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Chapter Thirteen Kit listened closely as Barret told the story of North Corel. How it had been a calm, quiet town of coal miners. How Scarlet, an executive from Shinra, had come and made them promises of a better life if Corel agreed to let them build a Mako reactor nearby. How Barret's friend Dyne had been the only one to oppose the plan. Barret had tried his hardest to convince Dyne, for the sake of his wife Myrna, but Dyne had never been able to justify it.
"It happened when we were out of town for a few days," said Barret, a dark look in his eyes. "Corel was burned down by the Shinra troops. All the townspeople... all my relatives... everyone. Everything."
"Shinra troops?" Cloud exclaimed angrily. "What for?"
"There was an explosion at a reactor. Shinra blamed the accident on the people. Said it was done by a rebel faction," he said pointedly.
Now Kit understood perfectly. Just the reverse of what she'd thought - rather than AVALANCHE causing the reactor explosion, the explosion had caused Barret to form AVALANCHE. If Shinra wanted a rebel faction, then a rebel faction it got.
Aeris had covered her mouth in horror, and Tifa gasped. "That's so terrible!" she said.
"Well, I guess that's true," Barret muttered. "But more than Shinra, I couldn't forgive myself. Never should've gone along with the building of the reactor..."
Tifa walked over and looked him straight in the eye. "Don't blame yourself," she said firmly. "We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then."
"That's why..." Barret's face hardened, and he turned away again. "That's why I get so pissed off!" he roared. Then his shoulders slumped in misery. "Not only did they take advantage of me, but I lost my wife, Myrna, too..."
They were all standing there, at a loss for words, when a cheerful voice rang out behind them. "Hey everyone!" the voice said, from inside the old ticket booth. "If you want to go to the Gold Saucer, hurry and get on!"
Cloud looked around at the others. Tifa had grimaced at the tactlessness of the person in the booth, as had nearly everyone else. Yuffie, however, looked sort of impatient.
"Dyne was my best friend," Barret said suddenly. "We was close ever since we was kids..."
Again, no one seemed able to think of anything they could say to comfort Barret. Yuffie shifted uneasily. "I'm waiting inside," she said finally, and got on the shuttle. Cloud shrugged and got on as well, with the others following behind.
The mood inside the shuttle was somber as it took off, traveling up into the sky on its cables. But once it had cleared the mountains, the mood abruptly changed. Aeris squealed and pointed out the window. "Oh, look! It's so pretty!"
"Wow!" Yuffie agreed, looking out the window on the other side. "It looks... rich."
That it did. The Gold Saucer, seen from the outside, resembled nothing as much as a series of gigantic golden mushrooms sprouted from the desert sands below. Lights flashed everywhere, neon signs glowed, a series of roller coaster tracks looped around and between all the saucers, and loads of the coaster's passengers swooped by the shuttle, screaming in delight.
Red leapt up onto the seat next to Kit and studied the scene. "Hmm. I just think it looks gaudy," he stated. Kit had to agree with that assessment too. She'd never seen fireworks from above before.
"Gaudy means extravagant, extravagant means rich," Yuffie reasoned. "What a cool place!"
Tifa and Cloud were now looking out the windows too. The flashes from the fireworks illuminated wonder on Tifa's face, and even Cloud's expression was not as cold as usual.
Barret alone still stared sullenly at the floor, refusing to look out the window. Kit couldn't blame him, really. She was beginning to feel bad, having suspected him the way she had. "Hey, Barret," she said quietly, sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry about what happened to Corel." He gave no indication he had heard her. "I wish... I wish I'd known what Shinra was like sooner," she continued. "I never would have had anything to do with SOLDIER." Well, that wasn't true perhaps - she hadn't exactly chosen to join in the first place. But had she known before what she knew now, she would have quit instantly.
Barret still was ignoring her. She sighed, and joined the others in looking out the window once more, as the shuttle pulled into the station amidst a flurry of hundreds of balloons that rose into the night sky.
