Chapter 4 - Gongaga
The villagers of Bone village watched as all the members of Avalanche ran through their village at top speed with the woman who they had been chasing within the group. They didn't know what to make of what had just happened, and seeing the woman who they thought had been murdered, in Avalanche's midst made their confusion worse.
One of the villages yelled over to them "What's going on?"
Cloud yelled back "Long story, we'll tell you when we get a chance to" then he muttered to himself "If we're alive to that is"
Reaching the Highwind everyone got on board, however Cloud held Angel back " I know what you did and what the planet has said about you Angel, but we've been tricked before and I have to ask for the safety of everyone. Can you be trusted?"
Angel looked at him with amusement "I'm no threat to you Cloud, or anyone other than our enemies, I know what I am and how I was created. And if I wanted to harm you I would have done it easily when I was fighting you" she retorted, climbing up the ladder to the deck of the airship.
Cloud sighed, he couldn't deny the truth of that and decided to forget about the incident. He would watch her like he would anyone, and hope that he was right in trusting her.
" Cloud get your @$$ up here now" Cid called from the deck as Cloud climbed slowly up the ladder "Reeve's waiting for us"
When the Highwind appeared on the horizon Reeve picked up a large shotgun and headed out to the field where it would be landing. He knew the Highwind would get there well before him so he ran as fast as he could. A few seconds later the Highwind landed and the members of Avalanche waited on the deck for the running figure of Reeve to make it to the ship. Once he had climbed aboard the Highwind took off, heading towards Gongaga, it would take a few hours to reach, even in the Highwind.
"All right," Reeve said "This time I'm coming with you. Cait Sith isn't ready yet and I want to see what's going on…." He looked round at the gathered members of Avalanche and saw Angel standing behind the group "Holy Shit, Angel's behind you" he exclaimed pointing his gun at her.
"Reeve relax" Aeris said stepping out "She is on our side, and we have a lot to tell you"
"Wha' the" he said in surprise "How'd you return, what's going on?" he looked at Cloud plaintively expecting an answer that made some sort of sense.
"Angel brought me back using Holy" Aeris replied as everyone entered the Highwinds main corridor "She's one of us now…"
"I don't believe this!!! Has anything else happened that I should know about?" Reeve said in disbelief.
Angel sighed and wandered back onto the deck, she knew that it would take a while for people to accept her knowing what her brother had done, and she decided to wait until they had told Reeve the bad news. Her wait wasn't for long when she heard Reeve swearing in frustration and he stormed out onto the deck. "You fought your own brother?"
"Yes, I know that it's hard to believe, but I will not harm innocents or my friends, Reeve" Angel replied. "Sephiroth is clearly in the wrong, and I will not condone what he has done, or will do." She began to walk away "and I am Cetra, Reeve, the Planet made me one"
As the Highwind passed over the mountains between Kalm and Junon Reeve's voice could clearly be heard swearing viciously.
Angel sat on the stairs that led to the deck of the ship, even after she had said all that to Reeve an hour earlier she still didn't feel that she was in the right. If she had been more careful all those years ago, she might have prevented her brother from going insane. She sighed and stood up, she was about to go back out onto the deck, when she heard a noise below her, she looked down and saw Yuffie suffering from motion sickness. Angel sympathised, when she had first started her training she hadn't taken very well to travel, and it was only after she had done some intensive training that she had managed to get over it. Instead of going out she walked over to Yuffie.
"I remember when I used to hate travelling because of motion sickness." Angel said.
"How'd you…. Urk … get over it?" Yuffie asked.
"By chewing on sweets, Hojo used to go berserk" Angel replied with a smile "By the time I was older I used to ignore the movement by meditating. I can show you how if you like"
"Please" Yuffie said, trying not to be ill.
"Alright, close your eyes and think of being on solid land, don't think about movement" Angel began as Yuffie did what she was saying.
Further back, Tifa and Cloud watched in amusement.
