(A/N) Sorry, still no Zack. This is an erm…. "Kozue" point of view. But Zack will hopefully be back and well enough for the next odd numbered chapter. A.K.A. Comin' up after Cloud. Hopefully you'll all enjoy this one as well. Let me know.
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I couldn't believe this! This boy was going to become the savior of the planet?! …Well I must say he was off to a good start. Uh… let's see here. He panicked out in the wasteland, was attacked by dogs, bitten by a dog, easily put to sleep, captured by Loz, shot, injected with a disease, trapped in a box, burned in the engine room, I wasn't even going to mention the clothes, fell out of the airship, hit by a rock, adopted by a chocobo, given outlandish clothes, started a fight, and almost got raped. How could I not get involved when I did? Not to mention Angeal was screaming at me to do something! He was such an unfortunate little boy. Even though he'd already caused me enough trouble. Him and Zack. They were both so needy! Couldn't help themselves an ounce! But I guess Zack could at least keep himself afloat. All of his problems were coming from this boy! Augh! Why did I agree to this?! Was redemption worth babysitting an infant?! A hormonal infant! A very unaware, hormonal, infantile… he was just a mess. Someone had to be at his side at all times or he'd be shafted in no time! How did a child grow up to be so oblivious?
Well… I guess it was justified. He was a country boy after all.
But with that in mind I couldn't believe he'd kept his virginity so long at the barracks! Zack wasn't always around. So how did he do it? It was a complete mystery to everyone. Even before this… incident. I mean, Angeal and I heard people talking about him in the hallway, we heard Sephiroth talking about him! And with all the things that were said, by far, Sephiroth had the best things to say. It was such an enigma. Oh geez!
"Hey kid, stop hyperventilating. That belt will come off eventually." I hadn't dealt with one of those before, but there had to be a trick to it. How hard could it be? "Come over here and I'll cut it off you."
"No!" He answered back in the same panicky voice I'd been hearing for the past hour. "There's no space, you'd cut me!"
"Okay. But you're going to get into a lot of trouble if you keep on wearing that." I sighed. I couldn't believe that I had revealed myself for this kid? There was no way all of those people were going to keep their mouths shut. I'd just compromised the element of surprise. I just had to hope that when Rufus found out there were no hard feelings for what I'd done. It was his father's company at the time, but that didn't mean much to him. Besides, president Shinra was so fat Rufus probably had to do everything for him anyway.
"What am I supposed to do?!" The young boy gasped.
"Cloud. Just… if you're going to shoot down every idea I pitch to you then please calm down a bit." This was getting a little redundant. "It's not the first time somebody's been stuck in clothes they don't like."
"Other clothes didn't give people the impression that they were gay!"
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "That's the impression you're going to give no matter what you wear." He stopped pacing and ranting to stare and I regretted saying it. But it was the truth.
"Why do you say that?" He asked more confused than hurt.
I agitatedly slapped a hand to my forehead. This guy couldn't even tell when he'd been insulted. "Nothing, never mind; forget I said anything." I had hoped that was the end of it but he kept on staring and pestering me about it. Still, I wasn't about to say anything even hinting toward the fact that I'd just insulted him. "Look… Cloud, if you can't understand what I just said then you aren't going to know." Geez Angeal! This kid was annoying. And he was blonde, kind of stupid, and cutesy. I could hardly stand to look at him. I didn't usually fancy those types anyway. After all of those stories, who would've known they didn't do him justice. He was actually ten times worse than what people said. Just a clingy, backwater bumpkin. Probably the kind that baked cakes, among other things, with his mother in the kitchen. He seemed the type.
"Kozue?" I heard him ask suddenly. "How come you were nice to me at the Gold Saucer but now you hate me?" Hated him? That's what he thought? I was annoyed but I didn't hate him.
"Do you really think that?" I laughed. He nodded with that same stupid look on his face. "I don't hate you. You're not my choice of friend or even acquaintance, but I don't hate you… you're just a… a real handful." And so damn hard to keep out of trouble. "I'll admit I'm easily agitated, but as long as you stay close and out of trouble I should be fine."
"That doesn't answer my question." He answered. What? Usually children were satisfied with simple reassurance. "Were you pretending to be someone else? You did have different clothes and longer hair when I saw you before."
I was a bit dumbfounded. He wasn't supposed to catch on to that. And I guess I shouldn't have cut my hair up like that, and especially not in the style I used to wear. But the way it was… this was just better. And I was a bit nostalgic. So I cut it in the style that I liked and that everyone else liked.
"So if that were true then why would you have a reason to hide your identity?"
Whoa! What happened to the stupid little boy?
"… Unless you aren't who you say you are and have to hide your identity from the authorities."
