Final Fantasy VII

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Cloud was quite amazed as he walked through the streets of Costa del Sol. There were very few places left in the world untouched by the Shinra and their Mako reactors, but Costa del Sol was one of them. Unlike dark and dreary city of Midgar and port town of Junon, or even the lonely and quiet village of Kalm, Costa del Sol was a bright and vibrant place, filled with people enjoying the sunshine and the sights. Cloud figured he had probably been to Costa del Sol before, probably on his way to Nibelheim all those years ago, but he didn't remember much about it.

As he crossed the bridge that led from the dock, he could easily see the difference between Junon and Costa del Sol. There were luxurious villas lined up between the dock and the shore, still looking brand new and very tempting to buy. Most visitors ended up buying a villa at some time or another, although they were very expensive. Cloud could see one up for sale just ahead of time, with a sign in the window with the price 300,000 gil written on it. Only the very wealthy could buy a villa like that, although Cloud was very tempted. 'Villa Cloud'. It was a nice thought.

He headed down towards the town. He began to feel very out of place in his purple uniform and armour, and his large sword hung behind his back. All of the other people in Costa del Sol were dressed in bikinis or swimsuits, for it was much too warm for anything else. Cloud hung his head and sighed heavily, feeling very inadequate.

He looked up suddenly as a red ball suddenly moved past his feet, and was even more startled when a young boy ran carelessly up in front of him and skidded to catch the ball. The boy caught the ball with his feet but fell back, losing his balance on the sandy floor. He fell back against Cloud's legs, where Cloud pushed him upright again. The boy didn't look back or say thank you as he pushed away from Cloud and kicked the ball hard towards one of the smaller, cheaper villas before running out to join his friend.

At least, it looked like he was kicking it to the villa. As Cloud looked up he saw Red XIII sitting under the shade of the villas, away from the sunlight. He looked like he was half asleep, but Cloud could see that his one good eye was open slightly, looking out attentively as his tail swished gently back and forth, hitting the ball back towards the playing children. It looked very odd, for it looked as though Red XIII wasn't giving it any attention or will. Curious, he walked over to Red XIII. The dog-like creature barely looked much better now that he was in the shade, but he still didn't look up at Cloud.

"Hm, that's interesting," Red XIII mumbled softly to Cloud, looking at his tail flick the ball back to the boys. "It's not as if I'm doing this because I want to. You see, this tail of mine moves quite independently of my will."

As if to prove his point, he yawned very loudly and shut his eye. Cloud watched as the boys kicked the ball back over, and was surprised to see Red XIII's tail twitch and catch the ball easily, flicking it back again. It really did have a mind of its own. Again he wondered just what kind of creature Red XIII was, but it wasn't really that important.

"Come on, everyone! Just take a look at this!"

Cloud froze instantly. That high-pitched, hyper sounding voice… He prayed that his mind was only playing tricks on him, and the voice didn't belong to whom he thought it belonged to. He turned away from Red XIII, who by now was dozing in the shade, and slowly turned his head towards the stalls at the west of the town. His gaze fell on one stall in particular, and he almost dropped to the ground.

"Oh, no…"

He was looking at the Materia stall, which sold some nice but common forms of Materia. To Cloud's horror but to no surprise he saw that Yuffie was standing behind the stall, an apron around her waist, calling out to potential customers passing by. So much for keeping a low profile, Cloud thought to himself. Even so, Yuffie seemed to be doing a good job, for there was a small crowd gathering around the stall.

"Take a look at this awesome Materia!" Yuffie announced, lifting up a green ball from the stall, her eyes flashing with the light shining through the ball from the sun. "Hey, Mister! You want to buy this? I know you want to!"

Cloud sauntered over to the stall, peering over the small crowd as Yuffie lowered the ball of Materia back to the stall to present another one. As Yuffie put her arms beneath the stall, he thought he saw her slip the Materia into her pocket, but he couldn't be sure. She grinned happily at the crowd around her, seeming to be enjoying herself. Even Butch, the owner of the Materia Stall, looked pleased.

