By a Fraction of a Degree
A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129
Rated T for Violence and Language.
I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.
Part II: Reunion
Chapter 26, Well, We Got There Eventually…
December 23rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
Dinner that night was quite the event. With Aerith and Tifa's help, Alice had managed to truly outdo herself. A ham Liam had cured, and a healthy selection of vegetables preserved from the year's harvest was arranged on the table which had been relocated to the back yard and set up with plenty of extra chairs. The conversation mainly took place at Zack's end of the table as he told his folks stories of some of the places he'd seen. The girls added their two cents on occasion along with Kunsel. To no one's surprise, Cloud and Vincent had little to say, but what really surprised Zack was that Barret had been quiet through most of the meal too. Even after getting defrogged, he'd spent a large portion of the time thinking, which really didn't suit him all that well.
It was even more surprising considering that Zack had been almost sure having a current Shinra operative in the party might raise a fuss from him. But as soon as the meal ended, the man simply walked off toward the cliff overlooking the Gongaga reactor ruins, and sat down, watching its ghostly remains in the moonlight. Freya had been a little subdued too, but she wouldn't say why.
One by one the others in the party slowly began to get up and disperse to prepare their tents or otherwise occupy themselves when his mom walked up to him. "Zack, I was wondering if you could help me with the dishes."
"Sure." He followed her into the house and approached the sink, he saw that Tifa was sitting next to Cloud in the living area. It seemed they were seeking refuge after a slight altercation with Yuffie in which they had to convince her not to test out her new summon in the back yard, or even within the limits of the village. Vincent eventually agreed that he would accompany her out to someplace that was clear of hazards, just in case more Touch Mes showed up, but Cloud now leaned against the back of the couch looking exhausted. Zack grinned. "She'll run you ragged if you aren't careful," He offered.
"Thanks for the warning," Tifa said from her seat next to the younger swordsman. "Next time we think it's a good idea to let her have a summon, stop us, okay?"
"Anytime." Zack reached for the dish detergent, careful not to break the plates as he worked. It sort of reminded him of when Angeal had first taken him on. When he'd made 3rd Class, he really had not known his own strength for a while, and his mentor had started him out working on holding things like eggs before giving him other assignments, such as doing the dishes, to test his level of control. In some ways it had been a blessing in disguise that Cloud had regained consciousness while still physically weakened from their ordeals. It had allowed him to acquaint himself with that strength over a slow period of time rather than waking up from sedation and discovering that suddenly he was strong enough to lift the back end of a heavy duty truck on a regular basis.
"Are you okay honey?" he heard his mother behind him.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He offered her one of his winning smiles.
"Oh, you just looked like you had something on your mind."
"It's nothing. Just thinking about a friend." He realized he'd stopped working at that point and his arms were covered in soap suds.
Cloud stood up and joined him, picking up a towel that lay on the counter, and wordlessly started drying a dish Zack had finished with.
"Oh, you don't have to do that Cloud," Alice said.
"It's all right," Cloud answered. "It'll be faster this way."
Tifa stood up and volunteered to clean the counters soon after and, between the four of them, the kitchen was spotless in short order. They were about to walk out to join everyone when Liam entered. "Is everything taken care of outside dear?" Alice asked him.
"All that's left is the table and we're bringing it in now." He gestured behind him as he held open the door and Zack saw that Kunsel was carrying it back inside by himself.
"Goodness!" Alice exclaimed. "You SOLDIERs sure are strong!"
"This is nothing." Kunsel said, carefully negotiating the table legs through the door. "Zack fought with monsters in Wutai three times this size."
"The Nibel Dragons weren't exactly small either," Cloud offered.
"You fought a dragon?" Liam was clearly quite impressed while Alice seemed at a loss for words.
"Well, Sephiroth did most of the work, but yeah, I fought one. He was a mean one too, with claws and fangs, and these giant scaly wings! You had to be careful of those, otherwise they might knock you silly if you weren't careful."
"I saw one from a distance once. When I was young, my father had business that took him north for some reason so we took the mountain route. We didn't get close, but those are something to see," Liam commented.
