Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy Seven or The Story "The Darksword
Trilogy" which I got the Darksword from.
Chapter 12: Time to See Old Friends
It took them two days to reach the island. The first mistake was that Cloud went in the wrong direction. The second was that they ran out of fuel half way. Rueben grumbled that it would have been faster taking a boat. After about an hour into the flight on the first day, Tifa woke up. She wasn't too pleased to find herself in the plane, and then proceeded to smack Rueben in the back of the head. After a bit she stopped, only because her hand was starting to hurt. Aeris remained eerily quite most of the way, and Rueben knew she was mad at him. He promised himself that he would make it up to her, but he had no choice. For the first time in a long time, his sense of smell began to send him warnings. There was a subtle scent in the air. He knew Max and any other dog in the world could smell it. The Planet it self gave it off when it was afraid. Rueben snorted and crossed his arms. He would be damned if he'd let anything happen again.
Aeris on the other hand, was getting a faint warning from the Planet. It wanted her to head for the island. Before it had been coming from Midgar, and she had assumed it wanted her to heal that particular wound. Now that she had seed it, the disturbance moved over the ocean and right onto the island. Now she felt foolish for believing that. She sighed and looked at Rueben, wondering if he knew the Planet was in danger again.
Cloud grunted and made the last turn towards the island. Rueben and Aeris were both unusually quite. He had forgiven Rueben's actions from two days ago, but the man could have at least asked. Cloud sighed and stared at Tifa wondering what she thought.
Tifa was miserable. She didn't have a jacket, her jeans were made for the summer, and her head still hurt from twos days ago. She glared at Cloud who grinned at her sheepishly. Why couldn't he have prevented this? She snorted and looked down to see an island. It was cover mostly with forests, and a huge clearing with a small mountain in the middle. Her jaw dropped when she saw in the clearing hundreds of Nanakis! She shook her head remembering their proper name. She shouted and pointed down. Everyone looked and saw. Rueben (who had lived with them for may years and was not as amazed) shouted to Cloud they were over-shooting the island. Cloud circled and prepared to land in the middle of the field. The Trumlions looked up at them, and bolted for the mountain.
Cloud landed in the field with a screech, and cut the engine. They slowed down and went past the mountain to see hundreds of caves carved into it. Cloud finally hit the brake at the edge of the woods. Rueben leaped out and landed on the grass. He smiled at the caves, and began walking towards them. He heard low growls of warning, but kept coming. Finally, there was an ear-splitting howl and hundreds of Trumlions came pouring out of the caves. An old Trumlion with a mane a long as his body led a charge at Rueben. Aeris screamed, and ran after Rueben, Cloud and Tifa close behind. Rueben then did an amazing thing. He went to his knees, and bowed till his head touched the ground and stayed like that. The Trumlions skidded to a halt, and stared at him. The old Trumlion stepped forward, and sniffed Rueben. Aeris trembled as he came toward her.
"Don't move!" Rueben shouted from his crouched position. It sniffed her, and then Cloud and Tifa. It snorted, and then came to smell Rueben again. It sat in front of him studying him.
"Arise Demon Knight and tell us why you, the Cetra, and humans are here in such a strange fashion." It said. Rueben rose with a smile upon his face.
"I am Rueben Tocnar. I am last survivor of my people. The Cetra is also the last of hers. She is Aeris, my fiancée, and those humans are Cloud and Tifa, our friends." Rueben said, and stepped back to pull Aeris forward. The Trumlion studied them, and then snorted.
"Are you aligned with the deformed man and his foul creation?" the elderly Trumlion inquired.
"No, we haven't even heard of them. We are here to find a Trumlion who is a friend of ours. His name is Nanaki." Rueben said, and at this the other Trumlions began to whisper amongst themselves. The old Trumlion grinned.
"AH! You must be the ones he spoke of! I'm Elder, second oldest, and leader here. Come you'll lead you to him. He's been injured." He said and proceeded to the cave level with the ground.
"What?! He's hurt? Red! We're here buddy!" Cloud shouted and ran after the Trumlion. The other Trumlions cleared a path to the cave their heads bowed. Rueben didn't like that. It was a sign that the injured was gravely hurt. When they were in the cave, Elder lit some torches with his tail, and revealed a male Trumlion. He was lying onto of a fur-covered area, and he faced away from them. There were wounds bandaged with leaves on his back and legs.
