A/N: Sorry for the delayed update. ^.^ College life has been taking a toll on me. (Especially with those crazy essays I have to do that require me to actually think! O.O *gasp*) Hopefully, my classes next quarter will allow me write more since the ideas for this story won't last very long in this short-attention spanned head of mine. ^^;
I hope my story hasn't been moving along too fast for you. I'll try my best to slow it down for more character development.
Chapter 8
Zack, Aerith, and Trang arrived at the beach closest to Rocket Town on the Western Continent the next day at noon. From there they took a taxi to the much expanded town, which was alive and doing very well despite a lack of a particularly important symbol in the midst of the place. Zack, unexpectedly, was the first to notice this missing aspect.
"Why is this place called Rocket Town anyways?" he wonders curiously as the three of them approach one of the entrances into the town.
"It was named for a rusty, old rocket that failed its launch," replied Aerith. "I forgot its name. It used to be a favorite item of Cid's, but, it's not here anymore. How odd."
"That rocket was called the Shinra No. 26," Trang fills her in. "It was used by Shinra about a century ago in a failed attempt to destroy Meteor."
"Hmm, you seem to know a lot about the Meteor incident," noted Zack. "It's as if you were there when it happened."
"Heh, I'm just very interested in the subject, that's all," responded Trang with a chuckle. "Actually, the Meteor incident was something I had learned at school. The details surrounding it, however, I found out for myself by taking a journey around the Planet. This place was one of them."
"That's great!" exclaims Aerith, clapping her hands together gladly. "You can fill us in on what happened after I died."
"Hey, how did you die anyhow, Aerith?" wondered Zack. "You never really told me when we were in the Lifestream."
"I'd… rather not talk about that," responded the young brunette gloomily.
"Oh, okay," vociferates Zack. He suddenly felt bad for bringing up such an inappropriate subject. Suddenly remembering something, the former SOLDIER turns to Trang. "Hey, I just noticed something. We never did get your name, did we?"
"Oh, right," exclaims the young woman. "My friends call me Tracy."
"Tracy, huh?" responded Aerith. "That's a cute nickname, but we kind of prefer to call people by their real name."
"Well, no one really calls me by my real name being that no one was ever able to pronounce it anyhow," explains Trang.
"Can we give it a try?" wondered Zack with a smile.
"If you want," replied the girl. Taking a deep breath, she declares her name using its original and proper pronunciation. "My name is Tráng."
"Tr-rong," stutters the young man nervously. "Like that?"
"No, Tráng."
Now it was Aerith's turn to give it a try. "Tr-hang?"
"Still wrong."
"Tr-ah-ng?"
"Kind of close there."
"Trung?"
"Now that's just way off."
"Tran?"
"Think you forgot the 'g' sound there."
"Okay, you know what," declared Zack, finally submitting defeat. "We'll just call you Tracy then."
"Yeah," agreed Aerith, seeming quite bashful. "We don't want to hack away at your name."
"It's no problem," chuckled Trang. She was used to being called by her nickname anyhow. Despite its ability to tongue-tie people, Trang still liked her name, even if people couldn't pronounce it properly.
"So, where do we go from here?" asked Zack, wishing to change the subject at hand.
"Hmm, I think from here, we go to Nibelheim," replied Aerith, putting a finger to her lips in thought. "Yeah, Nibelheim. That was where we went before heading to Rocket Town."
"Nibelheim?" repeated Zack worriedly. A flood of uncomfortable memories washes over in his head upon hearing the name of the town that was the beginning of his end.
Trang turns to the young man with a curious look in her eyes. Contrary to his strong and confident appearance, she could sense much nervous anxiety emanating from him when the name of that town came up. Feeling that bringing up what she learned about the town would bring back some bad memories for him, she decides to keep quiet on the subject. "There's no taxi that goes over the mountains so we'll have to travel there on foot. It'll take us approximately a day or two so we should get moving."
With a nod from her newfound friends, the three of them stop by an Item Shop to load up on provisions and they were on their way.
Logan felt a little more at ease as he and the others returned to the Huge Bronco with high spirits. They had arrived at Wutai in the morning to find that Trang was seen there accompanied by a couple. He wondered who his friend was traveling with as he takes a place on the floor of the airship's bridge. Maybe they were people from the past whom she had found while in the Lifestream. Logan didn't care; as long as his friend was out of the Lifestream and well, everything else did not matter much to him.
"The people said that Tracy and the couple took a ship to Rocket Town," said Aya.
"Let's go check it out then!" exclaims Roxy eagerly, throwing a fist into the air.
"Ah, Rocket Town," sighed Sigurd. "It's been a while since I've been back home."
Setting the airship's engines to full speed, the airborne vehicle races off into the distance.
"Ohayou, obaasan!"
Sigurd gives his elderly grandmother a gentle hug as the rest of the group files out of the Huge Bronco.