As Kunsel finished positioning the table back in the dining area, Zack stretched and rolled his shoulders. "Hey guys? You up for a short spar before bed?"
Cloud and Kunsel both looked up. It had been a sufficient time by now for the food to settle, Zack guessed and he was feeling antsy. He just knew if he tried turning in for the night now he probably wouldn't be able to.
Kunsel answered first, dusting off his hands. "Sure we could do that. Who goes first?"
"How about we start with just me and Cloud and then you can cut in to help him after a few minutes."
"That's fine. We are doing this in the back yard, right?" The brown-haired SOLDIER walked to the door.
"Where else would we do it?" Zack asked. With that, everyone filed out to either gather their equipment, or watch the show. Zack walked to a place near the center of the yard, holding the Buster Sword at the ready. Cloud joined him soon after, having decided to leave the Yoshiyuki in favor of his regular sword, however, Zack noticed a smaller blade sitting in his sword harness behind the larger one. It was the butterfly edge he'd found at Cosmo Canyon. He was curious, but he decided that Cloud could be the one to judge what was best for his own fighting style. After a moment, his friend and protégé pulled out the longer sword and held it at the ready.
"I'll give you guys about two minutes before I jump in," Kunsel said.
"Sounds good."
"Okay, start when I say go." Kunsel stood at the edge of the impromptu fighting ring.
Zack adjusted his grip around his sword as he eyed his friend. He trusted him, but that didn't mean he intended to let him get inside his defenses.
"One…"
Cloud met his gaze with one as steady as his own, his blue eyes alert with anticipation.
"Two…"
Zack adjusted his stance slightly and whispered "You ready?"
"Three…"
Cloud grinned. "You bet."
"Go!"
The two swordsmen circled each other for a bit, each trying to guess what the other was thinking before almost at the same moment, they lunged. Zack had more power behind his strike, and ended up getting there first but at the last second, Cloud managed to parry, sliding out of range of the large blade. Sparks flew between the two pieces of steel under the light over the back door and from the torches that had been set up in the yard.
Zack could see Cloud's eyes glowing as he backed further away from the light before coming at him with a slash from the right, and he brought the Buster Sword down in a guarding position.
For a split second there was nothing but silence before Cloud pulled away, this time attempting a downward strike which Zack also blocked before deciding to press the offensive again. He backed away before lifting the Buster Sword for a diagonal strike from the left. Cloud dodged to the side, whirling around with his sword to deliver a blow to the opening his friend had left, but Zack was too quick, managing to duck and roll as the sword flew easily overhead, not even touching his hair.
Kunsel watched as the two men fought, noticing that Aerith and Tifa had joined Zack's parents at the door, watching at a safe distance. From a trainer's perspective, both of them appeared to be in top form, knowing each other's movements and knowing exactly when to press and when to back off. Cloud lunged forward, and Zack retreated before coming back with a heavy downward swing that Cloud stepped out of the way of before coming at him again. This wasn't strictly a spar, Kunsel could see. The other two SOLDIERs were playing, enjoying the rhythm of the combat, and the trust they shared, knowing that neither of them would harm the other. Zack parried again and launched a second attack from his right before bringing his sword around in a heavy swing which in turn forced Cloud to duck out of the way. Probably payback for that one swing he'd pulled a short while ago. Cloud too looked in his element. Though he was too busy concentrating to smile, Kunsel could almost feel his excitement.
He checked his PHS. Had it already been two minutes? He stuck it back in his pocket and waited for an opening. Soon, he saw that Zack was occupied with Cloud again and took that opportunity to come forward, raising his sword with a warning yell to alert them of his intentions. Zack wasted no time before stepping behind his sword, turning it in such a way that Cloud had to back off to attempt another swing and the blade caught the side of Kunsel's. They locked eyes for a moment, Zack's violet and his own hazel ones, before Zack moved out of the way to once again parry when Cloud moved in for another attack.
