A word from Chuu-
Seeing as times have changed, I am not as into this story, Courage, Bravery, and Lost as I was a year ago when I first started it. I am so sorry for those of you who actually read and reviewed it, no matter how few you were. If we're lucky, though, I can maybe get one of my diehard friends to finish it, or maybe one of you people out there would want to? I had so much more I wanted to put into this story, but instead I'm planning on writing my own, original fiction. And I'm serious when I say this, I'm aiming to make it even longer then CBL and also I'm going to try and sell it. That doesn't mean my other fanfics are out of it, just this one. I may be doing a few side stories or continue it in the future, who knows? So, for your last enjoyments, here is the last chapter I am writing as of this moment of CBL...
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Chapter Eleven
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"Karasu! What the hell are you doing?!" Zack exclaimed.
Karasu looked over to him without concern. "It had to be done." he calmly stated, trying to keep the pain from flowing out of his eyes. "He wanted me to." He drew his sword out of Rufus' limp body, but carefully, as if he didn't want to hurt him even further.
"But.....but how could you do that?" Cloud asked. "Are you some kind of monster?!"
Karasu's eyebrows twitched.
"We saw you two.... You don't have to hide it!" Barret said. "If that's why he wanted to be killed I don't think ya shoulda don' it!" he paused and glared at him. "Some friend you are... I'd hate to be yours." he said the last statment with hatred.
Karasu's eyes started to turn yellow.
"Barret stop!" Tifa said. "He's going to omnichange if you don't... And besides, he--"
"Probably had a reason." Barret finished for her. Tifa looked at him critically. "God damnit, Teef, not everyone in this world is good!" Tifa, having had enough of him, drew back one of her fists and gave him her best blow to his gut. Though as hard packed as his stomache was, he let out a small "Oof!" before collapsing to his knees, holding his midsection painfully.
Sis... Not again...
One tear escaped from his eye and he quickly wiped it away before anyone noticed. They turned back into normal, human eyes, and he turned the other direction. "We have to find Jenova." he stated, back in his far off daze, "It's the only way to end this."
"You're right." Reeve said. He walked up to Karasu and put a hand on his shoulder, and whispered into his ear so that nobody else could hear him, "Toughen up, you gotta avenge your sister."
Karasu gave him a nod in affirmation, but the faraway look still did not cease. Reeve gave him a worried glance, then shook his head and walked away.
"Think....yes, we need to think." Cloud advised.
"Think?" Red asked. "Where ever did you get the idea?"
Cloud scratched the back of his head. "Isn't that what Reeve went to do?" he asked.
"Ah, hell, let's not think for once!" Barret complained, still in shock from Tifa's punch.
"Yeah, this fuckin sucks..." Cid trailed off when Cloud looked daggers at him.
Cloud's mako eyes scanned the horizon around them, ignoring the destroyed city around them, and trying to figure out where Jenova could be. "She could be back at Shinra, but of course, someone with a brain like her's would never be that dumb..." he paused, and mumbled, "...but we also can't think of her to be too bright either..."
There was a soft murmur in the background, and yet as quiet as it was, everyone turned to see where the sound was comming from. In the not too far distance, they could make out a single Shinra made helicopter, heading their way.
Vincent stepped forward and examined it more carefully. "Scarlet and Heideggar." he confirmed.
The helicopter hovered over them for a brief moment, and then swiftly made its way towards the ground, but steadily at the same time so they wouldn't hit any one who happened to be in the way. There was a slight pause after they landed, and then Scarlet and Heideggar hopped out and landed on the dusty ground.
"Ugh!" Scarlet complained, looking at her shoes. "This place if filthy!"
"What dya expect?" Cid sneered. "You did declare war after all, slut."
Scarlet glared at him and brought up her middle finger. Cid just snickered, having to cover his face to keep from being slapped.
"What are you doing here?" Sephiroth asked.
Heideggar turned to him, and took a great amount of self control to look the great warrior in the eye. But he didn't just see him as a warrior, but as a murderer too. And the fact that the very same sword that killed millions was in his hand right now was adding an equal challange to himself mentally. Finally gaining enough composure, he sighed in relief at the fact that his head wasn't rolling across the ground at that very moment. "W...we need your help." he said.
Cloud didn't move. "Is it Jenova?" he asked.
Heideggar and Scarlet nodded. "Yes." they both answered in unison.
"Where is she?!" Reno demanded, bringing his night stick up menacingly.
Heideggar backed up slightly. "Uh..uhm..." he began, but Reno had other plans. In two long steps he cleared the distance between them and brought his nightstick around Heideggar's neck in a strong chokehold. "Wha...what..." he trailed off when Reno's finger hovered over the button.
"You tell me where the hell she is now..." he said through gritted teeth, "...or I'll barbeque your ass like a KFC Chicken wing..." he brought the nightstick closer to to him, gagging Heideggar even more. The others stirred, ready to strike at Reno, but he just glared at him.
"O...Augh...Oh...okay..." Heideggar gasped. Reno let him go and he stumbled to regain his balance with a slight grunt, then straightened out his collar, looked at Reno fearfully, and answered, "We know that she's heading for Junon."
"How?" Reno hissed.
Scarlet poked him in the back of the shoulderblades, causing Reno to swirl around to confront her furiously. "She's heading for the nearest space company, and since the old shit rocketed off into space, another place has opened up in Junon." Scarlet paused, looking to see if Reno was getting this so she wouldn't get her head bitten off, "She's planning on going to the moon."
There was silence.
"Why the moon?" Barret asked, acting as if it was the dumbest thing in the world.
Scarlet shrugged. "Hell if I knew."
Red's tail flipped from side to side, the flames on the end burning timidly. "Interesting... Maybe we should take note of this?" he said, looking up at the moon, which was faded in the particulary bright sunlight.
Rude folded his arms. "Let's go....." he suggested.
They all turned to him questionably.
"Where to?" Cloud asked.
Sephiroth smirked and snickered. "To Junon, where else?" he confirmed, and walked back towards the direction of the highwind, Zack following not far behind, with an unconsious Aeris in his arms, and they were followed by the others shortly. Scarlet and Heideggar bid their goodbyes and climbed back into their helicopter, and were gone before they could get out of the ruins.
Zack looked down at Aeris. The girl looked so peaceful when she was asleep. She looked even more beautiful when she was asleep, because now that sad, sad look that she always had in her eyes, which had doubled after she was revived, was gone. All that she was missing was a smile.
And then one of her emerald eyes opened warily. "Wh...where am...I?" she asked no on in particular, looking around, but only seeing Zack.
"You're here, with us." he replied.
Aeris' eyes widened in shock. "How....How did I live?" she asked, astonished. "I was surely done for, I passed out before I could escape!"
Zack smirked to himself, and to Aeris too, just to comfort her. "Don't worry. A man who really cared for you saved you. And there's no more discussion." he added the last part when she gave him a look that usually brought more questions.
Karasu, not too far away, forced himself not to scream out the words, "Cared?! HE LOVED YOU FOR CHRISSAKES!!".
And he didn't love me...
Another tear escaped through the corner of his eyes, and he dared to let it touch the ground. He'd kill himself before he let anyone know his feelings. Only one other person knew...
He glanced about. He was nowhere to be seen. "You guys?" he asked. Their heads looked in his direction curiosly. "Where's Reeve?"
They looked around, and of course, the Shinra executive was gone.
"I saw him leave before Scarlet and Heideggar came." Vincent said. "Maybe he was afraid of them for some reason."
"Wouldn't blame him..." Cid muttered under his breath.
Aeris' eyes glinted as she looked over at Karasu. His eyes were a little red, and he was pale. She could tell he had been crying. But why? He definently knew something she didn't know, and she didn't like it when secrets were kept from her. But aside from that, another nagging voice in the corning of her mind had disappeared. There was something missing about this all that confused her greatly, and it was as if it were quieter then usual...
