Unsynced, Chapter 16
Nov. 11th, 2018 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinnatiousSummary: FF7. Someone in ShinRa HR mixed up assignments, and Kunsel gets sent to Nibelheim instead of Zack.
Author’s Note: I only have one more chapter up my sleeve for this, although a good deal more is plotted out. But I'm also (very badly) attempting to NanoWriMo some original fiction for a change which is chewing my usual fanfic time. :') I'm going to do my best to stick it out until the end of the year but expect another upcoming hiatus! (Hopefully not like, four years this time. Life is a bit more stable these days.)
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
__________
Chapter 16
__________
Kunsel dropped down into AVALANCHE’s basement with a thud and declared, “We’re getting out, now.”
Cloud scrambled to his feet – he’d been sitting on the floor, helping Tifa and Jessie strip down and pack up all of the equipment and tech for AVALANCHE’s inevitable move. “You’re back fast.” He’d left less than two hours ago, to gather supplies and scout a safe path out of Midgar.
“Something wrong?” Tifa asked.
“Turns out someone took advantage of the chaos we made last night to kill the President of ShinRa.” Kunsel explained grimly. Jessie gasped. “And guess what? They’re blaming it on us.”
“Crap.” Tifa leapt to her feet, running upstairs. “Barret!” she called.
Kunsel was already in their corner, tossing things haphazardly into his rucksack. Cloud followed suite, gathering up the usual on-the-road supplies.
“Is it such a bad thing?” Red asked, getting up from his corner and padding over to them. “As I understand it, ShinRa as a whole was already out for your blood. Why the new urgency?”
“Because if the President is dead, that means Rufus ShinRa is the President now.” Kunsel closed his rucksack decisively, tightening the straps and hauling it onto his back. Barret thundered down the ladder, Biggs and Wedge close on his heels. “And as much as I hated the old President, Rufus is going to be even worse. He was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, and all he’s ever wanted is power. I’ve heard plenty of rumours that paints him as even nastier than his old man. Do you really want to stick around Midgar to find out what methods he might use?”
“Bring it on, I say!” Barret thundered, slamming his fist against his gun arm for emphasis. “I don’t like this running away business!”
“We’ve done a lot already, boss,” Biggs said. “Ain’t no shame in ducking our heads for a bit until the heat wears off and we get the lay of the land.”
“We don’t want to blow it now,” Wedge agreed. “Me ‘n Biggs got a cover in Kalm, we did some talkin’ and figured we could keep an eye on what’s going on in Midgar without being in the middle of the fire while you lot head to the West Continent. Jess is talking about holing up in Junon with some contacts she has there too. Probably no sense in risking the whole group stayin’ together, either.”
“Smart,” Kunsel agreed with a nod. “First step is getting outside the wall, though. Let’s just focus on that.” He hustled them up the ladder. “Everyone got everything? Because we’re not coming back.”
All credit to AVALANCHE – they packed up and moved out with military swiftness that even Kunsel couldn’t complain about. It took less than fifteen minutes for everyone to move outside, ready to go, carrying a travel bag each with a tightly wound bedroll on top, except Barret who carried two along with Marlene.
“You even know where we goin’?” Barret barked at Kunsel. “Thought you said it was gonna take longer.”
“I was going to get us a vehicle and find a roadblock we could bribe our way through,” Kunsel retorted, leading the way from Seventh Heaven, the bedraggled group falling into step behind him. “But there’s no time for that, so we’re going to have to go on foot.”
“How are we going to get past the checkpoints then?” Jessie asked. “All the gates are being monitored! They have been since even before we blew up the Reactor.”
“We’re not going through the gates. Don’t you guys operate out of the slums? I figured you’d know this already,” Kunsel said, turning off the side street and leading them down a narrow alley of backdoors and boilers and garbage piles. What dim light illuminated the main streets was swiftly left behind for silhouettes of grey, their way lit only by the flame of Red XIII’s tail and the slivers of brightness peeking under doorways and between barred windows. “There’s always unofficial exits in the slum walls. Points where there’s been weather damage, or wildlife got to it, or locals carved out their own exit only to abandon it later. They usually become a pathway for monsters and scavengers. Deenglows, rabid hounds, whole eaters – all the stuff you find skulking around the unmanned warehouses or train graveyard. When I was a Third Class I used to get sent on a bunch of missions to clean up those infestations and find and report the source.”
“If ShinRa knows about them, though-” Tifa said.
“I reported plenty, but less than half ever got fixed,” Kunsel explained. “I remember there being close to a dozen breaches in just this Sector. They might not be big, but they ought to be enough for us to get out undetected.” They reached an intersection in the alley. He glanced around for a moment before taking them left onto another empty side street. This part of the slums was all but deserted, and the occasional group of people they did see were equally interested in minding their own business.
