From Night to Day: A Novelization

Prologue

      At first there was darkness. Dense, unyielding darkness. There was no definition of anything; time had no meaning. Slowly, stars appeared; the way stars do. The tiny pin pricks twinkled to life, followed by still more, until the darkness looked like the night sky. From divine silver to an earthly green the stars changed.  The woman, aglow with from the light of the green pinpoints, snapped out of the near-trance she had been in for the last few minutes. She looked young, but there was something mystical and old about her, with chestnut hair and neat bangs perfectly framing her face and eyes that shimmered and sparkled. The dark emerald depths of her irises had no limits, nor did they betray what was inside except gentility and kindness.

Her body was slim and petite, still fresh with youth, and as she stood up, the delicate hem of her pink dress swept across the colorless ground. Reaching down, she brushed the front of her skirt off and moved to pick up the basket of delicate flowers she had brought with her.  She had only meant to stop for a quick prayer, after all, and while the Mako vent at the base of the brick wall she was facing was still lazily blowing out glowing green flecks of Mako, she knew it was time to leave. Walking slowly, she came out of the alley and onto the street corner, where people bustled about in the bliss of normality. Neon signs and the headlights from the occasional car lit up the people as they shuffled towards their various destinations.  Though it happened to be the middle of the night, she and everyone on the street knew that no matter what the time, it would always be eternally dark in the slums. The city on top of them, supported in sectors by pillars, blocked all sunlight and caused endless night underneath. This was Midgar. She walked across the street and disappeared into the crowds as the stoplight changed. In the distance, a train roared by.

Chapter One

Urban Avalanche

      The train sped quickly to reach its destination on time, like it did every single day since the system went up. It screeched to a halt right on schedule at eleven forty-five in the evening, trailing a billowing cloud of smoke.  Two tired looking guards watched lazily as they waited for the passengers to come out of the doors. They realized something was amiss, though, when a dark haired youth leapt off the roof of the train and landed in front of them. The young man's street-rags were nondescript, and as he lunged towards the guard nearest him, the other was already deciding that this would be a difficult perpetrator to locate should he make it into the streets of the slums.  The nameless youth deftly grabbed his target's arm, flipped him over his head, and immediately knocked him unconscious. The other guard barely had time to yell when a second assailant in the form of a teen-aged girl landed a powerful kick into the man's temple, sending him to the ground, also unconscious.
The man raised an arm into the haze of the train station and beckoned to the others waiting for his "all clear".  A third lowered himself from the roof of the train delicately.  He was portly, but the bright red bandana covering his hair also did a good job at concealing his age.  The three companions shared brief congratulatory grins before a fourth person jumped from the train. The new man was big and muscular, and the other three immediately turned their attention to him.  He glared at them appraisingly before signaling for them to go ahead.  "See ya at the reactor, Barret," the girl chirped confidently, giving him a casual salute as she and the other two made for the alleyway at the end of the platform.  Barret grunted at them, and wiped the sweat off his dark brow.  Why he always got a little sweaty before missions was beyond him.  He certainly didn't feel nervous; in fact, he felt kind of angry.  The newest recruit had yet to join him on the ground and was, as usual, holding up the entire operation.

Finally, he spotted the newbie pulling himself nonchalantly out of the hatch on the roof of the train.  Stepping under one of the station lamps, Barret beckoned the other, final, man.  "Hurry up," he called gruffly, waving his single gloved hand at the younger man on the train.  The street light made the scars on his face shine dully, and glinted off the metal barrel that made up the Gatling gun in which his other arm abruptly ended.  The man on the train leapt off, and landed gracefully on the concrete platform, his wild blond hair shifting only slightly with the effort.  Barret stubbornly repressed a shudder as the younger man walked towards him through the haze, his weird, unnatural eyes glowing in the dim light.

Suddenly, footsteps and loud voices cut off their meeting and without a single word, both rebels raced off the platform and into the darkness.  As they broke out of the alleyway, a solitary ShinRa officer, alerted by their loud footfalls, glanced in their direction.  The officer didn't have moment to react as the blond man unsheathed a monstrous sword and, quick as a flash, left a huge gash in the officer's torso.  Silenced by his wound, the ShinRa guard fell to the ground and lay still.  

