Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Premonitions: Uncut	By : Hippo_and_Friends_with_Benefits Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 3901 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, and I am not making any money of of this writing.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter 9: Reactor Number Five
The Urchin floated ominously above the outskirts of the city. It was five in the morning, yet the sky was still pitch black. No one could see the menacing drama in the air. No one knew what was about to happen. A distortion had been reported the previous night, and a few witnesses reported a giant, spiked spherical object in the sky. Too much alcohol was the common explanation.
The environment was lit inside the Urchin, but the atmosphere remained equally bleak. Bestla and Nara sat alone on the bridge, awaiting history to play out. Bestla was sitting on her "throne," which was a chair at the center of the bridge. Nara, meanwhile, was pacing around.
"So what are we waiting for?" asked Nara impatiently. "We've already killed them once, we can quickly kill them again!"
"It's not that simple," Bestla replied. "This is nine years ago. The 0016 Cloud and Tifa were easy. The 0007 Cloud and Tifa are younger, stronger, and quicker."
"It's nothing our laser blasters can solve," Nara insisted. "That blue energy is a miracle."
"And they might be quick enough to dodge it," Bestla informed. "There are three of them now, but they will soon grow to nine."
"Then why waste more time?" asked Nara.
"Because it's the wrong time," Bestla replied. "They have to make it to the Temple, or the show's off."
"When there will be nine of them," Nara reminded.
"Which is why I think I've found a new use for our blue energy."
"A new use?"
"That's right," replied Bestla. "It's time we did a little business. Now we need to move away from the city," Bestla ordered. "Sunrise is in an hour."
AN HOUR LATER...
"Good morning, Cloud," greeted Tifa a few hours later, as he reached the bar level. "Did you sleep well?"
"Next to you," replied Cloud, "who wouldn't."
He then wanted to hit himself. He had no idea why he just said that.
"I don't know what you mean," said Tifa, although Cloud could see she was beginning to blush. "I'm going this time," she announced.
"Where?" asked Cloud. "Reactor Number Two?"
"That's what they're expecting," replied Tifa. "We can't have a pattern."
"Our target's the Sector Five Reactor," Barret announced. "Head for the station first, and I'll fill you in on the train."
As Barret turned to exit, something caught Cloud's mind. "Hey, Barret?"
"Yo!"
"Didn't you want to learn to use materia?"
Barret paused. "I was going to ask you," he began, "but then I….remembered…"
"Remembered?!" asked Tifa. "I don't remember teaching you."
"Someone must've," Barret insisted.
SOMEWHERE ELSE...
"What are your plans for today?" asked the flower girl's mother.
"I'm going to tend the flowers in the old church," the flower girl replied. "I haven't been there in three days. Those poor things."
"And what about tonight?" asked her mother.
"I'm going to track down that guy," the girl replied. She was seated at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. She was still in her nightgown; her clothes were in the dryer.
"That guy," repeated her mother. "You really like him."
"Well," insisted the flower girl, "I want to get to know him. Then I'll let you know."
"Do you really think you're ready to date again?"
"Absolutely," replied the flower girl. "He made me feel that way."
"Just be careful," her mother warned.
AT THE STATION...
Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge were seated in the same car.
Barret was not pleased.
"Yo!" he shouted once on the train, "looks like this ain't no private car, so split up!"
Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie did as they were told, all leaving the car.
"Hoodlums again," sighed the nearby conductor. "Don't I just have all the luck?"
There was a nasty moment of silence as passengers slowly deserted the car.
"You say somthin'?" demanded Barret.
No answer.
"I said, you say somthin'!?"
Still nothing.
"Yo, look at that!" shouted Barret as he smacked the poor manager. "It got empty all of a sudden."
"It's empty because of guys like you!" the manager shrieked.
"Guys like me?!" demanded Barret. "That some kind of racist remark?!"
"You you've seen the news, right? Avalanche says there'll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today!"
"You workin' for Shinra?" demanded Barret as he picked up the manager by his collar.
"I won't give in to violence!"
Meanwhile, Tifa had had enough. "Tifa!" she shouted.