They wove through the maze of streets and back alleys, always heading vaguely towards the wall. It loomed large over their heads, when suddenly a ruckus nearby caught their attention.
“Hey, stop!” A voice bounced down the alley. Ahead of them. AVALANCHE came alert as one.
“Were we spotted?” Tifa whispered.
“No chance!” Barret grumbled, dropping Marlene from his shoulder and backing her against the wall. “Gotta be local trouble.”
“We’ve gone unnoticed this far. We don’t want to get involved in any fights,” Biggs warned. “It’ll bring the patrols down on our heads.”
The patter of running feet echoed towards them. Then crossing the alley in front of them ran a brown-haired girl in a pink and red dress.
Kunsel swore.
“You ain’t getting away Princess!” Hot on her heels came a pair of suits. Turks? She spun out of their grasp, jabbing the red-haired one in the foot with what looked like a random bit of discarded lumber, before running down the alley towards them. He hopped and cursed, lurching after her.
Kunsel was stepping forward even before she reached them, tossing the wrapping from his rapier.
The Turks skidded to a stop. “Aw, shit,” the red-haired one said. “This really ain’t my fucking day.”
“Fancy meeting you here,” Kunsel said. “Though I have to wonder, with everything going on right now, what two Turks are doing chasing Zack Fair’s girlfriend through the slums?”
“Orders are orders, yo,” the Turk retorted, hands held up in surrender. “We’re just here to escort the little lady to Headquarters for protection.”
“Seems to me like the lady wants to be left alone,” Barret rumbled, spinning the barrel on his gun arm into place.
“Okay look, we don’t want to get into a fight with AVALANCHE right now, do we Rude?” The bald Turk with him adjusted his sunglasses in silent agreement.
“I should think not,” Kunsel said, then followed up with, “Sleep.”
The two Turks crumpled to the ground in a heap. Kunsel crouched down, rifling through their pockets, confiscating their phones. “Sloppy,” he muttered with a shake of his head, and turned to look at the girl. “Mind explaining why you were running from these guys, Aerith?”
“You know this girl?” Barret demanded.
“He said she was Zack Fair’s girlfriend…” Jessie piped up in a small voice.
Aerith dusted off the hem of her skirt. “I don’t care what their excuse was – I wasn’t going to go with them. I’m not going to be used as yet another tool to manipulate Zack,” she said firmly, then gave Kunsel a warm smile. “I’m glad you’re back, Kunsel. I just knew you weren’t dead. Have you spoken to Zack yet?”
Kunsel flinched. “Ah- briefly. We didn’t really get to… talk. Properly. You know. Escaping from ShinRa and all that.”
Aerith turned sombre, nodding. “I see.” Then suddenly she was in front of Cloud, grasping his hands and staring intently into his eyes. “And you must be Cloud,” she beamed. “You’re a cute one!”
Cloud felt the heat rush to his face, and could only hope it wasn’t as red as it felt. “Um, nice to meet you?”
“Like Jessie said, Zack’s girlfriend,” Kunsel explained.
Right, Cloud supposed Zack would have talked about him at some point.
“I guess this is Rufus’s first move, then. Get their General’s girlfriend in a handy lockbox to make sure he doesn’t argue with any of the new President’s less palatable orders, right?” Kunsel mused.
“It was going to happen eventually,” Aerith admitted. “My mother always warned me… but I didn’t listen. I liked Zack. I didn’t want to give him up, even as ShinRa did their best to chip him away.”
“A little convenient running into us here, though, isn’t it?” Kunsel remarked.
“You think she’s a ShinRa plant?” Barret rumbled, eyeing her with doubt.
“I’m not!”
“It does seem a bit too lucky…” Tifa commented dubiously.
Aerith fidgeted. “It’s… you wouldn’t believe me, even if I told you.”
“Try us,” Barret said, “An’ make it quick, why don’t ya?”
Aerith set her jaw, staring them all in the eye. “For as long as I can remember, I could hear voices no one else could hear. I could find materia from blocks away, and sometimes people too. And I just know things. I knew when my mother’s husband died in Wutai, long before we received official word. I knew when Cissnei died, and Zack’s mentor. And I knew that you and Cloud didn’t.”
“You’re saying you have powers?” Jessie asked, audibly sceptical. “Couldn’t you also just be crazy?”
“No,” Kunsel said, looking thoughtful. “It explains a lot. Like the flowers.”
Aerith nodded. “The flowers, too. It wasn’t until I was older that I realised I could… I guess you could say, talk to the Planet. I spent a lot of energy pretending I was normal.”
“The Planet?” Red XIII perked up, pattering forward. “Could it be… are you an Ancient?”
Aerith put a hand over her mouth. “Oh! You’re an odd one, aren’t you?”
“You’re an odd one yourself,” he replied. “I didn’t think there were any Ancients left.”
