PLEASE RE-READ ALL CHAPTERS BEFORE READING THIS ONE.
I HAVE REWRITTEN THEM, MAKING THEM LONGER AS WELL AS CONTAINING MORE INFORMATION.
I WILL REMOVE THIS MESSAGE IN ONE MONTH.
A/N: Yes, yes, I know, I know, I've taken a ridiculously long time in updating this story. I'm not even going to give you an in-depth explanation, let's just say . . . laziness, lack of inspiration, depression, technology problems, a job at an island hotel, life and a dash of stubbornness mixed to result in the lateness of the rewrites and the posting of this chapter.
. . .
I think I'll go hide in my little shadowy corner of the internet under the protection of Seph, Yukimari and my active Neon Green Snake Plushies of Doom: Saber, Tachi, Katana, Sai and Khopesh, the other eight are still hiding away in the oddly dark aether that likes to swallow my muses from time to time. Wonder what exactly it is?
Well, at least the lot of you have learned that my work tends to more often than not come in bursts . . . that's interesting . . . apparently reading so much Harry Potter and living in New England is altering my vocabulary into something resembling British, I'm not British though . . . or actually, I technically am, I think, only a small bit though. Oh, wait, no, I'm mostly Portuguese and German, with a mix of Irish, French, English and Welsh to finish it off. Agh, this is making my head hurt. I'll just disappear now that I've posted several things and hope you lot take pity on my mind with these word-filled offerings of peace.
Eeeps! Bye!
Seph watches Lady duck under her desk with her mother's poor excuse for a laptop in hand and sighs before turning to face the readers, "Don't forget, Lady rewrote all the previous chapters, so be sure to read them first."
Actually, this ended up being shorter than I planned . . .
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Tempest The Turk
Part 1
Chapter 6
Confrontations
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Nibelheim, Western Continent
06:20 (GST +9) May 14, 1988
When her mother asked her to sit down that morning, the twelve-year-old instantly went on alert, what was this? She'd already given her The Talk months ago, though Aria had already given her a much less embarrassing version a few weeks before that, so what was this about?
The look on her face was not encouraging her to relax.
"Cloud," the green-eyed woman started seriously, "I've left this alone long enough."
"You leave right after breakfast every day and half the time I don't see you until dinner. I rarely see you in the village and even then you're usually by yourself. I do trust your friend Aria, but I don't know where she lives and I've only spoken to her a few times. What is going on with you?"
Piper had always known her daughter was independent and adventurous, when she was little she'd had to put child-proof locks on everything, from the front door to her sewing kit. Nothing was safe from the innocent-looking child. It wasn't that she got into trouble on purpose, far from it, she was simply curious about everything and anything. Sky hadn't done anything to dampen those qualities, in fact, she inherited them from him.
It hadn't helped things any when he taught her to not only use Materia, but how versatile Materia really was. From a young age, she'd learned how to look at things without reservations, to never say something was fact until she had looked at it from all angles and backwards. As the years passed, Cloud became so independent that now, Piper barely knew her anymore. When exactly had her precocious little Cloud become a puzzle that she no longer had the answer to?
The twelve-year-old blonde was speechless. Was her mother really worried about her that much? Three years knowing and learning from Vincent and nearly two years absorbing Aria's knowledge of subterfuge and random trivia as well as making her way through all those files and books in the Library had sharpened her mind beyond the norm for someone her age.
Her mother was worried about her, but she couldn't tell her she spent her time in the Manor, she couldn't tell her that Aria lived there with a man that was much older than he looked. She especially couldn't say that she'd found Vincent in a coffin and Aria in a tube. It would just upset her, and there was always the chance that she would tell someone else and that was not an option.
She did love her mother dearly and trusted her but she knew, more from books than anything, that parents tend to take the possibility of danger to their children and run with it before they understand everything. Unless you managed to keep them still and silent long enough to explain the entire situation to them.
Cloud doubted the elder blonde would listen to anything past the words 'Shinra Manor.'
But how to divert her worry without compromising her friends or her time with them?
"Aria's been teaching me," she started slowly, not looking at her mother as she formed a cut and paste version of the truth, "She used to be a fighter and she's very paranoid about safety. So I can't tell you exactly where she lives, only that it's close by."
"Exactly what is she teaching you?" If she'd looked up, Cloud would have noticed that instead of calming her mother, her explanation was making her even more wary.
"All sorts of things, I'm kind-of . . . her apprentice."
"Cloud Leona Strife! You will not continue this apprenticeship without my permission."