"Red? Is that you, Red?" Tifa whispered. He stirred, and rolled over. They could now see the tattoo on his shoulder, but Aeris screamed when she saw his face. His good eye was gone, leaving a gaping hole where it had been. The blind eye was oozing infection caused by the other eye's wound. She buried her face into Rueben's shoulder and began to cry. Tifa covered her mouth with her hand and let out a strangled sob as Cloud went forward to examine him. Red sniffed the air and gave a weak smile.
"Hello, Cloud. I heard Aeris and I smell, Tifa, too, but someone else is there. Who is it?" he asked.
"It's me Red. The one who told you were you would find the island." Rueben said, and put an arm around Aeris. Red gave a bitter laugh.
"Hello, Rueben. I guess you came to help them?" he said, and gave another bitter laugh.
"Yes, I did. Red, what happened?" he asked.
"Well, when I got here, the Trumlions welcomed me. The boat I hired agreed to take me back to get Cid to have these people taken back. That was two days ago. We were about to leave when he arrived." Red said, and spat blood onto the floor.
~Not a good sign. ~ Rueben thought.
"It was Hojo! The bastard had survived, and had created some vial monstrosity! It was made of various body parts, and even Sephiroth's arm! The beast had Sephiroth's sword as well and killed my entire boat crew. It then ripped out my eyes as I fought it. The others brought me back here, and have since been guarding the caves. I was informed yesterday, that the beast turned on Hojo himself, and literally ate him in front of the group who attacked them. Since then the beast has been attacking sporadically." Red said, and coughed again.
"Oh, Red! We're sorry we could get here sooner!" Tifa said, and finally broke into tears.
"It wasn't your fault. I should have left sooner, but I was preoccupied." He said, and a maneless Trumlion came forward.
"A female." Rueben whispered to his friends. She came over to Red and nuzzled his neck as he purred.
"This is my mate, Mira." He said.
"Hello!" she said cheerfully. Everyone stared at them.
"I take it your surprised. Oh if only I could see you faces!" he said, and chuckled.
"Congratulations, Red!" Cloud said, and crouched down to hug his friend. Red winced but smiled. Rueben appeared thoughtful and looked at Aeris.
"Aeris, if you could Red back sight in both his eyes would you do it? No matter the cost or way?" he asked.
"How can you ask me that?! Of course I would!" she said. Rueben nodded, and turned to Elder.
"She's agreed to do the Ong Nar." Rueben stated. Elder nodded, and began to herd everyone out except for Aeris, Rueben, and Mira.
"Wait! We want to stay!" Tifa shouted and fought against the crowd. Elder shook his head and pushed them out. He positioned himself so he was lying in the cave entrance, facing out. Cloud scratched his head as Tifa fumed. Inside the cave, Rueben knelt in front of Red and examined his wounds, particularly in his face. He turned to Mira who nodded and left to guard the entrance with Elder.
"Red, Aeris and I are going to perform a procedure that will restore your sight if done correctly. It can only be done once with each Trumlion, and it causes incredible pain. Only a Cetra can do it, and if Aeris doesn't do it when I expose the wounds you could bleed to death. Do you accept those terms?" he asked. Red was silent for a moment.
"I accept. My mother mentioned it once, but I thought all the Cetra were dead so I dismissed it. Apparently I should have paid more attention." He said, and Rueben laughed. He turned to see Aeris had gone pale.
"Aeris, this is going to be the most difficult thing I may ever ask you. When we do this, please remember I'm going to yell at you severely, but I still love you." He said, and Red snorted.
"I figured you two got together." He said, and Aeris gave weak laugh.
"Well, I never said loving you would be easy." She said.
"That you didn't." Rueben said, with a hint of laughter, "Now, I am going to literally rip open the wounds on the eyes. This will involve the blind eye being ripped out. When I'm done you must thrust your hands into his eye sockets and cast the Ong Nar spell by saying those words. There will be a great burst of energy, and the eyes will immediately regenerate. I can't touch you or take your hands into the sockets myself. If you don't do it as soon as possible, he will bleed to death. The eyes are the Trumlion's weakest points. Now, are you ready?" he asked. Aeris nodded, and took of her engagement ring to make sure it didn't get bloody. Red tensed involuntarily as they approached. Rueben grasped Red's head in his arms tightly.
