Final Fantasy VII -- Twisted Final Fantasy VII: Twisted: Chapter 9, a final fantasy vii fanfic

Chapter 9: Ahead on Our Way

Another morning dawned on Kalm, the blue shadows receding before the sun in a gentle flow, awaiting the coming of the evening to flood the town once again with their soft tide. Tifa lay curled in the little white bed, staring into the golden sunlight. She wanted to stay here in this blue, silent, lonely town, to drown inside the sadness, and in the flow of her memories. For years she had wondered what happened to Cloud; hoping for the best, and fearing the worst. And now the riddle was at least partially resolved. She grieved over the fact that their meeting occurred in such an unpleasant way, but realized that she must muster her energy and continue her quest in order to unveil the truth underlying the tragedy.

She rose with some effort and seated herself on the bed, her head leaning against her hand. She was sitting this way for some moments when there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Tifa called out.

The door opened a little and Aerith looked in. Observing her dejected posture, the Cetra spoke softly. "Tifa, we're leaving soon. Everyone's waiting outside."

"I know," answered Tifa without looking up. Aerith closed the door quietly, sensing that she wanted to be left alone for a little while longer.

Tifa sat with her head down. For a moment, when she noticed the sympathy in Aerith's green eyes, she felt that she almost attained a sense of comradeship with this strange young woman. But then she recalled the night at the top of the tower, and the emotion dispersed like smoke before a wintry gust. She sighed. What is going on with me, she asked herself. I am not in love with Cloud, am I?

She tried to examine her feelings with as much detachment as she could. She thought of that nighttime promise, and her feeling as if there was a secret bond between Cloud and herself. It's true that she found him attractive when they were young. But had she actually felt any particular feeling for him that could have been described as being in love? He had certainly given her very little reason to feel anything of that sort towards him when they met again. But she knew that she still felt… attached to him, somehow, because of their common past.

There is very little left to me from Nibelheim, Tifa thought. My childhood had been destroyed, my past evaporated. And then, against expectation, with the appearance of Cloud, a lost piece of the puzzle has returned. He was one of the few people, and things, that remained to me from that place; one of the few attachments that I maintained to my past, that fragile string that threatened to break, and had stretched so thin that it almost seemed to vanish, like a spider's web, only showing when the sunlight glimmers on it. But… still resilient. Strong. And she realized that when he almost died that night on the tower, she felt the terror of another impending loss, another piece of her life threatening to vanish forever.

And she thought, whether or not it had been love between us, no matter how he feels about me now, whether or not he remembers me, I still do want to help him recover his past, because so little remains of mine. And in this, I have a common goal with Aerith.

Slow tendrils of fog twirled over the swamps, heavy with the stench of rotten weeds and standing water. Tifa peered into the morning atmosphere. An old cave where they used to mine mithril lay across the gray stretch of water and moss, its entry carved into the low-lying hills. The group, on instructions given at a local farm, utilized an old crossing forged by mithril miners that kept them a safe distance from the deep ends of the swamp where the more dangerous creatures dwelt.

Tifa led the group as usual, her scouting expertise serving her in good stead. If it wasn't for the stench of the rotting vegetation, she would have enjoyed that brisk, long walk in the winter sunshine, that invigorated her body and raised her spirit. She had to tread it carefully, however, taking care not to stumble on any deep or treacherous patches of water. The tall reeds waved in the brisk morning breeze, and the chatter of birds sounded from the heath. It was a pleasant morning.

Zack and Tifa had become the unofficial leaders of the group at that point. Barret did not have a particularly personal interest in these affairs, outside of his quest to undermine Shinra, and he came along to assist rather than to lead. Aerith was following Sephiroth, and Reno and Rude dragged along because they promised Tseng to take care of her in his stead. But Zack seemed to want to amend for his failure for five years ago, and Tifa had the same personal interest in the events.

Zack was striding at Aerith's side some distance behind Tifa, both deep in conversation. He sought to increase his understanding of the Cetra and their world, and questioned Aerith about concepts like the Promised Land. And good luck to him, Tifa thought sardonically. If he could get something useful out of Aerith, that'll be the day. She is very clever at saying very little, while giving the impression that she knows too much.

