Chapter 9

The morning was cool but bright. Sky half overcast, the clouds hung high overhead casting a grey tint over the otherwise pale blue sky. Faint sunlight streamed through, visible beams streaking across the horizon and playing across the waves lapping at the shore. Every once in a while the water would rush up over the docks, leaving a pattern of salt across the wooden slats and the smell of the sea everywhere.

Kalm lived up to its name in the mornings.

The town had been depressed under Shinra's reign, relying on its mines and shoddy tourist trade to turn a profit. Not surprisingly, after Shinra things had been even worse. Without electricity, just like everywhere else, the town had felt at a loose end with nowhere to turn. It hadn't been until very recently that everything had begun to truly look up. The temporary relief of seeing Meteor destroyed had gradually transformed into despair, but then again into a real, sustainable kind of hope.

It had been the rebuilding of Midgar that had done it, really. There had been many adverse feelings to seeing the great city rebuilt, but it had been done. It was AVALANCHE's fault, of course, like so many other things. Not that they hadn't had the best of intentions; thousands of survivors had been left homeless and with nowhere to turn. The rebuilding mission had begun almost as soon as the dust had settled. Although no one was eager to see Midgar rise again, it had by dint of sheer belief and effort risen out of the ashes as something habitable, and more than just a shadow of what it had been. It was still far from perfect, of course, but it was the home many so desperately needed and it was the center of activity for the flurry of AVALANCHE missions.

How most of a city had been built in two years was a matter of wonder, still. It had to have been seen to be believed. With the reactors completely levelled and everyone proclaiming that Mako was off limits anyway, there had been little except manpower to make it happen. And yet it had. All the resources that could be spared had been sent to help, on the understanding that they would return the aid everywhere else after. Corel had become a hub of attention instantly, and the coalmines had been temporarily reopened.

Many had called it a miracle. Others had said it was the greatest mistake AVALANCHE could have made. The truth as Reno saw it was that it didn't matter. Neo-Midgar was born, and it was what it was.

Kalm had profited largely from the new wave of attention and compassion pouring into Midgar. Although refusing to expand much from its small size, Kalm capitalized on the tourist trade, using the steady cash income to raise its stature. Investing in the new energy source, they'd diversified and started to bring in traders from Junon, Rocket Town and Wutai. It was still small, but for the first time in a very long time it was able to stand on its own.

This morning sea birds circled overhead, their harsh cries mostly lost in the wind. Reno propped his sunglasses up to hold his hair back, his Mako-tinted eyes adjusting instantly to the light. Arms crossed, he leaned unimposingly against a stack of crates eyeing the fishing nets lying over by one of the new storehouses. His newly fixed-up jacket cut the worst of the wind, and he studiously ignored all the proceedings going on behind him. Voices carried and reached him, but he cared little and largely tuned them out.

A short ways away, Vincent stood staring eye to eye with Deth. The death-glare the boy was giving him might have caused anyone else to reconsider, but Vincent did not hesitate. His own cape billowed gently, and his normal headband was less effective than usual. There was no compromise in his look, either.

"You will not accompany us."

"I'm going with you! I'll hide in the cargo hold with the fish if I have to!"

Vincent tried to stifle his irritation. He stood rigidly, trying to find the words to explain to the boy why they could not risk his life returning him home at this moment.

"We are going to Junon, and danger may be present. You will be at too high a risk."

"You think I care! I can look after myself! You can't just… I won't let you!"

Vincent couldn't help it this time, and sighed. Deth's dark eyes did not waver in their intensity.

"I have arranged for you to remain with two friends."

"I told you I won't!"

"…They are… trustworthy people."

"How am I supposed to know that! I trust you! Why can't I go with you?"

The fact that the boy trusted him and the Turk rang more than slightly wrong to Vincent, but he disregarded it as a last ditch attempt to convince him. True or not, it did not matter.

"They are the best people I know. We will return to take you back, but it must wait until after reconnaissance. Until then, you must not be in danger."

Deth turned his back on Vincent, and gritted his teeth. He hadn't counted on being left behind like dead weight, and it hurt. It didn't matter that Vincent was probably right, or that he himself was being stubborn as hell; all that mattered was that he didn't want to be stranded alone here. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye to Reno. Deth wondered angrily who Vincent could be trying to dump him on, and felt faint butterflies in his stomach when he remembered the gunman had been a member of AVALANCHE.

Unseen, concealed behind his boxes, Reno expertly struck a match to light and drew his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Flipping the box open and drawing one out he quickly lit it before waving the match out and dropping it carelessly onto the cement below. He took an appreciative drag of the cigarette and returned to staring absently out at the bay. Thin tendrils of smoke curled skyward, drifting with the breeze.

