SHADOW OF OBLIVION
IV. Captive Shadows
With an all-too-familiar surge of queasiness, Yuffie ran top speed up the steps to the main deck, sucking in a breath of fresh air as she headed for the railing. She slumped against it in a near-collapse, the chilled metal giving her some comfort as the wind whipped at her hair. She'd forgotten how much she hated flying, and aboard the Highwind in particular. Even worse was the smirk its captain had given her, once she realized she would once again be the unwilling passenger.
"Ugh…are we there yet…?" she muttered to no one, wiping the cold sweat from her face weakly. Gotta admit, the view's pretty nice, if nothing else. There was nothing wrong with actually being off the ground, or simply being at high altitudes—she'd scaled the peaks of Da Chao back home hundreds of times without a problem… it was just all the movement, and the commotion involved in flying. The bridge was the worst for her – all the shouting (courtesy of Captain Cid himself), the blinking lights and bustling about; it was all in all quite stifling to someone like Yuffie, who'd grown up in the more traditional lifestyle that Wutai had to offer.
Well… aside from her position as princess, of course, which offered certain… liberties. Her father, Godo, hadn't been at all pleased when she was summoned to Gongaga. Though he knew and acknowledged that the ShinRa family itself was no longer in control of the company, he nevertheless had no faith whatsoever in the futuristic technologies and newfangled ideas it idealized.
"'Keep to your roots, and the future grows tall'," she recited to herself in mild amusement, the old proverb ringing clearly in her father's commanding tone. At one time she'd embraced the notion, but when Wutai itself had become nothing more than a tourist attraction as a means for survival, her philosophy quickly changed direction. Of course, becoming a materia thief wasn't exactly a much better profession, but the ninja decided then (and still believed) that it was a necessary sacrifice of honor until she found a better way. Besides, she needed the gil! Materia ran at high prices these days, what with the halts in production…
That "better way," however, had certainly been found in Cloud and his companions. In them she'd found steadfast friends, and more importantly, ties to power. Godo would never admit to it, but upon Reeve's quick rise in rank after Meteor, Wutai and its people began to see better days than ever before.
Forgetting where she was for a moment, Yuffie stared down at the passing landscape and countryside, watching with fascination as the dark mountains surrounding Nibelheim came into view. Their twisted cliffs loomed high in the sky, daring the brave to trespass their pristinely snowcapped peaks. They were so different than the passes of Da Chao, which were fiery and alive, almost welcoming. No, these gave a much more ominous feeling, blackened and cold stone glaring indignantly at the cloudy skies above.
She could already see the small town of Nibelheim, possessively hidden within the shadow of the largest mountain, Mt. Nibel. Two years ago, it was little more than a typical small town, without much to do, and everyone went about the same business, the same time, every day. Very little of interest ever happened there, and they usually weren't too keen on the idea of outsiders, or the outside world at all. The mountains protected them from most worldly events; not even the return of Sephiroth had fazed them very much. Idly, the thought struck her that things might be different now. Reeve had proposed a network of sorts, an alliance between the towns and provinces to help in the rebuilding. As far as she knew, most had given a positive reaction; funny how it took a global cataclysm (or a breath away from it) to bring people together on such a wide scale.
Eh, but politics and politicking bored her to death. Life in Wutai bored her, particularly since her father enjoyed entertaining the notion of marrying her off and delegating managerial duties to her… She'd much rather be out training, or simply wandering around… large groups of people… sniffing for materia…
The ground grew nearer, bringing the girl back to her senses, and her stomach back to full spin-cycle. Groaning, she braced herself and leaned over the railing. Here we go…
.o.o.o.
"Bring 'er down easy, boys, nice and slow." Cid crossed his arms, watching the younger pilots scurry to carry out his orders. He was dealing with green recruits again, as per Reeve's request – the military needed to be rebuilt from the ground up, much like everything else, and the training of aerial forces had been passed all too quickly to Cid.
Like I don't already have enough to do.
They hit some turbulence during the descent, and someone panicked, slamming on the compensators and jolting the ship off-course.
"Dammit!" he shouted. "Perkins, stop bein' so jumpy or I swear, you'll be washing windows during the ride back!" A cadet jumped, squeaking in reply, and moved to correct his mistake. Cid took a long breath as his plane steadied, patting the console he stood beside.
"There we go."
"Uh, sir?" a blond youth, no more than seventeen, glanced up and tapped his headset. "I'm getting a radio signal from Nibelheim."
