Disclaimer: Square owns it all.
A/N: Sorry for the extensive delay on this chapter. Hopefully now I'll stay up to date with myself and keep the chapters coming. Much love to my reviewers. The last two chapters pulled in a whopping five reviews. That's the most I've had from one upload so far. You guys rock. Anywho, be prepared for some surprises (or at least I hope they're surprises) in this chapter and possible the following. Time for some new characters!
Chapter 9: Parting Ways
Vincent stood out against the horizon; a dark figure disrupting a bright morning sky. The mid-morning rain drizzled down his ebony mane in all directions. Ever since Holy unleashed its fury on Meteor, the weather has been off, especially near Midgar and Kalm, the two towns closest to the catastrophic showdown.
Now, the Midgar plain and its inhabitant towns (i.e. Kalm), have gained the reputation for having very sporadic and highly unpredictable rains. Kalm, the farther north of the two, also saw it's far share of snow from time to time. That was a bit more predictable. It would still be a month or so before the winter season would set in. Maybe Reeve would be back in time for Christmas.
But thought's of Reeve and Christmas trees didn't dare come near Vincent. He wasn't out here to ponder about the strange weather patterns either. Thirty-one years ago, he would've been unendingly interested in such a strange occurrence. Back then, Lucrecia had sparked a great interest in him for the natural sciences, but that was a long time ago.
Something was out there. It may have been the somewhat noisy breakfast ritual talking place inside that caused him to come out onto the flat, grassy fields surrounding Kalm, but it was that something that kept him here. He could smell it in the air. Vincent gave Chaos' inert animal instincts credit for his strong sense of smell.
Vincent's nostrils committed every aspect of the aroma to his memory. He didn't know what the faint, almost Sulfuric, smell in the air was, but he would make damn sure that he'd recognize it the moment he smelled it again.
After the scent had been sufficiently stored away in Vincent's mind, he turned and head back towards the two gates. After being so impatient with them just one day before, he couldn't rightfully leave AVALANCHE waiting for him.
All nine inhabitants of Tifa's Tranquillity sat silently as they vigorously attacked the food in front of them. Well, all except Yuffie, who didn't mind talking with her mouth full.
"Awww, c'mon Cid… Can't we just take the Highwind?" A few scrambled egg particles took flight, propelled by Yuffie's pleading voice.
Cid couldn't help but admire the young girl. She must've had a lot of practice talking with food in her mouth; she did it almost as well as he did. He would've gladly shown her how it should be done, but decided to finish what was in his mouth before he spoke. Tifa's food was too good to not enjoy to it's fullest.
"We can't take the Highwind cuz there ain't no place to land the old bird!"
"But it's raining! My clothes are gonna get all wet. And we're gonna have to walk around in all that mud. Gross-ness!"
"We're walkin' and that's final! Now quite yer yappin' an' eat."
Yuffie sat back in her chair and flung her arms into a tight fold: the international sign of immature displeasure. She certainly "quit her yapping", as Cid would put it, but would not continue eating - another silent protest.
Anyone could tell by the look on her face that this argument wasn't over yet. She was just biding her time, waiting for the perfect moment to burst. Her cue came in the form of a man being closely followed by a flowing red cape.
"Vinnie! Cid wants to make us walk to Midgar!"
Cid vehemently threw his fork down to the table. "That's it! Ours asses are fuckin' walkin' so just shut up about it!"
"Why can't we -"
"Don't even ask why we ain't takin' tha Highwind! I just told ya!"
"DON'T CUT ME OFF!! I was TRYING to ask why we're not talking the buggy?"
"Cloud and 'em need the buggy."
"Why can't they take the Highwind?"
"WHAT!?!? Because I ain't gonna be wit 'em! THAT'S why!"
"GAWD! You're such a baby, Cid!"
"… Take a Chocobo…" Vincent's cold, emotionless words cut in between the two, bringing their argument to a halt. Despite the calmness in his voice, his words screamed reason at the top of their lungs.
Tifa let out a quiet giggle at Yuffie and Cid's reaction. The two sat in a strange silence while they registered what had just happened to them. With three simple words, the quiet ex-Turk had made complete fools of them.
When a reddening of embarrassment hit Yuffie's cheeks, everyone in the room (besides herself, Cid, and Vincent) burst into complete laughter.
Cid was the first to come to his own defense. "Hey, pipe down! I woulda said that, but I wanted ta make the pest suffer some!"
After the Turks and Cid's group left the Tranquility, Cloud took the lead. "All right, everyone. Here's what's going down today…"
Since everyone had woken up that morning, they had been asking him to let them in on his plans for the day. Now was their opportunity to listen in.
"Ok, everyone equip yourselves for the worst. We're headed for Junon and we have no idea what we'll find there. From what Vincent suspects, the guys he took care of in Midgar were just babies compared to the real thing. I don't know what info he's got to go on, but I can never remember anytime he's been wrong. Can any of you?"
"I can't 'member any time he spoke..." Berret's low voice was muffled, but not muffled enough to keep everyone from hearing him.
Tifa quickly jumped to defend Vincent. "Hey! Just because he's not here doesn't mean you can talk like that about him. He's our friend - friends don't say anything behind each other's backs that they wouldn't say to their faces. Would you say that?"
Barret sat silent in the face of these accusations. Red took the opportunity to answer for him. "I have a feeling Barret might be a bit wiser than to comment like that to Vincent."