I waited for him to say something else but he didn't. "You realize how crazy that sounds, right?" I laughed slightly. And a bit nervously. Fortunately, I didn't think he caught it. "I am who I say I am." And I didn't exactly say who I was. I only gave him a name. A false name that was necessary at this point but still a name. Besides, if he found out who I really was, I wasn't going to lie. That'd be pointless. "And my only intention is to get you back to your companions."
"But the redhead said they were going to Mideel." He complained.
"Your point?" I asked.
"Mideel is to the east, and we are going west… no… northwest." He said starring at me with his big dumb blue eyes. Ugh!
"I know that, but your destination is Wutai and I'm supposed to get you to the closest village for them to pick you up. And that would be… North Corel." I lied.
He gave me a confused look. "No it's not, Nibelheim is." Drat! I knew he wouldn't buy it.
"Oh well. The path to Nibelheim is closed off because of dragons. So the closest town is North Corel." I answered. It was a terrible lie, but he couldn't go to Nibelheim. Angeal stressed that quite a bit so I would remember it and I wasn't about to cave just because the kid wanted to go see his mommy… who wasn't there. She'd actually been dead for years. But he wasn't allowed to know that. It was complicated. Very complicated. And a real pain in the ass. I'd rather fight a dragon and let him cry than wait for him to find out later. Didn't Zack know that if you lie to people about something like that for an extended period of time they'd get mad? It never mattered if the intention was good, they always got mad. But whatever. I'd allow them to go about walking on eggshells.
"Dragons?" Uh-oh. He had that 'I'm about to be smart' look on his face. "They don't come down from the mountain unless something attracts them. And I haven't heard of any disasters, or powerful threats." He said eying me suspiciously.
"Yes well…" How was I supposed to know about that? Dragons weren't a topic people in the city talked about. And we had none in Banora. Dammit! "… I don't know much about it… but apparently two dragons got into a fight and knocked over some rocks. So it's actually rocks blocking the path. Didn't quite clarify that, sorry."
I was a bit scared he was going to see through it again, but he lost that look he'd had a moment ago. "Oh…" Is all he said before taking a few steps forward.
Once I was sure he was out of earshot I couldn't hold in the sigh of relief. He had managed to get me all nerved up over nothing. It was just better that he wasn't suspicious. Lucky somebody told me about the frequent rockslides in the Nibelheim area. And apparently they were dragon induced. "Okay." I muttered. "Cloud is not as stupid as I thought. Clueless, but smart." On some topics at least.
"Kozue? Are you coming?" He asked from his standing point.
I strode over to him and reminded myself that I couldn't leave his side. "Remember, stay close." I said nudging his arm. "You got lucky with those guys. But most people hanging around out here aren't very trustworthy." Like me. I detested blondes but if you wanted to get technical, I was physically starved. But I was more honorable than that. So I guess I actually didn't quite count. I only meant that after how many years… he was quite the sight for sore eyes. I slightly wanted to, but it was just a hunger for physical contact. I could fight it.
"Are you okay?" He asked startling me again.
"Actually…" I sighed feeling an odd urge. Not even a good odd urge. "Could you do something for me?"
"Like what?" He replied with suspicion in his voice again. I wouldn't blame him either. He probably had a lot of people ask him that question and then do something mentally scarring. He did have a lot of fans. And still did. Though I could assume that most of his fans nowadays were women. But what did I know?
"Cloud… would you uh…" No. I wouldn't do it. I refused to have a damn moment of weakness. "Never mind." I said quickly looking away.
"What?" Was all I heard. "That's that second time you've done that to me in ten minutes!" He shouted. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not. "Oh no! You're gonna tell me. C'mon."
"No. It's stupid." I answered. I wasn't going to be weak. Not in front of him. I couldn't. And Angeal was probably watching. He'd laugh at me. I knew he would. He was probably laughing right now. And perhaps it wasn't just him. But I couldn't allow myself to… Who was I kidding. I just took a deep breath, but I still wouldn't look at him. If I did, I'd probably scare him. "Cloud… would you… give me a… a hug?"
"What?!"
"Please hug me?" I said staring at the dirt.
"Hug you? Why?" I had a feeling he wouldn't do it. But it didn't hurt to try. Though he did seem to be mulling something over, I'd already decided I'd just degraded myself. So I just started walking away rather quickly. The moment of weakness was gone, I was pathetic. That's all there was to it.
"Forget about it and let's go!" I called back when I realized he hadn't moved.
