The Delivery Boy's Errand
The sequel to The Delivery Boy and the Delivery Apprentice. Can be read as a Stand Alone one-shot.
You just need to know that a goddess has reset the Planet back in time with an immortal Cloud Strife from six hundred years after the events of FFVII: AC to make a new future.
Disclaimer: No own FFVII… and the anime here as well... XD
000
The great and powerful Merciful Goddess from another world away smiled at her viewing pond. "So, he's made good use of the rebirth," she said. She shifted in her throne. "He is quite entertaining, that pet of mine. And he's made himself a little posse too. Maybe the next time I need an errand done, I'll ask them. Really now, what an adorable group of miscreants, just like my boys here."
000
"So… when did we become errand boys?" fourteen-year-old Zackary Fair asked. He looked at his older companions with raised eyebrows.
Twenty-one-year-old Sephiroth sighed in irritation. "Because our leader agreed to this… fiasco and we were dumb enough to follow," he answered.
"I resent that," immortal, and definitely ancient, Cloud Strife retorted with a baneful glare. "I am the Merciful Goddess' 'pet', as she so lovingly calls me. I kind of owe her, you know."
"So we've been running errands for her for some secret debt that you have no wish to divulge to the rest of us?" Vincent Valentine sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, did you have to drag us with you?"
"You're the ones who followed me! I didn't make you do anything!" the blond swordsman denied.
"Yeah, but we're friends, right?" Zack asked.
Cloud's breath hitched.
…we're friends, right?
"Yeah," he choked out. "We're friends. But remember, I'm still your elder too."
"Sure thing… Uncle Cloud."
"Can we get back on track here?" Sephiroth intoned. He gestured at the fiery pit that the foursome, plus wolf-motorcycle, was hovering over in a cage. "We are facing impending doom at the moment."
"Oh yeah…" Zack scratched his head. "I forgot."
Vincent sighed again. Fenrir, who was leaning against the gunslinger, heaved a sigh himself. Honestly, his humans were so weird.
000
The Merciful Goddess, with her white, see-through clothes and bare feet, appeared in all of her porn-star like glory in the… middle of Cloud's morning shower. "Oh my, you have nice abs," she said. She looked a little further south and smirked. "Very nice there too, almost as nice as mine." The hermaphrodite goddess wriggled her eyebrows.
Cloud screamed and made a blind grab for the hand towel beyond the shower curtain above the sink. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" he bellowed. He clutched the towel over his genitals. "YOU DON'T GO LOOKING AT A MAN'S JUNK WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION!"
The goddess shrugged. "I need you to do something for me," she said.
"Get out of my shower first!!"
"Aww, do I have to?"
"OUT!"
000
Cloud, who was finally dry and dressed in sweatpants and a tee, scowled hard at the goddess in his kitchen. His three housemates shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the kitchen table. Zack, the youngest of the four males at fourteen, stared with wide, glowing violet eyes. "Wow, I can see through your shirt!" he exclaimed.
"ZACK!" Sephiroth, the second youngest at twenty-one, screamed. His face was blushing a furious red. It wasn't often he saw breasts considering he lived in an all male household. It didn't help that he knew underneath the lower part of those mostly see-through clothes happened to be guy parts. "Don't stare at her chest like that!"
"This is highly disturbing…" Vincent muttered into his coffee. Cloud grunted his agreement. Fenrir, in puppy form, glanced up from his food bowl then turned back to eating. Yum, chicken…
"Now boys, let's get down to business," the goddess said. She guilelessly sat down next to the red-faced, silver-haired swordsman. "I need you, Cloud Strife, to do me an itsy-bitsy favor." She held up her thumb and forefinger and pinched a small amount of air to show how tiny the favor supposedly was. "Just a small one, mind you. You'll do it, won't you darling?"
Cloud's eyebrow twitched. "What is this 'favor' of yours, then?" he asked reluctantly.
The Merciful Goddess, who will be called Kannon-sama because it's easier, smiled with a secretive stretch of her thin, painted lips. "I need you to deliver something for me," the goddess said. Fenrir perked up and licked his chops. A delivery? It was about time he actually got to go on a delivery mission with Cloud. It had been a long while since the last one.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Vincent told his coffee. The beverage rippled in agreement.
000
"I told you we should have listened to Vincent's bad feeling!" Zack cried from his corner of the cage. The cage swung ominously above the fiery pit.
"Oh, shut up and keep swinging!" Sephiroth snarled back.
