Merging Journeys

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, as well as every Final Fantasy out there, belongs to Squaresoft, the greatest RPG company there ever was. Let's all here it for Squaresoft and hope there never is a final Final Fantasy!

Started: December 15 (16), 1998

Finished: February 19, 1999

"Take care of Marlene for me," Barret said quietly to Elmyra Gainsborough.

"Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to her," promised the woman, bringing the little girl forward to face her foster father.

"Are you leaving again, Daddy?" Marlene asked, looking up at Barret with large, innocent brown eyes.

"Sorry, baby," Barret whispered, picking up Marlene and holding her close. Marlene wrapped her own little arms around her father's neck. "I'll come back as soon as I can."

"I'll be okay, Daddy. Don't worry about me; just come home soon."

"I will, baby. I promise." Leaving a kiss on his daughter's forehead, Barret set her down next to Elmyra before heading over to join the other AVALANCHE members. Cloud was fixing his Materia onto his Imperial Guard, while Cid was receiving instructions from Shera as to how to use her device for boobytrap-detecting. Yuffie was sharpening her Conformer quietly as Nanaki watched on in slight boredom, while Cait Sith tried to carry on a conversation with Vincent. The mysterious red-cloaked man seemed to acknowledge Cait, but did not speak. Away from the group, Tseng sat alone, apparently speaking to the invisible Aeris. Rufus was nowhere to be seen.

"Is everyone ready?" Cloud Strife asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" exclaimed Yuffie Kisaragi, shivering in excitement as she pocketed her whetstone and sheathed her Conformer.

"Let's get this show on the road; we'll show those asses up there what AVALANCHE can do!" Cait Sith smiled, showing off his fangs as he flipped his HP Shout into the air repeatedly.

"It seems we are missing one person, however," Nanaki said. "The ex-president is not here."

"I told ya!" Barret hissed. "He's probably somewhere callin' up those damn Shinra!"

"Barret, please. . ." Tifa Lockheart looked away from the big man, looking around anxiously for Rufus.

"I'm here," Rufus Shinra's voice came. He walked out of hideout, wearing a black jacket over the regular SOLDIER bodysuit he had been wearing before. ". . . Is everyone ready?"

"They should be," was Cloud's reply. "So, what are we going to do?"

"We need to get into the subway tunnels again. It'll be easier to get into the sewer system through there."

"A clever thought," remarked Nanaki. "Would you happen to know where the sewer tunnels lead to?"

Rufus thought about Red XIII's question for a moment. "All the tunnels lead only to the first floor, of course, but a few lead to the more desolate areas of the floor. We wouldn't want to take a tunnel that landed us in the middle of the lobby, would we?"

"The way your mind works, you'd probably want us to," Barret muttered, glaring at Rufus.

"Barret . . . please," Tifa whispered, looking at the black man with a frown. "Just . . . get along with Rufus. We'll never get through this if we don't trust each other."

"Give him some time, Ms. Lockheart," Tseng Lander said quietly to her. "I'm sure that he will accept Rufus in the future." Tifa glanced at the Ancient, nodding at him.

"Ya better not be givin' her any ideas, ya #%@& Turk!" Barret grinded out, averting his eyes to Tseng.

"He is formerly of the Turks, Barret," Nanaki sighed. "Please, just leave them alone. For everyone's sake."

"Yeah, Barret," Yuffie agreed, putting away her Conformer and crossing her arms. "I may not trust Rufus, but I don't go around speaking my mind every second of the day."

Barret muttered something obscene under his breath before falling silent, allowing Cid to speak. "We're @$*%#& wasting time," the pilot said. "If we don't get moving, we're going to lose this chance. That damn Veraldei might try anything at anytime; we might as well get this over with."

"I agree with Cid," Cloud spoke up. "C'mon, let's move out."

Cid Highwind smirked under the shroud of darkness as they turned to leave. "He's finally starting to learn," he whispered to himself before chuckling.

Vincent Valentine remained alert as they moved through the slums, eyeing anything that seemed to twitch in the darkness. Rufus and Cloud were leading, Cid and Tifa only a few steps behind them. He walked beside Tseng; for some reason, he found himself comfortable around the Ancient. Perhaps it was the fact that they both had been Turks, or maybe because he had come to believe Tseng. Nanaki, Yuffie, and Cait Sith trailed behind them, Barret taking up the rear. They approached an area where a pit had been created, showing the subway tunnels down below, about fifteen minutes after they had left the hideout.

"We're going to have to get down there," Rufus' voice came from the darkness.

