Chapter 7
She was still hunting materia but was, now, a little less enthusiastic about it since the original reason for collecting them had disappeared.
It was just sort of a hobby now, something to keep her interests up.
And she had just returned to Wutai for a break.
As she had arrived in town, Shake had run up to her. She had told Yuffie to get to the Pagoda tower as soon as possible.
If didn't take long and when Yuffie got there, she looked up at the tower. Remembering her challenge a year ago, to climb the tower and battle on each of the five levels, with the last being her own father.
She stepped up to the large doors and entered. Inside she saw Gordi who sat in his normal position. He seemed calm and relaxed but Yuffie knew that he was alert and hid a tremendous power, which he would use on any who dared to intrude upon the tower and threatened the peaceful nature of the Pagoda. He greeted her formally and informed her of a stranger on the top floor. That was a surprise… a person allowed to the top floor.
Yuffie ran up the stairs, as she reached the top floor, her father turned to her and put his finger to his lips to inform his daughter to be quiet. Yuffie saw that Godo had his medical herbs with him. She also saw a blanket in front of him. She walked up beside her father. In front of him was a girl who seemed a little older than herself. The girl was covered by the blanket and asleep, she also had one of Godo's rarer herbs resting on her forehead.
Yuffie knelt down "What's going on, Old Coot! Who's the girl?"
"Watch your mouth, girl!" Godo retorted quietly, he then laughed softly and said "Not sure. She does have some lucid moments but nothing has been said except a phrase over and over."
"Okay then. Next question. Where did she come from?"
"Oddly, I have no idea. You know of the recent light." Yuffie nodded "Well I was meditating atop Da-chao when it came, she appeared as it left. She must have been disorientated because she lost her footing and fell. It was pure luck that she didn't fall too far or she would not have lived."
"Why did you bring her here though? Yuffie asked, slightly confused by the story "Wouldn't the hotel be more appropriate?"
"Normally, yes. See that weapon over there though." He pointed to one on the walls, resting on it was a pair of ornate sticks attached to each other by a long chain.
Yuffie's eyes widened "A shinobo" She said with genuine delight. She went silently, as not to wake the girl, to the weapon. She picked it up and hefted it a couple of times, it was of less than average weight, which was understandable considering that the girl was quite small. She then went into a standard stance for that kind of weapon and tested it a couple of times. The weapon was very well balanced and, Yuffie considered, that in a trained persons hand, the nunchuku would be immensely powerful.
"What a weapon!" Yuffie said impressed "This is hers?"
Godo nodded "We found it on her, so unless she stole it, it belongs to her." He smiled "Either way, she deserves to come here."
Yuffie had put down the weapon and laughed aloud That caused a stir from the girl as she slowly regained consciousness. Yuffie put her hands to her mouth and went to her fathers side and knelt down. The girls eyes were open but they were glazed which meant that she had not yet recovered fully. She then spoke, by it came out in a slur.
"Irvine, fly me away." She was obviously still dreaming "Fly me away to the flower fields of Winhill." The girl then closed her eyes and a smile formed on her face.
"At least she's happy." Yuffie said uncomfortably, she hadn't understood any of the girls daydream.
"That's the phrase I mentioned." Godo said, just as uncomfortably "At least her fever has gone, she's now sleeping peacefully. I think we should leave her here for the night and question her when she wakes tomorrow."
Yuffie nodded and watched as Godo got up and walked to the stairs. She then turned to the girl and took the herb off her forehead. She then got up and started to walk to the stairs herself. She stopped for a second to look back at the soundly sleeping girl.
'Things are going to get pretty interesting soon.' She surmised and then left the top floor of the pagoda to the quiet sound of the girls breathing.
………
Junon had not changed, there was still the heavy scent of machinery in the air. It was still a port for cruise ships to Costa Del Sol, but also was still a military airbase.
Tifa was sitting on the observation deck of the Highwind, it was dangerous to be out on it during flight because of the speed that the Highwind could now achieve, but as it was standing patiently on the Junon Airstrip, she had decided to get some air, she had just heard some news that was hurting her.
