pair of legs, clearly humanoid, even its head had human features. How did that monster ended up in that place? Was it Don Corneo’s pet?

The humanoid octopus charged at Cloud once more, this time in a clear disadvantage since it wasn’t on an open aquatic space, but it wasn’t less dangerous because of it. The monster made a slow tackle that Cloud dodged easily with a jump. He then rushed forward to its back and hit with all his might the beast’s head, using the sharpest part of the metallic bar. The monster turned with its tentacles stretched out and shoved Cloud until he fell again into the water. The beast’s tentacles then took advantage of Cloud’s state to enclose his neck and hold him under water. Cloud was trapped. He needed oxygen, the blood couldn’t reach his brain, and it was useless to free himself with his hands, but he had a nice tool with a possibility. He placed the bar between the two tentacles blocking the air to his lungs and started to turn the bar to twist them and create a lever effect painful enough to make it to let go of his neck. As soon as the monster freed him, Cloud pulled with all his strength of its trapped limbs and made the monster to fall at his side. When he resurfaced for a very needed breath of air, he made use of their proximity to threw himself over its back and immediately rushed forward to the open wound of its head. The hit was fatal, as it went through the beast’s skull.

Cloud breathed agitated, coughing when the air didn’t reach well. He was tired and his lungs still demanded great amount of oxygen. At a slow pace, he reached the border of the concrete platform and fell to his knees, resting part of his body on them. As he recovered, he was more conscious of his surroundings. The hedor, the humid sensation, they went right through him, revolting his stomach. From time to time a nausea appeared that he tried to control breathing through his mouth.

What now? Surely he was already too late to meet his companions and, not only that, he also got Aerith involved in a fight that wasn’t hers. But what about himself? Without wanting it, he felt being part of a fight he never was interested in, and now he was worried for the wellbeing of other group of people he never cared about. It was so confusing and at the same time so clear that the only thing he could do was to intervene in his friends’ fate, maybe because he felt guilty, or responsible or maybe it was the need to keep them by his side. Perhaps Wedge hadn’t be in the wrong after all, he had to admit.

Cloud stood up slowly once he caught his breath. He observed the only way to go and exhaled. To walk that route he needed mobility and comfort, so the first thing he did was tear the dress fabric vertically, so two pieces of fabric were hanging from his legs. He wrapped them with the fabric, creating some kind of pants. Cloud kept the footwear, though not the already messed hair extensions and the uncomfortable bra. He got rid of them and, before continuing, he wielded the metal bar. 

He advanced through the sewers walkway in dead silence. The only thing he could hear was the flow of the residual waters through the tunnels and the echoing of his footsteps. Thanks to the emergency lights and some openings that connected directly to the street roads, his route was more visible, but he couldn’t guess the directions he should take for Sector 7’s underground. Luckily, there were some markers that gave away his exact position; those were for the employees that worked on the sewers’ maintenement. The place was much more  repulsive than he expected. The junk was building up on some corners, like a garbage dump, however it served as a home for vagrants.

Following the sign posts and making use of his orientation, Cloud came to what it seemed the exit to Sector 7 through a ladder. He put the metal bar between the dress fabric and climbed up to the surface. He pushed aside the metallic round piece that covered the sewers entrance and put his head out of it. Cloud indeed arrived at Sector 7, just in the middle of the train graveyard next to the station of Tifa’s neighborhood.

Maybe it wasn’t too late.

Cloud left the sewers, thankful for the light the street lamps provided. Due to the superstition originated around that train graveyard, there wasn’t a soul around him. However, that abandoned area of the station looked almost post-apocalyptic, like if a war had broke out and everyone left their homes looking for a brighter future. And partially, it was the case. People started to run away from Sector 7 in the face of the news of the plate falling on them. Cloud went against the flow through the all the corners created by the huge amount of discarded trains from the railway company. It had been a long way until the railways that guided him directly to the operational platform of Sector 7. There was no one around due to Shin-Ra’s order to close down the railway lines and, as Cloud got closer, it was more visible the ravage near the support pillar.

