Denzel did not wake as easily as Cloud. He was much smaller and while Cloud had been silent during the entire affair, Yuna knew that the boy's size hadn't played in his favor. As Denzel rest in the garden and Issaru and Maroda studied silently in the library, Yuna continued to read through Zanar's diaries. Cloud loomed. He brooded. He watched for any shift in Denzel's breathing at all and if Yuna hadn't shoved her communicator at him and told him to explore earlier, she was certain he might have paced a hole in the already uneven garden. Now he hovered over Denzel while an impressive sword was planted in a flowerbed. He'd left them just long enough to find a weapon.
"Cloud, he's healing." Yuna looked up from the pages for the nth time that evening. "Carbuncle is doing all he can to help and Issaru and I are both monitoring him."
"I know. There's nothing else I can do though." The warrior stopped hovering and came to sit beside her. "I can't build a fire without materia, I can't read the language, and I can't help my son."
Yuna bit her lip and looked down at the pages. Then she pulled something out of her hip pouch. A book she hadn't read in ages and carried with her always. A book Cloud would need to read if he wanted to help on this journey across Spira to find his companions and the rest of his family. She opened it to the first page and showed Cloud the alphabet of their world. The alphabet that had a simplified version beneath it and the penciled in AlBhed alphabet beneath that.
"This is the Book of Yevon. It's a little beat up, and I used to draw in the margins, but it's the first book I learned to read. We can practice the alphabet while we wait for Denzel. Then you can learn beside each other." Yuna set Zanar's diaries aside and moved the book before Cloud. Very carefully she cleared a patch of garden dirt and picked up a nearby stick. "This is Princeps. It's the symbol for Yevon, the number one, 'Holy', and 'start'. It makes the A, ah, I and ih sounds."
Most of Spira still ran on the script of Yevon. So even if he didn't pick up the rest of the language, and she assured him that many people never did, he'd be able to navigate the world as it was now. She also made him draw over the letters she drew before copying his own. Issaru stayed silent throughout while Maroda watched and offered his own little footnotes. Every so often they'd have to restart as Carbuncle kicked in his sleep beside Denzel.
"I don't think I've ever seen an aeon who could and would stay out so long as he does," Issaru finally spoke up as Cloud set about to writing his name; He had to invent something as his own sigil just as Yuna and Issaru had.
"He's hardly draining my magic at all. It's almost as though I need a cup of tea, or I should have drank more water." She leaned over and looked at Cloud's progress. "Dark water?"
"That's how I wrote my name before. Cloud."
"Well, a hurricane is a cloud that brings strife. And they're quite dark." Issaru leaned over and looked at the writing. "It's close enough to the script that the annals won't fuss when he takes his place as your guardian. Though, he may be the only guardian taken in a time without Sin."
"That's the last letter of the alphabet," Cloud hummed as his head turned to Denzel. At nearly the same time Carbuncle awoke and began to sniff at the child. Perhaps not a child though. He was at least Pacce's age, perhaps a bit older. "What month is it?" Cloud asked.
"Tonight marks the second full moon of spring." Yuna leaned forward with Cloud. "I don't know what you're asking otherwise."
"That means it's Uzuki," Cloud smiled. "Denzel's birthday."
Uzuki. That was a much quicker way to say the month. Perhaps she'd have to start using it, perhaps she could even write it in her letter to Baralai when she asked him to adjust the annals of her record as High Summoner.
"Denzel of Strife," Issaru hummed as he leaned back. The gentle tendril of magic he'd been keeping on the boy began to fade away and back into the man. "Perhaps Maroda and I should dig up a present while you two greet him. The fewer strangers the better."
"I'm going to look for firewood," Maroda began walking in the other direction. "And I promise to only take from broken things."
Cloud waited patiently as Denzel began to stir from his false slumber. He would not think of the dreadful things that might happen. The loss of memory or the implication he'd been experimented on. Whomeever had taken them must have been very powerful. If not physically then financially. Perhaps Shinra, perhaps something more sinister. The Deepground survivors who hadn't given in or agreed to obey the laws had gone a little sideways. If anything, their defeat had made everythign much worse. Then again, centuries had passed and not a single human being knew who he was or a single thing about life before. Perhaps nothing had changed at all.
A bird chirped above him and Denzel's eyes began to move.
Yuna's thin tendril of magic and Carbuncle's soft nose were still in contact with the boy. Magic drifting across his chest as it checked for injury and clear lungs while the bunny fox cuddled and buried his head under the boy's hand.
"He's not very nice when he wakes up," Cloud caught Carbuncle's collar. "You can cuddle all he wants once he wakes though. I promise."
Carbuncle made a complaining little growl before curling up between Cloud and Yuna. He didn't feel like any animal who'd cuddled up with Cloud, but he'd never had much experience with animals that weren't trying to kill him. And just as he'd said, Denzel began to grumble and his face twisted up grumpily. He tried to turn and made annoyed and angry sounds, then finally frustrated ones until finally Cloud risked putting a hand on his son's shoulder.
"Denzel, buddy, I need you to open your eyes, okay?" He was rather glad the boy couldn't lift his arms to high. "We got a little bit lost, and all I need you to do is open yours eyes, okay?"
Cloud was aware of Yuna and Carbuncle moving back a little bit while he helped denzel. He was as aware of her as he was of the boy's frustration over his own body's refusal to respond. As calm and as quietly as he could, Cloud explained what had happened and where they were now. That he'd made some friends who were helping them out.
"We're going to travel with Yuna for a while, pick up a bit more of the lingo." Cloud helped denzel to sit upright. "But first, we're going to sit here while you wake up."
"Where are we?" Denze's words slurred and he looked like he might fall back asleep at any moment.
"Yuna?" Cloud called. He didn't actually know.
"Aerilon Palace, to the south east of Zanarkand." Yuna came closer and Carbuncle paced slowly behind her, waiting to see if Denzel would stop being so groggy. The woman knelt to Cloud's right and faced Denzel. "I'm happy to see you've woken up Denzel. My name is Yuna."
Denzel made a grumbling sound and turned his body in to face Cloud's stomach. The elder gave a half of a smile and looked up at Yuna with a more serious face. Aerilon Palace wasn't in any of the history books she'd learned of but that was it's name according to Zanar. She'd also managed to call her cousin for an airlift out but it wouldn't be able to pick them up for another day. Assuming the sandstorm broke by tonight.
