Red Condor in Need.
Author's Note: This is story I wrote earlier, so I decided to post it, since nobody's ever borthered with a story with a Condor in it. For those who don't know, a Condor is a giant Eagle-like bird that is that size of a Mako Reactor...literally!
Enjoy reading this, and remember, I don't own anything from Final Fantasy VII. All rights belong to Square Enix.
"Reno, wake up!"
"W-wha?" the sleepy red-haired young Turk, male, aged sixteen, grumbled, as he slowly awoke from a nightmare-sleep, due to one of his companions who was sitting next to him in the helicopter.
Reno yawned, and tried to fully wake up. The person who woke him was a Wutaiian man, five years older than Reno, black hair tied in a small ponytail, and was actually mentor-like towards the teenager. His name was Tseng, second in command of the Turks.
"We've arrived." Tseng informed.
"Already?" Reno sighed, rubbing his eyes as he yawned again.
"How'd you end up falling asleep like that?" this was asked by a young spiky-black haired teen, about a year younger than Reno, and was a SOLDIER 2nd class. His name was Zack.
Reno glared at him while admitting, "Couldn't sleep last night. Somebody's gonna die today."
"Why do you say that?" Another black haired man asked, well into his twenties, his hair was short and smooth, and was a SOLDIER 1st Class and Zack's mentor. His name was Angeal.
"It happens a lot." Reno shrugged, "If I have trouble sleeping, then to me, that's a sign that somebody's gonna die, but it's not a target or an enemy."
"We'll make certain that none of us die today." Tseng assured, though he was a bit worried about Reno's predictions.
Once the conversation was finished, the four of them stepped out of the chopper and made their way through. Their mission was to investigate the Fort Condor, which, according to reports, held the most giant birds in the world, named Condors, which were 50 times bigger than a Chocobo.
"So is it true a Condor is almost as big as a summon?" Zack asked as he followed the others.
"I've heard that they're a size of a really big mansion, if not bigger, like the Mako Reactors." Reno said, before chuckling, "But I think that's just a rumor, yo."
"You'd be surprised that these animals are real." Angeal wisely told the two teens.
Zack went up to his mentor and asked, "You've seen one, Angeal?"
Angeal shook his head, "No, but my father once did, when he was about your age."
"I've never seen a Condor either, but I doubt that they're not real." Tseng said.
Reno just laughed, "If those things are real, then if they see us, we're on their breakfest, lunch and dinner menu."
"They only feed on leaves from the trees close by. They have no intention on harming us humans, so they're perfectly gentle, unless you disturb them." Angeal explained, "Long ago, my father confronted a condor while he was exploring the world, before he retired to Banora. It was injured, and he couldn't forgive himself if he left it to die."
"So what happened?" Zack asked.
Angeal smiled, "He did an honourable thing and gave it some leaves and did his best to heal it. A few days later, it recovered, and in gratitude, it flew him to a nearby town since he got a bit lost."
"He got a chance to even ride on one!?" Zack asked in disbelief.
"Somehow I doubt that." Reno mumbled.
"Reno." Tseng sighed.
The young redhead blinked and shrugged cluelessly, "What?"
"Strange things can happen." Angeal said.
"Whoa...I wish I can see one." Zack thought.
But Reno just laughed, "Yeah right. It takes ages to even learn how to ride a Chocobo. There's no way in a million years that there'd be a giant bird just zooming over us."
"We don't know for sure, Reno." Tseng pointed out, before saying, "We shall split into two groups. Reno, Zack, you two go to the left side. Angeal and I will take the rigth side of the path. If there's any problems, let us know."
The young two men nodded, before heading towards their assigned path, while their mentors went to the other path. Along the way, Zack was nervously looking around for a giant bird. Reno smirked.
"What? You scared that a giant bird will snatch us up for dinner?" Reno teased.
Zack glared at him, "It's better to be careful, alright? Besides, remember that time when we got stuck in the swamp and ended up fighting the Midgar Zoloms?"
"That was different. Besides, unlike you, Slick, I heard about the Midgar Zoloms and I knew that they were real. It's not everyday that you're on a mission to encounter a giant snake." Reno pointed out. "In which is the main reason why I hate snakes."
The youngerish teen was about to say something, when all of the sudden, a huge boom was heard, a huge tremor was made, causing the teens to stumble, and, as they were on the edge of a pathway-cliff, Reno lost his foot and fell to the ground below. He screamed, and Zack, wanting to try and save him, couldn't make it in time.
"RENO!" Zack cried out in horror, as he watched his partner fall to the deep ground below. The quakes stopped, and immediately, he pulled out his PHS to call for help.
