A/N
Well its been a time and a half everyone, and I bet many of you will be surprised to see this story actually updated. I do want to announce that progress on editing the first chapters has been slow at best, what with RL getting in the way, but I believe I will be semi active in the next couple of weeks so maybe one more chapter will be made. So here is the long awaited chappa 42!
Enjoy!
The celebration after the battle was the largest I'd ever seen in my life.
By scale I had been to bigger: parades, town events, even raves had larger turnouts than this. I was exploring the somewhat repopulated township under Fort Condor. Without the forces of Shinra having semi-permanent camps in the town now, what with them moving out to Junon since their biggest attempt at getting to the reactor was thwarted, some of the villagers came back and had put up only the barest of things to get the celebration started. Everyone decided to have the party in the middle of town since people could walk around without the hassle of Shinra always being around, but I digress.
The party was so large because of how happy everyone looked. Sure a parade was on a holiday you took for granted, or you have a few hundred drugged up people dancing to synthetic music. This was a celebration about having won a battle that had every odd stacked against them; that these people were but ants that somehow were able to repel a human's foot away from stomping on them with what meager things they were given and could scrounge up. Every last person in the crowd was smiling, laughing, joking; all were completely at ease. A weight that everyone bore had lifted and spirits rose with it.
This is how I came to find myself drinking with Cid of all people.
The celebration was only for the night since Fort Condor could only spare so much food and drink with the village being almost bare. So every soldier, mercenary, and civilian decided to live it up. They inevitably dragged all of AVALANCHE into it since we were the heroes that stopped SOLDIERSs from decimating them; Cid even gave everyone who worked on the Highwind the night off. The leader of the base said he would talk with us the next day and told us to enjoy our victory for the night.
People like Cid and Barret had taken to it immediately and took advantage of the whole thing. Barret swelled with the attention he was getting as he talked about his experience taking a SOLDIER out single-handed, no pun intended. Cid made a beeline to the makeshift bar in the town square and demanded the strongest alcohol they had. Looking around I saw Nanaki and Cait Sith of to the side with the children of some of the returned villagers, unable to take part in drinking due to being an animal or a machine.
I laughed as I saw Aeris and Yuffie take sips of their drinks while socializing with the people, Aeris simply making conversation and Yuffie busting every title she could think of to impress people with her exploits around the world. Surprisingly Vincent showed up too, though brooding and leaning on the wall of a building a tad bit away from the crowd, but it was the thought that counted.
"Drink up." Cid said. I responded by downing my glass. I had intended to socialize as well, having already gotten recognition for stopping monsters from ambushing everyone from the air when Cid thought it would be funny for me to drink with him. What I think surprised him though was how well I was taking it in stride. This wasn't the first time I had alcohol, hell on my sixteenth birthday my brother thought it would be funny to give me a shot of vodka. Cid, having a similar experience, decided to make me drink with him to the point we would both be making fools out of ourselves. Considering how hardcore he was with three bottles gone now and only minute changes in his attitude, and the fact I had enough water after each drink to keep me hydrated and somewhat sober, it would take a long time to pull that off. However the taste and the burn of the stuff we were drinking wasn't unpleasant. With a name like Gysahl liquor I had expected it to taste horrible.
"You should have seen me. I charged the bastard and ran him through. That SOLDIER was too scared to move!" Cid was boasting about his fight now, but instead of making long and little dramatic story much like Barret was, he chose to make it seem like his battle was quick and he was able to get the drop on his guy. But having seen him exhausted from the battle before as well as the bandages wrapping his arms and torso anyone could tell is was more of a challenge than he described it to be. I laughed when he tried to make a stabbing motion only to wince and hold his arm. He glared at me for that.
"What's so funny? I don't hear any tales of overcoming the strongest fighting force in all of Gaia from you."
"I have a broken arm that I'm only allowed to start using in a few days. Plus I made sure a bunch of deadly birds and drakes didn't bug everyone when they were fighting. Technically I made it so your battles didn't suck any more than they did, so up yours Cid," I pointed out to him. Taking another drink I saw him glare at me from across the table, but not disagree with my argument.
"Hey guys!" My attention was next caught by a slightly flushed looking Barret smiling at me and Cid.
"Yo, how ya been?" I responded. Cid grumbled in Barret's direction as he passed me my refilled glass.
"Man I haven't been so good in a long time. I feel like I could take on Shinra with my hand tied behind my back, ain't nothing going to stand in my way!" Barret fist pumped his gun arm and laughed. Turned out Barret was the happy kind of drunk.
"You only got one hand meat head." Cid pointed out. Barret completely ignored the insult and instead wrapped his good arm around Cid's head, laughing it up.
