Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Turklight Rhapsody

The Highwind landed with a slight thump practically nose-to-nose with Kalm's doorstep. Cloud climbed quickly down the rope ladder first, skipping the last few rungs to jump away from it and land lightly on his feet in a crouched position, sword hand immediately heading to his back to check his Ultima Weapon's position.

"Because I can imagine what that feeling of loss and betrayal must be like, I do not want anyone—not even you three—to go through that."

Yuffie executed a neat somersault as she followed Cloud's dismount from the rope ladder, making a precise landing a few feet away from Cloud. Tifa opted for a more dignified way of getting off, and simply kept descending until her boots touched the long grass of the ground.

"This was why Jenova chose to allow her son to be raised by normal humans; so that when she took him back and he destroyed everything, he would cause his foster parents more pain than anything else he could have afflicted upon them."

Aeris followed right after Tifa, curiosity shining in her Lifestream-green eyes as she examined the town in front of her. "What did they do to the ground?" she asked blankly as she stared at the dark blue to purple ground of Kalm.

Tifa laughed gently. "The people of Kalm tiled it, dear. It must be an annoyance to change the tiles every time Kalm shifts, but it's a sanitary luxury that allows the people to walk with slightly cleaner feet. Of course, someone has to wash it every so often."

"Tiles…" Aeris crept forward and cautiously placed a foot on the hard, smooth surface.

Cloud walked confidently forward over the tiles, glancing over his shoulder to Aeris. "It's okay," he called. "It's a little slippery and might take some time to get used to, but it's pretty neat once you get the hang of it."

"O-okay." Aeris followed Tifa and Yuffie, watching her feet in fascination as they half-slid over the glassy surface.

"Had I never raised Aeris, then I would not have brought this up to you three. But I did, and because I did, I can now understand things concerning parental emotion."

"Hey, travelers!" a middle aged man called out cheerfully as the quartet approached the center of the town. He waved at them as he finished the touches on the sign that hung over his shop. "Want to hear some of the latest gossip?"

Tifa shot Cloud a quick look. "Yes, please. We've been sort of out of things lately."

"Well, there are some people in town who claim to have seen…" the man lowered his voice to a mysterious, dramatizing level. "Sephiroth."

"Oh, really?" Cloud asked, trying to sound calm. "What makes them think they saw him? He's dead, isn't he?"

"Apparently not," the man laughed. "These three might be totally out of their minds, I tell you. They wandered in completely dirty and shaken up and kept babbling something about Sephiroth. We asked them to prove it to us, but they just kept interrupting each other and jabbering away. Finally, I decided to lend them a room in my inn for the time being—at least until they recover their senses." He glanced around furtively before continuing. "They described him just how he was said to look way back then; long, silver hair, the pale skin of the dead, emerald eyes that could pierce your very soul, and carrying a long, silver sword at his side. Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Where are these three people now?" Cloud asked curiously. "Are they still here?"

"Yeah, upstairs," the man said, gesturing vaguely towards his inn. "Be careful if you want to see them. The red haired man likes to act cool and everything, but he's slightly temperamental. And the woman…jeez, you don't want to cross with her when she's on the wrong side of her mind. The big guy isn't that bad, but he keeps just staring off into space without a single word emerging from him. And as far as I know, all three of them have been drinking me out of house and home for the last hour or so."

"Thank you," Cloud said as he nodded to the others. They entered the inn and took the stairs to the room at the top.

"Do we know these three?" Tifa murmured to Cloud as they came within sight of the door that blocked them from the crazed trio. "They sound slightly familiar; in personality if not in physical appearance."

"I got that feeling, too," Cloud muttered back, putting a hand on the doorknob and turning it. "But it's probably just our imagina—"

As soon as the door swung open, Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie could only stare in open-mouthed shock at the people inside.

"Oh, my gawd," Yuffie remarked, her mouth working frantically as she broke the silence. "It's…them."

The deranged threesome was none other than the former Turks.

* * *

"I mean that you three would only be hurting yourselves by giving him a name to which he does not answer to at the moment. You three remember Sephiroth well enough. And all of you should know that there might be a time in the future when we may have to take your 'nephew' down."

* * *

It was no wonder that the people of Kalm didn't recognize the trio for one of the groups of Turks wanted by Midgar. They had changed drastically in appearance, from clothing to hair, and the only reason why Cloud and the other two recognized them was because they had been so pestered by the Turks in the past. Still, it was quite a shock to see all three of them alive—if not well.

The Turks had been hitting the bottle quite heavily, as could be plainly told by the sour stench of stale beer that filled the air, the beer bottles that were liberally scattered on the floor, and the bloodshot, unfocused eyes that turned to the group at their door. Reno's hair was still a long ponytail of red, but it looked even messier and wilder than before, if that was possible. Stringy strands hung in his bleary, sleep-deprived blue eyes, his entire chin was covered with a rough stubble of the beginnings of a beard, and his business shirt was half-hanging off of his body and out of his torn pants. He was leaning in a chair at the moment, a half full bottle hanging limply in his just as limp hand.

