Long past due, Chapter Eight is up.

I feel like I’m at an exciting part of the story, and at the same time a really difficult part to novelize in the style that I’ve established. To the best of my ability, I’ll try to plough through it and worry about revision and perfection later.

      “I’m so glad you’re all right,” Cloud heard Barret say.
      “Daddy, don’t cry,” said Marlene. “Your whiskers hurt!”
      Barret looked through the bedroom doorway at Cloud as he came up the stairs. “You’re gonna help Aeris, right?” He hugged Marlene in his giant arms, then kissed her forehead. “She’s done so much for me, already. I haven’t even met her.”
      Cloud nodded. Somehow, though he had only known the girl for a couple of days, he was impressed by the charity she showed to everyone around her. It was rare that he felt indebted to anyone, but somehow he wanted to do whatever he could for this girl.
      “If it’s the Shinra you’re dealing with, I can’t just sit here! I’m coming too,” announced Barret.
      “Daddy,” said Marlene. “Stay with me.”
      “Oh, baby,” Barret hugged her again. “I never want to leave you.”
      “Do you think there’s any chance that we could make it to Shinra headquarters on the train?” Cloud asked.
      Barret sat on the bed and sat Marlene on his lap. “I doubt the train is running with Sector Seven flattened.”
      Tifa appeared at the top of the stairs. “I feel like, whatever we’re going to do, we should do it soon. Who knows where Shinra will take Aeris, or what they’ll do to her.”
      “Maybe we should just climb the centre pillar like we did the one in Sector Seven,” Cloud suggested. “There must be some service access there too.”
      Barret stroked Marlene’s hair distractedly. “That’ll take us straight to Shinra H.Q.”
      “I think Elmyra will take care of Marlene, if you’re going, Barret,” said Tifa.

      “Thank you,” Barret said to Elmyra back in the kitchen. “But you should really think about finding another place to live. It’s crazy in Midgar.”
      “I’ve lived through some crazy times here,” she replied.
      “Here…” Barret pulled a stack of cash from his vest and handed it to Elmyra.
      “Promise me that you’ll come back to her. Don’t get yourself killed.”

      “I’m coming,” Tifa had said when Cloud asked. “I don’t know what all of this means. But I feel like maybe now, if I push myself to the limit, I’ll find something true. One thing I know is that Aeris risked her life for us, so we should help her.”
      The three arrived at the base of the centre pillar. Other than a chain link fence that gave way with a blow from Cloud’s sword they faced little resistance. There was no separate service tower as there had been at Sector Seven, but ladders ran up the steel and concrete structure for as far as they could see.
      Tifa had opted to keep her blue dress, using a kitchen knife at Elmyra’s to add a slit in the side up to her hip so that she could move freely. She had borrowed some sturdier shoes from Aeris. “I don’t need to dress to impress,” she said.
      “You just need to kick some Shinra butt,” said Barret. “And speaking of butt, usually I’d say ladies first, but maybe it’d be better if you pull up the rear in that pretty little outfit of yours. Cloud! Let’s see you climb.”

      —Just kidding. I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that.
            We’re friends, right?

      He arrived shortly at the base of the Sector Seven pillar, panting from running as fast as he could. Tifa knelt beside a body.
      “Cloud! Wedge…” Cloud knelt in turn. “He fell. From the top,” she said with tears in her eyes. Cloud looked away grimly. “He’s still alive.”
      “Where’s Aeris?”
      “I told her to go get Marlene.”
      “What about Barret—“
      Rapid gunfire rang out above them as Cloud spoke. They both looked up to the platform near the top of the pillar; scurrying figures were visible through its steel grille.
      “I’m going up,” said Cloud, heading for the stairs.
      “What about Wedge?”
      “He won’t have a chance if they blow up that pillar.”
      Reluctantly, Tifa left Wedge’s side and followed Cloud, still in her short blue dress. Thankfully she wore short-heeled slippers that let her run. The two climbed as fast as they could, although they had to step over several motionless Shinra soldiers on their first few flights. Suddenly, they came upon a person they recognized: Biggs. Tifa yelled his name when she saw him sprawled across the bottom steps of a flight.
      Cloud was already beside him. “He’s gone.” The bullet wounds through his torso left no doubt of it.
      Tifa jerked her face away, wiping it with her hand.
      “Tifa. We have to try to stop them from dropping the plate,” said Cloud before slowly starting upwards. Again Tifa followed.
      Flight after flight, they continued, two steps at a time as much as possible, making square circles around the beam that supported their skyward path. The two rebels braced themselves for whatever menace they would face on the platform a few sets of stairs higher, yet they were completely unprepared for what met them at the next turn.
      “Oh, God—Jessie!” Tifa screamed.
      Cloud bore his teeth in anguish at the sight of the girl sitting hunched against the guardrails, soaked with blood.
      “Oh no. Jessie…” Moaning now, Tifa held Jessie’s delicate figure.
      Cloud couldn’t say anything. He was feeling more and more helpless. Still, driven by anger now, he kept on climbing until he reached the top.