He surprisingly didn't say anything. Just did what he was told… for once. I couldn't do anything but roll my eyes. One had to wonder. Once I'd left him, would he be tricked and then had? How long would it take? Should I even risk leaving him in the hands of those idiots? Considering that I only had to raise my voice to get him to do whatever I said, I doubted it. But there was no way I was going to let Zack see me alive. Not yet anyway. It was best just to play it the way I had been and follow them in the shadows. And hopefully this kid would stop putting himself in horrible situations. Particularly ones in which I was forced to intervene. Otherwise I would be scolded by a presumably dead friend. And whether he was or not… what was I saying? He was dead. But apparently dead wasn't what I'd thought. Seeming as how he could still communicate with me from somewhere, some way. Or perhaps it was mere insanity. I couldn't really make that call at this point. I'd been having problems with my head since birth. I'd even blamed my parents. At least I think I did. I couldn't even remember if they'd actually done anything wrong. Had I made rightful claims before taking anyone's life actually? Well… there was Hojo. But for one reason or another I let him go because Angeal had stopped me.
It was funny that given the events that came after, he was one of the only people I should have killed. My mistake for letting him live. Of course that wasn't the only one. I had aided in the growing insanity of a good friend. And for my own benefit. Though now I couldn't see how saying all of those monstrous things would have helped me. The important thing was I wanted to set things right.
"What are you thinking about so…?"
"Don't ask." I sighed. I was too tired to think up something to satisfy his curiosity. A youthful curiosity that may get him in trouble someday. Perhaps very soon. I wouldn't know. I suppose he'd be well protected. Either by me or Zack. Fair seemed to do okay the last time he'd set out to do so. He even went so far as to form a relationship with the kid. And perhaps that was what had kept him safe for so long. Because after he'd done so the only trouble he'd had was Sephiroth. The esteemed general almost constantly trying to tempt the cadet into betraying Zack. It never worked. And he always got so frustrated. But I only heard a little about it before I left. After that I only knew so much of what was going on. Not that I cared. But now it seemed that the General's insanity had led to obsession in many ways. He'd some how twisted his train of thought so that vengeance and desire had gone hand in hand. And now… I didn't know what to think. The man I knew had vanished. That was very clear. But hopefully there was still something there that I could appeal to. Although I wasn't going to attempt going in with nothing. This would take some research. Some restricted files and information exclusive to a chosen few. And seeing as how survivors were slim. It may take some arm twisting threats. But I wasn't about to take another life on a whim. And I suppose I would only use force if charisma failed me.
"There you go again with the thinking and ignoring." I heard the boy again rather abruptly. He had a habit of taking me by surprise. "You could change the subject if you don't want to talk about it."
"There's nothing else to talk about…" I answered back. After being away from people for so long I just wanted this kid to shut up. His voice was so disgustingly innocent. And after oh so many years I wanted to have an engaging conversation with someone who wasn't insanely naïve. It wasn't that I wanted to perversely talk about sex but if someone is naïve, it dumbs down every conversation you have with them. He lacked a lot of maturity was what I supposed I was trying to say. He wasn't even mature enough for his age even though he was young. It was bizarre. But as I thought about it, it made me wonder what a person like him would talk about. What could he have to talk about? Certainly nothing interesting. "… Unless you had something to talk about?"
"Well…" He started thinking. And from the looks of it, really hard. "How do you know if you like someone?" He asked. I was taken aback by the question.
"You're asking me for advice?" I said almost absent mindedly.
"Uh… well yes. You're older." He said stupidly. Oh my… just because someone was older didn't mean they knew things like that. I suppose I could tell him something corny that Angeal would say because I wouldn't even trust my own advice.
"Do you rather enjoy their company?" I asked even though it was a stupid question.
"Hm…. Yes?"
"Are you certain?" I asked. He nodded. "Do you know what I'm talking about?" He shook his head. "Okay…" I sighed. "Do you get butterflies?" He still looked confused. Unbelievable! "Do you get a funny, perhaps fluttery, feeling in your core?" I asked. That he seemed to understand.
"What if I said 'kinda'?" He replied in an odd voice.
"I'd say you're lying." I answered. As expected, he tensed up like he'd been caught. "But whatever. I'm no judge." I laughed. "My point is, it doesn't matter who it is, go for it." But of course it was Fair. Seeing as how he never showed any strong emotions for Tifa whenever he was with her. I never heard his heart flutter the way it did when he was with his SOLDIER. Though Zack never caught it. "No one can help who they fall in love with." I threw in to pinch a nerve.
"Love? I'm not in love." He answered defensively and unsurely.
"Whatever you say, kid." I smirked. Whatever he had to tell himself to lessen the embarrassment he was feeling. It was understandable. He put himself out on a limb and almost fell. So, naturally, he'd try to pull himself up… with lies. I totally caught him though. He'd gotten so nervous and regretful of the question that, by now, his heart was probably in his ear. I could hear it pounding SO loudly there was a chance that he might be thinking dirty thoughts.
"Hey… Kozue? To change the subject, why did you tie me to the post earlier?"
"What?" I said taken by surprise yet again. "Uh…" Let's see… why did I do that? Not anything with impure intention I'm sure. "I didn't want any hassles." That only got me the confused look. "I said I wasn't going to go after you, but I would have. And it was something I wanted to avoid. So I tied you up so you wouldn't freak out and run away from me."