"How can meditation stop motion sickness?." Tifa asked.
"By making sure your mind isn't paying attention to your surroundings" Cloud replied watching the scene. "I'm still not certain if I can trust her, she's Sephiroth's sister..."
"Which has nothing to do with it" Aeris interrupted "You forget Cloud, she's like me, we can't do anything to harm the Planet."
"Sorry Aeris, it's just hard to trust anyone who is related to Sephiroth, after what he did" Cloud replied.
"I know, you should talk to her a little, maybe become friends. Just imagine what it'd be like if you had woken up after years asleep and found that the one person you had trusted since birth had betrayed you and tried to kill you. That's what she's going through, and yet she still helps us" Aeris answered "Oh, before I forget, Cid wants you on the bridge. He needs to talk to you about Reeve." She walked past them and headed towards where Angel was helping Yuffie to meditate.
"I need to talk to you Angel" Aeris said, "can we go up to the deck?"
"Sure, Yuffie do you think you can meditate without me?" Angel asked Yuffie.
"Yep, thanks… I don't feel so ill now" Yuffie replied as she continued to meditate.
As they walked out of the corridor Aeris turned to Angel "With everything going on I didn't thank you for what you did for me"
"It's alright Aeris, I'm glad I did, even though I had no idea what I was doing at the time" Angel replied "I know you have something on your mind… what is it?"
Aeris hesitated for a second then asked " Do you have a limit skill that can heal?" When Angel shook her head Aeris continued "All cetra have a holy healing limit called Great Gospel, I would like to teach it to you"
"But that's an ultimate limit, I already have one called Holy strike, or so the planet said, and from what I learned about them, you can't have more than one" Angel argued.
"In most cases yes, people only have one, but you are Cetra, and our duty is to help people, not fight.. well not usually anyway." Aeris replied "If I'm out of the fight, who'll protect the others when they need this spell?"
"I see your point, but what does the planet say to this?" Angel asked
* As a powerful Cetra you need both Angel, to fulfil your role as guardian of the planet. However Aeris also needs to learn how to defend herself in battle, as it stands both of you are extremes, one of you is a fighter the other a healer, you need to teach each other so both of you can protect this planet.* The planet said to the two Cetra.
"How do we teach limits, Aeris?" Angel asked in the Cetra language.
"I'm not sure" Aeris replied also speaking in Cetra.
At that point Cloud, who had been talking to Cid about problems they had, came up on the deck. He stopped and looked at the two women, who were deep in conversation in some language he'd never heard before. He shook his head and turned round, he wasn't going to interrupt them, they looked busy. He'd call them to the meeting later.
"We'd better get ready, Gongaga in three minutes" Cid called over the ship's intercom "Come up here and look"
"Where's Aeris?" Vincent asked as Cloud entered the bridge.
"On deck talking to Angel, they were discussing something" he replied picking up his sword and strapping it on his back.
"What were they talking about?" Red asked curiously.
"No idea, I don't know what language they were using, let alone understand it" Cloud grinned "maybe they can teach it to you Red, when this is over"
"Thanks, I'll pass… though the elders may like to know it"
"So what did you need me for, and where's Reeve?" Cloud asked.
"He's talkin' to Yuffie" Barret replied "He needs Materia, so he went to ask her if she had any he could borrow"
"There is no more mastered Materia for him to use" Yuffie said from the door as both her and Reeve entered, "I only have weak stuff, left over from the materia that we mastered"
"Now what? I may be a crack shot with this thing" Reeve shouldered the shotgun "but I need magic in case we come across Sephiroth"
"I suppose we can give his a couple of ours, I suppose we don't all need every single spell" Tifa commented thoughtfully.
"That'll work, But it'll leave us at a disadvantage" Cloud said "We all know which spells we have, and lending them you Reeve, will mean that if we go to use it and we don't have it… we waste precious seconds"
"Aeris also needs materia, I don't think she had any when she left us last time" Vincent added.
