Special Note: Oi... I'm sorry again about the wait... but I still don't really have proper internet access... This time I'm borrowing my friend's computer time... And she's borrowing the internet from her grandma, so... yeah. Updates may be sporadic for a while. Good pushing, and I'll update more often, I'm sure. On another note... I'm planning on rewriting Mako Blue Horizon, so... Once it's up, please read, ne? It'll be up on my profile page, but it won't be under the same exact title as the original. "Rewrite" will be part of the title, I believe.
Title: Fiery Red Horizon
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Lookie What I Found
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.
Chapter Summary: Hmm... What's this Squall's found? Cloud gets cornered on the Highwind. Hojo reflects on things done and past (having a bit to do with Zack). And Reeve shivers aboard the green chocobo.
Disclaimer: Dun own them, wish I did.
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. I suppose I also need something for talking through electronics. That will be between these. When Laguna is "interpreting" what Ward is "saying", it'll be like his normal thoughts.
Warnings: Very AU. Seph at his worst (appearance-wise). Hojo POV. Scary, isn't it?
Beach Near Mideel
"Squall!"
Squall looked up from the face that he was currently studying. "What?"
Seifer growled loudly from his 'lookout' about halfway up a tree. "I can't see a damned thing from up here... Have you seen anything?"
Squall dropped into a crouch next to the figure in the sand. "Yeah. I think I found what we were looking for." He pressed his fingers to the man's neck, feeling vaguely relieved to find that there was indeed a pulse. "Looks like he's alive, too." He held his hand over the other's mouth for a moment, checking for breath. "He isn't breathing well, though." Squall sighed. So much for this being an easy job. "Do you have the PHS?"
"You want me to... Whoa!!"
Squall winced at the crackling of branches, and again at the sound of Seifer's landing in the brush somewhere behind him. "Yes, I want you to call Cloud." And while Seifer did that, Squall would sit and stare at the man lying in front of him in the sand. He really did look like the General Sephiroth. Cloud hadn't been kidding when he said that. Actually, he looked like what Squall would picture the General as looking like if he had had multiple nasty fights, nearly drowned, and then rolled around in the sand afterwards. Squall snorted at the thought, and then realized that he hadn't heard anything from Seifer since Seifer fell. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be making a phone call?!"
"Right. As if you would care if I broke my neck. Sheesh." Seifer sighed dramatically, and dialed what Squall assumed to be the Boss's number. He was silent for a moment, and then he began talking. "Hey, Boss. Squall says he thinks we found your man."
Squall tipped his head slightly, to listen in better.
"Alive, but breathing shallowly.
"Like three minutes, Boss.
"Right. Will do. Uhmmm...
"You'll be out here soon, right?
"Oh, and Boss?
"If this guy really is your man, look out... 'Cause Squall's just sitting there staring at him."
Squall frowned to himself. He hadn't even been looking at the guy for about half of the phone call.
"What?! Me, jealous? You've gotta be kidding me."
At that Squall had to stifle a laugh. Seifer sounded just a bit too put out by whatever it was that their boss had said.
"Like I'm the one you need to worry about. That Squall, now..."
And Squall rolled his eyes.
"Eh?
"I'll be good, Boss."
A slight smirk appeared briefly on Squall's face. He knew that Cloud had threatened Seifer's pay.
"See you tomorrow then?
"Alright. Later."
Squall waited for the final beep of the PHS being hung up before speaking. "We take him to Mideel, then?"
"Yup." Seifer approached quietly. "Jeez, he had to be a tall guy, didn't he?"
"Are you saying that you can't handle it?" Squall eyed Seifer from the corner of his eyes, issuing a silent challenge.
"Better than you can," was Seifer's response.
Aboard the Airship Highwind
Across from Yuffie, pacing from one end of the cargo hold to the other, Cloud fought off impending doom. How he hated motion sickness. He pinched the bridge of his nose, swallowing against his nausea. He was almost amused that he was holding out on it far better than Yuffie, whose face seemed to be turning various shades of green, from chartreuse to other, less flattering colors.
But looking at something that remained still while his stomach insisted that he was moving didn't help at all. He was almost relieved when his PHS rang shrilly. "'Ello, Cloud speaking." He managed to keep his voice perfectly cheerful, not allowing the person on the other end know that he was feeling more miserable than anything else.
Hey, Boss. Squall says he thinks we found your man. It was Seifer. With what sounded like good news... 'For once.'
Cloud smiled, "Yeah? How's he doing?"
Alive, but breathing shallowly.
'Alive...' Cloud almost sighed with relief. That was good news. "I take it you only just found him?"
