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Chapter III
The End of the Beginning


The slums were burning.
Blocks of tenements and shelters built of scrap were engulfed in flame as the residents of Sector 3 fled. Small knots of slum-dwellers strove to fight back against the blue-uniformed Shin-Ra troops who had descended upon the Sector. The troops guns, swords, and pikes quickly cut those who fought back down. Several of the troops bore flamethrowers, the source of the blaze. The wails of the injured filled the air.
While the chaos unfolded around her, Inno Kinsley ran frantically down the filthy streets of Sector 3, one goal fixed in her mind. Her mother, her friend, both were here somewhere, she had to find them.
As she ran, the heat of the burning buildings prickled at her skin and the stink of smoke seared her lungs. Gabriel’s footfalls pounded along behind her, and the short sword he had given to her slapped awkwardly against her thigh. She increased her pace, the shield feeling strange and heavy on her arm. She knew that materia would be helpful, but as she had none its usefulness was moot. Bypassing an intersection where a mob of slum residents were being torched by Shin-Ra troops, Inno rushed up the next block. She was almost there.
She had to get to the hotel, Mom and Les she had to help them. Gabriel would help her they’d be okay. She’d get there in time… Her thoughts broke off as a squad of three Shin-Ra troopers stepped out of a side street and spotted them.
They opened fire immediately; only luck prevented her from being fatally perforated by the burst of bullets. A random instinct prompted Inno to throw up her shield arm, the shield blocking the bullets in a chorus of ricochets. It occurred to Inno that she had no idea how to use a sword.
Even as the bullets bounced from her shield, Inno watched as an arrow pierced the shoulder of the center soldier. The man screamed in pain and staggered back, blood marring the blue of his uniform. The other two turned their mirrored faceplates toward the archer. It was Gabriel, who had been just behind Inno as the troops had appeared.
“Hey kid! You take off and help your mom, I’ll take care of these guys!” As he spoke he notched another arrow.
Nodding, Inno dashed off down an alley that led between a pair of burning tenements, the heat reddening her arms. Reaching the street, Inno began to sprint the final two blocks to the hotel where her family was lodging. She would save her mother and friend they’d be all right. Mom and Les would be fine…
Inno’s mantra died as she turned the final corner.
Where the scrap-built tenement that the Kinsleys had taken rooms in had once stood, a six block section of Sector 3 had been reduced to burning rubble. Nothing remained no one could have survived. Her family and friend were dead.
Inno felt something inside her break; it might have been her heart. She stood and wept. That is, until someone intruded, a voice exclaiming, “Sedition against Shin-Ra Electric Power Company is punishable by death!”
Startled, Inno whirled, looking for the source of the voice. Gazing about she failed to find it, however, as her eyes fell upon the ashes of the tenement blocks it became apparent. On the far side of the devastation a large squad of Shin-Ra troops bearing flame-throwers were methodically torching a building, the screeches of those trapped inside drowning out most of the noise. They were backed by a trio of sweeper robots, and on one of them was mounted a video display where a feed allowed the head of the Shin-Ra Peace Preservation Division, Heideggar, whom Inno recognized from the news, to survey his soldiers’ handiwork and repeat the condemnation against seditionists (Inno guessed he meant rioters). The whole group seemed to be following the orders of a man in a gray uniform, a SOLDIER, 3rd Class.
Consciously however, Inno did not know this. She only knew that this group was responsible for the death of her family. The heat of the surrounding buildings boiled up around her as if stoked by her rage. Forgetting that she did not know how to use it, Inno drew her sword. She charged the Shin-Ra troops, even as they drew a bead on her. A ruddy haze seemed to cloud her vision…
…The first sweeper fell, swallowed by a black orb…
…Dodged the spray of bullets, slamming her shield into someone’s head…
…A lattice of energy dancing across her skin, flexing crystalline fires, webs of green, blue, yellow, purple, and red…
…”Ice,” the air crystallizing around the soldiers…
…Faced the gray-clad SOLDIER and two mechs, Heideggar’s face no longer showing on the screen, the blade of her sword bloodied…
…She turned, time disjointed, she didn’t have time for these people, the other was in danger. Running, blurring through the slums…

