Cloud's initial victory appeared to be a harbinger for his future tournaments. The rising star crushed every opponent in every tournament, and his popularity amongst the commonfolk swelled with every passing contest- as did Sephiroth's unease and impatience to know more about his new rival.
Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were slowly panicking- no matter where they turned, no matter whom they spoke to, there wasn't so much as a word of Cloud's shady background. There were only conversations about Cloud's most recent victory, or once in a while, whispered in giggles by the porcelain-white girls of the nobles, his "rugged good looks". The trio was forced to look through the pages of the records in the libraries, trying to trace his ancestry- and all they found was an infuriating "Refer to ShinRa library for further details" in place of the nobles' family trees. Only one piece of incriminating information was available, circulating through the crowd in soft voices, murmurs, and light teasing- his rumored love for the gentle, but strong Lady Lockheart.
Before they could so much as contact Sephiroth from the inner dwellings of Midgar, Cloud had made it to the semifinals.
"Hey hotshot, how's it goin'?" Reno drawled, twirling a toothpick in his mouth as he shambled up to Cloud, Yuffie, and Zack, "Where're we due next?"
"It looks like we're going to a luxury settlement called, 'The Edge'," Zack answered, his expression troubled, rapidly reading their invitation for maybe the thirtieth time that day, "But I've never even heard of there, and I ran a delivery service a few years ago. I traveled everywhere, and I've seen not head nor tail of this 'Edge'."
"You are a knight on your way to the semifinals at the Edge, I presume?"
A smooth, velvety voice cut straight through the hazy murmurs of the crowd like a bell's chime on an icy night. A beautiful black mare trotted up next to Arwyn and Cloud, tossing a forelock out of her eyes with huff. Her rider was clad in the same shade of black from head to toe, starting with a hood over their head and ending with worn, but sturdy riding boots (which, curiously enough, lacked the usual spurs). A silver chain hanging off of the hilt of a sword clinked as he or she turned to face Cloud & Co.
"Ye- yes, we are on our way to the semifinals. Would you be kind enough to show us the way?" Cloud replied, a little bit puzzled as he tried to recognize the person's face. As if the horse knew his intentions, she took a couple of steps to the side, obscuring her master's face once more. Yuffie's sharp eyes snared the briefest glimpse of blonde hair and crystalline blue eyes…
A light chuckle came from the strange rider.
"You'll have to excuse me, but I would like to keep my identity quiet," he apologized, patting the horse's back, "You may address me as Niveus if you must."
"'Niveus?'" Reno pondered out loud, searching lime-hued eyes fixed on the face beneath the hood, "Translated to 'White' in Latin. Nice to meet you, Niveus."
"And it is a pleasure to meet you…?"
"Reno," the redhead grinned, "The short one's Yuffie, and the sulking one over there with the map is Zack."
"Greetings to you all, then, Reno, Yuffie, and Zack. But Sir Valentine, would you mind leaving now? Unfortunately, I may have a bit of unwelcome company on the way soon if we do not make haste," Niveus informed gently, his head turning to scan the crowd. His survey was worth it- a small band of riders in the silver armor of the royals' personal militias approached from behind.
For the first time in a few months, Cloud felt fear clawing at his heart. Whoever this person was, the nobles did not like him. And when the nobles didn't like people, those people tended to vanish into thin air sooner or later.
"Ah," Niveus sighed in an almost exasperated tone, "It seems like we're going to have to run."
Yuffie, Zack, and Reno quickly got onto their own horses, hurling glances at the advancing battalion all the while. Niveus's horse stamped impatiently and paced, waiting for everyone to get settled.
"Are we ready?" he queried softly, looking back at Cloud, Yuffie, Zack, and Reno. Cloud gave a tight nod.
"Fly, Artemis!" Niveus called, and the black horse leapt into action.
Artemis's speed shocked Cloud- even Arwyn, an extremely fast and well-footed horse, had a hard time keeping up. This horse was definitely a product of exceedingly selective breeding…maybe Niveus was a horse thief?
Before Cloud could speculate more, Artemis flitted into a side alley, clearing a path for Cloud, Yuffie, Zack, and Reno. Arwyn immediately swerved, nearly throwing Cloud off of her back. Once he'd recovered, he saw Zack and Yuffie similarly hanging from the stirrups- but Reno had no difficulty staying on whatsoever- in fact, while his friends struggled to reseat themselves, the redhead went whizzing up to join Cloud at the front of the procession. Evidently Niveus had spotted Reno's antic, for he called, "Where did you learn to ride like that, Reno?"
Reno smiled mischievously.
"When you steal horses," Reno reasoned cheerfully, "They like to run fast and try to throw you off!"
Niveus laughed at that, and the chase continued.