"It's great to see you again, Sigurd," exclaimed the elated old woman. She sees some particularly familiar faces enter exit the airship and greets them accordingly with a smile. "Vincent, Red, Cait Sith. I see you're all still well."
"Sierra," Nanaki greets back.
Cait Sith merely offers a friendly wave while Vincent gives a nod of acknowledgement.
"Hey, obaasan," spoke up Sigurd. "Where's kaasan and tousan?"
"Oh, they're busy at the office, running the town," replied Sierra. She looks up proudly at her young grandson. "You're the spitting image of your grandfather, Sigurd. I wish he was still here to see what a fine young man you've become."
"Heh, in addition to cussing once or twice and smoking," chuckles the young pilot.
"Well, yes," responded the old woman humorously. "That's always been part of his 'asserting' personality."
The two of them laughs at their memorable reminders of Cid as Nanaki, Vincent, and Cait Sith smiles happily.
"Oh, speaking of remembering familiar faces," spoke up Sierra. "I saw Aerith with a young man and Tracy the other day; heard that they were going to Nibelheim today on their way to Midgar. That girl hasn't changed a bit since we last met. Perhaps she's like Vincent and can't age?"
"Aerith?" exclaims Nanaki in surprise. "Are you sure who you saw was Aerith?"
"Yes, of course," affirms Sierra. "I may be old, but my eyes are still as good as they've been when I was younger. And besides, who can forget a sweet girl like Aerith even after all these years?"
"Who's Aerith?" wondered Zenith.
"She's a good friend who died a long time ago," answered Cait Sith. "She must've been revived and came out of the Lifestream along with Tracy."
"But who is the young man that came out with them?" inquired Vincent curiously, crossing his arms.
"I don't know," replied Sierra. "I've never seen him before. He wore the same SOLDIER uniform that Cloud used to wear, but the color of his spikey hair was bluish black. He also possessed Cloud's old Buster Sword."
"How odd," exclaims Nanaki. "Is it someone Tifa and Cloud once knew? Or maybe an old acquaintance of Aerith?"
"Whoever he is, he must be a friend," asserts Cait Sith. "Aerith wouldn't travel with someone she doesn't trust."
"In that case, we should all head back to Midgar," suggests Lacus.
"Why not go to Nibelheim instead?" wonders Logan. "We can meet Tracy there."
"We don't know how far she is from Nibelheim," asserts Roxy. "Chances are, they might've already gotten there by now. By the time we get to Nibelheim, they would've already left and we would just end up using our resources on a wild goose chase. It'll be better to just go to Midgar and wait for her there since that's where she's headed."
Logan stood with fists clenched in frustration as he listens to the young woman's reasoning. For too long now he had been separated from his best friend and now that they were so close, fate once again pulls them apart. Nanaki senses his frustration and walks up to the young man only to have him speak first.
"I know, I know," exclaims Logan upsettingly. "'Don't worry and things will be allright,' right? Well, I can't help but worry, Nanaki. The fact is, Tracy is still out there and I just don't feel right about this."
With that said, the young man marches off to the airship's sleeping quarters. Nanaki's ears turn downward as he watches his young friend leave in such a condition.
"You can hardly blame him for acting the way he is," spoke up Vincent, walking up besides the red-furred creature. "Separation is hard on anyone."
"And don't we know it," agreed Nanaki with a sigh. "I wish Tifa was here. Helping someone through a bad situation has always been her area of expertise."
In the distance, the two of them could hear the slamming of a door.
Logan tried as best as he could to not slam the sleeping quarter's door shut, but his frustration got the best of him. He no longer cared about anything except for Trang's well-being.
Leaning on the wall next to the door, the young man looks down the two rows of twelve beds to glance up at the windows lining the wall adjacent to the one he was leaning on. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly in a repeating exercise that has proven more than once to calm him down. Still somewhat frustrated, he slumps down and ends up sitting on the floor, completely apathetic to the orientation of his glasses which had slid down the bridge of his nose. With eyes still closed, Logan began remembering the day he met Trang almost 12 years ago…
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It was a sunny afternoon in the city of New Midgar. Ten-year-old Logan was playing around with his friends Lacus, Zenith, Aya, and Roxy around the Seventh Heaven bar where Marlene was busy at work along with her son and daughter-in-law, Roxy's parents. The five of them were pretending to be various members of the famous group that saved the Planet from the threat of Meteor long ago. They wandered away from the bar and eventually ended up at the border between Sector 7 and the recently added Sector 8, which housed the remains of old Midgar. Pausing in their imaginary adventures, the children look up in awe and curiosity at one of many tall structures that littered Sector 8.
"Let's go back guys," suggested Roxy. "We're not supposed to be playing around this Sector."
"Don't be so scared, it's only a pile of junk," snorted Lacus.
"I'm not scared!" asserted Roxy strongly. "I just have a bad feeling about this place, that's all."
"I heard that the famous Ultima sword is somewhere in there," spoke up Aya eagerly. "Wouldn't it be cool if we could find it?"
