I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY 7 CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(
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Chapter Thirty-Three
Wutai
Cid, Vincent, and Myra were the ones to leave the ship with Renee and Yuffie to finish the small path to Wutai. Jeanne wasn't going to leave Cloud and Claire there and neither was Tifa. The others were off on their own, doing something though off of the ship but still nearby.
The five of them were talking and enjoyed being back on the ground again, even Cid was, and so everything was good and swell as Renee talked about getting something to eat to bring back with them for all the others when they returned and Yuffie started talking about the 'Turtle Paradise's' new cook and whatnot. As they were making plans, Yuffie suddenly placed herself in front of them all, her arms spread out.
"What happened all of a sudden?" Vincent asked her. "Did something happen?"
"I know this area pretty well," Yuffie told them. "It gets pretty tough past here; Better get ready…"
"I don't see any signs of danger," Vincent replied.
"Yuffie," Renee had an uneasy feeling. "What are you up to?"
"U-up to?" Yuffie stuttered. "What makes you think that? It's really tough up here!"
Renee went to reply again but another voice cut her off. "There they are, catch 'em!" A group of infantrymen decided to appear at that moment.
"ShinRa!" Cid growled.
"Hey, that's not them!" One of the men said. "These are the other guys from before!"
"So, what does this mean?" Vincent asked Yuffie. "You will explain this later."
"I didn't know!" Yuffie told them. "I have nothing to do with this one!"
"What do you mean 'this one'?" Myra asked her.
"You had something else in mind?" Vincent commented.
"No, umm. Uh…"
"What should we do?" The Soldier asked his companion.
"Uh, get them! Grab them and ask questions later!"
"Aww crap," Cid frowned, pulling out his spear. Myra pulled out her axe, Vincent began to shoot and Renee pulled out her hammer. These Infantrymen were actually quite strong and Renee was having a little problem with the two on her at the same time.
"Yuffie!" Renee glanced over her shoulder as her niece was reaching into her pockets. "What are you doing?" She demanded, trying to keep her attention on the man she was battling with.
"Sorry, Auntie," The teen replied before running off. "But I need this for Wutai!"
"I thought something was wrong," Vincent sighed when the battling was over. "So that's it. She wanted our Materia."
"Where did she go?" Cid demanded.
Vincent shook his head. "Inexcusable. She must have wanted it from the beginning."
"She ran to the North." Myra told them, pointing. "We need to get all of them back."
"She's run off to Wutai." Renee spoke up. She was shaking her head. "She believes that gathering Materia will bring Wutai back to power after what happened between them and ShinRa eight years ago. I had no idea…that she would go this far."
"Well, let's go get it back and knock some sense into her!" Cid told them running towards the town. The all followed.
Wutai was like a Chinese town with the towers and the bridges. They all gazed around at the red and yellow buildings before spotting the young ninja across the bridge in front of them.
"Yuffie!" Renee yelled. The young teen jumped and whipped around before running off.
"Where would she be going, Renee?" Myra demanded the woman next to her.
"She could hide anywhere here, and the people would help her. We should start looking everywhere. We'll use her father as a last resort." Renee answered with a stone face.
"Why not just go see him now?" Cid asked.
Renee gave him a look before moving across the bridge. "I'd rather not see my brother, if that's all right with you. If we can find her first and leave before I do I'd appreciate it."
Cid and the others stayed silent as Renee led them around the town. They had no luck at all on the first three buildings but in the fourth building, they had a little surprise waiting on them. Jena, Liana, Elena, Rude, and Reno. The five Turks were sitting at the table, laughing and having fun until Elena's eyes landed on Cid and the others.
"Y-y-you!" She brought the others attention to them. "How did you get here?" She stood up and reached for her gun. "Never mind that. I guess its fate that brought us together. Get ready to die!" Cid, Renee, and Vincent got ready but Myra just stood there, rolling her eyes.
"…Elena," Reno set his glass back down. "You talk too much."
The blonde was surprised. "What?"
