Chapter 11
"Has Caleb come home?" Marlene yawned, pausing at the base of the stairs. Barrett shook his head, looking extremely weary. The others looked exactly the same—sitting up, waiting for a sign of the blond.
"Maybe something's happened…?" Yuffie fretted, her fingernails in her mouth.
"Maybe he's with his girlfriend," Cid grinned, referring to Kali Evangelline, the next door neighbor. Marlene giggled, heading up the stairs to drop into bed.
"He'd ha' come 'n tole me," Barrett shook his head.
"Perhaps…he went to the mountain?" Nanaki said hesitantly.
"He may be starting to remember things on his own," Vincent looked out of the picture window to the night sky above Nibelheim. Everyone winced at his words.
"Wonderful," Cid rolled his eyes.
"We should go look for him," Yuffie pried her hands from her mouth long enough to say that, then returned to chewing on her nails.
"Now? Tonight?" Nanaki blinked his good eye.
"That's insane. Even if he tried to go anywhere, it's way too late to travel at ni—" Cid started to reason, then was cut off by the roar of a loud engine.
"Papa! Caleb's taking the motorcycle!" Marlene hollered from upstairs. They all ran to the window and looked for themselves. Caleb and Kali were on the bike Cid and Vincent had gone to retrieve from Cosmo Canyon, Caleb at the front and Kali sitting behind him, side-saddle, her arms around his waist. He kicked the motorcycle into first gear as they rushed for the door in some attempt to stop him. As the group burst from the house, Marlene rushing downstairs, half-dressed in her pajamas, Caleb and Kali roared off toward the mountain range. They watched the two disappear quickly around the bend in the path, leaving a trail of exhaust behind.
"Well, shit," Cid blinked.
"So much for not going anywhere," Vincent turned and went back into the house. The others could only stand there and stare in disbelief.
The two rode at a hard angle up the side of the mountain, completely bypassing the normal dirt path and cutting along the narrow valleys within the range. As the sun set, they passed back up onto the last leg of the dirt path which merged into the inter-continental highway. It, along with NeoMidgar and many other roads like it, spanned the length of the continent, and helped connect them to one another. Instead of boats and airships, people could use these highways to get from one town to the next—it was faster, and more convenient. Free, too. Angel, who had never left her hometown, stared at this new road in awe, her eyes following it as far as they could before losing it in the darkness covering the land.
"It's huge."
"It's one of the shorter ones, actually," Caleb informed her. "In the past two years, I've had to use them all. The longest runs from Mideel area to Wutai, but it's pleasant. It's way down south."
She looked up, her hair flying out behind them as they drove on. She uselessly tried tucking some of it behind her ear. "I can't see the stars."
"They're there," he assured.
"Are there going to be other things like this? Things that take away from nature until there's nothing natural at all?"
"Barrett and the others told me stories," he answered her outburst calmly. "About how the world was before Meteor, twenty years ago. The original Midgar was a horrible place to live. The land was dead and the machines ruled over everything. Plates were erected over the people on the ground, and they called the ground-property the Slums. Only the wealthy could live on the giant metal heaven above."
"That's horrible," her blue eyes threatened to release tears.
"I don't think people are going to make the same mistake twice. Meteor, in a sense, was kind of like their punishment for letting things get too out of hand." He made the turn off and suddenly stopped the bike just beneath the overhang so they were shrouded in total darkness, away from the lamplights. He looked up. So did she. The stars gazed back from the dark night sky reassuringly. Caleb leaned back, laying his head on her shoulder. She stroked the disheveled blond locks from his forehead. "We're a new generation, Angel. We're the ones who have to take care of the planet now. Even though these roads cut into the beauty of the earth's face, they were built to connect the people—built out of necessity. So now, people can visit other places and see things they never would have seen in their entire lives."
"A little for a lot?" Angel blinked.
"Exactly."
"Since when have you been so wise?" she teased. He sat up and grinned at her, releasing the kickstand and righting his idling bike, twisting the throttle and making it purr loudly in the stillness.
"I'm just trying to impress you," he answered, totally avoiding the question. She let him dodge it, wrapping her arms around his waist again and laughing as they shot off once more, toward the collection of houses around an abandoned launch pad. They disembarked, Caleb walking the motorcycle into the city limits, Angel following beside him. They parked it at the Inn and were about to step inside when a woman made a startled cry behind them and they heard the sound of something striking the floor. They turned back to look. A woman with glasses and brown hair tied back in a ponytail stared at them in shock, her mouth agape.
