X Ohai, I know no one probably read this, but I was thinking because I never really go on here unless to update or read when Ima bored, I'd start a facebook account to talk to you guys. I'm on there like everyday, so I can answers questions and shidizzle. I also have a couple plans to start new stories and stuff, and I kinda have plans for this story. Contact me here and tell me what you think.
X Sorry it took me so long, I know how I want the story to end, not how to get it to the end :[
Chapter Nine- The SOLDIER Way
"Damn it!" The blonde cussed out loud at the engine that had broken on his beloved spacecraft. He took a long drag of his cigarette before stopping to look at the piece of machine that refused to act the way it should.
"Ya know, cussing at inanimate objects is a sign of craziness." His daughter walked beside him with an all-knowing smirk, a trait she had no idea she learned from her mother.
"Well you know what? You see if you and your lazy ass can fix it!" he said playfully hitting that back on his daughter's head. Her purple eyes gleamed with excitement as she took a closer look at the engine. Taking a wrench and playing with different bolts and screws, she spent a good portion of an hour fiddling around. Frustration finally got the better of her and she starting to bang at the engine's exterior.
"Hitting and throwing stuff at it's not gonna fix it you ass, it's only gonna make it worse." Her Father said taking the last drag of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stepping on it.
After a good 5 minutes of the girl's bashing, the engine roared to life and worked better than it did before. Her father's mouth dropped open in pure disbelief. The girl smirked triumphantly.
"Bashing it won't work my ass, Pops." She smirked. Cid blinked before watching his daughter walk away as if nothing had happened.
"Ahh, if only you were her to see how much Kimber keeps turning into you everyday." He chuckled softly to himself before lighting up another cigarette and following his daughter.
Xx
Hope yawned quietly and watched Lightning fold all of Cloud, Cid, and Yuffie's clothing into separate piles to return back to their rightful owners.
"Here's some extra clothes for you to sleep in, you want me to wash the ones you're in now?" Kimberlynne came and handed Lightning some clothes as she did.
"Yeah, thanks. Do you have any extra clothes for A and Avie?" she asked putting the clothes off to the side as if to not lose them in the pile.
"I packed some, they're in the bag over there. I'll wash the ones they've worn already. Are those clean clothes of Cloud's?"
"Um, yeah. This pile is." She said motioning to a pile on the left. Kimberlynne gently picked through the clothes, never unfolding them, and walked away with a outfit saying "Thanks." As she went. After the last article of clothing was folded, Claire took the pile of clothes Kimberlynne had given her and turned to Hope.
"I'm going to change. The kids are asleep in the other room, if they come out looking for me tell them I'm the bathroom." She said walking towards the door. Hope nodded and sighed.
"Hey Clai- Oh. Where's Claire?" Kimberlynne said walking back into the room.
"The bathroom," He said before adding, "Changing." Kimberlynne nodded and let out an "ah." and plopped herself down into a chair. Lightning emerged after an awkward moment of silence and Kimberlynne smiled and rose to her feet.
"Can I have your dirty clothes?" She asked as Claire handed her the discarded items of clothing. She was down to a Navy Blue tank top and matching Pajama bottoms with stripes.
"How about A and Avie's? And does Kid here want his clothes washed? He can borrow some of Noct's." She turned to face Hope. "They might be big on ya, but they'll be good for tonight." Hope nodded.
"That would be great, if he doesn't mind." He said. Kimberlynne shook her head.
"Does he have some clothes there Claire?" She asked as Lightning was bent over picking up her children's dirty clothing. Hope noticed a glint of metal he hadn't seen before around Lightning's neck but avoided looking any further. He didn't want to seem like he was checking her out.
"Um, is this his?" She asked holding something up as Kimberlynne nodded. Lightning stood up and handed her the dirty clothes and Hope the clean ones.
"Here, go change and then give your clothes to Kimber." Lightning said and Hope obeyed.
"Thank you so much for doing this for me." Hope heard Lightning say through the door.
