Categories > Games > Final Fantasy 7 > Calamity
Chapter 2
0 ReviewsCalamity: Chapter 2, Elena goes to the 7th Heaven.
Calamity
Chapter 2
The Seventh Heaven had been invaded by an eerie silence that ended only when Marlene and Denzel came downstairs. Usually they knew right away when Barret had arrived since he called them, but this time he didn't. "Papa!"
"Marlene, it's good to see you again! You too Denzel, have the two of you been good?" Barret pushed the doubts and dilemmas aside for just a moment to spend a little time with the children. It's not like he understood what was going on anyway, then again, no one seemed to understand.
While Barret was with the kids, Cloud, Tifa and Elena resumed their talk about the mysterious situation they were in. "Whatever affected our memories didn't happen all over the world, that much can be concluded from Barret remembering, it was probably limited to Midgar." Tifa thought it was best to start be establishing facts and moving on from there.
"Right, Cloud was affected by it but because of the mako, his memories have not been completely sealed," Elena continued.
"Why was it that you were not affected, Elena? Were you out of Midgar when this started?" Cloud asked.
"I think it started last night with that strange light. I was at the Shinra building. Now that I think about it, it was probably the electricity." It was something that happened by change but it spared Elena's memories.
"Electricity?" Tifa asked.
"Yes, Reno was looking for his electro-rod earlier. I was helping and found it. When I was going to return it, I saw Tseng and called him but he ignored me, so I followed him to the roof of Shinra headquarters. The roof was wet from the rain, I slipped in a puddle and well, water conducts electricity. I was still holding the electro-rod, it activated when I fell and touched the water. Maybe, receiving that electric shock at the same time I saw that light, was what saved my memories of Tseng. That light must have something to do with this." So far they knew why Elena wasn't affected, why Cloud was only partially affected, and when this happened, but they didn't know exactly what happened.
"That light you saw came from the Shinra building?" Tifa suspected that this might be another of Shinra's secrets that Rufus and the Turks didn't know about.
"It looked as if it came from the sky..." After Elena's reply another moment of silence settled in.
Barret joined them and sat down. "The kids are upstairs, I told 'em we had to talk... so what have you figured out?"
"Not much..." Cloud admitted. "Whatever this is, it affected Midgar. Elena wasn't affected because she was electrocuted when it happened, and there was a bright light."
"You're not makin' a lot of sense," Barret didn't like feeling confused, though he often did when something complicated came up. Life just wasn't simple anymore these days.
"Elena, do you know of any possible reason anyone may have to try to get rid of Tseng?" Cloud asked.
"I can't think of anything. If this was because he's a Turk then they would want to get rid of all of us, and why go through the trouble of erasing him from our memories?" Elena felt like she was going in circles.
"If only I could remember, then maybe I could think of something but it's so hard..." Cloud paused, a clue was right in front of him, or rather in him, and he hasn't even noticed it before. "A virus... it feels similar to geostigma but it's not that. I think this is some kind of virus; the electricity must have killed it before it could affect Elena completely. I caught it but I can fight it because of the mako. Barret didn't catch it because he wasn't in Midgar and Tifa has it..."
Finally it felt as if they could start to truly understand things. "If that's the case they we should go to Shinra... No, that would attract too much attention. I'll go by myself and try to talk to Reno and Rude." Elena got up and headed for the door.
"Hold on a minute!" Barret stopped her. "What's this about goin' back to Shnira all of a sudden?"
"We have a machine that can scan the body for viruses. It was made after the geostigma incident and all the Turks were thought how to use it. If this is a virus, I could obtain some clues by using that machine. Maybe it will even find a cure in the databases." Elena explained.
"But you don't have the virus. Do you think Reno and Rude will try this?" Tifa asked.
Elena nodded. "It's just a scan, it only takes a few minutes and there are no side effects. There is no reason why they would refuse." Leaving Cloud, Tifa and Barret at the Seventh Heaven, Elena returned to Shinra.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Reno, Rude!" Elena was surprised to find that Reno and Rude were waiting for her at the entrance to the main Shinra building, but it didn't feel right.
