Lightning's POV
We continue walking through the snaking trail through the desolate mountains, following Vincent, who seems completely disinterested in us and the fact we were talking about him. We've been walking for hours, but the progress is slow because of the environment. It seems like once the lifestream has left an area, the earth becomes bitter and hostile to all life that tries to cross it. The air is thin and dry, making breathing difficult despite our relatively low altitude and the mountains themselves are sharp; resembling giant stalagmites more than anything else. My eyes follow the peaks before descending down to Vincent, who has stopped at a rope bridge, joining the two plateaus together.
"You think it will hold our weight?" Cloud asks, hoping to engage in some conversation.
"It would seem.." He answers, giving the rope handrail a quick tug. "Ladies first?" He adds, stepping aside for Claire to go first.
"Like hell I'm going first. Somebody needs to keep an eye on you." Claire fires back, narrowing her eyes.
"Very well." Vincent nods, flicking his torn crimson cape dramatically as he turns to the bridge.
I watch him take the first few steps, and feel much more confident about crossing when I see it barely move as Vincent makes his way across. My confidence abruptly left as soon as I stepped onto the boards. The whole bridge swayed in the wind and the creaking, wooden boards under my boots sounded like they were moments from sending me to my death. Heights had never really bothered me before, but the chances of me making it across the hundred meter long bridge seemed slim.
"You okay?" Cloud asks, placing a welcome hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, this bridge looks like it's seen better days.." I admit.
"I've got some unpleasant memories about this bridge.." He laughs.
"What do you mean?" I frown, feeling even worse.
"I..er.. I'll tell you on the other side.." The blonde hides a smile and playfully pushes me forward.
I sigh, but begin to cross, picking up the pace until I'm just a meter behind the mysterious cloaked man. With my hands gliding over the rope rails as I walk, I turn to check on Cloud, who's quite far back; presumably to spread the weight more evenly. That's when I hear it.. the sound of snapping wood beneath my feet and that feeling of weightlessness that comes before the fall. My body flinches in panic before it finally lets my arm reach out for the wooden planks, which I manage to grab onto with just my fingertips. I try to throw my other hand up to get a better grip, but in doing so I shake the bridge, causing me to loose what little grip I had. I reach up to the blue sky as it fall, but it's blocked by a shadow, which reaches down with lightning speed and grips my wrist. The hand, clad in cold metal pulls me up with inhuman strength until I'm at eye level with my rescuer.
"Do you trust me now?" He asks quietly, reading my response with his blood red orbs.
"How did you-?" I begin.
"The how isn't important.. What is, is that you're not down there.." He points down the hole, at the broken wood that's still falling into the darkness below.
"Fair enough.." I agree, standing back up.
I turn around to find Cloud panting heavily, his face as white as a ghost. The relief on his face was apparent and his worry for me was warming in this chilling place. Deciding not to tempt fate, we quickly get off the bridge; which gets considerably steeper after the halfway point, and I make a mental note to not complain about the mountains harsh terrain. At least it's solid...
"You where telling me about this bridge.." I say, stopping for a minute to tighten the buckles on my boots.
"It snapped on the way up here when Me, Sephiroth, two troops and Tifa headed to inspect the mako reactor.. And when I was just a kid, I followed Tifa up the mountain and we both fell.. I got away with just cuts and bruises. Tifa.. She was in a coma for seven days.." Cloud answers.
A pang of jealousy grips my heart at just how close the two of them are, but my mind turns it's attention to his defeatist attitude. It seems like, even before I was conscious, everything bad that has happened to him over the years he blames himself for, something I know all about.. For a while I thought about the consequences of pushing my sister away, assuming her seemingly ridiculous claim about a Fal'cie was nothing more than an excuse to be with Snow. I allowed myself to question, 'what if?' and how things could have ended up so differently if I had acted sooner.
"Hey, come on, we have a world to save, remember?" I say with an unnatural chirpiness in my voice.
