Disclaimer: FFVII not mine
Warnings: minor shounen-ai.
Beta'd by renangel (Matt-kun I need your email!)
A Little Shift in Space
Chapter 4
"WHAT!?!" Elena shrieked.
"It appears that there are three people running around from an alternated dimension: Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth." Reeve repeated to the three Turks, "The Cloud Strife of this world is missing. I want the three of you to meet up with Avalanche to help them look for Cloud."
"And exactly why should we do this?" Elena demanded her voice colored with anger. Clearly, Tseng's death still upset her.
"I doubt Avalanche can take on both Sephiroth and Zack without Cloud. This Cloud seems relatively harmless. (That's what he thinks!) He's a great deal younger than our Cloud."
"You want us to work with that lousy group?" Reno snorted, "I've got better things to waste my time on."
"Sephiroth seems stable for now but if he does loose it, Cloud isn't here to defeat him. We have to find him," Reeve ordered.
"Where are they?" Rude asked.
"Kalm. They're checking all of the towns on that continent and moving west." The Turks turned and left. The president sighed. "I hate this job."
CHANGE OF SCENE
"Why are we stopping?" Cloud asked Tifa from his place behind her on their chocobo.
"Reeve wants us to meet the Turks here," Tifa replied. Her voice was hard.
"Oh," Cloud said with a sigh. Tifa gave him a quick hug after they had dismounted. The girl had become rather protective of him over the last few weeks. Cloud understood that Strife (as he thought of his other self) had grown up with Tifa. The members of Avalanche were still wary of Sephiroth though Cloud and Zack had completely integrated themselves into the group.
'Then again, getting attacked by the maniac probably didn't help,' the blond thought to himself. Shortly after the 'Nibelheim incident' Cloud had hacked into Hojo's computer (courtesy of lessons from Reno) and had gathered all of the information on Seph he could find. It was then Cloud laid his cards on the table. He would not let Hojo hurt anyone else. Cloud would cooperate but the scientist couldn't force him to do anything. The expression on Hojo's face had been priceless. The creep didn't like the way the tables had turned, not at all. His 'stupid specimen' had out foxed him. Cloud had been glad to hear Hojo had died in this world. He had already had plans on what to do with the one in his own world. A little fire spell during an explosive experiment for example…
Shaking his head free of his morbid thought Cloud followed Tifa and helped to set up camp. A short time later the blond stirred restlessly in his sleeping bag. "Zack? What's up?"
The SOLDIER's glowing eyes focused on him. "There's a rather large group of monsters headed this way. They're unusually resistant so we're going to need everyone. I want you to STAY HERE. Got it? Don't leave camp."
"Zack, you know I can fight!"
"Yes, and it scares the hell out of me. Please, if you're safe then Seph and I won't worry about you."
"Alright," Cloud promised. Once Zack had left with the others he slipped out of his sleeping bag and carefully attached his sword to his belt. He scampered up a rock in the center of camp. No point in being caught unaware, even if he had promised to stay put. In the distance he could hear the others fighting. "Can't believe I have to stay here," the boy grumbled.
"Get back here you bastard!"
"Great job Reno!" A female voice cried sarcastically.
'Reno?' Cloud stood. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the red haired Turk break into the camp followed by two other Turks at his heels. He jumped up as a horde of monsters followed the trio and quickly tossed off a fire spell.
"Strife?" The red head gaped at the small child before him.
Cloud cast a comet spell followed by an earth spell. "Don't just stand there idiot! Turn around!" He made a set of complicated gestures with his right hand invoking the summon spell only to have it fall flat. 'Crap. Different world, has different invocations for summons. NOT GOOD.'
The Turks quickly took down another three monsters. "What in the world happened Strife?" Reno demanded.
"I'm the other one you idiot!" Cloud yelled back, "Don't you remember what Reeve told you?" He forced himself to focus on his spells while drawing his sword. 'Stop distracting me!' Sense told him that of the twenty monsters left all but two were vulnerable to electricity. 'Alright, bolt three it is then.' He mentally chanted the spell twisting it with the All incantation as he did so. "Get down!" Well trained the Turks plunged to the ground as the spell flashed to life over their heads. Elena managed to pick off the last two. "That's that," Cloud sat down with a sigh. That had NOT been fun. 'Ow, my head hurts. Too many spells at once.'
Attracted by the spell lights, the rest of the group came running back. Cloud glared. "Don't look at me like that. I stayed in the camp!"
End Chapter 4
Short chapter. 5 will come soon, is very long (for this.) It's actually spilled over into two chapters so 5 maybe confusion but 6 will explain it.
Thank renangel for the quick betaing. Matt-kun, your profile doesn't have your email!
Thanks to renangel, Matt-kun and rei for your responses!
Rei-I think I'll hold off for a bit (at least till finials are over.) After that maybe Healing Hands will go up. No promises though.