"Running off to join Avalanche, why did you betray Shnira?" Reno asked, "Why did you betray the Turks?"
"I didn't! There's something strange going on, I was just trying to find out what it was. There is a Tseng, you just don't remember him. Let's go to the medical area, the virus scan might give us more information about this." Could it be that they were so affected by this, that they thought Elena was a traitor?
"Enough, we'll have to take you prisoner, you are a traitor..." Rude spoke coldly and Reno's voice was full of venom.
"Why... Why can't you see the truth? Don't let this control you!" It was no use, they didn't believe Elena. She tried to retreat but the building was surrounded. Normal Shinra cadets were no problem, but she couldn't and didn't want to fight against Reno and Rude.
"Elena!" She turned towards the source of the voice. Cloud was opening a path among the Shinra cadets, Tifa and Barret were also there.
"We have to retreat!" Elena called out.
"If Shnira's up to no good I'm not retreatin'!" Barret shot several more cadets that kept pouring into the main entrance.
"You can't deny you betrayed us now! It's time!" Reno was now on the attack, his electro-rod colliding with Cloud's sword.
A blast of ice flew between Cloud and Reno, part of the ice freezing the end of Cloud's sword. "We're retreating, now! If you're fighting the Turks then I'm your enemy too!"
Cloud seemed to catch what Elena meant to say. "Tifa! Barret! Let's get out of here!" Cloud called out.
Tifa returned quickly after knocking out some more cadets, but it took a moment to get Barret away from his battle with Rude. "Are you out of your mind?! We can't just retreat now!"
"We're leaving!" Cloud's final decision was followed, even if Barret didn't agree, he retreated with the group.
Opening a path for themselves between the cadets, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Elena escaped. Reno and Rude didn't follow them once they were away from the Shinra building.
xoxox xox xoxox
Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Elena returned to the Seventh Heaven. "Somethin' bothers me, why didn't they follow us? And why did we retreat in the first place?" Barret asked.
Cloud looked towards Elena, as if waiting for her t answer. "I don't know why they didn't follow us and we retreated because I don't want to fight them..."
"I think I understand..." Tifa voiced, "think about it, if your friends were brainwashed and controlled by an unknown enemy, would you fight them without a second thought?"
"You're puttin' me in tough situation Tifa, I guess I can understand but we can't let Shnira get away with, whatever they're trying to do!" In that sense, there was a good reason for the retreat, but Barret feared it would bring about a greater risk.
"This isn't Shinra's doing. Someone is controlling them. It could be an enemy of Shinra for all we know, an enemy of all Midgar!" Elena argued.
"Those aren't the same thing but I'll follow on this," Barret decided not to push the matter further.
"It wouldn't be the first time Shinra works with people who used to be in Avalanche's side. Yuffie and Vincent have been working for Reeve and Rufus called me during the geostigma incident. Why would coming here automatically make you a traitor?" Cloud didn't understand that, and many other details that didn't fit.
"Rufus! I haven't seen him since yesterday morning," Elena remembered. Could it be that Rufus' lack of presence was somehow connected to all of this, or was he taken prisoner too? But she still remembered him, and no one appeared to be confused by the name, so they remembered him too."
"There is something else," Tifa spoke, "When we were at the Shinra building I felt like fighting you, Elena. But I realized I was being controlled and didn't act on it."
"That's probably the same thing that is happening with Reno and Rude, except they don't know they're being controlled," Elena concluded.
"It makes sense," Cloud agreed. "Anything can be your truth if you're convinced of it. Even if their memories are messed up, if they at least know they're being controlled, maybe they can fight it."
"Then mako isn't needed to fight against this virus, if it is a virus. Mako helps the true memories resurface but the control can be broken by will. How could I make Reno and Rude believe they're being controlled so they can try to break that control?" Elena paused and noticed a detail in what Tifa said before. "Tifa, do you feel like fighting me now?"
