Chapter Sixteen: Revisiting The Past

Cloud and Hobbes finally made it through the cave and surfaced to daylight. They looked at one another to see that they were pitch-black.

"We make Barret look white, don't we?" Cloud chuckled.

"I need to jump in a pond to clean off," Hobbes said, looking at himself.

"Let's go back to the candle and meet everyone."

When they went back there, they saw that all but Cait Sith and Barret had fallen asleep. Tifa was leaning on Barret's shoulder. And Calvin was sleeping on Aeris' lap.

"Wake up, everyone!" Cloud shouted.

"SPIFF FIGHTS BACK!" Calvin shouted as he jolted awake and sat up.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Aeris asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"It went well," Cloud replied. "Hobbes here is quite the fighter. His parents and tribe would be very proud."

Hobbes blushed furiously at these words, ut felt proud nonetheless.

"Where's Red XIII?" Tifa asked.

"He and Bugenhagen hung back, talking about something."

"About him staying here?" Aeris asked in a more timid voice. Cloud nodded his head.

"Do you think he will?" Calvin asked.

"Hard to say, but it looks like he will." Cloud sighed.

"Well, they got the buggy fixed," Barret added. "We can finally leave and continue our search for Sephiroth."

Before everyone got up, they stood still for a few minutes, thinking back about Red XIII. He had proven to be very useful up to here.

"We'll miss you, Red XIII" Aeris said aloud to no one in particular.

"Yeah…ya came in handy at times," Barret added.

"…I guess this is good-bye…brother," Hobbes sighed.

With that, they all got up and stated to walk towards the exit of Cosmo Canyon. They were steps from leaving when they heard, "GUYS! WAIT UP!"

Everyone turned around to see Red XIII running at them, looking very excited.

"I've decided to continue along with you, sticking by you until the very end."

"Why?" Cloud asked. "I mean, what made you change your mind?"

"The fact that I grew up a little bit today, that's what. I think I understand what my father would want me to do in a situation like this and I feel that Cosmo Canyon should have a representative throughout what seems to be one of the greatest adventures throughout time. Therefore, I wish to come with you…that is, if I am still invited to."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Cloud said. "Glad to have you back, Red XIII"

At that point, Bugenhagen had floated over to them again.

"Cloud, please watch over Nanaki. Promise you will bring him back here throughout your adventure whenever possible."

"It's a promise."

"Hobbes, you come back as well. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Hobbes said, saluting him.

"Well, we need to get going," Cloud said, after Bugenhagen gave his grandson a hug.

"Ho, ho, ho!" he chuckled. "Come back whenever you need my wisdom!"

"We will!" Hobbes shouted.

On the way to the buggy, they all stopped at a nearby pond so that Cloud and Hobbes could wash up as well as the rest of the gang.

Calvin had taken his clothes off and actually jumped into the pond, swimming around in it.

"You guys should come in! The water feels great!" Calvin said.

"Sorry, Calvin, but the rest of us don't have any other clothes or swimming suits. Plus, we need to get going. Sephiroth is still out there and I really want to get some answers about my past," Cloud said.

"I want answers, too," Aeris and Tifa said together.

"Also, when we kill this jack ass, the planet will finally be safe for a while and it's my job to make sure it stays that way!" Barret added, shooting a couple of bullets from his gun-arm into the air.

"Tell me," Calvin said while back-stroking, "why is it you guys are actually after this guy?"

"Because," Cloud began, "Five years ago, Sephiroth figured out that he was actually created in a horrifying experience and that caused him to hate everyone. He figured out that he was created through an ancient named Jenova. After this, he started referring to her as mother and started saying that we took this planet from her years ago when he read through a series of books…"

"Who has time to read nowadays?" Calvin asked in disgust.

Cloud just sighed and continued to explain.

"These books describe how Jenova came to this earth from a rock that fell from the sky and was believed to have been the mother of what was supposed to be the dominant race on this planet…the Ancients."

"Say, aren't you an Ancient Aeris?" Calvin asked as he began to forward stroke.