"Try not to thrash if you can help it. You might break your neck. On the count of five." He said. He motioned to Aeris that it would be on the count of three
"I am ready." Red said, and he shivered.
"One.two."
*****
"Damn it! What is going on in there?" Tifa demanded of Elder.
"They are restoring his sight. Now please calm yourself. If you are this upset now, I fear as to how bad you will act when they do the procedure." He said, and noticed that Mira was shaking.
"Calm down, little one. It will be over soon." He said, and at this Red let out a scream of pain. Aeris also screamed, but in horror.
"Damn it, woman! Do it now! Now, or he dies!" they heard Rueben scream at Aeris.
"I can't!" she cried.
"Let us in there!" Cloud shouted, and rushed at them. Mira held him back, and Elder did the same with Tifa
"Damn it let me go!" Tifa screamed, as Red screamed again.
"AERIS, DO IT NOW YOU BITCH!" Rueben screamed. There was a pause, and then Aeris shouted, "ONG NAR!"
There was an explosion and another scream of pain from Red, and then silence. Mira let Cloud go, and she rushed in to see her mate. As everyone ran in, Aeris ran out, her hands covered in blood. She ran to the edge of the woods and vomited. Rueben calmly walked out; his hands bloody as well. He calmly walked over to Aeris. He looked at her, turned to the woods, and vomited himself. Inside, Mira was licking the blood from Red's face. Cloud leaned down, and almost fainted. Both of Red's eyes were healed. Red looked at them and grinned.
"Cloud, you look like you've seen a ghost." He said and passed out.
"He will be fine. Come let's leave them alone and check on our healers." Elder said. They left Mira and Red along to see Rueben and Aeris at the woods edge. She was arguing with Rueben. He said something calmly and low, placing a hand on her shoulder. Aeris gasped, and knocked the hand away, saying something. Before Rueben could defend himself she slapped her with her hand, leaving a bloody hand mark. Rueben stared at her in shock. Aeris turned her back to him, and crossed her arms. Rueben faded into the forest with a hurt expression on his face. Aeris turned as if to speak to him, and then found he was gone. She stormed off to a nearby stream to clean up.
Chapter 12: Time to See Old Friends
It took them two days to reach the island. The first mistake was that Cloud went in the wrong direction. The second was that they ran out of fuel half way. Rueben grumbled that it would have been faster taking a boat. After about an hour into the flight on the first day, Tifa woke up. She wasn't too pleased to find herself in the plane, and then proceeded to smack Rueben in the back of the head. After a bit she stopped, only because her hand was starting to hurt. Aeris remained eerily quite most of the way, and Rueben knew she was mad at him. He promised himself that he would make it up to her, but he had no choice. For the first time in a long time, his sense of smell began to send him warnings. There was a subtle scent in the air. He knew Max and any other dog in the world could smell it. The Planet it self gave it off when it was afraid. Rueben snorted and crossed his arms. He would be damned if he'd let anything happen again.
Aeris on the other hand, was getting a faint warning from the Planet. It wanted her to head for the island. Before it had been coming from Midgar, and she had assumed it wanted her to heal that particular wound. Now that she had seed it, the disturbance moved over the ocean and right onto the island. Now she felt foolish for believing that. She sighed and looked at Rueben, wondering if he knew the Planet was in danger again.
Cloud grunted and made the last turn towards the island. Rueben and Aeris were both unusually quite. He had forgiven Rueben's actions from two days ago, but the man could have at least asked. Cloud sighed and stared at Tifa wondering what she thought.
Tifa was miserable. She didn't have a jacket, her jeans were made for the summer, and her head still hurt from twos days ago. She glared at Cloud who grinned at her sheepishly. Why couldn't he have prevented this? She snorted and looked down to see an island. It was cover mostly with forests, and a huge clearing with a small mountain in the middle. Her jaw dropped when she saw in the clearing hundreds of Nanakis! She shook her head remembering their proper name. She shouted and pointed down. Everyone looked and saw. Rueben (who had lived with them for may years and was not as amazed) shouted to Cloud they were over-shooting the island. Cloud circled and prepared to land in the middle of the field. The Trumlions looked up at them, and bolted for the mountain.
