Chapter one
The trouble starts
One year later…
The city of
Kalm, once just another small village.
Now it was a
city almost as big as the once mighty capital Midgar. A lot of residents used
to live in Midgar, but after the disaster they'd fled and started a new life in
Kalm.
Its city center
was remained as it used to be, having only one road leading in.
Next to the
entrance there was the famous inn called 'The Drifting Chocobo'.
Nobody
remembered were the name came from, but they all had they're own stories about
its origin.
In the middle
of the city square there was a monument to honor the mysterious hero's who'd
stopped Meteor from falling.
The statue had
the shape of a hand. It was holding a sword and pointed it in the direction of
Midgar.
Past the statue
there was the higher part of town. Up there, there were three stores; an item
store, which was run by a young man who'd bought it from the previous owner.
Next to that
were two other stores, or better one other store. It sold both weapons and
materia. Both owners had met on a festival once, fell in love and got married.
They decided to brake down the wall between them, but after being married for
twenty years they sometimes wished that they had left the wall where it used to
be.
Underneath the
stores was a gate.
That gate was
the entrance to one of the busiest places in Kalm.
It was a pub
called 'The Missing Score'. The owner was a young girl; she had come to Kalm
not long after the destruction of Midgar.
"Gwahahaha...
Ya must be kiddin'... ya didn't do that, did ya?" An old miner was sitting at a
table talking to a couple of other miners. "Ya damn right I did." A younger
miner took a big sip from his drink. "That ^#@*& inspector trying to nose
'round me mine." He stood up to get another drink. "I'll tell ya, next time he
comes." He showed them his Fire materia. "He'll have trouble sittin' for
weeks."
The group
busted out in laughter. "Yo Dart, how's bout givin' me another." The young man
bellowed at the bar. But there was no response. "Come on Dart, I know it
closing time but..." "Dart is out back, but I'll give you something. So what
will it be?" The young man's jaw fell open; it was the owner herself. He'd
never seen a more beautiful woman than her. She had long, dark brown hair. Her
eyes were a deep brown color, and it seemed as if little stars where twinkling
in them.
He cleared his
throat and tried to speak.
"...Erm, I'll…
have a… Kalm special...please." he muttered.
The girl smiled
and made him his drink. "Here you go." She said as she handed it over. The
young miner couldn't say something and just stood there staring at her.
When he
realized he was staring he quickly turned and went back to his table.
When he got
there, he heard the other men talking.
"Did ya hear
'bout Corel?" One of them asked. "Now that the Mako reactor's are down, there's
a big need for other power sources."
Another
knotted. "Yeah, I've heard. Seems that it got rebuild and providin' a lot of
cities with coals." One of the older miners stood up. "Well boys, I'll see
ya'll tomorrow in the mine. I'm off."
The others said
goodbye and continued they're conversations.
"Oke boys,
closing time so bottle up!" Dart, the bartender shouted.
Everyone
finished they're drinks and went home, complaining that 04:00 isn't a normal
time to close a bar.
Dart was
cleaning the bar when Tifa walked out of the kitchen.
"They'll be
back this week, won't they?" Dart referred to Cloud, Barret and Marlene, they
went on a camping trip two weeks ago. Tifa smiled and answer; "I can hardly
wait for them to get back. I wonder if Cloud and Barret got along this time."
Dart laughed, he knew how Cloud and Barret acted when they were together. "I
think they did just fine, besides Marlene was with them, never saw them act as
if they couldn't get along in front of her."
"Yeah, I guess
you're right, come on let's clean up and go home."
They cleaned
the bar, said goodnight and went home. Tomorrow will be another busy day, like
almost every day in their bar.
Ramuh Saikrom
wasn't a messenger for long, he'd wanted to see the world and this job was a
perfect opportunity.
At least that's
what he thought, now he wasn't so sure anymore.
He'd lost his
chocobo and was forced to walk to the next town.
And when he was
almost there, he'd run into a group of monsters.
He was able to
outrun most of them, but one was very persistent and didn't give up.
"Damn... Didn't
think this bastard could run so fast." Ramuh thought while he was getting tired
of running. He had equipped some materia, but fire isn't very affective against
Iron Giant's.
"Huff...
huff... come on, give... it up ... already." He didn't think he could run much
further. Don't forget to buy some lightning materia, they said. Don't
forget to buy some potions... If they'd given me the bloody things, I wouldn't
be running for my life now. He thought to himself.
