Chapter 10 – New Fights, Old Wars
The investigation that took place was the same as the others. First the police arrived at the scene and accused them of everything from murder to conspiracy. It was only when MH4 arrived that they had any actual relief. "Well you two seem to be the best thing to ever happen to my job." Captain Thalwald joked as he walked up to the two. "Hey, this is my case Thalwald, leave it to the professionals." The Lieutenant of the police said. "When I see one I will, now move aside." The captain said showing his badge. "Listen, it's a simple case of murder, no Mako involved. So you're out of your jurisdiction." The lieutenant said. "Actually that man Mako Shifted into Sephiroth, and Sephiroth said something about using the Mako infused to come back again and again." Robert interrupted. "Well there you have it. A suspicion of Mako used in a crime. Looks like I just entered my jurisdiction and you just left yours. Please leave lieutenant." Thalwald said sternly. The lieutenant growled loudly in a growing anger, but left quietly none the less. As soon as he exited the barrier tape, Thalwald signaled his men to come in and take over. Turning to the couple, he asked, "What the hell is Mako Shifting?" It took a few hours to explain what the Mako Shift actually was, as well as give each side of their stories. By the time they were finished, Captain Thalwald was very concerned. "This Sephiroth guy, he uses those who are Mako Infused to come back to life and you keep stopping him from basically killing everyone." "That's the story, at least what I know of it." Robert said. Before Thalwald could even attempted to call a bluff, one of the forensics field scientists came up to him and whispered something in his ear. The look of shock could be seen on his face for only a few seconds before it returned to normal. When the scientist walked away, Thalwald looked at the two and said, "Looks like you were telling the truth kid, the blood we tested came up positive for Mako. It's so strong that it hast to be recent exposure, and could be deliberate. We'll keep looking into this. You two can go home and we'll let you know when anything pops up." "Thanks Capitan, you're a gentleman and a scholar." Yuffie said in relief, letting all of her pent up stress just wash away. As the two of them left the grounds the Lieutenant walked up to them, an angry scowl on his face, "So he's letting you two go again huh?" he asked. "I guess so. He said we could go home." Yuffie said honestly. "I still say you two are guilty. I can't prove it yet, but I will. You guys have to slip up some time, and when you do, I'll be there to slap the cuffs on you." he warned and then turned around and stomped away. Robert stood there shocked, and said, "I don't think he likes us."
As they entered the door to the shop, James decided to jump out of nowhere, "OOGA BOOGA!" he yelled sticking out his tongue and putting his hands up against his ears. Both Robert and Yuffie screamed out right and nearly toppled down the stairs. "There is seriously something wrong with you!" Yuffie yelled as she chased him through the store. "Yah I know that, and its name is Yuffie." He retorted. As Robert listened to their spats he began to think, this is his life now, and his twin brother James is going to make one heck of a Best Man. Smiling to himself, he decided to get back at James in his own way, "Hey James, wanna be the Best Man?" he blurted out as James was going to take a turn around a shelf to keep Yuffie off of his back. His plan worked like a charm, James miss-stepped and nearly slid to a stop, right before Yuffie tackled him to the ground. "OW, get off of me Yuffie." James complained. Yuffie now had James in a half nelson head lock, craning his left arm nearly above his head and the other arm around his neck. "No way dweeb, you're too dangerous to be left alone." Yuffie retorted. Looking at his brother the best he could, James complained even more, "You did that on purpose." Robert only smiled and walked toward the door leading inside the house. Dropping James to the ground, Yuffie called out to him, "Wait for me Cloud." as she took off after him. James just sat there gasping for air. When he finally got his breathing under control, he said, "Those two were made for each other, they're both crazy." Inside the house Yuffie immediately called Tiffa to tell her about the news. "Hi this is Tiffa." The woman said officially. "It's ok, I found him." The girl spouted out. "YUFFIE, thank goodness you're ok." Tiffa gasped in relief. "Were getting married Tiffa, next Saturday for my birthday." Yuffie couldn't hold it in, she squealed so loud and shrill that Tiffa had to remove the phone from her ear and make sure her eardrum