Once Cloud had paid their way inside, Aeris spun around, taking in the carnival atmosphere. "Wow! Let's have fun!" she said, excited.
Everyone stared at her, and her playful mood was subdued. "I know this isn't the right time to do this," she admitted reluctantly. She glanced thoughtfully at Barret, who was standing staring into space on the other side of the room. Kit cringed in anticipation as Aeris walked over and put a comforting hand on his back.
"Hey, Barret, cheer up!" the girl suggested.
Barret brushed her hand off roughly. "I ain't in no cheery mood," he growled. "So jes' leave me alone."
"Really? That's too bad," said Aeris, seemingly undaunted. She smiled at him, then went back to grab Cloud's arm. "Let's go!" she said cheerfully.
Tifa nudged her. "Wasn't that a little harsh, Aeris?" she whispered.
"Just act normal when this happens," Aeris whispered back, shaking her head.
Tifa looked skeptical. "You think so?"
"Of course!" With a grin, Aeris ran back over to Barret, her long braid bouncing behind her. "We're gonna go play..." she told him.
"So PLAY!" Barret exploded, throwing his arms up in disgust. "Messin' round #@^%$! Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!"
Wide-eyed, Aeris peered after him as he ran off in a huff. "I think he's mad," she said.
Tifa smirked. "He'll be fine. He seems to be doing a little better now," she admitted.
"I wish we could just forget everything and have fun," Aeris murmured as Cloud approached her.
"Well..." Cloud scratched his head, then smiled. "We could go..."
"Great!" exclaimed Aeris, taking him by the hand. "Where should we go first? How about the Chocobo Square? We can win some GP, and then go on the rides, okay?"
Cloud glanced back over his shoulder at the group, and in particular at Tifa, Kit noticed right away. Tifa just nodded and smiled a casual smile, and that seemed to be enough for Cloud.
Tifa's cool stare turned cold, then downright icy, as Cloud and Aeris ran off together. Kit wasn't the only one who noticed. "Jealous much?" Yuffie asked brightly.
Tifa bristled. "How many times do I have to say it? He is just my friend. We grew up together."
"Uh huh," Yuffie smirked. "I believe ya. So what are you guys gonna do?"
"I don't know," said Red, looking at the map. "This kind of place just isn't really my thing."
"It's my kind of place, that's for sure," Yuffie said, also studying the map. "Wonder Square sounds cool... or... maybe the Chocobo Square. Or maybe... hmm..."
"I'm going to the Battle Square," said Tifa, eyes still smoldering as she stalked off to the correct tunnel. Well, she was in the right mood at least.
"Me too, I guess," said Kit following. "I'm not much for games. Do you think they'd let us fight tag-team?"
Tifa looked at her in surprise and laughed, her temper vanishing. "I don't know, I've never been here before."
"Me either," Kit said. "It's not like Shinra would assign troops to an amusement park, much less a SOLDIER."
"Oh yeah?" said Yuffie, coming through the tunnel just behind them. "Then what are those guys doing here?" She pointed up the staircase that led to the stadium.
Kit and Tifa ducked back to join Yuffie and Red in the tunnel when they saw what she was pointing out. A dozen or so people in the blue Shinra uniforms were swarming around the top of the stairs. It looked like they were carrying something out of the Battle Square...
Tifa gasped. "Are those bodies?"
Sure enough, as two of the grunts passed by carrying their burden on a stretcher between them, all of them could see that what they carried was a man dressed in the Shinra uniform, and his body was riddled with bulletholes. Up at the top of the stairs, more stretchers were being brought out.
"Whoa!" said Yuffie softly. "I thought this place was supposed to be fun!"
Red shook his head sadly. "Who could have done such a thing in a place like this?"
The next stretcher that went by held a woman wearing the uniform of a Gold Saucer employee, who was badly wounded but still conscious. "I tell you, the guy had a gun on his arm!" she insisted to the two carrying her stretcher. "He just walked in and started shooting the place up, he was crazy!"
