There was a door. It was long, metal, and perhaps the most intimidating door Cloud Strife had ever seen. He stood before it in awe, arms dropped lazily to his sides, mouth slightly agape. His eyes were burning holes through the middle of the giant door - no, gate was a more appropriate term for what this beast was. Because behind it was something deadly, and dangerous - but it was also everything Cloud had been looking for almost the entire last twenty years of his life. He couldn't remember how he came to be standing before it, nor could he remember why exactly he wanted to pry his way inside of it so bad in the first place. He slowly raised a cautious, outstretched hand to the face of the metal structure. His bare palm made contact with it. It was ice cold, but it somehow made him feel warm inside. He listened as hard as he ever had, but could hear nothing from the other side.
When suddenly, like an answer to his yearning ears, the voice came.
"Cloud."
The voice.
The voice he loved. The voice he knew. The voice he wished he could see. It was everything that kept him sane, and at the same time - the sole reason he was crazy. It was her… it had to be. The flower girl. His flower girl. Only her voice could be so sweet and smooth and perfect and real. And he knew that if he could only ever reach her… reach the voice, everything in his head would become right again. His disease would just… go away. Everyone that had grown such a hatred for him in their hearts would forgot about it. Would forget about all the mistakes he made. Forget almost entirely about the man himself. But then, like a holy spirit, he would return - and they would welcome him back with open arms, and every good memory anyone ever had about him would be shared throughout the entire population. One mind, connected by the sheer love that radiated so powerfully within each separate one.
He was to be… almost God-like.
And now, here he was. Seconds away from opening that magic door to freedom, and he was more scared than he had ever been before. His hand began to tremble on top the steel frame. His heart was skipping beats as randomly as a case of the hiccups. This was it.
Aeris… I'm coming.
"Cloud?"
Aeris?
"Cloud…"
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"Cloud?"
Cloud shot up and took a deep breath of air.
"Geeze, man - you were scaring the hell out of us there for a second." Loeb said, shaking his head. He, along with Teioh and Putter, was sitting in the back of the truck Cloud had come to be familiar with. They sat… and they watched him.
"What… I don't…" Cloud tried forming a sentence, but if there was one up in that mysterious tank-of-a-brain of his, it wasn't coming out.
"You had a nightmare. Forget about it… we're almost at Nibelheim." Teioh said.
Putter added, "Yea. And we could use you at full strength, so if you don't mind - could you try waking yourself up a bit?"
Cloud rubbed the sides of his head and pulled himself into a bench along the side of the trucks interior wall.
"How long?" He asked.
"Did you sleep? A handful of hours at the most." Loeb answered. The black teenager was wiping off a pair of short - but very deadly-looking - swords.
The truck, which also double up as a boat (technology had come a long way in twenty years), barreled over the rocky road that led to the mouth of Mt. Nibel and the town of Nibelheim that lay before it. It's heavy-duty tires kicked rocks and bits of earth out from beneath as it came to a slow halt in front of the sharp peaks that made up the ferocious mountains face. A cold air was howling through them, giving off a high pitched whistle that was as intimidating as it was constant. The driver slowly pressed down on the brakes as he stared up at the jagged teeth of the mountains. It certainly was a site to see.
When the truck was in park, the back flap opened, and the four men inside systematically began hopping out. Loeb spit a slimy ball of saliva into the dirt, vanquishing the taste of the trucks stale air with it. Putter, whose wide frame was but a mere speck in the face of the giant mountain, took a long, panning look upwards. Loeb and Teioh traced the same line of vision. Cloud, however, didn't so much as give it a glance. He had seen this monstrosity before, and the effect of it's looming presence had dwindled to him - even having not seen it in some twenty-odd years.
"Is it too late to turn back?" Putter asked, his usually strong voice nothing but a whisper carried along in the howl of the mountains breeze.
"Too late for us, that's for sure." Teioh answered, walking to the front of the truck. "OK Herm," He called into the trucks driver-side window. "You can head to Cosmo Canyon now. We'll call you in a bit with an update on the situation."
The driver, Herm, nodded. He put the truck back in drive, but leaned out the window before pulling away.
"You guys be careful now, you hear? You give my cell phone a call at the first sign of trouble. I'll come running with the cavalry faster than you can say "Knights of the Round"."
Teioh gave him a warm smile. "I know you will, my friend. I know you will."