"What?" He said a bit angrily. "You tied me up because I was a hassle?!"
"No. That's not what I said." I answered. "Granted, it sounded like that, but it's not what I meant." Geez! What was the matter with this kid? "This is a perfect example of why I did it. You jump to conclusions. I didn't want you to do that and wind up getting yourself hurt. You see?" He showed no sign of understanding. "I told you this before. You need to stay close or you might get hurt."
"Oh… yeah…" He said probably feeling embarrassed.
Speaking of which. "Cloud, don't move." I said listening carefully.
"What is it?" He asked. I just shushed him. He wasn't going to help by asking stupid questions. I was sure I heard something. Or perhaps it was a feeling. Either way, it wasn't good. We had to move faster. Much faster than we were now. But how? I couldn't ask him to put on the blindfold again and I wasn't going to let him see my mutation. He might guess who I was with that. Or decide I was a monster and run from me. That would be a pain. So… no. We'd have to do something else.
--
We walked in silence for a mile or two as I waited to see if I caught on to anything else. Thus far, there was nothing. But if I knew anything about Sephiroth, when it came to this kid, it was that his persistence was extraordinary. He wasn't just sitting back and letting him get away. Oh no. Far from it. But he wouldn't do anything himself just yet. Something about him that had changed from when I knew him. Once upon a time, he knew the only way to get things done was to do it yourself. But no longer. Now he would send everything he had at his disposal first, and then when those failed he would act on his own. It was as Zack said. He had become very predictable. One could even guess where his base was. My bet was on the Northern Crater. Though, however predictable he had become, one thing hadn't changed. And that was the fact that there was next to nothing Zack could that he wouldn't count on. His intelligence hadn't faltered a bit. So maybe he had become predictable out of arrogance? I wouldn't know. But it was a safe bet. Believing himself to be a god. It was pure ridiculousness… and it was all my fault. What was I thinking?! I wanted to say that I wasn't in my right mind when I'd done it. But was it really that simple? I didn't think so. And now there wasn't much I could do. All I could do was prove those records he'd found false. And that was the plan. Whether he believed it or not. I had to try.
Of course reassuring myself of that wasn't helping our current situation. Dammit! I should've just left him in the box! Then none of this would've happened!
"Where have I seen him before?" I heard the blonde ask himself in a low murmur. "Where have I seen you before?" He said almost right after.
"You already pointed it out. I was the man at the gate." I answered. If he kept on asking questions, this might get complicated. "Don't you remember?"
"It's more than that." He said persistently. A trait about most people that made them pick at something until it was bleeding anew. "It's everything about you too. The hair, your eyes, those clothes on you, your voice, everything! Even the way you walk. You don't walk like just anybody. And your posture is out of the norm. You look like you were in the army or something! So where have I seen you before?!"
I really didn't want to deal with this right now. If I just didn't say anything then maybe he would drop it. Then again, what would I do if he didn't? There wasn't much I could do without hurting him. Accidentally or not. This was becoming a nuisance. And that was just plain bad. His mind was set way back when. As far as he knew, Genesis Rhapsodos had just deserted SOLDIER and was now a wanted criminal at large. If he figured out who I was, who knows what he might do. It was just pure luck that cadets didn't care about all of the issues around the company or I would've been screwed the first moment he saw me. "Don't think on it too much." Even though I was there when they brought him in from Nibelheim. And sadly, so was Sephiroth. And again! That was probably saving me as well. Who would pay attention to me when the great General was standing right next to me? I always hated being in his shadow. But no time for past pains. Man! What was wrong with me? This kid was making me think of things I hadn't thought about in a very long time. Why was this happening now? I'd blotted out those memories for so long, but now it was impossible to ignore them. And I didn't think it was going to stop once I'd parted ways with him. I was going to be thinking about Sephiroth a lot if I had to investigate him. Wait. That was what it was about this kid. He was the only thing Sephiroth desired and obsessed about; so being with him was going to make me think of all the times Sephiroth talked about him. That would make me think about Sephiroth and arouse the emotions, whatever they had been, that I had been repressing since day one. It had made me so mad, but now? Now it was just funny…
He'd wanted Cloud SO, so badly… and he could never have him. Even now! It was just funny to me.
"What are you snickering about?" He asked. "Just be honest with me. Who are you?"
"I am being honest." I said calmly. I couldn't very well show my frustration I'd seem suspicious. "I've already told you that."
"You could've been lying." He argued.
"What reason do I have to lie?" I asked. There really wasn't anything beyond everything. "But if you want honesty… I'm honestly offended by these accusations you keep on making." There was no reply to that. He must've believed me because his facial expressions just read as 'I'm sorry'. And he was silent afterwards. But he hadn't dropped it. I knew he was still trying to think of it. I really hoped he never figured it out. I still didn't know what I would do in response to his freak out. I didn't really handle things like that as well as I used to. Scaring the kid was the last thing I wanted to do. So I'd keep on lying to him as long as I could. But for now I suppose I could just change the subject again. "That aside." I said to get his attention. "How's that bump on your head?"
