Lifestream

As he walked, his boots churning through the dirt of the wide avenues of Rocket City, Cloud found it difficult to suppress his displeasure. Though Rocket City had grown at an even more rapid rate than Nibelheim, it still had the blackened streets and dusty air than seemed to betray the fact that it had been a virtual ghost town barely six months before. The newer houses were mostly made of leftover scrap metal, and it showed. Little effort had been taken to remedy the general state of disrepair of the older houses south of the launching pads. In the center of the town, the twin black pads rose up. The one on the left held the jagged green shape of the still-incomplete Highwind #3 rocket, intended as the first manned extraterrestrial launch. The right pad, without a rocket, seemed diminutive in comparison. It was still splotched with blots of brown rust, though some half-hearted effort seemed to have been made to fix that.

No, thought Cloud to himself, Highwind had gone a bit wrong here. It made him feel a bit better about the fact that Rocket City, like all the other towns, would likely not stand much longer.

Cloud walked briskly on, feeling freer than usual. Though he carried his sack and sword, they were a light load compared to the construction materials he was used to. He was also pleased to have put a stop, however temporary, to Tifa's incessant pursuit. She'd be back, though, knowing her. Cloud almost wished that she would try to stop what he was doing, so he'd have an excuse to get rid of her more permanently.

Soon he reached the central Highwind building. No attempt had been made to disguise the fact that it was made of mostly black scrap metal from the former Shinra building. By contrast to that imposing structure, the central Highwind building was only four stories tall, with nothing grandiose about it. A light stone bridge led from the top floor to the airship Highwind's landing pad, now empty, built over a ravine. Thick and dark smoke spiraled up from the building into the air. Cloud vaguely recalled an argument over using North Corel's coal resources. The coal was efficient compared to the other limited resources available (Shinra had done a good job of eliminating everything but Mako), but some argued that it would be easier to stop air pollution if they never even started using pollutants again. Cloud had tuned off the debate after that, since he had wanted nothing to do with politics or military again.

He entered the building, and the cold looks he threw kept the various guards from bothering him. Another reason not to get involved in the power games; though he had no official status, everyone deferred to him anyway, sometimes to the point of pissing him off. Cloud made his way down the carpeted stairs to the basement, telling anyone who asked that he had an appointment with Reeve, which no one questioned. Though none of the higher-ups really had an official title, Reeve and Cid were the ones who gave most of the orders. Knowing Reeve, Cloud thought wryly, he was probably trying to get everyone to like him before he asserted his dominance and became some kind of supreme leader. In an opened side room beside Reeve's office, Cloud saw the still figure of a huge white moogle, with a stuffed black cat riding atop it. Cait Sith was supposedly just a toy that could be controlled by and turned on and off by Reeve, but the cat seemed to have something of a personality of its own. Despite everything else on his mind, Cloud took a moment to ponder for the thousandth time where Reeve ended and Cait Sith began.

A few meters further down the hallway, a rather fancy smooth wood door stood with a one-way-glass window in the upper half. Suppressing a smile at Reeve's ability to show his status, Cloud knocked on the door. In contrasting style, Reeve's office looked like a basement warehouse. Cloud wondered at the change; psychological games, maybe? In the center of the room, near the door, was a fairly simple desk, loaded with paperwork, and a few shelves behind it. Reeve sat behind it, wearing an elaborate blue suit, apparently engrossed in the document he was reading. The outer edges and back of the large room consisted of bare gray cement floor, dulled further by the thick dust that coated it. Reeve stood up as Cloud approached his desk, beaming with surprise.

"Cloud! Sorry I wasn't expecting you, or I would've scheduled a break. What do you think of..."

Reeve broke off when he saw the look in the other's eyes. Cloud was in no mood for endless pleasantries. Just from his demeanor, it seemed that the being who had become so close with Cloud and his friends had been Cait Sith, not Reeve. Cloud stepped forward.

"Save it. I don't want to be wastin' time with this. I want the Materia."

Reeve was a bit nonplused. "The Materia? What would you want..."

"It's not your concern," Cloud cut him off.

"Listen, Cloud, if there's some kind of problem, I'd be glad to help."

Cloud smiled faintly. "Works for me. You can help by givin' me the damn Materia and stayin' out of my way. Or, if you're in a masochistic mood, you can try to stop me and I can take it by force." He casually drew his sword.

Reeve's confusion was turning to nervousness.

"Cloud, I'm sure if we just think this through..." Reeve was cut off again, this time by a cold glare. "Look, I have a friend who'd like to talk to you." His features momentarily furrowed in concentration.

