10. Ex-SOLDIER

Junon – a battered signpost read, hanging almost vertically, on the verge of falling. It brought back a scene from so long ago (a lifetime ago); Welcome to Nibelheim, that sign that had been forever falling apart. This was very similar.

Cloud led the way into the town. They expected people to look out curiously, but no one did. It was almost completely deserted. The only moving figure they could see was a small shadow on the dock some miles away.

"Why is it so quiet here?" Tifa wondered, looking around.

"It's like a ghost town," Aerith agreed. She didn't look appropriately scared, though. Red XIII sniffed the air.

"It smells funny here – slippery –" He said.

"Probably the fish smell," Cloud said. "It's a harbor, after all."

"What is – fish?"

"You don't know what fish is?" Yuffie jumped. She'd been a little quiet since they entered the town (hard not to be, amidst the eerie silence), but for the most of the journey she'd been talking, laughing, cracking jokes, and generally making Cloud's head hurt.

"Let's head over there," he said quickly, cutting Yuffie off before she could start.

"Yeah, looks like the only person we can talk to," Tifa agreed.

They started walking. The buildings and roads were all burning from the sun, silent, almost fading. And the strong smell of ocean wind and salt penetrated through it all. It felt dead – Cloud tried not to look.

The small figure turned out to be a little girl. She was skipping around, talking to herself – no, she was talking to a –

"Is that a dolphin?" Aerith asked, delighted. They watched the dolphin swim in and out of the lapping sea-water, droplets gliding off its smooth skin. The girl didn't seem to notice their arrival. She cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted, "Hey – Mr. – Dolphin!"

For a wild minute Cloud expected the dolphin to answer back (weirder things have happened), but of course it didn't; it did jump out of the water a little bit, though, as if it understood. The girl kept shouting. "My name – is – Priscilla! Now – you – say it!"

"What is that creature?" Red XIII said, suddenly, startling the little girl – Priscilla. She wheeled around, looking scared.

"Who are you?" She shrieked. "Are you from Shinra?"

"No, no!" Barret was horrified. "You got it all wrong! We're fightin' against Shinra!" He took a step forward, maybe to assure her that they were her friends (Cloud wasn't sure if her interpretation would be the same, though), only to make her take a step back.

Yuffie wasn't helping, either. "Hey, watch your mouth!" She said, hands on her hips. "We hate the Shinra… do we?" She turned to Cloud, grinning a little ruefully. "I'm still not sure what you guys are tryin' to do."

"Yes, we do," Tifa said, the picture of calm patience. "But I think you scared the girl, Yuffie."

"I don't believe you! Get out of here!" Priscilla shouted.

"But wait!" Barret said, stepping a little closer. Marlene might have seen kindness and comfort in his expression (maybe), but Priscilla didn't; she yelped, walked backwards to get away from him, but a foot slipped and the next second, she was over the edge of the dock and into the water.

Cloud was running in an instant; a reflex, before his mind caught up with what he was doing. He discarded the giant sword and jumped in the water. The coldness on his skin jolted him awake and his breath stuck in his throat. There – thankfully she wasn't too far away, wrestling against the water, head bobbing up and down. Cloud reached for her, but the current was fast, she was small and she kept getting further away. Cloud had never been much of a swimmer but he had to be, now, and he swam forward against the heavy water crashing against his face and arms and legs. There – almost –

Then he had her in his arms. Priscilla clung to him, small fists clenched in his shirt.

When he came back ashore, dripping water and carrying the girl in his arms, some people had gathered on the dock. So it wasn't a ghost town after all, he thought, tiredly pushing his way in the water. Aerith took Priscilla and handed her to what must have been her father, who hugged the girl tightly. Barret and Tifa helped him climb up to the dock.

"Thank you so much," the man said. Priscilla was sniffling a little, but not crying. "Thank you – please, come inside for a while."

"It's nothing," Cloud murmured, a little uncomfortable with how everyone (five or six adults, wide-eyed, looking tired and dry) was looking at him now.

"You need to dry your clothes, Cloud," Aerith said. She smiled at the man. "Can we come, too?"

"Of course," Priscilla's father said. "We have plenty of room – and tea –"

"Well, alright," Cloud said, and followed him to his house; which was right in front of them, as it turned out. They had heard Priscilla's scream and run out, the man explained.

"Priscilla?" The girl's mother was standing in the doorway.

"Honey, this man here saved our little girl," the man said, pointing at Cloud.

"It's really not –"

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much! Here, won't you come in? Make yourselves at home, please."