      “You’d better run!” A Turk with long black hair stood next to some electronics in the center of the platform, holding Aeris as a shield. Barret stood a few yards away; he had his gun arm aimed, but he didn’t fire.
      “Holy—” Barret started at Cloud’s arrival. “Didn’t think I’d see you up here.”
      “The sequence will begin in only a few minutes,” the blue-suited man shouted over the chopping of a helicopter poised behind him. He had an arm wrapped around Aeris and a long blade under her chin as he shuffled backwards. “It’s also rigged to blow the second some fool tries to tamper with it.”
      “Please stop it!” Tifa shouted, running up from the staircase.
      “It’s too late,” said the Turk. He stepped with his hostage onto an attachment on the left side of the chopper, grasping a rail as the aircraft began lifting off the platform.
      “Aeris!” shouted Cloud.
      “I thought you might know this girl,” said the Turk.
      “You should have kept your hands off of her!”
      He smiled wryly. “I don’t think you’re in the position to be making threats, traitor.”
      “What are you going to do with her?” Tifa said.
      “Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It’s taken a long time, but I think the President will be pleased.”
      Suddenly Aeris spoke up, “Tifa! Marlene’s safe!”
      “Marlene!” cried Barret.
      The Turk let go of Aeris long enough to give her a wicked slap across the face, sending her tumbling inside the helicopter. Barret opened fire as the aircraft took off over their heads.
      “There can’t be much time left on that detonator, Barret,” Tifa panicked. Barret was running around the perimeter of the platform, searching for some way to escape.
      “Get over here!” he yelled a moment later. He stood on the outside of the platform’s guardrail, hanging on to it with his one hand. At his feet was a support wire that ran from the platform up towards the plate. “We can use this to get out of here. Looks like it’s angled enough to swing us into Sector Six.”
      Tifa shuddered at the skinny wire, and the frightening distance to the ground below, and to the next sector. “Barret, are you sure?”
      “Hell, no, I ain’t sure! Are you sure you can get your ass down those stairs and out of the sector before this pizza falls on us?” Tifa didn’t answer; no one knew when the explosives would go off.
      “Cloud, get on the wire. Leave some room for Tifa and me.” Cloud obeyed, wrapping his legs and gloved hands around the metal rope and climbing up a distance.
      “You next, Tifa,” said Barret. She bravely climbed on in the same fashion as Cloud but with bare hands and legs. As Barret grabbed the wire with his one hand and slid on, they heard the blast of the explosives detonating, then felt its scorching heat and pieces of flying rock and cement. Cries escaped from all of them as they rocked above a hundred feet of air.
      “Hold on!” Barret yelled as he shot the end of the wire attached to the platform. It gave way with a lurch and they began to swing downwards and away from the pillar. The plate above was already falling fast as the three clung desperately to their metal vine; it twisted wildly as they flew through the air. Barret managed to calculate that they were nearing the end of their swing.
      “Let go!” he hollered, and did so. Tifa followed with a yelp, then Cloud released his grip and dropped over the wall between Sectors Six and Seven. He closed his eyes as he tried to absorb the brutal impact of the slum floor, but the pain in his body seemed to numb against the volume of screams that surged from the other side of the barrier. Finally everything was engulfed in the rumble of the plate’s impact, shaken savagely to deathly silence.

      Cloud didn’t know if he wanted to see past his closed eyelids. He tried to speak first instead, but a moan was all that emerged from his mouth. He rolled onto his back, trying to allow his lungs to expand, feeling pain stabbing through his head and his right arm and leg. After he began to breathe, he managed to sit up and open his eyes.
      He was back in that playground, the stone animals now looking more disheveled than ever with slabs of debris embedded in them. Tifa’s form lay strewn next to the mog slide. Barret was on his face beyond her.
      “Tifa!” Cloud limped over to her, searching for his restore materia. Her face was running with blood, her palms were torn, and he had no idea what shape the rest of her was in. With all the strength he could muster, he attempted a round of healing on her, collapsing to the ground again afterwards. To his relief, though, she stirred.
      “Cloud!” he heard her exclaim. “Are you alright?”
      “Here,” he said, extending the hand that held the green orb. “I’m fine. Help Barret.” She got up and went over to Barret; Cloud could hear the high-pitched sparkle of the energy being skillfully poured out by Tifa. Barret let out a groan in response before Tifa returned and focused the materia on Cloud.
      “Biggs! Wedge, Jessie!” Barret cried in agony. He picked himself up and ran stumbling over to the mountain of debris in the gateway, piled higher than the sector’s wall. In a fit of rage he opened fire on the pile of wreck, yelling and swearing under the roar of his gun arm.
      “Barret, stop!” Tifa screamed at him, though her face showed the same grief as his. Finally the big man stopped shooting and fell to his knees, still facing Sector Seven.
      “What the hell’s it all for?” he said, punching the dirt.

      “If they even laid a finger on Marlene…” Barret’s rage seemed to have cooled into a chilly hatred; Cloud and Tifa could feel it as they sat in shock beside the mog slide. “I’ve got to see her!” he said, shifting to stand, then grunting in pain and falling back to the sand.
      “Take it easy, Barret,” said Tifa.
      “I can take you to her,” Cloud offered.
      “They killed so many people,” continued Barret, “just to get rid of us.”
      Tifa sat with her arms wrapped around herself, staring through the wall of rubble. Her dress was tattered, her face dirty, and her eyes filled with sorrow as she whispered, “Do you think we’re to blame for this? Avalanche.” She looked at Barret.
      “No, Tifa! That ain’t it!” He spoke to Tifa with an expression of concern. “Hell no, it ain’t us! It’s the damn Shinra! It’s never been nobody but the Shinra! They’re evil and destroying our planet just to build their power and line their own pockets with gold! If we don’t get rid of them, they’re gonna kill this planet!” He picked himself up with a groan. “Our fight ain’t never gonna be over until we get rid of them!”
      Tifa still stared. “I don’t know,” she said.
      “What don’t you know? You don’t believe me?”
      “It’s not that. I’m just not sure about… me. My feelings.”
      Barret seemed to ponder Tifa’s comment silently for a moment. Then he looked over to see Cloud’s back as he stood facing Sector Six. “And what about you?” he asked.
      Cloud didn’t answer; he was thinking about what the Shinra agent had said about Aeris at the top of the tower. The words seemed to resonate somewhere in the back of his mind. It hurt.

      —In my veins courses the blood of the Ancients.
            I am one of the rightful heirs to this planet!

      “Sephiroth?” Again, the name came to Cloud’s lips.
      “Yo! Spikey!” Barret called. Cloud just started walking southwards. “Where does he think he’s going?”
      “I’m not sure,” said Tifa. “He said he knows where Marlene is.”
      “Damn, Marlene! Hey, wait up!”
      Barret and Tifa caught up with Cloud. “We’re going to get Marlene, right?” said Barret.
      “I’m going to Aeris’s house,” Cloud answered, still walking.
      “Aeris? Oh, that girl,” said Barret. “What’s up with her?”
      “She helped me after I fell, and I was supposed to be protecting her.”
      Tifa added, “She also went and got Marlene from the bar.”
      “So where’s Marlene?” Barret insisted.
      “She might be at Aeris’s,” said Cloud.
      That answer seemed to be good enough for Barret, and they walked in silence for most of the way through Sectors Six and Five. They were obviously not the only ones at a loss for words; even the usually rambunctious Wall Market was startlingly subdued. The shrieking of sirens from the Shinra-led rescue echoed through the otherwise quiet streets.

      “This is it?” said Tifa as Cloud approached the red-roofed house. “How nice.”
      Cloud knocked on the door. He waited for some time before knocking again. Putting his ear to the door he could hear someone bustling around inside.
      “Hello? Elmyra? It’s Cloud Strife. Aeris’s… bodyguard.”
      Finally, they heard the sound of the bolt unlocking. The woman opened the door slowly to see what kinds of guests she had waiting outside, then, wearily, she invited them inside.