"Can't we just work together to get this damned cage over to the ledge?!" Cloud snapped at the two. "This delivery has gone on for the past five months! Long enough, I daresay!"
"Agreed," Vincent said succinctly.
000
"So we have to deliver… this… thing?" Cloud gestured toward the nondescript, brown box that was tied with twine, which was sitting on the table. It was about thirteen inches in length, nearly thirty-three centimeters, depending on preference. Its width was the same as the length of Cloud's middle finder and height was half of that. "What's in it?" he demanded. He narrowed suspicious, glowing blue eyes at the goddess. The box's dimensions didn't add up as to why Kannon-sama wanted it delivered by him of all people. Didn't she have flunky priests and priestesses to do this kind of thing back at her world? It made Cloud wonder.
Kannon-sama smiled wider. "You're not allowed to find out," she said coolly with her usual Mona-Lisa smile. She poked the tip of her immortal pet's nose. "But I might tell you after the delivery is over."
Cloud sighed. "Fine, I'll deliver it," he said sullenly. He stood up and drank the last of his coffee. "Let me get dressed and Fenrir and me will be on our way."
"Just you and Fenrir?" Vincent questioned. Cloud paused and looked at his three charges, though Sephiroth and especially Vincent were too old to be considered as such. "Well?"
"Yes… why?"
Sephiroth shook his head, making his shoulder-length, silver hair sway elegantly. "You're not going by yourself, Cloud," he proclaimed.
"Yeah, can't forget about us, you know!" Zack piped up with a wide grin stretching his youthful face.
"Indeed." The gunslinger calmly set his empty cup down and stood as well. "I'll prepare myself. Boys, I suggest you do the same."
"Aye, aye, Mr. Vincent."
"Don't call me that."
000
Cloud looked green in the face. "Guys, I'm gonna blow chunks," he gurgled. The cage was swinging faster now, back and forth like pendulum. "Seriously, I'm going to hurl any minute now." His eyes crossed.
"Don't aim it at us," Vincent said.
"Dude, I don't need vomit on me. Today's been bad enough, thank you." Zack tried to press himself further into his corner whilst helping to make the cage swing.
"One would think that the Mako in your body would have negated your motion sickness." Sephiroth let out an unmanly squeak when the blond man noisily threw up just a few inches away from his boot. "Oh nice, Cloud, you got some back spray vomit on my boots."
"Shove it," Cloud moaned piteously.
000
"Where are we going again?" Zack asked. He was hopping around on one foot while trying to tug a black, leather combat boot on the other.
Sephiroth shrugged and sat down on his bed to put on his boots like a normal, logical person would. "I do not know, Zack. And for pity's sake, sit down to put on your boots."
"What? No way, this is much more fun." The violet-eyed boy let out a triumphant cry as the boot finally slipped on and he switched to repeat.
"Idiot…" the silver-haired swordsman muttered.
"Eh?"
000
"We don't even know where we're going," Cloud said. "I don't want you three coming in case something goes wrong."
"That's exactly the reason why we're going because something might go wrong," Vincent intoned. He carefully began checking over his guns, Cerberus, and Death Penalty. He had no wish to be caught unprepared. "After all this time one would think you would finally understand that you are stuck with us forever, whether you like it or not."
"Ugh, no peace for the rest of my immortal life… Remember when we found out Zack became immortal?"
Vincent smirked. "Your reaction was quite amusing, if I recall even if I don't completely understand it. What happened now? Ah yes…"
00FLASHBACK00
"Hi Uncle Cloud!"
Cloud stared. Zack stared right back, glowing violet eyes and all. The blond swordsman screamed and pointed an accusing finger at the ground. "GURDDEMMNIT AERIS! DIS AIN'T FUNNEH!" he bellowed. Shockingly his voice had a backcountry twang that was prevalent in the Nibel region. Obviously Cloud was quite upset, to have his old accent make such an embarrassing reappearance.
Sephiroth looked at Vincent with raised eyebrows. The gunslinger shrugged. "I don't get it either," he replied to the teen's silent inquiry.
00ENDFLASHBACK00
"You had quite the twang in your voice," Vincent said, smirking.
Cloud blushed red. "Shut up," he muttered. He turned back to his small pack.
000
"Ah, you work fast," Kannon-sama said. She daintily sipped her tea. She raised her eyebrows at Sephiroth's tight leather pants and thigh-high leather boots. "I like your boots."