"No, only when we were at Shinra," the realization sunk in for Tifa and the others. "It has to be something in the building. Even if Shinra isn't behind this, their headquarters is being used."
"Right, that's why Reno and Rude didn't follow us; or rather they were made not to follow us. If we can get them out of there, they'll be able to break free of this control even if they don't regain their memories right away. Then we can investigate the virus more and find out if it really is a virus and find a cure," Elena knew it would be easier said than done, and the fact still remained that they didn't know who was behind this.
"It will be harder to get in there now; they'll be expectin' us," Barret raised a valid point.
"We don't have a lot of time. Whatever caused this before, the light, whatever it was, could happen again. It could be something that requires time to recharge, that would explain why they haven't used it again just in case, but we don't know how long we have," Cloud thought about the situation, if only there was a way to block the effects of the brainwashing virus, assuming it was a virus judging by how it felt; but they didn't even know exactly what it was, that made things significantly harder.
"Then let's assume twenty-four hours or less. Practically every cell phone in Midgar uses Shnira's system to communicate now, and if this unknown enemy has Shinra, we can't use this kind of communication," Elena tried to formulate a plan, something that could be done right away but she couldn't come out up anything that wasn't too direct.
"Stupid Shinra takin' over the communication network too. They say they're restoring the planet but they ain't lettin' go of their power!" Barret was clearly upset, even if this wasn't Shnira's doing, Shinra's resources were being used.
"I told you it's not Shinra's doing! Would it kill you to be a little grateful that Shnira is actually trying to help instead of walking away from the mess and leaving Midgar to deal with it?" Elena yelled.
"Leavin' it to Midgar?! It's your responsibility to clean it up!" Barret yelled back.
"Enough!" Tifa slammed her fist on the counter hard, leaving a circular indentation on the impacted area. "Regardless of what happened in the past, we need to work together this time, or we'll all be in big trouble. They targeted Midgar this time, but who's to say other cities haven't been already affected? This can happen again and before we know it the entire world will be against us, if we don't get brainwashed first."
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own Final Fantasy VII. There's not only an unknown enemy to deal with, but also the problems inside our current team of heroes.
Chapter 2
The Seventh Heaven had been invaded by an eerie silence that ended only when Marlene and Denzel came downstairs. Usually they knew right away when Barret had arrived since he called them, but this time he didn't. "Papa!"
"Marlene, it's good to see you again! You too Denzel, have the two of you been good?" Barret pushed the doubts and dilemmas aside for just a moment to spend a little time with the children. It's not like he understood what was going on anyway, then again, no one seemed to understand.
While Barret was with the kids, Cloud, Tifa and Elena resumed their talk about the mysterious situation they were in. "Whatever affected our memories didn't happen all over the world, that much can be concluded from Barret remembering, it was probably limited to Midgar." Tifa thought it was best to start be establishing facts and moving on from there.
"Right, Cloud was affected by it but because of the mako, his memories have not been completely sealed," Elena continued.
"Why was it that you were not affected, Elena? Were you out of Midgar when this started?" Cloud asked.
"I think it started last night with that strange light. I was at the Shinra building. Now that I think about it, it was probably the electricity." It was something that happened by change but it spared Elena's memories.
"Electricity?" Tifa asked.
"Yes, Reno was looking for his electro-rod earlier. I was helping and found it. When I was going to return it, I saw Tseng and called him but he ignored me, so I followed him to the roof of Shinra headquarters. The roof was wet from the rain, I slipped in a puddle and well, water conducts electricity. I was still holding the electro-rod, it activated when I fell and touched the water. Maybe, receiving that electric shock at the same time I saw that light, was what saved my memories of Tseng. That light must have something to do with this." So far they knew why Elena wasn't affected, why Cloud was only partially affected, and when this happened, but they didn't know exactly what happened.
"That light you saw came from the Shinra building?" Tifa suspected that this might be another of Shinra's secrets that Rufus and the Turks didn't know about.
"It looked as if it came from the sky..." After Elena's reply another moment of silence settled in.