"She's going to see if Paine can pick us up in one of her patrol ships," Yuna explained. "If the storm doesn't break in the next few hours, then we need to find a way down to the ocean and light a signal fire."
"You explored a mysterious tunnel without supplies and now we're stranded until a storm ends."
"A storm on the other side of the world," Yuna clarified with a sheepish smile. "It's apple season, so we'll have something to eat as we walk down tomorrow."
"Apples grow in spring?" Cloud asked. His question elicited her laughter and after a moment she smiled and answered him. It was always apple season. It had always been apple season and always would be.
"Haven't there always been dumbapples?" Yuna asked. Her curiousity was gnuine and for the first time since waking, Cloud felt as though he'd never been more at home.
"We called them Banora Whites," Cloud answered. "There were more kinds of apples back then. Green, red, yellow, pink. I didn't think something would remain after all this time."
"Banoras," Yuna tested the word out. "I think it might take some time to catch on. But, if Paine comes and gets us, then she's more likely to come fully prepared and ready to burn the lab to the ground. That would make it easier to come back here later."
"That's her name?" Denzel's voice came from Cloud's stomach and both adults looked down to see if he was really talking to them.
"Commander Paine of the Peacekeepers, yes." Yuna shook her head and Carbuncle began to belly crawl over to Denzel. "He's been very worried about you Denzel. Perhaps you could let him make sure you're alright?"
The boy leaned back for a second before Carbuncle nearly toppled him to the ground with wagging tails and excited little yips.
~!~
The dawn came before any of them were ready to truly move away from this garden, but not quick enough for tired bones and hungry adventurers. Just as Yuna had guessed, Paine would be getting them from the beach. A beach that, after descending down a few dozen flights of stairs, proved to be much closer than anyone thought. There had been apples trees on four terraces of the palace and the fiends that emerged outside the gates gave everyone some much needed exercise. It allowed Cloud to sharpen his skills after his slumber and Yuna was able to fight alongside someone instead of against them or cheering them on from the side. Not to say she hadn't done her fair share with the Gullwings. This was different though.
"Your guardian isn't half bad," Issaru noted as they watched Cloud play with a large Ochu. "He could hurry it along though."
"I think he's trying to remember how to move," Yuna hummed as she sat and watched beside Denzel. "Or was he always like this?"
"No. Cloud likes to end things as quickly as he can. The only time he does this is when he's trying to learn about the monster."
"It's weak against fire!" Maroda shouted to Cloud. "And I'm weak from hunger!"
"You just ate," Denzel scolded him.
"And you're still a growing boy. You should be on my side about this!" Maroda wagged a finger at him. "At the very least you should be learning how to use that thing."
Denzel's grip tightened on the sword he'd been given for his birthday. Maoda had found it in his wanderings within the temple and upon Cloud's approval, handed it over to Denzel along with five hundred gil. The gil had been from Yuna, but the combined presents seemed to make the teen...well, not happy, but not unhappy either. Yuna had never met anyone like Denzel. Nor had she met someone like Cloud.
"When we get onto the boat, I can try to teach you some magic," Yuna offered to Denzel. After Maroda's advice the ochu had been slahsed to bits and Cloud forced to remind everyone that he couldn't use magic. "It's not terribly hard, but it doesn't require concentration."
"Just what I always wanted, more school." The teen boy's words were sarcastic. She could see it in his body though. The way he got a little bit anxious to learn and the way his shoulders stiffined at the thought. "At least Cloud has to learn too."
The trek through the forest took another hour and then it took another thrity minutes to cross the rubble in between the jungle and the beach. Zanarkand hadn't been the only city this far north, but it had been the only city anyone had bothered with. Perhaps Yuna could tell Rikku about this place and her AlBhed kin could come here. It was far enough from Zanarkand and there didn't seem to be any evidence of foul play or temples. Yuna really couldn't stand the thought of leaving her people in the desert after everything that had happened to them.
She continued thinking of these things as she sent a sizable ball of fire up into the sky. In the last two years her dresspheres had been morphing together. Before the sphere grid, she'd been able to summon, to cast white and black magic, and though she wasn't quite so good as Rikku, she'd been able to pickpocket and sneak into places quite easily. Once the grid appeared though, she'd gotten lazy. And now that her spheres were cracking or mixing together, she had been forced to practice again. Forced to practice all magic. Forced to practice her fighting with a staff. Her marksmanship. Now her will and her summoning was being pushed again.
"That's a really big fire spell." Cloud was standing beside her while Maroda taught Denzel the finer points of fighting with a scimitar.
"Fira," Yuna hummed. "Once Paine gets here I'll need to figure out what to do next." He didn't respond and she didn't speak again, not until she realized he was waiting for her. "I hate reading his diary, but right now it's our only clue."
"I stole a map." Cloud reached into his pocket and pulled a rolled up parchment from the depths. "It has some interesting markers."
Yuna unrolled the map and looked at the Spira of a thousand years before. She could only just recognize it.
"It looks so different," she sighed. "It's so much bigger."
"It's smaller," Cloud frowned. "This used to be a place called Temple of the Ancients."
"That's...Besaid is right here, where the temple is, but Kilika is here," Yuna looked closer at the map. "We used to be the same island."
They spent time looking over the map, taking notes and correcting what was and wasn't in place anymore. Every so often Yuna would have to stop and fire another signal into the air. Carbuncle would come running over to see what was the matter and Issaru would look up from where he was communing with his Siren.
"Picon temple," Yuna tapped a place on the map. "Zanar was getting paranoid about the local priestess speaking out against him so he sent one of his generals to investigate."
"We'll check it out once we get off of this beach."
The next time Yuna shot off a signal flare they got a blaze in return. Deep crimson in comparison to Yuna's bright white flames. The boat didn't appear for nearly fifteen minutes more, but by then they'd lit a larger fire on the beach and had finished their fruit. It wasn't a large ship, but It was a fast one and Yuna knew that within it's confines an entire squad of Peacekeepers was ready to attack pirating vessels. If not for Yuna's call it would be out there now and Paine would be in Luca. She watched as a smaller boat broke away from the ship and sped towards the shore, Paine standing in the prow with her arms crossed and a light scowl on her face. That part hadn't changed in all the time Yuna had known her but in building the peacekeepers, her wardrobe had undergone a massive revision. She was clad in even more black leather now, a full body suit that left only her neck and head exposed while bright silver armor protected her breast, her arms, and her legs. Chaps of pristine feathers fluttered from either side of her waist and chainmail in the same bright silver formed a lioncloth in front and back.
