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Chapter 8

Shade woke up heaving as if he had run a mile. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself. Shade turned to realize he was in a tent, Harper's tent it seemed. He brought his hand to his face to find it wet with tears and sweat. What did was the last thing he remembered?

Oh, he had been talking to Harper about something. And then…then he had felt pain in his head, as if something inside were trying to cleave in two. He remembered in his dream he thought he had died, but something told him he hadn't, he couldn't quite recall what it was though.

Shade leaned forward in a sitting position with his feet in front of him. He obviously moved to fast because a second later he head was spinning and he had to pause a moment before continuing to recollect his thoughts.

His body ached. He suddenly felt a hundred years old, although he was far from it. Shade lifted his hands from his face and looked around the floor for his belongings. All he had on was his black slacks and his black undershirt in the corner of the tent was all his stuff in a pile.

He felt under his shirt and realized his amulet was still there. He smiled. Harper knew to keep it on; she knew how important it was to him.

Shade crawled to his stuff and pulled on his boots. Standing slowly he stepped outside. A few people were sleeping while one watched the fire in such concentration they didn't realize he was up and about until he stepped right next to one of them, who had began to doze.

"May I join you?" Shade asked his wife.

Harper jumped awake as if shaken by a ghost. She looked up at him and had to squint up at him before she could see him clearly.

"Shade!" she cried, standing and giving him a hug in record timing. Harper pulled him away just far enough for examination. "For a while there we almost didn't think you would make it." She told him, hugging him again.

"Well I'm glad you never thought it then." He told her.

She pulled away. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you said 'We almost didn't think…'" he paused at her expression and laughed. "Never mind," He said, flipping his hand as if to dismiss the subject. "It was just a joke."

She looked into his gray eyes for the millionth time, taking in its intensity. She could always see his soul in those eyes. When she looked at them she saw rage and peace, love and hate, understanding and confusion, pain and suffering, as well as caring and concern. The thought of those beautiful eyes losing their light, well, lets just say it made her lags tremble.

Sometimes, if she looked hard enough, she could see something in his eyes that could let her know when he was in pain or when he had a headache. She could see the pain he was in now.

"What's wrong?" she asked, gripping his arm. She wasn't sure if his pain was emotional or physical, only that it was there. She brought him down with her to sit on the log by the fire.

"It nothing. I had a nightmare. Don't worry about it..." he told her turning away from her face; which had clearly told him that she didn't believe a single word.

She placed the back of her hand over his forehead "You have a fever…" she said in a serious tone. "I don't think fevers is caused by nightmares." She said, pulling her hand away.

"They aren't."

"So what's wrong then?"

"I told you. I had a nightmare. The fever has nothing to do with it. It's probably there because my body is still healing from the headache." He suggested.

Harper grunted in approval of his theory. "What was the nightmare about?" she asked aloud, wondering what it could possibly be that would make him act so unusual.

She didn't know what, but since he knocked out, something happened that made him seem different. The problem was that Harper could not tell what it was, or why.

"I don't remember it all. Only the important parts." Shade told her. "I'll tell you later." He said flipping his hand again. "Just get me up to speed about what's been going on. How long have I been out?"

"Well the healer got here around midnight, and I'm estimating it's about five in the morning. That would mean you've been out at least eight hours."

Shade ran his finger through his dark hair, which was damp with sweat. He paused "What healer? I needed a healer? From where?"

"Slow down." She told him "There was a town up ahead a good 15 or so miles. Cid and Barret went ahead…" Shade groaned, not wanting to know the impression Cid gave to the healer "…while we came back and set up camp again." Harper continued.

Harper paused, when she knew he wasn't going to interrupt again she continued. "She came and healed you. None of us knew what we were dealing with and Cid said last time he came through here he heard about a healer with a good reputation. We figured we would try it. She's sleeping over there. She said she had been exhausted after healing you a needed sleep before she left."

"Tell me about her." Said Shade his eyes on the stranger in the corner in a penetrating gaze that made Harper swallow before finishing.

"Well, she's a mage, both white and black, and doesn't even use materia. She knows a lot about the Ancients and your headaches, she came up with a better medication for you and said she's make some for you in the morning." Harper paused. "If we could get her to come with us…she would be of a lot of help." She suggested.

"Maybe…" he said, obviously having thoughts of his own. "So you're keeping watch while they sleep?"

Harper nodded. "As we were healing you Cloud and Cid almost got in a fight."

"Over what?"

"I don't think it was important. I believe it came from stress and everything. It's fixed though. Oh yeah…." She said, as if she just remembered something "Shade?"

"Yeah?" he said facing her, his eyes locking on hers.

"I…I told Tifa about us being married." Said Harper.

"You…did…what?"

Vincent had awoken a few minutes before Shade had come out of the tent. It was almost his turn for watch, considering him and Harper decided to split it and it was nearly five in the morning, he thought it was about time for his turn. Vincent loved keeping watch. It kept him from having to make excuses why he almost never slept, it also gave him time to think and atone.

Vincent had to restrain himself from smiling when he heard about Shade and Harper being married. He couldn't wait to tell Cloud.