He looked at
the fire materia in his hand and sighted. It wouldn't do him any good now.
"Piss off will
you..." He yelled and threw the materia at the giant.
"O shit... Now
that was smart."
He reached a
river and knew he was almost at his destination.
He glimpsed
over his shoulder to see where the Iron Giant was.
Suddenly he
tripped over something.
"Whoa..." He
landed with his face in some mud. "Ptthh, ptthh... o now isn't this just
great!" He quickly turned around, the giant stood right in front of him.
"Can't we
friends... Erm… I can read and write." The giant raised its sword above its
head. " Erm... I guess not."
Ramuh raised
his hands to deflect the blow. He knew it wouldn't save him but he couldn't
just sit there and do nothing.
He closed his
eyes and waited for the blow.
Nothing
happened.
Ramuh slowly
opened one eye. The Giant was standing still, it was looking at something.
"Now what is
more interesting than me at this moment." Ramuh asked. "Not that I mind though,
don't get me wrong."
He slowly stood
up. "Well it was fun, but I'm going now."
The giant
focused on Ramuh again. Its blade came sizzling down trough the air.
Ramuh just
barely evaded it, and fell to the ground.
"Stay down,
I'll handle this one." A voice said.
Ramuh heard a
gunshot and the giant backed away.
A shadow flew
over Ramuh and started hitting the Iron Giant.
"What the...?"
Ramuh muttered. The giant was fighting something but it moved so fast, that it
couldn't hit it.
Ramuh tried to
see who was saving him, but he was so fast that all Ramuh could see was a blur.
"Go to the
river." The voice said. "You'll be safer there."
Ramuh crawled
to the river and turned around.
The giant was
still trying to hit the man but couldn't hit its target.
The man made a
back flip and landed next to Ramuh.
"Okay playing
time is over." He used something; Ramuh couldn't see exactly what.
A bold of
lightning hit the giant, sending it flying for a couple of feet.
The Iron Giant
landed headfirst and didn't move anymore.
"Whoa... That
must have been at least a level three lightning spell!" Ramuh screamed, totally
amazed. "I never have seen anyone use such power."
He turned his
head to look at his savoir. He was wearing a long scarlet cape, and his face
was hidden behind a scarf. Ramuh backed away. "You're not going to kill me
now, are you?"
The man walked
away. "Now why would I want to do that?"
"O, I don't
know... I thought it was what you're kind does."
"...My kind?"
"Yeah you
know... Bandits, robbers." Ramuh shrugged. "I thought you was one, with the
mask and all." He felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry... O, by the way I'm Ramuh
Saikrom, thank you for saving me."
The man didn't
stop walking.
"Wait I'm going
to Kalm." He started to run to catch up. "Can't we travel together mister..."
The man stopped
walking. "Valentine. My name is Vincent Valentine."
"Well Vincent,
nice to meet you. Wait a minute… Valentine, Valentine…" Ramuh rummaged trough
his backpack. "Ah, here it is… Mister Valentine, you are hereby invited to the
coming of age ritual of Nanaki." Ramuh handed over an invitation. "An
invitation from Nanaki… o you mean Red."
"Red, Red… yes
I believe some people call him that, not us from Cosmo though." Vincent didn't
say anything and started walking again. "Yes... Well... This is going to be
fun." Ramuh mumbled.
Tifa was lying
in bed, she was dreaming.
She was in a
dark place, nothing but darkness surrounded her.
She tried to
move, but it was as if the darkness was solid.
Tifa began
to panic, where am I? she thought.
Then in the
distance, a small dot of light began to shine.
The dot grew
bigger and took the shape of a human.
The human
was a man dressed in what seemed to be army clothes.
On his left
shoulder there was a metal shoulder-pad, and he had a big belt around his
waist. On his back he carried a huge sword.
The man's
hair was kind of spiky and was blond.
Some locks
were hanging in front of his closed eyes.
"Cloud!"
Tifa cried out, but she got no reaction.
"Cloud, it's
me Tifa!" His eyes slowly opened, he had blue eyes and they had a distinct glow
in them.
"O, Cloud
how I've missed you." His eyes closed and he started to fade.
"No, why!
Why are you leaving me?" Tifa tried to get to him but still couldn't move.
"No Cloud,
come back. I can't live without you!"
Cloud totally
faded. Tifa was left alone in the darkness again.