"Blehhh…"
Yuffie fell off of her horse into a small lump on the ground. Reno carefully aimed, then threw an acorn at her head.
"OW!" Yuffie yelped, rubbing her tender skull, "What was that for?"
"Just making sure you were awake," Reno replied innocently, ruffling her hair as he passed. Her eyes narrowed, and a low growl rumbled in her throat. The nerve of Reno to do that!
Cloud and Zack were, understandably, a little winded, and were astonished to see Niveus land gracefully on his feet with a small thud.
"How…how did you…?"
Niveus seemed to grin.
"Practice makes perfect," he offered as an answer, "But you aren't all that bad yourself, Sir Valentine."
"How do you know…?"
"Please, Sir Coryn Valentine," Niveus said earnestly, "Do not be so modest. Everyone on the streets knows your name, your face, your voice."
"Everyone also knows the name of the Prince," Zack retorted, "The White Prince, Rufus Shinra."
Niveus stiffened slightly at that name.
"What's wrong, Niveus?" Yuffie asked, her eyes once again spotting that which nobody else noticed, "Is there bad blood between the two of you?"
"No…and yes…," Niveus murmured ambiguously, "I wonder if I could share a secret with you all…"
The four of them looked up expectantly.
"You are surrounded on all sides. Step slowly away from your horses."
Niveus snarled.
Their pursuers had caught up, and set a trap. Archers lined the roofs of the back alley and swordsmen came clattering from both sides of the hall. Every arrow, every sword point was unwaveringly fixed on Cloud, Yuffie, Zack, and Reno.
But none were directed at Niveus.
Niveus heaved a sigh, and pulled off his hood.
A handsome teen with slightly messy blonde hair and piercingly crystalline blue eyes frowned at the head knight of the battalion. The head knight pulled off his helmet at his approach.
"Tseng, I thought that I told you not to follow me?" he exhaled, ruffling up his already displaced locks of hair. His disheveled appearance almost enhanced his naturally fine features, the annoyed look on his face giving it a boyish aura.
"And I thought I told you to head straight to The Edge," 'Tseng' snapped irritably, like an old wolf chastising a persistently disobedient pup, "I don't think picking up a few hitchhikers was part of the deal."
Tseng was not of European descent, clearly defined by rare black, shoulder-length hair and deep ebony pools for eyes. On his forehead there was a single black diamond marking, stating that he was from a particular clan or family. He would have looked quite handsome as well if there hadn't already been a scowl affixed on his face.
"Honestly, you're going to give all of us a heart attack if you don't stop running off like that," another knight voiced.
Another female knight voiced.
"What?" Cloud exclaimed, seeing the blonde woman with dark chocolate-brown eyes pull off her helmet as well.
One of her eyebrows quirked.
"What, never heard of the Turks?" she mused, "Oh, wait, right, we're supposed to be nonexistent."
Niveus growled in annoyance.
"Alright, fine, fine, just let me give them directions to The Edge and then we can leave, okay Tseng?" he conceded, looking disgruntled at being scolded. Tseng's frown deepened.
"Two minutes," he snapped, "Two minutes and then you get back on your Lifestream-blessed horse and we're off to The Edge. Your father is going to kill me…"
"Since when has Father cared about me?" Niveus sneered with unexpected venom, eyes glittering with pure hate. Cloud almost flinched away as Niveus turned, the malice almost palpable before it died away.
"Sir Coryn Valentine," Niveus acknowledged politely, a completely different picture from before, "Your way to The Edge should be three days' ride from here, heading straight to the North. I wish you well on your trip, and am regretful that I did not have the time to get to know you and your friends better."
"Wait- Niveus!" Cloud called as the yet unidentified noble remounted Artemis, "Who exactly are you?"
Niveus pulled his hood over his elegant, handsome features again and the last thing that they saw was a fleeting look of amusement on his face.
"Well, then, Coryn, that's for me to know and for you never to find out, isn't it?" he almost snickered, sliding a black riding glove over his hand. For one last time, Yuffie's probing gaze spotted just a momentary flash of a jet-black tattoo in the form of a curling serpent wrapped around his hand and reaching further up past the black sleeve.
And with that, Artemis reeled around, gave a farewell neigh to Arwyn, and sped off with her unnatural agility. Tseng and Elena followed on their horses, struggling to keep up with Niveus's near-unmatchable pace.
Arwyn snorted as if to say, "Wow, what a show-off."
Cloud sighed in resignation and mounted Artemis.
"So let's see here," Cloud summarized, ruffling his already-messy hair in agitation, "A disgruntled royal running away from his family, willing to help some random stranger off of the street to The Edge? And not acting all holier-than-thou like most nobles are?"