      “Hmm! Good! Splendid!” exclaimed the rotund man, nearly climbing over his desk to peer at the three girls lined up before him. Two of his thugs stood dutifully behind him.
      “Now, let’s see.” Don Corneo strolled over in his fuzzy bathrobe and slippers to examine tonight’s offering. He went first to Aeris, leaning forward, holding a smoldering cigar between his teeth. Cloud figured Aeris might be used to such bad-mannered glances, but it still gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.
      “Hmm,” the Don chuckled as he approached Cloud. “This is a healthy-looking one.” Cloud did his best to look down and away.
      Proceeding to Tifa he scratched his head, which featured a central wave of the light hair he had left. ”Or this one?” He paced back and forth a few more times, carefully pondering his decision. Then…
      “Woohoo!” he exclaimed. “I’ve made up my mind!” The men in the back just stood at attention and grinned. “My choice for tonight is,” he paused. “This little beauty!”
      All three of them felt their hearts skip a beat, but as Aeris and Cloud shifted their eyes to the right, they saw the Don in front of Tifa, holding her hand.
      “Phooey,” she said. “Be nice, Don.”
      “Scotch, Kotch, you can have the rest.”
      “Yes sir! Thank you, sir!”

      “Hey, guys! We’ve got guests,” Scotch announced as he pulled Cloud into the next dimly lit room. A group of men—more of Corneo’s cronies, Cloud assumed—turned eagerly from their lounging; they had gotten used to this routine, and each had his own idea of what was coming to him.
      One of them hooted. “We’ll take real good care of you!”
      “Once again, this is all thanks to the big boss, Don Corneo,” said Scotch.
      “Three cheers for the Don!”
      Cloud had expected Aeris to be brought into the same bottle-strewn, trash-laden lounge as him, but as the insipid conversation carried on, it seemed more likely that she was being taken elsewhere.
      “Well, sugar? Are we, uh… ready?” Scotch snickered. The rabble looked ready to pounce.
      “Yeah guys,” Cloud began, sitting down on the edge of a table, making no attempt to disguise his voice. “Just let me—” he pulled the dress up, revealing his stockings “—get a little more comfortable.”
      The men’s faces were quite a spectacle; excited about the show they were getting, but concerned about the less-than-feminine qualities of their guest.
      “Actually,” said Cloud, taking off his shoes, “on second thought—” He tugged off the black silk stockings and flung them at the chaps who were now staring at a pair of very manly legs. Standing up, Cloud pronounced, “I’m not interested in a bunch of scrubs like you!”
      “It’s a man!”
      Scotch cursed, “Get him! Beat the hell out of him!”
      The band was more than happy to obey; one by one, hulking men began lunging at Cloud: throwing punches or grabbing for his neck. Unfortunately, they seemed terribly slow and clumsy, maybe due to the amount of alcohol that they were in the habit of consuming. Cloud was able to dodge or block the majority of their shots, not to mention throw in his own as they tripped and fell past him. After a couple punches and kicks to the face, most of Corneo’s lackeys were on the floor or hunched over toppled coffee tables.
      “Good-for-nothings,” Scotch hissed from the far side of the room. He held a revolver pointed at Cloud. “I’ll show you how it’s done—“
      Not waiting for a demonstration, Cloud ducked and dove forward; he heard the crack of the pistol and the splintering of the doorframe behind him. He pitched a wooden footrest that hit Scotch’s arm as he tried to block it. In the time it took the man to recover from the attack, Cloud had unsheathed his concealed weapon. He swept the blade across Scotch’s gun arm and hand, causing him to drop the firearm and stumble backwards. He may have had too much to drink himself, for he managed to trip over a glass bottle and knock himself out on the windowsill.

      “No! Kotch…”
      Cloud ran back to the cellar when he heard a ruckus and cries that sounded like Aeris’s.
      “Oh, come on Aeris, I won’t tell. I promise!” Kotch crouched at the corner of the table, trying to find a way to catch the girl on the opposite side. As Cloud appeared in the doorway, Aeris bolted for the stairs. Kotch followed, but when he caught up to her at the top of the stairs, he was surprised as Aeris grabbed him by the shoulders.
      “I’m so sorry,“ she said, shoving him backwards. She cringed and turned to Cloud.
      “Are you alright?” asked Cloud as Kotch tumbled down the stairs.
      “I told you. I’m used to danger.”
      “We’ve got to help Tifa.”

      “What the hell?” Corneo wobbled backwards on his big bed as Cloud and Aeris barged into his room. “Who are you?” Tifa was already standing at the side of the bed and took the cue:
      “Shut up, we’re asking the questions now.” The Don stared as the latest arrivals lined up with Tifa at the bedside. “What did your goons find out in Sector 7?”
      Corneo glanced at the doorway.
      “Talk!” commanded Tifa. “If you don’t…”
      Cloud put his foot up on the bed and leaned forward, laying his long, sharp blade on the fat man’s left thigh. He bounced, pulling his legs to his belly. “No! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
      “So talk,” said Tifa.
      “I told them to find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that’s just what I was ordered to do!”
      “By whom?” Tifa asked.
      Corneo flinched again. “Scotch!” he squawked, his round face sweating.
      “Scotch is napping,” said Cloud coolly.
      Now Aeris put a shoe up onto the bed, leaned forward and swung out her staff; its sections flew toward Corneo’s face, the battle-scarred end locking into place inches from his nose.
      “Waaaaah!” he cried. “It was Heidegger! Of Shinra!” He shuffled sheepishly toward the opposite side of the bed.
      “Shinra!” said Tifa.
      “Yes,” he repeated, “he’s the head of Peace Preservation.”
      Now Tifa climbed onto the bed and threw a savage punch into the mattress.
      Again, Corneo squealed. “I’m not fooling around here either!” he said with wide eyes. “Shinra’s trying       to crush that rebel group, Avalanche. And they’re really going to crush them—literally—by breaking the supports holding up the plate above them.”
      Tifa froze. “Break the supports. Cloud.”
      The three interrogators, so threatening a moment ago, stepped backward at this news.
      “Yeah!” said the Don, seeing the group’s distress. “The plate’ll go ping, and everything’s going to go bang!”
      “They’re going to wipe out the entire Sector 7?” said Tifa.
      “I’m just glad their hideout’s not here in Sector 6,” Corneo grinned.
      “Cloud, we have to stop them!”
      “Let’s go,” said Cloud, hurrying the girls out of the room.