Then she
heard Cloud's voice. "I'll come back, Tifa. When you're in trouble and need to
be saved, I'll come back.
Suddenly a
bright light blinded Tifa.
When her
eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that she was standing in a garden.
She started to feel calmer; the sound of a little creek set her mind to ease.
A cool wind
blew through her hair, when it passed her ears she could hear it whisper; "I
promise."
She smiled in
her sleep, knowing Cloud will be back soon.
It was still
early in the morning, when Ramuh woke up with a shock.
He heard
something outside the tent.
"Who… who is
there?"
"...... You're
awake, finally."
Ramuh crawled
out the tent. He saw that Vincent was collecting their equipment.
"How long did I
sleep? With all that noise here, I thought I couldn't sleep but...
I guess I was
wrong." Ramuh stretched out and walked towards a waterfall.
"This place
sure is pretty, where I'm from we don't see so many different shades of green."
He washed his
face, the water felt nice and fresh.
He turned his
head to look at Vincent. Ramuh saw that he begun to pack the tent. "You don't
talk much, now do you?" Ramuh said when he started to walk towards Vincent.
"......."
"Okay, I'll
stop yapping now, it's just that I didn't have no one to talk to…. until now
that is."
Vincent looked
at Ramuh. "I noticed that. You told me you're headed to Kalm."
He pointed at a
city in the distance.
"If we leave
now, we'd be able to reach it by noon."
Ramuh quickly
got his stuff together and began to walk towards the city.
"Finally, I
can't wait to sleep in a decent bed."
Vincent walked
besides him.
"What's you're
business there any way?"
"Remember the
invitation I gave you? I got a couple more to deliver in Kalm."
"More invitations?
Seems Red invited us all. O, Ramuh... I wanted to give you this."
Vincent handed
Ramuh something.
"Thanks... I
always wanted something like this…Erm what is it?'
"It's a pair of
running shoes, it'll increase you're speed. I thought you could use it."
"Well, thank
you."
Ramuh equipped
the shoes, and started running to give them a try.
"Don't overdo
it."
Vincent shook
his head, his traveling companion acted as a child sometimes.
"Don't worry,
I'll save my strength for other things."
They walked further
without talking.
Tifa woke up,
still a bit sleepy. She when down and made herself some breakfast. She was
planning to go shopping today. So she went up and took a shower. I wonder
when they'll come back? She thought, when she walked down the stairs.
Tifa walked to
the backdoor of her house, when she heard a knock on the front door. I
wonder who that could be? She didn't expect anybody today.
There was
another knock, Tifa rushed to the door, nearly tripped over a lose piece of
carpet but managed to stay on her feet. "I got to get that fixed."
She arrived at
the door, hesitated shortly and the opened the door. "Hiya Tif, we're back, it
started to rain and it wouldn't stop." Barret was standing there with Marlene
sitting on his shoulder. "Barret, why didn't you call? I could have prepared
something for you." Tifa looked over his shoulder. "Isn't Cloud with you? You
didn't fight, did you?" Barret grinned. "No, not this time. Can't we come in?
Standin' here all day won't do us any good." Tifa let Barret pass and closed
the door after looking out once more. Barret let Marlene climb off his shoulder
and sat down. Tifa sat down next to Marlene. "Did you enjoy your trip?"
Marlene smiled.
"Yaeh, papa fell in the river when he wanted to get some water and Cloud showed
me how I can catch fish and they couldn't set up the tent. You should have seen
it, it was so funny." Marlene kept talking on and on. Tifa couldn't help
herself and started to laugh. "It wasn't my fault, how should I know that I
couldn't use those leafs as toilet paper." Tifa could imagine the look on
Barret's face when the poison of the leafs started to work.
Suddenly they
heard a ruckus outside. It sounded as if somebody was fighting.
"What the…
what's goin' on out there?" Barret jumped up and ran to the door.
He opened it
and saw Cloud fighting with a man. The man was dressed in the same clothes as
Cloud, except for the color, it was black, and the long coat he was wearing.
Cloud was
having a hard time deflecting his blows and couldn't find an opening for a
counter attack. "Leave his spikey ass alone, you jackass!" Barret
shouted as he took aim at the man. "Not today little one." A huge man, dressed
in a black SOLDIERS uniform, grabbed Barret's arm and threw him across the
street. "Cloud!" Tifa jumped out her house, kicking the man who just
attacked Barret. "Humph… not bad woman, but not good enough."
