CHAPTER 6

 

The cold, dark, eternal prison seemed so torturing to her. So hadn’t seen light for a long, long time, almost forgotten how the outside world looks like. She remembered herself, once free as a bird, running down the streets of Midgar, then bumped into Cloud and started a journey to save the from evil and greed. But now those were just memories to her. She no longer wanted anything but freedom. Freedom to move about, than staying in a prison that feels like hell.

 

The girl sat in a corner, thinking about the past. She remembered the days where she was just an ordinary girl, selling flowers in the slums. Those days were beautiful, truly. Although she was an ancient, it doesn’t really bother her much. She still get attention from guys all around, girls envying her and many other things. She remembered the church she used to go. The flowers that bloomed here, the people who came to pray, the music of the organ playing...those were the past. The present? Look at her now.

 

The girl looked around, although she had already done this more than a thousand times. The sanitary basin still remain ‘unclean’, the room that really, really stinks, the darkness she got used to till she could see every minor detail in the room as if there was light in it. She looked at her clothes and saw the wear and tear and the wounds on her body. She stopped thinking about it. It was too brutal, way too brutal for her...

 

The girl now started to wonder about the future. Ever since she entered this eternal prison, her future seemed so dark to her. It seemed that she had no future other than sitting here for the rest of her life. Sometimes, she hoped herself death rather than living in this hellhole. For some reason, her ‘keeper’ kept her alive by sending her food, although the food might look inedible. Many times, she thought of committing suicide but the hope that someone will come and save her kept her alive.

 

After staring at the floor for a long time, she heard the noise of the small food window opening. A dish was pushed into the room and then the window closed immediately. Like an animal, she crawled towards the dish and started to gobble up what ever that was on that dish. If she hadn’t lost the sense of time, she was given food once a day. The food taste and look terrible but she still gobble it up because of hunger. She remembered when she just entered this place, she was sick because of the food but no one even cared about her. She remembered how her stomach became painful gradually and how fever eluded her. But slowly, she recovered and became used to the food. Boy, that must had been tough.

 

After finishing her food, she returned to her favorite corner and waited again. Quietly, she prayed to god, hoping that one day, she will be set free, far away from this place, and never again will return here. Although chance that she will get out was slim, she still had in faith in someone, someone that will search for her, until he found her.

 

 

 

Cloud, still feeling stupid after being conned by the Turks, looked out of the helicopter that was heading towards west. In the same chopper with him was the three turks, Agent Dubchek, the criminology expert and kid, the explosive expert. Together with four choppers with all the other experts and the other choppers left behind at Kalm, they headed west, towards a mountain area.

 

“So Cloud, what actually are we going to do first?” Kid asked, not fully understanding what was the situation.

 

“First, we will go look for a friend of mine, and then, we will do an investigation in a mansion there.” Cloud answered.

 

“We are heading for Nibelhelm right? Nice place I heard that town was. Peaceful and quiet, a paradise if you ask me.” Kid continued.

 

Cloud just kept quiet. Peaceful and quiet? My foot! That place was his hometown and all his nightmares came from there. No doubt that Nibelhelm was peaceful at first, but after Sephiroth came and plagued the town, Nibelhelm was like a war torn country, left only in ashes and destruction. But strangely, Nibelhelm looked like it was fixed up and people sent in to stay to cover up the destruction caused onto it. The reason? Nobody really knows.

 

“Nibelhelm might look nice, but it was a very false place, if you ask me.” Agent Dubchek said.

 

“False?” Kid asked with a curious tone.

 

“Yes, false. I shouldn’t be telling other people about this but I was the one in charge of training the people who replace the citizens of Nibelhelm after the fire in Nibelhelm. Nibelhelm was destroyed in a fire and Shinra decided to rebuild it for some reason. People from different places were recruited to pretend as Nibelhelm citizens to make it looked like nothing had actually happened.” Agent Dubchek replied and Kid listened carefully. Kid, not knowing that Nibelhelm holds such a secret listened in awe.

 

Cloud that was listen to Agent Dubchek too sat there quietly. He remembered the first time he revisited Nibelhelm with Sephiroth, Sephiroth seemed so disturbed and awkward. Then, hell broke loose and Sephiroth went berserk. Sephiroth killed every one in Nibelhelm, burned it down and left Cloud in total grief. Cloud remembered the time he nearly lost Tifa. He couldn’t imagine himself losing her.

 

“Say, Cloud. What makes you think that we will find something useful at Nibelhelm.” Kid asked Cloud.

 

“Like Cloud told us, the body he found was a clone-like thing. Who in the world do you think is capable of creating something like that?” Reno replied for Cloud.