The blonde gave me a funny look and a bit of a smirk, before nodding and taking the lead. I glance at Vincent, who nodded at me with an impressed look, understanding perfectly what I had done, and follows Cloud into a cave near the peak of the mountain. I'm soon inside as well, and for the first time since we left the mansion, I see something man made. Several large pipes with worn maroon paint snake down the vast cavity, seemingly attached to nothing and several smaller ones pierce the rocky walls. In front of me is a makeshift floor made from a wooden pallet, to fill in a hole where the rocky floor had collapsed and I've already decided that I'll be jumping the gap instead of walking over it. Cloud laughs as I leap over the short wooden walkway and even Vincent seems to smile with his eyes at my expense, but there was no way I'm trusting my life to rotten planks again.
"Why are all of these pipes here?" I ask.
"They're redundant mako pipes. All of the mako here has been sucked up so they were probably dismantling the pipes to use somewhere else." Cloud explains.
"They were interrupted.." The crimson cloaked man says with his distinct gravelly tone as he points to deep claw marks in the pipes.
"Looks like a Nibel dragon did that..." Cloud mutters after studying the marks, making me feel uneasy.
"I take it that's not something we want to run into?" I ask.
"I've never met anybody who saw one of these things and lived to talk about it... Apart from Sephiroth.. Let's keep moving.."
Nodding in agreement, I follow the blonde down a set of steel stairs that are painted the same dirty maroon as the pipework. The paint flakes off as I brush my hand over the rail, leaving behind an oxidized silver colour which adds to the derelict feel of the place. After reaching the bottom, we walk across metal sheets that flexed and bowed under our weight as the path weaved under and around the large pipes until it stopped at a ladder. I brush past Cloud and unclasp the ladder, which unfolds and drops to the level below. Not wanting to let my recent vulnerabilities show, I take the lead and climb down the ladder, which leads to a small platform with a rusted metal door that was cut into the mountain, and another folding ladder. Instinctively, I go for the door, only to be stopped by Cloud, who places his hand on my shoulder to get my attention before shaking his head.
"It's down here.. Sephiroth is going north.." He says, quickly avoiding my eyes when I try to read them and points to the ladder.
"What's through this door?" I ask suspiciously, getting the faintest hint of apprehension from the blonde, who pretends not to hear.
"The mako reactor.." Vincent answers me, sharing in my concern for Cloud, before climbing the ladder.
"Hey.. Why don't you want to see the reactor?" I ask when I catch up to him.
"It's the wrong way." He answers, keeping his gaze fixed in front of him.
"Hey!" I shout, punching him in the arm playfully. "You don't lie to me.. okay?"
"It's where Tifa found her father's body.. where Jenova used to be kept and... Where I stood face to face with Sephiroth.. I don't understand how I'm alive. In terms of Skill, I couldn't have beaten him. I just don't remember.."
"You were just a kid back then. You can't be expected to stop him. All I know is you're alive now.. And together, we'll stop him. The rest doesn't matter." I say, earning a faint smile for my efforts.
The three of us climb down yet another ladder, slowly descending into the belly of the mountain and the faint glow of mako lights up the floor on the final platform below. I can only assume that since the piping here has been dismantled or broken, the lifestream has had the chance to start seeping into the land, giving me the assurance that once we've got rid of them, the planet will heal. What do I care? I'll be on my home world if I ever find Hojo. Will Cloud join me? Would it be selfish of me to ask? -What the hell is that?!
"What's that!?" I shout, pointing to a blue scorpion like creature, as Cloud opens up the final ladder.
"The materia keeper..." Vincent answers slowly. "I thought it was a myth.."
"That's defiantly real." Cloud huffs.
"Apparently so..."
"The path we want is behind that thing, isn't it?" I ask rhetorically. "Of course it is..."