He hurried as fast as his legs let him, until arriving the restringed area at the base of the column. A certain amount of people surrounded the security fence perimeter, wanting to help, but at the same time mobilized by Tifa, who was helping two security guards to evacuate the zone. Cloud stopped next to them and looked up at what it could be seen of the pillar. At the top, though he couldn’t distinguish it clearly, the members of Avalanche were fighting the private Shin-Ra’s personnel. Barret’s shooting could be heard even among all that chaos.

He had to go up as soon as possible.

“Cloud!” Tifa shouted frenzied as she ran to him, carrying the Buster Sword. “Finally! I was waiting for you.”

But Cloud didn’t tear his eyes from the plate, more focused on what he could do next.

“Am I late?”

“No! It’s never too late,” and she handed him over his sword. “We have to go up, they need help!”

After he tossed the metal bar elsewhere, Cloud gripped tightly the hilt of his valued sword. 

“Where’s Aerith?” he asked when he noticed her absence. 

“I asked her to take Marlene somewhere safe.”

Cloud nodded quietly and eyed again at Tifa.

“And the rest is up there?”

Tifa took some time to answer. Her eyes avoiding his as she looked at the injured by the Shin-Ra troops and soon he noticed that question wasn’t necessary; among them, Wedge was being taken care of on the ground and, as far as he could tell, he was surely dead. Cloud felt a stabbing pain in his chest and frowned. He didn’t say a word and, carrying the sword on his back, he ran to the fence.

“Wait!” Tifa exclaimed. “I’m coming with you, Cloud!”

But he didn’t stopped.

The column was surrounded by a series of wrought iron stairs that went all the way up uninterrupted. Cloud jumped the steps two by two and Tifa followed his steps with the same deftness; the time was almost upon them.

Along their way up to the top platform, the two of them bumped into Biggs and Jessie, badly injured, one near the other and lying over the metal stairs. Cloud stopped by their side and kneeled to check their state, but Jessie was the only one that was enough aware of her surroundings and was able to held a conversation. From her lips emerged a faint smile when she noticed them.

“Hey, Ex-SOLDIER… Glad you came after… all.” she coughed weakly.

“You need help…” Cloud said, though he was sure none of them would stand a chance of surviving. 

“You’re right…” she forced her voice to come clearer. “But because of our actions… many people had died… Maybe this… is what we deserve…”

Jessie closed her eyes after another cough, but she didn’t open them again.

“Jessie…” Tifa murmured heartbroken.

 Cloud didn’t say a word and stood up to continue his way up, along with Tifa. During it, the arrival of an helicopter was dificulting the work of the rebels, that kept fighting at the top platform from the pillar.

Reno, from the Turks, got off the helicopter with an odd dispositive on his hand, taking advantage of the combat zone between Avalanche and the Shin-Ra troops. He advanced to the operating system panel of the column and set a computer program. To the surprise of the Turk, the cold steel edge of a sword was placed on the right side of his neck. Reno was static, but very confident at the same time.

“You’re late, Zack,” Reno stated with half smile, brushing with his finger the activation button. “Once I press this button…”

“Don’t you dare!” he growled. 

Zack added more pressure with the blade against his skin, but the Turk ignored his threat and pressed the button anyway. The program activated the unlocking of the plate with a beep and a countdown.

“Oops, sorry. My finger slipped,” he joked.

Zack groaned and, refusing to use his sword against him, he hit the Turk with the hilt instead. He then kicked one of his sides, propelling Reno to the side. But he could sat up after rolling on the ground. He later took a step back. It was obvious his mission was already over and the only thing he had to do was to return to the helicopter. However, Zack wasn’t giving him the chance as he stood in the way.

“Reno…” he defied. “Shut down the damn program or…”

“Or what?” he pointed at Zack with his weapon, mocking him. “Are you gonna ask me to join your cause? You were the first one abandoning us.”

“You’ve no idea!” 

Reno was just winding him up and he shrugged. 

“I cannot do what you’re asking anyway, dude. I’m not a computer expert,” he tried to distract Zack with the chatting as he pulled something out of his pocket. “A pity we have to say goodbye like this.”

