Merging Journeys

Author's Notes: Well, here's chapter 2. All the characters in this story, except for a few that are of my creation, belong to Squaresoft, the makers of Final Fantasy VII. Please don't sue me; I'm not doing this for money. Enjoy the chapter, and remember: E-MAIL ME!!! ^_^

Started: March 3, 1998

Finished: March 22, 1998

Cloud quietly commented that Reeve had done a very good job of getting the security guards to the lower levels, as he hadn't spotted one guard yet. Actually, he hadn't spotted *anyone* during their entire time through the Shinra Building. The three AVALANCHE members silently made their way up the building using the stairs, and Cloud counted the floors as they went up. He stopped short when he saw someone stride right past the doorway he stood very close to at the top of the stairs on the sixty-sixth floor. From right behind him, Cloud Strife could hear Cid and Barret curse in unison.

"That's really Heidegger," he heard Cid whisper. "Damn, I thought he and Scarlet were surely blown up with their Proud Clod piece of $#^@."

"I guess we were wrong, then," Cloud quietly replied, carefully poking his head out into the hallway. He sighed when he saw Heidegger round the corner, and he gestured the two older men to follow him. Cloud once again stopped, this time at the corner that Heidegger had just disappeared at.

"Hey, hey, you ready for the briefing, Heidegger?" came a cheery, familiar voice.

Cid slapped himself in the forehead. "It's Palmer," he hissed. "I don't believe it! Fatman's gotten himself back into Shinra!"

It was then that Cloud remembered that he had never told Cid about the funding for the space program. He reminded himself to tell Cid later. Right now, they had other things to worry about. Barret put one finger to his lips, telling Cid to shut up. Cloud nodded at Barret before leaning forward to listen to Heidegger and Palmer.

"Shut up, Palmer," sighed Heidegger. "Why else would I be in front of the briefing room it I weren't here for the briefing?"

"Well, I wouldn't really know, as I'm not you!" replied Palmer, rocking back and forth in place, the grin still on his face.

They heard Heidegger grunt something to Palmer and then the general's heavy footsteps. Palmer's own footsteps could also be heard, and soon both pairs of footsteps could no longer be heard. Cloud poked his head out from the cover of the wall, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw that neither of the men were there anymore and the door to the briefing room was shut firmly. The three scurried from the corner and headed to the northern corner of the floor, towards the restrooms. Once there, they filed into the men's restroom, where Cloud managed to find a familiar air vent. Standing on top of the toilet bowl, Cloud managed to pry the vent off (without Cid's help) and pulled himself into the ventilation system. Cid and Barret so followed, and the trio crawled through the small space until they were able to see down into the briefing room.

From above, they could see the heads of Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer, Reeve, and one other person that headed the table. As Cloud scrutinized the last man, he remembered the man he had seen on the T.V. "That's Veraldei, the VP," hissed Cloud. "He was on the television earlier this week."

"Vice president?" Cid queried. "Where's the president? Shouldn't the president be part of the conferences?"

"Maybe he's notta 'round," Barret whispered gruffly. "Like old man Shinra's half-pint kid before he was blown off."

"Yeah, probably like Rufus," Cloud agreed. "Either that, or there is no president and Veraldei just doesn't want to become the president."

"Then wouldn't Reeve and the others know?" Cid murmured, still holding his lit cigarette in his teeth.

"I think Veraldei would want to keep that in the dark if that was true," Cloud replied. "Now, be quiet; I want to hear what they're saying."

Silence fell between the three, and they listened in to what the executives and Veraldei were discussing. ". . . We have sixty-three percent of all former workers back, Vice President," Reeve reported. "Should we expect one hundred?"

Veraldei shook his head. "With all of Shinra's problems in the past, we're lucky enough to have gotten over half of all employees back. Expect at least eighty percent." The young vice president tossed back his long violet tendrils and then turned to Heidegger. "Have you managed to locate the Turks, General?"

Heidegger nodded slightly. "It seems that the three remaining Turks have been traveling together ever since they resigned. A few of my men in Costa Del Sol have reported to have seen them in the Gold Saucer for the past week."

"Costa Del Sol?" Cloud hissed. "Shoot. . . Tifa's there. . ."

"And may I ask how your troops in Costa Del Sol could have seen them in the Gold Saucer?" Veraldei queried, his eyes narrowing on Heidegger.