* * *

Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris pounded across the pocked cobblestones of the train yard. They were still a handful of blocks from their target, the Sector 7 support pillar, which rose ahead of them. Shrouded in the luminescent green fog of makou waste, the pillar sparkled with gunfire. A swarm of red insects buzzed around the maintenance tower, which Cloud identified as Shin-Ra soldiers in helicopter hard-suits. They had to get there quickly, if they didn’t Shin-Ra would destroy the pillar and crush Sector 7 beneath the Plate.
As they approached the pillar revolved itself out of the smog. The main structure was a square-bodied stone pillar, rising from the slums to the metal plate of the upper city, Midgar itself. Adjacent to the main pillar a thinner column rose to half the height, flights of open stairs spiraled up to a metal platform that extended around the body of the main pillar. In the center of this platform stood Shin-Ra’s tool; the control system that would blow up the pillar and cause the Sector 7 plate to fall, obliterating the slums below.
The trio dashed the final distance to the junk-ringed courtyard that lead to the pillar. In the courtyard a group of gawkers and rubberneck pushed up against the chain link fence that ringed the pillar. They skidded to a halt at the back of the crowd. A staccato rattle echoed around the courtyard as Tifa elbowed her way forward.
“We made it, the pillar’s still standing!” she exclaimed, causing the crowd to draw back.
For a moment Tifa looked as if she were planning to dash toward the pillar, but Cloud cut her off as her hand came to rest on the gate’s latch, “Wait!”
“Something wrong?”
The pop and rattle of gunfire increased in volume, “The gunfire must mean your friends are trying to hold off the Shin-Ra troops who’ve come to detonate the plate release system.” He paused to regard the tower, eyes widening, “Look!”
Above, a swarm of helitroopers descended on the upper platform. Bursts of machine-gun fire greeted them, followed by a pair of fireballs originating from a figure in yellow and blue. After a moment a third and fourth fireball followed, these closer to the edge of the platform. A split-second later two helitroopers rushed the yellow and blue clad figure, shoving him over the platform’s edge. The figure fell, a full twenty stories, and slammed into the pavement just a few yards to the trio’s right.
It was Wedge, Avalanche’s youngest member.
“Wedge!” Cloud dashed to the fallen boy’s side. Wedge had survived the fall, but just barely, a bright splash of blood stained his yellow shirt, and his limbs bent at angles they never should have. Kneeling, Cloud touched Wedge’s shoulder, “Are you alright?” he asked, knowing even as he spoke how ridiculous the question was.
Wedge shuddered, then managed to respond, “Cloud…” came his words, a horrible gurgling undertone to them. He smiled weakly, then continued, “You remembered…my name. Barret’s up top,” he paused, groaning, “…Help him…” Wedge closed his eyes, falling silent for a long moment. Finally, he answered, “An’ Cloud...sorry I wasn’t any help…” He fell silent again, there was an exhalation of breath, and Wedge was gone.
“I’m going up,” Cloud said as Tifa reached down to close Wedge’s eyes. He stood and drew his buster sword from its harness on his back.
Tifa stood from where she knelt beside Wedge, “Aeris, I need you to do me a favor.” She said, turning to the flower girl, “I have a bar called Seventh Heaven in this neighborhood. There’s a little girl named Marlene there.”
Aeris nodded, “don’t worry, I’ll take her to somewhere safe.”
Tifa smiled gratefully, “Thank you, Aeris.” Turning from her friend Tifa addressed the crowd, which had moved in to gawk at the unfolding melodrama, “It’s dangerous here! Everyone get away from the pillar, quickly! Everyone get out of Sector 7!” The rubbernecking slum residents ignored her warning.
Having done all she could, Tifa and Cloud opened the gate that lead to the pillar. As they began to ascend the stares, Aeris watched them go before she to left, heading into Sector 7 to the Seventh Heaven.

