Thank you for your patience! Enjoy! (and possibly review) :)
Tseng and Elena both gazed, helpless, as the wolf's jaw passed through Rufus's vulnerable form. The serrated teeth left no physical mark on the prince, but Tseng felt a horrible sense of displacement in the invisible injury, of wrongness so great that it was undetectable by the eyes alone. Rufus slid to the ground, and the shadowy wolf leaned down again to finish off its defenseless prey.
A swift purple and black slash of color swept past, spiriting away Rufus's still body. The wolf jerked in surprise, shaking its muzzle in fury and shock.
"Coryn, HELP!"
All hell had broken loose at that point in time as the wolf's translucent form retreated from the tent and a horrific scream of pain sounded in the air. The two of them looked at each other worriedly for just a moment before running outside to see what had happened.
A silver blade arced through the air and into the ground. There was a fellow noble sitting in front of the wolf, stunned by the transparency and sheer size of the monster. Tseng noted briefly the characteristically spiky blonde hair crowning the knight's head…
The wolf vanished suddenly with a mournful echo of the wind, and all was completely still.
The unidentified knight abruptly collapsed to the ground, his body shuddering spasmodically even as they watched. Elena instantly rushed forward, about to aid the knight, when another noble seemed to materialize at his side, staggering under the weight of a motionless figure in its arms. A black braid tossed in the air, and Elena relaxed.
"Nice timing, Alex," she called as she approached the petit noblewoman. But oddly enough, Alex did not even answer, instead placing the inert form on the ground and checking for signs of life.
Elena's heart froze at the sight of an all-too-familiar form lying limply on the grass, eyes halfway open but unseeing, the slightest touch of a smile gracing deathly still white features. This could not be happening…
Alex leaned close to Rufus, two fingers pressed to his wrist, feeling for a pulse, her ears searching for even the slightest breath. A look of faint relief passed over her face as she spoke to Tseng and Elena.
"He's alive, but barely. Elena take care of Rufus for me," Alex ordered quickly, her tone brooking no argument, "Take him somewhere quiet—we don't need this news to be spread all over the place. Once you have your place, don't let anybody in unless they are specifically associated with the Ryuu branch of the Valentine family. Tseng, you go to the Valentine stables and call to the upper hayloft. Cloud's acquaintances are staying there, and I need them to come here. Tell them it's urgent, and do what you must to get their attention. You cannot take 'no' for an answer. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"
Tseng and Elena murmured affirmative responses. Elena leaned down to carry Rufus's frighteningly limp form. Tseng paused as he began to walk out of camp, however, as he recognized the blonde knight's face.
"Hey…it's that knight that we saw back at that outskirt city," Tseng noted, tapping Elena gently on the shoulder, "Coryn Valentine, if I'm not mistaken…"
"Which you never are," Alex responded, a wan smile on her face, "I'll take care of him first; his wounds aren't nearly as bad as the prince's."
Tseng and Elena quickly looked over the unconscious noble, whose tremors had yet to fully subside. With his light blonde locks and tall, stocky form, he looked nothing like the usual dark-haired, svelte members of the Valentine family. Elena and Tseng exchanged curious looks, eyes meeting briefly before they turned to leave their separate ways, their black robes fluttering in the night like ravens' wings as they dissolved into the blackness.
Oblivious to the other knights' visual exchange, Alex fumbled at her waist for a moment before drawing out a tiny silver necklace. She dropped the necklace in a pile of tangled metal in Cloud's twitching hand and then placed her hand firmly over his fingers and the chain.
"Cloud, I know you're a fighter," Alex said to Cloud as she watched him continue to shudder, "Don't fall into the black yet. Wait for your friends. They will help bring you to the light."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Valkyrie ran hard and fast as Tseng urged the horse to a gallop. The black stallion was fully enjoying his first sprint in several weeks, and Tseng swore Valkyrie snorted in irritated frustration as he gently tugged on the reins to slow down.
Tseng surveyed the stable from behind his hood as Valkyrie's ears perked up, listening to the minute shuffles and snuffles from inside of the building.
The Valentine stable was a large, comfortably worn black housing unit with a fully enclosed lower level with individual stalls for the horses and a spacious, roofed hayloft in the upper level to protect the straw from rain and mildew.