Cloud landed in the field with a screech, and cut the engine. They slowed down and went past the mountain to see hundreds of caves carved into it. Cloud finally hit the brake at the edge of the woods. Rueben leaped out and landed on the grass. He smiled at the caves, and began walking towards them. He heard low growls of warning, but kept coming. Finally, there was an ear-splitting howl and hundreds of Trumlions came pouring out of the caves. An old Trumlion with a mane a long as his body led a charge at Rueben. Aeris screamed, and ran after Rueben, Cloud and Tifa close behind. Rueben then did an amazing thing. He went to his knees, and bowed till his head touched the ground and stayed like that. The Trumlions skidded to a halt, and stared at him. The old Trumlion stepped forward, and sniffed Rueben. Aeris trembled as he came toward her.
"Don't move!" Rueben shouted from his crouched position. It sniffed her, and then Cloud and Tifa. It snorted, and then came to smell Rueben again. It sat in front of him studying him.
"Arise Demon Knight and tell us why you, the Cetra, and humans are here in such a strange fashion." It said. Rueben rose with a smile upon his face.
"I am Rueben Tocnar. I am last survivor of my people. The Cetra is also the last of hers. She is Aeris, my fiancée, and those humans are Cloud and Tifa, our friends." Rueben said, and stepped back to pull Aeris forward. The Trumlion studied them, and then snorted.
"Are you aligned with the deformed man and his foul creation?" the elderly Trumlion inquired.
"No, we haven't even heard of them. We are here to find a Trumlion who is a friend of ours. His name is Nanaki." Rueben said, and at this the other Trumlions began to whisper amongst themselves. The old Trumlion grinned.
"AH! You must be the ones he spoke of! I'm Elder, second oldest, and leader here. Come you'll lead you to him. He's been injured." He said and proceeded to the cave level with the ground.
"What?! He's hurt? Red! We're here buddy!" Cloud shouted and ran after the Trumlion. The other Trumlions cleared a path to the cave their heads bowed. Rueben didn't like that. It was a sign that the injured was gravely hurt. When they were in the cave, Elder lit some torches with his tail, and revealed a male Trumlion. He was lying onto of a fur-covered area, and he faced away from them. There were wounds bandaged with leaves on his back and legs.
"Red? Is that you, Red?" Tifa whispered. He stirred, and rolled over. They could now see the tattoo on his shoulder, but Aeris screamed when she saw his face. His good eye was gone, leaving a gaping hole where it had been. The blind eye was oozing infection caused by the other eye's wound. She buried her face into Rueben's shoulder and began to cry. Tifa covered her mouth with her hand and let out a strangled sob as Cloud went forward to examine him. Red sniffed the air and gave a weak smile.
"Hello, Cloud. I heard Aeris and I smell, Tifa, too, but someone else is there. Who is it?" he asked.
"It's me Red. The one who told you were you would find the island." Rueben said, and put an arm around Aeris. Red gave a bitter laugh.
"Hello, Rueben. I guess you came to help them?" he said, and gave another bitter laugh.
"Yes, I did. Red, what happened?" he asked.
"Well, when I got here, the Trumlions welcomed me. The boat I hired agreed to take me back to get Cid to have these people taken back. That was two days ago. We were about to leave when he arrived." Red said, and spat blood onto the floor.
~Not a good sign. ~ Rueben thought.
"It was Hojo! The bastard had survived, and had created some vial monstrosity! It was made of various body parts, and even Sephiroth's arm! The beast had Sephiroth's sword as well and killed my entire boat crew. It then ripped out my eyes as I fought it. The others brought me back here, and have since been guarding the caves. I was informed yesterday, that the beast turned on Hojo himself, and literally ate him in front of the group who attacked them. Since then the beast has been attacking sporadically." Red said, and coughed again.
"Oh, Red! We're sorry we could get here sooner!" Tifa said, and finally broke into tears.
"It wasn't your fault. I should have left sooner, but I was preoccupied." He said, and a maneless Trumlion came forward.
"A female." Rueben whispered to his friends. She came over to Red and nuzzled his neck as he purred.
"This is my mate, Mira." He said.
"Hello!" she said cheerfully. Everyone stared at them.
"I take it your surprised. Oh if only I could see you faces!" he said, and chuckled.
"Congratulations, Red!" Cloud said, and crouched down to hug his friend. Red winced but smiled. Rueben appeared thoughtful and looked at Aeris.
