Final Fantasy VII

Memories Not Forgotten

Author's Note: As mentioned last chapter, I'll be skipping the battle with the Shin-Ra soldiers. The chapter will begin directly after the fight, then switch to the Turks and my antagonist.

Chapter 4

The End of One Journey

The massive blade swept through the air, twisting at the last possible second, so that the dull end could smack against the last soldier's cranium.

"That's the last of 'em," Cloud declared, slinging the Buster Sword against his right shoulder.

The battle was embarrassingly easy. After fighting far worse things, Shin-Ra troops were nothing to them. Injuries amongst them were little to none. The worst being a single gunshot wound in one of Red's hind legs, which was being treated by Tifa with several green colored vials.

"I thought Shin-Ra was finished?" Cid asked, as he stabbed the spear into the snow.

"They are, technically," Cait answered, "That doesn't mean its army is, though."

"Shin-Ra has an army?" This came from Cloud.

"Shin-Ra had an army." Cait corrected.

There was a brief silence, as well an eerie stillness. The only movements were the slowly falling snow, and Tifa's fingers, working a bandage wrap around Red's leg. It was here that Tifa began to think to herself.

Who was that odd blue-haired man? He didn't seem very hostile to her own party, but from what he had said, he wanted them dead. So he was going to use the Turks to capture them? The plan might not have worked, as they beat the Turks once before, during an attack into Shin-Ra tower to stop Hojo. But who's to say their strength, combined with all the troops would have been enough to overcome them? Who knew such things…

Vincent's voice interrupted her silent thoughts, "That man seemed rather odd. I could feel a great power coming from him." This caught everyone's attention, because all eyes looked up to stare at the cloaked one.

"What kind of power? Like materia?" Yuffie had asked, seeming excited. If it was so, then she could steal the materia from him. However, her hopes were shattered as Vincent answered her,

"No, something much greater than materia. More like inner power."

Red had waited until his leg was wrapped, then turned his head up to the others, "I felt it too. It was almost as strong as… as…" He hesitated several times, and eventually, someone had to say it for him.

"…Sephiroth?" It was Barret.

At the name, another silence fell upon the group, and only the wind whisking past their ears could be heard.

Cloud has his doubts, and he shook his head several times, "Impossible. No one has the same inner strength as Sephiroth. It's impossible."

"But didn' we just beat 'em?" Again, Barret asked. And again, Cloud shook his head.

"I don't mean physical strength, Barret. I mean inner."

Barret made another face, "I have no clue what you mean!"

Just as the blonde was about to go into a winding explanation, Tifa stepped in. She didn't think this was neither the time, nor place for such speak, "Shouldn't we be going? It's getting colder."

She was right. Even though it was nowhere near noontime, or even halfway, it was becoming more and more frigid. As if the earlier it got, the colder it got. Like it wasn't cold enough at night. But silently, everyone agreed, and began a trudge back toward the Highwind.

Many sets of footprints were left behind as they all made their way towards the ship. Even Vincent stayed close to the group, which was odd for his part, as he tended to walk further behind. Perhaps even he was succumbing to the cold. Or maybe he wanted to get back to Rocket Town, so he could detach himself from the others. No one would be surprised if such was the case.

No one.

"Hey, Cloud. Can I ask you something?" Tifa asked behind his back, deciding to ask them while not facing him.

Speaking over his shoulder, Cloud nodded, "What is it?"

Even as they continued walking, she still spoke. She was hoping not to draw so much attention that she caused the entire group to halt, "Why do you only use Buster? I mean, we have so many weapons in the ship, which have many more materia slots. So… why do you use a weapon with only two?"

Part of her worst fear came true; he stopped. But everyone else walked right past them, without giving them so much as a glance from the corners of their eyes. Though Yuffie did usher for the both of them to, 'hurry up, and quit being slowpokes'.

Cloud turned completely, and looked down at her. He didn't seem confused, angered, or anything. He had pulled the weapon from off his back, to show her two red crystals in the slots, near the hilt. "I've decided to rely on my own strength from now on, Tifa. I don't need loads of magic weighing me down. I carry only these two in case of an extreme emergency. I'm confident in my own abilities. Can you see?" He held the weapon closer to her, so she could better see what materia he had.

Squinting the wine colored optics, she leaned in as close as she possibly could. What she saw came to no surprise to her: Bahamut ZERO, and the Knights of the Round. True that they would not put a strain on his physical abilities, she still wondered why he chose these two. Maybe because they were the most powerful summon creatures on their side of the world.

When she nodded, he placed the weapon back in the strap upon his back. But never once did their eyes move apart from each other. Eventually, she broke the odd silence, by lightly stretching into the air, "Well, I also have confidence in you, Cloud! Who needs magic, anyway?"

All she got was a smile, but there was something strange about it. It was, in a sense, not like him at all. True that he smiled before in the past, though not quite like this. For one reason or another, a light pink tint came across her cheeks, "Cloud, I…" Perhaps it was the cold.

"Hey you two! Hurry it up! Cid says he'll leave you guys out here if you don't!" It sounded like Cait's voice.

Cloud immediately turned, and started towards the ship, "Let's go."

Silently cursing both Cait and Cid for ruining a perfect moment, Tifa nodded, and darted after him as fast as her attire would allow, "I'm coming!"

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"Damn it, Narak! What the hell were you thinking!"

The four of them had warped into a new area. It appeared to be a small cliff area, overlooking Rocket Town. It was much warmer than where they previously were. And since none of the Turks were used to teleporting, each felt slightly queasy. Not enough to forget their frustration however.

Whisking a gloved hand through the silky blue locks, Narak turned from standing out on the narrow end of the cliffs, to face three sour faces. "Whatever do you mean, Reno?"