And before Zack could say anything, Reno threw a bomb at his feet that exploded with a thick smoke, spreading quickly through all the platform.

“Reno!” Zack shouted when his vision blurred.

It would a loss of time trying to catch him and make him to shut down the program. The only chance they got left was to try to deactivate it themselves or ran as fast as they could.

“Shit… Where did those bastards go?!” Barret spitted.  

Slowly the layer of smoke dissipated, revealing that they were alone in the platform, the helicopter  lifting up in the air, ready to leave the place.

In that instant, Tifa and Cloud reached the top of the platform and stared at all the chaos.

“What happened?!” Tifa inquired as she ran, beside Cloud, close to Zack and Barret.

“They’ve activated the unlocking system of the plate!” Zack answered.

Barret then filled with anger and shoot a hail of bullets against the armor of the helicopter.

“Damn you!” he yelled as the bullets crashed and bounced off the armor.

“If I were you I’d stop shooting.”

From the inside of the helicopter appeared the leader of the Turks and, dragging someone away, he pulled out his hostage with a gag and shackled. The group stopped the offensive, surprised by the turn of events.

“Aerith!” Cloud cried out.

“So you know the Ancient too,” they referred to her with that term once more. “You should be thankful I let you see her for the last time.”

“Let her go, Tseng!” Zack blurted out and ran to the helicopter that slowly was getting away from them. “We can make a deal!”

“It had been a pleasure doing business with you, Zack, but I don’t make deals with traitors.”

Tseng didn’t let him speak further and he retreated to the inside of the helicopter, along with Aerith. In a few seconds they fled the zone.

“What do we do now?” Tifa said, staring at the group.

“There must to be a way to shut down this thing…” Zack stood in front of the panel Reno used to activate the program, but computers and softwares had never been his forte. As it was shown in the dispositive indicator, they only had five minutes to deactivate ir or run off.

Shortly after, Cloud joined Zack. Leaning on to observe the panel and the information it provided, he started to type something on the keyboard and pressing the buttons that should led him to the manual deactivation, but it wasn’t that easy. Their chances were reduced to zero.

“It’s no use,” Cloud announced. “It’s secured by a keyword and it also needs the ID of a Shin-Ra executive.”

“Then… There’s no thing we can do?” Tifa said, looking desperately at both of them.

Cloud shook his head and lowered his gaze at the floor.

“If we had Jessie with us…” Barret mumbled angrily. “Don’t know about you, but I’m not giving up yet!”

All of a sudden, over their heads, the the plate assembling and the contency structure started to disjoint. The electrical system and plumbing that supplied of resources to the citizens of the plate gave a bit until the broke completely. Little pieces of debris and water fell and the wires that provided of power the reactors teared up and detached from their insulated case, like if they were threads. One of them fell from its side over the platform and Barret ran to it before it slided off the platform.

“Listen up!” Barret pointed. “We can use this wire to get out of here!”

The rest stared at each other, Tifa being the most uncertain if it would work.

“I guess we don’t have other choice…” she sighed.

“Stop talking! This is going to blow any time soon!” Barret yelled again. “What are you waiting for, slowpokes?!”

Barret climbed the railing, leaning his body on his legs with the help of the wire, the other three didn’t waste time to climb too. Making use of Barret’s huge constitution, they got hold of his shoulders, his clothes, but also the security the thickness of the wire gave them.

“Hold tight! I won’t go to the rescue if someone falls!”

And just when the plate was falling on them, Barret pushed himself forward to make the sway much further. The middle end from where the wire fell was far enough to travel great distance midair, however, once all their weight was on the most vertical point, the wire gave in and gravity did the rest.

By the moment the plate of Sector 7 crashed into an entire population, Avalanche miraculously got through the evacuation gate to Sector 6.

iii.

The explosion and the inertia of the sway dragged them to the limit of both sectors. The ground stopped their falls and the debris blocked the gate to Sector 7, making impossible to go through it again. An entire population died crushed and their cries of help were drowned by the impact of the plate. It’d be a miracle if the rescue team found survivors.

