Chapter Ten
Lady Death
Cloud slid off of his chocobo with
practiced ease and turned to help Tifa off of the selfsame black-feathered back
that they had been sharing. She supported herself on his shoulders and smiled
her thanks as he placed her easily on the ground, the thick grass beneath
helping to steady her landing.
The black chocobo, one of the
teenaged chocobos of Ryu's brood, threw back its head and squawked cheerfully.
It waited for Yuffie and Zeno to dismount from its sibling, large eyes
blinking. Once its sibling was free, they both made their curious cooing noises
and dashed back across the plain, heading towards the ocean and Wutai.
Yuffie waved like a lunatic at their
departing backs, even though she knew just as well as the others that the two
chocobos couldn't see her. "Say 'hi' to Cloud Junior for me!" she shouted at
the top of her lungs.
Cloud sighed. "Yuffie, why the hell
did you have to go and name that gawky little thing after me?"
The ninja stopped waving and turned
to Cloud, sticking her tongue out at him. "I told you. He looked like you."
"So this' Rocket Town?" Zeno
commented, staring up at the buildings in front of them. "And who lives here
again?"
"One of our friends, Cid Highwind,"
Cloud replied with a quick grin. "We met him almost five years ago, and we
haven't really seen him since. Actually," he added with a ponderous frown, "I
wonder if he even remembers us."
"Who else would that oldie have to
remember?" Yuffie commented slyly. "He's probably the true leader of Rocket
Town by now. I wonder if he and Shera have gotten anywhere…?"
"Oh, Yuffie," Tifa groaned. "Please,
don't even go there."
* * *
"The Captain? Oh, he's probably at
the Highwind," the Shanghai Inn's owner said in reply to Cloud's question. He
pointed in the general direction of where the huge airship was located. "Will
you folks be staying here tonight?"
"Maybe a little later. Book a room
for us, please. If we're not back by, oh…say about two hours from now, you can
give the room up," Cloud told the man. "Put it under the name 'Strife.'"
"Strife," the man muttered as he
wrote the name down in his check-in book. His eyes widened for a bare instant,
and then he was staring back up at Cloud again with awed brown eyes. "Cloud
Strife? The Captain's friend?"
"Er, yes, I suppose that would be
me," Cloud muttered.
"You…you stayed here before, didn't
you? With your other friends! Maybe five years ago, before you…saved the
Planet…" He turned his eyes towards Tifa and Yuffie, moving them past Zeno. "I
think I remember these two ladies. Where're the others?"
Tifa smiled warmly. "We got a bit
split up, but we're trying to get back together with them right now to show
them our, um…newest addition to the 'family.'" She pulled Zeno out from the
back of the quartet. "This' Zeno."
"Zeno?" The owner's eyes inspected
the young man. "He reminds me of that other man, what's his name? The rather
strange, quiet one with the red eyes."
"Who, Vincent?" Yuffie responded.
"Yeah, sounds like a fair description to me."
"And what happened to him?"
Cloud shrugged. "We really don't
know. He sort of disappeared not too soon after we…well, yeah."
The man shook his head slowly. "I'm
not too surprised. You could tell from his stance that he didn't really belong
in the group. There must have been some ulterior motive for him being there."
"How do you know so much, old man?"
Yuffie demanded eagerly.
" 'Old man'? Hmm. Well, after seeing
as many people as I have witnessed with these eyes…" He tapped the side of one
of his eyes. "You get to learn how to observe people very well."
"What brought Vincent up, anyway?" Tifa asked curiously.
Hearing what the man had to say made her gentle heart feel slightly ashamed
that she had never tried to talk to Vincent. However, the mysterious man's
chilling aura and the reminder of the dangerous power he carried within him
kept Tifa well away from even greeting him.
"Well…I happen to know someone who reminds me of him. I was
sort of wondering if they knew each other…Oh, I shouldn't delay you four much
longer! Have a nice talk with the Captain, and I'll hopefully see you again in
a couple of hours!"
Cloud nodded at the hotel owner and
herded his group out of the Shanghai Inn, heading towards the back of Rocket
Town. In place of the leaning rocket that had given the village its name years
ago, towered an airship with a motif written on the side of one gondola: The Highwind.
Zeno stopped well within the shadow
of the Highwind and simply stared up, showing the first amazement he had ever
exhibited since they had left Wutai. "Wow. This is so…cool."
Cloud chuckled, remembering the
exact same words he had said years ago, but of a different, smaller vehicle.
"Let's introduce you to the pilot, kid. He'll probably be willing to give us a
lift in it, too…well, hopefully."
