"So how do you handle that thing?" Gladio eyes Cloud's weapon as they rode on their chocobos. It had been decided to stick the two blondes together on Prompto's amber chocobo.
"Should I explain it to you, or do you wanna see for yourself?" Cloud challenged with a smirk.
"Monsters closing in!" Ignis signaled as they swarmed around them.
Too curious to pass up the opportunity Noctis swung down from his royal blue chocobo. At his cue the rest dismounted as well, weapons drawn. Cloud blinked at the sight of their weapons materializing out of thin air. It was a strange kind of magic. It came in handy so they didn't have to carry them.
But it would also mean trouble if they can't use their magic. Cloud preferred to stick to carrying his sword.
He was quick to spring into action and swung at one of the red wolf like monsters. They almost reminded him of Nanaki, but these were dog like instead of cat. They were fast, but he could be just as fast if he timed it right. He caught the creature's side, injuring it. The monster yelped but bolted out of reach. Cloud raised his sword to block as he watched their movements.
The five of them were close together. If any of them were to be stumbled one of them were quick to cover them while another pulled the fallen to his feet. Or both at the same time. It was a brotherhood that Cloud admired. It reminded him of his old group.
He shook those memories and emotions out of his head. He had to keep his head in the game. A monster attacked Cloud. He noted it was the one he wounded earlier. It's lunge couldn't shake the block and Cloud thrusted his blade upwards to send the monster flying.
In the air it was defenseless and he swung at the rib cage. The creature let out a terrible scream as it fell to the ground. It tried to scramble back on its feet, but it had stumbled. Taking his chance Cloud continued his onslaught of attacks at the monster. From behind he heard another run at his back.
"Look out!" Prompto warned.
"I see you." He whirled to block just as a gunshot hit the attacking monster.
The one on the ground from earlier stood up. It snarled as it prepared to attack. Cloud reached at his blade to separate it, but before he could Noctis threw his blade at the monster. And then in an instant he warped from where he stood and to his weapon. It was so fast all Cloud caught sight of was a blue aura.
"Gotcha!" Noctis slashed as he knocked it back to the ground.
With that one taken care of Cloud focused his attention at the one that tried to sneak up on him. Within a short time later they had taken care of the pack. Cloud was grateful for the good warm up. It was good to know his body didn't change during the however amount of time he spent inside the meteor.
As his companions weapons disappeared into thin air Cloud swung his as his signature victory. When it was placed on his back he realized they were all watching him. It took a moment for him to realize they were looking at him with newfound admiration.
"You handled yourself pretty good." Gladio smiled. He had some doubts Cloud was battle ready after his ordeal in the meteor, but he proved otherwise.
"Thanks." Suddenly Cloud felt the awkwardness creep up on him. He wasn't used to being praised. He had to remind himself he was on a different planet. It was a little difficult when Eos had chocobos too. And in some ways the environment was similar enough he could forget that this wasn't Gaia.
But he couldn't sense the Livestream. And therefore he couldn't sense Aerith. Or Zack. Or any of his friends who perished from Sephiroth's success. Would it be considered a success, though? Cloud wondered.
It was a partial success. But why was I forced to travel the cosmos in a meteor? For some reason Cloud was disturbed.
"You okay there?" Noctis asked, snapping Cloud out of his thoughts.
"Yeah. I'm good." He assured them.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Ignis prompted gently.
"Just... Still getting used to the idea I'm on a different planet. It's strange. In some ways it's almost similar to Gaia." Cloud admitted.
"I can't say I understand. But, you're not alone in this new world. You got us." Prompto assured, looking at his friends for support.
"Yeah. You're a good fighter. Iggy, can we keep this one?" Gladio turned to Ignis.
"We'll see. It's still ultimately up to him. Plus, he still needs to understand what's going on with Eos to make a decision."
"Shall we continue? It would be better to explain somewhere safe."
"Oh! How about over some grub, while we're at it!" Prompto suggested.