Cloud seemed to be studying the pit and the drop. "It's not that bad a drop. We can jump down there without getting hurt too badly."

Yuffie cringed. "It's that `too badly` part that doesn't sound good," she muttered.

Nanaki stepped up next to Cloud and peered down into the pit. "I'll go down and make sure it's clear," he declared. After taking a deep breath, Red XIII leapt into the pit. It was so silent that the others could hear his feet meet the metal down below. "I'm all right; the area down here is clear."

One by one, the AVALANCHE members dropped down into the tunnels, starting with Cloud and ending with Barret. Rufus brushed his jacket off and looked around, trying to remember Reeve's maps of Midgar's subway systems. He glanced at the walls of the tunnel, making out the markings "3-C". Sector 3, area C. "The sewers are close to the beginning of the next sector," he whispered to himself. Then, he said to Cloud, "We have to go this way."

Cloud nodded when he realized Rufus was pointing straight ahead. "Towards Sector 4?"

"Yeah; some sewer grates should be over there."

"Won't there be Shinra guards there, guarding the way to the next sector?" queried Vincent.

"Why would there be?" Cait Sith asked in return. "This place is a dump!"

". . . Good point." With that said, the members of AVALANCHE hurried down towards Sector 4.

"This place stinks," Yuffie moaned, trying to keep up with the rest of the group.

"Of course it does," Cid muttered to her. "It's a @*!^&#$ sewer! It's *supposed* to stink!"

"You're sure this is the way, Rufus?" Tifa queried, walking next to the ex-president. "We've been walking for an awfully long time." They had been traveling for well over an hour inside the sewers; not even reaching the sewer grates had taken this long.

Rufus nodded. "The back tunnel should be just up ahead." Saying that, Rufus continued on forward, reaching a pair of tunnels that stretched far into the darkness. The tunnel to the right appeared different from the left; more structured, more taken care of. He turned towards it, waving the others to follow him. "This way, everyone; we'll reach the Shinra Building shortly."

Quite a few of the AVALANCHE members looked uneasily at each other, doubt lingering in their eyes. Almost all of them felt wary about being led by the former President of Shinra Incorporated and being accompanied by the former leader of the Turks. It seemed unreal -- too unreal.

His Mako eyes remained focused on the Masamune as the empowering red aura surrounded him. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, two words passing through his lips. "Devastation Blade!" His eyes averted to the practice dummy across the room, which he ran towards at break-neck speed, Masamune held in front of him to pierce the dummy's heart. The sword struck true, embedding itself in the chest of the dummy. Quickly, Cero tore the sword through the left side of the inanimate object's chest, leaping upwards and decapitating the dummy both swiftly and quietly.

Observing him from afar were Veraldei and Hojo, who had his hands clasped behind his back. "Very, very good," Veraldei commented, a smile not breaking his face as his cool, blue eyes followed Cero.

"And to think," began Hojo, a slight smile of pride on his face, "that's only his first limit break."

Veraldei nodded slowly, watching Cero for another moment. "Another," he said. "Show me another limit break of his."

The black-haired scientist nodded and called, "Cero! Another limit break for the Vice President!" Cero glanced at Hojo, a small, curt nod his reply. Hojo turned to acknowledge Veraldei, using a small remote control in his left hand to activate a claw-like machine from above. It grabbed the mutilated dummy and replaced it with a new one. "He will perform his second limit break now, then. Hidden Fury."

The two men watched on as, again, a red aura engulfed Cero. Cero gritted his teeth, his eyes flaring bright aqua as he leapt into the air at the new dummy, holding Masamune before him with both hands. His black trenchcoat flailing as he descended, Cero brought down his sword so quickly that neither Veraldei nor Hojo could completely follow the movement of Masamune. Cero landed deftly and backed away, returning to his regular fighting stance. Moments later, the dummy fell apart and became a pile on the floor, all its limbs hacked and diced to pieces.

Now, a cruel smile broke Veraldei's face. "This Project Ultimatum was a success!" he declared. "Look out, AVALANCHE. . . Someone is going to do what Sephiroth could never do."

At that, Cero raised his unholy Mako eyes and locked them on Veraldei. Inside his mind, an evil smile began to form.

The glistening tiles of the Shinra Building's floor shifted for a moment, then were still. A moment later, they shifted again, the shifting more insistent than before. After a long pause, the hollow sound of something strong striking the tiles became audible. Then, a muffled string of curses. Gunfire soon followed the string of curses. Shortly thereafter, screeches.