And with a final nod of his head, Herm pulled the truck away - leaving the four men alone beneath the looming peaks of the mountain.
Cloud suddenly reach around and felt for his sword. It was there. He feared in his newfound state of forgetfulness he had left it in the truck - and that would be bad. It was the only thing he could truly count on, and not having it with him made him feel… weak - as he found out heading into the Shinra tower, which seemed like years ago to him now. The rest of them were well-armed. Teioh had a pair of machine guns laying in wait beneath his black vest. Loeb had now sheathed the two short swords, which dangled from either side of the holster he wore around his waist. Putter had his own home-made weapon. Two short (but solid) wooden stick, linked together by a short chain. Putter had called the makeshift weapon "Nunchucks", but Cloud thought that was just a fancy word for "Sticks on a chain". Regardless, the team was well equipped, or at least Cloud hoped, for whatever evil had nested in the mountains.
As the crew began walking towards the entrance to the town, Teioh thought that the long shadows they cast out in front of themselves made them look heroic. He thought that this is what things must have been like before Shinra. When there was trouble afoot, the vigilantes would roll up - kick ass, take names, and restore justice to the planet. It seemed like such a romantic time to live in… he wished now that he had. Mostly, though, because he was getting an unshakable knot in the pit of his stomach that told him something was going to go terribly wrong here.
"So you grew up here, huh Mr. Strife?" Putter asked as they approached the town.
"Yea… a long time ago, I guess."
"Got any tips?"
"Tips?"
"Yea, you know. Like maybe a shortcut through a basement trap door or something. Just incase we find ourselves waist-deep in some trouble."
"No." His answer was cold and definite. So much, in fact, that Putter ceased to ask the dozen or so other questions he had ready for Cloud. They walked in silence.
When they reached the towns entrance, Cloud was surprised. It hadn't changed a bit. Maybe a little wear-and-tear on everything, but alas, still exactly the same as the last time he had seen it. The white picket fences on both sides of the wooden arch that served as the "gate" (so to say) of the town. The cluttered circle of friendly-looking homes. The Inn to their immediate left, Tifa's house to their right - and a bit further down, Cloud's house. It was as if the town had been perfectly preserved… awaiting the arrival of its former resident patiently.
"Ring any bells?" Teioh questioned, glancing over at Cloud.
"More than I thought I had left."
Suddenly, a door burst open to their right. The three rebels were instantly readying their weapons. Cloud frowned and turned to face the source of the noise. Putter let out a loud battle cry as he took an action-ready pose.
"Woa-hoa! At ease there boys!" A voice cried out with a funny accent.
Headed their way was a cheerful-looking blond girl. Everyone eased up but Cloud - who now, for the first time, shifted to a bit of a defensive stance.
"Hi!" She called to them with that funny accent of hers. She was a cute girl, couldn't have been any older than twenty, and wore a smile so wide, every one of her perfectly white teeth were exposed. White teeth that were quite the opposite of the white dress she wore, which was blotted with dirt stains and had jaggedly-torn edges. The dress ran from her chest down to just below her knees, stopping and hanging lazily over a pair of dirty, bare feet. Teioh thought she looked like the most beautiful hobo he'd ever seen.
"H-Hi." Putter managed to spit out, obviously taken back by the girls looks. She came to a stop just a few feet from him. She was rather short, standing only an inch or two below the awestruck Putter - who was quite short in his own right.
"What're ya'll doin out in these parts?" The girl asked, still smiling with that over-the-edge cheerfulness. Teioh knew it was a personality trait that would get old fast.
"We…" Putter began, trying to answer but could not.
"We're just passing through." Cloud did it for him.
"Passing through?" The girl repeated, suddenly changing her face to a sad, puppy dog look. This girl didn't know the meaning of the word subtle. "You mean… to the m-mountains?"
"If that is where the road takes us, than yes." Cloud said.
"Oh no mister!" She said, shaking her head and going super-wide-eyed. "You can't go up there, no-no-no! No, I believe you can not!"
"Why's that?" Loeb asked, squinting at her suspiciously. She shot her head towards him and gave him a look like he was crazy.
"Because!" She said with a mix of concern and desperation. She rushed over to him and cupped her hands around one of his. "There is evil up in that there mountain!"
