LYDIA DEETZ AND FINAL FANTASY 7
Capítulo 17: Wedge's sacrifice
The group woke up and noticed to their indignation that they were bound in the same way as when they were imprisoned at Shinra's headquarters in Midgar. At least on that occasion, Rufus' father let them talk and then made fun of them, but Rufus ordered them to cover their mouths so they wouldn't say anything.
Rufus' ship headed for Junon and sent the 14 prisoners to the cells. There the group had more freedom as they removed their handcuffs and electric collars, and also stopped covering their mouths.
Junon had more cells than Shinra's main building in Midgar, so they weren't as tight as the last time. In the cells however, Lydia and Percy noticed the absence of Tifa and Cloud.
“Tifa hit her head and is in the prison infirmary," said Barrett.
“And Cloud?” Percy asked.
“When Weapon woke up from his sleep, the floor cracked and Cloud fell through one of the cracks," said Aerith, and then she started to cry. Jesse hugged her friend to comfort her.
“We didn't realize that Cloud fell through a crack," lamented Lydia, "it all happened so fast that we ran straight to Rufus' ship.”
“I'm sorry," said Nanaki, "this is all my fault, if I hadn't handed over the Black Materia to Sephiroth, I mean Jenova, none of this would have happened.”
“You don't have to blame yourself Nanaki, Lydia and I were also present and couldn't do anything about Jenova's tricks ,” Percy comforted him.
“That's right, the fog cut off all attempts at movement and Jenova with his powers pretended to be Cloud,” Lydia pointed out and then the three of them told their friends how Jenova, disguised as Cloud, stole the Black Materia from them.
The group exchanged a lot of information and found out about Sephiroth's plans.
With the black Materia Sephiroth, not only did he regenerate himself, but he would summon a meteorite that would collide with the planet, which would use enormous amounts of the vital current to regenerate itself, Sephiroth would use that energy to become a god, something that Jenova did not achieve before, and thus would rule the planet forever.
“Can you see the meteorite in the sky yet?” Lydia wanted to know, and everyone looked at the sky or the little they could see from their tiny windows.
“I can see it a little," said Percy, who had the sharpest vision of all, "but it will certainly be very visible to everyone in a week's time.”
Percy tried to use his superhuman strength and escape in the shape of a cat, but like Midgar, it was impossible for him to escape.
Every day that passed the group tried to explain to the guards that they were only trying to save the planet and that it was best to let them go, but they were trained men and were not convinced. On the third day, Rufus himself went to see them and the group tried to talk some sense into him, but Rufus told them that they would rot in prison for the rest of their days.
“At least let the children go!” Wedge begged him, referring to Lydia, Yuffie, and Percy.
“I think I'll let little Morticia go," said Rufus with a laugh, "but the ninja and the cat boy are very troublesome. Those two will be in jail for a good couple of years until I break their spirits, in fact, they may even end up working for me.”
On the fourth day, the friends begged the doctor to see Tifa, but the prison doctor told them that her friend was still unconscious, however, he granted them that one of the members could accompany her for a couple of hours, that member would be different every day.
On the fifth day of the encirclement, the meteorite was already visible everywhere in the world, but no one took notice of it as people thought it was a comet that would pass by. By the sixth day, however, people began to worry, as the meteorite seemed to be the size of a small moon and seemed to get closer by the hour.
After a week, panic spread around the world in two ways: first, the meteorite seemed to be the size of the moon; and second, the monster Weapon, unable to find either Jenova or Sephiroth, began to destroy several coastal cities.
That day it was Barrett's turn to go to Tifa, and after an hour a group of guards approached and took out Lydia, Yuffie, and Percy.
Yuffie was handcuffed with her hands behind her back, believing that because she was a child she would not pose any great danger.
As for Percy, he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and these handcuffs were also attached with a chain to the handcuffs that put him on his feet.
“They told us to watch out for you, pussycat," said one of the guards and then put the electric collar on him.
It was Lydia's turn, but she was removed without any security measures, as they were informed that she was not a combatant.
“What's going on?” Lydia questioned the three guards.
“President Rufus ordered the public execution of your friends.”
“What, no!” Percy was forcing, but then he got a shock from the necklace.
“Percy!” Lydia shouted and tried to get close to the cat boy, but the guard stopped her.
“Why are you doing this!” Lydia shouted with tears in her eyes.