She looked up and started as she found only firm determination in her mother's eyes, "What!? No, you can't!"
No longer go to the Manor? Stop training with Vincent? Stop learning from Ariadne? Stop her self-teaching in the Library?
No way in Hell.
Vincent and Aria weren't just her friends, they were like family. She'd only known them for a few years, but that didn't make a difference in her mind. She wouldn't let them go.
Even for her mother.
Even if it meant lea-leaving her mother. She had friends in the village, people she'd known when she was a child. Vincent and Aria? They only had her. Vincent had been a Turk before he was locked away and Aria couldn't remember her past. She was their link to the real world now. Sure, they could leave at any time, but they chose not to, for her.
Cloud pushed back her chair and stood, darting for the door, only to feel a hand wrap around her arm.
"Let go!" the blonde twisted out of her mother's grasp and stumbled back, staring at her in shock for a moment, "Don't you trust me anymore?"
"Cloud . . ."
She took her chance and ran out the door while her mother stared after her in shock. When had her daughter changed so much? When had she become . . . so strong? So determined?
When exactly had her little girl gone and grown up on her?
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Nibelheim, Western Continent
06:31 (GST +9) May 14, 1988
When she'd left the house, she hadn't headed directly for the manor, there was always the chance of someone looking out the window and seeing her head that direction, or for the older blonde to ask Master Zangan to find her. She was pretty sure he knew how to track, he was one of the hunters. Instead, she headed for the northern entrance to the village, the one leading to the mountain, then followed the barrier until she was north of the Manor, stepping on stones and fallen trees instead of dirt wherever she could. Then she crossed the barrier again and entered the grounds through a fir-covered hole in the wall.
A hole which Vincent had shown her when she voiced her worries about someone following her to the Manor. Spending so much time with the Ex-Turk was making her as paranoid as he was.
When Cloud finally entered the Manor, it was strangely silent, until she found Aria holed away in the Ice Room as the woman had dubbed it with a notebook, hand moving madly across the pages.
"Aria?" the silver-eyed woman paused abruptly and looked up, smiling when she caught sight of the blonde.
"Cloud! What are you doing here so early? You don't train with Vince for another two hours."
"I-" She cut herself off with a shake of her head, there was no use worrying her friends just yet. "There was a book I wanted to look at before training today."
"Alright, don't study too hard!" she grinned impishly and waved her off, turning back to her work, "I'm trying to work on my weapon, so I might be late for our training session."
"It's fine," Cloud managed to say as she caught a glimpse of the intricate sketches, words written in a language she didn't recognize. It wasn't Cetran, Gaian or Continental, did Aria come from somewhere even more obscure?
"Close the door on your way out!" As she left the room, she heard Aria growl and something skitter across the floor, voice just loud enough to catch, "Chikuso! I remember everything about how to make it but I can't remember how to collect the Jeticite . . ."
Jeticite? What in the Three Kings name was Jeticite? Some type of rare metal?
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Nibelheim, Western Continent
08:54 (GST +9) May 14, 1988
In the following hours, the blonde girl found herself unable to concentrate on the passage of text in front of her. Instead, her mind kept twisting the words as if scolding her for her decision. She'd made the right choice . . . right?
Shaking her head, the Strife Heir ran a hand through her chin-length spikes and closed her eyes for a moment before allowing a scan of the room to distract her. Rows upon rows of books, some she had read, others she hadn't, already, she had a rough idea of where most books were placed in the former occupants confusing method of organization. With as much reading as she did down here, it had only been a matter of time before she had at least a loose grasp on Hojo's filing methods.
A glint of reflected light caught her attention and she turned with a frown that turned incredulous instantly: 'Why does that bat have a Materia?'
The Materia the bat was carrying was slightly larger than normal and a very pale blue, too pale to be a support Materia. Her studies had revealed that the more vibrant the color, the more power. She'd seen the phenomenon with her own crystals, how as time went on, their color strengthened. She'd quickly learned at a glance how to tell the level of a Materia, though, admittedly, she only had hands-on practice with Magic and Support Materia. She still hadn't mastered Odin, he was only on his second level. This Materia was paler than even a newborn support Materia
The blonde yanked herself from her thoughts as the bat neared the door to her left and jumped to her feet, a strange Materia . . . she had to have it!
Except . . . How was she supposed to get it?
It was flying too high to just grab it, and since the monsters were so wary of her, she couldn't use her Quicksilver, dagger or her magic unless she could get it cornered, otherwise, it would drop it and she didn't want to risk cracking such a unique Materia.