Elena was most definitely not the groomed, business-oriented woman they had fought with before. Her blonde hair was darkening from lack of sunlight and reached easily to her waist, although that was hard to tell at the moment since she was propped up against the side of a messy, obviously slept-in bed. She, at least, still had her uniform on—or at least the top half of it. The dark blue vest that had marked the Turks was open at the chest, revealing her collared, wrinkled shirt underneath that was thankfully still almost all the way buttoned up and was long enough to cover up the top of her legs. She wasn't even awake; her head was tilted backwards against the side of the bed, hair spread behind her in one long clump that spoke of days without showering. She, like Reno, also had a beer bottle clutched in one had, but it was busily spilling out all of its contents onto the floor from the relaxation of her hands in sleep.

Rude was perhaps the most sane-looking one of the bunch, but he was still distinguishably drunk. He was simply wearing boxers and a shirt, sitting on a windowsill with at least a dozen empty beer bottles carefully lined up in front of him and his next one in his hands. His hair had made its debut appearance since the last time Cloud and the others had seen him and now grew in an uneven mop of brown hair, complete with stringy bangs and a slight beard like Reno's. He was actually sitting up and staring at Cloud, but from the blank expression on his face, nothing was clicking in his mind.

"Oh, wow," Yuffie remarked, a twisted grimace crossing her face as the sight and smell of the room hit her senses. "You three must be in deep crap."

Reno got to his feet very carefully, placed his beer bottle on the floor with exaggerated caution, and took one swaggering step forward. Cloud involuntarily held his hands out to steady the man when he threatened to tip over, but Reno's own determination didn't let him do that. With several stiff, zombie-like movements, Reno was in front of the foursome, staring at them with drunken blue eyes.

"Reno?" Cloud asked slowly, trying to see if anything would register with the former Turk. "It's Cloud. Remember us?"

Reno dragged his gaze from Cloud across to the others, ending with Aeris in the back. He brought his eyes painfully back to Cloud, stared at him thoughtfully, and then opened his mouth.

"I want my Mommy," he said in a clear voice before he finally tipped over and passed out.

"Did he just say…'I want my Mommy'?" Yuffie snorted with laughter as Cloud gingerly dragged Reno's body over next to Elena's.

"It would seem so," Tifa agreed as she stepped into the room, distastefully kicking glass aside. "I've seen drunks, but never like these. And only in an hour, too!"

Aeris crept into the room, leaned over, and sniffed one of the bottles. She immediately withdrew, coughing and gagging with a nearly cross-eyed expression. "Interesting," she commented weakly. "What…what is it?"

"It's, uh, a drink," Yuffie tried to explain while Tifa attempted to communicate with Rude in the background. "Like…spirits?"

"Spirits?" Aeris frowned. "You mean like what I hear in my head?"

Yuffie paused. "You…hear voices in your head?"

Aeris stopped, embarrassed. "Never mind."

Cloud returned to the conversing girls, wearing an extremely resigned expression on his face. "Go back and get the others, Aeris," he said. "If we want any information out of these three…we have a lot of work to do."

"Therefore, I am warning all of you: Do not call Zeno by his name."

* * *

Reno woke up when a shaft of sunlight, something that he hadn't seen in a long time, hit the lids of his closed eyes. He mumbled and instantly felt a pang move excruciatingly through his temples and the base of his forehead, scrambling his sluggish brain into further slowness.

A hangover? What happened?

"Hey, Cloud, I think he's awake."

The voice was familiar, but he remembered it as being slightly higher and more like a bird chirping out of tune. It was still the same voice, but a little lower and carrying the tone of slight maturity.

Cloud…Cloud…Cloud…where have I heard that name before?

"What? Are you sure?"

A male voice that time, not as deep as male voices went, but low enough to distinguish it from a female voice.

"Yeah, he moved and said something under his breath."

Cloud…Cloud…Cloud!

Reno's eyes flew open as he remembered who that name belonged to, only to meet that exact same face hovering above his own. The sapphire, ocean blue eyes widened and the face jerked itself away as Reno sat up, ignoring the headache as he best could.

Sure enough, it was that annoying mercenary, Cloud Strife. His eyes and especially his hair were still the same; dark blue, like the heart of a jewel, and golden spikes jutting out at random angles respectively. Standing behind him was the girl the first voice belonged to; the even more annoying ninja girl, Yuffie Kisaragi, who although had softened a bit in her sharp, tomboyish features, still retained a look of mischief in her Wutai eyes. Beyond her was that old pilot, Cid Highwind, the ex-Turk, Vincent Valentine, some woman who looked like she could be Vincent's sister, and Tifa Lockheart, who still the same, drop-dead gorgeous brunette Rude had been staring at long ago. And right next to Tifa was Aeris Gainsborough, the last of the Cetra…

…The same girl that died almost five years ago.

