Final Fantasy VII: The Story 2nd Instalment
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Part Six: The Man with No Past
Chapter Seven
Unable to stay in Cosmo Canyon because of the lack of room, Cloud and the others had had no choice but to camp out in the buggy for the rest of the night. They had driven to the end of the cliffs before parking in the safe shadow of one of the smaller cliffs, and set up camp for the night.
It had been a very peaceful night, sleeping out underneath the stars. The air had been nice and cool, but not cold, and the sky remained clear all night through. Some of them had curled up inside the buggy, while others, such as Yuffie and Red XIII, had chosen to rough it out on the rock and patchy grass.
The only member of the group who could not enjoy the peaceful night was Cloud. He lay in the back of the buggy, his arms resting beneath his head and his legs propped up on the side of the buggy, eyes open as he looked up at the stars shining above him. Only it wasn't the cool breeze or the faint growl of Barret's snoring that kept him awake.
He was still awake because of the many thoughts that were roaming around in his head. Thoughts that had been running through his mind ever since they left the boundaries of Cosmo Canyon and entered the plains again, heading further north towards the distant mountains.
Cloud recognised those mountains. Their image was burned into his memory as an everlasting picture that would never fade. The jagged grey structures of the large mountain range that stood in the centre of the entire continent – it had taken them only a day or two to reach them. They grey structures of Mt. Nibel, which meant that they were very close to his hometown of Nibelheim.
Cloud wasn't sure he wanted to see Nibelheim again. He didn't know if he could bear it – to see the ruined wreckage of what had once been his home. He wondered if it would be like Gongaga or North Corel, left to disrepair and abandoned by the rest of the world. Cloud had no idea how many people had survived the flames – would there be anyone he knew still alive?
Thinking about it made his skin prickle, moving down his spine and making him shiver momentarily. In frustration he sat upright, bringing his legs down so that he could stand up in the middle of the buggy, and peered out into the night.
The plains were dark, but he could see the faint shimmer of water coming from a river in the distance, brought to light by the moon hanging in the sky. Cloud looked up at it for a moment or two, watching the giant white orb as it looked back down at a planet crying in need and desperation. No matter how hard Cloud listened he could no longer hear the cries of the Planet – maybe they could only be heard in Cosmo Canyon, in Bugenhagen's laboratory?
Thinking that made Cloud sigh with relief. He didn't want to hear those awful cries again, so pained and hurt. Was the planet really crying? Crying the way a human being could cry? And what of the Lifestream?
Remembering the Lifestream, Cloud turned his head away from the river and looked down towards his large sword, which lay silently in the corner of the buggy. In particular he looked at the red, green and blue balls of materia that were slotted silently in the side of the blade. Made of compressed Mako energy, which came from the planet. They were the product of the Lifestream.
Cloud knelt down beside the sword and pulled out the red ball of Ramuh. Although he could see nothing through the darkness, he could feel the power inside it. Power that came from the planet. It made Cloud feel a little guilty to be using the planet's power like this, but he knew it was a power they could not afford to give up. Not if they wanted to defeat Sephiroth and Shinra.
So he hoped that for a while… just a little while… the planet would allow them to use its power.
Nibelheim
The group were already up and moving again by the time the yellow ball of the sun rose the next morning, peering out between the tall rocky canyons onto the grassy plain where the buggy was riding. It was going to be another bright and sunny day for sure, which was good news for them if they wanted to make good progress. They had passed the slow-flowing river with ease and were now travelling at a fast pace towards the town that stood at the silent entrance of Mt. Nibel.
Nibelheim.
Cloud and Tifa were standing up in the back of the buggy right then, peering out over the top of the roof as Aeris drove on. They ignored the sound of Barret yelling angrily at Yuffie as she sat on the bonnet, and then Aeris yelling at him for making the buggy tilt with his angry cries. Their minds were focused solely on the town they were approaching, their hearts beating in anxiety at what they would see.
They expected to see the black remains of a ruined town, but as the buggy drew closer to the large break between the tall mountains of Nibel they realised that something wasn't right. At first they couldn't quite place what it was that was wrong, but as they passed the final slope and onto the straight path that led towards the town, they saw it.
"No way!" Tifa exclaimed, her eyes wide in an expression of pure disbelief.
