Chapter 5: Missing
Barret parked the jeep outside the cozy little house on the outskirts of Rocket Town. The two men got out of the car and walked up the brick walkway, past the lush grass, to the door.
"I hope Cid still lives here," Cloud said as he rang the rocket shaped doorbell.
Cloud's concerns were erased as the door opened and a large cloud of smoke came pouring out. Cloud and Barret started coughing as they glared at the large man standing in the doorway, a cigar smoking in his right hand.
"Cloud! Barret! Good to see you! Why are you here?" Cid asked, a smile appearing on his face at the sight of his old friends.
"Dear, aren't you going to invite them in?" a woman's voice called from somewhere in the house.
"Of course I was going to woman! I was just greeting them first. Its been ages since we've seen each other, come on in and make yourselves comfortable," Cid said as he gestured Cloud and Barret inside.
Once again Cloud found himself admiring the inside of a house. "When I find Aeris we're going to have a house as nice as this!" he thought to himself.
The house was a masterpiece. Someone who knew what they were doing had obviously crafted it with love and care. In this case it was most likely Cid, a master engineer. The outside was a deep brown made with wood that Cloud had never seen before. The flowerbeds under every window were filled with varieties of flowers, all looking well taken care of. The grass was emerald green and had just been mowed. Inside the house was just as beautiful. The floors were covered in plush rugs; the walls were the same beautiful wood as the outside and had spectacular paintings hanging on them.
Cid led them to the living room which was even more stunning then the rest of the house. Several large couches took up one part of the room, a beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling, a piano was sitting in the corner with a model rocket sitting on top, and an ornate gold inlay table sat near the door with two places set for dinner. There were also several paintings on the walls and one in particular caught Cloud's attention. It was a detailed picture of the group that had saved the world from Meteor six months ago. He saw himself in it, but what stuck him the most was the girl standing next to him, dressed in pink with a long braid draped over her shoulder. "AERIS?" he thought in surprise, his eyes widening in shock as his face paled.
A woman in her thirties rose to her feet from the chair she had been sitting in and greeted them. "Oh its so good to see you two again! Cloud? What's wrong, you look as if you've seen a ghost," Shera exclaimed in shock.
"How is Aeris in that painting!" he exclaimed pointing at the picture.
The three of them all turned to Cloud and looked at him in confusion.
"Um… Cloud are you feeling okay?" Cid asked. "Aeris isn't in that picture, she died, remember?"
Feeling frustration begin to crush his spirit, his legs gave way and he collapsed to the rug beneath him like a rag doll. Angrily Cloud pounded the surface with his fist, not caring if the impact would break his fingers.
"Cloud what the fuck is wrong with you man!" Cid shouted in shock. Shera glanced over at him with disapproval in her eyes because of the curse word and he shuffled his feet before speaking up again. "Um… what I meant to say was: what's wrong with you?"
"I am sick and tired of living like this!" Cloud screamed. "Cid I'm sorry that we can't stay to talk with you and Shera but we have to head to the City of Ancients immediately! Can we take the Tiny Bronco?" Cloud asked.
"The City! MY PLANE! Cloud what's the meaning of this!" Cid exclaimed in surprise.
"I have a plan to bring Aeris back to life," Cloud explained hurriedly, "but I need to use the Tiny Bronco to get to the City. Please Cid, I really need to use your plane, I can't think of any other way to get there as fast. I'm begging you!"
"Alright alright! You can borrow the Little Bronco! Just make sure you bring it back in one piece! I don't want to have to rebuild it again!" Cid shouted as he threw his arms in the air.
"Maybe I should go out and check to make sure that its safe to fly dear…" Shera whispered.
"Damn, woman! How many times do I have to tell you to stop worrying about safety so much?" Cid questioned in annoyance.
"They make a perfect couple," Cloud thought to himself as he thanked Cid and Shera and went out the back door with Barret. As the two of them entered the plane they could still hear Cid shouting, and to their surprise, Shera was standing up to him. "So much has changed…" Cloud thought to himself sadly. "Its time something changed in my favor!"
Barret took the controls since he had the most experience. He thought he knew the basics of how to fly it, while Cloud admitted that he had no idea how to fly a plane. After 10 minutes of Barret trying to figure out how to turn it on, Cid stuck his head out the door and shouted instructions before Shera's hand appeared and dragged him back in. Cloud and Barret looked at each other in surprise before they finally figured out how to start the plane. Flying was a different matter entirely….
Ten hours later, and several brushes with death, Cloud and Barret finally reached the shore of the frozen northern continent.
"Cloud I never should have given you the controls! You almost crashed us into that mountain!" Barret shouted as he leaped out of the plane.
"Yah, and you almost flew us straight into the ocean!" Cloud retorted.
Both men turned their backs on the plane and sprinted away. They were going to have to find a boat to get back, there was no way either of them would ever set foot in a plane again.
After navigating their way through the Sleeping Forest they found themselves in the City of the Ancients. They immediately set out on the center path and walked through the narrow canyon until they reached the serene lake surrounded by the forest. Cloud knelt down at the side of the water, tears falling from his cheeks and landing in the lake, causing small ripples to break the perfect calm of the surface.
"Just a little longer Aeris. Just a little longer until I can hold you in my arms again!"
Cloud got to his feet, whipped the tears off his cheeks, and motioned for Barret to follow him into the small house at the edge of the lake. They walked down the stairs inside and emerged to find the pillars coming out of the water where Aeris had been praying to prevent Sephiroth's plans from coming to fruition. Cloud pulled his sword from his back and handed it to Barret.
"I'll be back once I find the materia," he told Barret as he performed a graceful swan dive into the water. The water was crystal clear and pleasantly warm to the touch.
Several minutes later Cloud's head broke the surface and he grabbed another breath of air before swimming back under. Barret watched him repeat this five more times until he finally climbed out of the water glaring.
"Dammit, I found the spot where it fell, there's a small indent on the bottom but its empty!" Cloud shouted in frustration. "There's no animals in this water so it wasn't eaten… That means that someone must have taken it… But who, for one thing, would know about this materia, and secondly why would they steal it?"
"You don't think Sephiroth is still alive do you?" Barret asked fear entering his voice.
"No, I'd know if he was," Cloud replied. "But that still doesn't answer my…" Cloud stopped talking as an idea struck him like a lightning bolt.
The two men looked at each other at the same time. "It couldn't have been…" they said at the same time, faces a mirror of shock, confusion, and outrage.
"YUFFIE!" Cloud screamed at the top of his lungs.
Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long for me to write but I was having trouble coming up with what to write. I was also busy writing Training and Possession so this got delayed a little longer then I hoped. I hope you enjoyed this, plz respond! This fic is nearing its conclusion, only about 3-4 chapters left…. Sniff :(
Editing Note: Cool, no changes. The next chapter should be up after I finish with a new idea I just came up with.