Chapter Four: Angst? What angst?
Cloud opened his eyes, and they slowly adjusted to bright light in the room. He looked around and realized with a start that he was on the Highwind, laying on the only couch in the lounge. "Cloud!" Tifa called, noticing him wake up and immediately pulling him into a tight hug. She quickly let him go and fixed him with a glare, and he braced himself for the shouting that was sure to ensue.
"WHAT WOULD POSSES YOU TO DO THAT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, waving her arms in the air dramatically. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD BE THAT STUPID! NEVER, EVER, TRY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN OR I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TONGUE AND STRANGLE YOU WITH IT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE WHERE! HOW WORRIED I WAS! HUH! DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT US! OR HOW WE WOULD REACT! 'NO, I'M GOING TO WALLOW IN MY SELF PITY, OH WOE IS ME, I'LL JUST KILL MYSELF BECAUSE THAT'LL MAKE IT ALL BETTER'!" She stopped to catch her breath, and Cloud saw her eyes starting to well up with tears. She pulled him into another hug, then said quietly "You're the biggest goddamn moron on the planet, you know that?"
"...Tifa," Cloud said, pulling away and looking away from her face. "I nearly killed you. Do you understand? Nearly. Killed. You." "But it wasn't your fault..." Tifa began. "Yes it was. I think, at some level, I knew what I was doing. I just...didn't try to stop it. Like I was there, but wasn't." Cloud said dejectedly. He sighed and sat up, and was surprised when he didn't feel any pain in his stomach. He lifted up his shirt and saw that the wound was completely gone. "Did someone use a restore materia on me?" He asked confusedly. Even if they had, with such a serious wound there would be some trace of it left.
Tifa fidgeted and looked at the floor. "Well...we didn't really need to..." Cloud snapped his gaze over to her and his eyes narrowed. "What?" He asked sharply. Tifa ran a hand through her hair nervously. "You just...started healing on your own. Vincent said it was because of the Jenova cells in your body becoming more active. He had some other stuff he wanted to tell you, too..." "It would seem that my timing was impeccable then." Vincent said from the doorway, where he had apparently just appeared. "I came to see how you were doing. I'm glad your already awake." Vincent strode into the room and turned to Tifa. "I think...it would be best for you to leave us alone, Tifa." Tifa nodded and shuffled out of the room.
Vincent turned back to Cloud and gave him a searching look with his crimson eyes, then took a deep breath and began. "As Tifa just informed you, the Jenova cells are becoming more active, making you an easier target. And it's only going to get worse as time goes on. Soon you won't be able to stop yourself from doing something like killing one of us, if Jenova wants you to do it." Cloud just stared at him, amazed at the bluntness of the statement. "...So...what's going to happen?" He asked finally. Vincent raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "I mean...what are you guys going to do? She won't even let me die. Soon I'll kill you all so that you won't get in the way of her absorbing the planet's Lifestream or whatever the hell she plans on doing."
Vincent was silent for a while, then he finally said "We'll just have to watch you. We won't do anything...drastic...unless it is absolutely necessary." Cloud just sat in silence, and after a while Vincent said "...We should be coming up on Icicle Inn soon. Get ready to go." And with that turned on his heel and strode out of the room, his red cape billowing behind him dramatically. Show off. Cloud thought bitterly. He stood up and followed.
When Cloud finally navigated his way to the cockpit, he saw that everyone else was there too, looking out the window at the small village that was below. "...So, where will we be going first?" Cloud asked, making everyone aware of his presence. "We're just gonna ask around town and see if anyone has noticed anything out of the ordinary." Tifa replied. "Don't freak out on us. I don't wanna have to save your ass from wolves again." Reno said with a frown. "Reno!" Elena exclaimed, punching him in the arm. "Ouch! What the hell--" "ANYWAY." Rude interrupted. "Reno, Elena, and I will handle the questioning. You guys can just hang back here." "WHAT! I don't wanna do all that work!" Reno exclaimed. "Just shut up and walk." Elena growled, shoving him out of the airship door just as it landed. "Ahh! What the $#& is the matter with you two!" Reno could be heard bellowing from outside.
"I think that sometimes Reno doesn't pick up on subtle hints." Yuffie giggled. "Well what the hell are we gonna do now? There ain't anythin' eventful left ta do except babysit Mr. Angst over there." Barret growled, shooting Cloud a glare. "...What...did you just say?" Cloud hissed, taking a few steps forward. "Hey! Knock it the &$ off you morons." Cid snapped. "I don't want to spend the next thirty $&# minutes scrubbing blood off the floor." Cloud glared at Barret furiously then said "I've never asked anything of all of you more then once. And I don't care if you carry through with that favor or not, if I'm going to be treated like a burden."
