My lovely readers, (waves weakly) this was delayed, and for that I apologize, but there were reasons! If interested, see the notes at the bottom. That said, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 16 Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
The sun rose slowly over the red cliffs approaching Cosmo Canyon. Even this early in the day, the warmth rising from the barren stones sent up light-distorting waves of heat. The vivid crimson and gold of the buggy's paint gleamed despite the thick coating of dust from traversing the winding canyons. The vehicle's bone rattling rumble was silent since the engine inexplicably died a mile back. Red XIII assured them there was an able mechanic at the village and they only had a short distance left to go.
At first, only the grunts and huffs of the party straining to push it up the last stretch to the Cosmo Canyon village rose above the crunching of tires on gravel and the distant clicking of insects. For some time, the grim silence was only interrupted by monster attacks, and then Zack started talking...
"...And then I got turned into a frog," Zack finished his third story with a laugh.
Aerith rolled her eyes over to Cloud and muttered, "Suddenly the way you two made it to Midgar is making a bit more sense."
When no one laughed after his story, Zack pouted and huffed, "Come on guys, lighten up a little!"
Trembling with rage, Barret loosed a string of profanities and pulled his hand and gun arm away from the back end of the buggy. "Maybe I'll #* ing lighten up if this piece of junk didn't weigh a couple tons!" he bellowed, swiping a palmful of sweat off his face and flicking it to the ground.
The former SOLDIER grimaced and held his hands palm out and soothed, "Sorry, I admit that was a bad choice of words. On the other hand, are we almost there Red?"
His fur still bristling as he calmed down from a berserker status, the leonine nodded his head sharply and rumbled, "It is not much further, just over the top of that rise."
"It's about time!" Tifa huffed, briefly pulling a hand off the buggy to scrape a soggy strand of hair off her cheek. Revived by the promise of an end to their labors, they pressed on, pushing the gaudy vehicle to the crest of the ridge. Ahead, a spire rose from the canyon. At its crest gleamed the distinctive dome of an observatory.
"There it is!" Red XIII called, shaking his whole body and raising a cloud of salmon-toned dust.
"Finally!" Barret muttered sourly, although his eyes gleamed with excitement. In a quiet, excited voice he admitted to Tifa, "I've always wanted to come here!"
Leaving the buggy at the base of the spire, the humans of the party sighed in relief, rolling their shoulders, and flexing sore muscles that twinged and ached after long hours of pushing. Emitting a few groans as they massaged their aching arms they ascended the winding stairway to the city. A tanned man with spiky brown hair stood watch beneath a gleaming gilt sign at the entrance to Cosmo Canyon. His dusty brown pants hid the ever present dust well, and a white sash crossed over his chest.
Cait Sith cheered and twirled the broken off end of a desert sahagin's spear.
Tifa rolled her eyes and accused, "You didn't even have to push."
"Aye, you're right," the robotic feline agreed, laying a gloved hand on his furred chest. "Yet I suffered with you in spirit."
Zack snorted, but before he could remark on the claim, the sentry at the village entrance called them to a halt, "This is an exclusive community and we don't hold with Shinra's attitude. If you are here to promote mako energy, you won't make it past me." Up close, it was easier to see the man's crimson arm bands were wrapped around biceps thinner than Tifa's.
Zack leaned towards Cait Sith and mocked quietly, "Is he serious?"
While Cloud agreed that the solitary sentry was no match for their party even worn out from pushing the heavy buggy up the dusty slopes of the canyon; he also knew there was a whole community behind him.
Red XIII loped up the stairs and cried, "It is I, Nanaki. I have returned!"
The sentry's demeanor instantly softened and he smiled at the crimson feline. "Oh Nanaki! It is good to see you're alright, we were all worried about you." His gaze shifted to the rest of the party and he shook his head. "I'm afraid the canyon is a popular location and we aren't accepting any more visitors."
"They are with me, Gale. Please allow them to enter," Red XIII-or was it Nanaki?-insisted. Gale frowned, but stepped aside for the others to pass under the village's sign.
Barret raised an eyebrow at his feline friend and said, "Nanaki eh?"
Red's ears and tail drooped slightly and he murmured, "My apologies for the duplicity. Truly, by the time I felt comfortable with your company, I felt loathe to abandon the moniker."
Zack frowned in concentration and then his expression brightened, "You mean the nickname grew on you?"
"Indeed," Red XIII agreed with a bob of his head. They followed a path edged with shops selling a variety of cactus wines. Green-roofed houses clung to the sides of the stone plateau like fungus on the side of a tree. A woman on a second level home paused in hanging laundry from a line strung between her home and another stone formation to call a greeting down to Red.
"Nanaki!" a young boy cried, barrelling out of a house to their right and launching himself on the leonine's neck.
"Spekkio!" Red purred back, rubbing his cheek against the boy's. "You've grown."
The boy stepped back and puffed up his chest. "I'm seven now and I have to be strong for my baby sister."
"That is a laudable sentiment," Red XIII praised.
Spekkio blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"He means you're doing good," Barret translated.
"Oh," Yuffie, Spekkio, and Zack hummed together. The former SOLDIER blushed at the strange look the boy sent his direction.
"Young Spekkio, is Gregor still in town?" Red XIII asked before anyone could comment on Zack's reaction.
The boy bobbed his head eagerly and pointed past a raised platform of stone. A fire burned merrily on the center despite the bright morning light. "He's at the overlook beyond the Cosmo Candle," Spekkio chirped.
