Love of My Life

Chapter 6

I had scooped her up in my arms immediately. She woke with a start as a building in the next district blew up. The reverberations of the blast reaching us even here. "Daddy!!" she screeched. She wailed as she clung to me for all her life.

"Don't worry. I'm going to keep you safe."

Looking out the window on the damage wasn't the best idea, an airship targeted us sending a blast through our window. I barely had enough time to jump out of there as I withdrew Cerberus midair. I landed on a roof nearby before jumping off and shooting it out of the sky, leaving it to explode against the ground and landing on a nearby catwalk. All the while Ellie's wails cutting through my heart. "Why!? Why would someone do this!?" her sobs rang through me so loud I almost couldn't hear men sneak up behind us. A chill went through me as I shot each one consecutively. The guilt piled inside, they were most likely children kidnapped by Shin-Ra once. I shook my head, they wouldn't have stopped. They've been too brainwashed... I thought of my poor little Ellie sniffling on my shoulder and my body grew cold... Hojo could have done this to her... He did this to Sephiroth... Who knows what kind of man might he had been if Hojo had not been his father, had not experimented on her son... A cold rage bore through me, that man was the cause of almost everyones suffering in this world. I was so thankful he was gone. Yet I thought back to that moment, the moment I saw a lifesign on the mako cannon... Could he have lived..!? I shook my head to clear my thoughts, I had more important things to think of now. Like keeping Ellie safe.

"I don't understand either..." I admitted.

"Daddy!" she whimpered.

"Shh... I'm here..."

"People are dying! I can't handle their screaming anymore!" she sobbed.

"I'm so sorry Ellie."

"Is this who you have to fight? These bad guys? I don't want you to fight them! I don't want you getting hurt!"

"... I wouldn't be alone..."

"But still...!"

I remained silent, unsure of what to say to her when four soldiers marched in our direction. I shot them down before they saw us, thankful that Ellie was hiding her face from this carnage. I wish I could have kept her away from this... I rushed down the staircase and out the door into an alleyway below before shooting two soldiers and a mutated dog who were chasing civilians. "Thank you!!"

"Thank you so much!!"

I believe I was supposed to meet him at the East Church. I recalculated in my head the route. I haven't been here since before it was blown up the first time. As I made my way through the village, picking off soldiers and making sure the civilians were safe, I finally realized Ellie had cried herself to sleep. Poor thing... She doesn't deserve this. None of them do. I heard a mother screaming for her child but arrived a little late. It was harder to fight while carrying Ellie but once again I managed to pick them off before they could hurt her. The easiest part was putting in the code for the shipping container to rescue the child. It was good to see her reunited with her mother. "Where is Carenne's family?"

"Th--they live that way! Towards the Church," Rio told me. They thanked me before running off to hide. I wondered where they would go, was WRO here yet? I hoped so, for their sake as well as Ellie's.

I ran off in the direction Rio had told me. I made my way through the streets as quickly as I could before realizing I was being followed. I turned shooting at the same time, this time I wasn't so lucky; a bullet grazed my shoulder. I shielded Ellie's body with mine, taking cover behind a crate as four soldiers shot at us. Why didn't they shoot before when I was distracted? I wondered. Something wasn't right here... I scanned the buildings, low and behold a sniper was looking at us from down a barrel. I jumped backwards from the wall just before the bullet hit the ground where we were and shot him. A clean headshot, another thing to feel guilty for. I haven't felt as much guilt with killing as I do now with an innocent child in my arms. Her innocense made the guilt so much worse, but I reminded myself I was protecting her and the others. I shot down the other soldiers before scanning the buildings and taking off.