      “Aeris,” Cloud began outside the mansion, “I got you mixed up in all of this.“
      “Don’t tell me to go home,” she said simply, looking at him with pleading eyes.
      Cloud was surprised at the response; why was she so eager to join a group of terrorists: a group that fought for a cause that even Cloud found a tad ridiculous.
      They didn’t have time to argue.
      “I can’t fight in this,” Cloud said, kicking the skirt of his dress. Then he replied to Aeris, “Go with Tifa to the pillar if you want. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

      The hall was grand and pristine with its round granite columns and glass-like, two-tone floor: not unlike the image that the Shinra Company worked to project to the citizens of Midgar. Shielded by an enormous, rounded console, the President sat in his towering executive fauteuil. The four sheets of plate glass that formed the wall behind his desk were like black mirrors against the starless night sky.
      On the opposite side of the desk stood another man: no taller than the President, but younger and slimmer, with dark hair combed back cleanly. He also stood facing the windows, resting his hand on the desk’s cold, brushed metal.
      Heavy, somewhat labored footsteps echoed up from the staircase on the west side of the room. A large man in a green military suit reached this top floor and walked toward the station at the end of the hall.
      “How are the preparations going, Heidegger?” asked the President as he turned his chair.
      The large man leaned backward, laughing; his thick, black beard wagged. “Smoothly, very smoothly!” He smiled, angling his eyebrows and wrinkling his solid nose. “I assigned the Turks to the job.”
      The other man in the blue suit spoke up. “Mr. President. Are we really going to do this, just to get rid of a little group of terrorists?”
      “What’s the problem, Reeve?” said the President, walking around the console in his signature burgundy suit. “It’s all been worked out. Everyone will blame Avalanche.”
      “Sir, as head of the Urban Development Department, it’s hard to stand by and watch an entire Sector wiped out. With all due respect, it’s hard as a human being.”
      “Reeve, you should flush your personal problems with the rest of your crap,” Heidegger spat.
      Reeve turned to the General, his brown eyes still calm on the surface. “The Mayor’s against this too.”
      “Mayor?” Heidegger shrugged. “He just sits in this building all day, feeding his face!” The man heaved another guffaw, then saluted. “Mr. President, if you’ll excuse me, we’ll continue with the operation.” The stout, light-haired man waved him off as Reeve stood with his jaw and fists clenched.
      “You’re tired,” said President Shinra “Why don’t you take a couple of days off? Visit del Sol.”
      Reeve’s expression remained rigid, traced by fine lines of facial hair. He exited silently down the staircase that mirrored the west one.
      The President was left standing in his polished throne room, at the top of his company’s castle. He looked satisfied, though nothing like Heidegger’s unrestrained gratification crept out from under his moustache. After all, it was simply business.

      —First Class.

      “First Class.”
      “Just the same as him,” Aeris spoke, as if to herself.
      “The same as who?”
      “My… boyfriend, I guess.” She looked down at her folded hands, and it seemed that the memory of this person provoked a lot of thought in her.
      “Were you… serious?”
      Aeris shot him a coy smirk. “What, pray tell, do you mean by serious?”
      “Well,” Cloud squirmed, “I only meant…”
      His thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sound of big wooden cartwheels and a rhythmic scratching in the ground behind them. Cloud turned to see a red carriage being drawn through the Sector 7 gate by an enormous, yellow-feathered bird. Aeris too turned to watch as the strong bird marched past with a leather harness around its hefty beak and neck. The driver held the reigns dutifully and paid little attention to the couple on the slide.
      “Someone must be pretty special to have that kind of transportation down here in the slums,” said Aeris. Cloud was curious too as the vehicle passed with glowing lanterns hanging from its purple roof. The finish around the windows and door handles appeared to be of gold. But as the cart passed by the playground, Cloud noticed a girl with long, dark hair standing at the back end, wearing a blue dress.
      “Tifa?” said Cloud.
      She didn’t seem to notice them, and just stared back at the gate with her hands on the rails of the carriage.
      “Tifa!” Cloud called, standing and waving, but the cart had already turned and disappeared into the streets of Sector 6.
      “That was Tifa?” asked Aeris. Cloud stood facing the previous sector. “Where was she going? She looked kind of odd.” Cloud remained speechless. He had no idea where Tifa would be headed, or why she would be riding in such a vehicle. But as he stood pondering these things, Aeris hopped off the mog’s head, slid down his tongue and started chasing after the carriage.
      “No, wait! You go home! I’ll go on alone! Aeris!”

      South, announced the square green sign in its glowing yellow letters. Cloud ran under it to meet Aeris standing in front of a little inn.
      “They call this Wall Market,” she said. “It makes up most of Sector 6.” She gestured down a long strip of shacks and tents, most with brightly lit shop signs. All kinds of shady-looking characters strolled up and down the narrow streets, and in and out of doors. “This place is scary in a lot of ways—especially for a girl—so we have to find Tifa fast.”
      “Aeris, you need to—”
      “Hey, you two!” a man called from the entrance of the inn. “Why don’t you come on in? Relax for a while.” He wore an unbuttoned blue checkered shirt, showing his chest and belly.
      “No thank you,” replied Aeris quickly.
      “We have a beautiful room,” he winked. “How about it?”
      “We have some business to attend to,” Aeris insisted, taking Cloud’s arm.
      “Ahh. Heading over to the Honeybee Hotel then, are you? You know my place is a bit cozier for some good old rowdy one-on-one—”
      “We’re not interested in your room,” said Cloud angrily.
      “Hey, hey,” said the man, holding up his hands, “I’m just saying—”
      “Tell us where that chocobo-drawn carriage was headed,” said Cloud.
      “Oh. That was likely the Don’s. Probably taking some new girls over to the Honeybee.” He pointed over to a close across from his building.
      “The Don?”
      “Yeah, Don Corneo,” he said. “Runs the hotel across the way. Got a mansion at the end of the stretch too.”
      “What does he want with a carriage full of girls?”
      “What does he want? Well, he needs girls for the Honeybee, but every night he takes three into his mansion. One of them gets to be the lucky lady,” he snickered. This was about all Cloud wanted to hear and he started at a brisk pace towards the opposite side of the street; Aeris followed, still clinging to his arm. “Come back any time,” the innkeeper called.

      The Honeybee Hotel was perhaps the most publicized building in sight; sign upon neon sign advertised the wonders found beyond the decorated front doors. Fluorescent heart shapes swarmed the front of the hotel, and two female bee effigies floated seductively on either side. As Cloud approached two well-dressed men near the entrance, Aeris let go of him and whispered, “I’ll wait here. You go see what you can find out.”
      The two men continued chatting, apparently about something mildly amusing, until Cloud stepped right up to them.
      “Welcome,” greeted the stout gray-haired man. His taller friend smiled with him, dressed in a black suit. “You know even unpopular slobs can meet their destiny here,” he grinned. “Looking for a little action?”
      “Do you know a girl named Tifa?” prompted Cloud.
      “Hey, you’re pretty quick. Tifa’s our newest girl. But, unfortunately, she’s at an… interview right now.”
      “Oh?”
      “Here at the Honeybee Hotel, it’s customary for all the new girls to be taken to Don Corneo’s mansion. For a proper introduction.”
      “So I hear,” said Cloud.
      “The Don’s a famous dilettante in Midgar. Now that he’s found a place here in Sector 6, he wants to settle down and is in the market for a bride. Of course, considering the Don’s many contributions to this community, we’re more than happy to facilitate his—shall we say—courtship.”
      “Thanks for the help,” said Cloud as he turned to leave.
      “Tifa should be back here tomorrow, if you’d like to arrange a meeting.”
      “I think I’ll try to catch her at this Don’s place,” he said, continuing.
      “You shan’t have much luck getting in there,” he called to Cloud, “that is, unless you’re an attractive and willing young lady,” he laughed with his companion.

