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Description
The Phoenix Eye
Chapter 10
The New Goddess

-- Midgar, Outside Reactor No. 3, Moments Later:

The soldiers of the WRO poured from the entrance to the number three reactor as black smoke billowed from every opening in the structure.  Following close behind were Cloud and his friends, as well as the Turks, dragging along a coughing and sputtering remnant.  Multiple explosions tore through the night air, knocking many of the soldiers of off their feet and foreshadowing the imminent destruction of the reactor.  WRO helicopters descended into the streets of Midgar at a safe distance around the reactor forming a loose semi-circle towards which the WRO troops re-grouped.  While the soldiers formed ranks around the descending helicopters waiting for the order to evacuate, one man descended from his helicopter on a cable, not wanting to wait for his ride to touch ground.  As Reeve landed on the rain-soaked asphalt and quickly removed his rappelling harness, he glanced around quickly for the person he needed to talk with.  Finding his mark, Reeve moved forward to meet him.

“Cloud, is everybody out?” Reeve asked his friend urgently.

Cloud glanced around him, taking a quick head count of his party.  “We’re all here, and I didn’t see any WRO being left behind.”

“Ok good!  So how do we kill this thing?” Reeve Demanded.  “Would it help to call in the artillery?”

Cloud lowered his brow in puzzlement, the question of how to kill Jenova not having previously entered his mind.  “Um, I don’t know…” he responded scratching his head.  “I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

Reeve nodded at Cloud.  He then took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and stay in control of the situation, before picking up his radio and depressing the transmitter.  “Ok, I want all available firepower on the number three reactor and I want it there five seconds ago!”

In an instant the WRO troops changed from an attitude or retreat to that of an entrenched offensive.  The thundering boom of distant artillery echoed across the scene of soldiers assembling grenade launchers, rocket emplacements, and mortar teams.  While those who had no such heavy weapons began piling up rubble to form light cover and defensive positions.  The WRO soldiers were quick and efficient due to extensive training and had the first volley of explosives launched only a few moments after the first artillery shells began cometing into the building.

It only took a few minutes for the efforts of the WRO’s attack from the outside combined with the destructive energies already gathered on the inside to completely level the structure beyond recognition.  Reeve then called for a cease-fire to let the dust settle.

“Do you think its dead?” Barret asked President Reeve.

“I very much doubt it” he responded simply.

The last of the sailing artillery shells pounded into what was once the number three reactor.  Slowly the flames died, choked of fuel and oxygen.  The settling dust and rising smoke formed into a spiraling canopy, illuminated by flickering green and purple flashes in much the same way as an oil lamp would illuminate a frosted glass globe surrounding it.

“What is that light coming from?” Barret asked no one in particular, his mind fascinated by the haunting spectacle.

“Probably the mako energy from the reactor.”  Reeve explained.  “I’ve told you all before that you cannot ever truly turn these things off.  Once the machines start extracting the mako it keeps flowing, even if you turn off the machines or cap the well.”

“Mako.” Barret said with a frown.  “Well that explains the green flashes but what about the purple ones?”

Reeve opened his mouth to respond but Nanaki beat him to it.  “It is Jenova.” the old warrior stated, echoing what many of them had already determined.  “She is feeding on the mako energy.”

“Well I’m tired of waiting.” Cloud announced walking forward.  “What we need is some wind to help clear this dust so we can see what we’re up against.”  Cloud then turned his attention toward his four-legged friend.  “Nanaki, do you still have that mastered contain materia?”

The old warrior smiled as he comprehended Cloud’s implication.  “Why yes, I even have it equipped.”

Nanaki closed his eyes in concentration as he activated the materia located in the bangle on his right front paw.  Within moments the cloud of smoke and debris surrounding the former reactor was assaulted by a miniature tornado.  Though the wind blew fiercely at the ruins in front of them, the WRO soldiers felt little more than a gentle breeze, since they were well beyond the magic of this unnatural storm.  All too soon, however, the spell ended.

A veritable inferno of coursing mako energy poured fourth from the depths of the ruined reactor.  smoky tentacles of purplish-black energy writhed and twisted, mingling with the green mako, absorbing it, consuming the planet’s life blood.  Centered in the eye of the maelstrom floated the being known as Jenova.  She hovered seemingly without effort, protected by an incandescent spherical shield as she absorbed the surrounding mako.  Her features were feminine, and mostly human.  But there was something wrong about her proportions apparent to all who looked at her.  Her face was too gaunt, her eyes too far apart, her arms and legs were too long, her body arched in the wrong places.  To all who observed her she seemed immediately… alien.  Jenova opened her eyes and looked down on the gathered crowd, her black feathered wings forming a sharp backdrop to her pale silhouette, her slitted pupils narrowed, and her green irises glowed from inside her black eye balls.

