"And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10And he said, What hast thou done?" (Genesis 4:9-10)
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The moonlight glistened off the dew that had settled on the sparse foliage around Costa del Sol. In the east, the sky was just revealing the first gray streaks of the dawn, partially obscured by dark clouds gathering. It was quiet, as it always is in the hour before the dawn.
Swift and quiet as the shadows themselves, two figures stepped out of the Red Bubbly Mog and looked around in the cool, weak light.
"Looks like rain," Anyun said under his breath, looking up at the clouds. He reached into the bag on his back and pulled out a pair of goggles. "You sure this is a good idea, kid?"
Cloud paused for a second, glancing back at him.
The moonlight caught the tips of his blond hair, making them seem like that part of his head was glowing. A gentle, chill wind flowed through and ruffled their clothes away from them as they both went down the steps, making the cover on his leg and Anyun's long jacket dance in the shimmer of the moon.
"Yeah," Cloud said softly. "Never know what might happen."
"Seemed kind of reluctant to come with us," he added, walking with Cloud to his motorcycle. "He didn't seem to keen on the idea of going anywhere near Gongaga."
"He did say it was a suicide mission to go there," Cloud reminded him as they neared the garage.
"Yeah. Whatever he decides, we're still going ahead with or without him." He jabbed a gloved hand away from the inn towards another part of the city. "I'll be a second. I'll grab Mule and get 'er over here and damned be that merchant if he's late."
Cloud nodded and watched the tall figure of Anyun melt into the shadow of a building.
He continued around the inn to retrieve Fenrir. He was once again clad in his SOLDIER's clothing and his Tsurugi harness was strapped to his back. In the faint light of the dawn and the reflections of the moonlight around him, everything almost seemed to be moving in a dreamlike state, fueled by the sleeping inhabitants of the bustling city.
As he neared his motorcycle, he noticed that something small was resting on the seat of Fenrir. Since it was in the shadows of the inn, he slowed his walk and stepped forward, never taking his eyes off the little lump on his motorcycle.
The little thing suddenly raised her head and looked at him, wondering why he disturbed her from her sleep. She yawned, showing him her teeth and the pinkness of her mouth, and stretched her paws out on the seat of Fenrir as Cloud came closer.
"You almost scared me there, cat," he said, petting her marmalade head and listened to her purr. "But you can't stay there."
The cat meowed at him, looking back at him with the same vibrancy in her eyes as his.
"No. I can't take you with me. It's too dangerous for a kitty like you."
Purring loudly, she leaned into his touch, demanding that he pet her and winning over his affections like only a cat or dog could to a person. She meowed softly as he reluctantly chuckled and pet her head.
She suddenly turned at stared into the darkness where the light of the dawn hadn't reached yet and stopped making any noise, ears perked and funneled to the trees.
Cloud could sense it as well. Something was lurking in the trees and he could tell that it was watching them.
He stopped petting the cat, giving her the chance to leave but, to his surprise, she stayed lying flat on the motorcycle, staring into the trees and absolutely motionless.
Slowly, he moved his hand to the trigger mechanism on Fenrir to open the compartments where the blades of his Tsurugi were stored. Gently, he said to the cat under his arm, "I'm just going to open this up so please don't scratch my eyes out."
He was leaning over Fenrir with his hand right on the mechanism, eyes never leaving the trees and the cat never leaving her place, when a monster of strange proportions crawled out of the darkness.
It crawled out on two huge barrels of arms, muscular and long. They ended in stumps instead of conventional hands and wrists with seven short but strong stubby fingers that were adorned with thick, sharp claws. Its elbows were held at almost 90 degrees and had a fierce claw jutting out at the angle.
It had no legs but a long, powerful tail that dragged along the ground with its body that ended in a pair of heavy spikes that grew out of the end.
But the most ferocious part of the monster was its mouth. It was compact but its teeth were always shown. Two fangs grew out of its bottom jaw with rows of razor sharp teeth lining its mouth. Giant nostrils sat above it, followed by a pair of beady, slit eyes that glared at them, bloodshot and void.
The cat glared at the monster, puffing up her fur to look three times her actual size.
