...Who are you?
I need your help.
Did you take us here?
Yes. Please, Jenova is recovering.
Take us back.
I can't. Not until this is fixed. I'm sorry.
Cloud woke up in the small house, trying to remember that voice's message. Whoever she was, she took he and Yuffie to the future to fix a problem that could have been prevented by maybe telling the past instead of dragging them into a fight half a millennia from home. That was, if the voice wasn't just his brain trying to process what just happened.
He sat up on his bedroll and looked around as he scratched his cheek. Nanaki's deep, grumbling snores came from behind him, and the cubs were tucked close to his chest. Vincent was...maybe sleeping, his hand over Yuffie's ear. She was curled up under her blanket.
His descendants were still sleeping, but Vesta was stirring in the dimly lit home. Gray light from the dawn was seeping through the window. Cloud let out a sniffle and put his hands on his knees. What to do now? The voice said Jenova is recovering...
Didn't most of it die off, and what little was left was too little to cause much trouble after the infected were doused in holy water? It cut off any influence Jenova or Sephiroth would have had on them.
He glanced over to his left as he heard the patter of little feet. Vesta was working by the hearth again. He decided to help her as he thought over what scant information he was given, and stood from his bedroll to join her.
She looked up at him shyly as she fiddled with the bowls that had been cleaned last night. "Eld-I mean, Cloud, good morning," she whispered to him.
He flashed a half-smile and crouched down next to her. "Mornin'. Do you need any help?"
Vesta shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm just making rice porridge."
"I guess it would be for the best. I don't know how to make that."
"It's just water, rice and salt..." She looked at the back door. "We have a pickle presser. I could use two of the yellow squash in there to make the meal tastier."
Cloud nodded and stood up. He had seen those in Wutai. "I'll get them for you."
He went outside and looked back and forth, then noticed the container next the the basin on the ground. Cloud took in a deep breath of the fresh, morning sea breeze, then lifted the stones from the top of the presser. He took out two long yellow things, then put the lid back on with the stones to press down on the vegetables left.
He took the wet pickles inside and handed them to Vesta. "Hey...Is there a place I could freshen up at?"
She cocked her head. "Huh?"
Cloud scratched the back of his head. "I have to use the bathroom."
"Bathroom?"
"They have public outhouses in the villages," Vincent whispered from his spot next to Yuffie. "I'll show you."
Cloud made a face. "Please tell me they have something like toilet paper."
Vincent chuckled as he stood up and beckoned his friend towards the front door. "Something like that."
After breakfast Cloud took his friends into the backyard to discuss what had happened as he slept. His arms were crossed and he would periodically tap his fingers on his biceps. His family and the cubs were either in the house or out fishing for the next meal, respecting their elders' request to have a meeting together.
"Okay. So like, you had some voice tellin' you Jenova was comin' back?"
Cloud nodded. "Yeah. It said it can't take us back until everything is fixed."
Yuffie's face darkened. "You mean we're stuck here? They don't have showers!"
Nanaki hummed. "But where could Jenova be, if this isn't just some random dream?"
"It would have been nice if the voice could have told you that," Vincent dryly remarked.
Yuffie clapped her hands together and hopped in place. "I know! Let's sleep him, maybe whoever it is'll start talking to him again!"
Cloud made a face. "No, I don't think so. I'd rather go home and try and warn everyone." He looked at Nanaki and Vincent. "Maybe the pool could take us back? I'm pretty sure that's what we came through."
Vincent tilted his head ever so slightly. "It might be your best chance."
"It's strange, isn't it? Wouldn't you have said something about this centuries ago?" Nanaki inquired. "What's more, it would make far more sense to warn the past..."
Cloud shrugged and looked down at the sandy dirt. Everything seemed so strange. He glanced at his clothing, hanging in the breeze. "Let's check it out. If it can take us back home we can go tomorrow."
Yuffie nodded. "Yeah, we can stay just another day, right?" She smirked. "If we show up at almost the same time we left, Tifa might believe us if we show up wearin' this stuff. Two days worth of scruff on your face might convince her, too."
He rubbed one of his cheeks with a frown. His facial hair grew slowly but thickly, much like the hair on his head. Cloud wasn't a fan of it. "Well, let's mosey."
Nanaki left Reki and Khlali with Vesta. They had protested and he had said that they were only to be gone a short while. Cubs were fast, but they were curious. While the party only wanted to check one thing the cubs would be exploring and asking questions.
They began to walk towards the village entrance when Araden walked by them. "Leaving?" he asked hopefully. He was giving the four a piercing stare.
"We are seeing if the path to our friend's village has cleared of monsters," Vincent coolly explained. "If so, they will be leaving tomorrow after they are done preparing."
Araden squeezed his fists, but nodded. "Of course."
"What's up your ass, buddy?" Yuffie asked. Nanaki hissed at her to shut up.
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to stare her down. "We don't need outsiders here. You bring troubles with you."
Cloud let out a sigh. "And we'll be out of your hair soon enough. Let's go, everyone."
They left the village and walked the road towards the forest's edge. The farmers were wary but curious this time around, probably because the village hadn't been raided by the two. Or so they assumed. Their dress was more normal for the area, too.
