Final Fantasy VII: The Story 2nd Instalment

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Seventeen

Quickly Cloud jumped up onto his feet, his hand already behind him to draw his sword. He pulled the sword out in a single, swift movement, and kept moving so that the wide blade swung around towards the startled soldier. The flat side of the blade struck the soldier's helmet before he could even think about picking up his gun again. The sword connected with a loud crack, and the soldier crumpled into a heap onto the floor.

The rest of the Shinra soldiers did not waste any time in making up their minds whether to attack or not, and quickly rushed to pick up their guns from the ground. Although their orders were to catch the cagey Don Corneo, they also had orders instructing them to capture Cloud and his comrades whenever it was possible. As it turned out they were all too slow, as Cloud and the others were already up and moving before their hands could even reach their weapons.

It was all over in just over a minute. Soldiers went flying through the air, crashing through the thin wooden walls into neighbouring rooms as Tifa picked them up with her fists and slammed them into the wall. Guns clattered and skimmed across the ground as Cait Sith jumped up on his Mog body and pounced straight on top of one of the soldiers, flattening him beneath his massive bulk. Barret and Vincent did not dare to fire their guns in such a confined space, but that didn't stop them from grabbing the soldiers and throwing them aside to Cid, who caught them with his spear and also hurled them to the ground as though they were nothing.

One of the Shinra soldiers tried to make a break for it during the fray. The door to the room was open, and this one soldier saw an opportunity to slip through while the others were preoccupied in their fight. He saw his chance and took it, darting across the room between the soldiers, heading for the door.

Aeris was standing at the back of the group then, and saw the soldier rushing towards the door. In an attempt to stop him she threw her staff across the room, trying to block his path. The staff caught the soldier and became entangled in his ankles, causing him to trip up and fall onto the floor.

Aeris then quickly jumped over another fallen soldier, moving fast before the soldier could get up again. She picked up her staff as it skimmed across the floor, and brought it down swiftly onto the soldier's head. The glass mask smashed and the soldier fell onto the floor, not about to get up again after a blow like that.

After that minute was over, all of the soldiers were either unconscious or incapacitated, some of them groaning and crawling pathetically across the ground. It was pointless killing the soldiers. After all, it wasn't the soldiers they were after. It was Don Corneo that they were after now, and the precious cargo that he had taken from them (the precious cargo being the one person who knew where their materia was hidden).

Tifa stopped and looked around the room. She expected to see Don Corneo in a corner; shivering and quivering like a scared rat at their might and strength. Yet as she glanced around she saw that he was nowhere to be seen. The only people in the room were themselves, excluding the defeated soldiers.

"Where is he?" she asked aloud, breaking the silence.

Everyone looked around at the room, although they knew that Don Corneo had already gone. He had slipped out at the beginning of the battle, using the fray between the soldiers and Cloud's team as a diversion so that he could escape unnoticed. There was also no doubt in their minds that he had taken Yuffie and Elena with him, since there was no sign of them or the two men carrying them.

Cloud walked briskly towards the open door, stepping over the unconscious soldier as he did so. He looked briefly down the corridor leading out of the room, and saw that it was empty. "He can't have gone too far," he said to the others. He slipped his sword back into its hilt behind his back. "Red XIII, can you pick up his scent?"

The hound jumped over to Cloud and sniffed the air, trying to catch the scent. There were five separate scents in the air, two of which belonged to Yuffie and Elena, he could tell, and he guessed the other three belonged to Don Corneo and his two henchmen. All of these scents led down the corridor, most likely towards the exit. With a gruff growl he leapt past Cloud and began to jog lightly down the corridor, growling at the others to follow him.

The others did follow, running in single file down the thin corridors as they tried to keep up with Red XIII. Their boots made loud and heavy thuds against the wood, drowning out their heavy panting. Red XIII led the way, his head always lifted to the air to catch Yuffie's scent as it drifted past him.

The building that they were in was an inn of sorts – clearly different to the inns they had visited during their journey. There were a number of slide-open doors along the corridor, each leading to fairly identical rooms. But Red XIII wasn't interested in these, since Yuffie's scent wasn't coming from any of them. He knew that her scent was leading him towards the entrance, where hopefully they would catch up with Corneo before he ran too far ahead of them.