"Thank you, Mrs.!" Yuffie said, darting inside. Cloud followed, nodding a thank-you, suddenly feeling weary. Maybe it was the sudden warmth of the house, or something about Priscilla's mother reminding him of his own, but he felt fatigue cracking bones, splitting veins, and suddenly it was all he could do not to fall asleep as he sat on the sofa of their living room.

Priscilla's mother had brought out tea and a home-baked blueberry pie. It was good, it really was, but Cloud could hardly lift the fork to his mouth. They were talking about something – words drifting around him hazily – and he hoped he looked alert and not half-asleep, because that would be –

But the fire was going in the fireplace, making pleasant cracking sounds, drying his wet hair and clothes –

He thought he heard someone call his name, but he was already drifting and as he was falling asleep it occurred to him that he hadn't had a proper night's sleep since – since when? When had the nightmares begun? Living nightmare… but surely that wasn't…

He felt someone drape a blanket over him. And maybe a smile, too, faint and forest-like and very, very warm.

That reminds me.

That voice again. Cloud frowns, tries to put a name to it, fails again.

"You again? Who are you?"

The voice chuckles softly. Cloud feels a little twinge, like he is missing something very important but he can't figure out what that is. Just a hole, large and empty.

You'll find out soon enough, it says. More importantly, though, five years ago.

"Five years ago?" Cloud asks, confused. "Nibelheim?"

Tifa was your guide into the mountains, right?

"Yeah, I remember – I remember I was surprised to see her."

But why didn't you meet her somewhere else?

"What? I dunno."

You two hadn't seen each other for a long time. Why didn't you meet, just the two of you?

"… I guess you're right."

It is getting more and more bizarre. It is also hurting his head and making him uncomfortable, and he is glad that it is only a dream.

It is a dream, isn't it?

So, why?

"I don't know. I can't remember clearly," Cloud admits. His memories have holes; like when he was trying to remember what happened at his mother's house. But the other parts are clear. Almost like it is happening right now. Those are the important parts, Cloud assumes, but are they really?

Why don't you ask Tifa?

"… Yeah."

So, get up! The voice orders.

"Cloud, wake up! Cloud – oh! You almost gave me a heart attack."

Cloud stared at Tifa for one vacant moment. Then his mouth moved without him really controlling it, forming a question he didn't mean to ask.

"Tifa. When Sephiroth and I went to Nibelheim, where were you?"

"Huh? I – what do you mean? We saw each other, right? You said so in your story."

"My story…"

Tifa wasn't meeting his eyes. Something was off, though Cloud didn't know what. She was right; they had seen each other at the foot of the mountain, just as he'd said in his story.

"Hey, it was five years ago," Tifa said quickly. "I don't remember so well. But look, Cloud, something seems strange outside. We should go and check."

Cloud thought Tifa was hiding something from him. He thought about pressing her but decided not to. Thought maybe he didn't want to find out the answer after all.

"Why? What's happening?" He dragged himself up from the chair, pushing aside the blanket.

"It's weird. Everything got noisy all of a sudden," Tifa said. Only then did Cloud notice the music playing in the background. It wasn't exactly smooth, with some out-of-place notes, but it was lively. He followed Tifa outside, and was surprised to find a sudden mass of villagers gathered in the square.

"Hey, what's this loud music? It's giving me a headache!" Yuffie said, jogging up to them. Red XIII and Barret were also outside, frowning and looking for the source of the music. Cloud looked around too, but he couldn't see a marching band anywhere. He did see Priscilla holding onto a stuffed bear behind Barret, though. Barret hadn't noticed her. Cloud walked over to her, music smashing against the side of his head. It really was loud.

"Are you alright now?" He asked, bending down in front of her. Priscilla bit her lips and nodded, vigorously. Her words spurted out too quickly, tangled with each other.

"Yes. Thanks for saving me. I'm sorry I thought you were Shinra."

"That's okay," he said, thinking that actually she wasn't that far off.

"Oh, hey, little girl," Barret said, turning around. He reached out his hand as if to ruffle her hair, but thought better of it. "Hey, what's this music? It sure sounds lively."

"I heard from mama they're rehearsing the reception for the new Shinra president," Priscilla said, making a face that made Aerith laugh, who had appeared beside Cloud without him noticing.

"Rufus?" Barret clenched his jaw tight, eyes narrowed. "I gotta pay my respects, then, ain't that right?"

"Barret, don't do anything stupid," Tifa said, ever-enduring.

Priscilla wasn't listening, though. She looked up at Cloud, and he had to bend down again to hear her through all the noise.

