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 31, Searching for Solutions
December 25th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
It was nearly midnight when Freya brought the plane in for a landing about a mile or so away from Rocket Town and began the rest of her journey on foot. As soon as her feet hit the ground, her PHS was to her ear, and it wasn't long before she got hold of Mao. He answered quickly. "Yeah?"
"Where are you?" she asked, walking toward the lighted sky that marked the airfield.
"I'm on the outskirts of town, I saw what happened with Cid. Some old geezer who lives near the Rocket offered him and his wife a place to hide. She took a nasty blow to the head…"
She heard the sound of someone yelling in the background. "She ain't my wife! Just thinkin' 'bout marryin' her gives me the chills!"
"Will she be okay?" Freya climbed up to the top of one of the grassy hills and found herself looking up at the backside of the rocket about a thousand yards away.
"I was able to patch her up with the Restore materia and Phoenix Down I had in my supplies, but she's resting at the moment. I didn't know your friend had such a foul mouth. I think he must have turned himself blue with all the swear words at least twice."
"Don't get your britches in a wad scar-face!" Cid interjected.
Mao snorted derisively before telling him to go do something unnatural with his hindquarters, much to Freya's amusement.
"Tell him I'm back with his plane. That oughta cheer him up."
"I expect it will. Where should we meet you?"
"I'm headed towards the base of the launch pad. Meet me on the side pointed away from the houses and I'll lead you to where I landed it. Given that the army'll be looking for him, it'd probably be best to move quick." Freya continued walking towards the location she'd indicated, though the rocket was still a fair distance away.
"Will do. There's some guards around here that Rufus called in but we should be there in a bit." Mao ended the call, leaving the lady Turk alone with her thoughts as she walked towards the rocket, lit up by spotlights in the distance, a crooked pillar of light surrounded by the inky blackness of the night sky.
Mao ended the call and looked over at Cid, holding his sheathed katana at the ready. "It's time to move."
"Be careful cap, I know it won't be easy with those guards around," The old man whose house they were sheltering in said.
"Walt, you just worry 'bout yourself. Nothin's getting' between me and my plane." Cid shouldered his spear and then knelt down to shake awake the sleeping technician at his feet. "Shera, get in gear, it's time to go."
The bespectacled woman blinked and pulled herself up and before he could say anything, she reached for the rifle on the table, holding it at the ready. Cid stuck a cigarette into his mouth and lit it with his free hand before walking to the back door. Shera took a position behind him and Mao took the rear, closing the door behind them. A cool evening breeze blew across the grassy fields around the town. Cid turned his attention towards the rocket and led the way around the edge of the buildings.
The pilot vaulted over a fence and waited impatiently while Shera pulled herself over after him. Mao had just hopped across when a shadow blocked their path. "Hey! There they are!" A trooper on patrol had just appeared.
Cid chomped down on his cigarette with a hungry grin before readying his spear and brutally leaping forward, running the man through. The trooper didn't last more than a second before collapsing to the ground. The pilot pulled his weapon free and wordlessly started running in the direction of the rocket. Mao and Shera followed after, though Mao ended up having to pull his katana to slice it along another trooper's throat. They hurried to the peak of a bridge that crossed over one of the tubes leading to the launch pad. Realizing that if they continued further they'd have to deal with being surrounded, Cid pushed Shera down on the opposite side of the stairs so she could kneel down and aim the rifle over the deck while he and Mao took positions on either side of her.
The ruckus from the first trooper had apparently roused the rest of the platoon Rufus had sent. Heidegger apparently hadn't been able to get most of Rocket Town to budge on going after Cid due to their loyalties, thank Gaia, but the army was a different story. Several troopers advanced and Mao felt the woman next to him carefully shift to aim the rifle.
"Any time now Shera!" Cid growled.
"Yes captain," the technician didn't look up at him or even move a muscle for several moments and then Mao heard the rifle discharge. The carefully aimed shot connected with one of the trooper's legs and he fell to the ground, a couple of his comrades tumbling over him. "Six rounds left captain."
"Then hurry it up #$%^*, I ain't got all night!" Cid lunged forward knocking another trooper down the stairs with his spear.
"Yes captain," Shera aimed and fired, adjusting her position after the recoil. Mao looked below and saw another trooper attempting to climb over the pipe. A Thunder spell dealt with that annoyance quickly before he heard a third rifle shot echo across the rocket's hull. That was when he looked up and saw several of the troopers in the distance setting up what looked like a heavy machine gun.
"You idiots!" In less than half a second, Cid dived in between several of the troopers, wading through the platoon towards the gunners. Mao saw no choice but to dive in after the pilot, as he thrust his spear forward, spun the shaft around to knock over several more of his opponents and then lunged after the new threat. "Don't… put… holes… in my ship!"
He heard Shera's rifle go off again and just ahead of them saw one of the gunners fall to the ground, even as he'd been loading the rounds. Cid ran his spear through another trooper, his cigarette a small beacon in the chaos. Mao raced in front of the spearman, slicing through another trooper as he went, before vaulting over another to lunge at one of the other gunners. If they got that thing online, it would be all over.