I contemplate my approach briefly, but with my gunblade back, I can attack from a distance, giving me the potential to get a few good shots in before the monster reacts. There's a large boulder between me and the creature, and I use it as cover to close the gap. Peering my head around the corner, I take a better look at my prey, noting the sword like pincers on the end of it's six limbs and the two tails that stand at attention like a scorpion's, which are lined with serrated orange spines. It's lance like horn sat above two bright red eyes, and dripped with the cerulean liquid that it had been feeding on inside the rocks. Turning to Cloud and Vincent, I signal to them to get ready silently, and use the boulder to rush up on the monster, giving me a height advantage. I hit the top and leap off, instantly catching the creature's attention, as I use the gunblade's recoil to keep me in the air for that little bit longer. The sound of my bullets ricocheting off it's steely shell worry me at first, but the sight of two small holes that oozed with mako coloured blood reassured me that this thing wasn't invincible.
"Vincent! It's curved shell is deflecting most of the bullets! We need to hit the armour straight on!" I instruct as I land in front of the beast.
The crimson eyed man nodded in understanding, but I imagine the perceptive Turk had already figured it out and was just being courteous. Regardless, Vincent fired seven shots at the Materia Keeper's torso and all but one broke through. It charges at me with it's spear like horn and I quickly activate my gunblade; turning it into a sword, but Cloud had leaped in front of me and deflected the blow before I could raise it.
Cloud's POV
I push the horn away from Claire with my blade, but the creature quickly removes the tension in our bind, causing me to stumble. I quickly recover my balance, but the Materia Keeper rears, raising it's front pincer claws over my head and slams them down. The wide face of my blade deflects one of it's claws, but the other cuts into my inner leg before burying itself inside the ground with tremendous force. With the adrenaline coursing through my body, I don't feel the pain as I leap back to safety and slash at the monster, sending a wave of blue energy crashing into it. The mako eating monster lets out a roar that shook the cave, but was far from defeated. I watch curiously as it takes a step back, but as soon as I feel the hairs on my body stand on end, I know we're in trouble. The feeling of electrical energy building began to grow and I quickly try to think of the materia Claire has. I'm sure it was lightning an Odin...
"Claire, catch!" I shout, throwing a blue orb in her direction.
She catches it with grace but looks at it puzzled, before glancing at me for instruction, but my explanation would have to wait.. assuming I survive. Arcs of lightning crackle from a singularity above the Materia keeper, and begin to grow in size, until it takes the shape of a pyramid. The pyramid of golden lightning expands as it spins, and I try to get away from it's reach, but quickly run out of room. Enveloped in electricity, my whole body contracts, but as I fall, I get to see Claire, who is unaffected by the attack and still firing. Somehow managing to miss the brunt of the attack, I climb to my feet and glance over to Vincent, who's hunched over with steam rising from his red cape. Turning back to the fight, I shoot blast after blast of fire as I take up my position next to the pinkette, but the monster is healing faster than I can damage it.
Another roar shakes the cavern, but this one was different; almost wolf like. Turning to the source of the noise, I find Vincent with his arms pushed out to his sides and his fingers curling in pain. I rush over to him, but stop as I notice his height increase and his hair change to a dirty white. When he turns around I can't believe what I'm looking at.. A creature resembling a werewolf with gray-blue skin is staring at me with vengeful eyes. The only hint that it was Vincent was his red leather cloak, which hung from the monster's waist.
"What the hell is that?!" Claire shouts, as she rolls away from the Materia keeper's horn.
"Vincent.. I think.." I answer sheepishly.
"I suggest you move." Vincent says with a demonic bark, causing Claire to quickly retreat next to me.
I watch the beast that was Vincent, march dominantly towards the monster, who for the first time since we encountered it, looked nervous. My thoughts are confirmed when it steps back, only to find the rocky wall of the cave halting it's retreat. Forced into a corner, the scorpion like monster lunges desperately with it's lance like horn, but Vincent rolls his shoulder out of the way and grips it with his clawed hand. With a single hand, Vincent pushes the horn down, before smashing his other elbow down on the center of it, snapping it clean in half. It shrieks in pain and rears up, but is soon brought to a sombre silence when the beast forces his hand into it's softer underbody and pulls out it's still beating heart. Vincent drops to his knees beside the now lifeless body of the Materia Keeper and begins to revert back to his normal self. I rush over to him with a mixture of gratitude and fear rushing through my mind as he pants wildly.
