"Cloud...are you sure you saw what you saw?" The Shinra uniformed Clive asked with uncertainty in his tone as he spoke quietly to Cloud as they walked through the cargo bay of the ship, following the path that was made in the middle of the room by boxes that were lined up not so neatly on both sides of them. With a nod of his head, Cloud answered Clives question with a "yes, I am sure of it" rather bluntly.
Out of the corner of his eye and through the visor of his helmet, he saw the two metallic coffins being pushed through a doorway that was quickly closed behind the guards, a light above the door going from green to red to signal that the door had been locked. Figuring there was no point to following them at this time, Cloud continued on towards the stairway that led out to the upper deck of the boat.
"But how?" Clive wondered out loud as their boots clanked loudly against the metal stairs as they ascended. On the way up, they came across a Shinra guard who was traveling down the stairway, giving them a slight head nod as they past him. So far it as though their disguises were fooling their fellow shipmates.
"I don't know, but if Rem and Axel truly are alive and on the ship...it's probably best that we don't tell Jeanne about this till later" Cloud instructed as he was suddenly met with the fresh air of the ocean.
The ship had already taken off from the harbour of Junon, leaving it behind to shrink off in horizon behind the boat. The deck of the ship was rather large, almost enough room in the middle for a middle sized helicopter to land on. There were ladders that led up to platforms where guards had taken positions to watch out over the large sea in case enemies were to attack.
"Probably a good idea, think of the havoc she would make if she found out that they were holding those two captive down below" Clive said with a frown on his face, both knowing fully well that Jeanne would storm downstairs causing a huge scene and blowing their cover.
"But...it's a relief though, to know that they are still alive" Clives eyes looking around at the deck as he spoke.
"Lets not get our hopes up though" Cloud warned as he too tried to look like a guard as much as possible "I said I saw them in the crates, whether or not they are alive is something we will have to find out after the ride to Costa"
Cloud felt horrible bringing down the idea that their friends had survived the explosion back in Midgar, but he knew all too well that reality was a harsh matter and there was the chance that Axel and Rem were in fact dead and Hojo was just using their bodies for experiments. With the kind of person Hojo was, by reputation and from personal experience, he wouldn't put it past the professor to use dead bodies for his research.
Clive grew a bit quiet afterwards, possibly a bit put down as he had gotten his hopes up that his friends were back from the dead. The two continued to patrol around the deck when suddenly Clive asked Cloud a question that he himself hadn't thought up yet.
"Hey...where's Jeanne?" Clive asked, causing Cloud to stop and look around the ship rather frantically.
"Shit" was all that came from his mouth as he continued to look around, not seeing any sign of the young girl.
"You don't think they realized who she was, do you?" Clive asked as he too was looking around the deck from where they stood. Cloud then noticed that there was a walkway that led out to the deck the extended out in front of the bridge of the ship.
"Maybe she's over there" Cloud suggested as he pointed in the direction of the walkway. The two made their way down the walkway and sure enough at the head of the ship was Jeanne, all alone as she stared out at the ocean, the destination of the ship started to come into view as the continent was now visible on the horizon ahead.
"Hey, why are you out here?" Cloud questioned as he walked up to her, trying to stay in character as he knew that the sailors of the ship could see them from where they were. Cloud stopped in his tracks when Jeanne turned around to look at him, tears streaming down her cheeks and her eyes puffy and red.
"Cloud...did you see them too?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit as she was still trying to recover from the obvious cry that she just had. Cloud instantly knew what she was referring to, the tears and glossy eyes were proof that she too had seen the crates that were residing downstairs.
"Yeah I saw them" Cloud replied as he stood beside her, keeping his back to the window of the bridge as he continued to converse with her making sure they didn't come off as suspicious.
"Then let's go get them! We can easily take on these guards and rescue them, then we can all go back with Axel and Rem again" she said in a pleading tone, her eyes looking up at him like a sad and eager puppy, the same look she would give him that usually got her her way. This time was different though, there was too much at stake if they were to save them now.