      “Did you catch any of that?”
      “Sounds like it’ll be hard for you to get into that mansion,” said Aeris.
      “I guess so.”
      “Do you think Tifa’s in immediate danger?”
      “From what we’ve heard,” said Cloud, “I’d say she’ll be okay until later on tonight. This Don guy’s got to find two more girls yet, right?”
      “That could be.”
      “We need to do some thinking. I’m pretty hungry, how about you?”
      “Yeah, let’s find someplace to talk.”

      There were plenty of eating options in Wall Market, but not many were entirely suitable for secretive strategizing. They passed by a crowded soup kitchen and some little takeout places with no seating. Finally, after searching some distance down the strip, Cloud and Aeris stepped into a relatively spacious lounge: dimly lit and filled with background music loud enough to insolate private conversation. They sat down across from each other at a corner table. When a waitress came around, they both ordered a sushi dish and some water; it appeared to be one of the cheaper and safer dishes on the menu.
      “Do you think we should just bust in?” Cloud offered.
      Aeris stared thoughtfully through the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of their square table. “Do you remember when we saw the carriage go past the playground and into Sector 6?” Cloud nodded. “Remember Tifa, standing at the back? Did it look to you like she was being taken by force?”
      Cloud pondered that question, picturing the girl’s resolute posture as she rode away on the vehicle. “It would take a lot to make Tifa do something she didn’t want to do,” he said.
      “Does she go to places like this?”
      “No,” said Cloud. “Unless…” Cloud paused.
      “Unless what?” Aeris said, anxiously awaiting Cloud’s train of thought.
      “Unless there was something to be found out about the Shinra.”
      “Shinra.” Aeris looked at him. “You’re a member of Avalanche, aren’t you.”
      Cloud nodded.
      “And Tifa.”
      “And a bunch of other people,” said Cloud
      “Why do you do it?”
      “Me? I’m just trying to make some cash. The others think they’re saving the Planet.”
      “What do you think?”
      “I don’t know. I don’t really care.” Aeris had on a pensive expression, but the rabbit trail was ended as the waitress returned with their meal.
      “I see what you’re getting at,” said Cloud, digging in. “Tifa’s probably here for a reason, and she might not get the information she’s after if we don’t play along.”
      “I could likely get in,” said Aeris.
      “All by yourself?”
      “You act like I’m a little girl.”
      “But you are a girl,” Cloud emphasized, “and you’re…”
      “I’m what?”
      “You’re—” Cloud stuttered, then shook his head. “You’re not going in there alone. You know what kind of a place that is, right?” He looked up to see her giggling with a schoolgirlish smile on her face. “What’s so funny?”
      “Well, there is another way,” she said, trying to contain her laughter. “You made me think of it yourself.” Cloud just stared at her. “The Don’s got to find two more girls yet, right?”
      “Yes.”
      “Well, I could be one, and you could be the other!”
      Cloud frowned confusedly. “What?”
      “You could dress up like a girl,” she whispered, her giggles returning. “It’s the only other way.”
      “You’re joking.”
      “Oh, I think you’d make a great woman.”
      “What?”
      “Come on, now.” she said. “You’re worried about Tifa, aren’t you?”
      Cloud groaned with his face in his hands. “Yes.” came the muffled reply.

      After Cloud had hesitantly finished his food, Aeris dragged him back up the market to a little clothing store. Inside, suits and dresses hung on display from the walls, and a few racks of men and women’s clothing stood waiting to be browsed. Aeris dove right into the selection while Cloud was somewhat more reluctant to be dress shopping. When the lady behind the counter offered him assistance, he simply motioned towards Aeris. She began talking to Aeris, introduced herself as Carol, and asked what she could help find, to which Aeris replied in hushed tones, nodding towards Cloud. He turned, feeling his face heating up.
      “Well, it will likely have to be something a little more modest.” said the sales lady.
      “But it still needs to be a little sexy,” added Aeris.
      “Oh, yes, of course.”
      Oh brother, Cloud thought.
      “Mmm. How about this one?”
      Cloud listened as they commented on one particular dress.
      “Cloud!” Aeris called. “Come here for a minute.” He turned to see her holding a dark blue gown. “Come on,” she coaxed. As he walked over, she held it up, putting the top to his shoulders. It was still long enough to reach down to the floor.
      “Not bad,” said Carol. “That style should fill out nicely below the waist. And there are some matching gloves that should cover a lot of the arm.”
      “We might need some stockings; you don’t shave your legs, do you Cloud?” Cloud took that as a rhetorical question. Aeris tried to conceal a grin, but she couldn’t hide the amount of enjoyment she was getting out of this situation.
      “Would you like to try it on?” the counter lady asked.
      “Oh, yes,” answered Aeris. “Definitely.” She laid the silky dress in Cloud’s arms and directed him to a little dressing room on the other side of the shop.
      “Aeris,” Cloud said to her, “I can’t…”
      “Oh, come on. I bet you’ve never dressed like a girl in your whole life. You can’t say you don’t like it if you don’t try it.” Cloud stepped into the little booth with a sigh and pulled the curtain. Aeris waited anxiously outside. After about a minute of shuffling of clothes, Aeris called, “Are you doing alright?”
      Cloud didn’t answer right away. “How… do you…” More ruffling. “How do you put this thing on?” Aeris poked her head around the curtain. “Whoa! What are you doing?”
      “No, like this.” she said, reaching one arm in.
      “Here are some silk stockings,” said Carol, handing them to Aeris. “I suppose you’ll need a belt and garters as well.” She grabbed the extra equipment and brought it over.
      “Cloud, see if you can get these on,” said Aeris, passing in the black leggings and accessories.
      “Aeris! What is this?”