Sephiroth shrugged, his black cotton t-shirt stretching with the movement. "I like black." Then, to contradict his statement, he slipped on a brown, old style Shinra pilot's jacket. "And I really like this brown jacket," he said smugly.
"Smartass," Cloud muttered.
"Well then," Kannon-sama began. She clapped her hand and stood. "Let's transport you to the world where I need this lovely package delivered. From there, just head west. You'll know it when you see it."
"Wait, what?" Zack sputtered.
The goddess grinned. "Hold on to your packs… oh and your firm, pretty butts too."
"I FEEL VIOLATED!" the youngest male screeched. Then the four, or rather five since Fenrir was a part of the group, disappeared from the kitchen.
"I think I'll eat their cookies…" Kannon-sama said absentmindedly.
000
Fenrir let out an indignant yelp as nearly over six hundred pounds of immortal human ended piled on top of him. He growled and snapped his teeth at his two-legged pack members and struggled violently to get out from the bottom of the impromptu dog-pile. Immediately they scrambled off of the wolf-motorcycle.
"Ah, sorry, sorry." Cloud patted wolf/motorcycle on the head. Fenrir sniffed imperiously at him. The blond grinned. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and give me the cold shoulder. It won't get you anywhere."
"Where are we?" Zack gasped. He coughed and sputtered as the wind blew sand into his facial orifices. "Ugh, nasty."
"Obviously we're in a desert." Sephiroth sneered. He shielded his face from an onslaught of sand. "At midday." Which was evident in the way he and the others began to sweat. He made to take off his jacket only for Cloud to snap at him.
"Don't! You'll get sunburned faster."
"Yeah, then you'd be a lobster!"
"Quiet Zack." Cloud flicked his finger against the young teen's forehead. He ignored the boy's pout. "Kannon said to go west. Why does that sound familiar…?"
000
"Why are we in a volcano anyway?" Zack asked. He and the others were scrambling up the sides of the pit after crashing the cage into the stone. Well, Vincent had floated up, damn him, with Fenrir in his grasp.
"It's not a volcano!" Cloud growled. "Now move your ass, it's hot." He was the first to heave himself up onto solid ground. Vincent reached down to grasp the back of Zack's shirt to pull the violet-eyed boy up. Sephiroth clawed his way up beside the panting and still slightly nauseous Cloud. Fenrir laid down and panted from the heat. "It's a tunnel to the mantle of this world. That pit was the only access to it, I think."
"Hey, wouldn't the pressure make us explode if we're that deep in the ground?" Sephiroth asked solemnly.
Cloud snorted. "Didn't you see the inscriptions along the tunnel?" he said.
"No, I was too busy being dragged down here by my hair, thank you," the silver-haired man snarled.
"Yeah well, smartass, those were spells."
"Oh, that's why we're not crushed?" Zack piped in.
"Yes," Vincent answered. "Rather unoriginal idea of keeping us here though. Honestly a lava pit with a hanging cage?"
"Magma actually," Sephiroth corrected.
"No one asked," the gunslinger said with a sardonic lift of his eyebrow.
"Wonder why they did that?" the teenager of the group speculated.
"How should I know, Zack?" Cloud grunted out. He stood. "Let's go."
"We can't." Vincent pointed across the pit. Sure enough the only entrance, and therefore the only exit, was almost immediately blocked off by beings with elongated elf ears and glistening fangs. There were howls and snarls from the beings intermeshed with shouts of 'let's eat the humans now'.
"And they took our weapons to that storage room thing too," Zack whined.
"I hate demons," Sephiroth intoned. "Seriously." Fenrir let out a gruff snort in agreement. "Yeah," the swordsman said to the wolf.
"We're fucked," Cloud groaned.
"Yeah."
"Shut up Seph…"
000
"Three weeks! Three weeks and we're still in the goddamn, fucking desert! THREE WEEKS!" Sephiroth shouted to the uncaring sand dunes.
"Yeah, yeah," Zack growled. "You've been saying that for a while. Think of something new." He couldn't even muster the energy to duck under the slap that the silver-haired swordsman directed at the back of his head. He just grunted at the impact.
"Knock it off, you two." Cloud pinched Zack's cheek. The boy let out a howl and skirted back to walk with Vincent and Fenrir. The blond then proceeded to pinch Sephiroth's side, making the younger swordsman yelp. "Honestly, not a day of peace from either of you. That's why I wanted to go alone with Fenrir. Then he and I could have ridden out of this hellhole a long time ago." He looked disgruntled at the fact that none of his companions seemed the least bit contrite. In fact, Vincent had the balls to look smug about the entire fiasco. This made the blond irritated, which was only worsened by the dry heat.
