I finally got around to updating this fic and apologize for it taking so long. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait for more updates as the Muse is heavily involved in her best friend's wedding and until that's over, I just don't have the time to write fan fiction. Thanks folks for understanding and I will be updating in a more timely fashion once this is over. Enjoy this chapter until then and be sure to vote in the new poll.
Chapter Thirty Five - Missing In Action
It's been raining ever since we managed to cross the marshes. As I sit here, shivering in the cold, my uniform and hair completely drenched, listening to the endless droplets of water falling beyond the alcove that puddles at the equally miserable chocobo's feet, I find myself thinking about a time when a mission like this might have been one of great honor. How in my youth, I may have found being assigned the most dangerous mission on the planet actually honorable, noble even. My chance to show off for the superiors - every watchdog's dream.
To be noticed and remembered. To know what things like honor and victory actually meant. But now, as I navigate the narrow trail snaking through the Mythril Mines with a rather bold, if not downright stubborn chocobo in tow, I'm walking a different path - the one of the broken and disgraced.
This path will take me to the grassland plains and from there, to Fort Condor. It is there that I shall meet up with Reeve and learn what really happened at the Temple of the Ancients, get some nice, quiet solitude to once again plot out the crisis at hand, and go from there. The endless cycle I've settled upon being how I am going to spend the rest of my miserable life.
The chocobo warks loudly, the sound reverberating through the narrowing walls of bright, natural blues and greens to make me jump.
"Shut up." I tug upon the reins, not completely certain just why I'm even bothering to drag him where normal chocobos can't really go. Probably because I don't want to end up walking the whole way to Fort Condor when I'm barely trudging along as it is. "I don't see you trying to deal with Reeve."
Speaking of Reeve…In about an hour, it's going to be far too dark to continue through these catacombs of stone and ledges, even with the off-set glow of the materia I'm using to light the way somewhat. Deciding upon a rather roomy section of the alcoves, I drive Rekka into the stone and loop the chocobo's reins around the lower portion of the weapon to prevent it from fleeing and getting itself killed by falling into a chasm or something.
The bird warks in annoyance and tugs upon the reins in response as it lowers itself to the ground out of sheer weariness and pecks around the stones for the last of the greens I cast towards it. I'd hate to be someone who actually breeds these things. Keeping them fed would be a nightmare in costs.
Still. He's at least some form of warning and companionship even in these caverns and I lean back against the cold, damp wall in defeat, flipping the PHS open and glancing down for Reeve's number. I barely get a signal here, but I need to call him back.
Something was wrong.
The phone rings on his end for several seconds, a part of me not wanting him to answer. Because no answer is always the best answer under dire circumstances.
"Cissnei?" he dares to inquire with this sort of guarded sense of foreboding about him.
"Yeah," I reply, exhaustion weighing heavy in my bones as I let the materia flicker out for the night, the area plunging into complete darkness, much to the protesting wark of the chocobo. It takes energy to make the materia work - energy I don't have.
"You don't sound well. What happened?"
Oh. Now he's concerned about my welfare. He can't be concerned in the immediate crisis can he? I sigh and ensure the pistol is within easy reach should I need it to fend off the monsters that call this place home.
"Nothing," I respond in a low, weary whisper. "I had to make camp in the Mythril Mines. Crossing the marshes took too much out of us to make Condor tonight."
"Us? Who is with you?" he practically scolds, a deep, vengeful sense of frustration in his tone.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I cannot help but snipe at him through the darkness. "I'll cut right to the chase, Reeve. What did you want?"
He sighs, no doubt confused and mulling my words over carefully. "Trouble. In AVALANCHE. Please tell me you are in a location where you can utilize that computer of yours."
"Not happening, Reeve." The chocobo clicks his beak in annoyance and ruffles his feathers in the darkness. "I can't tell you where exactly I am, nor will I, but whatever it is you need me to research, upload, download, or look at has to wait until we get to Fort Condor. I can't get a good signal here."
"How far away are you, rough estimate?"
"Six hours."
"Make it three."
"Reeve, with all due respect-"
"Aerith went missing this morning," he cuts me off angrily. "And no one in this god-awful group, myself included, seems to be able to find a woman wearing pink in this god damn jungle!"
She went missing? Just out of the blue like that? The possibilities of what could happen send a shiver down my spine. It's difficult enough navigating the wilderness if you're skilled in combat, but a mere flower girl without a clue it is just stupid on her behalf.
"When?" I inquire, reaching for that piece of materia, adrenaline taking over. Something feels wrong about this whole scenario. The chocobo warks threateningly.
"Less than four hours ago."
Four hours ago…Right about when I hung up on him. I'm not exactly certain just how I could have been of much help to him at that moment. I'm on a whole different continent than they are. It's not like I can just magically track someone without first knowing what direction they might have gone.
