Angel bent and righted Caleb's black and silver motorcycle. Leaning it against her hip, she reached over the seat and rummaged through the saddlebag, coming out with a spare mercenary uniform. Now avoiding her eyes from his father's naked form, she held out the clothing and blushed softly. He took them with a whispered "thank you" and hurriedly pulled on the pants and shirt, tying the belt securely around his waist.
"Dad..." Caleb tried.
"OY!" They looked up at the sound and all three saw Yuffie Kisaragi waving her arms excitedly. Then she shook her head. "I'm seeing double"
"Only when you're drunk, Yuffie," Cloud called back with a slight smile.
Her jaw dropped, making her round face appear overly-comical combined with the wide-eyed stare. "Oh. My. GOD! IT'S CLOUD! GUYS! IT'S CLOUD! HE'S ALIVE"
Hurried footsteps sounded and up along the path appeared the rest of their rag-tag group. Nanaki threw back his angular head and let loose a emotion-filled howl as Cid did a stomping-type riverdance and whooped, pumping one fist in the air. Vincent, for one of the few times in his long life, grinned like a fool. Barrett was the only one not celebrating as Caleb, Angel, and Cloud walked the younger man's bike over to them, grinning like idiots themselves. He crossed his arms, and for the first time ever, Caleb saw a silver-plaited gun fixed onto the place where his artificial arm should have been. He had only heard stories about his guardian's previous extremity before this. The big black man wore a scowl that was unreadable as the three of them stood to face the others. The excited shouts abruptly came to a stop as the seriousness of their companion's expression leaked into the atmosphere. Caleb, head hung slightly, took a step forward.
"Barrett, I'm sorry. I went into the cave where mom was buried and I started getting all these flashes and suddenly I had the idea that I could find dad"
"Had a feelin' sum'in' happened in'at cave," he cut off the orange-eyed boy with a wave of his real hand. His dark eyes turned to the almost-identical figure standing beside him. "You alive"
"Yep," Cloud laughed nervously. "Still kicking"
With a speed that was unheard of for a man his size, Barrett threw his beefy arms around the blond haired, blue-eyed man and squeezed so hard, he cracked the other man's back.
"Why'ain't come back any sooner?" he cried, standing his friend up and beaming at him. Cloud rolled his head on his neck and popped the final joint the bear hug hadn't caught, smiling back at his long-time friend.
"I'm sorry. It's a long story," he answered.
"We've got time," Vincent motioned to the path leading back up to the city. "You all look like you'll need a rest before we head back to Nibelheim anyway"
"No rest," Caleb shook his head, backing up a step. "I've got another score to settle"
"You don't think you defeated Ayden?" Angel turned to him, worry flashing in her deep blue eyes.
He shook his head, taking a few more steps back: "I have a feeling it's not over; I couldn't kill something like that so easily"
"That was easy?" she squacked.
"I still have to stop the nut behind this," he looked at her apologetically.
"I'm going with you"
"Angel..."
"You can't stop me, Cale! I said I'm coming, no matter what"
"I need someone here to take care of my father"
"He can take care of himself, boy," Cid assured with a wink. "He ain't that old"
"He's right, though," Nanaki sniffed at his old friend. "He doesn't smell like he's at his fullest strength yet"
"I'm fine," Cloud tried.
"Besides, you have to tell us what happened," Yuffie demanded. "One doesn't disappear for almost eighteen years and not have something to say about it"
"Storytime with Cloud," Vincent gave a ghost of a smile to the older blond. "You know the drill"
"I don't want him to be here any longer than he has to be," Caleb announced sternly, making everyone turn to him. "Get him out of the city first and hear the story later"
"You're going in all by yourself?" Yuffie blinked.
"Nu-uh," Barrett shook his head. "Tifa's spirit will let me have it then"
Cloud, Angel, and Caleb gave one another nervous glances.
"I'll be fine on my own, and I'll catch up to you all soon," he assured, his eyes holding Angel's. "I promise, this'll be quick"
"Cale..." she bit her lip. He grinned at them, then turned and started jogging back to the lake, leaving them with his motorcycle on the dirt path. Angel opened her mouth to call after him and Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on. Take me to the place you and Caleb stayed. He'll be fine on his own, and I need everyone to hear this"
Angel gripped the handlebars and rolled the sleek bike onto the main path, leading the others to the alcove she and Caleb had found upon their arrival in the ancient city.
"Eighteen years ago, my wife died. She was murdered, by one of hundreds of mako-enhanced creatures that broke free of the old Shin-Ra reactor on the peak of Mt. Nibel. The number was unheard of, never before or since have I seen so many monsters. It was like they were all sent here at once, ordered to swarm the town. We stopped them, but at a price. It was unfair; I suppose anyone would feel that way after loosing someone they loved...but it really wasn't fair. Something was wrong about the whole thing, that feeling of the monsters being ordered here for a reason. I didn't know what else to do, so I journeyed to the City of the Ancients to pray and find some answers, and maybe, see Aeris Gainsborough again.
When I arrived, I found traces of someone already being here before me. I snuck into the heart of the city and saw the three Turks: Reno, Rude, and Elena. They were guarding what appeared to be a laboratory, located on the shrine in the center of the main altar. Someone else was walking around with them, someone we had thought to be dead: Hojo, the mad Shin-Ra scientist. It enraged me, it confused me, and something inside me snapped. Before I could control myself, I had left the safety of my hiding place and confronted him, sword in hand. I can't remember clearly what happened after that. There was a fifth person--Hojo called them a 'prototype'; to what, I didn't know back then. The prototype defeated me, and the next thing I remember, my body was moving by itself. I was back in the Nibelheim mountain range, I was unlocking the seal on Tifa's grave, then I was carrying her body back here--it was like I was being controlled, I couldn't stop myself. I brought her back to Hojo and he took her away from me.
I remember him saying that the monsters from the reactor were nothing more than bait to drag us back into the mountains, into his reach, to do to everyone what he did to me. I don't know how, but I think he controlled me with one of his inventions. I had long periods of blackness, and in that blackness, Tifa talked to me. She told me how Caleb was and how everyone else was doing, and that she was happy she could be with me but sad that she wasn't able to rest. I thought we had put her to rest, I thought... No. Her body. Hojo made me steal it from her grave, somehow, with something. A magic, a machine, I don't know. But he made me defile my own wife's grave and now he used her body in some twisted mako experimentation to create the perfect android: a human clone infused with science and mako energy and memories to create the perfect warrior, with exceptional physical, mental, and magical skills. An unstoppable flesh machine that obeys every command he gives it.
I don't know how Hojo survived the downfall of the Shin-Ra, but he's gone too far this time. Too far."
The marionette's body floated lifelessly in the crystal lake by the shell-shaped palace.
Give me my body back.
'It's my body now. Your time has expired.'
I want to rest in peace. Please, my body...
'It is magnificent. It shall be mine, forever.'
He will not keep you around forever. He will make a better version of you, a newer version, and then, you will be expendable.
'Never.'
Give me my body.
"NO!"
Ayden burst out from the pool of water and opened blazing green eyes. Through a mako haze, she saw the heat-signature of Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart's offspring. "Caleb." The sound came out as a spitting hiss. The energy in her body hummed outward, allowing her to levitate above the swirling blue water. The ghost's voice echoed in her head now; before it had been only a slight presence she had felt sometimes briefly.
Give me my body.
Experiment 819720—Codename: Ayden stepped over the water, her feet making ripples as she nearly parted the blue liquid, coming onto land and staring down the corridor after the boy that had summoned that creature. It had been unbelievable, amazing. She wanted that power. She needed it. She followed him.