Doppler Shift
Cloud had been in the middle of cleaning the six-piece sword Chaos had given him when his Company PHS buzzed, revealing a message summoning him to Sephiroth's office. The blond swiftly sheathed the six blades separately in the special harness he'd had made, ensured he had to hand the necessary materials to finish the interrupted task and jogged up the stairs to the 51st floor. As soon as he entered the office that had previously been Director Lazard's Sephiroth began explaining the situation to him, starting with the problems the Turks had encountered when trying to enter a Mako reactor that was under investigation after the disappearance of its staff.
"The Company has decided to send SOLDIER to investigate the situation," Sephiroth finished. "You and I will be going."
"Yes, sir." Cloud didn't like it.
"What's wrong?" Sephiroth was much more perceptive of others' emotional states than he had been even a year previously and was better at articulating his own as well.
"Well, you would think there would be more information than that, considering," Cloud said carefully, "and why send the Silver General? Zack or one of the other Firsts would do just as well."
"Zack had been sent to Cosmo Canyon to investigate reports of sightings of Genesis' forces," Sephiroth informed him, "and we are being sent because the squad of Second-classes that went missing near that same reactor were the ones chasing after Lazard."
Lazard. That changed things; the former Director was not allied to the Valentines and seemed to have gotten hold of some of Hollander's old equipment.
"Furthermore," the Silver General continued, "their last report included a description of some strange-looking pods."
"The missing Modeoheim equipment?" Cloud asked.
"Most likely," Sephiroth agreed. "We don't really have a choice in the matter; the President signed the mission off personally."
"Let's get moving then," Cloud said with a smile.
"You need to go down to the SOLDIER floor first to get ready and collect the infantrymen we've been assigned for this mission," Sephiroth told him. "Bring everything you can think of; I'm not sure how long it will be before we can return to Midgar."
"Yes sir!"
It didn't take Cloud long to pack –he rarely ever unpacked, a result of his years of living on the road with Vincent– and he soon rounded up the three infantrymen he'd been assigned for this little trip. He recognised the corporal as being the lone survivor of the quartet who'd been on the disastrous Modeoheim mission, but wasn't positive he knew the guy's name. It was only once everything was ready and waiting for Sephiroth to come and take charge that Cloud realised he didn't know which Mako reactor they were investigating; he hoped Vincent never found out he'd been this careless.
"So where are we going, sir?" he asked as his mentor swept into the open space at the centre of the 49th floor to appraise his command.
"Nibelheim," Sephiroth said quietly, turning and gesturing for the troopers to follow him.
Cloud almost tripped over his own feet in shock.
The morning after their late-night landing in Costa del Sol their little group was issued with a standard military transport truck that the three infantrymen would take in turns to drive, since it was not equipped with the responsive sensitivity needed for SOLDIERs to drive reliably. Cloud immediately made himself as comfortable as possible in the back, removing his fusion blades from their harness and picking up the cleaning process where he'd let off the afternoon before. He still hated trucks but at least they didn't make him sick anymore. Opposite him Sephiroth slumped slightly on the bench, leant his head back against one of the steel supports holding up the canvas top and closed his eyes. The Silver General had made it a habit to feign sleep whenever possible around people who were as awed by his presence as infantrymen inevitably were; it reduced the number of embarrassed accidents, tongue-tied stammering and general incompetence he was forced to endure. The smarter people –generally non-coms– recognised he was ignoring them and letting them get on with their job, which made him pretty popular amongst sergeants throughout the Company.
Cloud just let the truck sounds, whispered conversation of the two troopers sharing the back of the truck with him and his mentor and the jolting of the suspension slide past him as his hands meticulously went over every last square inch of the beautiful sword he had been given by the herald of OMEGA.
First was Tsurugi, the core blade that could be wielded closed or locked open to reveal the openwork centre. The many mechanisms that enabled the blade to open out yet remain sturdy and not waiver in the midst of combat needed constant care and attention to keep them clean and greased.
Next was Yaiba, the hollow blade that doubled as the main edge of the completed sword when all six blades were fully assembled into a whole. Despite its fragile appearance Yaiba was sturdy enough to parry Masamune without gaining so much as a scratch; Cloud had no idea what it was made of and wasn't sure he wanted to ask. Chaos enjoyed traumatising people so much it was better not to just hand him opportunities to do so.
Third were the Kiba, mirror images of each-other with a thick, straight, flat back edge and a square-toothed blade. Together they made up the sword's spine and were the heaviest blades of the set. Tsurugi, Yaiba and Kiba formed the main body of Ragnarök, as Chaos' had told the blond the weapon was called. The four-blade composite looked very much like the Buster sword Zack had inherited from Angeal and was just as large.
The last two blades, Tsume, were more like oversized daggers or Wutai eel knives than actual swords and could be fitted onto the sides of the main sword for added weight or ease of transport. They were the easiest to detach from the assemblage and had hilts that folded out like switchblades. The Tsume were only just half as long as the other four swords, making them very useful in close quarters or in situations requiring control over brute strength. Clous also used one Tsume as a parrying dagger when he wanted to use an asymmetric two-bladed style.
Cloud loved Ragnarök. It was the most perfect weapon he'd ever held and matched him as completely as Masamune did Sephiroth.
Weapons' maintenance complete and Ragnarök fully reassembled, Cloud closed his eyes and let his thoughts carry him away.
Cloud had been just a few months past his tenth birthday when he left Nibelheim and he hadn't been back since. True, he and Vincent had passed through the Nibel mountains once or twice but they'd never actually gone back. Despite Cloud's mother still living in the tiny mountain village the blond had never felt the urge to return; he wrote to his mother once a month and that was honestly enough. He hadn't seen her in six years but the truth was that, even in the two years before leaving Nibelheim, Vincent had been more of a parent to him than his mother. Not that he blamed her; his mother had only been nineteen when Cloud had been born, had never had a husband as far as he knew and was –looking back– truly, terrifyingly isolated in conservative, backwater Nibelheim. Cloud had hoped his leaving with Vincent would give his mother the incentive to move somewhere less obscure, but it hadn't happened.
After meeting Vincent Cloud had come to enjoy life in Nibelheim. His own isolation meant that nobody noticed when he vanished for hours at a time with his Turk tutor and his mother's own solitary habits prevented her from discovering that her son was out in the mountains watching Nibel Wolves rather than playing tag with his peers.
Cloud liked Nibel Wolves, for all they were the most dangerous monsters native to his hometown. They were smart, social, bigger and heavier than Cloud himself was even now he was a SOLDIER Second-class and they had quite possibly the neatest Ability ever: Howling. The blond had first seen it used aged nine, when Chaos had taken him out for a 'field trip' and they had spied on a pack of Nibel Wolves for the day. About noon the herald of OMEGa had killed one of them so Cloud could see the pack revive it. Chaos had then been forced to kill and re-kill the rest of the pack several times so that he and Cloud could get away, but Cloud hadn't minded the mad dashes and occasional bloody skirmishes that had eaten up most of the afternoon. Instead the blond had begged Chaos to teach him how to do Howling. Chaos had laughed, patted Cloud's bloodstained but still spiky hair and promised to teach him as soon as the blond was old enough and magically strong enough to sustain the ability.
Chaos hadn't yet kept that promise, but Cloud knew it would come eventually. The herald of OMEGA never broke his word.
Ragnarok is a real FFVII sword, one that Chaos used as the base with which he mixed all the strange summon ingredients to get Cloud's final weapon. Plus the name is significant, so I had to use it!
Anyway, we're off to see the wicked witch now...
