Bottlecaps and Bus Rides
I remember the way the bottle looked when I had purchased it
It had a curvaceous way of bending the light and making it all the more desierable
Moreover, I remember the place I had bought it in: A small pizza chain
Sure they have other pizza places the same in the city I now live in, but it was my place
A unique place I could go to and sleep, dream and think
It was my place, and I now think about it this night, of all nights
The city I had lived in, the city I now live in, the decisions I had made
Would I do it the exact same way? Or would I do it differently?
No time to think about it now, I've arrived at my stop.
The Ruby Materia
Chapter 1: Breathe
The clouds began to move back and forth in the sky; he kept still. The clouds turned a liquid green; he turned his head to the right. The grass he stared at waved in the breeze, seemlessly careless despite the destruction that lay around it. He looked to the sky again, and pointed out that he could see a chocobo in the clouds. She stared hard wondering where he saw that, and he took her hand in his and pointed to a large storm cloud that was now moving away from them. She laughed as she saw this giant bird, and he laughed, but didn't laugh as long as her. She quieted down and continued to hold his hand. Six months, that was all that passed, everything went by so fast, too fast if you asked her. Fortunately people actually appreciated what they did: destroying Midgar, saving the world from ultimate destruction that sort of thing. Unfortunately, Aeris was dead and there was no bringing her back, and Tifa was burdened with Clouds moping and sorrow, perhaps now was the time to reveal her feellings about him? Maybe-
"YO! LOVE BOIDS!" A loud voice shouted over the silence that embraced their time, as Cloud turned to look who it was, but he knew already. "YO! LOVE BOIDS! WE GOTTA GET OUTTA DIS PLACE!" Tifa stood up and put her hands on her hips and asked exactly what the hell he was shouting about. Indeed, this was the first time they had stopped to relax in six months. The first time was when they stopped by Midgar, only to find their comrades digging through to find scraps of food and beer for the celebration of the destruction of Midgar and Shinra. "There is news dat dis horde of 'great beasts' on its way! I don't know about you two, but I have had enough of dis shit for one day! Let the town folks deal wid dis crap!" She gave him a glare and he folded his arms and looked away. "My decision is final! No fucking way!" She turned to him, him on the ground staring at the clouds. Looking up at the stars, the hidden ones in the day time. Hard to see, but still there.
"Come on Cloud! You know what we have to do!" Indeed he did, but he didnt like it. He really hasn't had much time to recouperate from the long amount of time, at least to his perspective, since that burning day. The day the world nearly ended, and he faced a god himself, and nearly died at the hand of him too. Cloud looked up toward the clouds once again, searching the hidden heavens for an answer; maybe her hand, would appear just once, just once more. The clouds continued south, toward other lands, other peoples homes, and finally he turned to Tifa. Tifa. She was the band-aid to his wounds, the psychiatrist to the psycho, the cloud to the rain. Her curves made his sexual desires run rampant in his heads and her intelligence made him laugh and intrigue his mind. But would SHE agree? She that is dead, she that he loved. Would she allow him to live his life in peace? Cloud turned to his partner with a sudden quickness that made both Barrett and Tifa jump.
"Well what are you waiting for, we have a town to save!" Cloud jumped over both of them and headed for Cid's ship. Tifa and Barrett exchanged glances both wondering why the hell he was so jumpy already, and shrugged it off. Cloud was right, they did have a town to save. They all ran off to the ship, and prepared to leave when something strange happened. As they boarded the ship they all became incapable of movement. Cloud and the others cried out in astonishment, when Cid entered the room.
"Whoa! Sorry about that, lemme turn that off for ya." He pulled a lever down, and they could move again. "It's a new defense system I put in today, it automatically shuts down your nervous system, but keeps ya alive. Man dis ting has alotta differnt modes, I can make you stand still, stand on yer head, hop like a rabbit..." As Cid went on about his new defense system, he didn't notice the very pissed off Barrett coming for him, when XIII pulled him back and yanked him into the cabin. Barrett struggled against the...Canine...Feline...Whatever's pure strength.
"Barrett please he was only testing it, besides it's not like he did anything to harm us!" XIII was right, at least most of the group thought so, and so Barrett was left in his own angst as he walked away to his cabin. Yuffie was about to walk after him, but Tifa held her back. She shook her head and told her to give him time. Yuffie accepted, and they all returned to the front of their aircraft, accepting fully what was their destiny. You see, it is no longer their destiny to save the world. They must now perserve it for generations to come, so that the future of their Earth can continue. And in order to perserve this was to get rid of whatever horrible monsters were no longer needed on the planet. Unfortunately they had to "put down" most of their beloved companions such as Ifrit and Shiva. They locked away all their valued minerals and Hypers and buried them in the place that once contained the evil of Sephiroth. The crater that brings back the horrible memories of Cloud and the rest of their band, and vowed unless Sephiroth came back, they would never touch this place again. As for Barretts' daughter Marlene, it's been a tough six months. Just after Sephiroth was killed, there was an accident, Marlene was caught in a fire. She died shortly after the rescue; she was buried in Costa Del Sol, because her father never took her to see the dolphins, and now she could do it forever. Barrett hasn't said a lot about his feelings, hasn't talked to anyone, but everyone could hear him cry in his sleep during those cold and lonely nights. He blames no one but himself for what had happened, the crew tried to cheer him up and convince him it wasn't but only got so far to receive a kick in the guts. They gave up shortly after three months. He seems to be recovering as quickly as he can, considering he has to still concentrate in battle. He has increased an incredible amount of strength, and has even destroyed a couple of black dragons on his own.
"Well, let's get this over with," replied Cloud as he sat in a seat next to Cid, "Close all doors and alert the crew that we are moving out!" His orders could be heard like an echo through a cave.
"Allrighty! Attention Crew of the Highwind! Board immediately! I repeat..." Cid ordered them on, and it was time to lift off. As they took off it occured to Cloud that he forgot to ask Cid where they were going. He looked up and he was gone, curious and a little frustrated Cloud jumped up from the Captains chair and began to search around, checking Cid's cabin and the bathrooms. Scratching his head he was about to head back to the Bridge and wait for Cid to return when he heard something from the Engine Room. It was a sort of muffled sound, like someone screaming into a pillow, but more like a moan. Curious, Cloud slowly opened the door to the Engine Room, and stepped in. It was pretty small compared to the amount thrust it put out; almost twenty cylinders pumping gas and water through tubes and cogs. It was about the size of a large living room, maybe a little bigger, certainly big enough to fit fifteen crew members in to work on the...It suddenly occured to Cloud that he hadn't seen a single crew member working their asses off trying to keep the engine in tip-top conditions. Now something was up, and he pulled his sword out, sleek and polished; don't underestimate the cleanliness of the sword, it had seen many battles, and lots of gore. In his defensive stance he saw two figures in the back most corner of the room, and he carefully snuck up on the unsuspecting enemies. With a loud battle cry he jumped in front of what had looked like an enemy, when he focused into the darkness it was something a little worse than that.