"No use complaining, Cloud," the gunslinger said. Though he was sweating, Vincent didn't looked bothered by the entire fact that they were in a desert with barely any water or food.
It was a damn good thing that all of them, even Zack, were unnaturally or naturally (again Zack) enhanced by Mako. Because of the Mako, they had not only a high metabolism but they surprisingly needed little in the way of food and water despite said metabolism. It was a paradox that only Hojo could have explained… if he were alive that is. But, since he wasn't to the pleasure to three-fourths of the beings in the group (Fenrir didn't give two shits about it), they just simply took advantage of the benefits despite the means in which said benefits were achieved. Yet even with that being stated, no one really liked being stuck in the desert; it was the principle of the matter.
"It's hot," Zack said to interrupt the sudden silence. This time he did duck, only it was Vincent's normal hand that was doing the slapping. "Nyah, you missed." Then the teen yelped when the crimson-eyed man's hand swung back. The back of Vincent's hand had painfully collided with Zack's forehead. Sephiroth inelegantly guffawed then looked startled at the sound he made. Cloud sighed at the antics of his group.
Fenrir snickered in his own way. Really, his pack was ridiculous.
000
Fenrir let out a hunting howl to his pack and, with a snarl, he clamped his powerful jaws around a demon's throat. He quickly ripped out the being's esophagus and leapt at the next enemy.
Cloud reached out with his right hand, fingers curled like vicious talons. He gripped the face of a demon and crushed it with the ease given to those enhanced by Mako a la Hojo. Crimson blood and pinkish gray brain splattered around mixed with the white of bone. Sephiroth gave him a dirty look for splashing the silver-haired, temporarily sword-less swordsman with demon brains. Really, it was like Cloud lacked manners about the entire thing. But the blond only grinned feral-like at his second eldest companion and threw himself back into the fray. Screams, dead bodies, and blood followed after him.
Sephiroth nonchalantly ducked under a clumsy swing of a club from a demon. With a simple fist to the throat, he felled the fool that dared attack him. He then lashed out with a powerful kick, crushing the ribs and inner organs of at least two more demons. They went down screaming. He just simply hopped over them and punched another in the head, twisting the demon's neck a good one hundred and forty degrees. The snapping sound made Sephiroth almost smirk. He ducked under a strike from behind and lashed out in a back kick that shattered another opponent's pelvic bone since Sephiroth's aim was almost never incorrect. He whirled around in the next instant and kicked under the same demon's chin, actually separating the head from the body. The detached head almost hit Zack. This time it was Zack who was giving out dirty looks. But the would-have-been-Shinra-General returned that look with a smirk of challenge.
"Watch where you aim flying body parts!" Zack bellowed over the heat of the battle. He twisted his upper body to dodge a charging demon and then reached out to grasp the back of its neck. His fingers flexed. The demon's neck snapped. Still holding the corpse, Zack swung it like a club and smacked away several other demons. He let the body fly with them. The dead demon plus the ones Zack smacked away went straight into the pit of molten rock. "Hah, that sucks," he said. He slammed a hard fist through a foolish demon's chest. He yanked it back out with an ugly slurp and took that same fist to crush another's skull. That same demon also had golden claws sticking out of its stomach from behind. Zack grinned at Vincent and both extracted their respective limbs from the obviously dead creature. "Yo, Mr. Vincent!"
"Keep fighting," Vincent said in irritation. He whirled around and literally ripped off a demon's face. He and Zack were back to back now. "I'm going to really have to clean this thing when we get out of here." He yanked out the annoying voice box of yet another demon that got too close. He playfully flung it at Sephiroth. The young swordsman, dodged, glared but went back to killing. Vincent then continued to kill demons in much the same manner as the others that he had slaughtered. He gouged out one demon's eyes, hooked his claws through the sockets and dragged his hand down. Brains, busted eyeballs, and blood coated Vincent's arm.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Cloud bellowed from somewhere within the attacking horde.
000
It took the group of males five weeks to reach grasslands and another four days to reach a waterhole. Even with their enhancements, they were severely dehydrated. Cloud and Vincent made sure the two younger ones did not over-drink. To do so would have meant that they would have vomited afterward. Fenrir instinctively refrained from making himself sick.
