Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII: Awakening ❯ Sunlit Garden ( Chapter 33 )

Title inspired by the Revolutionary Girl Utena track “Sunlit Garden.”

** Quote borrowed from the movie “Home Alone.”

Darkness. No life no light. Somehow, something bristly tickled her skin. In a world of no…

She opened her eyes and quickly covered them with her hands. For some reason she was laying on her back with her face directly to the sun. First, she finds herself in a crisis then she ends up in a place Shinra couldn’t possibly match with any silly retirement package.

Groaning loudly she worked her way to her feet. Her favorite pair of black boots was on her feet and she could not have been happier. Her left arm warmer was slightly lower then the right so she decided to sit in a crouch and pull it up with her teeth. The daylight was beautiful and the field she awoke in littered with green grass and a multitude of red, yellow, and white flowers. How she wished she paid attention to her grandmother. So many types of flowers each more beautiful then the other, her grandmother used to be a lead botanist for Shinra.

With the arm warmer problem corrected, she straightened and tugged at the legs of her black spandex shorts. Today was a special day!

He promised he’d meet me here!

“I’m here! I’m here waiting for you, you BITCH!!” She yelled at the top her lungs and placed her left pointer finger to her lips.

The sky was a brilliant blue and the breeze was pleasantly warm. Slowly, she trudged through the grass and flowers, lazily placing one foot in front of the other. Her arms placed as far out her sides, one might easily confuse her for an extinct bird referred to as an albatross.

Her lips parted in a toothy smile. So pleasant, she thought, until a gale force wind hit her full blast knocking her to the ground. “Oof.” Undaunted, she pushed herself to her feet and glanced around. “I hope no one saw that.” After scanning the area, she deduced the area around her was clear of other humans.

She cleared her throat, “Moving on…” Her surroundings never changed the farther she walked, until a nauseating squish greeted her ears. “Eeew!” she grunted and looked down at her favorite pair of boots.

“Woof woof!” an excited bark caught her attention and looked out over the horizon to find the source.

Slowly, she shielded her eyes from the rays of the sun and scanned the area some more. Something tall and dark caught her attention so she tried her best to focus on it. The grass rustled loudly as the tall dark figure closed in on her. Elena found herself unsure of whether to stand still or run away. Her beloved promised her. He promised to meet her at that…

“Uh-oh.” The former Turk suddenly realized she walked quite a distance from their point of rendezvous. By the time, she concluded one flowery spot was as good as another, a large furry object slammed into her knocking her back against the earth.

A couple barks and a long wet tongue to the face helped ease the humiliation until she caught a whiff of the waste that almost certainly ruined her favorite shoes.

“Hi, there, big boy…” A huge hairy brown and silver dog stood over her and breathed its foul breath into her nostrils. “…is this yours?” She grunted.

The large animal sat back on its haunches and scratched itself behind a pointy ear. Finally, Elena stood up and began to dust off her powder blue knit top. This doesn’t happen to the heroine in the Final Fantasy romance novels!

“YEEEARGH!!” She growled and threw her arms out to the sides scaring the dog enough to make it run away.

“Now that that’s over with…” she sent glances over her shoulders and scratched her forehead, “…where is he?”

Somehow, Sasha Tate found himself standing face to face with Cloud Strife, the man he assisted in arresting for murder. Even before they formally met, there was no love loss. Cloud knew Reeve’s special military would be no different from any other Shinra officer and Tate lost one of his best men, in all likelihood, to the blonde haired boy before him.

“So Reeve didn’t want to apologize himself?” Cloud prodded from his hard splintery chair.

“Why should he?” General Tate placed a hand gingerly on the sun faded whicker table separating him from the young man. “You haven’t been exactly proven innocent, yet.” In essence, he knew his employer was wrong but he still had to stand tall and dignified as if he were in the right.

“Sephiroth mentioned something about a ‘key player’ so you must know who the murderer is by now. You’ve got to let me out of here!”

“I wish I could. It’s not that easy.” Tate reflected on the events of the last couple days, his ass handed to him by a clone and word of Elena landing with the new Cait Sith unit.

“If you aren’t going to let me out why are you here?” The blonde boy did his best to relax but the fact remained if his hand were not handcuffed to the seat he would have been out gathering up his friends and Reeve’s general would be dead.

“Listen, kid,” Tate walked around the table and stood behind Cloud, “If Reeve decides you can help rid us of the clone it still won’t help you. You, the chick, the clone and Sephiroth aren’t exactly a green light. I know you want out of here as much as I want off this continent. That can be arranged and both of us can be happy.” He gave a wry smile and put his hands on his hips. “What happens from here?”

“What?”

“Ahhh,” the man sighed, “I want to know what happens next with this fucker. What are we looking at?”

The blonde tilted his back to rest on the top edge of his seat back. He smiled looking up the other’s nose. “You know you really need to get those trimmed.” He giggled.