"Please take my friends to see him, I must go to my grandfather," the crimson feline asked the boy.
"You can count on me!" Spekkio declared, throwing his shoulders back in pride.
Red bobbed his head at the others and then bounded up a narrow stone staircase between two shops. Spekkio hopped past the flickering bonfire and a bar built into the side of the spire to a fenced off ledge overlooking the rest of the canyon.
"There he is," Spekkio called, pointing to a broad shouldered man in a stained white tanktop and dusty green army pants. He peered over the canyon, every once in a while scratching his hair under his orange hard-hat. His duty fulfilled, Spekkio skipped off.
Gregor turned to face them with a smile "You are here to ask me to work on your vehicle," he stated before Cloud could say a word.
"How did you know?" Yuffie asked, her gray eyes wide.
Gregor smiled broadly and scratched at the stubble on his chin, "You have a beautiful vehicle and I've been watching your approach since before the sun broke over the canyon."
"...beautiful… right," Tifa parroted with a pained grimace.
The mechanic laughed, "I speak of the quality of the build, not the paint job."
Tifa and Aerith sighed in relief and then nodded, conceding his assertion since the buggy had carried them for hundreds of long miles with no issues up to this point. They turned around and guided the man down from the village to the broken down machine.
"Do you think it will take you long to find and repair what is wrong with it?" Cloud asked the man as Gregor raised the hatch for the engine and peered inside.
Gregor hummed thoughtfully, "Parts for vehicles like this are difficult to acquire now, but considering how you were running before stopping, I doubt you have any structural damage. Give me a few hours to run some tests and I'll be able to give you a clearer timeline estimate."
"Thank you for your help," Cloud responded, turning back to the village and ascending the stairs.
"A few hours," Aerith mused as the Cosmo Candle came back into view. "That's quite a while."
"Can we explore?" Yuffie asked, her gray eyes brightening and her body vibrating with excitement.
Zack bared his teeth at her in a grin, "We could have a rematch on finding the town treasure!"
Cloud shook his head, "There's only one item in the village and we can pick it up later," Cloud replied with a shake of his head. "I'm fine with wandering, but I want to upgrade our weapons and armlets while we're here." He jerked his chin towards the same staircase Red vanished up several minutes before.
"A new weapon might be nice," Barret mused rubbing his finger along a jagged scratch in his Atomic Scissors. "Maybe even one that's a gun again."
Tifa giggled, "Lack of a gun's been causing you some difficulties, hasn't it?" Barret grunted in agreement.
Cloud wondered how long it took the people of the village to hew out the long winding staircases and tunnels in the stone of the canyon spire. The dry wind tugged at their clothing as the distance to the main portion of the village below shrunk with their ascension. It took a moment for Cloud's eyes to adjust to the contrast from the bright outside light to the dimmer lit chamber around the weapons shop.
The stand filled one corner of the small stone chamber. To the left of the stall, a narrow stone staircase led further up the spire. A woman stood behind the rough wooden counter under a hand painted sign reading "Tiger Lily Arms Shop". A few green-tipped boomerangs crowded one end of the counter and a small pot against the wall held a baby cactuar. Yuffie eyed the plant warily and shifted so she stood on the opposite end of the stall.
Cloud dug into his pouch, piling excess potions and phoenix downs stolen since Gongaga on the counter to barter for a new selection of weapons. The woman behind the counter gaped at the pile of treasure, jaw slack and stammered weakly, "I'm pretty sure I can't pay you in gil for all of that. I don't suppose you're interested in bartering?" Cloud nodded once and inspected the display of armlets and weapons.
A half an hour later, they left the shop outfitted with stronger armlets and weapons. Zack admired the silver-on-black edge of his new Butterfly Edge sword and asked, "So why did you buy an armlet and weapon for Red XIII if he's going to be staying here?"
The blond shrugged, "He did his share of the work helping us get this far and we have plenty of gil due to the battles and Tifa's work with her Steal materia. It is only fair to help him defend himself when we leave."
"Makes sense," Barret rumbled, his expression morose. "I'm gunna' miss the fur ball."
"Me too," Yuffie sniffled, rubbing her thumb along the sharpened edge of the Silver Barrette.
Aerith patted her on the back consolingly and murmured, "Why don't we take these to him so at least we can say goodbye?"
"That's what I hoped to do," Cloud agreed, taking the items from the girl and ruffling her hair as he passed. A few villagers paused in their errands to watch the strange party as they wove through the stone paths in and around the stone spire. Finally they paused at the base of a ladder that a helpful woman told them would lead to Nanaki's home.
Cait Sith looked up the ladder to the small hole and shook his furred head. "I think I'll wait here," he said with a sigh, "I don't feel up to squeezing through that hole."
Cloud nodded and boosted Aerith up to where Barret waited to help her. Once she was well on her way up, he turned to an armored door against the back wall. A small boy kicked pebbles against the heavy steel, a frown on his face. "Why won't it open?" he whined, kicking at the door and then yelping in pain.
"There's treasure through there, isn't there?" Zack asked, his eyes narrowed shrewdly. Yuffie perked up behind him. Sighing once, Cloud silently nodded and then swiftly ascended the ladder.
"Maybe we can ask about getting in there later," Zack mused, helping Yuffie up before following.
Red's home was a tall observatory built on the peak of the spire. The building had a strange shape and seemed to lean precariously on its foundation. Cloud raised his hand to knock on the rusting door but Yuffie pushed past him and dashed inside calling, "Reeeeed! We have some presents for you!"