Like three minutes, Boss. Seifer sounded annoyed about something, but Cloud didn't really care. Sephiroth was alive. Sure, Gaia had as much as told him that she would see him safely out of the Lifestream, but She couldn't exactly do anything once he had left Her care...
"Take him into town, and if he's too bad off for you to heal him up properly, take him to the clinic." A glance to the side told him that Yuffie had given up on moaning about her own stomach and was now staring at him intently, though her face was still quite green.
Right. Will do. Uhmmm... Here Seifer seemed to become hesitant. Not that Cloud would ever trust that, coming from him.
"Yeah?" he asked distractedly. Yuffie was now... crawling towards him, alongside the railings in the cargo hold. What the hell was she doing?
You'll be out here soon, right? Seifer's voice was suddenly rather chipper. Cloud blinked. Yuffie was gone. 'What the hell?'
"Yeah. I'll be out by tomorrow." He ran his fingers through the hair behind his ear. Where had Yuffie gone?
Oh, and Boss?
"What?" Cloud frowned, eyes darting around the cargo area. There was no sign of her... anywhere.
If this guy really is your man, look out... 'Cause Squall's just sitting there staring at him.
'What!?' Cloud stared at the phone. "Uhmm... Are you jealous?"
What?! Me, jealous? You've gotta be kidding me. Yep. He was jealous.
"Hmm... Whatever. I'll be there tomorrow... So be good."
Like I'm the one you need to worry about. That Squall, now...
Cloud's eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. "Seifer?"
Eh?
"Keep that up and I'll dock your pay." That was always a good threat.
And, as expected, the answer was a plain and simple I'll be good, Boss.
"You'd better." Cloud said agreeably, still looking for Yuffie.
See you tomorrow then?
"Yeah."
Alright. Later.
"Bye." He turned around, turning off the PHS, and nearly jumped out of his skin. Everyone was there. Minus Reeve, Seph and Cait Sith, that is. "Uhmm... Yeah?"
"Well?" Asked Tifa, as Jessie, standing right beside her, tapped her monkey wrench against her leg. Cid shifted uncomfortably and sneezed, setting off a round of sneezes from everyone else that still had a cold (Barret, Jessie, Yuffie, Hojo... although, Cloud wasn't all too sure why Hojo was there with them... Or, for that matter, why the man had a cold like everyone else in the party)... Except for Vincent, who stood quietly, with a tissue held to his nose. Zack, Nanaki, and Tifa, and Cloud himself, seemed to be the only ones who weren't sick (other than the occasional bout of motion sickness).
Cloud tried not to wince as Zack scratched at his nose with a claw. It was hard not to notice that scales seemed to be developing occasionally on his face too, at that. "Well?" Zack echoed, almost glaring.
Now, there isn't much that Cloud found frightening... But Zack came pretty close to those few things. He fought down the urge to scratch his own ear in discomfort. "Well what?"
Yuffie glared. "Aren't you gonna tell us what the call was about?"
Cloud wiggled stiff, leatherbound fingers at her. "Well, we gotta go to Mideel. Remember Almasy and Lionheart? They think they've found Seph." He shifted uncomfortably under the weight of many stares. "What else?"
Tifa sighed heavily. "You aren't going to tell us how he is?"
Cloud blinked. "Uhm... Alive? Breathing? Definitely unconscious, but other than that, Seifer didn't say." He shrugged and fiddled with his hair. "Anything else?"
"We can get out there pretty quickly in this," Cid said, sounding rather cheerful. "My own design, mostly. Some ShinRa designers added some things since the last time I saw her, though..." He turned toward the cockpit, and began walking. "Buttons... Lotsa buttons. And I dunno what the half of 'em do."
Cloud wasn't all that sure, but he may have been the only one to hear Zack's soft mutter of "Sounds an awful lot like my body..."
About an hour later, everything was about as quiet as it could be on the dirigible. Hojo smothered a sneeze in a heavily embroidered handkerchief. He wasn't sure why, but he felt more welcome amongst the members of AVALANCHE than he did working with his assistants. He found it somewhat amusing that in his search of the airship, he had found a lot of strange things... including a save point in a locker in the conference room. He had been a bit disappointed when Rufus expressly told him that he wasn't allowed to perform any experiments on the AVALANCHE crew, however.
But it wasn't like he couldn't sit back, relax, and watch the effects of a couple of old experiments. Zachary Donovan appeared to have no clue what the effects of what had been done to him would turn out to be... Hojo wasn't all that certain, either. Before pulling the young man from a scrap heap at the bottom of ShinRa tower, with the help of several assistants, he had met the young man several times... Mostly for checkups and whatnot due to his being placed in SOLDIER.
