Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or it's characters.
Author's note: I thank everyone who has been reading this and reviewing it. Please feel free to review until your hearts content because it will help me with the story line among other things. This chapter will make more sense later in the story so please don't feel too confused while you read it.
A Path Found
Coud was back on the rocky outcropping and he was getting used to being there because he knew that Aeris was going to show up and talk to him. Whenever she did that he found out a little more of what he needed to know and do. He was glad for her help and he was glad that she hadn't deserted him fully like she could have done after dying all those years ago.
"Coud it is good that you are here. I have been allowed to tell you something that will be vital to your quest. You must find the ancient city of the magical people," Aeris said getting right to the point for a change which Cloud wished that she wouldn't have.
"How am I to do that. I don't even know who the magic people were," Cloud asked her bitterly for he was tired of being powerless.
"You will find the way. As for who the magic people were they were a race of people who were born with the ability to cast magic before the planet started to die. The Cetra are descendants of them and that was why we had the powers that we did. You see Cloud there have been other subraces of humans before us. Each left their own mark upon the world and when we die the mark that we will leave is the Mako reactors and other such things. There were the people who left the knowledge of sword craft and the knowledge of how to fashion those swords," Aeris explained a little to Cloud hoping that it would be enough. If it wasn't she would be spending the whole night teaching Cloud about the different people who had lived on the planet and what each had meant.
She needn't have worried though because Cloud didn't much care. He cared about doing what he needed to do. "I see Aeris. Is there a way that I will find in my travels to this place," Cloud asked.
"It is not a way but a person who will lead you there. I will let you decide who it is but I will say that it is one of your companions. She will lead you there if you let her. She won't realize what she is doing but she will lead you anyway. It is in her blood to go there much as it was mine to go to my death that time so long ago," Aeris said but she smiled to take the sting out of her last words.
"But I must decide who it is isn't that right. And this person can she use the magic like her ancestors or not," Cloud asked truly wanting to know the answer.
"I don't honestly know Cloud. I don't know everything but I know that you will be fighting a enemy that you thought was dead. That much I can tell you and now I must go," Aeris said as she turned from Cloud and faded away as she walked.
Cloud opened his eyes to see that everyone was ready and waiting for him. "Well it seems he has risen from the land of the dead," Tifa said cheerfully.
"Yeah I am up now. You could have woken me Tifa," Cloud said to her though he smiled at her jest.
"And risk getting my head cut off I don't think so," Tifa said as she flipped her head back haughtily.
"Where to Cloud," Marlene asked and Cloud looked at her and then at Cassandra. Cloud knew it had to be one of them but he didn't know which one it would be. He was the leader and they wouldn't like it if he asked one of them which way to go but he was going to do it anyway he just didn't know which one.
Cloud looked from one to the other and frowned. "What are you looking at Cloud," Cassandra asked when she noticed him watching her and Marlene.
"I'm thinking," Cloud said and Yuffie couldn't resist it.
"Oh boy we are going to be here awhile I believe. The last time Cloud thought he nearly broke a blood vessel in his head," Yuffie said happily to everyone who cared to listen.
"Quiet you little thief," Cloud said but he smiled glad that things were getting back to normal with his friends.
"Thief I am hurt Cloud. I haven't stolen anything in a very long time," Yuffie said defensively and a toss of her head.
"I wouldn't know I haven't checked my materia in a while," Cloud shot right back to her.
"Would you two children stop it and let Cloud get back to what he was doing," Tifa scolded them just like a mother would but she was trying to keep from laughing. It was good to see Cloud jesting again and not being so cold all the time.
Cloud decided that he would let both Marlene and Cassandra choose which way to go since between them he knew that he should get the answer that he wanted. He hoped that he would anyway. He knew that it was one of the two of them and he guessed that it was Cassandra but he wasn't sure. If he was wrong he would in a while and he would ask Tifa or Yuffie though he hoped that he was right.
"Cassandra and Marlene I want you to chose which we go next. Both of you confer and we will go the way that you feel we must," Cloud said finally.
Tifa walked over to Cloud and asked quietly, "Why are you letting them chose Cloud. You should chose to which port we go because we need a ship."
Marlene, Yuffie, and Cassandra were too stunned by what Cloud had said to do anything for a few seconds. Then Marlene asked in a shaky voice, "Us. You want us to chose."
"That is correct," Cloud said and then he turned back to Tifa and whispered to her. "We can't go to a port city because they will all be watched and they will more than likely have sufficent numbers to defeat even us Tifa. I am looking for another way and one of them knows it but doesn't realize it."