Barret, just behind Tifa, occasionally slowed to listen to the conversation between Aerith and Zack, and occasionally caught up with Tifa to discuss his plans to contact Elmyra and send her money so she and Marlene could move to Kalm where, he felt, they would be safer than in Midgard. Rude kept a little distance from the other four, morning cigarette in hand. Reno closed the line, carrying the nightstick over his shoulder and dawdling behind the group in a leisurely pace that threatened to get him separated from the others. Despite all this they made good time, and reached the mouth of the cave within an hour.

Aerith was advancing some way across the deep, springy turf that bordered the swamp when she stopped abruptly. "Look over there," she said with an odd tone, pointing upwards. "I thought that it was just an unusual-looking way-post, but now I see that it's more than that."

They looked towards the place she indicated, and all as one began to walk quickly in its direction. It clarified as they approached, and when they finally reached it an absolute silence ensued, and everyone stood frozen in place, staring upwards.

"God-dammit," Barret finally said.

"Did Sephiroth's agent do THAT?" Tifa muttered, her face white.

Before them rose a sharp stake, some fifteen feet in height, washed with dried blood. Its spiked edge was driven through the head of a giant swamp-serpent, whose body was coiled around it with "artistic" grace. It was a gruesome and terrifying spectacle, and it made Tifa feel sick to the pit of her stomach. She, and the others, were finally beginning to grasp the challenge and magnitude of their mission.

After a few moments Zack said, "We should probably get away from here."

They began to follow his cue in the direction of the cave's entrance, but their pace was sluggish. No one wanted to say what was on everyone's mind: that by continuing on their way, they were moving towards the thing that has done this, rather than away from it.

The air inside the mithril cave was cool, and the walls were full of shimmering shadows. The group continued along the old mining road, which crossed the safer areas of the cave, and occasionally came across long-discarded mining tools and other implements that lay rusting in various corners of the cave where they had fallen beyond people's reach. The mine had been abandoned as a source of metal since the veins of mithril had long been exhausted; but Reno, who took an interest in such things, occasionally pointed out to highly impure, almost worthless nuggets that lay scattered on the ground after being left there by the miners. He found one that he considered more pure than the others, and was showing it to Aerith, when Tifa stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?" Barret asked, coming to stand beside her. Everyone else also halted as an instinctive reaction, and a feeling of unease settled over the group, whose memories were still haunted by the lurid display stationed just outside the cave.

"I have a strange feeling," Tifa said, speaking quickly. "That someone's been stalking us. But don't worry, I'll scout ahead a bit. You all stay here."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to go alone," Barret said.

"I agree," said Zack. "Whatever it is, it could be a serious threat, and we should face it together."

Before Tifa could answer them, a figure flipped in the air and landed on an upper shelf. They all stared up at it.

It was a young girl, no more than sixteen. She was very thin, and her clothes were skimpy for the cold environment in which they found themselves, consisting of a sleeveless green sweater and black shorts. Her short black hair was scattered across a cute, oval face. She stood straight above the group, and gazed down at them with a scornful look in her dark eyes.

"Hey," Tifa called. "Who are you?"

The girl smiled disdainfully. "Huh!" she said. "So THESE are those infamous Avalanche crooks? Bunch of nobodies I can take out in a second!"

Reno stuck his hands into his jacket pockets. "Hey, doll," he drawled, his voice bored. "What's the bragging about?"

The girl's expression soured. She brought her hand forward and showed the people below the huge golden shuriken clutched between her fingers. "This is my Rising Sun, you red-headed goon. And if you keep talking like this, I'll impale you on it."

"So," Reno said, unmoved, "will you at least introduce yourself before you kill any of us?"

"Uh, Reno," whispered Tifa. "I think that you should stop talking. That girl may be able to make good on her word."

He shrugged. "What can one kid do?"

"A lot, if she was trained as a ninja."

"Ah. I see. So that's not a toy."

"No. And you may be a bit useless, but I don't want you to die."

"How considerate of you, Tifa."

"Stop whispering down there!" the girl ordered crossly. "Do you acknowledge that you're my prisoners, or not? Elena said that captures should be without casualties if possible, but I may change my mind if you keep this up."

"Elena?" Reno repeated, with a lifted eyebrow. "Are you saying that you work with Elena of the Turks?"

"Yes." The girl tapped her chest with a self-important air. "I am her newest Turk."