The blond grimaced and Tifa patted his shoulder in sympathy as they followed the excited teen inside. Yuffie knelt by Red's side, her arms around his furred shoulders and her face buried in his neck. Nanaki rumbled comfortingly to the young woman. Deeper in the sparse kitchen, a white-bearded man in a bright blue robe stood on a strange green floating device.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo!" he laughed, floating closer to the party and adjusting his round spectacles. "You must be the friends my dear Nanaki was telling me about! My name is Bugenhagen, thank you for taking care of my dear grandson."
"You are Red's grandpa?" Zack cried skeptically, his eyebrows raising to his hairline.
"Zack!" Aerith hissed, elbowing him in the side.
The former SOLDIER scratched the back of his head and apologized, "Sorry, when Red, er, Nanaki was talking about his grandpa, I expected more… more…" He waved his hand in a circle and trailed off with a grimace, not wanting to say it out loud.
"Hoo hoo hoo!" Bugenhagen cackled. "What? More wrinkles?" the old man guessed.
Zack grimaced and shook his head.
"More teeth?" He grinned wide exposing a smile more gap than tooth.
"Er…" Zack's shoulders drooped and he shot a pleading look at the others.
"More muscles?" the old man continued, flexing his bony, liver-spotted arms.
Yuffie rolled her eyes and said flatly, "More fur?"
Bugenhagen stopped laughing, blinked owlishly, scratched the white, bristly beard on his chin and said, "Huh, hadn't thought about that one. I suppose that's a valid thing to wonder too."
The old man cleared his throat and drifted higher in the air. "In any event, I'd like to thank you for helping this child come home safely."
"Child?" Tifa repeated with a frown. "I thought Red was almost fifty."
"Oh he is," Bugenhagen dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Nanaki's kind have much longer lifespans, so by his people's standards, he's only fifteen or sixteen."
"Ha!" Yuffie crowed dancing in place. "That means I'm not the youngest!"
"He said comparatively," Aerith chided the girl with a grin. "He's still a good twenty years older than you."
"Phooey," the young woman huffed, folding her arms and pouting. After a moment, she blinked and looked around. "Hey, where did the others go?"
The wooden door at the back of the kitchen stood open and flashes of light emerged from within. Aerith and Yuffie slipped into the room. They carefully felt their way around strange machinery into the massive, dark room.
A pair of violet eyes gleamed at them from the darkness with a single golden eye glowing below. Yuffie squeaked in surprise, clinging to Aerith's arm. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness they could see Zack and Nanaki standing below a raised platform. Flashes of light reflected from the area above and Bugenhagen's words drifted down to the chamber.
"What's going on?" Aerith asked when she reached Zack's side.
"The old man said something about 'Spirit Energy' and the Lifestream," the former SOLDIER replied with a shrug. "Only three people can go up so I waited here for you."
The last sentence was directed at Aerith, but Yuffie deliberately misunderstood and cooed, "How thoughtful, I didn't know you felt that way about me!"
Minutes later, the lights came back on and when Cloud, Tifa, and Barret descended, their grim expressions lightened to confusion at the sight of Zack giving the squealing teen a noogie. Cloud nodded to Red's grandfather and murmured, "That was very informative, thank you for sharing that with us."
"Yeah man," Barret swiped some moisture from his eyes. "I'm more sure than ever that fightin' Shinra's what I'm supposed to do." Tifa nodded quietly and smiled weakly at Cloud when he squeezed her shoulder in comfort.
"Please feel free to relax by the Cosmo Candle," Bugenhagen invited, drifting past Zack, Aerith, and Yuffie.
The young ninja's eyes widened and she whined, "Hey wait, I wanna go up and see the light show too!"
The old man gaped at her, taken aback and then shook his head, "Young woman, my presentation wasn't merely a light show!"
"I'd like to see it too," Zack interjected. "I could only hear a little bit of your explanation from down here and it sounded like something we all need to know."
Bugenhagen frowned until Aerith mused, "I think I would like to hear your presentation too. If my role as the last Cetra is as important to the planet as you said, I should probably understand it more."
He wavered, and then huffed, "Oh all right, climb aboard."
Yuffie cheered and hopped on the platform bouncing in place. Cloud put his right hand on Zack's shoulder and said, "We'll wait for you down at the Cosmo Candle. Cait Sith should probably hear about this too."
Zack, Aerith, and Yuffie slipped into the circle around the bonfire not long after Cloud finished describing the consequences of Shinra's mako draining to Cait Sith. Zack pulled Aerith close and she hid her face against his chest, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"It's a dire tale," the robotic cat mused softly. Yuffie silently curled against Red XIII's side, the sparkle in her eyes dim. The flames of the eternal fire crackled loudly despite the bustle of the afternoon.
After several quite minutes, Barret finally murmured, "Ya know, we planned to come here… Biggs, Wedge, Jessie 'n all when we finally finished against Shinra. We were fightin' them for the planet and I ain't about to stop now. 'Specially since that old man just said the fate of the world is at stake."
"Well said," Tifa agreed. "I suspect there's more than we know going on about what happened to our home five years ago," she directed the last to Cloud. "Somehow I feel chasing Sephiroth will get us some of those answers."