"A few of my men go to the Gold Saucer when they have their breaks, sir," replied Heidegger. If the big man was at all embarrassed that his soldiers went to the Gold Saucer in their free time, he was doing a very good job of hiding it.

Veraldei easily took in the given answer with a nod. "Have you contacted them yet?" he asked, his hands resting on the top of the table.

Heidegger again nodded. "I've sent a letter requesting their presence here in Midgar to them. If they refuse to come, I will send soldiers in."

"Good." The vice president turned to Scarlet. "How goes the reconstruction of the Sister Ray?"

Surprise registered on Reeve's face. This was the first time he had heard anything about the Sister Ray being rebuilt, and he held his breath as Scarlet spoke. "The Sister Ray was almost destroyed completely when Meteor fell," Scarlet began, "so it'll take us quite a while to get it running again."

"I want it running within two months."

Scarlet jumped in surprise, her jaw dropping. "T-- Two months?" she gasped in bewilderment. "Veraldei, that's barely enough time to repair the damage, let alone enhance the ray as well!"

In the vent above the briefing room, Cid cursed. "Damn, the Turks . . . enhancing the Sister Ray . . . what next?" He shook his head in dismay.

Veraldei stared coldly at the only woman sitting at the table. "Scarlet, when I want the Sister Ray running in two months, it *will* be running in two months. Understood?" The three other men sitting at the table shuddered at the tone of Veraldei's voice and were glad that the tone wasn't directed at them.

Swallowing hard, Scarlet nodded. "Yes, sir," she mumbled.

Finally, the young man turned his attention to Palmer. "Now, how is the space program going?" he queried, his voice once again cool and calm. "Have you started gathering workers and creating plans, Palmer?"

Palmer grinned and nodded vigorously. "You can always depend on me, Mr. Veraldei," he said cheerfully. "I've got plenty of workers and top notch plans to boot! I'm just waiting for the word from you, sir!"

A thin smile creased Veraldei's face. "That's good to hear, Palmer," he said. "Now, I want you to send your workers to Rocket Town to start working on the rocket. The president wants construction to begin as soon as possible."

"All right, I'll start on that as soon as I can!" Palmer said brightly.

"Damn, Marlene's still in Rocket Town!" Barret growled within the vent. "I don't want her so far away from me and so close to those Shinra assholes. . ."

"R-- Rocket?" Cid stuttered. "They're planning to build another rocket??" As Cid drew closer to the vent, the cigarette he held in between his teeth suddenly slipped and fell through the vent. "Shit!" he gasped. "My cigarette!"

All three of them men held their breath as the cigarette feel silently downward, and everything else seemed to stop. They all breathed a sigh of relief when the cigarette fell, unnoticed, behind Reeve's chair. Barret glared at Cid. "Damn you, Cid . . . you and your #*@(#&% cigarettes!"

Cid frowned at the big man. "Well, we're not dead yet, are we?" he retorted gruffly.

"Shut up, you two!" Cloud ordered angrily. "We don't want to get caught now, do we?" He was immediately answered by two shaking heads. "I thought so. Keep it down until we get out of here, okay?" Both men nodded and then returned their attention to the executives down below.

"I guess that's all for today," Veraldei said after a few brief moments. When nobody moved to leave, Veraldei added, "You all are dismissed."

Again, the three held their breath as the executives left the room, Heidegger taking leave quickly, followed by Scarlet and Veraldei. Palmer followed shortly, skipping in his usual, happy-go-lucky way. As Reeve stood up to leave, he spied something near his chair. He bent down to get a closer look, blinking in surprise to see that it was a cigarette. Immediately, Reeve looked upward, his eyes narrowing on the vent on the ceiling.

"Cloud? Cid?" he queried, his voice echoing throughout the room. "Are you guys up there?"

As Reeve looked on, he could see a pair of glowing Mako eyes appear in the vent. "Hi, Reeve," Cloud greeted, waving down at the AVALANCHE spy.

"You guys were eavesdropping?" Reeve blinked in bewilderment. "I could have just told you all that was going on!"

Barret's voice came down to him. "We wanted to hear all the info straight from that jackass's mouth!" he growled. "Damn, Reeve, how come ya never told us 'bout a Shinra rocket being built in Rocket Town?"

"I thought I told Cloud about it," was Reeve's reply.