Jenova smiled.  And a shockwave of dark energy exploded from her naked form.  The nearby defenders all braced for the attack, but the wave washed over them seemingly without effect.  Reno started to laugh, until the first of the coughing was heard.  Within moments nearly a third of the WRO troops had collapsed in fits of coughing and vomiting and even those who remained standing were doubled over in pain.  Reeve spun around in all directions, taking mental stock of the conditions of his men.  The best of them were disoriented; the worst were coughing blood and going into convulsions.  Above the din was heard a laughter that could only have belonged to Jenova.

Reeve pulled his radio to his mouth once again and depressed the transmitter.  “Get everyone out!  I want a complete evacuation of the sector now!  If there’s no one to fly the helicopter set the computer on autopilot back to base.”

Reeve looked up once again to find Cloud and his team gathering around him.  Surprisingly, none of them seemed to be suffering any ill effects from Jenova’s attacks.  It was only then that Reeve realized that he also had not been affected.

“Why are you not evacuating?” Reeve asked in confusion, though he was more puzzled by their apparent health when all others were suffering, than he was by their insubordination.

“We’re fighting.” Tifa informed him flatly.

An approaching coughing alerted Reeve to the fact that someone else wasn’t following his orders.  He spun around to meet four coughing bloodshot Turks.  Reno held his hand to his mouth to stem the tide of almost constant coughing.  Rude toted a heavily hacking Samuru, wile letting the occasional cough escape his own lips.  Elena leaned heavily on Tseng who, although he stood the straightest, appeared to be in the most pain.

Reeve scowled.  “And why aren’t YOU evacuating?” he demanded.

“Hey!” Reno responded between fights of coughing.  “…We’re with Shinra… not the WRO… You can’t order us around… any more then them!” Reno finished, pointing at Cloud.

“You guys aren’t in any shape to fight like that.” Cid bellowed out.  “You’ll just get in the way.”

Reno tried to protest but another round of coughing interrupted him.  Reeve decided to take the opportunity to add his own argument.

“Cid’s right,” Reeve began.  “The most help you can be right now is to help get the men out and to get that remnant to a holding cell.”

The Turks looked down at Samuru, hacking and coughing worse than any of them and almost limp in Rude’s arms.

“Hey wait a second,” Reno suddenly called out.  “How come none of you were affected?”

“We don’t know.” Nanaki stated simply.  “And we don’t have time to discuss it.”

“Oh but I suppose Reeve is going to stay and fight?” Reno argued, obviously disappointed in the prospect of missing the action.

“No.” Reeve informed the Turk, his expression becoming grim.  “I’m returning to base to prepare for the worst.”  He looked back towards Cloud and company.  “If you fail, I’ll level the city.  And whatever else it takes to stop her.”  Suddenly Reeve’s expression lightened slightly to reveal a devious grin.  “Though I suppose there is one thing I could do to help.

Everyone present eyed the WRO president with curiosity.  Reeve lifted the radio once again and spoke into the transmitter.  “Helicopter number seven, do you still have the prototype on board?”

A hacking cough came back over the radio, followed by a muffled “yes sir.”

“Well throw it off.” Reeve commanded.  “You’ll need the space for evacuees and I think now would be a good time for a test run.”

Reeve turned towards one of the nearby helicopters and everyone else followed his gaze.  They watched as the men onboard struggled with a large crate, before dumping it unceremoniously out the door.  The crate landed with a crack, splitting part way open to reveal a small portion of foam padding inside.  Reeve pulled what looked like a remote control from one of his pockets and depressed one of the buttons.  For a moment, nothing happened.  Then the crate began warping and splitting as something pushed at its walls from the inside.  A large ape like form burst from the crate, casting aside wooden debris and pieces of foam indiscriminately.

A moment later a small figure, resembling a stuffed cat came out of the remnants of the crate, jumped up the back of the giant mog, and perched on its shoulders.

“Cait Sith!” Tifa exclaimed to Reeve in astonishment.  “But I thought the last robot was destroyed!”

