Author's Note: I want more reviews, but I also want to post a chapter when I finish it, so here it is, a new chapter, but if I dont get lots of reviews I wont post chapter 6! I have it, its being held captive in my computer, its ransom: reviews! Review and I will release it!
The rain had taken a swift course of surprise against the group when they crossed the mountains to the south. Their chocobos had reared and pulled on the reins in a fit of anger and stomped their great claws into the earth with the force of a machine. Cloud and his friends dismounted and looked for cover, finding only a large willow tree, which would be good enough for the duration.After the birds were penned Cloud retreated to the base of the tree and sat down with his back against it. He tried to relax and looked up into its branches. Nothing was right anymore; this wasn't how life was supposed to be. Through great hardship comes great reward, or so he thought. He put up with tragedy his whole life; his father's abandonment, the death of his mother, Zack, Aeris and Cid, Nibelheim and now this. He had let Tifa down so many times that he worried she no longer believed he would rescue her, that he was no longer her hero; her knight in shining armor.
The rest of the group had remained as silent as he for most of the trip, giving him his space; his peace and quiet, knowing how difficult this was for him. At times they had all had their doubts about whether or not they would find Tifa alive, or be able to save her after Cloud had described what he found on the table where she laid and the stench that embodied the basement where she was kept.
He still felt a pang of guilt clawing at his insides. A guilt that stressed how weak he was, how he was unable to help her, how stupid he was for kissing her instead of freeing her. It was dark, he told himself, he couldn't see to help her and he was so caught up in the moment of seeing her for the first time that he was overjoyed and had to express his love for her in silence.
He rested his face upon his hand and had no sooner felt the sweet embrace of slumber when a spunky, high-pitched voice awakened him.
"Don't be sad, Cloudy!" Yuffie Kisaragi exclaimed. She had an innocent smile on her face and held up her hand in a peaceful gesture. She cocked her head to one side and giggled. "Teef will be alright, I know it!" With her last comment she bounced away, obviously trying to boost her own moral as well.
Cloud bowed his head and fell asleep once again. He thought about the passage of time and how the slightest movement could change anything on earth. What if he had bought one less item at the store? Would he have gotten home sooner and been able to stop the intruder?
He awoke uncomfortably, having slept late while the rest of the team packed and waited for him. No one dared disturb him, fear of a repercussion from the spiky haired man. He stood up and turned to everyone, trying to hide his apparent displeasure. He brushed his hair back and rested his hands on his hips, as he used to when the group had fought together over a year ago.
"Let's mosey." He said in a tone no one had expected. Today, he felt, was a good day, perhaps he would find Tifa, and perhaps he could go home with her.
Time was of the essence as they raced down the dirt road. No other chocobos were on the path, only cars, which screeched past them honking their horns and nearly hitting the birds. They entered a newly built city and asked to rent a van. The chocobos were boarded in a nearby stable and the team gathered into their new vehicle with Cloud behind the wheel, driving at top speed.
"I found something months ago I thought might be useful in this situation." The dark loner in the back of the van spoke up. Everyone turned to look at Vincent Valentine as if he were a vampire, which was, of course, ironic. "It's a small tracking device, I figure that you would want Tifa to take care of this sick monster when she is well again, and I propose attaching this to him so that you can find him when she recovers." Vincent handed the small machine to Cloud, who put it in his pocket.
Reeve had never been on a mission with the team like this and he didn't know just how to handle himself. He was afraid to speak; afraid to say something that would deem him an outcast. He had always hidden behind his puppet and though he knew what the other members of Avalanche were feeling during the mission, he didn't know how to act around them face-to-face.
"Yo Reeve, loosen up." Barret spoke up, nudging Reeve on the shoulder and awaking him from his daydream.
"Huh, wha?" he said, dazed and confused. Barret laughed and put his good arm around the ex-Shinra employee's shoulders.
Nanaki sat in the back of the van, curled up sleeping. His tail fidgeted from a dream and he occasionally growled slightly, kicking out his back paw at an unforeseen foe. He stirred and sat up to lick his paw, then brought it over his face to clean that as well.
"This van is really too quiet for my taste." He stated, as everyone chuckled.
Cloud looked into the rearview mirror at his comrades. Vincent sat shotgun in the passenger's seat, while Barret, Reeve and Yuffie sat behind him, with Red in the back area. There were six of them altogether, though still a large party; there was so much missing. An air of emptiness floated overhead, they were missing three of their most prominent members. Maybe that's why they had all come to help Cloud, maybe they were all trying to find that something inside them to fill a hole in their hearts.