The monster glared back, uttering a low, guttural growl with saliva and blood slowly dripping down from its fangs. It suddenly rushed towards Cloud and the cat, rumbling the ground underneath them.
Cloud instantly activated the mechanism and the compartments shot out, causing the cat to jump and yowl in surprise. He quickly yanked out one of the switchblade swords and jumped away from Fenrir and the cat.
To his horror, the monster didn't follow him and kept pounding its way to the terrified kitty, its dead eyes locked on and jaws opening to swallow the cat up in a flurry of white and orange fur.
He rushed back, kicking off the base of a tree next to him, sword bared. Racing against the monster to reach the cat, he reached out and wrapped his arm protectively around the orange animal and delivered a strong underhanded slash to the monster.
It let out a deep, resounding growl at the pain Cloud dealt, having many of the bones within its skull shattered by the blade.
Quickly jumping backwards, away from Fenrir and its precious cargo and with the cat firmly in his arms, he lured the monster into the middle of the road.
"Come on," he muttered, flipping his sword around him into a good attack stance, reflecting the rays of the rising sun.
Blood oozing out of its nostrils and mouth, it stomped towards him. One, two steps with its thundering arms and it leaped into the air, tail thrashing behind it, jaws open with its fetid stench rushing at him and the cat in his arms.
He had just raised his sword when a muffled gunshot blast echoed around them and the monster slammed into the wall beside Cloud, splattering blood and saliva on him. The creature slowly dissolved into nothingness, like all undead monsters did, showing each layer of its dead sinew and bone before disappearing completely.
Holding a smoking shotgun, Mik was leaning on the overhead bar of Anyun's vehicle that he so lovingly named Mule. Almost indistinguishable from the image Cloud had first seen him, Mik was now strapped up with ammunition for his shotgun and the extra pack in the back of Mule undoubtedly had more weaponry for them to use.
A streak of silver above his right eye highlighted the rest of his graying head that contrasted with the youthful grin Mik was giving Cloud.
"Found a new pet?" he called over. Wrinkles showed around his eyes.
Cloud set the cat down on the ground, his arm scratched up from her clawing and went to get on Fenrir. He gasped when he felt the cat paw at his pant cloth, trying to climb up onto his lap to go with him.
"I'd sure as hell say he did," Anyun growled. "It's not coming with us!"
Holding her snug in his arm, he slowly drove to Mule and held her out to Anyun. "You try telling her that yourself and see what happens. I tried and it didn't work."
Without hesitating, the orange cat leapt from Cloud's hand and dropped into the car, firmly planting herself in the backseat and gaining many stares from the three men. She looked straight at Anyun and meowed, as if to tell him that she was going with them.
"… You heard her," Mik said, sitting back down. "Let's go."
Anyun growled and got out of the car with a slam. He grabbed the cat and distinctly told her, "You're not comin' with us, kitty. You'll just get in the way so get out of here and leave us alone!"
He dropped her at the doorstep of the Mog and headed back to Mule only to see a streak of orange rush by him and jump into the car. "What the…! You damn cat, get out of there!"
"Anyun," Cloud called over, "just leave her be. She probably travels all over the world like this so she'll leave us when she's good and ready. It's not like we need to keep a constant watch over her."
"Bloody hell from here to damnation," grumbled Anyun as he climbed back into Mule and put it in gear.
Mik climbed into the backseat and sat next to the cat while Anyun drove out of Costa del Sol, following Cloud's wake of dust. He rummaged through his bags for something while the cat lay on the seat, watching him with her large green eyes.
"I have just the thing for you, cutie," Mik said, going through a smaller bag he withdrew from the back. "It might even come in handy for you someday."
She gingerly got to her feet in the rocking car and sniffed the bag in his arms, curious.
"Ah!" He pulled it away from her, getting a slightly offended look from her. "It's a surprise, cutie. Just wait a bit." He continued looking through the bag while she looked on, still pawing at the bag.
"Found it!" He pulled out a thick silver ring with what looked like small rubies and emeralds embedded into the band. "This is a magical item, cutie. I managed to barter it off of a merchant way out near Fort Condor. But now that I look at it, I don't know if it'll fit on your paw or your tail, it's so big… But let's see anyway."
