Cloud, in fact, had wandered off
He did not care, as such
Sector Seven being gone
Did not affect him much

Aeris, on the other hand
Weighed heav’ly on his mind
Was’t his running into her
That put her in this bind?

“Cloud! Yo, Cloud!” yelled Barret
Who still sounded quite distressed
“You’re taking us to Aeris’ place!”
It was not a request

Tifa scowled. “Don’t be rude
We’ve all been through a lot
We really have to hold on tight
To the friends we’ve still got”

“Come on, Tifa, cut the sap
Don’t make us sound so lame
I don’t care what Barret says
I’d go there just the same

“I’m gonna help Aeris
I’m sort of her bodyguard”
Thinking ‘bout his reward
Made the choice not at all hard

“Also, I’m real curious
About these . . . Ancient . . . things”
In his head, a voice: “Well, yeah
In here that a bell rings”

“I . . . I don’t know,” choked Tifa
“I’m not sure I can go on
Wedge and Biggs, Jess, everyone
I can’t believe they’re gone

“What we did was good, I thought
We tried Shinra to halt
I never thought they’d go this far
Is all of it our fault?”

Barret laughed. “Oh yeah, I’m sure
That we’re who Shinra blames
As for me, I’m kickin’ ass
Not both’rin’ to take names

“Our fault? Their fault? I don’t care
All that is in the past
All I know is that my gun
Needs some revenge, and fast

“The Shinra took my girl from me
And for that they will pay
So even if it takes my life
I’ll bring them judgment day”

“Barret, wait! That isn’t true!”
To stop him she did strive
“Remember that girl? She did say
That Marlene’s still alive”

“The hell? What were you waiting for?
Why didn’t you say so?
I’ve got to see her right away
Hey, Cloud . . . now where’d Cloud go?”

The world was filled with awful noise
And then in silence passed
Until the air was once more rent
By a horrific blast

Barret’s shouts came to a head
He opened fire: POW!
Rage expended, he whipped round
“So!  What do we do now?”

As the chopper soared away
A ringing CRACK was heard
The detonations had begun
And could not be deterred

Barret bellowed at the sky:
“GOD DAMN THE SHINRA! [expletive deleted]”
Tifa slapped him, shouted, “Help!
In this thing Cloud’s still stuck!”

Barret raised his arm and roared
The bullets blasted through
Cloud muttered, “Thanks for missing me”
Barret said, “Lucky you

“Doesn’t matter,” Barret sighed
He’d used up all his ire
“There’s no way to get out of here
Hey, wait . . . is that a wire?

“We can use this to escape!”
Cloud scoffed. “That little thing?”
“You got a better idea? Nope!
Just hold on tight and SWING!”

AVALANCHE clasped to the wire
They through the air did soar
The pillar snapped, the plate collapsed
Then Seven was no more

They got back on the chopper
As Barret woke from his trance
Raised his gun, said, “Hold it there!
I’ll make you bastards dance!”

Tseng reached back into the hold
“You’d not want to hit this”
He placed afront him a bound girl
Tifa looked, cried, “Aeris!”

“Why’d you take her?” Tifa asked
Barret could only glare
“She’s the last Ancient,” Tseng replied
“Beyond that, I don’t care”

Aeris struggled to break free
“Tifa! That girl . . . Charlene!
She’s safe! She’s with my—ugh,” she groaned
As Reno punched her spleen

“How nice to save one little girl”
Tseng said as back he hopped
“That’s all you’ll get today, I fear
This sequence can’t be stopped”

“There you have it,” Reno said
“You cannot beat Shinra
You can blow up all you want
But we’ll always win. Duh”

Cloud charged forward, sword on high
To world of Reno rid
Suddenly, he found himself
In golden pyramid

Reno limped back toward the rail
Barret was frozen stiff
“If . . . you live . . . we’ll fight again
But that’s a real big ‘if’”

At the top stood Barret
Like an avatar of fury
“I’ll kill ev’ry last Shinra scum!
I’m judge, ex’cuti’ner, jury!”

“You okay?” Cloud asked the man
Face streaked with bod’ly dross
Barret grunted. “Can’t let up
That chopper holds the boss”

As he spoke, a man jumped down
To the cold steel platform
His hair was red, his suit was blue
His smile strangely warm

“I knew I would see you again
Too bad that it’s for work”
Barret growled, “Who are you?”
Cloud said, “Reno. A Turk”

“The pillar’s coming down,” he said
“Whether or not you care
As punishment for your group’s bombs
It’s really only fair

“Your intervention’s meaningless
Sector Seven is through
So, really, we don’t have to fight”
Growled Cloud: “Oh yes we do!”

“Have it your way,” Reno said
As he drew out his cane
“I just want it on the books:
You chose the way of pain”

They came up through a manhole
But their path was by trains barred
Aeris looked around and said
“This feels like a graveyard”

The trip upstairs was solemn
They had lost Biggs, even Jess
There was no chance for last remarks
They’d no time to digress

The three stood up, wiped themselves off
Before the muck could harden
Cloud grumbled, “At least last time
I landed in a garden”

Tifa snarled in disgust
“God damn that bastard Don!”
Aeris said, “It could be worse”
To which Cloud moaned, “Come on!”

A hulking beast came from behind
Unleashed a wave of gunk
Aeris whined, “You wrecked my dress!
You lousy little punk!”

Tifa said, “Forget the dress
Should have prepared to soil it
But where did this thing come from?
Did it get flushed down the toilet?”

“Who cares?” Cloud said, whipped out his sword
“We’ll beat him anyway
I’ve some frustration to unleash
This isn’t my best day”

“Hey Cloud, where did you keep that sword
When you were in a dress?”
“Huh. I never thought ‘bout that
Things just worked out, I guess”

The toilet monster felled with ease
They trudged off through the sewer
The minutes left to Shinra stop
Were ever growing fewer

“What?” said Tifa, now real scared
“What are they gonna do?”
The Don grinned. “To fair Sector Sept
The Shinra bid adieu

“They can do it, too,” he laughed
“The whole plate, just like that
They blow one supporting pillar
An entire sector’s flat!”

“Oh God . . . we have to stop them!”
“Hey, can I come tag along?”
“Damn those Shinra. Think they’re so bad”
“Wait. I’m not done with this song

“Do you know why I would blab so?
Why I would so eas’ly give?”
Cloud just shrugged. “We do not care
D’you lose the will to live?”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong!” Corneo cried
“Your ball missed ev’ry pin!”
Flicking a hidden switch, he said
“It’s ‘cause I know I’ll win”

The floor slid out from ‘neath them
Sending to the depths the three
As he fell, Cloud muttered
“Why’s this keep happening to me?”