She looked up at the burning sun. It was unimaginably hot for a winter day. She reached one of her hands to wipe a bead of sweat from her brow and watched the sun carefully, but careful not to look directly at it. It started to get dark, and her eyes grew wider. Something was wrong. There were no clouds blocking the sun, and the temperature was changing like crazy. A huge gust of wind caught her by surprise, but Zack shielded her protectively. She noticed again that the nagging was gone. Some sort of nagging that was supposed to be there, but it wasn't. It was too quiet. Usually when something annoying like that happened, somone would complain. But no one did. It just didn't make any sense to her!
Wait... No complaining?
She bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming out. But instead, she whispered, quivering from the cold and her own fear, "Wh..wh...where is ever...everyone...?"
Barret looked at her over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. "What dya mean?" he asked, sounding like he was afraid she had figured out something he'd rather her not.
Aeris glared at him. "Where's Yuffie?!" she asked, getting right to the point. "Damnit, don't tell me she went and got herself killed!"
Zack quickly covered her mouth and she looked up at him, wide eyed. He shook his head to the west inconspicuously, and Aeris looked. Reno was walking that way, in front of the group, and she noticed that his fists were clenched. She looked back to Zack, nodded, and kept quiet.
Meanwhile, up ahead, Reno's mind was blank. He wasn't thinking about anything. Nothing. The only thing that was making him move was his own willpower for revenge.
Must keep going... Must have revenge...
Darkness...
Water was everywhere. She could feel it. But she saw no light.
The only thing she thought, though, was.....
Tifa's ruby colored eyes blazed in the shadows of the warehouse as she looked back and forth from crate to crate, but still no sign of anything. No papers or documents like the others had suggested. All that she could find was dust. She stomped her foot on the ground impatiently, startling Cloud and Barret nearby. "Why the hell do we have to look around in this dump anyhow?!" she complained. "There's not going to be anything here, anyway!"
"Who knows." Barret mused. "Mebbe Jenova's got some followers." he glanced at Tifa over his shoulder, where he was looking through some new looking papers, "And mebbe they got some of dem records here."
Tifa sighed. "Good grief." she muttered. It still didn't make any sense as in to why they had to look here of all places. "I guess we're the ones stuck at the bottom this time, huh?"
"Yer gettin' it now." Barret replied.
They had all split up about an hour ago to look through Junon for any signs of Jenova. They knew they'd get more ground covered that way. Aeris, Zack, and Reeve all went to search through the stores for any information, or maybe a glimpse of Jenova themselves. Red, Cid, and Vincent had decided to go under cover and look around the streets for her. Elena, Rude, and a reluctant Karasu had gone and search for information in the libraries. Reno, on the other hand, had wandered off by himself, probably looking for some bar to get drunk at.
A loud coughing was heard from the other side of the room. Tifa looked over at Cloud and walked over to him, who was kneeling down and looking at some papers. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He looked up at her, his mako eyes acting like a light, and smiled warmly. "Yeah, I'm fine." he looked back down at the papers. "Just dust...." he trailed off as he went back to reading.
She sighed and went back to where she was, and picked up some old, dusty papers she saw on the ground just moments before. She squinted her eyes to read it, but she just couldn't. It was as if it were all written in another language. After a great more deal of staring at it, she decided it really was in another language. The characters were too unique to english, and they were to abstract to be any Wutain's writings. "This must be pretty old..." she muttered to herself.
"Like everything else here." Barret grumbled.
"I can't even read this..." she said. Soft footsteps came closer, and she didn't bother to look. She knew who it was. Cloud gently took the papers from her hands, and looked at them carefully. His eyesbrows rose in surprise. "What is it?" Tifa asked curiously.
He shook his head and then turned to her. "This..." he began, "...is the old style of the Wutain alphabet." he replied.
Barret walked over to them, peering at the papers. "You mean you can read it?" he asked hopefully, but Cloud shook his head.
"I can only tell this language is it." he replied. "This is what they used back in Mideval times. They changed the writings afterwords because it didn't explain a lot of thoughts and ideas that well. But there is some people who still know it."
Tifa and Barret perked up at his last statement. "Really?" they both asked.
Cloud nodded. "Karasu's our only hope, seeing as how Yuffie and Godo are gone now..." he trailed off, seeing the sorrowful look on Tifa's face. "But don't worry, we'll find him with no problem." he smiled at her. "We know where he is, remember? He's with Rude and Elena."
Barret knocked some empty bullet shells from his gunarm and reloaded it. "Well, whutevah happens, it oughta happen soon cuz I dun know how much time we have." he stated.
"You're right..." Cloud answered numbly.
Meanwhile, Tifa was flipping through the papers herself, looking at all the little pictures scattered along the documents. They were all so detailed she had to stare at them at least three minutes each to figure out what was going on. After looking at each picture, she decided that they had to go together somehow. Knowing what they were, she tried putting a story together in her head. But it was very vauge, and didn't make much sense.
But there's definently something here... I just have to figure it out.
She filed her way back to the first page and tried to guess it again. But still, it didn't make any sense at all to her. 'More details... I need more details!' she thought to herself.
After about another hour, Cloud walked over again and sat down beside her. She looked up at him, almost hopefully, but he shook his head. "Nope. Seems like you've found the most interesting this this far."
"Yeah, and about these..." she handed the papers to him. "They make some sense, but they dont."
"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.
She shrugged. "I can tell what the pictures are of, and they all seem connected. I think they, whoever it was who wrote this, was trying to tell a story. But I can't seem to figure it out." she looked down at the ground solemnly.
"Hmmm..." Cloud flipped through the papers, and then went over them again, taking a good, hard, long look at them all. After a few minutes he looked back up at her. She looked at him hopefully, and he smiled. "I think I have an idea of what it is." he said.
"Really?" she asked. "And I spent a whole hour on it?!"
He laughed. "All I have is a vauge idea. Okay, obviously there was an evil long ago..." he trailed off as Barret walked up to them.
"Go on." he said. "Or do I hafta beat it out of you?"
Cloud smirked and continued. "And anyways, it wasn't Jenova. It was before that. This evil tried to drain the whole planet of its lifestream and make itself a god..."
Tifa interrupted him, "Just like Sephiroth?" she asked.
Cloud nodded. "Yup. And I think that Jenova was trying to destroy Wutai as to make a hole in the earth so the lifestream would be vulnerable." he said.
"But what about Mideel?" Barret asked.
"The lifestream has been around there too long; It's created a barrier around itself so outsiders can't go in." Cloud replied. "Basically all it's just a pool."
"That still doesn't help us." Tifa muttered.
Cloud grinned triumphantly and stood up. "Of course it does! Can't you see?!" Barret and Tifa looked at him questionably. "This may be what Jenova's trying to do!!!"
"And what the hell makes you think that?" Barret asks. "Just because somone did it before..." he trailed off at the looked of anger in Cloud's face. He walked up to Barret and stood right in front of him, and Barret could almost feel the burn of his glare.
"I just know." he said calmly. Barret gulped, and then Cloud turned and walked away.
"Where are you going?" Tifa asked cautiously.
Cloud stopped and looked over his shoulder at them. "I'm going to go find the others. I know where Jenova is." he stated.
"Why don't you tell us?" Tifa and Barret both asked in unison.
Cloud shrugged and went back to walking. "You'll find out anyway." he replied. Tifa and Barret both shared confused expressions, and then followed him reluctantly.
Where am I?
She couldn't help but try to see through the blackness. She waved her arms out, but she felt nothing. Nothing, that is, except for distoriantation. It felt like her whole body was out of porportion. She nuzzled her head down to her hands, since she didn't trust her own body. She felt fur. And so did her hands, which were touching her face. But the most of all she felt wetness.
I'm in the water!!!
Pulling her arms backwards, she lifted herself up slightly. But then a sickening feeling waved itself over all of her nerves. Crushed in. That's how she felt. She shivered and dropped back to her former position. It was only a little bit longer. Only a little bit longer and she couldn't stand it no more. Clausterphobia inside her gut was growing slowly.
I'm scared...
A droplet of rain fell onto Aeris' nose, right next to her left eye. It was cold, but she ignored it. The rain was starting to get heavier and heavier, the skies paling, darkening. She sighed. It was also getting cold. She was surprised when an even darker shadow hung over her. Curiously, she looked up and saw Zack, gesturing his dark blue umbrella over her.
Aeris smiled and nodded. "Thank you." she replied.