"Yes, she is," Cloud said. "Now, let me finish the story.

"It was believed that the human race at the time attacked the Ancients that were on the planet after some time passed…the Shinra to be precise. They defeated almost all of them and became the new owners of the planet. Jenova, however, wasn't quite dead. So instead of finishing her, the Shinra took her into custody and put her in a research facility. After conducting years of study on her, they came to find out that she had power to create certain magic and special orbs."

"Materia?" Hobbes asked, observing his new gravity materia.

"Right. Anyways, the Shinra then came up with a sick idea, which was led by a mad Shinra scientist names Hojo. They decided to conserve her powers in a gigantic tube in a reactor in the mountains of Neibelheim. There, they took people and put them into tubes that were connected Jenova's. Then, they took her powers and transferred to those people, making them super weapons."

"THAT'S INHUMANE!" Calvin shouted, outraged.

"Yes, and Sephiroth thinks do, too. That's what caused him to go insane. At first, he thought that when he was born that he just had super genes from his parents or something, but he found that his mother was actually an Ancient and that he was created in an experiment and that was how he gained his powers. This caused him to go mad and to hate the Shinra. Soon, he came to hate everyone else in the world. He claimed that the humans of this earth took the planet from Jenova and his race and that it was time that the planet was returned to her."

Hobbes just stared at Cloud in amazement and shock.

"That's rough," was all Hobbes managed to get out.

"So, what's this got to do with us?" Calvin asked, getting his head wet.

"Well, for starters," Barret said. "Sephiroth wants to destroy that planet that supports human life for everyone…including us and I don't wanna die because of some sick psycho that wants the planet for himself."

"Secondly," Cloud began. "I and my hometown were the first victims of Sephiroth's rampage after he found out his past. He found those reports in the library of the mansion in Neibelheim, where Tifa and I grew up."

"Childhood friends?" Hobbes asked.

"Yup!" Tifa said enthusiastically, putting an arm around Cloud in a buddy-buddy way.

"Anyways, once he went mad, he walked outside the mansion and burned down our town and killed a good number of people living in it. I was working with him at the time as a member of Shinra SOLDIER. That's what caused him to become so angry and burn down our town: he felt that he was serving a bunch of traitors and that we did not deserve to live. So he set our town on fire…destroying my life that I once knew. That's why I'm after him: to find the truth and to kill him."

"Well, if that's the case," Hobbes said after a few minutes of silent reflecting, "then I will help you to see this through until the very end."

"Same here!" Calvin said. "All this talk about being created by something from outer space sounds cool…plus to say I killed an alien would defiantly make me the coolest kid in school!"

Everyone just sighed at Calvin's immature comments.

"Anyways," Tifa said, "the buggy looks brand new. We should probably get going."

"She's right. Calvin you should probably come out of the pond and dry off now." Red XIII said grabbing Calvin's clothes with his mouth and dropping them on the shore.

"I'm not clean yet!" Calvin protested. "I'll get out when I'm good and ready!"

Before anyone could argue further, Hobbes walked forward and fired an ice spell into the pond, causing Calvin to jump fifty feet into the air, landing into the pond again and started to scramble towards shore.

"I-I-I'm-m-m r-r-r-e-e-a-a-d-d-y-y-y-y," Calvin shivered.

"Good and," Hobbes chuckled.

Once Calvin got his clothes back on, everyone went to the buggy and they were on their way once again.

"So, where do we go now?" Cait Sith asked.

"I…really don't know," Cloud responded honestly. "I would assume we head towards those mountains."

"Hey, what about that town over there?" Red XIII asked, motioning over to their right. "Maybe they've heard something about Sephiroth."

Taking Red XIII's advice, Cloud drove the buggy over to the town that was at the base of the mountain. As they got closer, they noticed that Cloud's face was becoming pale and looked shocked. After about a few minutes, they had finally arrived at the town. By now, Cloud looked like he was in a far away place.

"…Cloud…" Tifa asked, looking shocked as well. "…is this…"

"Neibelheim?"