"Well, we're lucky to have that cutie working for us part-time," he was saying to another customer.

Part-time? Cloud figured that Yuffie had no intention of staying in Costa del Sol working for the stall. She was a Materia Hunter, not a Materia Seller. He probably did see her sneaking Materia into her pockets, and Butch would realise that he wasn't as lucky as he thought.

"Ah, Cloud!" Yuffie called out, spotting him amongst the crowd. She moved across the stall towards him, holding out two more balls of Materia in her hands and thrusting them in Cloud's face. "Let me make a buck why don't you? I'm sellin' Materia. Why don't you buy some?"

Cloud shook his head, and Yuffie quickly ran off to catch another customer eyeing the Materia. Once again he thought he saw Yuffie slip the Materia into her pockets, so he quickly slipped away and left Yuffie to her sneaky antics. The inn was built right next to the stalls, so he headed over to it. He doubted anyone would have bothered to check in, and with night fast approaching within the next hour or so, they needed to make sure they had a place to sleep.

Pushing open the door to the Costa del Sol Inn, he was surprised to see that it was quite dark inside, a change from the bright outdoors, although it was a relief as well. Even so, the brightness of the outdoor sun had left his vision distorted, and everything he looked at had a green tinge to it. He blinked a couple of times but the shade just wouldn't shake, so he gave up and walked fully into the inn.

"Uggh!" came an annoyed voice from the side. "I feel God awful!"

Cloud looked over to his right and saw the innkeeper standing to one side, looking extremely fed up. As Cloud walked over he looked up, looking in particular at his unusual clothing and weapon. Then, as though recognising him, his eyes snapped open and he pointed straight at Cloud.

"Oh! You!" he said, making Cloud jump back in surprise. "Weren't you the one with that big sailor?"

Cloud blinked. The innkeeper must have gotten him confused with someone else, for there certainly no sailors among their group. They had all discarded their sailor uniforms back on the ship before fighting Jenova. "Dunno what you're talking about," he said evasively. "What's the matter?"

The innkeeper looked around for the moment, before motioning Cloud to come closer. "Listen to this…" he said, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "All of a sudden, this big sailor just bursts in and takes over the restroom. He's been in there moaning ever since. I don't know what I'm gonna do." He scratched his head, thinking. "Ah…… if you're checking in, would you please pay his bill, too?"

"Yo, Cloud!" came Barret's voice. Cloud turned and looked behind him, surprised to see Barret standing a few metres behind. "Still too early, ain't it?"

Barret then turned and ran back, slamming the door of the restroom behind him. Cloud stared, sensing the pitiful gaze of the innkeeper behind him. A flush of thoughts ran through Cloud's mind as he pieced it all together. A big sailor locked in a restroom… it couldn't be Barret. He shook his head vigorously, not wanting to think that Barret was seriously considering keeping the sailor suit, as pyjamas or otherwise. It was not a pleasant thought. He said his hurried goodbyes and quickly vacated the inn, deciding that maybe he could book in later.

Standing outside the inn, Cloud stopped for a moment to look around the town, his eyes once again having to adjust to the light. Up ahead he could see the shoreline and the beaches, and it was clear that the beach was packed with bathers. Red XIII was still fast asleep, his tail continuing to kick the ball back and forth across the ground. Yuffie was still selling materia, the crowd still large in front of the stall. There was not much more to explore, so he figured he'd find Tifa and Aeris, who were probably on the beach.

He found Tifa and Aeris quite easily, probably because they were standing at the bottom of the steps leading down to the shore. They looked like they hadn't moved anywhere, and were whispering quietly to each other and pointing across the beach. They hardly even noticed when Cloud walked up behind them, and gently patted Aeris on the shoulder.

"Oh!" the girl shrieked, jumping about half a metre into the air and making the bathers around them look up in surprise. "Cloud!"

