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Chapter Seven: The Road to the Key
It didn't take them too long to reach the Tiny Bronco, however, it took long enough for Vincent to feel increasing pain in his legs from the previous day's events. However, he never voiced or showed that his legs were bothering him, he had no need to slow the group for such a petty request, besides soon he would be sitting on the airship for hours.
Tifa, unlike Vincent, was not looking forward to traveling on the airship at all. She knew exactly what would happen, Cid would be piloting the ship, therefore, Cloud and Aeris wouldn't have to do anything. So, those two would probably sit next to each other, holding hands and possibly kissing, and talk about how they loved each other.
Tifa looked over to Vincent and thought that maybe she could sit next to him. Maybe, she could even talk to him, although, he doesn't seem like the type of person who would care to listen, much less give advice of any type, at least not more advice than he already had, but she would at least be able to tell someone.
Why wouldn't he listen? Tifa thought. I mean, he did just almost die for me, shot multiple times in the stomach and once in the chest, all to protect me.
He… he just doesn't seem to be the type who would care… Tifa told herself. It doesn't seem like he cares about much of anything… … … except Lucrecia… and for killing Hojo…
Doesn't care about anything, she thought to herself. That sounds like…a monster, but he's not a monster, not at all. He has to care about us, at least somewhat.
"Finally!" Cid exclaimed once they were at the ocean edge, next to the ship. "I was gettin' sick of not seein' my baby!"
The ship was much bigger than she imagined, it seemed that each wing of the ship could almost fit the entire group. She thought this with some happiness, as she was worried it might get cramped onboard, however, then she realized that this would give Cloud and Aeris more room to be alone, and frowned. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for them, it wasn't like Aeris still wasn't her best friend and Cloud wasn't still her leader and oldest living friend. It's just that she just wanted Cloud for herself, but, she supposed, he was with Aeris, and if he didn't want her, well… then… she was just out of luck.
Besides, Tifa didn't want to risk a division in the group by trying to steal Cloud from Aeris. No, Tifa supposed she would just have to sit back and… watch Aeris and Cloud be together. She would be happy for them, of course, but at the sacrifice of herself.
All she can do is… watch.
"How long is this supposed to take?" Yuffie uneasily asked, clearly disappointed about getting onto the plane.
"Assumin' she even works…" Cid muttered, calculating in his head. "I'd guess 'bout three days."
As they all boarded the airship, Vincent sat at the far end of the right wing, hoping to be away from the rest of the group. He wished to be alone. He always wanted to be alone permanently; however, he felt that he needed to work with this team to take care of Sephiroth. Sephiroth's creation was his fault, Lucrecia's demise was his fault, and so many other things were his fault too… he simply had to make amends.
Once the team took care of Sephiroth, then he would go after Hojo. Once Hojo was taken care of… then, well… who knows?
"Vincent?" a woman asked from behind him.
Vincent turned to look at her, but he didn't need to, as he already knew who it would be. "Yes, Tifa?"
Tifa glanced around on the airship and, although it was fairly large, it wasn't quite as big as she had originally thought. Most of the team had sat near the center or on the left wing, Vincent being the furthest away from the group on the right wing and, of course, Cloud and Aeris were together on the far end of the left wing. "Um…" Tifa muttered, she didn't want to sound like she needed to sit away from the group, however, she knew that she truly didn't want to. Some of them (more specifically Yuffie and possibly Barret) would make fun of or comment about Cloud and Aeris and right now she wasn't sure if she could handle that. "Is it alright if I sit next to you?"
"…" Vincent was silent for only a moment. He had hoped to be alone to his thoughts, however, he didn't mind Tifa. Out of the group, she seemed to be the most mature (besides Red XIII), her company would be most desirable than the rest of the group. "Do as you wish…"
"Thanks…" Tifa murmured and sat down.
"Alright!" Cid hollered from the cockpit. "I'm startin' 'er up!"
Cid worked with the machines and a huge blast was heard, and echoed across the skies. "She works!" Cid bellowed as the propellers began to whirl, and the airship pulled away from the beach it was in.
A small cheer was made from the crowd, and then they all seemed to go into their own conversations. Tifa, however, ignored the other and glanced towards Vincent. Vincent was so… mysterious. Every day there seemed to be something new and odd about the strange and very unique (even for this group) man.
