Chapter Fifty-Three - Choose a Path
Cloud ran for a long time. He couldn't hear anyone following. Somehow, that made him feel worse. Like they didn't care if he left.
If he had stopped to think, he would have realized that he was running too fast for anyone other than Zack and maybe Kunsel to follow.
Eventually, he stopped and looked down at his shirt. The black SOLDIER First one. The one Zack had found for him to replace his mako-soaked infantry uniform. The one Tifa had mended for him.
It didn't make sense. He wanted to leave. He'd been trying to leave for days. It was for their own good. So why, after finally managing to leave, did he feel so lonely?
He slumped down under the nearest tree with a sigh. It wasn't enough. Just leaving wasn't enough. He had to find what was threatening his friends and stop it.
He had to find Sephiroth.
*7*7*
Zack parked the buggy and looked around the rest of the team. "Cloud hasn't come back yet?"
As if the answer wasn't already obvious, most of the group shook their heads. Both Tifa and Aerith looked worried. Kunsel seemed unusually subdued. Cait's ears drooped. Barret glowered at nothing in particular, which for him was a sign of great worry. Yuffie shifted from one foot to another while Cid watched her like a hawk. No one could read Vincent's expression.
Yuffie suddenly jumped up. "What are we waiting for? Let's go find him!"
"I doubt he wants to be found."
All eyes went to Vincent. The only acknowledgement he gave was dipping his head further into the collar of his cape. "He has been uneasy since the visit to Leviathan's Temple. I believe the priestess said something to him that lead to this."
"You KNEW?" Yuffie all but leapt at Vincent. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Tifa shrank in on herself as this was going on. She could still hear Yuffie's protests and everyone else trying to peel her off of Vincent, but only vaguely. Every interaction with Cloud over the last few days ran through her mind. She should have seen something. Caught on, somehow, that he was trying to leave. Tried to stop him, or at least talk to him.
"Why?" Tifa's voice was barely above a whisper, but it still drew attention away from Yuffie's dramatics. "Why couldn't I see it?"
Cid blew out a long stream of smoke. "Probably 'cause he didn't want ya to see it. Kid's like a one-legged duck. Seems fine and dandy on the surface but paddlin' like hell underneath."
"Aw, hell, Tifa." Barret shook his head. "We all knew Cloud's got problems. I don't think even the spook was expectin' him to up an' run away."
Aerith shifted to stand next to Zack. "But we should still look for him, right?"
"That depends..." Kunsel trailed off and gave Zack a pointed look.
The way Zack sighed did not bode well. "The junk collector had something called a 'keystone' that's supposed to grant access to the Temple of the Ancients. Emphasis on 'had.' Seems Dio came a couple days ago and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse."
A collective groan rose from those members who had to endure the first visit to the Gold Saucer.
Cid stomped out the butt of his cigarette and swore. "What's the big deal? We go in there and make sure that keystone don't fall inta ShinRa's hands."
"And hope we don't get accused of murder again," Kunsel muttered.
"Long story." Aerith stepped in before the conversation could get any more sidetracked. "We don't all have to go, right? Some of us can stay here and look for Cloud."
Two predictable voices answered almost in unison. "I'll go."
Kunsel shook his head at Zack and Tifa. "One big problem with that. If Vincent is right, and I suspect he is, Cloud doesn't want to be found. He's probably been running full speed ever since he hit the treeline and that was a couple hours ago. I don't know about Cloud, but I can keep a fairly steady 20 miles an hour for that time."
"Well, #$^%#. What're ya doin' takin' up space in the buggy for?" Cid responded after nearly inhaling his cigarette. "You and the hedgehog here can walk, leave a little leg room for the rest of us."
"That's not the point!" Kunsel took a deep breath, centered himself, and tried again. "I'd like a minute to talk to Zack in private, the rest of you can argue over who sits where."
Cid and Barret weren't the only ones grumbling over being treated like kids, but Aerith made a good peacemaker while Kunsel pulled Zack aside.
"Okay, I'm assuming I don't have to remind you about the time sensitive mission or the fate of the world stuff."
Zack nodded.
"Good, so I'll skip right to the part about how I'd love to run after Cloud myself. It was my call to let him go. I thought he just needed to be alone and collect his thoughts. The thing is, we'd need some way of finding him and right now, I think our best bet for finding him is finding Sephiroth."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Where's Sephiroth now?"
Zack lifted a hand as if to point but stopped before picking a direction. "Whoa. What just happened?"
"It's called Reunion Theory." Kunsel pulled a small, battered notebook out of his pants' pocket. "Fascinating stuff, really. Creepy, but fascinating. Basically, whatever Jenova is, you cut it into pieces and the pieces try to find each other. Same goes for anything, or anyone, the pieces are put into. Don't know why I'm not reacting, but I'd guess it has to do with quantity."
"Man, I am so glad you didn't go into science."
Kunsel laughed. "What? And miss out on all the fun of tracking down stray monsters in the Wasteland? In the rain? With all that sand turning into man-eating mud?"
"Great times, huh?" Zack grinned for a moment before remembering what they had been talking about. "So, you're saying Cloud can find Sephiroth. And when that happens...?"
"No idea. Details on the theory are pretty incomplete. Hojo seemed to think that the pieces would merge back together, but I really don't see how that's possible wi... Zack?"
Halfway through, Zack had turned and started back toward the buggy. "The minute we have that keystone we're going after Sephiroth. I'll see if I can get this Jenova radar thing to work on the way."
Which assumed they ever managed to leave. The rest of the merry band was in the middle of an argument when Zack and Kunsel returned.
