Crossing the Swamp
We'd been walking all day and it was getting dark. We'd actually came across a path heading into the mountains labelled "Cliff Resort", that held an entire ghost town. I thought even maybe a couple of people would be living there but it was literally nobody. All the houses were deserted and it looked like no one had been there in forever. Naturally the doors were locked to all the houses and the small shops. It wasn't until we found a small, one bedroom house further back that had an unlocked door. It only had the bedroom, bathroom, and an open plan kitchen and living room. It didn't look lived in at all but it was still weird that it was the only one open. We decided to take a break in there while Cloud, Barrett, and Angel went to look for bigger houses, or if any windows were open, or just any way to break into the other places for somewhere to sleep.
I looked around the house while we were waiting. There was no food in the fridge, though there were plates and cutlery, cups and the like in the cupboards. The power was still running, oddly enough, and everything was still running pretty well. It seemed really odd that a place like this was totally deserted. It didn't really look like a town, though, but the name alone was enough to guess it was a holiday destination. Even then why was it abandoned?
I offered to get started on making food for everyone after looking around the house. We were all that hungry we were getting drained so, at least if everyone ate, we wouldn't feel as crap. If we can get some more houses open then that would also mean enough beds for a decent sleep.
"Hey, you need any help?" Aerith asked while I was chopping up some onions.
"Um, yeah, sure, can you boil that kettle for me?" I nodded. "I heard the door there, did Tifa go out to help the guys?"
"Yeah, just to check if there's any luck with other places," Aerith said. "What are you making anyway?"
"Soup. It's quick and it uses some of the fresher stuff we bought," I answered. "Got some ideas for other things we can have. Just because we're on the road doesn't mean we have to eat terrible food."
"So you do a lot of cooking?"
"Well, yeah, I travelled a lot when I was younger. Figured if I was going to have to learn it, I might as well learn to do it well," I said, moving on to the carrots. "Though it mostly fish and vegetable things I make, other meat dishes not so much." I looked over to Aerith. "How about you? You know how to cook?"
"From what my mom taught me," she nodded. "Though the Slums doesn't have a lot to offer in the ways culinary delights. Still, I know enough to not go hungry or make myself sick." I nodded and kept prepping the food. "Um, Christie, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What do you think we'll find?"
"I don't know," I answered fairly quickly. "I mean, what have we even got to go on? A note from a stranger, Sephiroth wandering around the planet plotting who knows what, Shinra's probably going to try stop us at every single chance... we could find absolutely anything, Aerith."
"Hopefully history about the Ancients will be in there somewhere," Aerith said. We heard the door and peered over to seeing the others pour into the house, bar Angel. Aerith went to see them. "Any luck?"
"Got a few open, so we should be good for the night," Barrett answered. "That girl's a weird one. She just picked a place and hasn't come out." I sighed and finished chopping the vegetables, put water in the pot, then set the lid on top. I moved from the cooker and leaned on the counter. Barrett looked over to me. "Yo Chris, you two know another. What's her deal?"
"I don't know her that well," I shrugged. "We travelled for a while when I was younger but she was always very closed off and we didn't leave on the best of terms." I knew I'd have to explain sooner of later so might as well clear it up now. I pointed to my face, "she's the reason this happened."
"How did she do that?" Nanaki asked curiously.
"Angel ended up turning on the group; I fought her but she got the upper hand and used fire magic on me," I explained. "Her uncle ended up saving my life. It was... it was very messy, let's just put it that way."
"Are you okay with her travelling with us?" Tifa asked, one of her hands resting over her heart, still a little shocked from what I'd said.
"Not really; I thought she'd be gone already or tried something," I admitted. "I don't what she wants or why she's still around... but I want to know. I'll try ask now."
"You're not going alone," Tifa said.
"Tifa, I'll be fine," I assured her and started to head out the house before anyone else said anything. I was ready to kill Angel if she tried to attack me. If she really wanted to do that she would have done so in the Shinra building. I was just curious about a few things.
The house she was in wasn't too far from the one we'd found open. I saw her walking about the house through one of the windows and went to the front door. I decided to be polite and knock, but only got silence in response. The door was open so I pushed it and went inside. Angel had sat herself on the length of the couch, watching me as I entered. We eyed each other up and remained silent for a few moments. Angel didn't make any moves and didn't have her sword on her. She also didn't look too happy to see me.
"... What do you want?" She asked with a bite.
"Just letting you know that dinner should be ready soon-ish," I replied with a bitter tone.
"Well great," Angel nodded to the door to get me to leave. I crossed my arms over my chest.
"You don't have to stick about; you clearly don't want to be here," I told her.
"Annoyingly enough your little group is my best chance at getting to Nibelheim without Shinra knowing. That's all I want. After that I'm gone," Angel replied. "I don't need to play nice. I'll keep out the way just like I did back on the Pilgrimage."