"Hey Logan," Zenith nudges his nearsighted friend with an elbow. "I dare you to go into Sector 8 and get that sword."
Logan said nothing as he readjusts his glasses, which were messed up a bit by his friend's well-intentioned nudge. He too was curious about the legendary Ultima sword which was wielded by the great warrior Cloud Strife to save the world more than once. He looks up at the foreboding entrance leading into the junkyard sector and gulps nervously. "Okay."
"Logan!" exclaims Roxy upsettingly. "Don't even think about it. All of our parents told us never to go into Sector 8 without them. You're going to get into trouble!"
"I heard you can become a legendary warrior if you got your hands on the Ultima sword," Zenith whispers into the boy's ear. "Wouldn't that be something?"
Hearing that made Logan want to go into the forbidden area more than ever. All his life, everyone kept underestimating him, saying that he wasn't strong enough to fight monsters and whatnot. If he could get his hands on the legendary weapon, maybe that would be enough to get people to acknowledge him.
That was it; Logan had made his decision.
"Logan! Wait!"
But Roxy's worrying words failed to reach her friend as the boy dashes into Sector 8 by himself.
"Hey, I didn't really mean we should actually go find it!" Aya yells out. "Logan! Come back!"
"This is all your fault!" Roxy exclaims angrily, giving Zenith one very good punch in the shoulder. "Why'd you have to go and say stuff like that to him?"
"Oww!" the boy cries out as he felt the girl's fist connect with his arm. "I didn't think he'd actually do it!"
"Well, it's too late for any of us to do anything," notes Lacus. "We'll just have to wait and hope for him to come out in one piece."
"Whah? What do you mean 'wait'?" vociferates Aya. "We've got to go in there and drag him out."
"And what we do if something happens to all of us while we're in there?" asks Lacus logically. "There won't be anyone to go call for help. In addition to that, if some of us go in there to find him while the rest of us wait, then they'll get lost along with Logan and there'll be even more trouble for us. It'll be better if we all just wait out here instead of some or all of us getting lost in there."
"Ooh," Roxy exclaims in frustration. She turns to look at the entrance into Sector 8. "Logan, you'd better come out there in one piece."
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Meanwhile, Logan was going deeper and deeper into Sector 8. It was like running through a physical exercise gauntlet as he clambers over piles of rocks, rubble, and debris. He stops atop one of the higher piles of building rubble to look over the area. Everything in his field of vision was a kaleidoscope of slate and black sharp geometric shapes. He didn't know where to start in his search for the legendary sword, if it was here in actuality. Logan shakes his head free of that discouraging possibility and begins climbing down the little mountain of rubble he was on. As he carefully made his way down, he suddenly spots what he thought was a little girl around his age bent over near some weird structure he'd never seen before. Suddenly, a rock beneath his shoes slides away and the boy plummets downward. He hits the ground hard, knocking the wind out of him as he slowly fell unconscious.
After what seemed like a very long time, Logan awoke to see the light of the sun beaming down on him. Still dazed from the fall, it took the boy a while to finally regain his orientation and sit up.
"Are you okay?"
Logan turns to see the girl he saw earlier kneeling down besides him. "Yeah, I guess."
"You fell down pretty hard," noted the girl.
"You can say that again," agreed the boy, rubbing the back of his throbbing head. "Good thing I've got a hard head."
The girl gives a smile that Logan thought didn't seem natural to her. It was as if it was the first time she'd ever smiled in her life.
"What's your name?" he asks her.
"My name's Tráng," the girl introduces herself.
"Trong?" repeated Logan dubiously.
"No, Tráng," repeated the girl.
"Trahng?" the boy tries again.
"Nope, still wrong."
The girl tries for a few minutes to teach him how to say her name correctly to no avail. After many more tries on her name, Logan finally submits to his inability to say it.
"I'm sorry I can't say your name," he apologizes to her.
"It's allright," assures Trang. "You can just call me Tracy. That's what my teachers call me."
"Tracy," repeated Logan. "Yeah, that's a lot easier to say."
The girl gives him that unnatural smile of hers again. "So, what's your name?"
"Oh, my name's Logan," introduced the boy.
"Logan," repeated Trang.
"Yep," affirms Logan. "A lot easier to say than your name, huh?"
"I don't mind my real name," assures the girl. "I still like it, even if people can't say it right. It makes me unique."
"Sure does," agrees the boy.
With a smile, Logan tries to get up but falls down in a slump. The impact of the fall on his head has left him disoriented and unable to stand on his own. Seeing his dilemma, Trang puts his left arm around her neck and slips her right arm around his waist to gently help him up.
"Heh, thanks," responded Logan nervously.
"No problem," replied Trang as she helps him walk to the entrance of the sector where he came from.
"Hey, um, not to be rude or anything," began the boy. "But could you let me walk on my own when we get to the entrance? I kind of don't want my friends to see me getting help from a girl."
"Sure, I'll do that," exclaims Trang. "Boys are so weird."