Barret sighed. He just couldn't say no to her. "Fuck," he muttered. "You lucky fucker…"
"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Cloud, trying to calm the atmosphere.
"Shit!" exclaimed Barret. "The hell you so calm about? You're bustin' up my rhythm!"
At that moment, the train started to move.
"Seems like they just finished connecting the cars," observed Tifa. "We're finally leaving."
"So what's our next target?" asked Cloud.
"Hah!" Barret chuckled. "Listen to Mr. Serious-About-His-Work! Awright, I'll tell ya! Jessie's probably already told you, but there's a security check point at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."
"Which Shinra is very proud of," Tifa added.
"We can't use our fake ID's anymore," noted Barret.
"Good Morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines," the conductor suddenly announced over the intercom. "Arrival time at Sector 4 station will be 11:45."
"That means we've only got three more minutes to the ID check point," Tifa warned.
"Alright," Barret agreed, "in three minutes, we're jumpin' off this train. Got it?"
He sat down as Tifa began looking at a screen near the door. "Cloud, come over here!" she requested. "Let's look at the railway map monitor."
"Wait," Cloud protested.
"Something wrong?" asked Tifa.
"We don't have three minutes," Cloud replied.
"Come again?"
"The checkpoint is closer than we think. We need to get off now!" Without another word, he forced the train door open and jumped out.
"Tifa!" cried Tifa as she quickly followed him out.
"You guys!" shouted Barret. "I call the shots around here!" He quickly jumped out the door. He found Tifa and Cloud a few feet away in the tunnel.
"What the hell was that about?!" Barret demanded. "Cloud, I'm in charge here. That means you don't even think about jumpin' out of a train unless I say so! Capisce?"
"I just had a feeling…"
"A feeling?! Cloud, feelings are for when…" Barret was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He noticed it was Jessie calling. "What's up?" he asked.
"Guys are you okay?!" She sounded panicked.
"Physically," Barret replied.
"You guys, we blew it!" Jessie announced. The checkpoint was closer than we thought! We have a Type A security alert! Are you off the train?"
"We're off. Look, just get your asses off as soon as possible. We'll meet up later!" He then hung up the phone. "I think you've got some explaining to do. How the hell did you know this was going to happen?"
"I tried to tell you," Cloud replied. "It was a feeling. A premonition."
"We'll talk about it later," Barret insisted.
"It looks like we walk from here," Tifa observed.
"Too late to be saying that now," said Cloud. "Why'd you come along anyway?"
"Because…" Tifa began.
She wanted to say it, but she could not. The words would not come out of her mouth.
"Hey you two!" Barret interrupted. "There ain't no time for that!"
The three made their way down the tunnel until they noticed the passageway was blocked by red light beams.
"Those light beams are the Shinra's security sensors," explained Cloud. "We can't go any further."
"Well, shit!" replied Barret. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"What about that?" suggested Tifa, pointed to an air duct.
"That's one damn tiny hole," Barret observed. "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the plate? No way! Cloud, what're we going to do?"
"I say we go down," Cloud replied. "What choice to we have?"
Barret sighed. "But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills!"
AWAY FROM THE ACTION...
"Laundry's done," announced the flower girl's mother as she came into the her bedroom. "What are you going to wear today?"
"My pink dress," the flower girl replied.
"Again?" asked her perplexed mother.
"It's my favorite," she defended.
"And what about tonight?"
"I'll wear my white tank top," the flower girl replied. "And my jean shorts to show my butt off."
Her mother gave her a nervous look.
"You know, that guy."
"Him again," her mother observed.
"I've been told my butt's pretty nice, so why not show it off?"
"What is it with you, anyway?" asked her mother.
"You were right," the flower girl continued. "I think it is time for me to move out and get married. I really want to know if we click. There's only one way to find out, right?"
"Just be careful," her mother warned. "You've been through a lot."
"I remember," the flower girl replied softly. "All too well. I hope he's different."
MEANWHILE...
After ten minutes through the air ducts, the three encountered Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie.
