Chp.6 Darkening Skies

Even though he was the last one to lose consciousness, Cloud was the first to wake. He opened his eyes and was dismayed to see that it wasn't a dream. They really had fallen! And everywhere hurt! But what about Wind and Tifa? Were they alright?

Working past the pain to sit up and look, he absently noted that it was evening. Tifa was about a foot away from him and still unconscious. Wind was a little further away, about two or three feet from Tifa. Both were breathing steadily. Taking a moment to gather his bearings, he crawled over to Tifa to check her for any more injuries. She had a few scrapes on her arms, legs, and hands. Non of them were bleeding and had scabbed over, so he disregarded them for now. What worried him was the large bump on her head. He remembered his mom telling them once, that head injuries, no matter how small, could be bad. It was also bleeding a bit.

Reaching for his and his brother's packs, which survived the fall, he searched for the bandages that they had brought. Finding them, he brought them over to Tifa, along with the water canteens they also packed. He carefully rinsed the cut on her head, trying not to rub too hard, then wrapped it up, hoping that it wasn't too tight. Then he checked his brother. He seemed to be okay. No bumps on the head. He did have a bunch of little scratches. Then he noticed that Wind's hands were bloody. As if seeing that was a trigger, Cloud suddenly became aware of his won bloody hands...and the pain that they were in. It shocked him that he hadn't noticed that when bandaging Tifa's head. It's a good thing that rinsing the cut on Tifa's head also rinsed off some of the blood on his hands.

Shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts and trying to organize his scattered brain, he rinsed off the blood on Wind's hands. Then, with practiced hands, he bandaged his brother's hands, wrapping each individual finger. This, he was more familiar with. His brother seemed to always find a new way to hurt his hands and not notice. Neither Cloud nor their mother could figure out how he doesn't notice. Once again shaking his head free of scattered thoughts, he finished off tying the bandages. Then he bandaged his own hands. Hopefully Wind doesn't question him on who got bandaged first. Cloud always got hit for putting himself last. Even if Wind does the same thing.

Drinking what was left of the water in the canteen he used, Cloud looked around at the area they were in. It was a small area separated from the rest of the gorge by rockfalls. He could see that they were lucky not to have landed on those rocks, or any rocks. That brought to mind the weird thing he experienced at the end of the fall. The sudden decrease in the speed of their fall and Wind's strange grin. Strange things always did happen when Wind was feeling strong emotion. Like the time some angry lizard things suddenly tripped at the same time when chasing them. Five creatures, or people, wouldn't or couldn't trip over the same thing at the same time, could they? Or the time when Cloud fell off the well once night and instead of getting hurt, he bounced! Wind was watching him then and had panicked. And another time when a villager said something rude about their mother, making Wind very mad. A small sink hole appeared where the man was walking and his whole leg was sucked into the ground. It took two hours to free it, because the ground somehow solidified around it. No one ever questioned these strange happenings, the Strifes because it made Wind uncomfortable, and the villagers because it was abnormal and they didn't acknowledge the abnormal here.

Sighing, Cloud resolved to ask Wind about the possibility of controling the strange abilities later. He put the idea aside and got up to stretch his legs and look for possible paths out of there. He also took a moment to marvel that they hadn't been attacked by a random monster yet. He should just be grateful and keep busy as he waited for one of the other's to wake up.

When Wind woke up to pain, he thought that the past three years might have been either a fever dream or a delusion. That when he opened his eyes, it would be to the darkness of the Small Space. So he curled up into a ball and whimpered his distress. He had so hoped that it was all real. He then let out a quiet whine, trying to be quiet so that his abusers didn't hear him.

Fortunately for him, Cloud was sitting in a bored stupor near by, and heard the quiet whine. Concerned, knowing that Wind still sometimes woke up like this, he crawled over to his brother and gently shook him awake. "Wind...wake up baby brother. You're safe. It's safe. It's not a dream. We're just outside. C'mon bro, wake up!"

When Wind hesitantly opened his eyes, he didn't see Cloud immediately. He saw the rock walls and hard packed earth, and took this all in with an expression of shock and mild fear. He sat up slowly, mindful of his injuries. Not yet seeing Cloud he let out another soft whine of distress, not recognizing his surroundings. Glad that Tifa wasn't awake to witness his side of Wind, Cloud quietly called out to his brother, trying not to startle him. "Over here baby brother. Behind you. You can look, I'm real."

Wind turned quickly and, with a cry of relief, launched himself at his brother who winced in pain as several bruises were hit. They sat there, holding onto each other for a few minutes. Cloud comforting his brother and reassuring him. Wind, gladly taking that comfort and trying to reorient himself. After a while, finally remembering where they were at and why, Wind reluctantly let go to get a good look around. He took in the rocky surroundings, the packs on the ground, their miraculously intact swords, and the unconscious Tifa. Then he noticed the darkening skies and realized that they were going to be late in getting home. They were soon going to be in trouble!