"Grandpa and grandma told me that this beach used to be beautiful when they were little. But after the Shinra built their city in the sky, the water got dirty and it isn't beautiful anymore. That's why I hate Shinra."

Cloud didn't know what to say. She looked like she was expecting something, though. Maybe a promise. Maybe he couldn't make things better but he could promise to try.

"Shinra did a lot of bad things to me too, and to my friends," he told her. "That's why we're gonna fight them."

Priscilla gave him a smile, clutching tightly at her teddy bear, which left Cloud feeling a little weird. Thankfully, Aerith interrupted and saved him from potential embarrassment.

"You think Rufus is thinking about crossing the ocean from here, too?" She asked.

"Does that mean Sephiroth has already crossed the ocean?" Tifa said, frowning.

"That's not what's important," Barret cut in. "What's important is that we gotta go up to the town there if it means that Rufus is there too! Mebbe we could climb the tower?"

"No, you can't!" Priscilla said. "That has really strong electricity running through, daddy said."

"Is there another way, Priscilla?" Tifa asked.

"There is, but it takes really long."

"The President could be gone by then," Red XIII said. He'd been quiet until now, and t talking red beast startled Priscilla a little, though she took it relatively well after she made Red XIII say her name three times.

"You said electricity…" Aerith said, glancing at the tower, then at Cloud.

Cloud realized what she was thinking.

"I think it'll be alright for me," he said.

"Wow! You some superhuman or somethin', Cloud?" Yuffie said, eyes round.

"Something like that," Tifa laughed. Then, a little bit more serious, "Are you sure, Cloud?"

"Well…"

"Hey, we're countin' on you, Cloud!" Barret said cheerfully. "Go get the bastard!"

"Good luck, Cloud," Red XIII said, unnecessarily solemn. It made him a little uneasy, but too late. The cacophonous music clanging in his ears made it hard to think, anyway. He took a step back, measuring the distance with his eyes.

"No voltage is high enough for you, huh?" Barret's joke made everyone wine a little.

"There isn't electricity through that rod sticking out at the top," Priscilla said. "But you can't jump that high."

Cloud found the pole she was talking about. It was some distance away, but if he could jump on the rocks on the way, use them as leaping boards –

"I can make it," he said. Priscilla's eyes went wide, admiring, and it made him a little uncomfortable so he cleared his throat and looked away. He better make it, though, if he didn't want a major embarrassment.

"We'll go the long way and join you, okay?" Tifa said.

"Jus' don't let Rufus Shinra get away!" Barret said.

"Alright."

He then took a deep breath, went back a few steps to gain the running space. He swept the distance with his eyes. One – two – three steps, there are the rocks to step on. Alright.

He started running.

The heavy, salty wind of the ocean caught his face, tangled in his hair. The world blurred by him in a jumbled mess. One, two, three, and then he jumped. Landed exactly where he should, but didn't stop; jumped again as soon as his foot touched solid rock. Wind broke, sunlight broke, waves splashed and melted. He got to the last rock; reached out with his hand, fingers touching the tip of the pole. He grabbed it tight, swung himself around and climbed onto the thin rod. He was afraid it might not hold, but it did; it was just wide enough for the width of a single foot, and he didn't look back as he balanced his way carefully onto the platform, heart still beating fast from the rush of movement and adrenaline. He thought he might have heard them cheer at his back.

Cloud didn't know where he was going. After climbing onto the platform, he'd tried to follow the source of the music, but the place was so large, and sound echoed, making it hard to determine where it was coming from.

The platform, as it turned out, was the platform of an airport. Cloud had an urge to rub his eyes, watching an airship take flight. It was so different; an entirely new world from the washed-out village down below. Up here, there were so many people, so much noise, so bright. He read a sleek metal sigh that read Welcome to Upper Junon.

He realized that he had wandered into a corridor with a lot of lockers. He stopped, wondering how he'd ended up here. And there were people here – all of their eyes were fixed on him, as he stood in the middle of the corridor, looking for a way out. But then,

"Hey! You still dressed like that? Come here!" An angry voice, sounding right beside his ears that it made him jump. Before he could say anything, he was being roughly dragged by two people, after the man who had yelled; he was obviously the commander here.

