Hi, back again. School's killing me. My day ends after five o'clock, a real pain in the . Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy. Oh, before you go reading this one, I must warn you.
Warning!
This chapter may hold a tiny spoiler from the Advent Children film, but it's very tiny.
You have been warned.
Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Dweller of the Past
Yuffie examined the Minerva Band; her old one was torn and worn off, not giving the defense as it was supposed to. She and Tifa had been checking the armor for a half an hour and neither of them talked during the time, probably because both opposed the whole idea about this. The ninja felt slightly afraid. Her experience as a materia hunter, made her watch certain people for their colorful orbs. But Arvin had none. No summon no magic, no support or independent. Her first thought was it would have been an enemy-skill materia, but there was no command. Arvin did not even call out a spell for that matter.
Tifa stared through the glass were the armlets laid. They could be in need of a Dragon Armlet, protects them from powerful fire, lightning and ice attacks. But she did no move to purchase it.
This is wrong.
She felt it, something was wrong. Why this, why now, it did not make any sense. There was something that made her shudder, that was about to happen.
"Tifa?"
The older woman turned around.
"Yes?"
"Do you think we'll find Arvin?" Yuffie asked in a low voice. Tifa turned back to the bangles and spoke low, almost whispered.
"...I don't know, Yuffie."
Yuffie could hear the apprehension in her voice and knew the cause.
"You're worried about Cloud aren't you?"
Tifa's gaze turned upwards slightly, staring at the wall in front of her. "Cloud...can take care of himself," The martial artist replied calmly. She tried to sound impassive but failed miserably. Her burgundy eyes fell to the floor, a small smile tugged the corners of her lips. "...but I guess that's just a pathetic excuse. I care for him, and I can't just sit and think he'll be all right."
"What do you mean?" The ninja asked puzzled.
Tifa turned around, facing her again. "Something is about to happen, I feel it... I just don't know what."
Yuffie frowned and started to walk towards the brunette. "What does it feel like?"
Indeed, what does it feel like? She could not tell. Thousand of sensations battled inside her. She closed her eyes. "Something cold, like icy water surrounding me...." Drowning me. "It's like I know what's going to happen, but when the truth is I don't." Tifa spoke. She opened her eyes and stared at Yuffie.
The young shinobi looked worriedly at her friend. "Know what you mean. Knowing that a friend is in trouble and all you can do is stand and watch...really pains one's heart. Cloud's not alone though, he's got us. Sure he can be an idiot sometimes but, a really nice idiot to look at."
Tifa blinked then she smiled mischievously at the younger girl. "Oh really?"
Yuffie's face colored and she glared at Tifa. "In a friendly way!" She half yelled, trying not to stutter. The ninja then cast her eyes on the armor beside her. "Besides, he's got materia I want."
The brunette chuckled. "I'm just teasing you Yuffie." A thought came to her mind and her smile grew.
"Vincent is rather handsome too, you know."
"Yeah, he is." Yuffie deadpanned. Noticing her remark, her cheeks colored even more and she nearly beat herself for that answer.
The older woman smiled at the tomato red ninja, pleased with the reaction she received. "Oh, Yuffie's got a crush on Vincent!" She teased.
If it was even possible for Yuffie to get any further scarlet, she would have. "I am not! I just think he's cute-"Shit! "...l-l-like Cloud and..."
"Barret?"
"...no!"
"Cid?"
"Gawd no!!"
"How about Reeve then?"
"Tifa!!"
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"It's futile to for all of us to search together." A deep voice broke in.
The blonde woman glanced at the bald man, then back to the others. "I agree with Rude."
Reeve crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He and the Turks sat in the bar; discussing the orders Cloud had given. Rude was right, it would be useless if all searched together. It would only lead to bad consequences. They could however split up, since there were two directions Arvin could have fled.
"In this location, she could have run either towards Midgar or the Grassland area." Reeve confirmed, glancing at the three former Turks.
Reno nodded in agreement. "And since Cloud and his little ragtag gang, are heading towards Cosmo Canyon, we should head to Midgar."
Elena and Rude approved the idea and turned to Reeve. The former Shinra employee nodded and brought up his phone.
"Midgar it is then." He confirmed before dialing Cloud.
Elena stifled a yawn and leant back in the chair. The thought of the blonde swordsman entered her mind.
"Speaking of Cloud, where is he?"
Rude glanced outside, staring at the mountains west of Midgar. "A place where he died and got reborn."
"Huh?" Elena blinked perplexed.
"The place where you can say it began." Reno replied, smirking at Elena's expression. That poor blonde boy was still dwelling in his own world.
".....?"
Rude stared at the blonde woman; a small smirk crossed his lips.
"You'll understand in time."
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"All right. Just be careful, we don't know what we're up against." He replied before he hung up.
A young man, early in his twenties, walked up to the end of the mount. Far ahead lay what was rest of Midgar. The Sister Ray pointed out towards the ocean, totally wrecked. He remembered clearly when the cannon fired and shot through the Diamond Weapon as the energy hit the barrier, in the Northern Crater.
That was months ago. But before that, about a year ago, a friend died. Cloud stared down at the ground before him. This is where he died and this is where Cloud was when it happened. He unseated the Buster sword and shoved the blade down the earth.
The swordsman bowed his head in a silent prayer before he walked away. He climbed on the motorcycle he borrowed from Kalm and glanced back at the 'grave'.
All I did was watch.
With that, he drove away.
