Final Fantasy VII: The Battle for the Planet

_____As he gently drifted back into consciousness, Cloud dragged himself up to his feet. He was in the playground in Sector 6. Now it lay in hideous ruins, shards of debris changing the once happy characters of the area into grotesque beasts of evil. The moogle slide had been cracked in half and the roundabout was nowhere to be seen.
_____Nearby, Barret got up and shivered. He ran silently to where the gate to Sector 7 used to be. It had been removed during the blast and now there was just an impassable wall of rubble in its place.
_____"Marlene!" he cried. "MARLENE!! Biggs! Wedge! Jessie!"
_____Tears trickled down his cheeks as he smashed his hand and his gun-arm into the rubble. Then he brought it out and hit it again, and again and again.
_____"GOD DAMN IT!" he roared. "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!" He stopped attacking the debris and stood there, his back to Cloud and Tifa, his shoulders shaking as he cried. "What the hell's it all for? ARGGGHH!"
_____"Hey, Barret..." Tifa said softly, making her way over to where he stood.
_____"AARRGHHHH!" he bellowed, ignoring her.
_____"Barret..." she said again. "Please stop, Barret..."
_____He ignored the girl again and lifted his gun-arm, firing constantly at the rubble. He continued with this for some time, unleashing his anger on the city he lived in. The gun clicked as the ammunition ran out and he fell to his knees in the hot mud.
_____"God damn..." he sighed. Tifa and Cloud sat down next to him.
_____"...Barret.....?" Tifa said cautiously. "Marlene is... I think Marlene is safe..."
_____"Huh?" he said, looking up in surprise.
_____"Right before they took Aeris, she said 'Don't worry, she's all right.' She was probably talking about Marlene!" she explained. Barret jumped to his feet.
_____"R, really?!" he cried in joy, then thought of the others. "But... Biggs... Wedge... Jessie..."
_____"All three of them were in the pillar." Cloud said.
_____"Think I don't know that?" Barret sighed. He wasn't angry at Cloud but he wished he had not said that. "We all fought together... I don't wanna think of them as dead!" He shook his head. "This is all screwed up! They destroyed an entire village just to get to us! They killed so many people!"
_____"Are you saying it's our fault?" Tifa asked. "Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?"
_____"No, Tifa!!" Barret cried. "Hell, no! It ain't us! It's the damn Shinra! It's never been nobody but the Shinra! They're destroyin' our planet just to build their power and line their pockets with gold! If we don't get rid of them, they're gonna kill this planet!"
_____"...I don't know." Tifa sighed, looking down at her feet.
_____"You don't believe me?" Barret asked, unsure of what she meant.
_____"It's not that..." she replied. "I'm not sure about... me. My feelings."
_____"An' what about you?" Barret asked, turning to face Cloud. Without saying anything, Cloud turned and walked back in the direction of Sector 5. Barret and Tifa looked at each other in confusion.
_____"Yo!" Barret called. "Where's he think he's goin'?"
_____"Oh! Aeris!" Tifa remembered.
_____"Yeah, what's up with that girl anyway?" Barret asked.
_____"I don't really know..." Tifa replied. "But she's the one I left Marlene with..."
_____"Damn! Marlene!" Barret shouted. He started to run after Cloud, then stopped and turned back to face Tifa again. "Tifa. There ain't no turnin' back now." he said.

_____Barret and Tifa caught up with Cloud about half way along the ruined highway.
_____"Cloud!" Barret yelled and the man stopped and turned around. "Take me to Marlene!"
_____"Are you going to help Aeris?" Tifa asked Cloud. He nodded.
_____"Yeah," he replied. "But before that, there's something I want to know.... It's about the Ancients..."

_____"Sephiroth...?" Cloud said to himself, and collapsed to the floor. His companions rushed to help him and pulled him back up on to his feet.
_____"Are you all right?" Tifa asked.
_____"Pull it together, man!" Barret said. Cloud nodded and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He didn't understand what was happening to him but he wanted to find out.