He felt the spear whoosh by over his head when Cid went after another trooper behind him before another rifle shot went off. He didn't see if it connected, but his own target went down quickly by his sword before he heard Cid grunt as one of the other troopers clipped him with a bayonet. He backed away, a new rage in his eyes. Mao was about to turn around to go after one of the other troopers before they could get the pilot from behind, but another rifle shot rent through the air and the target fell. A glance back revealed Shera readjusting her aim after another recoil.
Cid didn't even seem to notice, but instead rammed his spear through one of the other troopers as they tried to make another try for the machine gun. Mao cast another Thunder, blocking a trooper behind him with his sheath as he did so, and decided he should make his way back towards the stairs. Shera only had two rounds left. Cid should be able to handle the machine gun.
Another rifle shot. Another trooper down near the machine gun. Make that one round left. There were about eight troopers left now. What a waste, he reflected. Most of them were probably no more than teenagers. Yet another trooper fell to his blade and he heard the whoosh behind him when Cid brought his spear around again to harpoon another one.
That was when he saw two more trying to climb the stairs. He was about to go after the lower one when he was forced to dodge another trooper's swipe at him with his own small blade. He dodged out of the way before artfully running the katana upwards across the trooper's chest. Shera's last round took out the first trooper, just as he reached the top of the stairs but the second one was coming up behind him.
Mao lunged forward over the body he'd just downed, but he could already see her eyes widen in fear when her newest attacker raised his own rifle to aim at her.
Another gunshot rang out over the area and for a second, neither of the two at the top of the stairs moved…
Another second passed, and then the trooper fell. Shera looked behind her, at the click of a shotgun dispensing empty shells, to see Freya standing there an encouraging smile on her face. Mao took a position at the foot of the stairs, his blade meeting that of another trooper. "You're late," he called up to the lady Turk.
"Last I checked…" Freya carefully aimed her shotgun away from the rocket so her blast radius encompassed three troopers to the right of the fight before firing again, sending echoes ringing along the bulkheads. "You never showed up to the rendezvous. You can't say anything." Her three targets were collapsed on the ground, and judging from the way they were holding their various injuries from the shell, the blast had done them a lot of damage.
The last two troopers, whom Cid had been on the verge of charging, threw up their hands in surrender. Cid shouldered his spear and the light at the end of his cigarette rose a quarter inch, indicating a crazy grin. "Well, in that case numbskulls, we're leavin'. Tell Rufus that next time he wants to take my $#!%, he can kiss my $$!"
With Freya covering their retreat they walked over the bridge before hurrying off into the night. They didn't stop until they came across the sight of the Tiny Bronco sitting in the grass and Cid took a moment to look her over before returning to the others. Freya watched the man for a moment and then walked over to him. "So what are you going to do now Cid?"
"I don't know. I'm history with Shinra, I guess, not that there's much left there anyway." He took a moment to think and then something dawned on him. "Shera, where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?" Mao might have been mistaken, but he could have sworn there was a new respect in the man's voice.
"We all had basic training captain," the technician answered. "The rest is careful precision."
Cid laughed. "Well #$%."
"If you'd like, you can stay with us for a while," Freya offered. "I'm sure Zack wouldn't mind, since Sephiroth was the reason Rufus did what he did."
"What the hell." Cid smacked a hand down on her shoulder, almost making her stumble. "Freya, you've got yourself a pilot. If you and that SOLDIER friend o' yours're crazy enough to be standin' up to Shinra, I like it. Sign me up!"
"That's great. In that case, do you mind giving me a lift? I can tell you where to go."
Cid grunted and pulled himself up into the pilot's seat with Shera behind him. "What about you scar-face?" He looked down at the swordsman.
"I'll come too," Mao confirmed.
With that, everyone finished boarding and the Tiny Bronco flew off into the night like it was never there in the first place.
December 26th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
The next morning dawned cool and quiet at the lodge. Tifa awoke on the spare mattress they'd put down for her and Marlene in Aerith's room to find that the little girl had already gotten up. She stretched before running a brush through her hair and stepping out into the upstairs hall. Aerith seemed to already be awake too. Since Yuffie was curled up under the blankets on Aerith's bed, still dead to the world, she continued down the hallway, peering into Zack and Cloud's room as she walked past. Their beds were empty, as was the mattress they'd brought in for Kunsel since his room downstairs was being used for Zack's parents, so she continued down the stairs, becoming aware of the smells of breakfast wafting up from below.
Upon reaching the ground floor, she followed the smells through the living room to look into the kitchen and found Elmyra and Alice talking over a cup of coffee while Aerith was mixing batter for pancakes and Cissnei was cooking bacon in a frying pan on the stove.
Elmyra noticed her first and she offered her a welcoming smile. "Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," Tifa returned.
"There's more coffee over there if you'd like some or juice in the refrigerator, if that's what you prefer," Aerith's mother gestured to the locations of the two drinks. "We'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Tifa asked.