Back and forth the three SOLDIERs went, swords cutting the air and sparks flying for some minutes before Zack called a halt, clearly much more relaxed than he had been earlier. At that moment, Aerith and Tifa both applauded and he could see that Vincent had returned along with the others. Zack of course took the applause as encouragement and bowed dramatically. "I know, I know. We were all pretty awesome weren't we?"
"Of course," Aerith said.
At that moment, Barret reappeared with a stretch and a bonecracking yawn. "I don' know what ya'll've been up to, but we should prob'ly get an early start tomorrow." Kunsel was a little surprised, but given how he'd been in such a sour mood earlier this was definitely an improvement. While the gunman was still obviously not dancing with glee, it seemed that whatever the problem was had at least been put aside for the moment in favor of fatigue.
Zack nodded. "You're probably right."
It was the Lifestream again. The tendrils of green mist passed by him, lighting the darkness with their glow as gentle whispers flickered in and out of range of his senses. It was hard to comprehend how vast this place was. It felt empty and yet far too full of energy and movement. Then he found himself back in Nibelheim… terror clenched in his throat as he recognized the bright light overhead. The table in the Shinra basement. Hojo had to be around here somewhere, he could hear someone talking. He tried to move but for some reason he couldn't. His body felt heavy, and in his mind he couldn't seem to process why that was…
"Failure." The word blared off of a sheet of paper in front of him before it before vanished into the dark, and in its place was another bright light, but the sensations were different… pleasant… warm water… and a gentle voice…
"You were so worried. But it's all right… She made it out safely… and I know she's out there somewhere… Wake up…"
For a moment, Cloud wasn't quite sure he was awake and he lay on the couch in the Fairs' living room, blinking and allowing the previous evening to come back to him before sitting up. He was sure he felt the fading twinge of a headache on the verge of dissipating, but maybe it was his imagination. He looked around the room, taking in Zack and Kunsel sleeping on the floor. The girls had been given his bedroom and somehow, they managed to get everyone into the house (in spite of the protests from some of the guests about not wanting to intrude). After a moment, he stood and stretched, before pulling on his sweater and creeping out to the back door, thinking some fresh air would do him good. He silently pushed it open, and stepped out, paying mind to Nanaki, who had insisted he preferred being outside, when he stepped out and looked up at the stars.
Perhaps it was because he hadn't quite returned to wakefulness that he couldn't place to whom that last voice had belonged. It sounded awfully familiar. He watched the sky for a while until he heard Nanaki stir behind him. It would be time to leave soon.
December 24th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
The next morning, Zack awoke to the familiar smells he had long ago associated with his mother cooking breakfast. The girls were also helping her, having apparently heard her get up to get things started. After everyone had convened to get their fill of the morning meal, it was soon time to pack up and make plans for the next leg of the journey.
They had finished the last trip to load the helicopter, when Liam approached his son. "Your mother and I have decided we'll make ourselves scarce for a while. Though we don't know exactly where we're going."
"It's pretty easy," Zack said. "I can give you the name of the village to go to and have someone meet you there, or I could have Cissnei take you back, if you want."
"That might be best if it's not too much trouble for her."
"Not at all. It's better this way, considering Shinra knows you live here, and they probably already know we've spoken. I was able to divert attention from you before, but now that Cait's in the equation…"
"Even though you've accepted this Reeve person, you still don't trust him," Liam observed.
"Not as far as I can throw that stuffed toy, and until I see otherwise, I'm not taking any chances," Zack confirmed.
Liam nodded. "Very wise. I wouldn't either. We'll have our things ready when she returns, though I suppose we'll make our arrangements between ourselves."
"Be careful."
Liam nodded. "You as well. We're both proud of you, son."
Zack rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks… Though I guess I need to get going."
Liam clapped him on the back and then pulled him into a hug before calling his wife. "Alice, our son's getting ready to leave!"
His mother had been talking to Aerith about something near the helicopter's main hatch but she finished and walked over and also pulled him into a hug. "Take care of yourselves, and don't forget, we love you."
Zack grinned. "I love you guys too, and we'll see you when we're done, okay?"
His mother and father backed away from the area under the rotors and Zack pulled himself inside. Soon they were away, and headed north towards the shifting sands and blistering heat of the Corel Desert.
