Chapter Two: Contemplating the Reunion of the Miscreants
Barret finished downing his twelfth beer, his huge black arm slamming the glass down on the bar. He called out for another. "Yo, barkeep. Whatcha doin'? My glass's empty!" Before the bartender could reply, Barret turned his head to the mercenary sitting beside him, his hair and blonde and annoyingly spiky as ever. He frowned, upset that he wasn't talking. He spoke in a loud, thundering voice, causing all the other patrons of the bar to nearly jump out of their seats.
"Yo, Cloud! S'been three years since we were talkin' to each other, THREE! Now we're here at Kalm, sittin' in a bar, and yer punk ass STILL ain't talkin' to me!" He grunted, bringing his gun-arm up to rest on the hardwood of the bar, staring at Cloud in mild disgust. The rest of the bar was silent for a moment, staring in pure surprise at the huge black man, then went back to talking again. Cloud turned his head slowly to Barret from its hung position, his Mako-infused eyes glowing in some aggravation at the scene Barret just made. He simply gave in. "Okay, Barret. What do you want me to say?"
"Oh, I dunno. How 'bout a ''Ey, Barret. How ya doin? Thanks fer yo help wit da whole Sephiroth unleashin' his terrible wrath upon humanity wit WEAPON an' Meteor thang'?"
Cloud nodded. "Hm, that's funny."
"What's funny?"
"You knew humanity was a word? And you used it in the correct context, too."
"See, this's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Yo punk ass can't neva own up to yo mistakes."
"Oh, I own up to my mistakes," Cloud replied to the monstrous man. "It's just that I don't make any."
Barret shook his head. "I jes' realized that I should whooped yo spiky-head ass when I first saw ya." He gulped on his beer. Cloud did too.
"Ain't that a bitch," Cloud said.
There was a few moments of silence between the two men, Cloud staring blankly ahead, his black-gloved hand resting on the butt of his gargantuan buster sword, tracing up and down the long handle with his fingers. Barret was crawling even deeper into his beer mug, the crowded bar getting even emptier after each glass he finished. After a few more moments, Barret spoke again, his loud, slurring voice bouncing off the walls of the inn like a boulder off a mountain. "Y'know, Cloud, I've been thinkin'."
"That's pretty scary."
Barret slammed his beer on the bar, the glass shattering. "I'm serious, man!"
"Okay, okay." Cloud cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "What?"
Barret's inebriated smiled returned, and he threw his arm around Cloud, tugging him in. "Let's get the ol' team back togetha."
"What team?"
"What mothafuckin' team do you THINK I'm talkin' 'bout? AVALANCHE, man!"
Cloud squeezed free from Barret's grip, taking a few breaths before cocking an blonde eyebrow at him. "What do we need to get AVALANCHE back together for?"
"Nothin', man! I just wanna see alla 'em again. Y'know, catch up."
Cloud nodded. He missed them all too. Especially Tifa. He finished off his beer and set it down, pushing it away. "I see what you're saying, but I don't know how we can actually bring us all together again." Barret curled his large face, his beard moving up a couple of inches. "Why the hell not?"
"Well for starters, we don't even know where everyone is. And the ones who we CAN locate are all leading new lives. Red's just starting out as the new chief of Cosmo Canyon, Yuffie's running a successful trading corporation in Wutai, Tifa's busy helping rebuild Sector 7, and Cid's building more airships in Junon. They all just can't drop what they're doing to get back together."
"You're just being pessimistic."
"No, I'm being REALISTIC. YOU can't even go. You've got Marlene to worry about."
"I'll bring her wit me."
"We don't even know were two other people are."
"Doesn't mean we can't find 'em."
Cloud shook his head, crushing a peanut shell with his thumb and forefinger. "Highly unlikely. Vincent's traveling the world now, digging up his past I suppose, and Reeve is somewhere in Midgar, doing God knows what." Reeve, as both of them knew, was the operator of the stuffed half-cat half-mog machine, Cait Sith. Although the machine had been rendered inoperative after the Meteor incident, he had been able to make contact with the rest of the group afterwards. That's until the Holy Effect occurred. Six months after the Meteor struck, communication devices began to go out all over the world, thus severing contact between all other lands remotely. When these devices were examined more closely, remnants of Holy materia was discovered, giving the phenomena its name. Ever since this occurred, Reeve nor the machine known as Cait Sith had been seen or heard of.