"But ya are a burden. I dun care who ya used to be, to me all ya are now is a host for that creature, who follows it's every whim without question. Isn't that right Cloud? Ya'd kill us all if she told ya to, wouldn't ya?" Barret asked scathingly. "Barret!" Red barked, leaping to his feet and stepping in front of him. "What is wrong with you!" Tifa asked, shocked. "Ya should know more then anyone, Tifa! Yer the first one he's tried to killed. No wait...ya weren't the first one. That was Aeris." No sooner had he finished the sentence then Cloud leaped at him, punching him as hard as he could across his jaw, nearly tripping over Red along the way. Barret took a step back, but quickly recovered and slammed Cloud across the stomach with his gun arm, sending him flying backwards.
Tifa quickly grabbed Cloud to keep him from lunging towards Barret again, and Cid and Vincent were both holding back Barret. "You bastard! How dare you!" Cloud roared, breaking free of Tifa's grasp. He didn't try to run at him again, however, because he was still recovering from the whack across his midsection. He thought he could taste blood. If looks could kill, Barret would have been stricken dead from the glare of complete and utter loathing he was now receiving from Cloud. "It's the truth! Ya'd kill any one a' us, given half a chance!" Barret shot back. "Even Aeris! Hell, if she were still alive I'm sure ya woulda done away with the poor girl by now!"
There was a tense silence, then a smile cracked across Cloud's face and he started laughing. Hysterically. "Ha! Hehe...You may be right, Barret..." Cloud said when he could catch his breath, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes walking towards Barret until he was right up in his face. Nobody tried to stop him. He stared Barret in the eye, and his smile grew even broader. "But I assure you...If anyone were to die soon, it would be you." "You...don't mean that..." Tifa said slowly. Cloud ignored her and turned, tromping off into the back of the Highwind without another word.
Cloud slid the lounge room door shut behind him, and collapsed on the couch, clenching his eyes shut. That...wasn't me. He thought slowly. It wasn't me...it can't have been me...
And are you always going to blame your problems on Jenova? She wasn't there, just then.
You...
It was you...
You want to kill them, don't you?
Cloud shook his head.
No! Of course not! They're my friends...
Laughter.
Yes. Excellent friends. And that's why Barret thinks your a minion of evil sent to destroy the world.
Well...maybe he's not the best friend on earth...but I wouldn't kill him...
What about Tifa?
A pause.
...What about her?
She deceived you. She knew something was wrong. She never said a word though, until it was absolutely necessary because Sephiroth revealed the truth to you. Or at least the truth for the most part.
...She didn't...want to upset me...
Wrong. She didn't want you to leave. She wanted you to stay, just for the novelty of having someone from her childhood around. You two weren't even that close. And Yuffie...she's an annoying freeloader who whines too much. Red never thinks of anything besides Cosmo Canyon and his miniature soap opera starring himself, his father, and the Gi tribe. Vincent is full of himself. Cid is a chain-smoking asshole who doesn't give a crap what you guys do with to other, as long as you don't get blood on his precious airship. Still think of them as friends?
Suddenly the voices all died down as the door slid open and Tifa entered the room, treading softly, thinking that Cloud was asleep. "Having a nightmare..." He heard her mutter, then after some shuffling around she found a blanket and covered him up. That done, she exited the room just as quietly as she had come.
As a matter of fact...I do.
"Hey! Kids!" Elena called, rushing up to a couple of kids, a boy and a girl, who were hurrying home for dinner. They turned around and looked at her curiously. "What is it lady? We don't have a lot of time to talk..." The girl said quickly. Elena bent down to their level and smiled brightly. "Fine, then I won't keep you too long. Can you two tell me if anything out of the ordinary has been going on in this town?" She asked cheerfully. The little girl and boy exchanged glances, then looked back at her. "...Yeah, as a matter of fact." The boy replied. "There are some scientist people here, who seemed interested in a piece of turtle shell we found in the Northern Crater!" The little girl piped up, beaming. "Oh, shut up. It was not a turtle shell. Anyway, the scientist guy seemed interested in it, then shooed us out of the office. It'll be that smallish house over there." The boy said, pointing to a small house near the edge of town.