"Don't be mad Cid, you can charge at'em with me," Barret said with the biggest smile I had seen on him.
"Let go of me!" Cid yelled. I laughed hard watching the two. The rest of the people who were listening to Cids story did as well. I got up and decided to walk around to make sure I wasn't going to make a fool of myself later by tripping over my own drunken feet. Plus I know Cid would have gladly drunk with me to the point where I would pass out and he would gloat the next day so I wanted to make sure he wouldn't get the satisfaction. But while trying to get away I found my arm being tugged by a certain ninja.
"Nate will you give me some materia? This is boring." I raised an eyebrow.
"How can you say this party is boring?" I ignored the request.
"Because Barret stopped being funny and Aeris won't start drinking more to get funny." Ah, she just wanted to see everybody drunk to the point we were all making idiots out of ourselves.
"Yuffie you should just be enjoying yourself, stop trying to cause mischief and explosions."
"But I like mischief and explosions!" I sighed before I took a closer look at her. I now noticed how red in the face she was. She seemed a little wobbly too so she was feeling some affects.
"I think you've drunk enough," I stated. Yuffie apparently didn't care.
"Come on Nate, no one else will do anything fun." I was going to argue with her more but my ears picked up some rather cheerful music playing. I guess someone found a radio or something and decided to liven up the party more. Seeing an opportunity for the both of us to have fun made me smile.
"Fun? Okay so how about we dance?" I blurted out. The thought barely processed before I spoke it. Yuffie was taken aback by my request.
"What?"
"Yeah let's dance!" I took her arm and dragged her near the middle of the town square. Already multiple people were dancing and others watching. I turned to Yuffie noticing her go still.
"Nate... I don't know how to dance." She said, looking down and looking sad since I already dragged her here.
"Perfect, neither do I." Honestly I only knew basic steps from school dances and other events. Besides that I had no idea how to make any kind of move on any dance floor.
"It's all about keeping in rhythm. Follow me" What I can only describe our dance to be was a bunch random steps in a circle, swinging arms, and just swaying back and forth went on for a good thirty minutes. It was very early on that Yuffie got into it too and we both just smiled and laughed at the whole experience. Lucky for us the mess we called dancing went unnoticed. Sure enough the party started dying off. People got sleepy and the liquor ran out. It eventually was just me and Yuffie resting from our escapades while there were a few who decided to clean up a little of the place before they were to sleep. Yet I didn't want everything to end just yet, so getting another idea I took Yuffie's arm and headed up to the hill towards Fort Condor.
"Nate what is it now?" She asked, now a little bit better after having used up all her energy and getting some liquids that didn't mess with her down.
"Just wait, tonight is perfect for this and I don't want you to miss out," I explained. Soon enough I pulled her past the fort and up the hill towards the reactor. Soon enough we were on top of the machine. The left over shell pieces from the condor chick were still left on the top. Seeing the giant condor go was somewhat heartbreaking, I mean after all this time of defending the nest the bird simply died. But the sight of the little chick, or giant compared to my size, hatched all the same and flew off. I had snatched the Phoenix materia earlier and had kept it on me since the end of the battle. I scoured the rest of the field afterwards and found out why Aeris had such a big problem with her SOLDIER. Apparently the guy had a Tetra elemental, when I saw that I took it off the frozen arm and slipped it on. I let go of Yuffie's hand and kicked the shell pieces away and sat down on the metal top.
"This is what I wanted you to see." I outstretched my hand and Yuffie looked up.
Almost on cue the first firework went up. I smiled at my stroke of luck actually working for me. I had heard from a few people in the crowd while drinking with Cid that after the party was over there would be show afterwards. I thought it would be great to watch it with Yuffie though I never did find out whether she liked them or not.
"Did you plan this?" Surprise was written all over her face.
"Watching the show? Yes. Calling the fireworks on time; completely by accident." I smiled. Yuffie giggled before she sat down next to me and started watching the various colorful explosions going on in the sky.
"You know...everything might go our way soon," I said out loud.
"You mean saving the Planet?" Yuffie asked.
"That and killing Sephiroth for good. After seeing what happened today, I believe you guys could handle anything."
"What do you mean by you guys?" she asked.
"Sorry, first thing that popped into my head. But I mean it." I shook my head. It was embarrassing since that was the first thing to talk about for me. I'm not good at these moments considering I barely had any of them.
"What about you?" Yuffie interrupted my thoughts; I decided to give her the same answer I gave Aeris.
"I'm good enough to support you guys, you're the heroes, I just came on for the ride." Next thing I felt was a smack on the back of my head.
"Don't start that other world stuff now." Yuffie looked annoyed. I was surprised she did that, I mean Aeris took it in stride and told me I was still helping. Not violently hitting me for what I personally thought.