"I hope you know what you are doing," Tifa whispered.
"So do I," Cloud said quietly as he stared at Marlene and Cassandra as they talked together.
The two girls talked for about two or three minutes privately and then as one they turned back to Cloud and said in unison, "We should go to the mountains north of here." As they finished they looked at each other and blushed a bit for they didn't know that they were going to say the same thing at the same time. They had agreed that only one of them would reply.
Cloud smiled and said, "To the mountains we go then." The companions mounted up and headed towards the mountain range in the far north. It had been many days since the last time that they were at a village and they had just been wandering around hoping to find some clue as where to go and it had finally happened when Aeris had spoken to Cloud.
Cloud and his companions mounted up and rode off north and Cloud couldn't help but think that he was taking the girls and his friends into a lot of danger just because he was too weak to send them away. He wished that he could send them away but yet he just knew that he needed them with him for some reason. He couldn't say why but he had learned to trust his feelings and they had never led him astray.
Cloud led the group north for more than a week and they never saw anyone or any monsters and Cloud was starting to wonder what the deal was. He had expected to meet some type of monster when they had neared the trees more than four days ago and yet they traveled through the trees without meeting anything. It was starting to make him worry a bit because he remembered that monsters used to be everywhere.
Cloud didn't voice his fears though because none of the others seemed to worried about he lack of monsters and so he decided that in his time away something must have happened that cut down on their population. They talked of small things while they rode ever north and Cloud didn't much pay attention until Yuffie said, "I wish that you could have met my children Cloud."
Cloud stopped his Chocobo and turned to look at Yuffie. He couldn't believe that she had said that to him. He had thought that she was glad that he hadn't been there most of the time. The only time that she seemed to be mad that he wasn't around was when her children had been taken and he couldn't really fault her for that.
"I would have liked that Yuffie. I would have liked that very much," Cloud said as he turned to face the front.
"I think that you would have liked Sky the better of the two twins though just because she had chosen the sword as her weapon just like her famous uncle Cloud used," Yuffie said and when Cloud turned back once again to look she was smiling and he knew that she really wasn't angry at him anymore and he couldn't say why but that mattered a lot to him.
"Was she very good," Cassandra asked wanting to know about Yuffie's family as well.
"Oh yes she was good but she had never seen a battle before and that was why she was taken with such ease. Of course she had always wanted her great uncle Cloud to show up and teach her how to use her blade properly," Yuffie said quietly.
"How about your son," Cassandra asked and Marlene perked up at that and Cloud almost smiled at her. He guessed that she knew the boy a little better than anyone else because maybe they had dated but he wasn't sure.
"My son chose his father's weapon the handgun. He had a good eye and a quick hand which made him a good shot and very dangerous. The problem with the gun though is that it will run out of bullets and then you have nothing but a hunk of metal in your hand," Yuffie said as she shook her head at the foolishness of guns as she saw it.
"My son was happy to take his father's footsteps and I had hoped that my daughter would follow in mine but she wanted to be like you Cloud," Yuffie said as the tears started to fall at the memories of her children.
Cloud's heart would have broken to see her that way if it hadn't broken so long ago. Tifa dropped back and put an arm around Yuffie and held her. Cloud couldn't help it now not being there that was but he could apologize, "I am so sorry Yuffie. I never meant to hurt you or your children. I promise you though that nothing will keep me from freeing your children not even Sephiroth himself if he was still alive!"
"I understand Cloud but it is not that I blame you anymore it is just that it is so painful not having them around," Yuffie sobbed into Tifa's shoulder.
Cloud turned back and they rode hard the rest of the day. Cloud wanted to get to the mountains within the next day or two since they were so close. As it turned out it only took them two days to get to the foot of the mountains and then Cloud asked which way now.
They pointed off into the mountains and Cloud took the lead once again only this time they had to walk because none of their Chocobos were those that could run up and over mountains with the ease at which some ran over water and others just the land. As Cloud led he pulled out his sword and put the materia into the blade. He looked back over his shoulder and said, "All of you be ready. I don't know what will be here but my guess is that nothing here will be all that friendly."
He heard the noise of Cassandra pulling out her sword and he heard Tifa pulling on her fighting gloves. He heard the metal on metal sound of Yuffie and her throwing stars sliding together. Then he heard the sound of leather against skin which meant that Marlene was putting on her fighting gloves as well. Cloud shook his head and knew that if there were snipers near then they were all done for but he had to hope that there were none.