Cid and Barret glanced at their leader. Cloud sighed. "I was going to tell you, but I forgot," he said in a low tone.

"Some leader," Barret muttered wryly. "Anyway, are there any other kind of surprises that we should know about?"

Reeve shook his head. "That's it," he called up. His brow shot up. "You left Cait Sith behind?"

"Hey, someone needs to watch the hideout; it mights as well be that big pile of fluff and gears," Cid's voice came. "Besides, he talks too much when you're not controlling him."

"Now *that's* not my fault. Cait Sith was built that way."

Cloud nodded. "Back to business, Reeve," he said seriously. "Did you take care of all the guards from this floor and up?"

"All the rooms except for the president's floor," replied Reeve. "I'm afraid that Veraldei's the only that can control those guards except for the president himself." He looked up at them, suddenly remembering something. "Are you guys carrying an extra PHS? I'm not carrying one on me anymore. . ."

There was silence for a moment, and then Cloud reluctantly took out his PHS. He slid it down through one of the slits of the vent so that he could see it. "You see it, Reeve?" he queried. Reeve nodded, and Cloud let go of the phone-like object, watching Reeve catch it as it fell. "I'll just get another one at the hideout."

"Thanks, Cloud," Reeve began, "now, you guys need to get going. . . The other executives might start getting suspicious if I stay any longer."

"Yeah, we hear you," Cid hissed. "Get rid of my cigarette for me, ya hear, Reeve?"

Reeve nodded and watched the three pairs of eyes disappear from view. He pocketed both the cigarette and PHS and hurried out of the room.

Elena stopped when she heard her name being called. "Ms. Elena?" came Joe's voice. She spun around to see the chocobo jockey coming towards her.

"Hi, Joe. What's up?" she greeted. The young man was the owner of a Black Chocobo that went by the name Teioh.

"Some guy came over a while ago from Costa Del Sol and gave me this," replied Joe. He waved an envelope in the air in front of Elena. "He said to give it to the Turks and then ran off. Well, I knew that you and your two male friends were Turks, so I'm giving it to you."

"Uh . . . thanks, Joe," Elena said uncertainly, taking the letter from Joe. Before she could say another word, Joe had turned around and left. Elena frowned and then looked down to the envelope. Her breath caught in her throat as she read who it was addressed from: Shinra Electric Power Company.

The young man silently opened one eye when he suddenly heard footsteps. He watched one of Hojo's assistants walk towards his container, holding a strange cylinder object in his hands. As he averted his attention from the assistant to the object, the specimen could see leaping little creatures within the glass. His eyes followed the man as he placed the object on the table next to his container and then walk away. As soon as the assistant had left, the young man stood up and slowly made his way to the side of the container. He blinked at the sight of the little creatures within the glass that bounced around.

They appeared to be mutated birds with lizard's feet, each sharing a blackish-red hue. At least a dozen pairs of bright green eyes looked up at him, studying him carefully. A split-second later, the young man's ears were overwhelmed by excited screeches from the mutants, and he took a few hesitant steps backwards. To his surprise, the mutants started pecking at their container with their sharply pointed beaks. He had a feeling that the mutants were going to wreck havoc if they were to get out of the container they were being held in, and he shuddered at the thought about being in the mutants' way.

He slowly sank to the floor again, shutting his eyes. As he did so, he could hear the screeches dying down. It took only a few moments after that for him to fall asleep.

Tseng tossed restlessly in his sleep, despite the pain in his chest. The most common nightmares revolved around Sephiroth and his Masamune, but a few precious dreams had Aeris Gainsborough involved in them. He reached out and touched those dreams, trying desperately to grasp the little bit of light in the overwhelming darkness. To his eternal surprise, he took a firm hold, and he was sent reeling into memories of the past.

The young man balanced himself as he walked up the steel bar, jumping on to the firm concrete. Even though he was now officially a Turk, he enjoyed being around the slums more than the Shinra Building. He walked across the broken up area of Sector 6, carefully picking his way past the dangerous objects scattered around. Tseng walked down a make-shift flight of stairs, turning to his left as he arrived at the bottom of it. At the outskirts of Sector 6 was a grubby playground that he passed everytime he went to Wall Market, but today, he caught sight of a little girl perched on top of the slide. He recognized her as Aeris Gainsborough, the six-year old that the Turks had to find and capture.