Yuffie gulped. "Uhmmm..."
She didn't have to finish the thought. Everyone was thinking the same thing. "He was very angry," Red said, pondering.
"No way!" Tifa exclaimed. "Barret wouldn't do this! I mean, sure he's killed people, but not randomly. Why would he possibly shoot people at the Gold Saucer?"
"Cause he went nuts?" Yuffie suggested.
"He's not crazy!" Tifa said indignantly. "He's just upset... I've seen him more upset than that before, and he didn't go on a killing spree those times either. It's not Barret, okay?"
Abruptly Red cleared his throat loudly. When everyone looked at him, he nodded towards something behind them. They turned to see one of the higher ranking Shinra officers standing behind them in her red uniform.
"What are you doing here?" the officer asked Kit. "I don't recognize you, and I wasn't aware any SOLDIERs had been assigned to look for him here."
"Look for who here?" Kit asked. She'd completely forgotten she was still wearing her SOLDIER outfit.
"Sephiroth, of course," the officer answered impatiently. "I'll admit this shooting spree was a little disconcerting, but if you didn't know that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to bring you in for questioning, because I don't have the slightest clue what you're doing here in uniform and carrying a weapon if you haven't been briefed."
Kit glanced at the others, who were wide-eyed but fingering their weapons. Kit sighed. "I don't have a clue what I'm doing here myself," she muttered, as she drew her pistol and aimed it straight at the officer before she could blink. The others backed her up instantly, with Red leaping to her right side, Tifa to her left, and Yuffie taking up a stance behind Red with her throwing stars.
The officer stared at them in surprise, but wasted no time. "We have a situation!" she called to her troops, and they came running with their rifles. Even though the Shinra troops outnumbered them by at least three times their number, they were no match for a trained SOLDIER, a ninja, a martial arts expert, and a ferocious beast. The red-uniformed officer stood back and watched as her men were methodically dispatched, then went running off. "Backup! Requesting backup at the Battle Square!" she called over her two-way radio just before she disappeared into the stadium.
"Great," Tifa growled. "That means there are more troops somewhere around here, and they have our descriptions now. And Cloud and Aeris won't even know..."
"I'll go find 'em!" Yuffie offered. "As long as you guys'll clean up the troops up there."
Kit nodded. "Let's get a look at what happened... and kick that officer's butt," she added. "She didn't seem all that smart, maybe they don't have our descriptions yet."
Yuffie turned and ran back into the tunnel to the station, but immediately came running back out again. "Whoa, gawd!" she gasped as she skidded to a halt before them. "Too late, the backup's arrived!"
"Come on!" Kit said, and quickly led the way up the stairs to the stadium. "We'll make our stand up here."
Before they'd reached the top, at least four dozen grunts and about five of the officers had spilled out of the tunnel. "It's no good!" Red said angrily. "There's too many of them!"
"Well, we can't just give up," Tifa replied, and Kit noted with approval that Tifa wasn't out of breath from the climb. "At least as long as they're chasing us, they're not chasing Cloud and Aeris and Barret..."
"We can take them, as long as they don't come at us all at once," Kit said, looking back down the stairs at the sea of blue and red uniforms. They were readying their rifles to fire up to the top of the stairs. "We're easy targets here though - we have to find somewhere on the level, so only the troops in front can fire without endangering their own people," she explained, heading for the entrance to the stadium. The others followed her in, ducking as gunfire erupted below them. Kit looked around, and saw a chance. "There, to the arena," she pointed. "The entryway's narrow, so not only can't they shoot at us, but they can only come in a few at a time. Easy enough, right?"
The others nodded, but appeared distracted. Kit didn't know why at first, then she realized. Blood was smeared across the floor in places inside the stadium, and there were still a few bodies lying around, riddled with bullets as the ones the troops had carried out were. It was far from the worst she'd seen, but it was still a massacre.