"Luckily I already have some materia" Aeris said, causing everyone to turn round. She was standing in the door with Angek next to her. "I have a few mastered healing spells, and some attack."
"And I have some mastered Materia that I don't need" Angel said "Reeve can have them, I don't need the orbs to cast these spells anymore." She handed over 8 materia orbs.
"Hmm, lemme see, Time, Lightning, Fire, Ice, Earth, Cure, Revive and Ultima." Reeve exclaimed as he examined the materia "Nice, Thanks"
"No problem Reeve" Angel replied smiling "I'll be on the deck waiting"
" Next time give them to me" Yuffie pouted as she watched Reeve place the materia in his gun and Angel walk back out of the room.
"Yuffie, you have enough materia from the stuff we gave you after we beat Sephiroth the first time" Tifa told her, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the young girl.
" Spoilsport" Yuffie pouted.
"We've landed, so stop arguing and lets get our butts over to the village slowpokes!" Cid called to them, as he ran past, preventing an argument from beginning.
As the group started to leave the Highwind Cloud asked Angel "What were you and Aeris talking about? I didn't understand a word you two were saying"
"You were eavesdropping?" Angel asked amused, as Cloud said nothing she continued "You may as well know, we were talking about Limit skills. Aeris has no attack limit, so I taught her a holy attack."
"You were? Why?" Cloud wanted to know
"Because I don't want her to go through that again, I haven't known her long, but in some ways she's like a little sister" Angel replied "I suppose it's the planet's influence on me" she smiled and walked away from the airship, heading towards the village with Tifa, Cid, Vincent and Reeve. The others were heading in a slightly different directions to make sure that if one group were surprised the others could come to their aid.
Cloud hurried to catch up with Yuffie, Aeris, Red and Barret, his sword drawn was drawn, and he was ready for anything. As he looked to see how the other group were coming along on the lower path, he caught sight of Angel, her sword ready. He shivered as he saw how similar she was to her brother, but Cloud realised that she was nothing like him, although she possessed Jenova cells and mako inside of her, Angel was more like Aeris.
"Yo spiky, stop daydreaming!" Barret shouted to Cloud, snapping him out of his line of thought.
"Sorry Barret, I was just thinking" He replied as ran to join the rest of small group " We don't know if the person responsible for this is still around, everyone keep your guard up"
" I bet it was that ^%£$^ Sephiroth" Barret said looking around.
" We don't know that Barret, It could have been someone else" Vincent said as both groups joined back up, the village entrance was just a few meters away. Entering the village moments later, they stopped, what they saw horrified them. Burnt out shells of houses, some still glowing red, showing that the destruction was recent met their eyes, but the worst of it was the bodies of the villagers lying on the ground.
Yuffie turned away from the sight, trying not to be ill. Aeris and Tifa also averted their eyes as the others investigated.
"Maybe you should wait outside the village" Vincent told the three women as he noticed their distress at what they were seeing. "Keep a look out to make sure we aren't attacked by whoever did this"
"Good idea Vincent" Tifa said as she steered the other two away from the village "We'll yell if we see anything."
"Alright, I must get back… Cloud is signalling me" He replied as he saw Cloud wave over to him.
Angel had crouched down beside the body of a young child " Sephiroth did this" she said in a tone of voice that did not hide her sorrow or anger " They were killed by a sword thrust that could only come from a long sword, and only myself and Sephiroth have them."
"You sure about that Angel?" Red asked
"I'm sure" Angel replied.
"Alright, I'm sending three of you looking for signs of him, the rest of us will bury the dead here and see if anyone survived. Where are the girls?" Cloud looked round trying to see them
"They're at the village entrance; they're making sure we aren't surprised here. I don't think they should come into the village" Vincent replied.