Cloud regained his consciousness shortly after. He sat slowly on his knees, keeping his balance with his hands on the ground, and when he looked upfront he found the park where Aerith had taken him. He then watched around him; Zack was helping Tifa to her feet and Barret stood in front of the gate to Sector 7, desperate.

“Marlene!” Cloud heard him cried out. “Shit… Shit!”

The Avalanche leader started to pound the debris with his gun-arm, venting all the rage he’d restrained. But he didn’t get any calmer. Barret fell to his knees and hit the ground with his fit.

“Jessie… Wedge… Biggs…” he hit the ground again. “To hell all this! What’s the point of all we did?!”

Zack and Tifa went with Barret. They tried to get his attention and make those thoughts to not poison his mind, but there was no way; he kept mourning the loss of his friends, but above all, his daughter’s. The truth was that neither of them felt very well, the worries grew bigger and bigger and it was getting more difficult to fulfill Avalanche’s duty.

It’d been necessary to give Barret some time, one that Cloud also needed even if he wasn’t going through the same. He took a sit next to the slide’s ladder, a place that helped him to go unnoticed, but not for long when he had friends caring about him.

 Cloud used to mull things over more than necessary, even more when he felt responsible of something. It was excessive to carry all the blame of what happened, however, he couldn’t help to wonder if something would have go differently if he arrived sooner. Would the rest of Avalanche be still alive? Avoid the plate’s fall? Rescue Aerith?

Cloud exhaled after he rubbed his face and shortly after Zack sat beside him, though keeping some distance.

“I wouldn’t come closer if I were you,” Cloud said before his friend could say something about his reek to sewer, but he shouldn’t have mentioned it in a moment like that.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay… all things considered,” Zack said. “We’re not going through our best moment.”

Cloud stayed in silence, no needing to affirm it.

“Tifa told me she might know where Marlene is. We could start going to Aerith’s house.”

At Zack’s suggestion, Cloud stood up from the ground and walked to where Tifa and Barret were talking.

“We should go find Marlene, but Biggs, Wedge and Jessie…” Barret said when both Cloud and Zack came closer.

Silence fell among them, but Cloud didn’t hesitate to state the obvious, something he wanted Barret to acknowledge at once.

“They were at the pillar…”

“You think I don’t know?” his comment put Barret in a bad mood. “I just can’t believe they’re really… dead.”

“And not just them… All the people that lived in Sector 7,” Tifa pointed out with sadness.

And a heavy silence fell once more. It wasn’t only the Avalanche members, but Marlene and Aerith too. The loss and new concerns were troubling the minds of the group; Barret was the only one that couldn’t hide it.

“Everything’s gone to hell…” Barret shook his head. “And they destroyed and entire sector just to get to us .”

To anyone with a little sense of empathy, the solution taken by Shin-Ra was absolutely excessive.

“You’re thinking it was our fault?” Zack intervened incredulous, almost berating Barret. “That all that innocent people died because of us?”

“Of course not, Zack!” Barret made clear as he stood up. “It’s Shin-Ra’s fault, it’ve always been! They’re the bad guys that are destroying our planet just to gain more power and line their own pockets with gold,” he explained to the three of them, furious. “If we don’t stop them soon, they’ll be the ones ending it all.”

But Tifa, that was still sitting on the edge of the slide, wasn’t seeing it with the same eyes.

“You mean… all this was a necessary evil? A sacrifice for the planet?”

“No one said wars could be won with placards and diplomacy,” Barret answered.

“I’m not so sure about that…” she said unconvinced.

“What is you aren’t sure about, Tifa? There’s no point dwelling on this!”

“It’s not that, Barret… It’s just… I see it other way.”

Barret groaned and ran his hand over his head. He later looked at the other two.

“And what you two think about this?”

“I’m sorry, Tifa,” Zack said with his hands inside his pockets and his head down. “I think Barret’s right in this. Sometimes, if you want to change something, you need to break the rules. I wish it’d have been another way, but Shin-Ra hadn’t left us any other choice.”

“What about you, Cloud?” Barret asked, waiting to get his support too.