"It will be dark in a few hours. I think that will be a good idea."
"Then let's get going." Cloud smiled at the group. He was beginning to like them. Their friendship ran deep. Their trust and bond with each other reminded him of his days as an infantryman with Zack as his mentor.
They continued onward to their destination. As the sun began to set they arrived at the chocobo farm. After a brief introduction to Wiz, Cloud was able to choose his chocobo. Soon as he neared the paddock, however, the birds went crazy over him.
"Hey, hey, I can only choose one of you." Cloud giggled as they all rubbed up against his hair, face, shoulders, and ribs. One snuck to his hand and snatched the greens he was holding to bond with a chocobo.
She then snapped at the rest to get away as she claimed him. Cloud simply shrugged. Guess the chocobo chose for him instead of the other way around.
"Yay! Now you can name her and customize her color." Wiz had found the whole spectacle hilarious.
Cloud chose grey. He noted how Noctis and his friends all had varied colors. But he was considering the name and was stuck.
"What did you name your birds?" He asked the group.
"I named mine Stella." Noctis pointed at his royal blue bird in the paddock. She chirped at her name and came forward and rubbed her face into his touch.
"My brave boy is Glaive." Gladio motioned to the crimson one. It looked up from it's food for a moment. When it's rider didn't give the call for saddle up the bird presumed his meal.
"I call mine Hotshot." Prompto was proud of his amber colored chocobo. It leaped over the fence with enthusiasm and almost knocked his owner to the ground in what was presumed to be a chocobo version of a hug.
"And this lovely lady is Sage." Ignis introduced his bird. She was emerald and every sense of the word a lady. She raised her head to make a bow with cute chirping noises. After a round of applause she went back to her food.
Somehow the colors and names fit well with their bonded riders. Cloud studied his grey chocobo. As the sky darkened her color reminded him of a friend who stuck it with him until almost the very end. And it hit him.
"Tifa." He wasn't sure if she would like the idea of him naming a bird after her, but he would have found it weird to name his chocobo Fenrir. Plus he wondered if he could build Fenrir 2.0 from scratch at this world.
The bird chirped in approval. Tifa rubbed herself all over him in happiness.
"And she approves! Congratulations on your chocobo." Wiz was delighted. "I better get on with the grill for dinner."
"Shall we place our orders? We'll be staying the night." Ignis inquired the group.
"Oh, yeah! I'm starving!"
"Got any new additions to the menu?"
"So glad you asked, boys! I got a new specialty."
So they placed their orders. While they waited for their food Ignis started first to explain the world of Eos to Cloud. It was a watered down version of the history, but he covered the basics of the empires and the growing war. It was a lot to take in. However Ignis spoke in a way it was easy enough to follow.
"So, what about you guys?" Cloud felt that they were keeping one detail out.
"Here you are! A meal fit for your highness!" Wiz brought their dinner.
When he left Cloud raised an eyebrow at the group. It was clear they were a little embarrassed the secret was out.
"To put it simply, Noctis is the prince of Insomnia."
"So is that how you were able to shatter the meteor?" Cloud guessed. If the meteor was anything Sephiroth would have created, it would have been huge.
"How'd you know?" Gladio questioned.
"Just a hunch. My enemy would often describe he would use the remnants of Gaia to explore the cosmos in search for the Promised Land."
"So then how come he didn't accompany you in the meteor?" Ignis frowned. "We saw no one else. I know we were the first ones there."
"I don't know. I don't even remember what happened to cause the meteor. I can only recall fighting him. And then, I think I won? There was hardly anything left. I tried to..." Cloud hesitated. He felt ashamed. "Commit suicide. I don't know what happened to cause the meteor."
There were a few theories. He had thought he eliminated all traces of Sephiroth. However, he had come to realization that he would be considered the last living legacy of him. It wouldn't be the first time Sephiroth possessed him, or held any sort of influence. But that didn't explain why Cloud woke up sane and couldn't sense his enemy in his head.