"My kind serve as protectors of the planet," Nanaki rumbled, the flame of his tail flicking in agitation. "My mother was true to her role and watched over this canyon valiantly, while my father…" he hissed the last word. "He was a coward and abandoned our village and my mother when a great enemy attacked."
"Is that what you think happened?" Bugenhagen asked quietly from behind the party. Red stiffened, refusing to turn and face him. The old man narrowed his eyes at the group, sizing them up before he sighed and shook his head. "Apparently I have been remiss in educating you. Bring your friends to the sealed door." His platform whirred loudly and he rose swiftly towards the peak of Cosmo Canyon's spire.
Nanaki nuzzled Yuffie's head from his side and rose to his feet. "Will you join me my friends?" he asked.
"Of course we will," Aerith assured him warmly.
Nanaki bobbed his head in a grateful bow and led them through the stone pathways up to the heavy sealed doorway. The young boy who was beating on the door earlier stood back, his eyes wide in awe at Bugenhagen hovering in front of the old metal gateway.
Yuffie huffed impatiently, bored at the old man's pompous preaching about the dangerous way. She narrowed her eyes, sidled up to Cloud and whispered, "Hey Cloud, were you serious that there were treasures beyond that door?"
Zack straightened and slightly turned his head to catch Cloud's answer. The blond rolled his eyes once and then nodded. Wide grins crossed Zack and Yuffie's faces the pair vibrating in place. Aerith huffed and jokingly shook her fist at Cloud. Bugenhagen finally finished his speech and triggered the hidden door release.
Yuffie cackled madly and dashed under the rising door shouting, "Last one to the treasure is a rotten Mu!"
"Hey!" Zack cried to the partially open passage. "No fair using being short as an advantage!" When the gate was a comfortable distance open, the rest of the party scrambled in after her.
Cloud barely had time to narrow his eyes at the tendrils of mist curling around his boots before Yuffie's shriek of terror rang down the tunnel. She dashed out of the darkness, her eyes wide and her face pale. She buried her face in Tifa's chest, her narrow shoulders shaking with sobs.
"Whoa, her hair is sticking up!" Zack breathed in awe.
Aerith glared at him and rubbed the younger girl's shoulder. "Tifa and I will stay back with Yuffie, the rest of you go ahead," she decided, pausing to loan Cloud her Enemy Skill and Revive materia.
"Do you need my Steal?" Tifa asked after Cloud slotted the yellow and green orbs in his sword and armlet.
Cloud peered into the darkness for a long moment and then silently shook his head.
"I will stay back with the ladies," Cait Sith announced, jumping off his Mog, squirming into the Wutaian's arms, and setting off a rumbling purr.
"That is a good idea. I'm counting on you three to take care of her," Cloud murmured massaging the base of the girl's skull gently before peering off into the dim tunnel.
Zack agreed with a casual shrug, "Bugenhagen is just going to show us something. I'm sure we can tell you guys about it later."
Unnoticed, the old man's shoulders hunched for one second and then he plastered an innocent look on his face. Only catching the tail end of the expression change, Barret narrowed his eyes at the man's back while Bugenhagen told Aerith, "Be sure to close the door when you leave, Kala would string me up by my whiskers if little Marko managed to get in here. Hoo hoo hoo!" His laugh echoed in the dark chamber.
Cait Sith bounced ahead of the trio as they made their way back to the bright entrance. With one of Tifa's hands on her left shoulder and Aerith's on her right, they guided the trembling young woman from the cave entrance and back into the warm, dusty tunnels of the village. Cait Sith jumped from Yuffie's ars and scrambled to the barrel holding the door release. He triggered the door, the heavy metal slamming shut in front of what must be "little Marko". The boy stuck out his lower lip in a pout and kicked the barrel that was too tall for him to climb.
"Maybe when you're older lad," Cait chided the boy with a pat on his head before following the women. Tifa and Aerith guided Yuffie through the maze of tunnels and out to the sun soaked plaza. They carefully settled her on the edge of the platform surrounding the bonfire of the Cosmo Candle. As the light and heat soaked into her skin, she slowly relaxed and her whimpers died off.
With a final shudder and a deep sigh, she uncurled from her hunched position and smiled weakly at her friends. "Thanks Aerith, Tifa, Cait Sith," she murmured.
"It was no trial m'lady," Cait responded happily. "Though I wonder what we should do while we await our companions' return?"
Yuffie perked up and turned her gray eyes on Aerith, "You promised me an ice tower."
"I did, didn't I?" Aerith laughed. "We'd better talk with the town mayor before we do anything drastic though."
As Cait Sith and the young women headed back towards the entrance, Cloud and the others traveled deeper into the cave system. The men clambered down a series of worryingly creaky, damp ropes and ladders while Red XIII hopped down the ledges, Bugenhagen floating down a distance behind them.
As they descended, the walls lit with an eerie green glow. Cold, damp air clung to their faces as they entered the massive cave system faintly lit by natural materia and mako deposits. A layer of fog shrouded the uneven stone of the chamber floor. Water dripped and echoed in the stifled silence.
"Oh crap," Zack moaned, gazing out into the eerie atmosphere. "I just remembered what would make Yuffie scream like that."
Cloud grimaced and nodded. Barret rolled his eyes. "You don't really believe in ghosts do you?" he asked, his lip curling. He stepped back and stumbled over something on the ground. "What the hell-?" He choked off, gaping at the pile of bones around his feet. A mostly intact skeleton draped in rotting fragments of cloth and feathers slumped against the chamber wall.