      After a few more minutes of instruction and encouragement, Cloud walked out from behind the curtain. The short sleeves of the dress just covered the tops of his shoulders. The square neckline angled off a few inches below his collarbones and dipped into a V in the middle, revealing a white layer underneath the outer blue. Just below the V cut, a white ribbon wrapped around his ribcage. The dress fit snugly from there to the waist where it spread into a long billowy skirt.
      “Not bad…” said Aeris, eying Cloud from head to toe. Carol was practically speechless, which made Cloud feel even more embarrassed.
      “I look like a woman, don’t I.” he said, looking away. Aeris burst into laughter again.
      “Well, you’re doing very well,” said Carol. “You could use some finishing touches, but I think I know someone who could help.” She walked behind her counter to the cash register. “Because you’re doing so well, I’ll help you out and cut thirty percent off the cost of your purchase.”
      “Oh, wait!” called Aeris from the dress rack. “I want one. Do you think you have one that will look good on me too?”
      Carol stepped over to help look for a dress. An older man who had been witnessing the whole comedy decided to offer some input of his own. “How’s this?” asked Carol, holding up a green dress.
      “How about this one?” suggested the man.
      “Dad, don’t be silly. This one is much better for her.”
      “What are you talking about?”
      Aeris stepped between them and grabbed a red dress. “I want this one.” Carol and her father both stopped and stared with their respective gown options in hand. “I’m going to try it on.” She stepped into the dressing room and pulled the curtain. Before long, she reappeared, wearing the brightly colored, shimmering dress. “So? How does it look?”
      Carol and her father observed silently, admiring the sleeveless gown; its drape neck was tasteful, yet the fabric gathered enough at Aeris’s right hip to allow a generous glimpse of her leg.
      “Very nice,” said Carol’s dad.
      “Yes, I think it really compliments your figure,” Carol said.
      “Cloud?” asked Aeris.
      Not in the frame of mind to be dishing out compliments, Cloud shook his head in a sort of sarcastic disapproval.
      “Oh, you’re no fun.”
      “I have a friend who works at the Honeybee Hotel down the street,” Carol said as Cloud paid for their things at the counter. “Go over there and ask to speak with Sandra. Tell her that Carol sent you.”
      “The Honeybee Hotel.” said Aeris.
      “Yes. She should be able to help you complete your appearance.”
      “Thank you, Carol. We’ll give it a try.”
      “Thank you both, and good luck!”

      Carrying their original clothes in bags from the clothes shop, they headed down the street; Cloud dragged his huge sword behind him.
      It turned out that Sandra was truly an excellent contact at the Hotel; she readily let Cloud and Aeris into the round lobby. Sensually lit with blue and purple lights from the floor, the walls and the ceiling, the interior was perhaps more elaborate than the exterior. There was little time for lingering, however, as Sandra led them to the girls’ dressing room.
      The few female recruits inside, clad in scanty honeybee outfits, eyed the two visitors—especially Cloud—but generally paid more attention to their own beautification; they must have been used to dealing with strange characters in this part of the city.
      “So what’s this all about? Why did Carol send you here?” asked Sandra after they were inside the dressing room.
      “We’ve got to get into Don Corneo’s,” said Cloud bluntly. Aeris shot him a sort of hush-up glance, but he didn’t care; he was tired of her telling people other strange stories about his cross-dressing tendencies.
      Sandra didn’t seem alarmed; in fact, Cloud thought he caught the gleam of an almost vengeful smile from her overly made-up face. “Anything to help give that scumbag a hard time.”
      Cloud hadn’t expected such a concurring response. “Doesn’t he run this hotel?”
      “He owns it,” she answered, unabashedly.
      “Isn’t he… your boss?” asked Aeris.
      “I don’t care. He’s revolting.”
      “Why do you work for him?” Aeris pursued.
      Sandra heaved a sigh, as if annoyed, but her expression felt hopeless and exhausted more than anything. “Maybe you’re not from around here. In the slums you do what you can to stay alive. You don’t ask stupid questions.”
      “I’m sorry,” said Aeris.
      “Hey, it’s life.” Sandra flipped her hair and tried for a semi-contented smile.

      To Cloud and Aeris’s delight, Sandra offered them the use of some shower stalls. They both washed up and Cloud had a good close shave; then they got back into their dresses and had Sandra style their hair and apply generous amounts of makeup. Cloud’s hair was long enough in the back for Sandra to put in two little braided pigtails. The rest of his hair fell to the sides of his face and across the front in long blond strands. As for Aeris, she had undone her long thick braid so that her hair flowed shimmering and full down past her hips.
      Sandra agreed to take care of their original clothing as well as Cloud’s terribly indiscrete Buster sword; he was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to infiltrate the mansion carrying such an obvious weapon. Feeling time beginning to press, they thanked Sandra profusely and left the hotel.
      Not comfortable being unarmed, Cloud made one more stop at the weapons shop and picked up a slim katana-like sword that could be hidden beneath his long garments. Aeris still carried her telescoping metal staff, collapsed and concealed for the time being.

      “Well,” Cloud said, as he stood in the middle of the dirty street in his beautiful blue gown. “I can’t say I’ve ever resorted to more ridiculous tactics.”
      “You look pretty, Cloud,” said Aeris. Cloud felt a tiny edge of degradation from the words, but pretty was what he needed to be now more than ever, so if he was pretty then he was glad.

      —I know you.

      The words came like a white flash through his mind. “Oh yeah, I know you.” he said. That uniform… “You don’t know me?”
      Three escort soldiers had shown up behind the navy blue-suited man. One commented, “Hey, boss, this one’s a little weird.” His escort counterparts chortled with him.
      “Shinra spy.” said Cloud.
      “Want him taken out, Reno, sir?” asked one of the guards.
      “I haven’t decided yet,” answered their leader. He took a step towards Cloud.
      “Don’t fight here!” called Aeris. “You’ll ruin the flowers!” She ran past the altar to a doorway on the left side. “The exit is back here.” Cloud followed her out, looking over his shoulder at the band of Shinra. Perhaps escaping without a fight would be better.
      Stepping through Aeris’s flowerbed, Reno walked casually in the direction of the exit. “They were Mako eyes,” he said to himself pensively. Then he turned to the three guards behind him who were chuckling incessantly among each other. “Yeah, alright. Back to work, back to work.” He was about to walk through the door when he spun around again. “Oh!” he called to his escorts, “And don’t step on the flowers.”
      “Hey Reno, you just stepped on them!” one called.
      “They’re all ruined!”
      “You’re gonna catch holy hell!” They exploded into laughter. Reno shook his head and continued on in pursuit.