"Evil… do you know much about it?" Teioh asked, suddenly very interested. The blond gave him a startled look, before rushing up to him and doing the same hand-cupping action to him.
"Very much." She whispered, standing on her tippy-toes to get closer to his ear. He pulled away with a confused look on his face. This was the strangest girl he'd ever met.
"Come on, let's get moving." Cloud commanded, brushing past the blond girl and marching determinedly towards the mountains. She frowned at him as her mouth dropped open in surprise.
"Mister! I said you can not! No-no-no, you can not!"
Cloud kept walking, not even so much as acknowledging her.
"I can not let you pass."
There was the tone Cloud had been waiting for. He stopped dead in his tracks. If there was a trap ready to be sprung, now would be the time. His eyes darted around his hometown, searching for any subtle giveaway. The suns gleam off a waiting marksman. The gentle shuffle in a patch of grass hiding a squad of men. A bird taking startled flight from a sudden movement behind a house.
Only, he saw none of those things.
"How are you going to stop us?" He asked and began turning around, his hand worked its way to the handle of his sword.
When he made the one-eighty, he saw the girl, sitting on Putters foot - arms and legs wrapped around his leg like a knot around a pole. Cloud sighed. Putter shrugged.
"Maybe we could at least hear what she has to say." He said, gently trying to shake the girl from his leg. "I mean, she seems…"
He wanted to say "normal". They all knew he did, but he couldn't. Because this girl was anything but. Which meant she was either acting, or was actually this far off her rocker.
Either way, Cloud didn't like it.
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The four of them sat around a big circle of a table inside a large, cozy living room/kitchen. The blond girl, who had introduced herself as Mindy upon entering the tiny home in Nibelheim, was working furiously in the kitchen - trying to make some drinks and food.
"Really, we don't want anything." Teioh said, putting up a hand to gesture her to stop. "We have to be leaving very shortly."
"Hush now! It's only being polite!" She called out from underneath the sink where she was rapidly shoving aside various bottles of assorted liquids.
All four men gave each other a look. Cloud looked the least happy out of all of them, although that wasn't much of a change anyway. Teioh let out a long sigh and looked around. The house seemed much more normal than its owner. Plain white walls. Plain brown furniture. Plain steps and doors, and only one picture hung in the entire two-room downstairs area.
"You have roommates?" Teioh asked. The other three at the table followed his line of sight to the wall near the front door. There hung a large framed picture of the blond girl - on either side of her were two taller (yet equally good looking) girls.
"Sisters." Mindy stated cheerily, poking her head up above the counter to give them another toothy smile. "Sandy is the one to the right of me. She's the middle child of the family… don't tell her I told ya'll this but, she's a bit of a baby too!" Mindy said, but suddenly changed her expression as if she had said something terrible. Her eyes darted back and forth like she expected her sister to jump out from hiding and clobber her. "Oh garsh."
Teioh thought the blonde girl looked and acted kind of like a cartoon character. "Oh garsh" was the kind of thing some goofy cartoon dog would say on a Saturday morning special. Not an actual person.
"The one to my left, that's Cindy. She's the oldest. After our parents… well…"
The girls never-ending optimistic tone faded. It was a rare occasion.
"After our parents went to heaven, she made sure me and Sandy grew up right, you know?"
"Sorry…" Teioh said in a quiet voice. Almost instantly, the girls cheerful tone came back as she went back to work in the kitchen with a smile.
"Look, just tell us what you know about those mountains so we can be on our way." Cloud said.
"My, my Mr. Grumpy! Attitude like that won't get you nutthin but bread and water!"
"What do I have to say to get neither?"
She frowned at him, but at the same time was playfully smiling. She raised a hand, on which was one out-stretched finger, which she waved back and forth in front of her face.
Suddenly Cloud double over, grabbing his stomach. His face was only visible for a split second on the way down, but they all could see the pain in it. Teioh looked wide-eyed at Mindy for a moment, thinking she somehow cast a spell on him. When he was met with a confused wide-eyed looked of her own, he realized Cloud was having another spasm. Loeb was at his side. Teioh moved to his other side. Mindy began rushing towards them from behind the kitchen counter.
"No. Stay back." Teioh commanded, then gave a nod to Putter. Putter jumped to his feet, spun around, and grabbed the sprinting girl in his arms.
"It's OK ma'am."
"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" She cried, straining her neck around Putters wide frame to watch them.
