Time for a third chapter. Again, please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes that have been accidently left in. If you spot any then hopefully they aren't so awful that you can't even tell what the intended text was supposed to be.

Chapter 3

"ATTEN...TION!" came Cid's booming voice over the Highwind tannoy. "Folks, this is your captain speakin'. We've reached our destination and I've found a spot to set her down. If you're gettin' off then yea' better check all your equipment, then get all your asses up here."

He signed off with his trademark cackle.

Tifa was sitting in the Operations room by herself. In front of her on the table was a plate of scrambled eggs, kindly made for her by one of the ship's crew. She'd barely eaten anything since waking up in Junon, managing only a small bowl of oatmeal that Yuffie had practically forced her to have that morning before leaving Cosmo Canyon.

"You gotta eat something girl or you'll make yourself ill, and then you'd lose that kick-ass body. And don't even pretend that you wouldn't HATE that."

Yuffie's teasing was an endearing attempt to try and lift her spirits, which she appreciated. She'd forced a few spoonfuls down her throat until the ninja was satisfied, but then she pushed the bowl away.

Now she scooped up some of the scrambled eggs and brought it up to her mouth.

"It actually tastes pretty good," she thought to herself. Still, her appetite for the time being was still eluding her so she didn't eat any more. She hadn't asked for anyone to make her anything (she suspected that Yuffie had again been involved in this), therefore it didn't feel rude for her to leave the meal un-eaten.

It was now the afternoon time and the airship had arrived at location. Given how they had not had the exact coordinates it was impressive how quickly Cid had managed to find the place in question and get them here.

She placed her spoon down and stood, deciding she was going head up the ship's deck like Cid had said.

The Highwind had landed without much of a bump and the party was now gathered on the ship's deck. Cid and one of his crew were working on lowering the airstairs so that everyone could disembark.

"So then," said Cait Sith. "Now that we're here, does anybody have a clue who it is we're actually lookin' for?"

"Well no, not really," Nanaki answered. "My Grandpa said that the village we're about to enter is called Mideel. It's where the things that drift out of the lifestream usually end up. He said that locals are friendly people, so I guess we can just ask around, maybe."

"Urgh," said Yuffie. "That doesn't sound like much of a plan. So we're just supposed to walk up to total strangers and say; 'Hi there, Mr Village Person, do you have anything that might help us save the planet that we can borrow maybe? Pretty please?' We're gonna sound like total dweebs."

"Argh don't be negative there lass," said Cait. "We'll just play it low-key and have a look around. See if any of the merchants here 'ave gotten anythin' for sale that ye' don't see every day. Or if they know anybody that might have somethin' exotic that's worth us goin' to look at."

Yuffie crossed her arms in a mini-sulk. Barret meanwhile was looking around and quickly noticed that someone actually wasn't present.

"Yo, where's Vincent?" he asked.

"He said he's not coming," answered Red. "Said that because of the humidity, and the level of mako in the air here, that before long he'd start to feel weak. But if we do find anything then he'll come into town and see, but if not he'd rather stay in the ship until we leave.

"Pfft, I swear that guy's gotta be some kind of damn vampire." said Barret now sounding annoyed.

"It doesn't matter," Tifa declared. "I doubt we'll run into any trouble here, so anybody who wants to stay behind and wait can."

She waited for somebody to take her up on the offer. Yuffie, for all her pouting, didn't object. Neither did Barret, Cait or Red. Cid did however speak as he walked over to join their conversation.

"The stairs are down now so you guys and gals can get off this rig whenever yous want," he said. "I'm gonna hang back though, me and the boys gotta check the engines to make sure there ain't any problems that need fixin' or anything. Maybe I'll catch up with ya'll a little later."

Tifa nodded, then, after looking around at each of her friends as if beckoning them to follow her, headed to the airstairs.

