CHAPTER THREE

LOST AND FORGOTTEN

In the Nibelhiem Mansion, a figure walked alone, forlorn. A man who seemed to know nothing. Every now and then, a flash of memories came to him, and fled when he tried to recognize the images. Cloud's Mako Blast had not only blown his body away from the Battle Square at the Gold Saucer, but also blasted his memories out of his own head. From what little memory Cloud retained, he knew he had been here before, but did not know when or why. He headed down to the basement, and was immediately dizzy from a wave of memories that flooded him as he looked around. Suddenly, a monster appeared from behind the desk in the library. Cloud quickly killed it with his sword. He was at a loss to explain how he got the sword, but still knew how to use it, as well as the materia equipped in his sword and armor.

After a week of closely inspecting the mansion, he began to rebuild, from his memories and from documents relating to him, what his past might've been like. He knew he had had a great adventure, but he couldn't quite place names on the comrades he knew he had.

Then, as if by instinct, Cloud suddenly left the mansion and headed for the mountains.

The Highwind still kept its speed. It got AVALANCHE from Midgar to Nibelhiem quicker than any other vehicle. Upon departure from Midgar, a few stops were made to the members' hometowns, for pickups, drop-offs, and good-byes. When they finally got to Nibelhiem, Tifa had decided who would go with her, and who would go where.

"Marlene, Barret, you're with me. Cid, Cait Sith, Red XIII, go to Cloud's house. Yuffie, search the mansion. Vincent, keep an eye on her. I'm going to Mt. Nibel," Tifa ordered. They all nodded and left in different directions.

"He's close," Marlene said. "I can feel it. He's moving away."

Tifa nodded. "Let's hurry."

Cloud's house was empty, the actors long gone from the town. Red XIII noticed that there was a familiar scent in the air. Cloud had recenlty been here. No one was, now. They left.

The mansion seemed untouched from when Cloud had awoken Vincent a long time ago. In the library in the basement, Yuffie could see the body of the dead monster, and Vincent surmised that the creature had just recently been killed. He also noticed that the books on the shelves were different, hastily thrown back on by the reader. Whoever was here had obviously left in a hurry.

"Hey! Look at this!" Yuffie said to Vincent, pointing at the creature. "This creature was killed by a sword. A large one, by the look of it."

"Cloud's weapon was the Ultima Weapon," Vincent mused. "The Ultima Weapon is a very large sword indeed."

Vincent was not surprised when his PHS rang. On the other end, Cid said, "Well, he was definitely at his house recently. His scent is here, and there is some of Cloud's materia left behind."

Vincent looked thoughtful. "He was here in the mansion even more recently. We can tell because of a creature here he apparantly killed. The state of the basement library suggests that he was here, then left in a hurry, just moments ago. Since we came through the main entrance to this town, I would surmise that he is currently in Mt. Nibel."

Cid gasped. "That's where Tifa is. We should go meet up with her."

Vincent agreed, and he and Yuffie left the old building. They joined with the other group, and set off for Mt. Nibel.

Barret was sweating. "Damn!" he said, "How big is this damn mountain?!"

"It's big," Tifa said, turning around. "I thought you were tough. Look, Marlene isn't even tired."

He looked up at his daughter, and saw that Tifa was right. Marlene was staring back at him, looking as calm as if she had just got out of bed. "Well, um, I'm just not used to mountain climbin', ya know?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow and giggled slightly. He was just about to reply when a dragon leapt out of a nearby cave. Before Tifa could land a punch or Barret could fire a shot, the dragon keeled over, dead. Tifa saw a glint of light, and saw a man carrying something large and metal retreating into a cave up the mountain. Seconds later, the rest of AVALANCHE came running up the path.

"We couldn't find him anywhere, but we found evidence that he was there moments before we arrived." Cait Sith said.

Vincent nodded in agreement. "Therefore he must be in the mountains."

Tifa gasped. "We just saw a man holding something metal running into one of the caves up here. That must've been Cloud!"

"Let's follow him!" cried Red XIII, hurrying on. The others followed quickly.