Final Fantasy VII

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Part Four: Bright Lights and Starry Skies

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"Wow!" Yuffie exclaimed, her eyes wide in excitement. "It's so pretty!"

Cloud and the group were all standing on the edge of a large ridge, taking a break after walking for over an hour or so across the grassy lands of the Costa Plains. Although the walk had been easy without the attacks of the toy-like monsters that lived inside one another, popping out at random times, it was still a tiring walk.

The ground began to slope up the closer they got to Mt. Corel, and although it was not noticeable at first, pretty soon it had become very tiring. They had reached the south of the northern part of the continent, where a large river separated them from the rest of the southern part. The only way onward was west, towards the entrance of the mountains. So they had decided to take a break on a ridge overlooking the river, where they could see the rest of the land.

On the other side of the river was another large stretch of grassy land, with the mountains on one side and the vast ocean on the other. What had caught Yuffie's eye was a tall and shiny structure built right in the middle of that land, in the centre of an equally vast patch of desert. It was strange to have desert growing in the middle of grassland, but it was the brightness of the tower-like structure that made Yuffie's eyes shine.

From a distance it looked like a giant, oversized flower made entirely of gold, with a number of rounded, golden leaves sticking out from the sides. It looked entirely cut off from the rest of the land, apart from two large cables coming from halfway up the structure to where the first of the 'leaves' was built, and down towards the mountains.

"What is that?" Yuffie asked, letting her legs dangle off the side of the cliff.

"I've heard of it," said Aeris, kneeling down beside Yuffie. "It's the Gold Saucer. It's a theme park. It's got loads of attractions, Chocobo Races, that sort of thing. I've never been there." She turned back to look at Cloud. "Can we stop there?"

Cloud shrugged dismissively. "We'll see when we get there," he said. "First we have to get through the mountains." He turned away and saw Barret standing on the edge of the path winding up towards the mountain entrance. The elder man was the only one not looking at the Gold Saucer, and was tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. "What's wrong with you?" Cloud asked.

Barret looked over at him, and for a second Cloud thought he looked anxious. After that second had passed Barret's usual angry look replaced it. "Mind yer own business, pointy-head!" he snapped. He ran forward towards the edge, where everyone was looking at him. "Are we goin', or are we wastin' time sittin' here?"

After their quick rest they left the ridge and headed onward across the plains towards the mountain. It wasn't long until they were walking right alongside the mountain, following its trail to a second ridge where they could see the port town of Costa del Sol in the distance behind a small hill. From that point they could also see that they weren't being followed by anyone from the Shinra, and that most of the monsters residing in the area had not waken up yet. Still they kept on going, hoping to reach the next town before midday.

A long mountain ran along the side of the mountain, artificially carved by workers aiming to join up the often-disjointed fragments of the western continent. So a smooth, almost entirely level path had been cut out of the mountain, making it safe for travellers to cross. At the single point where the mountains separated to allow the river to flow between them, a strong wooden bridge had been built. Many travellers passed this way through the mountains to catch a glimpse of the waterfall, where water poured out of the side of the mountain and into the river. Yet the trail was a haven for Cockatolis and Needle Kiss birds that were known to attack unwary travellers, so they kept on going.

Finally they reached the spot they were looking for. In between all of the tall jagged points of Mt. Corel, there was one smaller mountain with a ragged natural path riding all the way to the top. Crossing that path would take them further into Mt. Corel, and hopefully towards the other side.

Thankfully, after many years of use by traveller and miners hunting for materia or coal, the path had become quite smooth and safe to cross. They hardly had to climb at all apart from the odd spot where the ground swiftly raised upwards and they had no choice but to climb over it.

Even on the mountain path, there were still plenty of trees growing on either side of the path, their winding leaves and grass covering the sides of the mountain. The ground was also still soft beneath their feet despite the roots that grew up and across the path, and the faint touches of rock that joined the path to the mountain. Looking ahead they could see the sun in its morning glory, a greenish light flickering between the trees and onto the floor, creating dancing patterns from the shadows of the leaves.

The group were surprised as they climbed over one particular ridge. As they climbed up and looked ahead they saw a man, obviously a traveller-of-sorts, sitting on a nearby rock and taking a break from the long haul up the side of the small mountain. He was just sat there on the rock, looking down at a map he had laid on his lap, and was muttering quietly to himself. He barely even looked up as Cloud and the others approached and stood near him, wondering if maybe they could ask for directions to save them wandering through the mountain.