Zack smiled back and pulled her closer, his arm draping around her shoulders. Aeris blushed crimson, but she smiled all the same, enjoying being so close to the man she loved. She cuddled closer to him, but no one paid any heed to them. They were just another lonely couple walking down the street.
Meanwhile, Reeve was a couple paces behind them, distracted by his own thoughts. He counted the cracks in the sidewalk while absent mindedly thinking, no, wondering about what Jenova was going to do. But most importantly about where his young team mate, Karasu, was going to end up. And Reno, too. They looked madder then hell. Now, he knew that Karasu was just going to go through some internal pain, as bad as it was, but he still didn't match to the threat of a very, very pissed off and muderous Reno. He shuddered at the thought of his revenge.
But what would Karasu do? Would he try to kill himself? He smirked to himself and shrugged the problem aside. He was with Elena and Rude. And he knew that if Rude didn't want Karasu to die right then and there, then he wouldn't. He snickered at the thought of the fate of any one who dared to double cross that man.
Aeris looked over her shoulder at Reeve curiously. "Hey, you're going to get all wet, silly." she said. Reeve looked up at her, remarkably innocent for a man of his age, his eyes expressing his thoughts. "Don't look at me like that." Aeris interjected. "You're going to get a cold. The last think we need is an ill soldier."
"Soldier?" Reeve asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not really cut out to fight, and you know it."
Zack grinned at him and they waited until Reeve was under the slightly big umbrella, also. "Don't worry, you're still a soldier, no matter how you fight." Reeve looked at him questionably. "As long as you're fighting, you're a soldier to us." he finished.
Reeve was left speechless, not knowing what to say. Aeris giggled, and they walked in silence, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of Jenova.
The trio noticed, most of all, that the crowd was getting thicker and thicker as they moved along. Reeve brought this up a couple of times, but the others just shrugged and they tredged on. He didn't like the look of this one bit. It was like the crowd was going in only one direction, distracted by something up ahead.
"They're probably just going home." Aeris had answered dissmissively. It was a reasonable explenation. It was getting late, around five, and it was about the time when most people got off work, or, if they had night shifts, went to work.
Zack noticed something all of the sudden. There was most definently a ruckus being stirred up ahead, and they could hear yelling from around the corner. Prepared for the worse, all three of them ran in unison to the end of the block and looked around the corner for themselves. Everyone in the crowd had suddenly stopped and they were looking around desperately, scared beyond belief.
"Oh dear..." Aeris mumbled, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "What's going on?"
Then, as if answering her question, a large, dragon head swept up from the crowd and up into the air, connected to a very long, snakelike neck. It opened its mouth and hissed, but by then almost everyone had ran away in fright. Zack tensed, drawing his sword. At his sides Aeris charged her staff and Reeve prepared his .08 mm gun.
"The real question is..." Reeve began, "...Why the hell is there a dragon here in the city!!!"
They all quickly jumped out of the way as a hunk of ice that had came from the dragon's mouth hit the cement sidewalk where they were a split second before, making a greatly sized hole.
Aeris turned to Zack. "We need to get out of here!" she stated. "We can't fight this thing alone!"
"We're going to have to." Zack replied, and ran at the dragon, blindly swinging his sword at it. A cracking noise was heard, and to their surprise, the dragon really was made out of ice! The cracks slowly grew to its arm as the dragon watched with little intrest. As soon as the arm crashed to the ground and shattered, it quickly grew a new one.
Behind Zack, Aeris gasped. "How are we going to kill it?" she asked worridly.
He shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Dunno."
Aeris glared at him. "Oh come on! You've got to have SOME brilliant idea!" she stressed.
"I have an idea." Reeve said, then in a rather sarcastic tone, "Why don't we... Oh, nevermind. I guess FIRE wouldn't work well against melting the ICE now huh? I don't think we can kill the thing my MELTING it..." he turned to Zack and Aeris and smirked. "Do you?"
"Oh, cut the melodrama." Aeris said, raising her staff. It glew and she summoned Ifrit, the giant fire god. He appeared, spitted fire at the dragon, and then disappeared as quick as his entrance, leaving the dragon severely hurt, water dripping down from its neck. Its eyes widened and it screamed, frustrated and angry.
"It's working!" Zack cried, and then slashed at the dragon once more, two of its arms severed off its shoulders quite easily. "Reeve!!! Use that materia you bought!" he ordered.
"Yes sir." Reeve replied rather annoyed. He held up the green orb and concentrated. A large wave of fire lit up around and inside the dragon from the ground and it screamed in horror as it melted into a puddle. When the fire was gone, all that was left was its head.
They all stepped back as its eyes opened, a yellow flare glowing within its pupils. "That's not good..." Aeris squeaked as it looked over to them.
Suddenly, the head started to vibrate viloently, glowing in a strange, yellow aura. When the light disappeared, however, there stood three people.
Reeve quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, what just happened?" he asked. Aeris and Zack just shrugged, about as clueless as he was. They started to walk over to the trio, and as they came closer, they saw that they were three girls dressed in the most weirest outfits. There was a tall one, about as tall as Sephiroth or Vincent, a short one, about as tall as Marlene or Shake, and one that was the exact height as Aeris. They all had shoulder length blonde hair, and very colorful clothing.
The tall one spoke first. "We have come to tell you something very important, but I guess one of my sisters got a little mad." she bowed before them, followed by her sisters. "We are very, very sorry for your invonvienence." they all appologized in unison.
Aeris blushed crimson. "I....It's okay!" she replied. "You don't have to be so polite! We're just normal, everyday people!"
"But on the contrary," said the one that was her height. "You are a cetra. And a very intellegant cetra at that."
Zack sighed in exasperation and stepped forward. "What is it that you want to tell us?" he asked, getting right to the point. "Who are you?"
The shortest girl stepped forward and replied in a high pitched voice, "We are the Magus Sisters. My name is Lilly Magus," she pointed to the tallest one, "Her name is Claudia Magus..." and then she turned to the middle sized one, "And she is Dinah Magus."
"Why did you attack us?" Reeve questioned.
Dinah bowed her head. "I'm so sorry. I got a little mad and I used our powers for a bad reason..." she looked up at them. "Please forgive me."
"Of course we will." Aeris replied. "Mistakes always happen." she smiled warmly at them. "What is this news that you've come to tell us?" she asked.
Claudia cleared her throat. "What we have come to tell was quite a suprise for us, too." she stated, looking as sophisticated as she could. "What we discovered is that there is one other cetra on this planet," she looked at Aeris, "other than you."
Aeris' eyes widened in shock. "What? Are you serious?" she questioned, her face brightening up, excited to hear the news. "Where are they? Are they on our side?"
"Slow down, slow down." Lilly countered. "She is not any normal cetra, you know." she smiled comfortably at them. "But there is no meaning to be afraid of her. She was born from a materia." she walked around Aeris and plucked the white materia out from her bow, making it come undone and her hair fell down. "This materia to be exact!" she placed the materia in Aeris' hand.
They were silent for a moment.
Then Aeris finally looked up from the materia and at Lilly. "How is that possible?" she asked.
Lilly shrugged. "You know as well as we do that Holy has a mind of its own. In fact, I think that is why your materia is not glowing any more." she pointed out.
Aeris looked back down at it. Sure enough, the materia had lost its usual, soft glow. She quickly looked back up at Lilly. "You mean... The cetra is actually Holy...Itself?"
Claudia nodded. "Well, at least..." she paused, "A part of Holy."
"Like a subconsiousness..." Reeve mused.
The three sisters nodded in agreement. "Something like that." she replied in unison.
"Why did you want to tell us this?" Zack asked. "Usually we have to find out on our own."
Lilly smiled. "Because we wanted the chance to give you a new materia, too!" she replied. Then, all three of the sisters disappeared, and in their place were three, small, red orbs. From the orb that appeared where she was standing a voice echoed out, "Just use them like regular summon materia and we will come to your aid!"
"Combine all three of the materia and we will all combine our attacks and use our ultimate force!" Dinah's materia chirped. Then, all three of the materias stopped glowing and dropped to the ground with a thud.