* * *

In a darkened office in an executive wing of Shin-Ra tower a man stared out hit window, looking at the city below. It was beautiful, the Plate, with it’s hundreds of glowing lines and sparks. It should be, City Planning had designed it that way.
Reeve stroked his goatee. He was head of City Planning, but Midgar had been around a lot longer than he had. He was mostly responsible for maintenance these days, even if in the past he had designed some of Midgar’s most famous sites.
These days, however, Shin-Ra didn’t bother with such things. Profit and power mattered, and anything that didn’t further these goals was crushed, like the people of the slums beneath Midgar’s Plate, like the demonstrators in Sector 3, like the people of Sector 7. Crushed by Shin-Ra’s industrial machine.
He hated it, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to change it.
President Shin-Ra had quit listening to him some time ago, favoring the views of Heideggar, Scarlet, and Hojo. The only executive who had less respect than him was Palmer. And Reeve suspected Palmer had difficulty finding his overly generous butt with two hands and a flashlight.
Twice he’d tried to move President Shin-Ra from his course and twice he’d failed miserably. He’d failed the citizens of Midgar, “If I can’t help them from within Shin-Ra then I’ll just have to try from without.” he muttered
“How’s that, Boss?”
Reeve turned to the speaker, a black and white cat that lay curled on his desk. Oddly, not only was the cat speaking, but it was also wearing a cat-sized cape, crown, gloves, and shoes. Nearby, an oversized stuffed moogle stood silently, the cat’s steed. Reeve walked over and scratched at the cat’s ear.
“Shin-Ra’s condemning a full fifth of the slums, thousands will die shortly and I Haven’t got the authority or influence to stop it, Cait.” He paused in his scratching of Cait’s ear and began searching through his desk, “So, desperate times call for desperate measures.” he said, extracting a disk.
Reeve faced Cait, holding out the compact disk. As Cait took it Reeve instructed him, “This disk contains schematics and security protocols for the Science Division. I want you to take this to Avalanche, try to get them to raid the Science Division. Get them to free any of Hojo’s test subjects. Help them out as much as you can, I’ll monitor how things are going and try to join up with you after the raid, all right? I’m counting on you, Cait Sith.”
Cait stood and issued a mock salute, “Aye, aye, Mon Capitan!” He grinned and leapt onto the nearby moogle, poking its head to urge it forward. Cait and the moogle hopped toward the door and out into the hall. As he left, Cait shouted back into the office, “don’t worry, Boss! I won’t let you down!”
With that, Cait Sith left to find Avalanche.

* * *

When she had finally stopped running, Inno had no idea where she was, only that this was not Sector 3. Nearby, a neon sign indicated a bar calling itself the Seventh Heaven. This failed to give Inno any clues as to where she was, she felt so confused. One minute she had seen the Shin-Ra troops who had…had killed mom and Les, and the next minute she had found herself running through the slums, far from Sector 3. First in that church and now this, these blackouts worried Inno, and now she wanted to rest quite badly. She noted also that she had developed a headache.
The bar looked like a passable place to rest for a while. Inno climbed the steps and as she approached the door she heard voices from within, “Aeris, I may have known you for a long time but if you do not do as I say I will be forced to hurt the girl.”
A pause before an answer came, “Alright, Tseng, I’ll go with you. But please, let Marlene go to a safe place.”
Inno nudged the heavy wooden door open a bit, peering through the gap between it and the frame. Near the bar a young woman holding a metal staff stood protectively in front of a little girl. Nearer to the door stood a man with long black hair clad in a dark blue suit, his back to the door. The man, whom Inno hazarded was Tseng, had a gun pointed at the little girl. Inno’s headache throbbed.
StophimthegirlimportanthelphersavethegirlAeris.
Seemingly of it’s own volition, Inno’s arm drew her sword as the other pushed the door open. Before she could think, the point of her sword was against Tseng’s neck. There was a long moment of silence in which no one moved. Finding that her limbs weren’t going to do anything else unexpected, Inno suggested, “Drop the gun.”
Tseng clicked the safety on and let the gun fall to the floor, Inno’s mind raced. Dropping the gun had seemed like a natural course, but what now? She thought for a moment, “Miss?”
Inno’s attention was brought to the woman with the staff, she had picked up the gun and was now holding it loosely in one hand, “I think you can let Tseng go now,” she said. Inno drew back a few steps, removing her sword from its position on the back of Tseng’s neck. Tseng turned to look at her, his eyes cold, “Tseng, I never thought you had really sold yourself so completely to Shin-Ra. But, I can see now that I was wrong. Please, just go away and don’t hurt these people anymore.” Aeris gestured to her door with the staff, “Just go.”
Tseng passed his gaze between Inno and Aeris, “No one stands in the Turks’ way. We’ll come for you again.” Then he turned and left, followed a few seconds later by the whir of helicopter blades.
Inno breathed heavily, turning to face the girl the Turk had called Aeris, “Sorry about that…”
Aeris smiled at her, tucking Tseng’s dropped weapon into her jacket, “No need to apologize. In fact, we should thank you.” She extended a hand, “I’m Aeris Gainsborough, and this is Marlene.” The little girl peered shyly out from behind Aeris, “Hi,” was all she offered.
Inno took Aeris’ hand, Inno Kinsley, good to meet you.”
Aeris’ smile suddenly faded, “I have to go, I need to get Marlene to a safe place.” She and Marlene moved to leave, heading for the street.
WaitShin-Ragroupthepillarfriendstheresafe.
Inno hurried after them, “Wait.” Aeris paused, “What if that Shin-Ra guy follows you, you’ve got friends nearby, right? Wouldn’t it be safe to go to them?” Inno felt herself form the words without knowing exactly why.
Aeris considered for a moment, “Yes, perhaps joining the others would be best. I believe Tseng will have Turks watching both the gates out of here and my house.”
Inno nodded in agreement, “Let’s go then.” She said, although this time there was no compulsion behind the words.

