I apologize for the mishap on Ashes's eye color. I was contemplating Sephiroth at the time and when he...damn. I better keep my mouth shut before I spill the plot.
Oh and Dirge of Cerberus: Fanfuckingtastic. Ok...on with the show.
Chapter 12
On the Road
The glass window sat ajar as the cool breeze swept in and out of the white room ruffling the white linen curtains with merriment. Yet he found little mirth in the scene. Voices echoed down the hallways from intercoms, the words echoing off the walls and fading down the corridors. He hated hospitals...
"Mr. Strife?" a masculine voice began bringing Cloud out of his thoughts, "I'm Dr. Stephan, the tests have come back and everything seems to be all right. The operation you underwent has cleared up most of the blood clots in your brain, but otherwise you survived on pure luck.Your children and wife will be arriving shortly."
Cloud nodded, his brain processing the information until he noticed the flat screen across the room,
"Can I please watch some t.v.?"
The doctor looked up at him and smiled, "I don't see why not. I'll have a nurse bring you a remote." Cloud nodded with a slight smile and he eased back, placing his head against the pillow. Minutes later an elderly woman walked in and showed him how to use the touch tone screen remote. Before long, he was flipping through the channels until he found the news channel.
Another nurse came in holding a steaming tray of food and set it down upon the table.
"Thank you." he mumbled and the nurse nodded before leaving the room. He picked up the fork poking at the mash potatoes and the ground beef steak and he made a face wondering if the food was edible. As he taste tested it his eyebrows raised in surprise: edible after all...
"Status reports show that for now, the molten lavas have receded gradually and turned into soft rock formations. No one seems to know why the crater errupted without warning, but scientists believe that the planet must have shifted, causing a major default line to break." the woman stated. Cloud frowned, remembering how he had fought his enemies in that treacherous place...where he fought Meteor. He began to zone out until the t.v. showed Reeve in front of a news crew describing what his thoughts were on the matter.
"Gentlemen, after speculating the reports and sightings, I believe that the erruption of the Northern Crater were deliberate and unnatural."
"President! What do you mean?' a woman shouted out to him from the crowds.
"One of our soldiers discovered during his rescue missions an entity that he had encountered, in which rendered him helpless. We believe that this being is the cause behind the disaster. We have had several casualties where we have lost helicopters to the fiery rivers. I would like to announce this to the world, please be wary of any unnatural incidents and if any citizen should come across this disaster, run and notify authorities." Reeve ordered.
Same old Reeve...Cloud thought as he pushed his plate away. Reeve never cared to hide things except telling the world the truth. As he continued to watch he frowned more as people who were interrogated described scenes from the past few days. His blue eyes shifted over to the window where the linen waving angrily along with the strong breeze caught his attention making his thoughts grab the memory of colors. He closed his eyes, his stomach full, and imagined her face as she sat next to him holding her hand... Your dream for the world can not exist Tifa.
-You killed mother. I hate you.
Cloud's eyes snapped open as he looked around himself, his heart relaxing from its sudden jolt. Sighing he continued to watch the clouds outside mingling along with the tops of skyscrapers; the static frm the tv fading away quietly.
Daemon waited downstairs with the girls until he saw Aerith arrive in a black company car in tow with a man with dark ebony locks: Vincent Valentine. Aerith hugged her daughters then Daemon,
"You guys waited down here for me?"
"Yeah." Daemon replied, "Aunt Marlene is in the cafeteria getting some coffee."
Aeris brushed a brown lock out of her face and smiled, "Well then...Let's go see your father."
Several floors up, they arrived in the intensive care unit where Cloud was placed after his surgery. The girls ran inside and tackled their father with hugs and kisses while laughter ran throughout the room. Aerith walked over to her husband and looked down at him with tears in her eyes. She grabbed his hand and kissed him,
"Don't you ever do anything so wreckless again. Do you understand?" she threatened humorously.
"Yes love." Cloud replied as he kissed her back. His blue eyes held a twinkle of amusement as Aerith kissed him again.
"Cloud." nodded the ex-turk.
"Young as ever I see." Cloud joked while Vincent sighed,
"Trust me Cloud, you actually look mature for your age." Vincent retorted merrily.
"Hey!" he complained with a smile on his face. Marlene had just entered with a cup of coffee in her hand and she went over to hug Cloud,
"Welcome back Uncle Cloud." she said.
"Thanks." he said and looked around, "Where's Ashes?"