Aeris looked down at her materia again, solemnly.
I wonder where this new cetra is...?
"How did we get stuck here in the library?" Elena whined, looking through the computer's catalogue of newspapers boredly.
She didn't get a reply from either of her companions.
Elena ignored it and kept looking. But she couldn't ignore the fact that they were creeping her out by the second. Rude hardly spoke. And Karasu didn't feel like talking. Was she the only cheerful one around here?!
Sighing, she continued, bored with all of the old, outdated headlines.
WUTAIN AND MIDGARIAN PEACE TREATIE
"Old..."
ATTACK ON WUTAI SHAKES THE ENTIRE EMOTIONAL WORLD
"....older..."
WUTAI AND MIDGAR SEE THEIR DIFFERENCES
"Good grief! The Wutain/Midgarian war wasn't that crucial, was it?!" she asked herself in exasperation, crossing her arms in disbelief. Then she stopped herself and looked out the corner of her eye and at Karasu, who, even though his expression hadn't changed one bit, had a sad touch to his eyes for just a split second. She tensed awkwardly. "I...I'm sorry..." she appologized.
A long moment of silence followed, Elena feeling like a complete idiot, Rude feeling rather awkward, and Karasu feeling nothing at all. Except for remorse.
"It was a very hard time." Rude finally said.
Elena's head snapped to look at him, but he said no more. She sighed in disgust at their attitudes. "Why don't either of you help me?!" she asked.
"You seem perfectly allright doing it on your own." Karasu replied, lighting a cigarette.
This really suprised the young turk. Karasu was...smoking?! When did he ever pick up such a crazy idea like that?! But she knew better then to question him about it, knew better that if she did he would probably do something really bad. All wutains were like that. She had figured by now that they always held every emotion they could inside themselves, and when it was about to reach the point of no return, one little poke and they could explode. Literally.
Rude, however, gave him an awkward glance. "I never knew you smoked." he commented.
"Calms me down sometimes." Karasu replied with a hint of annoyance in his tone and then took in a long drag and let the smoke out slowly.
Elena coughed when the smoke reached her and glared at him. "Do you mind?!" she managed to choke out between coughs. "I hate smoke!"
Karasu's eyes darkened. "Well, seeing as you don't approve of my habbit and the fact that it's pointless for me to wait around here any longer, I'm going to go out and search in another library." he twirled around, reminded Elena of how Reno always did it, and headed out of the room and out of their sight, a thin cloud of smoke trailing behind him.
A dead silence hung on both Elena and Rude for a short while. Durring which Elena decided to go back to work and look through more newspaper ads. She heard him walk up behind her, felt his gaze looking over her shoulder, but ignored it. She wasn't going to make any stupid moves in front of her superior, not even if ShinRa really was done for. There was just a little voice deep inside her head that kept nagging her about it. Telling her not to loose her cool. She sighed in bordome at all the headlines, not finding anything useful.
"You know you're never going to find anything."
She shuddered at his very words. He was being pratical! And actually stating his own opinion? This wasn't the same guy she had been working beside for the past year or so! He was different lately, more talkative. And this just proved it.
Turning around the wheeled chair, she looked up at him critically. "You've changed." she stated matter of factly, looking him over as if they hadn't seen each other for years.
"So have you." he shot back cooly.
Her eyes widened. He really wanted to converse with her? And it wasn't serious at all...
"How?" she asked. She wanted to know what he thought of her, and god damnit, this was probably the only chance she would ever really get.
She could of sworn she saw a slight hint of a smile on his face for a brief second. "Well, for one, you're not really secret crushing as you used to be."
This made her blush crimson. "Wh, what do you mean?" she asked, flustered.
"You've been rather shy lately..." he observed, looking not the least phased from her blushing. "Is it because of all the recent happenings?"
Elena, remembering what had happened earlier that day, sat in silence. Where did he go after that? They hadn't seen him ever since they all entered the city. They all thought he was just going to search by himself, but now she was having second thought about not following him.
"You're worried about him, aren't you?"
The sudden sound of his voice startled her and she nearly jumped out of her chair.
Rude gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know, those two were getting real close..." he stepped up to the window of the library and looked out, as if hoping to see Reno right outside. "It pains me to think of what he will do now..."
Elena looked up at him questionably, and stood up, walking over to his side. "What's he going to do?!" she asked, scared, "Is it really that bad?"
He turned to look at her, but his sunglasses shielded her from seeing the concerned look that was drawn upon his features. "He's had a really hard past, as you and I could only imagine... Growing up on the slums..." he sighed. "We both lived above the plates, in wealthier families. Hell, he probably didn't even have a family to live with."
Suprisingly, Elena suddenly reached up and snapped his sunglasses off strictly. He looked at her oddly, and she smiled at him. "I always knew you'd have wonderful eyes under those glasses of yours." she commented.
Relieved, he did his damned best to smile back, the innocense in her amusing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his orange colored eyes, certain they weren't just colored contacts. Elena knew they were his real eyes, after all, with the sunglasses on, why would he need colored contacts?
"Let's go look for him." she pleaded. "For Yuffie's sake. I doubt she'd want him to follow her to his death."
Rude nodded in reply, but they gazed into each others eyes just for a little while longer. Then, almost slowly, she lifted herself up to him...
It was dark in the part of Junon he was in. Very dark. Even though it was around six, and in a summer, it was pitch black. Ever since Midgar had been destroyed all the punks from beneath the plates had somehow all made their way over to Junon, and, of course, they all settled into the outskirts of the large city, creating the new slums of Junon.
That's why he wanted to go here. Maybe he would feel like he was home again for once in a long, long while. Maybe he'd just forget everything else, get drunk and wake up the next morning without a care in the god damn world. Just like the old days.
He sighed.
Of course, then I'll eventually remember everything.
He kicked the door open to one of the new bars and stalked in furiously, and up to the bar, sitting on a stool and asking for a drink. The bartender quickly got it, noticing the angry look on the crimson haired man's face. He grabbed it before it was even handed to him and chugged down half of its contents, slamming it down onto the counter.
"You're a turk, aren't you?" somebody asked from behind him.
Reno turned around and looked up at the man with a careless look. "So whaddya gunna do about it, punk?" he questioned, his eyes glaring fires at the man.
He was about six feet and a half, taller than Reno was, and he wore a black leather jacket, pants, gloves with spikes on them, leather boots, a spiked choker, a black muscle shirt, and his hair was even more spiked then Reno's, and it was purple. He had a lip ring, a naval ring, and rings in places where Reno would of rather not. He quickly came forward and grabbed Reno by the shoulder, pulling him up and glaring back at him menacingly. "Yer gunna die, turk, for what you did to my brother." he stated.
Holding back a snicker, Reno smirked. "Aw, is that all?" he drawled.
"Fucking hell!" the man screamed and sent Reno flying across the room. He landed on one of the pool tables hard.
When he had sat up and regained his self awareness, Reno just laughed. "Look who you're dealing with..." he started, and then reached beneath his suit and pulled out a pistol, aiming it at the guy's forehead. The man quickly turned to run, but Reno had already pulled the trigger. He shot three bullets into the man's head and laughed again when he fell to the floor. Everyone in the bar had scrambled out of his way when he started to walk out, and when the bartender was about ready to ask for his pay, Reno lifted his gun and shot his glass and what was left of it, and walked out in a crazed daze.
When he heard Rude and Elena's shouts from behind him, he twirled around and in a liquid motion, fired the gun aimless behind him where he saw their blured figures. Meaning to have missed and only ward them off, he turned back and ran the other way before they could get sight of him again.
When he didn't hear his pursuers anymore he stopped, and fought his upcomming tears. This couldn't be it. He was supposed to be fearless, emotionless. What had become of him?!
Yuffie...
And then the realization hit him. He had just commited an unauthorized shinra murder!
Fuck...
