Chapter 13
Mardra
Sam, Aeris and Cloud came upon Costa Del Sol just as a transport ship was docking, ready to take more customers across to the other continent. The three entered the warm beach resort and immediately talked to the captain of the ship.
"This is my last run, with Midgar under attack the way it is they'll probably shut the boat down when I hit Junon," the captain, a heavy man wearing a hat to cover his bald head, told the three of them. "Seeing as it's my last one and only a one way ticket it'll be free so you won't have to worry about money. You caught me at a good time."
Aeris nodded, "Thank you, captain. Do you happen to know anything about who's attacking Midgar by the way?"
The captain shook his head, "Nobody knows," the captain said and started walking back to his brown and rusted ship, "We'll cast off in thirty minutes. I can wait, but try and be on time."
"We will," Aeris assured.
The captain boarded his ship leaving the three alone.
"Well, now we have our way across the pond and thirty minutes to kill," Sam said looking around.
"I'll go ask around, see if anyone knows about what's going on at Midgar," Aeris said.
"What are you doing Cloud?" asked Sam.
Cloud just stared off across the water.
"Cloud?" asked Aeris seeing his vacant look.
"Airships," Cloud said.
Sam looked to where Cloud was looking and did indeed see airships.
"He's right, look," Sam said gesturing toward the vessels.
"It looks like they're coming this way," Cloud said.
"They are," Sam said, "at least five."
"Boats," Aeris said suddenly, "there's boats out there too, look!"
There were boats floating out in the water.
Both the airships and the boats were all identical in colour, rather shade, they were all black.
"The boats are coming this way too," Aeris said.
"We may be jumping to conclusions, they're all still miles from shore they could easily divert their course and…" Sam was cut off by a very loud boom, like thunder in the distance. "…that can't be good."
The building behind the three of them suddenly exploded knocking all of them a few feet away, the shockwave blew things through the air and sent just about everyone in the small resort tumbling. Pieces of the building were tossed in all directions and one of the heavy pieces that made up the building managed to hit Sam in mid air, right in the back of the head.
"Son of a…" another explosion to Sam's right cut him off and sent him helplessly rolling to the side, finally coming to a stop on his back.
Sam opened his eyes and looked around, then finished his sentence, "…bitch."
"Sam, where are you?" asked the familiar voice of Aeris.
He sat up and rubbed the back of his head; the velocity of the heavy object would have killed anyone else, it left Sam with only a bloody cut and a headache.
Through the blinding dust and kicked up sand he managed to signal Aeris and she ran over to him.
"Where's Cloud?" asked Sam, rubbing the sand out of his eyes.
"I don't know, I lost him," Aeris said.
"Well, then, let's find…" another explosion to his right sent a column of sand into the air, "I really wish they would wait until I finish my sentences before…" yet another explosion erupted knocking Aeris off her feet, "…they blow stuff up."
Sam shook his head and helped Aeris up, "We have to get out of range of those weapons, where's the last place you saw Cloud?"
Suddenly there was another rumbling, this was different, the sound of airships. Five black airships came to a stop and hovered just over the water and overlooked Costa Del Sol.
"Screw it, let's just run and hope we see him," Sam yelled and turned.
Aeris followed Sam in a sprint just as the Airships let loose. More explosive rounds ripped through the resort and the two barely avoided the devastating explosions.
"You two, over here, now!" yelled a voice; they turned to see three Shinra soldiers and a commanding officer in red. They were all pointing to a door on a building that hadn't yet been leveled.
Aeris and Sam headed for the door as a single airship rumbled over them and stopped to hover above.
"Wait, Cloud," Aeris said over the noise of the ship.
"The man's got skills, sweetheart, he'll live," Sam said, "we need to get away from this airship right now, and then we can worry about Cloud."
"No, he might be under attack by one of these airships, he might need help," Aeris yelled over a new loud noise.
"Aeris, he's not an idiot, he'll hide, and we need to do the same at this point!" Sam retorted.
Aeris shook her head and turned away, intending on going out to look for Cloud. About four feet away a number of figures in black clothing dropped from the airship and landed on the ground.
"Outcasts," Sam muttered grinning, "I win the bet, Aeris, now you can keep your money and pay me by coming with me instead!"
"You two get the hell in here!" yelled a Shinra soldier coming up beside them and firing his rifle at the group of dark-clad figures ahead.
Two of the group drew swords and deflected the bullets.
"Who are these guys?" asked the soldier.
"Bad news, we should be leaving," Sam said.
The three of them turned to run as a few more of the dark figures fell from above and landed behind them.
"Wonderful," Sam growled.
"Well, here's a face I hadn't planned on seeing," said one of the black-clad figures.
The man wore a simple black shirt and black pants; he also had a rifle of some kind with a scope attachment on top of the barrel in his right hand.
"Back from the dead," Sam said to the dark clad man, "join the club I guess."
"Samael," the man said, "now why would you be here?"
"Why wouldn't I?" asked Sam. "Women with barely any clothing, warm climate."