It was still not quite noon when Cissnei brought the helicopter to a stop outside the North Corel town limits, and predictably, once again, Yuffie was the first out, soon followed by Cloud, but he wasn't in nearly as much of a hurry now. He didn't even feel all that ill, much to the relief of everyone else. Really, only one person in the helicopter who was on the verge of throwing up was more than enough. All thought on that curiosity was wiped from his mind when he looked out at…
"This is North Corel?" Zack's question was exactly the same as his own thoughts. Even from here, the place looked barren and desolate, populated by tents and smashed buildings. There were a few booths where shopkeepers had set themselves up, but really, the place looked worse than Gongaga.
"Didn' always look like this," Barret growled.
Kunsel sighed. "That's right, you didn't go to Costa Del Sol, you took the long way around through the islands. But yeah, I've seen it. The one time I got duty over here it was to keep people from rioting while they fixed the ropeway…" He trailed off as he saw Barret was giving him a warning look. "I didn't hurt anyone here, I swear. You should know by now, that's not how I do things, if I can help it."
Barret took a moment to answer. "It doesn' matter now…"
When everyone had disembarked, Cissnei said "Do you need anything before I leave?"
Zack shook his head. "We'll let you know what the plan is tonight depending on what we find. Since it's a bit shorter to get to the Saucer, we may even ask you to just land there when you get back. I know you'll probably be tired."
"It's no trouble. Thanks to Freya, I'm still fresh."
"I owe you big time. You know that right?"
"Don't even think about it. Without you, we would have had a lot more trouble saving the world." Cissnei grinned and after she departed, the remaining members of the party started towards the ruined town.
When they approached, walking along a set of train tracks, Cloud could see three men coming from the opposite direction. Barret pulled ahead, almost defensively, walking face first into one of the men's fists as he threw a hard right hook. The gunman didn't budge as the man jeered "Well, lookey here! Never thought I'd ever see your face again. They kick you out of another town or somethin'? You destroy everything you touch."
One of the other men joined in. "You got a lot of balls comin' back here! Look at this place! It's all your fault North Corel turned into a garbage heap!"
"Well? Why doncha say something!? Or did ya forget what you done here already?" The third man looked like he might be ready to throw a rock if they weren't careful.
Freya reached the men at that point. "What's all this about?" She demanded.
"It's none o' your #$%^&* business." Barret growled warningly before looking back to the three men. "…I'm sorry…"
The man who had punched him spat at the ground even as he eyed the assembled group behind Barret. "^%$#! You ain't even worth the effort. We probably shouldn' even waste our time talkin to you, Techno-freak! You might cause an even bigger mess then that other guy did at the saucer." With that, the men dispersed, going off into the town of tents.
As the last guy was leaving Barret called out "Wait! What other guy? Do you mean…"
The man didn't answer before he rounded a corner. Right as he disappeared, another movement caught Cloud's eye and he looked up. Several yards away from them, clad in a black robe, stood a figure with a tattoo on his hand, clearly reading "I." His eyes met another pair glowing green underneath the hood, even in the late morning sunlight, and as Zack caught up with him, it turned around and shuffled in the direction of the ropeway, making a motion almost as though it were beckoning before it disappeared. Zack and Cloud raced after him like Nibel Wolves on the scent of a Chocobo. It wasn't Sephiroth, but if he was in the area, the figure might know.
Far, far to the north near the isolated town of Icicle Inn, a woman with cold eyes and long dust brown hair, almost like it had been faded by the snowfall, was tracking a set of shuffling footprints across the ice towards the Great Glacier. Liz had been out here for several hours, though she didn't mind the cold. She'd lived in the area for most of her life, and she knew the fastest way back to town if she needed to return. Right now, the martial artist renegade was occupied. She'd been following this person for some time, since she'd caught sight of the black cloak and shuffling countenance near her small house on the outskirts of town, completely by chance earlier this morning. Veld had put the word out, and so she made her choice. Still, this had been quite a request on the doctor's part. The situation would have to be dire indeed if the former SOLDIER doctor and researcher was willing to go to these lengths.