Before anyone could answer, the front door slammed open - and before anyone could even react, a figure was leaping through the air, running across the round table, and diving onto Putter. Putter looked up from the floor in a daze to see a pretty girl… with a big knife coming down at him.
"Sandy, NO!" Mindy cried out. Just in time, Putter realized as his eyes crossed to focus on the lethally sharp tip of the blade hanging an inch from his face. He forced a weak laugh and smile.
"Get off him." Loeb said calmly from behind Sandy. He had both of his short swords resting dangerously close to either side of her throat.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Mindy began pleading, looking as if she was on the verge of breaking down.
Teioh was still tending to Cloud, but keeping a watchful eye on the entire situation. Cloud coughed a few times, and than returned to a normal position in the chair. His face was flushed and he looked sicker than ever, yet he was breathing normal again - and that was a good sign. Before him, he saw a woman on top of Putter with a knife to his throat, Loeb behind her with swords to hers, and the blond girl - Mindy - going crazy with panic in the kitchen.
"OK." He began calmly. "How about that bread and water now?"
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The town of Nibelheim sat peacefully waiting for the sun to sink below the horizon, and meet the full moon and starry night with open arms. Every house was abandoned and completely dark except one. One was very much alive.
"You had no right, lady!" Loeb shouted over the table. Now a crew of six made the ever-shrinking table their home.
"Who the hell are you to tell me what I can do in MY home!?" The short-haired girl across from him (one of the six) barked back.
Mindy had described her in the picture as Sandy. Already it was apparent she was nothing like her cheery, bubbly younger sister. This girl had a sharp wit and a quick mouth. Her dark hair fell to only her chin, and her darker eyes coldly pierced out from behind the makeshift frame of it. She wore a tight black shirt and pants, capped with a pair of tough-looking leather gloves and a pair of mean, black boots. The knife which she had almost used to make a Putter-Sandwich, was strapped to her upper left arm. Another knife was harness to her inner right thigh. Teioh noted that she looked more like a rebel than the three actual rebels at the table.
"You didn't have to almost kill him!"
"It's OK Loeb, I'm fine." Putter said in a small voice, not really wanting to get into the heated argument.
Cloud was washing down a bite of sandwich with a tall glass of wine - which he cautiously made the blond girl take a bite and drink of before he had any. Teioh sat back in his chair with his arms folded.
"I kill who I want when they're in my home." Sandy said with a cold tone. Her dark eyes practically shooting bullets into Loeb's. "In case you're stupid, that means you're eligible."
"Sandy they are my GUESTS!" Mindy cried out like a little kid trying to make her mommy listen to her.
"Mindy, what did me and Cindy tell you about outsiders!? Do you want everything we've worked for to go away?"
Teioh gave Cloud a thoughtful glance.
"…no." Mindy answered in a voice as tiny as she was. Then she suddenly perked back up and leaned forward in her chair. "But they were going to the mountains!"
No one spoke. The dark-haired girl, Sandy, stared at Mindy for a second before shooting those promiscuous-looking eyes at Cloud.
"You were?" She asked. She had apparently picked him out as the leader of their crew.
He nodded.
"Why?"
"Well-" Putter began.
"It doesn't concern you." Cloud finished.
"Oh, it does. You may not know it, but it does." She shot back sardonically.
No one liked the sound of that.
"What the hell does that mean?" Teioh asked, narrowing his eyes onto Sandy's. She met his look with a devilish half-grin and a wink.
Before he was even registering her wink, he felt his guns being slid out from under his vest, and before he could register that he felt on of the nozzles being nudged into the back of his head. He sighed and put his hands up.
"I take it you're Cindy?" He said with a dry tone. "So happy to meet the whole family."
Behind him, a tall lady with brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail hovered above him. She held one of Teioh's guns to his head, the other she was cautiously dragging back and forth between the three other men. Loeb and Putter exchanged shocked looks in disbelief on how this woman managed to get the drop on them so easily. Where the hell did she come from?
Cloud didn't even bother glancing up from the food beneath him. He took another sip of wine, and Teioh's bulging eyes couldn't believe it. He didn't even seem to care!
"No one is going into those mountains. Not alive anyway." The woman commanded, her voice was soft, yet powerful. She was clearly the eldest sister, as the tiny lines of age had begun to show on her face, and the powerful commanding undertone in her voice only confirmed it. She must have had plenty of practice using it growing up with her two younger sisters.
