Cloud frowned.
The tracks he was looking at were ones he could've identified a mile away. Which, on one hand, hey! That's good! Despite his earlier resolution, it was just in his nature for doubts to nag him in the back of his mind, so there was still a part of him that worried he'd be next to useless here. It feels nice to be proven wrong, sometimes, even if only to himself for now.
On the other hand, though. . . there was a reason he recognized those tracks so easy. That was the problem.
Because they were obviously from a dragon of sorts.
Were dragons even native to the Northern Continent? It was the right climate, definitely. Cold, isolated, and with plenty of caves to roost in. Thing is, he'd never heard of dragons from up here. Maybe they were rare? That probably wasn't good for him. It'd probably be worse if they weren't native here. He didn't think that'd be good for anyone here, but it would explain the mako reading they got? Maybe?
. . . Is that even how those reading worked?
Probably not.
"Hey, Cloud." Zack spoke from behind him all of a sudden. Cloud whipped around and flushed. Then flushed even deeper when he saw Commander Hewley stood behind him.
Zack covered a snicker at his reaction, the bastard, and Cloud tried not to scowl. Not pout, whatever some black-haired SOLDIERs may say, but scowl. Luckily for him, though, the Commander didn't so much as blink. "Did you find something, cadet?"
Cloud nodded. "Yes sir," He said, and gestured to the tracks in the snow in front of him. "Uhm, sir. . . Do you know if dragons are native to here?"
That got the Commander straightening. "Dragons?" He asked, incredulity gracing his voice. Cloud didn't blame him. He gulped, and continued.
"Yes, sir. These tracks," He gestured again, " absolutely belong to a dragon." The Commander stepped forward and took a closer look at the prints. He frowned, glancing back up.
"And you're certain about this?" He asked sternly.
Cloud resisted the urge to fidget under his stare. "They're all over the place in the Nibel Mountains. I was taught how to recognize them before my own name. There's no doubt, sir." He replied. The Commander's frown deepened. A quick glance showed that Zack was looking between them with a concerned look.
After a tense moment, Hewley stood back up. "Can you tell which way they're headed?" He demanded more than asked. Cloud nodded, and was almost shocked still by the realization that he really was a necessity here. If he hadn't come here, then these men would be walking blind to an enemy they had no idea they were fighting. The thought formed a nervous pit in his stomach.
"They look to be headed that way." Cloud finally replied, gesturing towards an incline further away. "We shouldn't be too far behind it, sir." There was yet another snowfall last night, meaning that while the snow was still loose, any tracks from yesterday would've been covered up. Fresh snow, fresh trail.
Commander Hewley nodded, and turned back to the rest of the men to fill them in on the newest developments. Cloud saw the men stiffen and sober up, some sharing a few nervous glances with each other. Dragons were a big deal even to SOLDIERs, it seemed.
And then, they were off again.
Cloud was a bit anxious. Not that he'd admit it. No, he was the resident expert, now. He was the one that understood the enviroment and threat like the back of his hand, the one who was so used to this that he could hunt dragons with his eyes closed. He was supposed to be the backwater native who probably had a pet dragon when he was little. . . or something. Maybe he's been watching too many movies. . .
"Aww, cheer up Spike!" And suddenly Zack was glomping his, thankfully breaking him out of his nervous reverie. Trust him to know when one of his friends needed a distraction. "You don't gotta be so tense, you know!"
"Zack, this is a mission. I'm just trying to take it seriously."
He was waved off good-naturedly. "Yeah, but just look at me! I always take my missions seriously, but you don't see me actin' stiffer than the General."
Cloud raised an eyebrow, and just couldn't resist a jab. "Wait, you're actually taking this seriously? I think we need to call in a med evac." Zack sputtered, and someone in the group snorted.
"I think he might just be right, pup. Think you hit your head or something?" That one came straight from Commander Hewley himself, and he couldn't hold in a laugh even as Zack gaped.
"Angeal!" A very, very loud whine resounded from the mouth of one Zackary Fair.
They froze. No one dared move a single muscle, even as the last echo of the yell tapered off. Everyone stood stock still, eyes warily scanning the surroundings.
Slowly, Cloud turned to look at the source of the yell. The SOLDIER himself looked slightly pale and apologetic. Just before Cloud could tear him a new one, ranks be damned, about loud noises and snowy enviroments, an ominous rumbling sounded off in the distance. Dread filled his body even as someone else yelled out.
"Avalanche!"
Angeal dusted the snow off his clothes and resolutely decided to give his student a very thorough lesson on enviromental awareness.
He huffed, mentally checking himself for injuries. He was pretty banged up, loads of bruises and small cuts, but overall he was pretty well off for getting out of an avalanche. He reached up behind him, checking to see that his beloved Buster was still in her harness. She was, thank Gaia, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She'd have to be tended to after the mission ended, unfortunately, but at least she wasn't lost in the snow.
He scanned the area around him, watching his men dig themselves up out of the snow. Except, wait. . .