It had been an eventful day. First she finally got word of her friends after so long, next she was being attacked by monsters and getting saved by a girl she hardly knew. The girl. Rinoa, hadn't recognised anyone when they had boarded the Highwind and had decided to be alone, not talking to anyone, not even Tifa.
Tifa got up. It was time to speak to Rinoa about what was happening. The thing is, Tifa didn't know where to look for her. After a good while of looking around the entire Junon town for her, and not succeeding, Tifa returned to the Highwind wondering. How can a girl with such a obvious uniform, disappear so easily.
Tifa went to the bridge to ask if anyone there had seen her. The first person she asked just pointed to the sunken area in the corner of the Bridge. Tifa was surprised and walked over to the area. Rinoa was there and looked up and nodded in acknowledgement as Tifa approached, but didn't do anything. She continued sitting there holding two rings on a necklace around her neck with one hand and concentrating on some small jewels around her.
As Tifa got closer, she noticed that the jewels were materia.
"Why aren't you outside?" Tifa asked through the noise of the Bridge crew doing repairs.
Rinoa looked up and looked Tifa in the eyes "What's the point?"
"To see if anyone you know is around?" Tifa held her gaze.
"There isn't!" Rinoa said adamantly, to explain she continued "I've already been around the base. I haven't seen anyone I recognise."
"Oh," Tifa paused "I'm sorry." She looked away
"Don't worry about it… Huh?" Rinoa looked at Tifa closely "What's wrong? You don't look happy."
Tifa sighed "Does it show?" Rinoa nodded "Damn, got to work on that. Oh well, I can tell you, I guess." She paused for a few moments "I just got word from one of my special forces. She says that she is bringing a guest."
"A guest?" Rinoa's eyes brightened "Any idea who?"
Tifa shook her head "No, she didn't say. Elena, the person I spoke to, did say I'd recognise him though."
"Oh… it's for you then."
"Yeah, but when Elena and her guest get here, no matter who it is! You and I are going to look for your friends."
"We are?" Rinoa was stunned
"Yes we are! I promise you, we will find them. We can use the Highwind to do just that." Tifa knew it would be hard, but she did think that if the person with Elena wasn't Cloud, she would surely find him on the road while looking for Rinoa's friends. "I see you have some materia there." Quickly changing the subject.
Rinoa looked down at the jewels "Yeah, I can't seem to figure it out though."
"I'll show you." Tifa sat down facing Rinoa "After I've taught you the basics, how about we go out and get something to eat."
Rinoa nodded, suddenly hungry.
Tifa started her description of materia. After she finished and a few questions from Rinoa, the two girls left the Highwind.
………
The wind was blowing very hard, it was a cool wind but it came at them very quickly.
Squall was walking toward a mountainous terrain alongside his new companion.
Cloud was a very strange person. He was abnormally strong for a person his size, but with the sword he carried added to that strength, he was almost unstoppable. It had only been Squall's training and experience that had helped him battle to a standstill.
On their journey, the two of them had battled a number of monsters. The monsters themselves had not been too difficult to kill. The problem was that both he and Cloud kept getting in each others way. They always seemed to be either going after the same enemy or making a similar manoeuvre and bumping into each other. Squall had not made a fuss about it, because he may need Cloud's help to get home. The fact that Cloud hadn't mentioned the incidents, though, was very puzzling. There was a very tense silence as they walked. Plus, because Cloud carried his sword, Squall had decided to not take his hand from the hilt of his sword, in case of an ambush.
Squall noticed the sky turning red and dark "Looks like it'll be dark soon, Cloud." He noted, breaking through the wind that only seemed to exaggerate the silence. Cloud looked up and then at Squall "Huh. Oh, right, sorry. It's fine, we've got a while yet. You see the sun reflects off the cliffs and turns the sky a murky colour. It's always like this." "Oh." Squall said simply "You sure?" "Yeah, we should easily make it to the next town by night." Cloud pointed to a nearby cliff.
Over in the distance was a large collection of building with what looked like a telescope coming out the top, the buildings were tightly placed against the rock face of the cliffs and it was almost like the town had simply grown out of the canyon.