"What are we doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?" Reno asked her.
"We're on vacation, you dolt." Liana leaned back in her chair beside Rude.
"Now if you continue on with what you're doing, you're going to ruin our vacation." Jena shook her head.
"B-but,"
"The booze will taste bad." Rude commented.
"…Sorry…" Elena lowered her head.
Myra shook her head. "I see that you haven't changed any," She told Reno.
The redhead turned to her. "I was thinking about you," Reno told her. "About where I had seen you before."
"Oh, did it finally come back to the front of that thick skull of yours?" She asked.
Reno let out a laugh with a smile. "Still haven't changed one bit." She looked at the four people at his table. "Guys, this is Myra Zoon. I grew up with her before she ran off 14 years ago to dig up bones."
"A twelve-year-old wanted to dig up bones?" Liana asked the woman. "Really?"
"No different than wanted to be a Turk or a SOLIDER," Myra shrugged before turning back to Reno. "We should meet up and get a drink sometime after all of this is over. Catch up on some things."
Reno gave her a soft smile. "I would like that."
Jena looked between the two of them in surprise for a moment before a soft smile broke out across her lips as she folded her hands. She turned to Vincent. "Where's Jeanne?"
"She's still on the ship." He answered. "With Cloud and Claire."
"You found them?" Liana's voice was full of relief.
"Sorta," Cid sighed.
"Call her," Renee told the sister. "Maybe she'll come out to see you. You're on vacation after all, right?"
Jena glanced at the others and nodded. "Yeah, I think I will. Where's the ship?"
"We can trust you, right Jena?" Vincent stared at her. The silent exchange of words made Vincent close his eyes. "Not that far. Once you leave the village you should be able to see it."
Jena nodded and left the restaurant without another word. Reno sighed, gazing after her for a moment before looking back at Myra. "What are you guys here for, anyway?"
"Oh, we're on a little break ourselves," She half-lied, half-admitted. "Just checkin' out Wutai."
"It's not too bad," Liana grinned as she crossed her arms on the table and laid her head down. "All this Chinese food is making my sleepy, though." Renee watched as Rude's hand went to go rub the woman's back but he stopped himself and made a grab for his glass instead. She smiled.
"Well, we'll just let you all continue on with your vacation." Cid told them before ushering them all out of the restaurant.
"They're not bad," Renee was grinning. "Just on the wrong side."
"Yeah, yeah," Cid waved it aside. "Let's find this damn brat!"
They searched all over the place and finally, Renee couldn't take it anymore. She led them to her brother's house and was ready to hear the worst off it.
The man was sprawled out on his bed in black and white, moaning like he was in pain.
"What do you want?" He asked. "Don't have anything much but you should be able to rest yourselves here. Make yourselves at home."
"Where's Yuffie?" Renee asked.
"Yuffie? Nope. Never heard of her." The man replied.
"Godo," Renee shook her head. "Don't lie to me. I'm looking for my niece and I know you know where she's at."
Godo shot straight up on his bed and turned to look at Renee. "So, this is why the ShinRa soldiers are here, huh? Look, if they're here after you, you might as well just leave. I'm not going to have problems with them because of you."
"What's with you, you coward?" Renee pulled a face as Yuffie jumped off the ceiling.
"Yuffie!" Godo jumped at his daughter suddenly appearing.
"You scared of the ShinRa?" Yuffie demanded her father. "Then why don't you fall into line and obey then, just like all the other towns. These guys are the ones who are really fighting the ShinRa!"
"Shut up!" Godo told his daughter. "What do you know about this?"
"You get beaten once, and then that's it?" Yuffie growled. "Auntie Renee gets back up and fights back! Why doesn't her brother? What happened to the mighty Wutai I used to know?"
"She's not your Aunt anymore, Yuffie!"
"The hell she isn't!"
Godo took a step towards his daughter. "No kid like you is going to talk to me like that! You keep acting like that and you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"That's my style! And it's my own business, not yours! Don't you try and dictate what I should do!"
