A/N:
About the volcano part, I revised chapter 1 so that the island had a volcano on it, so, just FYI. Okay, with that said, enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elena of the Turks was so stressed, she thought she would scream. It was now Wednesday, and more paperwork was pouring in.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL US OR SOMETHING?!" she slammed her fist on the desk. Rude could have sworn that he heard the wood crack.
"Elena, that's life. You have to kind of live with it." Rude replied calmly, his eyes still focused on the computer screen.
"Oh yeah?! Well, maybe I don't like the way life works!" she spat.
"Yeah, I'm sure time negotiates." Rude rolled his eyes. "Besides, you know that you'll never catch up. Just do the work you have in front of your face and take more without complaint." He looked up at Elena.
Elena fidgited and suddenly became very interested in the desk. She was slightly redder than Reno's hair. Suddenly she realized how silly she had been. For yelling at Reno, for her previous actions...
'Jeez, he doesn't have to be so blunt about it...' she thought bitterly. 'Makes me feel so much worse than it should have. I'd rather have Re-...no wait, it was better that Rude told me. Reno would just think up some smartass excuse and make me feel like an idiot.'
She sighed and returned to her work. After a few minutes of furious typing, a flashing green envelope in the bottom left corner of the screen told her that she had new mail. Curious, she clicked on it. A message appeared from Reno.
"Hey Rude! Reno sent us something." Rude looked up and walked over to Elena's desk. He read over her shoulder:
'Hello my devoted followers and worshippers!
I just whipped this guy's ass and now it's raining. This entire box business is a waste of time. I don't even know why the hell I'm here. It's getting really annoying, carrying around this twenty-pound box all over the freakin' world. Elena, are you still phycho?-' Elena blushed-'cuz if you are, I think that I would rather try out my luck with the rain.
Anyway, things suck over here and I just felt like sharing that with you. Till then, I'll be seeing ya if I don't drown in this DAMNED RAIN!!!!!
your knight in shining armor,
Reno'
'That guy will never change.' thought Rude. 'I'll be damned if he does...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Cloud! Are you well enough to be up? You need more rest! You need-" Tifa was cut off quickly by a loud resounding "HE'S FINE!" from everyone in the room.
As for Cloud himself, he was troubled. Of course he was well and healthy and, obviously, in shape, but he had a troubling sleep. The dream was one of the oddest he had every known.
He was in a forest, no, above a forest, looking down at a square concrete building. Suddenly, he was falling into the foliage, and hit the ground hard. As he regained his balance and the feeling in his numbed legs, he found that he had no control over his body. He was running, sprinting down a rough, beat down road. He flew past numerous trees, jumped over roots, and ducked low branches. Then he entered a clearing, and came to a complete halt.
He saw a woman jumping a wire fence and into the the small courtyard of the familiar concrete building. Raven tresses fluttering as the wind toyed with it, she spun around quickly. Her bright, piercing amber eyes stared straight into his, and she spoke.
The language was harsh and yet soothing. Cloud felt and heard power in the speech, and it seemed to be calling to him. Instinctivly, he would have jumped the fence in hopes of finding an answer to the strange words, but something told him to wait. The woman seemed to be more of telling him something than calling him.
Suddenly, she stopped speaking. She smiled, as if realizing that he had not understood, and brought out a bright talisman. To Cloud, it looked like some symbol of power; it was made in the shape of a sun, that gleamed like a small golden star. A crescent moon took up half of the pendant and seemed to be made of moonstone. Its silver trim drew rough spirals and curls. The sun side was framed in veins of garnet, the light making it appear to be pulsing. And in the center of the talisman where the moon and sun met, a black gem, like an egg, was placed with a curled silver dragon within, as if waiting to be released.
