Don't own the characters or the places. Why do I feel I'm repeating myself? :)
Chapter three: Zoloms.
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Cid inhaled his lungs full of smoke and let it out with a long, satisfied sigh. They were out of Midgar and still alive. It had taken them a while to get to a town that was more than two farms within a mile from each other, but late last night they had arrived in Kalm. It was a small town, about the size of one of the sectors, but it was built of stone and wood, not metal, and the people seemed to be doing well.
Sun had just risen a while ago and woken the whole group. They had come down for breakfast and decided to plan their next step after it. The pilot had stolen a few moments just for himself and his cigarettes. Lately there seemed to be a lot more going on than just harassing Shin-Ra and trying to save Aeris's parents, and Cid wondered how serious this all was going to get. The president was dead, Rufus was taking his place and searching for the Promised Land and Sephiroth, who seemed to have plans of his own. With a shake of his head he threw the end of the cigarette away and went back in, feeling that this was going to get a lot weirder yet.
The rest already waited in the room where he, Barret and Red had stayed. The girls had had their own room. On the trip from Midgar they had already wondered if they should pursue Sephiroth or Hojo, or if following one would lead to the other. Now the conversation was back on again.
Red and Barret were mostly doing the talking now, the beast explaining his own suspicions of the whole affair. Tifa stood in front of a window and Aeris sat on one of the beds, reading again the report she had taken from the laboratory in the HQ. It stated, in Hojo's own handwriting, that he was taking professor Gast and the Cetra specimen away from Midgar, to his personal laboratory. It just didn't say where that was. But thinking back, Cid had remembered that Sephiroth and his friends had headed for Nibelheim when they had been hunting Hojo. Now that Sephiroth was back, and had been seen in Midgar, before seemingly disappearing again, they had come to the conclusion that maybe he searched for Hojo as well. But Cid suspected there was more to it than that.
"And since he killed the president, it's likely that he's out for revenge on other people as well. Maybe he is protecting the Promised Land or searching for it himself, I don't know, but until we know more of him I think that it would be more productive to try and find the professor and his wife." Red was just finishing and the others nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." Barret said slowly and turned to Cid. "Your turn now, what do you know of Sephiroth? You met him before, what's he like?"
Cid shrugged and sat down on a bed, opposite Aeris. He had mentioned in the HQ that he had met the man, and on the trip here had promised to tell the rest all he knew. "Hell, I first met the crazy bastard some five years back, soon after Nibelheim had burned down. The Turks were looking for him and telling some pretty lies to the Nibelheimers who had come to Rocket Town. I followed one of them to the woods and saved Sephiroth's friends from being ventilated with bullets. Two of them, a Soldier, and a blonde kid. The Soldier fella, he convinced me to take him back to Nibelheim, and the reactor, and of course I was stupid enough to do it. Should know when to say no...
"Anyway, he tells me that the General is in there and he has to get to him before something bad happens. The other guy is hurt pretty badly so we leave him with Shera and get on my plane. Damn I miss my baby..."
"Don't worry, I'm sure Shera is fine. And Marlene." Tifa said. Cid gave him a weird look, shrugged and continued.
"We get to the reactor, he gets the General out and we run, because Sephiroth set a bomb or something inside it. Sounds like he'd be a good candidate for Avalanche..." no one else laughed at his attempt of humour, so the pilot coughed and continued.
"As we're taking off, two Turks hitch a ride, the same ones we met at the HQ, and when we get back to Rocket Town we take them captive. Meanwhile Shera's found the kid's mom who came from Nibelheim with the other refugees, and they're waiting at my place. We lock up the Turks and sit down to have some tea, like nice, civilized people. Sephiroth, he's been carrying around this ... severed blue head since I met him, and says that it's his mother. The guy is nuts, I tell ya. Out of his fucking mind.
"I mean, he drinks his goddamned tea with the thing sitting on his lap! Thanks all politely-like and goes to talk with the Turks. The Soldier guy says that he doesn't have a clue what's going on and promises to keep the place in one piece while I go out to check what's going on outside.