Cloud saw that
Tifa was in danger and lowered his defense to cast Ice. It hit the huge man
hard, making him fall in a pile of garbidge.
Tifa was safe
for a while but the man attacking Cloud got the opening he was looking for. He
hit Cloud with the back of his sword, causing Cloud to lose consensus. Barret
was running towards the fight again, when a couple of soldiers blocked his
path. "Outta my way!" He started shooting them but it didn't seem
effective. "Need a hand?" Vincent said as he knocked down two soldiers.
"Hey, you won't
hear me complain." Tifa ran towards Cloud, when she was pulled back. "Hey
missy, let Valerius alone with his prey!" Tifa turned around, kicking
backwards. She missed and was lifted of the ground. "Kane let's go. We've got
what we wanted." Valerius shouted when he threw Cloud on his shoulder.
Barret and
Vincent were still fighting on the other side of the street. Kane threw Tifa
towards them and than took off. The remaining soldiers flee as soon as the men
left. Barret and Vincent where puffing, it has been a while since they had to
put up such a fight. "Damn, what was that 'bout?"
"They've got
Cloud!" Tifa screamed out. "They knocked him unconscious and left."
"Let's go get
them, I won't let them get away with that." Barret wanted to start running but
Vincent stopped him. "Let's get our gear first."
Tifa knotted,
"It won't do us any good to get slaughtered again."
Barret raised his
hands in fury, "Wrrraaaahhh!" he started to fire his gun-arm in a blind
rage.
"Barret, calm
down. There are innocent bystanders here!"
Barret started
to get calmer but was still pissed.
Meanwhile in
another part of Kalm, Ramuh was looking for a place called 'The Missing Score'.
I'm almost
there now, he thought. Just deliver this letter, buy a chocobo and go
home.
The streets of
Kalm were very crowded; Ramuh didn't know where to look.
There was so
much to see. A bunch of children were rope jumping, some men were unloading a
cart, a lot of people were just walking up and down the streets.
"Watch where
you're going, mate."
"Get out you
bum."
"Come on, move
it will ya."
"Twenty one,
twenty two, twenty..."
"Oy, getta move
on will ya, yer blockin' my path. Aye I mean ya, ya moron. Standin' in the way,
go on... shu shu."
Ramuh quickly
walked to the nearest ally.
"My god. I
didn't expect it would be such a lively place."
His hometown
was a lot smaller and quieter than this place was.
The chaos
surrounding him made him dazzle.
"Fhew... Okay,
let's do this and get the hell out of here."
Ramuh looked
around the corner to see if someone out there could help him.
"Whoa, look
out below!"
Ramuh looked
up; a big wooden crate came zooming down.
He quickly
jumped back, flying several feet until he hit a wall.
"Ooof… What
now?"
Ramuh looked
wary, he had no idea what just happened.
"Are you
alwright?"
"Euh… I guess I
am. Now why did I start to fly?"
"What are you
twalking abwout?"
"I'm talking
about… wait a minute… am I starting to talk to myself now?"
"I dunno… guess
you twalking to me."
Ramuh looked
around him.
"Why is it so
dark here?"
"Maybe you
should twake that bwucket off you head."
Ramuh moved his
hands up, took hold of a bucket and removed it from his head.
"Yes… now
there's light again… little voice in my head… were are you now?"
"I'm here, you
is a stwrange man."
Ramuh looked
down and saw he was hanging several feet above the ground.
The second
thing he saw was that he had been talking to a little girl.
"Pfew… I thought
I was loosing it… whoa… help get me down."
"You wait here,
mister. I'll get my daddy."
The little girl
ran trough an open door.
"Wait don't
leave me hanging here!"
Ramuh sighed.
Now how do
I get down. He thought. It's a long drop down.
He heard a
noise coming from the place the girl had gone.
He listened
more closely; it were voices.
"So someone got
tangled in our ropes, well let's get him down."
Good,
Ramuh thought, someone's going to get me down.
"Okay, cut the
ropes with this knife."
Cut the
ropes?
A man walked
through the door.
"I'll get you
down in a jiffy."
"No, don't cut
the… whoa…"
Ramuh hit the
ground with a bang. He slowly got up, checking if all of his body parts where
in place and working.
"You alright?"
"Yes… not
thanks to you I must add."
Ramuh looked at
a man; who was big enough to take on three of the Iron Giants he'd encountered
earlier.