"I'm sure we could find 'em somehow." Barret grunted.
"I dunno, Barret. I don't even know if I have the time."
"The fuck you talkin' 'bout? You ain't doin' nothin'!"
"Yes, I am."
"What? Raisin' chocobos? Yeah, I heard about that hokey-pokey shit you been doin' out in the country. Don't think I didn't, neither. S'far cry from bein' a Mako-'fused SOLDIER"
Cloud shrugged. "It's a change for the better."
Barret: "Haven't you ever wondered how everyone else's doin'? Don't you wanna SEE 'em again? You wanna spend the rest o' yo borin'-ass life cleanin' up chocobo shit wonderin' what it would be like if you took one opportunity to see your old friends?"
Cloud: "Of course not. It's just that the farm is just beginning to get on it's feet, most of my new birds are less than a year old, and I still have the problem of finding a good vendor to sell me greens to feed 'em. Plus there's those damn wolves that keep coming around the farm looking for an easy meal. I mean I WANNA see 'em, Barret, I really do. But I can't just drop everything to do it."
Barret rolled his head back, stretching with his palm and gun-arm sprawling across the bar in front of him. "Sounds like you just don't care enough about 'em to make a few adjustments, what I think." Cloud's head snapped sideways, tearing holes into Barret's eye sockets with his glare.
"They're called PRIORITIES, Barret. Marlene would be much better off if you could remember that, instead of running around the planet on a ShinRa headhunts so you could make a name for yourself. Almost lost her doing that last time, remember?" A huge black arm reached out and snatched Cloud by the collar of his shirt, violently pulling him to Barret's face as his gun-arm came and pressed harshly on the ex-mercenary's chin, a huge, gaping hole from one of the chambers of the gatling cutting a hot mark on his jaw. Barret spoke like a castrated bull, his liquored breath washing over Cloud's face.
"Don't you EVA insult my competency as a father. EVA! Everything I did three years ago and even before was for HER, not for ME, HER. You think I wanted her to grow up in that shit? Livin' in a slum under a fuckin' pizza built by a buncha dickless money-grubbin' mothafuckers that didn't give a shit whether their children lived to see their planet ALIVE or not, wonderin' whether you could put food on the table for you and your family if you DIDN'T work for those sons-o-bitches? They were MONSTERS, man! Did you see what they did to Sephiroth? They did it, Cloud! They drove that sonofabitch insane! And NOW look at the consequences. No, mothafucker, I did it all so I could at least say I TRIED to make the future brighter for my baby girl. So don't you go struttin' yo shit, tryin' to pin my daughter to my ass. I'm a DAMN good father, and thanks to me, my baby WILL have a betta life than mine, an' so will a million other kids like her! So you can just KISS MY BIG BLACK ASS!" With that, Barret pushed one of the most powerful men in the world away from him, damn near throwing him off his stool, his words gripping Cloud tighter than his hands were. What was left of the gentle hum of banter in the bar ripped to a state of eerie silence, all eyes and ears focused on the two men sitting at the bar, Barret staring angrily down at the bar, Cloud staring at Barret, a look of surprise on his face that hadn't appeared in a long time. His fist was clenched, visible tendrils of energy snaking around it like a glowing blue serpent. By this time, the bar had cleared out completely, all fearing the fray that would most assuredly come.
But it didn't. Cloud gripped his buster sword and walked to the door, not speaking a word to Barret. Barret, however, turned and spoke to the SOLDIER, his face riddled with a mixture of guilt and anger. "You ain't a father. You wouldn't understand." With that, Cloud walked out of the door, his mind instantly other thoughts. His oldest chocobo, Meryl, was due for birth in a few days, maybe even that day. He had to be there for that.