Vincent sat by the waterhole and slumped his shoulders in a rare display of exhaustion. Cloud joined him and sat cross-legged compared to Vincent's pose of one leg bent and the other splayed out in front. The gunslinger rested his clawed arm on the upraised leg. The ancient swordsman planted his open hands on his knees and hunched his back a little from the position. After all, there was nothing to lean on besides each other. It was too hot for that sort of thing; though they were technically out of the desert, they were close enough to where most of the grasses were more yellow than green.
"I'm tired," Zack announced. He and Fenrir flopped down next to Cloud. The wolf-motorcycle whined his agreement. The thirteen-year-old rolled onto his stomach and propped up his arms and rested his chin on his upraised hands. "When will we get there?"
"Kannon said that Cloud will know when he sees it," Sephiroth answered as he sat down on the other side of Vincent.
"In other words, we have no idea."
"Pretty much, yes."
"Stop it, you two," Cloud sighed. "You're the ones who insisted on coming. Anyway, have you two filled the canteens?"
"Yeah," the two younger companions replied.
"Perhaps we should rest a bit more here before moving out again." Vincent stared up at the sapphire sky that was slowly turning purple and red. "Besides the sun is setting," he said.
"Hn… we shouldn't be too close to the waterhole. I have no desire to be fending off wildlife tonight." Cloud stood up and gestured toward a nearby copse of stunted trees. "We should camp over there and set off in the morning." There were no arguments.
However they didn't not see or sense the flying dragon above them. After all, magic spells had all kinds of neat tricks that could fool even the most sensitive of psychics.
000
"Holy shit, it's a town!" Zack crowed only to yelp in pain when Cloud thumped him on the head. Really, four months, two weeks, and five days they have been traveling and this was the eighth town they've come across in their path. A town shouldn't be so exciting. But what really peeved the blond was not Zack's enthusiasm but his language.
"Language," Cloud growled in warning.
"Can we please get proper food at the inn?" Sephiroth held up his nearly empty pouch of jerky. "Dried meat is disgusting."
"Miss Priss," Zack teased. He managed to dance out of the way of Cloud's intended blow only to trip over Fenrir. The wolf snickered and trotted back to keep up with Cloud.
"I need bullets," Vincent said. He flexed his claw in irritation at the fact that the hordes of mindless demons that insisted on attacking the four of them. And he could see the recognition of something in Cloud's eyes but the blond wasn't telling. Something was going on and, to Vincent's nose, it smelled fishy.
000
"Poi…" Cloud clawed fruitlessly at his throat. "Poi…son!" he roared. He glared in rage at the innkeeper. All around him on the ground were Zack, Sephiroth, Vincent and Fenrir. His eyes rolled back and he knew no more…
000
"It's completely ridiculous!" Cloud said. "I'm a delivery man. I should not have been in a cage, swinging above a pit of molten rock!"
"Delivery boy," Sephiroth interjected with a smirk.
"Considering we're not even getting paid, it's more of being an errand boy," Vincent pointed out
"So… again I'll ask, when did we become errand boys?" Zack said. "Stuck too far east but not enough to be going west? What was this place called again? Chynma? Chenya?"
"China, it's China," Cloud replied with a sigh.
000
The stream stained red then pink. Four men… err three men and a teenaged boy, plus one blood stained wolf-motorcycle, bathed. Fenrir was having a grand time splashing and swimming around.
Vincent worked out the joints of his claws, washing it with water and sand to buff off blood and guts. He stood in the water at hip height with only his boxers and a black undershirt on. To his immediate left stood Cloud, bent over and furiously washing his hair from crimson-brown back to his natural golden hair color. He too was in his boxers but with no shirt on. Right of the gunslinger Zack was scrubbing under his nails in an almost girlish fashion, whining of brains and organ bits being stuck underneath. His clothes, a simple t-shirt and boxers, clung to his body. Beside Cloud, Sephiroth wrung out his shoulder length hair and shook his head. His normally straight hair turned into a damp, slightly curling mess.
"Ooh, Seph, you should be a model!" Zack teased. "Looking sexy!"
"Zackary, you obviously wish for me to rip out your steaming, vital organs to make into sausage," Sephiroth replied with a glowing green glare of his eyes through the unintentionally artful mess of his curling bangs.