"So…" Tifa said, trying to start a conversation. Tifa could easily tell that it wasn't very common that Vincent would talk, and what little he did was usually purely out of seriousness. Tifa had never seen Vincent say anything with any true passion; it was usually just his non-caring tone of voice that he spoke with. "Whose Lucrecia?"
"Lucrecia…" Vincent murmured without looking back towards her. His eyes scanned the seas, thinking of a way to avoid the question without simply saying no. He didn't really care if he hurt her feelings or not, however, she seemed heartbroken over Aeris and Cloud. Although he did not know the past of her, Cloud, and Aeris very well, with his keen eyes it was incredibly easy to see that she was in pain whenever she saw them together. This reminded him oh so well of Lucrecia, Vincent, however, never went for help. Perhaps all she wanted to do was get Cloud off her mind. "How do you know of Lucrecia?"
"Well, you've said her name a couple times…" Tifa answered. "And… last night, you were having a nightmare… something about her and Hojo."
"… I see…" this did not surprise him. Nightmares were very common for a monster like himself. And almost every nightmare involved those two, or the events shortly after the experiments, like last night.
"So, who is she?"
Although he had decided he would try not to do it, he did it anyway; he gave her the cold shoulder. "It does not matter."
"Oh…" Tifa muttered. She cursed herself slightly for bringing it up, but it's not like the guy couldn't say anything about it. She was obviously something in his life; he had said something about that back when they first opened his coffin, but she couldn't remember much of that, it seemed like it was a thousand years ago.
Just leave him be, Tifa thought. He obviously just wants to be left alone…
"Sorry…" Tifa murmured, then was about to stand and go away, when he, surprisingly responded.
"It's alright," Vincent told her, not turning to her. "I apologize for my rude behavior."
"Oh no," Tifa told him. "It's alright. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't."
"Thank you."
Since he did talk, Tifa decided that she would give one last shot at starting a conversation. This time, deciding to stay away from anything regarding Lucrecia or the past. "I hope we finish off Sephiroth soon," she told him. "I'm getting tired of all this traveling."
"Yes…" Vincent muttered uncaringly. "It must be tiring."
"It… it really is," Tifa said, realizing that he didn't care at all about what she had to say. "You're going to kill Hojo after we defeat Sephiroth, aren't you?"
"Yes," Vincent replied instantly. "It may help me make amends for my sins, besides he deserves the worst for his crimes against humanity."
"Yeah…" Tifa replied, happy that she was actually having a conversation with the stoic gunslinger. "The things he did against mankind… it's terrible. All the things Shinra did against humanity are terrible… That's why I fight, the things they do, the way they are trying to control the people through fear and destroy the planet… it's terrible."
"Yes…" Vincent replied, feeling like a hypocrite for once so willingly doing the awful deeds for the company that this woman hates so much.
"When you go after him," Tifa told him. "I'll help you."
"I'd rather do it myself," Vincent replied, slightly shaking his head. "There's no need to drag you into such things."
"Vincent…" Tifa said with a small smile on her face. "I'm all ready involved with the Shinra. We all are."
"This is between Hojo and myself," Vincent sternly told her. "Although I greatly disagree with Shinra, I have no place to speak."
"No place to speak?!" Tifa exclaimed. "Just yesterday they were trying to kill you, Vincent!"
"They were simply doing their job…" Vincent spoke in his normal, nonchalant voice. "I have no idea what their personal beliefs are."
Tifa blinked for a moment. She never really thought about it like that, but she replied, "Stilly, they willingly did it."
"I too once did something that I disagreed with although still willingly did. I do not believe anyone can honestly say that they perfectly agree with everything that they do."
"That's… that's true…" Tifa mumbled, thinking back to when they were destroying Mako reactors. It was good for the sake of the planet, but it caused a lot of damage and they probably killed people with the explosion, but overall it was for the better.
"And if people deserve death for doing their job, then everyone with a job deserves to die, right?"
"Good point… but you would have killed them if it came to that, wouldn't you?"
"There's a difference between self-defense and a death sentence. I will kill all those who fight to get in my way."
"Well, what about Hojo?" Tifa asked. "Wasn't he just doing his job?"
"I have thought very deeply about this," Vincent told her calmly and knowingly. "Even if Shinra knew about and approved of the creation of Sephiroth, which, as it began, they didn't, I would still have to kill Hojo for it. He agreed with what he was doing, and very likely believed that it was the right thing to do."