"Woah!" Zack exclaimed, leaning over to look at the humanoid remains. "This guy is huge! What would you guess Cloud, about seven and a half feet?"
"At least," the blond murmured, gazing pensively down at the oddly shaped skull. "Though I'm a more worried about those teeth." He nudged it with his foot so the razor fanged maw gaped towards the ceiling. A chilling shriek rent the air, raising the small hairs on the back of Cloud's neck.
"Watch your backs now!" Bugenhagen called, hiding behind a rock just before three spectral warriors attacked the party with ghastly shrieks.
"What did he say?" Yuffie asked eagerly as Aerith stepped from the home that doubled as the city hall.
"The village headman said we could make our ice tower and slide on one condition," Aerith said somberly, though her eyes glimmered with humor.
"What condition?" Tifa asked, pausing in braiding her hair back.
"That he gets to go first," Aerith replied with a laugh.
The door swung open and a man well into his eighties emerged with what looked like his wife's wok held over his head. "Let's make it snow!" he cried. "I know the perfect spot!" He dashed off toward the town's residential district as fast as his older body would allow, Yuffie whooped and followed hot on his heels.
"You can take the man out of Icicle, but you can't take Icicle out of the man," his wife sighed from the doorway, shaking her head. "This opportunity means a lot to him, but please make sure he doesn't kill himself. I'll reward you when you drag my old fool back home."
Tifa and Aerith giggled and hurried after Yuffie and the old man with Cait Sith following in their wake.
The group convened in a wide area near the center of the village. The old headman panted and sweated in his hastily tossed on, mothball-scented jacket as he pointed to a bare section of cliff topped with one of the many staircases weaving around Cosmo Canyon's spire. He pointed to the walkway and explained, "If you put the entrance up there, you won't even need to worry about stairs." He swept his arm in a waving motion, mimicking a spiral for the slide and then pointed to a section of the plaza fully shielded from any drop offs. "I've already sent some people out for mattresses to cushion the landing zone. It will be best to have the slide exit there…"
He lowered his arms, trailed off, and then gave Aerith a stern look while tapping his right foot impatiently, "Hadn't you better summon the Lady so I can explain this to her?"
Aerith gaped at the man, but focusing her energy, she summoned the blue-skinned woman. Shiva looked around for an enemy monster, seeing none she raised a sea-green eyebrow at her summoner. Before Aerith could say anything, the old man stepped forward and sent a deep, if creaky bow to the ice goddess. His voice full of awe he addressed her, "Great and beautiful Lady Shiva, as a displaced child of the North, I greet you and give you honor. These people have asked to worship thee in a festival of snow even here, far from thy realm. If it please thee, hear our words and support us in converting the people of this dry, hot desert to the joys of thy icy wonder."
Yuffie's dropped jaw suddenly snapped shut and she breathed in surprised recognition, "She's their summon! The summon of the Northern Continent!" She turned to the others in a hushed voice as the man continued to praise and explain his desires to the goddess. "Just like Wutai has Leviathan as a deity summon, Shiva must be the deity summon up where he's from. He'll probably have some awesome advice on how to utilize her powers," Yuffie added with a nod to the beatifically smiling man.
The goddess nodded to the man and stroked his white cloud of hair once before turning her glacier-blue eyes on Tifa and pointing to her armlet. Her ice materia thrummed in response and catching on to the unvoiced command, she pushed out her strongest available ice attack.
Shiva plucked the attack from the air and wove it into her powers, a growing dusting of snow began to fall from the sky and the temperature plummeted. Tifa shivered at the temperature difference and upon Shiva's gaze, launched another blast of ice. Aerith grinned and every once in a while sent a surge of power through her summon materia to help out.
The plaza lit in a blaze of blue magic and a dazzling array of rainbows as the strong desert sun refracted off the crystals and the steadily growing pillar of ice. All around the plaza and village, people stopped to peer up as a thick blanket of dark clouds occluded the sky and flurries of flakes fell more heavily. Yuffie whooped and danced in the slightly slushy, but hardening drifts and then ruffled the hair of the slack jawed and shivering Spekkio. "Hey kid, do you wanna build a snowman?"
Sweat slicked the skin of the humans in the humid volcanic chamber while Red XIII panted heavily. Thick channels of crimson mud bubbled along the edges of the pathways. Zack prodded a patch of oil-slick ground with the toe of his boot and then grimaced when Cloud ducked out of a side passage with an Added Effect materia. "You know Cloud, if I wasn't more disgusted by this whole situation I'd be annoyed that you're still finding treasure."
"Don't diss it man," Barret huffed, curling his lip in disgust as he untangled a strand of ghostly remains from Red's mane. "At least it's a useful skill. What I wanna know is how the hell we're killin' ghosts!"
"I find I must agree," Red growled, the burning end of his tail lashing furiously. "These specters are much livelier than anticipated."
"You should feel comforted that they are dead," Bugenhagen piped up from behind the party. "They were much worse when they were alive. Yet a single, brave warrior fought his way through these caverns to prevent them from invading and slaying the innocent people of the village." He sniffled once and then stepped ahead into the next room of the cave network. A somber silence fell.
"I thought we were supposed to go first because it is dangerous down here," Zack mused lightly, breaking the tension. Shaking his head with a small snort, Cloud followed the old man into the next chamber.
The abrupt decrease in temperature chilled the sweat on his arms and he shuddered once while examining the room. Blue green deposits glowed on the slime-slick walls of the vast chamber. They stood on one of three a narrow spans of stone that seemed to float above the distant, greenish mist-shrouded chamber floor.
