Categories > Games > Final Fantasy 7
Calamity
0 ReviewsPeople are disappearing and those left behind start to forget they ever existed. It is a mystery that the Turks and Avalanche must solve before it's too late. TsengxElena, CloudxTifa, CidxShera
Calamity
Enigma 01: The Disappearing Man
That night like many others, the Turks had stayed in the Shinra building late.
"Where is it? It has to be here somewhere!" Reno was currently tearing the Turks office apart, much to Elena's annoyance.
"What did you lose this time?" Elena shook her head at the mess Reno was making; she refused to clean that up.
"My electrorod, I'm not sure where I put it, help me look!"
Elena knew that if she denied Reno's request he would, not only whine about it, but continued making a mess. "Are you sure you left it in the office?"
"If I knew where I left it, it would be a lot easier to find it. It could be anywhere." Reno just couldn't go on without his precious rod.
Elena sighed. "Fine, I'll check the lobby, try not to make a bigger mess."
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Elena's guess was right and she found the electrorod at the lobby. On her way back, Elena saw Tseng heading towards the elevator. "Tseng!" Oddly enough, he didn't respond or even look back. "Tseng, wait!" Elena had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn't reach Tseng before the elevator doors closed.
Determined to find out why Tseng ignored her, Elena took the next glass elevator and followed. She could see Tseng through the glass, going further up, all the way to the roof.
As if in a trance, Tseng got out of the elevator and walked to the center of the roof. "Tseng!" Elena was once again ignored, something was very wrong.
It had rained earlier and there were small puddles of water on the roof. Elena tried to run after Tseng, she slipped and the electrorod she still held activated. The water she landed on conducted the electricity and gave Elena an electric shock. At the same time, there was a bright light from the skies of Edge, and everything faded to darkness.
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When Elena woke up the next morning on the roof, she returned to the Turks office in search of Tseng. "Where's Tseng?"
Elena dropped the electrorod on Reno's desk, causing him to look up from the papers he was reading. "You found it!"
"Where is Tseng?" She repeated the question.
Reno gave her a confused look. "Song?"
"Tseng! The leader of the Turks, where is he?" Elena insisted.
"You're looking at him," as far as Reno remembered, he had been the leader since before Elena joined.
"Stop joking! Something happened last night. I followed Tseng to the roof and there was a bright light. Where is he?" Elena's heart raced. She could usually tell when Reno was joking, but this time it looked like he was being honest.
"You followed someone to the roof? Unauthorized personal?" Reno asked.
"No, I followed Tseng, Tseng of the Turks!" Elena slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. Her temper was usually controlled much better, but she felt very uncomfortable about what was going on, and she couldn't help it but to think Tseng was in danger.
"Elena, calm down, there is no person called Tseng in the Turks." Reno words were spoken calmly, but to Elena they felt like icy daggers. Without another word, Elena ran out of the office. "Elena!"
She ignored Reno and kept running, until she ran into Rude. "Rude! Do you know where Tseng is?"
"I don't know who that is." Rude noted that Elena's looked worried. "Something wrong?"
"Do not joke about this, I need to see Tseng!" Elena insisted to no avail.
"I don't know," Rude tried to explain again. Elena only ran once more.
'This cant be, it can't be!' Elena returned to her desk and anxiously accessed the Shinra data base. She looked at her profile, the records of all her missions. "Why isn't Tseng here? He should be in the system; he should be in the mission we went on together." This was too much, they wouldn't go through the trouble of changing the database just for a joke, and she couldn't shake that feeling that something was very wrong.
"Elena, who exactly are you looking for?" Reno tried to reason with her again. Rude had also arrived at the office.
"Tseng of the Turks," Elena tried to explain, but the message wasn't getting across. "Tseng was with me when we went to the Northern Crater. We recovered the remains of Jenova, but we were captured by the remnants of Sephiroth. You got there just in time to take Jenova and-"
"You were in a solo mission," Rude spoke with a complete certainty that bothered Elena greatly.
"No, Tseng is... He has to be..." Elena took a deep breath. Panicking wouldn't solve anything, she was a Turk; she could handle this. Something was going on, she didn't know what, but something bad was happening. "Sorry, I need some fresh air." Reno and Rude nodded and Elena left.
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Elena headed to the Seventh Heaven; surely Tifa and Cloud would remember Tseng. If they did, then it meant it was some sort of twisted test from Shinra. "Tifa! Do you remember Tseng? Do you know who he is?"
There was a moment of silence in which Tifa observed the panicked state Elena was in. Tifa slowly shook her head. "No..."
Elena sunk into one of the bar stools and held her head. "Why is it that only I remember?"
"What are you talking about?" Tifa was confused.
"Tseng, he's in the Turks, but Reno and Rude don't remember him at all. He's not in Shinra's database; I don't know what happened. Cloud, I need to ask Cloud, maybe Cloud will remember!" It was Elena's last ray of hope.
"Did you call me?" Cloud came downstairs after hearing his name.
"Cloud, do you know who the leader of the Turks is?" Elena asked.
Cloud found the sudden question odd, but what was stranger, was that he had to think about it before replying. "Reno, right?"
"Try again," Elena waited for Cloud to think about his answer a little more and tried to give him a hint. "Tall, long black hair..."
Cloud tried hard to remember, this felt very strange, it made him feel uneasy. "Was there something like that in the Turks?"