"I told you guys how the story goes, I just changed some things so everyone isn't so sad." That being said I did think about Cloud's current predicament. Before I could get a good thought in though I felt another slap to my head.
"Quit that!" I yelled.
"Then stop thinking about stuff. We're gunna beat Seph, get famous, and then we'll go traveling all over the world!" Hearing her I thought what she said was kind of redundant.
"Yuffie we've pretty much covered the entire world already." Which surprised me actually, a few months on foot, car, boat... well boat-plane, and airship allowed us to cover almost every corner of the world.
"Then we'll do it again!" She suddenly stood up and raised her fist into the air, striking one of her dramatic poses.
"Just think Nate, everyone else is going to settle down after the world almost blows up but we'll be making ourselves into legends!"
"Wouldn't we already be if we saved the world?"
"Even bigger legends then, people will cheer when they hear about the adventures of Wutai's warrior princess and you, the mysterious stranger who fell from the sky!" I gave her a look at the last title.
"Yuffie that is a horrible title, I don't even think I actually fell into Midgar, I just warped onto some trash. Who in their right mind would think that would be a cool name?" I snorted. Yuffie hit my shoulder as she sat back down. The fireworks were getting to the bigger explosions when she did. For the most part it was quiet as we both watched the colorful sky. Yuffie had settled down but over time looked like she was thinking hard about something.
"Nate, how come you like me?" I was thrown for a loop when she suddenly asked that.
"Where's that coming from?" I would have assumed she was still drunk but she looked surprisingly lucid when she asked that question.
"You talk about everyone just being characters before you came here. You know so much about everyone's past; about me. I've been wondering... how come you like me?"
It took me some time before I could think straight and process her question. Yuffie had asked why I liked her as a person even though I knew her as a character. I had only thought about it in passing once when I first felt something for her at Wutai. Considering everything we had been through, how I helped her for the sake of helping her rather than for completing a side quest. Now with the fact I knew how the world worked for the next three years and about everyone's past I guess she would start asking questions. After a minute I thought of an acceptable answer.
"I never really had a girlfriend back on Earth. I wasn't as active as I am now; I was kind of a shut-in actually. Having those dreams that couldn't be fulfilled because of how Earth worked. So I just went with the flow of life set for average people like me and hoped with enough hard work I could find a comfortable life to settle into." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Yuffie had been listening intently, so I continued.
"Then I'm suddenly dropped here, into a world I knew more so than my own, this place where friendship and loyalty are valued like I wanted Earth to, a place where working hard and getting stronger actually does get you somewhere in life. A world filled with people I knew in such a way that they were my friends even though they had never met me. Sure enough, being in Gaia for as long as I have allowed it to change me, I found the courage to fight things hundreds of times larger and stronger than myself. I feel energy in me I never knew I had flow through my veins as this adventure grew. I became stronger, more perceptive, outgoing, everything I ever wanted to be in my world. I could follow my dream childish dream of being a hero." I lifted my head and looked Yuffie in the eye.
"Yuffie... could you tell me something about yourself?" She blinked.
"Like what?"
"How was life growing up as a princess? What were you like before you started adventuring?" It didn't take long for her to answer.
"It sucked; dad was always on about representing Wutai's tradition being royalty. Mom was nice but she always put me in expensive dresses. The Single White Rose of Wutai is a delicate flower, that's what she would say when she was with me. It sucked being a princess, so I learned how to sneak and steal, to fight like the ninjas that used to protect my dad before Wutai lost the war." Her answer was pretty much what I expected. A princess stuck in a sheltered life that was set in front of her. But unlike me she was able to get out of her situation on her own.
"You are very different from me, your sneakiness is something to admire, you have strength to protect your friends, and your bubbly personality could lift anyone's worries. You chose to become a lowly thief to help your country after it lost so much in a pointless war." Yuffie started to turn red from my words.
"You were the opposite of what I used to be basically, and I found myself drawn to you after you gave me these gauntlets in Wutai. You could always surprise me no matter how much I would try to predict you. You became precious to me in a way I hadn't felt about someone before. In only a few months I saw all of that adventurous spirit, brashness, happiness, everything I could think of that made my heart race; you had it all Yuffie. That's why I started liking you... That's why I love you."
I don't know if it was the alcohol or the moment, but I felt my heart skip a beat as I admitted everything to Yuffie. The three words I had never said to a girl before finally came out of me. As much as I wanted to look away in embarrassment I couldn't turn away from Yuffie. She looked so surprised I had said I loved her, that I actually fell for her. Soon she looked tense and started to tear up. She didn't sob, she just started letting tears run down while she stared at me. I felt myself move to wipe some of the tears away as I smiled. I knew they weren't meant to be sad, I knew how happy she felt at that moment. She then started to smile and held my hand. Finally I felt compelled to lean closer, but she whispered, stopping me midway.