"Now isn't the time to do it Jeanne" he responded back, instantly causing Jeanne to open her mouth, wanting to angrily yell at the blond but stopped when he spoke again "Don't worry Jeanne, if they are alive we will save them, I promise you that. Saving them now would be a bad idea, if we cause too much attention and alert them to us being who we are they will stop the ship and call for back up, giving us nowhere to run to to get away" he explained before looking down at her. He could see that his words sunk into her and made her realize that perhaps going Rambo on an enemy ship wouldn't be the best plan to save their friends.
"A..alright Cloud" she said as she let out a deep and heavy sigh, trying to calm herself. A small smile then formed on her face before she looked up at him again "Still though, I don't think I have been this happy in a long time, it's not every day you get to have your friends come back from the dead" she said with a giggle.
"Well I am sure you already know but...don't get your hopes up too much, we did see them but...we still need to find out if they truly are alive" he pointed out, but his words didn't seem to faze her at all as her smile remained unchanged on her face.
"Oh they're alive alright" she said as she tilted her head and the look of thought formed on her face "I saw on the side of their coffins that little...screen thing...you know, that one that goes 'beep beep beep'" she tried to explain as she made an ascending and descending motion with her finger as she made beeping noises. It took Cloud a minute to get what she was trying to tell him and then realized what it was.
"You mean a heart monitor? You're sure that's what you saw?" he asked in a rather demanding tone, his hopes were starting to heighten with her new information. Jeanne nodded her head in response before looking out over the ocean again.
"I...I am just going to wait here till the boat ride ends alright Cloud? One of the guards told me it was ok for me to be here, so I won't be suspicious in anyway" she said with a small smile.
Cloud made his way back to Clive who awaited for his return back on the walkway.
"So...did you explain it to her?" Clive asked as he wondered what the long conversation was about. Cloud nodded his head before walking past Clive to get back to the main deck area.
"She already knew, guess she figured going all Jeanne on this boat would have been a bad idea too" Cloud said with a small grin "Come on, we have to get back to our duties" he said with a bit of a mocking tone, Clive answering back just as smart-alecky by saluting him lazily and followed along.
The boat ride continued on under the blazing sun, making things much worse for Cloud in the heat as he was already feeling sea sick from the motion of the boat rocking back and forth. He had even gotten to the point of needing to sit down against the side railing of the boat, a guard approaching him at one point to see if he was alright. He merely waved him off saying "I am fine, just a bit motion sick" and the guard walked away shaking his head with a "rookie newbs" being muttered when out of an ear shot.
The large ship came to a halt in the harbour of the small resort of Costa, bringing the journey across the ocean to the continent to an end. Many guards made their way over to the railing as they all eagerly looked down at the small town of Costa De Sol, many discussing among one another about how they wanted to ditch the uniform and go have the same fun that the people within the resort were having while others grinned and pointed out to which woman in bikinis they thought were the hottest.
Rather than joining the group of males at the railing to gawk at the scenes below, Cloud and Clive both stood near the opposite side of the ship as they didn't want to bring any attention to themselves since things seemed to be running so smoothly so far. The site of Jeanne making her way towards them from where they had left her alone earlier was caught from the corner of Clouds eye, the sense of panic started to flood Cloud as he noticed one of the guards approach her. The expression on Jeanne's face showed that she too was feeling the same panic that Cloud was experiencing. She instantly put a calm smile on her face as she turned to the guard after he had called out to her.
From where he stood it was hard to tell what was being said between the two, a fact that caused both Cloud and Clive to prepare themselves in case they needed to step in. But the tension suddenly dropped as she started to make her way over to the two with a small skip in her step, giving the guard a small wave before looking back at them.
"What did he say to you?" Clouds question filled with much curiosity now that the possibility of Jeanne being caught and their cover being blown was no longer a threat. Jeanne let out a small giggle before moving her hand to her hair to brush a strand of it behind her ear with a smug look on her face.
"Oh not much, he was just asking me if I was staying here at the beach for a while and asked if 'a pretty little thing' like me would be interested for a date tonight" her words seeming to make herself giggle even more. Cloud let out a sigh, one that was a mix of both relief and hopelessness.