They had expected to see a wreck of burnt down houses and decaying old vehicles, but instead they got exactly the opposite. There were no burnt down houses left to rot, instead there were many houses, neatly built and positioned exactly as Cloud and Tifa remembered them. Driving up to the entrance they could see the side wall of the inn, staring back at them.
Aeris slowed the buggy to a halt and stepped out. Everyone was now looking out at the town now, staring in disbelief at the complete town that looked back at them silently.
For Cloud, this was absolutely impossible. He had prepared himself to see a ruined, burnt out wreck abandoned from the world. Yet somehow, by some strange miracle or disaster, the town was standing there just as it always did. There was just no way that Nibelheim could be standing there. No way.
Suddenly and without warning, Cloud jumped down from the buggy and onto the grass. Tifa was just milliseconds behind him, and followed as he ran swiftly across the grass towards Nibelheim. They ran on regardless of the fact that the others were calling out to wait for them, and focused only on reaching Nibelheim.
Eventually their feet stopped pounding on frail stalks of grass and moved onto the more solid ground of the town, kicking up dust in their wake. It took them a few seconds to slow down, skidding to a stop beside the old inn. Even as they stopped their heads and eyes were already darting around, looking around in disbelief.
The resemblance was uncanny. Everywhere they looked, everything seemed to be exactly as it was before it had burned down. In fact it looked like it had never been touched. Everything was as it was, from the well in the centre of town to the small wooden bridge leading towards one of the houses near the entrance of town. The streets were just as quiet and dusty, and it still looked like a deserted ghost town. Only this time it was more of a ghost town, for it shouldn't have been standing.
"What--!" Tifa exclaimed, her voice almost choking in her disbelief as she looked around. Looking past the well she choked again as she saw the familiar sight of her house – or what had once been her house a long time ago. "This was all supposed to be burnt down, right?"
Cloud nodded slowly. He was also looking past the well, but on the opposite side, where the structure of what had been his childhood home stood silently alongside Tifa's, exactly as it had once done. "…I thought so."
"Then why…? My house is still there too…"
The others finally caught up to them then, leaving the buggy abandoned just outside the entrance of town. There was no point bringing it in – the only way forward was through the mountains and they would not support the buggy.
They were also surprised to find the town intact, but not as surprised as Cloud and Tifa were. Throughout all the time they had been travelling, they had held the belief that Sephiroth had burnt down Nibelheim, and it was nothing more than a ruin. Yet here it was, like it had never been touched.
Seeing it all, Barret immediately snapped his head round to Cloud and pointed at him fiercely. "You said the whole town burnt down, right?" he asked. There was a strong sense of accusation in his voice that he was unable to hide.
"…Yeah," Cloud replied.
"Cloud," said Cait. "Did you make up your story just to get our support?"
There was little accusation in his voice, but the question was there, out in the open. Even as Cloud looked at Red XIII he saw the same expression on his furry red face, and the faint sense of accusation in his eyes. Aeris had turned her head away to avoid being examined, although he was sure the same thought had crossed even her mind.
"I'm not lying!" Cloud replied just as fiercely, although he wasn't sure just how confident his answer was. He shook his head, recalling the memories of the fire. Thinking about it raised his spirits, for the images were clearly burned in his mind, and he became more confident. "I remember… the intense heat of the flames…"
He looked up at the others. They were all glancing briefly at one another, unsure of what to think. Finally Aeris walked forward and stood beside Cloud and Tifa, her mind made up. Cait, Barret and Red XIII finally nodded as well, but Cloud could still see faint traces of doubt in their eyes. They still weren't quite sure.
The first place they headed to was the inn, since it was the closest building to them. Cloud walked in first, followed by Tifa and then the others. It was exactly the same on the inside as well, once again making Cloud wonder. He quickly dismissed those thoughts and walked towards the younger innkeeper standing patiently behind the desk, looking at them earnestly as they approached.
"Hi, welcome," he said cheerfully. It was an almost fake tone of cheerfulness, the smile on his face almost there mechanically.
Cloud glanced at Tifa, who nodded. Cloud nodded back, and then turned to the innkeeper. "What's your story?" he asked, a faint touch of hostility in his voice. "This town was supposed to have been burnt down five years ago. What the hell is going on?"
The smile on the innkeeper's face instantly disappeared, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. He turned away for a brief moment, as though composing himself. Then he turned back, the twitch gone, and his expression turning to something of a mechanical annoyance.
"Sir, don't say such awful things. I was born and raised in this town. What you say never happened."