But Cloud didn’t say a word. Everyone and no one was right. Depending on who was asked, they’d give an answer or another. Cloud could see Tifa’s and Barret’s point of view, but the truth was that Aerith needed their help and it wasn’t the time to fool around seeing who was right or wrong.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Barret exclaimed, following Cloud’s steps.

But neither Tifa nor Zack moved from their place. Barret turned at them when he saw Cloud walking without a word.

“Where he thinks he’s going?”

“We said of searching Marlene, right?” Zack mentioned. “He’s probably going to Sector 5, where Aerith lives. I can take you there too.”

Cloud walked a long way through Sector 6 alone. His thoughts were drowned along with some parts of his memories. A word resonated powerfully inside his head and he felt it was the key to recover some of his forgotten memories. Ancients… Why that word reverberated so strong in his mind?

Suddenly, he heard his friends’ quick footsteps getting closer. Tifa called him and Cloud stopped.

“Zack’s taking us to Aerith’s place,” Barret said, desperate to see his daughter again.

“You’re coming, right? Cloud?” Tifa asked too.

That was exactly what he was doing and that they asked him to tag along offended him. However, it was an opinion he opted to save for himself.

“There’s something I need to know,” Cloud stated.

“What is it?” Zack inquired.

“About the Ancients…”

« Through my veins runs the blood of the Ancients.

I’m one of the rightful heirs of this planet! »

In that instant, Cloud fell to one of his knees when he lost his consciousness momentarily.

“Sephiroth…?” he mumbled frightened, while Tifa and Zack ran to help him, worried.

“Are you okay, Cloud?” Zack asked, who was holding him by one of his arms.

With his help and Tifa’s, it didn’t take long to get Cloud on his feet, now with more stability. He nodded to his friends and separated from them to keep walking.

iv.

Showing up there maybe hadn’t been the best thing under such circumstances, though the possibility of Marlene being there was too high. Aerith’s home, a little garden amidst the decadence of an apparently advanced society, it was the safest place it could had existed in the slums, but now it lost its privilege. Because of it, the wellbeing of Barret’s daughter became first priority.

Avalanche stopped at the house front door by Zack’s request, who didn’t seem to be quite ready to meet Elmyra. They’d never gotten along very well while his relationship with Aerith had lasted and surely, since his disappearing and now her daughter’s kidnapping, she’d have more reasons to not feel any affection for him. It was something he explained to his companions, but Barret wasn’t at his best to be sympathetic.

“We don’t have time for that,” he blurted out lifting his fit. “You can stay here if you want, but I won't wait until you psych yourself up.”

“I didn’t suggest that,” Zack sighed.

“How bad is going to be?” Tifa asked. “It’ll be just a moment and we’ll leave. Aerith needs us and that’s all that matters.”

Zack nodded and scratched the back of his head.

“You’re right,” he cracked a bitterly smile, but shortly after he regained his usual confidence. “Dunno what's gotten into me.”

Then, without saying a word, Cloud gave a step to the front door and knocked firmly on the door. Elmyra peeked out through the crack of the door not too long after, surprised to see them. For the marks under her eyes, it was easy to guess she had been crying. She didn’t say anything and just let the entire group inside her home.

“It’s about Aerith, isn’t it?” Elmyra said, speaking first to Cloud.

“I’m sorry,” he lowered his gaze. “Shin-Ra captured her.”

She sighed and then sniffled.

“I know… They took her from here.”

That statement put the group on alert, Barret above them, who’s only train of thought was Marlene’s state.

“They came here to take her?” Cloud continued.

“Yes,” she tried to hide the cracking of her voice, “that’s what she wanted.”

“And you know why Shin-Ra is so interested in her?” Tifa asked.

That question silenced Elmyra, who glared at Zack accusingly.

“Zack hadn’t told you anything?”

They all turned to look at him. Zack shook lightly his head, putting his hands on his hips.

“What the hell is going on?” Barret inquired confused. “I’m not understanding anything!”

And same as him, neither Cloud nor Tifa did. Why he didn’t say it before?

“Calm down, Barret,” Zack said. “I don’t know much about it either, but it’s something about the Ancients. Shin-Ra’s been looking for her for some genetic research. It seems she’s the only one left of her kind and that’s why they’ve been after her for so long.”