"What the—?!" Reno yelped, scrambling to his feet out of the bed and luckily realizing in time that he had pants on. He pointed a steady finger at the green-eyed angel, unable to believe his own eyes. "You! You died! Am I still drunk or something?"

Aeris must have been a little surprised and scared at his comment, for she backed away from him and shrank against the farthest wall, biting her lower lip.

Reno wheeled on Cloud next, bringing his finger around to point at the spiky-haired mercenary. "And you! What happened? Sephiroth didn't kill you?"

Cloud looked as if he were either on the verge of a hysterical breakdown or a scream of pure impatience. "No, he didn't. Reno—"

"I died and went to heaven, didn't I?!" Reno grabbed Cloud's thick turtleneck collar in both hands as he stared at him with wild eyes. "You can tell me the truth, you know. You're all dead. You all have to be dead."

Elena chose to wake up just then, opening her eyes with a groan as she sat up in the bed she had been placed in. Her only movement after that was to rub her hands against her temples, wincing in pain. Rude was the last one following Elena, but he simply sat straight up, stared blankly at the air in front of him, and then collapsed back onto the bed, eyes firmly shut.

"Reno…?" Elena removed her hands from her face and looked around. The first thing she saw was Reno grappling with Cloud as the latter attempted to remove the former Turk's hands away from his neck. She blinked several times, whacked the side of her head with the heel of her hand, and stared again. "Reno!"

"Elena!" Reno let go of Cloud's clothing and wheeled around, panic in his eyes. "Didn't they die? I'm not dead, am I?"

"No!" Tifa intervened, snapping out at them like a snake striking for the kill. She took a deep breath, trying to will patience onto herself. "No," she repeated. "None of you are dead. We just had a few questions for you."

"About what?" Reno asked, trying to regain his composure as he scooped up his fallen shirt and slipped it on.

"About…Sephiroth."

"To spare yourselves the emotional weakness that may come once we meet him, you must not remember him as Zeno—only as Sephiroth."

Almost immediately at the mention of Sephiroth's name, Reno recoiled and took quite a few steps away from Cloud while Elena turned a shade paler than her current ivory pallor, if that was possible. "S-Sephiroth?" Elena gasped out while Reno simply stared at Cloud from beneath wild bangs. She began trembling slightly. "We…we saw him. I swear we did! He murdered a Midgar Zolom in that godforsaken swamp just a few hours ago. We were wandering through the Mythril Mines when we heard some noise outside. So all three of us poked our heads out of one of the Mines' exits and saw him. His back was to us, but it was him, all right; you could tell from the silver hair and the black trench coat. He was facing off against a big Zolom with his sword sheathed at his side and making no move at all to get it. Then the snake attacked—you know how fast the Zolom are, right?"

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, remembering one of the Zoloms he and his friends had fought with long ago. They were basically huge snakes made almost entirely of muscle, giving them an amazing amount of speed and strength that made it hard to dodge—or even live through—an encounter with one of them. "Those things are like lightning."

"Sephiroth just dodged it."

"What?"

"It's true!" Reno interrupted, coming out of his temporary stupor to add in his own two cents. "One minute he was standing there, the next, the snake had struck and he was standing at least six feet to the side of the Zolom's head. It sort of got the Zolom mad, because it immediately attacked again. And you know what?"

"He dodged it again?" Cloud asked.

Now Rude sat up once more, staring at Cloud with haunted eyes. "Yes, and every other time after that. Even when that reptile was beginning to falter, he wasn't even breaking out in a sweat, much less breathing any harder than when he started. Then he just walked straight up to the Zolom's head, grabbed it, jumped into the air, and impaled the skull straight through some old dead tree that was there. And get this—the tree had to have been at least twenty-five feet high. Sephiroth made the entire jump with room to spare, and while carrying the Zolom."

Tifa's eyes widened slightly. "You're positive you weren't imagining it?"

Elena nodded vigorously, hair flying about her head in her anxiety to prove her truthfulness. "You can check if you want to; it was still there when we left it."

"What happened to Sephiroth?" Aeris asked abruptly, speaking for the first time since they had encountered the Turks.

"He disappeared," Reno whispered. "He just…vanished. As if he were never there…No smoke, no noise, nothing. Just him there…and then empty air."

"He is not your nephew, he isn't your son, he isn't your brother, he isn't even part of your family anymore. He is Sephiroth, and Sephiroth must be stopped from doing anything at all costs."