A/N: Yay! Chapter Ten! Also- yes. Aeris's dress in the fic is the one she wears in Kingdom Hearts II. This is why it's "familiar" to her.
Disclaimer: I don't own FF, and am not making any money off this fic.
Chapter Ten: Quiet
Yuffie woke up ten minutes after the Shera landed at Cosmo Canyon.
It had been a rude awakening, to say in the least. Upon round two of opening her eyes and finding Aeris alive again, Yuffie had somehow managed to stave off passing out a second time... only to compensate for it by puking all over the infirmary floor. Once she was finished with that, however, she was alright- comfortable even.
Of course, that could have been mostly attributed to the tranquilizer Tifa stuck in her ass while she was hanging head-first over the side of the bed, but hey- you can't have everything.
After she'd mellowed out a bit, the two older women set about making a fuss over all of the bruises and burn marks the ninja had picked up on her stint in captivity. Stripping her down, they pushed for an explanation behind every scratch to the point that Yuffie actually got annoyed. Seriously, she'd been held prisoner by Rufus and the Turks for three days. It would have been weird if she hadn't come out of it looking like someone had pushed her down a flight of stairs, right?
When they were eventually satisfied with her recollection of battle wounds, Yuffie was left alone to shower and get dressed. The hot water felt good on her parched skin, but she was soon faced with the cold reality that in their haste to come save her, no one had thought to pack the Princess a change of clothes (not that she was complaining), so she was forced to re-don the sweaty, smelly outfit she'd been stuck in for going on four days. It sucked, but on the upside her hair didn't feel like grease anymore and she could always borrow something from one of the village girls down in the Canyon.
Surprisingly, getting off the ship was something Yuffie was in no hurry to do. It was nearly two in the morning by the time they'd reached the city, and it would be little while longer before the crew had fully docked the Shera's hangar to the Observatory's port (Red and Cid had designed and built this feature shortly after AVALANCHE killed Sephiroth the first time, mainly because the group had gotten tired of having to walk from the plains through the canyon just to get to the city). Even when the airmen finally started unloading supplies, Yuffie was content to just stand on the lower deck and watch the city below.
Despite the the late hour, many of the village Elders had come out and were walking around the Eternal Flame, setting up a few small tables of food for their honored guests. It wasn't light enough to see the delicacies, but Yuffie could smell them from the landing. Drawing a deep breath in, she dared to follow her watering mouth over the rail just a tad to get a better whiff of everything...
"It seems we won't have to wait 'til morning for a hot meal after all," Nanaki's voice in the shadows almost made her jump, but with the effects of the tranquilizer still smooth in her veins, the ninja only turned her head.
"It was nice of them to get up to feed us," she replied, twisting to face him and settling back onto the rail with folded arms.
"They would have considered it dishonorable not to." He looked at the village longingly, triggering in her the feeling that something was up. Nanaki never piddled around when it came to stopping off in his hometown, especially not to just chat.
"Is everything OK Red?" She asked softly. "You seem a little...unenthusiastic."
"Oh, well-." He shook his mane, and Yuffie dared to feel insulted at his surprise toward her intuition. "I just...wanted to make sure you were alright. You were gone quite a while, and you're covered in bruises-."
"Tifa and Aeris already grilled me about that," she cut him off, voice dull. "Please just ask them if you want to know about the in-between-blackout beatings."
"Actually, I wanted to know about something else."
Ah, there it was.
"I was hoping I would get a chance to talk with you about things you might have heard when you were un-conscious."
Yuffie stared at him. Had it been any other member of AVALANCHE she would have laughed in their face and said 'nice try,' but this was Red. He was deep- the 'talks with spirits and nature and the Planet' kind of deep. She knew not only that he was completely serious, but it was probably well within his realm of capabilities to do just what he was suggesting.
"What are you wanting to know?" She practically whispered. As much as she trusted the beast, something about having her mind tapped made her feel...uneasy.