Mideel turned out to be a quiet little town with an endearing charm about it. The village was something of a hot springs' resort, the sort of place many people would consider ideal area to retire to with its' warm climate and laid-back atmosphere. Unlike Costa Del Sol, which was a popular vacation resort, the place wasn't filled with excited families or street vendors selling everything from food to souvenirs. Indeed, most of the local populace here seemed to be middle-aged or older, with scant idea of what was actually going on in the rest of the world whilst they all relaxed.

The people spoke with such tranquility in their voices that it was actually quite jarring, especially to the likes of Tifa and Barret who had both lived for years in rough and tough environment of Sector 7.

The group of five stopped, on what seemed to be the main road that went straight through the centre of the town, to catch their bearings and decide what they should do next.

"Shall we split up, or stay together?" asked Nanaki.

"I say we split up into two groups," answered Yuffie. "Me and Tifa will go together this way (pointing behind her), and you three go over in that direction (pointing the other way). I don't think any of these old geezers are gonna want to hit on us if we're walking around with a big guy with a gun-arm, a red wolf-thingy that talks and an annoying kitty-cat."

Barret spluttered, quite taken aback at her descriptions of him, Red and Cait.

"Wait a minute... what you mean, 'no one's gonna wanna hit on us'? Why the hell would you want anybody to be doin' that?!"

"Because... doofus," she lectured. "These oldies probably don't get to see young, hot beauties like us walk into town all that often. Old pervs tend to have loose lips you know. One of 'em might just let something interesting slip whilst we're humouring them. About materia, or anything else they've found that's been gushed up by the Lifestream."

Barret just frowned from behind his sunglasses.

"It's fine Barret," said Tifa intervening. "I'll go with Yuffie and you three can check out what's over there. We'll cover more ground that way."

He didn't argue with her. Instead he just shook his head and muttered "come on" to both Red and Cait. They both just smiled at easily Yuffie could frazzle him and then turned to follow.

"Come on Tifa," said the younger girl grabbing her friends' hand and then setting them off walking in the opposite direction. The brunette allowed herself to be led but she did decide to ask a question.

"Yuffie, do you really think that anyone here is going to tell us anything just because we're young and they might like how we look?"

The ninja just laughed.

"Probably not," she answered as they walked. "But Barret gives off negative vibes most of the time. I know if someone like him came steam-rolling into my town I'd try my best to avoid him."

Tifa couldn't argue with the logic of her friend's statement. Barret had a good heart and anyone who spent any substantial period of time around him quickly realised that. His tough appearence though was something that often caused problems for him, and for Marlene his daughter. He just didn't LOOK like a friendly guy, and looks sadly played a huge part in first impressions.

Yuffie eventually led them to a small store down the road that sold... what else, materia. The orbs which the vendor had available were really all just basic stuff. The kind of cheap materia that could be bought in most places, e.g. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Healing, etc. Certainly not anything that would likely make much of a difference in a fight an extremely powerful enemy.

"This is really all you got for sale?" Yuffie asked the woman behind the counter.

"Yeah, this is all we have in stock right now," was her generic, almost bored-sounding reply.

"Aw man," Yuffie whined.

Tifa wasn't really listening. She was standing a few feet back, lost in her thoughts with her arms folded across her chest. This town, whilst pleasant and welcoming, didn't seem like it had much to offer to tourists. Coming here was starting to feel like perhaps it had been a waste of time.

She suddenly heart what sounded like an animal wimpering. She looked to her left in search of the noise and spotted a small dog just ahead in the road. Passersby ignored it as it continued to look around, seemingly desperate for someone to stop and take pity. Tifa unfolded her arms and headed over, leaving Yuffie to continue her conversation with the Materia vendor.

She stopped in front of the animal and noticed it was obviously just a puppy, a husky by the look of it. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be injured in any way.

"What's the matter, are you all alone?" she asked in her most motherly-sounding voice. The dog whimpered again, so she bent down to lightly pet it on the head.

"You got lost didn't you? Separated from someone you love? Silly thing."