"Sorry lady, but we've really gotta go now!" The girl apologized, then she and the boy raced off to their house. "...What the hell is it with you and kids?" Reno asked amazed. "I could never get a kid to talk to me like that. Usually they want to pull my hair or ask me questions about the tattoos under my eyes..." "Hey...isn't that Gast's old place?" Rude commented. They stared at it for a moment, then Reno finally said "Well, no use just standing here gawking at it. Let's go check it out." With that he jogged off towards the house, Elena and Rude trailing close behind.
After a few minutes of knocking, a disgruntled looking man in a lab coat answered the door, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes and irritatedly adjusting his glasses. "What do you want?" He snapped. "Oh, we were just wondering why someone would suddenly take up residence in the late Professor Gast's house. Care to enlighten us?" Rude asked. The scientist narrowed his eyes and made a move as if to slam the door in their faces, but Reno stepped forward and put his hand against the door, stopping it dead in it's tracks. "Look, you arrogant jackass, you may be able to treat the simpletons here like garbage, but your going to have to talk to us or we'll force our way in and come to our own conclusions as to what's going on here." Reno said coolly, leaning against the door as if he owned the place.
The scientist drew himself up to his full height (which wasn't much, mind you) and exclaimed: "I don't have time for this! Recently one of our test facilities was broken into and our prized specimen escaped, so I'm up to my neck in work. Not only that, but the help we hired apparently didn't do their job, and got away with the money! So, if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do...if you would be so kind as to get off of my door..." He glared at Reno, who slowly stepped away from the door, a huge smile on his face. "Yeah, you get back to that. Sorry for the trouble." Reno replied. The scientist scowled and slammed the door, making some snow fly off the roof.
"Stupidity knows no bounds." Reno muttered, turning to his fellow Turks with a smile. "He was handing out sensitive information like it was candy. Must be new to the job. Anyway, let's go tell the group what's up." That said, the Turks started to head back towards the airship parked in clear view of the town.
"Lucy! We're home!" Reno called in a false Hispanic accent as he and the other Turks tromped back onto the Highwind. "And have we got some interesting stuff to tell you all." He noticed Barret sitting on a chair at one end of the cockpit, holding an ice pack to his jaw and appearing to be in a horrid mood. "What the hell happened to you?" Reno asked, then looked around and noticed Cloud was missing. "And where's that spikey haired dude? Cloud?" "Don't even ask." Barret shot back, fixing Reno with a venomous glare. "Yeah. Anyway, domestic disputes aside," Reno said wryly, glancing at Barret and smirking, "We've got some news."
"Really? What'd you guys learn?" Cid asked, his feet set up on the console. He was blowing smoke rings out of boredom. "Apparently there are scientists who came to this town recently who are behind the crap back in the Shinra Mansion." "What?" Tifa asked interestedly. "And I don't know if this is relevant...but some kids mentioned bringing them a piece of 'turtle shell' that they found in the Northern Crater." Elena commented. "'Turtle shell'..." Vincent echoed, deep in thought. "Didn't that final form of Jenova have a tough hide...almost shell-like?" He said, looking up. "Yeah! Cloud had to use the Knights of the Round summon on it to kill it..." Tifa said, her eyes widening. "You don't think...?"
"They must have used the Jenova cells left over from that one piece of skin to clone it." Vincent finished. "But why? What purpose could there possibly be for creating a new Jenova? Don't they know the last one nearly destroyed the planet?" Red asked, more to himself then anyone else. "Because they're #$& idiots?" Cid suggested. Reno snorted. "This isn't a laughing matter!" Tifa exclaimed, stomping a foot impatiently. "This is really screwing with poor Cloud! Not only that, but if they could clone her once, what's to stop them from making more!" A deathly silence fell on the room. "...But...they wouldn't do that...would they...?" Yuffie asked uncertainly.
"No." Someone said. Everyone turned to see Cloud in the cockpit doorway, a frown fixed on his face. "Jenova wouldn't permit it. She's not the kind to share her power with anyone else, even if that other person...or thing...happens to be her clone. Besides, even if it did somehow happen, as the first successful clone she would be able to manipulate the other clones, like she can with Sephiroth clones." "An' why should we listen ta ya?" Barret spat, glaring at Cloud. "Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what you think Barret." Cloud said coolly without looking at him. "But I'm sure that even you should be able to draw the same conclusion, if you bothered to think for once instead of shooting off your mouth."