“It was.” Reeve said smiling.  “We’ve been reverse engineering Professor Gast’s Cait Sith robots since the Deepground Incident.  This is the first prototype of our efforts.”

The large robot mog strode forward to where Reeve was standing.

“Everyone…” Reeve said with pleasure.  “Meet Cait Sith II.”

“H-h-h-hello guys!” the mechanical cat stuttered.  “It’s good to b-b-b-b-be back.”

Reeve turned around to face his companions, his expression a little less animated.  “It still has a few bugs to work out but…”

“He’s just fine.” Tifa interrupted.  “Now get your men out of here!”

“Right.” Reeve responded awkwardly, not being used to receiving orders.  He spun on his heal with the intent of heading towards the nearest helicopter and almost ran into Reno who had been stepping forward to make another insistence on helping.

“Watch it…” Reno started to say, but was interrupted by another fit of coughing.

Frustration and annoyance creased Reeve Tsuesti’s brow.  “For the last time, none of you are fit to fight!  Now follow me to the chopper!”

Reeve grabbed the coughing Reno firmly by the elbow and began pulling him towards the nearest helicopter.  The rest of the Turks reluctantly followed, Elena still leaning heavily on Tseng for support and Rude dragging an almost limp Samuru.  As the Turks neared their transportation they heard the sounds of battle beginning behind them and all felt a twinge of regret at the action they were missing.

Any second thoughts the team may have had about leaving were dispelled however, as Elena collapsed in convulsions with her eyes rolling back into her head.  Without a word Tseng picked her up bodily and all but sprinted towards the helicopter despite his own struggling with the unusual illness Jenova had inflicted upon them.  Seeing their team mate’s trouble, Reno rushed forward to try and help and Rude quickened his pace while dragging the remnant.

Suddenly Rude felt Samuru jerk in an unusual way, and the remnant stopped coughing.  Rude looked down to see what was wrong with the remnant when a quick electric shock exploded through Rude’s leg and up his body, disrupting his coordination and breaking his hold on the remnant.  Rude felt the Samuru offer a quick punch to his face, but the blow seemed to miss, passing mostly under his jaw and causing little damage.

“The remnant’s escaping!” Tseng’s voice was heard calling over the commotion.  “Rude go after him! Reno cut him off through the side alley.  We’ll come back for you.”

Rude’s eyes re-focused to see Samuru ducking into the shadows between the ruined buildings of sector four.  He glanced over quickly to see Reeve, Tseng, and the unconscious Elena already in a rising helicopter.  Reno had jumped out and was heading towards a nearby alley.

“C’mon Rude!” Reno yelled at him.  “Get on him, I’ll head him off.”

Rude snapped to attention, pulled out the taser dart Samuru had jammed in his leg earlier, and sprinted off into the ruins.  He hadn’t gone more than a dozen yards, however, before he began to feel weak.  His running slowed and he almost stumbled, and then he stopped altogether as he found himself using all his resources just to keep himself from falling down.  Why was he so tired?  Was this how Elena felt before collapsing into convulsions?  Rude tried to breathe deeply but choked on something in the back of his throat.  Reflexively his hand flew to his neck, only to pull back in surprise.  It was wet.  Rude stared at his hand for a moment, unable to accept that the blood was his own.  The remnant hadn’t punched him and missed, Rude realized, he had slit his throat!  How had no one noticed the remnant carrying a weapon?  How had he not noticed?  He was a Turk!

Rude tried to call for help, for Reno, for anyone.  But the cry was muffled by the blood rapidly filling his lungs.  The alley was dark, and Rude’s vision was growing darker still.  Rude felt himself losing strength and realized that he would soon pass out.  As his legs crumpled beneath him he tried to throw his hands out to catch his fall but they did little more than flop in the direction of the ground.  Rude heard his head hit the rain-soaked pavement, though he was by now too numb to feel it.  And before the blackness closed in on his mind, Rude struggled to open his eyes one last time.  Hoping that he would see Reno, or Reeve, or anyone come to help him.  Maybe someone had heard his cry.  Maybe they saw him fall from the helicopter overhead that surely couldn’t have gone too far.  He had spent so much of his life shunning help, establishing his independence.  None of that mattered now.  All he wanted to see was a friendly face.  Tseng… Tifa… his mother.

Rude opened his eyes and saw, in front of his face, an empty soda can, dusty, faded, and long abandoned in the forgotten side streets of Midgar.

