Chapter 2
It has been one year since Meteor was called and the battle with Sephiroth.
A lone woman stood in the highest floor of the Shinra tower. It would have been higher, but due to her orders, the Shinra company only fixed the standing floors that were not hit by Weapon's attack a year earlier.
Now she was overseeing the creation of new towns, new villages and new cities, so that Midgar would become nothing more than a memory of past mistakes.
"Madam President!" The woman turned and looked at the smartly dressed man that had walked up behind her.
"What is it, Reeve?" The president replied "and call me by my proper name, we've known each other for too long to play that game."
"Sure, Tifa… I've got word on our friends.
That attracted her attention, it has been quite a while since she had heard from her friends, it had been that way since she took up Reeve's offer to become the President of Shinra Inc. Even though all the Mako reactors and Mako related products had been shut down, people were still unsure about doing business with the company, that was essentially her job, to rebuild the trust and appearance of the company, and who better to do that than someone who helped save the world.
"I'm listening" She said
"Firstly, Barret, as we know, went back to Corel." Reeve reported
"Yeah, we're getting our coal from him, aren't we?"
"Indeed, well it seems that he has been elected the new mayor and is currently engaged to be married to one of the townspeople soon, don't know which one yet, though."
"Amazing, I thought he would never remarry after what happened last time."
"Truly, well, to continue. Nanaki has finally come down from the cliff."
"What!" Tifa exclaimed "Does that mean…?"
"Yes, he has become guardian of Cosmo Canyon, but more than that, a stray of Nanaki's race was found injured near the Canyon and they are currently nursing her back to health."
"Her?"
"Yes, initial reports say so, they say she has a more striking appearance than Nanaki does and he was instantly enthralled by her. After a few weeks, they started to 'date', you could call it… Huh," Reeve said looking at Tifa who was close to tears "what's wrong?"
Tifa sniffed "Why is it that everyone seems to be finding their ideal partner but me?"
"Don't worry Tifa, I'm sure that he'll come back someday." He did not need to mention who it was they were talking about, they both knew.
"But when? When will it be?" She sighed heavily "Oh, forget it. Just finish you report."
"Okay" he continued "there has been no word from Yuffie or Vincent, they both seem to have disappeared."
"Doesn't really surprise me that much."
"Uh huh, the only one left is Cid." He smiled "He seems to be having a blast down in the research area. He recently came up with a prototype engine for the Highwind and even though Palmer warned him, he tested it and it blew up in his face, luckily it did him no harm and he is rebuilding it as we speak."
"I thought I heard a large explosion earlier!"
"Yes, that was it, Cid did get a right chewing out from Shera though, and that probably hurt more than the explosion."
"I bet it did…" Tifa looked at the clock "Look at the time, I better be going, I don't want to miss out on training."
"Go ahead," Reeve nodded "we'll finish the report later."
………
"TIFA!" You've got to follow through a bit more, your stopping your strikes from doing the maximum damage."
Tifa stopped for a few moments to look at her mentor, "Ok, Zengan" she then went back to kicking the training dummy.
Zengan had been found in one of the bars in the Sector 6 slums during a routine visit. He and Tifa instantly recognised each other and Zengan was invited to work as a Martial Arts Instructor. Even though he couldn't do most of the moves now because of his age and lack of mobility, his mind was still healthy and was now teaching a new batch of students in the gym of the Shinra Tower.
"Tifa. Stop!" Zengan shouted "That's enough, you need to keep practicing. There may not be any battles at the moment but you need to remember, a unprepared warrior is usually the first to die."
"I will heed your words, master." Tifa said bowing
"Good, now, do the Final Heaven attack!"
"Huh… why?" Tifa said confused
"I want to see your style of it." He said smiling "It is different for every person who uses it; some use their feet, some use their fists and a couple use a combination of the two. Also, people usually play to their strengths, being either extra speed to put in another quick attack and others use more power to make it a fully blown finishing manoeuvre ."
"Okay, what do you want me to use it on?" Tifa asked
"How about the dummy in the centre of the room." He pointed to the largest of all the dummies.
"Sure. Get ready." She then crouched down ready "Here goes."
She concentrated, let the world flow around her, she picked up bits of energy from around her with her mind and placed it in her fist, she then took that energy and with a lunge went straight through the dummy, destroying it.
With a thud, the dummies that surrounded it hit the walls after being broken with the shockwave. She turned to Zengan "How's that?"
"Very good, Tifa." He was sitting down trying to get his breath back "I see you use a combination of speed and power, with quite devastating results. You just need to concentrate the power on the thing that you are attacking a bit more though."
"I guess your right." Tifa said looking round the room and the devastation, as she started to look back at Zengan, she saw a light out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell is that!" She exclaimed as the light grew.