"Yuna," she greeted as she stepped off of the speedboat. Her armor shimmered and clinked as she walked up the beach. Her hair might have grown out but her shape was still as slender as it had ever been.
"Paine, it's good to see you." Yuna moved forward to give her friend a hug that was fully returned. She was a bit more pokey than the last time Yuna had seen her. "I see you've picked up a few more honors."
"It's good to see you're off of that island." Paine leaned back with a smile. "Less good to see you're still getting into trouble." She glanced over at Cloud and the others. "So which one did you pick up and which one tagged along?"
Before Yuna could scold her or even speak up in her defense, Maroda was helping his brother and Denzel climb onto the boat. Cloud seemed to be waiting for her to move forward. Paine seized the opportunity to corner him.
"You're the one she picked up on the way," Pained crossed her arms at the swordsman. He micked the action and nodded at him. "Why should I let you follow her?"
"I swore an oath."
"Didn't we all. That's not a good enough answer. I want to know why I shouldn't throw you into my brig until we hit Luca."
"Paine!"
"Yevon or no, Sin or man, You're still the High Summoner," Paine pressed. "If I let every would be companion turned stalker get too close-"
"I'm her guardian," Cloud cut Paine off. "Yuna accepted my oath. She decided I'd be her guardian before I even bent my knee."
Now Paine turned to face Yuna with a hundred burning questions and a decidedly nosey look on her brow. She was going to find out what had happened one way or the other andYuna would have no choice in the matter. Paine stepped back and let the duo climb onto the boat; Yuna was actually quite please when Cloud only offered a hand to help her balance. He didn't hold her hand or guide her into the dingy. He just stood there waiting.
Paine noticed quite easily the way Cloud had flinched upon seeing her. The man had a grudge of some sort against her, or someone she resembled, because after those first few moments and Yuna's assurances he calmed down and treated her like any other soldier. She took it as a compliment. However, during the week in which they sailed along the coastline Paine did everything in her power to push him. It helped that her patrol found a gang of pirates along the Picon coastline.
"Picon Bay is one of the least populated areas of Spira." Paine leaned over the desk in her quarters. A map had been pinned down and magnetic figures represented each of her troops. Clinging to the places she moved them in the roughest of seas and angriest of storms. "It's a lot of big game hunters and roughneck fishermen. It's also well known for the Picon Temple, one of Spira's last vestiges of ancient wealth."
"I've heard of it," Cloud stood on the other side of he table. His arms were crossed before hi and the sword he'd brought along was now harnessed on his back. "From a time before Sin. I thought pirates attacked ships."
"Picon Temple is nearly impossible to enter," Paine shook her head. "I've tried. It pains me to admit, and especially in front of her, but it's a place only a high summoner can enter."
"I'll make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble," Cloud nodded. Paine couldn't help but smirk as Yuna protested the very idea that she should be kept away from anything meant for a high summoner.
"A team of seven guardians couldn't keep her out of trouble. Much less myself and Rikku." Paine looked up at the man. "You're just going to help her get into it."
The blond shrugged at her and Paine wondered if this was the first sign of pending doom. A guardian who knew Yuna would get into trouble and instead of trying to stop her wanted to help her find it. That he admitted it was perhaps worse. The commander looked back and forth between the two and wondered for a moment if she'd missed something.
"Recently there's been reports of both hunters and pirate ships going missing. Normally I wouldn't care about the second, but Lord Lucas's youngest son is amongst one of the missing hunters."
"Lord Lucas now?" Yuna asked. She was standing at the end of the table. Neither beside Paine nor Cloud, but close enough to both that neither would feel slighted or ignored. Close enough hat any sudden fight would mean they stood together.
"Mayor Lucas apparently wasn't prestigious enough. The entire family has held power for so long that the Lucans don't seem bothered by it."
"Well, the city is named after them."
Something was happening on deck and within moments the three of them hurried up; Cloud's son and Issaru were hurrying down. One being dragged by the other until Cloud gave the boy a direct order to stay in his room with Issaru. Paine had to approve of moments like that as well. No matter how much she tried to disapprove of Cloud he seemed to do exactly the right thing.
"What's going on?" Paine shouted as her unit ran about the deck.
"There's a ship coming on fast along the port side. We're trying to identify it, but no response."
"How long?" Paine asked as she unclipped her sword.
"About twenty minutes if we're lucky."
Paine looked over at Cloud and Yuna to see the both of them ready to join the fray. She only hoped they wouldn't be needed. The men and women were ready to defend the deck while some of the ones in the rigging prepared to board the oncoming vessel. Paine could see it now, coming in faster with every heartbeat. Something was wrong with it. She called to the captain of her ship but the answer she received was not a pleasant one. The oncoming ship didn't seem to have a crew at all. All reports said it was unmanned. As it got closer to them she had to force their ship to veer further off course to avoid collision. The ghost ship didn't follow them; it continued along its path covered in thick ice and creaking painfully with each wave. The sails had been frozen into place to catch the breeze and the crew...
"May the Fayth save them," Paine exhaled as the ship passed them.
"I'd like to go ashore," Yuna spoke from beside her.
Picon Bay Hunter's Camp wasn't so bad. Much better off than the ship they'd passed. It was however a place that made Yuna glad to have Cloud beside her. Even Paine was walking a bit closer to them than she might have otherwise. A hunter's camp wasn't dangerous but it was rough. Filled with adventurers and caged beasts, streets lined with peddlers of steel and potions and flesh. That was the part that made Yuna glad for Cloud. Here in this cold place her garments were too close to those worn by a common streetwalker.
"Do you see Picon Temple?" Cloud asked as he walked with her through the streets. They were barely more than passages between rough stone buildings and in every crevice Yuna saw something unsettling.
"It's supposed to be on top of a hill. But this whole place is made up of hills." Yuna stepped over a stream of something spilling out of an ale house and out into the bay. "Where's Paine?"
"She and her soldiers went into the big tavern over there. Let's see if we can get out of this place."
