“Is it true Shinra did it?”

“Yes.”

Reeve looked away from him. It seemed he was determined not to show any signs of emotion.

“Do whatever you like with me, if you despise me for it.”

Denzel shook his head.

**

The next day, Denzel awoke to find himself in the new house in Sector Five. Beneath him was a matress that couldn’t have been there the day before, yet there he was, lying on it. Someone had left a note and a pastry at his bedside.

“I’m at the office. I’ll drop by to check on you once in a while. Don’t wander off too far. Everyone is riled up just now, so it’s pretty dangerous. More importantly, it would be very hard to find you. You’re a pretty important boy. P.S. I borrowed the mattress from the neighbour, so please make sure to return it. – Arkham.”

They aired the footage of Sector Seven’s collapse on the tv, over and over again. Denzel heard Shinra’s announcement that Midgar was safe now. His own parents might be dead; they could say it was safe all they wanted, but he wouldn’t buy it.

“Now that it’s so safe, does everyone get to live happily ever after? Does that include me?”

Denzel tried to eat the pastry. Before taking a bite, he noticed that he had inadvertantly squashed it, and the cream in the middle was oozing out. Anger surged in him. He threw the pastry at the TV, and stormed out of the house.

It was quiet. He could see the Shinra Building towering over the center of Midgar.

“Dad might be alive. He might be at the office with Mom. At a time like this, he must be way too busy to get away. There are lots of Shinra houses around here; maybe somebody knows Dad. I hate talking to grownups I don’t know; but I’ve gotta suck it up and ask.”

He went to the house to the right and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He tried opening the door. It wasn’t locked, so he poked his his head inside.

“Hello?”

He waited for a moment, but as before, there was no answer. Arkham had borrowed the mattress from this house, it seemed.

“What are we, thieves? Taking stuff without asking? Is that how we have to live now, stealing and doing whatever else it takes?”

The house on the left, the one across the street, the one next to that. They were all empty. Everyone had left. He went to check the houses further down the street. On almost every door was a piece of paper which stated that the tenants were taking temporary refuge and where they could be contacted.

No one was left. It didn’t seem possible that his parents were at the office. If they were, they would have come here. Even if it was impossible for Denzel’s father to come, his mother certainly would have.

The hope he held onto was shattered as he walked away. Before he knew it, Denzel noticed he had completely lost his way. He couldn’t remember how he got there, or even where he came from. Tears flowed down his face. They weren’t so much tears of sadness, but more of anger.

He stopped and sat down in the street, but jumped when he realized he had sat on something sharp. It was a small model of one of Shinra’s airships. A kid must have dropped it.

Denzel picked it up and threw it as hard as he could at the closest house.

“I hate everyone!”

The sound of a glass breaking echoed through the deserted street, followed by a woman’s voice.

“Who’s there? Who did this!”

Before Denzel realized what he had done, an old lady came out of the house in front of him. Maybe she wasn’t really that old, but to Denzel, anyone over a certain age was old.

“You did this?!”,

She was holding the model airship infront of Denzel. He gave an honest nod.

“Why would you…?”
“Are you crying?”

Denzel shook his head in denial, but he couldn’t hide his tears.

“Where do you live?”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer her. Tears welled up and would stop.

“Well, why don’t you come inside?”

The inside of Ruvie’s home seemed very different to Denzel’s, it felt very cozy. The wallpaper was printed with lots of flowers, the upholstery had a similar pattern. The actual flowers that decorated the room were artificial, but still the room had a sense of warmth and tranquility. Denzel took a seat on the sofa and looked at Ruvie. She was struggling to patch up the shattered glass window with a plastic bag.

“When my son gets home, he’ll be able to fix this up right as rain. This should do for now.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Ruvie.”

“If times weren’t how they are, I’d go give your parents an earful.”

“My mom and dad, they’re…”

“What, you expect me to believe they left you here and just ran off?”

“… They were in Sector Seven.”