A small, bright red head poked in full view of window, and Tseng could almost guarantee he heard the muted sound of obnoxiously loud snoring.
A smile pulled at the edge of Tseng's mouth. It was precisely this type of job that he enjoyed thoroughly as a knight under the Shinra command.
Tseng dropped to the earth, the specially bound soles of his riding boots muffling the thud of his feet. He bent down, plucked a stone from the packed earth of the street, and grinned in a highly unprofessional manner as he threw the rock.
A satisfying thunk echoed in the air as the stone collided with the jester's head, followed by a pained howl. Tseng quickly put his foot in the stirrup of Valkyrie's saddle and swung his leg over, securing his hold with the reins. Then he waited, his dark onyx eyes watching carefully for any movement from the hayloft.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"What the—?"
Reno's bright green eyes flew open and his hand immediately came to rub his sore skull as he felt a bright explosion of pain on the top of his head. An innocent-looking stone sat forlornly in the hay next to him.
Growling, Reno glared out the hayloft window, expecting to see a drunk commoner stumbling about in the street.
Instead he saw a black-cloaked rider on an ebony horse, standing tauntingly in the street, head cocked curiously as if daring him to follow. Reno's eyes narrowed, and he leapt at Zack, landing squarely on top of the other squire's arm.
Zack yelped, sitting bolt upright. He found Reno's familiar face and suddenly. a maniacally murderous look crossed his face.
"Reno," Zack growled through gritted teeth, "I swear, if you just woke me up because you and Yuffie had another argument, I will throttle you both, so help me—"
"No, no, no, Zack," Reno said, shaking his head, "There's a guy standing down in the street, and he hit me in the head with a rock! I think he wants us to follow him somewhere."
Zack rolled his eyes.
"Oh please, Reno, let's not get too dramatic," Zack sighed, rolling over in his bed of hay.
Another stone whistled through the air and cracked Zack solidly on the skull as if to support Reno's admittedly dubious statement.
"OW!" Zack yelped, jerking out of his sleepy stupor, "What was that?"
"Now do you believe me?" Reno groused irritably, shuffling over to Yuffie's hay nest, "C'mon, Yuff, we have a visitor."
"Five more minutes…" Yuffie mumbled in a muffled voice through the hay.
Reno smirked and pushed a bale of straw and hay on top of her.
The breath whooshed out of her lungs with an audible puff of air, and Reno barely managed to disguise a laugh as a mangled cough.
"What in Jenova's name could be so important…?" Yuffie choked breathlessly, shoving the soggy lump off of her chest.
A sharp, almost impatient whinny rang through the air, and all three of them froze and glanced at one another before rushing to the window.
In the street below a gleaming ebony horse reared, tossing its mane and kicking its legs as its black-cloaked rider clung to the reins.
The black-cloaked rider…?
Yuffie yelped in surprised recognition and skittered to the ladder. She slid down without regard for the rungs and leapt straight onto the bare back of Terra, her small russet mare.
"Yuffie?" Zack called in confusion as Terra pawed and pranced anxiously towards the barn doors, "What's the rush—?"
"It's Niveus!" she yelled back, as Terra charged towards the doors at full speed, "Come quickly, maybe we can figure out who he is—!"
SLAM.
Terra burst out of the stables, sprinting after the lean black horse in the streets. The horse screamed again and took off like a lightning bolt, its feet seeming to float above the ground as it ran, with Yuffie in hot pursuit.
Reno and Zack finally jerked into action as the chase proceeded swiftly out of sight, cursing and fumbling as they unlocked the stables, mounted their disoriented horses, and herded them out the doors. And soon all was still again in the Valentine barn as the air settled again, suave and serene…
Tseng kept effortlessly ahead of Yuffie, his cloak whipping in the breeze. He felt Valkyrie pouring yet more speed into his stride as the noble camp came into view, the stallion eager to get back to the stables. A quick glance backwards revealed Yuffie struggling to pursue, only now rounding the corner towards the camp.
"Perfect," Tseng breathed. He reached his hand out and made a quick, slashing motion to the side at the makeshift gates of the Shinra camp. The wooden bars slammed open, and as the guards came pouring out, yelping and haphazardly strapping on greaves and gauntlets as they waved their swords about, Tseng quickly flashed the white emblem of the Shinra at them. Almost immediately they recognized the distinct black coil on the snowy background, and the flood of guards slowly receded, starting to shut the gates.