"Doesn't fit at all into the usual profile of a member of a royal family," Reno agreed, an uncharacteristic frown appearing on his face, "Are you sure he wasn't bluffing?"
"What reason would he have to bluff? And I doubt any commoner could summon up enough money to hire a whole squadron of fully-equipped militiamen, one of them of foreign origin, for their own whim," Zack thought aloud, pacing back and forth.
"If none of you noticed, I suppose now the female will now have to show you what you guys didn't notice," Yuffie sighed disdainfully, her nose turned up in the air.
"Oh, stop preening and get on with it, Yuff," Reno smiled, shattering her attempt at acting like a royal. Yuffie huffily protested before beginning.
"First off, his looks- no offense or anything, but you don't see faces like his everyday on the street. He didn't have so much as one scar or scratch- it means that clearly, he is a noble boy," Yuffie explained to them patiently, "Secondly, he seemed uncomfortable with the name 'Rufus Shinra'. So he's either another contender for the throne or a displaced royal kiddy that wants to be king.
"Thirdly- and this was the hardest thing to understand- he has a snake tattoo on his hand- it means that either he was trained at the highest level of difficulty and stress at an extremely prestigious, but secluded assassin camp, OR he's part of a royal family that is symbolized by a black snake."
"Well, there are none that go by a black snake," Zack interrupted, "But a few different families go by the crimson snake, the poison-ivy snake, and the highest family in the land- the ShinRas- have a silver dragon as their insignia. I suppose a dragon could look like a snake…"
"That's what I saw. So I guess we're up against a high-ranking or high-ranked, noble, dangerous boy," Yuffie mused thoughtfully.
"Aww, I think Yuff has a crush!" Reno yipped cheerfully, nudging the short girl in the ribs. She gave a squeal of protest, blushing furiously, and landed a punch on Reno's shoulder with far more force than expected of someone of such small stature.
"So you do like Niveus," Cloud nodded mischievously, eyes twinkling in amusement. Yuffie, still flaming a bright scarlet around the cheeks, shook her head vigorously.
"No, I DON'T!" she insisted in an annoyed, but almost bashful voice, "I don't, I don't, I don't!!"
"Okay, okay!" Zack admitted hastily, "You don't like him! But really, tell me what you were about to say before Reno interrupted you."
Yuffie sucked in a calming breath before continuing, a trace of pink still lingering on her face, "Okay, so I said that Niveus was definitely NOT a commoner, and doesn't like the Shinras."
Zack and Cloud contemplated this for a moment.
"Err…guys, I don't mean to intrude, but umm…we kinda need to get moving if we want to get to the Edge on time," Reno broke in and the serene silence shattered.
Zack, Cloud, and Yuffie yelped and leapt onto their horses, yelling at Reno for not warning them sooner and yelling at each other for "banging your horse's head into my horse's head". All the while, they were unaware of three identical pairs of splintery celadon irises tracking their every move from the rooftops.
"Well, well, well, isn't this interesting?" Kadaj purred predatorily, his lips curling back from slightly pointed teeth, "Prince boy has taken interest in Sir Coryn."
"It seems we've found a weak point for Sephiroth-sama to exploit," Loz added in an almost completely flat tone.
"What, by attacking Valentine? Princey'll act like every other good noble and act sad and sensitive while he's scheming to blame it on someone else to save his own neck," Loz snorted, slapping his hand on his sword's sheath.
"Maybe not," Kadaj contradicted, bright eyes glittering thoughtfully, "Maybe, seeing the Prince's unorthodox principles of suicidal loyalty and ridiculously sheltering protectiveness, if Coryn is handicapped by an opponent in any way, the Prince's insurmountable fury would spill over his caution…"
"…Leaving open a hole in his defense that will be too late realized," Yazoo completed musingly, "Perhaps it will work. We should at least suggest it to Master."
Kadaj gave a hefty sigh.
"But we still have nothing to go on. Sir Coryn Valentine remains Sir Coryn Valentine, with no holes in his shining armor," the eldest of the three noted in an achingly truthful manner, "There's no dirt on him, not so much as a trace of bad behavior."
"No dirt…no noble in the history of Gaia has had perfect behavior. I suppose that we must have to go to the true sources in order to find any convincing evidence. Did he have a governess? Any chamber-maidens close to him? Anyone who would know his true behavior when he was younger?" Kadaj soliloquized, contemplating different ways to bring the invincible Coryn Valentine down.
"Then I guess that we're on our way to the Valentine Residence?" Loz growled roughly, being a man of actions, not words.
"Yes, we are, Loz," Kadaj said, a twinge annoyance accenting his voice at his colleague's blunt frankness, "But first we pay the Library of the Shinras a visit, to look up this obscure 'Coryn Valentine'."