"Oh…" Tifa muttered. "So… Shinra didn't know about Sephiroth until… later?"
"The original mission was to study the Jenova sample, not create an offspring. However, after discovering what Hojo was doing, Shinra fully agreed with it and sent him more money for the new operation. However, Hojo did several things that even Shinra didn't know about, nor did they approve of some of the things he did."
"Really? Like what?"
"They only approved of one human test subject… a young scientist. None of the others were approved of."
"One test subject?" Tifa asked. "Who was it? Who were the others?"
"…" Vincent's silence answered all of it. Lucrecia was the young scientist and one of the other test subjects must have been him, it's the only way to make sense of his supernatural skills. That's the only way that she could think that a single former Turk, who had been sleeping for thirty years, could now take on four of them.
"Oh…" Tifa replied, fully understanding now.
"If you wish to return to the others now," Vincent told her, looking out towards the sea. "I understand."
"No, Vincent, it's all right," Tifa said, rubbing his shoulder slightly, then pulling away, knowing that he didn't like to be touched. "Red XIII was a test subject too. So was Aeris, for a short while. It makes no difference, I mean, you're still human and everything."
"…" once again, Vincent's silence said it all. He didn't believe that he truly was human, Tifa had known that for a while now, but how could he possible think such a ridiculous thing?
"Vincent, you are human, you know that, right?" Tifa asked with some concern.
Vincent simply kept his eye on the sea and silently whispered, "I don't want to discuss this."
"Oh… I-I'm sorry…" Tifa muttered, instantly regretting bringing it up once again.
"It's all right… you don't understand…"
"Why don't you try explaining it to me?" Tifa asked him, almost begging. "Maybe I could help you?"
"It is pointless… it would only make you think different of me."
"Now, I doubt that."
"You've seen what I can do," Vincent told her, looking her in the eyes with his haunting, blood red eyes. "You've seen me… transform…"
"Yeah, but… you saved us, Vincent," Tifa calmly told him.
"I suppose…" Vincent hardly uttered.
The first night, Cid stopped outside Nibelheim. Everyone was glad that they were able to stay at the inn at Nibelheim. It was great for them when they are able to spend a single night at an inn but now they get to spend two nights in a row at an inn.
Everyone ran off to do their own thing. Cloud and Aeris went to the inn to get the rooms for everyone and Barret and Cid instantly ran off to the bar, knowing that tomorrow would be another boring day at sea, so they had a great opportunity for some drinking. Yuffie declared that she was bored out of her mind and needed to stretch out with some fights and was joined by Nanaki, while Cait Sith decided to go straight to bed.
Tifa decided to take a walk around the town. At first she was thinking about going to her old home but decided that this was her day off and didn't need to reminisce about those old days. It felt good to walk around, especially after spending so many hours sitting on that plane.
She walked towards the back of the town, in the direction of the Shinra mansion. Suddenly, she thought she heard a noise behind her and she quickly spun around, however, it was dark out and all she saw was two burning red orbs. She quickly snapped on her gloves and got in a defensive stance when a deep voice said, "It's just me, Tifa."
"Oh," Tifa sighed with relief and put away the gloves. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was going to look around the mansion," Vincent told her. "What about you?"
"Nothing really," Tifa shrugged, then looked up at the mansion. She was still frightened by that mansion but figured she could at least ask if she could go along, it's not like she was doing anything anyways. "Mind if I go with you?"
Vincent shrugged and replied, "If that is what you want."
Tifa nodded and followed Vincent up to the mansion and once they passed the gate, Tifa instantly started getting second thoughts. The last time they had come here it was daylight but now it was night and the whole mansion looked much more towering and frightening. "Why do you want to come here anyways?" Tifa asked, trying to make him change his mind.
"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, then spoke. "A long time ago… I left some powerful materia here. If it's still here I'm sure it would aid us greatly."
"Powerful materia?" Tifa asked, imagining the look on Yuffie's face had she been here to hear that. "What kind of materia is it?"
"Just some common materia," Vincent answered. "However, it's all mastered."
"Oh! Then it'll definitely help!"
"I can only imagine."
Vincent then continued forward and opened the door of the mansion, walking inside fearlessly. Tifa didn't understand how anyone could be so unafraid, but figured that he lived in the place for thirty years and now probably didn't fear anything. Tifa cautiously followed him inside and up the staircase. At the top of the stairs he took a left, walking to the room at the end of the hall, passing the rooms with the beds and the safe.