"Better not end the way the Pilgrimage did."
"Don't flatter yourself," Angel scoffed. "Might be a surprise but I'm not interested in killing you. Really, I don't even know how, or why, you're here. I don't care, either. I'm not here to make friends with your group and I'm not here to play nice. Once I get to Nibelheim I'm gone and, hopefully, we'll never see each other again."
"So your whole mission right now's just a big secret? Fine, have it your way," I said. I knew I wouldn't get further with her. Before I left I looked her dead in the eye and indicated to my face. "They know you did this, just to warn you. And if you try anything don't expect me to stand by." She didn't respond. I heard her scoff as I opened the door and left to head back to the others.
The next morning we headed out again, the path signposting to a chocobo farm not far out from the swamps. Cloud had decided we should head to the farm and see if any of the chocobos can be used to cross the swamp quicker, especially if that Midgar Zolom was actively hunting people.
The farm itself was a fair size. There must have been half a dozen or so chocobos out the front in a pen roaming around with a house and barn just up the path behind it. There were a couple of windmills and a water tower as well. We could see some people up at the barn and approached them. The younger girl was a little surprised at people approaching them, so it must have been a quiet place normally. The younger boy went to check on the girl while the older man came to speak with us.
"Well, how can I help you folks?" He asked, gazing over us to see who was the leader of the group.
"We need to cross the swamp. Can we borrow your chocobos?" Cloud asked. The man looked over out group and frowned. I could already tell his answer. "We need to pass through the mines and the swamp is the fastest way through." Cloud tried to explain further.
"Boy, I know that," the man said. "But I just don't have enough chocobos to spare right now. All the ones out here are racing birds and if any of them get hurt that's my neck on the line."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Aerith asked, hoping he'd give way to something.
"Sorry, my hands are tied," the man said.
"Well, can you at least tell us a safe way to cross the swamp?" I asked. The man gave a chuckle and shook his head.
"Well, with those Zoloms acting up my best advice would be to keep quiet, move quick, and if one sees you then you'd best book it out of there as quick as you can," he said to us. We all glanced at one another at the plural of Zolom. "What? You thought it was just one? Ah don't worry, common misunderstanding. Normally it's the big one people worry about, but the little ones are just as angry right now."
"And... all of them are equally as dangerous?" I frowned.
"Afraid so, miss," the man nodded. "If you had the time you could always go out and catch your own chocobo... but if you're in a hurry good luck finding one and having it listen to you within the hour."
"We're kind of in a hurry," Cloud said.
"Well, then it's either swamp or through the mountains. Sure, through the swamp and the mines is the quicker way. But there's less monsters in the mountains wanting you for supper," the man continued. "Look, if you're that set on the swamp then take my advice and stay on the road. Before the mines shut down because of the Zoloms they had a fair beaten road crossing the swamp. You're still taking a risk but it's better than wading through the murk."
"We'll take the risk," Cloud nodded. "Thanks anyway."
"Sorry I couldn't be more of a help. But, listen, feel free to stay for a bit. You kids look like you've been travelling for a while and could use a break," the man said. "Sorry, the name's Bill. There's my two kids Billy and Chloe."
Bill offered to get us some food and drink before we left. He was actually so nice and felt bad about leaving us with no safe way to cross the swamps but he couldn't let the racing chocobos be at risk. It was understandable, if a little frustrating for us. I knew money was a little tight for us but I still slipped some gil on the counter while no one was looking. It was the least I felt I could do for him giving us something to eat.
Most of the time I spent at the pen watching the chocobos run around. I hadn't seen the birds in what felt like forever. The Mi'ihen Highroad had started reintroducing them alongside the hovers, I remembered, as well as the Youth League recreating the Chocobo Knights division. The Calm Lands was home to lots of them as well because of Clasko breeding them. Actually, now that I think about it, chocobo racing had started to become more popular in recent years in the Calm Lands because of it. The strangest part of watching them in the fields was seeing such a familiar sight in an alien world. I could only wonder at how this place differed from Spira, or if there was much difference at all.
Once we felt prepared we headed out to the swamps. The place was as dark and dingy as I expected it to be. The air wasn't nearly half as thick as I thought it would be; it was actually quite clear. I don't why I thought it would be a thick air I suppose that was just what I thought of when I thought of swampy areas.
We took Bill's advice and stayed on the path, keeping as quiet as possible. Even if we did encounter a Zolom I was hoping between the lot of us we could take it on, or weaken it enough to escape. I really didn't know how strong these monsters would be in comparison to the fiends in Spira but there was plenty of time to find out.
