"Ahhhh..." Cloud washed his arm with a pumice stone as he sat in the basin in the backyard of the house. Vincent was facing him, scrubbing himself quietly. They had filled the basin with hot water long after they had gotten back to Aruni; Corent insisted they use it first, and the women had gone over to a neighbor's for a communal bath. It was the least they could do, they said.
"Araden was quite surprised, to say the least," Vincent finally said.
Cloud had a smug look on his face in the light of the single candle lit on the edge of the basin. "No more bandits, kids are back, and they got free chocobos with the supplies they had stolen."
Vincent let out a dry chuckle. "And whatever coin and weapons the bandits had on them."
"And the materia," Nanaki said as he appeared to the side of the basin. His grandchildren hopped onto the stony edge and sniffed at the soapy water. "Your descendants have their baubles back."
It had been an exciting evening, to say the least. Cloud had taken his frustrations out on several bandits before accosting their leader. They freed the children and cubs, then wrangled the chocobos together. Cloud and Corent hoisted the bleeding and shamed leader to one of the chocobos, tied him to it after gagging his mouth, and let it run out and into the night.
When they had returned to Aruni with the children, the supplies and the extra goodies looted from the camp, Araden had gone into a state of mild shock.
Cloud wet his hair again and slicked his blond spikes back. His arm rested on the edge of the basin. "Yeah. Corent thinks that guy is gonna come back after what I did to him." He snorted with a smirk. "I told Corent he'd have plenty of time to train before anyone was stupid enough to attack again."
"Hm." Vincent rubbed his face with the hot water and leaned back. Bathing together was nostalgic. They had done it during their journey together, and also when they visited Wutai. "Now that that is out of the way, maybe we can find out where Jenova is hiding."
The group was silent, the sound of the breeze, distant hammering and Reki's pawing at the water filling in the gap.
"Maybe that woman will talk to me again," Cloud mumbled before lowering his head towards the water. His knees peeked out of the water as his chin grazed its surface. "I think if I can just talk to her, maybe she can point us in the right direction."
"Perhaps." Nanaki clamped his jaw around Khlali's neck before she dunked herself into the water. He placed her on the ground and looked back up as Cloud stood up from the basin. He wiped himself with a linen towel before wrapping it around his waist.
"I'm gonna get dressed and take a short walk before bed." He wasn't really hungry, and it was probably too late for that anyway. Some of the villagers were still trying to repair the most serious damage done to a few of the buildings. The house was still missing a chunk of its roof, but it wasn't a worry with a clear night sky.
He dressed in his now clean clothing, zipping up his shirt and leaving the house. A gibbous moon shined in the sky, along with a trail of stars that looked no different than they had back in his time. At least that didn't change, he thought to himself. He recognized a planet among the twinkling stars with its continual red shine, and wondered if it still had a name.
Cloud calmed his mind as a breeze went by, and he made his way to the beach. It wasn't too far off from the house, and he took in what would be white sands and a pier with simple boats a bit farther off in the distance. The future was so primitive, but it was beautiful nonetheless, in his opinion at least. The air was so much cleaner than it was in Edge, and the sky was brightened only by the firmament and not artificial lights.
His mind wandered. Jenova was returning. Jenova would destroy this sad, beautiful, recovered world. He wouldn't lie and say he was doing it for the Planet, especially after it drug him into the future without his permission like this. It didn't care if he could die doing this, right? He rubbed his chin as his other hand propped up his elbow. But then his future descendants wouldn't be here...
Was this just one reality out of an infinite amount of possibilities?
He thought some more. Yes, there was a good possibility that was the case. Cloud stopped and crouched down; he traced shapes in the sand. A long line that ended in multiple lines. He made a dash on the middle of the line, he disappeared here. he spread a line outward from that, another reality where he doesn't return.
Would this work? It was starting to make his head hurt.
Cloud stood up and began walking again. That green eyed woman probably had the answers, answers he deserved to these questions. With a long sigh he looked back at the village and started to make his way back. He was finally starting to feel a little sleepy.
