A/N Wrote this in the span of two days I did. Couldn't find time due to school and other stuff, heck I should be writing an English paper instead of uploading this. But where is the fun in that? The is no limit to what you can achieve when you are supposed to be doing something else!
CH 9
"Alright everyone, after taking Nathans we have around 5000 gil, we need basic supplies, this includes tents, potions, long lasting food and other things. We will split it 4 ways though, so we will have two groups of two looking for supplies as well, I will be with Red since it would seem odd for an animal to ask for anything. Is everyone clear?" We all nodded our heads. I was denied my nap when Cloud came up and told me that everyone was leaving Kalm early since it was still early in the day, and everyone else wanted to get as far away as they could from Midgar. I nodded and followed him down. Now was the part I most dreaded though. When the game had to follow real world physics, so now we couldn't carry an infinite amount of items, we had to eat on a regular bases, and there is no infinite sunny day to travel to.
"Alright then, everybody split up. Nathan, you and Tifa are going to go together."
"Cool." We both went into the town square. It was actually a little more busy than the game portrayed it to be, kids were running around, adults talking, and even a vender for some kind of candy I never heard of.
"I like this town, its not as busy as Midgar." Tifa said out loud.
"Yeah."
"I guess its because were both from back water towns huh?" Well not really...but why contradict someone now?
"Don't get me wrong I love the hustle and bustle of the city but I'm more used to small towns." She smiled before we went inside some random store, it had a miscellaneous assortment of items lining the walls. Oh good a pawn shop. We started looking around, I was a little disappointed when I came across the PHS' and remembered I didn't have my tunes or phone anymore. But seriously who steals a phone in the middle of battle? Rufus must have had good reason right? Maybe it caught his eye or something...
"Nathan you find anything?" Tifa called out, knocking me of my train of thought.
"Yeah, these PHS' are cheap, we may not always be together so getting a few phones could allow us to keep in contact."
"Not a bad idea. Hey how much for four of those?" She asked the counter guy, I raised my brow.
"Why only four?"
"Well not everyone needs a phone for themselves, just when we need to split up." Oh, that makes sense. After a haggling session with the shop owner we got the four at the price of 500 gil. I got my own PHS at my disappointment though, just walking around with the bulky thing kept reminding me of my old phone.
"I miss my old pho~ne..."
"Cloud told me about that...You know Nathan how did it work?"
"How did what work?"
"That...music player. I touched it and it would go through menus, how does that work? Where did you get it?" I felt a flash of panic run across my face before I regained my composure a second later when she looked at me. If I'm correct than FF7 was kind like a steam punk world. Advanced in its own way but primitive compared to other aspects. I put a smile on my face.
"Oh you mean my MP3, You see the glass screen has a receptor under the screen, when it gets pressed a current is sent from that spot so the device recognizes the location ad acts like a button and opens that menu or scrolls depending upon the motions you make." I tried to remember as much as I could about touch screens, all I had was the screen though, anything else that made it work I was completely at a loss for.
"That's an amazing idea! But where did you buy it?"
"Buy? I made it myself!" I almost recoiled at my outburst. I immediately regretted letting myself talk before I thought of a good alibi.
"Really?" Tifa looked almost ecstatic. "No wonder you knew about the custom sweeper. And I'm guessing the phone model was yours as well?..but wait...How did you get this kind of knowledge from somewhere like Medeel?"
"My dad brought back a lot of books from his travels, I never liked to leave my house so I entertained myself with them. Technical knowledge kinda runs in the family." I kept the smile on my face.
"Wow. That's really neat Nathan." phew, she bought it.
"What else do you know about machines?" I inwardly groaned.
"Only basic stuff, I made the phone and music player to show to company's in Midgar and sell my idea. But I ran into Cloud and kinda got stuck in this."
"I'm sorry you got dragged into this with us." She looked really down, I patted her on the shoulder and she looked up.
"Don't worry about, bout time someone started to do something about them, so I guess I have to do my part. Now c'mon, we need to get everyone travelers backpacks if we are going to carry anything." Lucky for me Tifa didn't ask anymore questions afterward. Considering the circumstances I had a pretty good shot of not having it bite me in the ass later on...I hope. Shortly after we ran back into the group, everyone was given a backpack, Cloud and Barret were given the last two PHS', and all the backpacks were filled with field necessity's.
