Chapter Two: Priorities
Barret examined the piece of splintered wood he'd picked up from near the pile of fallen rocks. "Figures – they'd jes' dug this out an' hadn't reinforced it yet."
"So is it actually safe to go any farther?" Cloud asked, looking at the ceiling of the unblocked tunnel. Metal beams supported the weight of the mountain above. Barret walked over and rapped one of the beams with his knuckles, and there was a dull, thick ring.
"Yeah, these'll hold. But now that I think about it…"
Aeris perked up. "Oh! Cloud, try the PHS. We can at least know if they get in trouble that way."
Red shook his head. "I don't think it will work. All the rock would block the signal." Barret seemed to consider a moment and nodded in agreement.
A gust of wind blew in from the cave entrance and Yuffie shivered aloud. "So we can go deeper, right?"
"Yeah," replied Cloud, starting down the tunnel with the rest following his lead. Cait Sith clambered off his moogle and marched along behind everyone.
They walked in silence, the artificial light throwing sharp shadows onto the wall beside them. A few times the path seemed to split, but each time there was just a dead end. Sometimes a few planks or tools lying around indicated an intention to continue a branch tunnel, but more often there was nothing.
Eventually they turned a corner and found that the tunnel widened into a sort of chamber. There were no further paths, just mostly smooth rock wall on each side. Water dripped, one drop at a time, from a small shaft in the ceiling. "Shit," said Cid. He reached for his cigarettes, pulling one out before remembering they were soaked straight through.
A glow in one corner of the room caught Yuffie's eye. The wires from the lights strung along the cave walls ran to a pair of materia in a box on the floor. As she leaned over, wondering what kind of materia they were, there was a slight sparking sound and the lights flickered once before going out.
"Damnit!" Barret's rough voice echoed. "You had to go an' mess with the materia, didn't you?"
Yuffie held up her hands, although no one could see the gesture. "I didn't touch it!" She pulled out a few of her own materia and tried swapping them for the ones in the generator, but nothing happened.
"Did you breathe on it?" asked Cid. "C'mon, folks. We're smackin' the walls, droppin' shit, screwin' around with the lights now…"
"Calm down, everyone." Aeris put as much reassurance into her voice as she could. "We can get our things from the front of the cave and camp out. I bet the dripping water means that hole's a ventilation shaft, so we can light a fire. Right, Barret?"
"Yeah. Bet this was gonna be kind of a stagin' area for goin' further. Wonder what stopped 'em…" Barret trailed off and there was silence for a second before he continued. "Awright, Spiky, lead us back."
Cloud turned to leave and tripped over something. He reached down to see what it was and felt something furry. "Red?"
"I'm back here, Cloud." The small flame on Red's tail hovered in the darkness. "That must be Cait Sith." Cloud lifted the small cat-thing and shook it slightly.
"Hey, Cloud. I'm-" Cait Sith spoke haltingly. "Back up. The entrance."
Yuffie had wound up standing next to Cloud. "What's wrong with him?" She found Cloud's arm and put her hand on it. Cloud sent her an inquisitive look that was lost in the darkness.
"I don't know. Let's just head back." Carrying Cait Sith, he started back up the tunnel. As Cloud walked, Cait Sith stirred and jumped out of his hands.
"Alright, I'm fine. Uh, but I'm going to guard the entrance. Better signal- I mean, I can signal if something's coming." He sprinted ahead and Cloud shrugged.
"What a strange little creature," remarked Aeris.
When the group got back to the mouth of the cave, they could just barely make out the outline of the moogle standing next to the crate of supplies. Occasionally lightning would flash outside and it would be backlit for an instant, standing motionless without its rider. At Cait Sith's order, the robot cracked open the lid of the crate. Cid came up next to Cloud and started rummaging, first pulling out a spare lighter and a dry pack of cigarettes. He flicked the lighter on and lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag and sighing in pleasure before holding the flame up so everyone could find their things.
Cloud and Barret lifted out a tent, putting it to one side so they could get to the sleeping bags below it. Aeris took one of the bags and started back down the tunnel, holding out a materia to light her way, while Yuffie fished around and came up with a bag of marshmallows. Red sniffed faintly. "Were you planning on making s'mores?"
"Nah, don't have any chocolate. But delicious puffy sugar's good enough by itself!" She tore open the bag, looking at Cloud as she slid a marshmallow into her mouth. Then she bounded away, following Aeris. Cloud watched the two for a long moment.
"That girl does not need to be eating sugar," said Red.
Barret sighed and Cloud turned his attention back to the guys at the crate. "It's like nothin' gets to her 'sides materia. Tifa an' Vincent could be layin' under a rock, an' she'd go through their pockets for glowin' stones before botherin' to break out a Phoenix Down."
Cid shook his head. "Nah, she knows they can handle themselves. You're worryin' too much about them, Barret. Vincent's packin' heat, and so is Tifa." He started to chuckle before glancing up at Cloud with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry. She's a helluva fighter."
He returned to searching through the crate, talking around his cigarette as he did so. "Shame Vince didn't have one of these here big guns on him. Or hell, these… here, Cloud, hold this out of the way for me real quick."
Cloud reached down and lifted a small case of grenades so Cid could get to something beneath it. The older man paused for a second, considering the explosives. "Wait, Barret, could we use these grenades to blow the hell outta them rocks?"
"Oh, no no no. Don't be settin' off bombs where the ceilin' could fall in. Man, that's what I'm worried about – another cave-in, not Tifa an' Vincent fightin' off rats." Cloud put down the case of grenades and tossed Barret a sleeping bag as Cid pulled his spear out from the box. "You think you'll need that?" Barret asked.
Cid grinned. "It ain't for fightin'. We're gonna have a fire and marshmallows, and I don't see many sticks layin' around."