"The problem is, the Turks brought troopers with them, and they're now going nuts, searching for their bosses to tell them how to piss or something. Useless lot... but they're searching the houses, and if they find three little Turks tied up in my garage, no amount of explanations or sexual desires ain't gonna explain that. And the Nibelheimers, they're out for Shin-Ra's and Sephiroth's blood. They're convinced that he burned the town and is therefore responsible for the deaths." Cid raised his hand when Tifa opened her mouth to say something.
"I know, girl, but the Soldier swore that they had nothing to do with it. It was Hojo's goons, or some escaped specimen, I don't know, but I trusted the guy. He might have been wrong to trust that fruitcake, but I think he was telling the truth.
"Anyway, I go back in and boom! The fuckin' General has left the building. Just what I needed. The Soldier goes to look for him. He comes back a while later, saying that he's found the guy and he'll come back soon. But before that, all friggin' hell breaks loose." He searched his pockets for the lighter and started a cigarette, ignoring the looks he was getting. He needed something to calm his nerves, even thinking about the things five years back made him nervous.
"The kid's mom... she'd talked with the Turks earlier, something about them wanting to find his son as well. They were telling her that he was a monster or something, and she made some sorta deal with them. I don't know what, but while I was out, she went to the garage and let the Turks free. And when the kid has some sorta crazy fit, they burst outta there and try to take us hostage or something. They start threatening us, want to know where Sephiroth is, thinking that we're hiding him under the bed or something..." his hands shook a bit when he shook the ash from the cigarette to the palm of his hand.
"The leader, I think he was called Tseng, he grabs the kid's mom and threatens to kill her if we don't zap Sephiroth there right then. Well, the kid snaps and... kills him. Just like that. One minute he's sitting on the bed, the next they're both on the floor and the Turk's bleeding all over the place. The two other Turks take off, forgetting us and Sephiroth, who comes in the next minute. We're all still trying to fuckin' comprehend what's going on, but he grabs the kid and demands information. Then he starts to boss us around. Don't get me wrong, someone needed to, we were pretty fucked in the brain. We ran to the Bronco and got the hell outta there, but the two Turks had found the troopers and they're shooting us. They hit the plane and we crash into the sea. The kid's mom isn't with us anymore, she hit the road when we go outta the house.
"Next thing we know, it's the morning after and we're floatin' in the sea, somewhere between Wutai and the western continent. No idea where, there's no land in sight. The Bronco was in pretty bad shape but we'd all survived. Sephiroth was still carrying that bloody head around, and seemed more interested in its well-being than for the rest of us. I spent a few hours fixing the Bronco before I managed to get her engines to work, and we eventually found land. We were somewhere between Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon, and spent the night in this small village which was the first place we came across.
"Shera and I shared one room, and the three guys had their own. They didn't leave it at all that night, I had to ask someone to take their meals up there. Wise, I guess, we didn't know how badly Shin-Ra wanted to find them. Shera's glasses had broken during the crash landing so we went to get them fixed, and I checked on the trio before turning in for the night. I think they were plotting what to do, where to go. Anyway, in the morning, they took off towards Cosmo Canyon, saying they wanted to get a transport from there on, and head to Nibelheim to finish their business with Hojo. The son of a gun was apparently keeping one of their buddies captive there. And I think it had something to do with the blue head as well. The General wasn't much of a talker, the kid even less. The Soldier guy talked a lot, but that's all I know." He finished with a shrug and shook the ashes from his hand. The others were still thinking about his words, fitting this new information to what they already knew of Sephiroth.
"But official records stated that Sephiroth died. I read it in the newspaper." Tifa said after a moment. The others nodded, it had been all over the headlines five years ago.
"Maybe so, but Shin-Ra owns the newspapers, so you can't rely on that." Aeris muttered, joining the conversation for the first time.
Cid shrugged. "I remember reading it too. It was kinda hard to believe, considering that I had seen the nutcase myself days after his presumed death. Very much alive. They headed to Nibelheim, but I don't know shit about what happened there. Maybe he died, maybe his buddies died, maybe the guy who killed the prez was some loonie who thought to imitate him. Fuck, I dunno." He spread his arms before leaning back to lie down on the bed. "What's the truth? Search me."
Barret crossed his thick arms over his chest. "Well sittin' here on our asses won't help us any. We need to decide what to do. I'm with Red here, we should forget Sephiroth until we know what's up his ass and try to find Aeris' parents." He looked at the others, one by one. Red and Tifa nodded, and Cid lifted a thumb up. Aeris smiled and looked up at Barret.
"Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your help so much."
"Nothin' to it." Barret said back, smiling a little. "You're one of us, girl. Avalanche don't have the habit of leaving one of their own like that."
"So where do we go?" Tifa asked, pulling her gloves on.
"..." They all looked at each other.
"...damn."
"Cid, didn't you say that, five years ago, Sephiroth and his friends went to Nibelheim to find Hojo? That he had a laboratory there?" Red said after a quiet moment when no one could answer the fighter's question.
The pilot sat up and nodded. "Yeah, well that's that they told Shera an' me."
"And if they were heading there after Nibelheim had burned down, there's reason to think that the laboratory wasn't destroyed in the fire?" The red beast reasoned, looking in turn at Cid and Tifa.
"The only building that survived the fire completely was the Shin-Ra mansion. That's why everyone believes that it was them who burned Nibelheim." Tifa said, thinking back. They looked at each other for a moment and nodded.
"Shin-Ra mansion, Shin-Ra scientist... hell, even a kid could put those two together and get the right answer..." Cid muttered and got up from the bed. "Let's hit the road, then."
Elena still stared in awe five minutes after the silver-haired man's back had disappeared behind one of the numerous twists in the caves. "That... that was really him?" She whispered and turned to her companion. Rude nodded. The blonde ran back to the opening of the Mithril Mines and stared at the huge worm, a Midgar Zolom, which the legendary General had killed and speared with a tree trunk. "And he can do that?!"
Rude, having followed her, nodded again.
Elena whistled and shook her head. "Man, am I sorry I never got to see Sephiroth when he was still the General! I only joined not long before he disappeared in Nibelheim, I never had a chance to really see him in action. I mean I heard the stories but they were the kind of stories you really don't BELIEVE until you see for yourself! Now THIS?! Why couldn't we have come out and see what the noise was? We could have seen him gut that worm!"
"Elena." Rude said and the young woman fell silent. Rookies. They were all so enthusiastic, but they soon learned... well, he had never been that chirpy himself, and the kindest thing anyone could have said about Reno when the redhead had been a rookie was that he didn't manage to kill any of his instructors... but from those who had applied for Turks after Tseng's death, Elena had been the most mellow one. That was a scary thought. The kid who they had recruited soon after Tseng's death hadn't lasted three years, and was now hospitalized in Mideel. Apparently jelly was the most exciting thing he could take anymore.
Elena seemed like an airhead, but she knew the rules by heart, probably better than he or Reno, and if she survived the first few years she might just become a top Turk. Rude wished he would survive those years as well.
The woman was now fidgeting, biting her lips together to keep silent, although it was clear she wanted to say something. Rude nodded, giving her permission to speak.
"Do you really think the Avalanche are going to follow him? Pass by here?"
Rude shrugged. Damned Reno. The redhead could have come here and answered all these questions, but no, he had to go and get hurt. "...they want to find either Hojo or Sephiroth, they'll leave the Midgar area through here."
"Yes, of course. But how do we know they're after one of them? And which?" Elena continued, her voice echoing in the long, twisting caves. Hopefully Sephiroth wasn't listening close by.
"What else would they do?"
Elena thought for a second before starting to sort the facts out. "Ah, I see. They want Hojo for his prisoners, the girl's parents, or Sephiroth for... well, my guess is that they don't want the president getting him. Maybe they think they're working together. If they know that Sephiroth is Hojo's son, they'll probably believe that."
Rude's eyes went wide behind his sunglasses. "How do you know that?"
"Know what?"
"About Hojo and Sephiroth? That is highly classified information."
Elena shrugged and smirked. "I'm a woman. We know these kind of things."
"..." Rude just stared at her.
"Nothing gets past us."
"..." He wished he was back in Midgar.
"Women's intuition, see?"
"...nothing gets past you, huh?"
"Yeah! Why?"
Rude pointed towards the Avalanche group who were running over the marsh with chocobos. Elena jumped and reached for her gun, but the bald Turk put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"Inside."