Ruvie stopped what she was doing. She sat down on the sofa and held Denzel in her arms.

Once he had calmed down, she suggested they go outside. They decided to go look for his house. The two of them walked hand in hand. When Denzel reached the age of six, he had stopped holding hands with his parents. It made him look uncool. But right now, he never wanted to let go.

The Shinra employees among the residents were staying at headquarters, working to resolve the situation. Their families were taking refuge in Junon or Costa Del Sol. Ruvie remained behind because, as she explained it, if you’re going to be alone no matter where you go, then theres no place better than your own home. Eventually, they found Denzel’s house.

“Thank you very much. And about the glass… I’m sorry.”

Ruvie nodded silently. As Denzel opened the door, she peered inside the empty house.

“What are you planning to do with a house that doesn’t have anything? Come to my house, OK?”

And so, that was how Denzel came to live with Ruvie.

When Mako Reactor One was destroyed, Ruvie knew that trouble was on its way, so she bought lots of food. The storage shed in her back garden was full of canned food and nonperishables.

“There’s no need to worry when you’re prepared.”

Ruvie was busy everday. Cleaning the inside of the house, cleaning the outside of the house, preparing food, her sewing. Denzel helped with everything but the sewing. Before she went to sleep at night, she read a book. Ruvi picked thick, challanging books. When Denzel asked if it was any good, she replied, “Not one bit”. They were her son’s, she told him. For more than five years, she had continued to read them, thinking they might help her understand her son’s work. She laughed when she realized they were only good for putting her to sleep.

Ruvie leant Denzel an encyclopaedia of monster, telling him it would be useful. That too belonged to her son, he had read it when he was around Denzel’s age. It contained descriptions and colour illustrations of monsters. The same thing was written on every page; If you encounter a monster, run. Then tell an adult.

“… if I run into a monster right now, am I really supposed to tell Ruvie? She doesn’t look like she’d be a very good fighter. Would I have to fight it, then? Am I strong enough to? Could I win?
I’m completely useless. Thats why my parents didn’t want me to go with them”

* * *

The sun had grown stronger and Denzel was soaked with sweat.

“Damn… this heat.”

Denzel took out a hankerchief to wipe away his sweat.

“What an adorable pattern. Like a little girl’s.”

“Yes, sir. ”

Denzel smiled, staring at his hankerchief.

* * *

One morning when Denzel awoke, Ruvi was there holding a shirt by the collar.

“Denzel. Put this on. I made it for you, but this was the only fabric I could find.”

On the white shirt was a patern of little pink flowers. It was something that Denzel would have normally flatly refused to wear, but he put it on, delighted.

“Thanks, Ms. Ruvie.”

“Well, I had extra fabric. Here.”

She held out a handkerchief with the same pattern. There must have been a lot of extra fabric, judging from the number of handkerchiefs she had made. Denzel took just one, and folded it neatly into his pocket.

“Denzel…”,

The smile faded from Ruvie’s face,

“I don’t know how to explain this…”

Denzel considered what she might say to him. The words he feared most came to mind; Get out. The very notion made him tremble with anxiety.

“Lets go outside.”

Ruvi went outside into the back yard. Denzel hesitated, but eventually followed. He walked along the thick bed of soil and stood next to her. She stood gazing at the sky.

Denzel looked too. There was a great black spot up there. It was a truely ominous sight. Only blue and white belonged in the daytime sky. Surely any other colour spelled gloom and turmoil.

“They’re calling it “meteor.” That’s about all I know about it. But they’re saying that thing is going to crash into the planet… and put an end to everything”

Ruvi took two cans out of the shed and handed them to Denzel.

“How do you prepare for something like that, for crying out loud?”

That day, Ruvi didn’t clean, sew or do anything else. She just sat on the sofa thinking.

She did, however, make several phone calls. Whoever it was, they werent answering. Denzel thought she must have been calling her son. He was having trouble visualising what Meteor’s impact would be like. More importantly, he had a question to ask, but he couldn’t find a way to bring it up. As night fell, Ruvie began to clean as if to announce her return to reality.