Those two younger sisters were currently having two very different reactions. The young blonde, Mindy, was pulling at both sides of her hair in little tugging motions and biting her bottom lip repeatedly. Her eyes were wide with nervousness, and she had begun to softly cry to herself. Their middle sister Sandy, however, had leaned back in her chair, laced her fingers behind her head, and kicked her boots up on the table. Her devilish half-grin had upgraded to a whole one. Teioh gave her an angry glare, which she replied to by promptly sticking her tongue out at him.
"What the hell is up with you guys and those mountains!?" Loeb finally burst out, gesturing a clueless look with his arms and darting his eyes frantically between the three sisters. "I mean… what the HELL is up with those mountains!?"
Mindy looked like she was about to say something - instantly reverting to her cheerful demeanor - but a stern, sharp look from her oldest sister, and she quickly went tight-lipped.
"Smoke em', sis." Sandy said nonchalantly from her cocky position at the table. "Smoke em' before blabber-mouth tells em' something we don't want em' to hear."
"Be quiet! Both of you!" She said, shooting them both a paternal glare. Almost as if she was their parent, they both listened. "Now… first off, what is your business in our home?" She nudged the nuzzle of Teioh's gun a little harder into his head. "You. Speak."
"Actually, we were invited in." He said, angrily emphasizing the word "invited" and shooting a look at Mindy. She turned her head quickly. Her oldest sister looked at her.
"Mindy! Is this true?"
The blond let out a tiny sound that could have been "mm-hm" and shook her head. Her sisters eyes narrowed.
"Mindy…" She began in a strict voice.
"But they were going into the mountains!" She cried out. They had all heard the same desperate excuse only minutes before.
"Than you should have followed orders!"
Orders? Teioh thought. Where these people working for Shinra? Or worse… the cult?
"What do you work for Shinra?" Putter asked, seeming to read Teioh's mind. In one second, Teioh was thankful he hadn't said it first.
The plate in front of Putter shot up into the air, two small pieces cracking off and going flying off into the room. The gunshot had made a terribly loud bang so near Teioh's ear, and he instantly cringed in pain. Putter sat there, narrow-eyed, staring at the bullet hole that had gone through the plate, and landed in the table - his mouth dropped open. Mindy had instantly retreated to the confines of the underside of the table, and even the middle sister looked a bit shaken up. For the first time, Cloud seemed to acknowledge the situation they were in by glancing up and looking around.
"Don't you ever accuse me of working for those scum!" She cried out, a genuine hurtfulness coursed through her voice like a stream of pain, running through a forest of confusion. "EVER! You hear me? I-"
She suddenly stopped. Teioh looked around at his fellow table-mates to get their reactions, being as he couldn't see what she was doing himself. He glanced over and noticed Cloud staring up at the woman. Putter thought they looked like a pair of psychics, sharing a conversation telepathically.
"Cloud Strife." She said in awe. Her voice and face made it appear as if she had just stumbled upon an ancient treasure. In a way - she kind of did. He continued looking up at her, his face giving nothing away - a steady, poker-player stare. Teioh felt the nozzle that was pressing into the back of his skull ease up a bit. He realized if there was ever a moment to seize, this one was it - but opted to see how this situation would pan out instead.
It suddenly dawned on Teioh what was probably happening. If his age-assumptions were correct, the other two sisters wouldn't have ever even heard about Cloud unless it was legend. He figured the blond to be just a baby when Cloud was off saving the world, the middle sister not much older. But the elder sister - Cindy… if her voice was any indication to her age, she was probably a teenage girl at the time… just old enough to remember the hero of days gone by. Just old enough to remember the Cloud Strife that carried this planet on his back through its hardest times and lived to tell about it.
Now everyone watched the two of them stare at each other. Even Mindy, whose two intrigued eyes hovered just above the tabletop, the rest of her still safely hidden beneath.
"You saved my life." She whispered. Teioh felt the gun come off the back of head completely now. "You saved all of our lives."
Putter, suddenly stricken with new confidence and pride, arched his back to sit more straightly in his chair.
"That's right! That's Cloud Strife! Savior of the planet!"
"Yea!" Loeb added, catching Putters pride like a cold. "And we're on a very important mission!"