"Fine. Angel, you scout north. Red you scout east, Vincent you check west. Look for survivors and be careful, Sephiroth may still be around" Cloud turned to the others. "We'd better get started"
Angel, Red and Vincent moved to the village entrance and split off in the directions they had been assigned.
" Why did ya sent them?" Barret wanted to know.
"Because they're fast and all of them know what they're looking for, we'll check over there to see if any of these people survived." Cloud replied. "Cid you organise the girls to get ready for casualties if we find them."
Cid moved off to tell the three women whilst Barret, Cloud and Reeve moved to see if anyone in the village was still alive.
Red sniffed around, but he couldn't see or smell anything that indicated someone had passed this way. He couldn't pick up any hints of anything, no monsters in the area either. As he reached the end of the woodland, he stared out across the grassland to see if he could see anyone escaping, but the land was empty of all humans. In the distance he could see some creatures but they were too far away, and he hadn't picked up their scent, so if there were survivors in this area they should be safe from attack. Red turned and headed back into the forest seeing if he could find anything.
Vincent however had found a few injured people, most of them were babbling about a man in black, and his heart sank. That was the description of Sephiroth. He led them back to the village to be tended to by Yuffie, Aeris and Tifa before he continued on his search for survivors or the culprit. He wondered how Sephiroth had managed to survive, and found that he couldn't even begin to guess how it had happened.
Meanwhile Angel listened for any sound to indicate that there was another person or creature around, but the woods were silent. When things were this quiet, there were always nasty surprises waiting in the shadows. Feeling uneasy she continued to walk deeper into the forest, her sword drawn and ready in case her brother was still in the area.
Her fears were realised when a voice rang out " Halt, Identify yourself" as a woman stepped out of the trees ahead of her with a bald headed man at her side.
"Who are you?" Angel asked looking at them. She had heard something about a shadowy group within the old Shin-ra called the Turks, and if what Barret and Cid had been telling her was accurate then she was looking at two of their members, but it didn't harm to get confirmation. Although she was sure of who they were, she didn't relax the hold on her sword, in case they weren't the Turks.
"I am Rude, this is Elena, we're the Turks, and I think we've just found out the person responsible for this carnage" Rude stated looking at her sword.
Angel was about to protest when another person emerged from the trees behind her, she turned rapidly, but her attention had been on the two who had stopped her, and she didn't turn fast enough. Reno jabbed his night-stick at her back and flicked the switch. Angel screamed as the electricity flowed through her, seeking the way to the ground, unable to break free because of the paralysis the electricity caused. "And I'm Reno, pleased to meet you" Reno told her as he kept the nightstick to her back until she passed out.
In the village Cloud heard the scream, as he got the rest of the group together he found they had also heard it.
"We have to hurry, everyone get your weapons. Sephiroth could be attacking" Cloud said as everyone ran out of the village, the girls, who were still taking care of the wounded joined them as all seven of them ran through the woods towards whoever had screamed. As they ran they were joined by Vincent and Red. All of them knew Angel was scouting in this direction and hoped that she would be the first one there to help whoever had screamed, if she wasn't the one in trouble, none of them wanted to think about that.
Further in the woods Angel recovered from the nightstick attack far more rapidly than the Turks anticipated. She could hear them arguing about finding rope, she glanced to her side and noticed her sword was where she had dropped it. She knew it was far too heavy for any of them to pick up and the sword wouldn't have allowed it anyway. She watched with half closed eyes, as the arguing continued, and when they had all turned their backs she picked herself up from the ground. Angel noticed that she was slightly off balance from Reno's attack and still slightly dazed; however she managed to retrieve her sword.
Reno turned round as Angel stood up " ^%£$, she's awake. . . PYRAMID" he yelled panicking slightly.
Angel attempted to dodge, but the effects of the earlier attack hadn't worn off and she smacked into the wall of the transparent pyramid that surrounded her.
"I'd love to know what I've done to make you attack me twice. My friends aren't going to be happy with you" Angel glared at Reno as she cast a spell on the pyramid.