"Don't worry about it, dear," Elmyra shook her head. "We've already got the four of us in here. We'll be all set in no time."
Tifa walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself some of the drink, preparing it with some cream and sugar before walking back out into the living room. Thinking to get a little fresh air, she walked out on the porch and saw Zack leaning against the side of the house, while Cloud sat on the step, quietly watching the scenery.
Zack looked up on hearing her enter and saluted in greeting with his coffee mug. "Morning Tifa."
She nodded in response, "Good morning."
"Did you sleep all right?" He asked.
"Fine thanks," she said.
They were quiet for a bit before Zack tried again. "I know the place isn't much, but still, even if it's just for a while, it is nice to be back here. Maybe we can show you the hot spring, and where Aerith wants to plant her flowers." He looked down at Cloud, who seemed to be slightly surprised that he brought it up. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Sure…" Cloud still sounded rather dejected after last night, in spite of his assent.
Marlene was watching and after a moment she stood and walked over to Cloud, and she saw him tense on her approach. "It's okay Cloud, I know Tifa will like it there. Doctor Rayleigh already showed me and it was really pretty."
Barret cleared his throat at that point. "Why don't we let'em go then, Marlene. We should see if… uh… breakfast is ready… yeah…"
Marlene looked at her father as he stood up, a little disappointed. "Okay." She walked back to Barret and they walked inside. Tifa held back a sigh. She wasn't sure if Barret was doing that out of concern for Marlene or not, but even if that weren't the only reason, could they blame him? It was one thing when everyone present was capable of defending themselves if Sephiroth tried to control Cloud again. With a child there, who knew what the former general might stoop to in order to take advantage of the situation. Cloud was having enough trouble with guilt over what had happened at the temple. Still, that didn't make the situation horribly cruel. Marlene had been very taken with Zack and Cloud both after their daring rescue at the Shinra building, and even though Barret meant well, that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
Zack drained the last drops of his coffee at that moment and placed the mug down on the window sill. "We probably have enough time, let's go."
Cloud stood, and after Tifa placed her mug next to Zack's, the dark-haired SOLDIER led the two of them down the path through the woods. Tifa followed the two men curiously, not sure where they were leading her, until finally, the trees fell away and she found herself looking out on a clearing in view of the ocean. It took her a few moments to draw her eyes away from the surf around the rocks to see Zack walking past the steaming pool that was fed by a small stream to reach a patch of grass near the crest of the hill.
"Aerith used to grow her flowers down in an old church in the Sector 5 slums," he said, stopping as he looked around the clearing. "It was a little rundown, but it had to be one of the best places in Midgar. Just going there made you feel better. Nice thing is, she brought some of them with her, and when Spring comes around, she's going to want to clear some space here so she can plant them again."
Tifa walked over next to the dark-haired SOLDIER and Cloud joined them as she spoke. "She really likes her flowers, huh."
Zack chuckled and ran a hand through his spikes, grinning as he did so. "Well, yeah…" He trailed off, when he saw that Cloud was still not taking part in the conversation. "Hey man, I said we'd find a solution for this, and we're going to. All right? So don't look so worried, that's just what he'd want."
Cloud looked up from where he was gazing and shook his head. "It's not that," he deflected. "It's just, I think I hear something."
Zack listened for a moment and Tifa craned her neck to listen as well. Off in the distance she could have sworn she heard a soft buzzing sound, like propellers, and it seemed to be getting steadily louder, until at last, she saw the outline of a plane approaching before it veered off to their left and then disappeared. She walked a little closer to where the hill curved down to the ocean, next to the two SOLDIERs, and that was when she saw a man walking down the tiny strip of beach at the base of the hill. After a few moments, she realized it was Kunsel. The brown-haired swordsman was carrying his binoculars in one hand when he got close enough to start climbing the hill. Once they'd reached the top Zack asked "Where'd you get off to?"
"Freya called a little while ago and wanted to know if there was a strip of beach clear of the rocks nearby where they could land the Tiny Bronco, so I went to look for one."
"Ah." Zack nodded in acknowledgment. "I guess that means Vincent's the only one who's gone then."
"And we have three more," Kunsel added. "She apparently brought Cid, Shera, and Mao with her."
Zack looked thoughtful for a moment before exclaiming "Wow! I sure hope Aerith and Cissnei can make enough pancakes. We've got a lot of people here this morning!"
"And you only just noticed that now?" Cloud commented dryly. Tifa looked at him in surprise. He'd cracked a joke? She tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh, and felt a wave of relief when on noticing her, a shy smile passed over his face.
"I've had other things on my mind," Zack defended, offering his friend another grin. "Though I guess we'd better head back to let them know." With that, the four of them headed back down the path.
Professor Hojo sat on a small chair, observing his interrogator with beady eyes behind his glasses. The older man seemed to regard the interruption of his retirement as a personal insult for which, by rights, Tseng should have been cast into his laboratory for even broaching the subject. In the former president's time, that would probably have been true. Times had changed. Even so, the situation seemed to have also piqued his interest. Otherwise, he would have refused to come willingly at all. Reno and Elena stood guard on either side of him while Tseng surveyed him from behind his desk in the Turks' Junon office. Rude was in the process of tracking down leads on the whereabouts of any of the remaining Sephiroth clones, including Zack or Cloud, but Rufus was here, standing in a corner by the window, merely observing the proceedings.