* * *

The three girls left the Seventh Heaven and sprinted the several blocks to the courtyard where the support pillar stood. The crowd of gawkers still stared at the besieging Shin-Ra forces. Nearby, given a wide berth, lay the still form of Wedge. Inno rushed over, her vision blurring…
…She was kneeling, “Life2”…
Wedge sat up.
Even as he did so Marlene latched onto him, “Wedge! We came and you were lying there and you were hurt, weren’t you? But you’re okay now, aren’t you?” she exclaimed.
Kneeling to help him up, Aeris looked curiously at Inno, “How did you do that? You don’t have any materia.”
Inno’s confusion showed clearly on her face, what the hell had just happened? Everything since she had entered that church had taken on a dreamlike tone. So, she answered Aeris as honestly as she could, “I don’t know what I did…”
“Miss?” Wedge was standing now, “Whatever you did, thanks, but we need to go. Barret and the others are up top.” Up above they could still hear the sounds of gunfire, no underscored by the chop of helicopter blades and electrical sizzling. Wedge produced a flare-gun from his belt, “C’mon, let’s go help them.”
The four turned and began to ascend the stairs. The Shin-Ra helitroopers had withdrawn, so the climb was much shorter than it would have been. About five floors up they found something. It was Biggs, and he was dead.
Even as Inno’s eyes fell upon his still form the ethereal voices clamored…
…Like before, saying, “Life2” then turning, her hands a glassy green…
…Flights of stairs, then a girl, breathing shallowly, a pulse so low as to not be there…
…There was crystalline fire in her head, “Cure2” and the bones of the Planet left her…
…Inno slumped next to the stirring girl, exhausted. It was all she could do to stay awake, it was all she could do to keep her eyes…Darkness rose to meet her.

* * *

Inno lurched up out of the darkness as someone shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find a young man in commando gear attempting to wake her, “Hey, you alright?”
Inno clutched her head and tried to stand, meeting relative success, “I think I’m okay, what happened?”
The young man, looking worried at this replied, “It’s not important now, let’s get to the top.” He paused, and then added, “By the way, I’m Biggs, and that’s Jessie.” The last indicated a sandy-haired girl in coveralls, “Now, let’s move!”
As they began to climb the last few flights, Inno did a brief headcount. She spotted Aeris and Wedge, who carried Marlene on his shoulders ahead were Biggs and Jessie. As she finished her tally the group reached the pillar’s uppermost platform.
Bursting onto the platform the group was greeted by the sight of Cloud, Tifa, and Barret fending off a thin man in a rumpled blue suit, which marked him as a Turk. The Turk, who had scars under each eye and messy red hair, was holding out against the Avalanche members, beating them off with an electrified nightstick.
“Barret!” shouted Biggs, drawing a taser. As he did, Wedge and Jessie broke to the sides, looking for an opening. They fired, and a bolt of electricity, burning flare, and crossbow shaft struck the Turk simultaneously. As the blast cleared the Turk was revealed charred and clutching at the shaft, which protruded from his right bicep.
He sneered and waved to the helicopter that circled the platform. Catching the rope that was lowered he shouted, “I’ll get back to you later, if you can escape in time! You’ll hear from Reno of the Turks again!” As if on cue the pillar began to crumble, great chunks of stone broke free to crash to the ground far below. This signaled that less than a minute remained before the pillar’s final explosion.
“Once the pillar detonates and the plate comes down it’ll be too late, we’ve got to escape!” exclaimed Tifa.
Suddenly Barret spoke up, “Yo, we can use these wires to get out, He gestured to a cluster of cables that were hooked onto the platform’s edge, “Everyone grab one and we’ll swing outta here!”
Everyone grabbed a cable, though Marlene clambered onto Barret’s back. As the tempo of the pillar’s convulsions increased, the group swung away from the platform. Midway out into their swing the pillar blossomed into a brilliant fireball.
Like the fall of empires the Sector 7 Plate came crashing down.