There was definitely a gap in Cloud's soul. The other three members of Avalanche were gone because of him. He had failed all of them in one way or another. He had seen Sephiroth fall from the sky towards Aeris, but didn't stop him, he had seen the man pull the gun on Cid, but didn't stop him; he had held Tifa in his arms, but didn't help her. It wasn't a matter of whether he could have helped his friends, for any which way he looked at it he couldn't see how he could have; it was a question of whether he would have. He wanted to, but perhaps somewhere in that blonde, spiky head of his was a conceded prick, someone who was only looking out for themselves, not wanting they themselves to get hurt.
He shook his head in disbelief, never in his life had he put himself before anyone he cared about. He couldn't believe he had even thought that and drove on in a deeper trance than before, determined to prove to himself just how selfless he truly was.
- - - - -
Last night had plagued Tifa for hours. She couldn't get out of her mind the fact that the man driving had opened up to her, had spoken to her as if she were a real person. She didn't know what that meant, but she knew it couldn't be good. If something had truly snapped in the vortex of his brain, then she would be the one to receive his transgressions. Now more than ever she wanted to be swept up in Cloud's strong embrace, to feel his soft lips on her own, to hold him to her chest, stroking his hair and whispering into his ear sweet nothings.
The image she had of herself was fading rapidly, in her fantasy world where this tragedy had never happened, where she and Cloud lived happily together without intervention; she could see herself strong and optimistic, prancing around gracefully and holding Cloud's hand. Her hair was full and luxurious, her skin a healthy tan, clean and silky. Her eyes were aglow with the youthful optimism she had had just weeks earlier; on the night when Cloud had returned to her.
Now all she saw when she looked at herself was a mere shadow of her former self. She looked as though death had already consumed her; her body was thin as a rail, with pale ashen skin. Dirt was lodged between her overgrown nails and her hair lay tangled and lifeless, shorter in some areas than in others, with patches of missing locks showing her scalp. If she could look into a mirror she would be even more horrified for her once deep brown eyes had turned a dull shade and showed no hope of light in the two foreboding pools.
He hadn't said anything all morning. He drove in a seeming monotonous way, his expression never changing. He had had renewed love for the slender, deathly gaunt woman on his backseat. She had survived like no other could and he knew that that was a sign. He needed to marry her, needed to have her as his wife, so that she could not leave him but he would no longer need to harm her to get her to stay.
He was driving around the mountains towards Junon. There they would board a ship and dock at Costa del Sol, where they would rest for a night. From there they would travel to the Gold Saucer, where they would be married by the gaming commissioners reverend. He would move her to Mideel, a place where hopefully no one knew her or would recognize her. He could work and take care of her, and she would remain in the house taking care of the children they would have.
Mideel was the perfect place to live, he thought. Not too warm, but never cold and now that it had been rebuilt it was becoming a bustling city. Before buying a house he would have Tifa's hair cut and dyed so she could not be easily recognized, but then again, with all the tourists flooding into Mideel to look at the Lifestream Lake, there was a good chance that she would go unnoticed, or easily accepted.
The Lifestream had transformed the once small island town into a religious haven. People from around the world would flock there to gaze into the emerald green liquid, and talk to their loved one's that had passed on. Sermons were given once a week in the newly built chapel overlooking the lake. It was noticed that people were said to have passed out upon viewing the ethereal pond.
They were passing Condor Mountain as the sun set that night. The giant baby was nearly full-grown and watching over the tower as its mother had prior. The camp hadn't changed much, if at all; since Tifa had visited it the last time, back when Aeris was still alive. She could hear the screeching of the mighty bird and thought how wonderful it would be to be able to fly away at any given moment. Then again she also knew how the creature had felt when its mother was killed; she knew all too well what it was like to lose someone you love.
She had a fear of darkness; fear of what her captor would do to her, especially after his change of emotion the night before. Much to her surprise, he again left her be, only stroking her hair softly and telling her how beautiful she was, he fed her half of his sandwich and quenched her thirst with cool water. She didn't know whether to thank him or not, or what to say if anything for that matter; and just kept silent.
She awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and cars passing. They were on a main road now, heading toward Junon. She still kept down for fear of a beating but she knew that other cars were passing. All too often had she thought of jumping from the moving car; maybe she would die, maybe she wouldn't, but she didn't want to sit around and wait to die a horrible death. She figured that she would have to pull herself along with her arms rather than run, she didn't know how far she could make it, and knew that he would be able to catch her real easily in her condition, and that may result in something far greater than she had ever experienced with him.
Her other concern was the fact that she had no clothes. She was far too modest and shy to escape knowing someone might see her like this. It was hard enough for her to let Cloud see her let alone a complete stranger.