"No problem, It's kinda pointless for me to just do mine and Noct's. Besides, I miss washing little clothes." He heard Kimberlynne's voice quivered.
"It's almost been a year now, hasn't it?" Lightning whispered, but Hope caught on, "I'm so sorry."
"No, no it's fine, I need to just get it off of my mind." Kimberlynne let out a heavy sigh. Hope opened to the door to the bathroom and instantly Kimberlynne smiled.
"All set, Kiddo?" She asked as Hope nodded and handed her his clothes while muttering a "Thanks" She turned to leave as Lightning said,
"If you need anything, at all, just come to me? Okay?" Kimberlynne turned around and smiled before walking out of the room. Lightning let out a sigh before bending over to pick up the piles of folded clothes. This time, Hope recognized the glint of metal, and realized it was another necklace, in addition to her other one.
"Hey, that necklace, it looks like-" Hope started.
"The Buster Sword, yeah, I think I know what I'm wearing." Lightning huffed. Hope eyed it. It was attached to a simple chain, and connected by a hole in the handle.
"How'd you get it?" Hope asked. Lightning stood straight and looked at him.
"Who do you think?" She said, shaking her head.
"Well I don't know. You don't wear your ring-" Hope started.
"I do to wear my ring thank you very much." Lightning interrupted, holding on her left hand, with the diamond sparkling as she did, "Why are being so weird Hope? I should expect you of all people would just know these things." As she spoke, Angeal opened the door and seemed to tumble into the room.
"Hi Mommy." He said sleepily coming over to her. She smiled and patted his head with a free hand.
"Hi Angeal, is your sister coming?" She asked. When Angeal shook his head Lightning looked up to Hope.
"She'll be up in a minute, I'll be right back okay?" She said and Hope nodded.
Xx
The ship was running, and Cid was content with that. After Yuffie did whatever she could to stall, like double checking to make sure everyone was on board and asking Cid if there was any aerial creatures that might be a problem, Cloud and Vincent stood and waited patiently, Lightning brushing Averia's hair, and Vanille giggling and making a necklace. The others were all in different areas of the ship, simply waiting for it to take off.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Cid asked cigarette dangling from his mouth. Everyone answered with a nod or a yes.
Xx
Being crystallized was frightening to Claire. She hated not knowing where she was, or when she was.
You know, being crystallized is supposed to be a good thing. Claire's eyes snapped open. She watched at shooting stars fell through the sky landing on the ground leaving a spark you would expect to see a firework do in the sky. It reminded her of her home when she was little. It reminded her of Spira.
"Where are you?" She asked quietly, turning around and looking everywhere she could.
You gotta summon me.
"But I can't, I can't summon you anymore." She whimpered.
You can here. I promise. Try it out. Claire sighed. With her eyebrows furrowed, she tried summoning him. Trying to remember what Kimberlynne had said to her. 'Believe that the summon's here, and he'll show up.' She had said. Her eyes widened when he appeared before her, smiling. His head tilted to the side, and he embraced her slowly. She gently placed her hands on his chest; He was slightly colder to the touch than she remembered, but he felt like him. She looked up at his face, before burrowing her own in his chest.
"This doesn't feel real." She murmured quietly. Zack chuckled.
"You should know this isn't real baby girl. But I need you to do me a favor." Zack said pulling her away to make her look at him.
"What is that?" Claire asked.
"Tell me you love me, one more time." He said, gently caressing her face. Claire smiled.
"I love you, my big oaf of a SOLDIER boy husband, Zackary Fair, and I always will. No matter what. Even death hasn't gotten in the way of that." She said smiling. Zack beamed.
"And I love you, my little beautiful baby girl wife, Claire Fair, and I always will. Forever and Always." He said and kissed her. He heaved out a heavy sigh and played with a strand of her hair.
"Does this mean, I can stay with you, forever?" Claire mumbled, resting her cheek on his chest as she did.
"No, this is the part where I wake you up." He answered. Claire's eyes widened and pulled away from him.
"You can't wake me up, not now. No, why can't I stay here, with you?" She whimpered, looking down to the ground. Zack sighed and took her hands in his own.
