Chocobo's Final Fantasy Haven
Ray Pang
Story
Story
Story |
CHAPTER IITROUBLE IN WUTAIThe
dark object came hurtling directly at Cloud's head. With cat
like reflexes he dodged aside. His sword flashed through the
air, and the dark object was split in two. He held his sword
balanced lightly in front of him as twice more a dark object
flew at him, and each time he neatly devided it in half. "I
told you you couldn't hit me," he said with a smile. Tifa
pulled two more apples off the tree. In quick succession she
threw them both at him as hard as she could, one high and one
low, and almost faster than could be followed he swung again
and neatly cleaved each one in two. "Give
up?" he said smugly. They
stood about fifteen feet apart on a tree shaded lawn in back
of Tifa's bar. "What
are you kidding?" she questioned. "I haven't even
started yet." She
reached up to pluck another apple from the tree just as the
back door of the bar opened. Cloud turned and saw a young
women with chestnut brown hair and dark gren eyes step out
onto the lawn, a warm smile on her face. "Aeris,"
he said, smiling back at her. "You're back." The
apple whistled through the air and caught him solidly on the
side of the head. "Owww!"
he exclaimed. He looked over at Tifa, who stood with her hands
over her mouth, a shocked look on her face. "Oops,"
she said, and quickly ran over to him. "Are
you okay?" she asked. Both girls tried to look at him
with a serious expression, attempted to suppress their
laughter, and failed miserably. "Thanks
for the concern," he said, rubbing his head. "I'm
sorry," Tifa said when she had finished giggling.
"But I told you I'd get you!" Cloud
resisted the urge to argue that he had been distracted,
knowing that it would just sound like whining. He turned to
Aeris. "So
what brings you back so soon?" he asked. "I thought
you would be in Cosmo Canyon for at least another week." After
her resurrection, they had returned to Kalm, and Aeris had
wished at the time for nothing more than to return to the
simple life of a flower girl she had led before their
adventures started. But after a while she had come to realize
that after all that had happened to her she could never again
go back to that life. Things around her, and especially she
herself, had changed too much. She found herself thinking more
and more about her real mother, and the heritage she had as
the last of the Ancients, the last of her race. And quite
suddenly she felt a desire to know more about them. She had so
many unaswered questions, and the desire to find answers grew
day by day. She buried herself in books and talked to everyone
in Kalm who might have had knowledge of her ancestors, but the
store of knowledge in Kalm was limited, and she did not find
out nearly enough to satisfy her. So two weeks ago she had set
off for Cosmo Canyon, hoping to find there what she was
looking for. Aeris
nodded, her face turning serious. "I
was," she said, "but I received a disturbing message
from Godo. Yuffie is missing." "What?"
Tifa exclaimed. "Something
strange is happening in Wutai," she continued.
"They're having some kind of problem with their materia.
Godo sent Yuffie to investigate, and she disappeared. Now he's
worried sick." "How
long ago was this?" Cloud asked. "He
last heard from her a week ago," Aeris replied.
"Actually, he heard from Staniv, who he sent along with
her to keep an eye on her. I guess he figured Yuffie wasn't
reliable enough to keep in touch herself. Staniv was supposed
to report in every few days." "Where
were they when he last heard from them?" Tifa asked. "I
don't know," Aeris replied. "He didn't say. He just
asked to get you and come to Wutai as quickly as possible. He
made it seem like something big was going on, something much
more than just the disappearence of his daughter." "What
did Red make of it?" Tifa asked. "Well,
he was concerned of course, but we didn't have any details.
Still, he thought it serious enough to head on to Wutai ahead
of us while I came back here to get you." Cloud
pondered this for a moment. "I
wonder what could be going on? When did you get the
message?" "This
morning," Aeris said. "This
morning?" Cloud repeated. "You were in Cosmo Canyon
this morning? How did you get here so fast?" Aeris
smiled. "I
forgot to mention, I got the message from Shake. Godo sent him
in a helicopter. He's waiting for us right now. If we hurry,
we can be in Wutai before nightfall." The
sun had sunk below the horizen, and one or two of the
brightest stars could just be made out in the darkening sky
above Rocket Town. Cid sat on the cool grass beneath the wing
of the Tiny Bronco looking up at them. A cigarette hung from
his lip, and the stubbed out butts of half a dozen others lay
in the grass around him. His
gaze dropped and he shook his head. He took the cigarette out
of his mouth and crushed it out also. He got up slowly and
turned toward the house. He looked up to see a figure standing
not more than five feet in front of him. Startled,
he stepped back, and banged his head sharply against the wing
of his plane. "Damn!"
he exclaimed. The
dark figure stepped forward, into the light that streamed out
of the window of the house beside them, and Cid immediately
recognized him. "Vincent,"
he said. "Must you sneak around like that all the time?