"Um," said Reno, ignoring Tifa's warning tug on his sleeve. "You're sixteen."

"So?"

"So, you're probably lying when you say that you're a Turk."

"Reno!" Tifa hissed. "If you keep this up, I'm NOT taking any hits for you."

"If she's really with Elena, I really doubt that she will dare to do anything to us," he answered indifferently.

The girl's face twisted at Reno's words. She performed a flying leap from the cave shelf, and landed on her feet before the group after a perfectly-executed somersault. She strode up to Reno, and put her shuriken near his face. "Hey, you!" she snarled. "You have a death wish or something? I'll have you know that you're facing Yuffie Kisaragi, trained ninja of the ancient line of Wutai ninjas, and top Turk to boot! And I could take all of you out by myself if I wanted to, so watch it!"

"Ah," said Reno, unmoved. "Well, pardon me."

The ninja looked at him suspiciously, bristling. She could hear the sardonic note in his apology. "All right, then," she spat. "You're ASKING for it, mister. Allow me to demonstrate my qualifications."

She sprang back and stood straight. With an easy swipe of her hand she threw the shuriken, and it flew around the party, encircling them in a neat, and dangerously close circle. "One: precision," she said, catching it as it returned to her hand.

She then threw the golden weapon again, this time with more force. It collided into the wall, leaving a deep scratch within its smooth facet. Yuffie raised her hand and caught it as it returned to her again, the golden metal glittering, polished and undamaged. "Two: power."

Then, jumping close to Reno with one deft movement, she sliced down his jacket, so that it was cut open in the front. Reno cringed and looked down in amazement. The sharp edges of the shuriken tore through the cloth, but did not touch the shirt beneath. Yuffie's dark eyes flashed, and she grinned devilishly. "Three: accuracy," she concluded with a smug air.

"Well, damn," said Barret.

"You were asking for it, Reno," Tifa remarked with a half-smile.

Reno's eyes narrowed as he watched Yuffie's taunting smirk. "That," he said, "was my BEST jacket, kid. And who's going to pay for replacing all the buttons that you ruined?"

"You think that I care?" she returned scornfully.

"Well, then," he said. "You leave me no choice."

"Uh, Reno," Tifa said again. "What are you planning to do?"

"You all don't worry about me," he said, nodding to the others. "I know what I'm doing."

"I hope so," Barret said. "Because I don't think it'll end well for you, if you don't."

"Oh, I studied this thing that Zack gave me," Reno answered, indicating his nightstick. "And I found something very interesting about it."

He walked up to the ninja. The girl's expression altered; she was unsure what to expect, and her hand rose. "Stay away," she said warningly, "or I slice you open for real this time, Elena or no Elena."

The corner of Reno's mouth tilted upwards. He was still holding his nightstick over his shoulder, and he suddenly swung it towards the ninja. She could see the hit coming and put her shuriken up in defense, and the two weapons collided. Reno stepped back deftly.

"Huh!" Yuffie spat, recovering immediately. "Is that the best you got, mister? It was pathetically easy to see it coming."

"Yes, I know," he said placidly, sticking a hand inside his jacket and flipping the nightstick over his shoulder again.

Yuffie regarded him suspiciously; but a moment later she looked around her in amazement. A pyramid of light suddenly glimmered into life, and condensed around her. "What the hell!" she hissed, trying to retreat; but she immediately found that she could not pass through the energy barrier.

"See," Reno said, turning towards Zack. "This nightstick of Scarlet's has a special attack, if you learn to use it correctly. I practiced." He nodded towards Yuffie. "It produces a pyramid of energy that ensnares your opponent. Useful, isn't it?"

Zack could not help a slight smile. "Yes."

A new voice now intruded into the conversation. "What's going on here?"

Everyone looked towards it. It was coming from the direction of the cave's exit. Elena walked in, followed by Lucrecia.

"Elena!" Yuffie yelled. "Take these crooks prisoners! They are wanted for assault on your best Turk! And help me out of this bloody thing!"

"Yuffie," Elena snapped. "We've gone over this already. You are NOT a Turk. We are training you as a favor for your father. I do not engage sixteen year olds as Turks."

Yuffie scowled at her. Elena examined the golden pyramid for a moment, and turned to the group. "What is that," she asked, "and who did it?"

Reno stepped forward, saluting her with two fingers. "Yours truly, Elena."

