Angel Fallen
A Final fantasy VII Side Story
By Chadwick V. Simmons
Part VII
It was bitter cold, always bitter cold. The mournful howl of the wind over snow swept peaks lent an air of surreal aloneness to the place. Even with a friend close at hand one would inevitably feel lost in a void of solitude here. Many were the unwary travelers who had once braved the cliffs to see this place, to gain one more notch on their belts, one more deed to boast pridefully of. Many were the bones buried beneath the tons of ice and snow, all that remained of those many travelers. So lost could one become in the overwhelming solitude of the crater that it was easy to stand and gaze out across the awe inspiring landscape from dawn till dusk, easy to forget the mournful howl of the wind as well as its frigid bite. Alas for those poor souls, frozen by the northern winds as they contemplate the paths of their lives.
Cloud blinked the ice from eyes frozen half shut. Steeling his will, he pulled his eyes from the spectacle before him, so different since the cave-in that had buried half the crater floor, yet so very much the same. Shivering in the chill air despite his cold weather gear, he quickly turned and ducked under the flap of a small tent, his only shelter from the northern wind's certain death.
Glancing around the dimly lit interior of the tent for but a brief moment, Cloud hurriedly peeled open his heavy cloak and huddled close to the small fire Cid had finally gotten to light. Head down he sat staring into the fire, shivering.
Cid sat across the fire from Cloud, his eyes having never left the forlorn young man since he'd stumbled into the tent. Distractedly, he spit off to one side and took a draw off of the cigarette he held with fingers too numb to feel the smooth paper. After a moment of silent contemplation he tossed the remainder of his smoke into the fire and pulled the small kettle from the flames.
He paused a moment, and Cloud glanced up briefly. "Drink?" Cid inquired, holding up the kettle.
Once more Cloud glanced up, this time nodding his assent.
Cid poured a generous portion of steaming coffee into a battered tin cup and passed it to Cloud. He then filled a second equally battered cup for himself and set the kettle back over the hot embers of the fire. Cloud eagerly sipped his coffee, letting it warm his insides as the fire could not, whilst Cid pulled a dingy silver flask from the folds of his heavy winter parka. He began to uncap it and looked questioningly to Cloud.
Cloud only shook his head briefly before returning his gaze to the fire. Cid was just about to pour a generous portion of liquor into his coffee, when Cloud stopped him with a few quick words. "Wait, is that alcohol?"
"Yeah, some of the best brandy you can find now days." Once again he held the flask out toward Cloud. "Sure you don't want a bit? It'll warm your toes."
Again Cloud shook his head. "You shouldn't drink that. Alcohol may make you FEEL warmer, but it really just makes it easier for you to freeze to death. It causes the veins near the surface of your skin to open up more, to let more blood flow. The hot blood makes you feel warmer, but it also allows your body heat to escape through your skin more quickly." Cloud turned his gaze back to the fire once again.
Cid quirked an eyebrow and regarded the flask longingly. After a moment he capped it and replaced it in his coat with a resigned sigh. "They teach you that in SOLDIER?"
Cloud cringed a bit and shook his head. "I was never in SOLDIER, remember? It's just part of the basic survival training I received."
Cid was nodding his head before Cloud finished, having remembered that little detail almost as soon as he'd spoken the words. Cid sat back and sipped at his coffee, while Cloud sank back into his melancholy.
After a few moments of silence, Cid once again spoke up. "So, have you decided what we're to do next? I hope this damn wind hasn't affected your brain too much. That thing ain't in the best damn shape as it is."
Cloud looked up to Cid and smirked wryly, shaking a bit of his foul mood as he focused on the task at hand. "Yeah, the sun will be up in full soon. We'll break camp and head on to the heart of the crater in a few minutes. I figure we can either set tonight's camp there or head back early after a preliminary scouting if you're uncomfortable staying down there."
Cid barked out a short fit of laughter. "Of course I'm uncomfortable staying down there. Shit, I'd rather not be anywhere near this hellhole. Even being this close makes my damn skin crawl." It wasn't just the chill northern air that made Cid shiver this time.
"I know, but it can't be helped. Hopefully we'll either get lucky and find the damn sword just lying there on top of all that snow, or we'll find that it's securely buried deep below tons of ice." Cloud shrugged apologetically. "Either will satisfy me, so long as I'm sure it'll not be causing any trouble anytime soon."
Cid tossed Cloud one last resigned look and started pulling on the rest of his gear. "I doubt we'll find it just lying around, and I hope the hell you don't get it in your spiky head to try digging the thing up. Let's move out."
Cloud nodded his agreement and likewise started packing up his gear. It would be a long hike and he took one last longing look at the fire before dousing it and ducking back out into the frigid arctic air.
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One hour and a thousand of Cid's constant profanities later, the unlikely pair finally set foot on an ice shelf no more than twenty feet below the top of the small peak they'd found at the crater's heart.
"Almost there. Stop your bitching for a while would you Cid? You'll start an avalanche." Cloud smirked back at Cid as the pilot pulled himself securely onto the ledge.
"Bah you ain't heard real bitching yet you little punk ass shit." Despite his surly mood, Cid was indeed glad to be so close to their goal, and quicker than expected too. That meant they could get out of the place a lot sooner as well, or so he hoped.
After a few moments of rest, Cloud motioned to the top of the peak. "We should be able to get a good view all around from up there. If it's just lying around hopefully we can spot it. Ready?"
Cid shrugged resignedly and motioned Cloud ahead.
A few minutes later Cloud hooked his gloved hands over the ice covered rocks of the peak's summit and pulled himself up to the top. Staggering to his feet he shook the loose snow from his hair. He glanced around briefly as he turned to help Cid up the last part of the climb, but saw something that immediately stopped him in his tracks.
There, in the center of the plateau, was the Masamune. It stood upright, its blade embedded firmly into the rocky snow dusted ground, and its hilt aimed skyward. Bathed in the morning sunlight, it appeared as nothing so much as a fairy tale image, the sacred sword that would be the prize of the brave knight who dared to save the world perhaps. But were that the case it would be a fairy tale steeped in darkness, twisted and broken, for even from more than thirty feet away Cloud could feel the intense evil radiating from the blade.
This was the sword he had come in search of, the object of power he had sworn to find and guard with his very life in an attempt to keep the world free of its evil influence. To Cloud's ultimate horror, he found that he was simply too late.
A man stood calmly beside the sword, patient as if waiting for something, or perhaps someone. He was cloaked all in black and his long hair cascaded around him, tossed by the wind. The sun was at his back liming him in an eerie halo of flame, and casting his features into deep shadow. Though his facial features were lost in the gloom, his liquid blue eyes seemed to glow with a light all their own.
Cloud stumbled and almost fell, his mind caught in a vortex of memories. Those pale blue orbs held him riveted, their chill bored into his soul. He looked on helplessly as the man reached forward and grasped the Masamune by its hilt. Even as he watched the man begin to slowly pull the magnificent sword from its prison of rock and ice, he found he could not move, could not turn his gaze from those malicious sapphire pools. Cloud knew terror, and as those fiercely glowing eyes stripped the veil from his soul, his horror only deepened.