Cloud and Tifa glanced at one another again. They remembered the old innkeeper who used to run the inn, sitting behind the desk and doing his crosswords day after day. There was no way this… innkeeper… had been born and raised in the town like they had been.
While this was going on, Barret was standing towards the left of the group, his arms folded and his foot tapping against the ground irritably. While he was listening to the conversation he heard a small banging noise coming from ahead of him, and he looked up towards the wooden door leading to a side room behind the innkeeper.
"You're lying…" Tifa said plainly to the innkeeper, her gaze stern. It annoyed her that someone would actually pose as a resident of Nibelheim, especially when she knew that he wasn't.
Making sure the innkeeper wasn't looking, Barret silently shuffled over towards the door. It was ajar slightly, and he carefully pushed it open a crack, peering through the gap and into the storeroom that was hidden there. His eyes widened a little as he saw what was inside, but he continued to look.
"EXCUSE ME……" the innkeeper replied, the unreal tone of his voice now even more apparent than before. "That's so rude. If you're going to talk like that to me, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
With that the innkeeper crossed his arms and turned away stubbornly, refusing to even look at them anymore. Cloud glared at the ignorant young man angrily and was about to say more, when Barret suddenly gave a whistle and caught everyone's attention bar the ignorant innkeeper. When Cloud looked over Barret nodded his head to the storeroom, pushing the door open wider. Cloud walked over to him and peered inside, and his eyes opened wide as well.
Inside the storeroom was a man – they presumed it was a man – standing beside a pile of crates at the far end of the storeroom. They could not see any of his features because he was wearing a long black cloak that shielded him, face and all, so he was merely a dark shadow hiding away. He was trembling slightly and murmuring softly under his breath.
Cautiously Cloud walked into the storeroom and stood beside the figure. He was bent over like he was crippled, and Cloud could see that he was clutching onto the ends of his cloak as he shivered, as though trying to keep warm.
Something inside him urged Cloud to examine the man further. While he murmured inaudibly Cloud slowly pulled one sleeve free and pushed it up so that he could see the man's upper arm. On the man's pale arm there was a tattoo, showing a simple number '6' in dark black.
"Man in a Black Cape?" he said aloud. "He has a tattoo number '6'."
He stopped briefly, suddenly feeling sure that he had seen this before. He could not remember at first, until he saw Aeris suddenly stand beside him, a look of sympathy on her face as she gazed at the shivering man. Then he remembered.
It was in Midgar, back when he and Aeris first met. She had taken him to Sector 5, and shown him a man in a similar condition. He had been pale and shaking and not making much sense, and with a tattoo number '2' on his arm. Back then Cloud had thought the man was on drugs, but now he wasn't so sure. He wondered what the significance of the tattoo number was.
"Urrr……rrrrr……" the man mumbled suddenly, his voice louder and twisting in a way that sounded like he was going to be sick. He lifted his head slightly and tried to turn around, twisting his head round to face Cloud. Yet as much as he tried he could not turn, not while Cloud held his arm. "Rrrgh… must… go… to… Re…uni…on…"
His voice then went quiet again, and he went back into his inaudible mumbling. Cloud slowly released his arm and turned back to the others, who had gathered by the door, and staring at the man with chills running down their spines. The man seemed unaware of their presence, as though he was possessed or at least mentally ill.
They left the room, shutting the door quietly behind them and leaving the cloaked man to his muttering. Cloud decided against asking the innkeeper about the mysterious cloaked man – he would most likely deny all knowledge, although something inside him told him the innkeeper DID know something about it.
Leaving the inn, the group headed further into the town. They walked around the well, Tifa gazing up at it as they passed, amazed at the likeness. Even the age of the wood seemed perfect, as it would be after five years. She found herself falling behind then, and she quickened her pace to catch up to the others, who had stopped in front of the two houses that stood side by side at the far end of the town.
Cloud was the first to step up to one of the houses, choosing the one on the left that resembled the house he was brought up in. The door opened with a faint creak and he walked inside, leaving the others outside.
It was almost like stepping inside a memory, or passing through the doorway into another time. The house's interior was also exactly the same – without a single detail being altered in any way. Stepping into the living room he could see the beds with their white sheets, the wooden floor and steps leading into the kitchen.