"Aeris, if you could Red back sight in both his eyes would you do it? No matter the cost or way?" he asked.
"How can you ask me that?! Of course I would!" she said. Rueben nodded, and turned to Elder.
"She's agreed to do the Ong Nar." Rueben stated. Elder nodded, and began to herd everyone out except for Aeris, Rueben, and Mira.
"Wait! We want to stay!" Tifa shouted and fought against the crowd. Elder shook his head and pushed them out. He positioned himself so he was lying in the cave entrance, facing out. Cloud scratched his head as Tifa fumed. Inside the cave, Rueben knelt in front of Red and examined his wounds, particularly in his face. He turned to Mira who nodded and left to guard the entrance with Elder.
"Red, Aeris and I are going to perform a procedure that will restore your sight if done correctly. It can only be done once with each Trumlion, and it causes incredible pain. Only a Cetra can do it, and if Aeris doesn't do it when I expose the wounds you could bleed to death. Do you accept those terms?" he asked. Red was silent for a moment.
"I accept. My mother mentioned it once, but I thought all the Cetra were dead so I dismissed it. Apparently I should have paid more attention." He said, and Rueben laughed. He turned to see Aeris had gone pale.
"Aeris, this is going to be the most difficult thing I may ever ask you. When we do this, please remember I'm going to yell at you severely, but I still love you." He said, and Red snorted.
"I figured you two got together." He said, and Aeris gave weak laugh.
"Well, I never said loving you would be easy." She said.
"That you didn't." Rueben said, with a hint of laughter, "Now, I am going to literally rip open the wounds on the eyes. This will involve the blind eye being ripped out. When I'm done you must thrust your hands into his eye sockets and cast the Ong Nar spell by saying those words. There will be a great burst of energy, and the eyes will immediately regenerate. I can't touch you or take your hands into the sockets myself. If you don't do it as soon as possible, he will bleed to death. The eyes are the Trumlion's weakest points. Now, are you ready?" he asked. Aeris nodded, and took of her engagement ring to make sure it didn't get bloody. Red tensed involuntarily as they approached. Rueben grasped Red's head in his arms tightly.
"Try not to thrash if you can help it. You might break your neck. On the count of five." He said. He motioned to Aeris that it would be on the count of three
"I am ready." Red said, and he shivered.
"One.two."
*****
"Damn it! What is going on in there?" Tifa demanded of Elder.
"They are restoring his sight. Now please calm yourself. If you are this upset now, I fear as to how bad you will act when they do the procedure." He said, and noticed that Mira was shaking.
"Calm down, little one. It will be over soon." He said, and at this Red let out a scream of pain. Aeris also screamed, but in horror.
"Damn it, woman! Do it now! Now, or he dies!" they heard Rueben scream at Aeris.
"I can't!" she cried.
"Let us in there!" Cloud shouted, and rushed at them. Mira held him back, and Elder did the same with Tifa
"Damn it let me go!" Tifa screamed, as Red screamed again.
"AERIS, DO IT NOW YOU BITCH!" Rueben screamed. There was a pause, and then Aeris shouted, "ONG NAR!"
There was an explosion and another scream of pain from Red, and then silence. Mira let Cloud go, and she rushed in to see her mate. As everyone ran in, Aeris ran out, her hands covered in blood. She ran to the edge of the woods and vomited. Rueben calmly walked out; his hands bloody as well. He calmly walked over to Aeris. He looked at her, turned to the woods, and vomited himself. Inside, Mira was licking the blood from Red's face. Cloud leaned down, and almost fainted. Both of Red's eyes were healed. Red looked at them and grinned.
"Cloud, you look like you've seen a ghost." He said and passed out.
"He will be fine. Come let's leave them alone and check on our healers." Elder said. They left Mira and Red along to see Rueben and Aeris at the woods edge. She was arguing with Rueben. He said something calmly and low, placing a hand on her shoulder. Aeris gasped, and knocked the hand away, saying something. Before Rueben could defend himself she slapped her with her hand, leaving a bloody hand mark. Rueben stared at her in shock. Aeris turned her back to him, and crossed her arms. Rueben faded into the forest with a hurt expression on his face. Aeris turned as if to speak to him, and then found he was gone. She stormed off to a nearby stream to clean up.