He narrowed his eyes, and recounted. One, two, three. . . Four, including himself. That wasn't right. There were seven men total on this mission. Worry filled him, especially when he noticed that neither the cadet nor his student were among the men picking themselves up.
"Everyone!" He knew better than to shout, but years of military service had his voice being carried effectively even without the volume, "We've got three unaccounted for! Check the perimeter, see what you can find!" The SOLDIERs didn't need to be told twice, theirs being a tight group, and Angeal himself set off looking for the missing men.
'Zack, as soon as I make sure you're okay, you're going to be in for it.' Angeal thought to himself. He wasn't too worried about his student; Zack had proven to be. . . pretty sturdy over the years. His student tended to rush in instead of plan things out, which led to him building up a resistance, of sorts, to being tossed around. In all honesty, the boy could get knocked off the plate and walk away with barely a scratch.
No, the one that Angeal was really worried about was that Cadet Strife. He'll be the first to admit that he underestimated the kid at first. When he first saw the cadet, all thin limbs, wild hair, and dazed expression (Was he even told he would be going on a mission until that morning? Knowing Zack, probably not.), Angeal's first thought was that there would be no Gaia-given way he'd pass the SOLDIER exam. Admittedly, he should know better than to judge a book by its cover, especially after knowing Genesis as long as he has. Genesis wasn't exactly top-SOLDIER material when they first joined either; Yet, look at him now, one of the strongest fighters in ShinRa. When he had pulled the cadet aside to tell him as much, he had noticed the start of a fire in his eyes. And the next day, that fire only grew, the boy out-performing all of Angeal's expectations of him.
He was impressed; The kid had potential.
But potential, no matter how much, could change the fact that Strife was still unenhanced, still a cadet. Whereas Zack had the experience and mako to take care of himself if he got split up after something like an avalanche, Strife didn't. He might fare better if he ended up wherever Zack was, but that's only if he actually survived the damn thing.
Angeal frowned. The Cadet was only here because Zack vouched for him, and it was Zack's responsibility to watch over him. And Zack was the one that caused the avalanche, however accidently. If the boy died. . .
He shook his head. He'd searched as far as he was willing to split from the remainder of the group, with no sign of the missing men. He sighed as he turned to make his way back to clearing he'd landed in in the first place. There was still a mission to be done. If they're not in the immediate vicinity, he'll just have to go on without them, no matter how much it grated on his sense of honor. Hopefully, they'll either find each other at the mission site, or rendezvous back at Icicle Inn.
He'll just have to have faith.
Sighing, Angeal returned to his men. They had all conducted their own searches, sadfully pulling up nothing except for some scattered equiptment, and regrouped where they had first landed.
"Attention!" He called out, still careful not to yell. The gathered men turned to face him. "We still have a mission to complete. I know we're not all accounted for, but we'll just have to proceed without them. Understood?"
A chorus of 'Yes sir!' rang out, and Angeal set off, ignoring the grim faces of his men. If there was nothing pressing, then of course he'd want nothing more than to search. His student was dear to him, and despite the boy's sturdiness, Angeal had a tendency for concern. Still, though, he couldn't abandon the mission. All he could do at this point is aim to get it done as quickly as possible so they can scour the snow.
It also wouldn't have hurt to have their tracker, but that couldn't be helped. It's not like he was entirely useless when it came to outdoorsy skills like that; This just isn't the environment he was used to. He could probably be considered decent on his home turf, in forested areas like Banora, but out here, in the snowy tundra? It's probably easier to see the tracks themselves, but that's about it. Speaking of tracks. . .
There, up ahead in the snow, he could faintly see impressions in the snow. Angeal called for a halt as he went to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, it looked absolutely nothing like the tracks found earlier by Cadet Strife. Still, though, it could point them in the right direction.
He got up, brushing the snow off his clothes, and motioned for his men to follow him. Walking along the trail left behind by whatever monsters came this way led the group to a small cave opening, one of many this far up the Northern Continent. They cautiously made their way inside, guarded and on high alert.
Angeal heard it before the others. A soft click-click-click of what sounded like claws or talons coming from farther in the the cave. He stopped, and the rest stopped behind him. The clicking continued, it was, it was getting closer.
Slowly, quietly, he drew his broadsword, his men following suit.
Suddenly, the clicking stopped. He held a breath.
Then it - two of them, actually - came out of hiding. An odd, gray-red armored humanoid monster with absurdly long, razor-sharp claws. They hobbled along, the claws on their feet making that click he heard ealier. The two monsters stopped, and turned to them. Tension filled the air, and Angeal tightened his grip on his sword, dropping into a ready position.
Belatedly, he noted that there didn't actually seem to be any mako in the cave, even though he had noticed the faint glow coming from under what he assumed was the monsters' helmets. Which most likely meant that their actual mission objective was somewhere else, and these two just wandered off. And that spurred another, far more worrying thought.
'Didn't Strife say there was a dragon?'
