Will and Determination
Ivy had finally made it to the Gaea Cliffs. As she stood before the path leading up the mountain, she let out a small sigh of relief, a cloud of cold air showing as she exhaled. Noticing that the sky had begun to darken, she decided to seek shelter in the cabin to her right. She would venture up the mountain tomorrow, during the day when the weather wasn't so far below zero.
Ivy walked up the wooden steps to the cabin, gripping the railing carefully so she wouldn't slip on the frozen steps. Ivy stood in front of the door and began to carefully knock on the cold, wooden door. At first, Ivy received no response so, she knocked. It took a few seconds, but someone finally came to the door. It was an older man, with graying hair and a slight hunch, possibly due to back problems. He was pretty tanned for someone who lived out at the base of a snowy mountain.
"Yes? May I help you young lady?" The man, know as Mr. Holzoff asked.
"Uh, yes, can I stay here for the night; I don't wanna go up the mountain at night?" Ivy asked.
"Oh of course young lady. Come in, come in, you must be freezing." Mr. Holzoff said stepping to the side and holding the door open for Ivy.
Bowing slightly, Ivy walked inside, feeling immediate relief from the cold. The inside of the cabin was fairly simple, somewhat similar to Icicle Inn's mayor's house, but a bit smaller. Just like the mayor's house, Mr. Holzoff had several large animal furs hanging on the walls and one lying on the floor.
"The bed's right up there ma'am. But before you go, may I ask your name?" He asked.
"Just call me Ivy." She said, walking toward the stairs.
"Ivy eh? Just call me Mr. Holzoff." He said, not knowing that Ivy already knew the man's name.
Not, wanting to freak him out by telling him that she knew already, Ivy nodded, smiling a bit, and walked up the stairs to his guest room. She walked in and sat on the bed, lying down, instantly falling asleep.
The next day, Ivy awoke very early in the morning, even before Mr. Holzoff. She left the cabin as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake the man up. Once she was outside of the cabin, Ivy started on her journey up the mountain. She followed the snow covered path up the mountain.
Once the path had ended and all that was left was a straight climb up, Ivy reached into her backpack and took out a pair of gloves. They were a pretty simple design, just black leather gloves. Once they were on her hands, she began her climb up the mountain, finding her hands around every single hand hold that she could.
Ivy climbed up the mountain for what felt like forever, although it really about 2 and ½ hours. Once she was up pretty far up the mountain, she saw the cave entrance that she was looking for. Once inside, the cave was pretty vast. Icicle's hung precariously from the ceiling. Several small pools of water were inside the cave, platforms of ice dotting around the crystal clear water.
Ivy drew her weapons, readying herself for her training. She attached the hilts of swords together, creating her one large blade.
For two hours straight, Ivy practiced attack patterns and combos for herself. She had worked up a bit of a sweat, despite how cold it was in the cave. Large indents were in the walls of the cave and the floor from where she had hacked and slashed away.
After she practiced basic combos, Ivy moved deeper into the cave, to try and find a live target. After about 15 minutes of just pure wandering, Ivy finally ran into a monster to kill. Well, more like it ran into her. It was a large Stilva. The blood red beast raised one of its front claws and slashed at Ivy. Ivy jumped backwards, just barely dodging the monster's attack. Ivy smirked a little bit, charging the large beast, her sword held at waist length.
Before reaching the beast, she raised the blade above her head, spinning the blade in her hands before bringing one blade straight down, driving the blade straight into the beast's neck. The monster reared its head, screaming out in pain, the walls shaking a little bit, several icicles falling and crashing into the ground. When the beast reared back, Ivy was forced to jump onto the monster's back to avoid losing her blade.
Once on the creature's back, she separated her swords, leaving the bottom half inside the beast's neck, blood oozing from the wound, staining the icy floor. Ivy took the other sword and repeatedly stabbed the monster in its back, her blade becoming coated in its blood.
With each thrust of her blade, the Stilva let out cries of pain. It began to buck widely, trying to get Ivy off of its back. Ivy; however, kept hold by gripping her other blade to keep from falling off. With each buck from the creature, Ivy stabbed it with one blade while at the same time, pushing the other blade farther into the Stilva's neck. The creature kept bucking though, desperate to get the young girl off of it.
Finally, Ivy shoved her sword all the way through the Stilva's neck, the blade not thick enough to sever its head, but that wasn't necessary. The monster's spine was cut through and its windpipe was completely severed, blood pouring from its throat. The monster just dropped straight onto its stomach, having suffocated to death. Ivy pulled out her sword from the monster's throat, shaking the blood off of them. She reattached her blades, looking at her kill.
That night, Ivy was still in the cave, having now killed several creatures, a bunch of bats and a couple of Stilvas. She used the bat's bodies and some matches she kept in her backpack to start a nice bonfire to keep herself warm. She sliced up the Stilva's meat and roasted it over the fire, cooking the meat to tender perfection. While Ivy ate, she sat and thought about everything, wondering how the others, especially Cid, were doing. The fire in front of her crackled a little bit as it burned a warm gentle glow, giving the young girl much needed warmth.
After her dinner, Ivy reached into her backpack, pulling out a blanket. It wasn't very big, but it was large enough to cover her body. That night, Ivy slept pretty peacefully for once, keeping warm by her fire. She would continue her training for probably 3 months or so.
Three Months Later
Cloud and the others had checked every single town and pretty much every cave on the planet with no sign of Ivy. Finally though, they checked the Gaea Cliffs, only Cloud, Cid, and Vincent going this time. After having scaled the cliffs, looking everywhere for the girl. When they reached the entrance to the caves; Cid, Cloud, and Vincent all heard strange noises, it sounded like clanging metal. They took that as a sign and ran inside the cave.
When they ran in, the first thing they saw, was Ivy collapsing onto the ground onto her back, her sword clanging loudly, echoing across the entire room. Cid and Cloud quickly ran up to the girl, sitting her up. They noticed the girl's skin felt freezing and her normally pink lips where had turned a slight shade of purple. Her breathing was heavy and fast. She shivered greatly as she lay in Cid and Cloud's arms. She laid there, her eyes closed, having passed out from her rigorous training.
"Damn girl, goin out to a foolish place like this, she could've died. How'd she stay out here so long?" Cid said, genuinely worried about the safety and health of the young teen.
"Come on, we have to get here out of here and back to the ship." Cloud said.
"Boy, you don't think I already know that!" Cid snapped.
Cid then picked Ivy up gently and began walking out of the cave, the other two following behind. Once our of the cave, the three of them scaled back down the cliffs, Cid being extremely careful not to drop Ivy; having had to put her on his back so he could climb down the cliff walls.
Once away from the mountain and back on their airship, they put Ivy in a bed on the ship, covering her with several blankets. Ivy started to cough in her sleep and Cid placed his hand on the girl's forehead.
"She's burning up…" Cid said, sighing.
"We've got to bring here to a doctor, but where? Edge's hospital was destroyed and hasn't been rebuilt yet." Cloud pondered.
"I heard that there's a decent hospital in Wutai. Let's take her there." Vincent said.
Both Cloud and Cid nodded in agreement. And with that, Cid left the room, glad that they found Ivy. He went to the controls and piloted the ship away from Gaea Cliffs, the whir of the engine extremely loud as the ship spurred to life. Once the Sherra was in the air, Cid gunned the ship southwest, heading straight for the small city of Wutai.