The mysterious woman turned it over, showing the intricate patterns of the cosmos etched in bronze. In the center was an angel wing inside of a circle. The woman's eyes widened, and she began to chant. After every verse, it seemed to make more and more sense. The final result was:
Moon to stone and skin to fire
Burn to ash and collapse with time
Ice with wings in crystal spire
And earth turns cold as wind burns rhyme
Cloud knew that if he told the others now, Tifa would order him to sleep more and rant on about how no one listened to her. The dream didn't make sense anyway. He decided to wait, and try to find out the meaning himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The black shape ran. Its job was done. The message had been passed on to the Golden One. It had to tell her. It ran to the shore and jumped into the water. Like a fish, it swam under water with speed so great it left destruction in its wake. Fish darted this way and that in confusion, but before they could even figure out what had happened, the shape was gone.
Within minutes the thing had reached a small island. It jumped onto dry land and sprinted into the forest. Near a weeping willow, a figure stood. The black creature hobbled over to it and spoke in a raspy, low voice. The other responded with a nod, and turned away. The small messenger let out a silent scream, and vanished. The one remaining jumped into the tree without a sound. If it felt compassion for the latter, it didn't show it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Roger Clammings awoke with a start. That last thing he remembered was some smartass guy coming up with item no. 6025926, saying he was sent to help him guard it. Them he remembered. Ooh! GI Joe indeed! Slowly, everything else filtered into his mind. He remembered the fight, and his embarassing loss...The man didn't even look as if the fight were challenging. What was his name again? Leno? Or was it Freno? Something like that.
"So you're awake?" a red-haired man asked. That was him! The guy who beat him up! He'd show him!
Salvaging his pride, Roger replied, "Yes, I am. And if you don't mind, would you hand me my gloves?" he saw them haphazardly being tossed aside as he awoke. "I feel that it is your obligation to return them, as you seemed to have thrown them."
"Would you like fries with that?" Reno muttered as he retrieved the gloves. He quickly scanned an expert eye over them. Just as he had thought, merely for show, not for fighting. Even the claws were blunt.
"Thank you!" Roger said stiffly as he snatched the gloves out of Reno's hand. "And I'd appreciate it if you fought fair in the future!"
Reno was dumbfounded. This idiot fought so pathetically, and yet he still seems to be able to find a way to act as if it was Reno's fault! "WHAT?! Whaddaya mean 'fight fair in the future?!' I was fighting fair, you moron! You just suck at hand-to-hand!"
"Why, I'd never! If you hadn't charged me and hit me on my back, I would have won!"
"What the hell do you mean?! You rushed me! Or have I damamged your sensitive ego?"
"That's it!" but before Roger could charge, Reno restrained him.
"I am not up for another one of your moronic so-called fights! Just take me to the damn facility, and we can get this damn job started, and *after* this worthless mission, we can fight this damn fight!"
With that said, Reno let go of Roger and shoved him forward. "Now take me to the facility."
"Hmph. Well alright then. But on the first, I expect you to fight fairly." and with that, Roger walked away deeper into the forest with his nose upturned. As for Reno, he stalked after him quickly with his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were pure white.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Cloud! Why didn't you tell me before?!" Tifa screeched after the telling of Cloud's dream. "Are you alright? Is this caused from stress? What does that woman mean 'burn to ash'? Tell me please!!!"
"Well Tifa, I would if I could, but that's why I told you guys!" against his better judgement, Cloud had told the others in hopes of finding answers, but once again his sub-concious was right. He was lucky though, Nanaki was there, and he seemed to be the only one who understood it. He was sitting in the corner of the bar with his chin on one paw, the look on his wolfish face pensive.
Suddenly, he looked up. "Cloud, while you were up in the air, what did you see?"
'Nanaki acts as though he's been doing this for years.' out loud he said, " I told you. I saw a concrete facility in the center of a forest."
"Yes, but did you see anything else? Like mountains or hills?"
"No...wait! I saw a big lake on the...east part of the island."
"Did you see other islands?"
Cid spoke up. "For God's sake, Red! Yer not a @%#$*^% phyciatrist! Yer tryin' to figure out what the ^&*%$^%$& dream means!"
"I need to inquire of the details to understand the dream."