“Panic spreads all over the world because of the meteor and Weapon. Shinra must regain the trust of the people.”
“You will tell everyone that Avalanche was responsible. Just as you told that it was Avalanche who was responsible for the collapse of sector 7 in Midgar,” said Lydia who was outraged.
“You can't do that! You bastards! Monsters! Pigs!” Yuffie was twisting, but one of the guards silenced her with a blow to the stomach that took all the air out of her.
“Yuffie!” Lydia shouted this time.
“President Rufus saw that it would be negative for Shinra's image if three children were executed or if they rotted in a cell, so we will move you to Shinra's headquarters in Midgar.”
“So we'll be locked in the building like the mayor of Midgar," Lydia concluded, clenching her fists to the side.
“Yes, you will be under some sort of house arrest," one of the guards explained to them, when all the alarms sounded at the base, it seemed that Weapon was approaching Junon.
Lydia took advantage of the distraction and removed the paralytic stick from one of the guards and then knocked him unconscious with it.
The other guard charged Lydia but Percy knocked him down with his body and both received the electric shock of the collar, which knocked the guard unconscious while Percy endured the pain.
The third guard pulled out his gun and was about to shoot Percy, but Yuffie, who had no handcuffs on her feet, kicked him and knocked the man out.
Lydia released her friends and they were about to escape, but in that moment they heard several frightened steps approaching them, fortunately they turned out to be their friends.
“Guys, how did you get out!” Yuffie asked in awe.
“It was Cait Sith and Barrett," Biggs told them, and they all rushed to the base airfield when they felt the base cannon firing.
“We'd better hurry," said Jesse.
“Where are the others!” exclaimed Lydia as only Jesse, Aerith, Biggs, and Vincent were with them.
“The others went to prepare a ship provided by Cait," said Aerith.
“That Cait Sith will give us a ship?” Percy asked.
“Apparently he denied his spy status," said Vincent, who smiled at the three children and the adults were surprised.
Friends arrived at the airfield and watched as Nanaki, Dyne and Wedge waited for them.
“Good thing you found them," howled Nanaki, wagging his tail happily.
“We were worried about you," said Dyne, who smiled for the first time to the surprise of those present.
“Now that we're all here, let's get out of this place," Wedge breathed in relief, hugging her cousin and they rushed off to a ship.
Barrett, Cid and Cait Sith were waiting for them on the ship.
“Thank God for this!” Barrett shouted, hugging the three children.
“We didn't know where you were taken," said Cid, who looked relieved, but the most amazing thing is that he didn't utter a swear word.
“Lydia, Yuffie, Percy," he muttered looking at the floor, "I wanted to remedy what I did, so I gathered the crew of Cid's rocket and put them in operation on this ship that was once mine.”
“Thank you, Cait," Lydia reassured him.
“One more thing," added Cait Sith and his cat-golem searched his belly pocket.
“Do you have a magic pocket like the other robotic Doraemon cat?” Percy asked.
“Here it is," said Cait and handed Lydia her old cameras. “It's all there, even your camera rolls.”
Lydia hugged the two robots and thanked them.
“Well, let's go rescue Tifa," said Cid to his men and they all went to work.
The ship, called Highwind, rose from the airfield and headed for the base's giant canyon, as far as they could see, her friend Tifa was at the top of the canyon, cornered by Scarlet and Shinra's soldiers.
The friends went out on the deck of the ship and shouted at Tifa to jump.
Tifa gained momentum and jumped to the ship, but it was obvious that she would not make it.
“Tie the other side of the rope!” Wedge shouted to them as he tied a rope around his chest and then jumped into the void.
Percy, who was the one with the fastest reflexes, tied the rope with just the right amount of time as it tightened right after.
Tifa thought she was going to die but Wedge hugged her against his body with his arms and legs.
Wedge looked at her with an expression of trust and affection and both were taken up to the deck.
“Wedge, that was great!” His friends praised him, but Wedge bent over and began to vomit blood in appalling quantities, he had broken his ribs.
Friends took him inside and the ship flew away from the place because Weapon was attacking Junon.
The cannon at the base fired right at the head of the giant monster and severed it.
“Do you think Weapon died? Cid asked Aerith.
“I don't know, maybe he did, or maybe he'll regenerate. There is also the possibility that more Weapons may exist.”