"So whats the plan?" I asked. "We're going south, I talked to a resident and it turns out that he saw a man in a black cloak travel that way, its our best bet." Cloud informed.
"Come on, we need to catch up." Barret said and we started out the town. The walk really wasn't all that eventful really, without having to worry about being so close to Midgar all the machines started to stop appearing, and we avoided monsters rather well only having to get into the occasional fight. The fields stretched out enough we could actually see for miles so monsters were spotted and either avoided or ambushed. Traveling took a lot longer than I thought though. By the end of the day we were only about two thirds the way through the path that had mountains on both sides.
"That's enough for today, lets set up camp. I'll take first watch through the night." Cloud ordered. The last few minutes were pretty quiet though, no one really talked while we set up tents. I was paired with Nanaki in mine since we only brought three total, I'm not complaining though. A fire was set up and we had our first meal of some dried meats and such. You know I haven't seen one cow or chicken or pig anywhere...So what the hell am I eating? Its jerky but it doesn't have any kinda specific ingredient list. Sure it has nutrition facts but nothing saying what kinda meat it is...Maybe its at the bottom of the pack...
"Nate what the hell are you doing with that bag?" Barret called from across the fire, enjoying some of his canned food, I really didn't care what he ate at the moment. "I'm about to solve a potentially life changing mystery...maybe its in small print." My attention was on the bag, but I could tell he was confused from the corner of my eye.
"Has anyone ever told you how weird you are Nate?"
"I've been called a lot of stuff." I responded. He shook his head and I kept looking at the labels of whatever I ate, all ending with me not finding what the main ingredient was.
"Solve that mystery Nathan?" Aeris said smiling. I sighed.
"Nope."
"What were you trying to find out?" Red asked.
"If I told you outright then you would think I was insane!"
"Nathan you've already proved that in battle trying things that would blow a persons arm off." Cloud said.
"All successful if I might add." I said smugly.
"Even so you should be more careful, we need everyone to be in good shape. If you blow yourself apart we lose a hand."
"Don't you mean I would lose one?"
"Very funny." He stood up. "Alright everyone, get some rest, I'll wake one of you up to take up another shift in a few hours." Everyone nodded their head and went inside their respective tents. I took a side while red took the other.
"Sorry if this is crammed because of my size." He said.
"Its cool, I used to have a dog that always slept with me on my bed, he was like a third your size though. But it will be just like old times."
"Interesting." Was all he said before he laid down. I pulled a sleeping bag on and closed my eyes. The only sounds being the fire crackling and Nanaki's light snores. It didn't take long for me to go to sleep.
ATE
Of course the man had to be up now. Right when he wanted rest Rufus was informed that Hojo had recovered and was currently on the security floor. Much to his dismay Rufus stayed in the building and started for the scientist. At least he had entertainment. Reeve had finished his examinations of the two pieces of technology and had given Tseng the music player put back together perfectly who returned it to Rufus. He was currently enjoying a song called Numb. Rufus was very curious to how a person only eighteen had mad such a device. Then again Reeve wasn't to old and had one of the greatest minds in Shinra. He guessed there could be more than one genius in the world, but to make something that impressed Reeve was no easy feat. He was in the elevator now, waiting for his stop. He looked at the small device in his hand. He was happy that Reeve had recharged the battery while he worked on the tiny device. He was surprised though. All of the songs on here he had never heard of before. Only the title of the song was shown. But then again it really didn't matter. It was fun to scroll through the menus, and the songs did tell a little about AVALANCHES pocket genius. He had songs ranging from classical to techno. Rufus looked up and found that the elevator door was open, having ignored the ding because of his headphones, he sighed and took one out to avoid another mistake if someone was around. He approached the security floors main room. Entering he saw the many video screens and a white coated scientist hunched in front of one in particular.
"Professor Hojo, I heard you were doing good after that specimen attacked." The man grumbled.
"Minor scratches and a concussion, nothing severe." He said, pressing a button on the large control panel.
"I came because a few of the members of AVALANCHE have connections to the science department, so I require your pass-codes to get more information."
"Fine here." He took out a pen and paper and scribbled some numbers and letters.
"This will give you access to what you need, now tell me, when do I expect the Ancient to be back in my custody?" He said. Pressing the same button again. Rufus frowned and took the paper.
"We won't be going after her, she has no use in my plans." Finally the scientist turned, with a very stiff expression.
