"I wish you would give us a little more warning when you do that kind of stuff, Vincent," Tifa said, one hand resting on her hip as they walked. The battle had ended minutes ago, and Vincent was in the process of gripping a Curing materia, wounds along his arms and legs sealing themselves as an eerie green glow emitted from the orb.
"I wish I could give myself warning, as well," he mumbled, his arm shaking slightly as he watched a piece of shrapnel dislodge itself from his arm.
"North Corel doesn't seem to have changed much," Cloud interrupted, his hardedge safely holstered on his back. He had kept silent after the rest of the battle, his mind wading through memories and blurred images. Watching Vincent change like that had once again reminded him of the Northern Cave... He had stayed concious, fortunately, but had stumbled a few steps away from the battle as Vincent brutally murdered the remaining troops.
Tifa and Vincent looked up at North Corel. After the Crisis had ended, the citizens of North Corel had gone about building the town up. Plans were in the making, but nothing seemed to have popped up yet, the town still looked shabby as ever. A cold wind washed over the three companions, making Tifa shiver and Cloud quicken his pace forward.
"We should not stay long. The Turks won't run out of soldiers very soon," Vincent said, also speeding his steps. His armored hand moved down to scrape a finger across the top of his Peacemaker. The town was making him nervous already... But did he really expect trouble? His hand moved away as the thought of Yuffie entered his mind. He shook his head to rid the thoughts and focused on walking.
Reno once again awoke bound, only this time in much more pain. His breathing was ragged, and he blinked furiously, willing his eyes back into focus. He shook his head a few times and attempted to drag up the memories from the depths of his confused brain. He had been tortured, quite well, by the woman who called herself Terra. As he moved he felt the lacerations from her knife up and down his chest protest with pain. He felt something trickle down from his brow and remembered how she had cut him deep above one of his eyebrows before sending him plummeting again into unconciousness with a brick to the head. Apparently, the wound was still open. She had been quite angry, asking questions about how to find the other top Turks. He had said nothing, even of Rude's death. She was looking to collect on more bounties, it seemed. He was tempted for a moment to give her some info regarding Elena, then stopped himself. Sending a bounty hunter after Elena would make him look weak, as if he was sending a lackey after her instead of himself. No, he decided, Elena was his kill, and his alone.
His eyes finally saw again, and the world seemed to right itself. He was in an extremely confined, extremely dark place. The sound of an engine could be heard, along with the sound of road passing by around him. Locked me in a trunk, he thought, smiling. A little twisting and careful feeling told him his captors had chosen rope over handcuffs for his bindings.
Thank the planet for stupidity..., he thought with a smile. Another ten minutes of careful movements, and the rope entangling his hands was thrown aside. It took much less time to do away with the rope around his legs. He stretched out slightly, his mind working. He could bash the trunk open now, and hope to roll from the trunk unnoticed. He pushed this idea away. Even if he did manage to escape without their knowledge, he wanted revenge on the two women. He would wait for his time patiently, and when it came, he would strike for vengeance.
"Cloud! Tifa! Vincent!" Yuffie exclaimed, bursting from North Corel's hotel, nearly hysterical to see the trio. Red XIII and Cid followed soon after.
"Long time no see," Cloud said, smiling as he embraced Yuffie for a short moment before turning to shake hands with Cid, who had a freshly lit ciggarette resting between his lips.
"No kidding," Cid said, resting his hands on his hips and leaning back. His javelin was holstered on his back as well. "I coulda down without the seeing the furball again though."
"You never seemed to complain as much when we were fighting together... Especially not when I dispatched foes that you seemed unable to handle alone," Red XIII chimed in, shivering slightly as Tifa bent down to scratch behind his ears.
"Just testing your mettle. You're lucky you passed those tests, otherwise you'd have made a nice throw rug on the Highwind," Cid joked, to which Red XIII openly growled.
"Yuffie. It has been... too long," Vincent whispered, nodding down at the young girl. Yuffie smiled up at him, and held it for a moment longer before turning back to Cloud.
"Vincent feels we need to leave soon. I think he's right. The Turks have attacked us twice since we were forced off the train. We need some way to move around safely, and talk this mess out," Cloud said, slipping back into his role of leader quite easily. He couldn't say he had missed it, but he knew it had to be done. Red XIII looked up at him.
"I agree we should leave as soon as possible. We should also give Reeve a call, see what he has dug up on what we have found. We need as much knowledge as possible to decide our next move," he then looked at Cid. All the other companions followed suit. Cid looked around at them slowly, one eyebrow raised. He then spit his ciggarette on the dirt and ground a boot into it.
"Alright! Fine! To Rocket Town, we'll take the Highwind!"