"Cloud, this way," pointed Biggs. The reactor's up this ladder."
Meanwhile, Jessie seemed uneasy.
"What's wrong?" asked Cloud.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "The ID scan problem on the train was all my fault. I made your ID card special, so that's why it happened. I put my heart into making it. But I failed."
"As long as we learn from it," Cloud replied, "we never fail."
Jessie smiled. "Next time, I'll give you something more decent. I'll be back at the hideout in the research room working on it."
Cloud, Barret, and Tifa made their way into the reactor. It seemed virtually identical to Reactor Number One. The walls were colored differently, and some equipment was rearranged, but that was barely noticeable. As the three ventured deeper into the reactor, Cloud began to instinctively take the lead, almost directing the other two to the location of the core.
"You seem to know where to go," observed Tifa aloud. "Have you been here before?"
"Now that you mention it," replied Cloud, "I think I have."
"Really?!" exclaimed Tifa in surprise. "When?"
"I don't know. I just don't know."
"Come to think of it," added Barret, "I think I've been here too. Even though I know I've never been here in my life!"
"It must be déjà vu?" suggested Tifa.
"Déjà vu?" asked Cloud.
"You know," continued Tifa, "when you get that weird feeling that you've lived through something before."
"Never had it in my life," replied Cloud. "Until now."
"Hey," added Barret, "what about that lottery ticket? How did you know all those numbers?"
"I didn't," Cloud replied. "They just felt right."
"Cloud, the odds of getting those numbers right are one in a thousand! Maybe…"
"Maybe what?" asked Cloud.
"Maybe we actually did live through this before."
"Then how come I'm not feeling anything?" asked Tifa.
"Good question," replied Cloud. "I'll guess it's more of a coincidence."
"In any case," Barret continued, "we have a reactor to destroy."
The three of them crossed a metal bridge above a body of water that the reactor's waste presumably emptied into. Beyond that was the core. It was sealed by a wheel, but none of them had any intention of opening it.
As Cloud approached the core, something began to happen. A high pitched sound started. He saw neither Barret nor Tifa reacting to it; he quickly concluded that he was the only one who could hear it. His head then began to hurt. The pain soon grew so extreme that he closed his eyes, clutched his head, and collapsed to the floor of the bridge.
When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the surroundings were different. Tifa was different as well; her clothes had changed, and she appeared at least three years younger. She was kneeling over what appeared to be a dead body.
"Papa," she sobbed. "Sephiroth?! Did Sephiroth do this to you?" She then rose to her feet. "Sephiroth, SOLDIER, mako reactors, Shinra...I HATE THEM ALL!"
A pain, thought not as sharp, shot through Cloud's head, causing him to close his eyes once more. When he opened them, he was back in the old setting.
"Damn, man," shouted Barret. "Get ahold of yourself!"
Tifa, meanwhile, rushed to Cloud, and lowered herself to his level.
"You all right?" she asked.
"Tifa," he sighed.
"Mmmm?"
"No, forget it," Cloud said as he rose to his feet. "Come on, let's hurry."
The three quickly approached the core. Cloud duly planted the bomb as before.
"This one has a silent countdown," Barret explained as they began to move out. "Nobody'll try disarmin' it!"
When they returned to the previous room, they noticed the door leading to the exit had been sealed.
"Fuck!" shouted Barret. "I don't supposed you remember how you might have gotten outta here!" he snorted in Cloud's direction.
"He doesn't have to," Tifa defended. "Jessie said we all have to the buttons at once."
"You mean on dat console?" asked Barret, pointing to one with three buttons requiring three people to push them at once.
"That's the one," Tifa replied.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret each positioned themselves at a button. After several unsuccessful attempts, the three buttons were pushed simultaneously, allowing the door to open.
"C'mon," ordered Barret. "Let's go!"
Beyond the door was a walkway. "This way," ordered Barret, just as two soldiers appeared at the end of it.
Cloud quickly turned around, only to see more soldiers behind them. There was nowhere to run.
"Shinra soldiers!?" exclaimed Barret. "SHIT! What the hell's goin' on?"
