Merry Christmas! As a gift to all my readers, I have jump-started this story. Which means that this is now number one on the priority list.
The high pitched ring of a cell phone brought Cloud out of his slumber. He followed the sound with his hand and grabbed his phone without opening his eyes. He felt it for a bit to determine the correct way to hold the phone before flipping it open. He moved it to his ear and answered.
"Hello?"
"Did you just wake up?" The voice on the other end asked. Cloud was able to identify the voice as Cid.
"Possibly," Cloud said back.
"Well get the fuck out of bed!" Cid yelled at Cloud through the phone. Cloud grimaced at the noise and pulled the phone away from his ear sharply "If your not at the Highwind in two hours I'll get Tifa to kick your spiky haired ass! So hurry up!"
"I'll be there," Cloud said into the phone before closing it, ending the call.
Cloud felt something wrap around his middle and press into his back. He rolled over and was met with the sight of pink hair and ice-blue eyes. Cloud let a smile grow on his face as he stared into the beautiful cobalt pools.
"I take it that was Cid," Lightning nearly whispered to Cloud.
"We had better get moving, unless you want the Highwind on your doorstep," Cloud said back.
Lightning gave an audible sigh before moving forward to kiss Cloud. Lightning pushed the blanket back after parting with Cloud and reached over to grab her panties. After slipping into them, she stood up and went over to her dresser to grab a bra; Cloud had climbed into his briefs when Lighning stood up.
Lightning got dressed into one of her uniforms and Cloud had put his dress pants and shirt back on, due to having spent the night at Lightning's house. Cloud, though, knew that the others would have his Fusion Sword and his clothes on the Highwind for him.
Two hours and twenty-three minutes later, Cloud and Lightning were aboard the Highwind. Cloud immediately went to change into his regular clothes and Cid steered the airship towards Pulse. After a relatively short trip, they were hovering above the Guardian Corps outpost on Pulse, outside the perimeter of the Midgar ruins.
"So, where should we go first?" Cid asked the large group.
"Nibelheim," Cloud answered without hesitating "But swing by Junon and the Gold Saucer."
"Sure thing chocobo," Cid replied as he directed the Highwind towards the seaside city of Junon.
The journey to Shinra's other city on stilts took no more than an hour. Fang and Vanille had been looking at all the land the airship passed over. Most of Avalanche had been looking as well, they never saw such life in their world. All the land that had been rotting when the eight reactors of Midgar were operating, had fully recovered.
When the group reached Junon, they were not surprised by the sight that greeted them. Five hundred years of salty air, ocean storms, and zero maintenance had taken its toll on the city of steel. The entire city was an enormous pile of broken, twisted steel and powdered concrete.
Cloud had been hoping that Junon was still intact, just so they could collect some of Shinra's secret files. He knew they still could, but that would mean sorting through every piece of dirt of Junon, and that could take centuries.
"Ha! And they said their cities would last forever!" Cid shouted to no one. Everyone knew who Cid meant when he said 'they.'
"I hope there was no one in there when it collapsed," Vanille said in a calm tone.
"No one was, so don't worry," Aerith said to the young woman "Okay?" Vanille nodded and went back to looking at the wreckage.
"On to the Gold Saucer!" Yuffie shouted, almost too cheerfully.
It took four hours for the Highwind to cross the vast ocean. When it passed over Costa del Sol, they group saw that it had become a ghost town, just like Oerba. Other than there being no residents in the coastal town, it was in perfect condition. Cid kept the Highwind moving towards the Gold Saucer, the worlds most famous amusement park. At least it was at one time.
When the very tall structure came into view, it was little more than a rusty-gold desert obelisk. All the 'squares' had long since broken off the main structure. All the 'squares' had been reduced to the same state as Junon, possibly even worse.
"Behold!" Cid shouted sarcastically to no one "The great ruin of the most fucking expensive place on Pulse!"
"So this is the Gold Saucer?" Fang said to herself mainly.
"What was the Gold Saucer?" Vanille asked the members of Avalanche.
"A giant Mako powered amusement park," Cloud answered.
"The central tower was the reactor," Vincent added.
"So it was like Nautilus?" Lightning asked the group.
"Much bigger," Vincent said flatly.
"There is no reason to stay here," Cloud said to cue Cid. Cid opened the throttle of the Highwind and they continued to Nibleheim.
Cid flew over the village but refused to take the Highwind near the sharp and twisted peaks of the local mountains. Cloud had always thought that the Nibel mountain range had looked the way it did because of the Mako Reactor. Aerith could feel an excessive amount of the life stream in the mountains, which was the true explanation for the strange shapes of the mountains.
Cid landed the airship on the edge of the village and everyone got off. The group of eleven walked into the centre of the village and looked around. Tifa and Cloud instantly had a flashback to the day Nibelheim burned to the ground, the day the Sephiroth crisis began.
"What's so important about this place?" Fang asked rather rudely.
"This was our hometown," Cloud said motioning to himself and Tifa. Everyone had noticed how Cloud was speaking in a quiet respectful tone.
"This is the place where the Sephiroth project took place," Vincent said in the same tone.