The swamp itself was cold and wet. There were some shallower parts frozen over and the air was heavy and sharp. It was quiet, oddly quiet, but it made us be on guard even more. Cloud and I took the front, Barret and Tifa at the back with everyone else in between us. I knew it was too easy for us to get through here without anything spotting us. If the Midgar Zoloms really are being aggressive then they'll notice people coming into their territory.
Cloud stopped on the path suddenly and I halted alongside him, noticing he had a hand hovering over his sword. He was eyeing something, or rather trying to find something. I started scanning around the group, already on edge and already expecting the worst.
It continued being quiet but the air shifted.
"Get down!" Tifa yelled as, from the back, a large snake shot out from the waters and leapt at the group. Barret fired a round into it and it flopped to the ground. We watched around us and saw a few more, maybe about three or four, in the distance.
"Just go. Now!" Cloud ordered and had us all start running through the swamp. I was hoping the plan was to get the mines before they could catch us but the Zoloms were fast.
Cloud fired a lightning spell at one of the closer ones to make it back off. Every so often whoever had a magic materia would take turns in shooting off a spell to a Zolom that got too close. On the plus side at least there was only a few that were coming after us but that's always something that's spoken too soon.
And there it was, a Zolom much larger than the rest of them, towering over us as it reared up. I think it could have killed someone in one bite but it was doing something different. The smaller Zoloms were blocking our way back but we all stood firm, ready to fight them. The large Zolom was opening its mouth, a flicker of fire growing rapidly to be bigger than our group combined. We could already feel the flames as they caught leaves and the heat blew in our faces.
We didn't have much space to move but we tried to spread out as the Zolom targeted the blast at us. I was expecting to be set on fire and have horrific flashbacks of five years ago but... something different happened.
The flames started to condense and shrink as they were absorbed into my pocket. I had put my hands up to my face to shield myself, out of instinct, when I felt a heat up my side and go into my left arm, my entire firearm ignited in fire. Honestly, I freaked out a little. Fire had never sat well with me and here I was, arm blazing but... not hurting me.
"Fire it back!" I heard Angel yell. I looked at the large Zolom, then felt Angel's hand grab my arm, jutting it towards the snake and the fire leaving my arm and hand, a missile of flames directed right at its face. The blast seared the tops of the trees but the Zolom itself reared back and hissed in pain, the other Zoloms already retreating. The largest one left not too far behind them and we were left, standing fairly dumbfounded at what just happened. I rubbed my arm, no sign of fire or anything of it. Admittedly I could feel my fingers tingling, my arm felt like jelly, and the colour was probably drained from my face.
"Christie," Nanaki said and broke the silence. "Was that the materia you took from Hojo's experiment?"
"I... don't know?" I replied uncertainly. I checked the pouch I kept my materia in and pulled out the yellow one I had taken from the labs. I could sense something inside it. I felt like I was staring into its soul as I focused and attempted to listen to it.
I could see vague, blurred pictures. Fleeting, gone in a blink, but I could understand them in small pieces. I recognised the Hojo's experiment in some pieces, using a missile attack and the lasers. Then people, very faint silhouettes using the same techniques. I could... make out words, names of the abilities... people who could use enemy skills against them. Matra Magic... Laser... the vision of the Zolom attacking us appeared, the fire that crept from the materia and into my hand. Returning the attack to the Zolom. Then blurry parts of others using the same ability... Beta.
I remembered the skills the Ronso could use. The ability of Lancet that healed them, but sometimes also gave them knowledge of a fiends skills that they could use themselves. I think, maybe... didn't the Gullwings have a sphere formed from a Ronso's memories? I'm sure they created a Dressphere from that... I think.
"It... it was the materia," I said, placing it back in my pocket. "And that... was incredibly lucky." I doubted I would use Beta in the future, unless I really had to. Fire and I... not the best combination. "But we should move before they come back."
"Looks like we're nearly out the swamp anyway," Cloud noted and went ahead. I was still a little shaken but kept it to myself, following Cloud with the others alongside me.
But when hit the outskirts of the swamp we were met with one of the more horrific sights I had seen since arriving in Gaia: a Zolom, one that was far bigger than even the huge one that attacked us before, reared up and it's head impaled through a dead tree, blood pouring down the bark and pooling at the bottom. We all approached the creature slowly, eyes up and staring at it in awe.
"Did Sephiroth do this?" Aerith asked quietly. Really it was the only logical answer to how it got like this. It hadn't been dead for long, that was for sure.
We slowly walked around the Zolom, eyes still on it out of a morbid fascination of Sephiroth's work. The execution looked clean, effortless, as though the Zolom had been nothing more than a nuisance in his way. This was our enemy and this First Class Soldier deal was nothing to scoff at. I wasn't sure if I was confident or worried about fighting him at this point in time. I just had to be prepared for whatever came.