Barret leaped to his feet, but before he could move Tifa stepped between them. "Knock it off! Both of you!" She said sharply. "You're both acting like catty pre-teen girls!" "He started it." Barret growled. "Are you quite done?" Cloud asked boredly. "No, I'm not done ya traitor!" Barret shot back, and Tifa just rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room in a huff to leave them to it. "Look, if you don't both shut up, right now, I'm going to $# electrocute you." Reno said, pulling out his nightstick and flipping the switch, making it crackle with electricity. Barret sat down with a frown and Cloud just stayed were he was, leaning against the door frame.
"That's better." Reno said, turning the nightstick off and sticking it back in his belt. "So were do we go from here?" Red asked, his tail swishing. "We should probably...take care of those scientists to make sure they can't cause any more trouble, and to find out what the hell they plan to accomplish by cloning Jenova." Elena suggested. "No. We're going to find Jenova first." Cloud said firmly. "Do you think that's...wise?" Vincent asked sceptically. "Yes. We've got to find her first, eliminate her, then go back and take care of the scientists. I think at the moment Jenova is the bigger threat."
"See! The first chance he gets, he wants ta go crawlin' back ta her!" Barret exclaimed, pounding his fist on the wall. "No...I want to go kill her so that she doesn't destroy the planet in a mad quest for power." Cloud replied. "Yeah, but she could just, y'know, be making you think you want to go kill her, when she really wants you to go find her to help her out and such." Yuffie pointed out. "Hey, have a little bit of faith in me." Cloud said with a small smile. "...I think we should stay here and get some answers from these scientists." Vincent said, fixing Cloud with a calculating look. "Yuffie is, dare I say it, right. Besides, there are many questions I would like answered before we run off on an adventure." Everyone hastily agreed, and Cloud shrugged. "I understand." He said calmly, then walked off into the back area of the Highwind.
You shouldn't try to come find me just yet, they're still too suspicious of you right now. Wait until they let their guard down.
Cloud stopped in his tracks and gripped his head, wincing in pain. Oh shut up. I want to find you so that I can kill you, you arrogant piece of genetic waste.
Oh my. Someone is feeling rebellious again. Jenova mocked.
"Cloud, what's wrong?" Tifa asked concernedly, snapping his attention back to his surroundings. He looked over at her and slowly lowered his arm. "You've been standing there clutching your head for a while now. She's not talking to you again...is she?" Tifa pressed. Cloud stared at her for a moment, then forced a smile. "No, no, I've just got a headache. I've been getting them a lot lately." Tifa didn't seem convinced. "I think...I'm going to stick with you for a while. Just to make sure your okay." "No, really, I feel great." Cloud insisted, but took another look at Tifa and, seeing how determined she was, gave up. "Fine. All I'm doing is going back to the lounge anyway..." With that he drifted off to the lounge, Tifa trailing behind him.
Cloud flopped down on the couch and Tifa sat in a chair near a small window, looking out over the snowy landscape. Neither of them spoke. "...What did she say?" Tifa asked finally, breaking the silence. "I don't know what you're talking about." Cloud said calmly. "You know damn well what I mean." Tifa said, a bit of anger creeping into her voice. She shot him an exasperated glare, then looked back out the window. "Figures. You never tell me anything anymore." Cloud frowned, but didn't say anything. "It's like you want everyone to be suspicious of you. Do you know how bad you looked earlier, suggesting that we go look for Jenova?" "So you were listening." Cloud replied. "That's not the point Cloud! You can't do stuff like that anymore! Soon Barret won't be the only paranoid one around here."
"What, so I can't even voice my own opinion anymore?" Cloud asked dryly. "Of course you can! You just...have to be careful, is all. Especially since your outburst earlier today." Tifa replied. "You mean about killing him?" Cloud asked coolly, glancing over at her. "...Yes." Tifa said uncomfortably. "...Did you mean what you said?" Cloud stared at the floor silently, then finally answered: "I don't know Tifa. I'm...I'm scared. I think I'm starting to lose it." He looked over at her, his eyes widening with shock, and he leaped to his feet. Tifa sat in the chair, her head slumped forward, and a gaping hole in her chest. Blood pooled on the floor underneath her seat. "Tifa?" He said, his voice barely above a whisper.
She didn't respond.
"Tifa!" He called again, starting to panic. "What?" She asked, lifting her head up and looking at him confusedly. He clenched his eyes shut and opened them again. Tifa sat in the chair looking at him curiously. She was perfectly fine. No hole in her chest. No blood. Cloud slowly sat down and put his face in his hands. "Nothing Tifa." He replied hollowly