was still in one piece. Placing the phone back to her ear, Tiffa made a realization, "That only gives us a week to prepare." "I know but if anyone can do it, we can. Besides it's going to be a small wedding anyway." Yuffie announced as she literally bounced up and down in her seat. In the other room, Robert was having his own conversation. Listening to his cell phone ring until the person he was calling picked up. "This is Cid, who is it?" The fisherman asked. "It's me Robert, or Cloud as you guys call me." Robert said smiling to himself. Cid perked up a little and his voice showed it, "Hey there kid, need my help already?" "No not this time Cid, I was actually calling to tell you that Yuffie and I will be getting married on Saturday of next week and we'd like to invite you." Robert said as he looked around a little nervous. "MARRIED? Well hell sign me up, I'll even bring my wife with me. She likes this kind of thing. Need help with the food?" Robert's surprise was the only thing a person could here, "You're married?" "Hey, watch it kid, that sounded like an insult." Cid said trying to get Robert to sweat a little. "Sorry Cid I didn't mean that." Robert apologized. "That's alright kid I'm just yankin your chain, so what about that food?" Cid asked. "As long as you don't overdo the fish it's fine with me." Robert allowed. "Nice try kid but it will be my wife that makes the food. Don't you worry about it; she'll make the best wedding food you'll ever taste." Cid laughed. "Thanks Cid by." As Robert hung up the phone he suddenly found himself in the same white world as before, when he was running away from Sephiroth. "Are we invited to?" he heard a soft female voice call out. Turning around, he saw thirteen people standing in a group. The blond swordsman stood to the right, almost as if he were trying to separate himself from the group without it being obvious. Noticing the others from right to left, he saw a tall busty girl with long black hair wearing a black leather top and black leather skirt. Next to her he saw a girl that looked similar to Yuffie except her clothes were all black with a white floral pattern on her tank top. The man standing a little ways from her was a pilot who had a white shirt and a kind of large yellow cotton belt. A woman wearing a white lab coat was cradled in his left arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. A dark skinned burly man with a mechanical right arm standing next to two kids, a boy and a girl, and a man wearing a tattered red cloak, stood next to each other like best friends. The red wolf like creature didn't seem to mind that he had a three year old- sized black and white cat wearing a crown and red cape sitting on his head. On the end of the group there was a man wearing a cotton sleeveless turtleneck and baggy black pants tucked into brown leather combat boots, his black hair was long, pulled back and spiked out towards his back. The girl to his right was very beautiful, her auburn hair glistened and brought out her emerald green eyes, the pink dress she wore covered by the short maroon jacket hugged her slim figure perfectly.
"It's you, isn't it?" Robert said softly. "What is?" the man with the black hair asked. "The power, the Mako, it all belonged to you, didn't it?" Robert asked in thought. "Sephiroth was created on our world, using the Life Stream and Jenova cells. I'm sorry we couldn't stop him from coming to this world." The blond said solemnly. "Jenova? Is that why his Mako Shift is different than mine?" Robert asked. "Yes it is. Jenova was a kind monster on our planet. We were lucky it couldn't make its way to yours." The man in the red cloak said. "Who are you anyway?" Robert asked. The blond warrior walked up to him, looked him in the eyes and said, "We are AVILANCH, the original heroes of our planet. We are the old you." "And where is this?" Robert asked wide eyed. The soldier just smiled and said, "The promised land." With that Robert found himself back in the living room of his house. Baffled at the new information, Robert walked away deciding he needed rest.
Back in the promised land, the old Yuffie was trying to gag herself before saying, "Why did he have to pick the new Yuffie instead of Tiffa? I mean, I'm marrying CLOUD." "And what's wrong with that? Besides the new me was already married to the new Barret by the time he got there." Tiffa said. "Ever heard of DIVORCE?" the youngest said. "That's just not right ya brat." Cid exclaimed while holding tightly to the woman next to him. "Still, I'm more of a Vincent kind of girl anyway." Yuffie blurted out. Lifting his head the man in the red cloak looked at Yuffie with a cold stare, not saying a word. "Never mind." Yuffie said blushing.
To be continued…