"Of course we can find him!" Yuffie grabbed Nanaki's snout. "Look at the size of this nose! With this and my awesome ninja tracking skills, we'll have Cloud back in no time."
Nanaki growled. "I am not a 'this.'"
"I don't care! I'm not lettin' you make off with our stuff again!"
"I can go with them." Tifa looked ready to leave that very second.
Barret raised his gunarm over his head. "I'll go! Some'ne's gotta beat some sense inta that guy."
"No one's beating sense into anyone!" Aerith started to plead her case but was drowned out by the continuing argument.
"QUIET!"
Kunsel rubbed the ear closest to Zack. "Warn a guy next time, will ya?"
"Sorry," Zack murmured low enough so only Kunsel would hear. Then he addressed the now silent 'team.' "Look, it's great that you're all concerned about Cloud, uh, more or less, but Kunsel's right. We need to get the keystone before ShinRa or Sephiroth. Cloud can take care of himself for a couple days."
"But we don't all have to go get the keystone, right?" Yuffie tried to put on a puppy-dog face.
Kunsel frowned. "You just don't want to ride in the buggy anymore."
Yuffie's eyes went even wider in apparent horror. "How could you suggest such a thing? I'm worried about Cloud! Sure, getting out of the torture chamber is a bonus, but I really want to find him! He's like... a cool big brother or something. Kinda dorky, but cool."
Zack looked like he was about to cave for a moment during Yuffie's speech, but then he shook his head. "We should stick together for now. Come on. The sooner we get the keystone, the sooner we can find Cloud."
*7*7*
"Hey, Tseng, we're back."
Tseng barely twitched as Reno threw himself into one of the upholstered chairs in the office. "So I noticed. Did you have contact with the targets?"
"Yeah, one of them. Didn't catch them, obviously, but I passed on your message."
Tseng nodded and let the silence settle back into place.
As into place as it could get with Reno around. "Hey, you sure this is okay? Us letting them run around like this? I mean, I'm all for following orders and all, but if we keep bowing outta fights it's gonna make us look bad."
"It's important that they believe we intend to capture them."
"Yeah, yeah. It's just frustrating, ya know? Though I don't know which is worse, losing or listening to Elena complain."
"She'll have to be kept in the dark a while longer. Anything else to report?" A split second later he amended, "Anything relevant to report?"
"Nope. Unless you count overhearing the boss chew out Heidegger again. I think we're gettin' close to having a new department head."
"I doubt the President has time to seek a suitable replacement at this time."
Reno snorted a laugh. "Aw, come on, Tseng. A lava lamp would do a better job than Heidegger."
"The infantry fears him. The President respects that. It would take too long to find someone else who could produce the same effect."
"Still voting for the lava lamp." Reno sat up. More or less. At least he wasn't draped over the arms of the chair. "Hey, any word from our plant?"
"They have discovered the location of the keystone. However, they still do not know where the temple is."
Reno grinned. "So we're gonna get to the keystone before them, right?"
"No. The plant will be doing that for us. Unless you want to negotiate with Dio."
"That nut? I've gotta deal with enough crazies as it is."
Tseng nodded, just barely. "Speaking of which, the President wants you and Rude to escort Heidegger to Costa Del Sol."
Reno groaned. "Is that offer to talk to Dio still open?"
*7*7*
"This Dio guy thinks way too highly of himself." Yuffie poked at one of the trophies. "What are these supposed to be, anyway?"
"Treasures collected during Dio's adventures, or so he claims. We're only interested in this one, though." Kunsel stood in front of a pedestal in the center of the room. There, on a silk pillow, sat a round stone.
Zack stood to Kunsel's left. "Gotta say, I was expecting the Keystone to be a bit more... well..."
"Interesting? Jeez. Let's just grab it and get outta here."
"And get arrested again?" Kunsel glared at Yuffie. "No way."
Cid leaned against the doorway leading into the monument to self-absorption and shook his head. "Y'all are gonna have to tell me about that one o' these days."
The rest of the team waited outside, so they were the first to notice the newcomer, but not quite soon enough to warn everyone else.
So the first warning they had was Cid yelling "What the hell?" followed quickly by a booming laugh.
"Long time no see, my boy. Hmm? You like that, huh?"
Kunsel resisted the urge to lift his eyes to the ceiling and pray for a hole to open up under him. Yuffie stared at Dio.
"No way! He's still wearing that?"
Zack smiled. "Hi! We were wondering if we could borrow this."
Dio laughed again. "Sorry, but it's not for rent. Hmm. Since you've been good to me in the past, I can let you have it on one condition."
"What condition?"
"Entertain me!"
It took a moment for Kunsel to realize who Dio was pointing at. "Wait, me? You're kidding, right? What sort of 'entertainment' are you talking about?"
Dio guffawed. "It's not something that's really difficult. This is the Battle Arena. Show me your fighting skills. Just you, my boy, I'm expecting a good fight!"
"I'm pretty sure Zack would be a better choice for this."
Zack chuckled and slapped Kunsel on the shoulder. "You'll do fine! It can't be that hard if normal people fight here."
"They aren't here for Dio's amusement," Kunsel muttered low enough so Dio couldn't hear. "Yeah, okay. Just give me a minute to get ready."
"Of course!" Dio laughed loud enough that those outside the room covered their ears. "I can give you more than that. The match starts in five minutes."
In case anyone is interested, there's a hint as to what Kunsel was doing the day Zack didn't die.
We're back at the Gold Saucer. Most of you know what that means! Hoo-boy. Getting into another section that's hard to write. This part of the game is just so hard. Not gameplay wise, so much, but just knowing what's going to happen.