She continued to trail her quarry through the falling snow, ever mindful of her surroundings. There was a sound off in the distance and her hands pulled into fists. Even at noon, it was rather dark around here with the snow falling, but years of practice had made it easy to spot her quarry up ahead of her.
She raced forward and tackled the shuffling figure even as she vaguely heard it muttering "Become one… Sephiroth…" In spite of being slightly surprised at the figure when he nearly pulled her off, she managed to incapacitate him, mostly due to the fact this person had apparently never been taught how to fight. Once she had him tackled, she noted the number VI tattooed on his exposed arm where the cloak had ridden up slightly. Upon securing the person, whom she was now quite sure was a man, with a pair of handcuffs, she promptly hoisted her quarry (he was actually rather heavy considering he was so small and thin) over her shoulder and heaved him back towards Icicle Inn. Once there, she would see about making arrangements to get him to Mideel. She knew a guy with a plane who ought to be able to get her there by tomorrow if he wasn't busy…
"Must get to him… become one…" And quickly, she decided. This person was obviously crazy due to whatever had happened to him, and if she didn't hurry, it might rub off.
It was not long before the kid with the tattoo led them towards the ropeway and got aboard, so the rest of the group soon followed. There were two compartments, so Freya suggested they ride in the other one. They didn't want to scare the kid away, and if he led them to Sephiroth, all the better. They were about halfway to the Saucer, and Vincent had been put in charge of watching their quarry in case he did anything, when Aerith's attention was brought back to Barret. "What happened back there?" she asked.
Barret shook his head. "Sorry, my hometown used to be around here."
"You mean Corel." Kunsel asked.
Barret nodded.
"How could they say those terrible things?" Aerith demanded.
The gunman sighed. "Ya probly know what happened at the reactor, I guess. But it's still my fault. It's ALL my fault. If I'd sided with Dyne against building the thing in the first place, the town wouldn' be such a wreck now."
"Dyne?" Nanaki said.
"He was my friend back then. He didn' want us given' up our coal mines for the reactor, and we shoulda listened. But we didn', and then the day came, me an Dyne went off to check the reactor and were away for a few days. When I came back, the town had been burned to the ground by Shinra troops. They blamed it on the town; said a rebel faction did it; and now, I know it was half true, but if I'd never gone along with it…"
"That's so terrible!" Tifa exclaimed. "But don't blame yourself. We were all fooled by the promises Shinra made back then."
Barret looked out the window, the familiar scowl on his face. "That's why… that's why I get so pissed off. Not only did they take advantage of me… But I lost my wife, Myrna, too…"
An uncomfortable silence fell across the cable car compartment for a moment before Kunsel spoke up again. "When they said 'that other guy' what did you think they meant?"
Barret shook his head. "When me an' Dyne were on our way home, we ran into a bunch of troopers and during the fight, he fell off a cliff. I tried to hold him… but they shot my hand off and his too. I thought he fell to his death, but after I threw away my artificial arm and got this gun grafted in, the doctor told me somethin'. He said that another man had gotten the same operation done, 'cept it was the other hand. I don't know if this might be him. But I'm sure as hell gonna find out, at least so I can apologize to him."
Aerith nodded. "We'll help. The least we can do is ask if it's him, right?"
Before Barret could answer, they heard a chiming noise and the cablecar pulled to halt. "Our target's moving." Vincent said softly.
They hurried out of the cablecar just in time to see their quarry vanish into a throng of people headed towards the main entrance to the park. They were almost there when the person at the ticket booth called out "Hey, you can't just walk in! Get over here!"
Aerith looked back in the direction they had been going and she heard Zack heave a sigh next to her. It seemed thanks to that momentary distraction, their target had disappeared. Nothing for it now. Zack walked over to the guy selling tickets. "Sorry, this is the first time we've been here. How much for the tickets?"
The guy looked around at the group, mentally counting off how many people there were here. "For a single group pass that'll cover everyone for one visit it'll be about 5000 gil. Or you can purchase a lifetime pass for 50000."