"...I love you too..." she lean in and kissed me.
My heart stopped. The feeling was so different from my desperate kiss at the crater. Everything about the moment felt right. Her lips were so soft, so gentle; it sent shivers down my spine. I felt the need to hold her closer, to be with her more, and to protect her from all the bad things around us. I wanted to be by her side, and I wanted her by mine. I finally realized how much I had fallen for her after everything we had been through. For that moment the Planet stopped. It wasn't in danger, there was no one else but us, and it would be that way for an eternity.
I don't know how long the kiss lasted, but it felt too soon when we both pulled back. I could feel my chest thumping, my breath getting heavy, and my limbs going numb. The fireworks had ended a long time ago, but I didn't want to get up and leave. Instead I moved closer to Yuffie, I wrapped my arm around her and held her close. Her frame felt so frail now... She was so small... So fragile... So beautiful...
"Let's stay here, just a little longer... please" She pleaded, sounding so desperate and vulnerable. I smiled. I looked down into her eyes and she looked up at me. Her dark brown orbs bore into my light brown ones. She looked into me as I looked into her and for a split second it felt as if we both saw into the others soul. I started crying, but I couldn't look away. I didn't want to deny her anything; I wanted to give her everything she wanted and more.
"…As long as you want." I leaned down and we kissed again. Another eternity of bliss passed us by. The only thing that mattered to us now was that the other didn't want this night to end. The only thought I had was that it never would, because I loved her, and she loved me.
The next day I woke up more refreshed than I had ever been. Yuffie and I were up late into the night before we both got down from the reactor and went to our separate rooms. It wasn't until I was in bed did I realize I got that date out of Yuffie that I wanted since I was at Icicle Inn. I felt more relieved than had ever felt before. The world was still in danger, but I had a feeling everything would go our way.
I decided to eat in the fort's mess hall when I was greeted by enthusiastic soldiers congratulating me. Even though I only helped a little the fact that with AVALANCHE they were able to drive off Shinra for good made everyone involved in the fight famous. As I sat down to enjoy my food I noticed how barren the place was now. With Shinra gone Fort Condor was now putting most of its resources and man power to rebuilding the village below it. However looking around I did find my favorite brooder sitting down and eating. Quickly I grabbed some food and went to sit by Vincent.
"Good morning." I said with a cheeky smile.
"In a good mood I see," He stated, not showing much interest in my change of behavior.
"Last night went pretty well for me actually; it really made me look on the bright side." It was mostly what was after the party but Vince didn't care about that info and I felt like keeping it from everyone anyway.
"But anyway, how are you feeling? You looked pretty shaken up when you came back to the fort." In fact the whole team looked horrible after their fights against the SOLDIERs. Vincent and Aeris were two of the worst with burns and tears all over their clothes and skin. Although Cid had them all beat having had his entire shirt ripped and his body covered in sword wounds and what looked like shrapnel in his back.
"I've healed; everyone is fine now that the battle is done." He answered while eating slowly. I nodded before I decided check on Aeris too since Cid looked fine the night before.
"By the way, what is our next plan of action?" He asked. I sighed before I answered.
"We're going back to a hopefully evacuated Mideel to pick up Cloud and Tifa and mostly likely fight off a WEAPON. Afterwards we'll find a way to get Cloud back to normal and then have to get two more Huge materia which are in some ridiculous places." Vincent seemed unnerved.
"How much longer do we have until we find Hojo?" I realized that was his main focus point.
"Not until we kill just about every WEAPON left in the world and then go skydiving into Midgar. We go in, kill Scarlet, Heidegger, and then Hojo and we'll be golden until we have to fight Sephiroth basically."
"What about the Turks and Rufus? They aren't going to die?"
"We will have a conflict with them but killing them isn't an option. They will help us in the end; as much as everyone hates them we will need them in the coming years." I didn't want needless deaths either. The Turks were bad but they deserved a chance to redeem themselves.
"We still have so much to do," He mused, I nodded.
"We will find time though to get everyone's strongest power though. Those materia I got are only for what the Huge materia can do, and even then I only think we will get one good item out of that. But everyone will need to find their most powerful weapon as well as power to combat Sephiroth." Vincent seemed genuinely interested at that prospect.
"What are mine?" I was about to answer out right when I realized where he would get these abilities.
"Well first of all Vince I will tell you that we will go someplace, and you will most likely want to be alone for an extended period of time due to the shell shock you'll get. But your weapon will be a shotgun, I don't know how you made it, I don't know where it came from but you'll have it." Vincent actually seemed a little off put at the fact he would be shocked in the future. Telling a guy that shows almost no feelings that he will experience an extreme emotion in the future would throw them off I guess.