"I.. must rest.. for a moment.." He says between breaths.
"I.. er.. Have a question.." I begin.
"Punishment for my sin.. A demonic gift from Hojo.."
"You can control it at will?" Claire asks, seemingly out of interest and concern.
"There are four... Three of which I can call upon their power when I must..."
"...And the fourth?" I ask, not convinced I want to know the answer.
"I hear it's voice in my head.. I can keep it contained, but it won't submit to me.." He answers truthfully before getting up and setting off.
He seemed far from ready to be walking, but I guess he'd had enough of sharing bitter memories. We don't press him, but what he can do is simply frightening and at some point the others will find out. How they take it I don't know.. Apart from Aeris.. She always see's the best in people, even if they can't see it themselves.
"Hey, Vincent. We're nearly through.. It's all down hill from now." I tell him as I feel the frosty wind after walking through the once guarded passageway that led to the other side of the mountain. "Claire, you coming?" I add, noticing the pinkette crouched down over the Materia Keeper's corpse.
"Yeah.." She says distractedly.
Me and Claire take the lead, allowing Vincent to trail behind in the silence he seems to revel in, and it gives me a chance to talk to the pinkette privately.
"...Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot." Claire smiles, giving me a quick glance.
"What do you remember about the mansion basement?" I question. "I mean.. When it happened."
"I remember him standing over me.. A metal rod in his hand.. I grabbed my weapon and fired, but the bullet hit the tank behind me.. I fell to the ground and blacked out.. No.. I saw eyes.. mako eyes.. In the tank behind me..." She says slowly as she recalls what happened. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know yet... I feel like I know something important.. but it's being hidden from me." I sigh.
"Don't dwell on it.. Erm.. Cloud.."
"Yeah?"
"Is that a rocket?" Claire asks, pointing to the horizon.
"It looks like it. Vincent?" I ask, hoping the Turk would know.
"Only Shinra possess the technology to build such a vessel." He answers with his usual emotionless tone.
"Let's go take a look."
It takes us several hours to make it to the leaning rocket; which seemed to be the centerpiece of a small town that was built around it, but once we got to the base of the mountain, the grassy planes passed quickly, mile after mile. As we got close it became apparent that the leaning rocket's best days where far behind it, as the emerald green paint was slowly being taken over by ferrous brown. As we get to the town's edge, I stop and consult the map to try and figure out where Sephiroth could be heading, but this 'Rocket Town' was the last populated place on the continent. To the west was Wutai, which after their war with Shinra is nothing more than a holiday resort and the northern continent was mostly uncharted, other than a small village in the mountains that is marked as a ski resort.
"All we can do now is wait here for the others. Let's take a look around."
"I shall book us a room." Vincent offers, leaving the two of us alone and venturing inside the inn.
"That thing looks ancient.. Those large tanks on the side look like the hold hydrocarbon based fuel." Claire explains, earning a raised eyebrow from myself.
"You some kind of rocket scientist too?" I laugh.
"No, history lessons as a kid." She laughs. "Our vehicles use ion drives."
"Ion drives?" I ask, never hearing the term before.
"It uses electricity and xenon to accelerate particles in the form of plasma. Electrons emitted by the cathode in the center of the drive hit the atoms of the gas, creating ions with the help of electromagnets."
"Not just a pretty face then." I smile, watching her pale cheeks glow scarlet. "So you've been to space?"
"...Actually... Until recently, I'd never seen the sky.." She sighs.
"hmm?" I hum, unsure how that could be true.
"My home, Cocoon was called that for a reason. It was an artificial planet there the landmass was on the inside, sealed off from the sky. I mean.. We had sky, but it wasn't real.. it was all just illusions made by the Fal'cie. When I got to Pulse, the planet Cocoon orbits, that's when I first saw the sky.. The sun... The stars.."
"And you still want to go home?" I question.
"I don't really have one anymore.. I just want to be with my sister, and tell her I'm sorry."
"..."
"... Hey, look at that." Claire points over to a small cottage to the right.
"A house?"
"No you idiot, behind it." She scalds playfully.