He kept speaking, walking fast. "Today is the big day we welcome President Rufus! Hurry up and change, rookie!" They turned a corner. Cloud tried to say he'd made a mistake, but the commander shushed him with a sharp hiss. "Besides, the costume's great this year. It's a SOLDIER first class uniform! And when would a scrawny brat like you ever get another chance to wear it, huh? Just make sure you return it at the end of the day… mind you…"

They had taken him to a changing room of sorts. One of the guys who dragged him here (a blond version of Barret) opened a locker, threw a set of clothes at Cloud and he caught them on reflex. This seemed to have pleased the commander. They left the room, told Cloud to come out when he was changed because he was such a troublesome rookie that they probably had to drag him to the procession themselves, and wasn't it such a shame, if only they weren't short on people, as always.

The door shut, abruptly cutting their voices. Cloud stared at the closed door, then at the clothes he was holding. He wondered what he was doing here.

Then he really looked, suddenly remembering what the commander had said. It was the Shinra uniform – the SOLDIER uniform, first class, everything he had tried to leave behind. What a joke; it had come back, as if he hadn't left at all. As if everything he did was just a pathetic attempt of a rooster wanting to fly. There was a loud bang at the door, shouting at him to hurry up. He could probably get past them if he really wanted to, but then, he needed to get to the procession anyway… After a slight hesitation, he began to change. The black sleeveless sweater, black pants, black boots; black everything. Being a SOLDIER, it seemed to him now, was just that: black. Walking into a den of monsters, like he had said once…

He paused; blinked at his own dumb expression.

Who was he? Who'd said that to him once?

"Hey! What the hell is taking so long?" An impatient shout, and the door banged open. The commander was about to shout again, but he saw that Cloud had changed and he nodded his approval.

"Alright, that looks fine. Now let's go – you remember the greeting procedures, right?"

Cloud stared back at him.

"… The look on your face says you forgot. But never mind, we're short on people. Stand with the others and try to follow their moves.

"Alright, but you better stick me at the back somewhere," Cloud said quickly, following the commander out the room. The commander was practically running, glancing at his watch, cursing nervously. He didn't hear Cloud; and before Cloud could protest, he was being shoved by a lot of people, and suddenly he found himself at the very front of the procession.

Cloud looked around himself, horrified; he thought that being anonymous and uniform in the crowd was the only way now, and tried to imitate the unnaturally flashy moves of the others. All the while he was cursing his own stupidity…

Rufus Shinra descended from the airship, smiling gracefully. Cloud tried to keep his face away and hoped that Rufus didn't remember him too well. But when he turned back, he found to his horror that Rufus had stopped right in front of him.

But thankfully he had his back turned against Cloud; for now, but one sideway turn and they would be standing face-to-face. Cloud was ready to fight if he had to, but he didn't want to; not yet. Not when he wasn't sure exactly what it was that Rufus wanted.

"Well done. Keep up the good work for Shinra," Rufus commented drily to the commander, not sounding very sincere, but the commander looked extremely pleased with himself. Presently he turned around to bark some more orders at his men.

"You know, Heidegger," Rufus said to the man standing next to him. His voice was low, but loud enough for Cloud to hear, because, he was standing right behind the two of them. But then he didn't have time to dwell on that anymore, because Rufus said, "Once the word gets out that Sephiroth's here, AVALANCHE will show up too. And my source tells me that the blond one used to be one of us – Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER. Allegedly, at least. There is a Cloud Strife in our database, though…"

"Don't worry, Mr. President," Heidegger assured him. "Whoever he is. We'll find 'em and crush 'em."

"It's true, we can't have them get in our way."

"Leave it up to me, sir!" Then he laughed, and it must have been the oddest (and creepiest) laughter Cloud had ever heard. Rufus frowned.

"I thought I told you to stop laughing like that. Things are different from when my father was in charge."

Heidegger fell silent.

Cloud swallowed, heart beating irregularly, but he kept his place and kept his face carefully composed.

Fortunately, Rufus didn't look back once; Cloud got out of there as quickly as he could, slipping past the commander and into the docking area. He had to find out where Rufus was going, if he was going after Sephiroth. If word gets out that Sephiroth is here… What had he meant?

Cloud had passed a few airships, when a familiar blur of red caught his eyes. He stopped, incredulous, looked around to see if anybody was watching, then carefully made his way towards Red XIII.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. "How did you get here so quickly?"

"Come in quickly," Red XIII said, not answering his question. "The others are already inside."

"You mean –"

"Yes, we are crossing the ocean. I will be inside the cargo bay."

"Everybody is in the cargo bay?"

"No, they are disguised, blended in. You also look like you could be a guard, so that is fine – come on, quickly."

Cloud didn't have time to argue (not that he would have); he slipped in quickly. He would have to find the others and ask, later.

It occurred to him about five steps in that he had never been on an airship before. So this thing flies – and crosses oceans.

He tried not to be too sick about the whole concept.