      Cloud and Aeris found themselves in the back of the building on a narrow wooden walkway that bordered this tall room. They stood on the third level, which was connected by a staircase to the ledge below where they had entered. The room sunk past that level to a basement below. Cloud crept along the catwalk carefully as it was broken at several points. Aeris, bearing what appeared to be a short metal cylinder, stopped behind Cloud as they came to a large gap in the ledge. It had apparently been caused by the fall of one of the temple’s thick support pillars which now leaned against the wall below them, slanting all the way down to the basement level. Reno and his crew entered and spotted their targets above.
      “There they are,” Reno pointed, “up there.”
      “Cloud…” Aeris hesitated.
      “I know. Looks like they aren’t going to let us go.”
      “What should we do?”
      “Well we can’t let them catch us. Then there’s only one thing left.” Cloud stepped back, then dashed forward and sprung to the other side of the hole. He looked over at her, and she knew she was to follow. The breach was wide, though, and she shook her head as she approached it. “Come on, Aeris—”
      Gunshots cut off the conversation; bullets struck the wood under the girl’s feet, shattering some boards and knocking her off balance. She screamed and fell forward. Cloud watched in helpless horror as the white form dropped, hitting the broad pillar. Aeris managed to keep from rolling off; instead she slid and tumbled most of the way down the big slanted segment. Near the bottom the shape of the beam changed and she was thrown to the baseboards. Reno cursed at his men.
      “You idiots! Are you trying to kill her?” The three men cringed at his anger. “We want her alive!” he shouted as he shoved one of the blue-suited men forward. “Go get her.”
      Cloud watched from above as the guard found a ladder and began to climb down to the basement where Aeris was still laying still. He cursed at his situation. Unlike this flower girl, he was certain that the kidnappers cared little about whether he lived or died, and he preferred to not be shot. They weren’t planning to kill her; maybe he would have another chance for a rescue. He noticed a group of barrels lined up on a plank in the rafters…
      Aeris was slowly picking herself up as the guard reached the end of his ladder.
      “Alright, Miss,” he said as he approached to grab her, “if you’ll come with me—”
      A metal bar in the face answered his request. Aeris swung the other side of her rod; its end extended like a telescope and landed a blow in the man’s side before he realized what was happening. The small cylinder that the girl had been carrying before had now grown from both ends to become a full-length staff. A jab in the stomach and one more hit to his head as he hunched was enough for him to fall to the wooden floor. Aeris wasted no time and began to climb to the first ledge.
      Reno was furious and pushed a second Shinra escort forward. “Will you stop her!” This guard was slightly more reluctant to chase after Aeris. He had to round the whole room to get to where Aeris was climbing up from the ladder. She was halfway up the stairs to the second ledge when he began to climb the steps, two at a time. It was clear that he was gaining ground when, suddenly, a wooden barrel crashed down on the stairs in front of him and bounced down, knocking him off his feet. He rolled backwards along with the barrel to the bottom of the staircase. Still running, Aeris used her momentum to leap over the gap in the walkway and continue up to the rafters where Cloud waited. They could hear Reno raging below, then more shots were fired up at them. Aeris yelped and cringed.
      “Come on, this way.” said Cloud as he led her through an opening in the wall. Now they scampered high over top of the alter and the flower bed. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling through which they climbed to reach the very top of the temple building.
      
      Feeling safe for the moment, Aeris spread herself out on the slanted roof, panting from running and climbing, and maybe from fright. She laughed. “They’re looking for me again.”
      “So it’s not the first time they’ve been after you.”
      “No.”
      “He’s a Turk.”
      “Hmm.” she said simply.
      “The Turks are part of Shinra,” Cloud explained. “They scout for possible candidates for Soldier.”
      “This violently?” Aeris laughed sarcastically, “I would have thought they were kidnapping someone.”
      “I guess they do some dirty stuff on the side: spying, murder…”
      “Yeah.”
      Cloud looked over at Aeris from where he was sitting. Her face was scratched and she had a cut on her forehead. Tough girl…
      “But, why are they after you? There must be a reason, right?”
      Aeris paused. “No. Not really. I think they just believe I have what it takes to be in Soldier.”
      “Maybe you do.” She smiled at that. “You want to join?”
      “I don’t know. But I don’t want to be caught by those people!”
      “Then, we’d better go!” said Cloud. Aeris got up. “Which way to your place?”
      She pointed across a big pile of rubble and roofs of little shacks. “It’s shorter and maybe safer if we go that way.” With that, Cloud hopped from the temple onto another roof, and Aeris followed.

      “Wait!” called Aeris. “Wait, I said!”
      After jumping from rooftop to rooftop for some time, Cloud turned to see how the girl was doing. She was a few roofs behind, stepping carefully from one to the next. She was limping a little. I guess she’s wearing a dress too, thought Cloud. She caught up to him, a little out of breath.
      “Slow down,” she said in between gasps. “Don’t leave me…”
      “Funny. I thought you were cut out to be in Soldier.”
      “Oh! You’re terrible!” she said, tossing her arms. They both laughed a little. “Hey, Cloud. Were you ever in Soldier?”
      Soldier. Of course he had been in Soldier. If only he could remember…
      “I used to be. How did you guess?”
      “Your eyes. They have a strange glow.”
      “That’s the sign of those who have been infused with Mako: a mark of Soldier. But how did you know about that?”
      “Oh, nothing.”
      “Nothing?”
      “Right, nothing! Come on, let’s go, bodyguard!”