Barret and Red XIII peered over the edge warily. "I wonder what lies down there?" the feline mused.
"I dunno," Barret shrugged, backing away from the edge. "Considerin' the lack of echoes, I dunno if even the spiky brothers would manage that kinda' fall."
"Perhaps," the furred beast mused with a hint of amusement in his voice. "But it would be amusing to score." They caught each other's eyes and burst out laughing.
"Hey!" Zack cried, folding his arms and glaring at the snickering pair.
Cloud snorted and turned away from contemplating the other two spans in the chamber and patted his pouting friend on the back. Behind the party, Bugenhagen tilted his head to the side, not understanding the joke.
After the echoing of the previous chambers, the muffled silence of the massive room pressed down heavily on the men. The further they walked in the chamber the warmer the temperature rose until the ceiling lowered and the floor rose from the shrouded darkness. The viscous crimson fluid lapped against the stone of the path beneath them and Bugenhagen addressed them at the doorway to the next chamber.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, this cave leads directly to the village of Cosmo Canyon," he began, his voice taking on a lecturing cadence.
"Considering we just came from the village, of course we noticed," Zack muttered in a nearly inaudible whisper to Cloud.
The corner of the blond's mouth twitched in a slight smile and equally quiet he replied, "Not to mention 'direct' is a bit of a stretch."
"Wait," Barret burst in after the old man finished. "You said the Gi couldn't attack through here since it was narrow. How the heck are we fighting' em here then?" The old man said nothing, merely raised his hand indicating they should go on.
The next room was a slight reprieve from the oppressive heat of the previous room, though a heat-driven wind whistled up from a crevasse curving through the chamber. Cloud tilted his head looking up to a ledge across the crevasse before peering at the five tunnels dominating the back wall.
"So we gonna take one each?" Barret mused as he scratched his goatee. Bugenhagen squawked in protest.
Cloud shook his head. "There's no reason to split up, only two of them go anywhere." He waved them into the fourth tunnel from the left. The short dark tunnel opened into another vermillion cast chamber. A pair of stone columns bracketed the path, and a massive, glimmering web barred the way. Barret and Red halted a respectful distance from the sticky strands.
"I ain't touchin' that," Barret muttered shaking his head sharply.
Zack snorted and held a fist out to Cloud. The blond huffed and they shook their fists, Cloud showing scissors and Zack showing paper. "Awww you always win!" he pouted as he drew his Butterfly Edge and slashed through the cable thick-silk. A deafening screech of rage sounded from above them. A massive, pale green Stinger skittered down the remains of the web and blocked the path. The clawed ends of its four spindly legs screeched across the stone floor and its three crimson eyes gleamed balefully at the small group.
With a nerve-wracking screech, it lunged forward and caught Barret with a stinger attack. Cursing, the man fell back, clutching the wound. "Damn that hurts," he hissed, rubbing the swelling mark on his shoulder. Red XIII yelped, dodging a second attack and nearly overbalancing into the boiling red mud below. Cloud dashed to his side and braced the feline's flank until his claws managed to grip the stonework.
Zack hollered and brandished his Butterfly Edge in the Stinger's face, pulling its attention from Barret and Nanaki. Shaking off the shock of nearly tumbling off the path, Red snarled in rage, launching a Blood Fang attack at their foe. The glowing red spiral formed in front of him before he dashed past the monster, gouging a chunk from its body as he passed. It shuddered under the attack but lunged toward Zack, its fanged mouthparts open wide.
Yuffie and Aerith screamed as the headman's wok spun under them, facing them the wrong direction on the ice slide. The young ninja kicked against the slide wall to try and correct their position. Unfortunately, she overcompensated and instead of facing forward they twirled madly the rest of the way down. They shot from the icy chute onto the gathered pile of mattresses and blankets to the hoots and cheers of gathered townsfolk.
Spekkio grabbed the wok from the tangle of legs and carried it over his head with a pair of friends trailing after him chattering with excitement. Yuffie and Aerith moaned and gingerly untangled themselves. Laughing at the pair, Tifa extended her hands and pulled both of them to their feet. "I don't understand," Tifa huffed, "why does riding in a buggy or ship make you horrifically sick, but this only makes you dizzy?"
As if proving her point, Yuffie wobbled away from the landing area so the next people in line could land safely. "The answer is simple!" she declared, raising one finger to emphasize her point. "I am a child of nature, and those unnatural devices make me ill."
Aerith and Tifa looked down on the young woman, blinked, and then shrugged at each other. "I guess that makes a bit of sense," Aerith conceded.
"Of course it does," the young woman huffed, dashing to the back of the line while a pair of kids on a cookie sheet tumbled onto the landing zone shrieking with laughter. Aerith shook her head and waved to where Cait Sith sold slushies with Thalia, one of the bartenders from the Starlet Pub. The cactus fruit margaritas were a major hit and even taking splitting the take into account, they were making a sizable profit.
Zack rubbed the fading wound on his shoulder with a grimace. "That monster certainly had a nasty attack. I kinda wish we had the girls here to help fight it."
"Fancy as the thing is, I still can't believe we went through all of that just for an X-potion," Barret grumbled as the party retraced their steps to the chamber with five tunnels.
"I'm not enthused by the necessity of backtracking either," Red conceded, "but the ominous liquid between these pathways is a deterrent to any attempts to leap over."