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_____They arrived at Aeris' house after about five minutes of brisk walking. It didn't seem quite as beautiful as when Cloud had first seen it, but the garden still blossomed nevertheless. The front door was open slightly, so they walked in and found Elmyra standing with her back to them, still wearing her green dress and white apron. She turned round slowly to face the three people. Her face was pale and she looked very worried, probably because of what happened to Aeris.
_____"Cloud, wasn't it...?" she said softly. "It's about Aeris, isn't it?"
_____"Sorry..." Cloud said. "The Shinra have her."
_____"I know, they took her from here." she replied.
_____"They were here?" Cloud cried, appalled at how low the Turks would stoop. "Why is the Shinra after Aeris?"
_____Elmyra turned back to look out of the window at the incredible garden.
_____"Aeris is an Ancient." she finally replied. "The sole survivor."
_____Cloud, Barret and Tifa stepped back in amazement, their eyes wide with shock.
_____"What did you say?" Barret cried. "But, aren't you her mother?"
_____"Not her real mother..." Elmyra said sadly, shaking her head. "Oh, it must have been fifteen years ago... My husband was sent to the front during the war. Some far away place called Wutai. One day I went to the station because I got a letter saying he was coming home on leave..."

_____The train slowly dragged its own heavy bulk into the Sector 7 station. The door rattled and slid open and Elmyra watched a number of men walk out and run to their happy families. After a while, the door closed again. There was no sign of her husband. She walked over to the station guard and asked him if there were any more people due to arrive but he merely shook his head, then she sat on the steps alone.

_____"My husband never came back. I wonder if something happened to him? No, I'm sure his leave was just cancelled. I went to the station every day, then one day..."

_____Elmyra arrived at the station to find a woman laying on the steps. She wore a red and purple gown and her dark brown hair had been let down, flowing all around her. Next to her was a small girl, running around in panic. Elmyra rushed over to the woman and the girl ran to her, holding on to her legs.

_____"You used to see this sort of thing a lot during the war. Her last words were 'Please take Aeris somewhere safe.' My husband never came back. I had no child. I was probably lonely. So I decided to take her home with me. Aeris and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk - she used to talk to me about everything.
_____"She told me she escaped from some sort of research laboratory somewhere, and that her mother had already returned to the planet, so she wasn't lonely... and many other things."
_____"Returned to the planet?" Barret asked, confused about what Elmyra had just said.
_____"I didn't know what she meant." the woman replied. "I asked if she meant a star in the sky, but she said it was this planet. She was a mysterious child in many ways."

_____"Mom..." Aeris said soothingly. "Please don't cry. Someone dear to you has just died. His spirit was coming to see you, but he already returned to the planet."

_____"Aeris just blurted that out all of a sudden. At that time I didn't believe her... but... Several days later... We received a notice saying my husband had died. A lot had happened, but we were happy. Until one day..."

_____Tseng stood erect in the living room. He faced Elmyra and Aeris hid behind her legs, appearing to be scared of the man.
_____"We want you to return Aeris to us." he said. "We've been searching for her for a long time."
_____"No! Never!" Aeris shouted.
_____"Aeris, you're a very special child." he said, trying to befriend the girl. "You are of special blood. Your real mother was an 'Ancient'. The Ancients will lead us to a land of supreme happiness. Aeris will be able to bring happiness to all those in the slums. That is why Shinra would like Aeris' cooperation."
_____"He's wrong!" Aeris yelled. "I'm not an Ancient! I'm not!"
_____"Aeris, surely you hear voices sometime when you're alone?" Tseng said calmly.
_____"No, I don't!" she screamed and ran out of the front door in tears.