That explained many things.

“But then you…” Barret said to Elmyra. “You’re not her biological mother.”

She shook her head.

“That’s right. Aerith was seven when I adopted her,” she explained.

“Why don’t you tell us more about her? What happened?” Tifa asked her.

“We’re kind in a hurry…” Barret blurted out.

“You should have some rest first,” Elmyra suggested to the four of them. “You look exhausted and I’m pretty sure Cloud is in need of a shower. I think Aerith, when she brought that little girl, also brought your clothes. Please, if you’re going to help Aerith, take some time to recharge your batteries. In the meantime, I’ll tell you all you want to know about her.”

The group made use of Elmyra’s hospitality to take a much needed break. While Cloud was taking a well deserved bath, Barret reunited at last with Marlene on the upper floor. After he got a good scolding from Elmyra for his awful role as a father, Barret decided to spend all the time he could with her. The planet was still dying tho, and he had to keep going. Zack and Tifa, on the other hand, were drinking a relaxing cup of tea and some food. It wasn’t long after that Cloud and Barret came downstairs to join with the rest at the living room. And, around the table and in silence, they gave the word to Elmyra.

“It all began fifteen years ago. My husband was posted to the front line during Wutai’s war. One day I received a letter where he was granted a few days’ leave and he’d return over the next days. I remember going to the station day after day, hoping to see him showing up through the train doors, but he never did. I wondered what could had happen to him, if his days’ leave had been canceled…

“A few days later, when I arrived at the station, I found a woman lied on the floor and, next to her, a little girl crying over her chest. I was used to see scenes like those during the war, but nothing so heartbreaking like that. Her mother, before she died, asked me to take Aerith somewhere safe. Like my husband didn’t return and we never had kids, I accepted. I felt alone and I brought her home with me.

“We didn’t take long to adapt; we got along very well. She loved to talk… She used to talk about everything. One time she told me she escaped from some kind of research facility, that her mother « returned to the planet » , that she wasn’t alone and that kind of thing.”

“What’s that about of « returning to the planet » ?” Barret chimed in.

“I never knew what she meant with that. I asked her if she spoke of a star, but she replied that she spoke about this one, our planet. She was so mysterious… Many times she simply talked without thinking and I could hardly understand what she meant. Once she told me someone very close to me died and that their spirit came to see me, but they’d already « returned to the planet » . I thought she was very imaginative and I never believed any of what she spoke of. But some days after, I was informed that my husband had died. Despite all of that, I could move on thanks to her.

“We were very happy until one day, someone called Tseng paid us a visit. He wanted Aerith back to the facility she ran away from. She appeared to be the key to guide humanity to absolute happiness. She denied over and over again her roots and I never let them to take her away. Since then, Aerith always tried to hide what was happening to her, so I also pretended I didn’t noticed anything.”

When she finished the story, none of them could get out of the shock, even Zack seemed to be the most affected by all that.

“It’s incredible she’s been dodging the Turks all these years,” Cloud said astonished. 

“They needed her. I guess that’s why they kept her alive for so long.”

“But why now?” Tifa asked. “How have they finally caught her?”

“Tseng followed her here. He threatened her if she didn’t give herself in, Marlene and I’d suffer the consequences,” Elmyra explained in despair. “She had no other choice…”

That provoked in Barret a heavy feeling of guilt.

“I’m sorry…” he apologized. “It’s all my fault.”

“No, Barret… It was me that asked Aerith to take care of Marlene,” Tifa continued with regret.

Elmyra sighed.

“I think I understand the situation you’re in…” she tried to calm their guilty minds. “It isn’t anyone’s fault and I’m sure Aerith thinks the same.”

But it didn’t seem those words helped any of them.

“Please, stay here tonight,” Elmyra requested the four of them. “I don’t have enough beds for all of you. Hope that’s not a problem.”

“Don’t worry…” Tifa said. “We’ll manage as best as we can.”

They all agreed the place they would take that night and, most importantly, how they’d help Aerith. None of them was left without a place to sleep, but they had to share the bedrooms in pairs. Cloud and Zack would sleep on the same bedroom, while Tifa would do it with Marlene, and Barret on the sofa of the living room.

v.

