Disclaimer: Same old, same old…

Chap. 14

The four returned to the submarine and dived back into the water. As it moved through the watery depths...

"Look out!"

Ahead of them, a massive piece of metal fell before them. Cloud maneuvered the sub just barely and they were able to avoid the debris. The metal slowly hit the sea floor and Cid looked at it.

"Hey, that's..."

The debris was long and cylinder-shaped.

"That was the Junon cannon!"

Looking up through the water, they could see more debris sinking in the water. The submarine dodged and moved away from the falling metal and finally surfaced.

"What the...?"

The mechanical town of Junon was completely annihilated. Smoke was seen rising above it and flames were all over the place. Without delay, the sub sped forward and docked in one of the remaining bays. Everyone spread out in search for survivors. Cloud happened to find an old man, injured on the ground. He bent over and held him up.

"What happened here?"

"It....was.....a.....giant monster. Came....out of....the water." He fainted.

Cloud carried the elder man into a clearing and searched around for other survivors. By the time he and the others were done, there were few survivors, many of them severely injured.

"What could have done this?"

"Whatever it was, it must have been huge as well as powerful."

"We have to find it, before it hurts anyone else."

Aeris looked around at the burnt town, "But we can't just leave these people like this."

Barret nodded, "I got an idea. Half of us will stay here and the rest can go to the Highwind."

Cid lit his cigarette, "So who will go in the Highwind?"

Barret folded his arms, "Well, since it was my idea, I'll go."

"Me too." Cid said. "Gotta have a good pilot at the helm."

"I'm in." Vincent said, and then gave a brief glance at Lucrecia, "They may need my help."

"I'll go too." came from Cait Sith.

"Hey, Cloud. Are you coming too?"

"No, I think I'll stay here. Zack, you can go with them."

"Well, I guess so. Heck, why not?"

"I'll go. That's alright, isn't it?" Tifa said. She was actually hoping that Cloud would ask her to stay.

"Sure. It's fine."

Vincent shook his head slightly, Cloud, you have a lot to learn about women.

"Then it's settled. So let's get going."

Barret, Cid, Tifa, Zack, Cait Sith and Vincent boarded the Highwind and took off while Cloud, Aeris, Lucrecia, Yuffie, and Red XIII remained behind to look for survivors. Night was coming over as they found the remaining survivors. Aeris stayed with the injuried, curing them as best as she could. Lucrecia joined her in helping them. As they did, Lucrecia looked at Cloud and noticed his shimmering eyes. She left Aeris briefly to talk to him.

"Hello Cloud."

"Hi."

"Heh. Aeris is right. You aren't big on talking, are you?"

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I just came to ask about your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"They are glowing with Mako. I was curious as to why."

"Well, Hojo kidnapped me and Zack and did all kinds of experiments on us with Jenova cells. Zack managed to escape and rescue me too, but at the time my mind was distorted."

"Is that way your eyes are glowing, because of the Jenova cells?"

"Mostly, but I'm not sure. I believe that my eyes were always like that somewhat. My mother said my eyes glowed in the dark at times, but I always thought she was joking."

His mother..."What about your father?"

"I never knew my father. Mom told me that he died before I was born."

Hmm. It couldn't be...."Who was your mother? What was her name?"

"I believe it was Bethany. Yeah, that's it."

Lucrecia suddenly turned pale. Bethany. Then that means......Cloud is.....

"Lucrecia, are you alright?"

Lucrecia blinked and regained her composure, "Yes, I'm alright. Just lost in thought." She continued, "Is...she...?"

Cloud looked away, "Yes. She was killed...when Sephiroth burned Nibelihium."

Now it was her turn to look away, "Oh. I'm so sorry. In a way, this is my entire fault."

Cloud looked at her, "No it's not. If anything, you suffered the most."

Lucrecia looked at his eyes again. I can't believe I didn't see it earlier. His eyes are the same as his. At that time, Cloud's PHS rang and he answered.

"Yeah."

"Cloud, you are not going to believe it."

"Did you find the monster?"

"Oh, we found it alright."

"And?"

"Cloud. It's back. Weapon is back."