The entrance was just ahead now. Red XIII darted round that final corner, his sharp claws digging deep into the wood and creating sharp splinters as he turned around and made that final dash towards the exit. He pulled away from the others, realising that the scent was beginning to fade.

He burst through the open doors like a hound out of a horror novel. He almost flew through the air above the stairs, casting his dark shadow onto the ground. When he landed he dug his claws into the soft dirt, twisting his body round into a forced stop in front of the inn. When he stopped he immediately raised his head to the air, trying to catch Yuffie's scent.

As he had feared, the scent was no longer blowing on the wind. The wind had changed once again, taking Yuffie's scent away from him. This meant that Corneo had taken Yuffie and Elena to the northern part of the village, but without a strong scent to follow it meant that they would have to start searching for her again.

There was but one scent in the air that he recognised as the wind drifted past his nose. He spotted the source of the smell running past him just a second later, black, white and red blurs rushing past his eyes. This source caused him to bare his teeth and growl fiercely, perhaps unnecessarily.

Reno and Rude ignored Red XIII as they ran past, heading away from the bell-tower and stopping at the top of the stairs leading to the northern part of the village. They had finally managed to pry themselves away from the bar, but only after hearing from the soldiers that Corneo had captured Elena.

Red XIII narrowed his eyes and was about to make a ferocious pounce at the two Turks, when a hand suddenly swept in front of his eyes and caused him to stop. Red XIII looked up as Cloud stood next to him, wondering why the human had stopped him. Cloud looked back at Red XIII and shook his head, before looking back at the two Turks as they stood on the stairs.

"Hmm… that Corneo is good at escaping…" they heard Reno say. He had his arms folded irritably, his jacket and shirt blowing loosely in the wind. He looked a little annoyed, perhaps even a little concerned.

Beside him, Rude's face remained expressionless, although they guessed that behind those dark shades his eyes were also anxious. "……Elena," was all he said. He looked away from Reno and glanced at the ground, his mouth creasing into a frown.

Reno looked up and glanced at his partner. That was just like Rude: showing no form of emotion even when he was so obviously concerned about Elena. Not that he blamed him – Elena was smart, but even Reno was worried about her. "Let's go, Rude," he said, sounding somewhat cheerful to lighten the mood. "We'll give them a taste of what the Turks can do."

Rude looked back down at Reno, staring at him sternly through those dark shades of his. Reno kept his expression firm, until Rude finally nodded and ran off down the stairs, leaving Reno alone. Once the Turk was gone Reno sighed heavily, flicking his red hair out of his eyes. "……Sounded pretty good," he said.

Suddenly he stopped, as he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eyes. He turned his head a little and saw the figure moving behind him, and a somewhat devious little smirk spread on his face. He turned away again, his hand slipping underneath his blazer towards his metal rod, which was hidden there. "If Elena is in his hands, that's going to make things a little difficult," he said. "And uh…"

Behind him Cloud slowly nodded his head, keeping his eyes firmly focused on Reno's hand. Although he didn't think Reno would attack him, considering the circumstances, he wasn't going to take any chances. "……Okay," he agreed. "Corneo took Yuffie from us. And without Yuffie, there's no way we'll get our materia back."

Reno didn't reply. His hand was still just underneath his jacket, his fingers twitching and just centimetres away from the handle of his weapon. The urge to bring it out and strike Cloud while he was so close was tempting, but Reno knew that right then there were more important things at hand. And with Cloud watching him so closely, he would not have been able to get it out fast enough.

"Don't misunderstand," he said finally, letting his hand fall casually to his side as he turned to face Cloud. "We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we'll agree not to bother each other. That's all."

"That's fine," Cloud answered, just as sternly, also letting his hand fall from the handle of his blade now that Reno had moved away from his. "We have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the Turks, either."

He gave Reno a nod, and he nodded back. The two men stared at each other intently for a second or two, wondering who was going to break the silence first. Reno gave another little smirk as he folded his arms again, waiting for Cloud to ask the question he knew they needed answering. Eventually Cloud did give in, and scratched the back of his head.

"Now, uh, just what direction did Corneo run off to?"