The wind soared against him as he steered through the plains of Midgar. Beside him laid another blade, the Ragnarok, ready to aid its owner when necessary. The swordsman held the bike steady against the rough ground and gazed ahead. Midgar was edging closer and Kalm could be detected beyond it. However, something stood not far away from one the massive gates of the city that caught the blonde's attention. Normally, he would expect it to be a monster or some other kinds of beasts, but this one had an odd shape for a monster. It was very slender and short, more humanlike. Cloud squint his eyes at the form.
Blue eyes slightly widened in surprise before narrowing. His right hand gripped the Ragnarok firmly and he increased the speed.
That was no monster.
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Tifa smiled to herself. Yuffie was still fuming and muttered incoherent curses to her. She knew that the ninja had a weak spot for the gunman. Despite the fact that she was a little freaked out when they met him in the mansion, there was a flash in Yuffie's eyes. Of course, the ninja always denied the fact but when time passed, she grew quite fond of Vincent's presence. And that made Yuffies 'secret' intention more noticeable for her.
She picked up the bracelet she had been watching earlier, and turned to make her way towards the counter. Her journey was cut off short when she suddenly collided with something hard, making her loose her balance. Tifa gave out a muffled sound when she landed on the ground and Yuffie turned around at the sudden commotion. When she noticed her comrade sitting on the floor, she headed for her. The martial artist glanced up and saw a man looking down at her.
The man was about 6 feet tall, appeared to be in his late twenties. His features was pale, he had a well chiseled face with a thin growing mustache, and brown eyes. The hair was thick, shoulder length and deep brown with wavy locks. He whore a long-sleeved black sweater and dark grey pants, the tips of black boots peeked out. The man held out his hand to the fallen girl with an apologetic look.
"Pardonnez-moi chéri. J'étais vers le haut dans les nuages."
Tifa stared at him before taking his hand. Once she got up on her feet, she brushed off the dust from her skirt and looked up at him.
The man smiled kindly. "Ce n'est pas chaque jour où vous traversez votre route avec un ange."
She blinked at him, confused. "Huh?"
The man raised a brown eyebrow, before he smiled awkwardly at the woman. "Vous ne parlez pas français, non." He replied, more like a statement than a question.
Both women stared. The man tried once more.
"Deutsch?"
Yuffie blinked.
"Italiano?"
Tifa blinked. He sighed, massaging his temples, last chance.
"Español?"
Yuffie stood by Tifa, totally perplexed, not being able to understand what he just said. She cleared her throat and smiled warily and turned her attention to her friend. "What did he just say?" She whispered in her ear.
The man caught the sentence and chuckled, making the females look back at him.
"Ah! You speak English, why did you not say so?!" He said with a form accent.
"Hey, who do you think you are?!" Yuffie spoke out loud.
The man glanced at her and shook his, still smiling. "My apologies, I usually don't speak English so often. I thought for sure that you were...." He went on but stopped when he saw the looks they sent out. The man scratched his head. "Never mind."
The shinobi frowned at him and leaned to Tifa's ear again. "He's creeping me out."
Tifa just stood still, not sure if she should talk or not. Usually, she would have no problem to talk with other people, but this man made it somewhat difficult. He was very handsome if you took a good look at him.
The man must have read her uneasiness in her features, he cleared his throat.
"I'm so sorry." He spoke with a deep voice and gave a bow. "I'm Jacques Chimeara, a mere visitor to this lovely town of Kalm." Jacques looked up and smiled warmlt. "And you are?"
Tifa and Yuffie glance at each other before they found their voices and also smiled.
"I'm Tifa Lockheart." The brunette spoke up and gesture towards the ninja.
"And this is Yuffie Kisaragi." Yuffie grinned at him and stretched out her hand.
"Nice to meet ya!"
Jacques smiled at Yuffie and shook her hand. He turned to Tifa and held out his hand. The older woman smiled shyly before she reached her own. She nearly jumped in surprise when he brought her hand to his lips, giving a small kiss. A blush crept over her cheeks and cast her eyes to the floor, hiding the sudden flush. No man had done that to her.
Yuffie caught the pink on her face and smiled impishly. Looks like Tifa got a little admirer.
"A pleasure to meet you misses Lockheart and Kisaragi."
Both women blushed. Yuffie, feeling very uncomfortable, walked back to the armors again. Tifa got her hand back and started to twirl a brown lock, slightly edgy. She got the impression that the man was from the earlier years, when woman still bore corsets.
Tifa was brought back to reality when a ringing sound reached her ears. She excused herself before answering the phone.
"Tifa here."
She frowned by the attacking male voice in the other line.
"Wait, slow...do-....what do you mea-?"
She stuttered, trying to interrupt the man but silenced when she heard the words. The caller hung up. Tifa stood still, shocked by the call.
Jacques and Yuffie looked at her in concern.
"What is it, Tif?" Yuffie asked edging closer to her friend. Jacques stayed behind; feeling like it was none of his business.
The AVALANCHE member put the phone back in her pocket and turned around. Burgundy eyes were glazed with worry. "It's Cloud...."
To be continued...
I have to apologies for my writing. I'm always a poor author when it comes to a novel's beginning. This novel's beginning is bad written, no actual plot, out of characters, and importantly, no real answer or reason at the question 'why?'
I'm not in mood to recreate the whole beginning at this time, will probably waiting until the whole story is finished.
Again I'm sorry for a pitiable excuse for my writing, but I assure it will get better in the future.