The group went up the ladder that
led into a platform with a rounded bottom suspended from the mid-bottom portion
of the Highwind. The only protection that helped prevent people from falling
off was a guardrail traveling around the outer edge of the platform. Here,
Yuffie found memories flooding back to her of spending her first few
terrifyingly airsick minutes on the Highwind lying eagle spread on this same
deck, too green in the face and queasy to move. Eventually, she had somehow
managed to drag herself down to the cargo area of the Highwind, where she spent
most of her time convulsing in misery.
"Memories, Yuffie?" Cloud teased
when he saw Yuffie blanch at the sight of the familiar wooden deck.
"Oh, shut up, you pokey headed
jerk," she muttered back, feeling airsick already even though her feet hadn't
even left the ground yet.
"Excuse me. Can I help you?"
The woman emerging from the stairway
that led into the cargo bay and cockpit of the Highwind had brown hair tied
into a bun and wore a white lab coat. She stared at them with confused light
brown eyes, as if she were trying to remember if she knew them from somewhere.
"Do I…?"
"Shera!" Tifa exclaimed, running
towards the older engineer. "How are you? How's Cid?"
Shera frowned as she examined the
younger woman. "Wait…Tifa? Tifa Lockheart? Is that you?"
"Of course it is!" Tifa laughed.
"Who else would it be, Shera?"
"Oh!" Shera looked past Tifa to the
other three that still stood on the deck. "Then all of you are…Yuffie and
Cloud? But who's he, then?" She turned to Zeno.
"We're going to introduce him to
you," Cloud interrupted with a smile. "But first, we have to talk to Cid. Where
is he?"
"The Captain's below in the
cockpit," Shera replied, pointing downwards at her feet where the cockpit was
presumed to be. "He practically lives there now. Follow me; I'll go see if he's
busy or not!"
The foursome trailed after the woman
as she descended on the familiar metal stairs and led them over a ramp towards
a separate room. Zeno kept turning his head as they passed by equipment and
other storage, dark black eyes wide with amazement.
"Boys with their toys," Yuffie
muttered in resignation.
"Ya? What is it?" A gruff voice
answered to Shera's tapping on a nearby control panel. A dirty blonde head
poked up from the front of another control panel, where he had apparently been
repairing something.
"Captain? There're some people here
to see you," Shera replied patiently.
Cid Highwind slid out from behind
the control panel, wiping his hands on an already oil-streaked cloth. "Yeah?
They'd better have something pretty damn important, or I'll—" He stopped short
as he stared at the people waiting behind Shera. "It's…"
"Cid!" Cloud called, smiling despite
himself at the sight of the rough pilot.
"Damn!" Cid roared, bounding forward
with the energy of a teenager twice his junior. "Cloud! Hell, but it's good to
see you idiots again!"
"Yeah, wonderful to see you, too,
you moron," Yuffie shot back as she was whacked heartily on the back by Cid.
"Oof! Take it easy, why don't you! Your dumb little airship here caused me
enough pain in the past!"
Cid turned to Cloud, his grin
widening as he caught sight of Zeno, who was half-hiding as usual behind the
rest. "And who's this, Cloud? The kid looks like I'm going to eat him or
something!"
Cloud dragged Zeno forward by the
arm. "This kid's Zeno. Sort of my nephew, okay? Take it easy on him!"
"Nephew, huh?" Cid examined Zeno,
chewing on a cigarette that hung out of the corner of his mouth. "Say, you look
familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"
Tifa tapped Cid on the back, drawing
the pilot's attention to her. "We'll talk to you about him later, Cid," she
whispered in a tone that was low enough so that even Zeno didn't catch her.
Cid nodded. "So, what brings you
guys here? Just to introduce this kid to me?" He glanced at Cloud. "Knowing
you, you probably want something…"
"Um, not exactly," Cloud bluffed.
"Well, uh…it's sort of…personal."
"Hey, I get it." Cid turned to
Shera. "Shera, can ya show the kid around the Highwind? It looks like he's
dying to take a good look at the place. And get some tea while you're at it."
"Yes, sir," Shera replied, beckoning
to Zeno. "Right this way, Zeno."
Zeno left, giving one suspicious
backward glance at the group of old friends before leaving, the door sliding
shut behind him.
* * *
"…So this is our mechanics room. It,
um, needs its annual repairs, so please don't mind the mess…" Shera led Zeno
into the room that was lined with huge metal canister-like machines that were
completely silent at the moment. "Dusk?"
A dark-haired head of hair appeared
from behind one of the "canisters," much in the same way that Cid's had from
behind the control panel. However, this person was a girl in her early twenties
and had the looks of someone who didn't come from anywhere in this area. "Yes,
Shera?"
