Update 29.03.18: Should be fine now! File must have been corrupted or something. I also changed one sentence in the third chapter, so I reuploaded that too.


THE REUNION

Cloud knew that he shouldn't have gone, but yet he did. What came over him he didn't know, but he was unsure of everything these days anyway. He kept the bouquet of lilies in a box, and stuffed the box in a compartment he had installed on Fenrir. Something to keep them from getting crushed during the journey to the Forgotten Capital.

The lilies had been from Elmyra. She had phoned in a few months ago regarding a special delivery. Apparently, word had travelled to Kalm bringing news of an up and running business centred in the city of Edge, that goes by the name of Strife Delivery Service. As soon as she had heard the name, Elmyra had to make a call and check. She had offered a larger sum of Gil than usual for the job, but since it was a special delivery, Cloud decided to offer her a free service.

He was cruising on Fenrir for four hours straight from the centre of Bone Village now and the ride was far from comfortable. Maybe it's time for a break, he's not far from the Forgotten Capital. They didn't have many main road routes so it was a little bit harder to steer Fenrir around the twists and turns. Cloud was glad that he managed to adjust Fenrir with added suspensions, otherwise there was no chance it would have survived the uneven terrain. It was a lot more better than the dreary landscape of Midgar's outskirts though - he had always found it hard to keep himself awake when everything you see is the same shade of dust and dirt.

Yeah, he really needed a break.

He spotted an inn up ahead the narrow road and parked Fenrir outside. He pressed a button on the handle, and spikes emerged at the bottom of Fenrir's wheels. Another additional precaution - just in case anyone wanted to elope with his ride.

As Cloud headed for the bar inside the shabby inn, it'll probably occur to anyone who's from Edge that this was no 7th Heaven, figuring that he probably was the only customer. The windows were too small and the lights were shabby, and the bartender was anything but friendly looking. But he wasn't complaining. Cloud settled himself on a wooden seat at the bar front.

"What's it gonna be?" the man behind the bar bellowed. He crossed his big burly arms, arms that were the size of Cloud's quadriceps.

"Corel Wine." he simply replied.

"Sorry lad. Ran out the other day." The wine or the customers? Cloud mused. The guy had a thick North Corelian accent, which was actually quite common around the Northern Continent.

"You got any Gin?"

"Junon or Cactuar?"

"Junon."

"Out of that too." Cloud sighed in frustration. Then why did he even ask?

The bartender grunted and started to clunk around with the various assortment of alcohol bottles that he had displayed on the shelves behind him.

Cloud reached for his phone in his back pocket. Seven missed calls. Seven voicemails. All from Tifa. He wasn't in the mood. It had crossed his mind that maybe he should call back, but what's the use? Either they'll fight over the phone, or beat around the bush from any real and deep meaningful conversation, like how Marlene had pointed out before. It was a vicious cycle that Cloud had set up for himself that Tifa and the kids were suffering for.

"Woman troubles?" the bartender asked. He slid the glass of Junon Gin towards Cloud, who was not hesitating to down it all, the burning feeling of Junon Gin clearly not phasing him. The man before him raised a single brow as he watched the troubled young man with an outrageous set of hair, ignore his question and set the now empty glass hard on his wooden bar top.

"Thought so." the bartender grumbled, sizing him up. "You look like a fighter. You a fighter?"

I don't know. Cloud didn't say anything. Not in the mood for conversation.

"You definitely ain't a talker, that's for sure."

And then it hit him. It stung from his skin, a fiery hot pain searing into his muscles. Cloud made an effort not to show it but failed. He raised his right hand and clutched his left arm that he kept shrouded. It was warm and moist and looked at his fingers that were now covered in the black pus. It was starting to seep through.

Nngh!, Cloud breathed out in short raspy breaths. He'd take a stab to the chest any day, even the feeling of that pain was more numbing than this one.

The bartender, taken aghast at Cloud's sudden movements watched him with wide eyes. "You got Geostigma?" he barked. The question sounded more of an accusation than anything.

"No shit." Cloud managed to say through gritted teeth. The sharp blast of pain had began to subside. His brain hurt less, now that they weren't bombarded with blinding images.

The bartender waited for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then his face had straightened, his mouth tight-lipped.

"Get out of my bar." he walked around the bar front. Cloud had got up before he had a chance to start shooing him away and dropped a handful of Gil on the counter.

"Gladly." Cloud was still clutching his arm. The dressing really needs to be changed. He forgot to change it before he started journeying from the centre of Bone Village. Tifa would have remembered.