She continued to try to comfort the dog as best she could. It had a beautiful coat and also a collar she saw now. The dog finally stopped crying and then actually sat, a sure-sign she had succeeded in helping it to feel better. She inspected the collar and saw a name enscribed, it read ' Thunderbolt'.

"Thunderbolt," she said aloud. "That's a very interesting name. I bet it's because you're really brave, aren't you?"

The dog closed its eyes and allowed her to continue petting it. She thought for a minute about what to do. Clearly she was going to have to help this poor animal find its' way home. Yuffie would probably roll her eyes and argue they had better things to be doing but Tifa didn't care, she could never refuse to help a soul in need like this.

Fortunately, her services on this occasion weren't going to be needed. Just as she stood up and looked back towards the Materia store, where Yuffie still was, a voice from behind her cried;

"Oh Bolt, here you are boy! You naughty little scamp!"

Tifa turned around and saw a man lightly jogging over toward her. He appeared to be in his early-to-mid 60s, with hair that was completely white and wearing a light green shirt with comfy brown pants. He was obviously a local.

"I'm sorry Miss," said the elderly gentlemen coming to a stop in front of her. "Is my dog here bothering you? This is here Bolt, he's my pet and I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Oh no," Tifa reassured him, now feeling a bit of good in her heart for the first time in days. "I noticed he was out here all alone and was just checking to make sure he was okay."

"Aye he looks fine," he replied as he bent down now to pet the dog himself (who had stood back up and was now furiously wagging his tail, clearly overjoyed to be reunited with his owner). "Just he's got this regretable habit of running off on his own whenever I turn my back. And sometimes he goes off so far that he forgets how to get himself home. Thank you very much for taking care him for me."

"Oh it's not a problem," Tifa smiled. "As long as he's safe and gets to go back home with whom he belongs ,then everything is fine."

The man stood back up and extended his hand for her to shake. She did so, even closing her eyes for a second whilst giving him another warm smile.

"I've been looking all over the place for him," he said now after they'd finished shaking. "I even went up to the local clinic just over the way to see if they'd seen him. Should have known though that he wouldn't be there, the doctor and the nurses who work there have had their hands full for over a week now. They ain't got time to be looking after lost pets."

Tifa was intrigued by what he'd just said.

"The doctor and nurses have their hands full?" she asked him. "How come? Did something happen here? This place doesn't look like it gets many fiends who come by."

"Oh no" said the man shaking his head. "It's nothing like that. You're right, we seldom get any fiends here in this neck of the woods. It's because a poor kid washed up down the coast about a week ago."

"A kid?"

"Yeah. Well, when I say a kid, I really mean a young man. About the same age as yourself, actually. He must have drifted from somewhere pretty far away. Nobody knows anything about him, only that he was wearing a SOLDIER uniform and was holding onto a large sword.

Tifa felt her blood pressure go through the roof. Before she knew what she was doing she'd grabbed the man by both of his arms and actually began to shake him.

"Wait a minute, what did you just say? Did you say that he was wearing a SOLDIER's uniform?!"

The man was completely taken aback by her sudden change in demeanour and simply froze on the spot. Tifa shook him again, this time even harder.

"ANSWER ME!" she demanded. "Did you say that the man who washed up here was a SOLDIER, and that he had a big sword?"

"Y...Y... Yes..." he spluttered.

Her heart soared. She couldn't believe it.

"So where is he? Is he safe?! Where is he now?"

"It's... it's like I said. He's over at the clinic, it's just up ahead, over there." He craned his neck in the direction of the road which led up to a small mound. Atop of that was a building, one which looked distinctly more modern than most of the others that were around the town.

Tifa let go his arms and tried to quickly catch her breath.

"What's goin' on?" asked Yuffie now approaching them both and looking befuddled. Tifa turned to her.

"Cloud!" she exclaimed. "It's Cloud. He's alive! We've found him!"

