Special Note: Uhmmm... I know that this can't be anywhere near worth the wait... but I haven't exactly had proper computer access for months... technically, I still don't.... But I hope you all like what I got to put on here... Somehow I doubt this was worth the many month wait...
Title: Fiery Red Horizon
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Search Begins!
Author: Kage Kashu
Archive: Ask. Give credit where it's due. Then... ?
Genre: General. Humor/Drama/Angst/Romance/Action/Adventure
Story Summary: Sequel to Mako Blue Horizon. With Cloud's death weighing heavily on everyone' minds, the journey becomes tainted with a need for revenge. During the while Cloud finds out just how hard it is to deal with a madwoman.
Author's notes: I figure... Normal thinking is between 'these things'. Jenova is going to be between -these, 'cause I didn't feel like being more creative for her-. And Aerith is going to be between ' 'these (because FF.n is rude about the squiggles)' '. I suppose I also need something for talking through electronics. Since FF.n doesn't think I should use equal signs or squiggles, this is going to be in between ""double quotes"". When Laguna is "interpreting" what Ward is "saying", it'll be like his normal thoughts.
Warnings: Very AU. But not much else. There's a tiny bit of blood I guess... and some confusion towards the end.
Junon, Military Conference Room
Rufus frowned at the gathered members of AVALANCHE. They weren't all there, of course, but most of them were. His younger brother leaned over the conference table and the maps spread out over it, his huge "pet" wolf sitting behind him grinning. Zachary Donovan sprawled in a chair right next to Cloud, glaring across the table at one Dr. Hojo, who sat right next to Rufus. Somehow, the man's presence made his skin crawl. On Cloud's other side, resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, was Tifa Lockheart, who looked as if she hadn't slept in the week since they had reached Junon.
Barret Wallace sat on her other side, eyes shiftily moving between Tifa, Cloud, and Rufus' men. Not that Rufus blamed him. Jessie, Hojo's daughter, if Rufus understood correctly, sat next to Wallace, glaring at her father in a fashion similar to Zack's. Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of Lord Godo, sat on Donovan's other side. Sidney S. Highwind, Rufus' newfound uncle, sat next to Kisaragi, giving Rufus a rather appraising look that occasionally shifted to the man next to him. Vincent Valentine.
Reno had told them that Valentine was still alive, although Tseng had adamantly not believed the current Acting Head of the Turks. Reno was, as far as Rufus was concerned, doing his job rather well.
On Rufus' other side (the one across from Hojo) was Scarlet, his younger siblings' aunt. Or his aunt. She had, after all, married his uncle... But she was their mother's sister, from what he understood. Aside from that, there were a good many trooper goons there.
He could feel, almost painfully, the fact that not everyone who should be there was there. Kyle Reeve, former Head of Urban Development, Heidegger (although he had no clue just what Heidegger was doing), Palmer (still in the hospital from the truck incident), and Tseng, Reno, Elena, and Rude. All four of the Turks being there would have gone far to soothe his ruffled feathers.
Oddly enough, he also felt, with painful clarity, the absence of Sephiroth, for all that his and Cloud's men were searching constantly for the man. He hadn't a clue what Cloud had meant about "her" saying that she'd see Sephiroth to safety, however.
The silence in the room was becoming unbearable. He just hoped that one of them cracked first.
After a few more minutes of wordlessly staring at Cloud's armored right hand, he felt something moving around his feet. He frowned distractedly at the strange sensation.
A moment later, he stood quickly, with a loud yelp at the pain that had sprung into being in his right foot. He hopped backward from the table, noting everyone's intense stares, and hissed, "Hojo, I want you to get rid of that thing immediately!!" He glanced down at his own foot, the right one, and noted that it was bleeding again.
Hojo, as well as everyone else, stared at him, in Hojo's case, his foot. Hojo chewed on his pen, thoughtfully. "I didn't think it would bother to attack you in broad daylight..."
Rufus harrumphed at him. "I didn't think it would follow me to Junon."
Jessie, twiddling her thumbs on the other side of the table, asked, "It wouldn't be that blue rabbit, would it?"
Rufus nodded blankly. "We've been trying to get rid of it for years... I think I'm going to have to destroy that document," he continued, sitting back down in spite of the pain in his foot.
"What document?" asked Cloud, almost seeming amused.
"The one that named it my heir. Ever since then it's been trying to destroy my right foot. I'm afraid," he said, with a bit of humor in his tone, "that once it manages that, it'll go for bigger parts. I think it's trying to assassinate me," he finished dryly.
