Lightning

"I think we went the wrong way somewhere..."

I have to agree with Cloud there. See, we're standing at the top of Mt. Nibel. With no trail down.

Not one damn trail. Other than the one we took up here, but it won't help us, as it leads deeper into the mountains and we're trying to reach the town. So that's a definite no-go.

I started looking around. The only things up here were rocks and some stray sheet metal, presumably from the abandoned Mako reactor. An idea struck me. My eyes met Cloud's. We grinned at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing.

A moment later a rather confused Vincent was yanked forward, as Cloud and I each ran up on either side of him and grabbed a hand. We flung ourselves down onto a wide piece of sheet metal and hung suspended in midair for the space of a moment before slamming jarringly into the mountain.

The sheet metal was far from perfect; we huddled together on it to fit, hurtling headfirst through the darkness, Cloud and I whooping gleefully. I help on tightly to the side of the sheet metal, which was bent up slightly to keep our hands from trailing on the ground. At least Cloud and I were each holding a side; Vincent had to rely on us to keep him safe. My hands were getting cut from the sides and I was probably going to need a quick Cure spell when we reached the bottom. I was cold all along my left side, my right side was warm from the heat of Vincent's body. We shot down the mountainside, feeling like we were falling into forever.

Beyond the edges of our improvised sled, there was no light, no sound, no world. We were all that existed in our bubble of space.

It seemed like forever before we skidded to a stop at the base of the mountain, sliding halfway down the path to town. Really, it was probably only five minutes or so since we'd jumped, which is still pretty long for a sled ride.

Cloud stood up first, eyes sparkling with mirth, and pulled first Vincent and then me to our feet.

"That was insane," Vincent informed us both flatly, "and idiotic. Had we fallen off that metal, we would have died."

I shrugged. "Jenova couldn't kill us. Hojo couldn't kill us. Sephiroth couldn't kill us. I doubt a scrap of metal is about to manage something that they couldn't."

Vincent shook his head and sighed.

"Besides, it was fun," Cloud added brightly as we started towards Nibelheim.

"It was kinda cool," I mused. "Like nothing and no one existed but us."

"...I suppose...it was enjoyable," Vincent conceded. "Somewhat."

He doesn't trust me and Cloud anymore when we start exchanging grins.