"Yah! But-"
"Ah, shuttup Cid! Red knows about this crap! He comes from Cosmo Canyon! Ya know, with the stars and shit." Barret growled.
"Yes, Cid. You shouldn't interrupt people. We've got more important problems to deal with than your mouth." Vincent said quietly.
"Please! Let me finish!" Nanaki barked. "And don't call me 'Red'! Alright Cloud, continue."
"Um, what was the question?"
"You see? All of this fuss is making Cloud tired! He needs rest! Let him go-"
"He'll be fine, Tifa! The question was did you see any other islands?" said Nanaki.
"Umm...no. But I did see a volcano!"
Nanaki made the expression of mild surprise. "Really? Well the only island with a volcano on it that I know of is Dai ShiSai. It means 'Land of Leviathan' in Wutainese. It's just north of Wutai."
Everyone was silent. Finally, Tifa spoke up. "So, we should go there, huh?"
"Yup."
"It would seem best."
"Great. Dat's jus' great..."
"I'm not going to no *&%T*^* Island of the Big Lizard!"
"You are going, Cid. We need the Highwind. And Leviathan is not a big lizard, he's a sea serpent."
"I want to find out what's waiting for us there." Cloud said. Then he groaned. "Uh oh. It's just north of Wutai, right?"
"Yes." replied Nanaki. "Why?"
"I just have a feeling that somehow, Yuffie's going to find out where we're going, and then, well...you can guess."
"I HEARD THAT!!!" an irritated Yuffie stormed into the room. "And to think I came all this way just to say 'hi' and find you guys talkin' smack about me!"
"I hate it when I'm right..." muttered Cloud.
" I heared THAT too!"
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A/N:
Whew! That chapter took a while, but I've been devoting my weekends to it just to get it posted quicker! Show some respect, peoples! *starts ranting on about how wonderful weekends are* Oh yeah. And two more things: Reno's the best!!!^_^ And I HATE (HATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATE!!!!!!!!!!) BORG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, with that said, pleeze review! It makes me feel better. ^_^
About the volcano part, I revised chapter 1 so that the island had a volcano on it, so, just FYI. Okay, with that said, enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elena of the Turks was so stressed, she thought she would scream. It was now Wednesday, and more paperwork was pouring in.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL US OR SOMETHING?!" she slammed her fist on the desk. Rude could have sworn that he heard the wood crack.
"Elena, that's life. You have to kind of live with it." Rude replied calmly, his eyes still focused on the computer screen.
"Oh yeah?! Well, maybe I don't like the way life works!" she spat.
"Yeah, I'm sure time negotiates." Rude rolled his eyes. "Besides, you know that you'll never catch up. Just do the work you have in front of your face and take more without complaint." He looked up at Elena.
Elena fidgited and suddenly became very interested in the desk. She was slightly redder than Reno's hair. Suddenly she realized how silly she had been. For yelling at Reno, for her previous actions...
'Jeez, he doesn't have to be so blunt about it...' she thought bitterly. 'Makes me feel so much worse than it should have. I'd rather have Re-...no wait, it was better that Rude told me. Reno would just think up some smartass excuse and make me feel like an idiot.'
She sighed and returned to her work. After a few minutes of furious typing, a flashing green envelope in the bottom left corner of the screen told her that she had new mail. Curious, she clicked on it. A message appeared from Reno.
"Hey Rude! Reno sent us something." Rude looked up and walked over to Elena's desk. He read over her shoulder:
'Hello my devoted followers and worshippers!
I just whipped this guy's ass and now it's raining. This entire box business is a waste of time. I don't even know why the hell I'm here. It's getting really annoying, carrying around this twenty-pound box all over the freakin' world. Elena, are you still phycho?-' Elena blushed-'cuz if you are, I think that I would rather try out my luck with the rain.
Anyway, things suck over here and I just felt like sharing that with you. Till then, I'll be seeing ya if I don't drown in this DAMNED RAIN!!!!!
your knight in shining armor,
Reno'
'That guy will never change.' thought Rude. 'I'll be damned if he does...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Cloud! Are you well enough to be up? You need more rest! You need-" Tifa was cut off quickly by a loud resounding "HE'S FINE!" from everyone in the room.