Reno was so ticked, that his cheeks nearly matched the color of his hair. "You had us camped in freezing cold weather, with the intention of us capturing and killing Cloud, and at the last moment you show up and make us leave?"

"What was the damn point in all of it!" Elena piped in. She seemed to be the most angered of the three, though her facial expressions didn't show it. If that didn't, her fists certainly did.

"You are mistaken," Narak replied, once again turning to look out over the area. "When I said for Reno to take along reinforcements, I didn't mean to take half an army!" His voice was so calm. But the tone was one hundred percent frustration. Again he turned, now giving a glare towards the other three, "Perhaps five or six troops, as well you three and I may have not bothered."

Reno jumped in again, ignoring his anger and getting straight to business once again, "You'd best say you're still going to pay us." The answer he received was not the one he wanted, or expected.

"You don't understand, Reno. I said for you to capture Cloud, and his friends, and then kill them. Since you failed to do either task, I see no reason to pay any of you a single gil."

And right then, if Reno's blood pressure wasn't already high, it might have risen so much, blood might have shot from his ears.

"How the hell could we have captured them when you showed up and hauled us away! Do you want them dead or not? Make up your mind!"

Next to fume was Elena, "You should at least pay us for having to sit out in that cold weather for no reason! We don't do free jobs!"

Then Narak looked towards Rude, who had stayed silent, much of the time, "And what about you, friend?"

Deep down inside, the bald Turk wanted to lash out at the bizarre-haired man, beating him to a bloody pulp with his fists, but instead, his head shook twice. "…First, don't call me friend…" There was a pause. "…second, Elena is right. We deserve some money for being out there for no reason."

By now, Narak had lost all forms of patience, "It's true then that you Turks only care for money… how saddening." Still, he didn't hesitate to reach into the layers of his outfit, and pulled forth a rather large fat bag of brown leather, throwing it at Reno's feet. "There is two-hundred-fifty-thousand gil. You can split it up equally amongst each other."

Slowly, Reno knelt down to pick the bag up, only to find it was a little heavier than he anticipated. He didn't like the thought of having to divide such a large amount of gil up equally for three people, but it was a matter for some other time. Right now, they all wanted to know what this strange man's intentions were. And much to the surprise of the blonde, and the redhead, Rude had asked the question first:

"Why do you want Cloud and the others dead?"

But the questions didn't stop there. Next was Elena:

"You've asked me to search for any human or thing with J-E-N-O-V-A's cells in it. Why?"

Reno wasn't aware of what he asked Elena, but he still asked his own question:

"What's your purpose? There must be some reason for all this trouble."

All of these questions came in all at once, but they were all related to what his main goal was. And he decided to share it with them. After all, all he had to do was pay them more money, and they would keep silent. That was, he thought, the way of the Turks. Again, he whisked a hand through the sea of turquoise, before stepping closer to the Turks. He didn't want any random passerby to be near, and hear all of this.

"I want Cloud and the others dead, because they stopped the one thing I desired most: the end of the world. They defeated the Shin-Ra General, Sephiroth, and stopped Meteor from falling. Why I wanted the Planet destroyed is a secret I would not even tell you low-class scum." He paused just long enough to see the mixed expressions from them, but continued on. "When all of that was going on, I had been traveling the areas near the Northern Crater, looking for at least one of the clones birthed by Hojo for J-E-N-O-V-A's Reunion. All I needed was one clone, the smallest body part. A head, an arm, even something so small as a finger!" After the last bit, Narak turned and threw his arms into the air, and kept going.

"If I found one of these clones, I could extract J-E-N-O-V-A's cells from it, and store it in a safe place. I also wanted Cloud and the others dead, mainly for Cloud. Once Cloud is murdered, I would take from him what bit of Mako was infused with his blood. After I had both his DNA, and the cells of J-E-N-O-V-A, I would insert them both into my own blood. And that would result in my ultimate goal: to become another Sephiroth!"

The entire time, his arms had remained in the air, and as he finished his last sentence, a maniacal tone came about his voice, and the air around them all seemed to thicken. Once again, there was a silence, while the Turks took in his plan. Had he really revealed all of this to him?

Narak did not stop there. Again did he reach into his pocket, and throw another fat pouch before Reno. "There is an additional twenty-thousand for you to keep silent. That means you tell no one of what I just said…"

Picking up the other bag, and giving it to Elena, Reno only shrugged, and tried to act as if he didn't care. "Eh, okay buddy. Good luck with that or whatever…"

But Narak was smarter than Reno assumed. He could sense the need to run and tell Cloud of what was just revealed to them. "Oh, Reno… did you really think I was going to let any of you go after that? You can't trust a rat, is what I always say."

A sudden snap from Rude, caused Narak's body to twist around. The bald man came toward him at such fast speed, despite his large bulky size. Sudden crackling of energy and a pale light lit up the area in a flash of silver sparks. Rude had no time to react in anyway, as a sudden pain grasped his entire being. Reno could only watch as his partner was blasted with a string of electricity, connected by white orbs every two feet or so.

Just as Rude slammed against the bare rock, Reno had withdrawn his EMR from the blue jacket, and he and Elena tried to rush their opponent.

However, rings of dark purple formed around the other's skull, growing larger as they circled down his body, vanishing into the ground. This continued several times, until another flash of light left the Turks blind. When at last they could see, the rings were now around them. Reno tried to open his mouth to speak, but a sharp screech caused his head to split. Another flash and agony ripped at their chests and limbs. The rings faded, and both bodies thudded against the dirt.

To finish them off, he had hoped, Narak gathered a final blast within his palm. This simply involved a small energy sphere to over out near the fallen Turks, and it would explode, like a bomb. The blast itself sent the three soaring through the air, and off the small cliff. Narak only waited until he heard three thuds, before he vanished in rings of white.