"Better than it was." He answered. Of course as Kozue I didn't have any concept of it previously, so I had to simply take it as that. And there was no way of treating his other injuries while he was in that outfit. I was mostly concerned about the bite on his arm. But there was no getting to it. And I couldn't ask about it. Again, as Kozue, I wasn't supposed to know about that. It really should be getting constant attention, but there was no helping that. For now, I could only gain interest in it if it started to bother him. Right now I couldn't tell what was eating at him. Whether it be fantasies, my identity, or pain. They all had similar effects on the body. But I could sense that he was very flustered about something.
"Are you alright?" I asked. Perhaps it was something he would tell me. He did ask me about love after all. That showed some amount of trust. Yet another example of how stupid he was. He barely knew me, I'd kidnapped him, and yet he trusted me… from the lies I'd been telling him! It was outrageous!
"It's nothing you have to worry about." He said meekly. That must've meant that I was right and he was still trying to figure out my identity. He wasn't going to get it. Out of all the stunned cadets, he was the only one who was gaping at Sephiroth. He may have caught me in the periphery of his vision. But that wasn't enough to actually remember someone. And, as said, cadets didn't care about company issues until they were in SOLDIER or in the army.
"Do you want me to replace your bandage then?" I chuckled.
"I can do it myself when I need to." He answered back defensively.
"Alright." I shrugged. I hadn't even meant to let that laugh slip out in the first place. Letting him change his own bandage was a well deserved break. Ever since the beginning of this insanity I'd been helping him. I'd done almost everything from bringing the scent of that gasoline residue back to the surface, to catching him when he fell out of the airlock and flying him down to the ground. This kid didn't even know how much he owed me. And, hopefully, in time I would be repaid for it. But I wasn't going to demand anything. That'd be… well… selfish.
"Hey!" Cloud shouted. "You aren't even listening!"
"What?" I asked. I guess I'd been spacing out. And especially staring at the giant rock next to us. There was something about it that made me think it wasn't a rock. "What were you saying?"
"I asked you if you heard something." He sighed. "Apparently not. Geez. Doesn't anybody listen to me?" He asked sarcastically while rolling his eyes. As he did so I heard something of a warble and then a couple snaps of a twig. "That." I heard him whisper. "Did you hear it that time?"
"Shh." I answered. I had to get closer. But I couldn't let whatever it was detect me. So I carefully took the lightest steps that I could. My footfalls couldn't be heard even by my ears. I had to guess that my feet were barely on the ground. It was one of the many amplified abilities I'd gotten over the years. This one, in particular, even allowed me to walk on water and through the air. Hopefully it wasn't something that he would catch on to. I didn't think it would. But he tended to surprise me with hidden intelligence. And an almost bipolar attitude at times. At least it was no worse than some other people I used to know. But that wasn't the matter at hand. Right now I had to get close enough to discover the source of the noise. Whatever it was, it was hiding behind a shrub. But when I looked, I didn't see anything. I had to strain my eyes to even catch the slightest hint of movement. But I still didn't know what it was. And I didn't get much time to guess. Cloud had backed in to me while whimpering. "Cloud" I said wheeling around on my heels. "What could possibly be…" What the hell?! "A Grand Horn?! Where did that come from?!" I shouted. He stared at me blankly. Obviously he didn't know. "Wait. That was the-" I was going to say rock, but I couldn't get the last word out before the Grand Horn lurched forward and just barely hit me and almost the boy. But I'd done the typical thing and pushed him out of the way. I had to. He was standing to the left of me at the time and he would've taken the brunt of the blow if I hadn't. So I ended up taking a scrape of a hit to the right arm. But nothing more. "Get in the underbrush." I told him. This would go a lot faster with him out of the way.
"But what about the…"
"Don't argue! You're unarmed, just do it!" I shouted. If he had a weapon it'd be a different story, but that wasn't so. And it'd be safer for me to fight with my usual techniques. Though I wasn't sure if I remembered how to fight this thing. Let's see. It was resistant to physical attacks and most magic. Damn! That removed a lot of options. It had to have a weak point somewhere. But I couldn't think of anything to penetrate its thick hide. So no. Even if Cloud had a weapon I'd tell him to run. Which hopefully he did. I slightly recalled some rustling behind me. "Okay." I sighed. This thing was slow. I could do this.
--
Okay! No I couldn't. I'd hit it with almost everything I had and that did nothing but make it mad. This thing was powerful. On the up side, I'd figured out that it had the same weakness as a dragon. I had to get a good clean cut at its soft underbelly. That was almost as impossible as penetrating its thick hide. We had to get out of here. So, even though it wasn't the honorable thing to do, I turned and ran for it. There was no way I was going to risk it all over a monster out in the plains. Admittedly a monster that seemed jacked up on steroids, but still just a monster.