"If I don't wake you up, new fal'Cie will, and give you a new focus. I can stop the craziness here. I can ensure your safety." He said, gently playing with her ring.
"I don't care, just please, don't." Claire cried out, and Zack embraced her.
"What will Angeal and Averia do without you? We both know I can't come back, but you can." He murmured in her ear. She sniffled.
"That's not fair." She said, clutching his shirt. He chuckled.
"It's the truth baby girl." He murmured, and a comfortable silence fell between them.
"What are you doing?" She whispered, looking up at him. He smiled down at her.
"Waking up your friends. And your sister of course. Your Pulse friends are proving to be a problem though. But hey, at least it buys us time right?" He said moving to pick her up. She clung to him, and he brought her over to a rock where he rested against with her in his lap.
She didn't know how much time passed, but she didn't care.
"It's been about 4 hours, in case you were wondering." Zack said. She smiled and shook her head.
"I wasn't, I'm just happy to be able to spend so much time with you, even though I can't show you how great your kids are." She said looking up at him. He beamed.
"I have seen, and they are everything and more than I ever could have asked for. Just like their mother." He said lightly poking her nose. She giggled. He smiled before lifting her chin up and kissing her. He rested his forehead on hers and said,
"Baby girl, It's time to wake up now."
Xx
Cloud had easily caught Lightning who fell forward once being woken up. Her eyes opened slowly, and she drowsily looked over at Cloud, then to the crystallized Cocoon.
"They really did it." She mumbled. Cloud nodded, helping her stand up straight. Angeal and Averia nearly tackled her back down, with each of them latching on to a leg. She merely smiled and bent down to hug them.
"Don't do that again Mommy. You were a rock." Angeal scolded, latched onto her right leg. She gently ruffled his hair and apologized.
"Hey my brand is gone." Hope called holding his wrist. Lightning turned around and unzipped her jacket to look at her own brand, and to find it was gone.
"Serah!" Snow called out and everyone turned around. Serah and Dajh walked towards them and Snow embraced Serah. She giggled, walking over to Lightning, before giving her a hug.
"Im so sorry." Lightning mumbled, pulling away from her. Serah smiled and told her it was okay, before walking over to Cloud. She motioned Snow to come over, and he obeyed.
"If it's alright with you Cloud, we would like to get married." She said. He sighed before looking over at Lightning, who nodded. Looking back to Serah, he nodded as well. Serah and Snow laughed and hugged each other while thanking Cloud. Lightning looked around, before locking eyes with Cloud.
"Where's Kimber and Noct?" She asked. Cloud motioned his head to in front of them, where they were breaking the crystal carefully and slowly.
"They said something about Fang and Vanille being in there. I don't know." He answered, "You have to remember Kimberlynne is where the insanity comes from in our family." Lightning shook her head and patted Angeal's.
"I think you match her Cloud." She said crossing her arms and smiling at him.
"That's a crock of bull and you know it. I'm just an idiot." Cloud said genuinely smiling back at her. She shook her head and watched as Kimberlynne lost patience and punched a huge hole into the crystal. Noctis visibly scolded her, to which she yelled back to.
A small hand reached out of the hole and Kimberlynne latched onto it. Noctis helped her pull out a frazzled Vanille, and then Fang who was rather normal. They all made their way back to the rest of the group.
"I win this one Princey. See? Both Vanille and Fang made it out alive. And this time my hand isn't bleeding at all." Kimberlynne held up her hand to show Noctis.
"Kimberlynne, you are so lucky you are my wife and I love you." Noctis said shaking his head. Kimberlynne giggled and pecked him on the nose.
"I love you too Princey, Now let's go find Pops and go home!"
Xx
"It's broken, I need a new damn part!" Cid exclaimed.
"Well go find the damn part!" Kimberlynne yelled back annoyed. Cid shook his head.
"Look, Spira's just around the corner anyway, we'll cut through the Omega Ruins and get a spacecraft there." Cid took a drag of his cigarette. Kimberlynne's face lit up.