His breath stopped as he looked over towards the far end of the room. There was a woman standing there, in the same spot as his mother had stood when he entered the house five years ago. For a moment he thought that it was his mother, until she turned and looked at him. She was younger, and her expression was cold and harsh, not like the warm, elderly look of his mother.
"What is it?" the woman asked harshly, glaring at the stranger who had entered her home.
Cloud stared for a few seconds more, before he stopped and shook his head. He knew he wouldn't find his mother in this house. She was dead, along with the rest of the original Nibelheim residents. When he was finished he looked back up at the woman, trying to keep his face stern.
"I want to hear your story," he told her. "I lived in this house until I was 14…" He stopped for a moment before continuing. "No, but this town was burned down."
Like the innkeeper, the woman seemed to hesitate before answering. Cloud then realised that her face was just as mechanical and monotonous – the harsh expression seemed to have been placed there to deceive him. Then she turned a little more natural as she glared at Cloud angrily.
"Are you sick… saying those things?" she asked him, her anger sounding a little more natural than the much younger innkeeper had done. "Get out of here!"
As she finished speaking, a loud, piercing scream rang through the walls of the house, followed by a much deeper voice calling Cloud's name. It was Tifa's voice that screamed, and Barret was calling him. Hurriedly Cloud turned and ran out of the house, heading towards the open door leading into Tifa's childhood home.
Cloud ran to the door and saw the others all gathered inside the house, standing in a half circle around the door. Tifa had turned away, her hand covering her mouth to stifle her screams. He wondered what had happened to make Tifa scream like she did, until a shadow stepped out from behind the door.
It was another man, also completely covered from head to foot in a long black cape. Like the one in the inn he was trembling and muttering softly under his breath, although he could hear what this one was saying.
"…Must…… get…… it… and bring… to… Se…phi…roth…" he mumbled eerily. "Then… become… one… with… Se…phi…roth…"
Cloud's eyes narrowed fiercely as the man mumbled Sephiroth's name. He reached out and grabbed the man roughly by the arm, lifting up the sleeve to look at his arm. Sure enough there was a tattoo emblazoned on his upper arm, just as he knew there would be.
"This guy's number '5'…" Cloud said.
Another shadow soon caught his eye, and as he looked up over Tifa's shoulder he saw that there was yet another of the cloaked men standing in the kitchen. Cloud brushed past Tifa and went to the man, also lifting up the sleeve to examine at his arm. Another tattoo was there in bold, black figures.
"He has a tattoo of the number '11'…" Cloud muttered.
"…Must……" the man mumbled as Cloud lowered the sleeve. "Go… ……Reun…ion…"
Cloud stepped away from him and left him to his mumbling and shaking, glancing back at the others. Three cloaked figures, each one of them barely able to talk, and what they did say was something about Sephiroth or 'Reunion'. What link did they have to Sephiroth? He wished he knew.
At that moment a loud crash came from directly above them, as though something had smashed on the floor. Without a pause Cloud headed for the stairs and darted up them, with Barret and Red XIII close behind him. The room that stood directly above the kitchen was the main bedroom, and the three ran in through the open door.
By then they were not surprised to see the cloaked figure standing there, shuffling aimlessly between the chest of drawers and the bed. On the floor there was a broken vase, knocked off by the cloaked man as he shuffled around. It was as though he didn't even know where he was going.
This time Barret was the one to go to the man and lift up the sleeve, revealing the tattoo that was burned onto his arm.
"Tattoo number '4'," Cloud said, reading the tattoo number aloud.
He shared a glance with Barret, both of them wondering the same things. There was something with Nibelheim right then. Not only did the town exist when it should have just been a pile of ruin, but there were people claiming to have lived in the town all their lives, and strangely cloaked men wandering around that no one seemed to take any notice of. It was a very eerie event, and there was no explanation for it.
"…Where… are… you…?" the man said. "Great… Se…phi…roth…"
Barret released the man, and the three left the main bedroom. These men seemed to be wandering around the whole of Nibelheim – why did no one do anything about them?
The last place left to check in the house was the final bedroom – Tifa's old bedroom. As Cloud, Barret and Red XIII walked in they found that Tifa was already in the bedroom with Aeris, Yuffie and Cait. Tifa was standing by the desk looking down at a piece of paper there, while Aeris and Yuffie sat silently on the bed and Cait stood by the piano.
"What is going on here?" asked Aeris, being the first to break the silence as they all gathered in the bedroom. "Everyone in this town is acting so strange."