"Zeno, this is our head of the
Highwind staff, Dusk Hart," Shera introduced. "Dusk, this is Zeno. He's sort of
visiting."
Dusk rolled neatly out from behind
the "canister" and rose, extending one hand towards the man. "Hello."
Zeno took her hand and shook it,
examining the girl carefully. She was slender and as graceful as a dancer,
although she had the frigid air of a day deep within winter. Her appearance was
of someone who belonged in the house of a noble rather than the mechanics room
of an airship, clad in a protective coverall. Her hair was long and raven black,
at the moment bound out of her way in a ponytail, and her eyes were a strangely
glowing bloody red. Her face was icily pale, and the way her lips remained
together suggested that she didn't smile very often.
Why
does she remind me of me? Zeno thought to himself as he released his grip. She carries herself like a fighter, not a
mechanic. And the way she moves…
"Motor Ten is finished, Shera," Dusk
said, interrupting Zeno's observations. "Eleven and Twelve will be finished by
early tomorrow."
Shera nodded in satisfaction. "Take
a break, Dusk. You've been working all day. Come on, you can help me show Zeno
around, since you probably know this place better than me."
Dusk nodded in slow agreement, then
turned and stripped off her worker's coverall, hanging it on a hook from a
wall. Her outfit underneath was obviously not her best clothing; it consisted
of a simple tank top-and-shorts combination. "Have you gone to the kitchens
yet?"
"Ah, no. And speaking of which, the
Captain is speaking with the other members of Zeno's group and asked for some
tea."
"The usual?"
"Probably."
Zeno continued his brooding as the
two women led the way into the next room, his eyes resting on Dusk's back.
She's
hiding something, too…just like Uncle Cloud…
* * *
"The kid's…what?" Cid stared at
Cloud in complete shock. "You're kiddin' me, right?"
Cloud shook his head regretfully.
"Unfortunately, no. There's a very good chance that he is the reincarnation of Sephiroth. He doesn't know it yet, but he's
starting to act more and more like…him.
How old do you think he is, Cid?"
Cid chewed his cigarette nearly in
half. "Huh? Well…mid-twenties, I'm guessin'."
"He's four and a half."
Cid dropped his already-extinguished
cigarette. "What?!"
"He grew quickly not only in his
mother's womb, but once he was born as well. Physically and mentally, he's
about twenty-four. And…Cid, he's a deadly fighter." Cloud frowned slightly at
the memory. "Hell, last time I sparred with him, he beat me to the ground with
three moves. And…he's fast. He's more than fast; he's…I don't know. Faster than
anything I've ever seen before."
"But his hair…"
"And his eyes? It doesn't really
excuse anything. I mean, damn…his hairstyle is still the same. The bangs and
the length, never mind that he keeps it in a ponytail. Zeno's no normal kid. He
reads almost excessively, too, as if he's hungering after some knowledge that
he can't get from us. And…" Cloud paused. "Well, he's had some dreams recently.
He said that it was like someone was calling him, and then he got a vague image
of a crater. More specifically, it sounded like the North Crater."
"Something's calling him to the
North Crater?" Cid frowned. "What would it be? Jenova's dead, isn't she?"
"That's…what we think. But there's a
bare possibility that she might not be," Tifa answered. "I've been thinking
about it, and…What if that last Jenova we fought in the Crater wasn't really
the last one? What if there was another piece hidden somewhere, and its grown
back into a full Jenova? Just…waiting to strike."
Cid shivered. "Damn. And here I was
thinkin' that you guys had some good news at last. Well…does the kid know
Dusk?"
"Dusk? Dusk who?" Yuffie asked,
wrinkling her brow.
"Dusk Hart, my head of the Highwind
staff. She's…sort of strange, too."
"Like how?" Cloud questioned with
the curiosity of any human meeting with foreign news.
"Well, she's…actually, she kinda
reminds me of Vincent. You know, the stiff? Black hair, red eyes, fighter,
ex-member of the Turks…"
"Who? Vincent or this Dusk person?"
"Both of them. They're so similar
that it's uncanny. Just that Dusk is a girl, and Vincent's…well. She doesn't
seem to have an artificial limb, though. Smart kid and one hell of a mechanic,
but it's the way she arrived in Rocket Town that had me thinking."
"The way she arrived?" Tifa
repeated. "How?"
Cid scratched the side of his head.
"Well, this kid's got a bounty on her head. It's a bounty for murder…just like
how most of the Turks have, too. Except…she's got a nickname on hers." His
voice lowered as he spoke. "They call her Lady Death."