Before she could protest any further about Cloud making her jump like, Tifa ran to Cloud and grabbed his arm. She pulled him harshly forwards so that he could see across the beach. "Look, look at that!" she said.

Cloud looked to where Tifa was pointing. The problem was that the sun was shining directly in his Mako blue eyes, and it was hard to see and it was making them glow more than usual. He shielded his eyes with his hand and looked closer to make out what Tifa was trying to show him. He stared a few seconds more, before he opened his eyes wide.

At the other end of the beach was a large group of girls dressed in tight, bikini swimsuits. They were all draped around a deckchair, with a large umbrella shielding them from the sunlight. Lying in the chair was a man, whom they were all draped over. Normally this wouldn't be an unusual sight, except that the man was dressed in a long white lab coat, and had a head of shiny black hair and sharp glasses. It couldn't seriously be who it looked like. Couldn't be.

Cloud narrowed his eyes again, focusing his sight. "Hm…? Who, Hojo…?" he asked, hardly able to believe his eyes. "Is that man over there, Hojo?"

Tifa nodded. "Go over there and talk to him." She gave him another push away from her, making Cloud almost stagger onto the beach sand.

Cloud sighed and headed over towards where Hojo was… sunbathing. He didn't even want to think about Hojo sunbathing, let alone why he was bathing whilst still wearing his lab coat. Even so as he approached he could see that the girls were draped all over him, clearly in awe as they sat around him. One of the girls looked up as Cloud headed towards them. She looked him over, clearly unimpressed, and rolled her eyes.

"God!" she said sarcastically, clearly annoyed at Cloud's interruption of her fawning of Hojo. "What do you want?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "I want to talk with that man," he said, pointing.

"Hey, who do you think you are?" she demanded, sitting upright. Cloud stared back at her defiantly, until she sighed and turned to Hojo. "…Professor Hojo. That scary man says he wants to talk with you."

Cloud looked down at Hojo. The Shinra scientist had his eyes shut, his arms folded against his chest. He had known that since their encounter in Shinra HQ, when they rescued Aeris and Red XIII from being more scientific experiments, Hojo had been missing. He never expected to find Hojo here.

Until then Hojo had been resting with his eyes shut, and didn't even open his eyes as he said, "I'm busy right now," and fell turned his head away. One of the other girls began to run her fingers across his hair, making Cloud feel sick.

"……But. Too bad," Cloud said simply, folding his arms.

"No, I remember you all now……" Hojo said suddenly. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up, adjusting his glasses and looking up at Cloud. Cloud's body was outlined brightly in the sunlight, but Hojo could see him all right. "Yes, yes. I remember now. It's been a long time, Cloud."

Cloud frowned, not interested in any pleasantries from Hojo. He remembered all too well the things that Hojo did, now and in the past. It was his scientific experiments that created the human-like monsters found in the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, and Cloud couldn't forget that. Hojo was ruthless when it came to his experiments. He looked up as Tifa and Aeris ran up behind him.

"Hojo……" Cloud said, trying to contain the anger in his voice.

"Sometimes you just gotta do something like this," Hojo said, lying back on the deck chair with his arms behind his head.

Cloud and the others stared blankly. "……What are you doing?" Cloud asked him.

"It should be obvious. I'm getting a tan."

"Answer me!" Cloud snapped, ignoring the fact that Hojo's skin was so unusually pale that it would have been impossible for him to gain any sort of tan other than a burning red of skin not used to the sun.

"Hmm!" Hojo snorted irritably. He pushed himself upright and adjust his glasses again, looking up at Cloud with a knowing smile. "I believe we're both after the same goal," he said finally.

Cloud blinked at him blankly. "You mean Sephiroth?" he asked.