~~~~
Exciting last chapter? No? Well I wasn't planning it to be. The end was sort of a shock, right? I know, v.v it wasn't really.... Ah well, I tried. If anyone wants to try and finish the story then all you have to do is email me @ chibimousie@yahoo.com with your ff.net name and other information you think is appropriate and I'll tell you what information you need to know. Sayonara~
Seeing as times have changed, I am not as into this story, Courage, Bravery, and Lost as I was a year ago when I first started it. I am so sorry for those of you who actually read and reviewed it, no matter how few you were. If we're lucky, though, I can maybe get one of my diehard friends to finish it, or maybe one of you people out there would want to? I had so much more I wanted to put into this story, but instead I'm planning on writing my own, original fiction. And I'm serious when I say this, I'm aiming to make it even longer then CBL and also I'm going to try and sell it. That doesn't mean my other fanfics are out of it, just this one. I may be doing a few side stories or continue it in the future, who knows? So, for your last enjoyments, here is the last chapter I am writing as of this moment of CBL...
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Chapter Eleven
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"Karasu! What the hell are you doing?!" Zack exclaimed.
Karasu looked over to him without concern. "It had to be done." he calmly stated, trying to keep the pain from flowing out of his eyes. "He wanted me to." He drew his sword out of Rufus' limp body, but carefully, as if he didn't want to hurt him even further.
"But.....but how could you do that?" Cloud asked. "Are you some kind of monster?!"
Karasu's eyebrows twitched.
"We saw you two.... You don't have to hide it!" Barret said. "If that's why he wanted to be killed I don't think ya shoulda don' it!" he paused and glared at him. "Some friend you are... I'd hate to be yours." he said the last statment with hatred.
Karasu's eyes started to turn yellow.
"Barret stop!" Tifa said. "He's going to omnichange if you don't... And besides, he--"
"Probably had a reason." Barret finished for her. Tifa looked at him critically. "God damnit, Teef, not everyone in this world is good!" Tifa, having had enough of him, drew back one of her fists and gave him her best blow to his gut. Though as hard packed as his stomache was, he let out a small "Oof!" before collapsing to his knees, holding his midsection painfully.
Sis... Not again...
One tear escaped from his eye and he quickly wiped it away before anyone noticed. They turned back into normal, human eyes, and he turned the other direction. "We have to find Jenova." he stated, back in his far off daze, "It's the only way to end this."
"You're right." Reeve said. He walked up to Karasu and put a hand on his shoulder, and whispered into his ear so that nobody else could hear him, "Toughen up, you gotta avenge your sister."
Karasu gave him a nod in affirmation, but the faraway look still did not cease. Reeve gave him a worried glance, then shook his head and walked away.
"Think....yes, we need to think." Cloud advised.
"Think?" Red asked. "Where ever did you get the idea?"
Cloud scratched the back of his head. "Isn't that what Reeve went to do?" he asked.
"Ah, hell, let's not think for once!" Barret complained, still in shock from Tifa's punch.
"Yeah, this fuckin sucks..." Cid trailed off when Cloud looked daggers at him.
Cloud's mako eyes scanned the horizon around them, ignoring the destroyed city around them, and trying to figure out where Jenova could be. "She could be back at Shinra, but of course, someone with a brain like her's would never be that dumb..." he paused, and mumbled, "...but we also can't think of her to be too bright either..."
There was a soft murmur in the background, and yet as quiet as it was, everyone turned to see where the sound was comming from. In the not too far distance, they could make out a single Shinra made helicopter, heading their way.
Vincent stepped forward and examined it more carefully. "Scarlet and Heideggar." he confirmed.
The helicopter hovered over them for a brief moment, and then swiftly made its way towards the ground, but steadily at the same time so they wouldn't hit any one who happened to be in the way. There was a slight pause after they landed, and then Scarlet and Heideggar hopped out and landed on the dusty ground.
"Ugh!" Scarlet complained, looking at her shoes. "This place if filthy!"
"What dya expect?" Cid sneered. "You did declare war after all, slut."
Scarlet glared at him and brought up her middle finger. Cid just snickered, having to cover his face to keep from being slapped.
"What are you doing here?" Sephiroth asked.
Heideggar turned to him, and took a great amount of self control to look the great warrior in the eye. But he didn't just see him as a warrior, but as a murderer too. And the fact that the very same sword that killed millions was in his hand right now was adding an equal challange to himself mentally. Finally gaining enough composure, he sighed in relief at the fact that his head wasn't rolling across the ground at that very moment. "W...we need your help." he said.
Cloud didn't move. "Is it Jenova?" he asked.
Heideggar and Scarlet nodded. "Yes." they both answered in unison.
"Where is she?!" Reno demanded, bringing his night stick up menacingly.
Heideggar backed up slightly. "Uh..uhm..." he began, but Reno had other plans. In two long steps he cleared the distance between them and brought his nightstick around Heideggar's neck in a strong chokehold. "Wha...what..." he trailed off when Reno's finger hovered over the button.
"You tell me where the hell she is now..." he said through gritted teeth, "...or I'll barbeque your ass like a KFC Chicken wing..." he brought the nightstick closer to to him, gagging Heideggar even more. The others stirred, ready to strike at Reno, but he just glared at him.
"O...Augh...Oh...okay..." Heideggar gasped. Reno let him go and he stumbled to regain his balance with a slight grunt, then straightened out his collar, looked at Reno fearfully, and answered, "We know that she's heading for Junon."
"How?" Reno hissed.
Scarlet poked him in the back of the shoulderblades, causing Reno to swirl around to confront her furiously. "She's heading for the nearest space company, and since the old shit rocketed off into space, another place has opened up in Junon." Scarlet paused, looking to see if Reno was getting this so she wouldn't get her head bitten off, "She's planning on going to the moon."
There was silence.
"Why the moon?" Barret asked, acting as if it was the dumbest thing in the world.
Scarlet shrugged. "Hell if I knew."
Red's tail flipped from side to side, the flames on the end burning timidly. "Interesting... Maybe we should take note of this?" he said, looking up at the moon, which was faded in the particulary bright sunlight.
Rude folded his arms. "Let's go....." he suggested.
They all turned to him questionably.
"Where to?" Cloud asked.
Sephiroth smirked and snickered. "To Junon, where else?" he confirmed, and walked back towards the direction of the highwind, Zack following not far behind, with an unconsious Aeris in his arms, and they were followed by the others shortly. Scarlet and Heideggar bid their goodbyes and climbed back into their helicopter, and were gone before they could get out of the ruins.
Zack looked down at Aeris. The girl looked so peaceful when she was asleep. She looked even more beautiful when she was asleep, because now that sad, sad look that she always had in her eyes, which had doubled after she was revived, was gone. All that she was missing was a smile.
And then one of her emerald eyes opened warily. "Wh...where am...I?" she asked no on in particular, looking around, but only seeing Zack.
"You're here, with us." he replied.
Aeris' eyes widened in shock. "How....How did I live?" she asked, astonished. "I was surely done for, I passed out before I could escape!"
Zack smirked to himself, and to Aeris too, just to comfort her. "Don't worry. A man who really cared for you saved you. And there's no more discussion." he added the last part when she gave him a look that usually brought more questions.
Karasu, not too far away, forced himself not to scream out the words, "Cared?! HE LOVED YOU FOR CHRISSAKES!!".
And he didn't love me...
Another tear escaped through the corner of his eyes, and he dared to let it touch the ground. He'd kill himself before he let anyone know his feelings. Only one other person knew...
He glanced about. He was nowhere to be seen. "You guys?" he asked. Their heads looked in his direction curiosly. "Where's Reeve?"
They looked around, and of course, the Shinra executive was gone.
"I saw him leave before Scarlet and Heideggar came." Vincent said. "Maybe he was afraid of them for some reason."
"Wouldn't blame him..." Cid muttered under his breath.
Aeris' eyes glinted as she looked over at Karasu. His eyes were a little red, and he was pale. She could tell he had been crying. But why? He definently knew something she didn't know, and she didn't like it when secrets were kept from her. But aside from that, another nagging voice in the corning of her mind had disappeared. There was something missing about this all that confused her greatly, and it was as if it were quieter then usual...