Xx
Cloud let out a frustrated sigh. "I think I hear a damn Malboro." He muttered to himself. Kimberlynne walked up to him.
"Oh shut your mouth Farron." She smiled at him.
"You shut your mouth Highwind." Cloud shot playfully back at her. They both shared a short chuckle before Kimberlynne gazed out in front of her.
"Ah the Omega Ruins. The most dangerous part of Spira. This should be fun with a whole pack of people who have no idea on how to handle these beasts." Cloud let out another chuckle, then turned to face the group.
"Claire, Kimberlynne, and I will take the lead. You guys don't know how to handle these things." He said, shaking his head. Fang took a step forward.
"We're not dummies when it comes to monsters. We can handle them." She said.
"Shut your mouth, you don't." Cid said, lighting the ever-present cigarette in his mouth. "You know how to deal with Pulsian monsters. You don't know jack shit when it comes to Spiran fiends. They're much stronger, attack differently, require more skill to defeat, and have different weaknesses. And since we are in the Omega Ruins, it's best that you just stick behind Spikes here." Kimberlynne giggled.
"Hey Cloud, you remember that Malboro you thought you heard?" She said as a Great Malboro appeared in front of them from a blind corner.
"Get back!" Lightning screamed and charged forward along with Kimberlynne and Cloud as the Malboro emitted its famous 'bad breath'. Both Kimberlynne and Lightning seemed unaffected by it, while Cloud got every status ailment he could get. Lightning focused on attacking while Kimberlynne healed Cloud, before the two of them joined her, affectively killing the fiend quickly. Kimberlynne sighed.
"Good thing we're stronger. I hate those things." She said as the pyreflies of the malboro flew above her head.
"Ah shit, its oozing fucking blue blood!" Lightning cursed, trying to side-step the liquid that was adding in amount on the ground. Both Kimberlynne and Cloud laughed, side-stepping as well. Kimberlynne shook her head in mock-disappointment.
"Ah ah, no swearing in front of your children Claire." She said giggling.
"Like Cloud hasn't before." She scoffed, starting to walk around the blue blood, her children following suit, giggling as their mother told them not to say such bad words.
Xx
"I'm not touching it." Snow muttered as everyone looked at the glyph in front of them.
"You should." A child's voice said as Snow whipped his head around to see where it came from, before his eyes landed on a small boy. Kimberlynne seemed to recognize him.
"Oh hey, Bahamut. This could be bad." Kimberlynne said waving nervously to him, "Or it could be good."
"You stole the words from my mouth." Bahamut answered, "You have already seen the memories of most thought. But it is Claire's decision that shall rule. What memories you will see on this glyph, and what memories you will see on the next. Mentality is crucial. Positive will bring Positive. Negative will bring Negative. Claire decides."
Bahamut disappeared after his speech, leaving Snow dreadfully confused. Lightning eyed the glyph.
"I pick Positive." She said, slamming her hand on the glyph.
Xx
The original Angeal stood before Zack, holding up a half of a sword, smiling slightly. Zack sighed and took the sword by the hilt.
"Zack," Angeal started to walk out of what seemed to be a training room. "Embrace your dreams." This caused an audible 'huh?' to come out of Zack.
"If you want to be a hero you need to have dreams… and honor." Angeal said walking out of the room.
Xx
A booted foot came out of nowhere and hit Zack square in the face. A couple yards away, a blonde girl landed on her feet, panting. Zack winced as he set his jaw back in place and spitting up the blood that had come into his mouth.
"Not bad." He said after a minute. The girl sighed and collapsed onto the floor.
"You win." She whined," You and your nonliving ability to take hits." Zack smiled and offered the girl his hand.
"That's what you get for getting pummeled by Angeal every day. You're really fast. I don't think I could even make a hit if I tried." Zack said when the girl accepted his hand and hoisted her up.
"Thanks, that's what you get for training with Genesis everyday." She smiled. They walked out of the training room and into the SOLDIER lobby area. Zack plopped onto a couch and groaned.