Someone made a catcall upon hearing Cloud's words and another asked to have her once he was done.
"Tell me where the temple is and I'll think about it," Cloud called back.
Yuna started at the voice and tone he used. It was crasser and and he was slurring. He acted the part well and though his hand had drifted to the base of her spine, it hadn't gone any further. Just enough for him to pass as a lonely hunter with gil to spare. Yuna could only hide her face in his chest as the others became more interested in her physical attributes.
"Hey, I paid for a full night and day," Cloud caught one as he tried to grab for Yuna. "Where's this temple I keep hearing about?"
"We've tried sacrifice," one hunter gasped. His hand was caught in Cloud's grasp and his voice was pained. "You'll only be able to have her on the steps." Cloud tightened his grasp and the man let out a high pitched whine. "It's just outside of town, you'll be able to tell by all the ice on the ground."
Cloud tossed him away easily and Yuna felt torn about the satisfaction she felt as he tumbled down the steps and into an icy puddle. It didn't feel like spring here. It felt like a never ending winter's day. The chill from the ocean and the temple lingered in the souls of these people. Once they left the desolate town the edge faded a bit. Yuna's skin was cold but there wasn't a film of sorrow anymore.
"I'm sorry," Cloud spoke as his hand left her waist. "Men like that, they only know one real language besides fighting."
"Why? How did you shift so quickly?"
"I used to be a soldier for a man worse than Zanar. Maybe. His entire family knew about the experiments that were happening and pushed their researchers to go further, to do more." Cloud's grip on his sword tightened. "I was one of the lucky ones."
Yuna slipped her hand into his and continued walking alongside him. At on point she was taking the lead, pulling him along while he silently kept pace. There was nothing she could say or do to comfort the man without knowing more about what had happened but she could help him in the now. She could point out the signs leading the way to the temple and to the Silkstone Palace. Cloud seemed content with this. Perhaps not happy, but such memories were hard to recover from once brought up.
"Silkstone Palace?" Cloud asked. "You know about that?"
"No. The sign looks almost as old as Picon's though." Yuna looked between the two signs and sighed. "I really do get into too much trouble."
"Exploring ancient ruins isn't getting into trouble," Cloud began towards Picon Temple. "Until we unleash an ancient evil, we aren't getting into trouble."
"We're just cleaning up our home?" Yuna asked with a smile.
"Exactly."
The walk took the better part of an hour if one excluded the battles against fiends and the small relics Yuna stopped to investigate. Every path off of the cobblestone road was looked into and it's treasures claimed or fiends conquered. Cloud was almost more eager to take the small detours. It had been a long time since she'd explored with someone who wanted to explore for the sake of it. During her pilgrimage there had been pressure to be as quick as possible. To focus on the rites of death instead of living as much as she could. She'd explored many places as a Gullwing but there was always something more important than just exploring for the sake of it.
"Yuna."
She jerked out of her mind and looked at whatever it was Cloud had found. It was a model of the much larger temple up on the hill. The difference was that this one was covered in brightly colored flowers and the foreground had people in front of it. Yuna leaned closer to see the duet of figures before the shrine.
"They look familiar."
"They look like us," Cloud corrected. "If you wore your hair loose and I wore purple again."
"You wore purple?" Yuna asked. She looked him up and down and tried to imagine him in the bright colors Gippal loved so much. Even with that image and a small figurine in front of the shrine, she couldn't see him in such a bright color.
"It was navy blue, but the colors faded." Cloud came closer to where she knelt before the shrine. "Did you ever wear your hair loose?"
"Not in a long time. And it wasn't so long as that."
"But it is now." Cloud stood upright and dug in his pocket until a small square of faded purple fabric emerged. He set the fabric upon the small blonde man in his purple robes and a light swelled around the tiny man before shooting along a crack in the cobblestone road. Along that crack and up to the main temple where a very small glimmer could now be seen on the doors. "Your turn."
Yuna frowned. It had been a long time since she let her hair down and the crimson cord that bound it back was a symbol of...something that no longer existed. She pulled the ribbon loose and tossed it aside. Cloud watched her as it fell to the ground and as her fingers unbound the braid that had emerged. She she shook her hair out and it brushed along the figure of the woman another bright light joined the first.
"It's going to take at least an hour to do this again," Yuna sighed as she pulled her hair into a quick bun. When Cloud handed her the fallen crimson binding she paused. She could leave it here before this shrine and the severance would be official. She had a witness and the power to complete the ritual on her own if she wanted.
"You need to give it back to someone," Cloud spoke after a long moment.
"I never accepted it from anyone." She watched as he wound it around his hand. Once it was nicely wound, he slipped it from his fingers and put it into his back pocket. "You're keeping it?"
"It seems like something you're going to have to deal with later," he shrugged. "You don't want to hold it, so I will."
He left the clearing and Yuna glanced back at the small flower covered shrine. Very quickly, she picked up the remnant of his past and placed it on her own pouch.
The next shrine was covered in blood red leaves of autumn and surrounded by golden tiles. Each little tile bore an engraving of wheat, corn, or barley though occasionally a black crow popped up in the pattern. Once again there were two figures, though in this one the 'Cloud' figurine wore a bright pink band and 'Yuna' had her summoners garb on.
"It's stripping us of our past," Cloud scowled as he wandered around the little temple. Yuna could see clearly the pink ribbon around his bicep and she knew exactly what she needed to give up for this part of the quest.
"Just until it's activated." Yuna lifted the little scrap of purple from her waist pouch and noticed Cloud relax a bit. "I think if I had to surrender my father's beads permanently I might just leave Picon locked away."
"I joined Soldier in the Spring. Aerith died in Autumn."
"My third marriage was in spring and my father died in autumn." Yuna took the beads from her hair and set them in front of the model while Cloud did the same with his ribbon.
"Third marriage?" He asked as they reclaimed the items and headed to the next model.
"Sort of. It's complicated and the proof of it, and of divorce, is in your pocket." Yuna clipped her beads back into her hair and waved Cloud's hands away as he tried to tie his ribbon back on. "The second marriage was to a dead man who'd kidnapped me, which makes the third one to a dream less odd."
"Does the first one make more sense?" Cloud asked.
