Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 1: Arrival

FORTY-EIGHT

"You've led us on a merry chase, Aerith," he said.

She frowned. "Tseng."

He held up his hand. "Before you say anything, be aware that your options are quite limited. Speak carefully."

"How about... we make a deal?" Aerith asked.

— — — — — — —

"Is that everyone?" I asked.

Wedge nodded. "Just about. Still a few stragglers, but we can move 'em along as we go, Lena."

I looked back through the gate as I stood on the road. It was pretty empty now, just a couple more people coming through. Not nearly the whole population of Sector 7, but it was all we could do. Biggs wasn't in any shape to help with the evacuation, so I had handed him over to our friend Katie to make sure he got out safely.

Katie was about my age, and she kept her brown hair tied up in the back. Biggs and Wedge knew her better than I did since she worked to track how many monsters the watch took out every day, but I'd met her a few times. She was energetic, to say the least.

It hadn't been a hard sell to get Katie to give us a hand, and so she'd gladly helped Biggs limp down the road toward Sector 6. Thanks to the potions and spells that Tifa must've used, his bleeding had stopped, but he was still in rough shape. I had told her to get him to the Leaf House in Sector 5 and that we'd meet them there.

"Guess we oughta get going, then," I said.

He gazed up at the top of the pillar. "You think they'll be okay?"

I looked at it with him. "You bet. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret... they're all strong. And Jessie's up there, too."

"Yeah, you're right," Wedge said. "They—"

"Wedge?" I asked.

His eyes widened. "My babies! I've gotta go back for 'em!"

My jaw dropped. "What!? Are you serious?"

"Just go on, I'll catch up!" Wedge said, running toward town.

I hurried after him. "No way! I'm not leaving you!"

Most people probably would've called us crazy for risking our lives to save his cats, but I knew how much they meant to him. And what he meant to me. Where he went, I would follow. Although we'd only been seeing each other for about six weeks or so, we'd known each other and been friends for a lot longer, even if he had been adorably shy during a lot of that time. And he had the biggest heart.

The heat hit us first as we raced down the street, followed by all the smoke swirling around. I coughed, blinking as it stung my eyes. Debris was everywhere, and a lot of buildings were on fire. I hated seeing this place coming apart. It was like a second home to me, and I knew it had to be worse on Wedge. But we kept going, hurrying as fast as we could until we skidded to a stop outside Seventh Heaven. It was burning, and not all the tears in my eyes came from the smoke.

"No..." Wedge breathed.

I blinked and pointed. "Look!"

Ahead of us in the yard just outside the bar, a guy wearing a purple SOLDIER uniform was fighting half a dozen Shinra soldiers along with a squad of at least that many grunts. Four of those eyeball plant things that Jessie had called monodrives swarmed around him, too. It looked like he'd already taken out a few other soldiers—their bodies were lying sprawled out across the ground—but he was still badly outnumbered. I wasn't sure if even a SOLDIER could hold out against odds like that for long. As I drew my gun, I looked at Wedge.