"Oh NO you DON'T! Not this time you little CHEAT!"
Startled again, the guards ran out, ensuring they would catch the intruder this time.
Yuffie's plucky little brown mare sprinted through the gates, flouncing the guards on either side. As the guards yelled panicked orders to each other in their befuddlement, trying to chase Yuffie on her quick-footed horse and close the gates once more, Reno and Zack raced in, slamming the gates open for the third time in less than twenty seconds with another deafening crash.
Tseng winced. Rufus was not going to be happy with him for this stunt, with Alex's permission or not…
Rufus.
With a heart-wrenching jolt, Tseng remembered why it was that he had led these poor people on such a wild goose-chase around town. With another light kick to Valkyrie's sides, he hurtled forward, making sure that Yuffie could see the end of his coat vanish at the edge of the Prince's quarters.
Tseng pulled back his hood and nodded briefly to Alex as he streaked by. Kneeling next to the blonde knight, pressing a small silver trinket into his limp hand, she gave a terse jerk of her head. Her gaze tracked back out to see Yuffie, Reno, and Zack round the corner, and Tseng managed to sigh in relief before slowing an indignant Valkyrie to a halt and dismounting. He breathed in and out for a couple of precious seconds, slowing his heart rate and erasing any evidence of his previous night ride.
And then, pulling on the flanged helmet feared so much by the Shinra's enemies, Tseng stepped back into the open, taking his rightful, honored place on the other side of the Shinra tent.
No wonder Elena shot him a strange look when he couldn't help but smile at remembering Reno's stupidly shocked face.
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"Ahh, baka…"
Cloud buried his nose deeper into the hay, unwilling to leave the little nest of warmth he had created for himself beneath the straw. Maybe if he just ignored her, she'd get the idea and go away…
Or maybe, just maybe, Chocobos would fly.
BAM.
Eyes watering from the hit on the head, he winced and looked up at an irate Yuffie. She sniffed down at him and toed a scroll to him before turning away.
"Some snobby knight came by this morning and told me to give this to you," she growled, arms crossing tightly, "I would have opened it, but apparently there's some sort of seal on it, because I tried to pry it open and even took a fire to the thing and it wouldn't burn."
Cloud picked up the rolled-up parchment and peered at the seal carefully. Black wax, with a long silver ink line drawn in a coiled, regal position within it…
"The Shinra?" he asked in surprise, looking up at Yuffie.
"Yeah," she snapped, huffing and sitting on a bale of hay, "It's a summons for you. Or, at least, that's what the messenger said before I scared him away."
Cloud's lips twitched, but he managed to bite back a smile.
"Right…well, we might as well visit the Shinra's place to check up on that guy we saw last night before we go to the 1st round matches, anyway," Cloud yawned, "Let's see…"
Coryn,
I know who you are. I cannot tell you why I contacted specifically you or where I watch from. I cannot tell you how I know this information, and, most importantly, I cannot tell you who I am. I am sorry for the secrecy, but we have a situation. You must trust me on this one…Cloud.
Cloud looked up, alarmed.
"Where did you say you got this?" he asked Yuffie, swallowing hard. Whoever this was…knew he was a fake…
"Uhh…some messenger…from Shinra. Why?" she answered, taking the letter from him. Her eyes scanned the first few lines—and then stopped, widening.
"How…how did they…?"
Cloud snatched it back from her as Zack and Reno crowded in, clamoring to read it as well. He read aloud:
If this letter gets to you, then the royal family has been compromised. I have found a traitor in their midst, but I am having difficulty in finding our sneaky little weasel. The little bast I mean, snitch is buried deep, and his tracks are few—it will take me time to fully unveil him.
So, if you would so kindly oblige, please help me. Buy me a little more time for me to do some sneaking and hunting, and I can catch him. Use all of those flashy moves that you know are completely useless in actual combat, impress the crowd, win their love—they will not care so long as you entertain them. Time of the essence, and the clock is ticking. Five days is ideal, but if you are unable, try for four. I need this help, Coryn.
Give the crowd what they want, and you may even earn yourself legitimacy.
Your Friend,
XIII
Reno was the first to break the ensuing silence with a loud, obnoxious snort.