Barret snickered on the other side of the table, and all at once, most of AVALANCHE was laughing in some manner or other... Except for Cloud, who merely smirked at him. "Smart rabbit," Cloud murmured. "You think you could find a way to sick it on Aerith?"
Everyone stopped laughing all of a sudden, and Zack turned to him with his glowing gold eyes. "Do you think that would work?" he asked, chewing on a claw... that should have been a fingernail. Not for the first time, Rufus wondered just what Hojo had done to Zack.
Cloud shrugged. "Ya never know... But, that being beside the point... I think I figured it out."
Tifa leaned in from the side, to look over his shoulder, even as Rufus asked, "Figured what out?"
Cloud tapped a heavily leather-wrapped finger on the map. "From what I understand, the Lifestream pops out a lot in the south... So, we're lookin' oceanside, near Mideel. That's the most active Lifestream opening that I know of."
Rufus nodded. "That makes sense. Do you have any men down there? Because I don't anymore. The folks down there were a bit too boring to have much to do with... Even for Father."
Cloud snorted. "That's probably some of the richest land... But it would be pretty nasty for someone who doesn't have much experience with jungles."
"And you do?" Rufus jibed good-naturedly.
"Of course," was the lofty reply. "And I do have some men down there. They don't get commissions very often, but they deserve their pay check merely on account that they have to deal with each other. Almasy and Lionheart. Decent guys, really. Smart, too. They should understand what I want them to look for."
Mideel Town
A shrill ringing split the normally quiet early afternoon calm. A sleepy eye opened and peered at the PHS recharging ten feet away from the hammock that the young man was lying on. He hated it when people called while he was trying to nap. He tried going back to sleep, but the shrill sound kept his consciousness uncomfortably alert. "SEIFER! Get the phone before I break it!"
There was a loud banging from the other side of the door he was hanging next to, and he glared at it.
"Hurry up!"
"Lazy ass!" Came the reply from inside. A blonde head poked out the window next to the door, and a rather long bare arm reached for the phone. "I left it out here so you would get it."
"Not while I'm trying to nap." Squall turned over in the hammock, satisfied that Seifer was going to answer the phone. He blinked when he felt the warm plastic next to his ear, and an annoying chuckle from overhead.
""Squall!?!"" the voice on the other line crackled. ""Hey, Squall!""
"What?" he grumbled, still half asleep, and with Seifer still holding the phone to his half asleep ear.
""Ah, good. For a moment I thought that the phone got dropped...""
Suddenly, it was clear to Squall who it was that was talking to him, and he sat up in a flash... With the unfortunate side effect of slamming partially into Seifer, causing them both to fall to the porch, both quite disgruntled. Somehow, the phone was still at Squall's ear, although now, it was in his hand as well. "Boss?!"
""Yeah?"" was the answer.
Squall glanced over at Seifer, who looked as shocked as he felt. "Vincent said you were dead."
""He did? Hmmm... Well, I think I was, but it's all okay now. But I figure... I need you two to go find someone for me. I suspect you'll find him along the coast... Have there been any Lifestream eruptions lately?""
"A few. Why?" Squall pointedly ignored Seifer's curious look.
""He'll most likely be near one of those. Also, call me when you find him.""
Squall rubbed his eyes one-handedly. "You seem pretty sure of this..."
""'Cause I am. You know me.""
"Right, and since you forgot to call us to tell us that you aren't dead, I can assume that you haven't really called anyone else?" Squall frowned, brushing his hair out of his face.
There was silence from the other end for a long moment. ""Righto. I'll have to go do that then, right?""
"And what does this guy look like?"
""Ever see any pictures of the General Sephiroth?""
"Oh. Go make your phone calls. I'll call if I find anything." Squall yawned, covering it up with a hand, although he knew Seifer had noticed, as the other attempted to hide his responding yawn. "Later."
""Later.""
He turned off the PHS with a frown. "We've got work," he said to Seifer, almost morosely.
"What was that all about?"
"We have work," he replied, standing up. He resolved to taunt Seifer with the information for at least a few hours before giving in and letting the other know what was going on. "Are you coming?"
South of Costa del Sol, Corel Mountains
"Where are we going?" asked Kiros, for the fifth time. The only reason he was asking so often was because he wasn't getting an answer.
"I don't know," Laguna said at length. He wasn't sure where they were going, but he had a fairly good idea of where they were. If he was correct... There was an old reactor somewhere in these mountains. They might as well check it out before moving on. According to the road signs, there was an amusement park somewhere in this direction.
Ward snorted at him. 'Don't you always get us lost?'