"Yes, Tseng, his name is Tseng!" Elena was just about ready to give up on Cloud, when he looked like he remembered something.
"Tseng," Cloud closed his eyes and tried to picture the man Elena described. "Tseng," he remembered, the memory was blurry but he remembered. Then his head started to hurt and his eyes glowed.
"Cloud!" Tifa rushed to his side and helped him sit down.
"I can hardly remember," Cloud spoke slowly, unsure if this was a memory or an illusion. "When I try to remember my head hurts, it's blurry. Such a person really existed?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely certain. He's in danger, that's the only explanation, I don't know what's going on, but it's not good." Elena thought back to last night on the roof. Tseng was in some kind of trance back then.
"Are you sure? Maybe that man was only an illusion, something you created," Cloud was confused. He never wanted to doubt his memories again.
"Tseng is not an illusion!" Elena knew that Cloud would need some convincing, but she didn't have a fast way to prove Tseng's existence and there was no time to waste. "I'm going to find him."
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Elena had left the Seventh Heaven, but didn't know where to start her investigation. She saw a man she recognized as Barret heading for the Seventh Heaven. "Hey! Barret isn't it?"
"A Turk," even if Shinra was technically no longer the enemy, Barret was never fond of the company or anyone who was still working for it.
"My name is Elena. Tell me something, do you remember Tseng?" Elena asked.
"Of course, Tseng, the leader of the Turks, how can I forget any of you and what you did?" Barret did not understand why his bitter statement caused Elena to look so happy. Her face carried no malice, it was full of relief. "Why are you asking me all of this?"
"Because no one else remembers him; and Cloud got a headache trying to remember." Elena tried to further understand the scope of the situation and came to a hypothesis. "You were not in Edge last night."
"Been spyin' on me, Turk?" Barret was not pleased with how the conversation was developing and it bothered him even more that he didn't know exactly what they were talking about.
"I'll explain in the Seventh Heaven, that's where you're going, right?" In the past, Elena would have never thought of getting clues from Avalanche in such a way, let alone possibly help. But Tseng's life could be on the line for all she knew and that was more important.
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"Cloud, did Tseng really exist?" Tifa had no memories of a man by that name ever existing. She couldn't think of anyone who matched Elena's description.
"I don't know. When I try to remember him, I feel like there's something trying to stop me from uncovering the truth. This time it's not me, I'm not hiding my own memories; something is hiding them from me. It feels like the pain of geostigma but it's different." Cloud's words only confused Tifa further.
Tifa didn't remember Tseng and she didn't understand why Cloud and Elena did, though Cloud was doubtful. If this was some kind of side effect on Cloud because of the mako in him, that wouldn't explain why Elena's memories of Tseng appeared to be even more clear than Cloud's fragments of memories. "Could it be that Shinra experimented on Elena and this Tseng is actually an illusion?"
"Elena has no mako, I don't think she was experimented on and even if that happened, why are my memories blurry again? I have no reason to invent a person called Tseng." With that reasoning, it didn't make sense that Cloud vaguely remembered Tseng if he didn't exist.
"Maybe he's Elena's wish. Sometimes, a girl can wish for her hero, and sometimes, she becomes tired of waiting and makes something up." The hidden meaning of Tifa's words completely eluded Cloud.
"If Tseng is Elena's dream man, then why would he be in my memories too?" For Cloud to make up an illusion he needed a reason, a motivation. His desire to be a soldier, to protect Tifa, to make sure he didn't let her down, but he had no reason to invent a man named Tseng.
"Do you think that Elena wishes for Tseng to exist so strongly, that somehow you're able to sense that?" Tifa came up with another theory.
Cloud wondered if she was right. "I don't know, I suppose it could happen. If Elena feels so strongly about Tseng then maybe these blurry memories are hers, not mine. Maybe she gave me these memories somehow because she feels so strongly about this." Cloud paused and gave it some thought. "But if that was it, then I would be able to accept or deny those memories. I can easily deny them, but if I try to accept them, I feel strange, as if something is stopping me. I don't like this, there might be more to it than we imagine."
Cloud was getting worried and that worried Tifa. "We'll solve it. If Tseng is real or not, we'll get to the bottom of this. We can't lose our memories." Seeing Cloud doubt his memories like that Tifa started to doubt her own. She wondered if there really was a man named Tseng and why would she and Cloud be forced to forget him.
There was a moment of silence between Tifa and Cloud, which ended when Barret and Elena arrived at the Seventh Heaven. "Will you just tell me what in the world is goin' on?!" Barret had grown quite impatient on the way.
"I'll explain it in a minute; I want Cloud and Tifa to hear it too," Elena looked at Cloud, who had a thoughtful expression. Did that mean he was trying to remember? Good, because now Elena had proof that Tseng existed. If Barret remembered Tseng, then Cloud and Tifa would have to believe he existed.
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Enigma 02: Friction
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 Edge." 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 Edge 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 inquired.
"Yes, Reno was looking for his electrorod 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 water conducts electricity. I was still holding the electrorod, it activated when I fell and touched the water. Maybe, receiving that electric shock at the same time I saw the 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 Edge. 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 Edge and Tifa has it."
Finally it felt as if they could start to truly understand things. "If that's the case, 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 taught 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 database," 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's no reason why they would refuse." Leaving Cloud, Tifa and Barret at the Seventh Heaven, Elena returned to Shinra.
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"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 Shinra?" Reno demanded, "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. Besides, we're not at war anymore. Tseng is real, I can prove it; 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?