"Can we…help you?" Angel raised an eyebrow. The woman shook her head and stepped over her parcels—she had dropped quite a bit.
"Are you…" she attempted to find her voice. "Are you…Cloud? Cloud, is that you?"
"You know Cloud?" Caleb turned to fully face her. She got a good look at his face from the oil lamp on the wall of the Inn.
"You're…not Cloud. Are you his—"
"My name's Caleb Strife. This is my companion, Kali Evangelline."
"You are his son!" the woman suddenly screeched and rushed forward, taking Caleb's face in her hands and staring avidly into his eyes. He could only flinch in shock.
"Um, who are you?" Angel called meekly from beside them. The woman suddenly blushed and let Caleb go, her hands clasping in front of her chest. She looked extremely embarrassed.
"I-I'm sorry," she shook her head. "You just… you look so much like your father, Caleb. I could have sworn he finally came back—"
"He passed through here?" Caleb grew excited.
"It was so many years ago, I barely remember him coming by at all," she shook her head. Angel had gone behind her and collected her things. Now she handed them back to the other woman, who smiled gratefully. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for jumping on you like that. From behind, you look exactly like your father, Caleb, and Kali, you look like his late wife." They blinked at one another. "I knew them both, although I only saw them a few times. The last time I saw Cloud, however, he looked horrible. I found out from Cid a week or so after he left that Tifa had died. I'm sorry," she added, bowing in Caleb's direction. He waved it off; apparently, she knew his uncle as well.
"You didn't kill her," he answered her apology and she looked up. "And I still don't know your name."
"Oh!" she looked abashed. "I'm so sorry!" She bowed again. "My name is Shera. I live here; I take care of Cid Highwind's house while he's away for the season."
"He's my uncle," Caleb offered.
"I know," Shera smiled. "He talks about you all the time. Please, come stay at the house tonight."
Caleb and Angel shrugged, and they walked with Shera to the house by the end of the way, just in front of the launching pad. Go figure, Caleb grinned to himself as he stowed his bike in the back yard. Inside, Angel tried to help Shera make tea, and the woman refused, insisting that she sit down and relax. They sat around the dining room table, talking about Caleb's parents as Shera knew them. Caleb was happy he was hearing another person telling him about his parents. But, something was nagging at him…
"Shera," he placed his empty mug on the table. He had been staring at it in deep thought for awhile as he held it clasped loosely in his hands. "My father… you said he passed through here several years back."
Shera looked thoughtful: "He said he was traveling to the City of the Ancients to find out about the surge of monster attacks that happened several years back. I don't know why, though, it's a very tranquil place where monsters usually don't turn up."
"City of the Ancients…?" Caleb repeated, and beside him, Angel gave a sudden, convulsive shudder. The others turned to her and she reddened slightly.
"I'm sorry, I must be… tired," she stood. "Shera, where's the bedroom?"
Caleb saw her face and rose as well. "We should get to bed. We need to start off very early tomorrow morning. And the others might be following by now."
"They don't know you're here?" Shera raised an eyebrow. The young couple shook their heads and she smiled. "I'll wake you before dawn. And I won't tell them you stopped here."
"Won't Uncle Cid get angry?" Caleb made a face. She waved it off, ushering them both to a small room down a short hall with a single bed.
"I'll handle him; I've been doing it for years," she pushed them inside. "I'm sorry it's cramped, but I don't think you two are averse to sharing a bed." She winked. "Goodnight."
She closed the door behind her. He waited until her footsteps were gone and turned to his companion. She was standing at the window, looking out but not seeing. She was thinking.
"Do you mind sharing a bed?" he called to her. She shook herself out of her thoughts and turned her head.
"Hm? Oh… no. Not at all," she walked over from the window as he turned down the covers. He looked at her again. She looked back, this time, present.
"What were you thinking?"
"Nothing."
He didn't believe her, but he also didn't push it. Angel would tell him in due time—she wanted to figure it out for herself first. It's what she always did. Caleb was not worried. They slipped into bed, he wrapped his arms around her, and that's all that mattered. They slept.