Both of them got rid of their battle gear once they stepped into the guest room. The bed was already too small, but Zack volunteered to sleep on the rocking chair from the corner. Cloud would sleep again on the same bed twice and he hoped he wouldn’t have another unsettling dream. Thinking about his mother was already too painful to recall those lost moments again. 

“It’s been a hell of a day,” Zack said once he stretched his body and took place on the rocking chair. “What can I tell you tho? You’ve been through much worse. Are you alright?”

Cloud had sat on the edge of the bed and rested his forearms on his thighs. His stare fixed on the floor.

“Yeah… I almost die,” he answered.

“But you’re here, right?” he crossed his arms and leant his head back. “I didn’t expect less from you. You’ve got very strong.”

Zack’s lips formed a soft smile, however Cloud wasn’t interested on his approval nor more encouraging words. He needed to know some things, not to think about the job done.

“You know well the Turks… And you knew much more of Aerith than any us could imagine, “Cloud said with a harsher tone of voice. “Why you didn’t tell us sooner? You didn’t think something like this would happen?”

Zack stared right back at Cloud confused.

Without meaning to, Cloud hardened his expression, projecting his own failure on Zack, since he was unable to admit that the disastrous outcome of that mission was, in great part, his fault. Though it wasn’t the way he wanted to look at it, it was much easier to blame others than admitting his own flaws. As such, Cloud was already going through a very confusing situation regarding his memories and feelings; he didn’t want more pressure.

 “You didn’t ask and we hadn’t had much time to talk either,” Zack replied plainly. “Besides, I don’t know much about Aerith than you think. I’m as shocked as you. She never told me Shin-Ra had been experimenting on her and, even if I knew some classified info about her lineage, she never talked about it.”

Cloud remained silent.

“I didn’t know she was so important for Shin-Ra, really,” Zack continued. “I thought that if they really needed her, they’d have captured her long ago. But it hadn’t been the case… You think it was because she knew how to avoid them or because they never were so committed until now?”

“You think Aerith isn’t capable enough of doing that?” Cloud asked, looking up a bit.

“Not really… I know she doesn’t know how to use a sword or even give a proper punch to defend herself,” he explained. “But what she really has is an extraordinary intuition. Did you noticed?”

And that didn’t need to be confirmed.

“And what about the Turks?” he continued asking. “You also worked with them?”

“Once or twice,” Zack said. “When missions got more complicated than expected, but nothing more.”

“Yeah… I remember something like that too.”

Zack adjusted better on his chair and looked directly at Cloud, that kept his gaze away from everything.

“You haven’t told me yet about your headaches,” he changed the subject.

Cloud tensed at the question.

“It seems to happen when I remember something of my past,” he said, downplaying the importance of what was really happening to him, at least in front of Zack.

“And how’s it going? You remember something about me?”

Zack couldn’t help to smirk, maybe too confident that Cloud made a great progress on the matter, however, for his neutral expression, the possibility was still too far from happening.

“No…” he answered ruefully.

Zack softened his smile, disappointed at his honesty.

“Hey, no pressure,” he told Cloud as he waved a dismissing hand. “I can guess that amnesia of yours is driving you crazy, but you need more time.”

Cloud sighed heavily as he lied down over the soft mattress. He stared at the wooden ceiling with his hands over his belly. Until that moment, he didn’t had the interest not the opportunity to know more. He tried to remember him on his own, but with Tifa it seemed to work just fine.

“How...did we met?” he asked with reservation.

At that question, Zack couldn’t help but smile again, like if he had been waiting for that question long ago.

“It’d been some years ago. I still can’t believe how young we were when we joined the army…” he said. “It was on our first year at the boot camp.”

“I guess it was in Midgar.”

“Exactly,” Zack confirmed. “Back then we were just kids, believing ourselves heroes by just wearing a helmet and having a rifle. That’s how it starts, until one realize then, that behind all that, there were two sides. It was hard to make friends on a very competitive environment, but you never was one of those.

“I can tell you the story… if you want.”