"Cid, you still have a bit of zolom on your shoulder..." Tifa noticed and hid her grin behind a hand when the pilot jumped and swore in disgust. They had made it over the marsh in one piece, except that they had lost one of the wild chocobos they had captured to cross it safely. The man at the farm had assured them that the zoloms couldn't catch a running chocobo, but one of the gigantic worms had jumped up right in front of them, when the opening to the Mithril Mines had been almost in sight. It had been a bloody and long battle, but they had managed to kill it.
"...bloody... son of a... godDAMNED!" Cid muttered as he picked the bloody bits off his jacket and nearly walked straight to Barret's back. "What the hell!" He exclaimed before he and Tifa saw what the three others were staring at.
Speared around a standing tree trunk was one of the zoloms, a huge one, bigger than the one they had battled. Blood still oozed from the long, clean cuts all over its slimy body.
"You don't think... it was Sephiroth?" Aeris asked quietly, walking closer to examine the cuts. Barret shuddered and turned away while Red followed the flower girl.
"They are sword cuts. If he is heading the same way, if he searches for Hojo as well... who else could it have been."
No one had to say the question out loud. Who else would be powerful enough to slay a monster like that alone. There were no signs of anyone else, no other injuries on the beast than the long cuts.
"How long ago?" Tifa asked, staying as far from the tree as possible while Cid lighted a cigarette with shaking hands.
"...not long. Maybe half an hour. No more than an hour in any case." Red said after a moment.
"So chances are he's still in the Mines?" Barret asked, eyeing the cave's opening, almost daring the General to step out of it.
"We won't know until we go in ourselves. He might have hurried on." Red answered and turned to walk towards the opening. Aeris shrugged and followed him, throwing a quick look at the others over her shoulder.
"Who wants to live forever..." Cid muttered and followed, Barret and Tifa at his heels.
The mines were cool, almost cold after the hot humidity of the marshes and the heat of the grasslands. There wasn't much light when they lost the sight of the opening behind them, but Red's fiery tail illuminated their path, and daylight streamed in here and there where the mountains opened or had holes in them. Monsters lurched behind boulders and behind the turns in the path, but they were easily defeated or scared away. Or already slaughtered by Sephiroth.
"He hasn't even bothered to stop to kill them, it's not likely that he's waiting for us" Red reasoned, sniffing and checking the corpses quickly.
"Well that's a relief..." Cid muttered and lifted his new spear, bought from Kalm, when a small rock tumbled down the wall not far from them. All of Avalanche looked up.
"...ooops." A blonde woman stood on top of the wall, on a path parallel to the one they were on. A bald man stood beside her, whom they soon recognized as one of the Turks. He seemed to be glaring at the woman through his dark sunglasses, but soon straightened his tie and turned to the rebels.
"...we meet again."
Cid swore as the others got ready to fight as well. "The amazin' Turks. And I thought this day couldn't get any better..."
"What are you doing here? Don't you have enough people to harass in Midgar anymore?" Tifa asked, flexing her fists. Behind her, Cid and Barret, Aeris and Red got ready to throw spells.
Elena frowned at them and leaned forward, doing her best to look intimidating. Beside her, Rude just stood still. "Our job is to find Sephiroth, and to keep you from our way!" She turned to Rude. "Was that right?"
"...Elena. You talk too much." The bald Turk muttered and stepped forward. "...Reno said he wanted to see you after the injuries you gave him are healed. He wants to show his affection for you all... with a new weapon."
"Gee, marbles... I didn't know you cared. And we wish to show him OUR affection by shovin' the weapon where the sun don't shine. Tell him that, if you survive us!" Cid answered back, trying to anger the man. Rude was unimpressed, but Elena almost jumped down to fight the blond. She would have, if Rude wouldn't have caught her shoulder.
"Elena. We're not here to fight." He nodded towards the Avalanche and started to walk away. "We will meet again."
"Damn it you're not getting away that easy!" Barret shouted and fired a round of bullets after them, but the Turks had already disappeared from sight. They soon noticed that the walls couldn't be climbed here, and when they'd manage to find a way up, the Turks would be long gone.
"Damn it!" Barret swore as they continued on. "We could have made them tell us where that bastard Hojo is... they must know..."
"...we'll find him. Let's go." Aeris said and started again on the path. She was disappointed she didn't know anything more about her parents, but was glad they hadn't fought the Turks.
