Discovering Myself
Summary: Do you ever get that feeling where you might be missing something important? You know, it's on the tip of your tongue but it just won't come out? I get that feeling everyday. It's plagued me day in, day out for almost five years now…
Disclaimer: This is a Fan-fiction story of the Anime & Manga series; Naruto and the game; Final Fantasy VII and is in no way affiliated with the actual series. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant.
However, this story plot and all Characters not affiliated with the show are Copyright © 2010 to Elemental-Zer0.
Warnings: Welcome to the Zer0-Express line where action and adventure await. Step inside and take a seat as we journey to a place where the words may be harmful, the mysteries are hazardous and the potato chips just plain suck – sorry not a lot we can do, they're from our sponsor.
A/N: Ok, Chapter Two here…don't worry about the time differences, Konoha are saying six years, where as Cloud and Tifa are saying five years… it'll all make sense soon. Any questions, discrepancies, or mistakes, let me know as I've not really thought this plot through completely. There may be a few changes I'll have to make…let me know if you spot any!
Let me know what you think, but no flames please. If you have any criticism to make please do it politely otherwise I shall ignore your words. (It's happened before, I'm sorry to say, and I hadn't even posted any chapters…)
Chapter Two: Looking through the Veil
Seiko Strife, amnesiac foster teen of Cloud Strife and his partner Tifa Lockheart, was missing. Cid groaned in exasperation, how'd this turn into a mission? Ok so the kid was the youngest prodigy of the time SOLDIER was active, and even now while it's inactive. Hell, the kid was probably even more powerful than Sephiroth! But he was gone… a memory forever… Cid hoped.
So there was no danger right? Shin-Ra was disbanded, its goals realised as dangerous, and its boss now working behind the scenes to fix things. Besides, they wouldn't dare touch the kid, not if they didn't want Cloud on their asses. It was bad enough when Denzel and Marlene were dragged in to the fight the last time.
"Ok, if I were an emotionally-challenged, amnesiac, punk-ass kid who was hooked on my past, where would I go?" And then of course it hit him. Where else would the kid know to go? He only knew of the Shin-Ra facility he was found in and Midgar because those were the only memories the kid had. He quickly pulled his airship into another direction and set a coordinated course into the computer's navigational system (CNS) before picking up his cell phone.
"Why the hell did we turn around? We haven't checked the canyons yet!" His only other passenger, the 'almighty' Yuffie asked from her vantage point at the glass helm of the airship.
"'Coz I know where the brat is." He grumbled back as the phone gave two rings before someone picked up. No one greeted him on the other end, he didn't expect the person he was calling to verbally respond; this was Cloud after all. "I know where he is, he's at the old Shin-Ra place he was found in. I mean, where else would an amnesiac kid go to find answers right?" The dial tone clicked in but Cid didn't need an affirmative response to know that Cloud was now racing his way to the designated place. No doubt with Tifa holding on tightly behind him.
"Why am I cursed to work with idiots?" He grumbled with an affectionate, if not slightly grizzled, smile.
He was cold. And afraid. And it hurt so much…
Flash!
A heat permeated through his aching body, a fever hazed image burned through to his sensitive eyes. Two men in lab-coats stood before him, one with a clip board, the other just watching him through half moon spectacles. He was in a tank, he realised, floating in a strange liquid that felt warm and tingly but at the same time cold and rough.
"His readings are off the chart sir, he's literally sucking up the Mako. It's like he's been starved and only just found food." The man with the clipboard spoke, waving his arms about like a frantic chicken.
"Keep monitoring him; humans don't normally take to Mako the way he has, this could come back to bite us in the ass." The bespectacled man said, his deep midnight eyes never leaving the tank.
"Yes sir… I'll keep you informed." The clipboard man sighed, moving away and out of his limited, hazy sight.
"Just what are you boy?" The spectacled man asked, nearing the glass that separated the two. "Don't worry…" He smirked at the boy, "I'll find out soon, I'm sure."
Flash!
He screamed in agony as his brain literally felt like it had liquefied into molten iron and was pulsing its way through his body. He clutched his hair in his fists, his Mako tinted cerulean eyes squeezed shut in pain as he twisted and thrashed on the filth-ridden, glass littered floor. He'd found what he was looking for alright; the room he'd been rescued from. And he was paying the heavy price now. He wished he'd never left. Wished he'd just let sleeping dogs lie, but no, he had to be stubborn and nosey about his past.
He didn't expect to have any memories jolted like this, in fact the most he expected to find were a few files and some vague notes that he probably couldn't make heads nor tails of. If he'd known he was going to have this much of a reaction to this place, he'd never have come at all, least of all alone like he was.
Just when things seemed to be stopping, he felt another flash about to build up in him. He prepared himself for the pain and the onslaught of images that made no sense…
Flash!
"Baka!" There was another person stood before him but he could only see his back. For some reason he felt resentful, but only in a platonic manner, toward the boy.
Flash!
A sudden explosion knocked him backwards, the heat unbearable. His feet left the ground. He was falling, flying backwards then he was freezing, engulfed by ice cold water all around him. He couldn't tell which way was up or down, left or right, forwards or backwards. His lungs burned for oxygen, his body ached for respite.
Flash!
"Teme! Why can't you just shut up? You always say the wrong things!" Another person, a girl this time, shouted at him. Her words cut him deeply. It was like her opinion mattered but he couldn't see the girl properly to discern who she was or remember any memorable features…
Flash!
The pain increased almost ten fold. It felt like his head was about to explode. The pain stabbed through him, a hot fire racing through his veins.
He screamed.
"Clooouuuu-aaaaaaaaahhh!"
Cloud flipped the cell phone back into his pocket, and returned his slim-line riding goggles back over his eyes.
Tifa's heart was in her throat. Sure Seiko had shown many signs of chronic depression over the last few years, but never had he ventured out on his own like this. At least not without telling someone, and even then he kept it local. He didn't like to venture out side the town because he didn't know the area very well. The kid could be anywhere right now…
She held on tightly as Cloud gunned the dual engine of the Fenrir and possibly broke the sound barrier with the speed he took off in. Her arms encircled his chest with a fierce grip to keep herself on the bike. A fall from this speed could very well kill her.
'Please be ok Seiko…' She thought worriedly.
They pulled up to the abandoned facility. Memories hitting her again as she jumped off the modified bike, pulling her own riding goggles off as Cloud followed her movements like a shadow. She stood and looked around quietly, remembering when they'd been here before. Back then it had been pandemonium; fire falling at them from left, right and centre; SOLDIER units darting about here, there and everywhere, Cloud fighting so vividly while she held Seiko's unconscious body close to hers. She'd feared for the boy then; his heart rate had been abnormally slow and his breathing had been so shallow. He'd been completely unresponsive for days.
Cloud strode past her, the past clearly not affecting him at all. She glanced around quickly before following his steps.
That's when they heard it.
"Clooouuuu-aaaaaaaaahhh!"