"Okay," Cloud hissed, glaring at Barret, who put down his gun-arm, "this isn't working. We've tried moving, breaking, and shooting this damn hatch. Rufus, what the heck is wrong with it!?" Everyone close to the spiky-haired AVALANCHE leader backed away three steps. It wasn't normal to see Cloud so angry and irritated.

Rufus shook his head and inspected the hatch again. "I don't know!" he admitted. "I think it's been welded shut."

"Welded!?" repeated Cid, replacing his Venus Gospel on his back. "^$%@ !! What are we going to do? I don't want to go back through that #*(%@^%@$ sewer!!!"

"For once, I agree with Cid!" piped up Yuffie. "It's Shinra Building or bust for me! And we've come too far to turn back now. There's gotta be a way in!"

Aeris nudged Tseng softly with her elbow. "This is your department, Tseng," she said.

"What are you talking about?" queried Tseng. Vincent glanced at the ex-Turk, but then concentrated on the other AVALANCHE members, who were starting to shout at Rufus and Cloud.

"Use Holy," replied Aeris, pointing to Tseng's glove. "I'm sure that Holy can break through the hatch. It'll work if you will it to happen."

Tseng stared at Aeris for a long moment, trying to understand what she was saying. "Okay, I understand," he managed after a short while. He broke his gaze with Aeris and stepped forward to Cloud. "Cloud, I'd like to try something."

Cloud frowned at the Cetra. "What?"

"I'd like to try breaking the hatch," replied Tseng. Cloud looked at him in disbelief, then nodded, stepping out of the way as Tseng moved underneath the hatch. Aeris walked right behind him, nodding as soon as everyone had stepped away. Taking a deep breath, Tseng gripped his right hand into a fist and lifted it above his head, aiming directly at the hatch. A soft glow began emitting from his glove, quickly growing stronger until Tseng opened his hand and released the charged Holy energy upward. Everyone's eyes followed the beam as he it easily broke the hatch open before dispersing.

"Hot $^@&# damn!" muttered Cid, his eyes wide in awe. "'Never seen anything like that before. . ."

"A great display, Tseng," Nanaki commented. "I'm sure everyone share's my surprise."

Cloud stared at Tseng, then nodded. "Good job, Tseng. C'mon, let's go, everyone!"

Rufus pulled free Ragnarok as he waited for the other AVALANCHE members to climb out. Vincent stepped next to him, bringing up Death Penalty. "I don't know about the others, Rufus," he began, catching Rufus' eye, "but I trust you and Tseng. I won't bide on the past of you two; I allowed myself to be swallowed by grief before and ended up locking myself up for nearly three decades."

". . . Thank you, Vincent," whispered Rufus, smiling wryly. "I-- I don't know what to say about Hojo, though. I'm sure it must be frustrating to know that he's still alive."

Vincent's eyes narrowed. "What?" he hissed. "Hojo's still alive?"

Rufus blinked, then nodded. "I thought you already knew. . . He's the one that did this to me."

"I knew he was the one that changed you, but I had thought that you were changed *before* he had been supposedly killed," Vincent replied. He gritted his teeth and glared ahead. "Why won't that damn monster stay dead? Do those Jenova cells in him keep him alive even now?"

"Jenova cells?" Rufus gasped. "He injected himself with Jenova cells?" When Vincent solemnly nodded, Rufus cursed. "Damn, I knew that man was insane. . ."

"Hey, you two," called Cloud. "Let's get going!"

Glancing at Rufus one last time, Vincent turned and followed after the other members of AVALANCHE. He quickened his pace until he was side by side with Tseng. The Cetra looked at him before speaking. "Something's up," he whispered.

Vincent nodded. "There's no guards anywhere. Why is that?"

"I can't even guess," replied Tseng. He averted his gaze to Aeris. "What do you think, Aeris?"

Aeris frowned and took a quick look around the lobby. There wasn't a single person to be seen. "Maybe it's a trap; perhaps Veraldei already knew we were coming."

Tseng's eyes flitted over Cait Sith, who was near the front of the party. ". . . Do you think that Veraldei found out about Reeve and is using Cait Sith as a spy?"

"I doubt it," Aeris replied, biting her lip. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Hold on. . . I have a bad feeling. . ." Before Tseng could react, Aeris ran up past Cloud and Tifa, who were leading the party, and stopped at the top of the stairs that they were climbing. "Tseng!! There's armed soldiers up here! Warn the others!"

"Cloud, stop!" Tseng hissed, dashing from Vincent's side and heading up to the front. Vincent blinked in shock before following him up.