The director of the Turks shuffled the papers on his desk, stood, and continued. "As you heard, Sephiroth claimed that he wanted to be at the center of a great wound where the mako gathered, and ever since he allegedly broke Jenova out of her tank in the Shinra building he's been gathering his resources to do just that. You know Sephiroth better than anyone Professor, we need to know where he's going."
"Hmm…" Hojo allowed his eyes to go half-lidded as he considered the question massaging his jaw with his hand as he considered the conundrum. "There are some fallacies in your theory. First off, though I admit I never expected it, Sephiroth never took Jenova at all."
"What do you mean?" Rufus asked.
Hojo cackled softly. "Fool, hehehe… Given your description of events at the temple, do you really think I wouldn't figure it out? You stole my documents from my computer after those traitors and terrorists broke in to steal my specimen…"
Tseng fought down a shudder and allowed the man to continue. "You saw the security feeds. No one actually saw Sephiroth enter the building. And Jenova's tank was burst out rather than having been blown in. That leads to only one conclusion. The apparition my wayward specimens were chasing wasn't Sephiroth at all, but Jenova herself. Whether the will was hers or Sephiroths remains debatable… but yes… fascinating…"
Tseng walked over to the scientist impassively, his voice cold as a glacier. "Conjecture will get us nowhere. What we need to know is where Sephiroth could find a wound that large before his pull becomes too great for the clones and the Black Materia finds its way to him."
Hojo scoffed disappointedly. "Why stop them? It would be such an incredible scientific event. Hehehe… I would get to see my plans finally come to fruition."
"You planned to destroy the world with Meteor?" Reno raised an eyebrow in concern and disgust at the man he now guarded.
"My plan to take Jenova and humanity even further than they've ever gone! To go beyond the limits of science. I want to see it." He chuckled. "Sephiroth has found the Promised Land, and soon, he'll achieve ascendance and go beyond the power of the Lifestream itself."
"And you intend to let that happen?" Elena was stunned at the professor's words. "You wanted to use Zack to end the world?"
"Frankly, I couldn't care less about my wayward specimens at the moment unless they somehow manage to carry out his will where the others do not. They're failures anyhow…"
To Tseng's surprise, Elena's face hardened in anger and she pulled back her fist, landing a punch to the scientist's face. " #$%^&*! Zack helped save my life once, and helped the Turks save the world! Don't you dare talk about him that way!"
Hojo simply brought his hand up to his face and massaged his jaw, glaring at the young Turk.
"Whoa Elena, remind me never to get on your bad side," Reno teased.
"Elena." The authority in Tseng's voice was implacable; the unspoken order to desist clear as the glass windows behind him.
She looked up at him in surprise before lowering her hand, ashamed of her outburst, but now Tseng turned his unforgiving gaze on the man who had caused all of this. The puppet master behind the puppet master that was Sephiroth. "None of that matters now. What matters is that we prevent the end of the planet. I ask you one more time Professor. If there was a wound on the planet big enough that Sephiroth would think it suited his purposes, where would it be?"
There was an eerie silence, and off in the distance, out over the ocean, Tseng imagined he could hear a roll of thunder. Finally, the stillness was broken by the sound of Hojo cackling with laughter. "If I were him, I would probably go to where Jenova was found, in the Northern Crater. The wound went deep, almost into the heart of the Planet, the perfect place to become one with its might."
"I see. Thank you for your cooperation Professor." He looked to his subordinates. "Reno, Elena, take him to a holding cell, and then return here. I'm afraid this will mean a write-up for insubordination for you Elena, but… We will also be planning our next mission."
Elena bowed her head in acknowledgement before leading the Professor away. When the two Turks and their prisoner had left, Rufus gave the Turk director a hard look. "What do you intend to do?"
Tseng went back to his desk and pulled out a file, opening it to reveal a huge stack of papers, about Sephiroth and about Jenova. "Our first priority is to identify the threat and neutralize it. What has allowed Sephiroth to control Cloud and Zack should be Jenova. If she is destroyed, then that neutralizes the threat posed by their potentially falling under his control completely. Once we have nullified his influence, then we can focus on liberating the Black Materia, and eliminating the clones if they pose a threat. But in order to start, we first need to find Jenova, and that's most likely where she will go. The Turks will conduct a reconnaissance mission in order to locate her and we will take appropriate action once we accomplish that objective."
"Will you require military support?" Rufus asked.
"Not at the moment. This mission is to find information. But we may once we've determined our target's whereabouts." Tseng continued looking through the file as he spoke.
"In that case, I will remain here," Rufus decided. "I expect good news when you send in your report."
Tseng nodded. "We will not fail."