Laguna almost smiled. "It's not like I can help it, Ward. But I do have a good idea of where we are. If we keep following along here, we should come to an old reactor and a railroad... I think. But this is a road, isn't it?"
"A road?" asked Kiros. "No, not a road. A path is more like it."
Laguna waved a hand in the air. "Whatever, man. Can't you see I'm trying to figure something out here?"
Both Kiros and Ward looked at him funny. He could just hear what Ward must be thinking, even as Kiros said it. "What the hell could you be trying to figure out."
Laguna scratched the back of his head. "Directions, actually. Which direction did we come from?" A sense of impending doom caught him, as comprehending dawned on the faces of his companions.
"Laaguunaa..." Kiros growled.
"Uhm... This way! We should go... This way!" was Laguna's response. He started moving really quickly, to give himself a head start, just in case Kiros and/or Ward actually wanted to kill him this time, like all the times they'd threatened before...
"Unknown"
Reeve frowned at the old man in front of him. "So, howabout a way out of here?"
"You could always use my chocobo, but you'd have to send him back..." The old man wavered in an odd fashion. Then he bobbed. It was actually surprisingly dizzying to watch, but Reeve had seen worse. "Yes, you could do that."
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Not as long as he came back."
"Alright," Reeve said agreeably, sipping on the broth that he had been given. It was some kind of herb and vegetable broth, and it tasted quite good, although he was quite certain that some of the vegetables were the different kind of greens you fed chocobos. "You still don't know where we are?"
"Somewhere at the heart of the northern continent. Easiest way to get out is with a Mountain Chocobo," the old man nodded at the green thing behind Reeve, who reached out to pet it. "Give him some greens, and he'll love you forever."
"Do you remember which way to go to get to Icicle Inn?"
"Let's see..." the old man frowned for a moment. "It's... Nope. Don't remember."
Reeve sighed and glanced down to the floor, where the furball, Cait Sith, wisely remained silent. "Would you mind if I searched for a map when I finish this broth?"
"You have broth?"
"Yes... So do you," he said, somewhat amused. The old man seemed really happy to discover that he was sitting next to a huge pot full of hot simmering broth. "If you don't mind, I'd like to leave tomorrow."
"I suppose... Why are you here again?"
Reeve rubbed his forehead. This was getting real tiresome.
You all know the drill... read review.
Angefantasy, Laguna... and you can't forget, that means Reeve too, is part nymph (Jemnemzy)... . And the thing with the parents... is a long story, which will be eventually explained (probably in the prequel). Actually, Seph just got dragged into the lifestream because it was too late to rescue him... Jenova had taken control of him, so he couldn't really save himself... Cloud knows what's important to him. . Rude will become more and more oblivious as time wears on... lol
Danyella Skyler Silverfire, Nice to see you... (I likee the Laguna surprise... methinks it was kinda cute, ne-ne?)
Bob the Almighty, Yeah, "Disjointed" is my middle name, actually. (Love your screen name.) I suppose I'll probably do a rewrite after I have all three of these fully written. It may take a while, but I'll get around to it...
ChibiBoko, And Reeve too. Heheh. Sephy..... Poor Sephy-kun. Heheh. As far as why Rufus wants to talk with Reeve... Reeve knows a lot of stuff that a lot of people didn't want getting out. The planet, as Cloud's hearing her with a bit of clarity now.
toolazytologin, I'm so sorry! /cries/
Shinigami Aya, I do thank you for your interest... To the point of addiction even... Wowies. Thanky muchy.
Braided Baka Girl, Hmmm... I love your hallucinations, actually. They were pretty funny to read over. As for Reno's bit o' mutation to go further... Well, Hojo didn't do quite the same thing to Reno as he did to Zack. Zack's little problem will be explained eventually... Perhaps even by Hojo himself. 'Cause Zack sure doesn't know. As for Squall and Seifer... I do plan on bringing them in... Fairly soon even. So, it's all cool.
Zack, I suppose I should have done that... But it wasn't exactly writer's block that did that.... I actually lost my internet several months ago... and am currently stealing someone else's in order to post this... ¬.¬'
Miniature Rant of the Day-
On Long-Waits-Between-Updates: You know what's funny? I hate it when other people do this to me, to... but for some odd reason, I keep doing this. I'm terribly sorry about it... It's not even that I lost interest in the story... Part of it was that I lost my internet for most of that time...! But I hope I still have a few wayward fans of my "Horizon" series out there... maybe to appreciate the chapter, or maybe just to ... I don't know... Read it at least. I'm sooo very sorry about the long wait though...
If you actually read my rants, thank you.
Thank you, for reading.