A couple of miles from the town, the two men met up with a large grey beast. Cloud had seen the creature and looked shocked but didn't slow down nor did he ready himself for battle, once they were close enough to the lion-like animal, it spoke.
"It's about time!" Squall jumped back and reached for his gunblade. The beast growled audibly "Don't do that, I'm not going to attack you."
Cloud, with a strange expression on his face, stepped forward and knelt to look directly into its eyes "Are you…, Seto?"
"Yes," the creature nodded "You must be Cloud. Nanaki has spoken very highly of you. I would like to thank you for taking care of him last year."
"No problem, he was very helpful, he took as much care of us as we did of him." Seto laughed, it was a kind of looping laugh, more a yap "Well, knowing my son, he probably did." He turned his large head slightly toward Squall "Who's your uptight friend, he has a peculiar scent, like he doesn't belong here."
Before Cloud could talk, Squall answered "The name's Squall, I'm sorry I overreacted but I don't like surprises and a talking beast IS kind of surprising."
"Talking what…" Seto said dangerously.
Seeing this, Cloud quickly broke in "Squall appeared while I was in Nibelheim, we are on our way to Corel for the next stage of my journey, and to see if we could find anyone he knows."
Outwardly forgetting the insult that Squall had made, Seto turned toward the town "Why don't you stop for the night at Cosmo Canyon then, you can meet up with Nanaki and meet his mate." "Mate? Well, thanks" Cloud accepted "By the way, how did you recover from your petrification?" The three of them started moving towards the town. "Strange you ask that, you know of the light," Cloud nodded "A strange bottle appeared after it went, Nanaki was with me at the time so he found it. The label on it was blurred but he could make out the word 'soft'. He decided to try it and surprisingly, to both of us, it worked and I was cured." "Whoa," Cloud said surprised "It must have been powerful stuff to cure you! With all them arrows in you." He looked at Squall "Maybe it came from the other world, Squall, do you know of a potion that could cure permanent petrification." Squall, surprised at being asked a question, thought about it but had to shake his head "No, I don't know of a cure like that, I don't think that there is one on my world." "Okay." It was Cloud's turn to think "You know that could mean that it came from yet another world. That could mean that there could be more than just our two worlds that have overlapped." "I have an idea," Seto spoke up "Bugenhagen's machine has been recording information since before the Sephiroth crisis and it might give us some idea of what could be happening." As Cloud and Squall entered the town, Seto spoke again "Why don't you get something to eat while I go get the machine ready. I'm sure that you two are hungry and could use the rest after your journey."
The two of them nodded and Cloud led the way to the inn. The two got something to eat and went outside and ate by the fire that was outside. Squall was a bit worried about eating outside but was put at ease when he saw that the fire, which the innkeeper had called the Cosmo Candle was in the open and he could see all around him while he ate.
………
Barret was worried. He didn't show it, but he was.
Business was bad, a number of the Coal mines had been infested with monsters. The light had made a few of his workers disappear. And now, Marlene had run off with a few of the boys of the town to explore one of the mine shafts.
What made the fact worse was that none of the remaining workers wanted to help Barret search for them.
"Why won't you help me!" Barret demanded of the people around him "Aren't your children in danger too?" One of the townspeople shouted at him "Of course, but we can't fight these monsters, we're only coal miners." "Only coal miners!" Barret was stunned "You risk your life everyday in the mines and now you don't have the courage to get rid of a few monsters for the sake of saving your children!"
The crowd stood there in silence, no-one even dared to look at Barret.
Barret shook his head "Fine!" He said in disgust "I guess I'll have do go alone! Again!"
He pushed his way through the crowd and headed for the road to the mines. At the end of the town, he spotted a man in a long white coat. Barret recognised him as the mercenary that appeared after the light. The mercenary was looking at him directly.
"Nice speech," He said sarcastically "I'd say you convinced… let's see. Oh, none of them."
"What's your problem, merc!" Barret said threateningly
The mercenary remained calm "Was just going to offer my services. Actually, I'm going to insist. I'm getting bored around here."
"Why would you want to help me?" Barret was even more suspicious now.
"Like I said, I'm bored. But also, that girl of yours has helped me out a bit. I need to repay the favour.