"I was young and stupid," Yuna finished the bow and made a double knot with the soft pink silk. Her fingertips lingered on his skin just a bit longer as she thought about what to say. He was warm and her memories and the air around them were cold. "I was in my fifteenth summer and I met him in Bevelle. Everything he said seemed perfect and beautiful and we eloped to Aphrodin Village. It took three weeks for Khimari to find us and by then..." Yuna exhaled and let her hands fall away from Cloud's skin. "There's a reason I've been refusing to meet with the leader of True Yevon."
"Your ex-husband is the leader of an extremist faction?"
"And the second one was an undead who tried to destroy the world. Yes."
"And Tidus is a dream?"
"Yes. Hes a dream of the fayth, like all summons, but it's so complicated and it's-"
"Yuna. It's alright. I promise that I won't try to take over the world or lead a cult or turn into a nightmare." He took her by the hand and started walking again. "It's summertime next. And I told Paine that I'd help you get into trouble."
The summer shrine was further away than the others had been. Bright coral blossoms and deep blue waves crawled along the structure and this time the duet of figures was wearing very little. They were unarmed and hair unbound. There was only the hint of clothing upon them and even their faces were empty of expression.
"I'm not getting undressed in this cold," Cloud scowled at the image before him. He glanced over at Yuna and she felt almost the same. "Do you have anything in your pack that might help?"
"Not really." Yuna stood upright and wondered if Carbuncle might be able to help. "What happened to you in the summer?"
"Nothing. I started a delivery service to try and forget the guilt I felt for Aerith's death. For two years it didn't work. By the third summer I was Denzel's legal guardian and Deepground attacked." His arms crossed and he thought hard about his life. "What about you?"
"I started sphere hunting to try and bring Tidus back. I saved the world from two horrible machines, almost three. Oh, last summer Tidus started cheating on me." Her little idol began to glow a bit. "Summer is when Khimari found Fidelias and I in Aphrodin Village. It's also when I was forced into marrying Seymour." Her little idol was growing brighter and brighter with every confession. "This summer hasn't started yet."
"I met Aerith in the summer," Cloud agreed. "I both left and started dating Tifa in the summer. And then we broke up again after a few years of trying. My last summer I met a woman in Costa and we fooled around for a bit. Then I found out she was with the old Shinra research division and trying to pick up where Hojo left off."
Both of their bare idols were glowing now, just on the edge of erupting with light and opening the gate for them. What else could they possibly have to confess though? Their springtime woes, the autumn failures, the summer loves had all gone out and each had admitted to something dreadful.
"Aerith was your summoner," Yuna began as she looked closer at the shrine for clues. "Now I'm your summoner. You never explained her to me."
"She was amazing. Older than I was but there was something bout her that made you want to impress her and protect her. She was pure in a world of corruption. Aerith was also my best friend's true love and he died before Aerith and I met." Cloud crouched down to look at the script below the figurines. It was in a language even Yuna couldn't understand. Perhaps a language he knew. "I don't think she saw me when we were together. I think she only saw Zach." His figurine erupted and a sad sort of smirk appeared on his lips as he traced the writing on the pedistal. "'Bare your soul and the way shall open. With love comes fear.' It's written in a language that was old even in my time."
"I think Tidus came back wrong." Yuna's words were spoken in a rush and she knew that if she didn't say them now that she might never admit them to anyone. They'd remain within her mind and her heart until fear took hold. "I think I summoned him, or beckoned him and I think he's, he's not the boy I fell in love with five years ago."
Her idol shot it's light out to join Cloud's at the etemple doors and a loud rumble echoed throughout the area. Perhaps it wasn't a temple meant for a High Summoner, but one intended for someone who wanted to relieve themselves of secrets. The two of them made their way to the temple gates, armed and redy to fight what lay within as they'd done through the forests surrounding Aerilon and the path up to Picon Temple. But in baring their souls they'd put themselves in a position they weren't quite prepared for. They were completely honest with themselves for the first time and there was a witness to listen.
"Yuna."
"Yes Cloud?"
"Let's keep doing this. Telling the truth."
"I'd like to be honest with you."
He nodded and together they climbed the steps and entered the temple of winter. Yuna had vague memories of Macalania Temple. She remembered the woods more than the ice palace but this place put both of them to great shame. Every tile upon the floor shimmered like the scales of an oarfish while bright red and onyx veins spread across and up the walls. Great collumns of stone and crystal reached into a ceiling so high she couldn't sea where it stopped. It was beautiful. A place so beautifully cold that every breath she took froze and fell to the ground. She didn't shiver or shake though. She couldn't shiver or shake because the pyreflies and the magic floating through the building pulled her out of her body and into a summoner's trance.
"Yuna?"
Cloud's gloved hand on her arm made her jerk around to face him. The light of the pyreflies through the crystal and his glowing eyes made the world surreal.
"The priestess was very strong. So was the general they sent for her." Yuna tightened her grip on her gun and realized they'd come much further into the temple than she'd realized. "When a summoner or any person with strong magic gets in a place like this we get..."
"You stopped breathing Yuna." That made her blink at him. "I've seen trances. I've been caught in the lifestream and in old magic and you stopped breathing. This place has something else."
"Something to make a powerful mage stop fighting," she exhaled. Yuna paid close attention to her breathing as they went further in. She wouldn't stop going in when there was more to the legacy of Zanar to discover. "Cloud, do you think that's why we're in here? Not just admitting the truth, but because we suit the general and the priestess?"
"I don't know. We can both use magic and we can both put up a fight." Cloud's eyes were getting brighter the further into the temple they went. "These crystals are strange."
"The aeon is twisted. When the flames of a temple turn blue it means something courrupted the aeon within." Even as she spoke, Yuna had the feeling this had always been the case in Picon Temple. She stopped and forced herself to take a deep breath just before a wide set of doube doors. "The air smells sharp."
"It's freezing in here," Cloud looked at her. He leaned closer and his glowing eyes were putting her in a trance again. When they moved or swayed, only broken by his blinking and her burning lungs. "We need to get out of here. You're turning blue."
"One last room," Yuna agreed.