Only monsters got in their way after that, dead and live ones, although they soon joined the dead. A few hours later they finally got out of the mines, on to the other side of the mountains that divided the Midgar area from the rest of the continent. There had been no sign of the Turks nor Sephiroth, save for the slain monsters.
They stopped at the cave's mouth for a small snack, and decided to continue for a few more hours before stopping for the night. Nibelheim was on the other continent, so they had decided to travel to Junon, from where they could catch a ship over the sea.
"But if we don't catch chocobos or get some other transport and soon, it'll be weeks before we're there..." Aeris calculated as they were getting ready to leave again. "Nibelheim seems so close on the map, but we can't cross the mountains, we have to go around them..."
"If we had my Tiny Bronco we'd be over that sea and the bloody mountains in no time!" Cid said and fell to thoughts of the small plane. He hadn't managed to fix it completely five years ago, and had been forced to leave it to the care of a weaponsmith close to Gongaga when Shin-Ra had gotten too curious about a certain captain Highwind and his whereabouts after the Nibelheim incident.
"If we do not find anything else earlier, I'll arrange for a transport from Cosmo Canyon for you." Red promised when no one else spoke, watching the sun that was starting to set in the western horizon. Somewhere there were all of their destinations, Junon, Cosmo Canyon and Nibelheim. So close on the map, but just now seeming out of reach.
"Thank you, Red." Aeris said and put a hand on his neck. None of them were afraid of the large beast anymore, he had proven to be a good and wise companion.
They had walked for almost an hour when the sky clouded over and darkened the whole world.
"Looks like it'll rain soon, we better find shelter..." Barret muttered and guided his Avalanche to a nearby forest. "We'll camp here for the night, leave bright and early. Tif', Aeris, you set the camp, Cid and Red, go get some grub. I'll check the area."
Everyone nodded, eager to get into the shelter when thunder crackled above their heads.
"Do you think Barret is all right? He's been so quiet lately." Aeris asked the other girl as they set up the tents.
Tifa shrugged. "I think he's just worried about Marlene. And we're all still shocked about what happened in Midgar. I can't understand how the president could do that, murder all those innocents just to get us."
"When a man like that has the power to rule over so many, the whole planet suffers. I just hoped Rufus would be a kinder man, but from what he said..." the flower girl shook her head and stepped away from the tent. Tifa did the same, and they looked at each other after a moment of observation.
"...we'll get it right after a few more nights out." Tifa eventually said.
"...we can hope so." Aeris answered, and they both started to laugh. The roar of thunder interrupted them soon, and they started to quickly put up the second one as the first drops of rain fell to the dry earth.
Cid and Red returned just after Barret did, carrying what they had managed to catch. The thunder had scared most of the animals into hiding, or at least that was Cid's excuse for the small supper. Still, it was filling, and after the long day no one had trouble falling asleep.
The next morning they were up before the sun, and traveling along the forest's edge. They hoped that they would reach Junon by tonight, or tomorrow morning the latest. Barret set up a hard pace, but no one complained, although Cid did curse his chain-smoking habit, when he had the breath to spare.
After noon they stopped for a quick meal. Barret and Red investigated the map while Aeris stared into the west.
Cid was just lighting a cigarette after finishing his share when Tifa came to sit beside him. For a moment the fighter sat in silence, frowning and obviously thinking of how to begin.
"Spit it out, girl..." Cid eventually said, grinning. Tifa smiled back and turned to face the pilot.
"Who was the woman?"
Cid frowned and turned to her. "What woman?"
"Back in Kalm... I just realized it last night. When you told us about Sephiroth, you talked about some blond kid, and his mother, who came from Nibelheim. I just wondered if I knew her. Nibelheim was a small town and a lot of people didn't survive the fire."
"Oh yeah, her..." Cid muttered and thought for a second. "Yeah, uh... I think her name was Strife. Ame Strife. Ring a bell?"
Tifa's face went blank and she blinked her red eyes a few times. "...are you sure?"
"Yeah, pretty sure. She might have been Jane, or something, but I'm sure of the last name. Strife. Kinda odd, sticks in the mind, ya know. Know her?"
"...yes. She used to be our next door neighbour." Tifa said slowly, looking confused and even disturbed. "But... you said, I mean, you talked about her son. Right?"
"Yeah. I think he was called Cloud. Not a name I'd choose for any son of mine." Cid grinned. The others weren't paying much attention to their conversation, and he wondered what was making the barmaid so nervous.