Barret finished downing his twelfth beer, his huge black arm slamming the glass down on the bar. He called out for another. "Yo, barkeep. Whatcha doin'? My glass's empty!" Before the bartender could reply, Barret turned his head to the mercenary sitting beside him, his hair and blonde and annoyingly spiky as ever. He frowned, upset that he wasn't talking. He spoke in a loud, thundering voice, causing all the other patrons of the bar to nearly jump out of their seats.
"Yo, Cloud! S'been three years since we were talkin' to each other, THREE! Now we're here at Kalm, sittin' in a bar, and yer punk ass STILL ain't talkin' to me!" He grunted, bringing his gun-arm up to rest on the hardwood of the bar, staring at Cloud in mild disgust. The rest of the bar was silent for a moment, staring in pure surprise at the huge black man, then went back to talking again. Cloud turned his head slowly to Barret from its hung position, his Mako-infused eyes glowing in some aggravation at the scene Barret just made. He simply gave in. "Okay, Barret. What do you want me to say?"
"Oh, I dunno. How 'bout a ''Ey, Barret. How ya doin? Thanks fer yo help wit da whole Sephiroth unleashin' his terrible wrath upon humanity wit WEAPON an' Meteor thang'?"
Cloud nodded. "Hm, that's funny."
"What's funny?"
"You knew humanity was a word? And you used it in the correct context, too."
"See, this's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Yo punk ass can't neva own up to yo mistakes."
"Oh, I own up to my mistakes," Cloud replied to the monstrous man. "It's just that I don't make any."
Barret shook his head. "I jes' realized that I should whooped yo spiky-head ass when I first saw ya." He gulped on his beer. Cloud did too.
"Ain't that a bitch," Cloud said.
There was a few moments of silence between the two men, Cloud staring blankly ahead, his black-gloved hand resting on the butt of his gargantuan buster sword, tracing up and down the long handle with his fingers. Barret was crawling even deeper into his beer mug, the crowded bar getting even emptier after each glass he finished. After a few more moments, Barret spoke again, his loud, slurring voice bouncing off the walls of the inn like a boulder off a mountain. "Y'know, Cloud, I've been thinkin'."
"That's pretty scary."
Barret slammed his beer on the bar, the glass shattering. "I'm serious, man!"
"Okay, okay." Cloud cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "What?"
Barret's inebriated smiled returned, and he threw his arm around Cloud, tugging him in. "Let's get the ol' team back togetha."
"What team?"
"What mothafuckin' team do you THINK I'm talkin' 'bout? AVALANCHE, man!"
Cloud squeezed free from Barret's grip, taking a few breaths before cocking an blonde eyebrow at him. "What do we need to get AVALANCHE back together for?"
"Nothin', man! I just wanna see alla 'em again. Y'know, catch up."
Cloud nodded. He missed them all too. Especially Tifa. He finished off his beer and set it down, pushing it away. "I see what you're saying, but I don't know how we can actually bring us all together again." Barret curled his large face, his beard moving up a couple of inches. "Why the hell not?"
"Well for starters, we don't even know where everyone is. And the ones who we CAN locate are all leading new lives. Red's just starting out as the new chief of Cosmo Canyon, Yuffie's running a successful trading corporation in Wutai, Tifa's busy helping rebuild Sector 7, and Cid's building more airships in Junon. They all just can't drop what they're doing to get back together."
"You're just being pessimistic."
"No, I'm being REALISTIC. YOU can't even go. You've got Marlene to worry about."
"I'll bring her wit me."
"We don't even know were two other people are."
"Doesn't mean we can't find 'em."
Cloud shook his head, crushing a peanut shell with his thumb and forefinger. "Highly unlikely. Vincent's traveling the world now, digging up his past I suppose, and Reeve is somewhere in Midgar, doing God knows what." Reeve, as both of them knew, was the operator of the stuffed half-cat half-mog machine, Cait Sith. Although the machine had been rendered inoperative after the Meteor incident, he had been able to make contact with the rest of the group afterwards. That's until the Holy Effect occurred. Six months after the Meteor struck, communication devices began to go out all over the world, thus severing contact between all other lands remotely. When these devices were examined more closely, remnants of Holy materia was discovered, giving the phenomena its name. Ever since this occurred, Reeve nor the machine known as Cait Sith had been seen or heard of.