“There aren’t, I don’t think.” Her smile looked sad. “Only me.”
They all looked uncomfortable at that. Kunsel was first to recover. “So, what now then? You know you can’t hide from the Turks, right? As it is, these guys aren’t going to stay napping forever. What are you going to do? Going to tell Zack?”
Her lips turned in a pout. “I couldn’t get a hold of him. And even then,” she shrugged. “I don’t know how long it would take him to notice if I didn’t.”
Tifa and Jessie winced. Cloud felt a bit like wincing too.
Aerith, for her part, didn’t miss a beat. She turned to them with a big grin. “But then when I was escaping and realised you were nearby I thought, you’re on the run from ShinRa too, right? So why don’t I just go with you?”
The SOLDIER helmet hid his eyes, but Kunsel’s impression of a startled needlebird was still remarkable. “You can’t-”
“I know how to fight, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said, cheerfully cutting off his protest before it could form. “Not as well as a SOLDIER, of course, but I know how to use materia, too.” She held up a glowing bauble as proof.
“Is that a mastered Restore – wait, that’s beside the point,” Kunsel said. “The point is Zack will kill us.”
“Oh psh,” Aerith dismissed. “He can be an idiot, but he’s your still your friend, right?”
“We can’t just leave her to the Turks,” Tifa pointed out. “She’s in the same boat as us, right?”
“If she truly is the last of the Ancients, grandfather would be very interested in meeting with her,” Red added.
Kunsel glanced to Cloud for help, who shrugged. “What’s one more, at this point?” They’d only just met, but he liked her. The connection with Zack complicated things, but ultimately she needed the help and it wasn’t like they could get into any deeper trouble with ShinRa than they already were.
Kunsel’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. We can’t waste time here arguing anyway. Let’s get some distance on the Turks before they wake up.” He stalked away, shoulders tense and gait stiff.
“Don’t worry,” Cloud hurried to reassure Aerith. “He’s just stressed out at the moment. He won’t let anyone get caught by ShinRa. And neither will I.”
“I’m not worried,” Aerith promised. “I wouldn’t have to come to you if I had any doubt.”
“You guys were friends before?” Tifa asked.
“No, we only met once.” Aerith hummed to herself. “Just a little while before you left. He was doing a mission nearby in the slums, and came to the Church after to see the flowers and introduce himself. Said he was curious about who had started monopolising all of Zack’s time.” She smiled fondly at the memory. “He was just snooping but I always thought it was a good sign that Zack had friends that cared enough to.”
“Sounds like Kunsel,” Cloud admitted, then blinked. Flashes of memory, of Nibelheim, and Kunsel goading him into talking to Tifa and his mother while he hid under his helmet. Another detail he’d forgotten. Its return was both disquieting and comforting.
“Cloud.” Tifa tugged on his arm impatiently. “Are you paying attention? We’re here.”
Cloud refocused. ‘Here’ turned out to be a child-sized hole in Midgar’s wall, hidden with a small stack of half-rotten lumber. Jessie passed through first, shoving her pack through then crouching down to follow after it. Most of them would have to crawl. Cloud eyed Barret thoughtfully. Some of them might have to do so sideways.
“This is it, I guess,” Aerith said, clasping her hands and watching as Red left, followed by Marlene who easily shuffled through.
“Nervous?” Cloud asked.
“A little,” Aerith admitted. “You know, this is the first time I’ve left Midgar.”
“I’m surprised Zack never took you anywhere,” Kunsel remarked as tossed his pack through to Biggs and Wedge on the other side. “Costa Del Sol or the Gold Saucer or Gongaga… in four years? Never once?”
“He took me above Plate a couple of times!” Aerith said brightly. “So I’ve seen the sky!”
She’d been so confident when she invited herself on their escape from ShinRa Cloud hadn’t questioned it. He started to question it now.
Still, she was Zack’s girlfriend, and her heart was unquestionably in the right place. So Cloud awkwardly gestured for her to go first.
Next chapter
no subject
Date: 2018-11-11 11:42 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to seeing how being on the run with Marlene in tow is going to change things.
So what happens now, Sinnatious-wise? Will you post as you finish chapters? Or do we have to wait until you have a few under your belt?
(I also am wondering if you're still cosplaying. Your costumes were amazing.)
no subject
Date: 2018-11-14 02:06 pm (UTC)Ah! I haven't cosplayed for a while, I think that era has passed. I did a FF14 goldsmith at PAX two years ago and Undyne from Undertale at Supanova last year but I haven't really had the urge to make a costume for a long while. :') I miss it a bit but I've been a lot more focused on my career and gosh it's a time and money sink!
no subject
Date: 2018-11-13 01:56 pm (UTC)Kunsel and Aerith's first meeting made me laugh, of COURSE that's how it went down X)
~ Alyss Penedo