The man—boy, then—hadn't been afraid, really, of the tests required, and had suffered through the Mako poisoning and everything with a sense of humor that few could rival. He'd grown to like the boy—"specimen," something in the back of his mind said—during those few weeks, and had felt something akin to disappointment, deep and rather harsh, at seeing him so... broken. Barely alive, at that.
So, he'd attempted to put him back together. Of course, he never could leave something like that alone... He had to see that such a thing didn't happen again. But once Zack's body had been completely rehabilitated, the mind seemed to be elsewhere.
And for the first time in years, Hojo had been disappointed in his own abilities as a scientist. And yet, here he was, healthy as ever, although with a bit of strangeness... Claws, scales, horns. As far as Hojo was concerned, this wasn't such a terrible thing, really. Just a side effect of the summon materia that had been lost to the mako vat. Now if only he could figure out just what materia it had been... And convince Zack that it had all been on accident. He wasn't sure if the later was possible, but the former... He would just have to go through his papers. He would find it eventually.
Icicle Area
The green chocobo raced across the snow, the man on its back clinging for dear life. Previously, Reeve had never actually ridden a chocobo, and now he wished he had learned those few times he had been given a chance. The black and white cat on his shoulder merely cursed him seven ways to hell and back, while giving him a rundown on his doubtful parentage. Oddly enough, most of the insults were fairly accurate, and Reeve couldn't really say anything when Cait Sith called him "bastard" considering that his parents never did marry.
"Do you even know which way we should be going, Reeve!?" the cat yelled in his ear. Luckily, the heavy mountain winds dulled down the shrill voice to a tolerable level.
"We're trying to get to Icicle Inn! If we follow the mountain ridges, heading west, we should be able to find it," he yelled back, uncertain if the cat would even be able to hear him. His deeper voice would be more easily lost in the roar of the wind than Cait Sith's higher one.
"Well, if we're stickin' to the ridge, I'm glad I'm a robot! But, unfortunately for you, you're not! We should stop somewhere where the wind won't get at us, and rest the chocobo, at the very least!"
"We should be almost there!" he called. "One more north-south running ridge, and we'll be there!"
"And how do you know that!?"
He halted the chocobo, and lifted the map so that Cait Sith could see it. The wind tried to tear it from his hands, but he clung to it unrelentingly. Cait Sith leaned over his shoulder, and eyed it.
"We should go down to the south a bit, 'til we hit that southern ridge! We'll be more out of the wind, that way!"
Reeve nodded, and tucked the map back into the heavy winter coat the old man had given him. No matter how annoying Cait Sith was at times, he was a robot, and that made his mind more logical in some ways than Reeve could ever hope for his own to be. "This is going to take a while," he muttered, the wind snatching his voice before the cat on his shoulder even knew he had spoken. "A long while."
You all know the drill... read review.
Danyella Skyler Silverfire: I seem to have lost your review... But I know you did... So uh... tell me what you think, okies? I'm gonna go work on that rewrite, now.
Braided Baka Girl, Yay! More Squall and Seifer! And as for the Cat-Reno thing... Eh, I guess it is a pity, but I'd known how far his and Zack's things were gonna go, from the start. Heh. As for Squall and Laguna.... Hmm... Squall hasn't heard from his dad in forever, and, as in VIII, was raised in an orphanage... If either knows anything about it, it's gonna be Laguna. Amusing misquote. I read part of that fic, too... Didn't really get into it though.
Angefantasy, Yeah, Jenova's messing with at least as many things as she was in the game... So sorry about the wait. Glad you still like it though. As for Squall and Seifer... The lazy bit with Squall is because I see him as being a bit cat-like in the way he acts... You know, the "I-did-it-on-purpose-even-if-it-was-so-totally-an-accident" thing. Gotta love cats. I'll try and post a bit more often, now.
Narcissistic-Fruitcake, Hope you like the rest of what's up as much as you liked the previous chapters.
Jessyca, Don't worry about them too much, they'll be back... Not sure if I'm gonna kill anyone else though. Unfortunately, I think angst may actually be part of what I have the fic designated as... Sorry if it seems a little too depressing at times... Heheheh...
Miniature Rant of the Day-
Another-nothing-in-particular: I'm bored out of my mind. The dog is driving me insane, and I need to get a job. One of these days, I swear, I will... But for now... Maybe I shouldn't play video games so much, eh? I've gotten this little minesweeper addiction, and its really getting on my nerves, yup, driving me up the wall.... Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
If you actually read my rants, thank you.
Thank you, for reading.