She looked up at the burning sun. It was unimaginably hot for a winter day. She reached one of her hands to wipe a bead of sweat from her brow and watched the sun carefully, but careful not to look directly at it. It started to get dark, and her eyes grew wider. Something was wrong. There were no clouds blocking the sun, and the temperature was changing like crazy. A huge gust of wind caught her by surprise, but Zack shielded her protectively. She noticed again that the nagging was gone. Some sort of nagging that was supposed to be there, but it wasn't. It was too quiet. Usually when something annoying like that happened, somone would complain. But no one did. It just didn't make any sense to her!
Wait... No complaining?
She bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming out. But instead, she whispered, quivering from the cold and her own fear, "Wh..wh...where is ever...everyone...?"
Barret looked at her over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. "What dya mean?" he asked, sounding like he was afraid she had figured out something he'd rather her not.
Aeris glared at him. "Where's Yuffie?!" she asked, getting right to the point. "Damnit, don't tell me she went and got herself killed!"
Zack quickly covered her mouth and she looked up at him, wide eyed. He shook his head to the west inconspicuously, and Aeris looked. Reno was walking that way, in front of the group, and she noticed that his fists were clenched. She looked back to Zack, nodded, and kept quiet.
Meanwhile, up ahead, Reno's mind was blank. He wasn't thinking about anything. Nothing. The only thing that was making him move was his own willpower for revenge.
Must keep going... Must have revenge...
Darkness...
Water was everywhere. She could feel it. But she saw no light.
The only thing she thought, though, was.....
Tifa's ruby colored eyes blazed in the shadows of the warehouse as she looked back and forth from crate to crate, but still no sign of anything. No papers or documents like the others had suggested. All that she could find was dust. She stomped her foot on the ground impatiently, startling Cloud and Barret nearby. "Why the hell do we have to look around in this dump anyhow?!" she complained. "There's not going to be anything here, anyway!"
"Who knows." Barret mused. "Mebbe Jenova's got some followers." he glanced at Tifa over his shoulder, where he was looking through some new looking papers, "And mebbe they got some of dem records here."
Tifa sighed. "Good grief." she muttered. It still didn't make any sense as in to why they had to look here of all places. "I guess we're the ones stuck at the bottom this time, huh?"
"Yer gettin' it now." Barret replied.
They had all split up about an hour ago to look through Junon for any signs of Jenova. They knew they'd get more ground covered that way. Aeris, Zack, and Reeve all went to search through the stores for any information, or maybe a glimpse of Jenova themselves. Red, Cid, and Vincent had decided to go under cover and look around the streets for her. Elena, Rude, and a reluctant Karasu had gone and search for information in the libraries. Reno, on the other hand, had wandered off by himself, probably looking for some bar to get drunk at.
A loud coughing was heard from the other side of the room. Tifa looked over at Cloud and walked over to him, who was kneeling down and looking at some papers. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He looked up at her, his mako eyes acting like a light, and smiled warmly. "Yeah, I'm fine." he looked back down at the papers. "Just dust...." he trailed off as he went back to reading.
She sighed and went back to where she was, and picked up some old, dusty papers she saw on the ground just moments before. She squinted her eyes to read it, but she just couldn't. It was as if it were all written in another language. After a great more deal of staring at it, she decided it really was in another language. The characters were too unique to english, and they were to abstract to be any Wutain's writings. "This must be pretty old..." she muttered to herself.
"Like everything else here." Barret grumbled.
"I can't even read this..." she said. Soft footsteps came closer, and she didn't bother to look. She knew who it was. Cloud gently took the papers from her hands, and looked at them carefully. His eyesbrows rose in surprise. "What is it?" Tifa asked curiously.
He shook his head and then turned to her. "This..." he began, "...is the old style of the Wutain alphabet." he replied.
Barret walked over to them, peering at the papers. "You mean you can read it?" he asked hopefully, but Cloud shook his head.
"I can only tell this language is it." he replied. "This is what they used back in Mideval times. They changed the writings afterwords because it didn't explain a lot of thoughts and ideas that well. But there is some people who still know it."
Tifa and Barret perked up at his last statement. "Really?" they both asked.
Cloud nodded. "Karasu's our only hope, seeing as how Yuffie and Godo are gone now..." he trailed off, seeing the sorrowful look on Tifa's face. "But don't worry, we'll find him with no problem." he smiled at her. "We know where he is, remember? He's with Rude and Elena."
Barret knocked some empty bullet shells from his gunarm and reloaded it. "Well, whutevah happens, it oughta happen soon cuz I dun know how much time we have." he stated.
"You're right..." Cloud answered numbly.
Meanwhile, Tifa was flipping through the papers herself, looking at all the little pictures scattered along the documents. They were all so detailed she had to stare at them at least three minutes each to figure out what was going on. After looking at each picture, she decided that they had to go together somehow. Knowing what they were, she tried putting a story together in her head. But it was very vauge, and didn't make much sense.
But there's definently something here... I just have to figure it out.
She filed her way back to the first page and tried to guess it again. But still, it didn't make any sense at all to her. 'More details... I need more details!' she thought to herself.
After about another hour, Cloud walked over again and sat down beside her. She looked up at him, almost hopefully, but he shook his head. "Nope. Seems like you've found the most interesting this this far."
"Yeah, and about these..." she handed the papers to him. "They make some sense, but they dont."
"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.
She shrugged. "I can tell what the pictures are of, and they all seem connected. I think they, whoever it was who wrote this, was trying to tell a story. But I can't seem to figure it out." she looked down at the ground solemnly.
"Hmmm..." Cloud flipped through the papers, and then went over them again, taking a good, hard, long look at them all. After a few minutes he looked back up at her. She looked at him hopefully, and he smiled. "I think I have an idea of what it is." he said.
"Really?" she asked. "And I spent a whole hour on it?!"
He laughed. "All I have is a vauge idea. Okay, obviously there was an evil long ago..." he trailed off as Barret walked up to them.
"Go on." he said. "Or do I hafta beat it out of you?"
Cloud smirked and continued. "And anyways, it wasn't Jenova. It was before that. This evil tried to drain the whole planet of its lifestream and make itself a god..."
Tifa interrupted him, "Just like Sephiroth?" she asked.
Cloud nodded. "Yup. And I think that Jenova was trying to destroy Wutai as to make a hole in the earth so the lifestream would be vulnerable." he said.
"But what about Mideel?" Barret asked.
"The lifestream has been around there too long; It's created a barrier around itself so outsiders can't go in." Cloud replied. "Basically all it's just a pool."
"That still doesn't help us." Tifa muttered.
Cloud grinned triumphantly and stood up. "Of course it does! Can't you see?!" Barret and Tifa looked at him questionably. "This may be what Jenova's trying to do!!!"
"And what the hell makes you think that?" Barret asks. "Just because somone did it before..." he trailed off at the looked of anger in Cloud's face. He walked up to Barret and stood right in front of him, and Barret could almost feel the burn of his glare.
"I just know." he said calmly. Barret gulped, and then Cloud turned and walked away.
"Where are you going?" Tifa asked cautiously.
Cloud stopped and looked over his shoulder at them. "I'm going to go find the others. I know where Jenova is." he stated.
"Why don't you tell us?" Tifa and Barret both asked in unison.
Cloud shrugged and went back to walking. "You'll find out anyway." he replied. Tifa and Barret both shared confused expressions, and then followed him reluctantly.
Where am I?
She couldn't help but try to see through the blackness. She waved her arms out, but she felt nothing. Nothing, that is, except for distoriantation. It felt like her whole body was out of porportion. She nuzzled her head down to her hands, since she didn't trust her own body. She felt fur. And so did her hands, which were touching her face. But the most of all she felt wetness.
I'm in the water!!!
Pulling her arms backwards, she lifted herself up slightly. But then a sickening feeling waved itself over all of her nerves. Crushed in. That's how she felt. She shivered and dropped back to her former position. It was only a little bit longer. Only a little bit longer and she couldn't stand it no more. Clausterphobia inside her gut was growing slowly.
I'm scared...
A droplet of rain fell onto Aeris' nose, right next to her left eye. It was cold, but she ignored it. The rain was starting to get heavier and heavier, the skies paling, darkening. She sighed. It was also getting cold. She was surprised when an even darker shadow hung over her. Curiously, she looked up and saw Zack, gesturing his dark blue umbrella over her.
Aeris smiled and nodded. "Thank you." she replied.