* * *

Gabriel ran through the scrap-lined streets of Sector 6, trying to catch Inno’s trail again. He’d lost track of her in Sector 3, only catching a glimpse of her as she dashed away from a half-dead troop of Shin-Ra soldiers. He’d managed to chase her this far but due to her insane speed had lost track of her well over an hour ago. He thought his next step should be to head for Wall Market, perhaps he could find her there, or at least find out some more about the Sector 3 fires. Gabriel’s train of thought was cut off as a solid wall of sound exploded over him, knocking him sprawling to the ground.
Picking himself up, Gabriel looked toward the source of the explosion. Above, through a haze of dust and makou smog, where the Sector 7 Plate should be, he could see stars. The Plate was gone, “Oh s**t.” There wasn’t much else he could say.
Gabriel ran full tilt toward the Sector 7 gate; he had already pieced together what had happened. The explosion, the missing Plate, that could only mean that the Plate had collapsed. That meant that the Sector 7 slums had been crushed and the residents along with it.
Gabriel skidded to a halt as he entered the ruined playground where the gate to Sector 7 stood. Through the crumpled arch of the gate he could see the massive slab of twisted metal that had been the upper-city Plate. The mangled bulk was covered in rubble, and more rubble protruded from beneath the slab. Near the arch a trickle of blood ran from beneath a massive slab of concrete that must have weighed several tons. Only after taking in the devastation did Gabriel notice the people who lay sprawled in the playground.
They were all alive but unconscious, and it was obvious that they had just barely escaped the destruction of Sector 7. Gabriel checked each in turn, seeing if they had injuries that needed attention. The ones nearest to him were a trio of teenagers, two guys and a girl. Their clothes were bloody but they seemed uninjured. The next was a little girl, who couldn’t have been more than five years old. Slumped against a moogle shaped slide lay a good-looking girl in a black mini-skirt, she appeared to have struck her head against the slide but didn’t seem to be in any danger. A few feet away a girl in a pink dress lay in the dirt, save for a few scrapes on her hands and knees she too was fine. Nearer to the gate two men, one with unruly spiky blonde hair and a huge sword, the other a massive black man with a gun in the place of one forearm, lay.
The last person sprawled on the ground was Inno. Like the others she was unconscious, but she was also very pale. Gabriel knelt and checked her pulse, it was weaker than it should be, but it was there and seemed steady enough. She’d be fine in a while, Gabriel guessed.
Seating himself next to her, Gabriel’s mouth quirked in a humorless grin, “Kid, we gotta quit meeting up like this.”

* * *

On the 67th floor of the Shin-Ra tower, imprisoned in a lead-lined vault, the darkness that had come down from the stars dreamed. Broken and mutilated, radiating a sickly green light of tainted makou, the alien entity dreamed. In its dreams it stole trusted faces to betray those around it. In its dreams it spread the plague that withered the Ancients. In its dreams it was a god, and soon in the waking world this would come to pass.
The imprisoned thing called to its favorite son, its emissary in this world. The imprisoned thing called him forth from where he had been cast into the Lifestream, the dream of Death, back to the waking world. It called him to free it from this prison, to restore what had been taken away.
Thus, once more into this world Sephiroth, the divine truth, the One-Winged Angel, was born. The Lifestream tugged the threads of Fate one way, even as Her favored son wove the same threads into Her pattern. Fate was set to free this world from Her touch. Her favored son would change the course of that destiny and the destinies around it, killing this world’s hope of escaping Her. Her fate would rise and all others fall.
Jenova twitched its tentacles and was pleased.