"Hmm, nice attitude," replied Reno, suppressing a chuckle. He turned away from Cloud and took a few steps away down the stairs, where he stopped and looked out at Wutai. "Here's a clue," he said. "It's the place that stands out the most."

With that, Reno then reached under his blazer and pulled out the metal rod, flicking it out to its full length and placing it on his shoulder. He then ran down the stairs, leaving Cloud behind. When he was gone Cloud turned back to the others, whom were all waiting patiently behind him. Cloud shrugged his shoulders, and turned back to look at the village.

"It's the place that stands out the most," Reno had said. What was that supposed to mean?

Up until that point, Cloud would have figured that it was the pagoda that stood out the most. It was the tallest building in the whole of Wutai, and was visible no matter where you stood in the village. It was like a beacon or a watchtower, taller than all the trees, looking after the village on its perch. And since Reno had run off to the north, he couldn't have meant the pagoda being the thing that 'stood out the most.' So what else was there that stood out?

He looked around at the village. From the top of the stairs he could see the two shops, the houses, and the Turtle Paradise. He could even see Yuffie's house – the biggest house and Wutai. Even from there it still looked like a normal house – nothing special that made it stand out above the rest.

Then, as Cloud looked around, his eyes slowly moved eastward. They moved towards the very far easy of the village, to where the item shop stood. Behind the shop he could see a very rocky path, winding up slowly past the village. He followed its line upwards, and a look of realisation set in as he finally saw 'the place that stood out the most.'

Cloud almost kicked himself for his stupidity. He should have realised it sooner, for it really was the place that stood out more than anything else. What else was more obvious than a large, rocky cliff standing alongside a village? What could be more visible than a huge structure made of stone, carved into that cliff, looking down at the village?

Sure enough, Reno and Rude were still waiting for them by the time Cloud and the rest of his group finally arrived at the rocky entrance of Da Chao, the sacred mountain of Wutai. They were waiting somewhat impatiently, as Reno was pacing across the ground, kicking at the dirt and lightly smacking his metal rod against the rocks. Rude was probably the more patient of the two, but of course no one could see his expression behind his shades.

As Cloud and the others began to run up the path towards the two, Reno stopped his pacing and looked up. "You're finally here," he called down to them as they approached. Even so, he was somewhat surprised that they had figured out his riddle so fast. Maybe they were smarter than they looked.

No one answered Reno right away. They just came to a stop at the top of the path, trying hard not to show their fatigue from having run non-stop right through the village just to reach this spot. When they all caught their breath they looked at Reno, waiting for him to tell them more about Corneo's whereabouts. Reno seemed to realise this, as he shook his head and pointed to the mountain behind them.

"We're gonna split into two," he explained briefly to them. "You do whatever you want. But don't endanger Elena." He seemed to stress that remark quite firmly, before turning and walking away up the mountain path. After a few steps he stopped again, remembering something, and glanced back at Cloud. "Don't worry. We won't do anything to that girl, Yuffie. For now…" he added with a sneer.

Reno then nodded to Rude. Rude nodded silently back, and the two Turks then ran off up the mountain path into the depths of Da Chao, leaving Cloud and the others behind at the entrance.

With the two Turks gone, Cloud and the others were left to search the mountain alone. There was no point asking Reno for any other clues – they probably didn't know where Corneo was hiding either. Not that they would ever admit to that. The Turks cared a lot about their appearance, and having one of their company kidnapped must have been very embarrassing for them.

There were a number of winding paths surrounding the statue of Da Chao. The path they were on now was the main path, rising up to the bottom of the main stone figure at the centre of the congregation. From this point the statue looked very large and domineering, casting its dark shadow onto them as the late afternoon sun began to set in.

They moved on steadily up the stone path. About halfway up the statue the path split into many different directions, acting like a spider's web that wound itself around the statues of Da Chao. They could see Reno and Rude, running in different directions in their search for Elena and Corneo. At one point during their search they passed Rude as he stood thoughtfully outside a small, darkened cave, before making up his mind and running into the darkness.

After about five minutes of searching, the party came to a stop on one of the stone paths. They were high above the ground now, almost alongside the head of the main Da Chao statue. It was hopeless. The statues of Da Chao were just too big and too winding for them to search thoroughly. There were many hidden nooks and crannies – so many different places that Corneo could use to hide himself, Yuffie and Elena. Even with the Turks on their side, there was only so much that they could do.