Cloud straightened and shook his own head of hair. He glared at his youngest companions through his dripping, blond bangs. "Knock it off," he stated. He raised his hands and carelessly ran his fingers through his hair. It automatically sprang into its trademark style.
"You are not fair!" Sephiroth growled in frustration.
"Of course he's not, I'm Fair!"
Vincent painfully pinched Zack's side with his normal hand, making the teen howl. "Idiots," he intoned.
000
"On the road again…" Zack sang under his breath. And literally they were on a road, surrounded by lush grasslands with the occasional tree.
"You sound like a croaking, dying frog," Sephiroth announced.
"I'm a growing boy hitting puberty, what do you think, jerk?" the younger male snapped angrily. His voice unfortunately cracked in the middle of his sentence. The occurrence made the silver-haired swordsman snort in amusement. Zack let out a war cry and tackled Sephiroth to the roadside. Cloud and Vincent stopped and watched. Fenrir huffed and sat in the short grasses to watch as well. What kind of wolf would he be if he didn't watch a fight of dominance between males?
"Ten gil on Sephiroth," Vincent said.
Cloud glared at the gunslinger. "No fair, you always pick him. You know he always wins. I refuse to bet."
"Spoilsport…"
The brawl continued for a bit more. Sephiroth, as predicted, won.
000
"Head west, she said. Ha!" Cloud muttered darkly. He and his group warily entered the inn. Hands belonging to those who had them twitched close to their respective owners' weapons. Fenrir kept his nose slightly tilted up to sniff out anything unusual. Considering the last time they had stopped at a town, and more specifically an inn, they had been drugged and dragged to a hole in the ground at China swinging above a pit of magma. Caution was perfectly justified. Really...
"We're not eating here, are we?" Zack asked nervously. He constantly looked over his shoulder, expecting someone to pop out. Paranoia? Don't be silly.
"No, we won't." the blond of the group said. "We'll sleep with one eye open, buy supplies in the morning, and hightail it out of this place."
"Sounds like a plan," Sephiroth said.
"HI THERE!" the clerk screeched in greeting from the reception desk. She squeaked when four weapons, three swords and a gun, were aimed directly at her face. "Uhh, four rooms?" she managed to ask. Slowly the weapons were lowered and four sets of glowing, suspicion filled eyes stared at her. Her smile only looked like a grimace of pain.
"One room," Cloud intoned. "Four beds."
"Y... yes sir. Pl... please use the si... sign-in sheet."
The poor clerk had probably shit herself but no one was willing to point it out.
000
"Cloud, you know where we are, don't you?" Sephiroth surprisingly broke first. They had quickly locked themselves in their room. Fenrir rolled onto his back, silently urging the silver-haired swordsman to keep scratching. Sephiroth obliged while waiting for his answer.
"Maybe," Cloud bit out from behind clenched teeth, "but I'm not quite sure yet. Though the demons are a big clue." He fiddled with the still wrapped package. "Something about this package..." he muttered. The blond shook his head. "We're getting close I think."
Vincent snorted his disbelief. Zack just snored.
000
"I'm hungry," a familiar voice said when Cloud and his 'apprentices' entered the dining room. They had managed to have enough trust for at least a small breakfast. Cloud froze at the voice's whining.
"Oh hell no."
"STUPID MONKEY!" another familiar voice bellowed.
"Well, we found who we were looking for," Cloud said to his friends. They stared at him then at the source of the voices. Four men were sitting at a table in the back. One was dressed like a monk but with hair more golden than Cloud's. His three companions were dressed like normal people but the vibe they gave off anything but normal. The only one directly facing them but not seeing them was seemed to be the youngest with golden eyes. "Stay here." Cloud took out the package from his pack and marched toward the table.
"When's our food coming?" Son Goku whined. He froze and stared with wide golden eyes at a person he had never thought he would see again. "No way..."
"Hey Red, I still owe you a bike ride, right?"
Sha Goyjo choked on his morning beer and jerked his head to stare. "Cloud?" he gasped. And indeed the blond was standing right behind Cho Hakkai. "Well, I'll be damned."
"Hello Cloud," Hakkai said, looking up and over his shoulder. His green eyes were twinkling in amusement. He had sensed Cloud's chi late last night but had not bothered to tell anyone. He smiled a little. "How are you?"
"I'm good, actually. Hey, monk!" Cloud smirked.
Genjyo Sanzo grunted from behind his newspaper. "Hey," he said.
"Cloud!" Goku said in delight. He hopped out of his chair and wrapped the blond swordsman in a tight hug. "I've missed you!"