"You're the Cloud?" Sandy asked, leaning forward in her chair and squinting her eyes at him. She looked like a paleontologist studying a freshly-discovered fossil. "Like, the one who stopped Sephiroth?"
"I had some help." He said, finally speaking. "A lot of it actually."
Now the brunette, Cindy, had moved to Cloud's side and knelt before him so they were on eye level. He watched her like some strange new animal whose behavior you couldn't predict. She cupped her hands around one of his.
"I don't mean that. I mean he saved us. He saved us personally." She began slowly nodding her head, never taking her thankful eyes off of Cloud's. "We owe this man our lives."
Mindy, who had crawled out from under the tables, was jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Her big, toothy grin was wider than ever. Sandy simply looked bored.
"I don't-" Cloud began.
"Remember?" Cindy finished. "That's alright. A man as brave and courageous as you can't possibly remember every foolish teenage girl he saves. But you did, Cloud. I was getting harassed by two Shinra soldiers in an alleyway and you came to my rescue. It had to be… many years ago. Perhaps more than twenty."
Cloud looked like he wanted to remember very badly, but alas he could not. He simply closed his mouth and shook his head.
"It was right after those bastards killed our parents." She continued, her voice growing weaker and sadder by the syllable. "They… they tried to finish the job." She wiped tears from her eyes. "They were going to do me in… and then my two younger sisters, who, at the time, were just babies."
Mindy and Sandy exchanged looks. One was bawling her eyes out already from the story, the other still looked bored, but now it was as plain as day that she was faking it. Underneath her dark eyes was a fireworks display of tears and emotion ready to be set off.
"And then… there you were." Cindy continued, her voice taking on a theatrical tone. She seemed to be telling the grandest tale in the history of the planet - and to her, maybe it probably was. "You just appeared. I can't even remember what you said, or what you did to them. Everything went by so fast. All I can remember is you taking my hand and pulling me to my feet."
Everyone listened.
"You asked me if I had somewhere to go. I said yes. I lied. And then you were gone… and now here you are." She said, if possible, looking deeper into his eyes.
"And here we are… thanks to you." Mindy said in a low voice, fighting to sneak the words out from behind tears and sniffles. Putter handed her a napkin from the table. She graciously took it and blew her nose. She had an awfully loud nose-blow for such a petite lady. Sandy rolled her eyes.
"Oh please! Spare me the waterworks. Both of you." She said. "This doesn't change the fact that that mountain is off-limits."
The three rebels looked at the oldest sister, hoping to hear a contradiction. She looked around and noticed their hopeful faces, which seemed to sadden her even more.
"I'm sorry, but she's right."
All three sighed in unison.
"Why?" Loeb asked, beating the other two to it. Cindy got off her one-knee position and leaned up against the wall taking a deep breath.
"After Shinra had officially turned us into orphans, I knew I had to get my baby sisters and myself out of Midgar, or else Shinra would send someone else to finish the job." She began. "I took them to town of Kalm with nothing but a few measly hundred gil - our life savings. We stayed there for years, barely managing to scrape bye by taking odd jobs around town; Bartending, working at the Inn, running messages. But then after Meteor hit and Shinra came back to power a few years later, their influence began to spread out from Midgar like a black cloud. I couldn't live under their rule. Never again. I wouldn't allow it. I hated them, more than anything in the world. So we moved again."
"I hated all that moving." Mindy said sadly, reflecting on the times.
"We all did." Cindy said. "That's when we eventually found our way to this town. Nibelheim. That's when we met them."
"The cult." Loeb said in a low voice, almost as if he spoke any louder, some terrible thing would be raised from the dead. Cindy nodded.
"Yes. When we first saw them, I could barely register it as real in my mind. We had all heard stories, but passed them off as mere ghost tales. This wasn't a ghost tale. This was very real."
Mindy wrapped her arms around herself and stared off into the nothing. Sandy smirked at the sight.
"They were all dressed in black robes… we couldn't see their faces. Now, I'm almost glad we didn't. I didn't want to see the face of evil again. I already knew that as Shinra."
"There was so many…" Mindy said.
"Too many." Sandy added. "Too many for us to handle, that's for sure."
"Right." Cindy said, shaking her head. "Which is why we struck a deal with them in the first place."
Teioh frowned. He didn't need to hear the rest, he knew where it was going.