Not many people outside of larger-populated areas like Midgar were ever in contact with Geostigma. If they were - people would treat it as something sinful. He said to himself that it was more of a punishment rather than a wrong-doing. Contagious or not - it didn't matter anymore. This would be his ordeal.

"So does Denzel even matter?" Tifa was no longer trying her best to maintain composure. The kids were in school. They didn't need to put up a front like they usually do.

"That's not what I'm saying Tifa!" he was starting to raise his voice.

"Well then you should go on and say it, 'cause clearly I'm not getting the memo." she attacked quickly. Her words carried hurt and anger all convoluted into one.

"You know what? Forget it." Cloud raised his arms in mocking defeat and trudged out of the bar and hopped onto Fenrir. A part of him said that he should go back. But he didn't.

The Forgotten Capital was eerily quiet. There was no wind here, only the deafening sound of silence matched with Fenrir's roaring engine as they moved past the trees with a faint white glow, but even then their branches didn't move.

The lake water was still. He remembered the last time he was there. He watched her die, and watched how her face disappeared to the bottomless pit below. This place felt anything but holy to him. Elmyra had specific instructions for him. Take the lilies, cut their stems and spread out each flower across the lake. That's how she had wanted it, and that's what he did.

As he placed each flower one by one, and let them drift off into the expanse of the lake, it was almost mesmerizing to watch the the ripples they would make. One ripple would hit another, and then they would make an even bigger one. Somehow, the flowers still seemed to drift towards the Ancient's Temple all at once, even though there was still no breeze here in the Capital. The lake was like a black mirror, the ripples made them look like as if they were looked broken shards. When Cloud gazed at his distorted reflection, he thought he heard a whisper… He continued to stare, trying to make sense of the reflection of his face.

...Was it just him or were his eyes glowing even more than usual?

….Cloud...Cloud...Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud…

He brought his face up close to the water, looking past his reflection and through that deep bottomless pit below. What would happen next, he didn't expect. He felt a rushing gust of wind from behind him, like a single beating pulse, and out spoke a sharp and frantic whisper that was once familiar to him. Too familiar.

She's coming!

If it wasn't for that sudden warning that nearly gave him a heart attack and brought him on his arse, his body would have been dragged to the sky, by the thing that emerged from the water below causing a jet of water to follow it like a tail. And once he caught sight of what that thing was floating in the star-studded night above, he barely managed to take a breath before they locked eyes. He's seen it before. Its face turned into a sinister smile. Like being caught with a bear, Cloud didn't make a move. Making the decision for a split second, he broke off into a run towards Fenrir, towards Tsurugi.

But the boy that ran was merely just an ant. It let him run. Itt won't let him get the prize. He was fast, but just not fast enough.

Cloud almost lost his balance when it landed in front of him, feet planted straight into the ground, the force of its landing reverberating through the ground. But using his momentum, he managed to leap into the air and flip over it, with an acrobats' grace. He would have managed to grab Tsurugi from Fenrir's hidden compartments, if he hadn't taken the chance of trying to overcome the extent of its strength and abilities. All it took was a simple reach for his left leg, and then he was sent hurtling down across the lake with so much force that he didn't even sink, but skidded across the water, his back crashing into the Temple. The throw had blew the air out of his lungs, and he started finding it hard to breath. A punctured lung or a broken back. Even then he still tried to weigh which was worse.

He closed his eyes for a moment grimacing from the pain, and suddenly she was there, grappling him by the neck with his toes barely touching the ground.

Each breath hurt like a thousand Masamunes skewering through him.

"Cloud Strife."

A voice of recognition. He looked at her eye that glowed purple. An ominous smile playing on her lips, her sickly skin almost transparent. Her breath was ice cold on his neck, and even though she had no limbs, there was a grip so powerful that he felt his throat was being crushed. The 'Stigma on his left arm burned like fire.

….Cloud...Cloud...Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. Cloud…

The whispers began to get louder, until it was the only thing he can focus his mind to.

That persistent smile stayed on her face, and she didn't even have to move her mouth to say the most foreboding of all greetings.

"We meet again."

Cloud struggled in the strength of her invisible choke hold. His vision was suddenly turning dark. If this was going to be his last, he forced himself to remember every memory he cherished.

That was his mistake. His eyes widened and the glow of her eye just intensified even further, as soon as he heard her words echo in his mind, spreading like a plague.

"Tell me, Cloud Strife…. what is it that you cherish most in this world? I might just have the pleasure of taking it away from you."