Aeris looked down to see the black haired man that she had met about a year ago, wearing a Turk uniform. He was quietly studying her in the same way that she was studying him, and she smiled slightly. Although the man had been ordered to find and capture her, she could tell that he had no intention to carry out the orders anytime soon.

"Hi, Mr. Tseng," she called down, waving to the man.

Tseng was quite surprised that the little girl had remembered his name, and he expressed his surprise openly. "Hello, Aeris," he greeted in return. "What are you doing up there?"

Aeris shrugged and gestured him up. "C'mon," she started, "there's enough room up here for two."

A grin appeared on Tseng's face, and he walked around the slide, climbing up the back and sitting next to her. He looked at Aeris' blue dress and commented, "Your dress looks really nice on you, Aeris."

The little girl giggled. "And you look kinda funny, Mr. Tseng," she replied. "Your suit's all crumpled up!"

Tseng grimaced, looking down at his suit. It had become a bad habit of his to dress a little casually in his uniform, and he was frequently being yelled at by his superiors for being untidy. "Yeah, I guess I *do* look kind of funny," he admitted, smiling at the girl. "You know, Aeris, I don't see why Shinra wants you so badly. You're too sweet a kid to be used as a specimen."

Aeris looked down at her feet, away from Tseng's gaze. "It's because I'm an Ancient . . . because Mommy was an Ancient, too. They say that I'll lead them to the Promised Land. . ."

"Well . . . it's not your fault that you're an Ancient," Tseng said softly. "But don't you want to be in the Promised Land too? I mean, well, it should be a lot better than this dump."

"There *is* no Promised Land," Aeris whispered. "The only Promised Land there is lies within the Planet . . . and I can tell when people I care about enter it." When Tseng threw her a confused look, she explained it a little more. "I can tell when people I care for die."

Tseng, curious, asked, "Like who?"

Aeris looked thoughtful, and she replied, "Like my mom, my foster father. . . I'll also be able to tell when my foster mother dies . . . and probably you, too."

Tseng awoke as those words left Aeris' mouth, and he sighed. Brenned's soft snoring could be heard from the upper level of the house, and he could hear Clucky scratching the ground as he slept. He lied awake, remembering those last words from his dream. It made him wonder if Aeris had ever brought that knowledge to anyone else's attention or if he was the only other one to know about it. At the moment, he wished he had shared that one power with Aeris; he was very worried about her. He couldn't help but think that Aeris was somewhere out there, alive and well, and probably with that young man, Cloud Strife.

Deep inside, though, Tseng knew the horrible truth.

Reno looked up when he heard a knock on his door. He turned off the TV and rolled off his bed, walking over to the door. When the knock became more persistent, Reno grumbled, "I'm coming, I'm coming. . . God!" He grasped the doorknob and threw the door open, blinking when he found a startled Elena looking back at him. "Oh. . . Sorry, Elena." Reno sighed. "Come on in."

Elena did so, turning back to Reno as he shut the door. "Reno . . um, we have a problem."

The red haired man frowned, his brow shooting up. "What's the problem?" he queried, crossing his arms over his chest.

Elena simply handed him the letter that Joe had given her. "Read it."

Reno opened up the letter, his eyes widening when he saw the logo on the top of the letter. "Shinra. . .?" he whispered. He shook his head and continued to read in silence.

Dear Turks:

It's time for you to become part of Shinra Incorporated once again. I am not requesting you to come to Midgar -- I am *ordering* you to return. If you do not come peacefully, I will be forced to send soldiers down on your location. In other words: I know where you are at all times. If you try to flee, I will personally hunt you down and kill you on sight. There will be no warning after this, so make your choice quickly.

Sincerely,
General Heidegger

Reno growled angrily as he read the name at the bottom of the letter over and over again. "Damn, that bastard's still alive?!"

"Reno, don't say that about our former superior," Elena quickly said.

"I'll say what I want about Heidegger!" Reno snapped back. "That bastard made us do all of his dirty work. . . God, we hurt so many people carrying out his orders. . ."

Elena bit her lip. "But we don't have any choice, Reno," she whispered. "If we don't go to Midgar, Heidegger'll send soldiers after us."

"I know, I know. . ." Reno ran one hand through his hair and stared at the floor. A few moments of silence passed between the two of them, and then Reno said, "I guess we better get packed. We'll be heading for Costa Del Sol in the morning."

On to Chapter 3.

Back to Merging Journeys.