"Traitor!" Rude spoke coldly and Reno's voice was full of venom.
"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 Shinra's up to no good I'm not retreatin'!" Barret shot several more cadets that kept pouring in from the main entrance.
"You can't deny you betrayed us now!" Reno was on the attack, his electrorod 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 retreat now!"
"We're leaving!" Cloud's final decision was followed and 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.
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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 was upset.
Cloud looked towards Elena, as if waiting for her to 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 Shinra get away with whatever they're tryin' to do!" In that sense, there was a good reason for the retreat, but Barret feared it would bring 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 Edge!" Elena argued.
"Those aren't the same thing, but I'll follow on this," Barret decided not to push the matter further.
"Why would coming here automatically make you a traitor? Reno and Rude come to bar practically every night," Tifa 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? Elena still remembered Rufus and no one appeared to be confused by the name, so they must remember 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's 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.
"Let's assume twenty-four hours or less for now. Practically every PHS in Edge uses Shinra's satellite systems to communicate now and if this unknown enemy has taken control of 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 up with 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 Shinra'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 Shinra is actually trying to help instead of walking away from the mess and leaving everyone to deal with it?" Elena yelled.
"Leavin' it to everyone else? It's your responsibility to clean it up!" Barret yelled back.
"Enough!" Tifa slammed her fist on the counter, 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 Edge 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."
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Enigma 03: Retreat
It was decided that instead of returning to Shinra right away, they would try to find Rufus. Shinra cadets were starting to be dispatched all over Edge, so moving around the city would not be easy. "Great, Shinra's actin' already. Looks like a the fight can't be put off." Barret was upset by how the streets were flooded with cadets, while they hardly had time to plan their next move.
"It can't be helped, we'll move underground," Elena suggested. Tifa, Cloud, Barret and Elena left, after taking Marlene and Denzel with them.
Sneaking out of the bar and running down an alley, the group came to an entrance to the swear system. They followed quietly until they came to a rusted old door. "This is it? Do think it will still open?" Tifa asked.
Elena paused, holding a keycard. "To be honest I don't know. What I can tell you is that it will most likely give away our position, but it's better than fighting all those brainwashed cadets. From this point on, it's a race to Healin Lodge. We should be able to make it there before any of the cadets." Elena looked at her companions then she slid the key card into the slot.
With some difficulty, the door noisily opened, revealing a hidden tunnel. Elena, Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Marlene and Denzel ran inside.
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Surprisingly, they did not encounter trouble on their way to Healin Lodge, and found that there were no cadets in that area when they exited the tunnels returning to the surface.
"We outran them?" Tifa sounded unsure, as if the possibility was too good to be true.
"This looks like a trap, but I guess we have no choice if we're going to find Rufus and get some answers." Cloud readied his sword and led the way up the stairs of Healin Lodge.
When Cloud reached the top of the stairs, the door was opened, and there stood Reno. "We were expecting you, Avalanche and the traitor."
"Reno?" Elena moved forward, she noticed Rude was there as well. "I see, Rufus must play a key role if they send you two here."
Cloud nodded, "the enemy must be desperate to hide something, and Rufus must be connected to it. Tifa, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Tifa's memories were still without Tseng, but she did not feel the urge to fight Elena or any of her allies.
"Then now's our change, you two have to realize you're being controlled!" Elena was determined to bring back the Reno and Rude who were loyal to the Turks, maybe more so than to Shinra; the Reno and Rude who would not abandon or forget Tseng.
"Do not let Avalanche confuse you," Rude insisted, but Elena did not doubt her memories.
"Reno, Rude, stand down, let them come in," Rufus' voice was heard from inside.
"But they're here to attack you!" Reno complained.
"No they're not, let them in," Rufus' order was followed, and Tifa, Cloud and Elena were allowed inside. Barret soon followed them in, keeping a close eye on Marlene and Denzel, they could not be left in the Seventh Heaven to be taken hostage.
"Do you know what's happening, sir?" Elena thought Rufus must hold an important clue.
"I'm not sure, but I want to hear your story first. You said something about being controlled." At least Rufus was willing to listen.
"Yes, something strange happened last night. There was a bright light and we believe it has a connection with what we suspect to be a virus that erased Tseng of the Turks from everyone's memories. As far as we know, only Edge was affected. I had a little accident and was electrocuted at the time, in theory, that killed the virus before it could become strong in me and my memories were unaffected. Cloud's mako is helping him fight the virus, Barret doesn't have it because he wasn't in Edge last night, and Tifa has it," Elena explained. "We think that there is something at Headquarters that can strengthen the virus, since it tried to brainwash Tifa into fighting against us when we were there, but it didn't work. You can fight it, you can hold on to the truth if you try. We wanted to use the virus scan machine in the main Shinra building. Tseng was erased from the databases at Shinra, but I know he's real, what I don't know is why they wanted to erase him."
Rufus took a moment to think about everything Elena revealed and let it sink in. "There is a portable version of that machine here, you may use that. What you said all makes sense. Right now, as far as I know, I am Rufus of the Turks. The president is someone called Novarion; that is what my memories tell me. It is also what appears in the Shinra database and Tseng is missing completely. Whoever modified the database and our memories couldn't modify paper." Rufus showed them an album. "I've been looking at this, it made things very confusing and I didn't know what to believe, but it all makes sense now. Novarion is behind this. I think he was trying to eliminate me, but Tseng stopped him and took the hit himself."