Barret had pounded away down another alley, leaving the young swordsman to play catch up.  As he leapt lightly over a pile of garbage taking up most of the alley, he broke out into an industrial service road, blocked at one end by an iron gate.  Barret was nowhere to be seen but the other three were struggling to break the security code on the gate, knowing it would lead them into the core of the reactor. As he jogged up to them, the thinner man of the three looked up at him. "They said you SOLDIER dudes are almost superhuman, it's a good thing we've got you working for us this mission. Avalanche is really hurting for help," he smiled jauntily
      
The girl looked up from her work, "I have a hard time believing someone in SOLDIER would help us out, Biggs. They're the enemy and I'm still not sure I trust him. What could he possibly gain by working with Avalanche?"
      
The man glanced at her and explained further, "Chill out, Jessie, he used to be in SOLDIER. Barret's got him paid and pegged as a mercenary." He turned back up to the unfamiliar man. "Barret never mentioned your name, though," he started, holding out his hand to shake the ex-SOLDIER'S.
      
The blond looked at him and scowled, keeping his own hands stubbornly at his side, "Cloud."
      
He started to reply, happily succeeding in his attempt at friendliness, "That's sort of a weird name.  I'm-"
      
"I don't care what your names are," Cloud snapped, his glowing ice-blue eyes cold. "Once we finish this, I'm outta here."
      
Suddenly, Barret appeared from around the corner, looking irate. "The hell you all doin'? I thought I told you never to move in a group!"

Walking up to them, he lowered his gravelly voice. "Reactor One's got light security tonight because of the maintenance on Three," he said with a serious grimace, "break up and we'll meet at the first code clearance door."  

Jessie, suddenly, made a noise of triumph, signaling that she had broken the code on the gate.  She, Biggs, and the other man nodded to Barret and raced ahead of them. "I don't care what Tifa says," the huge, older man snarled to Cloud as he turned to follow.  "I don't trust no ex-SOLDIERS."
      
He scowled threateningly at Cloud one last time before tailing his companions down the alley as the towering ShinRa Headquarters dominated the rest of the skyline. Cloud snorted defiantly, and raced after them trying to come up with a biting retort.  The gunman was bulky in build and it impeded his speed, making it easy for the ex-SOLDIER to keep up.  They caught up with their companions in the ground level of the reactor; it's smoke tower, bearing a giant number one, spewing Mako steam into the starless night. Cloud stayed aloof from his employer and the rest of his gang as he approached, treating them like a cold mercenary should. The gunman glared at him, and crossed his arms, "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"
      
Cloud put his gloved hands on his hips, "No. After all, I did work for the ShinRa."

The larger man looked like he wanted to say something rude, or perhaps even take a swing an his insolent and arrogant counterpart, "Then you'd know that the ShinRa are using these reactors to suck up the life-blood of the planet and turn it into power."

"I'm not here for a lecture," Cloud bit back, looking arrogant, "let's just get on with it."

Barret grunted in aggravation and turned to the round-faced man standing behind him, "Wedge! Stand guard here and support us on the way out."  Giving one last, authoritative glare at Cloud, he followed Biggs and Jessie through an adjacent corridor as Wedge unholstered a gun and stood guard near the corner of the room. Quickly, they strode down the empty hallway weapons drawn and half-expecting security to charge them in droves at any second. After a tense wrong turn under a furiously blushing Jessie's command, the party arrived at another heavy door guarded by an unassuming pin pad.  Biggs checked a small electronic device in his pocket before setting to work on the security system.  "We've got all the security codes for the system," he said in a would-be casual tone to Barret, "but I don't even want to think about the people that are gonna be held responsible for this shit."  After a moment or two, the door chimed pleasantly and slid open, allowing them deeper into the reactor and closer to their target, the core.  Further down the passage a second door greeted them, but Jessie, armed with the secret ShinRa clearance code, made quick work of it.