After calling Angeal for help, Zack noticed a giant shadow falling in front of him before vanishing. "Huh?" He looked up, but saw nothing, except for giant feathers floating down. He gasped in a frightened awe. One the feathers landed next to him, and he was astondied that it was as long as his entire body.
Zack then looked over the edge again, and saw a large body of feathers vanishing a bit. He knew what this meant and his also increased his worries and fear.
"A Condor..." he whispered, then choakingly said, "Reno..."
Meanwhile, Reno managed to grab hold of a broken pole sticking on the side of the rocky-wall, and was hanging on for dear life. He was lucky that he wasn't dead yet, but now it increased his inner worries he had the night before, and this time, it might've been his last night.
'Okay, don't panic.' Reno thought to himself, 'Zack might be a slick, but he ain't stupid. He'll call for help. It'll be okay.'
Just then, something utterly large fell past him and landed on the ground about 50 feet below him with a large thud, almost making him lose his grip. When Reno looked, he noticed over-sized feathers float past him, and his eyes widened in shock. They were as long as his thin body!
But it couldn't be. Could it?
'Maybe it's an over-sized Chocobo?' Reno thought, though his gut was telling him otherwise. He looked below him to see a giant body of feathers on the ground, and gasped in awe and horror.
A giant eagle-like bird was lying on it's back, as big as a Mako Reactor. Reno could not believe his own eyes, and all thoughts about such large beasts not real were all casted aside, as he gazed at the magnificent creature.
"A-A-A..." Reno stuttered, "A C-Condor...It's a real Condor!" he gasped. Now he knew he's in serious trouble. While he believed in Condors now, he still doubted that it's a vegaterian, and he became scared and worried. If he loses his grip, the giant bird could eat him. He didn't want to die. He was still a teen, a young Turk.
The terrified red-haired teen glanced up to the cliff and silently begged, 'Tseng, Zack, Angeal...help me, please!'
But it was too late. Reno looked again and to his horror, the pole, weak from the years of rust, and the weight of holding him, was breaking, and then...it snapped.
Reno screamed as he fell towards the giant Condor and his doom. He shut his eyes and in his head, he imagined the giant bird opening it's beak and him landing inside it's mouth, or it catches him with it's claws and takes him to it's nest to feed it to it's babies. Either way, Reno was finished.
He landed onto the feathered and surprisingly soft belly of the bird, bouncing a bit before landing safely on his front. Reno nervously opened his eyes, and while the bird gave him a soft landing, he was terrified. He was shaking in fear, and could've sworn that tears started to fill his eyes.
But as he fearfully looked at the Condor's face and expected his end, Reno's fear slowly softened as he noticed, while the magnificent bird was staring back at him since it noticed him landing on it, it's eyes looked...deathly dull, wounded and...happy and sad?
'Why is it looking weak and sad?' Reno thought. As he slowly gets to his knees, he noticed something other than the soft and fluffy feathers. He frowned in confusion as his hands felt wet and sticky.
As he looked down, he gaped in shock on what was on the belly of the bird. Blood. Lots of it. First Reno thought he injured himself and checked for wounds, since his untucked shirt and opened blazer was covered in blood now too. But he was fine.
Then the young redhead looked again, and his heart suddenly ached as he saw a large gash of a lined cut on the Condor's body, underneath him, which was bleeding heavily. It was so large that it was not even possible to close it up or have it healed.
Reno looked up and on a tall cliff really high, was a smallerish giant Condor flying over before vanishing. Did that had something to do with the adult Condor being like this? He looked at the giant condor again, and his fear of his own death now faded away as the life of the magnificent bird was on the verge of death.
Still, he had to be careful. Slowly and carefully, Reno risked in crawling closer to the Condor's face. He didn't know what he was doing, but at that moment, he wanted to risk his safety to comfort the large bird. Once he reached the beak, Reno slowly held up his right hand to touch it.
The dying Condor titled it's head a little, but sensed that the young human on it meant no harm. If anything, he wanted to comfort it. So it allowed him. Reno touched the beak, and gently pats it and stroked it. He found that the beak was smooth.
"Did something happen to you?" Reno asked, though he knew that it wouldn't respond, because him talking was a forien language to the Condor.
The Condor could only respond in making a choaked and dying moan in pain. It was slowly being succumbed to it's injuries.
"Shh. It's okay." Reno whispered comfortly. He couldn't believe what he was doing, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the dying beast alone. It was like when someone close to him died.