Before Cloud could respond, Cait Sith bounded through the opened doorway, past the alarmed guards. "Hiya, Cloud! Can't say ah see what y'all so uptight about, but calm down and let your ol' friends help ya with whatever it is!"

Stealing a brief glance at Reeve, who stood at apparent ease, Cloud turned to the cat. "I don't want your help. I just want your cooperation. Are you going to give me the Materia or not?"

Reeve shrugged. "Unless you tell me what you're doing, I won't be able to answer that."

That was all Cloud needed to know. Grabbing Reeve's coat with his left hand, he bodily threw the smaller man sideways, onto the floor, and started towards the back of the room. He was startled when he felt a moogle's weighted fist slam down on the back of his head. Cloud fell painfully to the floor, while Cait Sith danced around him, looking worried.

"Cloud! Get ahold of y'self!"

Rolling quickly back to his feet, eyes flashing with anger at his friend's betrayal, Cloud didn't hold back any longer. He blasted the doll with a Bolt 3 spell, turning to look around him as he did. The two guards at the door were drawing their weapons and beginning to yell for help, but a Death spell silenced them both forever. Instinctively, Cloud then cast Reflect around himself, just as Cait Sith attempted to cast Stop on him. Cloud felt the air in front of him crackle as the spell was sent back, paralyzing its caster.

Behind him, Reeve had drawn a shotgun, and was aiming it. Cloud spun around and impaled him through the chest with the long blade of the Masamune. Reeve's mouth opened in surprise before he collapsed, face-down. Cait Sith did the same. Pulling his sword free, Cloud stepped over Reeve's body. The hole in Reeve's back spilled a large pool of slowly flowing blood, bubbling out like a broken fountain.

In the back of the room was another safe. A combination lock was no barrier, especially when Cloud had been the one who set it up in the first place. Moments later, he strode out of the room, holding the Black Materia in his hand. He avoided looking at Reeve's corpse again as he approached the door.

After carefully destroying the stolen helicopter, and taking a short hike through the ruins of the Forgotten City, Cloud had finally reached his goal. As the pool surrounding the alter came into view, Cloud fingered the Black Materia in anticipation. As he had expected, the pool now contained even less water than it had before. That little bit of liquid desperately tried to gather on the surface, but it could no longer mask the fact that the pool was almost entirely filled now with the glowing green not-quite-liquid of Lifestream.

Cloud remembered when he and Tifa had first discovered this new pool of Lifestream. Despite his failure to communicate with Aeris at Mideel and the Northern Crater, he had hoped that this place might be somehow different. But it had soon become clear that Aeris had some limited control over Lifestream, but nothing short of a blast of Meteor could bridge the gap between the living and the dead. That, of course, would be catastrophic to the living. But Cloud knew it was worth it.

He still felt a twinge of guilt over the way he'd killed Reeve, but that was fading more quickly now. Cait Sith had attacked him from behind with the intent to hurt him. Brutal as it seemed, Cloud had done what he had to do to protect himself. He'd already forgotten any shame at all in what he'd done to Tifa. He hadn't hurt her too badly, except maybe mentally. If she insisted on displaying this contemptible jealousy of the joy he and Aeris could share, he would take extreme measures to keep her out of it. As for the rest of humanity who would suffer... let them. Cloud had given up almost everything he knew in his quests to save the world and defend its 'innocents.' Was it too much to ask for them to suffer a bit, if it meant that he and Aeris could finally have a little bit of joy?

Cloud raised the Black Materia in his hand. It glinted dully, seeming to absorb all light sent its way. Though the Materia had been kept under guard in the Highwind building, no one had really believed that Meteor would be a threat again. Somewhere along the line, a myth had developed that the power of Meteor could only be used once - despite the fact that Cloud knew it had been called at least twice. Others figured that its power could only be invoked by the Cetra, now extinct.

A grim smile spread across Cloud's face. Lifestream. Being careful not to touch the plasma, he slowly dipped the edge of the Black Materia into the pool. His near-fatal encounter with Lifestream at the Northern Crater had been more of a gift than he had realized at the time. Cloud had been a part of the knowledge and consciousness of many Cetra, among others. If the Materia was in contact with Lifestream, he was certain that he could invoke their powers and call Meteor.

The smile widened as he finished his summons and withdrew the Materia from the pool, leaving Cloud feeling the closest thing to satisfaction he'd felt in recent memory. "Just a little longer, Aeris. I'm coming..."

On to Chapter 4.

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