"Well, isn't that conveniently mysterious?" he sneered, "And really? The nickname 'Thirteen' is SO clichéd. Might as well come up with something more interesting, like Niveus or summat like that…"
They gaped at him.
"Reno. RENO. They. Know. Who. I. AM!" Cloud yelped, "Do you not get how dangerous this is?!"
Reno glanced over at him dubiously.
"Well, just like the note said, Thirteen won't say anything as long as you do what he/she/it tells you to do," Reno stated simply, "I don't get what the big deal is."
Cloud frowned at the page.
"But it doesn't say anything like tha—"
"Honestly, Cloud, I'm reading between the lines," Reno said loftily, leaning back on a bale of straw, "They basically just want you to make a huge fuss about your victories from now on, and they'll keep their mouths shut."
"Oh, it's only easy for you to say because you've been in trouble so often," Yuffie grumbled, turning back to Cloud, "I'm worried. If one person could have figured this out, then other people could, too…"
"…Let's talk to Vincent about it," Cloud finally said, still staring at the piece of paper, "Maybe he'll have some answers, or even a clue as to who might have sent this to me…"
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Under the hot sun of the early morning, the nobles had collected under a large white tent with the black dragon emblazoned on its canopy. Fruits and light pastries were offered to the roaming people and gleaming silver goblets sweated as the water condensed on their sides. The men milled about aimlessly, exchanging cordial greetings and petty pleasantries; the women fanned themselves breathlessly even in the shade of the tent, whispering and giggling at one another. But amongst the nobles meandering about, their thin masks of false amicability in place, there was one small group that the other nobles seemed to flow around, ignoring its very existence.
"Gahh," Alex Valentine huffed angrily at the very center of the group, tugging at the hem of her simple black dress, "Jenova curse the idiot who invented the idea of a brunch meeting." Compared to the complex patterns of silk and foams of frothy lace dripping off of the other noblewomen, plain Alex stood out like a raven amongst doves. In a loose ten-foot radius around her, many men and women with vaguely similar features—black hair, dark eyes, sharp features—chatted amiably with each other, oblivious of the stigma they exuded. The entire attending Valentine family was dressed in some form of dusty, worn, black clothing.
That is, everyone except for Alex.
She scowled again and glared evilly up at the tall, raven-haired man standing quietly at her side.
"I hate you so much, Vinnie," Alex snarled under her breath, crossing her arms and glaring openly at an innocent noble who appeared to be approaching them.
"Yes, yes, I love you too, little sister," Vincent Valentine chuckled amusedly, dark red eyes somehow twinkling beneath dark hair and shadowing brows, "And by the way, that 'idiot' who came up with brunch meetings happens to be the ruling monarch of all of Gaia."
Her nose crinkled.
"Then I redouble my previous statement," she growled, "That stupid bataârd is actually the most despicable, disgusting thing I have met in my life…and that's counting the time I had to crawl through Junon's entire 'disposal system' to hunt down that freaking Oculo amulet…"
Vincent smirked a little at Alex.
"Those words are treason, if I may remind you, darling, dear sister mine," he murmured, leaning over to speak to her, "And may I also remind you that if you had not gotten Cid drunk and knocked him out, you would not have had to 'crawl through Junon's entire 'disposal system' to hunt down that freaking Oculo amulet."
Alex's frown deepened and the nobles inched further away from the unhappy-looking lady.
"Have I told you how much I hate you recently?" she grumbled, sipping from a silver goblet and glancing around the tent again.
"No, but please do tell after I come back," Vincent murmured softly, striding forward, his lean frame almost ghostly in its black clothing, "Coryn has arrived…"
Alex almost choked and quickly looked towards Vincent's direction. Sure enough, a redhead, a pixie, a bear-like male, and spiky blonde locks were headed her way…
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"Sheesh, these nobles sure like their parties, don't they?" Yuffie muttered out of the side of her mouth to Reno, "It's really different from the slums…"
The men were dressed in various states of costume, from full armor to elegant suits of plum purple or forest green. The ladies were a riot of color, varying from shades of pastel yellow to the faintest shade of aquamarine blue, like a flock of tropical birds trying to outdo all of the others. There was never more than one person wearing one specific outfit.