Shuddering, Zack nodded in agreement and then said brightly, "At least we shouldn't have too much more to deal with as places like this usually only have one big nasty monster so the rest of this trip shouldn't be so bad."
In the front of the group, Cloud halted and slowly turned, a dark scowl on his face, "Damn it Zack, why did you have to say that?" Spread across the path with shining, milky strands was another Stinger web.
"Oops?" Zack laughed hunching his shoulders. As if sensing the blood of its brethren on their hands, the Stinger didn't even wait for its web to be disturbed before attacking. Cloud's only warning was the low creak of the silken fibers and the faint sound of rushing air. The Stinger's namesake screeched along his upraised Butterfly Edge and scored a deep gash on his left shoulder.
Bellowing in pain, the blond fell back under the cover fire from Barret's tri-barreled Heavy Vulcan. Zack crouched by his side and asked, "You okay Cloud?"
Cloud hissed through his teeth and nodded, "We've both felt worse, right?" Zack grimaced and nodded while helping the blond to his feet. "I usually like to conserve my magic for healing but in this case…" Cloud's hand hovered over his borrowed Enemy Skill materia the yellow gem gleaming as he activated it. "Perhaps one of Aerith's Flamethrower attacks would be-"
He yelped, barely dodging the javelin-like claw of the Stinger and selected his attack. Instead of a massive gout of flame, the croaking medley of Frog Song filled the air, engulfing the monster in an enormous cloud of smoke. "Oops," Cloud said weakly as Barret glared back at him in disgusted disbelief. Zack on the other hand, almost looked proud.
The unnatural smoke cleared and they gaped at the toad dozing on the stone path. "That… was fortuitous," Red XIII finally said in a shocked voice.
"The Heck with fortune," Barret snarled, punting the sleeping amphibian into the viscous red mud. It squirmed and then sank beneath the surface with a drawn out froggy squeal.
Zack winced and muttered, "It's a good thing Aerith isn't here."
Cloud snorted, "Or Yuffie."
Zack scratched the back of his head in confusion, "Yuffie didn't seem to care about small animals back before Corel. She's actually pretty mercenary."
"Exactly," the blond huffed and tossed his friend a crooked smile. "And what just happened to the monster's gil and items?"
He pointed to the bubbling surface of the mud and the former First grimaced, "Right. Guess we'd better just kill the next one. On that note though, Alfonse and I get the next one!" He cackled and dashed to the head of the party, suddenly eager to face the next enormous mock-arachnid.
While turning Stingers into frogs helped alleviate some of the stress of battle, a plethora of spiny, quadruped Sneaky Steps, snake-like Hegs, and Gi Spectors barred their way. Near the doorway to another chamber, Barret chugged an Ether and grumbled, "Why the hell didn't we take Yuffie or Aerith's Restore materia? I'm strugglin' to keep up with all this."
Cloud grimaced and nodded in agreement as he used one of his last Antidotes on Red XIII, "I should have grabbed Heal from Tifa or Cait Sith too. Hopefully we'll make it out of here before we run out of supplies."
Bugenhagen drifted to the party from where he'd hidden from the last monster attack and recited another piece of the fragmented story, something about the brave warrior fighting the enemies one by one. Zack huffed an aside to Cloud, "At least this guy only had to fight one by one, we're lucky if we just get one."
Cloud smirked and huffed a small sound of amusement and then stepped into the next chamber. As with most of the cave system, the stone walkway bridged churning mud pits. Jagged stalactites hung from the ceiling like daggers and at the end of the single bridge was-
"The hell?" Barret interjected. "Is that a face?"
The stone of the back wall formed a face of hard angles and sharp edges, from the long nose to its pointed teeth and chin. Bugenhagen peered from behind Zack and muttered, "It is worse than I thought, the spirits stagnating…" The massive face opened its jaws, gnashed its teeth, and then the largest spirit yet emerged from the stonework to attack them.
"Ah, this is the life," Yuffie sighed as she sank into the water of the hot spring. "It kind of makes me homesick."
Beside her, Aerith adjusted the towel holding her hair up and hummed in pleasure as the heat leached away the lingering cold from the village-wide snowball fight. "Tifa and I are a little worn out with all the ice magic we used, but I have to admit I had a lot of fun."
On Aerith's other side, Tifa grinned and rubbed a faint bruise on her left shoulder. "That Spekkio kid has a good arm, either that or he tossed a rock in with that last snowball. Ahh, this feels wonderful." She stretched her back and shoulders popping from the earlier rigors of the day. Humming, she combed her fingers through the milky water and her damp hair, not even bothering to try and contain the thick locks.
"It was nice of the headman's wife to let us use their private hot spring," Aerith agreed, casting her gaze over the small room surrounded by a stone and mortar wall.
"Well, we did manage to bring her husband back alive," Yuffie snickered, "and donating a little cash to replace her wok probably helped too."
A pleasant silence fell over the women in the humid enclosure before Aerith mused, "The guys sure have been gone a long time. I wonder what Bugenhagen wanted to show them?"
"Considering the headsman's private hot spring, perhaps it is some natural formation or a statue dedicated to the father Red seems to curse?" Tifa theorized.
Yuffie snorted, "Yeah right. Bugenhagen's going to make them go through the g-g-ghost cave," she shuddered and pressed on, "just to see some statue?"
"A statue?" Barret hissed in outrage to Cloud and Zack as they gave Bugenhagen time to converse with Red XIII. "We fought all this way to look at a statue?!"