Carefully, he slid the ring onto her thin, waving tail and watched in amazement as the ring sparkled in the morning sun and stayed around her tail without touching her fur.
Anyun glanced back and saw the ring levitating on the cat but said nothing. Guess she's not a normal cat, is she?
"We still have to name you, don't we, cutie?" Mik cooed to the cat while petting her.
Anyun just rolled his eyes behind his goggles and picked up speed to match Cloud's. He yelled over, "He's naming your cat!"
Cloud simply glanced back at Mik, who shrugged and called back, "I guess I'll wait until we stop and we can all decide?"
Shaking his head, Cloud revved up Fenrir and tore off into the sandy lands beyond the cities through the region of Corel.
Here was where the activity of the world gathered and where all forms of life thrived. Birds of all sizes soared through the skies without a care and the lush green fields held the animals of the earth close. The sun bathed them all, creatures of innocence and beasts of lore, in its warmth while the clouds brought shade and refreshing rain to replenish the spirits of all.
Cloud rode through the land with Anyun, Mik and the little cat behind in Mule like he was gliding over the roads.
Fenrir seemed to part the fields of green with trailing clouds of dust as it flew down the roads, familiar with the path and the surroundings. Creatures of all sorts looked up at them as they passed, curious about the lives of others before settling back into their own. A trio of wolf cubs came running by them, enjoying the harmless chase and following them for a while before their mother called them back with a majestic howl.
They had stopped a little way off the road in a forest for the night and were eating some of the provisions they had secured in Costa del Sol when Cloud brought something up.
"For a merchant, you have a pretty good aim," he said to Mik, feeding the cat on his lap with some jerky. "And I guess you're not quite as old as you made it seem on that boat."
"Not quite," chuckled Mik. "I get that a lot."
"How old are you?"
"Old enough to get around by myself, young enough to fight off monsters by myself with this," he replied and patted his double-barreled shotgun. "It has kept me safe ever since I left home as a merchant and I'm hoping it will keep me safe at Gongaga."
"You're awfully vague about yourself, merchant," Anyun said. "Sounds to me like you've got something to hide."
Perhaps it was just the dim lighting of the night and the dancing flames of the campfire, but Cloud thought he saw something flicker in Mik's eyes; something that wasn't quite normal for a human. The fire cast a glow over them all, tinting everything around it with a golden-red light.
Nevertheless, Mik just gave a quiet smile and said, "Don't we all? You speak like those in North Corel yet you look somewhat like those who come from the south."
Anyun simply looked at Mik with his piercing dark eyes that looked like pools of black in the darkness. Mik looked back, barely fazed by his intimidation. "Guess we all have something to hide, hmm?"
"I guess we do," Anyun said quietly into the scarf around his neck.
The trees rustled around them in the wind. Cloud stroked the cat in his arms, hoping that he wouldn't have to someday stop a fight between the two. The tension between the two, especially on Anyun's part, could be problematic for them in the future in his mind.
The trees rustled a second time and, with his keener senses, Cloud caught a glimpse of something in the branches.
He stared up at the branches, stars and the fire reflected in his intensely blue eyes.
"Now, the kid over there has some open secrets for everyone to see," Anyun said. "Only those specially treated with mako have eyes that glow like that. Look like the cat's eyes, don't they?"
Mik nodded. "How long has it been since you got it, Cloud?"
He didn't answer and kept looking at the trees. Even the cat was looking up at the trees with him.
"Cloud?"
Gently taking the cat in his arms, he got up, walked close to a tree with dense branches and foliage and stood under it, still looking up. Unheard by both Anyun and Mik, the slightest squeal could be heard.
"Yuffie, get out of the tree and you can say hello to the cat," Cloud said and walked back with the cat still in his arms.
The young Wutai ninja girl immediately dropped out of the tree and ran straight to Cloud, almost knocking him down in efforts to get the cat. "She is so CUTE!"
Taking the cat into her arms and smothering her with affection and kisses, she completely ignored the two other men sitting next to the fire and the fact that she nearly sent Cloud flying into the ground.