_____"But I knew about her mysterious powers. She tried so hard to hide it, so I acted as though I never noticed."
_____"It's amazing how she's avoided the Shinra for all these years." Cloud said.
_____"The Shinra needed her, so I guess they wouldn't harm her." Elmyra replied. "She brought a little girl here with her. On the way here, Tseng found them. She probably couldn't get away fast enough. She decided to go to the Shinra in exchange for the little girl's safety."
_____"Marlene!!" Barret cried. He turned to Elmyra. "I'm sorry, Marlene's my daughter. I'm really... really... sorry."
_____"You're her father?!" Elmyra said, angered. "How can you leave a child alone like that?!"
_____"Please don't start with that..." Barret pleaded. "I think about it all the time; what would happen to Marlene if I... But you gotta understand somethin'! I wanna be with Marlene, but I gotta fight, 'cause if I don't the planet's gonna die! So I'm gonna keep fightin', but I'm worried about Marlene. I really just wanna be with her, always. See? I'm goin' in circles now!"
_____"I think I understand." Elmyra said. "She's sleeping upstairs, why don't you go and see her?"
_____Barret didn't even speak as he headed up the narrow staircase. Cloud, Tifa and Elmyra sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, then Cloud headed upstairs too. He found Barret embracing Marlene, so he decided not to disturb an emotional moment and began to head back down.
_____"Cloud!" Barret cried. "You're gonna go help Aeris, right? If it's the Shinra you're dealin' with, I can't just sit here! I'm comin' too!"
_____Marlene hopped off the bed and ran over to Cloud. He knelt down to listen to what she had to say.
_____"Guess what? Guess what?" she giggled. "Aeris was asking me lots of questions like what kind of person Cloud is. I bet she likes you, Cloud!"
_____"I don't know..." Cloud said, scratching his head.
_____"I won't tell Tifa!" Marlene grinned and ran back to the bed. Cloud and Barret went back down the stairs to where Tifa and Elmyra were waiting.
_____"I'm going with you, Cloud." Tifa insisted.
_____"We're going right into Shinra headquarters." Cloud said. "You gotta be prepared for the worst."
_____"I know." Tifa said, tightening her studded gloves. "Right now, I feel I have to push myself to the limit."
_____"Sorry," Barret said, turning to Elmyra. "But can you take care of Marlene a bit longer?"
_____"Yes, I don't mind." she replied with a smile.
_____"This place is dangerous now." Barret said. "You better go somewhere else."
_____"You're right." Elmyra replied. "But promise me that you'll come back to her. Don't get yourself killed."
_____Barret nodded and they stepped outside into the refreshing garden. They all looked around at each other. What they had learned from Elmyra had been quite difficult to take in.
_____"How do we get to the Shinra Building?" Tifa asked.
_____"There ain't no train that goes up there anymore..." Barret said.

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_____Cloud looked down at the three large batteries in his hand. He had bought them for 100 gil each at the weapons shop in Wall Market. The owner had told him that he'd need them if was planning on going up to the Shinra Building. He couldn't figure out why, but he thought that he might as well trust the man.
_____They wandered around the street and up towards Don Corneo's mansion. Before they got to the front door they saw two children run into a large pipe on their right shouting things. They followed unconsciously and found a very tall wall which was covered in anti-Shinra graffiti. A thick wire was attached to the wall and ran up the middle of it. There was a small girl sitting at the base of the wire.
_____"Everyone climbed up this wire." she explained. "Looks scary... Brr..."
_____"Can we climb it?" Tifa asked.
_____"Yeah, it leads to the Upper World." the girl replied.
_____"Awright!" Barret cried. "We'll climb this wire!"
_____"There's no way we can do this!" Cloud said. "You know how far it goes up?"
_____"There IS a way!" Barret corrected him. "Look! What's that look like?"
_____Cloud looked up and said: "Just a normal wire."
_____"Oh yeah?" Barret asked. "Well to me it looks like a golden shiny wire of hope!!"
_____"You're right." Tifa said, gazing up the wall. "This is the only way to save Aeris."
_____"Ok," Cloud gave in. "That was a bad analogy, but, Barret, I understand how you feel. Let's go!"
_____Cloud placed his hands on the wire and dug his feet into small chips in the wall and began to climb. Tifa followed, then Barret. He watched as the girl below them got smaller and the plate got bigger. They soon reached the top of the wall, about ten metres up. Sat on top of it were the two children they had seen earlier. Their legs were dangling over the other side and they were gazing at the ruins of Sector 7.
_____"Oh, man! This is horrible!" one of the boys said.
_____"Yeah, I know." the other replied. "Scary, huh? Dad told me it's the Shinra's doing."
_____There was no time to waste, Aeris' life may be in danger. They rubbed the sweat from their hands and prepared to climb the mountain of scrap that lead up to the plate.

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