"It does sound like your kind of place, but let's look at this logically," the man said almost condescendingly, "how long has it been since you visited a beach?"
"I was overdue," Sam replied.
"Mardra," said a female member of the dark group behind the man named Mardra, "we should be looking for the Cetra."
Mardra looked over his shoulder at the woman, "I'm having a conversation, honey it's rude to interrupt."
"You tell me what you're doing here and then I'll tell you," Sam said.
"Why does it have to be me first?" asked Mardra.
"Why not?" asked Sam.
"I have the upper hand, I should decide who goes first, no?" asked Mardra.
"I have the disadvantage, you should let me choose to even things out," Sam replied.
"Yes, because, you know," Mardra said, "it does appear like we're interested in making things fair, does it not?"
"I guess not, seeing as you just bombed the hell out of a place with no enemies," Sam said.
"I wouldn't say I bombed it to hell," Mardra said shrugging, "that is unless you have a certain score system for how much something must be bombed to be considered worthy of bombed to hell."
Mardra signaled and every dark clad figure around them drew various weapons.
"Sarcasm and the same bad jokes," said a voice coming from somewhere behind Mardra, "you and Sam must be related."
Mardra looked up and then in different directions.
"He's invisible, my friend," Sam said grinning, "look to your right if you please, 'cause Cloud is in da hizzouse!"
A dark clad figure to Mardra's right was thrown off their feet by the slash of a blade that didn't appear to exist. Sam snapped his fingers and suddenly Cloud appeared out of nowhere with his sword drawn.
"I'm in the what?" asked Cloud.
"Hizzouse," Sam said, "never mind, I don't really get that one either."
Cloud brought his knee up to his chest and kicked forward connecting with the dark clad man in front's stomach sending him stumbling backward. A second dark clad figure, this time female, came at him with two swords.
Cloud parried both blades continually; sparks flew as her blades connected with his sword. Cloud spun away to get out of the trend he had gotten into with parrying the woman's attacks and tried a new angle.
Cloud slashed with his sword and the woman managed to get her right hand sword back to block. The sheer size of the sword and power of Cloud's attack sent her sword flying out of her hand. Her other sword came around and Cloud had to duck to evade that attack. He came up with a slice that the woman blocked and jumped into a graceful back flip to avoid.
Cloud heard the foot steps before he saw his enemies.
Two more black clad men came in from behind Cloud, each with a single sword. The man he had kicked before was also back and joined the other two. On top of that the woman had retrieved her second sword and was also on the move again.
Cloud spun and whacked away the three men's swords; they quickly brought them back in front to parry an attack by Cloud.
The woman and yet another black clad figure, this one also female, came at Cloud's back. The new arrival didn't have a sword; she had a long whip that appeared to be constructed of some kind of grey metal. Metal that still allowed the whip to perform its function. Cloud split his sword in two, now with a sword in each hand, and used his detached new sword to block the quick strike of the woman behind him.
He was now parrying attacks from both in front and behind, and doing an excellent job of it. Spinning almost effortlessly between attacks so he spent equal time blocking every of his enemies' attempts.
Then the woman with the whip decided to make her move, this one Cloud couldn't stop. The whip wrapped tightly around his right ankle and she tugged him off his feet. Cloud landed heavily on his back, the black clad figures moved in and readied to finish their enemy off.
Cloud yanked the whip free of the woman's hands and used his tied ankle to control the whip. The metal weapon shot in a full three sixty Cloud created with his ankle and smashed every single one of his enemies in the face. As they all hit the ground Cloud freed his ankle and got to his feet in time to block yet another black figure's attack by sword.
Eventually, Cloud realized, there were just going to be too many enemies to fight. Cloud ducked under a sword swipe and quickly drove one of his two swords into the ground beside him. He then picked up the whip and flicked it so it tied around his newest enemy's feet. It tied his ankles together and Cloud pulled straight back forcing the man to fall on his back, knocking the wind out of him. Cloud quickly used what was left of the whip to tie the man's hands and then moved to retrieve his second sword.
The other black figures had found their footing and charged at Cloud.
Cloud took a quick run and jumped; using his embedded sword for momentum he swung around and used both of his feet to kick one of his enemies in the face. The attack audibly broke bones and sent the man flying through the air and hitting the ground, unconscious.
He landed on both feet and brought the second sword out of the ground and up in time to block an attack from the woman in black and used his other sword to disarm one of the men in black. His sword sliced the man's sword hand clean off leaving the sword clutched in the detached hand on the ground. Cloud spun and quickly parried another attack from a dark clad man and was forced to dive forward as the woman attacked from his other side and a third party jabbed with a sword at his back.
Cloud shot headfirst through the air and rolled back to his feet, anticipating how quickly his enemies would follow, Cloud wasted no time turning and slashing both swords horizontally in front of him as he turned toward them.
The outcome was better than expected, his three enemies stood in shock as their weapons were suddenly thrown from their hands as if grabbed by an invisible force, Sam's handiwork.