All of them, however, looked better than Cloud and his motley crew. The nobles took note of their drab fatigues and riding boots and sneered to themselves, turning away.
Reno glanced at Yuffie curiously.
"Is this the first time you've ever seen a noble encampment? This isn't a party—Jenova, no, the parties are much more extravagant. This is more of an…informal meeting, I suppose you could say."
"Then what do their parties look like?" Zack mumbled, eyes wide with shock. A pretty brunette girl fluttered by in a pink sundress, her long braid swaying down her back. After a moment she turned to him, blinking vivid green eyes.
She was gorgeous.
A flawless cream complexion sprinkled with small freckles sloped smoothly from light pink lip to cheek to eye in a fluid arc. Light brown strands of hair floated in front of perfectly symmetrical, gently curved features.
"Oh, you must be Zack," she smiled, and the whole area seemed to glow, "I remember you! I'm Aerith Gainsborough. From the Shinra camp fiasco yesterday?…"
"O-oh," Zack finally managed to stutter, "Oh, yeah…"
Nice, Zack, he growled at himself mentally, Great job. "Oh yeah"? Is that seriously the best you could come up with?
"You seem a little lost—do you want to join me? I'm just heading over to say hello to the Valentines," she offered, grinning kindly, "I think you'll feel a little more at home with them."
"Uh—oh, okay, sure," he nodded, returning her smile awkwardly, feeling extremely small and unimportant, "Yeah. That'd be great."
Zack turned back to his still-mystified friends.
"Hey, uh…Aerith said she'd take us to the Valentine family," he whispered, "It'd be a good place to start, right?"
"Yeah," Cloud agreed, following Zack as he began to walk away, "Let's go."
Little snippets of gossips drifted into their ears as they followed Aerith, and they unconsciously began eavesdropping on the conversations of the people they passed by…
"…ridiculous, the Crown Prince would never be targeted…He's the sweetest noble around, why would anybody want to kill him?"
"…shocking, I know, who would dare try to assassinate the king's son, here, in Midgar, the frontier! I mean, the king himself is here, presiding over the games…"
"…completely unwarranted, he's quite dear. Not nearly as wild as my troublesome Nicholas.."
"…unexpected. I mean, my own boy is dear friends with Rufus Shinra, and from what I've heard, he's a very well-guided, conscience-driven young man…don't think it was anything on his part…"
"…goofball, yes, but all love him for his mischief…"
"…rumors true? That the Crown Prince died last night?"
Cloud's blood froze at the last sentence he heard. From looking at the expressions on his friends faces, they had heard as well.
"Dead?" Zack mouthed to him, eyes huge with wonder and alarm.
"…We're here."
Aerith's voice snapped them back into focus, and they thanked her for leading them to the Valentines. Sure enough, a little knot of men and women, all garbed in slightly frayed black work clothing in sharp contrast to the others' carefully planned outfits, talked cheerfully within their little bubble of insulation. It seemed that none of the other nobles were willing to affiliate themselves with the Valentines.
"Is it just me, or is there a…perimeter around the Valentine family?" Reno queried, eyebrow cocked, "Nobody approaches them, and they are quite…ah…differently dressed…"
"You noticed," she approved, "Yes, there's a certain measure of awe and respect the Valentines command from their peers…especially since Alex and Ru—"
She suddenly cut off, her hand flying up to touch her mouth.
"What was that about Alex and Rufus?" Yuffie asked, her eyes bright with interest.
"Uhh…nothing," Aerith replied quickly, blushing, "I…didn't say…anything…"
"Uh-huh," Yuffie snickered, "You can tell us now. It's already out of the bag."
"Well, I have to go now," Aerith said hurriedly, "I do need to talk to Sam, after all…"
Yuffie chuckled, amused, as the pretty noblewoman scurried off.
"She's cute," Reno noted to Zack, whose gaze still trailed after her, "And she's really nice for a noble. You saw her last night. Sweet as a doe."
"…And totally out of my league," Zack sighed wistfully, finally looking away. "Life sucks."
"Oh, the troubles I've seen," Reno said sympathetically, patting Zack on the shoulder and snatching a pastry off of a passing tray. "Cheer up, buddy. Have an éclair."
Cloud jerked his head up.
"Hey, there's Vincent! And…Alex?"