"Eh?" he raised an eyebrow, turning. Silence, and the pilot tapped his foot impatiently. "Out with it, kid! What's it say?"
The teen – Cid suddenly recalled his name to be Barker – jumped with the rest of the crew at the stern reprimand, and pulled the headset out of his ear. "Um, t-they're asking for you…"
Rolling his eyes, he snatched the gadget away and hooked it up to his own console, tapping the microphone experimentally. "Cid here, whaddya want?"
Charming as ever, eh Highwind? a voice crackled across the air with the sound of laughter.
He blinked, not sure what to make of the comment. Where had he heard that voice before…? "Who th' hell is this?"
Aw. Getting senile in your old age, pops? More laughter, then some strange noises, until finally a second voice took over.
Highwind, you and Kisaragi are to report to the inn upon landing. We'll be waiting for you there. The connection was promptly cut before the pilot could answer, his face twisted into an expression of pure confusion. "I've heard him before, too…" Shaking his head, he left the bridge with a few more directions to his second-in-command, who stepped up to take his place smoothly at his departure.
He knew exactly where Yuffie would be, and headed up to the main deck, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket. Noting that she seemed to be done revisiting her lunch for the moment, he relayed the message from below before turning back again, this time heading for his personal cabin. No sense in watching her get sick all over again. The notion struck that there might be a mess to deal with later, much to his chagrin, but he figured he'd set Perkins to the task.
Pushing open the door to his quarters, he ignored the relative messy state, locating his mobile PHS almost immediately on the dresser, beneath his pack of trusty cigs. Turning it on and clicking speed dial, he didn't have to wait too long before a soft, comforting voice picked up.
"Hello? Highwind residence."
"…hey."
"Cid? Is that you?" the demeanor quickly changed, and the pilot could nearly hear his wife's smile.
"Yup, it's me, Shera."
"Oh, it's so good to hear from you! How did things go in Gongaga?"
"Er… okay I s'pose. Listen, Shera… I'm not gonna be home for a while." There was a bit of silence, and he scowled to himself, not knowing what to say, and not wanting to tell her anything was wrong. Not yet, at least. "I uh… Reeve wanted me to do some training missions with the brats. Think you can hold the fort for a while?"
"Oh… of course! Of course I can, Captain! Take as long as you need, and have fun!" A chuckle rumbled in his throat as she fell into her old habit, but now he considered the address-by-rank as more of an endearment, coming from her.
"Uh… yeah. Sure thing. Be safe, okay? And uh… Iloveyou," he added as an afterthought, grinning in slight embarrassment. He was still learning to say such things aloud, and of course both of them knew he'd never do it in front of others.
A quiet laugh from her end. "I love you too. Don't get into any trouble." The line disconnected, and Cid let out a breath he'd been holding, his conscience burning with the lie. Then again, what she didn't know wouldn't worry her, and that was the last thing he needed.
The landing whistles sounded, bringing him back to the present. Nibelheim awaited, and maybe he'd finally get some answers about what was going on.
.o.o.o.
"LAND!" squealing her delight, the teenage ninja sprang from the steps leading from the Highwind and bounded to the ground, flopping to her knees and planting a large kiss on the dirt. Cid rolled his eyes as he followed leisurely behind, pausing only to extinguish the butt of his cigarette before continuing past her. "Damn kids…"
At first glance, the town appeared relatively unchanged. But with closer scrutiny, he realized that many of the townspeople had brighter looks in their eyes, and smiled at the landing party in gracious welcome. The main square, originally quite empty, now boasted a carved fountain in the center, and the shops had grown considerably in size and number. The roads still retained their rustic quality in polished cobblestones, and bright yellow chocobos still cantered over them, dragging carts of crops and tools close behind. It seemed very backward to Cid, but at the same time gave him a strange sort of homely comfort. Shaking it off, he continued on towards the inn.
No one occupied the lobby instead of the desk clerk, which slightly perturbed him. "Is this the right inn?" he thought gruffly aloud.
The plump woman behind the desk perked up at hearing him, giving him a bright smile. "It's the only one in town, sir. Would you be Mr. Highwind?"
"The only one in town," he answered with a grin, which faded as he received a rather confused look.
"I see… Well, I was asked to tell you to wait here a moment. Your friends will be joining you shortly."
"Thanks." Great. Muttering a good few choice curses, he dropped down into the main sofa, after a few minutes realizing that Yuffie hadn't followed him inside. Raising his head to look around, he didn't have to wait much longer before he heard a distinctive shriek outside.