"You are so absolutely adorable!" She gushed to the cat, who was purring. "I wish I could take you home and call you my own but Vincent and Reeve wouldn't like that, would they? No, he wouldn't! But everyone else would! Yes, they would! Aren't you such a pretty kitty? Yes, you are!"
Apparently, Yuffie has a soft spot for cats, Cloud thought in amazement to himself.
Finally noticing the two other men, Yuffie looked at them with her eyebrow raised. "What? You haven't seen a cat-loving girl before?"
The men stayed silent and watched the fire.
"What're you doing here, Yuffie?" Cloud asked. "Did Reeve send you or something?"
"Cloud, did you name her yet?" Yuffie asked excitedly, clearly not listening to him and sitting down with the cat in her arms.
He shook his head.
"Oooh! Can I name her?"
"Yuffie, she's not…"
"I shall name you… Seishinryoku! But it's too long, isn't it?" She nuzzled the cat in her arms. "So! We shall call you Yoku for short, okay? Is that good, Yoku?"
Yoku simply purred continuously and rubbed against her.
"Yay! She likes it, Cloud! Now all of you have to keep calling her that!"
"Okay, okay," he sighed and sat down beside her, prompting Yoku to climb off Yuffie and walk around to make sure nothing strange was around before making her way back to Cloud.
After a brief introduction between Yuffie, Mik and Anyun, Cloud further pressed the reason why she was hiding in the trees.
"Yeah, Reeve told me to keep an eye on you," she said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "Also said to keep hidden but I really don't see the point in trying to hide from you when I know you perfectly well and we're friends."
"Who's Reeve?" Mik asked, offering her some smoked pork.
"Reeve is the founder of the WRO," she replied, taking some with a smile and eating it. "It's the World Regenesis Organization but we're all just helping out to get this world back to normal."
"Is there any reason why he sent you to us this time around?" Cloud asked.
She got up and ran back to her tree, nimbly scrambling up and retrieving her equipment and her bag. She climbed through the branches from tree to tree and dropped down to sit next to Cloud again rather than walking back. Setting her gigantic shuriken down into the ground with a thud, she rummaged through her bag.
"Here it is!" Yuffie declared, pulling out a bag full of what appeared to be large marbles. However, Cloud knew exactly what they were.
"Materia?" Anyun asked softly. "You brought us materia?"
"Yup!" She chirped and handed to Cloud. "These are yours since I kind of forgot to give them back to you after your fight with Kadaj…"
"Thank you."
"And you're going to Gongaga, right? I hate it when you don't answer your cell and I don't get an answer from you until like three months after I call you. You're a royal pain in the ass like that, you know," she said and shoved him playfully.
A small smile tugged at his lips and he pushed her back.
"So that's why I'm going with you."
"What!" Anyun exclaimed and bolted upright from his lying position. "You're not coming with us to Gongaga, missy. Why does everyone we meet wants to go to that goddamned town?"
"You can't tell me what to do!" Yuffie snapped back at him. "I'm technically supposed to be following Cloud anyway so I might as well just join your little party and help out."
"You're. Not. Coming!"
"Yes, I am!"
"You're going to get in our way! We don't need another damn thing to get in our way and slow us down even more and you're just going to do that."
Yuffie glared at him. "You don't know that I'm like that."
"I can tell just by looking at you, missy," Anyun said as he lay back down.
Smugly, she pulled out a small, intricately and expertly made golden pocket watch on a chain. She swung it from side to side, reflecting and winking the fire's light back at him. "It's a fine watch, don't you think? It has a really pretty design of a crest on it."
Startled beyond belief, Anyun patted himself down to realize that Yuffie had taken it from deep within his pockets without him even realizing it was gone.
She tossed it back to him, a glare in her eyes. "Don't judge me by my looks."
He caught it, having nothing to say. "Just be prepared, missy. I doubt any of you know what you're getting into."
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A/N: I couldn't figure out a good name for the new monster yet but it will be back. With those jaws and teeth, that thing could easily chomp off someone's arm. Ouucchhh.
Hopefully I'll be able to think up of a good name soon and get another chapter up. Ja ne!