"Whew!" the main sighed suddenly, wiping his forehead. He looked up suddenly and saw the group standing around him, and a wide smile spread on his face. "Hey! You're actually talking to me."

The group looked at one another, thinking that none of them had actually said anything to the man. Travellers were often reputed for being a little strange, talking to anyone whenever possible after many days of lonely travelling. This man had obviously been travelling for days although he looked freshly washed, probably from the waters of the river. They couldn't really deny him his chance to talk to someone after a long time.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

The traveller smiled again, clearly happy to have the chance to talk. "I just passed a guy in a black cloak back there," he said, his brow creasing as he frowned at the memory. "I just tried to tell him that it's dangerous up ahead, and he ignored me!"

All sympathy for the travelling guy evaporated then, as Cloud spun round to look at his friends. A guy in a black cloak could mean only one thing…

"Sephiroth…" said Cloud, confirming everyone's thoughts.

There was another thing everyone realised right then, too. If the traveller was being truthful (for they were also known to exaggerate at times), then Sephiroth would not be very far ahead of them. He could still have been within the very same mountain they were standing on now, going in the same direction that they were. It seemed that Hojo was indeed telling the truth, despite how surprising it seemed. They were going in the right direction.

"Let's hurry on," said Tifa urgently, and the others nodded in agreement. They needed to follow this trail while it was still hot.

Without saying a single word more to the traveller they ran off into the mountain, their enthusiasm pumped up with the thought of catching Sephiroth while he was still inside the mountain. If they kept up a quick pace they could probably catch up to him before he escaped.

They ran on past the grassy path and onto the actual mountain path itself. They ignored the terrible ache of their legs as they pounded their way up the path, forcing themselves up and over the rocky ridges so that they could reach the top and head down deeper into the mountain. Hopefully to where Sephiroth was.

In their hurry to catch up with Sephiroth, the group didn't even notice the quick and rapid changes in the scenery around them. Their minds were too intent on running to notice how the trees began to wither as they ran on, the brown of their trunks transforming into a dull and dreary grey as they struggled to hold onto life. The rocks beneath their feet turned the same familiar dead shade of grey, all of the life sucked from the ground to leave it blank. The only colour came from the sun in the sky, still casting its green morning glow, although not even its life-giving energy could not touch the dead ground.

The top of the path lay just ahead of them, and the group powered their way up to reach it and look down into the heart of the mountain. They didn't stop running until they reached the very top, where they skidded to a stop and looked down before toppling in.

Only then did they notice the dryness of the land and how dead everything had become the further into the mountain they headed. Thoughts of Sephiroth disappeared from their minds as they looked down into the crevice below, to the structure that was so horribly built at the bottom.

It was a Mako Reactor. A Mako Reactor built deep in the heart of Mt. Corel, in the location that was once a popular mining spot. Many tunnels had been dug into the sides of the mountain – paths for miners with trolleys who would dig up coal to take back, use and sell to other towns.

That, of course, was a long time ago. Coal energy hadn't been in use since the discovery of Mako energy, so even here a Mako Reactor had been built to replace it, and the miners were all long gone, taking the land with them.

Barret raised his gun-arm and fired a single, solitary bullet towards the reactor. The bullet flew down and struck the metal of the reactor, even at such a great distance, and a loud ping resonated throughout the cavern, followed by the ricochet of the bullet as it fell to the ground and tumbled off the edge.

Everyone turned to look at Barret. They weren't surprised that he was angry at seeing another Mako Reactor, sucking up all the Planet's life energy, but they were surprised that he had only fired a single bullet at it.

Barret stood poised for a moment or two, looking out over his outstretched arm at the Reactor. He longed to fire a million bullets at it, tearing it to shreds with his own arm, or gun, whatever he could use. Just looking at the reactor as it stood there, the pipes running through the miners' tunnels to suck up the Mako from the Planet, made him feel sick. Eventually he lowered his arm, glared at the Reactor for a few seconds more, before he turned away from the others and began to head down the path that led towards the reactor. The others watched him silently, and then followed him down.

They had no choice but to pass the reactor. There was no way around it. The path they were on joined up to the metal bridges that wound their way around the perimeter of the reactor, so they had to walk right up close to the reactor's entrance in order to pass.

Barret remained entirely silent as they passed the reactor, barely even looking at it as he passed swiftly passed without a single pause. He turned at the next bridge to head back towards Mt. Corel; although this time they were on the other side of the river, where they needed to be. He was walking at such a rapid pace that it was hard for the others to keep up with him, but they had no choice.