“Why didn't Weapon locate Jenova or Sephiroth?” Dyne asked.
“From what I heard the soldiers say," Vincent said. “Sephiroth placed a kind of barrier around the northern crater, which is impenetrable and hides the presence of those two to Weapons.”
“I'd better check on Wedge," Barrett decided and hurried to the ship's infirmary.
What Barrett saw when he arrived at the infirmary he didn't like at all, Wedge had lost all his color and everyone saw Wedge as if he wasn't going to recover. Lydia and Tifa cried inconsolably.
“This looks bad, Barrett," said Biggs worried, "we need to get him to a doctor and quickly.”
“How bad is it?” Barrett asked.
“He broke a lot of ribs and is vomiting blood, which means his lung was punctured. But that's not what's worrying," said Biggs, and Barrett looked at Biggs in fear as the man took the giant aside so the girls wouldn't listen.
“He broke his sternum in two, between you and me, I don't think he'll make it," said Biggs, biting his lip.
Barrett would digest the bitter news when a commotion behind him caught his attention, Wedge had awakened.
Friends tried to talk to him but Barrett yelled at them to get away from him.
“Barret," he called him Wedge agonizing, "take care of the others, leader... save the planet...”
Barrett nodded and Lydia cried and approached Tifa.
“Tifa, please save my cousin!”
“Lydia, what can I do?”
“Talk to him! You be his strength!”
Tifa approached Wedge and asked him not to give up.
“All right... I'll live, only if you ask me...”
“I ask you, Wedge," Tifa begged him with tears on her face, "please stay with us... Stay with me.”
Wedge smiled at Tifa and nodded, then closed his eyes.
“He's just sleeping," Percy reassured them, seeing the other people's expressions of shock and hugged Lydia again.
“Is there no place we can take him?” Dyne asked.
“We could take him to Mideel, there are good doctors there and it's the closest place to the ship," Vincent told them.
“Barret?” said Jesse as s wiped away the tears, waiting like all the others for their leader's orders.
“Cid, Captain, take us to Mideel at once!” Barrett shouted through the intercom in the infirmary and the ship left quickly.
.
.
The ship arrived at Mideel and took Wedge to the hospital.
“Put him on that bed," said the doctor, and he started checking on Wedge.
“We have to operate on this man immediately," said the man and they took Wedge to the operating room.
After several hours the doctor informed them that the operation was a success and that they could see their friend the next day.
Wedge was in a two-bedded room, the patient next door was covered in a curtain and seemed to babble constantly.
“It's strange," Percy said after a while in the room, "the smell of medicine clouds my senses, but I could swear that Cloud is here next door.”
“Don't joke about it," Aerith said angrily, but Percy stepped forward and went to draw the curtain.
“It's CLOUD!” Percy shouted and there was a stir in the room.
The nurse went into the room and began to scold the friends for causing such a fuss, but they explained that they did not expect to see their blond friend in the same hospital room.
The nurse told them that the patient suddenly appeared on the beach unconscious and that according to the doctor he was in a catatonic state due to mako energy poisoning.
Friends debated and assumed that Cloud was transported there by the lifestream. Aerith hugged Cloud while she cried, Tifa looked at the hurt scene with a look of resignation.
.
.
The next day, friends were discussing what they would do next, when Aerith and Tifa told them to do whatever they decided, they would stay in the hospital to take care of Cloud and Wedge.
Cait Sith told them about Rufus' plans, it seems that the lunatics wanted to use some things called huge Materia to destroy the meteor, the problem is that they could destroy the planet if they didn't do it well, and apparently they were willing to sacrifice the populations in which these huge Materia were found.
“What the hell is going on with these guys!” Jesse shouted furiously, "they could get the huge Materia without killing the population.”
“Remember that we are talking about Shinra," Barrett said with a dark expression, "they are the kind of people who first shoot and then ask permission to enter, I know... I have seen it.”
At the end of the meeting, Barret decided to make Cid the new leader, because he is the captain of the Highwind, and he accepted with the usual insults of rigor.
Lydia and Percy also decided to stay in Mideel to take care of Wedge and Cloud, and help out in whatever it was to Tifa and Aerith, so the rest of the group went to the ship and left to stop Shinra.
In the days that followed, Wedge deliriously called Tifa and babbled so that she would be all right or take care of herself.
“Tifa... don't die... Tifa...”
CONTINUARÁ...
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