Final Fantasy VII; Stained Hands Can’t Be Cleansed… or Can They?; Cloud Strife

Chapter Four: Older Brother

“Where are you going? What do you plan to do? Is it worth the effort? What will you gain? Why are you doing this?”

All of these questions went through Marena’s head as she sped toward Salver, a small poor community where a Shinra base is located. The road she is on continues, but she notices a fork in the road. If she keeps going straight she will come to Edge, so Marena takes the road with the sign pointing to Salver. The road seemed to be overgrown with grass and rocks were spread over the grassy pavement.

The sky becomes dark with the coming night as she enters the small town of Salver. The houses are made of wood and they all look rundown. Some only have pieces of cloth as doors and the windows only have cloth to block people from viewing the inside. A few stores are located in the center of the small town but they carry very few quantities of supplies. As she keeps driving, Marena notices the fallen metal gates which had blocked the road, which had turned to dirt the further she went into town. No one was guarding the gates which were bent down to the ground. Whatever was beyond the gates is now in a giant heap of scrap metal and concrete.

Marena stops in front of the gate and turns off her motorcycle. She pulls her protective glasses off and leaves them and her bag on her bike. A sign on the ground which was once attached to the gate reads Salver Shinra Base, so Marena assumes this is the base her older brother had destroyed. She notices the numbered tags on the ground, signaling other Shinra had come here to recover things and take pictures for evidence of the scene.

Marena searches through the rubble for any clues but she gives up as she realizes Shinra had probably found them all. She had noticed the majority of the rubble had blood stains on it, and it made her angry so she kicked things out of her way as she walked back to her motorcycle.

As she sits on her bike she asks herself, “If you were led to kill all these people, what did they do to anger you? You must have had a reason to do this. If only I knew his name, I would be able to find some SOLDIER or agents to question them.”

Marena pulls her glasses back over her eyes and rides back into town. She stops at a small restaurant and brings her stuff inside with her. Everyone seems to look at her when she walks in which causes Marena to leave her glasses over her eyes.

She goes to the man behind the bar and says, “A bowl of soup if you have it and some water, please.”

“What kind of soup would you like?” he asks.

“Whatever you think is better,” she says as she sets her stuff down on the stool next to her.

The man nods and starts on her order. A few minutes later a steaming bowl of soup with lumps of potatoes, carrots, and beef is set in front of her with a glass of water.

“Thank you,” Marena says as she eats the soup happily.

She pauses and asks him, “Could you tell me anything about what happened at the Shinra base?”

The man looks afraid for a moment, but it passes as he tells his story.

“My wife and I were just resting in our room when we heard and felt an explosion. We went outside and saw the Shinra base was on fire, even though it was mostly made of metal, and we saw a man leaving with papers under his arm. We knew he was the one who had destroyed the base so we stayed hidden. No one survived the attack on the base, we know that for sure, but later on other Shinra people came to inspect the damage. I expect someone had called for backup or something,” the man says as he leans on the bar.

“Did you happen to see the direction the man was heading?” Marena asks.

He nods saying, “Yep, he was heading toward Junon, but I can’t say that is where he was actually going. He could have changed his route at any time.”

Marena looks thoughtful for a moment and then nods, thanks him, and continues eating her meal.

When she is finished, she orders another bowl and eats it quickly. The man watches her, and when he sees she is finished he comes to her with the bill. Marena reads the cost and frowns.

“That’s it; only this much?” she asks surprised at the low cost.

The man nods with a smile saying, “Not everyone in this town can afford to pay for meals at a high price, and you’ve probably noticed no one travels here very much with the main road over grown with grass. I’m not going to charge you any differently then the people who live here.”

Marena nods and says, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to pay you for what I thought it was worth.”

The man looks at her sadly, thinking she would leave a small amount of money, but he is surprised as he sees a nice bag of money set on the counter.

As Marena stands to leave, the man stops her and says, “Oh, please, I couldn’t possibly take all of this money, lady. You must have troubles of your own. Please, I don’t need all this.”

Marena only smiles kindly as she lifts her glasses up. When he sees her eyes, he stops looking so upset and smiles back.

“Thank you, miss,” he says gratefully as he takes the money to a back room where Marena sees a woman sitting sadly.

She leaves and smiles with satisfaction when she hears a loud shout of glee from the back room where the woman and man had been. Marena gets back on her motorcycle and leaves the town, heading for Junon after he older brother.

(Cloud’s POV)

Cloud speeds in the direction Marena had left and soon he comes to a split in the road. He sees Salver on one of the signs and remembers Reno telling Marena about the Shinra base destroyed in Salver. He goes that way and soon comes to a small town with out a marking sign. Cloud notices the poverty of the small town and frowns to him self. He comes to the rubble of the Salver Shinra base and inspects it. After close inspection, Cloud knows Marena was here when he sees her footprints from her boots and her tire tracks from her motorcycle.

“I’m getting close,” Cloud says as he goes to a nearby materia store.

Cloud buys some green healing materia, and he asks the woman at the counter about Marena. He is told about the restaurant across the street from the materia store.

“Thank you,” Cloud says to the woman as he walks outside and walks across the street.

When he enters the small restaurant, everyone turns to look at him. The man at the bar stands straight as Cloud walks over to him with his sunglasses pulled on top of his head.

“Excuse me, but did a woman pass through here earlier? She has short silver hair and green eyes,” Cloud says as he sits down.

The man nods as he says, “Oh, yes, what a wonderful woman. She left a large amount of money after eating, and as you can see, our town is very poor. We plan to distribute the money to everyone in town to help repair the houses. She left a few hours ago to head toward Junon, just before you arrived here.”

Cloud nods and says, “I see, thank you. I would like a bowl of soup if you don’t mind, sir.”

The man nods saying, “Certainly, young man...”

When the man brings Cloud his food, he sets a glass of water beside it and says, “This is the same thing the young lady asked for earlier. I hope you like it as much as she did.”

Cloud nods and eats as fast as he can manage. When he finishes, he thanks the man and leaves a bag of money on the counter. The man seems even more surprised as he realizes Cloud left more money than Marena!

“Oh, thank the heavens, you’ve finally brought us hope!” the man says as he clasps his hands together.

Cloud gets on his motorcycle and speeds off toward Junon after Marena.

“I have to stop Marena before she gets herself in this way too deep. I just hope I'm not too late,” Cloud thinks to himself as he speeds.