Elena took the album, "pictures from the company activities? I didn't know you kept these." She remembered Tseng's trance the previous night. "Novarion must have hypnotized Tseng."
"Whatever happened, it was most likely meant for me," Rufus was confused but the pictures were proof of the truth. It was by chance that Rufus had decided to look at them, an unexplained whim that just came and demanded attention.
"I remember all of this," Elena smiled at the pictures. She had thought the company activities were not too much fun for the Turks. They always had to make sure no incidents occurred, it was another day of work; but it was more fun than she had initially thought. "Look at these you two, try to remember." She gave the album to Reno and Rude.
"Are you sure they're not fake?" Reno asked.
"I'm sure of it, I thought so too, but I'm certain they're not fake. The real president of Shinra is me, otherwise why are you here?" Rufus insisted.
Reno and Rude looked at each other as if trying to find an answer, but neither had it. "After Elena and Avalanche retreated, I said, we should check on Rufus," Reno explained. "Rude gave me an odd look and asked me why. Rufus is supposed to be a Turks after all. Our job was to protect Shinra, then we started thinking about how we couldn't clearly remember the president, and it got confusing."
"Novarion wasn't included in our memories," Rude concluded.
"Yeah, so then we came, just because it felt like what were supposed to do, even if it might be against the orders," Reno was generally carefree and didn't question his own confusion too much. Rude did, but he decided to trust Reno and follow him. Then it all made sense, after the explanation.
"So we have a touching Turks reunion and the name of our enemy," Barret spoke. "Now what are we going to do next? We could go to Shinra and-" Barret's words were interrupted by the sound of an airship landing outside.
The group headed out to see Cid. "I don't know what's going on, but someone better explain it. I got a call from Rufus saying the Turks betrayed him and he wants them destroyed. He offered a ton of gil and to restore the space program if I dropped a couple of bombs here. As if I would do it without any explanations, what kind of an idiot am I taken for?"
"An easy to trick idiot?" Reno received a glare from Cid, "you were the one who asked!"
"Someone's takin' over Shinra. Novarion is his name from what we know so far. He took Rufus' place and is doing an even worse job then him," Barret explained the situation in his own way.
"Then what are we standing around for? Let's all get on my air ship and go over there right now." It appeared to be simple enough for Cid, since he had not yet heard about the virus.
"It won't be that easy, the people of Shinra are being controlled by a virus, at least we think it's a virus, we were about to confirm it. We'll need to cure it somehow; right now Novarion has only sent Shinra cadets against us, but what if they send civilians too?" The possibility that Tifa described was true and it was dangerous.
"Everyone listen up," Cloud assumed the position of leader and everyone's attention focused on him. "If there's a version of the virus scan machine here, let's use that. Let's see if we can figure out what this is about so we can find a cure."
xoxox xox xoxox
Cid was filled in on the details of what they knew so far, his memories remained unaffected. The virus scan machine was used and it was determined this was indeed a virus. "An electric shock killed the virus in its early stage, but that won't now, it's too late, we need an antidote." Rufus noticed something that caught his attention in the scan results. "According to the comparison from the database, this is similar to Jenova. Could this be what happened long ago?"
"You mean what wiped out the Ancients?" Cloud asked, "It could be, it's just a theory but what if Novarion is of the same kind of Jenova, no one can prove she was unique and we've heard the stories about how the Ancients were manipulated. Maybe they weren't tricked, they were brainwashed."
"It could be, but Jenova was eventually defeated, how did the Ancients do it?" Tifa brought up a good question.
"Alright, let's get organized, we need to find a cure to this virus and we need more information about the Ancient's battle against Jenova," Elena summarized.
"We also need a safe place for Marlene and Denzel," Barret reminded.
"Rocket Town," all eyes were suddenly on Rufus, "the kids can stay in Rocket Town."
"Who's to say they'll be safe?" Barret argued.
"Not in the town, in the secret base," only the Turks knew what Rufus was talking about. "Cid, do you remember when the base that held the rocket was built?"
"Yeah, they dug a huge hole and..." Cid came to a realization, "There's a secret base down there."
"Exactly, it's the safest place I can think of. The base isn't too big, but it is very strong, it can take anything from bullets to nuclear bombs and it's not in the Shinra database," Rufus revealed.
"How about I take Marlene and Denzel to Rocket Town?" Cid offered. "I don't think Novarion is watching too closely yet. I can drop them off at the secret base and Shera can keep them company. Someone will have to come and open it up."
"I'll go, I'm the only one who can open it," Rufus revealed.
"You're not goin' to tell us how it works?" Barret sounded suspicious.
"The security system opens by scanning my DNA, it won't open for anyone else from the outside, but anyone can open it from the inside," Rufus explained.
"Greedy," Barret muttered.
"Alright, it's settle, Cid, Rufus, Marlene and Denzel, will be going to Rocket Town, there's no time to waste, leave right away," Cloud urged.
"Cloud, can't I help with anything?" Denzel asked unsure.
"Me too, I want to do something instead of just hiding," Marlene added.
"You too need to stay safe, be strong for us," Tifa tried to assure them.
"One more thing," Rufus voiced, "there is an archive of stories about the Ancients, legends and myths. When they were recovered piece by piece no one thought it was important, they looked like children's' fairytales, but there might be a clue there, something that mentions how the Ancients defeated Jenova. It'll be tricky to figure out it out, since the stories will be like incomplete riddles. The archives are kept in Junon."