"What about my power? What will I be able to do?"
"You know how you can transform into different monsters?" I started, nervous about how he'll react.
"Yes... if it's that then I must disappoint you. I can't turn into anything else," He answered coolly.
"You have one more transformation, you just don't have the control to pull it off," I hinted. I realize now that even though Vincent was a Turk he didn't have to hold back his reactions, and dropping one bomb beforehand lead to him pulling a gun out in my face so some subtly was required.
"...You're not implying..." Vincent seemed to realize what I was talking about and his eyes actually widened. I couldn't blame him. He now knew there was a way for him to transform into, or at least partially into one of the most destructive forces known to Gaia.
"I don't know how you do it; I'm just saying that it is possible to do. I know how much you dislike what's inside you, but it's going to be a boon when we have to fight Sephiroth." Vincent simply stared into space for a minute, letting my words sink in. Before long he sighed and started eating again.
"I will have to prepare myself, every last one of us will have to; you as well. When your arm heals you must train and become stronger. Am I to assume Sephiroth has actually gotten stronger as time has passed?"
"Yes, age seems to be a non-factor and Jenova has just been biding its time," I explained. I would have said more but a loud rowdy voice groaned. I looked over to see Barret get some food before looking at us.
"Cid says to meet in a minute with the Fort leader guy... What were ya'll takin bout?" He asked, somewhat confused. I guess he had a little too much. I wanted to laugh but Barret was already irritable, not a good idea to make him worse.
"Future stuff, I'll have to talk to everyone about this sometime, but it can wait a little." Both Vincent and I got up while Barret followed behind with his food. Finding the rest of their ultimate weapons and limit breaks would be important. However I would have to think about myself as well. Fusion would always be my main weapon, but I was having the hardest time thinking of attacks that had real power behind them, and even then that would mean I would have to use them sparingly. I had one technique in mind but I hadn't tested how it would go. However I shook my head, I have time to think about testing limit breaks later, the important thing is obtaining the next piece of Huge materia and trying to help Cloud and Tifa as much as I could offer later.
When we arrived I found the rest of the gang standing around the old man who was sitting in his usual place. On one side I saw Yuffie and I couldn't keep myself from smiling at her. She noticed me and walked over. She stole a peck to my cheek while everyone was focusing on the old man. I felt elated at the simple kiss and stood closer to her.
"Everyone… thanks... I really mean it. Thanks" The guy started, looking more relieved than before Shinra was ran out. The whole group looked proud that Fort Condor would be at peace now.
"Although there isn't anything we can give you, we'll make sure you can stop in and stay anytime, be sure to drop by." He offered genuinely, however Cid look confused and annoyed.
"Nothing? You have absolutely nothing to give us for driving off the fuckers that have been harassing and attacking you?" Cid didn't look angry; besides his usual language he seemed genuinely surprised we weren't getting anything. However the old man before us nodded before he seemed to have an idea strike him.
"Yes, yes... this is one thing I forgot to give you." He reached under the table and pulled out a small crate. He blew some dust off of it before he took the lid off and offered the item inside to us. Cid and just about the entire group looked stunned at the sight of the bright yellow jewel that was a Huge Materia.
"The truth is, this was the materia in the reactor."
"What the hell did we fight for?" Cid had turned his head towards me but I motioned for him to keep listening to the old man.
"We weren't protecting the reactor, we were protecting the condor. When the reactor was built, they forced us to help. That's how we knew what was inside the reactor. But I knew this day would come, so when Shinra left I snuck in and took the materia." Cid almost coughed at that. I knew I would get flack for keeping back the knowledge that they already had the materia in their possession.
"I didn't mean to fool you, but I guess that's how it ended up. I'm sorry."
"We shoulda seen that comin a mile away." Barret added as the old man looked at the ground with sorry eyes. Barret's eyes were focusing on me when he spoke.
"Just forget about it. We're still alive anyway," Cid sighed, still tired from the battle a few days ago. The old man looked at Cid with surprise before he gave us a pleasant smile.
"Well when you put it that way... We're really grateful." All of us smiled back before we turned to leave with Barret taking the crate with the Huge Materia in it.
"You know I should be kicking your ass right about now for leaving out that old bastard had what we wanted." Cid started, just as sour as he predictably would be.
"Come now, even if he told us you know we would have all fought to protect the condors with those people still." Aeris defended.
"I know, that's why the brat ain't getting a beating. We would have gotten soft on those guys anyway. But for future headache relief kid, could you please tell us in advance when the balls going to be dropped? Cuz I would like to know now what shits about to hit the fan." Cid asked. I thought for a moment to get the sequence of events sorted out.