He pushed the doors open and they went to the center of the shrine. There was no antechamber, no chamber of the fayth, not even a crystalized image of the priestess unfortunate enough to be trapped in this land. She concentrated on her breathing and Cloud watched the circular room for any sudden movements. Any slow buildup of magic around them would have been noticed right away by both. Yuna looked down at the floor to steady herself and let out a scream when she saw the priestess looking back. She, IT was under the floor. Clad all in black and held captive by an armored creature, the blue skinned priestess and the dark general swelled from beneath the tile and shot up to glide through the air. They swam about as one creature and circled Cloud and Yuna. The red eyes of the distorted armor and the bright blue of the priestess shone out from behind their masks.
"Yuna," Cloud came to stand before her. "I hope you have some fira left."
"Even better," she pulled a spell from deep inside. "Firaja!"
The flames burnt away the thick mist that had been lingering in the room and almost at once Yuna was able to focus on the fight. The flames that enveloped the dual figure elicited a high pitched scream of both and neither gender while the smell of burning hair and steel rose up in plumes around it. Cloud blocked a strike from the black spear of the general while Yuna cast another ball of flame at the corrupted duet. Almost as soon as the flames died down, the figures shimmied and a new blossom of thick mist rose from the tiles. Thicker than the last time and sending Yuna to the ground for all of the confusion. It was thicker the lower she went and Cloud's cries were distant in her mind. She felt a spray of something icy cold and noticed something clear across her skin. Glowing and rippling against her skin.
Birght blue lights seemed to float in front of her and pulled her upright. She needed fire. She needed to light a fire and to breathe. The need was so insistent and the lights were trying to make her understand. Sparks of orange and white were splashing off of the lights and the face that held them. She needed fire!
He mist burned away again and Yuna gasped for air. Cloud was holding her as they hid behind his sword and all of the lights she'd seen were from the spear driving at them, the ice spraying across the room, and his eyes. He was watching her as much as he was keeping an eye on their attackers. Yuna nodded and prepared another ball of fire. As she did, there was something tied around her arm.
"You can't afford to do that again," Cloud scowled as he knotted the pink ribbon with his teeth. "We need to get out of here if we want to go find the rest of them."
Any lingering effect of the mist was gone from her mind and Yuna focused on defeating this creature. Her shots were better able to hit the maiden while Cloud took on the warrior, balls of intense bright white flame devouring each whenever Cloud was clear. Twice their foe moved just enough that her shots grazed Cloud but the guardian gave no inclination that he was injured. She knew it hit him though. Once she was forced to hide behind a pillar as a ghostly sword came from the darkened ceiling, Cloud wielding the true blade that struck the creature.
Finally, as they lay upon the cold blue floor, Yuna released a ball of flame and lead upon the being. As with Siren and Issaru, it manifested into a large gemstone above the now visible Aeon Crystal in the floor.
Yuna reached for the item and felt a tingling coolness travel along her arm.
"Mateus," Yuna breathed out as the Aeon's presence took place in her mind. "Their name was Mateus. Husband and wife." Cloud's hand was warm on her wrist but as he made contact she felt Mateus spread out to him as well. "He was sent to prove his loyalty but Zanar had lain a trap."
Cloud nodded and began to lead her away from the ancient ice temple. The beings were telling them a tale of woe and sorrow. A husband loyal to his wife and both loyal to the people, but their only option had seemed to be a fight to the death. The horrible mist in the temple floors had been the trap lain by Zanar, for General Mateus had been a mystic knight, able to weild both magic and spear, and as both fought to keep up the appearance, each had lost their mind to the drug within.
"It's a good thing I can't use magic yet," Cloud leaned back against the temple doors. Both of them were getting their breath back from the fight and recovvering from the joint partnership with Mateus. "Otherwise we'd have been screwed."
"You will learn," Yuna sighed. She was sitting on the steps and trying to exhale the last of the mist from her lungs. "Come here, you're injured."
"I'll be fine." Cloud shook his head. He still came to stand beside her but instead focused on her burns from the ice of Mateus. "You should see to that before it gets too bad."
"Cloud, I know I shot you. Please just let me look." Yuna pointed at the space beside her and frowned until he sat down. He unzipped his sweater and for just a moment Yuna wondered why he covered it. Just for a moment though! Once she saw the blood on his shoulder she focused on healing him rather than feeling him. Tidus hadn't let her see his wounds or even touch him for the last three months. "You heal very fast." She spread her magic across his skin to check for any Regen spells and found nothing. Only the hair on his form prickling up as her magic trailed along.
"Part of the experiments," Cloud answered. He sat still while she focused a Cure spell on the wound. "How do you use magic without Materia?"
"I don't know what material is, but using magic is something you learn in the quiet of your mind." Yuna looked over his skin once more to see if she'd missed anything. "Just, focus on the way something looks while it heals. The way the muscle knits back together and the way it should look."
"I used to be really good with magic." Cloud took her arm and looked for all of the injuries left over from Mateus. "Let me see your other arm?"
He looked back and forth between the two and then his eyes drifted shut. Every person had a different feeling to their magic and Cloud was no different. His magic felt like the depths of the Farplane where the Lifestream lapped at it's banks and the most dangerous fiends lurked. She kept an eye on her skin and smiled as the itching burns faded away until only a cool lightness lingered. Cloud's eyes opened and while they didn't quite glow, they certainly drew her attention. He looked between the two once more and for the first time she watched as he removed his gloves and bare skin touched her. His skin was hot without the barrier between them.
"Did I do alright?" he asked as his thumbs brushed across her skin. There was absolutely no reason for him to keep touching her but the need for human contact was a driving force in his mind right now. Even before he'd been taken by the Acolytes there'd been little to no interaction with a woman. Beyond the physical and into the mental and emotional. Tifa and Vincent had gone to restart Nibelheim, Yuffie was herself, and between himself and Denzel there'd simply been no time.
"Perfect," Yuna's voice came through his mind. "This far up, it would be good to learn a fire spell or two." Though she spoke of clinical things he could feel the way Yuna leaned closer to him.
"Whatever you want." Cloud had to push himself up to keep from sitting there until the sun set. She rose with him, still appreciating the feel of human contact. "Do you think Mateus is doing something?"
"No." Her hand reached up to take hold of his and she began to lead him away from the temple. "We should get back before Paine comes looking for us."
The two of them made it back to Picon Bay with little issue though twice Carbuncle popped out to chase something and both stopped to stare down the path leading to Silkstone Palace. They'd come back for that when there was less of a driving need to get back. Then again, Cloud felt no need to get to any place in particular. For once he was the one tagging along while someone else ran. He wouldn't say anything yet. Not until he knew for sure. She didn't pull away from him when he resumed his drunken soldier persona either. If anything she stumbled alongside him and leaned her head into his chest. As they walked through the little town they noticed soemthing else.