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.
Enigma 01: The Disappearing Man
That night like many others, the Turks had stayed in the Shinra building late.
"Where is it? It has to be here somewhere!" Reno was currently tearing the Turks office apart, much to Elena's annoyance.
"What did you lose this time?" Elena shook her head at the mess Reno was making; she refused to clean that up.
"My electrorod, I'm not sure where I put it, help me look!"
Elena knew that if she denied Reno's request he would, not only whine about it, but continued making a mess. "Are you sure you left it in the office?"
"If I knew where I left it, it would be a lot easier to find it. It could be anywhere." Reno just couldn't go on without his precious rod.
Elena sighed. "Fine, I'll check the lobby, try not to make a bigger mess."
xoxox xox xoxox
Elena's guess was right and she found the electrorod at the lobby. On her way back, Elena saw Tseng heading towards the elevator. "Tseng!" Oddly enough, he didn't respond or even look back. "Tseng, wait!" Elena had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn't reach Tseng before the elevator doors closed.
Determined to find out why Tseng ignored her, Elena took the next glass elevator and followed. She could see Tseng through the glass, going further up, all the way to the roof.
As if in a trance, Tseng got out of the elevator and walked to the center of the roof. "Tseng!" Elena was once again ignored, something was very wrong.
It had rained earlier and there were small puddles of water on the roof. Elena tried to run after Tseng, she slipped and the electrorod she still held activated. The water she landed on conducted the electricity and gave Elena an electric shock. At the same time, there was a bright light from the skies of Edge, and everything faded to darkness.
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When Elena woke up the next morning on the roof, she returned to the Turks office in search of Tseng. "Where's Tseng?"
Elena dropped the electrorod on Reno's desk, causing him to look up from the papers he was reading. "You found it!"
"Where is Tseng?" She repeated the question.
Reno gave her a confused look. "Song?"
"Tseng! The leader of the Turks, where is he?" Elena insisted.
"You're looking at him," as far as Reno remembered, he had been the leader since before Elena joined.
"Stop joking! Something happened last night. I followed Tseng to the roof and there was a bright light. Where is he?" Elena's heart raced. She could usually tell when Reno was joking, but this time it looked like he was being honest.
"You followed someone to the roof? Unauthorized personal?" Reno asked.
"No, I followed Tseng, Tseng of the Turks!" Elena slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. Her temper was usually controlled much better, but she felt very uncomfortable about what was going on, and she couldn't help it but to think Tseng was in danger.
"Elena, calm down, there is no person called Tseng in the Turks." Reno words were spoken calmly, but to Elena they felt like icy daggers. Without another word, Elena ran out of the office. "Elena!"
She ignored Reno and kept running, until she ran into Rude. "Rude! Do you know where Tseng is?"
"I don't know who that is." Rude noted that Elena's looked worried. "Something wrong?"
"Do not joke about this, I need to see Tseng!" Elena insisted to no avail.
"I don't know," Rude tried to explain again. Elena only ran once more.
'This cant be, it can't be!' Elena returned to her desk and anxiously accessed the Shinra data base. She looked at her profile, the records of all her missions. "Why isn't Tseng here? He should be in the system; he should be in the mission we went on together." This was too much, they wouldn't go through the trouble of changing the database just for a joke, and she couldn't shake that feeling that something was very wrong.
"Elena, who exactly are you looking for?" Reno tried to reason with her again. Rude had also arrived at the office.
"Tseng of the Turks," Elena tried to explain, but the message wasn't getting across. "Tseng was with me when we went to the Northern Crater. We recovered the remains of Jenova, but we were captured by the remnants of Sephiroth. You got there just in time to take Jenova and-"
"You were in a solo mission," Rude spoke with a complete certainty that bothered Elena greatly.
"No, Tseng is... He has to be..." Elena took a deep breath. Panicking wouldn't solve anything, she was a Turk; she could handle this. Something was going on, she didn't know what, but something bad was happening. "Sorry, I need some fresh air." Reno and Rude nodded and Elena left.
xoxox xox xoxox
Elena headed to the Seventh Heaven; surely Tifa and Cloud would remember Tseng. If they did, then it meant it was some sort of twisted test from Shinra. "Tifa! Do you remember Tseng? Do you know who he is?"
There was a moment of silence in which Tifa observed the panicked state Elena was in. Tifa slowly shook her head. "No..."
Elena sunk into one of the bar stools and held her head. "Why is it that only I remember?"
"What are you talking about?" Tifa was confused.
"Tseng, he's in the Turks, but Reno and Rude don't remember him at all. He's not in Shinra's database; I don't know what happened. Cloud, I need to ask Cloud, maybe Cloud will remember!" It was Elena's last ray of hope.
"Did you call me?" Cloud came downstairs after hearing his name.
"Cloud, do you know who the leader of the Turks is?" Elena asked.
Cloud found the sudden question odd, but what was stranger, was that he had to think about it before replying. "Reno, right?"
"Try again," Elena waited for Cloud to think about his answer a little more and tried to give him a hint. "Tall, long black hair..."
Cloud tried hard to remember, this felt very strange, it made him feel uneasy. "Was there something like that in the Turks?"
"Yes, Tseng, his name is Tseng!" Elena was just about ready to give up on Cloud, when he looked like he remembered something.
