Title: The Spirit Hunt
A.N: This is my first story. It centres mainly around Red and an incident at Cosmo Canyon, following soon by him returning to Midgar.
Red XIII looked up at the engulfing sky, his firey tail breezing in the soft draughts of Cosmo Canyon. Ah, the Wolf-like beast loved this feeling more then anything in the world. The only thing that interrupted this was his own thoughts.
But today, he had finally lost the one tentative link back to the times before his capture, before the Gi attacked. Grandfather had died. Quietly and peacefully, the old man had simply not woken up. But it had hit Red as badly if he had convulsed and died right infront of his eyes.
He looked up. It was here. The Grand Airship, the Shera, hovered overhead. Cid had put more work into that ship that even Red could comprehend. He had occasionally helped out, looking over designs and welding with his tail. In the 9 months since the Stigma-Incident, he had not boarded it once. Bugenhagen had hung on for nearly 3 years. For that, Red could not help but love that kind, old man all the more. That crisp smile, the cheerful laughter, the uncanny ability to float anywhere he wished, and most of all- the spirit. Red was never going to meet such a genuinely kind soul in his life, no matter how long it lasted. Nanaki had never cried before. As the tiny little shards of glistening water fell down from his eye, he shook his head and main, realising he had been daydreaming. Cid and Shera had landed and were now staring at him, pity plain in their eyes.
"Hello Cid." Red looked up, cautiously.
Shera, although she barely knew Red, knelt down and drew him into a tight embrace. The beautiful woman had finally convinced the pilot into wearing a suit, in correlation with the funeral. Albeit a very rough and ragged one. Shera herself had kindly placed on a simply black dress.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She tried to comfort Red. It wasn't working.
Then he noticed the others coming. He had thought they couldn't make it, and so had only invited Cid due to the fact he had landed nearby, in Rocket Town.
Red looked up at Cid.
"Thank you."
Cid shed a tear for his friend, the Wolf-creature that had slowly grown to become a friend and guide to him.
"Ain't nothin', Red. Least I could do."
Cloud and Tifa, shining engagement rings shining on their fingers. Both had adorned themselves in similiar fashion to Cid and Shera, with Cloud ditching the jacket in favour of a solemn black tie. Tifa wore a black dress slightly similiar to Shera's, but that covered her body from head to toe. Cloud looked at Red. They both knew that no words need be said, as Cloud strode up, nodding at the Highwinds, and gave Red a touching hug, kneeling down. Tifa, however, was barely holding her tears in check.
"Oh, god, I'm so sorry, Red. I know he meant the world to you, and he meant alot to all of us aswell." The brunette dapped her eyes with a white cloth.
"Grandfather would have been frustrated at so many people being here instead of living their lives." Red said, a half-snarl upon his face, that disapeared as quickly as it came.
"But he would be truly flattered."
Barret and Elmyra were next, with Yuffie and Vincent close behind. They were all similiarly attired, and gave very much the same comforts
"Tha' old guy really was somethin, won't he?" Was Barret's most prominent comment as he tried to stop crying, Elmyra patting his arm.
Marlene and Denzel were already at Cosmo Canyon - Red and Bugenhagen had been asked by Cloud, Tifa and Barret to do a little astronomy teaching for them, aswell as telling them about how important the planet was and the basics of the Lifestream. They had been there for 2 months- both cried just as much as Red would have liked too. Grandfather had always been a very loveable man.
Yuffie and Vincent bowed in deference, an old Wutaian custom. Yuffie wored a black silk kimono, with Vincent dressed in a dark red suit that, as always it seemed, made him look incredibly depressed.
They all scrambled up the steps to the Canyon, and gathered round the fireplace where they had all, excluding Vincent and Cid + Shera, once sat. In the place of the legendary bonfire was raised a funeral pyre. Bugenhagen always speculated what would happen if his body was cremated, commonly going as as to chop off half a finger or two and incinerating it. But he admitted that he could not test it properly - it required him to be dead.
And (as the readers have almost certainly guessed) atop the pyre was the body of the old man. He had died dreaming happily, and so the remnants of a smile was locked onto his face. Red looked away hurriedly trying to hide his grief. Cid and Barret placed their hand on his heavy shoulders.
He physically steeled himself. He looked up, remembering how his father and his mother were watching, and spoke.
"Thank you. Thank you for coming. As you all know, Bugenhagen was the man who raised me, from 24, to 46. To you that sounds like much, but to me, it is far more. He taught me how I must honour the planet, myself, and my friends. He was the man who instilled the stories of my mother and, eventually my father, into me. He was the man who sent us down our path to save the planet. He always said that his time on our workd would end by the tip of my tail. To that point, I honour his last wish." With these words, and a dozen tears almost idlely tipping down his face and many others, mostly Barret's, Tifa's, Yuffie's and Shera's, he tipped his tail to the pyre. It almost instantly fell into flame. The coloured sparks that flew up from Grandfather's body were an homage to the debt the planet owed this man. Red's only hope was that Bugenhagen would one day meet the Cetra, and drill them forever with his questions.
Without Bugenhagen, Nanaki had very little to do. Denzel and Marlene had gone with Barret and Elmyra back to Edge, and the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon could only offer so many things to do. After having a quick hunt around the crags of his beloved landscape, he found something staring at him from the darkness...