Description
The Phoenix Eye
Chapter 10
The New Goddess

-- Midgar, Outside Reactor No. 3, Moments Later:

The soldiers of the WRO poured from the entrance to the number three reactor as black smoke billowed from every opening in the structure.  Following close behind were Cloud and his friends, as well as the Turks, dragging along a coughing and sputtering remnant.  Multiple explosions tore through the night air, knocking many of the soldiers of off their feet and foreshadowing the imminent destruction of the reactor.  WRO helicopters descended into the streets of Midgar at a safe distance around the reactor forming a loose semi-circle towards which the WRO troops re-grouped.  While the soldiers formed ranks around the descending helicopters waiting for the order to evacuate, one man descended from his helicopter on a cable, not wanting to wait for his ride to touch ground.  As Reeve landed on the rain-soaked asphalt and quickly removed his rappelling harness, he glanced around quickly for the person he needed to talk with.  Finding his mark, Reeve moved forward to meet him.

“Cloud, is everybody out?” Reeve asked his friend urgently.

Cloud glanced around him, taking a quick head count of his party.  “We’re all here, and I didn’t see any WRO being left behind.”

“Ok good!  So how do we kill this thing?” Reeve Demanded.  “Would it help to call in the artillery?”

Cloud lowered his brow in puzzlement, the question of how to kill Jenova not having previously entered his mind.  “Um, I don’t know…” he responded scratching his head.  “I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

Reeve nodded at Cloud.  He then took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and stay in control of the situation, before picking up his radio and depressing the transmitter.  “Ok, I want all available firepower on the number three reactor and I want it there five seconds ago!”

In an instant the WRO troops changed from an attitude or retreat to that of an entrenched offensive.  The thundering boom of distant artillery echoed across the scene of soldiers assembling grenade launchers, rocket emplacements, and mortar teams.  While those who had no such heavy weapons began piling up rubble to form light cover and defensive positions.  The WRO soldiers were quick and efficient due to extensive training and had the first volley of explosives launched only a few moments after the first artillery shells began cometing into the building.

It only took a few minutes for the efforts of the WRO’s attack from the outside combined with the destructive energies already gathered on the inside to completely level the structure beyond recognition.  Reeve then called for a cease-fire to let the dust settle.

“Do you think its dead?” Barret asked President Reeve.

“I very much doubt it” he responded simply.

The last of the sailing artillery shells pounded into what was once the number three reactor.  Slowly the flames died, choked of fuel and oxygen.  The settling dust and rising smoke formed into a spiraling canopy, illuminated by flickering green and purple flashes in much the same way as an oil lamp would illuminate a frosted glass globe surrounding it.

“What is that light coming from?” Barret asked no one in particular, his mind fascinated by the haunting spectacle.

“Probably the mako energy from the reactor.”  Reeve explained.  “I’ve told you all before that you cannot ever truly turn these things off.  Once the machines start extracting the mako it keeps flowing, even if you turn off the machines or cap the well.”

“Mako.” Barret said with a frown.  “Well that explains the green flashes but what about the purple ones?”

Reeve opened his mouth to respond but Nanaki beat him to it.  “It is Jenova.” the old warrior stated, echoing what many of them had already determined.  “She is feeding on the mako energy.”

“Well I’m tired of waiting.” Cloud announced walking forward.  “What we need is some wind to help clear this dust so we can see what we’re up against.”  Cloud then turned his attention toward his four-legged friend.  “Nanaki, do you still have that mastered contain materia?”

The old warrior smiled as he comprehended Cloud’s implication.  “Why yes, I even have it equipped.”

Nanaki closed his eyes in concentration as he activated the materia located in the bangle on his right front paw.  Within moments the cloud of smoke and debris surrounding the former reactor was assaulted by a miniature tornado.  Though the wind blew fiercely at the ruins in front of them, the WRO soldiers felt little more than a gentle breeze, since they were well beyond the magic of this unnatural storm.  All too soon, however, the spell ended.

A veritable inferno of coursing mako energy poured fourth from the depths of the ruined reactor.  smoky tentacles of purplish-black energy writhed and twisted, mingling with the green mako, absorbing it, consuming the planet’s life blood.  Centered in the eye of the maelstrom floated the being known as Jenova.  She hovered seemingly without effort, protected by an incandescent spherical shield as she absorbed the surrounding mako.  Her features were feminine, and mostly human.  But there was something wrong about her proportions apparent to all who looked at her.  Her face was too gaunt, her eyes too far apart, her arms and legs were too long, her body arched in the wrong places.  To all who observed her she seemed immediately… alien.  Jenova opened her eyes and looked down on the gathered crowd, her black feathered wings forming a sharp backdrop to her pale silhouette, her slitted pupils narrowed, and her green irises glowed from inside her black eye balls.