"Did you see him?" Hojo asked, looking up Cloud with such a gaze that it made Cloud feel slightly uncomfortable. Still, Cloud nodded, thinking back to Sephiroth's presence on board the ship. His nod seemed to satisfy Hojo's curiosity, and a smirk spread on his pale face. "I see… Ha! Ha!"

Cloud, Tifa and Aeris looked at Hojo in bewilderment as he sniggered silently to himself. He gently waved the girls away from him and stood up, his lab coat hardly even moving away from his skin as he moved. The peculiar smirk remained on his face as he stood, and he quickly moved his hand over his smile to hide his knowing sniggering.

"What is it?" Cloud demanded angrily, his hand itching to reach for his sword and put it to the egotistical scientist's throat. But there were far too many people around, and he would never get any answers if he killed Hojo outright.

"Nothing," Hojo replied, although it was clear that he was hiding something from them. "I just remembered a certain hypothesis……" He turned away for a moment, as though remembering more. He then turned and looked back at Cloud again, Cloud's image reflected in his glasses. "Haven't you ever had the feeling something is calling you? Or that you had to visit some place……?"

Cloud growled deep in his throat, his temper flaring. "I'll go anywhere Sephiroth is at!" he shouted, aware of the gazes of Tifa and Aeris behind him. "To beat him and put an end to all this!"

"I see……" Hojo said. He crossed his arms again. "This could be interesting. Were you in SOLDIER? Heh, heh, heh. Would you like to be my guinea pig?" He looked up as he saw Cloud reach for his sword, his fingers clasping around the handle, ready to draw it and kill him. "Oh, now what? Are you going to draw your sword?"

"Stop, Cloud!" Tifa protested. She grabbed Cloud's arm and held it down, stopping him from drawing. "I know how you feel, but you mustn't!"

Cloud glared back at her, but he knew she was right. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't kill Hojo. It was far too risky. So as much as it pained him to do so, he released his grip on his sword, and Tifa let go of his arm.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Hojo laughed, clearly amused by Cloud's predicament. He stopped laughing the moment he saw Aeris standing behind Cloud nervously, and he looked at her in surprise. "……Say, aren't you the 'Ancient'?"

Aeris stepped forward. "I'm Aeris," she said, sounding a little annoyed but not afraid of him. "The least you can do is remember my name." She walked a little closer, slightly hesitant. "I want you to tell me something, Professor Hojo… I know I'm an Ancient. My mother told me."

"Your mother?" Hojo asked, confused. He seemed to think for a moment, and then he nodded as he remembered. "Oh, you mean Ifalna? How is she?"

"You didn't know?" Aeris said, sounding shocked. "She died."

Those words seemed to be quite a shock for Hojo. Clearly he hadn't heard about that, even though it was so long ago. For once the narcissistic smile faded from his face and he looked almost sad as he turned away from Aeris.

"……I see," was all that he could say.

Aeris looked down. She had very few memories of her mother, but it was clear that, even as a subject of study for Shinra, Ifalna was very precious to a number of people. Even Hojo, who her mother worked hard to escape from, until she finally escaped and fled with Aeris to the slums of Midgar. Then, with the last of her strength gone, she had collapsed, her dying wish being for Elmyra to take care of Aeris. Then she had died, leaving Aeris only with her voice that she heard only from the Planet.

"Professor Hojo…" Aeris said quietly. She pushed down her mother's memory and looked up at the scientist. "Is Jenova an Ancient? Is Sephiroth an Ancient? Do we all have the same blood?"

She asked with such sincerity that Hojo seemed to feel even guiltier. It was important for Aeris to know if she shared the same blood as Sephiroth, that they were descended from the same Cetra. He turned further away from Aeris, unable to meet her gaze, and began to mumble something under his breath.

"…Head west…"

"He's mumbling slowly…" Aeris said. "That must mean he's hiding something!"

Hojo looked back at them, the light from the sun on his glasses keeping them from seeing his gaze, although his expression was blank. Without saying anything more apart from a sigh, he lay back down on the deckchair, to the girls who were waiting for him. "…………" he mumbled.