Barret joined them and sat down. "The kids are upstairs, I told 'em we had to talk... so what have you figured out?"
"Not much..." Cloud admitted. "Whatever this is, it affected Midgar. Elena wasn't affected because she was electrocuted when it happened, and there was a bright light."
"You're not makin' a lot of sense," Barret didn't like feeling confused, though he often did when something complicated came up. Life just wasn't simple anymore these days.
"Elena, do you know of any possible reason anyone may have to try to get rid of Tseng?" Cloud asked.
"I can't think of anything. If this was because he's a Turk then they would want to get rid of all of us, and why go through the trouble of erasing him from our memories?" Elena felt like she was going in circles.
"If only I could remember, then maybe I could think of something but it's so hard..." Cloud paused, a clue was right in front of him, or rather in him, and he hasn't even noticed it before. "A virus... it feels similar to geostigma but it's not that. I think this is some kind of virus; the electricity must have killed it before it could affect Elena completely. I caught it but I can fight it because of the mako. Barret didn't catch it because he wasn't in Midgar and Tifa has it..."
Finally it felt as if they could start to truly understand things. "If that's the case they we should go to Shinra... No, that would attract too much attention. I'll go by myself and try to talk to Reno and Rude." Elena got up and headed for the door.
"Hold on a minute!" Barret stopped her. "What's this about goin' back to Shnira all of a sudden?"
"We have a machine that can scan the body for viruses. It was made after the geostigma incident and all the Turks were thought how to use it. If this is a virus, I could obtain some clues by using that machine. Maybe it will even find a cure in the databases." Elena explained.
"But you don't have the virus. Do you think Reno and Rude will try this?" Tifa asked.
Elena nodded. "It's just a scan, it only takes a few minutes and there are no side effects. There is no reason why they would refuse." Leaving Cloud, Tifa and Barret at the Seventh Heaven, Elena returned to Shinra.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Reno, Rude!" Elena was surprised to find that Reno and Rude were waiting for her at the entrance to the main Shinra building, but it didn't feel right.
"Running off to join Avalanche, why did you betray Shnira?" Reno asked, "Why did you betray the Turks?"
"I didn't! There's something strange going on, I was just trying to find out what it was. There is a Tseng, you just don't remember him. Let's go to the medical area, the virus scan might give us more information about this." Could it be that they were so affected by this, that they thought Elena was a traitor?
"Enough, we'll have to take you prisoner, you are a traitor..." Rude spoke coldly and Reno's voice was full of venom.
"Why... Why can't you see the truth? Don't let this control you!" It was no use, they didn't believe Elena. She tried to retreat but the building was surrounded. Normal Shinra cadets were no problem, but she couldn't and didn't want to fight against Reno and Rude.
"Elena!" She turned towards the source of the voice. Cloud was opening a path among the Shinra cadets, Tifa and Barret were also there.
"We have to retreat!" Elena called out.
"If Shnira's up to no good I'm not retreatin'!" Barret shot several more cadets that kept pouring into the main entrance.
"You can't deny you betrayed us now! It's time!" Reno was now on the attack, his electro-rod colliding with Cloud's sword.
A blast of ice flew between Cloud and Reno, part of the ice freezing the end of Cloud's sword. "We're retreating, now! If you're fighting the Turks then I'm your enemy too!"
Cloud seemed to catch what Elena meant to say. "Tifa! Barret! Let's get out of here!" Cloud called out.
Tifa returned quickly after knocking out some more cadets, but it took a moment to get Barret away from his battle with Rude. "Are you out of your mind?! We can't just retreat now!"
"We're leaving!" Cloud's final decision was followed, even if Barret didn't agree, he retreated with the group.
Opening a path for themselves between the cadets, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Elena escaped. Reno and Rude didn't follow them once they were away from the Shinra building.
xoxox xox xoxox
Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Elena returned to the Seventh Heaven. "Somethin' bothers me, why didn't they follow us? And why did we retreat in the first place?" Barret asked.
