Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the characters.
Previous night.
Vincent moved swiftly backed from wall to wall. The moon shone brightly through the broken roof of the Nibelheim mako reactor. The smell of mako in the area was mordant in the air. Someone had definitely been messing with the mako. Even though the existing town of Nibelheim still relied on mako, the reactor was filthy and corrupted. The walls of steel all rusted with holes, growth entering and twisting around the pipes. There was definitely something living in the reactor causing all the corruption. Vincent's un-clawed hand made its way under his cloak to reach for the death penalty. He wanted to be ready for any unexpected attacks. Vincent was backed against the wall beside the door that led to where Jenova was previously kept. Cautiously, Vincent tilted his head to take a peek into the room. Where the Jenova chamber previously stood, now was a massive mountain of skulls with someone or something crouching on top on all fours. It looked exactly like a bahamut, only bigger and in a more human form. Surrounding it were the other bahamuts. Vincent studied the room more slowly and noticed things looked like egg sacks were pulsing, green and in an oval shape. They lined the ceilings with what looked like pupas growing in them.
Vincent was felt the urgency to inform his friends of the bahamuts and turned to leave the reactor. Before he could take another step, a cry from the inside of the room was heard.
"The end is near! In exactly a week's time, these new hatchlings would have grown enough to strike at the nearby town." An ear-splitting roar erupted after that was announced.
'Apparently the bahamuts have gotten hungry.' Vincent thought to himself, making his way back to his spot beside the door.
"We will feast on the puny humans and rule their pathetic world in their place. We shall crush all who dare oppose us!" The voice bellowed among all the roars of the other bahamuts.
Vincent had already begun to make his way back to 7th Heaven to get the news to the rest. A week was all they had.
"WHAT YOU SAY VAMP?" Barret hollered.
"For the last time," Vincent seethed "I am not a vampire. And indeed what I said was true."
Barret, Vincent and the rest of AVALANCHE discussed, or rather, quarreled over the news Vincent had brought early in the afternoon.
Cloud's head was in his hands. He was definitely not ready for this. He was expecting a year or so before the bahamuts struck.
"This is too soon…" Cloud mumbled under his breath making sure that no one heard.
Although she did not hear his grievances, Tifa knew what was going through Cloud's mind. She too pulled up a seat beside Cloud to take a back seat and watch the rest of the team argue at the table. They had been though wars, battles and sufferings of many kinds. Lucky enough, they survived. But this time it may be different. Nothing was for sure.
"Tifa,"
Tifa slowly turned to face Cloud with her arms folded across her chest.
"Get the kids back in the house. We're going."
Without question, Tifa nodded and strode across the smooth chestnut colored floor and out the door.
Cloud stood up abruptly and caused the team to fall silent and stare at him.
"We need to set up a fort. We're gonna go into war." Cloud murmured eyes darting from one friend to the next. Cloud then turned to Nanaki who was sitting by the side of the table, rather deep in thought. "Nanaki, will you allow Cosmo Canyon to be used as a fort?" Nanaki merely nodded without facing Cloud.
"If this would save the world, I would do my best to contribute." Nanaki said before excusing himself from the table.
"Alright then that's settled. Everyone pack your bags and do some phone calls." Cloud instructed.
Barret was about to open his mouth to argue when Cloud interrupted him. "Barret, if you want to complain, you can yell about it later. I'm not gonna waste crucial time now and risk the lives of the people I love." And with that, Cloud turned and walked up the stairs, leaving an open-mouth Barret gaping after Cloud.
Cloud had gotten Tifa to help the children pack and he whipped out his PHS to make a few phone calls. Cloud packed much faster then them considering he wasn't so particular about what he needed, so he had the spare time to contact Reeve on the situation.
"Reeve, I know Vincent has already told you about the situation but I hope you can help me with this."
"I'll do whatever that's needed of me."
"Good. Cosmo Canyon needs more defense. So I was thinking if you could get your company to turn Cosmo Canyon into a real fort."
"Yeah, I got it. Anything else?"
"And contact the people of Fort Condor. I suppose they have more experience than us in fighting a war."
"I'm on it."
Within hours, familiar faces were settling down at Cosmo Canyon and making do with what little space the Canyon had to offer.
"Why aren't the other people of the towns coming?" Cloud was clearly frustrated.
"They weren't convinced that there were such things as bahamuts." Nanaki informed. "Even the people of Cosmo Canyon think this is a big joke!"
"They bet their sorry #!()! Asses that I'm not gonna save them if those monsters bite their heads off!" Barret commented in his usual gruff voice.
Ignoring Barret's comment, Cloud turned to Reeve. "Are the preparations-"
"Cloud, stop worrying. Everything is going as planned." Reeve put a hand on Cloud's shoulder assuring him.
The Canyon was to be turned into a fort with multiple layers of stonewalls with a village built around the Canyon. The people from Fort Condor agreed to help out with the construction and managing of the troops. With such short notice, Reeve had to hire mercenaries and equip the fighting squad of the W.R.O. for war.
In a blink of an eye, 5 days passed and the preparations were nearing completion. It was a night with a full moon and a decent breeze as Cloud walked along the deserted walls, his swords sheathed in his holster. He climbed up one of the stone outposts built into the wall and turned his sight towards Gold Saucer. Cloud propped his elbow up on the still and rested his cheeks on his knuckles. It was still shimmering and flashing like it always did. Cloud heaved a sigh as he was reminded of that date he had with Tifa in Gold Saucer.
"Tifa, I…""Cloud look it's all really pretty!"
"Tifa, I…"
"Ahhh the chocobos are so cute!"
"Tifa, I…"
Cloud just didn't know how to put it and every time he tried to put it across to her, his breath would just get hitched in his throat. Cloud ran his fingers through his blonde spiky hair in frustration.
"Tifa, I love you." Cloud whispered to the wind, as if hoping that the wind would help him bring his message to her.