As for Cloud himself, he was troubled. Of course he was well and healthy and, obviously, in shape, but he had a troubling sleep. The dream was one of the oddest he had every known.
He was in a forest, no, above a forest, looking down at a square concrete building. Suddenly, he was falling into the foliage, and hit the ground hard. As he regained his balance and the feeling in his numbed legs, he found that he had no control over his body. He was running, sprinting down a rough, beat down road. He flew past numerous trees, jumped over roots, and ducked low branches. Then he entered a clearing, and came to a complete halt.
He saw a woman jumping a wire fence and into the the small courtyard of the familiar concrete building. Raven tresses fluttering as the wind toyed with it, she spun around quickly. Her bright, piercing amber eyes stared straight into his, and she spoke.
The language was harsh and yet soothing. Cloud felt and heard power in the speech, and it seemed to be calling to him. Instinctivly, he would have jumped the fence in hopes of finding an answer to the strange words, but something told him to wait. The woman seemed to be more of telling him something than calling him.
Suddenly, she stopped speaking. She smiled, as if realizing that he had not understood, and brought out a bright talisman. To Cloud, it looked like some symbol of power; it was made in the shape of a sun, that gleamed like a small golden star. A crescent moon took up half of the pendant and seemed to be made of moonstone. Its silver trim drew rough spirals and curls. The sun side was framed in veins of garnet, the light making it appear to be pulsing. And in the center of the talisman where the moon and sun met, a black gem, like an egg, was placed with a curled silver dragon within, as if waiting to be released.
The mysterious woman turned it over, showing the intricate patterns of the cosmos etched in bronze. In the center was an angel wing inside of a circle. The woman's eyes widened, and she began to chant. After every verse, it seemed to make more and more sense. The final result was:
Moon to stone and skin to fire
Burn to ash and collapse with time
Ice with wings in crystal spire
And earth turns cold as wind burns rhyme
Cloud knew that if he told the others now, Tifa would order him to sleep more and rant on about how no one listened to her. The dream didn't make sense anyway. He decided to wait, and try to find out the meaning himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The black shape ran. Its job was done. The message had been passed on to the Golden One. It had to tell her. It ran to the shore and jumped into the water. Like a fish, it swam under water with speed so great it left destruction in its wake. Fish darted this way and that in confusion, but before they could even figure out what had happened, the shape was gone.
Within minutes the thing had reached a small island. It jumped onto dry land and sprinted into the forest. Near a weeping willow, a figure stood. The black creature hobbled over to it and spoke in a raspy, low voice. The other responded with a nod, and turned away. The small messenger let out a silent scream, and vanished. The one remaining jumped into the tree without a sound. If it felt compassion for the latter, it didn't show it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Roger Clammings awoke with a start. That last thing he remembered was some smartass guy coming up with item no. 6025926, saying he was sent to help him guard it. Them he remembered. Ooh! GI Joe indeed! Slowly, everything else filtered into his mind. He remembered the fight, and his embarassing loss...The man didn't even look as if the fight were challenging. What was his name again? Leno? Or was it Freno? Something like that.
"So you're awake?" a red-haired man asked. That was him! The guy who beat him up! He'd show him!
Salvaging his pride, Roger replied, "Yes, I am. And if you don't mind, would you hand me my gloves?" he saw them haphazardly being tossed aside as he awoke. "I feel that it is your obligation to return them, as you seemed to have thrown them."
"Would you like fries with that?" Reno muttered as he retrieved the gloves. He quickly scanned an expert eye over them. Just as he had thought, merely for show, not for fighting. Even the claws were blunt.
"Thank you!" Roger said stiffly as he snatched the gloves out of Reno's hand. "And I'd appreciate it if you fought fair in the future!"