“Denzel, you’re doing it all wrong. Haven’t you been watching how I clean?”

That was the Ruvie he knew.

It was night and the two of them sat side by side on the sofa, reading their usual books.

“Denzel. I intend to wait for the end right here. If the planet is going to be destroyed, one place is as good as another. What will you do? If you plan to go somewhere else, take any food in the house with you. I know you’re still just a boy, but I think you should choose where you face the end.”

Denzel thought carefully about what Ruvie said. Finally, he asked the question he had been longing to ask all day.

“Is it okay if I stay here?”

Ruvi looked up from the book at Denzel and smiled.

After that, she carried on the way she always had, except she never cleaned outside. The yard work was Denzel’s job now.

He saw construction had started at the Shinra building. In no time at all, they installed an enormous cannon.

“Shinra’s gonna get rid of meteor for us”

“That company always finds a way to screw up,”

In the end, the cannon fired just one beam at an unseen target before collapsing in a wreck. As if that weren’t enough, the Shinra Building itself was attacked.

“What kind of monster is out there?”

He couldn’t even begin to imagine a monster that could destroy buildings. Up in the sky hung Meteor, unchanged. All hell may have broken loose elsewhere, but Denzel’s days were peaceful

There were times when he couldn’t suppress his longing to see his parents and wept aloud, but Ruvie’s embrace would always comfort him. If the end was to come while he slept next to her, then he really didn’t mind.

What robbed Denzel of his peace in the end wasn’t Meteor, but an angry torrent of light. The Lifestream may have been a force of good that effectively destroyed Meteor, but the dense life energy also worked its destruction on people.

The chosen day, Denzel and Ruvie were in bed, about to fall asleep. Outside, they heard a fierce wind howling. But it was too loud to be just the wind. Soon the entire house began so shake.

The end had come. Denzel hoped it would be over quickly, but as more time passed, the worse the tremors grew. And noise grew too, it crescendoed to such a roar, like a train speeding past the house. Denzel held on tightly to Ruvie, shutting his eyes trying to brave it as best he could, but five minutes proved to be his limit.

“Miss Ruvie, I’m scared.”

She sat up, and just as she went to turn on the light, the flower patterned curtains turned bright white. It was as though the whole house was engulfed in light.

“Cover yourself with the blanket.”

As Ruvie left the bedroom, the shaking intensified and the flowers on top of the dresser fell to the floor. Denzel lept out of the bed and went after Ruvie.

She stood, staring at the living room window – the one she had crudely patched up with nothing but a plastic bag. The plastic had swelled up and looked ready to burst at any moment. Ruvie ran to the window and used both hands to hold it in place.

“Denzel! Get back inside!

Denzel was trembling. He couldn’t move, as if his feet were stuck to the floor.

It was me who broke the window. It must be my fault that this is happening.

Ruvie left the window and rushed over to Denzel. He clung to he even as she forcibly pushed him back into the bedroom. At that moment, the prastic burst and a dazzling wave of light came flooding into the house. Ruvie quickly shut the door

“Denzel, you keep the door shut.”

“Miss Ruvie!”,

Denzel cried as he grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door.

“Denzel, stop it!”

“But-!”

Denzel tried at the doorknob again.

Ruvi stood there with her back towards the door. Feet apart, and arms extended, taught across the doorframe

“Keep it closed!”

Beyond Ruvie, he saw a stranded wave of light crash into the walls an rebound. It writhed violently inside the room, like a glowing snake running wild.

I didn’t think it was a monster from the monster encyclopaedia. Should I run and tell an adult about it. No, in this house, I must stand and fight.

“Miss Ruvie!”

The light lunged at her as he yelled. A short moan could be heard. The light morphed into what looked like a slender piece of rope, forcing its way into the bedroom through the gap between Ruvie and the wall.

Ruvie fell crumpled where she stood as Denzel got thrust back unconcious.

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