Sure enough, Vincent flowed towards them, his red cloak billowing slightly. Alex—in a black dress—hurried after him.
"Uhh…Alex? What…happened to you? I…uh…never pegged you as a dress kind of person, but…"
"Freaking dresses," she snarled furiously, eyes dark with anger. "Don't make fun. I hate it just as much as you're surprised by it."
Vincent rolled his eyes. "So dramatic. Almost like Sayuri."
Alex scowled and punched him lightly in the arm. "Not funny."
"How's the guy you were taking care of? I heard afterwards somebody actually got hurt pretty badly by the thing," Cloud asked immediately, worry creasing his brow, "Did he make it out okay?"
"Yeah…eventually," Alex answered, her voice and eyes suddenly very controlled and uninflected. "It'll take a while to heal completely, but he should make a full recovery with a little time and rest."
Her brow twitched.
"Although he seems to be a little too stubborn to listen to what I say," she tacked on, her voice lowering to a dull mutter of discontent as she lifted the goblet to her lips.
"Mm, if I were in my right mind, I'd hardly listen to you, either, Lex," Vincent said almost absentmindedly.
Before Alex could punch Vincent again, Cloud shoved the small scroll into Vincent's gold gauntlet. Vincent's face shifted to a momentary look of surprise.
"The Shinra seal? What are you doing with this, Coryn?" Vincent questioned, wine-red eyes meeting his troubled glacier blue as he unrolled the paper. His eyes scanned it briefly.
"Do you know anything, anything at all about this?" Cloud asked desperately, his old panic returning as he spoke, "Please tell me you do, because if you don't know, then nobody knows…"
"Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please?" a herald in an all-white uniform piped, interrupting Vincent, "In honor of the ruling family, our symbol of strength, and the main pillar of our country's beloved government, I present to you your lord and His Highness…King Shinra."
Cloud hushed and watched as a horse trotted in, its neck sturdy, its legs corded with muscle. But, strong and healthy as it was, the stallion barely listened to his rider's commands—unlike Aryn and Cloud, who worked together as a single unit, the horse and rider had two different agendas, tied together by some unfortunate twist of fate. The horse's flighty nature manifested as it whickered uneasily, ears laid flat, chomping at the bit.
An attendant rushed forward, taking the reins from the man's grasp as the noble dismounted from his unhappy steed. The monarch stepped forward into the relative shade, and Cloud saw King Shinra—the man he was expected to fight and die for as a faithful constituent and noble of Gaia—for the first time in his life.
The man was dressed in silvery white armor, its sharply wrought edges swathed in a thick, dark red cloak. The distinctly four-taloned Eastern dragon reared silently on his tunic, and Cloud noticed the crown grasped in its right claw, signifying his control of the throne. An ornamented scabbard and sword hung at his waist, the hilt and sheath both encrusted with glittering diamonds and inlaid with elaborate silver patterns.
The king was stockily built, with broad shoulders and plenty of muscle on forearm and bicep. His solid form and tall frame neatly matched his shadowing, wide brow, lightly pockmarked skin, and strong jaw. In his considerable age, his hair had faded from a light blonde to strands of gray and white, but his presence still commanded a great deal of respect. Deep-set blue eyes glared out formidably from his altogether almost bestial visage.
Yuffie frowned a little bit. He looked ever so faintly like someone she knew…
King Shinra reminded Cloud of a bear or a wolf with his sharp gaze and permanently frowning features. His massive figure rivaled even Cloud's burly jousting form, and Cloud instantly knew that he would never, ever want to face King Shinra in hand-to-hand combat.
"My lord…"
The nobles deferred to him, heads bowing demurely, cups lifted in toast to his splendor. King Shinra nodded curtly in acknowledgement, waving a hand to silence the crowd before opening his mouth to speak.
"As you all have undoubtedly heard from a friend…or a friend of a friend of a friend, depending on who you are…there was an attack last night on my son, Rufus Shinra…and also the rightful Crown Prince of Gaia," he rumbled monotonously in his low, gravelly baritone voice, diving straight into the topic hanging above their heads in the air. Murmurs erupted in a dull roar again.
His blunt, candid approach shocked Reno, and his bright green eyes widened. This was how the King of Gaia addressed his closest advisors? Surely a king would be expected to have more tact…
And then Reno swallowed. Then again, King Shinra had been the first king in the past century of Gaia to gain his throne through the brute strength of a military coup. The man was a cruel, efficient tactician…but a terrible politician.