"Something isn't right," agreed Yuffie, lying back on the bed with her feet dangling in the air. "This place is so whack – let's move on already!"
Cloud shook his head and leaned against the wall. "Not until we know what's going on," he said. "None of this is right. This town should not be here – these people should not be here."
"I don't think any of the people here are likely to tell us anything," said Red XIII. "It is clear that they all know something – I can smell the anxiety when they are confronted by us."
"Cloud."
Everyone looked up as Tifa turned away from the desk, holding the sheet of paper in her hands. She held it out to Cloud, who took it and read it quickly through once, before he read it again out loud.
Periodic Report to Professor Hojo
1 Clone Activity Report
Unfortunately, no 'CLONES' have left this town this quarter.
As previously reported, the 'CLONES' seem to be sensing something.
But all they say is, 'reunion' or 'Sephiroth' and show no other signs of activity.
2 Confidentiality Report
A total of eight people have visited this town this quarter. Fortunately, none knew about the incident five years ago. Therefore, no one knows that the town was restored exactly as it was five years ago.
Our staff, disguised as townspeople have improved their acting skills, and we do not report any problems at this time.
That is all.
When Cloud finished reading the report, he scrunched it up angrily in his hands and threw it across the room towards the waste paper basket by the window. It hit the wall and fell to the floor, missing the basket and lying in a crumpled heap alongside it. For a moment no one bothered to pick it up, until Cloud walked over to it and threw it into the bin, and then standing by the window to look out at the town.
At least it all made sense now. The incident five years ago would have been a big blow to Shinra's reputation, so they would have had to cover it up somehow. With all the residents killed in the fire, they would have no problem rebuilding the town as it was before, and hire people to act as residents until normal people chose to move into the town and take over naturally.
The only thing that didn't make sense was the cloaked men, or 'clones'. What, or who, were they meant to be clones of, and what was their purpose? He presumed now that the numbers on their arms were their code-signs – showing just how many clones there were. How many were there? Clone number 11 was down in the kitchen, so there were at least 11 clones in Nibelheim. How many more were there and who was controlling them? One thing was for sure – they weren't acting completely of their own will.
He was so busy thinking that he ignored the rest of the conversation going on behind him as the others planned what to do next. The only way forward was through Mt. Nibel, but the paths were so rugged in there that they would never support the buggy. That meant that they had no choice but to abandon the buggy and continue their journey on foot.
"Cloud," said Cait, bounding up behind him and giving him a pat on the shoulder with his megaphone. "We're ready to go."
Cloud turned and nodded. He followed the others out of the room and down the stairs, passing the other clones still wandering around downstairs and stepping out into the quiet Nibelheim streets again.
They moved quickly on – heading further north to reach the exit of the town. Nibelheim was too much of a ghost town now – there was nothing homely or warm about it anymore. They wanted to move on and leave Nibelheim behind, leaving it as another memory.
The Shinra Mansion was the last building in Nibelheim they had to pass. That was the only original building left in Nibelheim, and stood the same as it always did. The rusty gates were still open, and the building itself still looked just as creepy as before.
The group had intended on passing the mansion without a second thought, but they were forced to stop as they saw two more of the cloaked clones standing in the middle of the path, facing the mansion. They seemed more agitated than all the other clones, their voices high pitched and wailing mournfully as they approached.
"Wooooo------ooow……" the first of the clones wailed, his voice twisted and uncontrolled. "He's… calling…… Sephiroth…… is…… calling……"
That caught everyone's attention. The group stopped beside the clone and listened the clone as he subsided again into mindless muttering. Sephiroth was calling? They listened closely to the air, but they could not hear anything but silence and the heavy breathing of the clones.
"The… Great… Se…phi…roth…… is… near……" the other clone then said, his arms wavering shakily in front of him as though he was trying to grab something. "In…side…… inside …the Mansion…… Urrrrrrrgh…… the great…… Sephi……roth."
Cloud and Tifa spared enough time to look at each other for a quick second, before they both suddenly turned and ran towards the open gates of the Mansion. The others were close behind, running through the gates towards the close doors of the Mansion where Sephiroth awaited.
EMERALD: Okay, finally got this chapter up. I don't think this is one of my best chapters – I may rewrite it in the future. I go through phases where I just can't write, which is why it takes me a while to get a chapter up. But it's been two weeks, so I had to update with something. So here you go.