They tried to get him to slow down at one point, as they passed the reactor and back into the mountain. It was clear from the layout of the paths that miners had once used them. There were many sturdy bridges specifically designed for carrying coal, swerving up and down where the mountains temporarily ended to reveal a deep chasm. The wood creaked loudly under their feet, but the wood seemed to be sturdy enough despite its age.

After a few minutes of walking across the bridges, Red XIII chose to run ahead to explore the immediate land ahead of them, to make sure that all was well for them to cross. There were many places where the bridges ran close and overlapped, as well as many places where the bridge broke apart with age. No doubt many miners would have lost their lives because of the wood's weakness. Thankfully with the age of Mako energy miners very few used the bridges, and less lives were lost.

As they took a lower bridge towards the river, they spotted Red XIII again. He was sat back on his haunches cleaning the fur of his paws with his tongue. He couldn't go any further because the bridge ahead of cut off – a drawbridge. Even though he was a canine-like animal with canine senses, he didn't hear Cloud and the others approaching. As such he was very surprised when he finally caught their scent on the faint breeze, and the sound of their footsteps, and turned sharply.

"Wha?" he asked, seeming confused. The cleaning of his paws must have been something to calm his mind while he thought about his predicament, but he calmed when he saw it was just the others. "Oh, it's you. There seems to be an instrument in that hut that manipulates this bridge. Perhaps it's best if we rest a moment."

Everyone stopped and looked across the gap. They could see the hut on the other side on an opposite bridge, with the faint shadow of controls visible in its narrow slit window. The only way across to it was back across the bridges, and cross where they overlapped to reach the other side.

"Okay, then… Let's move on!" Cloud said encouragingly.

His statement was met with the sound of groans and complaints. As he looked round the others were rubbing their legs and ankles, clearly in some discomfort after all the walking they had been doing across the plains, the mountain and the rickety wooden paths. Even quickening their pace they had caught no sign of Sephiroth, although they were sure he couldn't have got away so fast. Cloud looked around at the others again as they all sat down almost indignantly on the ground, clearly not prepared to move anywhere until the bridge was down. Which left Cloud the only one left standing.

Sighing heavily, Cloud turned and headed back towards the rickety bridges, leaving the others behind to rest for a while.

He soon found the perfect place to cross in order to reach the bridge. Where the bridges wound up and down to carry the trolleys of coal, the bridges passed close together with only a small gap separating them from the long chasm below.

Even though the bridges stood so close together, Cloud took his time when preparing to cross them. After all the wood was quite old, and although it had managed to hold them all when they walked across it, he didn't know how it would hold when he jumped across. Just looking at the beams he could see the cracks in the framework, but it still looked sturdy enough.

Cloud stepped up to the edge of the beam, making sure his sword and other items were attached securely. He avoided looking down as he stepped up, for it was a very long way down and he didn't want to even think of falling down all that way to a painful death.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Cloud prepared himself for the jump. It wasn't that far a jump, not even a whole metre, but with the weight of the sword on his back he couldn't just stretch across. When he was ready he stepped back on one foot, and then pushed himself off and jumped towards the other bridge.

There was a very loud creak as Cloud landed on the opposite bridge, his boots pressing down on the framework. It turned inward slightly as his full weight landed on the wood, and Cloud was sure he could hear the sound of splinters breaking from underneath him. He froze for a minute, his body frozen in the position he had landed – arms out, legs apart, slightly crouched over. He wasn't even breathing, his ears attuned to listen for any sign of breaking wood.

A full thirty seconds passed by before Cloud began to breathe again, choosing to take the risk as his lungs began to burn in need of air. Cloud relaxed his body at last, letting his arms fall to his sides as the tension subsided.

Yet as Cloud relaxed he unknowingly pressed down harder onto the wood. Beneath his right boot the wooden beam creaked further and a long crack split up the middle from where his boot was applying pressure. Cloud hardly even had the time to look down as the beam broke apart beneath him and his foot fell down the gap, toppling his balance. The other beam supporting his other boot broke just a millisecond later from the strain and Cloud fell down, breaking the other thinner beams that crossed the bridge and towards the chasm.

Cloud reached out to nothing as he saw the bridge zoom past him, unable to comprehend anything as he fell. As the top of the bridge zipped past his eyes a chest-breaking jolt made him jerk forward, and a sharp pain shot across his chest as the strap from his sword quickly rode up. Cloud lifted his head instinctively as the strap passed his neck and head and off his body altogether.

