Final Fantasy Profile

Chapter Four

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Midgar: sector seven: underneath the Seventh Heaven bar: about a month ago at about five in the morning.

After a brief, a very brief and a very sketchy, overview of their plans, and then a very intense haggling session, they had then finally gotten down to the serious business of starting to plan out just how to blow up a Shin-Ra controlled Mako Reactor. It soon came to light that they needed more, hands on info.

Cloud sighed and pushed herself back from the blueprints to Mako Reactor One. "Sigh, I don't even want to know how you got all this information, but, honestly, we need more hands on info if we want to succeed. You guys need to get a plant in the reactor, or at the least get some more info on the security inside the reactor."

Barret ran his left hand through his short crop of hair and sighed heavily. "Arrrgh!!!" He growled. "Ok, ok, you're right!" He growled out. "Ugh. Look, just go home, and I'll contact you when I do have more info and a more solid plan, ok? And here." He said, tossing her a small bag. "That's two hundred and fifty Gil, as a retainer for when we need you. Tifa, take her up." And with that, Barret turned to the third woman of the group and said "Jessie, I need you to do some of your magic for me…" While Tifa took Cloud up the elevator.

After they got upstairs, Tifa asked Cloud, "Cloud, do you think you can come by some times before Barret's ready, just to talk and stuff. It'd be nice to talk to someone from home and stuff." Tifa asked with a shy smile.

Cloud looked at Tifa and then replied with "I guess. It would be nice to know what happened to you, and what you know of what happened that night."

Tifa looked pained and then she said "Yeah, same with you."

And with that, Cloud left into the early morning rush.

Midgar: sector seven: underneath the Seventh Heaven bar: about two weeks ago at about two in the afternoon

Cloud had finally had some free time and she had come to see Tifa as she had promised. After talking about their childhood home and their child hood it's self, they drifted off into what they really wanted to talk about, what really had happened to them on and after that fateful night.

Tifa told Cloud how she had been saved by her mentor Zangan and brought to Midgar as she was very hurt and needed medical care beyond what Zangan could offer her. And then when she finally did get better, she opened this bar and then latter joined AVALANCHE as a way to get back at Shin-Ra.

And then Cloud told her story.

"So you were in a coma for five years, experimented on, and when you finally did wake you, it was to see that Zack guy dying? We're you very close?" Tifa asked after summarizing what she had heard.

"He was my best friend and my mentor. He kept sticking his neck out for me and kept trying to get me into SOLDIER, but obviously that never happened. He was a great guy, and I miss him a lot." Cloud evenly replied.

"Yeah, he seemed like a pretty nice guy when I met him too. Not at all lick I thought a SOLDIER would act." Tifa said, and then looking embarrassed, she told Cloud, "Sorry."

"No need to apologize" Cloud told Tifa "Zack was, very unique. He deserved better then…" Cloud grew silent and then raised her glass "To those we have lost, may they and we find peace with it."

Tifa nodded and raised her own glass in response.

Midgar: sector seven: underneath the Seventh Heaven bar: three days ago

"You sure about this?" Cloud asked of Barret.

"Sure I'm sure!" Barret growled out. "Look, Jessie got herself patched into all da security cams, and every night at seven, a train arrives at da station carrying a new batch of guards. So we hop onto da train's roof, take out the guards as they exit, take out the guards coming off shift, and since it's shift change, well we can just slip in through the lighter security and set the bomb and then blow that peace of garbage straight ta Hell!" Barret ended in a shout.

Cloud was paying some attention to what Barret was saying, but she was more focused on her inner talk with Zack. "So, Zack, what do you think of the plan?"

"Eh, well it COULD work, but only if the Shin-Ra grunts guarding the place are absolute morons, so, yeah, I think it will work." Zack told Cloud. Zack had been most decidedly NOT impressed with most of the Shin-Ra troops that they had come in contact with since returning to Midgar. He had felt that there had been quite the let down in quality since he last was active. And Cloud had fully agreed with him.

"Ok, so when will we do it?"

"In three days." Was Barret's reply.

"Why then?" Was Cloud's off hand question, as she was studding the security videos.

"Because a couple of guards have asked for and gotten some vacation time during that shift, and no one's replacing them." Jessie replied with a smirk.

Cloud just stared and blinked dumbly at Jessie and slowly said, "Wow, that's…"

"Really, really stupid of them? I know. But so very Shin-Ra." Jessie replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, it is. So I guess I'll see you in three days."

"Yeah. We'll meet at the point in three days at five forty five. Be there." Barret growled out.

AN1: Ugh, shortest chapter ever, hardly worth posting as a separate chapter, but, I really want to start the real story in the next chapter, and we finally will get to present day.

AN2: That conversation between Cloud and Tifa has been kicking my ass for months, and I'm still not totally satisfied with it, but this has to be released so I can finally move on to the meat of this story. Sheesh.

AN3: If you want to see how shitty my life is at the moment and why it's taken so long for me to post, read my author's profile page.