Despite Red's seemingly supportive words, different thoughts came to his mind. he assumed everyone else was thinking the same. Why is she so defensive of Vincent?
Mr. Strife really wasn't interested on thinking too much about Tifa's motives. There was business to attend to. "Anyway, so we've got those guys to deal with. Plus, there's still a lot of angry ex-Shinra SOLDIERS living in Upper Junon. They won't be happy to see us. And, to top it all off, we're there looking for Reeve and his kidnapper. From the looks of that guy on the tape, and the looks of the trail of blood Reeve left, he won't be any push over. You three are the best assets I have right now, that's why you're coming with me."
Cloud didn't mean to lessen the worth of the other three, and everyone knew it. It wasn't too hard to guess why Cloud had picked Cid, Yuffie and Vincent to go to on there own - some for the purpose of going to Midgar, some for the purpose of staying away from Junon.
All four remaining members of AVALANCHE, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red, were quite apprehensive while strapping on their equipment and selecting some handy materia. All of them had watched the video. They had all seen the dreadful 7 foot blade trailing behind the kidnapper.
Only one man had been able to wield the Masamune before - Sephiroth. That only meant that this man was about as powerful as the madman - more powerful than any of them. Although no one would ever believe it was possible, everyone also feared that this new foe would be even stronger than the former General.
After the last materia slot was filled, Cloud and crew filed into the buggy. The drive would be a long one and they certainly didn't want their adversaries to have the darkness of the night on their side. The trip was a silent one, everyone caught up in their own fears.
Cloud worried about those under his leadership. It had been a long time since he led so many people into battle. He had become too used to the life led by the co-owner of the Tranquility. The life of AVALANCHE leader, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife seemed so foreign to him now. He couldn't live with himself if he lead these innocent people into a death trap simply because he was a bit rusty.
Barret feared the rise of another Sephiroth. Now he only lived for two things: Marlene and Corel. If another madman even more powerful than Sephiroth came around, he didn't know if they could stop him. They all barely made it out alive the first time. If they couldn't stop him, what would become of his hometown, the town he helped rebuild with his bare hands? What about Marlene, the little girl he adopted as his daughter in order to help out an old, lost friend?
Red worried about the missing items from Hojo's lab. At one time, he was one of the crazed professors specimines. He did not wish that fate on anyone - though with that kind of equipment stolen it looked like that fate was coming anyway.
Tifa worried, oddly enough, about Vincent. She knew far too well why Cloud had sent him to Midgar: Lucrecia. His heart still held a weakness for the elderly woman. Tifa saw first hand what Vincent's condition was after he found her missing. His clothes were torn, dry blood covered every inch of visible skin, and his hair was a complete mess. She could only speculate what kind of destructive behavior lead to that.
She hoped he's be all right. She hoped the same for Yuffie and Cid. If they are with him when he snaps, that would be the end of them....
Junon was quite the sight for sore eyes. Whoever this new mayor was certainly cleaned things up in the past year. The streets were clean, there were no electrical wires running along the beach, no more high voltage pole in the middle of the city. Cloud made a mental note to shake his hand when this was all said and done.
The eastern continent's sole port city had quickly become one of the cleanest city's Cloud had ever seen. The streets were dirty free now and the beach was once again a beautiful scene. In the rain, the ocean seemed more beautiful than ever before. Turbulent waves dancing gingerly upon the shore. He was sure Reeve would love to take a good long look at this. He's make sure the Neo-Shinra President would get his chance.
But any thought that this might be a small, quiet, homely town was put to death at the slightest upward glance. That monstrous city built above them was still there. That was Cloud's target.
"Alright, here's where we split. Barret, you and I and heading up there." The groups eyes followed Cloud's finger, directed towards Upper Junon. " We're searching every inch of every alley for any clue. Tifa and Red, meet us in an hour at the old Turk bar. Until then, ask around down here. Junon is a tight city. It's not very probably that Reeve has been kept here for days without anyone noticing anything amiss."
Three chocobos stood strapped to a near by pole just outside the Sector 5 gate. Three humans stood silent staring into the darkness of the unlit Shinra Building. They had wasted no time making their way to their destination - none wished to be there. Yuffie found it to be very creepy and gross. Cid and Vincent both thought their abilities would be better suited with Cloud and the others.
Luckily for Vincent, his two companions had been arguing so much over the wind blowing in their faces caused by their speeding chocobos that their mouths were too dry to argue any further. He would enjoy this peaceful time, but he knew it would be short lived. If everything went to plan, the ever popular Cait Sith would be joining them soon.
"Do you hear that?" Elena's voice was filled with worry. The same worry filled the hearts and minds of both Reno and Rude.
Reno had heard the noise Elena was referring to, but ignored it. He willed his ears to be wrong. He also had a fairly good idea what the noise was. He willed his mental analysis to be wrong as well.
After all, it was raining. Maybe that was the sound that had been setting his mental alarm off. But Laney was more logical than he was. He knew she wouldn't say anything about some rain drops.
"If you tell me you hear marching, I'm gonna kill you..."
A/N: Ok, I know this chapter sucked. Way too short and not enough story in it. Well, I feel another wave of obligations (i.e. no time for writing) coming along that'll tie me up for a few weeks, so I figured I'd get this up before all that happens. Feel free to actually NOT review: save it for the next chapter (which is really just the rest of this chapter that I didn't get around to writing.