Zack whistled. "I think we'll stick with the single pass." He finished the transaction and he and Aerith were about to return to the others when he remembered their conversation from earlier. "Hey, I was wondering, was there some kind of disturbance a few days ago?"
"Come to think of it, there was. You might want to ask Dio about it if you want to learn more. You can usually find him in the Battle Square."
"Thanks." Conversation finished, the two of them rejoined the others, handing out their tickets and Vincent looked like he was about ready to leave.
"Hang on!" Zack called after him.
Vincent quirked an eyebrow at him. "I assume we still intend to follow this person."
"Well yeah. But we shouldn't just go it alone."
"Right," Kunsel agreed. "How about this. Zack, you go talk to this Dio guy. Freya and I can pull one team to search and Vincent can go with…" He cast around, trying to think of the right partner for the taciturn marksman.
"I'll go with him!" Yuffie volunteered. "It'll be much more interesting than talking to some crusty old guy anyway."
Aerith watched as Kunsel looked to Vincent, obviously signaling he could ask for a way out if he wanted, but the red cloaked man simply nodded and said "Do as you wish," before walking off into the crowded amusement park.
Yuffie hurried after him, and Aerith stifled a giggle when she saw that the ninja was already pestering her companion with chatter even though Vincent was clearly ignoring every word.
Kunsel watched until they were no longer in sight and then turned back to the others. "Well, I guess we'd better get going too."
"Right, give us a ring if you see or hear anything!" The lady Turk followed after the SOLDIER and they too soon disappeared into the sea of people coming in and out of the main hub. The rest of the group looked around at the sights and sounds inside the hub, contemplating what direction they ought to go.
Finally Zack gave voice to their thoughts. "So, if we were looking for Battle Square, where would it be?" He glanced at the map, his arms crossed as he considered the question.
"I think it would be over in tha' direction lad. I'm usually here when I'm not doing anythin' for Reeve, so I know the territory pretty well." Cait Sith had been put under Tifa's watchful eye since Cissnei was gone at the moment, and he sat on her shoulder, pointing to one of the tunnels.
"Okay, in that case, let's go."
They were walking towards the exit that they could now see was marked "Battle Square" when they heard someone yelling over the sound of the crowd "Excuse me! Coming through! Hey mister, would you mind moving? I'm trying to get to the elevator leading to the chocobo stalls at the race track here. Whoa Teioh! Calm down boy it's all right! We're fine!"
Aerith found her attention drawn to a man in a red jacket and a black hat with a feather in it leading a black chocobo across the hub, and clearly having a little trouble. "He looks like he could use some help," she pointed out.
Zack spotted the man leading the chocobo, and nodded. "I guess we could take a moment." He led the party towards the bird and Aerith saw Cloud was already next to him when they got within speaking distance.
"Hey, could you use a hand there bud?" Zack called out.
"That would be great," the man answered. "If you could just help a guy out and clear a path to the elevator? Teioh here is gentle as a kitten, but he's a racing bird you see. With the crowds being so bad, it's kind of difficult to just lead him around the regular areas. I would have taken the back way, but it's under maintenance right now thanks to some guy who went on a rampage here a few days back."
"Yeah, that's a problem," Zack agreed.
Aerith watched as Cloud walked up to the bird. The black chocobo lowered his head, nudging the swordsman almost immediately and Cloud offered him a soft scratch on his neck. "So, which way is the elevator?" Zack asked.
"It's over that way." The man pointed out a set of sealed doors near the entrance to what was clearly Chocobo Square.
"All right. Hang on a sec." Zack walked a short distance away and put two fingers to his mouth before whistling very loudly. It reverberated through the main hub, and when he clearly had everyone's attention, he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear "Hey! There's a guy with a chocobo coming through! So make a path for him okay?"
Aerith found herself blushing and trying not to laugh again. Oh Zack. Never let it be said that he and subtlety were close companions. Still, it got the intended effect, and the crowds parted, leaving a clear way to the elevator. With Cloud and Zack leading the way to ensure no one strayed too far into the lane of travel, they soon made it to the lift.
