spira_rp | Midgar Continued...

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Midgar Continued...

Continued from here.

Axel didn't think that the self-given mission was going too badly, all things considered. Nobody in Midgar suspected a thing, that much was clear, not even Aerith. He listened to her, the apprehension and questioning near-disbelief in her voice and actions clear. Despite his desperation to get her and them out of there, he found it to be a fairly understandable response to such a suggestion. It wasn't exactly an easy story to believe. He had to wonder what he would have done or said in her position. Laughed, probably.

As for her question... that was a little more difficult to answer. He glanced at Saix, a disturbingly disguised Saix, at that, and scratched the back of his head.

"Not a lot," he sighed. Way to sound convincing, idiot. "Whatever they're going to do, they intend on blowing all of the reactors. When one went, it destroyed the residential area in the immediate vicinity, right?"

Of course, that wasn't the worst of it. Not this time.

"If they blow all of them ... the support pillars don't stand a chance and neither does anything below the plate."

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Aerith looked thoughtful, and then surprised when Axel said to come with them. During the celebrations meant it was so close, but it was still long enough away for her to do something. She wasn't sure, yet, what she could do, but....

"I can't leave," she told him, as though that should have been obvious from the start.

"What!?"

He rather wished, after saying that, that he had phrased his disbelief a little more ... delicately. It did echo rather a lot off the near-empty church walls, hole in the roof or otherwise.

"Why? Why would you stay when you know what's going to happen? Aerith--" He sighed harshly, even his breath laced with stunned disbelief. "We need to go. You can't stay here, you'll die."

Aerith folded her arms and looked at Axel, her expression resolute. Still, her tone was sympathetic. "You can't expect me to run away knowing what's going to happen. I have to at least warn them."

Saying it out loud, she knew how futile it sounded. Not many would believe Axel and his disappointing lack of details, and even if they did, there wasn't time to warn everyone.

But she had to try.

Over at the front of the church, sensing, from Axel's exclamation, that things weren't going as planned, Saix left his post and walked over to the conversation.

"We don't have time for that!" Desperation seeped into his tone. "You have to leave now, if you don't this whole place is going to get crushed!"

Aerith felt bad for refusing, because Axel had come all this way, and was so desperate to get her out, but she shook her head anyway. "Do you know how many people are going to die?" She asked. "You're asking me to walk away and let them be killed, to save myself." She gave him a sympathetic smile, and patted his arm. "I can't do that, Axel. You know that."

Saix scowled, although it was hard to tell because he'd been scowling ever since they got to Midgar. He didn't know the girl, but she was important to Axel, and that was enough for Saix to have wanted to help.

But they didn't have the time, and Saix didn't have the patience, for noble gestures.

"You propose suicide," he told her, without bothering to introduce himself. "You cannot expect to warn everyone. Even if they believe you, you will not be able to save them, but you can save yourself."

Axel, for all he hated to agree with Saix's cold opinions, actually saw sense in that one. He nodded and looked back at Aerith, worry in every line of his face.

"We don't have time to get people out," he said, trying to be calm even if the pitch of his voice betrayed him. "You can't save everyone, Aerith... but you don't have to die with them."

Aerith looked thoughtful, casting her gaze over to the flowers she tended so carefully, and then up towards the roof, and that hole that had never been repaired. "We might not have to get them out," she said, softly. "Axel," she looked up at him, "this is my home, I know these people, you can't expect me to just leave."

To say nothing of the shock to the lifestream to have all those people pass into it at once.

"And I can't ask you to stay, so if you want to leave, you can, but I won't come with you. I have to stay; I have to do something."

Saix's demeanour didn't change. Axel always had a knack for picking up people with strong hearts; he was a magnet for them, but that didn't mean Saix had to be nice about it.

"Your consent is not required for a rescue," he stated, calmly, although it made for an interesting clash to hear such a cold almost-threat coming from a short, delicate girl.

Axel, somehow, managed to keep his head. He sighed rather than ranted and looked at Saix, considering that line of rescue seriously. He didn't remember it, but it wouldn't be the first time if he did decide to go with that.

"What can you do?" He asked, his voice calmer than he was feeling. "We're wasting time even talking about this, we need to get out. Grab people on the way, whatever you want, but we have to go."

"We have a little time," Aerith told him, though she eyed Saix unhappily. She didn't know what he looked like really, but if she paid attention she could feel the chakra control involved in keeping him - probably him, from the way he stood, looking female.

"Can you give me that?" She asked Axel. "I might be able to protect people," she frowned, and modified it, "at least some people, if you give me some time."

She looked over at Saix, and seemed to address him directly, "I know I can't save everyone, but I have to do what I can, or I'd never be able to forgive myself."

Saix watched Aerith for a moment before he spoke, "We don't have time for 'might'. I prefer to go with certainties, not mere chances."

He looked at Axel, communicating his obvious dislike without the need for words.

Axel looked from Saix to Aerith and back again. On one hand, he didn't want to knock Aerith out and drag her out with them -- that would look dodgy as they left, at best. On the other... he just couldn't allow himself to leave her to her death.

He agonised over it.

"All right, all right. A few people. We don't have long. Whoever you can get out in the time we have, you can save, but when we have to go, we go, all right? No heroic suicides, got it memorised?"

Aerith smiled at Axel, gratefully. "Thank you." It was a chance, and a small one, but the best she had, and the best she could offer.

Saix frowned, speaking to Axel directly. "You're not really thinking of indulging this idiocy?" It would be better for all of them to simply leave. Saix disliked entertaining unnecessary delays, but there was also the concern of how it would appear if they tried to lead a exodus, even a small one, out of Midgar.

Axel nodded at Aerith, risking a reassuring smile even though he wasn't quite feeling one. The expression faded when he directed his eyes at Saix and he scowled slightly.

"This is her home, Isa." He paused and tried to make a convincing case of it. "If this happened back home, would you just leave without trying to help at least a few people?"

He wasn't talking about Rabanastre. The use of his real name was a good indication of that.

Saix glowered at Axel, replying, "You recall what happened last time, I'm sure."

He regarded Aerith, who looked back at him with a stubborn resolve that seemed familiar and said, "This is a foolish venture. You will die, and you will take us with you. We came to rescue you, and only you. Will you get more people killed for the sake of your own conscience?"

Aerith frowned, putting her hands on her hips as she faced Saix. "When did you forget how to act like you have a heart?" She asked him, looking severe herself. The wording wasn't deliberate, exactly, but it successfully touched a nerve with Saix anyway, and he stood a little straighter, a little more indignant, as she continued, "Millions of people are going to die, and we can't stop it, but I won't give up on the ones we can save. Even if it's only one more person, it counts."

She looked at Axel, her mood shifting. "I need you to ask as many people as you can to come here. I have something I need to do." She offered him a lopsided smile. "I'll try not to take too long."

"We'll do what we can." Axel nodded, and then turned to Saix. "Come on."

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Midgar Continued...

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