"Tseng," Cloud closed his eyes and tried to picture the man Elena described. "Tseng," he remembered, the memory was blurry but he remembered. Then his head started to hurt and his eyes glowed.
"Cloud!" Tifa rushed to his side and helped him sit down.
"I can hardly remember," Cloud spoke slowly, unsure if this was a memory or an illusion. "When I try to remember my head hurts, it's blurry. Such a person really existed?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely certain. He's in danger, that's the only explanation, I don't know what's going on, but it's not good." Elena thought back to last night on the roof. Tseng was in some kind of trance back then.
"Are you sure? Maybe that man was only an illusion, something you created," Cloud was confused. He never wanted to doubt his memories again.
"Tseng is not an illusion!" Elena knew that Cloud would need some convincing, but she didn't have a fast way to prove Tseng's existence and there was no time to waste. "I'm going to find him."
xoxox xox xoxox
Elena had left the Seventh Heaven, but didn't know where to start her investigation. She saw a man she recognized as Barret heading for the Seventh Heaven. "Hey! Barret isn't it?"
"A Turk," even if Shinra was technically no longer the enemy, Barret was never fond of the company or anyone who was still working for it.
"My name is Elena. Tell me something, do you remember Tseng?" Elena asked.
"Of course, Tseng, the leader of the Turks, how can I forget any of you and what you did?" Barret did not understand why his bitter statement caused Elena to look so happy. Her face carried no malice, it was full of relief. "Why are you asking me all of this?"
"Because no one else remembers him; and Cloud got a headache trying to remember." Elena tried to further understand the scope of the situation and came to a hypothesis. "You were not in Edge last night."
"Been spyin' on me, Turk?" Barret was not pleased with how the conversation was developing and it bothered him even more that he didn't know exactly what they were talking about.
"I'll explain in the Seventh Heaven, that's where you're going, right?" In the past, Elena would have never thought of getting clues from Avalanche in such a way, let alone possibly help. But Tseng's life could be on the line for all she knew and that was more important.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Cloud, did Tseng really exist?" Tifa had no memories of a man by that name ever existing. She couldn't think of anyone who matched Elena's description.
"I don't know. When I try to remember him, I feel like there's something trying to stop me from uncovering the truth. This time it's not me, I'm not hiding my own memories; something is hiding them from me. It feels like the pain of geostigma but it's different." Cloud's words only confused Tifa further.
Tifa didn't remember Tseng and she didn't understand why Cloud and Elena did, though Cloud was doubtful. If this was some kind of side effect on Cloud because of the mako in him, that wouldn't explain why Elena's memories of Tseng appeared to be even more clear than Cloud's fragments of memories. "Could it be that Shinra experimented on Elena and this Tseng is actually an illusion?"
"Elena has no mako, I don't think she was experimented on and even if that happened, why are my memories blurry again? I have no reason to invent a person called Tseng." With that reasoning, it didn't make sense that Cloud vaguely remembered Tseng if he didn't exist.
"Maybe he's Elena's wish. Sometimes, a girl can wish for her hero, and sometimes, she becomes tired of waiting and makes something up." The hidden meaning of Tifa's words completely eluded Cloud.
"If Tseng is Elena's dream man, then why would he be in my memories too?" For Cloud to make up an illusion he needed a reason, a motivation. His desire to be a soldier, to protect Tifa, to make sure he didn't let her down, but he had no reason to invent a man named Tseng.
"Do you think that Elena wishes for Tseng to exist so strongly, that somehow you're able to sense that?" Tifa came up with another theory.
Cloud wondered if she was right. "I don't know, I suppose it could happen. If Elena feels so strongly about Tseng then maybe these blurry memories are hers, not mine. Maybe she gave me these memories somehow because she feels so strongly about this." Cloud paused and gave it some thought. "But if that was it, then I would be able to accept or deny those memories. I can easily deny them, but if I try to accept them, I feel strange, as if something is stopping me. I don't like this, there might be more to it than we imagine."
Cloud was getting worried and that worried Tifa. "We'll solve it. If Tseng is real or not, we'll get to the bottom of this. We can't lose our memories." Seeing Cloud doubt his memories like that Tifa started to doubt her own. She wondered if there really was a man named Tseng and why would she and Cloud be forced to forget him.
There was a moment of silence between Tifa and Cloud, which ended when Barret and Elena arrived at the Seventh Heaven. "Will you just tell me what in the world is goin' on?!" Barret had grown quite impatient on the way.
"I'll explain it in a minute; I want Cloud and Tifa to hear it too," Elena looked at Cloud, who had a thoughtful expression. Did that mean he was trying to remember? Good, because now Elena had proof that Tseng existed. If Barret remembered Tseng, then Cloud and Tifa would have to believe he existed.
xoxox xox xoxox
Enigma 02: Friction
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 Edge." 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 Edge 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 inquired.
"Yes, Reno was looking for his electrorod 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 water conducts electricity. I was still holding the electrorod, it activated when I fell and touched the water. Maybe, receiving that electric shock at the same time I saw the 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 Edge. 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 Edge and Tifa has it."
Finally it felt as if they could start to truly understand things. "If that's the case, 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 taught 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 database," 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's 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 Shinra?" Reno demanded, "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. Besides, we're not at war anymore. Tseng is real, I can prove it; 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?
"Traitor!" Rude spoke coldly and Reno's voice was full of venom.