Finally Red shook himself briskly. "We can't do anything for them. All we can do now is save ourselves, and hope Cloud and Aeris and Barret are all right."
Tifa nodded firmly. "They will be."
Kit led the way into the arena, and looked around quickly to see how it would do for a standoff. There were only two ways in - one was the way they came, the other was a massive door that she assumed the challengers came through. It looked like it wouldn't open easily, but you never knew. Of course, if the Shinra troops decided to get up into the stands, Kit realized she and the others would make easy targets. But if that happened, they could get out the way they came, most likely.
"Here they come!" Yuffie called as the first few troops made their way through the entryway into the arena.
"Let's pick them off, then," Kit suggested to Yuffie. "We've got the long range weapons. Red, Tifa, watch our backs. I don't want to be surprised by anything coming through that other door..."
Yuffie and Kit held their position easily, and had picked off about ten troops already when there was a loud creaking noise. "It's opening," Tifa warned, from behind Yuffie.
Kit glanced back over her shoulder to see Red squinting at the door which was slowly cracking open. "Something metal's inside," he said. "And it's large."
"That's right!" a voice above them said. Kit spared a second from the fight to look up to the stands, where a muscular man was standing, wearing a huge grin, and very little else. Two guards flanked him. "I see you have a gun there, Miss," the man continued. "My name's Dio - the owner of the Gold Saucer, and I don't appreciate people coming in and shooting my employees, and certainly not my patrons! This is not a place for violence."
"Yeah? Then why'd you let Shinra in?" Tifa yelled back at him.
"And why does the floor say what it does?" Yuffie added under her breath.
Dio's grin didn't falter. "You're wasting my time. Go on, boys!" he called.
Yuffie yelped as four very large robots rose up out of the stands. "Uh... I'm sure glad I swiped Cloud's Lightning materia."
"You what?" Tifa exclaimed.
The floor shook as the robots jumped down to the corners of the arena and began advancing towards the four figures clustered in the center. Kit fired off a round at one of the robots, but it just kept coming. "This is not my day," she muttered as the robot picked her up in its large claws.
From the growls, shouts, and outraged insults coming from behind her, Kit could assume the other robots had picked up Red, Tifa, and Yuffie as well. Dio smiled down proudly.
"What are you going to do to us, you nasty old steroid-popper?" Yuffie yelled at him.
"There's only one penalty here at the Gold Saucer," replied Dio as the robots began to stomp off through the door that had been opening earlier. Dio followed them along the edge of the stands, to the room behind the battlefield. The room was bare, except for a strange contraption with a large red button, and a circle on the floor.
"Gateway to Heaven?" Tifa asked, puzzled as she read the inscription on the circle's perimeter.
"I don't like the sound of that!" yelled Yuffie. "Put us down, you freakin' Mr. Universe reject!"
"Funny," said Dio as he motioned for one of his men to push the button. "Putting you down is exactly what I had in mind! Ha!"
As the man pushed the button, the halves of the circle began to slide apart, revealing a hole in the floor. Kit looked down, a sinking feeling in her stomach. It looked incredibly deep.
"I'll start with you, since you're so noisy," said Dio, pointing to Yuffie.
The robot began to clank forward towards the hole, and Yuffie struggled violently. "No way!" she squealed. "You can't do this! We haven't even done anything!"
Dio snapped his fingers, and the robot leapt down into the hole. Yuffie's scream trailed behind. "Who's next?" Dio asked, looking at the three remaining prisoners. All glared at him, but remained silent. "Never mind then," he said with another grin. "The girl with the gun next."
Kit continued to glare at him as the robot stepped forward to the edge of the pit, though her heart was pounding. They'd never heard Yuffie hit bottom. Was that a good sign, or a bad sign, she wondered.
Dio snapped his fingers again, and Kit felt herself falling deeper and deeper into the darkness.
To Chapter Fourteen. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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