"Hey! Answer us!" Tifa demanded.

"……It's no use," Cloud said with a sigh. "It's no go."

With that, Cloud turned and headed away from Hojo, leaving him with his little band of fan girls to fawn over him, although he couldn't figure out why. Maybe they were just girls who liked the look of authority. Still, it didn't matter to him, and he had already got the information he wanted. Tifa and Aeris waited a moment before following him, now put off from the chance of swimming in the clear blue seas.

Neither Tifa nor Aeris were surprised to see what was going on in the town centre of Costa del Sol. Yuffie was making a pile of money in her 'part-time job', and was clearly enjoying it. Her pockets were bulging, probably from all the materia she was sneaking in on the quiet.

Cloud headed straight to the inn, leaving Tifa and Aeris outside to shop in an attempt to lighten their own mood, but Cloud was in no mood for shopping. Talking with Hojo had really put him in a bad mood, so he was going to check in and stay there until the morning.

The innkeeper seemed to be in a better mood when Cloud returned, although it was clear that Barret still hadn't left the restroom. Yet Cloud could see why the innkeeper was so amused. The moment Cloud walked in he could hear Barret's voice, loud and very clear, sailing in from the restroom.

"Uh uh! Hmmm? Marlene! You okay?"

The innkeeper sniggered to himself as Cloud walked over to the restroom. The door was locked tight, but there was a keyhole in the side, so Cloud bent down and peeked through it. He could see Barret inside the restroom and, as Cloud had feared, he was dressed in the sailor suit from the Shinra ship. He was standing in front of the mirror, posing, and trying the outfit out in the so-called privacy of the restroom.

"……Dad'll wear this when I go to see you. Uh uh!" He stopped suddenly as he sensed someone standing behind the door, and caught a glimpse of blue beyond the keyhole. "Hey, yo!" he roared. "Someone's in here, awright?"

Cloud stood up and turned away, deciding to imagine that he had never seen a thing. Instead he went back to the innkeeper, who was still laughing under his breath at the noises coming from the bathroom. He was still smirking even when Cloud walked up to him, shaking his head pitifully.

"Welcome!" the innkeeper said, trying to hide his humorous smile as Cloud walked up to him. "What's it going to be? 200 gil a night. You must be tired. Tomorrow in the Costa del Sol area, the weather is going to be…… sunny, again." He smiled. "Cradled by the sound of the ocean waves… Sweet dreams……"


It wasn't too long before the hot red ball of the sun finally began to slide down the sky towards the horizon, changing the clear blue sky to a fiery red colour. Everything in Costa del Sol changed in hue to a deep red-orange. Many people gathered on the shore to watch the sunset, until the sun slipped beneath the horizon and allowed the gentle dark of the night sweep across the sky into a beautiful night sky.

At about half past eleven the streets began to clear and silence fell upon Costa del Sol. All those who owned villas were safely inside, while the other guests were booked up in the inns. Tifa and the others had all booked into the inn at some point and were now safely tucked up in their beds. Barret had eventually merged from the restroom, no longer in the sailor suit, and was asleep also.

Only Cloud had remained awake, even as the inn's clock chimed midnight with its softy, rhythmic melody that echoed around the quiet corridors. As the clock made its twelve melodic chimes to signal the hour, Cloud continued to lie back with his eyes wide open, his mind lost in thought. His sword lay against a chair on the single desk, along with the balls of summon and magic materia he had gathered.

He couldn't stop thinking about what Hojo had said on the beach. Were you in SOLDIER, he had asked. Cloud couldn't help thinking what a peculiar question it was, especially since Cloud had never met Hojo before until that time in the Shinra building. Then, Aeris had known Cloud had been in SOLDIER, simply from the glow in his eyes. Still, the way Hojo had asked the question made Cloud feel very uneasy, and he couldn't shake that off. Somehow it even made him angry, although he couldn't explain why.