"I'm sure we could find 'em somehow." Barret grunted.
"I dunno, Barret. I don't even know if I have the time."
"The fuck you talkin' 'bout? You ain't doin' nothin'!"
"Yes, I am."
"What? Raisin' chocobos? Yeah, I heard about that hokey-pokey shit you been doin' out in the country. Don't think I didn't, neither. S'far cry from bein' a Mako-'fused SOLDIER"
Cloud shrugged. "It's a change for the better."
Barret: "Haven't you ever wondered how everyone else's doin'? Don't you wanna SEE 'em again? You wanna spend the rest o' yo borin'-ass life cleanin' up chocobo shit wonderin' what it would be like if you took one opportunity to see your old friends?"
Cloud: "Of course not. It's just that the farm is just beginning to get on it's feet, most of my new birds are less than a year old, and I still have the problem of finding a good vendor to sell me greens to feed 'em. Plus there's those damn wolves that keep coming around the farm looking for an easy meal. I mean I WANNA see 'em, Barret, I really do. But I can't just drop everything to do it."
Barret rolled his head back, stretching with his palm and gun-arm sprawling across the bar in front of him. "Sounds like you just don't care enough about 'em to make a few adjustments, what I think." Cloud's head snapped sideways, tearing holes into Barret's eye sockets with his glare.
"They're called PRIORITIES, Barret. Marlene would be much better off if you could remember that, instead of running around the planet on a ShinRa headhunts so you could make a name for yourself. Almost lost her doing that last time, remember?" A huge black arm reached out and snatched Cloud by the collar of his shirt, violently pulling him to Barret's face as his gun-arm came and pressed harshly on the ex-mercenary's chin, a huge, gaping hole from one of the chambers of the gatling cutting a hot mark on his jaw. Barret spoke like a castrated bull, his liquored breath washing over Cloud's face.
"Don't you EVA insult my competency as a father. EVA! Everything I did three years ago and even before was for HER, not for ME, HER. You think I wanted her to grow up in that shit? Livin' in a slum under a fuckin' pizza built by a buncha dickless money-grubbin' mothafuckers that didn't give a shit whether their children lived to see their planet ALIVE or not, wonderin' whether you could put food on the table for you and your family if you DIDN'T work for those sons-o-bitches? They were MONSTERS, man! Did you see what they did to Sephiroth? They did it, Cloud! They drove that sonofabitch insane! And NOW look at the consequences. No, mothafucker, I did it all so I could at least say I TRIED to make the future brighter for my baby girl. So don't you go struttin' yo shit, tryin' to pin my daughter to my ass. I'm a DAMN good father, and thanks to me, my baby WILL have a betta life than mine, an' so will a million other kids like her! So you can just KISS MY BIG BLACK ASS!" With that, Barret pushed one of the most powerful men in the world away from him, damn near throwing him off his stool, his words gripping Cloud tighter than his hands were. What was left of the gentle hum of banter in the bar ripped to a state of eerie silence, all eyes and ears focused on the two men sitting at the bar, Barret staring angrily down at the bar, Cloud staring at Barret, a look of surprise on his face that hadn't appeared in a long time. His fist was clenched, visible tendrils of energy snaking around it like a glowing blue serpent. By this time, the bar had cleared out completely, all fearing the fray that would most assuredly come.
But it didn't. Cloud gripped his buster sword and walked to the door, not speaking a word to Barret. Barret, however, turned and spoke to the SOLDIER, his face riddled with a mixture of guilt and anger. "You ain't a father. You wouldn't understand." With that, Cloud walked out of the door, his mind instantly other thoughts. His oldest chocobo, Meryl, was due for birth in a few days, maybe even that day. He had to be there for that.