As if it had sensed her intentions, the flying rodent froze mid-air and seemed to look at her, before squeaking in dismay and darting for the nearest door, well that decided it. Time for a bit of cat and mouse, or chocobo and bat as the case may be.
Following it into the next room, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled into a door she previously had been unable to open, this time, however, the door fell inwards off it's hinges from the impact, sending up a cloud of dust that hid her from the bat's view.
Squeak? Chi-chatter? Chip? It paused, confused at the sudden lack of small dangerous human and descended slowly, curious. The small two-legged elemental had learned how to disappear? The others didn't mention this. Cheek! It squawked in dismay as hands suddenly reached out and caused its energy-filled prize to fall right into the little electric ones grasp. No! MinemineMine!
Cerulean eyes widened in shock and she twisted, back-stepping rapidly and seized the oddly-colored crystal before it could hit anything on the table behind her. Looking down at the Materia, Cloud let out a sigh of relief at finding the strange item undamaged.
SCREE!
Uh-oh.
Cloud's face paled radically as she saw the bat plummet towards her and automatically stumbled back in unison with a Bolt spell that sent it shrieking in trepidation. But this bat was much too stubborn, as shown when it dove at her like a Wutain Kamikaze Warrior of Old.
She hit the table behind her with enough force to knock the Materia from her grasp, ignoring the sound of glass shattering, she seized her dagger in less than a second and slashed in front of her, slicing through the membrane of one wing and frightening the bat off for good as she took stock of her surroundings.
Large vials of glowing liquid and a handful of unbroken reflector tube lights illuminated the room and gave her an eerie view of the shards of glass that were firmly imbedded in her left forearm from when she leaned onto the table so that she could twist to grasp her dagger with her right hand. Each shard was coated in a combination of blood and a familiar greenish liquid she would recognize anywhere
Looking back at the pool of green fluid on the table as the stench of Mako curled her nose she grimaced at the burn in her arm and the realization that this was definitely not a Mako solution, if anything, it was pure Mako. Bracing her arm to avoid any more pain, she stepped towards the door with the primary intent of getting away from the toxic fumes, the secondary of removing as much of the glass as she could and the tertiary of having Aria or Vincent examine her injury.
The door, however, was as far as she got as her body rebelled, limbs going numb as she realized there was something else in the air, looking back, she saw a series of smaller vials that had been knocked to the ground, she hadn't seen the through the table, the combined fluids were giving off a faintly visible fume that she realized must be combining with the Mako smell somehow even as she fell to the ground with a final thought as her eyes locked onto a drop of dark blood on the ground.
I hate bats.
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Nibelheim, Western Continent
09:11 (GST +9) May 14, 1988
Only six meters away from the now unconscious blonde, Ariadne paused, a stream of black liquid hovering mid-swirl over her hands as she looked up, the light of her metallic eyes flickering around slit pupils. Her hand twitched, the black claws at her fingertips becoming needle sharp before she shook herself and they faded back.
No, all's well, she's just nicking a bat that got too close. Taking a deep breathe to calm her sudden bout of nerves, the raven-haired woman turned her attention back to the substance in the air in front of her and twisted her hands around it, watching in fascination as it changed shape. A smile replacing her previous frown.
Finally, she had remembered how to do it. The first time she drew the Jeticite had been an instinctive act, it had barely been enough to make Sharetu, Cloud's dagger. No where close to enough to construct even a single component of Janamesu
A magnificent weapon, her Janamesu, a pity that she had to rebuild it once more, she knew without knowing that her last had been melted down and reshaped. She knew her Jeticite was different than other Guardians, hers turned silver when exposed to high concentrations of magic. Or Mako, she mentally added, watching as even now the black started to gain a silver tint.
Her mother's had been quick to change as well, turning the same silver-blue of her sister's hair at the smallest touch of magic- Saiku! She cursed, freezing the Jeticite as she mentally scrambled for the trail of thoughts, searching for a word, a hint, something!
An almost euphoric calm came over her as she imprinted the single simple word in her mind, followed quickly by others. She knew her mother. Renata. Daughter of Jarrik and Fanna. Sister to Aedan, now dead. Mate to Adelais, only son of Magnus and Nyx. Mother to two. Censura and herself.