"Hey, Cloud?"

"Yeah, Wind?"

"How are we gonna get her home?"

"..."

Wind looked over at Cloud and saw him biting his lip in thought. How were they going to get home? Tifa didn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon. It looked like they were going to have to carry her. But how, and what were they going to do with the packs? What if they were attacked and they had their hands full? It really was a miracle that they hadn't been already. Night was quickly falling and the more vicious monsters came out at night.

"...her to one of our backs."

Cloud was startled out of his thoughts by Wind's voice, but he didn't hear it all.

"Um...repeat that?"

Wind smacked his head and sighed, "I said 'we could tie her to one of our backs'. We still have rope and the ropes around our waists are still good."

Cloud thought about this for a moment. "That's a good idea, but how are we going to carry the extra backpack?"

"Well whoever carries Tifa can carry their pack with it strapped to their front."

"And how will we protect ourselves if we're attacked?"

"The one only carrying one backpack will have their hands free to use their sword."

"Alright. What about Tifa's pack?"

"We take what we need from it and leave the rest. Tifa's dad has plenty of money. He can buy her a new one easily"

A laugh. "True! Okay, I'll carry Tifa and the other pack since I'm stronger. You can protect us, but only defend us and distract any monsters so that we can get away. Then follow us when we're far enough away. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like an idea!"

"Then let's do this!"

Happy to have a plan of action, Cloud helped Wind get the ropes from around his waist and gathered the other remaining ropes, ...after raiding Tifa's bag of course. Then, with Wind's help, got Tifa onto his back, piggy back style, and tied her in place. The ropes were tied, wrapped around their chests and waists. The had her legs also wrapped around his waist and tied together for extra security and even had a rope holding her up in a kinda sitting position.* Then Wind helped him get the pack on in the front. Tifa's arms hung loose, but they didn't want to risk hurting them. With they pack on his front, Cloud suddenly felt like a pregnant woman with a child climbing on her back.** He immediately shook that awkward image away and waited on Wind.

Wind was already holding his pack with Cloud's sword tied onto it. He had his own sword at hand, ready to defend and ready to go. They headed out, following the only trail out that led upward. Wind had to help Cloud over the many loose rocks over the path, the awkward weight on his back and chest throwing off his balance. They made slow progress this way, with very unhelpful jumping in the way once in a while. They had to take many breaks, still tired and sore from their fall. They soon reached they cave system that had markings from previous travelers and hunters to help along the way.

Their luck didn't always hold out, as once a bomb decided that they were easy prey. That was when Wind once again panicked and felt energy drain from him before the monster was blown away by an unseen force. He tried to put it out of his mind, as usual, because it reminded him of Before. This like this is why he used to be Freak. No point in dwelling on it. Soon though, they came across the mako fountain. That was the sign they needed to know that home wasn't too far away now.

Night had completely fallen when they finally could see the town. There were many lights on, but, strangely enough, they seemed centered on the town square. As they got closer, they could see that there were many people there, some holding flashlights, many holding torches. They could hear an argument going on as they approached, the voices angry.

"Should have done something about those damn Strifes a long time ago! Who knows what those hooligans got Tifa into!"

Shouts of agreement.

"They've been gone all day! We should've never allowed our children anywhere near them!"

"We need to find them! What if those boys did that to her?"

"They're six, you scatter brained, inbred, son of a lame chocobo!"

That last voice was recognized as their mother. Her strained voice sounded angry, disgusted, and worried. She sounded awfully close to cussing too. Wind was right, they were in sooooo much trouble! Even if the villagers didn't get a say in their punishment, their mother was going to make them regret their trip more than they already did.

Then someone on the outer edge of the crowd saw them.

AN: AAAHHHH! sorry for the long wait folks! I had to rewrite a few things but this is the best I've got! and chapter 7 is in the works now too! if there are any misspellings, please point them out to me so i can correct them. I write this thing out on paper, type it up on the computer, and use a combination of spell check and dictionaries for anything I might think are misspelled. even has spell check so I can triple check. I'm a bit OCD about these things so any help is appreciated.

*you'll have to use you're imagination for this...i sucked at describing that (grimace)

**I have actually seen this when my 1 1/2 year old nephew jumped on my very pregnant sister's back...she looked very awkward and cursed me quite viciously when I laughed at her instead of helping.

Thankyou everybody! please review! they make me happy. but please remember that rudeness will be publicly addressed in an equally rude manner.