With no way to defend and no way to stop the swords Cloud's swipe decapitated all three dark clad figures and their dead, headless, bodies flopped to the ground.
Cloud connected the swords back together and turned to look for another enemy.
Mardra aimed his rifle and fired.
Cloud moved impossibly fast and his sword deflected the single heavy round from the rifle. The bullet ended up having enough velocity, even after being defied by Cloud's sword; to hit and kill a dark clad figure standing off to Cloud's left.
"My turn," Sam said and waved a casual hand at the first group of black clad figures to land. They were all tossed off their feet and on their backs.
Mardra growled in frustration and quickly turned and fired his rifle at Sam.
Sam turned to deflect the bullet but Aeris beat him to it.
Her staff shot up extremely fast and hit the bullet from below popping it into the air. With another display of quickness she reached up with her staff and hit the bullet again, the magical staff gave the bullet the push it needed and it drove right into the black clad figure behind Mardra, he fell dead.
Mardra fired his rifle a few more times and yelled for his people to get back on the airship.
"You underestimated us, friend," Sam said as Mardra was the last black clad figure left on the ground. "You don't usually make such mistakes; you're losing your touch."
"Maybe, but it seems you still can't kill me," Mardra said. "Out of respect for our past you've got one minute to leave this place before we reduce it to ashes, until we meet again old friend."
Mardra shot up into the air and landed safely back on the airship.
"Old friend?" asked Cloud walking up beside Sam.
"Story for another time, we need to leave," Sam replied.
"The transport ship?" asked Aeris.
"I have an alternate travel arrangement I can call upon, there's no time for the ship," Sam said, "we have to get as far away from here as possible."
The Shinra soldier looked as if he might say something but instead ran to find the others to tell them to leave.
"Were they Outcasts?" asked Cloud running at full speed in between Aeris and Sam.
"Yeah that was a few of them," Sam yelled back as the sound of the all the airships' engines firing to life and then propelling them away from the resort could be heard.
"The airships are leaving," Aeris said short of breath.
"The boats must be sticking around to finish the job," Sam said.
As the three got just outside of Costa Del Sol they saw that only one black boat remained.
The three couldn't help but watch, wondering what exactly would come from the ship to destroy the resort. There didn't appear to be any weapons on the boat, missile launchers of any kind were absent entirely.
"People, who's that?" asked Sam pointing at the boat.
The three stopped and looked across at the vessel, on the highest point of the boat stood an elderly looking man with long grey hair and a similar grey beard. He wore a black cloak and held in his left hand a beat up and old looking staff.
"Looks like Santa Claus wanted to pay a visit to the beach," Sam said.
"Santa who?" asked Cloud but then waved his hand, "never mind, I don't wanna know."
"He's a Cetra, I can tell by the staff, he looks a lot older than most Cetra I know," Aeris said.
"Look at his staff," Cloud said pointing.
The old man's staff glowed blue, then changed to green, back to blue, to black—the staff's original colour—and then it stopped at a bright glowing red colour.
"What's he doing?" asked Cloud.
"That staff of his, when it glows," Sam said.
"It looks like Materia," Cloud said.
"Exactly, I think his staff is Materia," Sam replied.
"Made of Materia?" asked Cloud. "Is that possible?"
"For a Cetra," Sam muttered shrugging.
"Never heard of an Outcast with a staff made of Materia," Aeris said.
"Maybe it's a new thing, who knows," Sam said.
The old man raised the staff in the air, still glowing red, and the three fell silent to watch what was happening. Suddenly a jet of flame erupted from the shore just in front of Costa Del Sol, after a moment a creature emerged from the flame.
A familiar creature, one which both Aeris and Cloud named simultaneously.
"Ifrit," they said at the same time.
"Summon Materia," Sam said shaking his head, "this just keeps getting worse."
Ifrit floated up into the air and hovered above the resort like an airship.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Sam said as Ifrit began his attack.
"Everyone in the water, now!" Cloud yelled, realizing the powerful flame created by Ifrit would likely reach them where they stood.
"Ah, crap," Sam growled and charged toward the water, Cloud and Aeris in tow.
Ifrit unleashed a massive jet of flame that encompassed the entire resort and more, as Cloud anticipated, the jet rushed out from the now completely demolished resort and shot out after them as they ran. Cloud could feel and hear the deadly flame charging after them as if it were a living thing.
"Hurry, dive!" Cloud yelled and he put action to words as he and his two companions jumped off a small cliff and splashed into the water and submerged just as the inferno washed over them.
As powerful as the flame was, even it couldn't beat its weakness; the water protected the three of them.
After a moment they surfaced and treaded water looking around, the ship was gone.
"Oh, no," Aeris gasped, they looked at Costa Del Sol…what used to be Costa Del Sol. Now it was nothing but a large charred crater in the ground. There was absolutely no solid objects of any kind left to prove the place had ever really stood there.
Sam ran a hand through his soaked hair, "We have some serious problems."