Sweet Lycil above! She let her hands fall, her petrified creation hitting the ground with a thud as a tear slipped down her cheek. My family, could they possibly be alive after all these years? These long, long years? How long have I been gone from them? How many years have I missed? Censura . . . she smiled at the thought of a young woman with short silver hair and blue eyes, spinning in a white tunic in a field of flowers, a younger version of herself looked past the humming woman to the two adults lounging beneath a tree. The man, Adelais, had snow white hair and crimson eyes, white clad arms wrapped securely around the dark-haired woman beside him, her pure black eyes alight with mirth as silver lips parted with a cat-call to Censura, who squeaked indignantly with a dark flush. Her mother was so different . . . not only did silver coat her lips, but it marked the tanned skin around her eyes and even on the tips of her ears.
Yanking herself out of the memory, she turned and stared at her tear-stained reflection in the glass, choking back a sob at the faint touches of silver in her own features. Now that she'd remembered, she would be unable to ever forget, every time she looked in the mirror, she'd see the silver highlights and dark hair of her mother. And Vincent!
She clenched her eyes at the thought, now whenever she looked at Vincent's eyes, she remember another crimson set. That of her father.
"Dear little Johann, you were right," she whispered quietly, "Not knowing was better than knowing and wishing for what I've lost. It didn't hurt so much to be oblivious, but I still felt empty. I should have listened."
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Nibelheim, Western Continent
09:11 (GST +9) May 14, 1988
Down below the Manor, another woman paused mid-word and shivered as a chill went through her.
"Piper?" She blinked, looking up into concerned dark eyes in front of her and smiled pleasantly, "You were saying?"
"Oh, it's nothing," she suddenly shook her head, "I shouldn't have bothered you with it."
"It's something," he returned firmly, "You're rattled about something, is there something wrong with Cloud?"
"I-yes-no-" She cut herself off with a strangled sigh, "Odin curse it, I'm just really confused, I think I really messed up."
"Sit down," her aging friend pushed her down onto a bench, "Now, from the beginning . . ."
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A/N: While I was writing this, something weird happened, we were watching a Burn Notice marathon and having a debate on whether or not I was actually an evil alien with psychic powers, well, I wasn't arguing about the evil or at least partly psychic parts. The Evil test says I'm something like 70 percent evil and I have proven my slightly psychic capabilities several times, like starting to walk past my cell phone only to stop and stare at it only seconds before it started ringing when I had no reason to remain in the room or recounting to mom the fact that whenever Kit or Carolyn gets a cut, they go to Megan and freak her out, only to have Megan call my mom's cell about fifteen minutes later saying that Carolyn had a cut and it was bleeding through the bandage and how she didn't think her stomach was going to be okay after this . . . . .
Anyways, I left the room to get a drink, came back, sat back down in front of the computer and the TV suddenly starting changing channels.
Nobody was touching the remote.
It was two feet away from me, completely level, buttons down, buttons flat and unpressed.
We're not quite sure what to think about that.
Seph: She has uncontrolled technopathic abilities! Run!
LadyoftheDrow: Well, I'm not sure about that, but I know for a fact that I'm EMF sensitive.
LOTD blinks and grins widely.
LadyoftheDrow: Ah! You're back!
LOTD hugs the silver-haired seven-year-old in delight.
Seph: Yes, I'm back, I came back when you rewriting Frozen Mercury.
LadyoftheDrow: Then why didn't you come out!?
Seph: I'm not allowed to talk in rewrites.
Yukimari: Squeak!
Seph: What the fuzz is this thing?
LOTD slaps the back of his head.
LadyoftheDrow: He's not a thing, he's a Dream Hare and don't quote me.
Seph: A what? And why not?
LOTD sighs.
LadyoftheDrow: Go look it up. And because I never posted the story you were in, so you can't quote my self-insert.
Seph: Curse it.
A/N2: Also, I was a little stuck on this one as I'd originally been planning something a little different for the second half, but then I had an epiphany thanks to a fic of someone's I read recently and visiting Shinra Manor in the game again. Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next chapter in two weeks.
Chaos looks at the chapter in mild confusion, before turning to LOTD.
Chaos: Why is Cloud's maturity-level fluctuating?
LOTD: Because her dad died.
Seph: Huh?
LOTD sighs: When someone experiences a traumatic incident, part of their mind will become locked at the age they were at the time of the incident, so, Cloud can act very childishly at times, but at the same time, as the incident was her father dying in front of her, it forced her to grow up and become more serious. The childish aspect of her personality makes her open-mindedness even more blatant, shown by her rapid acceptance of Vincent and the 'clinginess' towards Vincent and Ariadne in this chapter. So, you could say, she will always be able to see eye-to-eye with a child yet is as mature as anyone the rest of the time.
Posted: 10/26/08