"We don't have to search for the rest of the Huge Materia. Even though I know in advance it would cause problems if we tried to early. So we need to go see Cloud and Tifa. When we get there Ultima WEAPON will start attacking the village and the Lifestream will basically eat up the entire village. But with the help of Kunsel I think almost all of the residents should be gone now. But the biggest problem is Cloud's health... and the fact we have to let him and Tifa fall into the Lifestream." The whole group stopped in the middle of the field. The idea I let out starting to sink in.
"Now you're going crazy. Ain't no way Tifa and Cloud are getting out of that alive together." Barret started.
"I have to agree, how do you know they will come out alright?" Vincent questioned.
"Honestly, I don't. If Aeris was dead than she would be able to protect them both as Cloud recovered. But with her here... I don't know how else he could recuperate."
"Wait? I would protect them?" Aeris asked, confused since she would essentially be out of the game and couldn't do anything.
"Somehow certain people like the Cetra can have large influences in the Lifestream. You were able to cast an amazing spell in the afterlife to help people with Jenova cells in the future. You could protect people from the harmful effects of Mako as well. But now... I don't have a clue."
"Listen we'll burn that bridge when we get there. But until then I wanna get on my ship, drink some tea, take a long ass nap and then kill a giant monster thing." Cid dismissed. No one argued him either. Since we couldn't do anything we would have to wait and see what would happen next. I didn't feel up for it and it scared me to think about all of the unknowns. However I felt a hand squeeze mine making me look at Yuffie. She smiled at me and I smiled back, her reassurance at least comforting me a little.
There were few times that the penthouse office had looked so unruly in his eyes. Stacks of paperwork had been thrown into the wall and ground. The table had noticeable marks from being beaten, and the shades were bent from being crumpled in a fist. But the man sitting in the chair looked very out of place since he had the calmest expression on.
Rufus would never admit to having a fit. But the situation had caused him more stress than he would like to accept. He had received a call from the invasion force recently and found out only a handful of Shinra army men were accounted for. They gave their report and Rufus became very angry. Somehow Fort Condor was able to not only defend against them, but also repel Shinra's forces. He had questioned what had happened to the six SOLDIERs he spared for the force.
Every last one of them was killed. One First class, three Seconds, and two Thirds. A Shinra strike force had been defeated by some ragtag villagers and military men banded together. When questioned more the men stated that when they were losing too many men they sent in, the SOLDIERs joined the battle and started demolishing everyone. But when they were within the enemy's territory they all somehow found themselves dead because the military men said that they were repelled less than an hour later.
This was a case of bad intelligence that left a very bitter taste in Rufus's mouth. He had wasted not only a handful of SOLDIER hopefuls but one of the few decent First Classes left under their employ. When he went to see Heidegger he looked through Fort Condor's files only to find out a probing team of MP's and monsters would be sent out every few weeks to test what defenses were set up. However there was a gap of about a month since the last team was sent, and in that time Fort Condor had somehow acquired enough mercenaries to teach them enough about tactics to fight off SOLDIERs, along with gaining enough materia to bombard the invading force.
So there he was, sitting in a dark and messy room with a slight frown. He had ordered that the Huge Materia in Junon be extracted as quickly as possible, even if they had to cut corners on making sure it was safe to do. But it would still take a few days or so to do that. Rufus had then made sure to see how fast the Sister Ray was being transported. Multiple phone calls later and after being reassured multiple times, it would be within the week that it would be in Midgar. Later he called in Reeve and had him report on AVALANCHE. Rufus had been thinking and couldn't get it out of his mind that they were involved, that they were ruining everything right under his nose and getting away with it. But when Reeve arrived he found himself with answers that unfortunately answered his questions
Reeve asked why AVALANCHE would steal an item they didn't even know about. Rufus paused. He recalled that the only people that knew the official use of the Huge Materia were the chief staff of Shinra. For that secret to get out would have meant one of them was a snitch or let it slip in front of a spy AVALANCHE may have had. Then Reeve said even if they were involved, the plan Shinra had would save the world, so wouldn't they stay out of Shinra's way?
Rufus couldn't argue any of it. Even if they were enemies, AVALANCHE would let Shinra try to destroy Meteor if it had a chance. They may have caused problems if they found out Shinra had tried to invade Fort Condor, or at the negligence of Scarlet to run an entire tent city down with a train. Reeve informed him they landed near Fort Condor days before to investigate a small Mako fountain that had been documented in the Mythril Mines. But they flew off when they couldn't find Strife.