He didn't know how he caught hold of the strap as he passed by, but somehow he did and he suddenly stopped falling. When Cloud opened his eyes again he was looking straight down into the chasm, where he could see the rocky bottom of the mountain where the bridges had been built, along with his legs dangling above it.

Almost choking a breath, Cloud looked upwards to see what had caught him. His sword was lodged horizontally in the wood above him, the blade caught on one end of the broken beams, the handle on the other. Cloud's hands had caught hold of the strap as it was pulled off his chest, and now it was the only thing stopping him from falling any further.

Slowly Cloud swung his legs towards the other beams lining the wall of the bridge and began to climb back up onto the ledge. Thankfully the beams did not break any further, and the sword was lodged so securely in place that it did not fall down into the chasm. Cloud was so relieved when he pulled himself back on top of the bridge and sat down beside his sword. He was not shaking, but he was slightly pale at the prospect of falling down all that way. He then remembered that the others would be waiting for him to lower the bridge, so he shook himself off, picked up his sword and headed quickly along the new bridge towards the control hut they hoped would lower the bridge.

The others were all looking up at the opposite bridge above them earnestly as Cloud finally passed by overhead. Aeris spotted him first – a purple and blond figure running across the bridge – and she jumped up and down enthusiastically, cheering loudly. The others looked seconds after that, shouting up words of encouragement to him as he ran on towards the hut.

It seemed more of a shack than an actual hut, Cloud noted as he approached it. It was incredibly small, much smaller than he had imagined it to be. He found out just how small as he threw open the door and ran in – right into the controls.

"Ow!" Cloud cursed loudly as more sharp pains hit his leg, which he realised was the edge of a metal table containing the control panel. He put out an arm as he felt himself fall, but his arm didn't even reach 45 before it hit the wall. "Sure is tight in here…" Cloud commented, feeling a little stifled in the packed shed. "Come on, Cloud, don't let it get to you. Let's see…"

He ignored the claustrophobic feelings and looked around at the panels in front of him. It was all very simple. All there was in front of him was a metal table with a large metal box on it, containing an old wheel that was covered in rust. It was too dark in the shed to see how it was connected to the bridge, but it was the only device in there – at least that wasn't too rusty to work.

"This is it," Cloud said confidently. "Maybe if I turn this…… something should happen."

He reached out and tried to turn the wheel. It was incredibly stiff after years of neglect, and flakes of copper-coloured rust broke off on his gloves as he gripped them. Realising that it would take a much harder push to make the wheel turn, Cloud took a step back, then leaned forward slightly to grip the wheel again, and began to push with all his might.

Finally, the wheel began to turn. A high-pitched screech echoed throughout the shed as more rust broke off the joints of the wheel and released it, letting it turn in short, sharp shots. Cloud felt his arm muscles burning as he pushed on the wheel, feeling it turn slowly.

Outside, the wheel was beginning to have an effect on the bridge. The others looked on as the raised bridge shuddered slightly and began to lower itself down towards them. Aeris and Yuffie cheered together as the bridge then lowered faster, until it finally settled down in front of them, connecting the two halves of the bridge together to make it whole. Moments later they saw Cloud emerge from the shed, rubbing the wrist that was still bandaged by Tifa, and turned towards the others, who were running across the bridge already.

Instead of going back all the way across the bridges (and to avoid jumping over the bridges again), Cloud went up to the edge of the ledge he was on and slid down the side of the rock. He met the others as he reached the bottom, and they ran on round the side of Mt. Corel towards the final bridge that would take them back onto the continent.

The final bridge was much more secure than the other bridges, despite it being a rope bridge. The bridge stretched across another long chasm on the mountains, lowering down gently towards a final ledge near the foot of the final mountain. Many of the short wooden planks that made up the bridge had been replaced over the years, some still fairly new, so clearly people still used the bridge. Even the rope that joined the bridge to the mountain edge had been refreshed and was secure, so they were not too worried about falling off. Even so, they still held on tightly onto the rope handrail. Just in case.

Barret continued his silence all the way down the bridge, although he moved ahead of the others rather briskly, his large boots making the bridge shudder slightly. He ignored Cloud's protests for him to slow down and moved hurriedly ahead, almost deliberately, although no one could figure out why. Eventually they gave up calling to him and let him go on, where he reached the end of the bridge and ran off further ahead of them, disappearing behind a rock face.