 

“Who else if it isn’t Hojo?” Agent Dubchek interrupted.

 

“Exactly. We believe that this case had something to do with Hojo and the only way we are going to find out was to search his lab under the Nibelhelm mansion. Of course, he might not conduct his most fabulous experiments there but that place will be a good head start for a search.” Reno replied.

 

Kid listened and recognized the name Hojo. He heard that name many times because Hojo was well known with his work on Jenova and genetic engineering. Due to this, he had quite a reputation. Among the Shinra community, he was a scary person and seemed unpopular. Many people don’t really want to know what he actually did to animals.

 

“So, who is the friend you guys are talking about?” Kid asked a final question.

 

“You will know when we get to meet him.” Reno answered while looking at the town of Nibelhelm through the window of the chopper.

 

 

 

“Hey Mike! Get your slow movin’ a$$ here on the double!”

 

Immediately after that command, a teenager around the age of twelve wearing a cap and a loose T-shirt with short pants ran into shop. He greeted the shop owner.

 

“The usual delivery guy was sick today. Take this bag of groceries to the guy in the mansion.” The shop owner said while handing the boy a bag of groceries.

 

“The...the mansion?” The boy asked with a frightened tone.

 

“What? You scared of ghost? Let me tell you something, there is no such thing as ghosts, so get your a$$ movin’!” The shop owner shouted a the shivering boy.

 

“But...there was a weird guy that stays in there. They say he had sharp teeth, red eyes and suck human blood.” The kid continued.

 

“Yea, yea. If he suck blood, I wonder why the hell he need sausages and ham.” The shop owner replied.

 

“But...”

 

“No buts! You have to learn how to shape your courage and not act like a timid little girl! Now go run to the mansion and be back quickly! I have other delivery for you to make!”

 

The shop owner grew impatient. The kid only nodded and walked out of the shop slowly. Suddenly, they heard roaring noises approaching. The shop owner went to the window and had a peek outside. He saw four dots approaching towards them. He then notice they were helicopters and flying towards them in high speed.

 

“What in the world...”

 

“What is it, sir?” The boy asked.

 

“Nothing. Just hadn’t seen visitor coming this way before. Wonder what they are up to?” The shop owner answered.

 

“Are they military choppers? Will they attack us?” The boys asked again.

 

“Even if they are military choppers, there isn’t a reason why they will want to attack us. Without the Mako reactor working, Nibelhelm had virtually no economic value. They are probably here for something else. Hey what are you still here? Dilly-dallying?”

 

The shop owner scolded. The boy quickly, ran out of the door, and headed towards the mansion.

 

 

 

The boy, now standing outside of the mansion, looked at the mansion in awe. The mansion was huge and beautiful, but somehow, it looked creepy, especially when the wind started blowing. The boy opened the gate and entered the porch. He looked around and saw the plants nearby were mostly dead. He started shivering. All he wanted was a part-time job, and now he was given such a job. He took a deep breath, and knock on the door.

 

No reply. The boy waited for a while and knocked harder. Still nothing. Then, he knocked hard and the door opened with a creaking sound. The door wasn’t lock. The boy took a peek inside. It was quite dark inside, although he could see light shining from a large window. He tiptoed into the mansion and looked around. Suddenly he felt a gust of wind and the door closed behind him with a slam. He was shocked. When he turned around, he saw a dark figure standing in front of him, with red eyes gazing at him and a claw reaching towards him. He was so scared that he could find his find. His legs lost all strength and he collapsed onto the floor, looking back at the figure.

 

The figure slowly approached him. The boy was petrified and the red eye scared him most. He brought out him arms in a helpless attempt to protect himself from the figure. He could feel that the figure was coming towards him, slowly. Then he felt the claw made a swift move. His nerves alarmed as he was so afraid they would hurt him. But they didn’t. The figure just snatched the bag of groceries from him. The figure checked the groceries in the bag, and hand the boy five hundred gil. The boy still petrified, slowly reached out to receive the money.

 

“Keep the change.”

 

The figure spoke. The boy, now became calmer, pushed himself up slowly. Although the figure spoke quite politely, he was still afraid of him. Mostly because of the figure’s appearance. The boy counted the money, and started to walk towards the exit to end this ordeal.

 

“Hey kid. What was the noise coming from the east?” The figure asked coldly.

 

“I don’t know, sir. They are choppers heading towards this way. I don’t know why they are here but there were about four or five of them.” The boy replied.

 

“Thanks.”

 

The figure lifted his hand and the door opened. The boy ran out and the door closed behind him.

 

“What is it this time?” Vincent, although only had slight information about the choppers, could tell that he will be involved in something big, again.