Cloud paused in scraping some spectral goo out of his hair and frowned. As Red XIII howled to his father's statue and the crimson moon, Bugenhagen returned to them. The blond grimaced and then asked, "While it was an interesting and inspiring tale, is there a reason you couldn't just tell us this back at the observatory?"
The old man's eyes widened and he shifted on his floating orb nervously and replied, "Some things are better told through actions and witnessed with ones own eyes." He rubbed his hands together in a sort of washing motion and then pointed to a crack in the wall of the cliff. "I must be getting back to the village, but there's a natural spring in there where you can clean off from your efforts." The old man revved up his floating apparatus and floated off into the night.
Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. Barret cursed, his tone filled with grudging admiration, "Damn, we got played."
Zack chimed in with a grimace, "Wanna bet he dragged things out and took us here because we were a convenient method to thin the population?"
"No bet," Cloud sighed dropping his hand from his face and lowering his voice as Red XIII turned back towards them. "We probably had better not tell Red about this though." The other two winced and nodded.
Night was giving way to the dim false-dawn of morning when Cloud and the others returned to the Cosmo Candle. "Cloud!" Yuffie cried, launching herself on the blond and clinging to his neck. "You guys took forever! Did you bring me anything?"
He laughed softly, grasping her waist and carefully lowering her to the ground, "As a matter of fact, I did. Get out your Pinwheel." After she slid the odd weapon from the holster on her back, he pulled out a small blue orb.
Yuffie's gray eyes widened and her voice rose to a rather shrill squeak, "A support materia?" She quivered with suppressed enthusiasm as he paired it with her Choco-Mog summon.
"With this arrangement, you'll have a wind nature to your attack," He explained returning her weapon.
She shoved it in its sleeve and tackled the blond in another hug. "You're the best!" she declared, her voice muffled in the fabric over his chest.
"Aw, no love for me?" Zack asked with a pout.
Yuffie pulled away from Cloud with a devilsh grin on her face, "Nope, no love for losers!"
"What?" the former SOLDIER sputtered, gaping down at her.
"That's right," she preened, reaching into her pouch. "While you were off playing in the caves, I found the item Cloud mentioned." She pulled the distinctive crimson bottle of an Elixir from her pouch and waved it tauntingly.
"Good work," Cloud praised, taking the item and stowing it in his pouch and huffing a laugh at Zack's jutting lower lip.
"Did she tell you she found it by sitting on it?" Tifa asked, chuckling at Zack's pout.
He perked up slightly, and his expression turned smugly amused, "She didn't!"
"I still found it!" Yuffie countered before he could dismiss her work.
Shaking his head, Cloud walked ahead of the bickering pair to join Aerith and Cait Sith at the Cosmo Candle. He handed the mechanical feline the polished, golden Fairy Ring, and the Gravity materia. "It is about time you had some offensive materia."
"Oh, a princely gift indeed!" the tuxedo cat purred equipping the items.
Cloud sat down on Aerith's other side and returned her Enemy Skill and Revive. The others slowly joined them and he stared into the flames for a short while before Zack and Yuffie's whispered bickering drove him to his feet with a huff. "I'm going to check on the buggy."
Tifa shrugged, "We might as well all go." They dusted themselves off and wove through the early morning hush of the town.
After stepping around his third muddy puddle, Zack asked, "Why is it so wet? Did you guys get an isolated rainstorm or something?"
Aerith laughed weakly, "Yeah, there was a bit of freakish weather while you were gone." Yuffie snickered and then squeaked when Tifa drove a sharp elbow into her side. "Nothing to worry about, it cleared up," she assured him with a sweet smile.
Just before reaching the gates, Red XIII dashed to their sides crying, "Wait for me! I'm coming too!"
"Wha? R-really?" Barret stammered, a faint light of hope showing in his eyes and his slumped shoulders rising slightly.
Bugenhagen drifted to Cloud's side and sniffling, pled in a thick voice, "Please look after Nanaki."
Cloud nodded and followed the others down the stairs. Gregor gathered the last of his tools and greeted them with a tired but elated smile. "Hello! You're just in time!"
"Did you fix it?" Yuffie asked, her voice a curious mix of hope and trepidation.
"I did indeed! Man that vehicle is a beauty! You don't even need to pay me, I almost think I should be paying you! I had an amazing time looking her over," he gushed, his mouth stretched into a wide smile. "It took me a few hours of hunting, but I finally found and fixed the broken part."
"What was broken?" Cait Sith asked, tilting his head curiously.
Gregor chuckled, "Your fuel gauge. You were just outta gas."
Cloud smacked his forehead and groaned. Yuffie's eyes widened and her shoulders hunched as she murmured a small, "Oops."
A/N: Firstly, I apologize for the tardiness of this chapter, I seriously had nothing planned for Cosmo Canyon when I finally decided to make this a continued fic so that caused a bit of a delay. My beta can attest I had this pretty much finished Monday night. I added a scene, did a little clean up, and fully intended to post Tuesday evening… then I got hit by a car biking home from work. -_-; I'm mostly okay but sadly posting this got shifted in priorities. On a happier note, I've made this story my (sadly behind schedule) work for Camp Nanowrimo so hopefully the next chapter will arrive much sooner. :D
Fun bit of trivia, apparently the user manuals in North America and Europe disagreed on Red XIII's age (48 and 45 respectively) so I refrained from using his actual age.