Silence greeted his ears as he sat up some more and looked from his wife to the guilty face of Marlene and Desiree to his youngest Sam who was about to cry, then to Daemon who stood quiet and miserable looking, but he spoke up,
"She's gone."
Cloud's eyes narriwed, "Explain."
Caught offguard by his fathers tone of voice, he began to explain what had happened while he was in a coma, "Then she didn't show up after class at the end of school. We spoke with the instructors and Reno said that he saw her leave right when bell rang, but thought nothing of it. But they notified Reeve as well as authorities in the city and surrounding villages in case they see her."
"Dad?" Sam asked.
"Yes?" he said, his eyes not leaving his son's face.
"Is it true that Ashes isn't our sister?"
Cloud snapped his head at Sammantha, "Where did you hear that?"
Sam looked over at Desiree who hung her face in shame, "I couldn't hold it in any longer Daddy! She has taken you away from us...away from me! I heard you and mom talking about it years ago and Marlene said it was true when Ashes confronted her." Now it was Marlenes turn to look guilty as she turned her brown eyes towards the window.
Aeris looked at Desiree with a look of shock, "Shame on you. How could you do that to her? She has never in her life done anything to hurt you! Your father loves you just as much Ashes. Don't you ever forget that! And even if Ashes is not my daughter by blood, I am still her mother! I raised her from a babe, just as I raised each and everyone of you." Aeris stated angrily until her eyes fell back upon Desiree, her voice gathering more confidence, "She is my daughter, just like you."
"We have to find her." Cloud mumbled, "She needs to be found before someone else finds her." Aerith looked over at her husband, startled by the words he had spoken.
"By whom?" she whispered.
Cloud looked up at her, "By her..."
A womans voice that ran through the intercom woke Ashes up and she noticed that Aidan had rested his head against her shoulder. Blushing slightly she lightly shoved his head away and watched as he grumbled.
"I repeat: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived at Junon Northern Station. The time is three thirty nine am. Please gather any onboard luggage and wait till the train has come to a complete stop."
"Yo Aidan! We're here. Get up, we gotta catch the boat to Costa Del Sol in thirty minutes." one of the boys shouted. Yawning, Aidan looked over to Ashley and found her gazing out the window. The sun was still hours away and the night had yet to fade.
"Would you like to come with us? We can all go together to the Boats. I'm sure there is bound to be an airship strip nearby that will take you to Nibelheim." He offered.
"Thanks but I..."
"Come on Ashley. A lady like yourself can't be walking around at night by herself." he pleaded. Ashes looked up at him ready to protest but his green eyes bore into hers like puppy dog eyes and she sighed,
" I guess so."
"Awesome!" he exclaimed. Once the train stopped, people sprouted from their seats gathering belongings, children, and friends.
"Ashley come on." Aidan said as he grabbed his last bag. Nodding, she followed the group out of the train where they placed all their luggage in the middle and had one of the guys go find a bus taxi. There were six of them all together; two looked liked twins, one who looked like an extreme scholar with an ungodly thick book in his hand, then there was Aidan, and another who looked like one of those rebellious artists.
"Everyone, I would like you all to meet Ashley...umm.." he looked at her sheepishly, and asked, "I forgot the last name." He chuckled nervously.
"That's because I never gave it." she replied and laughed as he turned a brighter shade of red, "Lockhart." she added.
"Right...Ms. Lockhart." he announced. He brushed his hand nervously through his dark hair and continued, "All right, these two halfwits are Jason and Dave."
"Hey!" One of them snapped and Aidan laughed,
"That's Max over there with the book," he said and whispered to her as she leaned in to listen, "He is like a prodigy when it comes to books."
"I heard that. I'm just your simple scholar Aidan. Don't praise me." Max said as he flipped the page of his novel.
"He also has great keen sense of hearing too." Aidan said out loud as the twins laughed.
"And my name is Christopher!" the guy with the shades exclaimed dramatically as he fluffed up his collared shirt. He slung his arm over Aidans shoulder and took his shades off,
"I'm his little brother."
Ashes looked from Chris to Aidan confused. They didn't look anything alike! While Aidan had dark brown black hair and green eyes and stood almost at six feet, his brother had dirty ash blonde hair and gray violet hues, standing about a few inches shorter then Aidan.
"Different Dads." Aidan answered.
"Oh." she whispered and nodded. Then another guy walked back with blonde ruffled hair and blue eyes,
"We have a taxi bus waiting for us at the south gate." he looked at Ashes and nodded, "My names Jason."