Barret knew it was the truth. The mercenary didn't have any money and Marlene had given him some food and paid for a room from her own money, which she earned from doing odd jobs for the townspeople. Barret had always wanted to thank Tifa for helping him to bring up Marlene to the amazing girl she is.
"Okay, you can come." Barret said "You might be more useful than the others around here anyway." The mercenary nodded "Definitely. Well, let's go."
The two men ran to the main entrance of the mine. At the entrance was one of Barret's workers.
"Barret! At last" The worker said "What's up, Brian?" "Marlene and the boys went down shaft three" "WHAT!" Barret roared "YOU SAW THEM, BUT DIDN'T STOP THEM!" "But… But, I was carrying the tools at the time." "You should have dropped them then!" Barret was beyond furious "What's more important! Them tools, or the children!" "Well…" The mercenary interrupted "Leave him alone, Barret. You can deal with him later." Barret turned to the man in the long coat "What!" "Believe me, I'm as angry as you are at this jerk. But we need to find the children first. They are the priority at the moment." Barret calmed down a bit, having to admit the mercenary had a valid point. At that moment he realized that he didn't know the man's name. He did know, though, that now wasn't the time to ask.
Barret looked at the worker with a look of sheer venom "Wait here! If we find the children, we'll be telling them to run here. Your job is to see that they get home safely. Do you think you can do that?" The worker gulped and nodded "Good, come on." Barret said waving for the mercenary to follow him "This way."
The two of them ran to the third opening, there they stopped and looked around. There were a number of passageways leading from this area. Suddenly they heard a large roar, it came from the smallest passage. They ran down it as quickly as possible, as it widened into another opening, Barret saw four boys run in from the other side. They saw Barret as well, Barret signalled for them to leave. They nodded. As they ran past Barret, the last said quickly "Marlene, behind, coming."
After a few seconds, which seemed a lot longer, Marlene emerged from the hole. She saw Barret and didn't stop. She ran as fast as she could but as she passed Barret, she said one word "Monster."
Barret thought for a second and then stepped behind a rock which shielded him from the hole. He peeked around to see the monster as it entered the cavern. It was large and slow moving, which was probably why Marlene and the boys were able to escape it. It also had 3 heads.
The monster headed for the passageway Barret had entered by and that Marlene had just ran down. Barret stepped out and stood there in the way, blocking it's path to the children. The monster saw him and charged.
As it thrust for him with the middle head, Barret sidestepped and wrapped his gun arm around the neck of the monster, he then grabbed the arm with his good arm, holding the monster firmly in a headlock. The other two heads tried to attack him but Barret dragged the head he held underneath the body of the monster, where the other heads couldn't reach.
As Barret looked around for what to do next, he saw the mercenary sitting on a rock to the side of the monster. He was smiling broadly.
"What you smirking at, merc!" Barret demanded, still holding the head.
"Just admiring your strength, it takes quite a lot of it to hold a monster like that. Especially with one arm. Maybe the stories they say about you are true."
"You think this is strength? Just wait till this monster is dead. Then I'll show you strength! Unless, of course, you want to help."
The mercenary shrugged and got up "Okay then, hold it tight."
"What do you think I'm doing?"
But the mercenary wasn't listening. He raised his hand and cast a fire spell. The monster shrieking in pain. The mercenary then started spinning, his blade outstretched. As the blade struck the monster, it left a deep gash in the side. But the attack didn't stop, the next strike severed a leg. As it continued, the monster howled in pain, it struggled harder to escape Barret's grip but he just closed his eyes and held on tighter.
Then, suddenly, there was a ripping sound, and then a large thud to Barret's side. He looked over at where it came from and saw the monsters body on the floor lifeless. He then realised that he was still holding the middle head. He looked at it and saw a look of fear on the severed head's face. He casually discarded the lifeless head behind him and looked around for the mercenary.
He was sitting on the same rock which he had started on.
Barret walked over to him "Now, lets get out of here. We've done what we came to do."
The mercenary nodded and the two started walking back to the main entrance.
Halfway, Barret finally asked "What's your name?" The mercenary ignored him