"Zack?" The dark-haired SOLDIER looked up from the couch where he'd been sitting next to Aerith. Cloud had been standing by the fireplace when Cait Sith had appeared, riding on his mog, and even for a cat he looked rather concerned.
"What is it Cait?" Zack asked.
"Ah've just got word from Reeve. Apparently the Turks're on the move." The cat twitched his tail nervously.
"Where are they going?" Zack asked.
"Ah don't kno'. But wherever it is lad, it's North. He also says that while he doesn' kno where the man is, Hojo's apparently been arrested. "
Zack's eyes widened. "No way! Why would you be telling me this?"
"Like Reeve said before, since we've been watchin' ye, it's shown us some things. Yeh're both good fellas at heart. Ye didn' deserve what happened to ye."
Zack reached out and scratched the little cat behind the ears, momentarily forgetting that he was a robot but the cat purred appreciatively at the gesture. "Thanks," Zack said at last. "Give him my regards if you can, all right?"
"Will do," the cat affirmed. With that, the Mog waddled off into the hallway, apparently having decided to rejoin Rayleigh in her room and office. He had taken to staying with her while she was conducting her research. Cloud had to admit he was grateful for her efforts. She'd been working most of the day to try and find a solution to the current problem. He had no idea how he was supposed to proceed on this, and to tell the truth he couldn't say if he really should continue. Zack seemed determined that they were in this together, but the fact that his very presence put everyone he cared about in danger was not lost on him.
Zack looked over to the door to the kitchen at that point and saw Cissnei standing there. "What do you think?" he asked.
"I think we ought to investigate. It might take some time, but if they know more about his whereabouts than we do, it certainly can't hurt," the Turk said.
Zack nodded. "Do you think you could figure out where they're going?"
"I think so. The Northern Continent is Liz's home turf, so I'll talk to her about it. We can head out tonight if you need us to."
"Sorry to ask, but the sooner we know, the sooner we can do something about it," Zack said.
"It's no trouble." Cissnei smiled at him. "We'll leave as soon as we can." With that, she disappeared into the hallway.
After her departure the room had become uncomfortably quiet. Cloud was considering going back up to his own room when he noticed Kunsel walking inside, carrying some supplies he'd picked up at the village. The brown-haired SOLDIER nodded in greeting and into the kitchen, where he quietly put away his purchases before rejoining them. "So… What's our plan?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Zack looked up.
"I know why you sent Vincent away with the materia, but what are we going to do?" Kunsel elaborated. "Whether he hides the Black Materia or not, Sephiroth's still out there, and we're going to have to deal with him eventually."
"I know," Zack said. "Whatever we do, it has to be soon. I'm thinking we'll use what information we have to track him down and as soon as we know Vincent took the materia somewhere safe, we'll take the fight to him. I don't know how we're going to deal with him being able to control us, but if we could kill him for good, that might take care of it. What do you think?"
Kunsel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, if what Rayleigh said was true, this thing did seem pretty solid, Sephiroth or not. Destroying it does seem like a step in the right direction at least."
"I'm positive it's him…" Cloud spoke up after a moment.
"Why do you think that?" Kunsel asked.
"I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it was like I could feel him…" He looked to Zack for help. "Didn't you?"
Zack clasped his hands together, looking out the window and considering the question. "I don't know for sure. I thought I heard something down in the pit, but like I told you, I couldn't quite make it out."
Kunsel waited until he finished. "It's probably because Hojo did a bit more to Cloud than he did to you."
Cloud walked over to the window and looked outside, wishing he wasn't so useless. All of Zack's effort to get them both away, only to discover that he was just as much of a threat. It was almost too much. Maybe they would have been better off if Zack had just left him…
As though she'd heard his thoughts, he suddenly heard Aerith standing behind him. "It'll be okay Cloud, we'll figure this out."
"That's right," Zack agreed, still on the couch. "I didn't drag you across the planet just for us to give up now. That's not happening."
At those words, Cloud felt slightly more calm, and suddenly he found himself thinking back to the early times here, when they'd just moved in. He hadn't always been coherent, and he'd felt a lot of guilt about being so helpless. Even so, over and over again, Zack had refused to let it get to him, and instead, had gone above and beyond the call of duty, to get him back on track again, and able to care for himself. Zack was right… right? Didn't he have them to fall back on? He saw Tifa, Jessie, and Barret returning with Marlene, whom they had taken swimming at the beach where the Tiny Bronco was tethered.
It wasn't just Zack, Aerith, and their friends anymore either. He had Tifa now too, right?... Maybe… If he didn't end up killing them. He heard the door to the porch open again as the three AVALANCHE members, and he almost visibly shivered. What if something happened while Marlene was here? What if he couldn't stop it? For a brief moment, he'd almost felt hope, but frustratingly, reality had to come crashing in to ruin it… What could he do after all?