"What? I need to continue my experiments!" He yelled. Rufus' expression didn't change.
"If we happen to capture her while we track Sephiroth then you can have her, however I am curious to how he is alive, perhaps you can explain?" The scientist face tensed and he turned back to the video screens.
"That's not Sephiroth." Rufus raised his eyebrow. "At least not in body. That was a perfect replica I made some time ago. I kept him in the deeper labs."
"And he never did anything till now?" Rufus said coolly.
"He was always in a state of animation. He never reacted to anything...he just kept still...until the other day." He was about to press that button again but stopped. He turned and handed Rufus a paper.
"I will need some free time, enjoy following him...perhaps my theory will be uninterrupted...or maybe an anomaly will occur." Rufus sighed. The man was mumbling to himself again while he walked out. Rufus walked up to the monitor, looking at the exact screen Hojo was, he pressed the same button he did. It was the rewind button. The screen cut to the man Rufus fought tipping into the glass container will Sephiroth coming towards him. His eyes widened when he saw the silver haired man pull his sword back and instead slash open the container to his right. He saw something walk out the container and froze in place. He had never seen Jenova before, he heard about it from when he attended meeting with his father, but to actually know what the thing looked like made his stomach churn. He continued watching and looked at the creature kneel down in front of the man, frozen in place just like he was but something caught Rufus' eye and he pressed the pause button, then rewind, then play. He kept doing this till he was absolutely sure that he was right, that it wasn't a trick of the light or the cameras angle. He looked at Nathans face each time. After what seemed like forever he knew why Hojo was here. The expression on Nathans face wasn't just fear... It was recognition.
(3rdpv)
"Cloud could we talk for a minute?" He rolled over and saw Tifa. His shift was done and he was trying to get rest.
"Anything wrong?" He walked out. Sitting close to the fire.
"I...have something on my mind." She sat across from him and the fire, pulling her knees to herself.
"About what?"
"..Well...What do you think of the team?" He raised his eye brow, odd question.
"How do you mean?"
"How do you feel about everyone?" He put his finger to his lips before he answered.
"Barret's hot headed, but he knows how to give orders and listen to them. Aeris is a good medic when the time arises. Red may have some limitations being an animal but he takes care of himself in a fight. Nathan may be a little off with his sword but he has magic on his side." She glanced down before speaking again.
"I didn't mean anything like that." Cloud sighed. So she was concerned then.
"Then tell me directly."
"...Do you think Nathans who he says he is?" He was taken back a little. Tifa never really was suspicious about people, next to Aeris she was one of the most accepting of the group. "Has he done anything?"
"Well...no. Its just he seems off to me, I was talking to him in town, and he had on this smile. It was hard but I could tell it wasn't completely genuine when he talked about his home or his devices."
"Maybe he was trying to avoid talking to much." Cloud had only known Nathan a few days, but he knew that as much as he liked to talk he also liked to isolate himself every now and again. Something Cloud could relate to.
"I don't know, its like he's hiding something."
"Don't worry about it." She looked up at him.
"If you want I can vouch for him." She had a look of bewilderment.
"You really think he's okay?"
"Tifa, Nathans done nothing but help us, instead of running he waited to free us from those cells, he's covered my back in combat. And when he can he has healed a few of us." "You sound like you've known him for a long time." He looked up toward the stars.
"He's proved himself Tifa, he's not a warrior like the rest of us, he was dragged into this and is sticking it out for us."
"But how can you be so sure if he try's to hide things?"
"Honestly Tifa, I don't know. Its like something deep down in me is saying he is someone to trust, someone to keep around. Its confusing, like he's someone important." He looked and saw Tifa pondering something.
"Okay, as long as you say he is alright then I'm okay with him."
"Okay then, good night Tifa."
"Good night." He crawled back into his tent. Tifa kept watch for a few more hours, deciding as long as Cloud like Nathan than he must be alright. Cloud rarely had friends back in Nibelheim, in fact she couldn't remember anyone besides herself that didn't avoid or bully him. Yet here he was today having a friendly conversation with Nathan, often joking with him. It made her smile a little. He now had a friend in someone besides herself. She looked at her PHS and found it was well past four in the morning. He heard some ruffling though and sprang into her usual fighting stance only noticing that it was a tent opening and Red coming out.
"Everything alright?"