"It feels warmer."
Cloud didn't say anything, he merely walked through the rubble and molding huts to where the ship awaited them.
It was after dinner that they spoke again, Denzel and Cloud both bent over homework as they learned the languages of the land; Cloud was much better at AlBhed while Denzel had the common alphabet down. What Cloud asked about had nothing to do with language at all for he'd decided the language of mechanics was the only one he needed. Instead his question had more to do with the ruins of Spira and Yuna's preference of them. He wanted to know which place was her favorite out of all the places she'd been to.
"Favorite?" Yuna leaned back to think about it. "The prettiest place I ever saw was the floating ruins of Mt Gagazet, although Picon temple was very close to beating it."
"Which one do you go back to?" Cloud asked.
"I visit Zanarkand the most. I can think in peace there. No one bothers me and whenever someone does see me they turn around and leave. Usually." Yuna adjusted her kimono sleeve and stared down at it for just a moment longer. "I think that's the place where I can try to figure out what I want to do. And now, there's another mission from the lineage."
"Lineage?"
All three of them turned to see Paine coming through the door of the mess hall. Her bright silver hair had been pulled back into a high tail though her bangs still flew to one side. In between Picon Bay and now she'd begun to mention cutting it all off.
"All summoners share the same bloodline," Yuna smiled at her friend. "We're all descended of..." She stopped and looked at Cloud. "Oh. I suppose...did you know of a man we call the Loveless One?" Cloud sighed and rubbed at his face before nodding. "Well? What was his name?"
"The red bastard," Cloud scoffed. "His name was Genesis Raphsodos and he used to play Fire Dodgeball with the new recruits. I still have nightmares about him."
"Surely he wasn't so terrible!"
"It's my experience that our ancestors are always bad," Paine took a seat at the table with them. "No matter the honors bestowed upon them a secret will always come to destroy us." She gave Yuna a look and even if Paine didn't really know the exact details, she knew that Yuna had found something out about Spira's past. "In the interest of preserving the peace I've elected not to ask questions about your new guardian, your divorce, or the fact that Picon Bay is suddenly experiencing a heat wave comparable to Besaid. That doesn't mean I'm going to let you run around causing havoc."
"Cloud and I are acting in the best interests of the eternal calm," Yuna told her friend honestly. "Myself, Issaru, and Dona have all convened on this matter and are in agreement on how to best proceed."
"When summoners agree it means someone ends up dead."
"Hopefully no more than have already died. If any faction discovered there were still aeons chaos would come for everyone." Yuna watched as Paine's brows rose up into her hair and bright red eyes widened to an impossible size. "I have two, Issaru has one. Dona has chosen to remain in Kilika and give up her summoning."
"Issaru is going to return to Zanarkand," Cloud shook his head. "Maroda and I were talking and they're going to start combing through the scrolls and blocking out the way to Aerilon Palace."
"Yuna," Paine interrupted. "The Peacekeepers can not be a part of this without making it an official excursion."
"You're giving a ride to some old friends," Yuna smiled at her. "That's all. Myself and my guardian got a little lost in the ruins and needed help getting home. That's all you need for your report."
"And Issaru? Maroda?"
"We were having a little reunion, Dona left early so she wouldn't hurt the baby."
Paine leaned back in her seat and the silver commander frowned. "I don't like this Yuna."
"Nor do I. But I need more proof that Zanarkand wasn't a den of corruption and vice. If Nooj found out that Bevelle was the better of two evils then every mage and summoner would fall under his hammer. True Yevon and New Yevon would fracture even further and war would erupt."
Paine frowned and her arms crossed a little tighter across her chest. The prime reason she'd left the Youth League and Nooj behind had less to do with Leblanc and more to do with Nooj's growing suspicion and hatred of magic. He'd even gone so far as to simply dump bodies directly into the farplane to avoid both the pyreflies and the use of a priest for the funeral. Not all of his people were like that, but enough that the Peacekeepers was comprised of a good many mages and mystics.
"In the interest of keeping the peace," Paine sighed. "This is exactly what I knew would happen if I started keeping the laws. I knew the time would come when I had to make this choice."
"A choice we've made before," Yuna pointed out. Her eyes met Paine's and she explained to the woman exactly what she'd shared with her fellow summoners. Denzel was enraptured by the story and Cloud kept his eyes on the doorway, paying more attention to any would be evesdroppers than the story he already knew. Throughout it all her friend was silent and drawn. "Now that Issaru and Dona have chosen their roles, I am going to live up to mine. I am the High Summoner and this is my duty."
"I was never your guardian." Paine looked up from her lap. "I am your friend. As your friend I can only ask that you're careful. If you're ever stuck, or need help, the library in Leonis is open to you."
"Thank you." Yuna reached for Paine's hand and the other woman took it. "We're going to go to Kilika and regroup next. Dona's been watching Pacce and I'm certain Denzel wouldn't mind being with someone closer to his age."
"Do I have to give up my sword?" Denzel asked. He didn't look overly pleased or emotional at all, though he did look annoyed.
"Only if you want Pacce to kick your butt," Yuna smiled at him. His eyes narrowed and while they didn't glow nearly so bright as Cloud's, there was fire in them. "He's been practicing a lot longer than you."
Cloud came back to the table with swift strides and by the look on his face she knew people were coming. All discussion shifted to Denzel's lessons in swordsmanship and the future of the Strife boys. Cloud could remain as Yuna's guardian for as long as he wished, but it wasn't a very viable source of income these days. Some might even disdain him for choosing to follow the old ways while others might view his elevation as nothing more than the latest in a long line.
Sailors and soldiers filed into the mess and Cloud watched as the descendants of Deepground ambled around and laughed. It had taken this long for him to recognize them. The way their eyes didn't truly glow but eminated a sort of of light. Not quite as electric as those of summoners but enough for him to realize just which groups had made it this far. He was glad to know that their descendants could laugh in the sun. Paine was one of those he was most happy for. She had Rosso's crimson eyes and the silver locks of the man Cloud had once called friend. As much as he feared the Sephiroth might try to come back through her, he was equally angered that such a willful and intelligent woman would be lost.