Pain shot between his eyes and he leaned against the fireplace, grasping for something solid as the world spun. Terror flowed over him in a wave when he realized his hand had not gone for the mantle. But that was when strong hands grabbed him, and a familiar face swam into his vision… The next thing he knew, someone was flashing a light into one of his eyes…
Over a hundred miles away, Vincent had just disembarked from a small fishing boat on the coast of the Eastern Continent. He was significantly far south from the Chocobo Farm, within sight of the mountain range that lined the middle of the continent's southern coastline. The Black Materia hung heavy in the pocket of his cloak, and he walked with purpose in a Westerly direction. He made it a point to steer clear of the open fields, in favor of sticking to the foothills that lay at the base of the mountain range. There were many more opportunities to hide there; gullies and stands of trees that could be used for cover if he was attacked, obstacles to slow the progress of pursuers, and if necessary, choke points to control the flow of a fight.
Out in the open fields he would have had the ability to see anything long before it got to him, but judging from Sephiroth's (or Jenova's, whichever it was) speed outside of Nibelheim, there wouldn't have been nearly enough time to run. Those obstacles could very well mean the difference between life and death. Death before completing his mission was unthinkable, because that meant failure, and failure in this case, was not an option. He crept through the trees for several hours in the afternoon light, always aware of the sounds around him, knowing even the slightest crunch of a twig could mean a pursuer.
The sun was beginning to sink in the sky when he saw signs of the marsh drawing close. The hills were giving way to the cliffs that made the area around it impassable for most average travelers, and the stands of trees were soon replaced by underbrush. His was also beginning to pick up the smells of stagnant water and the sounds of buzzing insects. It wasn't long before he saw what he was looking for. Rising up to his left, was a huge cliff, with a series of narrow ledges most regular humans wouldn't even consider making use of, lining the algae-covered morass.
Most regular humans were not Vincent Valentine.
He regarded the various ledges with a careful eye, noting the structural integrity of each one, before whirling into the folds of his cape and leaping to the first one. When the cape fell away, he was standing solidly on the ledge, preparing to jump to the next one. The cape flew on a nonexistent breeze, as his golden boots made contact with the next ledge, rocketing towards a third, and then a fourth. While he flew through the air, his senses drifted out beyond his body, suddenly aware of a dark figure jumping up from the swamp below, clawing its way up the incline from the murky water like a wraith and he stepped up his pace.
He knew the truth of the Sephiroth clones now, but he had no desire to learn whether Sephiroth's puppets or Jenova's, whichever they were, had combat capabilities while under their control. He didn't need to be an expert to see that while under their enemy's influence, Cloud had been slightly jerky, enabling Zack to evade him, probably because the blonde-haired SOLDIER had a will of his own that this other will had to subdue. In a being that had no will of his own, he expected that even a weakened vessel could be dangerous.
He quickened his pace over the next two ledges when he saw a second figure standing on another one up ahead. They were trying to cut him off. He materialized out of his cloak for a second on the next ledge, evaluating his next course of action before pulling out Quicksilver and firing twice. Once at a load-bearing root underneath the ledge on which the figure ahead of him stood and the other at the climbing figure. The bullet hit his second target right between the eyes, but the cloaked figure on the ledge reacted quickly, grabbing onto another root and then hopping to safety and getting behind cover, laughing.
Weighing his options again, Vincent glanced below him into the swamp. Evasion was the best course of action, and so, deciding quickly, he withdrew into the folds of his red cloak again and floated down into the marsh, headed towards what looked like a cave he saw in the distance.
His golden boots dropped into the marsh with a splash that echoed off the cliff walls and he quickly waded towards dry land, probably a few hundred yards away. The Sephiroth Clone didn't even look perturbed by the action, but allowed himself to slide down the cliff side, also splashing into the water not far away. Vincent stepped up his pace, knowing that if he could lose the man in the caves, that would be best. He was too much of a sitting duck out here.
That was when another factor entered into the picture.
He heard the sound of something splash a short distance away, and glanced behind him to see that something was stirring the water from beneath its' surface. Come to think of it, wasn't the swamp known for a particularly voracious species of monster…?
Finally his memory produced the information he'd been seeking. He'd heard of Midgar Zoloms before, but he'd never held a great desire to encounter one. Judging from the shape of the eddies in the water however, it seemed his desires would have no bearing on the circumstances. They rarely did, now that he thought about it.
It was about then when he realized there was no way he could get to solid ground before the Zolom overtook him and he assumed a defensive stance in the murky ooze. He was certain he could not take on a full grown Zolom, but if he could distract it, there was a rather desirable-looking Sephiroth Clone over there.
He watched the ripples on the water growing closer until they were almost right on top of him, and a split second before the beast rose up to try and bite him, he vaulted into the air, using his clawed hand to steady himself by grabbing onto the ridge above the Zolom's eye and planting his feet firmly on the beast's head.
The Zolom reared, hissing angrily as Vincent leapt off, folding into his cloak and floating slightly towards the black figure before catching an updraft near the cliff and landing on another ledge. The Zolom seemed to have sighted the clone and was headed in that direction, but Vincent shot into the water near the man to create a splash the reptilian would definitely pick up on. The reptile hissed and lashed out violently at the point where the bullet had entered the water, and the clone just barely dodged out of the way. Hoping that was the end of it, Vincent floated to a different ledge, slightly closer to the cave, but suddenly he heard the sound of earth crumbling beneath him, and without warning he fell into the water again. He pulled himself out of the muck just in time to see a second Zolom coming at him.