The door opened to an oversized lift.  Barret, Cloud, and Jessie climbed in while Biggs stayed behind to keep their escape path open.  "Right now we're on level with the liquid Mako tanks," Jessie said, focusing most of her attention on a tiny notepad she held in her gloved hand.  "The main core consol should be a few levels above us."  The elevator rumbled and began to climb. Barret leaned up against the side, and gave Cloud an appraising look.  The punk was tough, at the very least, he admitted to himself.  But, damn, they don't come much cockier. "Y'know, little by little the reactors'll drain out all the Mako and that'll be that," he said pointedly, hoping to gain some kind of reaction out of Cloud, snarky or otherwise.

"I don't care," Cloud snorted, running a hand through his wild hair.

Barret grimaced, "Their killin' the planet."

He glared at Barret with intense blue eyes that seemed to glow brighter in his annoyance. "I said I didn't care.  The only thing I give a crap about is getting this done before security figures out what's going on."

Before an argument could break out, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.  Jessie, stowing her notepad back into her vest pocket, checked to make sure they were clear, and then led the two men out into the adjoining hallway.  At Jessie's instructions they made their way through twisting blank corridors until they finally came onto a set of iron double doors.  With a final security code, Jessie opened the way for them and they stood facing a rickety catwalk and a series of ladders overlooking the small emerald sea of liquid Mako several stories below them.  Carefully, they picked their way down the ladders and onto several small, swaying catwalks before they finally emerged onto the mainframe of the core: a t-intersection of catwalk with short guard railings.

At Barret's orders, Jessie departed to further secure their escape route once the job was done.  With Barret leading, he and Cloud carefully made their way across the white tiled walkway overlooking an endless pool of Mako. The platform on the farthest wall of the core was small and seemed to groan and protest under their weight.  Barret approached the control consol and looked searchingly at the wiring behind the plastic frame.  "Cheap-ass ShinRa.  This plastic piece a'crap don't stand a chance."  He stepped back, handing a small circular disk with several loose wires poking out between strips of duct tape to Cloud. "You set the bomb."

"What? Why me?" Cloud asked, surprise and suspicion lacing his voice.

"Jus' do it," Barret barked. "I'm gonna watch you, cause you'd stab me in the back if I did it."  He crossed his arms with satisfaction and smirked smugly.

Cloud frowned but composed himself and shrugged uncaringly. "Whatever you say." He accepted the small parcel and positioned himself in front of the console.

Open your eyes!

Cloud gripped his head in pain and sank to his knees. A voice? In his head? It was so horribly familiar, but he couldn't fit it with a name. He came to his senses a split second later, with Barret staring at him curiously and unarguably worried. "What's wrong?" Cloud shook his head, and shakily got to his feet, leaning on the guardrail for momentary support.

"What's wrong, Cloud?" Barret repeated, looking worried, "Hurry it up!"

"Yeah, sorry," he said tersely and approached the console again.  The wiring was relatively idiot-proof and he was able to activate the bomb without much guessing.
"Done," he said, examining his handiwork. His companion was about to say something when an alarm suddenly flared up.

"Shit! That was quick," Barret yelled, loading his gun-arm, "Jessie said it would take longer than that for the tamper alarm to go off."

"So what's that mean for us?" Cloud shouted back, following Barret's lead and unsheathing his huge sword.

"Means we got company!"

A huge rumbling erupted from the far corridor, bursting through the doorway in the form of a huge robotic scorpion.  It charged them with no preamble and began firing laser cannons at them indiscriminately. It glared at the renegades for a moment before charging. Cloud agilely leapt out of the way while Barret clumsily rolled. Gritting his teeth, Cloud shot forward and attacked, slashing at any exposed joint he could find. As Barret unloaded bullets in the creature's underbelly, Cloud broke off his charge, sensing an imminent counter attack.  Another idea was forming in his head, though, and he put some more distance between himself and the menace. As he concentrated, the sword burst into a glowing yellow light that quickly transformed into racing electrical currents that ran up and down the blade. Again, he charged forward, slicing the mechanical monster across its metal chest, shouting in triumph.