Jenova smiled.  And a shockwave of dark energy exploded from her naked form.  The nearby defenders all braced for the attack, but the wave washed over them seemingly without effect.  Reno started to laugh, until the first of the coughing was heard.  Within moments nearly a third of the WRO troops had collapsed in fits of coughing and vomiting and even those who remained standing were doubled over in pain.  Reeve spun around in all directions, taking mental stock of the conditions of his men.  The best of them were disoriented; the worst were coughing blood and going into convulsions.  Above the din was heard a laughter that could only have belonged to Jenova.

Reeve pulled his radio to his mouth once again and depressed the transmitter.  “Get everyone out!  I want a complete evacuation of the sector now!  If there’s no one to fly the helicopter set the computer on autopilot back to base.”

Reeve looked up once again to find Cloud and his team gathering around him.  Surprisingly, none of them seemed to be suffering any ill effects from Jenova’s attacks.  It was only then that Reeve realized that he also had not been affected.

“Why are you not evacuating?” Reeve asked in confusion, though he was more puzzled by their apparent health when all others were suffering, than he was by their insubordination.

“We’re fighting.” Tifa informed him flatly.

An approaching coughing alerted Reeve to the fact that someone else wasn’t following his orders.  He spun around to meet four coughing bloodshot Turks.  Reno held his hand to his mouth to stem the tide of almost constant coughing.  Rude toted a heavily hacking Samuru, wile letting the occasional cough escape his own lips.  Elena leaned heavily on Tseng who, although he stood the straightest, appeared to be in the most pain.

Reeve scowled.  “And why aren’t YOU evacuating?” he demanded.

“Hey!” Reno responded between fights of coughing.  “…We’re with Shinra… not the WRO… You can’t order us around… any more then them!” Reno finished, pointing at Cloud.

“You guys aren’t in any shape to fight like that.” Cid bellowed out.  “You’ll just get in the way.”

Reno tried to protest but another round of coughing interrupted him.  Reeve decided to take the opportunity to add his own argument.

“Cid’s right,” Reeve began.  “The most help you can be right now is to help get the men out and to get that remnant to a holding cell.”

The Turks looked down at Samuru, hacking and coughing worse than any of them and almost limp in Rude’s arms.

“Hey wait a second,” Reno suddenly called out.  “How come none of you were affected?”

“We don’t know.” Nanaki stated simply.  “And we don’t have time to discuss it.”

“Oh but I suppose Reeve is going to stay and fight?” Reno argued, obviously disappointed in the prospect of missing the action.

“No.” Reeve informed the Turk, his expression becoming grim.  “I’m returning to base to prepare for the worst.”  He looked back towards Cloud and company.  “If you fail, I’ll level the city.  And whatever else it takes to stop her.”  Suddenly Reeve’s expression lightened slightly to reveal a devious grin.  “Though I suppose there is one thing I could do to help.

Everyone present eyed the WRO president with curiosity.  Reeve lifted the radio once again and spoke into the transmitter.  “Helicopter number seven, do you still have the prototype on board?”

A hacking cough came back over the radio, followed by a muffled “yes sir.”

“Well throw it off.” Reeve commanded.  “You’ll need the space for evacuees and I think now would be a good time for a test run.”

Reeve turned towards one of the nearby helicopters and everyone else followed his gaze.  They watched as the men onboard struggled with a large crate, before dumping it unceremoniously out the door.  The crate landed with a crack, splitting part way open to reveal a small portion of foam padding inside.  Reeve pulled what looked like a remote control from one of his pockets and depressed one of the buttons.  For a moment, nothing happened.  Then the crate began warping and splitting as something pushed at its walls from the inside.  A large ape like form burst from the crate, casting aside wooden debris and pieces of foam indiscriminately.

A moment later a small figure, resembling a stuffed cat came out of the remnants of the crate, jumped up the back of the giant mog, and perched on its shoulders.

“Cait Sith!” Tifa exclaimed to Reeve in astonishment.  “But I thought the last robot was destroyed!”

