:: III :: Moving On
After the sweet goodbyes, Barret, Tifa and Cloud decided that it was time to take the tram up the Ropeway to the Gold Saucer at last. Each of them was enthusiastic about this.
"I don't know about you guys, but after all the heavy-stuff these past few days, I'm gonna be lookin' forward to this," Barret told them as they piled into the tram.
"I hope I can get into the Battle Square without getting into any trouble this time." Cloud sighed.
"I noticed that it tended to get like that." Tifa grinned at him.
The Gold Saucer was still as silly and bright as it always had been. Cloud and the others had to push through hordes of children to get to the counter, and the costumed Chocobos were fat enough to get themselves in the way all the time. The balloons and fireworks still adorned a computer-enhanced night-sky, and a red-lipped, smiling woman still stood at her stand.
Cloud had long since bought a lifetime pass, so there wasn't much difficulty in getting in. Once again, there was the usual panic about choosing which rides to go on.
"Let's go to the Battle Arena," Cloud said to the others. "I want to make sure I get there before something stops me from doing so."
"That might be a good idea," Tifa agreed, and they all trooped off to the Battle Square.
It was on the way to the forum that they spotted two familiar figures walking past them, deep in conversation.
"Is that who I think it is?" Cloud whispered to Barret beside him.
"Maybe if you close your eyes, he won't see you," the other replied dryly.
Unfortunately, this was not to be so, for the larger of the two passers-by noticed Cloud and his party and hailed him.
"Now this is a surprise! I haven't seen you in such a long time, my boy!"
With an inward groan, Cloud put on a false smile and made his way over to the two people.
Dio had not changed much in the years since Cloud had seen him. He was as jovial and camp as ever, and just as annoying. Reeve, however, seemed to have grown more staid and thoughtful with time, though he was just as overjoyed as Dio at seeing his one-time comrades.
"Cloud! Tifa! Barret! So good to see you again!"
Each of them shook Reeve by the hand, and Tifa gave him a warm embrace. As she drew away from him she gave him a speculative glance.
"You've changed, Reeve," she said.
"Do you think I have?" he looked a little surprised.
"Yes. You look all kind of...sombre."
"I'm just a little tired, that's all," he sighed. "Things have been busy, and I've been practically breaking my back over the Mako business."
"You ought to take a rest," Dio informed him, with a righteous smile. "Why not pop into my Ghost Hotel a little more often? Or take a ride in the Speed Square once a week?"
"Don't tell me you've come all this way to the Gold Saucer on business!" Barret cried humorously. Reeve smiled a thin-lipped smile.
"Actually, I was just suggesting to Dio that he expand his theme-park project to other areas of the globe. The common people could do with another Gold Saucer in the world."
"What an excellent idea!" Tifa cried, bright-eyed.
"I thought so myself," Reeve grinned.
"Well, I suppose when you think about it..." Dio smirked, scratching his head. He turned to Cloud and beamed. "So what do you think about it, young man? Do you think people around the world would benefit from my wild theme parks?"
"Of course," Cloud replied, still holding the false smile on his face. "It's an excellent idea. Isn't it Tifa?"
Tifa caught on to his plan immediately.
"Oh yes, darling!" she declared extravagantly. "What a wonderful time our children will have when they're old enough for all that traipsing around!"
Needless to say, Dio went around with a generally startled face for the rest of the afternoon.
Cloud hadn't wasted time telling Reeve about their planned trip around the globe in honour of their strange and secret past. The other listened gravely, a look of intense concentration on his face. Cloud got the feeling that Reeve seemed to have aged since his term in office had begun, and he had not liked to elaborate on the matter. The present Reeve certainly seemed a far cry from the deceitful yet light-hearted Cait Sith of yester-years.
"So will you come with us?" Cloud finally finished. "I know you're busy, what with your presidency and all that, but things won't be the same without you there with us."
Reeve seemed to consider it.
"Well, there's some business I've got to tie up while I'm here, but once that's done, it seems like a good idea to me. You count me in on it for sure."
"Are you certain it'll be as simple as that?" Cloud urged. He'd been worried about the Shinra President leaving his business in the wrong hands.
"Damn it, Cloud, I need a holiday!" Reeve replied good-humouredly. "And besides, lately I've sort of been having this urge to play Cait Sith again."
The rest of the group's time at the Gold Saucer was well spent on the various rides and excursions, and then Reeve announced that he was ready to go.
"I liberated the prisoners at Corel prison," Reeve informed his friends as they travelled in the new presidential helicopter to the southern New Continent. "But most of the prisoners had to be put into asylums because they'd been incarcerated for so long. Shame really."
"Sometimes you've jus' gotta try to decide which decision's the lesser of both evils," Barret said morosely.
"That's exactly it," the President replied with a sigh, and then they landed.
The helicopter disappeared out of sight like a hurricane, and left its passengers to journey the short distance over the fields towards Gongaga.