The monster seemed to squeal in pain as wires dangled out of their circuit boxes and smoke was pouring out of the bent metal wound. Barret shot a huge burst of fire and rewarded as chunks of shrapnel were sent flying and he was lucky enough to have melted several critical components of the beast's mechanic system.  The robot began to whine loudly as more and more of its joints fried.  Cloud attacked one last time, and it completely gave way, it collapsed and twitched spastically.  

Barret, in a compulsive moment, happened to glance at the bomb ticking away on the console when he suddenly realized that the timer was far shorter than it should have been.  His stomach immediately dropped and he turned, giving Cloud a shove forward as he broke into a run. "I thought you set it for ten minutes!" Barret exclaimed, his dark eyes wide.

"I did!" Cloud shouted back, panic lacing his harsh voice. "Screw it; let's just get out of here, fast!"

The other man nodded and began to run as best he could across the narrow little catwalk. They had to climb over the busted guard scorpion because it took up most of the walkway, slowing them up considerably.  By the time Cloud reached the ladder leading upwards to their escape route, Barret was already through the upper doorway. As he made his way up, scrambling up the rungs, he heard a female voice cry out. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Jessie being attacked by the first in what was sure to become a wave of guards.

Without thinking, Cloud leapt sideways off the ladder, while at the same time drawing his sword. He landed with a loud 'whump' on top of the elite security officer and in one neat movement, thrust the wide blade through the other man.   Helping the frightened young woman, he noticed that her foot was caught in the support they were standing on. Yanking her foot out, they both took off down the hall. "Thanks!" She managed to shout to him. They reached the bridge across a great abyss and yet another low rumbling was heard. Cloud watched as Barret, Biggs, and Wedge ran out on the left side.

Running at full force, Cloud and Jesse turned the corner. Jessie turned too hard and with an ungainly wobble, slipped and fell, skidding halfway over the side of the unstable bridge. She panicked and began clawing at the floor to make it back up. The ex-SOILDER roughly grabbed her wrist and wrapped an unnaturally strong arm around her waist as he sprinted away. The temperature inside was rising rapidly, and heat waves were making everything look like liquid. As soon as he made it to the doorway, the reactor exploded, sending a wall of flames outward.

The explosion rocked the entire city and threw Barret and his companions to the ground. The smell of Mako and melting metal was immediately present, and in only a few moments time, sirens could be heard. Picking themselves up, Cloud followed Barret and the others into a small hallway that was covered in graffiti. The followed the corridor for several long minutes, until they turned a corner that ended in a doorway blocked off with debris. Biggs turned to his companions with a cocky smile. "That should keep the planet going, at least a little while."

Wedge smiled grimly. "Yeah." He finally holstered his pistol and wiped sweat and grime of his face with the back of his hand.  Barret stared at them for a moment, and then directed Jessie to clear an opening.  She began to hook up another bomb, albeit much smaller, to the wall. She set it and backed up, ordering everyone against the far wall.  They obeyed, shielding their eyes and covering their faces. The wall exploded into shrapnel and metal bits and the five of them leapt through the flames to escape. They made it through unscathed, save for the fact that the seat of the Wedge's pants had been badly singed.  Biggs made a rude comment, causing Barret and Jessie to snicker at his misfortune.

Not bothering to speed up the death of the flames, Barret gathered his three buddies and the lone mercenary for their final instructions. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train".  Barret broke into a jog without another word and made towards a rickety staircase.

"Hey!" Cloud started, lurching forward to chase after him.

"If it's 'bout the money, just wait till we get back," he barked over his shoulder, "You get paid when the work is done." With that, Barret climbed the stairway and was gone. Wedge took off in the opposite direction, with the other two trailing him. Cloud sighed, aggravated at Barret. He had only known him for a few days or so, but he was such a pig-headed, brash, obstinate jerk that Cloud found himself gritting his teeth every time Barret opened his fat mouth.  He absently followed the direction in which the other three had gone at a relaxed walk, not at all in a hurry to be back with AVALANCHE.  