"Just general things they may have talked about if they thought you weren't awake to hear it." He sat on his hindquarters, fiery tail flitting about his feet casually as if this were a normal, everyday request. "Future plans. Why they did this. That sort of thing."
"Isn't there some other route you can take to get info?" She tried to reason her way out. "Tifa told me Cait Sith found a bunch of files they were keeping on the project. I only read a little of the one they had in my holding room, but I'd be glad to tell you about that-."
"Yuffie..." he cut her off and she inhaled sharply, knowing her argument wasn't a good one. He could sense there was a reason she didn't want him traipsing around in her head. "...I won't make you tell me anything you aren't ready to talk about."
She exhaled slowly, brushing the hair out of her face as she nodded. "...When would you want to do it?"
"Later. Preferably after we've had a meeting about what we're going to do in the morning."
Yuffie snorted. Meetings. Those were something about the group she hadn't missed at all.
"Fine, just... don't let me start running my mouth, okay?"
"I'm afraid that's exactly what I want you to do."
"You know what I mean, Red." She gave him a look. "No walking me down some weird, suppressed-memory lane."
"I'll do what I can," he replied with a smile before leaving her to go back to her village-gazing game. As she looked toward the fire, she saw Barret and Cid had already made it down and were making quick work of the food on the tables.
"Damnit," she muttered, jerking upright. "Those pigs are going to finish off everything before I even get the chance to see what it is!"
"We've been docked for nearly twenty minutes- you should have left sooner."
Yuffie's eyebrows shot up as she spun to face the new intruder, gasping when she met a solid chest. Stumbling back, she barely caught herself on the thin piping that separated her from a very, very long drop into the Canyon.
"Sleipnir's cock, Vinnie!" She pressed one hand to her stomach while the other white-knuckled the rail. "Fucking make a noise next time you walk up behind me, would ya?"
He let out a short breath, and Yuffie knew he was silently laughing at her. Her cheeks caught fire- thank god for the dark.
"I noticed you were still on the ship, which is strange for you- what with your airsickness. I came to see if you're alright."
He'd noticed her behavior pattern?
(Pull it together, idiot.) She tried to think through the goose bumps that had begun spreading over her skin. (Everyone knows you're an Airship Asshole.)
"I...I'm f-fine." She cursed her stammering tongue. "Just trying to get my head straight."
He didn't reply for a moment and Yuffie had to force her gaze to the floor to keep from squirming under his. What the hell was wrong with her?
"I thought you would like to know that the pilot will be shutting down the engine soon." Although he was speaking to her like someone who cared, his voice wielded no emotion. "It will get much darker than it is now, and I'm not certain you'll be able to see the bridge leading off the ship."
Basically what he was saying was, 'you need to leave now or your clumsy ass will probably fall off the hangar trying to walk to the port in the dark.'
"Thanks," she muttered, steadying herself. "I guess... I guess we should go."
He hummed, then turned and walked away. She tried to wait- to put some distance between them- but the second he disappeared into the ship, the deck lights shut off. Yuffie yelped, running after him.
"Vinnie, you night-vision-having bastard, wait for me!"
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"You sure missed out on some good grub down there, cat."
Cait Sith look at Cid with a dull expression.
"Yes, well, seeing how I'm a robot it would seem putting things in my body would not only be wasteful, but detrimental to my function."
The pilot rolled his eyes as he kicked back in the chair he sat in, crossing his arms behind his head.
"You said you had some files you wanted to go through?"
"I was hoping Cloud would be present as well."
"Ah," he waved a hand, "he's too busy trying not to scream 'I told you so' at everyone right now. Just run things over with me first so we can hit all the important parts later with everyone else."
Cait huffed, climbing up onto the table between them to push apart the small stack of papers he'd gathered before their speedy exit from the Forgotten City.
"There were a lot of pictures," he began. "Candid, mostly. It seems whoever started this project followed us for a long time."
"'Whoever'?" Cid echoed incredulously. "I think it's pretty obvious Rufus had this whole thing mapped out from the start."