"And of course you being you, you probably said you were all up for the idea while knowing that you are leaving immediately" Clive said with a small grin on his face, seeing the teen give him a small wink and pressed her finger up to her lips to let out a small 'shhh'.
"Hey there's Hojo…man just looking at that guy gives me the creeps" the words of a guard could be heard from where the group of three stood. The name 'Hojo' alone was the very thing that caught their interest and made them walk over to the side of the ship to join the rest of the guards who were stilled loitering along the railing.
Cloud watched as no more than 10 guards started to leave the ship and crowd out onto the dock, five guards surrounding each of the two coffin like containers as they carried them out. Leading the small army of guards was Hojo, hunched over slightly as he walked in front of everyone with his hands behind his back, a bored look on his face.
"Come come now, hurry up and get my test subjects to the helicopter" he could be heard commanding the guards as he continued to walk along the walkway of the dock, the guards struggling to keep up with the professor as the containers seemed to slow them down from their weight.
"Cloud…come on, this is our chance" Jeanne whispered to Cloud, the impatience she had was obvious as he noticed her leg shaking slightly. Cloud observed the area and saw that many people had come to the docks to see the what was happening, some talking to each other as they were probably curious as to what were in the caskets that the guards carried while it seemed that some of the women down at the beach had come to the docks to check out the men in uniforms.
"There's too many people here, if we start a fight there might be casualties" Cloud whispered back, expecting a retort to come back from Jeanne but instead heard her give out a loud 'umph!', a sound that instantly made both him and Clive turn to see the guard from before holding onto Jeannes arm.
"Hey remember me? Lets head down to the beach and get to know one another a bit better shall we?" a large smirk on the guards lips as he spoke, his hand still gripping onto her arm even though she showed no sign of struggling. Staying calm in any given situation was one of Jeannes greatest features and was the one thing about her that got her out of many tight binds in the past. Jeanne merely gave the guard a small smile before speaking.
"I said later tonight Mr. Guardman, I have things I need to do first. But I'll meet you at the bar, ok?" her words coming out rather sweetly for someone who was being held so forcefully. Even with her play of being so sweet and kind, the guard shook his head to respond that it wasn't ok.
"No you're coming with me now; the ship goes back to sea in about an hour. So come on" the mans voice now more demanding as he gave her arm a tug. The look on Jeanne's face was showing much irritation from the man not taking no for an answer and the fact he was being forceful now causing her sweet act to slowly disappear. Cloud could tell that at any moment she would launch a powerful fist at the stubborn guard, an act that would not go well while still being surrounded by the enemy.
"That's enough" Cloud would cut in, hoping that a warning from a fellow officer would halt his advances on Jeanne but instead caused the situation to worsen as the guards attention was now on him, the anger coming from him was obvious from the look that was given to him.
"Who the hell do you think you are commanding me like that?" the guard spat out, his grip on Jeanne not loosening.
"You really think this is the way a Shinra guard should be behaving? We are here on business, not forcing young women against their will to go on dates" Clouds eyes were drawn away from the guard and onto Jeanne, unable to keep himself from feeling a bit enraged by how one of his friends was being handled. But having taken his attention off of the guard was a mistake that should not have happened; before Cloud could look back at the guard he felt a large amount of pressure against the side of his helmet.
The guard had thrown a powerful right to the side of his head which caused him to stumble backwards a bit. His head spinning slightly from the impact, he then regained his focus and saw that Clive was not trying to hold back the guard who no longer had Jeanne in his grip.
Clive could be heard trying to calm the guard down verbally as he held him back but suddenly even his voice came to a halt. There was an eerie silence on the boat, Cloud looked to see that Jeanne was looking at him with widened eyes and her hands covering her mouth, the guard now staring at him with the same amount of surprise as Jeanne and Clive an expression of dread on his face.
Cloud wondered what everyone could be possibly staring at, maybe he had been more injured by the punch than he had thought? But he instantly knew the answer as to why he had become the center of attention of the three once he noticed something on the ground next to him. There on the metallic floor laid his helmet, knocked off by the assault of the guard.
"It's Strife!" the guard's voice rang out across the docking bay of the resort for all to hear.