Following the alley, he came out in a plaza littered with debris and chunks of building shaken loose from the massive explosion that had just happened. Cloud watched detachedly as people ran by in terror, confused and afraid of a second attack.  He acted aloof and as unsuspicious as possible, his hands jammed in his pants pockets and his sword sheathed.  Rounding the corner into the plaza, he made his way towards a fountain that had mostly escaped damage. In an attempt to sidle into an alley beyond the fountain, he walked purposefully around the circular ledge but something pink caught his eye, stopping him in his tracks.  

It was a woman, sprawled face down on the ground, a basket of flowers next to her, spilling its colorful contents on the drab concrete.  Overcome with sudden guilt, he couldn't stop himself from kneeling down next to her.  He shook her gently, and she groaned, coming back to consciousness.  Cloud stood back a little as she sat up slowly, blinking with wide, emerald eyes.  "Oh god," she murmured, holding a hand to her slightly bruised forehead, "What happened?"

Cloud avoided her glittering eyes, gesturing towards the remains of the reactor. "There was some kind of explosion or something.  You alright?"

She stood up, shakily, but smiled weakly.  "Yes, I'm okay. I remember hearing a crash and falling down, I must've banged my head."  

He felt inexplicably drawn to her and compelled to help her to her feet. "I'm not sure what happened." he lied, gathering up her flowers and placing them back in her basket.  He couldn't stop himself from admiring her gentle face, though, as the slightest bit of redness threatened to creep into his cheeks.

"Do you like them? There only a gil." she offered, as she took the basket of flowers from his hands noticing the way he looked at them.

"Where do you get them?  I've never seen flowers in Midgar before," he asked, satisfied that this captivating stranger seemed to be unharmed.

She ran a slim hand through her bangs, smiling slightly.  "I grow them myself."

Cloud thought for a moment and dug up a coin from his pocket and handed it to her. She smiled widely and handed him a small delicate orange flower. He thanked her as she made off down the street. Taking one last look at the young woman, he jogged down to the other end of the avenue.

He was nearly at the train station and coming out of an alley, when two ShinRa guards ran up behind him. "Hey! You there!"

Wanting to avoid any incriminating inquiries, Cloud dashed ahead of them and veered right- directly into two more guards who had their rifles aimed at his chest.  The situation had suddenly gone from annoying to bad.  With nearly cat-like reflexes, he turned around and made a break for an adjacent alleyway. Two more guards stepped in front of him as the last four closed him into the side of a bridge overlooking train tracks. All six guards trained their rifles at his head. One of them spoke through his blue helmet. "That's as far as you go."

Knowing that he was only endangering his anonymity by fighting, he backed into the guard rail.  As a train horn blared in the distance, an idea came to him. He held out his hand, concentrating on the orb attached to his sword, and a twisted tree of lightning crashed into the ground before the soldiers. Startled they watched, speechless, as the strange man turned and flung himself over the railing just as a train roared out of the tunnel. He landed smoothly on the roof and ducked as he and the train dropped underground.

* * *

Barret, Wedge, Jessie, and Biggs all sulked in the cargo area of the train.  Wondering what had happened to Cloud. "I wonder if he was killed," Biggs sighed sadly.

"Shit," Barret muttered with a roll of his eyes, "ain't nothin' gonna kill that bastard easy."

Jessie looked sadly at the train wall, having never had the chance to thank Cloud for saving her twice in the reactor.  She bit her lip, why was she always so helpless?  She tried so hard to self-sufficient but always ended up having to be rescued.  She nearly smiled though, as a scene played out in her mind's eye in which she was the one rescuing him.  Surely he hadn't been killed like Biggs thought, Cloud used to be in SOLDIER, after all.  Weren't they supposed to be nearly invincible?

"I wonder if we could get him to fight with us till the end…" Jessie mumbled.

"Dude, that would be so cool!" Biggs gushed as Wedge rolled his eyes.

Barret slapped a nearby crate in anger. "Y'all are idiots if you think that asshole'd fight for someone or somethin' else."   As difficult as he could be, at least Barret's moods were easy to understand.

A loud pounding startled them all out of their wits, as the car door suddenly slid open with a blast of dank wind.  A figure flipped in from the roof, landing directly in front of Barret.  

