The dusk gave way to twilight as the cold winds began to descend from the mountains. The sky was full of clouds blocking most of the residual starlight and the crescent moon that peeked through the layer of darkness intermittently. Fall had already come, and the mountains had very dubious weather that could change at the drop of a hat. The monster patrol from Nibelheim sat huddled around the fire pit Brian had dug off thirty yards from the beaten path in the valley just before it started climbing back up into the mountain range. The fire danced more and more as the winds picked up as each member gazed into the fire hearing the winds begin to howl as the fire began to crackle. Brian hoped the fire would hold strong as Mr. Zander had his eyes closed sitting upright very still as if he were in deep contemplation. Mr. Strife and Dale sat still trying hard not to move without being too close to the fire with their burns still inflicting much pain.
"So how long do you think it will take for another patrol to find us?" Glenn almost asked a bit sarcastically picking at the fire with a stick.
"I have no idea..." Brian shrugged looking to Mr. Zander for an answer which none came.
"You want to try to use the cure materia again on Dale and Mr. Strife?" Glenn suggested.
"I have already used it twice on each of them an hour ago. I still haven't recovered mentally, how about you?"
"I've used it on myself enough to scar my wounds up" Glenn paused pointing to Mr. Zander and whispered. "...and the rest on Mr. Zander here..." Councilman Zander's wounds would require time after using a weak cure, and with the serious nature of a dragon's claw he's lucky to be alive. Brian looked at Mr. Strife and Dale trying to stay warm yet enjoy the cool winds to satiate their burns.
"I still can't believe we slayed a dragon! Can you believe it?!" Glenn laughed.
"From the looks of its corpse, we had help" Brian surmised.
"What do you mean?"
"Apparently this creature encountered either another powerful beast or another party and..." Brian trailed off leaving the rest unspoken.
"Hmph, we finished it off though" Glenn ran his hand through his hair.
"What did you do up there with Shinra?" Brian suddenly asked almost accusingly.
"What I can tell you is killing monsters, beyond that... it's classified" Glenn said seriously.
"What kind of monsters?" Brian pressed.
"You know, the regular beasties that roam the Nibel Mountain range..."
"Come on already damnit! We came across a dragon for the Goddess's sake!" Mr. Strife finally spoke out a bit perturbed.
"I am being honest..." Glenn paused drawing stares from both Mr. Strife and Brian.
"Bullshit" Dale gritted through his teeth. "Shinra tells us only what they want us to know"
"Well I'm not employed by Shinra anymore. Our contract is done" Glenn declared.
"For now..." Brian retorted.
"Look, I told you the truth! We were just hands up there fighting monsters and helping with protecting the workers at the reactor" Glenn said a bit louder.
"Shhh!" Councilman Zander put a hand up.
"What is it?!" Brian began straining his ears. Mr. Zander still had his eyes closed when the winds slowly began to die down, then Brian could hear movement in the distance and other noises.
"We're not alone" Mr. Strife said in a low voice painfully sitting up. They could hear slaps, steps, and growls in a not-so-distant area. Dale too slowly sat up listening.
"It sounds like a wolf pack... and they're feasting on... something" Dale finished after the wind picked back up for a moment.
"The carcass" Brian whispered.
"They must be smelling it from miles away" Councilman Zander said holding his gun at the ready.
"That must be enough to feed several wolf packs" Glenn's head was spinning.
"It will turn into a feeding frenzy" Mr. Strife grunted.
"The monsters must not be interested in us over here" Brian almost sighed in relief.
"If only it were that simple" Councilman Zander said turning around looking back as far as the dim light from the fire would reveal. Dale began slowly loading his rifle despite the pain moving caused him as did Mr. Strife.
"We're not going to let it end without a fight" Dale grunted readying his rifle.
"It's not going to end, we're going to be just fine" Glenn said with a determined look on his face as he began making makeshift torches with some of the remaining sticks. Brian began helping him gather more sticks and doing the same as they prepared for an impending onslaught. A moment later a loud deep guttural growl could be heard rumbling in the distance. Everyone quickly turned to face the darkness ratcheting up the fear levels.
Back towards the path to the Shinra Manor, Claudia and Thea trotted away on their blue chocobos anxious to find their family and loved ones. The sun was quickly disappearing beyond the horizon. The two young women were racing up the path towards the Shinra Manor when they were stopped ahead by a couple of Shinra guards where the path turned towards the gate.
"Halt!" a guard shouted.
"Great! We always have to tell them when we're going into the valley" Thea rolled her eyes as they slowed down on Blueberry and Skye.