This room was covered with old dusty boxes and random pieces of furniture. Tifa glanced around and thought, in its time, a lot of these things would have been beautiful, but time had not been its friend. Vincent didn't bother glancing around and walked up to a chair and lifted the cushion, sighed, then put it back down.
"Did you find it?" Tifa asked, although already knew the answer.
"No," Vincent answered then walked past her and back into the hall.
"Did you stay in this room or something?" Tifa asked. She figured this would be the perfect opportunity to learn a little more about his past, but she still wouldn't push him too far.
"No…" Vincent shook his head, he pointed to the room with the beds right next to the room. "I and another Turk stationed here stayed in this room," he then turned back to her, "we just put all our things in that room. Towards the end of my… mission, I hid my materia in that room as well."
"Oh…" Tifa murmured. "Why?"
"I feared someone may try to take it away from me," Vincent answered, turning around and heading back towards the staircase.
Tifa sighed and followed him. How typical, Tifa thought. Vincent answers the question and only brings more questions to mind.
"Who would take it?" Tifa asked as they descended the staircase.
"The other Turk."
"Why?"
"I was a threat to the mission."
"A threat…" Tifa said to herself, trying to think why. "Oh! Because you were against the experiment, right?"
Vincent nodded and continued towards the door of the mansion. Tifa was considering asking more questions about his past but didn't for two reasons; one, he probably wouldn't answer and two, she wanted to get out of the mansion as quickly as possible. Outside, the two started walking back towards the town, Tifa very thankful that they finally left the spooky mansion, however, after a moment; she wished they had stayed back inside.
As the two were silently walking towards the town, she saw Cloud and Aeris standing outside of Cloud's old house and Tifa instantly stopped and frowned. Cloud had his arm wrapped around her shoulders and she was cuddled closely next to him. Vincent looked behind him at Tifa and stopped, turning back to her and softly saying, "Everything alright, Tifa?"
Tifa took a deep sigh and looked into his deep red eyes. She knew that some of the others in the group were frightened by those unnaturally colored eyes, but she thought that they were beautiful. "Yeah," Tifa nodded after a moment and then turned back to Cloud and Aeris. "I… I think I'm ok with them now…"
Vincent didn't believe her, but figured that it would be best if he just let her deal with it her own way. "Very well…" Vincent replied and turned back to the town. "Are you ready to go back to the inn?"
"Umm… sure," Tifa nodded and followed Vincent back to the hotel.
Cloud woke everyone up early the next day to get onto the ship so they could get as far as possible, but they still didn't make it to the weapon dealer, instead only making it as far as Gongaga. The group immediately disembarked and all headed towards the town within the jungle. Although it really wasn't much of a jungle, it took the team a while to make it through since, by the time they were about halfway to the town, the sun had fallen and they had extremely little light.
Fortunately, however, Vincent was able to guide them through the forest, after the others learned that he was able to see in the dark, until the rest of their eyes could adjust. Once they reached the town, everyone except Vincent went to the inn and they all played cards until they finally all got tired.
Tifa hoped that Vincent would stay at the inn, but before any of them could ask him, he had vanished. Tifa wished that Vincent would stay more with the group, but she decided that being distant was just Vincent's thing and she couldn't change that, no matter how much she wanted. After everyone else had gone to sleep, however, she was starting to worry about Vincent. It wasn't like him to not come back before it was too late and it was practically midnight now, so Tifa decided to head out and look for him, at least for a little while.
Vincent sat on top of a tree branch at the entrance of the town and was facing towards the jungle. He heard several creatures stirring in the otherwise almost absolute silence and found it oddly calming. Vincent quickly left the inn because he desired to be alone, for lately he hadn't had much time for that. When they're on the ship Tifa always sits next to him and tries to start up conversations and when they're on land, Tifa still usually finds a way to be with him.
It wasn't that he was really annoyed by this or anything, in fact sometimes he even enjoyed her company. It was just that Vincent was a very private man and he needed his alone time. Fortunately, tonight he was getting quite a lot of it, enough to make up for the previous few days. He thought that he should thinking about heading back to the inn, once it was starting to get late, but ultimately decided against it. Everyone would probably already be asleep anyways so there would really be no point in going back versus staying out here. The only difference is out here he could look into the jungle, which he was starting to enjoy.