“It was.” Reeve said smiling.  “We’ve been reverse engineering Professor Gast’s Cait Sith robots since the Deepground Incident.  This is the first prototype of our efforts.”

The large robot mog strode forward to where Reeve was standing.

“Everyone…” Reeve said with pleasure.  “Meet Cait Sith II.”

“H-h-h-hello guys!” the mechanical cat stuttered.  “It’s good to b-b-b-b-be back.”

Reeve turned around to face his companions, his expression a little less animated.  “It still has a few bugs to work out but…”

“He’s just fine.” Tifa interrupted.  “Now get your men out of here!”

“Right.” Reeve responded awkwardly, not being used to receiving orders.  He spun on his heal with the intent of heading towards the nearest helicopter and almost ran into Reno who had been stepping forward to make another insistence on helping.

“Watch it…” Reno started to say, but was interrupted by another fit of coughing.

Frustration and annoyance creased Reeve Tsuesti’s brow.  “For the last time, none of you are fit to fight!  Now follow me to the chopper!”

Reeve grabbed the coughing Reno firmly by the elbow and began pulling him towards the nearest helicopter.  The rest of the Turks reluctantly followed, Elena still leaning heavily on Tseng for support and Rude dragging an almost limp Samuru.  As the Turks neared their transportation they heard the sounds of battle beginning behind them and all felt a twinge of regret at the action they were missing.

Any second thoughts the team may have had about leaving were dispelled however, as Elena collapsed in convulsions with her eyes rolling back into her head.  Without a word Tseng picked her up bodily and all but sprinted towards the helicopter despite his own struggling with the unusual illness Jenova had inflicted upon them.  Seeing their team mate’s trouble, Reno rushed forward to try and help and Rude quickened his pace while dragging the remnant.

Suddenly Rude felt Samuru jerk in an unusual way, and the remnant stopped coughing.  Rude looked down to see what was wrong with the remnant when a quick electric shock exploded through Rude’s leg and up his body, disrupting his coordination and breaking his hold on the remnant.  Rude felt the Samuru offer a quick punch to his face, but the blow seemed to miss, passing mostly under his jaw and causing little damage.

“The remnant’s escaping!” Tseng’s voice was heard calling over the commotion.  “Rude go after him! Reno cut him off through the side alley.  We’ll come back for you.”

Rude’s eyes re-focused to see Samuru ducking into the shadows between the ruined buildings of sector four.  He glanced over quickly to see Reeve, Tseng, and the unconscious Elena already in a rising helicopter.  Reno had jumped out and was heading towards a nearby alley.

“C’mon Rude!” Reno yelled at him.  “Get on him, I’ll head him off.”

Rude snapped to attention, pulled out the taser dart Samuru had jammed in his leg earlier, and sprinted off into the ruins.  He hadn’t gone more than a dozen yards, however, before he began to feel weak.  His running slowed and he almost stumbled, and then he stopped altogether as he found himself using all his resources just to keep himself from falling down.  Why was he so tired?  Was this how Elena felt before collapsing into convulsions?  Rude tried to breathe deeply but choked on something in the back of his throat.  Reflexively his hand flew to his neck, only to pull back in surprise.  It was wet.  Rude stared at his hand for a moment, unable to accept that the blood was his own.  The remnant hadn’t punched him and missed, Rude realized, he had slit his throat!  How had no one noticed the remnant carrying a weapon?  How had he not noticed?  He was a Turk!

Rude tried to call for help, for Reno, for anyone.  But the cry was muffled by the blood rapidly filling his lungs.  The alley was dark, and Rude’s vision was growing darker still.  Rude felt himself losing strength and realized that he would soon pass out.  As his legs crumpled beneath him he tried to throw his hands out to catch his fall but they did little more than flop in the direction of the ground.  Rude heard his head hit the rain-soaked pavement, though he was by now too numb to feel it.  And before the blackness closed in on his mind, Rude struggled to open his eyes one last time.  Hoping that he would see Reno, or Reeve, or anyone come to help him.  Maybe someone had heard his cry.  Maybe they saw him fall from the helicopter overhead that surely couldn’t have gone too far.  He had spent so much of his life shunning help, establishing his independence.  None of that mattered now.  All he wanted to see was a friendly face.  Tseng… Tifa… his mother.

Rude opened his eyes and saw, in front of his face, an empty soda can, dusty, faded, and long abandoned in the forgotten side streets of Midgar.