Zack smiled back and pulled her closer, his arm draping around her shoulders. Aeris blushed crimson, but she smiled all the same, enjoying being so close to the man she loved. She cuddled closer to him, but no one paid any heed to them. They were just another lonely couple walking down the street.
Meanwhile, Reeve was a couple paces behind them, distracted by his own thoughts. He counted the cracks in the sidewalk while absent mindedly thinking, no, wondering about what Jenova was going to do. But most importantly about where his young team mate, Karasu, was going to end up. And Reno, too. They looked madder then hell. Now, he knew that Karasu was just going to go through some internal pain, as bad as it was, but he still didn't match to the threat of a very, very pissed off and muderous Reno. He shuddered at the thought of his revenge.
But what would Karasu do? Would he try to kill himself? He smirked to himself and shrugged the problem aside. He was with Elena and Rude. And he knew that if Rude didn't want Karasu to die right then and there, then he wouldn't. He snickered at the thought of the fate of any one who dared to double cross that man.
Aeris looked over her shoulder at Reeve curiously. "Hey, you're going to get all wet, silly." she said. Reeve looked up at her, remarkably innocent for a man of his age, his eyes expressing his thoughts. "Don't look at me like that." Aeris interjected. "You're going to get a cold. The last think we need is an ill soldier."
"Soldier?" Reeve asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not really cut out to fight, and you know it."
Zack grinned at him and they waited until Reeve was under the slightly big umbrella, also. "Don't worry, you're still a soldier, no matter how you fight." Reeve looked at him questionably. "As long as you're fighting, you're a soldier to us." he finished.
Reeve was left speechless, not knowing what to say. Aeris giggled, and they walked in silence, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of Jenova.
The trio noticed, most of all, that the crowd was getting thicker and thicker as they moved along. Reeve brought this up a couple of times, but the others just shrugged and they tredged on. He didn't like the look of this one bit. It was like the crowd was going in only one direction, distracted by something up ahead.
"They're probably just going home." Aeris had answered dissmissively. It was a reasonable explenation. It was getting late, around five, and it was about the time when most people got off work, or, if they had night shifts, went to work.
Zack noticed something all of the sudden. There was most definently a ruckus being stirred up ahead, and they could hear yelling from around the corner. Prepared for the worse, all three of them ran in unison to the end of the block and looked around the corner for themselves. Everyone in the crowd had suddenly stopped and they were looking around desperately, scared beyond belief.
"Oh dear..." Aeris mumbled, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "What's going on?"
Then, as if answering her question, a large, dragon head swept up from the crowd and up into the air, connected to a very long, snakelike neck. It opened its mouth and hissed, but by then almost everyone had ran away in fright. Zack tensed, drawing his sword. At his sides Aeris charged her staff and Reeve prepared his .08 mm gun.
"The real question is..." Reeve began, "...Why the hell is there a dragon here in the city!!!"
They all quickly jumped out of the way as a hunk of ice that had came from the dragon's mouth hit the cement sidewalk where they were a split second before, making a greatly sized hole.
Aeris turned to Zack. "We need to get out of here!" she stated. "We can't fight this thing alone!"
"We're going to have to." Zack replied, and ran at the dragon, blindly swinging his sword at it. A cracking noise was heard, and to their surprise, the dragon really was made out of ice! The cracks slowly grew to its arm as the dragon watched with little intrest. As soon as the arm crashed to the ground and shattered, it quickly grew a new one.
Behind Zack, Aeris gasped. "How are we going to kill it?" she asked worridly.
He shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Dunno."
Aeris glared at him. "Oh come on! You've got to have SOME brilliant idea!" she stressed.
"I have an idea." Reeve said, then in a rather sarcastic tone, "Why don't we... Oh, nevermind. I guess FIRE wouldn't work well against melting the ICE now huh? I don't think we can kill the thing my MELTING it..." he turned to Zack and Aeris and smirked. "Do you?"
"Oh, cut the melodrama." Aeris said, raising her staff. It glew and she summoned Ifrit, the giant fire god. He appeared, spitted fire at the dragon, and then disappeared as quick as his entrance, leaving the dragon severely hurt, water dripping down from its neck. Its eyes widened and it screamed, frustrated and angry.
"It's working!" Zack cried, and then slashed at the dragon once more, two of its arms severed off its shoulders quite easily. "Reeve!!! Use that materia you bought!" he ordered.
"Yes sir." Reeve replied rather annoyed. He held up the green orb and concentrated. A large wave of fire lit up around and inside the dragon from the ground and it screamed in horror as it melted into a puddle. When the fire was gone, all that was left was its head.
They all stepped back as its eyes opened, a yellow flare glowing within its pupils. "That's not good..." Aeris squeaked as it looked over to them.
Suddenly, the head started to vibrate viloently, glowing in a strange, yellow aura. When the light disappeared, however, there stood three people.
Reeve quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, what just happened?" he asked. Aeris and Zack just shrugged, about as clueless as he was. They started to walk over to the trio, and as they came closer, they saw that they were three girls dressed in the most weirest outfits. There was a tall one, about as tall as Sephiroth or Vincent, a short one, about as tall as Marlene or Shake, and one that was the exact height as Aeris. They all had shoulder length blonde hair, and very colorful clothing.
The tall one spoke first. "We have come to tell you something very important, but I guess one of my sisters got a little mad." she bowed before them, followed by her sisters. "We are very, very sorry for your invonvienence." they all appologized in unison.
Aeris blushed crimson. "I....It's okay!" she replied. "You don't have to be so polite! We're just normal, everyday people!"
"But on the contrary," said the one that was her height. "You are a cetra. And a very intellegant cetra at that."
Zack sighed in exasperation and stepped forward. "What is it that you want to tell us?" he asked, getting right to the point. "Who are you?"
The shortest girl stepped forward and replied in a high pitched voice, "We are the Magus Sisters. My name is Lilly Magus," she pointed to the tallest one, "Her name is Claudia Magus..." and then she turned to the middle sized one, "And she is Dinah Magus."
"Why did you attack us?" Reeve questioned.
Dinah bowed her head. "I'm so sorry. I got a little mad and I used our powers for a bad reason..." she looked up at them. "Please forgive me."
"Of course we will." Aeris replied. "Mistakes always happen." she smiled warmly at them. "What is this news that you've come to tell us?" she asked.
Claudia cleared her throat. "What we have come to tell was quite a suprise for us, too." she stated, looking as sophisticated as she could. "What we discovered is that there is one other cetra on this planet," she looked at Aeris, "other than you."
Aeris' eyes widened in shock. "What? Are you serious?" she questioned, her face brightening up, excited to hear the news. "Where are they? Are they on our side?"
"Slow down, slow down." Lilly countered. "She is not any normal cetra, you know." she smiled comfortably at them. "But there is no meaning to be afraid of her. She was born from a materia." she walked around Aeris and plucked the white materia out from her bow, making it come undone and her hair fell down. "This materia to be exact!" she placed the materia in Aeris' hand.
They were silent for a moment.
Then Aeris finally looked up from the materia and at Lilly. "How is that possible?" she asked.
Lilly shrugged. "You know as well as we do that Holy has a mind of its own. In fact, I think that is why your materia is not glowing any more." she pointed out.
Aeris looked back down at it. Sure enough, the materia had lost its usual, soft glow. She quickly looked back up at Lilly. "You mean... The cetra is actually Holy...Itself?"
Claudia nodded. "Well, at least..." she paused, "A part of Holy."
"Like a subconsiousness..." Reeve mused.
The three sisters nodded in agreement. "Something like that." she replied in unison.
"Why did you want to tell us this?" Zack asked. "Usually we have to find out on our own."
Lilly smiled. "Because we wanted the chance to give you a new materia, too!" she replied. Then, all three of the sisters disappeared, and in their place were three, small, red orbs. From the orb that appeared where she was standing a voice echoed out, "Just use them like regular summon materia and we will come to your aid!"
"Combine all three of the materia and we will all combine our attacks and use our ultimate force!" Dinah's materia chirped. Then, all three of the materias stopped glowing and dropped to the ground with a thud.
Aeris looked down at her materia again, solemnly.