"Ah," said Elena. "Did she provoke you?"

"It was a mutual thing, you can say," he replied evasively.

"Yes, I could see it being something like that."

Yuffie, meanwhile, struggled inside the golden pyramid. "Elena, you BITCH!" she screamed. "I TOLD you to help me out of here!"

Elena glanced at Yuffie. She did not move, but the lines in her face became tight. Then her eyes met Reno's. He quirked his eyebrows at her comically. Elena inclined her head slightly in response. For that moment, and perhaps for the very first time, they had an understanding. She stuck her fists into her pockets. "I'll let this one go," she stated mildly.

Reno winked at her. "Hey, thanks. Where did you find this awful brat anyway?"

"She's from Wutai," answered Elena. "Vincent's hometown. An excellent ninja, but—" she paused without completing the thought, and gave a resigned shrug.

"So you all are after Sephiroth, ha?" Reno asked next.

She nodded an assent. "He was heading towards Junon. Mind you, I didn't say that. You never met me, either." She then turned and, with one brisk movement, scanned the energy barrier. She nodded to Lucrecia. Lucrecia raised her gun.

Yuffie's eyes widened. "What are you DOING!" she screamed. Her voice pitched into a shriek of pure horror as the bullet shot out and clashed into the pyramid. The energy barrier crackled, then shimmered and dissipated. Yuffie fell to her knees, and raised a sullen stare upwards from behind her scattered hair.

Reno approached and crouched at her side, peering into her face. "See you around, kid," he said. "And don't mess with Elena, all right? Or you'll find yourself flayed alive."

Elena, whose face was turned away from both, said nothing; but a smile suddenly dawned at his words, for a moment eradicating her somber expression.

Yuffie growled at Reno's words. "Bastard!" she hissed.

"Yuffie," Elena said. "Go wait for me in Junon."

Yuffie scowled. "You son of a bitch!" she spat at Reno. "I'll make you pay for this!"

"I'm terrified," he said, bored.

Yuffie gave a furious squeak, and ran out of the cave. Tifa finally intervened. "All right, then. I think that we should move on before Reno finds more ways to try to get himself killed."

The rest of the party moved with her except Rude and Reno. "Hey, Elena," Rude said.

She inclined her head, but said nothing. Rude regarded her for a moment. "Did you see Tseng?" he asked.

She averted her face at this. "No."

"Ah," said Rude. "Well, I hope that we see you again sometime." And with that, he followed the others. Only Reno remained.

Elena looked at him. "Yes? Why are you still here?"

Reno looked down, passing his hand through his hair in an unusually uncomfortable gesture. "Elena," he finally said. "Tseng stayed in Midgard. I'm pretty sure that he seeks reconciliation with you."

Elena was silent, and Reno added, "He really did care about you, Elena. I give you my word."

After another moment, Elena said, "Goodbye, Reno." And she walked out without replying, with Lucrecia following.

The meadows between the mithril cave and Junon were lush with winter rains. After plodding across the wet terrain for some time they reached a rockier area, and noticed a structure rising in the distance. It was an earthen fortress of some sort, and something was perched upon it. Now that Tifa was close enough, she perceived that it was in fact a huge golden bird, its wings shielding a great nest. "Look at this!" she said, pointing.

"It's a golden condor," Zack said. "They tend to nest in high places."

The condor, as if in response, spread its wings and began to glide against the pale skies. They followed it with their eyes as it circled the fortress gracefully.

"Who lives inside the fortress?" Barret asked.

Zack shrugged. "No idea."

"I know," Rude said. Everyone looked at him with surprise. He coughed impassively, and lit up one of his afternoon cigarettes to avoid looking at the others. "Resistance of some sort, I think," he muttered. "Maybe like Avalanche. There's been some problems around here, anyway."

"Well," said Barret. "There's problems everywhere, especially when Shinra sticks its nose into business."

"Anyway," Zack said, "Junon should be pretty close by now."

They reached the town towards the afternoon. It was a dark, silent town, the people on the streets scarce. The sun reflected off a large structure built above the town with a warm, sad, copper light, barely illuminating the shadowy streets below.

"What is that?" Tifa asked, pointing at it.

"A Shinra military base," Barret grumbled. "I told you that they stick their nose into everybody's business. It's a military town now, and from what I heard the fishing industry is ruined."