I fought my way through the brush to find the boy kneeling over something. But there was no time for that. I scooped him up, along with whatever he was looking at, and bolted through the branches. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that I heard the beast crashing after us. This wasn't good. Every time it took a step the ground shook. Not to mention it was catching up to us, and I couldn't run on such an unstable surface. I felt as though I was going to trip, and get us both killed, any second. Not good, not good, not good! At least he wasn't screaming though. I hated it when people screamed. It was weird. I expected him to be more jittery than he was being at the moment. He certainly proved to be jittery in other situations. Was he just shocked and too caught up in the moment to think to?
My thoughts dissipated when I heard the giant creature's foot fall, what sounded to be, a yard away from me. I reverted back to instinct and spread my wind without even thinking about it. And at the same time I took off and flew into the air to escape. Much to my embarrassment, I think I also let out something of a shriek before I did so. But I don't think he heard me, so I wouldn't even mention it and hopefully, if he did hear it, he wouldn't say anything about it.
It was too late to land and pretend it never happened. He was already gaping at the wing that had spread from my back. I couldn't believe I'd done what I just did. Of all the stupid moves, why that? Hopefully he didn't know that the wing was an indication of SOLDIERs. I didn't think so. His reaction was a pretty typical one for seeing someone with a giant black wing on their back. That didn't necessarily mean that he'd figured me out.
So I decided not too read too much into it and focused on gaining altitude. I'd gotten lucky and the stupid thing had passed right under us, but I didn't want to risk it coming back to finish it.
"Ahh!" I finally heard him start screaming. It was a bit of a delayed reaction, but I was expecting it. "Gaia, what's going on?!"
"It's okay. It's nothing to freak out about." I answered. He just kept on screaming as though he didn't hear me. Probably didn't. And I suppose I'd have to deal with it. Hopefully it wouldn't be long before he ran out of steam. "Just close your eyes."
"How is that supposed to help?!"
"Just try it. It's supposed to help." I said as calmly as humanly possible. He quickly shut his eyes as tightly as he could. And as I was watching, I couldn't help but notice a big clump of green in his arms. Feathery green. Did he seriously pick up a young mountain chocobo? Geez! Those things were like an infestation! And, for one reason or another, they seemed to be thriving out here. Not only that, but this one was green. Those weren't found in the wild. All there was supposed to be out here were those typical yellow ones. Oh well. I'd have to yell at him for picking up his kinsman later when he wasn't terrified. "If you puke on me, you're in trouble." I said pressing forward. That was something I would like to avoid.
--
Now that I'd already blown my little secret, and hopefully not my identity, I could see that this was the best way to travel. Not to mention the fastest. There were no monsters up here either. At least not at the height that I'd decided to fly at. I couldn't really remember how high I'd gotten to before the silence was interrupted by a certain blonde.
"Kozue… I'm getting a really bad headache."
"What?" What was that supposed to mean?
"Kozue, if I don't get down now I'm going to throw up." He answered rather bluntly. Which was good. I began a slow decent immediately to avoid any unnecessary mess. At least I thought it was slow. He wasn't acting like it was slow enough. In fact, he was behaving as though he were falling. Even though he wasn't. When he fell out of the airship he was falling much faster than my current pace. But whatever. I landed without a problem and was very grateful for the warning.
"Wait." I told myself just as I was about to put him down. That wouldn't be the best thing to do. Judging from the way he was acting prior to the landing, I'd say he wasn't going to be very stable on his feet. Not for a while at least. This was quite an annoying situation. I didn't want to carry him around. Him or his bird. I'd had enough of those things. And it was safe to say that my dislike of those birds added to my repulse of him. His hair made him look like one of them. How anyone found that cute, I couldn't understand. If anything it was just plain odd. Crazy haired blonde. Ugh! Gross.
What was even more repulsive was once having to listen to Sephiroth's passionate ramblings about how it made him stand out. How it made him so… unique. If he'd ever valued anyone else's opinion I would've told him that hair wasn't the greatest thing to first take notice of. Besides. There was more to this boy than his insane hair and big round eyes. Like his random, almost hidden, intelligence. It was quite shallow of Sephiroth to only talk about his outer appearance. Then again, I never listened long enough for him to actually say anything about personality. I didn't do much of listening to anyone around the time when he'd actually met Cloud. I believe my mind was too far gone at that time.
Although. If I ever looked at an outer trait, it'd be the eyes. They were the windows to one's soul. And on this kid, it was sometimes shrouded with confusion. Though I supposed he had to be named Cloud for one reason or another. But I meant what I said at the Gold Saucer. His eyes were the purest cerulean I had ever seen without the aide of mako. They showed confusion, but they were vibrant. Not dull in the least. He seemed to have a lot of life in him, which was demonstrated by his fright of everything really. He definitely wasn't the bravest fellow around.