He fired Quicksilver into its slitted golden left eye and the monster hissed in pain, rearing to strike, even as it was half blinded. As if subconsciously knowing he wouldn't survive the hit, energy channeled around the gunman, and he felt his body melt as muscles strained within him. He was growing larger, his exposed skin was becoming grey, and by the time the Zolom struck, two powerful hands reached up to rip it's fangs right out of its mouth. The hulking creature Vincent had become leapt into the air, stabbing the Zolom with one of its own fangs before leaping the last hundred feet to the stand of trees at the entrance to the cave and disappearing inside. He had no idea what had happened to his dark cloaked pursuer, but as he drew deeper into the network of caves under the Junon mountains, he had a feeling he had evaded him for now.
To Zack's immense relief, Cloud blinked and sat up on the couch, attempting to reorient himself. "I didn't hurt anyone… did I?"
Zack shook his head.
"From what the others told me, you took a step towards the others and then you collapsed after Zack stopped you." Rayleigh said.
Cloud glanced around the room to see everyone there, and once he'd confirmed everyone was okay, he sat up the whole way and looked down at the floor, shutting his eyes again. Zack hadn't wanted to say anything, but in that moment before Cloud had blacked out, he'd been sure his friend's eyes had gone green again.
Rayleigh placed her penlight back in her jacket pocket and asked gently "How do you feel right now?"
"I'm all right. But wherever Sephiroth is, I don't think he's in a very good mood."
"Why do you think that?" Tifa asked.
"I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but somehow, I got this feeling, like he'd been focused on something but it didn't happen…" Cloud shrugged and looked up at Zack as though he might have some idea how to better explain it, but the dark-haired SOLDIER was just as confused.
Cloud stood at that moment and Rayleigh tried to get in front of him. "Where are you going?"
"I just need some fresh air…" He said, and with that, he walked out the door.
"You sure we should have let him do that?" Kunsel asked after he was out of earshot.
"What else are we going to do?" Zack asked. "We're certainly not going to lock ourselves inside if we can help it." That was the last thing he felt he could ever accept.
"Of course not," Aerith agreed.
Zack looked over at the doctor and found himself thinking. "But there is one thing I want to know. Do you mind if I ask you something in private doc?"
"Not at all," Rayleigh gestured that he follow her back to her room.
"Okay, I'll be right back," he said to the others. Kunsel nodded and leaned against the mantle of the fireplace, about where Cloud had been half an hour earlier.
Zack turned and followed the doctor back up the stairs and along the hallway stopping at her room and waiting patiently while she put her bag away. When she returned, she looked up at him and asked "All right Zack, what is it?"
"I just thought of something… If Sephiroth can control us both, then why is it Cloud's having such a hard time with it?" Zack folded his arms in front of him, rubbing his chin with one hand.
"Well, the most obvious answer I would think is that Hojo got a lot further with him then he did with you, as Kunsel said. But I think it might also go a little deeper than that." In the back glow of the ray of light through a window that lay behind them, Zack saw the doctor's face sadden a little.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Have you ever noticed how he behaves around his peers? As though he's always uncertain and shy, never really approaching people, but always quietly wishing for their approval. And when he's around you, have you noticed how you're the person he always defers to?" She asked.
"Not since he got better…" Zack paused reconsidering. "Okay, so maybe a little."
"I'm not saying that it's something critically wrong. The two of you are good friends and are a good team when out in the field…" She sighed. "If I went into detail, I would probably confuse you, but the short version is that he doesn't have nearly as strong of a sense of self as you do."
Zack raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Let me make it easy. When we grow up, we all develop at different rates. That's why some of us are still short in our teenage years while others tower over everyone else. The same thing happens psychologically. Some of us develop more of an awareness of ourselves earlier and some later. You may recall that he joined the army after failing to get into SOLDIER. His records said he didn't have the confidence and psychological stamina that would have carried him through the process."
Zack frowned at her. "I'm trying to figure out how that's not an insult."
"It's more of an assessment. We go through a series of stages in our lives where we learn how to interact with the people around us and find our place within that framework. In the earliest stages its simple things like learning how to take initiative, or learning how to have friends. Our teenage years are a time normally spent trying to find our social identity, answering questions about what we are and the potential of what we can be."
"And that means?" Zack asked.
Rayleigh peered out of the gloom at him. "When you joined SOLDIER you had that sense of self-identity fairly well established, but Cloud didn't. That might have been what he was searching for initially, and after Nibelheim, he never got the chance to develop it. Hojo took that away from him. Normally, even that would be negotiable, but think about how difficult that uncertainty makes it for someone to focus themselves when they have the added strain of another mind exerting its will over theirs." Rayleigh's expression saddened as she spoke.