That's when Reno realised that this was the death he unknowingly predicted. He continued to stroke it carefully, doing his best to comfort it, though he knew that it'll die soon. As a Turk, Reno would've just left it, but as a human being, he couldn't just leave this thing to die alone. His heart would not allow it.
Reno then remembered that some birds die while protecting their eggs without leaving for food or water, until by the time the egg hatches, the parents die shortly after. It suddenly made sense.
"You're a mom, right?" Reno asked, continuing to comfort it. As if it understood him, it looked at him deeply from it's giant eyes into his blue ones. Reno smiled in sadness, "I'm sure that your kid will be fine. Heard that your kind are really powerful, even at a young age."
The Condor continued to look at him, eyes full of curiousity while dying. Reno continued, "You wanna hear a story? When I was kid, I found stories comforting in sad times." he chuckled softly, then continued, "My mom did her best to raise me until she died. I was about six at the time. I grew up in the slums, learning what I could, taking what I needed to survive."
He continued, "One day, when I was fourteen, someone actually found me and took me to a new and safe home. Now I got a job, but I'll never forget my parents. I was once told, that even in death, people can watch over their loved ones from the afterlife, always caring for them, until the day comes when their loved ones join them."
The Condor seemed stunned to hear such a wonderful and sad story. It made it's heart warm up at the last inch of it's life.
"I have'ta admit," Reno added, now at the slow point of crying, "I wouldn't want ya to die."
As if it was warmed up even further, the Condor moved it's head a little, and gently rubbed it's beak on Reno gently, startling him. He then realised that it was it's way of thanking him, and continued to stroke it. His fear was now gone.
'Angeal's right.' Reno thought, 'Condor's are gentle.'
Suddenly, with one last breath, the Condor's head slowly fell to the ground and went limp. Reno gasped in horror at this, and carefully slid off the body and rushed towards the head. He bent on his knees and looked for any signs of life. The Condor's eyes stared dyingly at him, as if smiling in gratitude at him, before they closed into a peaceful slumber.
"No...no, no no no!" Reno shook his head, unable to believe what happened. He looked for any signs of life, but sadly found none. It was cold. The mighty Condor, master of the skies, a good friend to human nature, and a protective parent, was dead.
Breaking down into sobs, Reno buried his face into the feathered side of it's face and cried, his tears slightly damping the feathers, as it now began to rain.
He then noticed that the winds were picking up, and when Reno looked, the helicopter he and the others were in earlier landed just about ten feet from him and the dead Condor. As the side door opened, Tseng, Angeal and Zack immediately got out, but as they stepped out, they gasped in shock, and then became saddened at the sight.
"I-I didn't..." Reno trailled off, as he thought that they think that he killed the Condor. Tseng approached him, and helped the teen up.
"Reno...I know that you wouldn't do something like this to a Condor." Tseng said.
Reno nodded, "It saved my life." remembering that, while the Condor had fallen to it's death, it's body had softened Reno's landing and saved him from suffering the same fate. He then clinged onto the Wutaiian Turk and buried his face onto his chest, crying. Tseng could only embrace and try to comfort the crying young Turk.
"Shh." Tseng whispered, "Remember, Reno. It's in a better place, now."
Zack, saddened that the Condor he saw earlier was now dead, turned to his mentor and asked, "Angeal? What happened to it?"
The older SOLDIER sighed and answered, "When a Condor hatchling hatches, it gives off unbelievable energy that is enough to blast away the mother Condor, causing it to fall to it's death, before the baby flies away."
"So it knew that it would die?" Zack asked, feeling sorry for the mother Condor and the already orphaned baby Condor. He felt even more sorry for Reno who had witnessed the last breath of the mighty Condor.
Suddenly, a little shimmering light floats down like a feather, catching everyone's attention. Even Reno softly ceased his crying, and saw the the light. As Tseng released him, Reno noticed that the light was floating towards him.
The young Turk held out his left hand carefully to catch the light, which faded to form a golden glowingish feather, landing gently into his palm. The others got up closer to examin it, while Reno stared at it.
"What's this?" Reno asked.
"I see. This is where the Phoenix downs come from. In the passing of the Condor." Angeal realised.
"Phoenix down?" Zack asked.
Tseng explained, "It's a feather that can save one's life when they are very close to death. These items are very rare."
"So you're saying that when a Condor dies, that's when the Phoenix downs are made or something like that?" Reno asked.
Angeal glanced at the dead Condor, before looking back at Reno and said, "Perhaps the Condor, in spirit, decided to pass it's gratitude to you."
The young redhead blinked in surprise. "Me?" before he realised that he stayed by the Condor's side as it was dying, and looked at the feather, before glancing back at the dead Condor.