"We'll take on your friends when they arrive" Reno smirked at her efforts. "I don't think you can break that"
"Maybe not Reno, but I can break it for her." Cloud said as he ran into the clearing, followed closely by all the rest of avalanche. "Angel, are you alright, we heard you scream."
Angel nodded still attacking the Pyramid "I'm alright, Reno's attack was painful"
"Reno, What did you say about takin' on us?" Barret asked pointing his gun-arm at the Turks.
"Barret Enough!" Tifa told him.
"Wait a minute, she's part of Avalanche?" Reno asked slightly shocked trying to figure out where he had just screwed up. He had no desire to face Avalanche again.
Angel had finally figured out how the pyramid kept her imprisoned and shattered it with Holy, before any of Avalanche could get past the Turks. Reno , Rude and Elena turned round, their mouths opened in shock. "How'd…" they began.
Angel glared at the three Turks, the first glimmerings of anger in her eyes. "Ok, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. To start with, I did not do anything to the villagers, yes I look like Sephiroth and carry a weapon like him, but I'm not my brother. I came with Avalanche when the call came in." She told them "And I used this to break the pyramid" she held up the Holy materia "I'm Cetra"
Reno looked at her "Any relation of that psychopath is not a Cetra, he had those delusions as well"
"I can vouch for her" Aeris said walking directly in front of Reno, much to his surprise "She is a cetra, like me and a Guardian of the planet. Angel is not Sephiroth, she came with us"
"Wait a minute, you're supposed to be dead. And who else could be responsible except for her" Rude challenged Aeris
"Is this some sort of trick?" Elena said at the same time.
Reno however readied his night-stick. "There's a simple way to tell.." he said as he went for Aeris
Angel realised what Reno intended to do and had changed her sword into her thin, two meter long staff. As Reno charged, she knocked him to the far side of the clearing.
Cloud went red with fury, stormed over to where Reno was getting to his feet and held him up by the throat "Don't you EVER do that again Reno, if you want to survive. Aeris sacrificed a lot for us, the least you can do is remember that!" he said in a low voice.
"Cloud, calm down" Vincent put his hand on Clouds shoulder. "Remember what we're really here for!"
"Alright, but if I see you try to harm any member of Avalanche again, you'll be sorry" Cloud told Reno.
"You know Reno, this isn't the best way to ensure you three get paid" Reeve said, walking out from under a tree. As the slowest it took him some time to catch up with the group "I told you to investigate, not get into fights"
"Alright, I'm sorry, but how was I supposed to know if this was a trick or not? Especially after what we saw in the village."
"I understand, but next time, give me a chance to explain will you" Angel said "that way misunderstandings are less likely to happen."
"You could've killed him, with that hit though!" Elena protested.
Angel gave her a level look "Doubtful, why do you think I changed my sword to a staff? I knew exactly what I was doing, I have no reason to kill you do I? You were only doing your job."
Rude looked thoughtful "You know I've seen you fight before, I believe you. If you wanted to harm us, you could've done it easily" He looked round at the shocked faces. "I forgot, none of you would know, I saw her spar with Sephiroth on the day I joined Shin-ra, the day she vanished come to think of it"
"We can talk on the way back to the village, we still have work to do there" Cloud interrupted, getting all of them to head back the way they'd come. The Turks came with them, still talking.
"In that match you saw Rude, we weren't using magic. That's how we used to train, to make sure we weren't at a disadvantage if our opponent was armed with Materia. The commanders thought that that would scare the recruits too much, so we stuck with normal fighting" Angel continued to explain.
"One thing I'd like to know though" Reno called over to Cloud "Who the hell is responsible for this?"
"That's easy to answer, we already knew before we landed that it was Sephiroth." Cloud replied.
"Are you out of your mind? You killed Sephiroth months ago." Reno retorted.
"Unfortunately he's right Reno." Reeve said "Somehow both Sephiroth and Jenova survived."