"Tifa! Something's wrong," Her master shouted "it's not natural!"
"I can tell that!"
Suddenly the whole room was engulfed in the light.
………
"Palmer, why don't you mind your #!&/ business and get out of the way!"
"Hey, Hey, Hey, do you want to blow up?" Palmer said "You came close last time, Cid and this contraption is not any safer."
"Why you, dumbass fat man!" Cid stood over him ominously when Shera interrupted.
"What is wrong with it then, Palmer?"
"Only a little thing, Shera. The power regulator is not installed." The fat man said pointing to a cuboid on the table.
"What would we need that for?" Cid asked puzzled
Before Palmer could talk. Shera explained "It dampens the power output to place it within safety margins, we placed it on full power last time and because of the build-up of energy, it blew. If we put it on a low power level and raise it, we may get a better idea of what it can handle."
"Damn, Shera, I didn't understand a #!&/ word you just said!"
"S-Sorry" She apologised
"Don't apologise, just do it." Cid said turning to her and scratching his head "You're probably right."
Suddenly there was a crashing noise from upstairs followed by a pressure, then it was gone.
"Wh-Wh-What was that" Palmer said from under the table
He and Shera both looked to Cid for the answer. "How the #!& am I meant to know!" He paused "But at a guess, I'd say it is our esteemed little lady up high, training."
"She could do that shockwave on her own." Shera said stunned
"Believe me," Cid laughed "She can do more damage with her fists than the whole compliment of armament on the Highwind."
Before Shera could reply to that, Palmer shrieked "What is that?"
Cid turned to him "Fat man, I already told you, it's Tifa training."
"Not that, THAT!" He pointed to a bright light that was quickly engulfing the room.
"Everyone! Move!" Cid shouted "Something's not right!
But before anyone could move, the light engulfed the room and time seemed to slow to a crawl.
………
He could feel something wasn't right, like something was out of place, like something was not meant to be.
He had felt this way since the Lifestream and Holy had destroyed Meteor. Since that day, he has been searching for that thing, his quest, as it could be named had brought him back to Nibelheim.
Cloud looked at the well and remembered his days here as a child, the promises he had made and upheld, the friends he made during his time away, but most of all, he remembered the two ladies that had stolen his heart. But because he could not choose between them, he had chosen to go with neither, but his heart was in agony. He tried to shrug it off but it remained so he continued through the town.
After a few moments, he found himself walking down the steps to the basement of the Shinra Mansion, the place where it had effectively started. He walked up to the capsule that had housed him for close to five years. He looked at it and got a sick feeling, so he raised his sword and destroyed it with a single blow.
"What in hell was that!" A familiar voice came from the sealed room "Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep in here."
Cloud was stunned but quickly recovered and went over to the door. He knocked and asked "May I come in?"
"No!" Came the answer from the other side "Leave me alone."
"Okay, but it's your door." With that, he again raised his sword and split the door in two. As he walked in, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. "Sorry, Vincent," Cloud said casually "but I knocked a bit too hard."
"Cloud!" Vincent said through clenched teeth "Don't ever interrupt my sleep again!" He lowered his pistol and went to a nearby bench and sat down.
"Sorry about the noise, Vincent." Cloud apologised "but I thought you would still be with Lucrecia."
"I was, until a couple of days ago." Vincent then looked directly at Cloud then "Something's wrong!"
That peaked Cloud's interest "How so?"
"I've been having strange dreams lately."
"Who doesn't." Cloud said jokingly, hoping it sounded it as well
"Mine are different, Cloud. Mine are usually visions of a possible future. The problem is I don't know what's wrong."
"I don't either." He paused "I have a little confession." He explained his feelings and since when he has had them.
"Figures, you're more in tune with your Jenova cells than I am with mine." Vincent then looked Cloud directly in the eyes "During our journey for Sephiroth, you said you were physically built like a member of Soldier, was that a general member or specific person?
"Specific, why?"
"In a moment, what colour was this persons hair?"
"Black, can you please tell me why!"
"Then, he is one of them." Vincent said excitedly "Look, Cloud, in my dreams, I have had a vision of someone with your build, with your style of hair except its black and with that exact sword in you hand."
"What!" Cloud shouted "But Zack is dead, he died near Midgar just before I joined Avalanche."
"You sure?"
"Positive." Cloud assured him "I read a file in Midgar that he was categorically deceased and his body was burned."
"Well, he was definitely alive. He had a partner as well that I didn't recognise but…"
"But, what?"
"I-… I suggest you look behind you!"
Cloud did and he saw a strange bright light. Before he could say another word the light engulfed the whole room.