He slowly turned his head and looked at the three Summon Materia he had gathered. Choco/Mog, Shiva, and Ifrit, some of the basic summons known. They were the most common and the easiest to master, but there were others more powerful in the world. He had no doubt that he would find them eventually, and they would need every bit in order to challenge Sephiroth.

Turning away from the Materia Cloud turned over and looked to the window, which was open to let in the cool night air. It was still warm even with the sunlight gone, and the sky was still beautifully clear. There were quite a few stars in the sky, but many of them were blotted out by the night-lights. Only in the countryside would the full beauty of the stars be visible. Towns and cities hid most of those sights, but it was still nice to look at.

Head west, Hojo had mumbled before he lay back down on the beach. Cloud had a pretty good mental map of the world in his mind, and he knew that the only way to get to the west part of the continent would be to go all the way south, to the Southern Mountains, and pass through them to the west continent.

Of course, to pass through the mountains, they would eventually have to pass through Nibelheim and Mt. Nibel. It was the only way, for Nibelheim was built right at the entrance to the mountain, its winding mountain path going all the way through to the west continent. He would have to see Nibelheim again, with its aged, burnt-down houses, and relive the memories again…

Cloud must have fell asleep at some point, for when he next opened his eyes there was bright sunlight shining in through the window, with a cool morning breeze blowing in and making the curtains rustle. In an instant he bolted upright, wondering just how long he had slept and whether the others would be waiting for him.

He left the room in a rush, his hair still tousled, but no one would really notice. The innkeeper was already at work behind the counter, going through his financial books. He looked up with a cheery smile as Cloud emerged from the room.

"Good morning," he said. "Be careful travelling. Your party has departed. Ooops…… That's bad luck…… I mean, they have already left."

Cloud nodded, said his thanks to the innkeeper and hurriedly left the inn to find the others, hoping they hadn't gone ahead without him.

Thankfully they hadn't, for as Cloud finally emerged from the inn he spotted them standing at the far edge of the town, waiting for him at the entrance. Barret was, as usual, tapping his foot impatiently against the sandy floor and complaining about the waiting, while Red XIII was crawling across the floor again. Yuffie, on the other hand, looked a little bit edgy.

Aeris was the first to spot Cloud. She jumped up and waved to him happily, urging him to hurry up.

"What took you so long?" she asked as Cloud ran over.

"Sorry," Cloud apologised.

"'Bout time," Barret sneered, clearly still in a bad mood from yesterday. He looked at Cloud expectantly. "So? Where we headed?"

"Hojo said something about heading west," said Tifa.

Cloud nodded in agreement. "Of course, we'll have to go south through Mt. Corel first…" He looked at Tifa, who looked back at him with the same expression. She had also been up most of the night, thinking about the exact same thing.

Until that point, Yuffie had been standing at the far edge of the group, keeping a close eye out on the stalls that were beginning to open for the day's business. The moment she saw Butch beginning to lift the covers off his stall she jumped up and turned quickly back to the group.

"Well, let's get going!" she said.

Before anyone could protest she began to push everyone as hard as she could out of the town, the grin maintained on her face. She didn't stop pushing until they were well out of view of the stalls and out of the town, just as Butch lifted the final covers of his stall, and saw the bare, empty bench.

"WHERE'S ALL MY MATERIA?"


End of Part Three

Part Four: Bright Lights and Starry Skies


EMERALD: And that's the end of another part! As you know, the list of chapters is, umm, steadily beginning to increase. That is why I'm planning that, maybe after either Chapter 50 (or the end of the part that Chapter 50 lands in), or maybe at the end of the first disc, I will create a new story file for Final Fantasy 7: The Story Second Instalment, or something along those lines. Otherwise I may end up with a story over 100 chapters long in one file! Let me know what you think I should do regarding this problem.

CLOUD: Maybe you should have thought of all this before…

EMERALD: Eh, heh… heh…