"Style? Dictate?" He glared at Renee as she gazed off at the wall over his shoulder. "Throwin' around all those fancy words…you're a miserable daughter!"
"Hmph! You're a sad excuse for a father and a brother!" Yuffie took off running when Godo chased her out of the room before the man returned alone.
"She got that attitude from my sister."
"Yeah, we know." Cid replied. Renee whacked him in the back of the head.
"What do you know? My sister died years ago." Godo replied.
"What are you talking about?" Cid demanded. "Renee's right-"
"Yuie died years ago," Godo said firmly. Renee shook her head at Cid, telling him to drop it.
"Let's just go." Renee told them, turning to leave. When they got outside, Myra and Vincent walked off to give Cid and Renee a moment to be alone.
"Well, I see why you didn't want to see him again," Cid gave a nervous laugh that just made the feeling worse.
"The moment I left," Renee sniffed. "I was dishonored. I'm not seen as part of the village anymore and they don't see Yuffie as my niece anymore. The only one that still does is Yuffie herself. Yuffie is the only one that sees me as family anymore."
Cid was silent for a moment, scratching the back of his head. "Well, you're still part of my family." Renee looked at him in surprise. "This entire group is now like a family," He told her. "And you're part of it; trust me."
Renee gave him a smile and rubbed her eyes dry. "You're right. Come on; let's go get our Materia back."
Everything was going good. They finale found Yuffie in a clay jar and convinced her to give back the Materia…until she dropped a trick on them and ran off. Literally.
"All right, dammit!" Cid growled, kicking the lever to lift the steel cage off of the others. "She's really starting to piss me off!"
Renee shook her head. "Same here. Let's hurry up and catch her and I'll teach her a lesson."
Renee seemed to know where Yuffie was headed this time and led them all to an underground passage. At Yuffie's scream, Renee took off down the tunnel. Bursting into the room they saw a large man holding a struggling Yuffie.
"Let go! I said let go!" Yuffie screamed. "Who do you think-Ow! What are you doing, Jerk!"
"Who are you!" Cid demanded. The man in red behind Yuffie and the other began to laugh. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I've finally got a new chicky!" The man laughed. "Two for one, in fact!"
"Two!" He placed himself in front of Myra and Renee.
"H-hey!" Elena's voice made them glance up to see another man was holding the struggling blond. "Let go of me! You're gonna regret this!" All of them ran out the door.
"What the hell just happened?" Myra asked.
They ended up back in Godo's home where three Infantrymen stood there before them, block the men's way of escaping.
"There he is! It's Corneo! Don't let him get away!" He tried to back up but Cid and the others stood there. "ATTAAAAACK!" The men did just that but Corneo jumped out of the way resulting in his freedom and the ShinRa attack them.
"Not us, you idiots!" Cid kicked one in the face.
"Let's go!" Renee took off outside just to find Reno, Rude, and Liana there as well.
"That Corneo is good at escaping," The redhead was saying.
"Elena's captured now," Liana shook her head.
"Yeah. Let's go. We'll give them a taste of what the Turks can do." Rude and Liana passed him and Reno gave a smirk. "That sounded pretty good. If Elena is in his hands, that's going to make things a little difficult. And uh…" He glanced at all of them.
Cid looked at him like he was an idiot. "…That's just beautiful! And now that #&*#^%'s walked off with Yuffie, too! And without that brat, we can't get our hands on our Materia!"
"Don't misunderstand," Reno decided to say. "We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we'll agree not the bother each other. That's all."
"Of course! There's no way we'd want to join up with the Turks anyway!" Cid replied.
Myra rolled her eyes again. "Which way did he run off to, Reno?"
"Here's a clue," The redhead grinned. "It's the place that stands out the most."
"The mountain," Renee immediately said. "That's the biggest place here so that'll easy catch anyone's attention."