Vincent was somewhat startled when, behind him, he heard some footsteps. He had been thinking about Hojo a lot, mostly pondering over what had happened to his materia that he left at the mansion and was convinced that it was him. However, he silently turned and saw that it was Tifa, and she walked over towards the graveyard and glanced around.
She's looking for me, Vincent thought, knowing that would be the only reason she would have for looking around the graveyard.
Tifa was about to give up when she heard him softly say her name. She turned around but couldn't see him, and thought maybe she was just hearing things. Tifa was about to turn back to the town when he suddenly jumped down about four feet in front of her, startling her and making her fall back on her butt.
"Oh Vincent!" she exclaimed, a hand on her chest to try to calm her rapidly beating heart. "You surprised me!"
"My apologies," Vincent replied, extending a hand to help her up.
Tifa took it and, with his help, managed to get back up on the ground. "Where were you?"
"I was up in the tree," Vincent quickly replied. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was looking for you. It was getting pretty late and I… I guess I was getting worried."
"There's no need to get worried," Vincent reassured her. "I was just about to head back to the inn anyways."
"Oh, alright," Tifa nodded, but before Vincent could lead her back to the hotel, she spoke, "Why didn't you just stay back at the hotel, Vincent?"
"I simply… wished to be alone with my thoughts," Vincent replied silently, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
"Vincent…" Tifa told him, resting her hand on his right shoulder. "You don't have to get over these things alone. You can let us help you, you know?"
Vincent kept his gaze forward, not turning back to her. "I must handle it alone."
"You don't have to. Let me help you."
"Thank you," Vincent told her, walking forward making Tifa's hand fall off his shoulder. "However, I must suffer alone. It is my sin. My duty."
Tifa sighed to herself as she watched Vincent walk away from her. She wished she could help him somehow, but knew that she wouldn't be able to help him if he wouldn't let her. She knew that she would have to wait, for now at least, and instead ran up to his side.
Once she reached his side, Vincent stopped and looked down at her. Tifa returned the look, both looking into each other's eyes in utter silence. Tifa almost seemed hypnotized by his gaze but after a moment, he faced forward again and continued walking towards the inn while Tifa sat behind in confusion.
What was that…? Tifa thought before running after him.
Once they entered the inn, Vincent instantly began walking upstairs while Tifa walked to her room which was under the staircase.
"Tifa," Vincent called.
Tifa turned and looked up at him, "yeah?"
"Good night," Vincent replied then continued up the stairs.
"Night," Tifa replied and then walked into her room.
The minute she walked in, she was surprised to see the light on and Aeris and Yuffie sitting on their beds talking excitedly about something. "Hey Tif," Aeris said with a wide smirk on her face. "Where were you?"
"Oh uh," Tifa muttered, scratching the back of her head. "I just went out to look for Vincent."
"I'm not surprised," Aeris replied with a wide smile and a glance towards Yuffie.
"How could you go out with a vampire?!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"I'm not going out with him!" Tifa retorted. "And he's not a vampire!"
"Sure…" Aeris said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," Yuffie giggled. "You only spent, like, all the time on the plane with him."
"Well… I mean, he was all alone…" Tifa murmured, not wanting to tell them the real reason she had been sitting next to him on the plane. "I think he just needs a friend."
"Whatever you say, Tif," Aeris replied, once again rolling her eyes.
"I'm tired," Tifa told the other two, lying down in her bed. "Let's just go to sleep, huh?"
"Yeah, lets let Tifa sleep, Aeris," Yuffie said, standing up and walking over to the light switch. "She needs to dream of her little vampire."
"Shut up!" Tifa shouted as Yuffie turned off the light and returned to her bed, blushing like mad.
"Hey Cid!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping up in her usual excited manner.
They had been back at sea for a few hours now, Tifa taking her spot next to Vincent. As usual, they didn't talk much, but Tifa was beginning to actually enjoy the silence between them. At first, it felt awkward for her to sit there next to him without saying a word, but now she actually kind of enjoyed being with her thoughts. Of course, its not like they never talked, but whenever they did, it was usually her talking. Sometimes she would think he wasn't listening so she would just stop talking, but before long he would ask her what happened next in her story, surprising her and then she would continue.
"What is it, kiddo?" the pilot asked.
"The weapon's dealer I told you about is right around here, you should probably land."