"Its Nathan." He simply stated. She walked over and looked into the tent. Inside she saw that he was shivering and sweating quiet a lot. He was having a nightmare, and a bad one. She tried to shake him only to have him fidget harder. She held onto both his shoulders and shook him harder
"Nathan! Wake up!"
Cold. It was so cold. I opened my eyes and found I wasn't in the tent anymore with Nanaki snoring near my feet. Instead I was flouting in a sea of green. There were voices, whispers coming from all directions, but I didn't see anyone when I spun to look around. I tried to warm myself up by rubbing my arms but I would keep shivering.
"I hate this place." I was drifting aimlessly, The only thing that appealed to me was the waves the green made as I passed by. Swirling around and moving like water in slow motion.
"So pretty." I reached out my hand and saw a strand of green come close to my hand, it started to encircle it and twist through my fingers. Every-time I tried to grab it it would disperse and go around my hand again. Eventually it started to move up my hand and to my arm, eventually my shoulder had the energy. Soon enough I had my entire body covered in the green energy, it starting to warm my whole body.
"I could spend forever here..." The energy started to circle my head, I closed my eyes feeling the warmth start to flow around my face.
"Ow!" I opened my eyes and found that I had a cut on my right index finger now, blood dripping. It was then I noticed the energy get closer to my forearm and just barely pass over it. Giving me another cut. I panicked and started to scramble the energy away, only for it to encase my when I tried to relax again.
"Stay away!" I heard my voice echo, Now the whispers were getting louder, more sinister. The green was starting to change colors, shifting different shades and tints. I held my hand over my ears while struggling. Not wanting to listen anymore, only to find the whispers get louder, with a sound like sharpening in the back ground. I felt the energy cut me again, only this time it was a deeper gash.
"Stop!" The whispers were now filling my head. The sharpening turning into a horrible screeching sound of metal, getting louder and louder inside my head.
"Go! Leave me alone!" I started to yell more, I kept trying to out yell the sound, only to find I could hear the voices yelling at me now, the noises getting unbearable. My ears should have been bleeding.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? PLEASE STOP!" The energy now was a extremely dull Grey, the background of the whole place was now black the energy getting more and more cuts on my body, the pain becoming agonizing.
"NO! I WON'T DIE!" I started thrashing at the energy, getting cut more and more, my mind now going haywire. Eventually the energy started to form in font of me, my blood flowing through the strands going into the center. It started to take shape and eventually had a human shape to it. Then it started to grow skin. In time It had made a whole body and my eyes widened. It was myself. But only I saw that my eyes had now pupils, they were pure white, staring blindly at me. Eventually his hands started to move towards my face and the energy stopped completely. It touched my cheek, then my chin, and finally settled both hands on my throat and tighten. I tried to fight back but every time he would just disperse that part of his body and rejoin it.
"Kill..." It said, my eyes widening, I was losing oxygen fast and I couldn't do anything.
"what...are..you..?" I tried to catch breaths only to have him tighten harder, he smiled.
"You" It said before I felt my last breath come out. My body felt heavy, my struggling slowly coming to a stop. Him just smiling at me the whole time. My eyes were closing, I was losing consciousness fast. The darkness slowly invading my thoughts. Only pain registering..slowly...
"Nathan wake up!" I opened my eyes and sprang up, breathing heavilly.
"Nathan are you okay?" I looked over and saw a very concerned Tifa and a wary Nanaki.
"What happened?"
"You were having a nightmare, and a bad one at that." I looked over my arms and found none of the nicks on my body, I sighed in relief. It was only a dream.
"I hate dreams."
"Will you be alright?" Red said with hi good eye on me.
"I'll be fine, I just need to get some air." I walked out and sat next to the fire. Relishing its warmth in my cold sweat. Tifa sat across from me.
"Are you sure your okay?" I shook my head. "I just need to calm down."
"...Okay." I took out my PHS. It was almost five, the sun would be up in another hour or so.
"Tifa why don't you get a few more Z's, I'm not gunna get any sleep any time soon." She looked at me but nodded her head, she went back into her and Aeris tent and started to sleep. Red close to the fire too next to me.
"Your not gunna keep sleeping."
"You seem like you could use some company." I smiled and pat his head. He didn't object.
