I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 01: Chapter 12: Corel Prison Blues

I came to lying atop a dingy couch in a one-room shack that seemed to barely be managing to stay standing. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened, and asked "Where are we anyway?"

"Corel Prison laddie." Replied a voice I couldn't place at first. Sitting up, I needed perhaps half a minute to focus my eyes, at which point I saw Cait Sith, who I recognized as the voice which had spoken, Aerith, and Yuffie.

"Are you okay?" Aerith asked, sitting down by my side. "Those security guards really knocked your head good."

"I'll be fine, I guess. What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Nobody hit me, they just slapped cuffs on me and threw me down that chute with everyone else."

"Speaking of that, where is everyone else?" Before Aerith could answer, the door slammed open and Barrett entered, cursing, followed by Cloud, Tifa, and Red.

"It's none of y'all's business!" Barrett shouted. "Hell, I tol ya not to follow me!"

"We've been thrown in jail over it Barrett." Tifa said calmly. "That makes it our business."

"Understand that I truly believe this to not be the kind of thing you would be capable of..." Red said. "Nevertheless, under the circumstances, someone needs to ask, so I will: Did you kill those people?"

"No..." Barrett replied. "No, it wasn't me..."

Yuffie said "But the people in the park said it was a man with a gun on his arm..."

Everyone stared, and when it seemed that Yuffie wasn't going to get an answer Aerith said softly "Barrett...?"

Barrett sighed deeply. "There's... There's another man with a gun-arm... Though, his is the left arm instead of the right... I didn't tell you everything about what happened in Corel the day it was burned..."

When Barrett fell silent again, Tifa put a hand on his shoulder and said "Take your time."

A moment later, Barrett continued his story. "Remember I told you about how I talked the men who were going to turn themselves in out of doing so? Well, I was so sure Shinra was bluffing that later that day I went on an overnight trip to see a new reactor being built. I took one of those men with me, man name of Dyne. He was my best friend, back then. He's... He's Marlene's real father... Anyway, we were coming home the next day when we got word of what was happening in Corel. We started running back towards town, and then..." Barrett stopped, unable to go on.

A few minutes later, he recovered enough to keep telling the story. "We never made it all the way back to Corel. As we were approaching a bridge, soldiers showed up and shot the old man who bought us the news. Dyne and I tried to run, but he slipped and almost fell over the edge of a cliff. I caught him, his left hand in my right, and then they started shooting at us again. I was hit, just above the right wrist. I couldn't hold on, and Dyne fell. That was the last I saw of him. I found Marlene, barely more than a newborn, in her dead mother's arms and bought her with me to Midgar. At first, I replaced the arm with a prosthetic hand, then I got this gun when Avalanche started up..."

"But what about Dyne?" Cloud asked. "You think he's alive? Why?"

"When I got the gun, the doctor told me about another man who also got one, for his left hand. Between the timing, and the description the doctor gave me, and the fact that it was the left hand, I knew it had to be Dyne. But I've not actually seen or heard anything from him..."

"Why would he attack and kill all those innocent people?" Aerith wondered.

"Good question." I said. "Barrett, I know this is a friend of yours... And I know you're probably hoping he'll join up with us... But I'd be careful if I were you."