Rufus thanked Reeve for his time and sent him to keep feeding AVALANCHE information on random fountains. It would only long enough but it was a matter of time before AVALANCHE meddled in something of Shinra's, and reports were scarce since his only source at the moment was Reeve. However he did find out that even being left with two of the four Materia, Scarlet had assured him that the rocket would still destroy Meteor. The Black Materia was old and powerful, but was hardly the size of a Huge Materia. Having 660 times the power of normal materia shooting straight at the rock still had a high success rate.
So Rufus sat in his dirty office. He needed to keep control. If he didn't, then he knew everything would fall apart.
The few hours we had on the flight were peaceful. When I got checked by the medic I was told I could use my arm again. It felt tight at times and stung when I flexed it to fast but for all intents and purposes I was battle worthy. But I would need to make sure I didn't end up in situations where I would get hurt. Being shocked, stabbed, drowned, shot and nearly exploded as well as almost every other kind of horrible pain a person could go through makes a man cautious of what he is doing.
I took advantage with what time I had and started to relearn how to fight with Fusion. Getting used to using my left and two hands with the blade at the same time would take some getting used to, but it was good to have my arm back so soon. But the few hours that I had to practice went by quickly, Cid announced that we had arrived at Mideel and that everyone was to get off. The entire team was to make sure the village was evacuated by the time we got Cloud.
After much deliberation I had decided to take Cloud and Tifa with us and try to cure him without falling into the Lifestream. With Aeris we could possibly find a way to help him long term and get him back to normal. But until then we would have to keep him safe and away from trouble. I would also have to talk to Kunsel about tagging along. He was a SOLDIER 2nd, perhaps he would want to fight for Zack, I didn't know.
The whole team got of the airship and entered the now almost barren looking village. Now people sitting around outside, no crazy lady trying to buy up all of the merchandise, it was all quiet peaceful and eerie at the same time.
"Guys!" Kunsel waved and ran up to us.
"Did you get everyone out?" Cid asked, getting straight to the point.
"Mostly, everyone in the clinic is still there. I've been helping stragglers lately."
"How did you get everyone out? I'm surprised it's this empty." Yuffie said, looking around.
"The wealthier families up north were hard to deal with, but a SOLDIER telling you there is an island wide emergency that Shinra officially announces..." Kunsel left the sentence hanging. It really was an island wide emergency, just not anything Shinra was going to do anything about.
"Looks like you're actually useful," Barret said offhandedly. Kunsel's mouth bared its teeth.
"Hey, cut me some slack." He crossed his arms.
"Alright let's quit wasting time and get Cloud. Nate you go and help Tifa. The rest of us will drive off that WEAPON coming here," Cid announced. I nodded and ran towards the clinic.
"Wait what? What the hell is a WEAPON coming here for?!" I heard Kunsel yell in the distance. I ignored him and entered the shack. The nurse inside looked sad and the doctor was sitting at his desk looking at papers. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tifa staring at Cloud, near the exact same position we left her.
"His condition hasn't changed." The doctor didn't turn around as he spoke. "I would say patience will help, but that evacuation may cause problems." He sighed before I turned and walked into the room. Tifa just barely lifting her head to address me.
"It's no use...I don't understand a thing. Cloud..." She looked heartbroken, so sad. I wanted to say that he would be alright, but even I didn't know if he would be.
"What should I do? What if you never recover for the rest of your life?" I could see tears forming at the corner of her eyes. I shook my head before I took out a rag from my pocket and gave it to her.
Suddenly the room started shaking; Tifa fell down while I caught myself on a hanging drawer door. I started hearing deep screeching noises outside as well. Cloud looked up, his abnormally green eyes staring at the ceiling. Barely forming what words he could.
"...They're...They're...coming...!"
"What's happening!?" Tifa grabbed onto a beds frame, looking around frantically. I feel to the ground and kept my head low. Ultima had arrived.
"Get down here you overgrown lizard!" Cid yelled. The giant dragon looking monster in the sky bellowing as it just soared in the air. The earth nearly knocking him on his ass as it continued shaking. In the distance he could see green liquid spout from the earth like a geyser.
"Dammit we ain't got time, Barret get that things attention!" Cid ordered. The larger man nodded before he aimed his gun arm and started shooting at Ultima WEAPON. Its bellows stopping as it finally took notice of the people on the ground trying to kill it. It roared as it dive bombed at the group. Everyone ran and jumped out of the way as the creature landed in the middle of the group.
"Aeris, start casting buffs! Everyone else, get that thing out of here!" Cid yelled with his spear already in hand as he charged at the now idle monster. However Ultima turned and swiped Cid's feet with its tail. Barret started shooting at the creatures head but the bullets only sank into the creature's scales. The monster turned and roared as a light started to shine in the middle of its chest. Cid panicked just before he jumped away when Ultima roared and unleashed the concentrated beam. The energy attack completely decimated what was in its path, the beam continued to travel until the monster finally stopped to rest. What was left in the attacks path were completely destroyed and charred trees along with a chunk of earth missing from the ground.