Cloud looked towards Elena, as if waiting for her t answer. "I don't know why they didn't follow us and we retreated because I don't want to fight them..."
"I think I understand..." Tifa voiced, "think about it, if your friends were brainwashed and controlled by an unknown enemy, would you fight them without a second thought?"
"You're puttin' me in tough situation Tifa, I guess I can understand but we can't let Shnira get away with, whatever they're trying to do!" In that sense, there was a good reason for the retreat, but Barret feared it would bring about a greater risk.
"This isn't Shinra's doing. Someone is controlling them. It could be an enemy of Shinra for all we know, an enemy of all Midgar!" Elena argued.
"Those aren't the same thing but I'll follow on this," Barret decided not to push the matter further.
"It wouldn't be the first time Shinra works with people who used to be in Avalanche's side. Yuffie and Vincent have been working for Reeve and Rufus called me during the geostigma incident. Why would coming here automatically make you a traitor?" Cloud didn't understand that, and many other details that didn't fit.
"Rufus! I haven't seen him since yesterday morning," Elena remembered. Could it be that Rufus' lack of presence was somehow connected to all of this, or was he taken prisoner too? But she still remembered him, and no one appeared to be confused by the name, so they remembered him too."
"There is something else," Tifa spoke, "When we were at the Shinra building I felt like fighting you, Elena. But I realized I was being controlled and didn't act on it."
"That's probably the same thing that is happening with Reno and Rude, except they don't know they're being controlled," Elena concluded.
"It makes sense," Cloud agreed. "Anything can be your truth if you're convinced of it. Even if their memories are messed up, if they at least know they're being controlled, maybe they can fight it."
"Then mako isn't needed to fight against this virus, if it is a virus. Mako helps the true memories resurface but the control can be broken by will. How could I make Reno and Rude believe they're being controlled so they can try to break that control?" Elena paused and noticed a detail in what Tifa said before. "Tifa, do you feel like fighting me now?"
"No, only when we were at Shinra," the realization sunk in for Tifa and the others. "It has to be something in the building. Even if Shinra isn't behind this, their headquarters is being used."
"Right, that's why Reno and Rude didn't follow us; or rather they were made not to follow us. If we can get them out of there, they'll be able to break free of this control even if they don't regain their memories right away. Then we can investigate the virus more and find out if it really is a virus and find a cure," Elena knew it would be easier said than done, and the fact still remained that they didn't know who was behind this.
"It will be harder to get in there now; they'll be expectin' us," Barret raised a valid point.
"We don't have a lot of time. Whatever caused this before, the light, whatever it was, could happen again. It could be something that requires time to recharge, that would explain why they haven't used it again just in case, but we don't know how long we have," Cloud thought about the situation, if only there was a way to block the effects of the brainwashing virus, assuming it was a virus judging by how it felt; but they didn't even know exactly what it was, that made things significantly harder.
"Then let's assume twenty-four hours or less. Practically every cell phone in Midgar uses Shnira's system to communicate now, and if this unknown enemy has Shinra, we can't use this kind of communication," Elena tried to formulate a plan, something that could be done right away but she couldn't come out up anything that wasn't too direct.
"Stupid Shinra takin' over the communication network too. They say they're restoring the planet but they ain't lettin' go of their power!" Barret was clearly upset, even if this wasn't Shnira's doing, Shinra's resources were being used.
"I told you it's not Shinra's doing! Would it kill you to be a little grateful that Shnira is actually trying to help instead of walking away from the mess and leaving Midgar to deal with it?" Elena yelled.
"Leavin' it to Midgar?! It's your responsibility to clean it up!" Barret yelled back.
"Enough!" Tifa slammed her fist on the counter hard, leaving a circular indentation on the impacted area. "Regardless of what happened in the past, we need to work together this time, or we'll all be in big trouble. They targeted Midgar this time, but who's to say other cities haven't been already affected? This can happen again and before we know it the entire world will be against us, if we don't get brainwashed first."
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own Final Fantasy VII. There's not only an unknown enemy to deal with, but also the problems inside our current team of heroes.
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