And she was right. The three Turks were there, looking all over the place and so they joined them. They ran into each other every now and then, none of them finding anything until Renee led them to the middle face. Corneo had Yuffie and Elena both tied to the face and was saying something to them. Renee couldn't hear what they both screamed back at him but she wasn't going to just leave them there like that.
It seemed that Cid had the same idea. "Hey, that's as far as you go!"
"Wh-who's there?" Corneo demanded.
"Oh man!" Yuffie hung her head. "That old fart face, Cid!"
"Shut up Yuffie," Renee told her niece. "We'll be paying you back as soon as we're done though, don't worry."
"Who are you guys?" Corneo asked.
"Maybe God'd forgive an ugly *&#^% like you," Cid began. "But I sure won't!"
"You're an idiot." Myra shook her head.
"I don't care what you're doing," Vincent told him. "So much as the idiotic way you're doing it…"
"Seriously, dude," Renee crossed her arms.
"Be quiet," The man growled. "You don't know how much I've suffered since then…It's a long story, but…"
"I don't really give a damn!" Cid screamed. "You're gonna let the two girls go or else I'm gonna break your arm!"
"You guys are serious. Good. Good." Corneo rubbed his chin.
Renee and Myra exchanged a look. "What are you talking about?"
"This isn't a time for me to be fooling around, either," He replied. "I'm gonna make you play with my new pet, so you won't get in the way of my search for the bride! RAPPS- Come here!"
A giant bird flew up to attack them but Renee wasn't playing around as she whacked it with her hammer, smashing its head against the mountain and knocking it out.
"Let my niece go NOW!" She growled, taking a menacing step forward.
"Wait," Corneo held up his hands. "Just wait a second."
"Don't be such a poor loser, old man!" Cid told him.
"Just listen to me," He insisted. "It won't take long. Why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and plead for his life?"
"Don't care." Myra crossed her arms.
"Hmm," Corneo whipped out a trigger and pressed it. Both women on the stone face were whipped upside down. Both let out screams.
"This makes me so MAD!" Yuffie growled.
"If I push this button again, they'll fall upside down, and we'll have SQUASHED TOMATOES."
"So this is how a loser lives," Cid said as Vincent shook his head.
"You dirty son of a bitch." Myra and Renee clenched their fists.
"I guess I'm the one laughing last," Corneo laughed.
"No, that would be us." Reno's voice announced and they all looked to see Reno walk out on the hand past them.
"The Turks?" Corneo gulped.
"You knew this was gonna happen ever since you leaked that secret," Reno told the man. "We're going to take care of you…personally."
"Dammit!" Corneo then screamed- "Then you're all going with me!"
Something flashed past Renee's face and Corneo let out a scream. A Sai had knocked the button from his hand, which was no pinned to the rock behind him as Rude untied the girls and set them back on the ground safely.
"Good timing, guys." Reno grinned. He then moved over to Corneo. "All right. This'll be over quick, so listen up. Why do you think we went through all the trouble of teaming up with those guys to get you?"
"Because you were afraid to lose?" He guessed.
"Wrong." Reno removed the Sai from his hand before kicking him off the hand. Renee winced when his screaming finally came to a sudden end. "The correct answer was-"
"Because it's our Job." Rude finished.
"Oh, thank you very much!" Elena was smiling. "I never expected you to come help."
"Come on, we're all good," Liana butted in before Reno could speak. "But you have to show your strength, Elena. Act like Tseng of Jena during work, not like…like her." She thrusted a thumb over her shoulder at Yuffie. The teen glared at her as her Aunt clutched her to her. "Act strong."
"You…you're right." Elena nodded, holding her head down.
"Thank you," Renee told the Turks. "For saving Yuffie."
Reno scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth to reply but his phone went off. "Yes…this is Reno. Yes…Yes…I'll get on it right away."
"Was that the company?" Elena asked.
"Yeah, they want us to find Jeanne, Cloud, and Claire." Reno turned to look at Cid and the others.
"Are we on?" Rude asked.