Reno was dumbfounded. This idiot fought so pathetically, and yet he still seems to be able to find a way to act as if it was Reno's fault! "WHAT?! Whaddaya mean 'fight fair in the future?!' I was fighting fair, you moron! You just suck at hand-to-hand!"
"Why, I'd never! If you hadn't charged me and hit me on my back, I would have won!"
"What the hell do you mean?! You rushed me! Or have I damamged your sensitive ego?"
"That's it!" but before Roger could charge, Reno restrained him.
"I am not up for another one of your moronic so-called fights! Just take me to the damn facility, and we can get this damn job started, and *after* this worthless mission, we can fight this damn fight!"
With that said, Reno let go of Roger and shoved him forward. "Now take me to the facility."
"Hmph. Well alright then. But on the first, I expect you to fight fairly." and with that, Roger walked away deeper into the forest with his nose upturned. As for Reno, he stalked after him quickly with his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were pure white.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Cloud! Why didn't you tell me before?!" Tifa screeched after the telling of Cloud's dream. "Are you alright? Is this caused from stress? What does that woman mean 'burn to ash'? Tell me please!!!"
"Well Tifa, I would if I could, but that's why I told you guys!" against his better judgement, Cloud had told the others in hopes of finding answers, but once again his sub-concious was right. He was lucky though, Nanaki was there, and he seemed to be the only one who understood it. He was sitting in the corner of the bar with his chin on one paw, the look on his wolfish face pensive.
Suddenly, he looked up. "Cloud, while you were up in the air, what did you see?"
'Nanaki acts as though he's been doing this for years.' out loud he said, " I told you. I saw a concrete facility in the center of a forest."
"Yes, but did you see anything else? Like mountains or hills?"
"No...wait! I saw a big lake on the...east part of the island."
"Did you see other islands?"
Cid spoke up. "For God's sake, Red! Yer not a @%#$*^% phyciatrist! Yer tryin' to figure out what the ^&*%$^%$& dream means!"
"I need to inquire of the details to understand the dream."
"Yah! But-"
"Ah, shuttup Cid! Red knows about this crap! He comes from Cosmo Canyon! Ya know, with the stars and shit." Barret growled.
"Yes, Cid. You shouldn't interrupt people. We've got more important problems to deal with than your mouth." Vincent said quietly.
"Please! Let me finish!" Nanaki barked. "And don't call me 'Red'! Alright Cloud, continue."
"Um, what was the question?"
"You see? All of this fuss is making Cloud tired! He needs rest! Let him go-"
"He'll be fine, Tifa! The question was did you see any other islands?" said Nanaki.
"Umm...no. But I did see a volcano!"
Nanaki made the expression of mild surprise. "Really? Well the only island with a volcano on it that I know of is Dai ShiSai. It means 'Land of Leviathan' in Wutainese. It's just north of Wutai."
Everyone was silent. Finally, Tifa spoke up. "So, we should go there, huh?"
"Yup."
"It would seem best."
"Great. Dat's jus' great..."
"I'm not going to no *&%T*^* Island of the Big Lizard!"
"You are going, Cid. We need the Highwind. And Leviathan is not a big lizard, he's a sea serpent."
"I want to find out what's waiting for us there." Cloud said. Then he groaned. "Uh oh. It's just north of Wutai, right?"
"Yes." replied Nanaki. "Why?"
"I just have a feeling that somehow, Yuffie's going to find out where we're going, and then, well...you can guess."
"I HEARD THAT!!!" an irritated Yuffie stormed into the room. "And to think I came all this way just to say 'hi' and find you guys talkin' smack about me!"
"I hate it when I'm right..." muttered Cloud.
" I heared THAT too!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N:
Whew! That chapter took a while, but I've been devoting my weekends to it just to get it posted quicker! Show some respect, peoples! *starts ranting on about how wonderful weekends are* Oh yeah. And two more things: Reno's the best!!!^_^ And I HATE (HATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATE!!!!!!!!!!) BORG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, with that said, pleeze review! It makes me feel better. ^_^