"Mapped out, maybe. From the start, no." The cat disagreed as he pulled a photo from the disarray and held it up for the captain to see. "He wasn't the original brain behind the operation."
Cid dropped his feet back down to the floor, leaning in to get a better look at what Cait was showing him. After a moment he screwed his lips to the side disapprovingly.
"Well, shit."
It was a picture of Aeris and Zack sitting on the tailgate of an old pickup truck just outside of the Sector Five church. She was holding a bouquet of flowers and laughing at something he was saying. They looked incredibly young.
"Aeris can't be older than 16 or 17 in this." The robot turned the picture to look at it, shaking his head. "Rufus wasn't even finished with military school then, and his father was still alive... Sephiroth hadn't even gone nuts yet."
"So no one on the Planet even knew what the Princess Guard was."
"Well, maybe." Cait set the photograph down and shuffled through a few more papers, sighing. "The Ancients kept fairly detailed records of artifacts they collected and blessed. A lot of these documents were actually gathered and kept on file bythe ShinRa corporation shortly after JENOVA was discovered."
"Well, in any case we know it started with ShinRa." Cid shrugged, sitting back. "But they had access to a lot of things, right? Who would have bothered looking into weapons?"
Cait Sith hummed indecisively, before something caught his eye. Noticing the pause, Cid tilted his head.
"What?"
"The papers documenting weaponry of the Ancient Temple were only written some thirty years ago, but they weren't written there, or in Midgar."
The pilot looked at him, then to the paper as it was slid his way. Picking it up, he scanned it briefly before arching an eyebrow.
"Icicle Inn?" He murmured, confused. "When did ShinRa ever have a setup..-." He trailed off as the realization hit him. "Oh, right. Gast and Ifalna."
"It says here that Ifalna was the one who talked about the weapons. The Princess Guard was the least written about, but...look-."
Cait handed over another sheet- the chronicle that listed all of the Ancient Temple weapons. Once Cid took it the robot reached over and pointed at the tiniest box on the page- just above the bottom- where the words "Princess Guard" were penned in a very feminine hand.
"-Ifalna must have written it herself, probably being careful how she worded it."
"If she even knew about it," Cid grumbled. "All it says is it's a weapon only capable of being used by an Ancient. The Materia paired with it are meant to guard its wielder and the Ancient Princess." Tossing it back to the table, he looked at the cat. "I don't get it."
"I don't either. I've never heard of an 'Ancient Princess'. Aeris never mentioned it."
"Maybe she is the Ancient Princess."
"Could be, but that seems like something she would have known about."
"I seriously doubt she would remember if Ifalna ever did say anything. She was just a kid then."
The two fell quiet, both completely lost as they stared at the mess of information between them, neither really knowing what to do with it. Leaning to rest his arms on the table, Cid reached down and plucked another photograph from the 'Ancient Weapons' stack. After looking over it for a second he snorted.
"Well, this ain't all that surprising."
Flipping it over, he revealed a picture of Hojo standing in front of the ShinRa Mansion with President ShinRa, a very young Rufus, Professors Gast and Crescent, and the Turks Veld, Tseng and Vincent.
Cait wrinkled his nose. "This was before Gast left and met Ifalna. It wouldn't have had anything to do with the Princess Guard."
"Read the caption."
Snatching the photo, he turned it over and read the note aloud. "The team assembles to begin research on JENOVA's connection with the Cetra. The book that was uncovered at last month's excavation site outside of Nibelheim- the purpose of the team's construction- can be seen in Professor Crescent's hands." He looked at the woman as she proudly held an old, weather-worn book that read 'The Cetra Legacy: JENOVA Materia.' "JENOVA Materia...?"
"This must've been why they spent so much time thinking JENOVA was a Cetra." Cid scratched his chin, looking down at the table again. "All this bullshit..."
"But what does it mean?" Cait's expression soured. "There's a connection here, but I just can't see it."