'I wish I could've saved you. At least I managed to give you comfort.' Reno thought.
Tseng and Angeal then decided to postpone the mission, and they, Reno and Zack boarded the chopper to head back to Midgar. Reno continued to gaze at the Phoenix Down, unable to find himself to part from it.
'Maybe you and my mom will be great friends.' Reno thought as he looked at the feather that was created by the death of a lost but never forgotten mighty Condor.
Eleven years later...
Visiting the ruined Church in the ruins of Midgar, Reno stared down at the lake that once held the flowers of the now dead ancient who died in the hands of Sephiroth two years earlier. On a small ramp above it, was the Buster Sword that once belonged to the late Angeal who passed it to Zack who in his death passed it to Cloud who, now having surpassed Zack's legacy, retired it to here.
He still felt a bit bad for the deaths of Aerith and Zack. He'd seen so many deaths in his lifetime, but he felt guilty in most of them. Reno pulled out the Phoenix Down feather he kept with him since the day the very first Condor he'd seen in his entire life has shortly passed away.
'Sorry I couldn't apologuise to you guys earlier, but if ya see a Condor there, can you take of it and my mom? I'd appreciate it.' Reno thought. He heard footsteps behind him, but stayed in his place.
Behind him was a young man, about a few years younger than him, but at the same height, with blonde spiky hair, and blue eyes, wearing black clothes, one shoulder with a shoulder pad and sleeve, and the other bare with a long black leather glove, though he was wearing a short glove on his left hand, and carried fusion swords in his back-vest. It was Cloud, one of the heroes of the world.
"Reno? What are you doing here?" Cloud asked.
The red-haired man chuckled, before turning to face his former enemy, and said, "Just paying my respects, yo. Got a problem with that?"
Cloud was about to say something, when he noticed the familiar glowing feather in the Turk's hand, and was a bit surprised. He asked, "Where did you get that?"
"Hm?" Reno blinked, before realising what Cloud meant, and glanced at his good luck charm. "Oh, this? Had this thing for eleven years. Came to be after my first encounter with a Condor."
"A Condor?" Cloud asked.
Reno nodded, "Yeah. Ya know how mom Condors die after their kids hatch, right?" Cloud nods, allowing Reno to continued, "After it fell from that experince, the one that I met, I accidently fell off a cliff during a mission, and it's body softened my landing. It saved my life, and when I saw that it was dying...I stayed with it before it passed away." he felt sad for mentioning it, but didn't want to forget.
Cloud blinked in surprise, then asked, "Who was with you that day?"
"Tseng, Zack, and a guy named Angeal. Long story short, but, Angeal mentioned that the reason for the Phoenix down to appear was because the Condor are known to make 'em, and that this one proberly wanted to thank me." Reno explained, then said, "Though I bet you don't believe me, huh?"
"I've never seen a Condor before, though Cid, Vincent, and the others had, while Tifa and I were in Mideel. Two years ago." Cloud admitted, "Though I suppose you can't lie about something like that. Plus, a Phoenix Down is very rare."
"Yeah." Reno nodded. Then said, "I'd better get goin'. Catch ya later, Cloud." then left the Church, leaving Cloud to his thoughts.
Reno met up with Rude and Elena in Edge and the three of them continued onward back to Healen Lodge, since they had the day off.
"Reno?" Elena asked.
"Yo?" Reno looked at his youngest co-worker.
The blonde young woman looked at him and asked, "I know this sounds silly, but have you ever seen a Condor before?"
The redhaired man smiled and replied, "It's not silly at all, 'Lena, but yeah, I've encountered one, a long time ago."
"The one you met during the fort condor mission?" Rude recalled.
"Yup, that's the one." Reno answered.
Elena was surprised, and asked, "What was it like?"
Reno chuckled, then began, "Let's just say that they're more gentle than I ever was." and through the trip back, he told her the story of his encounter with a dying Condor, how he did his best to comfort it.
When he was finished, Elena was close to tears, as she said, "S-so sad."
"Yeah, but it proves that even giant birds are special." Reno answered.
To this day, the red-haired Turk will never forget his encounter with the mother-Condor, and will always honour it's memory.
It was almost like a friend to him.
THE END.
I admit, I shed tears writing this story. I hope you guys like it.
Please review, and if you want, you can check out my other stories on my profile for easier access. I don't mind in checking it out. You can always just scroll down straight to my stories to avoid reading my profile(nothing on my life, so don't worry.).
I'll be back with "Where Are They" story once I'm through the writer's block.