"Thanks." I looked up at the sky. I was happy to be back in the real world...or rather what world I was in at the moment. The stars were nice, I remember I could always pick out Pisces since it was the only constellation I knew, but now everything was completely different. The dream started to surface in the back of my mind though. I tried to ignore it but it would keep coming back. Eventually though I remembered how to clear my head. I started whistling. It was tune to Eternal Harvest from FF9. It was one of my favorite songs. I remember I even learned how to play it on the piano, it was hard as hell but it gave ma satisfaction. I saw Nanaki look at me while I whistled.
"What?"
"I have never heard that song before." I smiled.
"Its from a story I liked." I didn't want to mention games to anyone. Medeel was back water and if I talked about it too much I would be caught with inconsistency. "What kind of story?" I looked at Nanaki and he seemed intrigued. I smiled.
"Have I got a tale for you, its about a whole different world, ancient, but not to different from our own. Lets us start on a theatre ship with a teenager named Zidane..."
The last few hours passed by quickly. I told Nanaki the almost the entire plot to FF9, him showing expressions in all the right places, asking at points to see what was happening in other parts of the world while the main characters were doing something else. It was sun rise before I had stopped at the part where the party was about to enter Terra.
"What happens next?" I could hear the excitement in his voice, reminding me he was in mind a sixteen year old.
"That my furry little friend, is a tale for another night. Its time we continue." I almost snickered at the dejected look on his face.
"RISE AND SHINE!" I yelled out. Everyone started to file out their tents. I smiled seeing the ruffled hairs of both Tifa and Aeris. I laughed when Cloud came out his tent. "And what is so funny this early in the morning?" He raised an eyebrow. I pointed at him.
"Your hairs exactly the same, it must be sad walking around with permanent bed head Chocobo." He rolled his eyes and started to pick apart his tent. Everyone save me and Red did the same. I had put mine away while telling Red the part where they were on the Outer Continent. Eventually everyone was packed and ready to go and me feeling good about myself. We all exited the mountains and came across a large field. Continuing we found a farm in the distance. I smiled, I couldn't wait to test out our first summoning materia.
"Look a farm" Aeris pointed out.
"Maybe they saw where the cloaked guy went." I mentioned.
"Lets see then." Cloud said. We started to get closer to the farm, the tale tell sounds of warks almost music to my ears when we got close enough to the farm though my eyes almost widened. I started running.
"Nathan what are you doing?" Cloud called, running after me, I was to excited to care. Eventually I got to the farms fence and was giggling madly. Everyone else coming up from behind me.
"Nate, please tell me what is so amazing that you had to make us run to the farm?" barret said, I spun around.
"Its a cow!" on the side of the barn was a small area fenced off, and inside were cows,chickens,and pigs.
"Why is that so amazing we had to run?" Cloud asked.
"I finally solved the mystery!" Everyone seemed to sweat drop. I couldn't stop giggling. Having the knowledge now that they existed really helped in knowing I wasn't eating fired behemoth or something.
"You guys wait here, I'll talk to the owner." Cloud walked off. Everyone opted to stand around while I ran up and looked at the Chocobos. All easily bigger and taller than I was. They were all yellow feathered. One came up to the fence and leaned its head forward. I scratched its feathers. It kwehed appreciatively.
"Warkwarkwark?" It said, I smiled.
"Wark" I did my best Chocobo impression. It stared at me before the entire group started dancing, everyone was looking at the spectacle. I looked at the air above myself and saw a red orb start to appear out of thin air. When the Chocobo were. Done I caught the materia mid air. I looked back at everyone and held out Choco/Mog.
"Looks like my new friends gave me a gift." Everyone looked and seemed to be in awe at the orb.
"That's a summoning materia." Aeris said.
"I hear there really rare to get outside Shinra." Barret said. I placed the orb in a slot and felt the magic course through me for a few seconds before it desipated. Right when Cloud came with a purple orb.
"Alright everyone, we have to pass through the marshlands. It has the Midgar Zolom though." Everyone seem to stiffen at the mention of the monster, I was relaxed since Cloud had the lure materia.
"Whats that?" I pointed at the materia.
"Its Choco lure, its supposed to help in taming Chocobos."
"Oh good, I thought I saw some tracks north from here maybe we can..."
"We don't have enough time to catch Chocobos." ...Wait wat?
"We need to get there as soon as possible. Its better we get there by foot so Sephiroth doesn't get to far ahead"
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Awwww fuck...