Final Fantasy VII: Emerald Dusk

Part I: Dawn

Chapter III: Frank

The next morning came and went as it always did. I woke up at about nine thirty and my father was still asleep. He must have woken up at some point during the night and gone to his room. I decided to clean up the house for Dad so he wouldn’t have to worry about it that day. Then around noon I got a call from Cid who apologized for acting like an idiot the night before.

I guess you could say that day was pretty uneventful. I didn’t have to go to work that day. The construction crew was bringing in a bunch of new guys to help speed up production. I was afraid that because of this a lot of the people from my town would lose their jobs at the rocket site. Not to mention that the funds for the rocket were being given to Shin-Ra by a notorious mobster known as Don Giovanni. It was hard to take in that the company that you think is watching out for the people is working with people who specialize in hurting people.

The workers would always look the other way whenever we saw the Shin-Ra executives speaking with the Don or one of his “Associates”. Now as far as international mobs go Don Giovanni ran with some high rollers. He was the head of a bunch of fronts throughout Midgar, and also in Kalm, Junon, and Costa Del Sol. The workers were always intimidated by any of the mobsters when they’d come through. I always had certain distaste for people like them, the ones who bully the weak and corrupt the dutiful. I always daydreamed about me going right up the Don and beating the crap out of him and his cronies. I only wished I could do it.


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It was about one week after the incident in the bar, and I was glad to have gotten full-time employment down at the construction site. At the rate we were building the station would be ready to begin building the ship in about 5 years. I was really excited to be working on the project, but it seemed like the visits from the mob were becoming more constant and less friendly.

I was busy moving a support beam with Cid when things got out of hand. There were three of them, a small one with no hair the others called Joey, and two big guys both with jet black hair. One wore a pair of dark sunglasses. The two bigger guys were roughing up Ted, one of the supervisors. Me and Cid tried to ignore it until we saw one of the guys throw a punch, and that’s when I lost it. Whenever Cid talks about it he describes me as a lone avenger standing up for justice, when in reality all I wanted to do was make them hurt.

The one with the sunglasses was holding Ted while the other was laying on punch after punch. He brought his arm back to throw another one, but I wouldn’t let him do it. I grabbed a hold of his arm as he threw it towards Ted. My mind suddenly went back to when I was 12 training with my father. He showed me how to break someone’s arm and throw them a good 10 feet when you caught their punch.

I raised his arm over my head and using my free hand pushed up on his elbow. Within a second I heard his joint crack and a yelp of pain escape him. I then wrapped his bent arm around my chest and swung him over my hip and sent him flying into a nearby port-a-potty. I then quickly adjusted my attention to the second one holding Ted. He was reaching for something in the back of his pants. A gun no doubt. I remembered what my father told me about fighting against guns, “Always get in as close as you can as fast as you can.” I moved quickly, getting as close to him as I could and when he pulled the gun out I grabbed his hand, forcing it into the air. He fired seven consecutive shots before he let go of Ted and brought his second hand into the struggle for the gun.

He had both his hands clasped upon the gun as he struggled desperately to regain power over it. I held strong with my one hand around his, holding the gun in the air. “You!” he cried out. His voice was a mixture of anger and irritation I took a moment to analyze his face. His sunglasses were down to his nose revealing a heavy black eye. My mind raced back to that night at the bar last week. “Good to see ya again Frankie.” I lifted his hand above my head, raising Frankie off of the ground. I brought my free hand back and delivered a powerful punch to Frankie’s gut and sent him flying into nearby sheet metal and left his gun sliding across the floor.

I felt myself loosening. My battle senses were leaving and I felt at ease. I turned around to see Cid holding up the little bald one in a full nelson. I turned around to search for Ted. He was bending over reaching for the gun. That’s when I heard a loud pounding noise followed by a gurgling grunt. I turned on my feet to see Cid falling to the ground, blood pouring from his nose and mouth, and Joey pulling out another gun. I could only watch on as Joey pulled out his gun and fired a single shot towards me. It was an experience I never forgot, the hot metal barreling through my side, cutting flesh as it tore its way through my body.

The force of the bullet to my left side sent me falling backwards to the ground. I could feel the blood pouring from the wound. I could feel it making its way up my throat and into my mouth where I could taste it. I had never felt dirtier in my life. Gunfire again!

I heard Cid yelling, Ted was screaming for help. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying; I didn’t really want to hear them. I was a dead man. I knew it. I was going to die and maybe I was better off. Akemi was gone, with another man and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt disgusting, thinking those things. Being so weak and pitiful; I should have been thinking about staying alive and fighting for it, but instead I just accepted it, and waited for death to take me.