"They told us we could live here. In Nibelheim. One of the last remaining towns that the Shinra hadn't wrapped their iron grip around."
"On the condition that you didn't let anyone pass through to the mountains." Loeb said. Cindy shook her head.
"Which is why if you went there, we would lose everything. Our home. Our Freedom… maybe even our lives."
All seven of them, packed tightly in the small confines of the two-room downstairs, sat in silent for a moment.
"We're going to the mountain." Cloud said, his voice cutting through the silence with a sturdy definitiveness. Cindy looked at him wide-eyed, looking as if she thought he hadn't even heard what she just said.
"You can't!" Mindy cried out, staring at Cloud. Cloud didn't so much as give her a glance. She turned to Putter and cupped his hand in hers. "Please!" She pleaded.
"Maybe you couldn't stop us." Teioh began. They all turned to him. "Maybe we came by and you did try to stop us. Only we beat you and moved on anyway."
"Yea!" Loeb exclaimed, nodding his approval of the plan. "That story would work."
"I'm afraid it wouldn't." Cindy said, eyes staring down at her hands that laid on the tabletop. "They didn't leave us here to guard their precious mountain without… testing us first."
"Testing?" Teioh questioned.
"Our instructions were to defend the mountain… to the death." Sandy said, eyes floating around the four men at the table. "Which means, if you got through - either you'd be dead… or we would."
"We can fight… and they know it." Mindy added.
"But so can we." Loeb said, leaning forward in his chair. "Maybe we ransacked this place, knocked you guys out, and left."
"That would still be failure in their eyes, and the price would be our lives." Cindy said.
There was no way out of the situation they were in. All four men were slowly coming to realize that. Except one.
"We're going to the mountain." Cloud repeated. "You're lives may change afterwards, but I promise you they won't be taken."
"I won't live under Shinra rule again." Cindy stated. "You have to understand that."
"And you won't." Teioh said, suddenly realizing an answer. "There's a rebellion now. Things are changing all across this planet. The people aren't taking the Shinras crap lying down anymore! We have places set up all over!"
"Yea!" Putter exclaimed, realizing Teioh's plan was perfect. "And if you joined us, you could actually do something to Shinra instead of hide from them!"
"Make them pay for what they did." Loeb added.
Sandy and Cindy were staring at each other. They both looked unsure of the whole thing, but they were thinking - and that was a good thing in Teioh's mind. Mindy, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She had one arm wrapped around Putters wide neck, her hands meeting in front of his face in a praying gesture. Hey eyes darted back and forth between her sisters like a dog waiting for his owner to throw a stick.
"I mean… maybe." Cindy said, shaking her head. Sandy smiled.
The three rebels also exchanged looks. Happy looks. Maybe they were going to get through this god-forsaken town after all.
That's when everything went bad.
Outside, a glass-shattering noise came racing down from the mountains like a flood ripping through a canyon. All seven of them grabbed at their ears. The sound was strange. It was loud and constant, but its pitch seemed to dip and contort into weird patterns. It wasn't exactly musical, it was just… strange.
After what seemed like an eternity, the noise finally gave up - and even Cloud had to shake his head to try get the ringing residue left behind out. Teioh stretched his jaw and widened his eyes. He didn't understand how the noise had been so loud, even inside the house. He looked around to make sure everyone was OK. They were - save for the three sisters of Nibelheim, who were all staring off into nothing with eyes that had turned to cold, silver slivers in their head.
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Herm had dropped off his four passengers at the face of Mt. Nibel a few hours ago, and was now enjoying a nice, relaxing beverage in a tiny, cozy little bar in Cosmo Canyon. He smiled a deep, satisfying smile as he laid back in his chair at the corner of the room. It was a dim room, and that combined with the easy-going music that played low and smooth over the speakers set up throughout, made it the perfect place for him to wait for his friends to give him a call.
He leaned over his drink and sipped it up through the straw that had been placed inside. He got a nice mouthful before taking his lips off it and letting out a relaxed "Aw". A handful of shadows fell down onto the table before him, turning the tabletop into almost a portrait of Mt. Nibel. He chuckled at the thought and looked up.
Rex Arinthone stood in front of three Shinra soldiers grinning. Herm made a move, but a soldier raised a gun and aimed the crosshairs at his hand.
"Please, finish your drink." Rex began, still smiling. "We have some talking to do."
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