Yuffie wearing something similar to Cloud, but the pants were shorts and her vest was laced up the front. Her shirt was a pasty light blue and sported wide sleeves that covered her hands half the time. Cloud was just a little jealous of the protection her arms would have against the biting bugs they would face as they entered the forest.
"Hey, Nanaki? When did you find others of your species?" Cloud asked as they went through a forest path.
"I always knew Dineh. She came back to Cosmo Canyon ten years after Deepground. But she didn't come back alone...She had found isolated groups of our species througout the continent.
"They hid deep in forests and craggy mountains where only they and goats survived. Somehow she convinced some to come follow her, and slowly amassed a pride that settled there." He trotted deeper into the forest with a smile on his face. "We still keep in contact and court with the other prides that stayed put."
"Awww, so I got to be your kids' auntie?"
"Yes, and you just would not stop teaching them how to sneak or play pranks." Nanaki sighed. "Ghelki is still the stealthiest creature to reside in Cosmo Canyon because of you."
Yuffie squealed. "Awesome! I wish I had time to visit and freak'em out," she gushed.
"If only Vincent kept a tighter leash on you sometimes," Nanaki replied wistfully.
She raised a brow. "How so?"
Vincent shook his head. "It doesn't matter..."
"I think it does!"
He sighed. "I've always been your handler."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, when you're around. Did ya start hanging around more with us, and less with your old flame?"
"...Eventually."
They grew quiet as the path twisted about. The mid-morning sun peeked through the trees here and there, and small monsters scooted away from the deadly looking party. Cloud was wearing his sheaths and sword over his borrowed clothing just in case they needed to fight. He had handed Yuffie a green Master Materia so she wasn't helpless.
Eventually they came to the lonesome, peaceful pool surrounded by yellow and white lilies. Cloud eyed the mound that held he and Tifa's bodies, and resisted the urge to shudder. It created uneasiness in his gut to see his resting spot, but he supposed at the very least it was a beautiful place to seep back into the Planet.
"So..." Yuffie walked up to the soggy edge of the bubbling pond. "How do we figure out how go back to the past?" She crouched down and rolled up one of her sleeves, then dunked her arm into the cool water. It tingled no differently than in the past, and she moved her hand through it.
"Nothin'."
Cloud stopped staring at his resting place an walked up to the pool. He crouched next to Yuffie and looked at their reflections as she pulled her arm out of the water. It rippled from the droplets that fell off of her arm, and he swore their reflections changed for just a few moments that felt like forever.
A young woman was staring back, her green eyes anxious and sorrowful. She shook her head before the next droplet returned the waters back to normal.
Not yet...
"Did ya hear that?" Yuffie asked as she looked around.
"I didn't hear anything," Nanaki replied. Vincent shook his head.
"I heard her," Cloud said. "It was the same voice from my dream."
Yuffie stood up and Cloud joined her. "'Not yet'. Not yet what?"
"She won't let us go back."
Vincent raised a brow. "She?"
Cloud pointed at the pool. "I saw a woman's face in the water before the voice spoke."
The ninja stomped her foot in the muddy ground, lilies swaying from the disturbance. "We wanna go home, damn it! Let us fix things when and where it freakin' matters!"
Cloud crossed his arms. He felt the exact same way, but felt whoever it was wouldn't be moved by Yuffie's show. "Y'know, it'd be nice if whoever this was gave us a little more to go on."
"Seriously. This sucks, and that bimbo voice sucks, too! What's so hard about givin' a clear objective and tellin' us where to go?!" A breeze went by, but no voice. The clearing stilled again. "Ooooh!"
Vincent put his hands on her arms. "This isn't getting us anywhere."
Nanaki nodded. "Perhaps we should go back to Aruni for now. There's no point staying here if we can't send you back yet..."
Cloud nodded. "...Maybe I can help my family out while we come up with a plan." He looked at the burial mound again, then forced himself to look at his friends. "They look like they need it."
Yuffie groaned as she moved away from the pool. "Stuck here like this. Fine! I'll catch a bunch of crabs so we have some real food tonight!"
They began walking the way they came. "It'll be afternoon when we get back. You might have a better chance at catching fish," Vincent reminded her.
"Whatever! I'll catch something, and a lot of it!"
Cloud and Nanaki shared a quiet chuckle together as they took the front of the group. The red beast looked up at his old friend. "I understand this must be difficult for you," he began in a low voice as Yuffie continued her rant and Vincent grunted whenever it involved him, "but after so long..."
Cloud nodded. "I understand, Nanaki. I'm glad to see you made yourself a family, and that I did too. It's...reassuring, even if this future isn't what I had in mind." He looked about at the forest that took over Edge.
"If you can make it back, perhaps this will change to something more positive," Nanaki replied with a note of hope in his voice.
The blond warrior smiled. "Yeah." He still felt that the whole time traveling business was way over his head. What was the science behind it, and how had the future not been changed? Did he keep quiet about what happened? How could he?
Eventually Yuffie stopped ranting and the sound of cicadas took over their ears again. The path began to open up to the road that would take them into Aruni. Cloud frowned as the scent of smoke hit his nose, and then he jogged to the entrance.
The village was billowing smoke, and there were bodies on the dirt road that led down to Aruni. His jog became a run, and the others quickly followed in a quiet panic.