"Damn monsters and their laser attacks. How many of these fuckers have we fought have lasers that can kill us?" Cid grumbled as he was pulled up by Vincent.
"Complaining will get us nowhere. We need to get past its armor to…" Suddenly the creature roared again as it swiped its tail. Both men were confused when they saw the wound left on the base of the tail.
"Who landed the hit?!" Cid yelled, the creature suddenly stomped into the ground and formed cracks before it stomped again and opened them. Cid panicked when he saw that a few people might fall into the holes when another series of cracks appeared and started to collapse the ground on itself. He looked around and noticed Barret had smashed his gun arm into the ground and pulled it back out and started firing again. While the monster was confused at the lack of dead humans it turned just in time to swat a flying ninja star coming at it with its clawed fist and cover its face from a fire spell aimed at it. It however didn't notice the purple blur to it side until one of the three horns on its head was sliced off.
"I hunt monsters like you for a living; you think you can mess with me?" Kunsel yelled out as he landed on the ground. His broadsword grasped firmly in both hands covered in purple blood. Everyone in AVALANCHE was almost ecstatic now that they knew they could harm the monster physically. But before any plans could be put into action the monster started to flap its wings and lift off the ground.
"Why are you trying to escape, you fucker, get back down here and fight like a man!" Cid yelled at the airborne WEAPON. The creature paid him no head as it charged up its beam once more and fired at a different piece of ground before flying away in the distance as the ground beneath the group slowly stopped shaking.
"Damn, a little longer and I would have found a way to smash it up more." Barret said, breaking the tension. Red nodded.
"It looks like the Lifestream is okay…was Nate wrong?" Before anyone could respond the ground started to shake again.
"Nope, fuckers right again. Everyone haul ass out of here." Cid yelled.
"What about Cloud, Tifa and Nate?" Aeris asked.
"He'll get them to safety. Just start running. He knows what he's doing." Cid didn't sound to convincing but the rest of the group couldn't argue as the earthquake increasingly got worse.
"Okay we need to move… now!" I said. The sudden stop and restart of the earthquake was a good enough signal to start moving out. Tifa nodded as she took Clouds wheel chair and started rolling it. The doctor ran to the door and slammed it open.
"The building can't take the tremors, head out now and get to an open space!" The normally soft spoken old man ordered. I ran as Tifa pushed Cloud behind me. I saw the doctor take off north as I looked around. Knowing the bridge area would collapse on us it pointed south.
"Behind those buildings, we'll go around." I turned and took another side of Cloud's chairs as we rolled it out of the building and in-between two more in a small alley. The rumbling grew as the clinic behind us sank into the ground along with a chunk of land. I looked forward and turned Cloud so we would run along the side of a building and the tree's when I felt my arm get clipped by rocks as the area to my right lifted up and started to sink down. Looking to the tree's I saw Mako pools forming as land started to fall through, leaving little maneuvering room from a wheelchair. I pushed Cloud fast with Tifa looking for an area that could be safe from the sinking landscape.
Then I saw a large clearing of what looked like destroyed trees. Cid's fight with the WEAPON probably made it, I didn't care too much. It looked rough but it would give us a way to make it to the battlefield. I pointed as Tifa looked over and nodded as we sped through what trees blocked out path, nearly knocking Cloud out as we hit roots and trucks to get away. We pushed Cloud into the small ramp like dirt and continued running, the clearing where they fought Ultima was ahead.
"We need to get Cloud to the Highwind, don't stop running." I ordered, the quakes suddenly feeling worse as we ran towards the airships direction.
Suddenly I felt myself lurch forward and push Cloud and Tifa ahead of me. I scramble to get up only to find my leg caught in the soft ground. My brain tried to process this only for me to realize the entire field had too many uneven cracks with sinking dirt in it. The earthquakes felt worse as I noticed more than the bridge area fall into the Lifestream, but the field gradually fell through along with the ground beneath Tifa and Cloud.
"NO!" I pulled my leg out as I rushed towards the two as the ground fell underneath them. Tifa panicked as she looked back and then up at me as she reached her hand out as she fell. Both her and Cloud falling into the deep green liquid beneath them as I slid to a halt and back away from the falling ground.
"TIFA!" I froze in place as I saw the two plunge into the emerald abyss. More earth fell into the stream until a large wave of liquid shot out.
I stood wide eyed as the liquid shot into the air and inevitably crashed down onto me.