"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 Shinra's up to no good I'm not retreatin'!" Barret shot several more cadets that kept pouring in from the main entrance.
"You can't deny you betrayed us now!" Reno was on the attack, his electrorod 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 retreat now!"
"We're leaving!" Cloud's final decision was followed and 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 was upset.
Cloud looked towards Elena, as if waiting for her to 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 Shinra get away with whatever they're tryin' to do!" In that sense, there was a good reason for the retreat, but Barret feared it would bring 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 Edge!" Elena argued.
"Those aren't the same thing, but I'll follow on this," Barret decided not to push the matter further.
"Why would coming here automatically make you a traitor? Reno and Rude come to bar practically every night," Tifa 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? Elena still remembered Rufus and no one appeared to be confused by the name, so they must remember 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's 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.
"Let's assume twenty-four hours or less for now. Practically every PHS in Edge uses Shinra's satellite systems to communicate now and if this unknown enemy has taken control of 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 up with 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 Shinra'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 Shinra is actually trying to help instead of walking away from the mess and leaving everyone to deal with it?" Elena yelled.
"Leavin' it to everyone else? It's your responsibility to clean it up!" Barret yelled back.
"Enough!" Tifa slammed her fist on the counter, 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 Edge 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."
xoxox xox xoxox
Enigma 03: Retreat
It was decided that instead of returning to Shinra right away, they would try to find Rufus. Shinra cadets were starting to be dispatched all over Edge, so moving around the city would not be easy. "Great, Shinra's actin' already. Looks like a the fight can't be put off." Barret was upset by how the streets were flooded with cadets, while they hardly had time to plan their next move.
"It can't be helped, we'll move underground," Elena suggested. Tifa, Cloud, Barret and Elena left, after taking Marlene and Denzel with them.
Sneaking out of the bar and running down an alley, the group came to an entrance to the swear system. They followed quietly until they came to a rusted old door. "This is it? Do think it will still open?" Tifa asked.
Elena paused, holding a keycard. "To be honest I don't know. What I can tell you is that it will most likely give away our position, but it's better than fighting all those brainwashed cadets. From this point on, it's a race to Healin Lodge. We should be able to make it there before any of the cadets." Elena looked at her companions then she slid the key card into the slot.
With some difficulty, the door noisily opened, revealing a hidden tunnel. Elena, Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Marlene and Denzel ran inside.
xoxox xox xoxox
Surprisingly, they did not encounter trouble on their way to Healin Lodge, and found that there were no cadets in that area when they exited the tunnels returning to the surface.
"We outran them?" Tifa sounded unsure, as if the possibility was too good to be true.
"This looks like a trap, but I guess we have no choice if we're going to find Rufus and get some answers." Cloud readied his sword and led the way up the stairs of Healin Lodge.
When Cloud reached the top of the stairs, the door was opened, and there stood Reno. "We were expecting you, Avalanche and the traitor."
"Reno?" Elena moved forward, she noticed Rude was there as well. "I see, Rufus must play a key role if they send you two here."
Cloud nodded, "the enemy must be desperate to hide something, and Rufus must be connected to it. Tifa, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Tifa's memories were still without Tseng, but she did not feel the urge to fight Elena or any of her allies.
"Then now's our change, you two have to realize you're being controlled!" Elena was determined to bring back the Reno and Rude who were loyal to the Turks, maybe more so than to Shinra; the Reno and Rude who would not abandon or forget Tseng.
"Do not let Avalanche confuse you," Rude insisted, but Elena did not doubt her memories.
"Reno, Rude, stand down, let them come in," Rufus' voice was heard from inside.
"But they're here to attack you!" Reno complained.
"No they're not, let them in," Rufus' order was followed, and Tifa, Cloud and Elena were allowed inside. Barret soon followed them in, keeping a close eye on Marlene and Denzel, they could not be left in the Seventh Heaven to be taken hostage.
"Do you know what's happening, sir?" Elena thought Rufus must hold an important clue.
"I'm not sure, but I want to hear your story first. You said something about being controlled." At least Rufus was willing to listen.
"Yes, something strange happened last night. There was a bright light and we believe it has a connection with what we suspect to be a virus that erased Tseng of the Turks from everyone's memories. As far as we know, only Edge was affected. I had a little accident and was electrocuted at the time, in theory, that killed the virus before it could become strong in me and my memories were unaffected. Cloud's mako is helping him fight the virus, Barret doesn't have it because he wasn't in Edge last night, and Tifa has it," Elena explained. "We think that there is something at Headquarters that can strengthen the virus, since it tried to brainwash Tifa into fighting against us when we were there, but it didn't work. You can fight it, you can hold on to the truth if you try. We wanted to use the virus scan machine in the main Shinra building. Tseng was erased from the databases at Shinra, but I know he's real, what I don't know is why they wanted to erase him."
Rufus took a moment to think about everything Elena revealed and let it sink in. "There is a portable version of that machine here, you may use that. What you said all makes sense. Right now, as far as I know, I am Rufus of the Turks. The president is someone called Novarion; that is what my memories tell me. It is also what appears in the Shinra database and Tseng is missing completely. Whoever modified the database and our memories couldn't modify paper." Rufus showed them an album. "I've been looking at this, it made things very confusing and I didn't know what to believe, but it all makes sense now. Novarion is behind this. I think he was trying to eliminate me, but Tseng stopped him and took the hit himself."