"You know, I know something about you." The girl said turning to him and giggling. Zack looked at her.
"What do you know about me?" He asked, not really interested in the current conversation.
"Well, if I told you, I'd probably creep you out." She answered, taking the opposite seat on the couch. Zack sat up.
"Okay, now I really want to know." Zack said giving her a look. She only giggled.
"You sure you want to know?" She said and Zack nodded.
"Well, you see, I'm kind of, oh what do you call them? Anyways, I sometimes have dreams of people that are close to me. It's their future." The girl said. Zack tilted his head to the side for a moment.
"A Psychic is the term I suppose. So you had a dream about me?" Zack asked, puzzled. Today was the first day he had ever trained with this girl, let alone meet her. But she shook her head.
"Well, I suppose I had a dream about you. You weren't the primary focus. But you were in someone's future." She replied. Zack raised his eyebrows.
"Oh? And what will I do in person's future?" He asked. The girl turned upside down in her seat.
"You sure you want to know?" She asked.
"We've gone over this." Zack said, leaning to look the girl in the face. The girl giggled.
"So we have. Okay. You're gonna marry my best friend." The girl said, sitting upright. Zack sat there with his jaw hung low.
"Wait, what, when?" He managed after a minute. She laughed at him.
"How old are you now?" She asked, standing.
"Sixteen." Zack answered slowly. The girl giggled once more and then very slowly said,
"In two years, you're gonna, marry, my," She paused to point at herself, "best friend."
"Kimberlynne. Let's go." The girl looked up to find Genesis and smiled. She turned to a dumbstruck Zack.
"Be sure to send me an invitation, okay?" She smiled and ran off to Genesis. Zack stood and tried to stop her, but sighed and gave up, looking around the room.
"Be sure to send me an invitation too." Zack jumped to Angeal's voice, to find him standing right next to him. Zack gave him a look.
"You don't actually believe her do you? I haven't even met her best friend, how the hell am I supposed to marry her in two years?" Zack said. Angeal shook his head.
"She has made predictions before, and they've been true. I wouldn't be surprised if this one was too." Angeal started to walk away, breaking into a loud laughter.
"Hey! You don't believe her either!" Zack shouted after him, before running to catch up.
Xx
"I've recommended you for 1st." Angeal said, Snow instantly recognized this memory from before. Zack was accepting a mission. Zack laughed, overjoyed and hugged Angeal.
"Angeal! I love you man! Ang-!" He exclaimed while Angeal pushed him off.
"Don't make me regret this Zack." Angeal said, shooting Zack a small smile.
Xx
Snow literally blinked before he was now in the woods, looking around aimlessly as Angeal walked ahead, Zack trailing behind.
"So Angeal, what's the deal with 'dumbapples?'" Zack asked. Angeal turned.
"The official name is Banora White. The trees bear fruit at random times during the year. Because of that, the townspeople affectionately call them 'dumbapples'" Angeal said.
"The local farms had plenty of them to spare." He continued.
"Oh, really? So you stole them." Zack countered.
"We were poor, Zack." Angeal said.
"Nice excuse!" Zack retorted.
"But even then, I had my honor. The largest Banora White tree grew on a wealthy man's estate. It was rumored that those apples tasted the best. But I never stole from that tree, because the wealthy man's son was my friend." Angeal recounted. Zack strolled up to him.
"If he was a friend, you should have just asked for some!" He said. Angeal held up his hand.
"Honor can be quite a burden at times." He said. Zack paused a moment, looking at Angeal.
"…And, what exactly does this have to do with me?" He asked. Angeal crossed his arms.
"No story is not worth hearing." Angeal wisely said, before he turned away and started to walk, laughing.
"What? That's it?" Zack said, confused, before breaking into a run to catch up to him. "Yeah, well, thanks a lot!"
Xx
Zack was crouched down next to Angeal behind some bushes.
"B Unit will set off an explosion. That's our cue." Angeal told him.