"Those are some prize birds you got there" the other shinra guard remarked as they approached.
"Please, a monster patrol has been out since morning and hasn't returned" Claudia pleaded.
"And what are you girls going to do?" the first guard scolded.
"We are going to see where they are and assist where we can" Thea said showing them her rifle.
"You think those hunting rifles are going to stop a wild monster?" the first guard continued.
"I have experience with them, I can handle myself" Thea said almost defiantly.
"If you're here to serve and protect, then you would come with us and help with the search" Claudia chided.
"We can't leave our post, we have company-" the second guard said but was cut off by the first.
"Shh..! Sorry, you'll have to turn around and wait until you have hunters with you" the first guard ended the debate.
"But..." Claudia protested.
"Claudia come here" Thea said turning her chocobo around acting as if they were heading back into town.
"Thea!" Claudia said with a heavy heart.
"These chocobos can do the rest right? Your story was true right?" Thea whispered.
"I mean, that's what I was told" Claudia said holding her reigns.
"She never told you how to get these birds do work their magic?"
"No, I'm not even sure if she was telling the truth..." Claudia admitted.
"Skye, Blueberry, we need your help" Thea whispered. The two birds quietly chirped.
"Please, we need to go in the valley, we need your help" Claudia pleaded rubbing Skye's head. A moment went buy and they started chirping a little louder.
"Hey! I thought we told you to go back to town" the first guard yelled, but without warning a bright light appeared and water began propelling them up and up into the sky. Claudia and Thea held on tight to the reigns as they flew up from the water over fifty feet going up and quickly gliding past the guards.
"Hey! You get back here!" the second guard yelled. Just as they were going to pursue them a few more chocobos appeared.
"What's wrong?" Brian's and Thea's dad said on their chocobos with two others behind them.
"Two girls just flew into the valley!" the first guard said a bit anxiously.
"Flew?!" Thea's dad was a bit surprised.
"Yea, it seems they were propelled by magic water or something" the second guard explained.
"Magic Water?" one of the younger watchmen asked a bit incredulously.
"Fine, we're going to go search for the other team that left early this morning" Brian's dad said matter of factly.
"Make it quick! We have some high shinra executives coming" the first guard warned.
With that, the smaller group of hunters raced beyond the Shinra Manor into the valley.
The group pursuing Claudia and Thea, were Thea's and Brian's father along with two young greenhorns who had only been part of the watch for just over a year. Brian's father was a fairly experienced hunter while Thea's dad was average at best. His skill was more of working as a councilman and a gardener. The other two were the boyfriend of Melanie, and his older brother who was eighteen years of age. Each of them rode a yellow chocobo which came from the grasslands mainly, but could be found anywhere as they were the most common "all purpose" kind of beast of burden.
Up ahead Thea and Claudia were gliding above the forests deeper into the valley until the magic of the blue chocobos began to exhaust as they gently descended back to the ground. The flight was exciting, exhilarating, and scary at the same time. Neither of the young women thought that would happen, but it was getting dark and they needed to be on the ground to be able to better see what was ahead.
"I didn't really believe your story at first..." Thea said still amazed as they landed.
"It's ok, I wasn't so sure myself..." Claudia laughed.
"I think Skye and Blueberry are tired" Thea said noticing the slow unenthused pace of the birds.
"Maybe we have some gyshal greens in one of the baskets" Claudia suggested.
"Let's go by the stream so they can drink as well" Thea suggested taking the lead. Once they got across the bridge by the stream they stopped briefly to let the birds drink and see if they had any gyshal greens. They gently led the birds over by the stream and let them drink as they checked their holding satchels and baskets.
"I found one" Thea said a bit excited.
"Good, I did too" Claudia said holding hers up. A few moments later the birds raised their heads up after they had enough to drink. The young women placed the bulbous green vegetables in front of them as they both began to joyfully eat their favorite food.
"I hope they are ok" Claudia said as they stroked the birds as they ate.
"I know..." Thea said looking up into the darkened valley as the hill began to ascend up ahead.
"I feel it too..." An ominous feeling pervaded the air as Claudia began to look back up into the valley as a chill blew through both of them.
"We need to go" Thea said firmly as the birds finished their snack. By this time the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon and the dusk was giving way to twilight. The young women mounted their birds and they were off slowly as their flashlights were just enough light to see a little ways ahead. For another fifteen minutes they road silently looking and listening for any sign of their loved ones. The shadows cast illusions of movement of phantom beings adding to the tension. The birds kept following where they were shining the light until suddenly the birds stopped cold in their tracks still as statues staring forward.