Tate slapped the boy knocking his head from its roost. He hated interrogations. He hated them, he hated people, and he hated the entire situation. How he just wanted to go home to Junon. “If you aren’t going to tell me anything I need to know then you’re wasting my time.”

Cloud leaned forward in his chair. His head throbbed and he was nearly as aggravated as Reeve’s crony. He placed his bare feet against a shoulder length apart and forced himself backwards into the man’s gut, pinning him to the wall. “Let me out of here! You don’t know what’s going on but I sure as hell do!” Cloud did not know everything but he did know about the likeliness of more clones appearing. “I have to get out of here and help my friends!” He ground his seat into Tate’s stomach doing his best to smother him as well as break the chair. He was going to get out of there one way or another.

General Sasha Tate grunted and writhed attempting to wriggle his way out. His lower body was in the process of being crushed and he could feel himself want to vomit. Swallowing hard, he managed to free his right arm. He tried to grab the youth by his matted yellow hair but Cloud was leaning too far forward. “This isn’t going…isn’t going to help you…any!” This was not how this was assignment was supposed to go. Call for help or fight, there was only one logical choice. “GUARDS *hack* GUARDS!!” Tate screamed in the Wutaian tongue until three men forced their way into the cell.

Cloud winced. He wanted to take out one man not four.

The guards rushed to aid Reeve’s general, one ran straight ahead while the others ran to the left and right. Tate’s thrashing grew weaker and the others were only a couple feet from becoming a problem. Forward or back? Cloud’s mind was racing. He kicked his legs up attempting to catch the table with his feet. After two unsuccessful attempts, he devised a new strategy. He stood up, catching the table in his mid section and running straight for the center guard knocking him down.

Tate collapsed and held his burning mid section. He was coughing hard while saliva leaked from his mouth. He was exhausted and could do no more then watch Cloud fight.

The attacker on the left tried to sneak in from behind but the ex-SOLDIER spotted him and turned fast striking him with the left chair legs, splintering them on impact.

The man on the right grabbed Cloud while the man on the floor tried to get to his feet. The boy kicked him in the head and tried to rush the other man on the right. “Leave me alone! You’ve got the wrong guy!”

Deep in his heart, General Sasha Tate believed the boy. He had no choice but to believe. After the appearance of the clone, he found it hard to accept facts. His army failed to eliminate the clones and Reeve, his boyhood friend was wrong. With his body and ego equally bruised, he was forced to change the situation somehow; somehow make it better.

He squirmed over to Cloud just as the right and left guards made another attempt to subdue the prisoner.

Tate delicately worked himself over to the brawl. He rose and steadied himself for his attack. One quick blow to the back of the head and this fight will be over. He assured himself.

“OOOooow!!” Cloud whipped around fast as he avoided a strike from the right man and accidentally caught Reeve‘s man with the remaining two chair legs. Sasha was so upset he lunged at the boy’s back and splintered the remnants of the chair.

Seat and all exploded into a cloud of sawdust leaving his shackles haplessly dangling by his wrists. Cloud was sure the other freed him unintentionally but expressed his gratitude anyway. “Thanks man!” He taunted while giving a thumbs up.

The guards were not at all happy their fight was about to get a lot more difficult. Left went high while right went low. Cloud leaned back and dodged a punch from one man while swinging his right hand around to strike the other in the gut with a chain. He wheeled around and kicked the first man in the breastbone with a devastating axe kick. His attention was completely on Tate at the moment the other two guards joined their companion on the floor. “Want to be a hero, too?!”

Sasha felt along his arms and throat. Splinters from the chair had lodged themselves in his skin and yet nothing pierced the skin of the blonde boy. “What are you?!”

“I’m Cloud ex-Shinra soldier.”

Tate sighed and slumped to the floor he could not possibly defend himself in his current condition. He spat on the ground and looked up into those cold blue Mako eyes.

“Don’t follow me. Just go and stand by Reeve. You’re fight isn’t with me as long as you accept the fact that the clone killed your man.” With those parting words, Cloud opened the door of his cell, leaving Sasha Tate to contemplate the best way to redeem his dignity in front of Reeve.

As if on queue, a dark shape materialized on the horizon. Elena did not know what to make of it so her approach was slow and deliberate. With a twitch of her right toe, a strange music filled the air. “What? What is this?!”

A huge Kalm Wolf appeared and raised its hackles at her. She put up her arms in defense and stared over her hands to see if she could spot the strange dark figure. Despite the sudden random appearance, the shadow like being stood unflinching.

The Turk in blue decided to rush the monster but found herself standing still. Clumsily she reached over and found the launch string to her wrist-mounted slingshot. “Hah, ha, I got you now!” She scoffed and pulled back on the wire to launch her projectile. With an over exaggerated “POING” what could only be referred to as a mini toilet bowl plunger sailed through the air and hit the wolf smack dab between the eyes.