"Cloud!"

"Sorry I'm late," he said smoothly, a cocky note in his voice.

"You damn right, you're late!" Barret burst out, "Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"

"Whoa, sorry," Cloud answered cockily, shrugging his shoulders.

"Shit! Havin' everyone worried 'bout you like that; you don' give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"

The younger man smirked, the cocky note growing a little more arrogant, "Oho! You were worried about me?"

Barret clenched his fist, and then pointedly waved his gun-arm at the younger man. "It's comin' outta your money, hot stuff." There was a tense silence, in which Barret tried to save face and not feel threatened by Cloud's defiant attitude. "The train's slowing down; let's get out of here and get home!"

They watched as Barret left the car and headed out. Wedge heartily clapped Cloud on the back. "That was awesome."

Biggs jogged up next to him and pumped a fist in the air, "Shit yeah!  Whoo, Barret is so pissed!" Wedge and his younger counterpart left, leaving Jessie and Cloud behind.

"Your face is pitch black!" She untied her headband and wiped Cloud's cheeks with it, taking off some of the dirt and soot that had caked onto his handsome face. "That's better," she smiled nervously, "Thanks for helping me back there at the reactor.  I guess I can be a little clumsy." Blushing and grinning at him with girlish admiration, she followed Biggs and Wedge out. Cloud took a moment to make sure he still had everything he had originally left with and followed Avalanche out.

He and the others emerged in an empty guest car, save for a man in a business suit. Barret flopped down next to him and the smaller, meeker man got up and nervously began to exit.  Jessie beckoned from in front of a monitor mounted into the train wall towards the end of the compartment. "You want to look at this with me?" Cloud agreed, not wanting to be alone with Wedge and Biggs, who both seemed a bit too peppy for his tastes, and walked up to her and the glowing monitor. "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together; I'll explain it to you." She seemed to beam with happiness at the ex-SOLDIER's choice to join her. "I like this kinda stuff, high-tech stuff. I'm kind of a nerd."

The two rebels looked at the monitor as a green ShinRa logo appeared. "Okay it's about to start," Jessie said in anticipation. A wire frame model of Midgar was depicted on the aging screen.  "This is the route the train is on," she said, pointing to a line of dots winding around the main pillar.  "We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central databank at ShinRa Headquarters." She lowered her voice again, "Anyone can tell we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."

Suddenly, a red light started flashing. "See? There it goes…" Jessie muttered, "that light means that we're in the ID Security Check area.  At least that's the last one before we get back to Sector Seven."

Cloud nodded in thanks for her explanation of the city, but her only response was her furious blushing.  Leaving to escape the ensuing awkward silence, the hired mercenary walked back over to Barret who was engrossed with scowling at the passing landscape. "Look," he directed seriously, gesturing with his head at the blackened cityscape. "You can see the surface now. Because of the way Midgar's built, the slums are always night. If that plate weren't there, we could see the sky."

Cloud nodded absently, leaning forward to see the towering plate. "The whole set up seems screwed.  How can they get away with building a city on top of people?"

Barret looked up at him and smiled smugly. "Never expected to hear that outta someone like you." Cloud glared indignantly at him, but the other continued with a wave of his good hand. "The upper world- a city of light and wealth.  It is screwed up, man. It's 'cause of that fucking 'pizza' that people underneath are sufferin'!  The city below is full of polluted air and crime. On toppa that, the reactors keep drainin' up all the Mako to power the damn thing."

The mercenary nodded again, reluctantly understanding. "I wonder why everyone doesn't just move to the plate."

Barret shook his head, his frustration ebbing. "People in the slums can't afford it.  All the ShinRa employees live on the plate and all the rest of us make a living doing shit to support them.  The ShinRa keeps making us poorer and poorer while they get richer and richer.  'Sides people love their land, no matter how bad the ShinRa tries to fuck it all up."

"Yeah, I know," Cloud agreed solemnly, "No one lives in the slums because they want to." He paused, staring hypnotically out the window.

Barret sighed, following the young man's gaze. "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where the rails take it.