000
Sephiroth felt a pang of jealousy at the sight of the strange boy hugging Cloud. Normally he didn't mind if Zack did the hugging because Zack was Zack. He frowned at his own selfishness but damn it, he was human too, wasn't he? Before Sephiroth could have a mini-existential crisis, Vincent led the two to an empty table.
"Old friends, I presume?" Vincent asked Fenrir. The transforming wolf-pup motorcycle woofed in affirmation. "I see. Then the delivery is probably for them." Fenrir gave a doggy shrug and lied down at the gunslinger's feet. "Right then. We'll leave Cloud to it."
"But-" Zack started.
"No, Zack, it's fine." Sephiroth had managed to calm himself. "Cloud always comes back to us so it doesn't matter." If only he knew how far Cloud had gone to come back...
000
"So what are you doing here, man?" Goyjo asked.
"Special delivery," Cloud answered. He held up the strangely plain package.
"From the old hag?" Sanzo muttered from around his cigarette.
"Yeah."
The heretical Buddhist monk held out his hand. "Hand it over then," he said. He didn't even twitch when Cloud slapped it into his palm. "Now go away."
"Sanzo!" Goku whined.
Cloud laughed. "It's alright, Goku. Besides my boys are glaring at me." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at his three companions.
Hakkai's eyes widened. "Are they who I think they are?" he gasped. The others of the Sanzo party, even the monk, quickly looked over. After all, if Hakkai was shocked it had to be good. Goku actually squeaked and Goyjo's cigarette dropped into his lap. The kappa half-breed hurriedly grabbed it and smothered it in the ashtray.
"It's okay," Cloud said soothingly. "Do you remember my last mission here?"
"The Scroll of Rebirth," Sanzo said, understanding making his face twist a little. "You're guilt complex is ridiculous," he concluded.
Cloud shrugged his muscled shoulders. "At the beginning it was that but... they're my family now, not just people to save," he said. He grinned. "Second chances and all that."
"Whatever." The monk turned back to his newspaper.
"Anyway, next time it won't be something Kannon-related, then we can play. After all, mission comes first, right?"
Goku drooped. "Aww..."
"It's for the best," Cloud said soothingly. "So I'm going to eat breakfast and we'll part ways once more." He smiled. "Next time then?"
"Yes, of course," Hakkai said. "Good-bye for now, Cloud."
"Don't forget that bike ride!" Goyjo reminded the swordsman.
"We'll see you soon!" Goku shouted.
000
"Done?" Vincent asked as Cloud sat down by him.
Cloud looked at each of his friends in turn. Then he smiled softly. "I love you guys, you know that right?" he said. Zack blushed but smiled. Sephiroth relaxed completely and returned his beloved savior's affectionate smile with a small one of his own.
Vincent simply looked pleased. Good, they could go home now...
000
Later, back on the reborn Gaia with the others in bed and asleep, Cloud and Kannon-sama were sitting in the kitchen. Fenrir was at their feet. They were sharing tea and the last box of cookies that she hadn't managed to eat during their absence. The time difference between Sanzo's Earth and Cloud's Gaia was weird like that, hours equaling to months.
"You could have just poofed us to their location, you know," Cloud said in a quietly irritated voice. Kannon-sama just grinned at him. The blond knew well enough that she had done that for her own amusement. He glared at the goddess. "Anyway, what was in the package?"
"A scroll."
Cloud frowned. "What kind of scroll?" he asked.
Kannon just grinned.
000
Sanzo stared at the sandy scroll. The others around him gaped.
"Is that..." Hakkai trailed off.
"One of the founding scrolls of Heaven and Earth," Sanzo growled. "The one we couldn't get in the desert because the scorpion's woman's lair collapsed on us because of YOU IDIOTS!" He finished in a bellow. "That bitch!" he roared. Goku scrambled away from the monk's wrath, the other two following suit.
000
"You did something, didn't you?" Cloud asked suspiciously. "And it's going to make Sanzo angry, isn't it?"
"Oh, probably."
Both shrugged and sipped their tea.
000End000
This one is shorter than the others in the word count and it seems anti-climatic but that was the joke. XD I just enjoy showing the interactions between Cloud and the others. They make me laugh.
Anyway, the great author kirallie inspired me to finish this. So this is for you! Everyone else should go read her stuff; it's awesome! Now I have a ton of homework to do... ugh, tests are coming up again. DX