"This is hopeless!" Cid shouted suddenly, throwing his spear harshly onto the ground. "They could be anywhere by now! I tell ya, that girl's more trouble than she's worth!"

No one disagreed with him. If Yuffie hadn't taken their materia in the first place, then they wouldn't be wasting precious time searching for her. They were meant to be looking for the Temple of the Ancients, not chasing her. Cid was right: she was more trouble than she was worth, but they needed their materia.

While everyone took this moment to take a quick rest and catch their breath, Vincent walked away from the group and headed further down the path. He didn't go very far because the path came to an end, sweeping to the left as it joined up with the arm of one of the statues. He looked out at the village for a second or two, until a sound caught his ear and he looked to his left. He raised an eyebrow at what he saw, and then called Cloud over to look.

Yuffie struggled with all of her might, desperately trying to break free of the ropes that bound her to the wall. The knots were fixed tight, tied securely to metal hoops attached to a metal plate forced onto the front of the statue. If she pulled too hard she would most likely pull the loop free altogether and fall to her death. But even that was better than hanging like bait against the wall.

She had been tied up and positioned over one of the eyes of the statue of Da Chao. Elena was beside her, tied up like she was, across the other eye of the statue, although she wasn't struggling. The ground was a long way beneath them, and to fall from this height would mean certain death. So, as undignified as it was, she kept as still as possible and avoided struggling. Unlike Yuffie.

"LET… ME…… GO!"

Safely on the ground in front of them, Don Corneo strolled leisurely across the open stone palm of the hand of Da Chao. That same manic grin was still on his face as he gazed up adoringly at the two tied up women. He seemed to get some strange pleasure out of seeing the two tied there, and made no effort to hide it.

"Hmm! Delicious… scrumptious!" he exclaimed gleefully, clapping his hands together in sheer excitement. "I think I've just found a new HOBBY! Which shall it be? Hmm… Hmm…" He moved over towards the end of Da Chao's hand, and looked up at Elena. "Should I go… with HER?"

Elena stared blankly at him for a second. When realisation set in her eyes opened wide in horror and she looked physically sick. "He…Hey, I'm one of the 'Turks'!" she protested fiercely. "Don't think you can get away with this?"

Corneo ignored Elena. Either that or he was just so wrapped up in his own delusional fantasy that he never even heard her. He licked his lips in delight, and quickly waddled over to the other end of the hand, this time choosing to gaze up at the tied-up ninja.

"Or… maybe… HER?"

Yuffie narrowed her eyes angrily at Corneo, feeling just as sick as Elena was. "Oh, GAWD!" she cursed loudly, increasing the momentum of her wriggling as she tried desperately to break free of the bonds that held her to the wall. "If I knew this was gonna happen, I would've taken rope escape lessons more seriously!" She gave her arms a hefty tug, but the metal loops were firmer than they looked, and did not break free. She gave another loud curse and hit her head against the wall.

While the girl was busy struggling with her shackles, Corneo continued to move his eyes from one girl to the other. He seemed to take each girl into careful consideration, letting his eyes wander up and down their tied-up bodies. A dozen thoughts were running through his head. When they finally came together his eyes lit up. He had come to a decision.

"Hmm! I've made my choice!" he announced, speaking loudly so that the two girls, and anyone else in the area, could hear him. "My companion for the night will be……" He let that sentence hang in the air for a moment, an imaginary drum roll beating loudly through his head. When he heard the unreal clash of the symbols in his mind, he raised his arms up and stood before Yuffie. "The cheerful one!"

"GROSS-NESS!" Yuffie said in reply, her entire body convulsing from the sheer thought of what Corneo had in mind. She opened her eyes and glared down at the man angrily, wishing she could rip that idiotic smile of his off of his face. "Don't mess with me old man! You don't even have any materia!"

Again Corneo seemed to disregard what she had said, interpreting her words into a meaning that only he could think of. He began to jump up and down on the ground, acting like a little boy who was being given candy for the very first time, tasting its sweet, sugary flavour. "And she's saucy, too!" he said, ecstatically. "Wheee! Wheee!"

"All right, that's it!"