Gongaga, too, had been modified like Corel. The forest still remained, but the ruined Mako Reactor in its centre had been disposed of, and the village had been given a complete makeover.
"Glad to see I'm not the only one that's been hard at work," remarked Barret.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tifa asked him suspiciously.
"Well, you and Cloud haven't exactly been workin' hard, have you?" he replied archly.
Tifa promptly bestowed him with a light punch.
A room was booked at the now thriving hotel, and a hot dinner eaten, for which each was eternally grateful.
"That walk made me all hungry," Barret sighed after second helpings.
"Good service here, isn't I, Reeve mused.
"Always has been, even when it was a ruined shack of a town," Barret returned sarcastically. "Remember the last time you came here, Reeve? You had a mighty fine breakfast that morning, if I remember rightly."
Reeve rolled his eyes comically.
"Don't remind me," he grinned.
After supper, Cloud sneaked out of the inn and into the village. He felt a bit conspicuous holding his old sword on his back, just as in the old days, but he felt that somehow he might need it. Dusk was falling, and lights were dimming in the rural town. Feeling whimsical about the artefact on his back, he recalled those days when he had made up his whole past as a member of SOLDIER.
And then, he stopped outside a house that seemed to have changed little in the recent renovations Gongaga had undergone. Lights shone through cream white curtains at the small windows and the building had an inviting sort of air to it. There was something in the scene that somehow urged Cloud to move over to the front door and knock on it. As soon as he had done so, he felt a peculiar sort of wrench inside him, as though something had just clicked into place.
It seemed like a long time before the door was answered, though it was really only a few seconds. Just as before, an old-looking woman answered the call, only this time she really did look older than she had done before.
"Can I help you?" she asked, not recognising him.
Cloud looked down at her darkly circled eyes and withered face and once again felt sorry for her.
"Well, yes, I suppose you could in a way. I came here about two years ago. I don't suppose you'd remember me..."
She eyed him closely.
"As a matter of fact, you do look familiar," she replied softly. "What can I do for you, young man?"
"I'd like to come in for a chat, if you don't mind."
The woman looked puzzled. "I don't understand..."
Cloud smiled and spoke gently.
"The last time I was here, you asked me whether I'd seen your son."
The woman's eyes widened, and a tight breath escaped from her lips.
"Zack?!" she stopped and checked herself. "You knew Zack?!"
"Very well, actually," Cloud replied, choosing his words carefully. There was a certain amount of apprehension inside him about the confession he had to make, but he knew that it must be done. The woman must have seen something of the seriousness in his eyes, for she immediately opened the door wide for him with a trembling hand.
"You'd better come in, young man."
The house was just as cosy as ever, but Cloud noticed that the woman's husband was not there. His wife noticed the look of dread in Cloud's face and shook her head quickly with a small laugh.
"Oh, it's not what you're thinking. It's just that my husband's very ill of late, and he's been confined to his bed. I've had to take care of him day and night."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Cloud replied with genuine feeling.
The woman brushed aside the comment with almost routine impatience. She bade him sit down, then spoke shakily.
"You wanted to speak to me?"
"Actually," Cloud began with an uneasy little cough. "What I have to say might best be said in front of your husband too."
A sort of foreboding had crept into the woman's face, as though she understood the severity of Cloud's request. She stood up slowly, and without words, showed him into the room where her husband's sickbed lay.
The old man was lying with closed eyes, and hands that had been crossed over his chest. There was a look of such peace on his face that Cloud was half-afraid that he was already dead. The woman walked over to his bedside and spoke softly to him, and his eyes slowly flickered open to rest on Cloud's face. The old mouth opened, and a strangled voice wavered forth.
"Zack?" he half-whispered, half-cracked, a sort of wonder etched on his wrinkled face. Cloud sat down beside his bed. He found that he suddenly had tears in his eyes.
"No, not Zack," he gently told the man. "Not Zack."
And then he told them. Told them everything, right from the beginning. He spared nothing, not even Aerith, or Sephiroth, or Hojo. And when it was all over, he saw that sparkling tears were falling from the eyes of both.
"I'm sorry," he apologised, feeling as though as though someone else were saying the words for him. "I should have told you sooner."
They stared at him with misty eyes, unable to answer him. There was deep sadness in their faces, but also a swimming relief that the truth should have been given to them, even after all this time. Cloud knew that relief, and that sadness. He stood up and pulled the sword from his back.
"This was Zack's," he told them, holding it out towards them. "I think he would want you to have it. It was the only thing he had left when he died."
The woman received it, the tears still pouring down her face. Cloud took in both her and her ailing husband, and felt as if he'd destroyed and yet consoled his own mother and father.
It was not until he got outside the front door of the house that he broke down, and wept too.
Next: Marriage is on the cards for an unlikely friend and the party travels back to Nibelheim…