"Nice to meet you all and thank you for letting me come with you guys." Ashes said to all of them.
"We wouldn't have it any other way." Jason piped in before anyone else could. They all began to grab their stuff and Ashes placed her bag over her shoulder following the group out. The sub level of the station floors were made out of a sleeker form of cement and the walls were tiled white and blue. The station itself was flooded with crowds of people, the level of voice raised like the sound of waterfalls. It was too crowded for her liking but she sighed with relief as they made it up the two way stairs into the upper level.
The night life of Junon was all a bustle, horns blaring, lights flashing, people shouting even in the early morning hours. The smell of Junon consisted of a mettalic gasoline taste and smog...and yet for some reason she remembered it from long ago.
"Ashley!" Chris shouted to her, "Get in." he said with a smile and she climbed into the bus taxi. The streets turned into a large highway called 670 south, but what caught her eyes was the dark blue coastal line.
Aidan looked over at her and grinned before nudging her, "So tell us a little about yourself."
"Huh?" Ashes replied, completely caught offguard. Max looked up at her,
"What he means to ask is: do you go to school/ parents? Origin? Etc." he explained. Ashes blushed and opened her mouth only to close it.
"There's not much to say. I was adopted and now I'm going to find my real mother in Nibelheim." she said. Her fingers fidgeted in her lap as she looked out her window, silence followed and Aidan cleared his throat.
"We hope you find her, your mom I mean." he added.
"Thanks." she said and looked over at the twins who were already sound asleep, thier heads bumped together. Christopher was nodding off into slumber as well, Jason was in his own world, while Max resumed reading his ungodly thick novel.
Thirty some odd minutes later the taxi cab came to a stop at the national airstrip. The slate gray building stood firm as the doors were thrown closed and open as people filed through, luggage in towe. Aidan helped Ashes grab her bags and helped her out. She waved goodbye and smiled at Aidan,
"Thanks for everything."
He grinned and raked his hand through his dark mop of hair before looking at her with his green eyes,
"Don't mention it. Such a shame our destination wasn't the same. I wish you luck and stay in touch." he said as he handed her a small sheet of paper. Ashes looked up at him bemused as she opened it up.
"It's my e-mail. Just incase..I mean after your adventure..er..I don't know if you'd like to go hang out." he said and looked to his right. She smirked and replied,
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." She grabbed her bags and and turned toward him and waved. Aidan smiled until he noticed a wisp of silver in her dark mahogany locks. Shaking his head he smiled and climbed back into the taxi.
Finding an airship flying to Nibelheim was a bitch as she raked her eyes through the blue screens provided for passengers. People shove, pushed past her and she more then once had to hold her anger back from punching a few rough ignorant individuals. All completely oblivious to those around them, just bubbled in their own little world. The world was too fast these days. Yes it was reborn for the better but in her opinion, if people continued to be this ruthless and isolated, the next crisis would be just around the corner.
She pushed her way to the ticket center to find an elderly woman typing at a remarkable speed on her computer.
"Where to?" she inquired without looking up at her.
"Nibelheim." she replied.
"We have one leaving in twenty minutes at gate five and another at..." the woman was cut off.
"I'll take the first one. The quicker the better."
The lady looked up at her and nodded, "That will be 1400 gil."
Ashes froze, that was a lot of money...money she didn't have... She opened her wallet and counted five hundred and then suddenly a shiny object caught her eye. Silver and blue plastic glinted at her: her emergency credit card that Cloud had given her. She had never used it in the past...
"I have four hundred gil on me, the rest I would like charged to my credit card." she ordered shaking her head. The woman nodded again, swiped the card and handed a reciept for her to sign. She frowned as she finished writing Strife out then she handed it back across the counter.
After all was signed and her ticket was placed in her hand, she raced down the corridor, pushing passed people to reach gate five. An elderly man smiled at her as she made it to the gate,
"You're lucky Miss. We were just about to close for lift off. Just follow the stairs up and your ticket will show you to your temporary room."
"Thank you." she replied. She ran up the stairs only to stare in awe at the golden airship in the early dawn. It's dull bullion surface seemed to whisper speed just by sitting there waiting for her to board. Smiling slightly she ran up to the ramp and vanished onto the airship.
I noticed that a lot of this chapter consisted of her journey, but in every other fic I read, it seems Nibelheim is just around the corner when it's really half a world away! I mean come on...think logically here. Anyways...I need reviews...leave one...it won't kill you.