"Wow," Zack ran a hand through his hair as he considered the possibilities and winced. "I never thought of it that way before. The experiments themselves were bad enough. I was prepared for nightmares, and flashbacks, and headaches… He cut into us pretty deep, and not just with a scalpel, but that's a different kind of evil all together…"
Rayleigh shook her head and sighed. "As young as you were when you joined SOLDIER, did it never occur to you how integrally developmental psychology would play into it?"
"All it means is that we're going to have to try harder, doc. If he can't fight it alone, then I won't let him fight it alone," Zack said, determinedly.
The doctor smiled. "You're absolutely right. Do you have any other questions?"
Zack shook his head. "No, but thanks."
"No problem," Rayleigh walked ahead of him towards the stairs and Zack turned to follow her. He didn't really have much of an idea on what they could do about this problem in the long run, but this thing had to be fought.
He was almost back to the end of the hall when he heard someone behind him. A glance over his shoulder revealed Freya closing the door to the room she shared with Cissnei. Her clothes were slightly mussed as though she'd been asleep but she looked fully alert now. On seeing she had been noticed, she walked up to him. "Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing."
"It's okay," Zack said.
"But are you?" she asked.
"I'm more worried about him," he said.
"I didn't get to see him much before I fell asleep, but how is he?" The two of them started back towards the living room.
"Not so good," Zack admitted. "We just had another scare a minute or two ago."
"I see." They had reached the living room by now and Freya almost immediately spotted Cloud's head of spiky blonde hair through one of the windows. Nodding in greeting to the others in the room, she walked out the door and Zack followed. He was thinking he might just want her to leave him alone, but he stopped, deciding to wait and see. Cloud looked up as she approached; only coming to a stop about a meter away. Close enough to indicate she wanted to talk to him, but far enough away to show she didn't want to be overbearing. "Cloud?" she said.
"Mm?"
"How're you doing?" She clasped her hands behind her, offering a gentle smile.
He looked back at the woods. "I don't know, really."
She took a couple more tentative steps closer. "Well, everyone probably already told you they're there, and I'm not about to get caught up in some silly friendship speech. We can save those for the TV shows, right?"
Cloud chuckled weakly. "You're a Turk anyway, what do you need with those?"
"Nothing. It's not really my style," Freya agreed. "But we're no less human, and neither are you. We've all done things we probably regret, but that's not all we're capable of." She walked the last couple of feet to a point where she stood behind him. "There is one thing I know, and it's something I used to tell the others. We're all here now, and there's definitely going to be something waiting for us when it's over." Cloud stiffened visibly as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Things may not be okay at the moment, but everything's going to be all right, in the end. That's what I truly believe."
Zack heard the door open behind him and saw Tifa and Barret walk out, but apparently the other two hadn't noticed. Cloud seemed to be thinking about what Freya had said, and after a moment, he opened his mouth. "I guess the truth is, I'm afraid… What if I go crazy and someone gets hurt?… What am I supposed to do…?"
"Well that's obvious ain't it?" Barret interjected, and Freya straightened and backed away again as the two turned to face him. "Me an' Zack'll go upside that spiky white head of yours and bring ya back to normal."
Tifa walked over to him at that point, and sat next to him. "In other words, don't think like that. We won't let it happen."
Cloud looked up at her with a sad smile, as though he was comforted by the words, but couldn't completely believe them. "Thanks…"
December 27th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
Vincent found himself walking along a tunnel within a dank, dark cave. He had never seen this place before, but somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling he was going somewhere important. His boots clicked along below him, and he could feel his cloak floating out behind him. Up ahead he could see the tunnel opening out. Upon reaching the exit, he found he was no longer on the ground. Jumping up and taking flight, he found he was moving west through a clear blue sky. He wondered absently where he was flying, and looked down, watching the ground pass under him. To his surprise, he thought he saw the Corel Desert and the Golden Saucer below. He soared onward, passing into the mountains and beyond. He wasn't quite sure even how he was going.
After some time passed, he descended lower and lower until he was flying around peaks and over valleys. At last the mountains parted, and he came to land on a rocky ledge looking out over a vast and circular valley. It might have even been a meteor crater at some point, but he did not know. Now it was divided in half by a river surrounded by vast fields. The river was fed by a gigantic waterfall and barely within his ability to make it out, was another ledge beckoning into another tunnel… He wasn't sure, but he almost thought he could hear voices floating out of it. That of a woman, and perhaps… something darker…
Vincent opened his eyes and looked around the cave. He had been snoozing quietly in a small alcove above the main path through the cave, in a place uniquely situated so that the sound would carry to his location and alert him of any trouble long before it came within visual range. Nothing seemed to have arrived, but that did not matter. It was now time to move. He wasn't sure what that had been about, but his plan had been to head west to Junon. He stood, stretching out the kinks in muscles, and after checking that the Black Materia was safe in the pocket of his cloak, he walked onward, reaching the west entrance to the cave and going out into the blazing light of morning.
Phew... A long chapter, I know. But there was a lot I wanted to cover, and I was really really hoping this one turned out okay.
Timelinewise, the party is only just about to leave Wutai to look for the keystone.
Until next week!