"The diversion will allow us to infiltrate." Zack added. Angeal nodded and said,
"Right. I'll set the bomb inside the fortress. You'll charge the front gate, and…"
"Uh-huh, and? And? And? And? Zack said interrupting.
"Indulge yourself." Angeal said. Zack looked excited.
"You got it! That's what I do best." Zack stood, clearly waiting in anticipation. "Come on, B Unit…" Angeal took his massive sword off his back and placed his forehead on it, before returning it to his back. Zack crouched back down.
"You know, I've never actually seen you use that. Don't you think it's sort of a waste?" Zack asked.
"Use brings about wear…tear… and rust. And that's a real waste." Angeal said.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Zack asked shooting him a look.
"Yeah. I can be pretty cheap." Angeal said smiling.
"Yeah, no kidding…"
Xx
"Yo! Don't fall too far behind!" Zack shouted to Tseng and the other recruit. Cloud had almost appeared to fallen asleep standing up before he realized that the memory was about him.
"At least someone's keeping up." Zack said to the recruit next to him.
"Well, I'm a country boy too." Cloud responded from under his helmet.
"From where?" Zack asked.
"Nibelheim." Cloud answered. Zack broke into laughter.
"How about you?" Cloud interrupted Zack's fit of laughter. Zack turned to him.
"Me? Gongaga." Zack said. Cloud let out a chuckle.
"Hey, what's so funny about that! You know Gongaga?" Zack said defensively.
"No, but such a backwater name." Cloud said.
"Ditto Nibelheim." Zack countered.
"Like you've been there." Cloud shot back.
"I haven't, but there's a reactor there, right?" Zack said as Cloud nodded, "A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means,"
"Nothing else out there." Both boys said in unison. They broke into laughter.
"Good news, Tseng! Me and…." Zack trailed off to look at Cloud. He pulled off his helmet and said,
"Cloud."
"Me and Cloud here are both backwater experts. Oh yeah!" Zack said pumping his fists.
Xx
"So, Cloud, what did you do for fun in Nibelheim? Zack asked at the campfire. The sun was setting, meaning it was earlier than the previous memory of Cloud's story of Claire and his fight.
"Not much. I had to work a lot. When I was little I almost blew up the school. That was fun." Cloud said, shrugging. Zack shot him a look, then smiled.
"Yeah, sounds like it. But what could we do now? It's not Tseng wants to go any farther today." Zack said, sighing.
"We could always rob a local bank." Cloud said, poking the fire with a stick.
"That's an idea." Zack chuckled, "A Shinra recruit and a SOLDIER operative robbing a bank. We'll make the headline for sure."
"Hey you asked, I gave an idea." Cloud said, sitting back. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while.
"Hey, Cloud, Let me ask you something." Zack said, looking at him. Cloud looked up.
"What is it?" He said.
"Do you, believe in love at first sight?" Zack said hesitantly.
"I'm sorry, Zack. I don't roll that way." Cloud said jokingly.
"Not you, you jackass. I meant in general." Zack said shaking his head.
"What brought this on?" Cloud said. Leaning back some more.
"I was just thinking about something that I probably shouldn't be worrying about." Zack said.
"No, I don't believe in love at first sight. I believe you have attraction to someone, and you know you want to spend the rest of your life with that person, so you charge headfirst into a relationship." Cloud answered. After a moment, he said impatiently,
"You know, you started a story, you're expected to finish it."
"Oh alright, when I was back in SOLDIER Headquarters, I once trained with this girl. She was fast, broke my jaw a couple times. I was always on defense. I ending up winning without having to land one hit since she wore herself out. But afterwards, she told me she was psychic and I would be married in two years." Zack finished, falling over into a lying position.
"At first I didn't believe her. But I just think about it at random times. I don't know why." He said after a moment.
"Well, I only believed one psychic, because I saw firsthand her predictions were right, but she died a while back." Cloud said, "Maybe she's right, maybe she's wrong. I wouldn't rush anything just because a physic said something."
"Yeah, you're right. Hey Cloud, what's your family like?"
Xx