"Cloud," she thought to herself, "was amazing that night." She couldn't think of a more perfect person that she would want to lose her virginity to. She ran over the events of that night in her mind as a smile spread across her face. Maybe she could escape, maybe she could let her embarrassment subside for just a short period of time; just enough time to let someone find her and return her to Cloud. Anything was worth it if it meant she would see Cloud again.
So that was her plan, she would make a run for it, she just needed the right moment, and she didn't know when that would be or if she would have the courage or strength to escape. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw him quietly watching the road, with no emotion on his face whatsoever, only a renewed determination. He stopped that night about fifteen miles outside of Junon, in a secluded section of forest. He opened the back door and advanced toward her. Tifa's eyes widened with fear, "I thought he had changed," she thought to herself as she backed away from him.
She lay in pain, holding back the tears, knowing that he would soon begin to abuse her again. She wondered what his plans for her were, and why he was keeping her alive for so long. "What is he going to do to me?" she asked herself constantly.
- - - - -
With the mountains behind them all that could be seen was the towering monolith at the edge of the horizon. A great winged creature perched on the very top and cried out for the whole continent to hear. It flapped its mighty wings and hopped up and down as cars passed beneath it, the exhaust polluting the air and the noise aggravating the beast.
It would never leave its nest however. Its mother had made that nest years earlier and had guarded the mountain just as the offspring did now. It only left once a day, to fly across the ocean and catch one of the gargantuan sand worms that were burrowed beneath the Gold Saucer. It would return presently, eating its meal as if that would be its last. It would then sit on its legs, ruffle the feathers on its back and rest its great head behind one of its wings to fall asleep.
Something had happened recently that had broken the guardian's cycle. Perhaps it was the over abundance of motor vehicles crossing beneath it, or something else that none of its caretakers knew about, but for some reason the beast had been getting restless, and had even mistaken a human being as a potential meal.
It had flown from its nest in one swift swoop, diving beak first toward the ground and then at the last possible second before a crash was imminent it flattened out and rushed along the earth. It landed on the side of the road, towering over the cars below like a skyscraper. It cocked its head to one side and watched intently the small moving creatures below it. Its eyes darted from side to side and in one quick, fluid movement, it thrust its beak toward the ground and picked up one of the vehicles, crushing it with its powerful beak.
After realizing that the car was no good to eat the bird tossed its head to the side, releasing the terrified passenger's car and watching it fly overhead some quarter mile away, where it crashed into the ground. The bird screamed and flew over to the wreckage and began stomping on the mutilated mass of metal. It picked at the vehicle with its nose and found the remains of the driver. The creature plucked the man from the car and swallowed him whole, then promptly returned to its nest just as the gas tank caught on fire and exploded.
After the incident a great civil war broke out in the mountain. Supporters of a government revolution suggested killing the bird for its transgression, others, the local authority included, continued to remind the citizens what the bird represented: courage and loyalty.
The small mountain village was divided; a few terrorists even attempted to slay the great guardian but were apprehended and sent to prison. It had seemed as if the bird had gone mad, and some who supported the bird's death suggested that it might have gone blind.
"What use is a blind guardian?" One man asked, while shaking a finger in the air in the direction of the creature. He continued to rant and rave until a reassuring hand was placed on his shoulder. He turned around to see a familiar face staring at him. He immediately calmed and shook the other man's hand. "Mr. Strife…what a pleasure to meet you! What brings you to the tower?" He looked over the blonde gentleman before him to see the other faces of hero's, plus one man he had never seen before. He hadn't seen some of these people since they had come to the tower over two years ago, he had never formally introduced himself but had watched the band of hero's as they tended to matters of the colony.
"I was wondering if you might be able to help us." Cloud asked, shaking the man's hand in return. "We're looking for a friend of mine; you may remember her from our last visit? I was wondering if you had seen anything strange recently."
The man shook his head apologetically. "I haven't seen anything strange, or anyone familiar for that matter…except…" He looked up at the ceiling. Cloud's eyes followed but he could see nothing but the carved rock that supported the structure. He shrugged his shoulders when the man met his gaze again.
"Except what?" Cloud asked, interested. Maybe this man held the key to finding Tifa, he thought.
"Except…well, you see, our condor's been actin' real strange lately. He just sits on that nest and screams, night an' day, an' just a few days ago he killed an' ate a man while he drove towards Junon." The man put his hands in his pockets and bowed his head. He kicked some dirt with his foot and looked up at the spiky-haired man before him. "Can you help? Settle down the colonists I mean, they're all gettin' real edgy."