"And you're absolutely sure. You met him." Tifa asked, wanting to make sure she was understanding everything correctly.
Cid shrugged and pulled out a cigarette. "That's what I said. Saved his skinny ass from the Turks. Why?"
Tifa looked at him with an odd expression. "Cid, I knew Cloud. Not well, but we were neighbours. The thing is... he died. Must be seven years ago, at least. He was lost in the mountains, a monster killed him or he fell, I'm not sure. But he died. He couldn't be there five years ago. You must be mistaken."
Now Cid blinked a few times, the butt of the cigarette hanging from his mouth. "No way. Blonde kid, spiky hair and blue eyes? Looks just like his mom?"
"...that does sound like him. But I'm sure he died. He wasn't really popular around the town but everyone knew about it. His mother cried for weeks. Everyone helped her, brought her food and kept her company." Tifa said slowly. Cid shook his head and scratched his neck. Then he remembered something.
("...you are a monster... you aren't my son, you are a monster...")
"...oh hell. Now I remember. That's why she didn't come with us. She was convinced that he was a monster. The Turks had told her that, and after the kid killed that Tseng, she went nuts as well. Started to scream that the kid's not her son. They'd told her he was just a monster who had taken the kid's form, but she hadn't believed them, not until he killed the Turk. Yeah, that's right, she was saying he was just a monster who had killed the real Cloud in the mountains."
Tifa's red eyes went wide and she shook her head. "That's... that's horrible!"
"Hey, you don't really believe that shit, do ya? It's the Turks, after all, their job is to lie. But I dunno, the kid was kinda odd. But anyway, he was alive when I met him. Don't know about either the mother or the son, if they're alive now or not. Guess we'll never know."
"What the hell?!" Barret's shout interrupted their conversation, and the two turned to look at their leader who had stood up and looked wildly around. "Where the hell did my materia go?! I put them to the ground so I can clean my gun and now it's all gone!"
Tifa and Aeris got up and started to search the grassy ground. Cid just snorted and leaned back to watch the sky. Red sniffed the ground, looked up and jumped into the nearby bushes.
"When you gotta go you gotta go..." Cid muttered but sat up in a flash when they heard a shrill scream from where the beast had landed. The pilot jumped up and ran to the others who were just about to follow Red when a short girl ran from the forest, straight to Barret's chest. She bounced off and fell to the ground, materia flying all around. Red stuck his grinning face from the bushes.
"I found your materia, Barret."
The Avalanche gathered around the girl who was rubbing her head and starting to sit up. She squinted as she looked up. "Oh. Hello there."
"Who the hell are you and what were you doing with my materia?" Barret just about shouted, trying to scare the thief, but the girl just lifted an eyebrow and started to clean the dirt from her clothes. She was dressed in a green army tank top and light brown shorts, with strange pieces of armour strapped to her arms and legs.
"Who the hell are you to shout at a lady like that?! And to stand like some jerk so that people run into ya and hurt themselves! You could at least apologize!" She stood up and lifted a hand to her hip, staring up at Barret who was at least a foot or two taller.
The gun-armed man stared at the little girl and almost puffed with anger while Tifa and Aeris did their best to keep from smiling too widely. Cid chuckled and rested a hand on Red's shoulders.
"Well, Barret, you heard her. Apologize." The pilot said, grinning when the larger man glared at him.
"I won't apologize to no thief who just tried to take off with my materia!" He turned back to the girl. "Why the hell are you going around stealin' stuff from other people?"
"You wanna fight me, old man?" The thief said, standing on her toes, glaring at Barret. Now Cid and the girls did laugh, and Red shook his head.
"WHAT?! Me fight an ickle thing like you?! You're joking, girl! Now get the hell outta here before I'll kick yer ass all the way to Junon!" Barret roared into the girl's face, managing to intimidate her.
But not for long. "Aww you're just scared of me. Admit it, old man. You don't think you're any kind of match for me!"
Barret blinked a few times, an unreadable expression on his face, and lifted his human hand. "Git goin'!"
The girl jumped away just before the hand made contact with her behind and ran to a shouting distance from the large man and his laughing comrades.