"But then
again… if you didn't do anything, I would still be up there."
He muttered
whilst thinking; But being up there, kept me safe from a hard an up close
encounter with the ground, you oath.
"Looks like
you're not from 'round these parts. Are you looking for work?"
"No, I am not.
I already have a job."
Ramuh searched
his pockets and showed them a letter.
"Maybe you can
help me, I'm looking for a place called…"
He tried to
find the address on the letter.
"A place called
'The Missing Store'"
"Isn't it 'The
Missing Score'?"
"What? …Yes
you're right, that's the one."
Ramuh started
to feel reassured; he task was nearly completed.
"So you know where
I can find it?"
"Yes, it's very
easy, just walk out this ally, turn left, then strait ahead until you reach a
market. At the market turn right, then take the fourth street at you're left,
keep going strait ahead. Then you'll reach a."
"Please stop, I
already got lost at going out this ally."
The man started
to grin.
"Wait, I'll
walk you there."
Ramuh looked at
the man again. He was enormous. Ramuh could see all the people on the streets
making way to let them pass.
"Yes… that'll
be a laugh."
"What?"
"No, nothing."
The men walked
out the ally and began to walk to "The Missing Score".
Tifa and
friends where running past the statue. "There it is, we'll get our gear and
find Cloud!" Tifa shouted.
They stopped at
the door and heard voices inside the pub, which was strange because the bar
wouldn't be open until five. Barret pushed Tifa away from the door. "Outta my
way, Tif. If there are more inside here, their mine!"
Barret barged
trough the door, ready for anything. Nothing happened, then a voice said. "Barret…
If you wanted a drink you could have walked in like normal people do."
The voices they
had heard outside where dart and an odd looking man.
The man was
dressed in a blue robe, with a leather bag hanging around his neck.
He was about
170 cm tall, had blue eyes and blond hair. It was a skinny guy, he reminded
Barret of a weasel.
"Who the hell…"
Barret started, the man jumped up and hid behind the bar.
"Calm down, he
was looking for you guys." Dart said, trying to calm Barret down.
"For us!
Then he's one of them!" Barret shouted, he stormed towards the bar and
pulled the over the bar.
Tifa and
Vincent where standing in the doorway, looking at Barret's rampage.
When Vincent
saw the man, he recognized him and ran towards Barret.
"Barret… Would
you be kind enough to put him down… gently?" Vincent asked when he took hold of
Barret's gun-arm.
Barret looked
at the weasel-man, at Vincent and back at the weasel-man.
"Friend of
yours?" He asked a bit confused.
"Not really… we
met on the road here… seems he's got a habit for getting in trouble." Then
Vincent remembered the invitation he had. "Plus he's a messenger from Cosmo
Canyon."
"Cosmo… Oh ya
mean… What does he want?"
"Something to
do with a ritual."
"So…"
"He invited us
to come."
Barret was
tapped on the shoulder.
"Erm… do you
mind letting me down, then you can continue your little chat."
Barret looked
at the man he still had in his hand. Barret shrugged and let the man go. "Ain't
got time for this anyway." Barret looked at Tifa. "Let's get our stuff and get
going." He disappeared into the backroom.
"So you got a
message from Red?" Tifa asked the man.
The man
rummaged in his bag, took out three invitations and handed them over to Tifa.
"Could you
give… erm… the not so nice person, his invitation?" He asked when he started to
move towards the door. Vincent saw what he was planning.
"Going so soon,
Ramuh?" He asked.
"Well… erm… got
something… erm… bye!" Ramuh disappeared in an instant.
"Wow, he's
fast." Tifa said as the dust shaped Ramuh started to disappear.
"Must be the
running shoes I gave him."
"Alright… let's
kick some, whatshouldicallit, ass." Barret bellowed as he re-entered to bar.
He gave Tifa
and Vincent they're equipment and walked out the door.
"Where did the
weasel go?" He mumbled as he disappeared outside.
"Dart, could
you take care of the bar?" Tifa asked.
"Sure, don't
know what's going on though."
Vincent was
ready with equipping himself.
"We'll tell you
all about it… later."
He grabbed
Tifa's arm and pulled her out with him.
Tifa shouted
some last word at Dart, "I'll call you later, take care."
Then they where
gone and left Dart standing alone.
Now that
was a lot of commotion, He thought. And it isn't happy hour yet.
He shrugged; it
wasn't the first time something strange as this had happened.
