The night they arrived at the Tower of Mana was a restless one for Cloud Strife. He slept very little, even though he had volunteered to stand watch Kratos seemed completely oblivious to everything going on around him. Even to the fact that the pirate was still awake too. "Vyse, you're still awake?" Cloud asked with concern. "Huh? Oh, it's you Cloud… I was just thinking…" Vyse responded. "About what?" Cloud asked. "Don't you find it strange…?" Vyse asked. "What do you mean?" "Me and Lloyd think so much alike, don't you think that's odd?" "Not really, I am surprised by how much the two of you favor each other. I'm sure it might just be a passing resemblance, though." That statement seemed to excite something in Kratos. "You two should get some sleep soon, we'll have to go inside tomorrow." Kratos remarked. To which Cloud responded, "Get some sleep, kid, you're gonna' need it…"
The next morning was hard on everyone, most likely because it was Raine who made breakfast. After that minor stumble Vyse knew never to eat Raine's cooking again. After throwing up half the morning and then having to eat Genis's cooking, Vyse finally volunteered to go into the tower with everyone else. Cloud took a guard position at the entrance. "I'll stand guard. I won't be of much help to any of you in there…" Cloud admitted. He sat down on the stairs to the Tower of Mana, he let his thoughts rest. For a moment everything seemed calm until the vision came.
Suddenly he was back at Luin. People were screaming and running away, the scene was all too familiar to him. The pirate ship was gone from the harbor, but there were signs of a hasty retreat, telling Cloud that they managed to get away. Indeed, this scene was all too familiar to the warrior. Buildings burning, people dying, and the sound of malicious evil laughter filled the air. Instead of seeing Sephiroth as the source of this destruction he saw Kvar, one of the five Desain Grand Cardinals. Then he felt someone shaking his shoulder.
"Hey, Cloud wake up! Something's wrong with Colette!" Vyse yelled. That snapped Cloud back to reality, Lloyd had his arms around Colette. She tried to speak but it turned into a gasp. "Please, say something Colette!" Lloyd begged. "Her Angel Toxicosis has gotten worse…" Raine said concerned. They got to work setting up camp, something seemed to distract Cloud. Lloyd and Vyse attempted to talk to him about it, but he insisted that nothing was wrong. "We're starting for Tower of Salvation first thing in the morning," Kratos said calmly. "Do you have ice in your veins or something!?!" Cloud asked angerly. "It won't do any good to start fighting again!" Raine scolded. "Yeah, you'll just have to eat her cooking…" Vyse teased. "Shut up!" the two mercenaries shouted. "I'll stand guard tonight…" Kratos sighed.
Cloud sat down, leaned against a tree, and pull what looked like a necklace out of his shirt. He mumbled something before putting the necklace back in his shirt and falling asleep. Lloyd took one glance at Colette, his eyes full of sadness. Then he turned to fall asleep. "Kratos…" "Professor?" "Goodnight…" "Goodnight," After the short dialogue with Kratos, Raine curled up in her sleeping bag and passed out. Genis was already asleep and Colette was pretending to be. Vyse stocked the fire, he watched it, listened to it crackle, stirred it a bit, and finally he heard a voice from behind him. "Get some sleep, Vyse. We have to be prepared for the journey tomorrow…" Kratos sighed. "Sure," Vyse replied. Before long Vyse was asleep too. The next few days passed surprisingly quiet. It would seem that Vyse and Lloyd would have a lot to talk about, but the two were silent.