Footsteps rang across the open yard, and two figures could be clearly seen rounding the corner. The first person around the bend was a tall man with blond hair done up in unmistakable spikes. He was smiling, and he looked over his shoulder to talk to the person following. His own Mako touched blue eyes glowed faintly, but he looked far better than he had the last time Vincent had seen him, several months ago. Vincent nodded in recognition to see Cloud.

Tifa followed closely after, all smiles and giggles. Her long dark hair blew about, framing her heart shaped face and ruby eyes. She also looked happy. The pair of them wore what seemed uncharacteristic plain clothes; Cloud in a green sweater with plain beige pants and Tifa with a red jacket and a long floral skirt. Both of them caught sight of Vincent and Deth at the same time, and they hurried their approaching steps slightly.

They came together, two figures almost out of legend, to Deth's eyes. They looked exactly like they'd been described to him by awed villagers in Gongaga, but also just like two normal people. His dark eyes wide, he studied them and tried to piece together the two separate realities.

"Vincent!"

It was Tifa's voice, carried on the wind. She waved shortly, and took hold of Cloud's hand before tugging him more quickly towards the two waiting figures. Cloud followed easily, not seeming to mind in the slightest. They were both slightly breathless when they finally came up alongside their former companion and AVALANCHE member. Cloud grinned, and held out his free hand to shake Vincent's and Vincent took it slowly, noting in passing that neither Cloud nor Tifa had released the other's hand.

"Vincent. Good to see you." Cloud shook his hand warmly before letting it go again. "It's been too long. You don't come to visit us nearly often enough."

Vincent said nothing, and after a second's pause, Tifa turned to Deth. With her own eyes wide, she took in his appearance before smiling her own bright smile at him.

"You must be Deth. Vincent told us quite a lot about you… for Vincent anyway." She laughed, and Deth found himself laughing weakly with her.

"Umm… Yes, I'm Deth. Are you… really Tifa Lockheart?"

Tifa laughed again, finally letting go of Cloud's hand to reach out and shake Deth's. He felt a little faint, and returned the gesture mostly without registering it.

"Ms. Lockheart at your service. I hope Vincent's been nice to you while you were staying with him. He can be a little… quiet." She flashed her smile briefly at Vincent to let them all know she was just teasing him.

"Yeah, of course we love him," Cloud joined in lightly, "but he can manage to say less than the inanimate object of your choice." Deth laughed genuinely, feeling slightly more at ease.

"No, Vincent's awesome. I still can't believe I'm getting to meet the members of AVALANCHE in person, though."

"Oh, after you've known Cloud for a little while you'll get over that."

"Tifa!"

Tifa couldn't contain her laughter, and it spilt over.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just modest." Deth laughed again for a moment before turning serious again.

"I… really hope this isn't too much trouble… I mean, thank you all so much for taking me in after…"

"After you randomly fell off a highway and into our lives?" Cloud winked. Although his voice was quieter than Deth had expected, it was full of rich amusement. "Don't worry about it in the slightest." Tifa nodded.

"It'll be great to have a guest again, and I'm sure it was good for Vincent to have some company."

Deth opened his mouth to say something, but Vincent nudged him imperceptibly from the back. Deth closed his mouth again, before trying to cover it up with a smile. Whether really not noticing or just choosing not to question, Cloud and Tifa went on.

"Since I'm so busy Cloud's been doing most of the house work…"

"And of course I could use someone to help, if you don't mind."

"We all know how good he is at ironing…"

"Though of course Tifa does all the cooking…"

"Last time Cloud tried he almost burnt down the kitchen…"

"It was a one-time accident!"

Deth stared at his feet for a minute before slowly looking up at the two of them. His face was very serious.

"Thank you."

He stepped towards Cloud and Tifa, moving to stand beside them. Interrupted in their mock argument, they stopped for a moment. Thinking quickly, Cloud turned at last to Vincent.

"I know you too well to believe you'll actually tell me what you're up to, but I trust you. You will come back soon?"

Vincent hesitated for a second before finally nodding.

"I will return as soon as I am able."

Cloud nodded.

"Then that's good enough for me. Hopefully after that you'll be able to tell us what this is all about."

Vincent said nothing, and simply turned his back. With a final lift of his hand in farewell, he began to walk away.

"Good luck Vincent!"

Tifa stood on her toes, waving, and her chocolate hair blew all around her so that she had to brush it away from her eyes to see. Cloud watched, not smiling, but not unhappy. The two of them stood together watching as Vincent disappeared around the corner, and Deth remained silently watching as well.