"I didn't know how long it would be until you woke. And it was going to take forever before you actually told her. So I decided 'to the heck with it' and told her. She took it quite well I think." Vincent heard Harper say.

"What did she do?" Shade inquired.

"She fainted…."

Vincent could barely keep from grinning as he heard Shade's laugh from near the fire.

They had been walking for a couple hours after sunrise heading for the village Atlas was from. Atlas had gone on ahead to put up her gorgeous bike Cloud had been fawning over the night before and to pack so she could join their group on their journey.

Shade was still a little upset not meeting her yet. He had gone back inside the tent with Harper to grab a few more hours of rest while Vincent kept watched, Harper guessed Shade's laugh had woken him up in the night. Vincent told them when they woke up that she suddenly said she was going with them and to meet her at the village she was from. Vincent had no time to object.

They had all packed up hurriedly and went on their way only a few hours ago. In the rush nobody had had the chance to wake up fully, so there wasn't much conversation, other than stifled yawns.

"How long until we get there?" Cloud asked, apparently eager to meet up with Atlas again. Since he met her Barret found him unusually giddy and, well…weird. It was a little scary.

"Not long, about another half of a mile. I can smell the food from here." Cid told him.

"Food sounds good. Wait. Why can't I smell it?" Yuffie asked.

"Because you're a dummy head." Cid said.

"I…AM…NOT!"

"Yes…you…are. You can't smell it because I have a keener sense of smell than you. So that makes you a dummy head compared to me."

Yuffie opened her mouth to shout back at him but immediately closed it and folded her arms across her chest, pouting.

"Cid? Why are you so mean?" Tifa asked.

"Because I like being mean." He said.

"But why?"

"It's not really that I'm mean. It's because you're all to damn nice all the time. Well, not Cloud. He's just a pighead."

"Ok, you all need to stop. We are almost there. Could you please take a break? For like five minutes? Please? We are all still tired and hungry, don't make it worse." Said Vincent.

Everyone shut up. Not because of the fact that Vincent actually spoke, or he said he was tired (which everyone doubted). But because he actually said 'please' and asked nicely.

"Are you sick, Vin?" Cid said, gawking at him.

"Forget it…" he muttered, giving up.

"Freaks… Oh, I can smell the food now" Harper said taking a whiff from the air. A few seconds later they had all stepped out of the bushed into the bare town entrance.

Well it wasn't really bare, due to the fact that a group of people about the size of the town immediately surrounded them with pitchforks and torches of fire.

" Damn…there hadn't been this many people last night. And they had welcomed us then…" Barret said aloud.

"Silence!" yelled the biggest of them, moving his pitchfork from Tifa to Shade.

"Damn…" Cid mumbled. "What's your problem?"

The man glared at him, making Cid finally shut up.

"What did we do to you?" Harper said, grabbing the fork by its end with her left hand

The man suddenly jerked his fork backward, slicing Harper's palm open. She cried out in pain.

"Harp-" Shade said, starting forward but was cut off by the same man piercing him in his gut, as if trying to skewer a boar. Shade stumbled a little, and leaned back as if to fall on his back. A few seconds later Shade was standing up straight, with a glare that made all the men freeze.

Shade gripped the wood before the steel of the end of the fork, and pulled it out with his right hand. He looked the man in the eyes, making him force himself to breathe. The man saw the scar over Shade's right eye, crossed from the middle of his right brow down left to his cheekbone. The man gasped as if recognizing Shade and dropped his fork, the rest of the men did the same in dropping their weapons.

The big man, looking to Barret no older that 18, possibly Shade's age, Turned and ran.

"What was all that about?" asked Cid turning to Shade. But Shade hadn't heard him.

Shade staggered a few feet then feel to his knees alongside Harper, his head resting on his chest. Everyone stood in silence, as if waiting for him to collapse and die from the piercing through his gut.

After a near ten minutes his head came up again. He turned and gripped the back of Harper's hand and in a matter of minutes it had healed. He finally collapsed, Harper catching him before he fell.

"Hey!" they heard a woman shout. "Don't hurt them! They're with me!"

Cid recognized it was Atlas running towards them. "Kind of late for that, eh lady?" he said, when she finally arrived. Harper glared at him, shutting him up.

"Someone help me get him in a bed." She said. Cloud immediately jumped to the task, as well as Atlas.

"There's a bed at my place, about 100 paces from here." She said grapping him by his left leg, Cloud by his right.

"It'll do. Go fast, but try not to hurt him. I don't know how long he will last…" Harper said, trailing off.

"I know this place…" Cloud said starting off.

"You do?" asked Vincent following him.

"Yea. We all do…" said Barret. "I didn't recognize it the first time I was here, but I know where we are now…"

"Well…where are we?" asked Cid waiting impatiently to know what everyone else knew.

"We are about three day from the Temple of the Ancients…in the forest." said Cloud. 'Maybe if I go inside…I can see her again.' He thought to himself. 'We were this close the entire time and I didn't know it…'

"Hurry! He's stopped breathing!" called Harper to the two ahead of her, snapping Cloud from his thoughts.

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