I walk to Claire's other side to get a better view and finally see what she's talking about. A small, pink and blue plane sits proudly on the well trimmed grass of the cottage's back garden. Assuming Sephiroth wouldn't be spending his days around a rusted rocket, he must have crossed the sea again, meaning the plane could come in useful. I search my pocket, pulling out all of the gil I have and counting it, hoping that it would be enough to rent it.
"Lets go and ask if we could rent it." I say, making my way over to the door and knocking loudly.
"Come in!" I hear a woman's voice shout from behind the door.
"Um.. Can I help you?" She asks, realizing we weren't the guests she was expecting.
"Could we rent the plane you have?" I ask, getting straight to the point.
"You'll have to ask the captain. He should be in the rocket. I'm Shera by the way. Who are you?" She asks warmly.
"Cloud, and this is Claire." I answer.
"Pleased to meet you. You look like such a cute couple."
"I, er.. We.. She's.." I stutter, feeling my face glow.
"Thanks, we'll speak to the Captain now." Claire nods before dragging me out of the house. "I didn't think your stoic tough guy attitude could be beaten by a compliment. Come on, it looks like there's a maintenance platform on the rocket."
I follow Claire to the rocket, getting a better look at it as I step over the six inch thick electrical wires that run from its body and across the floor. The words 'Shinra No.26' were written in white paint that had weathered badly over the years, and reminded me that if Shinra built it, the 'Captain' is more than likely Shinra too. I follow Claire over a metal walkway that acts as a bridge over the fuel lines and climb up the metal ladder, which looks like the most modern thing about the whole rocket. Glancing up to see how far is left to climb, I get a brief look up the pinkettes skirt and pull my gaze away so quickly I hit my head on the metal rung.
"What's up?" Claire asks, looking down after hearing the metallic ring.
"Nothing..." I sigh, rubbing my forehead.
We make it to the top of the platform and I put my hand on the pinkette's shoulder to stop her from walking into the rocket.
"Remember, this guy could be Shinra. Let's not let him know what we're doing." I explain, earning a nod and a mischievous smile that makes me nervous.
Lightning's POV
I take Cloud's hand and skip inside the rocket, dragging him behind like a rag doll. I look around the metallic corridor until I find a blonde man with a blue denim jacket, working on pipework as he smokes a cigarette, unaware of our presence.
"Wow! Such a cool rocket!" I shout with an over enthusiastic tone.
"You got good taste, miss." The cigarette smoking man says, standing up to greet us.
"Oh my god! Are you THE captain?! I've wanted to meet you for ages!" I continue, earning a baffled look from Cloud.
"The one and only, kid. Highwind. Cid highwind." He says with a thick accent as he flicks the burnt out cigarette butt away.
"Mister Highwind, I was wondering if you could do my and my husband a favor." I ask, using all my concentration to hold in my laughter as I hear Cloud choke on his breath next to me.
"An Autograph? Sure thing."
"Actually, our boat trip got canceled and we need a ride to the next continent. I don't want to miss our honeymoon holiday." I say, turning to Cloud and kissing him on the cheek, feeling his face heat up before I retract my lips. He's gonna kill me when this is over.
"I'd like to help, kid. But President Rufus is coming shortly about restarting the space program. I can't stand the president up." Cid explains, taking another cigarette out and lightning it.
"Oh well I tried.. Come on honey." I sigh, leading Cloud out of the rocket.
"...What the hell was that?" He asks, still glowing red.
"I improvised." I laugh. "Come on... Honey." I say, climbing down the ladder.
A/N: For those who are wondering why Cid is so pleasant... don't worry it won't last lol. I enjoy all of my reviews, good and bad; and any criticism is welcome and will improve my writing. I've never been one for writing, but my love for final fantasy and its characters have made me want to continue on with the stories that I didn't want to end so it's all a learning process. So tell me what you like and what you don't and with a bit of luck, the chapters will get better and better. As far as this story goes, we're only just beginning so there's a lot of time for improvement. Let me know what you think, and as always, thanks for reading.
Wolf