He walked through the village, getting reverent looks from any of the workers he passed by. His glowing blue eyes watched as Dilys, Yuffie and Vesta walked across the dirty road to the damaged home they would sleep in tonight. Beyond them Araden was out and about, talking to one of the villagers about something he couldn't hear. As annoying as that man had been, Cloud respected his care for the village.
"Hey, Spike. Thought you'd be gone longer," Yuffie said from the bedroll as Cloud entered the domicile.
He gave her a half-smile. "Nah. Gettin' sleepy, finally." He looked around; everyone was here except Corent, who he assumed was taking his bath. Cloud went to his already out bedroll andsat on it before unzipping his shirt and folding it.
He glanced at Dilys and Vesta as they got ready for bed. They had no idea what Jenova was or that he would have to leave the town to find where it was to keep them safe. A warm feeling welled in his heart; the last time he went after Jenova it was revenge after everything Sephiroth had done. This time, no matter the Planet's reasons, he was doing it to protect family.
Cloud laid down and immediately got head bumped by two still rambunctious, little red beasts. He chuckled. "Uncle Cloud needs his sleep, guys."
"Uncle? But you aren't related to us!" Khlali said with a cocked head.
He smiled at her upside-down visage. "In regards to family, blood doesn't matter." Cloud glanced at Nanaki, who held a pensive gaze. "Tifa always said we were a family of friends," he whispered.
"A family of friends," Nanaki mumbled back before tightening his jaw. "Right."
The two cubs looked between the two with thoughtful faces before settling down with their grandfather. The rest of the group began to settle as well, none stirring when Corent came in to go to his bedroll.
Cloud took in a deep breath and put a hand to his abdomen. Sleep came to him much easier tonight than it did the first night he was here, and it wasn't long before everything dark.
He was on top of a craggy mountain. The area looked rather familiar to Cloud. Mountains surrounded a tranquil lake, but there was a large black thing laying on the side of base of a peak. It was pointed here and there, with a shine to its spikes. It almost looked like it was a creature once.
Cloud blinked. Was this the cavern that used to hold Chaos?
He looked about again. The mountains far off to the northwest looked like the Nibel peaks, and to the northeast there was black billowing smoke. The Corel Mountains! This was where Lucrecia rested in a pillar of materia.
"I was a fool."
Cloud snapped his head to the side. It was that green eyed woman, in some strange armor that reminded him of a crusader from a fantasy book. She was quite a bit taller than he was. "Excuse me?"
She looked down at him with a sad face framed with blonde locks. "The real threat. It wasn't your technology. I should not have done what I did."
His eyes narrowed. "Who are you, and why did you send me into the future?"
"I am Minerva, the will of the Lifestream. You are here to save this future from Jenova."
Cloud shook his head. "Never heard of you," he said flatly. "This is your mess, y'know." He waved his hand towards the black thing. That must have been Onyx Weapon's corpse, he realized.
Her lips were a flat line as she appraised the warrior in front of her. "And I'm fixing it, with your help."
He crossed his arms. "You could have just warned your past self so it never happened in the first place!"
Minerva shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. This magic, the way time works...The past has already happened here. The future has not happened."
"So...this isn't the only future?"
"No, just one of many. If you survive, you will end up in a different future than this one," she said quietly. "This one was the default future."
Cloud looked away. "How do you know all of this?"
"It took centuries to develop this magic in the Lifestream. I can only go to roughly your time period, however. It seems to be a particular point in time on this Planet." She looked towards Onyx Weapon.
"You don't know," he stated.
"I'm a goddess, but I'm not omniscient."
Cloud sighed. "Right."
"Jenova awakens." Minerva pointed at the Onyx Weapon. Cloud watched, and after a minute it began to budge. Not like it was alive, but like something was trying to push through. Eventually something tore through the black shell, blue and humanoid and tentacled from what he could see from the distance he was at. A limb stuck out of its left side.
He chewed on his lip.
"You must get to West Continent, Cloud. With your friends."
He sighed. "I'm gonna risk my friends and family..." Were there enough, were they skilled enough?
Almost as if reading his mind, Minerva nodded. "There are others at the pool. They will help you."
His eyes widened as he gawked at her. "What? No! Don't bring anyone else here—"
"They will help."
Everything began to fade. "Stop this!"