"That's why we need to talk to everyone else." The pilot stood suddenly, shuffling the sheets back into haphazard stacks as he scooped them up. "We ain't gonna solve this little gem of a riddle on our own, Cat, but we sure as hell got a head start. That's pretty damn good enough for me."
Cait Sith took one last look at the picture in his hands, before tossing it onto a nearby pile with an exasperated breath.
"I suppose you're right. We'll be able to think better with everyone else involved." He picked up the bundle beside him, pausing for a moment to chuckle. "You know, I find it amusing to think that underneath all of the hair and red cloth, Vincent still looks like the young man in this photo."
Cid chortled as he grabbed the last stack of files and led the way out. "Yeah, it's funny as hell- but don't ever say that to him. 'Less yer just itchin' to have your creepy little robot parts rearranged."
The two laughed as they left the small bedroom to head for the Observatory.
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Cloud sighed inwardly as he pulled the door to his small bedroom shut behind him, starting down the hallway without much aim as he finished checking the messages on his cell.
Nothing. Not a single call or text from anyone.
It wasn't really all that surprising, considering the people he would normally be texting or expecting calls from were all with him right now, but force of habit drove him to check anyway. Snapping it shut, he barely looked up in time to stop himself from running into the woman who had just rounded the corner to walk down the hall.
"Whoa-." They both trailed off when their gazes met. Cloud could only gawk as Aeris stammered to apologize for almost running into him.
"I...I didn't see you-."
"It's cool," he assured her quickly, pulling at his belts nervously as he tried to look anywhere but at her. He failed miserably. "I see you, um...you found a dress."
"Oh, yeah." She looked down at her new clothes, holding the ruffled skirt away from her to glance over it. "Tifa found it in the storage room."
"That was nice of her. It's good she found it."
"Yeah, I'm glad." She nodded. "My old dress was kind of...gross."
They paused awkwardly. Of course her old dress was gross- she'd been killed and buried at the bottom of a lakein it. Good grief. How far were they going to keep kidding themselves like this?
"I'm glad you're..." Cloud hesitated as he realized the next words out of his mouth could notbe 'feeling better' or 'awake.' "...Not crying anymore."
Oh dear god. That was the next worst thing.
"Thank you." Aeris. Always so polite and soft-spoken; but at this point even she couldn't play off the epic fail this conversation was becoming. "I'm...glad too."
After a minute of verbal impasse, they finally managed to settle their fidgeting down to him resting his hands on his hips and her twisting her fingers behind her back. A few more seconds of weird silence went by before Aeris gathered enough courage to look at the leader. Once Cloud noticed her eyes on him, he looked back.
"...Cool." Sweet mother- how old was he? This was worse than the first time they met!
Clearing her throat, the Ancient glanced down the hall. "I was just...trying to get to the Observatory. Were you going?"
"Yeah. Do you remember how to get there?"
"No," she admitted, and they both laughed like idiots even though it wasn't really that funny.
"Well," Cloud started, shuffling to slide past her. "I guess I could show you..."
"Hey!"
The awkward pair nearly fell over at the sound of Barret's voice coming from the sitting room at the end of the hallway. Looking at him, it wasn't that surprising to find him staring at them like they were morons.
"The hell's wrong with you fools? You forget where the Observatory is?"
"Yes," they replied in unison, and Aeris laughed at the blonde.
"You just told me you would show me where it was!"
"I meant I... I would help..," he muttered, realizing he no longer had no control over the words that came out of his mouth. "...Geez."
The Ancient giggled and Cloud's ears burned, but he still smiled. All embarrassment aside, it was good to hear her laugh again.
In front of them, Barret rolled his eyes. "Alright then, follow me. We were supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago."
In a piss-poor attempt to compose themselves, Aeris stifled her laughter and Cloud grinned idiotically as they followed the gunman upstairs to meet with the others.
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A/N: Hey friends! I've just posted a new sub-story to this fic. It's called "Caged." You don't HAVE to read it, but it'll come in handy later- and I could always use the reviews! Thanks! :D