Memories

Jerry is my cat, FYI.

It was huge. Tall as a temple, yet despite its massive size its spiderlike body radiated a sense of refinement. It's arms were straight out before it, gun barrels pointing out towards the horizon. Its cold metal face contained only one eye, ominously glowing a deep red. On its back lay a bundle of tubes welded together into a rocket launcher and next to it a single, sleek, shining, gun.

"What the...?" breathed Tidus, awe and confusion etched in his face.

"I thought you said your home was near here." Auron said suspiciously.

"This is my home." answered Cloud as he bounded up one of the machines legs.

"He's the one who destroyed the village!" yelled Yuna. Cloud turned, face devoid of emotion, Auron brought up his sword, Tidus jumped in front of Yuna, and Wakka hurled his ball at Cloud. Cloud ducked and the ball bounced off the cold machine.

"Whoa! That was uncalled for mister!" yelled Cloud, crouching with his hands covering his head.

"So was the destruction of Kilika." retorted Yuna harshly.

"Which I didn't do. Well, most of it anyway."

Auron tensed.

"You wanna hear the truth or not?" Cloud asked in exasperation.

Wakka and Auron exchanged looks, Rikku and Lulu muttered to each other, and Yuna whispered to Tidus.

"Fine." shouted Tidus up to Cloud. "But any tricks and you're dead."

"I'd like to see you try." smiled Cloud, half in relief, half in amusement, as he ducked into the machina and a minute later appeared with cushions. "Take a seat."

"Ok, talk." growled Auron when everyone was seated.

"Right. So, if you guys are as smart as I think you are, y'all figured I'm not from here already, right?"

A circle of nods.

"I come from another world."

Murmurs.

"My home was called Earth. After centuries of war, we humans trashed the surface and had to migrate underground. This lead to us getting taken over by the controller and the corporations."

"What are those?" asked Rikku.

"Best way to describe corporations are a few dicks getting rich off everyone else. The controller was a sentient computer the corporations worked for."

Blank looks. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"You dunno what computers are?" heads were shaken. "They're basically machina that store info, but this one could think for itself."

"Why?" asked Rikku, obviously interested by new machina.

"It was made that way, supposedly to protect humanity from itself, but those things never work out. After being trapped underground for a couple hundred years, some of people got a wee little bit sick of the controller keeping us there. Eventually the controller was killed by a group of mercenaries including me and the man who destroyed Kilika."

Gasps.

"You worked with him?" asked Yuna in horror.

"Uh-huh. Us Ravens value psychotic partners because they know they'll never hesitate when they're watching your back. Occasionally you get the purity types that refuse to work with 'em, but they don't last too long."

"This is how you justify working with a mass murderer?" asked Yuna, voice trembling with rage.

"Yeah. 'Course, I'm not all that innocent either, so I can't call him evil."

"Maybe we should kill you too." Yuna hissed. "And make you pay for whatever you did."

The venom in her voice surprised everyone except for Cloud, who became very somber for a moment.

"Little late for that. I've been paying for a looooooooooooong time."

His casual manner returned, although Yuna continued looking daggers at him.

"How did you get here, though?" asked Auron, hoping to avoid a battle with Cloud's machina.

"I'm getting to that. Basically, once the controller died people headed up to the surface. They found something really creepy up there. Really, really creepy. But that is a tale for after dinner. Who wants pizza?"

More blank looks. Cloud grinned.

"You guys'll love this. trust me." with that he entered the machina to "pizza," whatever that was.

Everyone looked at each other, unwilling to speak about their odd host or Yuna's burning hatred for him. Finally Wakka broke the silence.

"You think we can trust him?"

"He does seem sincere, even if he is very eccentric." Lulu responded after an awkward pause.

"I don't think he can be trusted."

"We all know what you think, Yuna." Cloud called, amused, from inside the machine.

"How can he hear us?" Tidus asked nervously.

"My secret, man." Cloud answered.

Several minutes later Cloud returned, carrying a tray and accompanied by an orange and white house cat. "Pizza" turned out to be a delicous combination of hot cheese and hard bread. After Cloud took the first bite to prove his good will, everyone bit in. One bite led to another, and soon the whole thing was gone.

"You have anymore of this?" asked Tidus, mellowed by the good food.

"Nah man."

"What's kitty's name?" asked Rikku as she snuggled with furry figure.

"Jerry." Cloud smiled, glad Jerry was enjoying himself when Cloud wasn't.

"So," said Auron, who apparently never loosened up. "Your story."

Cloud yawned theatrically.

"Yeah, that. Well, on the surface we found a city. A very, very, very, very, very big city."

"What's so scary about that?" asked Rikku.

"Well, humans had only been underground for about a thousand years, right? So here we have a city that looks like it was built ten thousand years but we've never seen it before. Did I mention the technology in this cities defense alone was beyond ours by about another thousand years?"

"So basically a city magically appeared while you were underground, ya?" Wakka summarized.

"Pretty much. Those corporations I mentioned earlier moved to the surface along with everyone else and they spent one hell of a lot of money trying to get in. Hired mercs, built automated infantry, you name it. Nothing made it close."

Cloud grinned, as if a long forgotten memory had suddenly returned to him.

"What's all this got to do with you being here?" asked Auron.

"I said this would be a long story, didn't I?"

"Yes, but this is ridiculous. It has been an hour and we are no closer to knowing where you come from." From anyone else this might have sounded like whining, but from Auron it was an ultimatum. Cloud sighed.

"Ok. Three years and several thousand deaths later, me and the guy who blew Kilika, whose name is Slammer by the way, finally make it into the city. Hurt like hell and then some. One of the things we found up in there was a portal which brought us here. And that's more or less how this all started."

"Started?" Wakka asked worriedly.

"Kilika was just the beginning. The bodies will be piled high before the end."

Auron scowled. Tidus held Yuna tight, exchanging nervous looks with Wakka. Rikku was just plain scared. Lulu alone remained untouched.

"Well," said Auron, drawing his sword. The firelight flicked on his glasses and on his blade, casting an illusion of demonic possession. "There's only one way to solve this then."

The party all stared at him, unsure, but Cloud nodded in understanding.

"Not yet." he murmured, glancing around him at the shadowy forms of Yuna and company, before his eyes returned to Auron's blade.

"You are right." Auron agreed. A silent accord was reached. "When this ends your life is forfeit."

Cloud shrugged again and walked into the darknesses to his machine, followed reluctantly by Jerry. I wonder if Rikku misses him as much as he misses her, he wondered.

"You just let him go?!" Yuna asked in disbelief as engines fired up, illuminating the clear in pale blue flame. Auron nodded, staring up as Spiderman lifted off and vanished into the night sky.

A cool wind flitted through the trees around them, tickling their senses. Yuna let out a shriek of rage and collapsed sobbing on Tidus shoulder. An uncaring moon watched it all, unmoved by the troubles of man.