"A trap," muttered Cloud.
And then, footsteps began to sound. They were soft at first, but quickly increased in volume. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret all simultaneously turned in the same direction, and found out whom they belonged to. They belonged to a short man in a red suit, with blond hair and a mustache.
"President Shinra?" exclaimed Barret.
"Why is the president here?" asked Tifa.
"Hmm," replied the president. "So you all must be that…what was it?"
"Avalanche!" replied Barret proudly. "And don't ya forget it! And you're President Shinra, huh?"
"Long time no see, Mr. President," Cloud greeted.
"Long time no see? Oh, you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined Avalanche. I knew you were exposed to Mako, from the glow in your eyes. So tell me, traitor, what was your name?"
"It's Cloud," he replied.
"Forgive me for asking," the president apologized, "but I can't be expected to remember each person's name…unless you become another Sephiroth."
"Why would anyone want to turn out like him?" asked Tifa rhetorically.
"Yes, Sephiroth," Shinra continued. "He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant."
"Sephiroth," began Cloud. "That name…bothers me." He couldn't put his finger on it. He had been dead for five years.
"Don't give a damn about none of that!" Barret interrupted. "This place's goin' up with a big band soon! Serves y'all right!"
"And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you," the president retorted.
"Vermin?!" Barret exclaimed. "That's all you can say? Vermin? You're the vermin, killing the planet! And that makes you King Vermin! So shut up, you old jackass!"
"You are beginning to bore me," Shinra dismissed. "I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner I must attend."
"At one in the afternoon? Don't gimme that! I ain't even started with you yet!"
"But," continued the president as he snapped his fingers, "I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all."
And, right on cue, a buzzing sound began.
"What's that noise?" asked Tifa.
Her question was quickly answered when a giant robot appeared in the room. It looked almost humanoid, but more menacing than the scorpion.
"The hell is this!?" demanded Barret.
"Meet Airbuster, a techno-soldier," replied the president. "Our Weapon Development Department created him I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
"Techno-soldier?" asked a puzzled Cloud.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," announced the president as a helicopter appeared behind him.
"Wait, Mr. President!" Cloud demanded as he pursued him, but it was no use. King Vermin quickly climbed aboard the helicopter as it flew out of sight.
"Forget the president for now!" ordered Barret. "We've gotta do somethin' about him!"
"This is from SOLDIER?" asked Tifa as the bizarre contraption approached her and Barret.
"No way!" dismissed Cloud. "It's just a machine."
"I don't care what it is!" shouted Barret. "I'm gonna bust him up!" He quickly aimed his gun and began to fire. The Airbuster shed the bullets like raindrops.
"Cloud!" shouted Tifa. "It's coming right for us!"
Cloud quickly cast lightning. Unfortunately, it had no effect. The Airbuster turned around to pursue Cloud. He again cast lighting, but to no avail. "Guys!" Cloud shouted. "Little help?"
Before he could think twice, Barret opened fire on the Airbuster's backside. This time, it stopped in its tracks, and sparks began to fly. "I think we know it's weak point!" Barret announced. The Airbuster then began to shake violently as the sparks became more frequent. "She's gonna blow!" Barret yelled. "Everyone off the catwalk!"
Tifa and Barret ran to one end of the walkway as Cloud ran to the other. When Tifa reached her end, she heard the explosion. And she felt it; she was pushed two feet ahead. She never fell to the ground, but that was the least of her worries. She quickly spun around, and saw what she had been dreading.
The catwalk was gone. Cloud was hanging by the edge. And, worst of all, the bomb they had recently planted was itching to explode!
"It's gonna blow!" Barret shouted. "Let's go, Tifa!"
"Barret!" pleaded Tifa, "Can't you do something?"
"Not a damn thing," he replied regretfully.
"Cloud!" cried Tifa. "Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"
"I won't," Cloud replied. "I promise."
With that, Cloud disappeared into the abyss below.
Tifa, for the first time in years, began to cry.
- 8
- 9
- 10
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Premonitions: Uncut