"Sir Strife," Paine called to him. "Do you sing?"
She did have the same tendency to pick upon those under her command as her ancestors.
"I haven't had enough to drink," Cloud shook his head.
"I suppose your engagement to Spira's songstress would be intimidating." Paine's single statement not only made Cloud's eyes widen and cause Yuna to choke on her drink, but it would effect their journey for months to come. He could even see the smirk on her lips as she exacted a very simple vengeance against them for using her to investigate. "Perhaps you'd be kind enough to grace us with a song lady summoner?"
"You're terrible," Yuna frowned at her friend. The noise of the cabin wasn't relenting and after only a moment she was climbing up onto the table. "One song! That's it."
The uproar of the soldiers didn't distract him from Yuna's transformation. Bright pinkish white lights swirled around her as her kimono turned to ribbons. Left behind was a much scantier skirt and an outfit Cloud could grow to like. Her guns had turned to a microphone and in just a few moments he and Denzel and all of the others were listening to a very upbeat and happy tune. High summoner, savior, and songstress. Cloud frowned as he realized he'd have to keep her safe from a good many people. Not just religious zealots or radical revolutionaries, but from fans. The kind of fan Paine had considered him to be until a few songs before.
"She's really good," Denzel told Cloud as they sat and listened to her.
"She is. What do you think of her?"
Denzel shrugged and looked down at his hands. He'd been fiddling with his fork since he sat down to study and eat. Cloud waited and as the next song started up he gave an answer.
"She's nice. She doesn't seem like the others. But it's just bodyguard work."
"We have a mission. Gaia, Spira, it's our world and we have to protect it."
"She acts like Yazoo." Denzel was talking about Paine now. Voicing the thought Cloud had been too reluctant to say. "She's not bad though. Not yet."
He knew. He knew very well.
"Sounded like more than one song," Cloud said as Yuna climbed down from the table. She hadn't changed out of her sphere yet but it was freeing to be in something besides her summoner's robes. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
"I can never seem to stop writing them," she laughed. "Rin's been trying to get me to record an album for months now."
"It might be good cover." Cloud released her hand when she touched the cabin floor and Denzel didn't look quite so unimpressed by her. His suggestion wasn't a terrible one though.
"The recording studio is in Luca, but so far I've only bee able to discern Kilika and Besaid as our next stops." Yuna decided that she was not going to slip back into her summoners robes for a very long time; she only ever wore them to make other people happy with the idea of what she was. "So, have you had enough to drink yet?"
Her blonde guardian smiled into his chest before shaking his head. He was no going to drink anywhere near this group of soldiers or in any place where he might have a microphone shoved into his hands.
"He sings in the bath," Denzel told Yuna as he packed up his homework. "Just wait until then."
Yuna blushed at the thought. If not for the close quarters and constant investigations the Peacekeepers maintained along the coast she just might have pondered his physique and golden locks a bit more. Once they landed it wouldn't be better, but she wouldn't be thinking about him while sharing a bed with her best friend. She'd only have to shake herself out of the thoughts while they travelled Spira together as a duet. Possibly a trio if Denzel was coming with. Mateus rippled in her mind and bright blue eyes hovered before her until she blinked them away. Cloud was making jokes with his son, not watching her. His shoulders were relaxed instead of battle ready and his shirt was unzipping more and more as they sailed further south. There was a light dusting of hair on his chest, only a bit darker than the hair on his head and neatly trimmed. It hadn't been completely shaved clear as Tidus obsessed over. Nor was it so thick and bushy as Wakka's. She wondered briefly if his shirt might disappear entirely once they arrived on the islands.
"Yuna, will you please tell him that he's wrong?" Denzel frowned at Cloud.
"I wasn't really paying attention," she apologized. "What were we talking about?"
"Denzel thinks he should be allowed to join us as we explore forgotten tombs and labs." Cloud was watching the boy with an unyeilding expression.
"Have you gone exploring tombs before?" Yuna asked. Denzel had not, yet he was fully prepared to argue as to why he should. An argument Yuna stopped when she raised both of her hands to bring peace. "Pacce and his friends have a habit of exploring tombs and ruins around Spira. They fight as a team whereas Cloud and I..." She looked over at the blond and smiled. "You wouldn't be able to get any hits in I'm afraid."
Denzel listened as she told him about Kilika and what Pacce was doing there. She also told him about Dona and Barthello and the endless ruins and jungles on the island. It wouldn't exactly be adventuring through hidden lairs, but it would be filled with a lot of things to do. Dona wasn't the type to let anyone be idle either.
"You've only just turned thirteen. Give it two years, and you'll be as old as my cousin when she became my guardian."
"And as old as Yuffie when she joined Avalanche."
"I two years everything will be finished," Denzel scowled.
"That's what I thought two years ago. And two years before that. Our planet can't really let things settle." Yuna offered him her hand and waited until he took it. "Squire Denzel, I hereby invite you to join in my travels in two years time. With or without Cloud."
The teen seemed just amused enough to shake her hand in agreement. She even got a little smile from him. Cloud wasn't smiling quite as much but even he seemed a little more at ease with the deal. A cheer erupted from a table across the room and the sound of bottles popping told Yuna that the night was far from over. Soon the bawdy lyrics of a camp song were echoing off of the cabin walls. Denzel chose to leave and Yuna fell into step behind him, carrying the writing tools and ink and trying to convince Cloud she would be fine. He needed to relax and take in the culture.
"If you can call tavern wenches and ochu's culture," Yuna frowned at the room behind him. "Go. I'll be in your room with Denzel, doors locked and fully prepared to take down any body snatching pyreflies."
"Why does it sound like you've done that?" Denzel asked.
"I'll tell you about it while we get ready for bed."
~!~!~!~
Can we have a minute to think about the size of Cloud's biceps and how they vary? I mean, from one game to the next, or even just from one concept sketch to another, They go from the size of his head to tiny noodle arms.
Also a comment about 'The Friend-zone'. It's not real. If you know someone 'stuck' in this imaginary area, or complaining about being stuck, tell them to get the fuck over it and move on. If you are that person, be honest. You'll get a lot farther by being upfront about your interest than if you're just 'supportive'. And if you are turned down, get over it. If you have to turn someone down, you can recover from losing them. I promise.