The man with the chocobo was clearly impressed. "Thanks guys. I owe you one. Now I'll be able to get Teioh ready for the races in no time!"
"It was no trouble," Zack offered. "Besides, we couldn't just leave you like that. Cloud's been raising a couple of little chocobos of his own, so I guess we've got a soft spot for the birds."
Tifa looked curiously at her friend, the unspoken question about this new information clear on her face and Aerith smiled. They had been keeping the little chocobos at a smaller ranch just north of the lodge, since they didn't have space, but Cloud had been going back every other day when there wasn't work to check on them.
As Zack spoke, Cloud nodded sheepishly to confirm it before he rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed.
The man simply grinned. "That must be why Teioh took to him so quickly when he walked up. I've never seen him press a stranger for attention like that. The name's Joe by the way. People around here call me Chocobo Joe."
"Wow, I didn't know we were helping a celebrity." Zack returned the grin.
Teioh nudged at Cloud again and the younger swordsman gave him another pat as he commented "He's got some nice feathers. I've never seen a black one before though."
Joe nodded appreciatively warming up to the man's interest. "He's a beauty isn't he? I raised him myself, and he's the sturdiest one I've ever bred. Strong enough to climb mountains and swim through rivers with ease, and he isn't even slowed in the course hurdles. He comes from good stock too. His parents were a couple of my best, a green and a blue if you'd believe it."
"Well he seems like a sweet bird," Aerith commented.
"He is that," Joe agreed, offering Teioh a gentle pat on his wing. "But anyway, I've got to get him down to the stalls to get him ready for tonight. How about you come by to visit later this afternoon, as a way of thanking you for your help?"
"Sounds nice, I don't know how many of us can come, but we'll try," Zack said.
"Great, I'll see you there." With that, Joe led Teioh into the elevator and out of sight.
Barret grunted. "So ya think we can get back ta what we were really tryin' ta do before ya decided ta start playin' with birds?"
"Yeah, let's." Zack looked around before locating the porthole through which they needed to go to enter Battle Square and they made their way through the crowd to get to it. They travelled down a tunnel for a while before coming out again into a room that appeared to have been built to look like the keep of a castle, with long purple carpets and checkered marble floors.
Aerith was definitely impressed as she took in the décor. They didn't have places like this in the slums, not even at the church. She saw Zack and the others were already walking towards an alcove clearly designated as Dio's show room up another set of stairs and followed them, still looking up at the vaulted ceilings. She caught up to them just as they had encountered a man by the display cases and Zack approached him.
"Hello there," he offered. "Are you Dio?"
The man could hardly be anybody else, based on the picture on the wall, and he flexed his well-built muscles, his mustache curling in unison with his bicep. "Why yes I am boy. I hope you're having a good time."
Zack grinned patiently. "Well sure we are, but actually I wanted to ask you a couple of things."
"If you're askin' about the Black Materia, I don't have it and I don't even know what that is." Dio answered. "Some kid with a tattoo on his hand asked me about it just a couple of days ago. I didn't know what the heck he was talking about."
"Black materia?" Zack asked curiously. "Did he say anything else?" This was certainly news to Aerith. It was the first time they'd heard of one of these Black Cloaked people being coherent enough to meaningfully communicate with anyone.
"Well, there was something about a Reunion, but I didn't catch too much of it," Dio admitted. "He was a pretty strange fella, now that I think about it."
"Sounds like it," Zack agreed. "You haven't happened to see anyone who looks like the former general Sephiroth around here have you? By any chance?"
"Actually yes, he was here. Why? Did you want his autograph or something?"
"It's complicated. But I've actually got a few more questions."
"All right, ask away boy." Dio was obviously enjoying the attention even if it was rather odd.
Zack ignored the pet name for a moment before saying "One of my friends here heard about the disturbance that happened a couple of days ago. That didn't have anything to do with Sephiroth or that kid you talked about did it?"
Dio shook his head though his brow was now furrowed in a serious expression. "No son, that was a troublemaker from down in Corel prison. It was really horrible."
"What happened?" Barret asked.