Elena took the album, "pictures from the company activities? I didn't know you kept these." She remembered Tseng's trance the previous night. "Novarion must have hypnotized Tseng."
"Whatever happened, it was most likely meant for me," Rufus was confused but the pictures were proof of the truth. It was by chance that Rufus had decided to look at them, an unexplained whim that just came and demanded attention.
"I remember all of this," Elena smiled at the pictures. She had thought the company activities were not too much fun for the Turks. They always had to make sure no incidents occurred, it was another day of work; but it was more fun than she had initially thought. "Look at these you two, try to remember." She gave the album to Reno and Rude.
"Are you sure they're not fake?" Reno asked.
"I'm sure of it, I thought so too, but I'm certain they're not fake. The real president of Shinra is me, otherwise why are you here?" Rufus insisted.
Reno and Rude looked at each other as if trying to find an answer, but neither had it. "After Elena and Avalanche retreated, I said, we should check on Rufus," Reno explained. "Rude gave me an odd look and asked me why. Rufus is supposed to be a Turks after all. Our job was to protect Shinra, then we started thinking about how we couldn't clearly remember the president, and it got confusing."
"Novarion wasn't included in our memories," Rude concluded.
"Yeah, so then we came, just because it felt like what were supposed to do, even if it might be against the orders," Reno was generally carefree and didn't question his own confusion too much. Rude did, but he decided to trust Reno and follow him. Then it all made sense, after the explanation.
"So we have a touching Turks reunion and the name of our enemy," Barret spoke. "Now what are we going to do next? We could go to Shinra and-" Barret's words were interrupted by the sound of an airship landing outside.
The group headed out to see Cid. "I don't know what's going on, but someone better explain it. I got a call from Rufus saying the Turks betrayed him and he wants them destroyed. He offered a ton of gil and to restore the space program if I dropped a couple of bombs here. As if I would do it without any explanations, what kind of an idiot am I taken for?"
"An easy to trick idiot?" Reno received a glare from Cid, "you were the one who asked!"
"Someone's takin' over Shinra. Novarion is his name from what we know so far. He took Rufus' place and is doing an even worse job then him," Barret explained the situation in his own way.
"Then what are we standing around for? Let's all get on my air ship and go over there right now." It appeared to be simple enough for Cid, since he had not yet heard about the virus.
"It won't be that easy, the people of Shinra are being controlled by a virus, at least we think it's a virus, we were about to confirm it. We'll need to cure it somehow; right now Novarion has only sent Shinra cadets against us, but what if they send civilians too?" The possibility that Tifa described was true and it was dangerous.
"Everyone listen up," Cloud assumed the position of leader and everyone's attention focused on him. "If there's a version of the virus scan machine here, let's use that. Let's see if we can figure out what this is about so we can find a cure."
xoxox xox xoxox
Cid was filled in on the details of what they knew so far, his memories remained unaffected. The virus scan machine was used and it was determined this was indeed a virus. "An electric shock killed the virus in its early stage, but that won't now, it's too late, we need an antidote." Rufus noticed something that caught his attention in the scan results. "According to the comparison from the database, this is similar to Jenova. Could this be what happened long ago?"
"You mean what wiped out the Ancients?" Cloud asked, "It could be, it's just a theory but what if Novarion is of the same kind of Jenova, no one can prove she was unique and we've heard the stories about how the Ancients were manipulated. Maybe they weren't tricked, they were brainwashed."
"It could be, but Jenova was eventually defeated, how did the Ancients do it?" Tifa brought up a good question.
"Alright, let's get organized, we need to find a cure to this virus and we need more information about the Ancient's battle against Jenova," Elena summarized.
"We also need a safe place for Marlene and Denzel," Barret reminded.
"Rocket Town," all eyes were suddenly on Rufus, "the kids can stay in Rocket Town."
"Who's to say they'll be safe?" Barret argued.
"Not in the town, in the secret base," only the Turks knew what Rufus was talking about. "Cid, do you remember when the base that held the rocket was built?"
"Yeah, they dug a huge hole and..." Cid came to a realization, "There's a secret base down there."
"Exactly, it's the safest place I can think of. The base isn't too big, but it is very strong, it can take anything from bullets to nuclear bombs and it's not in the Shinra database," Rufus revealed.
"How about I take Marlene and Denzel to Rocket Town?" Cid offered. "I don't think Novarion is watching too closely yet. I can drop them off at the secret base and Shera can keep them company. Someone will have to come and open it up."
"I'll go, I'm the only one who can open it," Rufus revealed.
"You're not goin' to tell us how it works?" Barret sounded suspicious.
"The security system opens by scanning my DNA, it won't open for anyone else from the outside, but anyone can open it from the inside," Rufus explained.
"Greedy," Barret muttered.
"Alright, it's settle, Cid, Rufus, Marlene and Denzel, will be going to Rocket Town, there's no time to waste, leave right away," Cloud urged.
"Cloud, can't I help with anything?" Denzel asked unsure.
"Me too, I want to do something instead of just hiding," Marlene added.
"You too need to stay safe, be strong for us," Tifa tried to assure them.
"One more thing," Rufus voiced, "there is an archive of stories about the Ancients, legends and myths. When they were recovered piece by piece no one thought it was important, they looked like children's' fairytales, but there might be a clue there, something that mentions how the Ancients defeated Jenova. It'll be tricky to figure out it out, since the stories will be like incomplete riddles. The archives are kept in Junon."
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.
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