Cloud nodded his head. He accepted the task but also regretted it because it was keeping him from finding Tifa. He was lead up to the Governor's office and was greeted heartily by the government official. The man had jumped up from behind his desk and nervously shook the hand of the man who not only had saved the tower once before, but also the world.
"Mr. Strife thank God you're here. Our condor, he's not well, I'm sure someone in the colony has already told you the situation. The village is divided half and half. One side wants to kill the bird, the other doesn't. I was hoping that maybe you could calm everyone down. This bird comes from a great lineage, the last of its kind you know. T'would be a shame to lose it now; after these creatures had perched atop this tower for so many generations."
Cloud nodded in agreement. "I'll see what I can do." He sat down behind the governor's desk and turned on the PA system. "My friends," he began nervously, not really sure what to say or how to say it, "we all want what's best for the colony. You've all lived here your whole lives, as has this bird. You've grown up here, and so has it. We all make mistakes, and animals are no different. I urge you not to give up on the guardian, give up on it, and you give up on yourselves." A great sigh of relief fell from the governor's mouth as Cloud finished his speech.
Cheesy, the world savior thought as he left the tower, shaking nearly every townsperson's hand as he did so. This small side quest brought him no closer to Tifa, but did renew some of his self-confidence. He was able to help people, as small a task as he had to do; he was able to help them nonetheless. He now knew that he wasn't a total failure.
The word 'Junon' had stuck in his mind throughout the whole ordeal; it plagued him like a virus. "Junon" he said aloud for himself to hear. Vincent looked at him confused.
"Is that where they went?" He asked. Cloud looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know but it's a good bet." Cloud continued to drive through the night, reaching Junon in the wee hours of the morning.
"Do you think they're here?" Barret asked, looking around. The city had grown to enormous proportions since Meteor and Holy had collided. Most of the survivors from Midgar had fled their city and traveled to Junon, fearing small villages and wanting the big city life again. Junon was still a port town, where most of the world got its fish. Cloud and the others walked down the lower streets near the shore where he had trained the dolphin. He gathered his memories and looked out toward the ocean, seeing a young teenager sitting near to the shore, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, her feet just barely touching the tide as it rolled in and out. She had short brown hair, a slender body and was humming a sad hymn.
Cloud remembered the first time he had seen her. She had wanted him to help her train her dolphin. He remembered swimming around and feeling like an idiot, chasing after that animal. Tifa was sitting on the shore, with Aeris, and they were giggling and watching him make a fool of himself. It was one of the rare times he had seen them both share the same emotion; usually he was with one who would be happy, while the other would seem solemn.
The teenager turned around and jumped up, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. Cloud was taken aback and was nearly knocked over by her sudden burst of affection, but he returned her kindness.
"How are you Priscilla?" he asked. She let go and looked into his crystal blue eyes and smiled; a glimpse of the sun dancing in each of her eyes.
"I'm good, how are you? I heard on the news about Tifa…you must be so sad." She said, looking at the ground and shuffling her feet. Cloud took a step toward her and placed a finger under her chin, lifting it to his level.
"Hey, hey now don't be sad. Tifa's strong, she can take care of herself, she's not gonna let this bring her down." He encouraged, not only cheering her up, but himself as well. He was reassuring himself that she would be all right. Priscilla nodded and jumped into the air with a grin stretching from ear to ear. She bent one leg and tilted her head to the side, laughing.
"You're right; she's fine because she knows that you all are coming to save her!" She said in her most childish voice.
She hadn't aged a day since they had last seen her. She waved goodbye to everyone and trotted back over to the shore. She turned to wave once more and then placed her lips to the whistle hanging on a string around her neck. She blew into the metal object and immediately a dolphin jumped out of the water and into the air. While the water still tumbled off of it like a fountain the animal flipped in the air and landed nose first back into the water.
"Whoa that was so cool!" Yuffie exclaimed.
She stood awestruck in her place while the others walked towards the elevator leading to the upper city. Barret returned to tug on the ninja's arm, reminding them of their current mission. Cloud stopped at the door to the elevator and looked back at Priscilla.
"Priscilla, you haven't seen anything strange in the past few days have you?" He called to the young girl. She shook her head in apology. She knew exactly what he was really asking.
"No, but that doesn't mean she's not here. This is a big city, and its grown since you last came. She could be anywhere."
"Thanks, oh hey, when does the next cargo ship leave?" He asked, hoping she would say a few days. If Tifa and her abductor were here he needed time to look throughout this enormous city. He couldn't take the chance of them getting onto the boat to cross the ocean.
"An hour, I think." She responded, thinking hard and scratching her head. Cloud stomped his foot onto the ground and shook his head.
"Dammit," He said, "they're going to cross the sea."
