Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 1: Arrival

THIRTY-ONE

Sitting on the crisscrossing wooden beams were four barrels, heavy and covered with dust. They'd probably been put up here for storage in the days when this place had still been used. I moved up next to one of them, then when the first soldier got close to Aerith, I pushed it over. It plummeted right onto him, knocking him out cold.

"Nice shot, Cloud!" Aerith smiled.

I hurried to the next one as she started up the stairs, the other two soldiers right behind her. When one of them caught up to her near the top of the first set of steps, I sent the barrel down after him. It smashed into his chest and left him lying in a daze on his back while Aerith ran further up, giggling the whole time.

She winked. "Good job, bodyguard!"

Then she raced onward as I went to a third barrel. When the last of Reno's men closed in on her halfway up the next staircase, I let it loose, sending it flying down onto the stairs. It rolled into him, flattening him before he could manage more than a pained grunt.

"Nighty night!" Aerith teased. Then she looked up at me. "Thanks, Cloud! Be right there!"

I nodded. "On my way."

After I headed back down the ladder, I went back to the gap in the landing to wait for her. And when she got back, she took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and jumped across the hole. She stumbled just a bit as she landed but caught herself before she could fall. Then she gave me a small, shaky grin as we went on.

"Well, that was an adventure, now wasn't it?" she laughed.

"Seems like it," I agreed. Then I motioned to the ladder. "Come on, Aerith. Up here. Might be a way out."

We climbed into the rafters and walked carefully along the wooden beams while Reno fumed below us. I shot him a faint smirk and a little salute while he glared at me and waited for his men to wake up. Aerith noticed and waved cheerfully down at him as we made our way toward the hole in the ceiling where I'd fallen in.

After climbing onto the roof, we sat down to rest for a moment. As we did, Aerith looked down through the hole, an amused smile on her face as she watched Reno and his troops. I didn't think we should stick around too long, but it couldn't hurt to take a quick break. We were out of danger for now, and the soldiers probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon. So I sat down beside her.

Aerith laughed. "Here they go again."

"Again?" I asked. "You mean they've done this before?"

"Yeah," she admitted.

I thought for a moment. "Reno's a Turk. Publicly, their job's to find possible SOLDIER candidates."

"Felt like kidnapping to me," Aerith shivered.

"It was. And they also handle all kinds of other situations as well," I explained. "With extreme prejudice."

The Turks were Shinra's infamous dirty trick squad and their most feared enforcers, extremely dangerous and incredibly lethal when they wanted to be. Utterly ruthless and coldly professional, they held a lot of power and answered only to Shinra's top brass.

She smirked. "Professional bad guys. They've got the look."

"But what do they want you for?" I asked.

"Maybe they think I can make it in SOLDIER," Aerith shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm used to it."

I doubted that was why they were after her, though, and I was sure she knew more than she was letting on. Shinra wanted her for a reason, but why? I remembered Reno had called her an Ancient. What had he meant by that? Who were they? I figured Aerith had the answers, but I wasn't gonna ask her about it. I had enough on my mind already, and if she wanted to tell me, she would.