      After some more garbage-heap and rooftop travel, Aeris and her guardian climbed down to the ground level of the Sector 5 slums. The surroundings were not unlike those of Sector 7, with people making homes and shops of little tents, wrecked trailers, and pipes. However Cloud did not know his way around this part of Midgar and relied on the girl for direction. They tried to act casual and inconspicuous. It seemed that most people were content to pass by quietly and go about their own business, but Cloud still couldn’t help noticing some shifty, unfriendly eyes stealing glances from the shadows of the rubble. He made sure to keep Aeris close.
      A building came into sight ahead that bore more of a resemblance to a house than most of the shacks that Cloud had come across in the slums. Its walls were of gray stucco with thick wooden beams at the corners, but the roof rose high with red shingling. It still looked worn, as did every other part of the underside of the plate, but it appeared nearly a palace in comparison to most slum homes. Cloud was surprised to see Aeris walking up to the front door and turning its handle.
      “This is your place?”
      “Yeah, come on in.”
      Cloud followed her inside, wondering how she had been fortunate enough to come by such a home and how she had managed to maintain ownership of it.
      “Mom! I’m home!”
      The interior of the house was even more impressive than the exterior. The main room was hexagonal and open. A table sat in the center, draped with a blue tablecloth and accompanied by a couple wooden chairs. The left side of the room was bordered by some short bookshelves and on the right stood some taller glass cabinets, displaying respectable china, silverware and glassware. A patterned rug lay on the cobblestone floor and vases with flowers adorned various corners of the house.
      Wow… haven’t been in a house like this for—
      “This is Cloud. My bodyguard,” Aeris pronounced as a lady in a green dress and white apron emerged from the kitchen to the right. She wore a worried expression already, which appeared to have been well etched into her face over the years.
      “Bodyguard?” she asked. “Were you followed again?” She wiped her hands on her apron as she stepped closer. “Are you alright? You aren’t hurt, are you—oh, Aeris! Look at your face!” she cried as she noticed the girl’s scrapes.
      “I’m alright, mom,” said Aeris as her distressed mother examined her face. “I had Cloud with me.” This was apparently of little comfort to the woman who rushed back into the kitchen and rummaged through a few cupboards. She returned with a cloth and some ointment with which she proceeded to clean Aeris up.
      “Thank you, Cloud,” she said. “I’m Elmyra.” She finished up and returned to the kitchen.
      “So,” Aeris said, turning to Cloud, “what are you going to do now?”
      “Is Sector 7 far from here? I need to get to Tifa’s bar.”
      “Is Tifa… a girl?”
      “Yeah,” Cloud nodded.
      “A girl… friend?”
      Cloud shook his head quickly. “No.”
      She laughed. “You don’t have to get upset. Well, that’s… nice. Let’s see. Sector 7? I’ll show you the way.”
      Cloud raised his hand. “You’ve got to be kidding. You want to put yourself in danger again?”
      “I’m used to it.”
      “Used to it? Well, don’t know. Getting help from a girl…”
      Aeris threw her arms in the air. “A girl! What do you mean by that?”
      “Well, just—”
      “You expect me to just sit by and listen after hearing you say something like that?”
      “No, it’s that—”
      “Mom! I’m taking Cloud to Sector 7. I’ll be back in a while.”
      “But Aeris, dear…” came the words as the poor lady came out again; her eyes denoted an anxiety almost as strained as the tight bun of hair on her head. She couldn’t seem to find any words to protest. “I give up,” she sighed. “You never listen once you’ve made up your mind. But, if you must go, why don’t you go tomorrow? It’s getting late now.”
      “Yeah, you’re right.” said Aeris.
      “Why don’t you go make the bed.” Aeris obeyed, walking to the staircase on the far side of the room.
      Cloud turned and smiled at Elmyra.
      “That glow in your eyes,” she said. “You’re from Soldier, aren’t you.”
      “Yeah, well, I used to be.”
      The lady looked at the cold stone floor, and Cloud felt as if he had been unwelcome long before he had even arrived at Elmyra Gainsborough’s home. “I don’t know how to say this, but… would you please leave here, tonight? Without telling Aeris.”
      She looked him in the eyes again but didn’t wait for an answer. She just returned to whatever she was working on in her kitchen. Cloud headed for the stairs but still caught some upset snifflings about Soldier and hurt feelings.
      Upstairs Cloud found Aeris just finishing up in what must have been a spare bedroom. The hardwood floor creaked and groaned with each of Clouds steps; Aeris must have heard for she came to the top of the stairs to meet him.
      “You need to go through Sector 6 to get to Sector 7. Sector 6 is a little… dangerous, so you’d better get some rest tonight.”
      Cloud nodded and stepped towards his room.
      “Cloud.”
      He turned to the young figure in her simple dress, standing again with her hands behind her back. Her green eyes, though veiled slightly by long brown bangs, were wide-open windows to Cloud, shouting and whispering hundreds of things to him at the same time, but nothing made sense.
      “Good night,” she said. Then she went back down.
      Cloud rubbed his forehead in frustration.
      “Oh man…”

      Seem pretty tired.
      “You again.”
      Haven’t slept in a bed like this in a long time.
      “Oh, yeah.”
      Ever since that time.

      “My, how you’ve grown.”
      Cloud lay on a soft bed, staring at the ceiling. He was in a house: a very familiar house, but it wasn’t Aeris’s. A woman with blond hair stood beside the bed, dressed in orange—his mother.
      “I’ll bet the girls never leave you alone.”
      “Not really.”
      She paced across the room, from the hardwood floor onto the stone beside the fridge and the sink. “I’m worried about you. There are a lot of temptations in the city.” Cloud rolled over while his mom continued. “I’d feel better if you just settled down and had a nice girlfriend.”
      “I’m alright,” he said, his back to his mother.
      “You should have… an older girlfriend. One that’ll take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you.”
      “I’m not interested.”

      Cloud opened his eyes again. He was in Aeris’s guest room.
      “I must have fallen asleep.” He sat up on the edge of the bed. “Sector 7’s past Sector 6. I should be alright by myself.”
      He quietly slipped out of his room and into the hallway. Most of the lights were out, but there was enough of a glow from a lamp downstairs and some light through the windows to silhouette the railing of the staircase. With his first step he heard the floor creak and froze. He knew some soft stepping would be required to get out of the house unnoticed. Aeris was probably in the next room, hopefully asleep. Carefully sneaking across the hallway, Cloud crept along next to the railing, trying not to make a sound.
      —creak…
      He stopped again, grimacing. Can’t let Aeris catch me. He rounded the post at the railing’s end and took the stairs quickly and quietly, unlocked the front door and snuck out to the slum streets.
      On his way out of Sector 5, Cloud stopped in at some of the small shops to see what kind of weapons and accessories were available. He decided to shell out a few hundred gil for some extra shiny green orbs and a bangle to hold them; it would always be good to have some extra materia around, undoubtedly.
      Recalling that this sector was on the south side of Midgar, Cloud headed west, hoping to eventually find his way back to the hideout at Seventh Heaven. It proved difficult, though, to find a straight path heading towards the next sector, and Cloud found it a battle to maintain his orientation while zigzagging through mazes of huts, sheds and heaps of debris. He tried to keep an eye on the border of the round city so as to not end up backtracking.
      Suddenly he rounded the corner of a little sheet metal tent to find light pouring through a large opening in a tall concrete wall. The sun must have been early enough in its climb to shine over the horizon, yet still underneath Midgar’s huge plate. Standing in front of the fissure was a girl in a cream-colored dress with a red jacket, glowing with a halo of sunlight.
      “Aeris.”
      “You’re up bright and early.”
      Cloud shook his head. “How could I ask you to go along when I knew it could be dangerous?”
      Aeris looked at him, nonchalantly. “Are you done?”
      He just scratched his head.
      “I’ll take you back to Sector 7. Come on.”

      Her mom was right. She’d never listen once she’d made up her mind.