It was a warm spring day outside. Birds called, bees hummed, and many winged butterflies merrily went from flower to flower. The grass and trees whispered in a light breeze, and the newly opened flowers sent fragrant smells into the hazy afternoon air.
A river swept through the small valley, a chocobo standing beside it, head bent towards the water. It dipped its beak into the cold liquid and drank great gulps, water running down from its mouth in greedy hastiness. The large and yellow bird became quite immersed in drinking the refreshingly cold water, so much so that it failed to notice a silent stalker from behind that he normally would have sensed. The beady black eyes of the chocobo grew glazed as though it were in deep thought, and lazily it twitched the large plumes on its tail, swatting away the blue-bottle flies.
Just then, the stalker emerged, rather clumsily because it stumbled and fell out beside the bird. One beady eye fell on the thing that fell beside it, and quickly the bird drew it's head up and gave a cry, startled and afraid. It ran off into the brush while the boy who had crept up behind shouted, "Wait, wait!"
"I told you!" Said another boy from behind the first. The second poked his head out from behind a boulder and came to stand over the other with folded arms. "I told you a zillion times, you got'ta be stealthy! "
"I tried!" the other pleaded, eyes starting to swim. The first boy was a few years younger that the other, and not as experienced in chocobo hunting as his elder. "I did! I did." He crossed his arms and pouted, lower lip puckering up.
"Yeah," said the older boy while lowering himself to the miserable boy's level. He draped one arm over the boy's shoulders in a brotherly way, smiling down on him. "We'll try it again."
"We will?!" Exclaimed the younger boy, eyes instantly lighting up, a wide smile pushing dimples into the sides of his cheeks. The older boy affectionately ruffled the younger boy's blond almost white hair. "Hey!" the other giggled.
"I said we will, so yeah, we'll catch us another one!"
Jacob opened his eyes and stared groggily at the metal ceiling above him and then rubbed his eyes. He grimaced as he felt his body throb all at once and then let himself relax. It had been so long since he had dreamed about his brother...so why had he started now?
Jacob shook his head, feeling as though he had lost something or forgotten it back in Seventh Heaven or the sewers. He didn't know what, so he simply shook off the feeling against his better judgment.
He, Terace, Denzel, and Marlene had managed to get the kids through the sewers alright, alright enough that is. Many tears, protests, cries, shouts, frustration, and near loosing of people had gotten them all through okay. Not many monsters had attacked them down in the sewers, so they made good time. They had made it to Tifa and Cloud and the rest of the group in once piece before Cid arrived in the Highwind.
So once again it seemed, Cloud had dodged death. Jacob felt himself starting to take his good luck for granted, good luck for being with Cloud and sharing his ability to escape any pursuer, as one might see it. But that feeling of granted almost couldn't be helped.
As soon as he had set foot on the ship, Jacob had collapsed with fatigue, and to his surprise and indignation, nobody had bothered with him; they simply left him lying there. Not even his band of fans had bothered to wait for him to come to or insisted to somebody that he needed a bed. "They're all probably bothering Cid to play with the ship's dashboard anyway..." Jacob thought dully, feeling a little uncared for.
He ran one hand across his forehead and let it rest there a minute with his eyes shut tight, imaging his brother's smiling and watery face. It was so close, so close in his mind's eye he could almost touch him, hear him, and speak to him. A longing erupted in Jacob, and he felt a sudden shock pass through him. What would his parents do without him? They would be incredibly worried.
Jacob sat bolt upright, and he felt a little panicked, but stopped feeling so once a wave of dizziness took him. Jake swayed slightly, green lights flashing in his eyes, temples pounding which made him cross-eyed, and then the feeling passed. His brow knitted itself into thought. Did Tifa tell his parents where he was? Jake knew very well they couldn't handle another son gone.
He stood up, swayed slightly, and blinked his tired eyes a few times to try and wake himself up. Head full of sticky fog, Jacob made his way in the direction of the control room. He wanted to run but knew full well that would only make him more tired and slower than he already was. If they came under ShinRa attack, Cloud would need all the help he could get in fending them off, and although he was a rather lousy fighter, Jacob's assistance would be required.
He walked briskly instead of running and approached the doors to the captain's control room. Not to his surprise, almost everyone was already there, kids and all.
"Uncle Cid," said one little girl, "please uncle Cid, can we have a turn driving the ship?" She tugged at his arm with her tiny button sized hand.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Cid called back at them. "Call me Captain!" He barked through a mouthful of toothpick and grinned over his shoulder. It was a grin Jacob had seen many times on Terace's face, and somehow had come to dislike this from-eye-to-eye hearty smile.
"Well hey there sleepy head!" Yuffie called to Jacob with a happy little wave. Jacob meekly waved back, all the while hating the movement of the ship. Usually Yuffie was sick on ships, but today she seemed fine, obviously full of some motion sickness medicine that Jacob was starting to need.
"Sorry we left you there," Marlene whispered to him after coming up and greeting him with a hug, "but you're too heavy to pick up."
"Could have woken me up though. I'm stiff all over now." Jacob cracked his hands out of bad habit and watched Marlene flinch a little. She hated the habit. "Sorry," Jacob immediately stopped.