"Someone get us an inn, and I'll scout around," Zack said. "Who's coming with me?"

"I'll go," Tifa said. "The rest of you should take a break."

"There's a rather good inn on Tenth and Chard's," said Barret. "Meet us there soon."

For some reason it was difficult to coax information out of the people of Junon. They seemed suspicious of strangers, and kept their mouths tightly closed. Some remarked about the hard time their town had fallen into, and the poor fishing; but except that, they were stubbornly uncommunicative, no matter how hard both Tifa and Zack tried to cajole them for information about the military base. They found themselves conducting conversations like,

"Excuse me, sir, but have you seen a man dressed as a SOLDIER, with blond hair and blue eyes?"

"There are a lot of people dressed as soldiers in this town, young lady, and some of them have blond hair. Why would you expect me to notice any of 'em?"

"I'm sorry to trouble you, ma'am, have you seen a man in a black cape passing through this town?"

"Black cape? Who would wear a black cape in this weather?"

"He also had long silver hair, so he should stand out if you saw him."

"Well, in that case you should be able to find him yourself. Why ask me?"

Zack and Tifa eventually reached a sandy road that led down to the beach. The sea spread before their eyes in a beautiful blue light, despite the presence of the base's electrical tower that projected from the water. Tifa sighed, leaning on the wooden fence that safeguarded travelers from falling into the sea. "I give up," she told Zack. "We'll just have to look for them ourselves, like that last woman suggested."

"Well," he said, smiling, "at least we get to enjoy the view in this location." The horizon was filled with fishing boats, but the seashore was empty at the moment save for a small figure that ran across the rocks.

"What is that girl doing?" Zack asked, pointing at it.

"I think that she's playing with something in the water," said Tifa.

"You're right," he said, after taking a hard look at the object in the water. "It looks like she's trying to train that dolphin."

"Nice," Tifa said. "I wish that I lived on the seashore as a child."

"And I wish that I lived in the mountains like you did," said Zack wryly. "Everyone thinks that others had more fun as a child."

"I guess that's true," Tifa acknowledged. But then something caught her attention, and she grabbed at Zack's sleeve. "Do you see that thing in the water?"

They could both see it now. A huge head rose from the water, crossing it with tremendous speed. They exchanged looks, and, without another word, both rushed down the path to the seashore.

The last thing that Priscilla could remember after attempting to lure the dolphin once again to the shallows, to teach him a new trick, was a tremendous wash of saltwater hitting her like a brick wall. She fainted.

It seemed a long time afterwards when she opened her eyes to bright light. She squinted and groaned. Someone was leaning over her, a form surrounded by the halo of the afternoon sun. It was a tall young man with dark hair. Priscilla stared at him. Surrounded by the sun's bright aura, he appeared to her like some storybook hero.

"She's coming to," said a voice.

Priscilla attempted to move her head towards the voice, and observed with dissatisfaction that it was a beautiful young woman. She groaned again.

The young man vanished from view, and Priscilla felt anxious. She swerved her head, fearing that the vision would disappear. But no— there he was again, standing at the young woman's side. Then someone else came, and a familiar voice said, "Good heavens, is she all right?"

"Father," thought Priscilla as he bent over her, scanning her face worriedly. Then he picked her up in his arms. Priscilla tried to keep her eyes on the young man. She had rather wished it was HE who had picked her up, but her father had ruined this possibility. She groaned again.

"I think she'll be all right," Tifa said, as they watched Priscilla's father carrying her up the stairs into the town. "Let's check on her later. For now, let's go back to the inn."

Did I say I will post a new chapter every Sunday? Maybe I meant every Thursday. Check back twice a week, just in case. But please do bookmark my stories page, I think it messes up with chapter 1's stats if you return to chapter 1 every time!

Yuffie is so much fun to write up as a comic relief villain. In the original she really WAS a Turk, but I decided to change it for more fun.

Poor Zack. Only gets attention from nine year olds. The Priscilla thing is played for a joke, and, well, there's really no other candidate for this, so he had to fill the position previously occupied by Cloud. At least there's no CPR this time.

Starting with this chapter, the rest of the chapters in the story tend to be more dialogue than description heavy because the story's 30 chapters cover pretty much the entire FFVII storyline and it needs to end eventually.