I wonder where this new cetra is...?
"How did we get stuck here in the library?" Elena whined, looking through the computer's catalogue of newspapers boredly.
She didn't get a reply from either of her companions.
Elena ignored it and kept looking. But she couldn't ignore the fact that they were creeping her out by the second. Rude hardly spoke. And Karasu didn't feel like talking. Was she the only cheerful one around here?!
Sighing, she continued, bored with all of the old, outdated headlines.
WUTAIN AND MIDGARIAN PEACE TREATIE
"Old..."
ATTACK ON WUTAI SHAKES THE ENTIRE EMOTIONAL WORLD
"....older..."
WUTAI AND MIDGAR SEE THEIR DIFFERENCES
"Good grief! The Wutain/Midgarian war wasn't that crucial, was it?!" she asked herself in exasperation, crossing her arms in disbelief. Then she stopped herself and looked out the corner of her eye and at Karasu, who, even though his expression hadn't changed one bit, had a sad touch to his eyes for just a split second. She tensed awkwardly. "I...I'm sorry..." she appologized.
A long moment of silence followed, Elena feeling like a complete idiot, Rude feeling rather awkward, and Karasu feeling nothing at all. Except for remorse.
"It was a very hard time." Rude finally said.
Elena's head snapped to look at him, but he said no more. She sighed in disgust at their attitudes. "Why don't either of you help me?!" she asked.
"You seem perfectly allright doing it on your own." Karasu replied, lighting a cigarette.
This really suprised the young turk. Karasu was...smoking?! When did he ever pick up such a crazy idea like that?! But she knew better then to question him about it, knew better that if she did he would probably do something really bad. All wutains were like that. She had figured by now that they always held every emotion they could inside themselves, and when it was about to reach the point of no return, one little poke and they could explode. Literally.
Rude, however, gave him an awkward glance. "I never knew you smoked." he commented.
"Calms me down sometimes." Karasu replied with a hint of annoyance in his tone and then took in a long drag and let the smoke out slowly.
Elena coughed when the smoke reached her and glared at him. "Do you mind?!" she managed to choke out between coughs. "I hate smoke!"
Karasu's eyes darkened. "Well, seeing as you don't approve of my habbit and the fact that it's pointless for me to wait around here any longer, I'm going to go out and search in another library." he twirled around, reminded Elena of how Reno always did it, and headed out of the room and out of their sight, a thin cloud of smoke trailing behind him.
A dead silence hung on both Elena and Rude for a short while. Durring which Elena decided to go back to work and look through more newspaper ads. She heard him walk up behind her, felt his gaze looking over her shoulder, but ignored it. She wasn't going to make any stupid moves in front of her superior, not even if ShinRa really was done for. There was just a little voice deep inside her head that kept nagging her about it. Telling her not to loose her cool. She sighed in bordome at all the headlines, not finding anything useful.
"You know you're never going to find anything."
She shuddered at his very words. He was being pratical! And actually stating his own opinion? This wasn't the same guy she had been working beside for the past year or so! He was different lately, more talkative. And this just proved it.
Turning around the wheeled chair, she looked up at him critically. "You've changed." she stated matter of factly, looking him over as if they hadn't seen each other for years.
"So have you." he shot back cooly.
Her eyes widened. He really wanted to converse with her? And it wasn't serious at all...
"How?" she asked. She wanted to know what he thought of her, and god damnit, this was probably the only chance she would ever really get.
She could of sworn she saw a slight hint of a smile on his face for a brief second. "Well, for one, you're not really secret crushing as you used to be."
This made her blush crimson. "Wh, what do you mean?" she asked, flustered.
"You've been rather shy lately..." he observed, looking not the least phased from her blushing. "Is it because of all the recent happenings?"
Elena, remembering what had happened earlier that day, sat in silence. Where did he go after that? They hadn't seen him ever since they all entered the city. They all thought he was just going to search by himself, but now she was having second thought about not following him.
"You're worried about him, aren't you?"
The sudden sound of his voice startled her and she nearly jumped out of her chair.
Rude gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know, those two were getting real close..." he stepped up to the window of the library and looked out, as if hoping to see Reno right outside. "It pains me to think of what he will do now..."
Elena looked up at him questionably, and stood up, walking over to his side. "What's he going to do?!" she asked, scared, "Is it really that bad?"
He turned to look at her, but his sunglasses shielded her from seeing the concerned look that was drawn upon his features. "He's had a really hard past, as you and I could only imagine... Growing up on the slums..." he sighed. "We both lived above the plates, in wealthier families. Hell, he probably didn't even have a family to live with."
Suprisingly, Elena suddenly reached up and snapped his sunglasses off strictly. He looked at her oddly, and she smiled at him. "I always knew you'd have wonderful eyes under those glasses of yours." she commented.
Relieved, he did his damned best to smile back, the innocense in her amusing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his orange colored eyes, certain they weren't just colored contacts. Elena knew they were his real eyes, after all, with the sunglasses on, why would he need colored contacts?
"Let's go look for him." she pleaded. "For Yuffie's sake. I doubt she'd want him to follow her to his death."
Rude nodded in reply, but they gazed into each others eyes just for a little while longer. Then, almost slowly, she lifted herself up to him...
It was dark in the part of Junon he was in. Very dark. Even though it was around six, and in a summer, it was pitch black. Ever since Midgar had been destroyed all the punks from beneath the plates had somehow all made their way over to Junon, and, of course, they all settled into the outskirts of the large city, creating the new slums of Junon.
That's why he wanted to go here. Maybe he would feel like he was home again for once in a long, long while. Maybe he'd just forget everything else, get drunk and wake up the next morning without a care in the god damn world. Just like the old days.
He sighed.
Of course, then I'll eventually remember everything.
He kicked the door open to one of the new bars and stalked in furiously, and up to the bar, sitting on a stool and asking for a drink. The bartender quickly got it, noticing the angry look on the crimson haired man's face. He grabbed it before it was even handed to him and chugged down half of its contents, slamming it down onto the counter.
"You're a turk, aren't you?" somebody asked from behind him.
Reno turned around and looked up at the man with a careless look. "So whaddya gunna do about it, punk?" he questioned, his eyes glaring fires at the man.
He was about six feet and a half, taller than Reno was, and he wore a black leather jacket, pants, gloves with spikes on them, leather boots, a spiked choker, a black muscle shirt, and his hair was even more spiked then Reno's, and it was purple. He had a lip ring, a naval ring, and rings in places where Reno would of rather not. He quickly came forward and grabbed Reno by the shoulder, pulling him up and glaring back at him menacingly. "Yer gunna die, turk, for what you did to my brother." he stated.
Holding back a snicker, Reno smirked. "Aw, is that all?" he drawled.
"Fucking hell!" the man screamed and sent Reno flying across the room. He landed on one of the pool tables hard.
When he had sat up and regained his self awareness, Reno just laughed. "Look who you're dealing with..." he started, and then reached beneath his suit and pulled out a pistol, aiming it at the guy's forehead. The man quickly turned to run, but Reno had already pulled the trigger. He shot three bullets into the man's head and laughed again when he fell to the floor. Everyone in the bar had scrambled out of his way when he started to walk out, and when the bartender was about ready to ask for his pay, Reno lifted his gun and shot his glass and what was left of it, and walked out in a crazed daze.
When he heard Rude and Elena's shouts from behind him, he twirled around and in a liquid motion, fired the gun aimless behind him where he saw their blured figures. Meaning to have missed and only ward them off, he turned back and ran the other way before they could get sight of him again.
When he didn't hear his pursuers anymore he stopped, and fought his upcomming tears. This couldn't be it. He was supposed to be fearless, emotionless. What had become of him?!
Yuffie...
And then the realization hit him. He had just commited an unauthorized shinra murder!
Fuck...
~~~~
Exciting last chapter? No? Well I wasn't planning it to be. The end was sort of a shock, right? I know, v.v it wasn't really.... Ah well, I tried. If anyone wants to try and finish the story then all you have to do is email me @ chibimousie@yahoo.com with your ff.net name and other information you think is appropriate and I'll tell you what information you need to know. Sayonara~