Why can't you stumble around like a normal person. You almost
gave me a heart attack!" Vincent
came up beside him. With his dark cloak and shrouded features,
Vincent could put a scare in someone even in broad daylight.
In the dark his appearence was even more frightening. But Cid
knew he had nothing to fear. In spite of his appearence,
Vincent was a loyal ally to his friends. "I
apologize," Vincent said. "It's just that you looked
so contemplative, I didn't want to disturb you." "Contemplative?"
Cid repeated. "I was just looking at the freaking
stars." "Of
course," Vincent replied with a shrug. Cid
waved for Vincent to follow him and stepped into the house. He
led them into the living room and motioned for Vincent to sit
down while he went into the kitchen. He came back in a moment
with two drinks. "So
what brings you to Rocket Town?" he asked, sitting down
beside Vincent and handing him one of the drinks. "A
chance meeting," Vincent replied. "I was on my way
to Gongaga when I happened to run into Nanaki just west of
Cosmo Canyon. Apparently Yuffie has gotten into some kind of
trouble." "That
isn't much of a surprise," Cid responded. "But
there is more to it than that," Vincent continued. "Godo
wanted us all to come to Wutai as quickly as possible. I told
Nanaki I would stop to get you along the way. If you are
willing to come, that is." "Why
the hell wouldn't I be?" Cid questioned. "Well,
I know you have a lot to do around here," Vincent replied
quickly, almost apoligetically. "What with you're
building a new rocket and all." Cid
waved his hand dismissively. "The
rocket is fine. It's moving along nicely. It's practically
building itself, in fact." He
got up. "No,
they don't need me. Actually, it'll be good for me to get out
of this dive for a little while. Just let me get a few things
together and we can be on our way." He
walked off into another room. Vincent was a little surprised.
He knew Cid had always been fond of Rocket Town, and his
rocket was more dear to him than life. When he had come into
town looking for Cid the first place he had gone was to the
rocket site, and he had been surprised to find that Cid was
not there. He was such a perfectionist (at least, when it came
to his vehicles) that he usually oversaw every detail of their
construction. This was not the Cid he knew. Vincent
stood up and looked around. "Where's
Shera?" he asked. Perhaps she could shed some light on
Cid's odd behavior. There
was no response for a moment. "Who
cares," he heard Cid reply gruffly from the other room. Vincent's
eyebrows went up. He walked into the bedroom. Cid was pulling
some clothes out of a dresser and stuffing them into a
backpack. "What
happened?" Vincent questioned. Cid
continued rummaging through his dresser for a moment. He gave
Vincent a look like he did not want to talk about it, but then
he sat down on the bed and stared at the wall. He lit up a
cigarette but did not speak for some time. "She
took off on me," he said finally. "About a week
ago." Vincent
just looked at him thoughtfully. "She's
living with her sister on the other side of town," Cid
continued. "She was nothing but a pain in the ass anyway.
I'm glad to get rid of her." Vincent
still did not speak, but looked at Cid skeptically. Cid
returned his gaze for a moment, but then turned away. "All
right!" he said sullenly. "All right, I admit it.
I...I miss her. There, I said it. Does that make you
happy?" Vincent
shook his head. "Have
you told her that?" he asked pointedly. Cid
took a long drag on his cigarette. "Hell
no," he replied. Cid
looked at Vincent again, but his friend only stared at him
with those piercing eyes. Somehow that made Cid more
uncomfortable than anything Vincent could have said. Cid
stood up and grabbed his backpack. "Stop
looking at me like that," he exclaimed. "I'll tell
her. Eventually. Now let's get going. Whatever is going on in
Wutai is probably more important than anything that's going on
here." "I'm
not so sure," Vincent said. "Don't
tell me how to run my life, Goddammit!" Cid said angrily.
"I'll staighten everything out with Shera when we get
back, so just drop it, okay?" Vincent
shrugged, but Cid still couldn't bring himself to look his
friend in the face. "Let's
get going," he said quickly, walking past Vincent.
"C'mon, I've got something to show you. The rocket isn't
the only thing I've been working on lately. I've got a new toy
you might want to take a look at." He
walked out the door without looking back. Vincent shook his
head again and followed.
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Author: Frank Verderosa, all rights reserved. |