A/N: Follow up on Rebirth (d'uh) because of all the wonderful reviews I got on dA and FF net for it. Thank you all! I live for reviews
The bird looked extremely out of place in the bleak concrete jungle that was Midgar. Its plumage was burning red and golden, its beak and talons looked gilded and the look in its eye spoke of a level of intelligence far exceeding the daft Midgar drab street pigeons. It looked like it would be more at home in Mideel or some other warm exotic place, not the autumn chill of a polluted city street.
It had drawn quite the exited crowd of people, in fact so many that when Cloud and Reeve passed by they could see that the bird's beak was open but couldn't hear what it said over the shouts and mumbles of the crows. It was probably something along the line of 'Polly want a cracker'. Kids were throwing breadcrumbs at it, which it ignored, although it was obviously preening at the attention.
"It's some kind of parrot." Reeve glanced up at it. "They don't eat bread but fruit and nuts, things like that."
"Huh." Cloud shrugged and took a bite of his Banora White apple. Tifa has insisted he eat something else than hotdogs when on missions.
A flash of red, the scrape of golden claws and Cloud found himself holding nothing but empty air.
"What?!" More enraged by the theft than the loss of an apple, Cloud jumped after the bird, but it gracefully avoided him and landed on a rooftop where it started tearing at the blue dumbapple. The kids cheered.
Angry, Cloud took a step forward, but Reeve caught his arm.
"You'd better not." The WRO director pointed at the base of the building were something huge sat, big and black and hairy with burning blue eyes and heavy jaws.
"Is that a bear?!" Cloud took a step back.
"I don't think so. It is probably some kind of guard dog." Reeve started to lead him away. "It is always around that bird. They've been here for weeks."
"Even Zack would have hesitated to attack that one." Cloud mumbled to himself as he let Reeve lead him away.
"Ah yes, your…wolf." Cloud noticed the small hesitation and sighed. He knew no one believed him about the animal's origin. You were pretty bad at it if you couldn't convince New Age space brain Reeve Tuetsi about rebirth. "How is the family?" Reeve continued politely. "You didn't bring the dog on this mission?"
"They're fine. And no. I don't need Zack around all the time. I'm fine by myself. Besides, it's only some kind of street monster, right?"
"I hope so." Reeve sighed. "Whatever it is, it has been menacing people in the slums for long enough. It needs taking care of. That's why I called in you. WRO needs a monster hunter. The usual fee, of course."
"You know I'd do this for free, right?" Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "You're my friend. I'd help you if you asked me."
"I know." Reeve gave him a glance that said the engineer knew Cloud was his friend, but he also knew Cloud had two kids – none his own – a wolf, a cat and three kittens to feed and clothe. Tifa's 7:th Heaven didn't bring in enough. "But I'm also the director of WRO and Midgar safety is my responsibility. I'm entitled to pay you for it. Besides, everyone knows it's ShinRa's old money so I think you are entitled to your fair share of it."
A few hours later Cloud was waiting in a cold and dark alley for a monster to show up. He wasn't worried; slum monsters were usually just stray Boundfats or Hedgehogpies. Although they might be difficult to hit with all that bouncing around, they weren't dangerous to a trained professional like him. It wasn't yet fully dark and he had lots of time; he took the opportunity to call Tifa.
"Don't worry Cloud, we're fine. We have Zacky here to protect us, don't we?" Cloud could hear her smile and ruffle the spiky fur and sighed a bit. The last person on earth who needed protection was Tifa and they both knew it. "He is such a good dog. You know, this morning I couldn't find a single piece of underwear in the house, but Zacky found a pair of panties for me, didn't you boy?" More fur ruffling and the unmistakable sound of doggy glee. "Those frilly thongs you know, the once you bought me Cloud." She giggled a bit. "The once without a crotch."
"I…it's…" but there were no way he could possibly explain to her why Zack 'helping' was so wrong in so many ways. In fact he had had a similar problem himself this morning; when he came out of the shower he'd found the huge silvery cat sitting on his underwear. It didn't do anything, just sat there and stared at him. Challenging him to try to take the underwear back. When he'd chickened out and left the cat-general to his spoils there had been no mistaking the smugness on the serene white face.
And when he came to his room the trio of silver kittens had decided to make all other pieces of underwear he owned crotchless. He'd been forced to go commando all day.
"Alright, just take care. I'll probably be home by tomorrow." He clicked the phone shut.
And now there was nothing to do but wait. And wait. And….
Something huge moved in the shadows. Cloud spun around, but he was too slow; the huge Behemot roared and threw itself over him, an enormous claw tumbled him over and he hit his head hard on the sidewalk. Too dazed to find his feet he was an easy prey; the creature tore after him, ready to devour him.
Something almost equally bug came running out of the shadows and tackled the Behemot, throwing it to the ground. The creature roared in anger, loud enough to shake the buildings, but the huge bear-dog Cloud had seen earlier that day stood its ground in front of the fallen man, courageously protecting him.
The Behemot shook itself and came to its feet, all made rage and lethal force. Cloud tried to find the Buster Sword but his head was still to dizzy, and alone that poor bear-dog wouldn't stand a chance.
Fire came from the shadows, burning through the night that for a second was as bright as day. A plume of fire hit the Behemot and as it reeled in pain the dog lounged at it.
"No, wait!" Cloud had no choice; fumbling for the Buster Swrod he joined the fray.
In the end the monster was not more than a burned spot on the sidewalk and Cloud leaned on the sword, panting heavily. The dog gave him a reproachful glance as he saw the mistreatment of the sword and growled, low in the throat.
"Oh, sorry, sir." With a jerk Cloud got the sword upright and then paused. He looked at the huge dog that had so honorably defended him. He looked at the preening firebird.
"It….can't be…."
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky." The firebird sqaurked.
Cloud's shoulders slumped. There were no way out of this either.
"Yo, what's with the menagerie Cloudy-head?" Reno scratched his head as he walked unbidden in on the chaos that was 7:th Heaven these days. The huge silver cat was giving two purring kittens a tongue bath, but the smallest in the silver trio was caught under the wolf's huge paw and screeching with indignity as the drooling, lolling tongue washed over if. A huge dog was watching over Denzel and Marlene playing and on a rafter sat a bird that managed to brighten the place up all by itself. None of them deigned to look at him.
Cloud gave him a hasty look before returning to pouring animal food into bowls.
"Oh thank Gaia," he mumbled. "If you were a rat I think I'd just scream. And where is Rude? He's not a bear or something, is he? And if Elena is a cat then she can damn well live with you."
Reno just stared as Cloud returned to his chore. Slowly he picked up his phone and dialed.
"Boss? I think Strife just lost it. Yeah, he just compared me to a rat." Reno sniffed annoyed and swung his red tail. "Everyone knows I'm coming back as a fox, yo." A soft sound made him look up and step back, but too late. "Also I think Genesis just crapped on me."