Cloud spun around and looked at the approaching ex-Turk. "What is it, Tseng? Did something happen?" he queried.

"There's armed soldiers at the top of the staircase. I think they heard us get in and took up their weapons."

"Damn. . ." Cid muttered, overhearing Tseng's words. "We can't get cut off this early on." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke. "Cloud, I've got an idea to throw those shitty soldiers off."

"Go for it, Cid. We need a good diversion."

Cid smirked and pulled a thick piece of dynamite from the pack he wore. By now, everyone was looking at them. At sight of the dynamite, Yuffie began backing away. "Ya'll better cover your ears!" he growled, lighting the dynamite up with his cigarette and throwing it as far away from them as he could. Moments later, a huge, explosive blast filled their ears, followed by a loud hail of gunfire from the Shinra soldiers. "Okay, great leader," Cid shouted over the gunfire, "what do we do now??"

"I'll take care of it!" Rufus suddenly shouted, making his way towards them. He had waited for quite a while to try to prove himself.

"What?! No @*&#^$#*& way am I gonna let some damn Shinra try somethin'!" Barret roared. "He ain't trustworthy!"

Before anyone could speak back to Barret, Rufus turned on him. "Barret. . .," he began, his Mako eyes flashing, "for once, trust me! Just for once; after this, you can speak down on me and bitch about me all you want! But just this once, don't criticize or insult me before I do anything!" The glare he gave the black man sent chills down everyone's spines. "I've had more than my share of insults for everything Shinra Incorporated did. Just because I was born the only heir to it all doesn't mean that I enjoyed watching and hearing about everything wrong it did. . . Blame the ones that gave the orders for Corel to be destroyed; not me."

"Rufus--" Tifa started as Rufus turned heel and stormed up the stairs to where the soldiers were still firing. "Rufus, you're going to get yourself killed!" She was about to go after him when she felt Cloud's hand wrap about her wrist.

At the top of the stairs, Rufus stopped and stared coolly at the soldiers. The gunfire immediately ceased as the soldiers took in his features. They didn't see the President of Shinra Incorporated before them, but the infamous leader of AVALANCHE. "It's Cloud Strife!" gasped one soldier. "Kill him and you'll be famous!!" At his words, the other soldiers sprang up with machine guns and swords.

Rufus sneered as red energy burst out of the ground at his feet and swirled just below his knees. He had waited so long to release his limit break. "Desert Vortex!" He spun Ragnarok above his head before leaping into the air, the red energy slowly dying away. Suspended above ground and holding his sword to his chest, Rufus watched the ground quake and become a magical whirlpool that sucked his foes into the ground. Only after the soldiers had disappeared from sight did he fall back to the floor, landing deftly.

Tifa and the others slowly approached, surprise marring their faces. Cloud came up to him, a grim frown on his face. "That limit break. . .," he murmured loud enough for only Rufus to hear. "That limit break was Zack's."

Rufus stiffly nodded. "Maybe I've inherited more than just memories from him," he whispered. "I'm sorry, Cloud."

Cloud shook his head. "This is neither the time nor place," he said. "We'll talk about it later." He paused, thinking about the types of things they would have to go through to reach the top of the building. "*If* there is a later."

*Reeve.* The executive glanced at the deformed phoenix on his bed, a brow rising in question. It had been a while since the phoenix had spoken to him psychically. *I can feel the Cetra coming closer.*

"Coming closer?" he repeated, turning towards Zesah. He had been getting prepared for an executive meeting, but he was sure that anything the magical bird had to say was more important than anything Veraldei had to say. "As in, coming towards the Shinra Building?"

*They are already in the Shinra Building.*

"Since when?"

*A little while,* replied Zesah, speaking to Reeve without riddles for once. *Not long. I feel that it will be safer if I accompany you to your meeting.* The small creature caught sight of the confusion in Reeve's eyes and decided to explain. *As the Cetra approach, so does the final battle. When the final battle finally begins, you must be ready to use your weapon . . . the Legacy Materia.*

"Why is that?" asked Reeve, sitting next to the bird.

*While you may not be one of the four chosen to fight the final battle,* began Zesah, *your presence will strengthen those around you. You are important to the advancement of both Shinra Incorporated and the whole Planet, both with the materia and without it.*

". . . Why do you tell me these things?"

*Because it is my duty to tell.* The bird paused. *Would you like to know about the strength of your materia now?*

Reeve smiled wryly. "Do I have a choice?" he sighed.

*. . . I'm afraid you don't.*

On to Chapter 12.

Back to Merging Journeys.