"Reeve," I advise, trying to keep my own concern out of my words. "You need to calm down-"
"How? How in the hell am I supposed to fix this? Sephiroth has the Black Materia and obviously some sort of vendetta against this woman. You of all people should know how dangerous it can be being away from the safety of the group."
"Yes," I respond. "I'm more than familiar with that sort of scenario. But yelling at me is not going to remedy the crisis. Try to think logical for a change, Reeve. You should be rather good at that."
"You're right. I am overreacting."
"No," I retrieve my laptop and meager supplies. "You're under-reacting, majority."
There is an abrupt silence upon the other end, followed by the echo of a hand swiping everything from the top of a table to the floor with a resounding clatter. "Damn it, Cissnei. Can you get to the point for once when I talk to you?"
"You said she vanished more than four hours ago? Any idea where she might have been going?"
"How in the hell would I know something like that? It's not like I have a twenty four hour tab on these guys."
I fumble through the darkness, trying to make the materia illuminate the catacombs once more so I don't end up taking a tumble into an abyss or something. "And the purpose of Cait Sith was?"
"Don't get smart with me. I could use some tips on tracking people, if you don't mind." He's annoyed. Perfect. At least now he might take what I say seriously. Not that this is not serious. It's a crisis of epic proportions.
Because if Aerith is missing, so is the last hope of figuring out the threat level of the Black Materia. And if Shinra is prowling around, not to mention a psychopath with a vendetta, she's as good as dead.
I do not want to have to tell Elmyra bad news. Not after already leaving things as I did.
"Did she take anything with her?" I inquire, the steeled resolve of Cissnei taking over. "Materia? Her stave?"
"Her stave was missing. Yes."
Damn it. Okay. Okay. Don't panic. She might still be in the vicinity of wherever the hell they are.
"Where exactly are you?"
"Gongaga. We came here after Tifa took Cloud out with that punch."
Okay. Gongaga. Got it. Lot of good that does me, but I do know something about the area. It's impossible to move fast on foot. And Aerith is no athlete. She'll tire easily.
I hold the PHS out before me, trying to remember the right button combination to get what I need from it. By the time I get to Condor, more than seven hours will have passed and any chance of finding this woman alive will be beyond salvaging. The longer a person is missing, I've learned, the worse the odds.
"Okay. Shut up and listen to me." The PHS lights up with a small map of the area, a visible dot appearing on screen before quickly vanishing. It's not much, but it is something I can go off of until I can get to my computer. "How ready is AVALANCHE to move, right this second?"
"That's the problem!" he practically shouts, beyond frustrated. "These people can't agree to save their life. Barret's furious with Cloud and wants him dead. Tifa's beside herself. I've got Yuffie skimming the region with Mr. Highwind, neither one capable of much more than a swearing match. And Cloud's still out of it. It's a nightmare."
Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Figures the sticking point would be there attitudes.
"Red XIII." I respond. Out of all of them. He would be the fastest and capable of confirming my suspicions. "Send him."
"He's already out there and I can't exactly reach him by PHS. He is an animal after all."
Okay. So forget that idea. If he's already out on his version of a hunt, then the whole group needs to go out again. And from what I gather, they're not ready to leave at all until Cloud's situation is figured out. Oh to be a fly on the wall right about now.
"All I can tell you from what I just traced of her PHS signal, is that she's heading north. I wish I could be of more help at the moment-"
"Realistically speaking, how much ground could she cover in such a short amount of time?"
"It depends on the terrain," I reply, trying to get that signal back and failing miserably. She's headed north. Good enough for me. "And Aerith's determination to go where she plans on going."
"So not terribly far then?"
"Unless she caught a chocobo." I untangle the rope and swing Rekka back over my shoulder, half dragging the irritated chocobo along the chasms at a near jog. This is not good at all.
"Since when does Gongaga have chocobos? And how? Those birds will knock you on your ass before you get the chance to-"
"Cetra," I deadpan. "She can probably talk to animals. Catching one would be easy for her."
"Damn it. In that case-"
"She's probably got more than fifty miles on you right now. Either way, you won't catch her on your own."
"But, where would she go?" he replies, defeated. "It's not like we did anything to chase her away from us. Except for Cloud, but she seemed to have brushed it off."
"He gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth. You do the math."
"I take it you know where she might be?"
"Not a clue-" The chocobo trots along behind me, its wings beating in protest, but unwilling to draw too far away and run off. "But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to use Cait Sith to find out."
"We're expecting Cloud to wake up here soon," Reeve answers. "Tifa's not to sure what his frame of mind is, but I'm hoping he can repeat the muttering in his sleep that we were unable to understand. I'll call you back with what I find out."
"Sounds good to me. I'm heading to Condor as we speak."
"I will meet you there. And Cissnei," he sighs. "Try not to go missing in action yourself. I would hate to have to explain the loss to Tseng and the others."
I hang up the phone, not giving him a response.