(Cloud enters a small shack on the edge of the prison. As he enters,
we see that it is the same house we saw during Barret's story, only it
is rundown and sooty, ravaged by fire. Barret bursts
in the door.)
Barret
"Didn't I tell you
not to come here!?"
(He raises his gun-arm.)
Cait Sith
"Ju..... just hold
on for a second! We just want to talk! You'll understand if you just hear
us out!"
(Barret fires. Cloud and the others lift their arms and try to protect
their head, but they are not hurt. Barret continues to fire... A person
falls to the ground. He was hiding behind the couch. They lower their arms.
Barret turns away.)
Barret
"Didn't want none
of ya to get involved..."
(Cloud shrugs. The party members you left at the Gold Saucer rush in.)
Aerith
"Hey that's Cloud's
line! '...It's too dangerous, I can't let you get involved...' blah, blah,
blah..."
Tifa
"Yeah. We're already
involved in this."
"We saw you and hurried
here. So come on Barret, just tell us what's going on."
Barret
"You guys..."
Red XIII
"I heard that the
murders at the Battle Arena were done by a man with a gun-arm. ...Was that
you?"
(Barret shakes his head quickly, then looks up.)
Barret
"There's another....
another man that got a gun grafted inta one of his arms... It was four
years ago...."
(The screen fades white. When it comes in again, we are at the train
tracks that join the Mako reactor they passed on the way to Corel.)
I remember... I was on my way home from visiting a Mako Reactor being built.
(Barret and Dyne come across the train tracks when the village headman rushes up from the direction of North Corel.)
"Barret! Dyne! Come quick! The village's being attacked! It's Shinra soldiers!"
Barret
"What!!!?"
(Barret and Dyne leap off the track and run to the cliff's edge. They
see their village, in flames. Black smoke rises into the sky. Barret raises
his arms and trembles.)
Barret
"What the hell happened?
......."
(Barret falls to his knees. Dyne looks away. Barret punches the ground and Dyne shakes his shoulder.)
Dyne
"Hey, Barret! It's
not over yet!"
"Everyone's waiting!
Let's go back to the village!"
(The scene shifts back to the train tracks. Four Shinra soldiers come onto the tracks and aim their guns at the village headman.)
"Barret! Dyne! Protect the village!"
(They fire. The village headman falls.)
Barret
"Hmp!! Old man!!"
(They start firing at Barret and Dyne. Dyne leaps under the tracks, but Barret is left dancing his way though their fire.)
Dyne
"C'mon, Barret! We
gotta hurry!"
(He runs off.)
Barret
"Krggh!!"
(He follows Dyne. When he reaches him, they stop, standing at the edge of a high cliff. Scarlet enters and stands by the guards, still firing.)
Dyne
"Barret!! You stay
here!!"
Scarlet
"Kyaa haa, ha!!"
"You can shoot all
day and never hit them with an aim like that."
Barret
"Shu'up!!"
(Scarlet knocks one of the guards off the tracks. The rest stop firing and face her.)
Scarlet
"Haa, ha, ha!! Stop
playing around and cover me!!"
(They surround Scarlet and resume firing at Barret and Dyne.)
Dyne
"Watch out!!"
(They hit Dyne, who falls from the cliff. Barret grabs his left arm.)
Barret
"Dyne!! Hang on!!"
"Lissen to me!! You're
comin' back the the village, hear!!?"
Dyne
"Yeah... I ain't lettin'
go..."
"You're comin' back...
Everyone's waitin' for ya..."
"Eleanor... and Marlene...
They all waitin' on us..."
(FMV sequence. The guards continue to fire. Their fire sweeps along the edge of the cliff, hitting the Dyne's and Barret's arms. Dyne falls from Barret's grasp, into the chasm. The scene fades back to the house in Corel Prison.)
Barret
"From then on, I couldn't
use my right arm no more."
(He looks down)
Barret
"...I was depressed
for a while."
(He straightens)
Barret
"But then I threw
away my artificial arm and got this gun grafted in."
(He turns away)
Barret
"Got a new right arm
to get revenge on the Shinra, who took everything away..."
(He faces the others again)
Barret
"Back then, I heard
the doc say there was another man who got the same operation as me."
"But, his was the
left arm..."
Cloud
"....."
Aerith
"But... Dyne's injury
was the same as yours, right?"
Tifa
"Yeah, that's right.
He was deceived by the Shinra too."
"He'll probably join
us to fight against the Shinra."
Barret
"...wouldn't bet on
it. I gotta 'pologize to Dyne before I can rest in peace."
"An' that's why, I
gotta go alone."
Cloud
"Do whatever you want...
Is that what you want to hear?"
"Well, I can't let
you do it. Because, if you die on me, I'm gonna have nightmares."
Aerith
"Barret, this isn't
the end."
"Weren't you going
to save the Planet?"
Barret
"Shit! Tifa, you oughtta
know by now."
Tifa
"...That's all right.
I'm not so different from you."
Aerith
"That's easier to
understand. It's you, Barret."
Cloud
"So there it is, Barret.
So I guess it'll be Barret, me, and......"
(Cloud chooses a third party member.)
phoenixgenesis@game-developer.com
Continue to Part 7 Scene 61