"Let me down already." He said in an agitated but urgent voice.
"Are you going to throw up?"
"No. It's not me. It's him." He said referring to the bird. His green feathers were ruffled up here and there along with an obvious dizziness in his eyes. Now I didn't know much, but I knew that meant there was something wrong. Although I didn't know for sure what the bird was going to do, so I let the boy down without asking anymore stupid questions. And then he put the bird down to let it go off somewhere, I really didn't pay attention; for that matter, I really didn't care. That bird had to go anyway. There would be way too many complications if it stayed. "Geez." He sighed. Instantly I directed my attention back to him and pretended that I had been listening the whole time. "Why are you so worried about me puking?"
"Because of your motion sickness and such." I blurted out without even thinking.
"How do you know about that?" He asked suspiciously.
"Uhh…" I was at a loss on this one. I really wasn't supposed to know that. Why the hell did I do that? There was no way to fix it now.
"I didn't tell you about the motion sickness." No. You actually didn't. You implied it, but you didn't. Crap. Why did I slip up like that?! I was doing so well with avoiding subjects I wasn't supposed to know about. And now I went and ruined everything by saying one stupid thing. "You sure you're being completely honest with me? Because right about now I get the feeling I've been lied to."
"No. That's not it. I…" Crap what do I say? For some reason, it never occurred to me that this might come up. "I did lie, but not to deceive you."
"How is that not deception?!" He shouted. "You lied to me, and then you lied about lying!"
"Stop! Stop! Stop! It's not nearly as bad as you think." I answered back. I didn't mean to shout, but he was beginning to overreact and I had to stop him before he decided to go off on his own. "I only did it because I didn't want you to-"
"Well if you didn't want me to freak out you shouldn't have flown with that wing of yours." He said folding his arms. "The black feathers are kinda a dead give away, Kozue."
What? I was still safe? He didn't figure out about my true identity? Oh… well then I guess it was an overreaction on my part. Thank the planet, my assumptions were right.
"So you were the one in the ship? The one who let me out of the uh… predicament… I'd stupidly put myself in?"
There'd be no point in lying about it now. So… "Yeah. And quite a bit more." I added bluntly. I really did want credit for all of it. And perhaps knowing that I'd saved his life would make him feel obligated to stay no matter what happened. Not that it was going to be that way. Just, some reassurance that he wouldn't run off on his own. I couldn't stress that enough. But no matter happened he could not go off on his own. He would die.
"That was a bit unnecessary don't you think?" He asked in the same tone he'd had for a while now.
Whatever, I wasn't going to explain myself any further than I had to. If he wanted to be difficult, he could complain to his little heart's content. I didn't care. I could tune it out eventually. Wait… "Hey, what happened to your bird?" I said to distract him from his rambling. And, as hoped, he trailed off as he looked around for the creature.
"Orion?" He said walking a few paces to search in some brush. I watched him for a second before turning my focus on the ribbons trailing behind him. Just like the bird, those would probably have to go. They were not the ideal thing to wear while making a quick get away. Just seeing them as they danced in the breeze, they could easily get caught on something. Then where would he be at? He'd be strangled and perhaps even caught. But then again… hold on.
"You named it?!" I asked in complete shock. Oh man. Now he'd never let it go.
"Why wouldn't I?" He responded as casually as he could. Which wasn't very casual.
"When did you do that?!"
"I had to do something while we were in the air. What did you expect me to think about?"
"Whatever. That's really cute. Now just forget him and come on. He's safe here anyway." I sighed walking up to him. He stepped away from me and went back to looking. "Cloud, c'mon."
"I'm not leaving Orion all by himself." He answered blatantly.
"What do you care? He's not yours." I argued. Animals weren't my favorite thing, that and chocobos, along with any bird, were very messy. We didn't have time for him to stop and play mommy. It didn't work like that. "For one reason or another, you're not taking this whole 'endangerment of you life' thing seriously." Or at least not seriously enough.
"I'm aware of the situation, Kozue. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not leaving him behind." Cloud answered very sternly. Man, he was taking this seriously. A bit too seriously. It was only a bird. Besides, this was their natural habitat. It'd be fine. "I think I know who he belongs to. Even though I didn't expect to find him. When they said they'd 'lost' the baby, I'd assumed it was dead. But they did say it was a green chocobo. So, I think that this bird belongs to Herb and Alvar. That would explain why it was so close to where they had been camping."
"Are you serious?" I said closing my eyes. Now it was certain, he wasn't going to leave this thing behind. Dammit! What was with all the chocobos?! "We don't have time for you to bring a pet along. We are being tracked down! Do you really understand the severity of this situation?!"