"All right, prepare for landin'!" Cid shouted, and then turned the ship towards the shore. "Everyone hold on to something!"
After landing, the team split up, Cloud, Aeris, and Red XIII went to the weapon's dealer to see if he knew anything about the key to the temple of the ancients. The others stayed back and had the very unexciting job of guarding the ship. Vincent stayed away from the rest of the group, performing a careful and tedious task of cleaning his cowboy-style revolver.
The rest of the group talked, mostly it was Cid telling some of what happened to him before he joined the group, and the others told him of their journey thus far. Although you couldn't tell it by looking at him, Vincent was listening intently to their conversation of their journey. He was amazed that such a small group of people with such little guidance (not to mention little money) had managed to do so many amazing things. This truly made him reflect about his thoughts on the group, a group powerful enough to infiltrate Shinra headquarters and free two of their test subjects, at least one of them being very important to their plans.
"What about you, Yuffie?" Tifa asked kindly. "We really don't know much about you before you joined the group."
"Me? It was nothing interesting really…" Yuffie said with a goofy grin on her face, proving it to be an obvious lie.
"Oh come on," Cid pushed on. "You hunted materia, right? You must have had some crazy adventures."
"Eh, not really," Yuffie shrugged. "I mostly stole things to keep a living. It got pretty close sometimes, but overall I was fine… at least until I met you guys and ended up being on Shinra's most wanted list."
"Hell, I'm proud to be on that list!" Barret bellowed, then turned to the silent member of the group. "What 'bout you, Vincent? You was in the Turks, right?"
"…" Vincent was silently wiping the barrel of his revolver with a cloth for a moment longer, then replied, "Yes…"
"Well, what about that?" Cid asked. "And how'd ya end up in that coffin anyways?"
"…" Vincent was completely silent, and then said, "It's a long story… I'd rather not discuss it…"
"Oh, come on!" Yuffie exclaimed, walking over to Vincent and begging him. "You know you want to tell us!"
Vincent glared at Yuffie with his chilling red eyes, instantly putting a stop to her childish antiques. "Guys," Tifa said, taking a step towards Yuffie and resting a hand on her shoulder. "If Vincent doesn't want to tell us, that's his own business. He'll probably tell us some day..."
"Yea, I guess," Barret grumbled. "Sides, there ain't no story, he's jes a damn vampire."
Vincent ignored Barret's comment and went back to the tedious task of cleaning his revolver.
It didn't take long for the others to return to the ship, unfortunately without the key to the ancients. "What d'ya mean he didn't have it?!" Barret bellowed angrily.
"He sold it already," Cloud told the enraged former Avalanche leader. "To Dio, the owner of Gold Saucer."
"Gold Saucer, huh?" Yuffie happily jumped. "YEAH! Let's go have a break at Gold Saucer!"
"Yuffie, this is about the worst time to take a break from our journey," Cloud told the ninja.
"Aww fine!" Yuffie huffed. "Let's just go then…"
"Yuffie's right, we have to beat Sephiroth to the Temple of the Ancients," Cloud announced to the group. "So let's go."
Vincent was curious about Gold Saucer. Back in his day, there was no Gold Saucer, however, judging by Yuffie's gleeful exclamation upon hearing the words, he guessed it was some sort of amusement park.
"How are we gonna get it from Dio?" Cid asked. "I doubt he'll just let us go in there and take the damn thing."
"I'll just ask if we can borrow it, I guess…" Cloud shrugged.
"Oh oh oh!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping up like a child. "We could steal it! It's been soooooo long since I've stolen anything!"
"Yuffie!" Aeris exclaimed.
"If it comes to that, maybe," Cloud replied with a shrug.
"Cloud?!" Aeris cried, surprised that the leader would suggest such a thing.
"We need to get in that temple," Cloud told her. "And you know Shinra could get it easily by using any of the resources they have."
"And they have a shit load of 'em," Barret told the ancient. "They can get that key about a countless o' different ways, it's all too easy for 'em."
"We'll do what we have to," Tifa told the group. "But, before jumping to conclusions, we should go and check it out."
"Yes, Tifa's right," Red XIII agreed. "Let's go."
To Vincent, Gold Saucer was one of the most amazing things in the world. It amazed him that not only was it built on a desert, but that the enormous structure stood high above the ground. Judging by the size of the amusement park, Vincent guessed that this Dio had a lot of money, which was a colossal understatement for anyone who knew just how much money Dio actually had.