"You can't fool yourself forever, old man! It just so happens that I'm headin' to Junon myself, whadda ya say I join you old folks and guard your achin' backs for you? For only two hundred gil a day!" She shouted when the Avalanche gathered their things and materia and started towards Junon.
"In your dreams, sugarmuffin'!" Cid shouted back, still laughing. The girl stomped her foot and made a rude gesture.
"Your loss, jerks!"
"Maybe she's afraid to travel alone..." Aeris suggested quietly to Barret who just made an angry sound and walked away faster. Cid followed the man, patting the flower girl on the shoulder.
"Maybe we should let her join us, at least until we get to Junon." Red said, walking after the pilot.
Aeris and Tifa took off last, but not before gesturing to the girl to follow them. She pretended for a moment that she didn't see them but soon ran to catch up with the other girls.
"I'm Yuffie! Good to meetcha!" She said with a wide, tomboyish grin and skipped alongside them. Aeris and Tifa introduced themselves.
"You're free to travel with us to Junon, but we won't pay you." Aeris said, smiling. Yuffie shrugged.
"Never mind. I just won't save your sorry asses when a monster attacks. You can beg for my help all you want, but no money, no help. That's the way it's gonna be. Your loss, like I said." She explained, smiling all along.
Yuffie proved to be a big help when they arrived in Junon the next morning, and they didn't even have to pay her.
They soon learned that the small town they arrived in was just a slum to the Shin-Ra town that rested above it, and no one but Shin-Ra personnel or someone who lived up there would get in easily. But the thief found an old entrance, built and used when the town had been built, and they managed to slip into the new town through it.
The tunnel's other end opened up in a storage room of the Soldier academy's Junon branch. The good news was it was full of spare uniforms, and the whole Avalanche, plus Yuffie, disguised themselves as normal troopers of the Shin-Ra army, figuring that they'd attract less attention.
"This... is most uncomfortable..." Red muttered as he did his best to stand on two legs to look like a human. The helmet's visor hid his canine face, but the long tail and its fiery tip kind of gave the disguise away.
"Don't worry, Red, you look just like a human." Aeris said and turned away, trying not to laugh as the beast wobbled and set his front paws on Cid's shoulders, trying to stay standing. He looked more convincing than the pilot did, considering that Cid looked as scruffy in the uniform as Reno did with his suit. Tifa mentioned the resemblance, making the blond swear.
"The difference between me and that numbskull is that I make this Shin-Ra shit look good."
"Don't bet on it..." Yuffie muttered, peeking out of the door. "The coast is clear, move your old asses, people!"
Once they got out of the storage area they could hear loud music coming from outside. Trying to blend into the crowd of Soldiers and troopers running around, they soon found out that Rufus Shin-Ra was in town. The new president would greet the troops and head off over the sea. Hearing that seemed to confirm the Avalanche's path.
"If he's gonna cross the ocean, it's sure that whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen there." Barret muttered, thinking of how he could get a chance to pay his respects to the president.
"Maybe he's going to meet Hojo..." Aeris thought aloud.
"Maybe Sephiroth has crossed the ocean as well..." Tifa reasoned.
Cid poked them in the back with the butt of his spear. "Whatever the reason, we gotta get on the same boat, we don't want to lose time thinkin' about it. Move it."
"Yeah, what the old geezer said." Yuffie whispered and snuck out to the street. The others followed her, joining the people who had come to see Rufus Shin-Ra. A commander gave them orders to join the parade, but the group took off as soon as the man's attention was off them. They visited a few shops, got some more potions and new weapons, and followed the groups of people to the harbour.
Rufus was just watching the military's send off routine with Heidigger, which gave the Avalanche a golden opportunity to slip into the ship's cargo hold just before it closed.
The ship took off not twenty minutes after that, and the small group got ready to play their parts as Shin-Ra troopers, so that they could walk around the ship without raising suspicions.
"This is it. There ain't getting off this train we're on anymore. We'll reach the new continent, even if we're dressed as the enemy..." Barret said as they all watched the eastern continent disappear into the horizon.
A.N: petting a bruised Zax's hair: "There, you were mentioned. Happy?"
Zax growls.
"Aww don't be so grumpy... whaddaya say we make Seph strip in the next chapter, if we get reviews?"
The Soldier transforms into Mr. Sunshine. "Yeah baby!"