Yuffie's jaw dropped.

"What... you mean... seriously?!"

"It must be!" Tifa cried, her voice full of joy. "Cloud. Cloud's alive!"

With that she turned and sped off in the direction of the mound that led up to the clinic the man had pointed out. After a few seconds Yuffie went after her. The elderly man, still somewhat in shock, remained stood in the road with his dog trying to make sense of what had just transpired.

"Young love, I suppose," he told himself.

Tifa burst through the clinic door so quickly she almost knocked it from its' hinges. Her eyes scanned around frantically in search of Cloud, but the only other person in te room was a moustachioed-man wearing a white doctor's coat. He turned around to find the source of all the commotion.

"Hey! Young lady, you just barged in here like the Meteor was crashing down or something."

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "But I heard a friend of mine was here...".

"A friend?" he asked sounding puzzled for a moment. The lightbulb in his head went off and then he nodded.

"Oh... that young fellow? Don't worry, he's next door. But I'm afraid his condition..."

Tifa didn't let him finish. As soon as he'd nodded at the door to her right she immediately went through it.

This next room was filled with beds, and at the far end of the room was a nurse. She appeared to be leaning down over somebody who was sitting down.

"Cloud?!"

The nurse turned around to look at Tifa.

"Oh, hello. Are you a visitor?"

Tifa walked towards her.

"Where is he? Cloud, Cloud is that you?"

She looked over the nurses' shoulder and sure enough, there he was. Cloud, living and in the flesh. He was sat in a wheelchair and his eyes were open. Tifa immediately lost herself in them, the deep-blue eyes he was given as a result of being injected with Mako, like all those who entered SOLDIER. She had never told him how much she secretly loved them.

"Oh Cloud," she let out, her voice breaking. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Cloud didn't answer her. Instead he continued to just stare ahead, his expression blank and unreadable. He wasn't wearing his SOLDIER uniform like usually, instead he was dressed in only light blue patient gown.

Yuffie had entered the room also through the door behind her. When she got a look at Cloud she couldn't help but let her emotions spill over too.

"Dude, it really is him!"

Tifa squeezed past the nurse and then found herself directly in front of him. She leant down to bring her own eyes directly in-line with his. They were almost nose-to-nose

"Cloud," she whispered, tears starting to form. "It's okay, I'm here now. You don't have to worry about anything anymore."

Still, no respons. Not even a twitch. Something was wrong.

"Cloud?" she asked now sounding confused. "Wh... what's wrong? Cloud, please..."

The nurse came to stand directly behind her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to calm down. He's very unwell and so we have to keep things as even-keel as we can around him."

"What's the matter with him?" Tifa asked. Her tears were now starting to fall, but they were quickly changing from ones of happiness to ones of despair.

"Mako poisoning..." came another voice. It was the doctor, he had quietly entered the room himself and come to stand next to Yuffie.

"Quite an advanced case. I'm afraid to say that this young man seems to have been exposed to high levels of Mako for quite an extended amount of time. He hasn't spoken at all really. Not since he was brought in about a week ago. We haven't been able to do much for him except try to keep him comfortable and well-tended to."

"Doctor... please..." begged Tifa turning to look at him with the most pleading of looks. The man simply shook his head, confirming to her that he had no other answers to offer. She returned to face Cloud, the tears now falling heavily.

"Erm... Tifa. I'll... I'll go find the others," said Yuffie, herself starting to feel overwhelmed. "I'll go tell them that we've found him. You just wait here, wait here and stay with Cloud." She didn't know what else to say.

Tifa just placed both her hands in Cloud's lap and then laid down her head upon them. This couldn't be happening, it was too cruel.

End of chapter. Thanks for the favourites and follows. Hoping people are enjoying this so far, they take a lot of work you know lol. Next chapter maybe tomorrow, if not then probably the day after. Don't want to rush them out because it inevitably leads to a dip in quality.

Please leave a review if you would.