"I know! I really do! But it doesn't change anything! He's not a wild animal. He's been raised domestically up until now. So I can't just leave him here!"
I folded my arms and stared straight at him. He did the same. "We're not taking it." I said narrowing my eyes into a glare. Hopefully that would be enough to intimidate him. Sure I didn't exactly feel good about leaving the bird but we just couldn't do it.
"We are." He shot back glaring as well.
We continued to stare each other down. I wasn't sure how long it would go on, but I was certain that this odd, non-meek, side of Cloud had reappeared. Man, did he feel strongly about stupid things. This wasn't really worth this fight. But I wasn't going to cave. We weren't taking the bird.
--
I couldn't believe we were taking the bird. I didn't even remember how it happened. I remember glaring at each other, arguing, quite a bit of shouting, then the stupid bird came back and… Cloud did something. What did he do? Dammit! Why couldn't I remember? There was just something about it that I didn't want to remember. But I think… I think I caved and then hated myself so much that I'd tried to blot out the memory and now it was really gone. How did I even do that?! I couldn't do it before when I probably needed to! "I am so crazy." I murmured while he was fawning over the bird.
This was insane. We were being hunted down by someone. I knew that much. Perhaps the noise I'd heard earlier was the bird, but I was certain that we were being watched. Not necessarily by someone close by either. But someone was watching us. That I was sure of. And I could also guess that someone had been closing in on us as we left the Gold Saucer. But they were thrown off the trail when I had to fly away. And that was good. That would give us some time to get to North Corel. Even though we were practically there now. The decision to fly part of the way was a good one. It'd taken a huge chunk out of the expected travel time. So that was a bit of a load off my mind. However, that didn't change how annoyed I was getting with him babying that dumb animal! Not only because he was being repetitive to amuse the brainless beast, but it was slowing us down just as I thought it would. We were walking even slower than we had been before the flight.
I could only roll my eyes as he talked to it as though it would answer back. Poor kid probably wouldn't really understand this until he was caught. Or until the pursuers caught up. This just made me wonder how short his attention span was. He and Zack were in constant danger a mere twenty four hours prior to this moment. Why was he acting as though all of that were in the distant past? It didn't make any sense. Judging by his nature he should be freaking out right now. This certainly was bizarre. "Is this some sort of coping mechanism?" I asked. This time I didn't care whether he heard me or not. I wanted to know. He'd bother me for a while, I could bother him.
"What?" He answered back. Based on the measure of his voice, the confusion in his voice was sincere.
"Kweh…?"
I ignored the bird. He wasn't involved in this. "The way you act as though nothing's happening. Is it some sort of coping mechanism?" I knew he didn't want to talk about it. And it wasn't like I wanted him to be scared. I didn't really know what I wanted him to do. On the one hand, he's panicky and more prone to mistakes. On the other, he's goofing off and doing stupid things to get himself caught. There had to be some mid place to this. And I guess that's what I wanted him to find.
"Not this again." He sighed. "I'm not pretending nothing's happening…"
"But I still don't think you're getting it." I said sensing no panic or fear within him anywhere. "Just because there's no immediate danger doesn't mean you don't have to be safe."
"I know. But… I don't want this to completely take over my life, Kozue. Freaking out and being irrational isn't going to do anything to help. I need to distract myself, because I know that's exactly what I'll do. So, if you must know, yes. It is a way of coping. Okay? Just drop it."
"Okay. That's all I needed to know. But the bird?"
"Kozue." He said as though he were giving me a warning.
I shrugged it off. Apparently I'd killed his sense of humor. Oh well. I could get over that. So I looked up to see how close we were getting. Not too far. I could see the town beginning to form on the mountain side. I'd say we were two miles, or so, away. Hopefully there would be something worth calling supplies in that sorry excuse for a town. For that matter, I hoped there was a place to stay. Who knew how long AVALANCHE would be on their mission. I didn't even think about a place that would take animals. But, then again, what could they complain about. The people weren't the cleanest things either. I'd much rather be in Nibelheim, at least they had a respectable inn, but that was out of the question.
"We're almost to safety, if you care." I said with a lack of tone in my voice.
"I do, even though the safety provided is in a very hazardous place. It's still a place, right?"
"Optimism. I guess that's good." I mused to myself. It was better than complaining. "Just hope that it's a good place to hide for a while."
"Kozue, just stop it." He sighed angrily.
"I'm just making sure you know. This guy, he's not playing around. He's out for blood, Cloud." I warned. "He won't rest until he has your head."
--
(A/N) I apologize for all the chocobos. But they are taking over the world, okay. It can't be stopped. But fear not! They will dissipate, with the return of Zack. Until then, we are at their mercy. Again. I apologize. But I hope you still enjoyed the chapter. Tell me what you thought with the rectangular button thingy at the bottom of the page. It'd be much appreciated, thank you.