“Hrrrrn?” The monster was clearly confused as it tried to ponder the object somehow glued to its fur.

Elena giggled and held out two fingers, the extended back of her knit top flapping wildly, in a “V” formation. “Had enough or are you thirsty for more.**”

The monster raised its brow at her and growled. Now was the time for it to fight. It lunged at her snarling and drooling. The poor girl was caught in a powerful body blow and had no place to go but down…again. The mighty beast barked and snapped at her before it finally jumped up and returned to its section of the field.

She lay motionless, wondering why the red suction cup of her “dart” had little to know effect. Before she could stand, a loud howl echoed through the area and another dark figure, this one extremely furry, sailed through the air and took a place directly in front of her.

“It’s you!” Elena squealed joyously.

Sure enough the brown and silver dog from before did indeed return. It glanced back at her to pant loosing drop after drop of clear slobber.

The Kalm Wolf was unsure of what to make of this other furry creature. Slowly it sauntered over the Elena’s protect and sniffed its hindquarters. Both wolf and dog sniffed at each other for a couple moments and ran away together.

“Great that was a whole heap of nothing…” Elena grunted, “…but I see you’re still here.”

The dark shadow on the horizon began to take on a humanoid form. It nodded in response to her words and steadily made its way over. The closer it got the more familiar it became to her. Slowly, step after step, it resembled a man. A man with dark hair, and matching leather coat and pants.

This person was so close, yet still so far, she could smell the tanned hide of his ensemble. She was beside herself in emotion. “I…I thought you were dead…” She murmured, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

“God in heaven, this chick is heavy,” one of Elena’s rescuers complained, “I would’ve loved to live the coffee and doughnut life.”

“Yeah,” another agreed.

“I still can’t believe they sent Elena. I guess the chief aid wanted to retire early. Tate’s gonna freak when he finds out what happened to the new unit.”

“Near as I can tell he just knows she showed up. I heard he had some ‘splaining to do.”

“Yo, Tread,”

The head of the search and rescue team sighed and tilted his head back. “Y’know, Todasai, I don’t care how much you hate that Elena was sent. We gotta face reality.” Tread did not care for Elena either but unlike the others believed in the past staying in the past. Briggs and Todasai were two men who loved to complain.

Briggs straightened his helmet, “So what do we do about the kitty cat tribe?”

Tread rubbed the bottom of his nose and glared at the unconscious Elena Todasai’s arms. He shrugged of his backpack and set it on the ground. After a several seconds of rifling, he extracted a large sleeping bag.

“I don’t want to sound rude-but I got a chick back home and she sure as hell wouldn’t approve of me banging a comatose chick.”

“No, you idiot! We’re going to wrap her up and drag her so you won’t have to worry about her squirming.” He studied the dark forest path ahead and unzipped the sleeping bag. “As for the Cait Sith unit we’ll flip its breakers and make it follow us.”

Elena’s body was zipped insecurely while the three went to reactivate the latest Cait Sith incarnation.

Her heart beat faster and faster she scarcely noticed the warm breeze pick up. She raised her hand and placed it behind her head. If this is a dream, I don’t ever want to wake up! Finally, she could not take it anymore. All the years of separation were nothing but hell to her. She would be denied no more. She made a mad dash for the man, determined to close the gap once and for all. The closer she got the more she smiled. Her off-white teeth gleamed in the sun until the wind turned against her and blue a few red and white petals into them. Her sprint did not cease she simply raised her left pinky to her mouth and scraped them away.

The wind blew stronger and her run slowed. “I’m coming for yooo-OH!!”

An old discarded copy of the Shinra newspaper “Mako Good Times Dispatch” slapped her in the face obscuring her vision. With a rapid impatient tug, she pulled the heavy newspaper off her and tossed it to the ground…only to be slapped by another…

The gods or something must be working against me! With the final paper removed and some careful dodging, she stood face to face with her hero. To savor the moment she stared at his black boots.

His boots; so much like her own only in a men’s size. The black leather pants were covered in white splotches of reflected sunlight. Her eyes continued to move upwards. Three belts hung at his hips. Their crisscrossing pattern reminded her of the old-fashioned latticework of the elevator doors at Shinra Tower Midgar.

“Still in love.” She whispered while passing his exposed navel to his ill-fitting white t-shirt. His yellowish skin seemed like an odd contrast to the lights and darks of his outfit-but really, she was in love.

Closer and closer, she got to the face she could only see in each waking dream. A necklace hung from his neck but was barely visible underneath the white fur lined collar of his leather coat.

Elena closed her eyes in anticipation. Any moment, she would be gazing into the Wutaian eyes of her beloved. So many thoughts raced through her mind. Would she get the date he had promised before he died? Would he stay with her? Would she be able to keep from crying? With this encounter would the hurt be erased and everything returned to normal?

She raised her chin and threw her eyes open.