"And where the Sephiroth crisis began," Tifa also said in the same tone. Tears began to well up in her eyes but she quickly blinked them away.
"So why are here? No offence," Barret asked Cloud.
"Lets go see if there is anything left in the Shinra mansion," Cloud said to the entire group.
As the group approached the mansion they came across an unexpected sight. There were two dragons sleeping in front of the large building. There was more than enough space to walk around them, but Fang, Vanille, and Lightning had never seen a real dragon before. They had only seen the Bahamut type of dragons.
The eleven warriors carefully walked silently around the dragons and up to the front door of the mansion. They quietly opened the ancient doors, slipped inside and shut the doors.
The mansion had taken a severe beating from time. The stairs had collapsed, the floor had been completely shredded and overgrown by grass. There were many holes in the roof and the walls looked ready to buckle at any moment. Overall, it had surprised everyone that the mansion was even standing.
The group of eleven made their way to the basement of the mansion by breaking a hole in the wall to the passage to the basement. As they proceeded through the tunnel, they passed by a room with several coffins strewn about it. Vanille asked about the room and why the centre coffin was empty, but all of Avalanche said they had no idea.
Cloud and Vincent had been hoping that all the records had survived the flow of time. When the group entered the study, the vast collection of reports about the Sephiroth project were still on the shelves. The covers of the books and folders had survived the ravages of time, but the pages had turned to dust.
After seeing that there was no longer anything of value left in the mansion everyone turned to leave. They went out of the study, through the tunnel and up the passage. When they got out of the mansion, the dragons were gone so they continued forward. The silence of the area was eerie.
Before too long the group was back on the Highwind and heading back towards Cocoon. Cid asked if they should go anywhere else but no one had responded. It was strongly evident that there was nothing left of the Pulse Avalanche knew, and fought hard to protect. The thought was rather up lifting for the group because that meant that there was no chance of something like Sephiroth happening again.
The Highwind was almost at the base of the crystal tower when an impulse struck Cloud.
"Cid, go to Fort Condor," Cloud said to the pilot. Cid looked at everyone else, but they just shrugged.
"On to Fort Condor then," Cid said skeptically as he redirected the Highwind.
Everyone had been expecting Fort Condor to be in the same condition as the rest of the cities on Pulse. The sight of Fort Condor still standing on top the hill was a surprising sight for everyone. The land around the fort had fully recovered as well, and had grown onto the reactor. The plants holding the structure in place was most likely the only reason the reactor was still standing.
Cid landed the Highwind on the closest, flat, ground by the reactor and everyone climbed off the airship. As they walked up to the ancient reactor, they all noticed one of the windows was lit. They could only notice that detail because they were in the shadow of the reactor. Everyone drew their weapons, or simply got ready to fight if the need arose, and proceeded cautiously into the reactor.
The group soon heard the crackling of a fire and voices.
"How long were we in crystal sleep?" A young male voice asked. It sounded like the owner of the voice was in his late teens.
"There is no way to know," A second young male voice said in a monotone way "But we must continue back towards our home."
"It would be nice to see if there is anything left of Oerba," A third voice said. This voice was deeper and elder sounding than the other two.
"Oerba?" Vanille said quietly. Fang looked at the young woman and both of them knew who the voices belonged too after a moment.
Fang and Vanille raced around the corner, into the room with the unknown trio. Cloud had tried to stop them but knew there was no point in trying.
"Fang! Vanille!" The three voices shouted in surprised unison.
The rest of the group put away their weapons and walked around the corner. The three men looked just as young as Cloud expected. The three had dim green eyes, and similar clothing with a tribal look to it.
The one on the left had dark brown hair that hung to the centre of his torso and several pouches on his belt. The one in the middle had shoulder length yellow blond hair and a Wutaian sword on his back. The one on the right had short light brown hair, styled sideburns, and clawed gauntlets.
Vanille ran up to and threw her arms around the man in the middle. The man wrapped his arms around Vanille and laid his head on hers. Cid made a noise like he was clearing his throat.
"Oh, sorry," Vanille said, stepping back from the man "This is Oerba Liad Kadaj. He was part of the warrior clan."
"The other two are," Fang said as she pointed to the one with long hair "Oerba Dia Yahzoo," She moved her arm to point at the one with short hair "Oerba Yun Loz."
"I thought everyone in Oerba was a hunter of some sort," Yuffie said to Cloud.
"That would make Kadaj more of an assassin. A hunter of other humans," Nanaki said to the young Ninja.
"Well, we may as well head back now," Cid said loudly "You five can have your tearful reunion on the Highwind. But if there are any tears, take them somewhere else."
After Cid's small moment breaking speech, all fourteen people started to head back to the Highwind. Cloud was still wondering why he had felt an urge to come to Fort Condor. There was something about the three other Pulsians that struck Cloud as wrong. Something about them didn't seem very natural.
Please Review.
I know it took me nearly three months to update this story, but it is back! And dont worry, the updates will be faster than this one but wont happen until after christmas.
As I said before this story is now #1 on my priority list. Also as I said before: Please Review.