"Not our problem if you can't get yer lazy butt out'ta bed." Terace laughed at him from a chair and spun around in it once. Denzel was close to Terace in another chair, arms crossed. Cloud sat near Cid and the gang of children, ignoring both as he sat rather thoughtfully out into space. Tifa stood beside him, arms crossed, a smile in place as Jacob turned to look at them. Barret said nothing in greeting, but stared at Jacob with a warning look. He didn't trust Jacob as far as he could through him, not when he was with Marlene that is. Jacob was used to this.
Red XIII was curled up in a corner, one eye open surveying nothing in particular. Vincent, as usual, was nowhere to be found, most likely on another mission from Cloud. It was common for him to be doing something not long after one job was done. The man, secretive and enigmatic, had an agenda and took all work seriously. He intimidated Jacob to no end.
Cait Sith was also missing, most likely on deck watching out for ShinRa soldiers. There were a few other members of Seventh Heaven, but most were off on some mission or in hiding from the ShinRa. A few had been captured. It was always a blow when a member was caught and found out by the government, and every time a little more anxiety would grow in their place...like a weed in the sidewalk. One more thing to step over and around as you walked along.
"Where are we headed?" Jacob asked Marlene.
"City of the Ancients for now." She said with a careful look at Tifa as she did so. "At least until we know what to do."
"Where are the Clones?" Jacob asked once he knew this answer.
"Sleeping. It was a long trip to Midgar after all." Marlene smiled softly. "They need some rest. We told Cloud to get some rest too, but he wouldn't hear of it. Tifa was all fussing after him about it."
"Hmmm-" Jacob thoughtfully hummed.
"Hey," Denzel approached Jacob and tugged at his sleeve a little.
"Yeah?" Jacob asked, noting the look of puzzlement in Denzel's eyes.
"Is Dekel with you by any chance? I thought he would be..." Denzel's voice trailed off as Jacob shook his head.
"No...why?" Jacob stared suspiciously at Denzel who looked a little worried.
"Nobody has seen him since we got out of the sewers. He's probably just hiding-!" Denzel added quickly as he saw the sudden look of panic in Jacob's face.
"You haven't thought of looking?!" Jacob's voice began to rise.
"Shhhhh," soothed Marlene, beating her hands gently against the air, "Denzel's right...he most likely is off doing his own thing. You know he hates being around loads of people."
"Is Tifa worried?" Jacob asked, crossing his arms, not wanting to hear some sort of excuse. Marlene looked over her shoulder.
"She, er, doesn't know we haven't seen him, but I bet she's noticed he's not here. Of course she has." Marlene could tell they had slipped up in not telling Tifa. Pink patches flushed in her cheeks. "I'll go tell her now he's not with you." She quickly said, fidgeting uncomfortably in Jacob's worry, anger, and frustration.
"Um," Denzel squeaked hurriedly, "I'll go get looking then." He hurried off. Jacob looked around the room, hoping to see the boy somewhere there, but knew he wasn't. A horrible feeling began to build up in Jacob's chest. He was positive something had happened, but didn't know what.
As Jacob's face screwed up in thought, horrible worried thoughts, his eyes drifted to Tifa, now closely listening to a frantic Marlene. Cloud even leaned in, and Jacob watched him mutter a swear under his breath.
"What is it?!" Barret's voice boomed out as he approached Tifa, his daughter, and Cloud. Red XIII followed slowly, interested in the sudden change of atmosphere. Jacob turned and left, unable to watch anymore faces turn into pools of panic. He left to the sound of Barret's loud exclamation, and the sound of Red XIII growling low in frustration.
Jake looked around, thinking to himself that as soon as he found Dekel, he was going to wring the kid's little neck. How could he just run off like that?
Jacob paused in his thought process, pausing as he searched for the child as well. What if he hadn't run off on his own? What if something had grabbed him in the sewers and Jacob, preoccupied with the other kids, hadn't seen? Or, what if the ShinRa and snuck up behind the group and kidnapped the boy right out from under Jake's nose?
A clammy sweat broke out over Jacob, and he swallowed hard, face paling instantly as his heart began a two step in his chest.
Just then the door Jake had just left out of clicked open, and Marlene was running out with Tifa at her heals. Marlene sprinted to Jacob and immediately began talking before Jacob had even a second to think of anything to say.
"We're going to start a search," she announced, her face and eyes gleaming with confidence, slightly out of breath, "and I'll start up on deck."
"You sure you haven't seen him?" Tifa said, her voice quiet, eyes not so confident, but instead they were serious and suspicious. She obviously knew something was up, and Jacob highly doubted Marlene really felt the way she looked. Marlene had a knack for knowing when something was amiss, and now it seemed, something was. She was merely being kind to Jacob, and he hated that fact. He wanted the truth, that way he could act on it as fast as possible.
"Yes," Jacob said, slowly and carefully, thinking and rethinking over the last things he saw before falling asleep, "I'm sure." His shoulders sank a little at this. Tifa seemed to shrink a little too. Her face set, she nodded to Marlene, and the two walked off, passed Jacob and up the stairs. Jacob watched them guiltily. Dekel had been his responsibility. Jacob's responsibility. So had all the children. But especially Dekel.
Jacob stared down at his feet, wanting nothing more than to kick something very hard, however painful it might be. He didn't however, not yet at least. With a heavy swallow which drowned at least some of the uneasiness, Jacob set himself to searching.