"No, today we're off duty." The redhead replied. "Besides…Rufus told me that Jena said that they were seen headed towards Nibelheim earlier so that's where we'll start." Renee gave a sigh of relief. After what just happened, she didn't feel like fighting the Turks.
"Then…we'll see you soon I suppose." Liana grinned as the four of them began to leave.
"I guess," Myra nodded. "We'll send Jena back to the restaurant when we return to the ship."
"Don't worry," Reno called over his shoulder. "She'll already be there."
Yuffie led them to what they believed to be her house before she gave back all the Materia that she had taken from them.
"Phew, perfect," Yuffie grinned. "Now the Materia is back in its rightful place."
"What the hell's going on!" Cid growled. "The placement of the Materia's all messed up!"
"Huh?" Yuffie tilted her head. "Oh, it'll be all right…Don't be so picky! Anyways, that sure was close. Normally I would kick their butts! That Corneo guy's a real pain. I'd rather deal with my dad than deal with that guy. Oh, by the way, some of those guys from the Turks are good, huh?"
"Oh no, Yuffie," Renee shook her head, wrapping her arm around the teen's neck. "You're not getting off that easy."
"Don't worry," Yuffie grinned at her Aunt. "No matter what I'm going with you guys. Until next time, of course."
"Yuffie," Renee growled.
"I'm just joking!"
~I'm never gonna dance again
These guilty feet have got no rhythm
I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you~
Jeanne sat in her room. She had left Cloud and Claire to take a shower about an hour ago but she just didn't feel like returning yet. She just wanted to be alone for now. Thinking. She sat on the small window couch, staring out the window. She wore one of Zack's shirts as she held Genesis' blade across her lap. She was tracing that medallion around her neck. Sienna had left them behind for her in that bag as well, but she had given one to Genesis the last time that she had seen him. That was also the day that he had given her his sword.
The closer they came to the end, the more she found herself longing for it to start over from the beginning. Back to where she first meet Sienna and Zack. Where she first met them all. Maybe she could change things. If she could…
"Missing them as much as I do, hmm?"
Jeanne turned her head to see her sister in the doorway. She turned back to the window. "I always miss them.""
"I hear that you found the twins. Are they all right?"
Jeanne closed her eyes. "Not really. They have, once again, falling under Mako addiction due to coming into contact with the Lifestream. They're just like they were last time."
Jena gave a nod before walking towards her sister. "So, that explains all…this." She sat down across from her. "You know, I do miss my rather happy, loud, and teasing sister."
Jeanne glared at her. "What is there to be happy about? Everyone I loved is gone! Hell, even you are. And now Cloud and Claire are…they're…" She closed her eyes again, gripping the handle of Genesis' sword as she fought back the tears that she had been fighting since Mideel. "I only got through it last time because Zack was there with me. Through both Genesis' battle and with the twins,. But he's not now! He's not! How am I going to do it this time? Will I even be able to fight Sienna and Sephiroth in the end? Or will I just stand there like I had when Aerith died?"
"Zack's still here, Jeanne. With his parents, with you. I'm sure he's with Cloud and Claire still too, even if they don't remember who he is."
"Yeah," Jeanne sighed, staring out the window again. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Jena raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I'm…I'm just an idiot." Jeanne shook her head. "Stupid. I sometimes find myself thinking…seeing Cloud as Zack. He gave Cloud his sword, told him that he would be his living legacy. I just…these feelings…is it just because of Zack that I have these feelings for Cloud?" Jena looked at her sister in surprise. "He's changed so much. When we first met he was so timid and shy. Now he's…he's nothing like he used to be. It just…did I ever like him to begin with…or just Zack."
Jena stared at her sister in silence for a moment. She had not been expecting that to come from her sister's mouth. How was she supposed to respond to that? "Well, that is something that only you can answer, Jeanne. When Cloud and Claire pull out of their addiction, tell them everything. Only after that can you receive the answer that you're looking for. Whether or not you like it, at least you'll finally have it."
Jeanne watched after her sister as she left the room before turning back to gaze out the window again.
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