They took the railcar to the park and, although no one could tell, Vincent was amazed by the advancements in technology that mako had given them. Once at the top, an old man approached the group. "Do you need tickets?" he asked.
"We have the gold pass," Cloud announced, handing it to the man.
"Oh…" the man said, inspecting the ticket, then handing it back. "All right, enjoy Gold Saucer."
"Oh, we will!" Yuffie exclaimed, dashing into the lobby area, followed by the rest of the group. "Let's go to Wonder Square!"
"We have a mission, Yuffie," Cloud told the young ninja. "We have to find out where Dio is, and what he did with the key stone…"
Vincent, who was inspecting the park map, said, "It may be in the 'Treasures Room' in Battle Square."
"Oh, yeah, good idea, Vincent," Cloud said, looking over the map to make sure that Vincent was right about where it was. "All right, let's go guys."
"Oh fine…" Yuffie whimpered, but followed the group to Battle Square.
Battle Square had a small side room, which, as the map had said, was the 'Treasure Room'. The group entered the room and directly in the center of the room sat a pedestal that had a strange purple stone on it; in front of the stone was sign which read 'Keystone'.
"So… this is the keystone…" Cloud muttered, glancing it over with his mako enhanced eyes. He found it very strange that the key to the temple would be a stone, but then again it was supposedly built back when the ancients were around, and that was thousands of years ago.
"The key to the Temple of the Ancients…" Aeris spoke. "That name still gives me chills."
"Checking out my newest treasure, eh Cloud?" asked a man from behind them.
Vincent, with his well-honed skills, spun around immediately with his hand on the butt of his revolver, only to discover that the man was no threat. He was very muscular, although not as large as Barret, and was wearing a very small speedo, which made all the girls look away in disgust.
"Yeah, Dio," Cloud told him, ignoring the man's poor choice of clothing. "Do you think we could borrow it for a little bit?"
"Well… you have been good to me in the past…" Dio muttered, and then began to think about it. "Hmm… let's make a little deal, Cloud…"
"What is it?" asked the ex-SOLDIER.
"How about this… you can have the keystone if you entertain me!"
"How can I entertain you?"
"Well, this is Battle Square," Dio told him with a smirk. "Let's see how well you can do in the battle! Then I'll give you the keystone."
"All right," Cloud nodded and headed towards the battle arena.
The battle arena was truly strange to Vincent. After every round in the arena, you would have to play a slot machine, except this machine, instead of being a gambling machine, would injure or help you in some way. Due to this, Vincent was amazed that Cloud was able to conquer the arena, he was poisoned, shrunk, transformed into a frog, and was slowed down dramatically.
"Congratulations, Cloud!" Dio exclaimed once Cloud walked out of the arena, tired from his strenuous battles. "A deal's a deal, here's the keystone."
The owner of the amusement park tossed the keystone to him as though it were a simple coin fortunately Cloud easily caught it. "Thanks, Dio," Cloud said, looking over the stone that was now in his hands.
"No need for thanks, kiddo," Dio said, then began walking away from the group. "Unfortunately, I'm a very busy man and I must be on my way, have a good day, folks."
"All right, let's get outta here," Cloud said, following Dio out of the arena and heading to the station, followed by the rest of the group.
Once they reached the station, immediately, the same old man who checked their gold ticket ran up to them. "I'm very sorry, folks, but the tram is out of order…" the old man said.
"Oh, how long is it going to be out for?" Cloud asked while Yuffie leaped for joy behind him.
"I'm sorry to say that it'll be out all night," the old man said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
"Oh…" Cloud mumbled, then walked into the lobby room. "Well, as long as we have the keystone, neither Shinra or Sephiroth is gonna get inside of the Temple of the Ancients."
"Yeah," Cait Sith announced. "And don't worry about spending the night, I'll be able to get a free night at the Ghost Inn."
"All right, good," Cloud told the group, headed for the inn. "Then I say we head over to the inn and call it a night."
"No way!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I'm gonna head over to Wonder Square and play some games!"
"All right, but be sure to go to bed early, we're going to have a big day tomorrow," Cloud told the young ninja.
"Yeah yeah, all right," Yuffie said and went to Wonder Square while the others went to the inn.
Well, what do you think? Any good?
Please comment!