They did not see Vincent stop as he rounded the boxes, and did not see the exchange that followed.

"He will be safe with them. Let us go now before anything further goes wrong."

Reno took a final drag of his cigarette before flicking it down and stepping on it. He nodded, his eyes cold. Falling into step behind Vincent, there was only silence. Neither spoke again nor looked back as they followed the walkway towards the ship that would carry them away southwest towards Junon.

The water swept past, leaving streams of silver ripples behind in their wake. The boat was far from silent, relying on steam power to get them where they were going as it had not yet had a new energy generator installed, but standing alone near the rail was relatively peaceful. Reno watched the shore pull away from behind them as they rounded the northern tip of the continent before starting their brief southward journey. He rather liked ships, and concentrated on just enjoying the feeling of miles slipping away beneath his feet.

Valentine was off somewhere, probably being his loner self. Reno did not need his company and neither did he desire it. He contented himself with just being here alone, letting the wind and the air and the sea carry him as far from Midgar as they could. There was something very satisfying about that feeling and for the first time in a long while he felt vaguely like he wasn't drowning. It was the non-polluted air, he supposed. It did strange things to his Mako and smog-stained mind.

Faint footsteps on the deck dragged his attention away from the water for a moment, and, certain it was Valentine, he looked up warily. Instead, a woman in a blue dress with short curly brown hair caught his eye and smiled as she passed. Her matching stiletto shoes clicked perfectly on the deck, and Reno watched her go after returning the smile. He resolved to look her up before they reached the harbour.

When he went to turn back to the railing, it was only to discover Valentine now standing beside him staring out across the water. Somewhat bitterly, he pushed away from the rail and moved to get away from the companion he definitely did not want.

"If we are going to remain hostile to one another, then there is no point in going any further."

Reno stopped. And wondered whether he should be angry or not. He felt as though he should, but where the anger should have been was only a hollowness he knew all too well. With a shallow sigh, he turned back to Vincent. His eyes reflected a tiredness he did not acknowledge, and he wondered wearily what the hell Valentine wanted and expected.

"Of course you're right Valentine, let's be best of friends forever and never fight again." He sighed again, and returned to the railing, fighting back the urge to sweep back his hair. It was a nervous habit he'd picked up somewhere in the last year or so.

"…This was your idea."

The statement almost made Reno laugh. He turned to look at Vincent, leaning one arm against the rail.

"Look. Elena and Rude – you remember them, right? – might be in some serious trouble. They're Turks, the other two who tried to kill you guys when we were all fighting like good little enemies should, but shit happens. I'm the only one who can look out for them if something did happen, and I'm going to find out exactly what the truth is."

Silence, except for the waves against the ship.

"I have reason to believe they might be in Mideel, but there's no way in hell I'm just walking into a trap. So I'm going to Junon to find out as much as I can. You can come or you can go, Vamp-boy, I don't care anymore and I'm too tired to argue. It's true that we might have a better chance if we do this together, but I'm going to kill the bastards who started this one way or another. So basically, suit yourself."

Vincent watched the water eddy around the bow of the boat before being swept away. On the distant horizon he could see the large islands jutting away from the Northern Continent, and the clouds above looked like rain. He thought for a moment.

"…Why Midgar?"

Reno looked up again, surprised.

"And where the hell else am I supposed to go? I thought you of all people would know that. I'm a fucking Turk." He relaxed his grip on the rail and turned around to face the cabin wall across from him before leaning back.

"Back then, in the Shinra days, they controlled everything. Where we went, who we saw, what we did to who. But Midgar was always where we went back to afterwards; it was always the hell we called home." He shook his head. "I doubt it changed that much since your day, old man. We got to leave on missions, but we always came home. We got to walk up on top of the pizza like we fucking owned the place, but we were prisoners just like everybody else. Jailers and prisoners, I suppose. I'm not bitter, just a realist. We didn't care, and I still don't. I chose the collar, after all."

The grin that followed the last statement was ironic, and Reno pushed himself up again, restless. The horizon was getting steadily darker with the impending rain, and he didn't much feel like getting soaked through at the moment. Valentine could stay, if he wanted to. He doubted the man would even bother to give him an answer so there was very much no point in staying here.

"I'm coming."

Vincent did not look up, but continued to watch the storm clouds roll in. Reno smiled, before turning away.

"Love you too, Valentine."

He took a step, and then another, and then stopped. He looked up at the sky, out at the sea and then back at Valentine before moving somewhat remorsefully back to where he had been, staring out across the ocean. Leaning forward across the rail to let the wind hit him as hard as it was able, he remembered why he loved ships.

Maybe he didn't mind getting wet after all.