Dio raised an eyebrow when he saw the gunarm but answered "I don't generally like to make a big deal out of things like this, since it's bad for business. I run a tight ship here at the Saucer, but since this seems rather important I'll tell you. A man with a gun grafted to his left arm climbed up here and shot up a lot of the guards. It was a real terrible affair. The only thing that kept me from sealing off the prison completely was the fact that I got word from Mr. Coates that he went back down and killed himself afterwards…"
Barret approached him, an angry scowl on his face and Zack and Cloud both jumped forward along with Tifa to hold him back. "Calm down Barret. We don't even know if it was him!" Tifa pleaded.
"I know." Barret gave Dio another warning look. "What was this man's name?"
"Dyne, I think…"
"Where is he?" Barret's voice was eerily calm.
"Coates said he died down by the trench."
"Then let me down there…" Barret growled.
"You want to go down to the prison?" Dio asked surprised.
Barret nodded. "The least I can do is pay my respects… and apologize…"
Tifa had not taken her hand off of Barret's gun arm the entire time and finally, Dio relented. "All right, I'll have Mr. Coates show you the way down and tell him to let you back up when you're done."
Barret nodded. "I'll be waitin' outside."
As they watched him go, Nanaki followed after him. Everyone heaved a big sigh of relief and Dio gave Zack a worried look, eyeing the cross scar on his face with new concern. "S-so… anything else I can help you with boy?"
"Actually yes, and my name is Zack, so if you could knock it off with calling me boy, please?" Zack was grinning again, except this was more one of relief and trying to ease the tension out of the mood then being genuinely amused or happy.
"Sure…" Dio seemed like he was contemplating calling the guards, so Zack was doing his very best to look as nonthreatening as possible. A difficult task considering the huge slab of metal on his back, but Aerith had to give him credit for trying.
"Have you ever seen anything around here that might be a key of stone?" Zack asked. It was their last lead to follow up on. It may have been silly, but Freya seemed to think it was a genuine prediction, and as little as they trusted Cait Sith, the lady Turk usually seemed to know what she was talking about.
"Key of stone?" Dio looked over at a display at the far end of the room. "Would that be what you're looking for?"
Everyone glanced at the podium.
"Well I'll be damned…" Zack said softly, running a hand through his hair. "The plush toy was right."
In big bold letters on a plaque under a speckled grey stone carved into a sphere, was written the word "Keystone."
"Plush toy?" Dio's eyebrows were now raised up even further on his forehead.
"That would be me lad!" Cait Sith spoke up from where he'd been perched on Tifa's shoulder. "I know you've seen me before."
"Oh! Cait Sith! Where have you been? How's Reeve?" Dio asked.
"He's well." The cat answered.
"Glad to hear it."
Zack cleared his throat. "So uh, this keystone, what does it do exactly?"
"Well I don't know if it's true or not, but apparently it's supposed to open this ruin called the Temple of the Ancients. There's a legend that something really important's hidden there, but no one's ever made it inside, at least that's the story." Dio explained.
"Temple of the Ancients huh..?" Zack thought for a moment. "You don't think we could borrow it for a bit do you?"
Now that Barret was gone and Cait Sith's presence had been noted, Dio seemed a little more relaxed and his laugh was genuine again. "Sorry boy, it's not for rent, but I tell you what, since you're traveling with Cait Sith, I'll make you a deal. One of you has to entertain me for a bit in the Battle Square. If you put on a good show, I'll give it to you. How's that?"
Zack grinned. "Now that's a challenge I can get behind." He reached behind him and clapped Cloud on the back. "How about Cloud? He's a pretty good fighter."
"Me?" Cloud looked up at his friend in surprise. "But…"
"Don't give me that." Aerith grinned as Zack gave his friend a stern but encouraging look. "After that spar last night, I think you can handle something like this. Go knock'em dead, all right? It'll be fun!"
At last Cloud relented. "Okay, fine, you win."
I am so excited about the next few chapters! I can hardly wait to post them! ^^
The party would have left Cosmo Canyon today and reached Nibelheim. That's all I'm saying on that front.
See ya next time!