"Let me retell the truth of what happened last night."
His cold gaze trailed over the crowd again.
"Shortly after sundown yesterday evening, when the sun had sunk below the west horizon, as our vigilant day soldiers were making their last patrol, a dog wandered in the west gate with an incoming carriage of the Highwind family. This dog—also seen by several other nobles, all present at this moment—found its way into my son's tent, and, when he went in to sleep, the dog felt panicked and bit him before running off. Needless to say, my archers brought down the offending hound as it tried to flee."
The king gestured with his fingers without turning, and several attendants brought forth the corpse of a huge brown dog from a bag. Its mouth was still open in a twisted snarl, its black lips flecked with foam. Its matted, mousy fur stuck up in every direction except for around the arrow wound, where blood slicked the curly mat of fur. Ladies released little moues of horror and fainted.
But, hideous as it was, Cloud knew in his heart that the dog lying stiff and stone dead before him was not the one that had buried its fangs into him last night.
"And finally, I would like to remind you that Rufus is of Shinra's proud descent," the king continued, sounding almost condescending, "and those heirs of Shinra are not expected to die so easily as with a bite from a rampant dog!"
Alex's grip tightened on the cup as a few nervous chuckles rippled through the nobles, her knuckles whitening as she remembered the hulking monstrosity that had stalked the Shinra tents the night before, its heavy muzzle filled with razor teeth that could cut effortlessly through the very fabric of a human's soul. Both her skill and Cloud's strength combined had not been enough to vanquish the creature. Rampant dog, indeed!
"Then how, pray, did a simple-minded rampant dog infiltrate and somehow avoid detection by the 'vigilant day soldiers' patrol?"
The challenging voice sounded tired and rough, as if recovering from an illness, but unyieldingly belligerent. Little gasps of surprise echoed through the tent.
"Milord…milord…milord, you really shouldn't be moving right now…" came a worried, low female voice.
King Shinra stiffened and whipped around, eyes flashing, hand reaching for the sword at his waist. No challenge to his authority would be tolerated.
But then he abruptly calmed, his gaze turning back to carefully neutral ice.
"Nurse Tessa, please take my son back to his quarters. Clearly the medication and stress has made the poor child delirious," he ordered indifferently, turning back to face the nobles. Cloud could see the nobles gasping and hissing at one another, but the king himself just blocked the view of his son, Rufus. Yuffie pondered the sound of the Prince's voice wonderingly. The lilt, the cadence of his tones sounded oddly familiar…
Alex almost sprinted out of the tent, shoving several nobles out of the way without apologizing. She tore the restricting fabric of her dress as she ran, allowing her legs more space to stride. Cloud blinked after her rapidly vanishing form and looked questioningly to Vincent.
"Women," Vincent uttered monosyllabically by way of explanation.
Cloud laughed quietly. He could understand that statement.
"I see. So she's a friend of the Prince?"
"Something like that," Vincent replied evasively, sipping.
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Ohh…so more than just a friend," Cloud said suggestively, a smile tugging at the corner of his lip.
Vincent looked at Cloud mildly.
"If Alex ever hears you saying that, she'll tear your heart out and eat it," Vincent noted idly, "but yes, you have the general gist of the idea."
"Ahh…okay," Cloud smiled, a half-grimace on his face, "I'll be sure to keep it to myself."
The king and his advisors seemed to be in an intense argument, with the king's face resembling a beet more and more progressively.
"Please enjoy the rest of the luncheon," the king finally snapped, "Unfortunately, I have some issues to attend to."
He stormed out wrathfully, calling for his horse.
"…Well. That was an amusing exercise," Vincent stated vaguely, drifting off, "As for your situation, Cloud, I'll look into it. But…keep an eye on your back, okay? Protect your friends. And most of all, don't act like anything is out of the ordinary. Win the tournament, and I'll figure this out for you."
Vincent gave Cloud the faintest of reassuring smiles and left, his tattered red cloak flapping in the breeze as he stepped back into the sun.
"Well then," Reno quipped, "That's that. Let's go get you ready, Cloud."
And the four trooped off unwittingly to ready Cloud for the tournament of his life.