Cloud led the way up the mountain hacking at small stunted trees that got in his way to clear them out so that the others could move on up. Once or twice he heard someone slip behind him and when he would turn to see who it was they would all be holding someone and saying soothing word to ease their fear. Cloud wasn't good at easing people's fears because he didn't have many. Once it was Tifa who nearly fell and another time Marlene. Even surefooted Yuffie tripped once and nearly took Cassandra down the mountain with her but Cloud leaped back and caught them both and kept them near him after that.
The slope that they were climbing wasn't that steep but it was dangerous because of all the lose rock and other things that a person could trip on. There were tree roots and small stones that were jutting up from the ground as well as holes and other such hazards. As a group they found a lot of those hazards but none of them fell back down the mountain thanks to the help of the others.
As they walked on Cloud noticed that all of his companions were getting tired and so he called a rest. He thought that they would appreciate it since they didn't have the benefit of the Mako energy that he did. That and he had other side effects thanks to Hoja and his experiments.
"We'll rest here for a bit," Cloud said as he sat down with his back to a rather large rock. They were maybe halfway up the base of the mountain and they knew that they had a ways to go yet and so they all welcomed the rest as Cloud had thought that they would.
"I wish that we would hurry up and get there," Yuffie said impatient to get to wherever they were going.
"We will get there my friend," Tifa said as she sank down gratefully and sat with her legs crossed in front of her.
Marlene sat down and stretched her legs out because she was afraid that they would cramp on her which she couldn't have while climbing a mountain. She didn't know why they were going to the mountain range especially since there wasn't anything there. It wasn't even connected to anything else. It was a lone mountain range northeast of Costa Del Sol.
Cassandra stretched before she sat down taking a note from Marlene's book about not wanting to get cramps. She was in the worst shape of the whole group but that was because she hadn't been brought up to be a warrior. She had been told that she would marry someone when she was old enough and that would be the end of it. She hadn't wanted that and so when she left she decided that if she was going to marry it was going to be for love not because her father told her to marry someone.
"Hey Cloud what are we looking for here in these mountains," Marlene asked wanting to know.
"I don't know. I will know it when we see it though," Cloud replied absentmindedly. He was thinking about something else. He was starting to wonder about this man that was after him and what his motivation could possibly be. Cloud really wanted to know and decided that he would have to ask the man if he ever saw him.
"What do you mean you will know," Cassandra asked puzzled. She hadn't been with them enough to know that sometimes Cloud wouldn't elaborate and this was one of those times.
"I will just know that's all I know," Cloud said as he looked at her. She was going to be a good swordsman when she learned how to use that blade on her back. The problem was Cloud had only had a few hours to show her anything but she was a fast learner which was good. He didn't have to repeat things to many times and she had it down.
They rested there for more than an hour and then Cloud stood up and said, "It is time that we headed out." The others took his lead and stood up as well but as they were getting ready to start back up the mountain a man came running down the mountain as fast as his legs would carry him.
He wasn't a old man but he wasn't young either Cloud noted. The man had a beard that was black but with silver streaks in it. His hair was long and black but more like some bird's nest than actual hair. His cloths were dirty from running on the mountain and the man's feet were uncovered and Cloud noted that he left bloody footprints on the ground. As he came running up to them Cloud noted that his eyes held fear in them and he kept looking back over his shoulder as if to make sure that he wasn't followed.
"H . . . help me pl. . . please," the man stammered as he stopped in front of Cloud and tired to catch his breath.
"What is the problem sir," Cloud asked trying to be polite which was rare for him.
"It . . .it is my small village. It is being attacked. By monsters that I have never seen before. They are killing everyone," the man said hurriedly. He looked over his shoulder again and Cloud didn't see anything.
"You will be fine. Tell me what these monsters look like," Cloud said as the rest of the group gathered around. They were nervous and it wasn't because of the man. Tifa had decided that it just didn't feel right and Yuffie had the same feeling. They had decided that it was the warriors instinct that was warning them.
"They look like that!" the man screamed as he pointed in the air behind Cloud.
Cloud whipped around and unsheathed his sword in one smooth motion. What he saw made his blood chill. He saw a creature that was nothing that he had ever seen before. The thing had the body of a monkey but in place of the tail was a barbed stinger. The head of the creature was more like that of a lion than anything else with razor sharp teeth that glistened with saliva. The wings were huge and were leathery like the wings of a bat and the thing had claws that were at least as long as a good kitchen knife. The thing screamed and dove down at Cloud.