"Of all the—" he growled loudly, throwing the door open. "Yuffie, what in the world is—"
Cid stopped dead, his jaw dropped open in disbelief.
"Heh heh, check this out. Old man's havin' a heart attack or somethin'. You'd think he'd seen a ghost, eh Rude?" With a smirk more infuriating than a cheshire cat's, a slender figure stood with one hand on his hip, the other balancing a nightstick on his shoulders. Thin scars underlined sly green eyes, wild red hair sticking up where it wasn't tied back at his neck. Behind him stood a much taller man, bald and seemingly expressionless behind a pair of dark sunglasses. They seemed out of place in lacking the distinctive blue suits that many had grown to fear in the old days, but Cid knew the Turks when he saw them. Obviously Yuffie did, too, from the way she stood frozen and gaping at them stupidly.
"Reno! Th' hell!"
"In the flesh, pops."
"But but but!" the ninja insisted, pointing a finger at them both. "You're like… DEAD!"
The redhead burst into hysterical laughter, clapping a hand on his companion's shoulder to keep himself upright. The latter raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, waiting for Reno to compose himself.
"Ha ha! That's a good one, kid!" Fixing his gaze on her, he strutted towards the girl, spreading his arms wide. "But as you can see, we're alive and quite healthy." He gave a conspiratorial wink. "Care to test it?"
"Ugh!" instinctively she pulled out Conformer, her three-foot shuriken. "Get away from me, Turk scum!"
"Whoo Hey Highwind, call off the ankle-biter, will ya?" he stepped back, still grinning. "I'm not here to hit on the little girl, anyway. You have a message for us, right?"
Finding his voice at last, Cid cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah. She's got it."
No one moved.
"Yuffie."
"…"
"YUFFIE!"
"All right, already!" pulling the folder out of seemingly nowhere, she threw it at Reno's feet in disgust. He gave her a mocking bow, at the same time kicking the thin parcel in Rude's general direction. The silent Turk picked it up, not bothering to brush it off before tucking it under his arm.
"Now then, if you'll care to follow us, there's someone we want you to meet." All of a sudden Reno's face had melted into a mask of professionalism, one that chilled Cid to see – it was one he remembered seeing before going into battle with the Turks, a memory he wasn't all that fond of. Suddenly glad that they were on his side this time (or at least, it appeared that way), he trailed after them, with Yuffie grumbling at his heels.
.o.o.o.
Knock knock.
"Enter."
The door to a low-lit room opened, and the group of four tread lightly inside, with Reno in the lead. With a nervous cough, he gestured to the two newcomers.
"Hey Prof, this is—"
"Cid Highwind and Yuffie Kisaragi. Yes, I know, you've already informed me of their arrival." A shape emerged from the shadows, and the first thing Cid noticed, aside from an impressive height that surpassed Rude's six foot three, was the strange color of his eyes. They seemed to glow as if from a mako infusion, much like Cloud or Vincent's, but he'd never seen a shade like his: a vivid, burnt orange, much like cooling lava. His hair also inspired curiosity; the man himself seemed quite young, and notably dark in complexion, but shock white hair down past his shoulders was the last thing the pilot expected to see.
As if sensing his gaze, the man met it, raising an eyebrow and sticking both hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"Erm, no…" he struggled for a believable excuse, "I was just wonderin'… what was going on in here, is all." Indeed, the room seemed quite empty, but he'd noticed that there were several locks on the door. A table here, some scattered notes tacked on the wall there, and an empty glass cage in a secluded, dark corner.
"Mm." He gave a strange smile, one that seemed unnervingly off-kilter. "Ah, but pardon my rudeness. You may call me Ansem."
"He's studying the Heartless," Reno added quickly, answering the unspoken question, but inevitably opening another.
"The what?" Yuffie had piped up at last, her attention fixed on the glass cage. Ansem stepped towards it, that odd grin widening. As he did so the shadows within the cage congealed, and glowing yellow eyes appeared, staring blankly out at its visitors. A hissing sound glided into the air, and Cid shivered with a sudden chill he couldn't place.
"This, my friends," the white-haired man announced proudly, "is a Heartless."
.o.o.o.
Notes: The Turks! I love them all, especially after watching Advent Children and Last Order. More Cid here, some Yuffie, and Ansem at last; he's going to be the most difficult character to write by far. It'll be some time before the next chapter… I hoped to get it done by this weekend, but we'll see what college lets me accomplish.
As always, reviews are most welcome!
Omega Light