It was unbearably hot, and Reno had to wonder how Elena and Rude could stand to have their jackets on. He'd had his off for over an hour now, and still felt suffocated by the heat. At first, he'd draped the blue jacket which served as the Turks' uniform over his shoulder as he worked, but then he'd just dumped it on the ground. It wasn't like they were going anywhere for a while. He was begining to give some serious thought to taking his shirt off as well, but then thought of the death look Elena had given him when he'd taken the jacket off. He shook his head. Some people took their jobs way too seriously.
He pushed the metal part of his shovel into the ground hard enough that it stood up straight. Then he sat down. This was met by raised eyebrows from Elena and Rude.
"We gotta take a break," he said, "I'm beat."
Elena seemed about to protest, but let her shovel fall to the ground and sat down as well. Rude just stood, leaning on his shovel.
"I don't see why we have to do this anyway," Reno grumbled. "We've been digging since this morning and we still haven't found anything. Let's at least dig straight down until we're sure it's here."
Elena shot him a withering look. "We have to do double duty while Shinra gets back on its feet. I don't see why we have to do heavy labor, but that's besides the point. And we're doing it this way so we can open it up when we find it."
"I know, I know," he responded. "It's just that, damn, we have a hole ten feet wide and four feet deep and we haven't hit a thing yet.
Elena shrugged. "It's there somewhere."
"How would you know?" Reno asked. "What if Scarlet screwed up? I mean, it sure as hell wouldn't be the first time."
"I'm sure this time it's different..." Elena said, though she didn't sound too thrilled about the idea of doing this for nothing.
"And," Reno added, "I'd love to get my hands on whoever decided where this stupid thing would go. I mean, a desert! Who the hell would ever..."
"Exactly." Elena cut him off. "That's exactly why it's here."
"Why?" Reno asked, smiling, "Because no one would think anyone would be stupid enough to hide anything in the Gold Saucer desert, much less..."
Rude stood up. He tossed Elena her shovel and gave Reno's a meaningful look. "Back to work," he said.
Sighing, Reno pulled himself to his feet and began digging again.
The work was hard and boring, and soon, he just listened to the noise of the shovels.
Csh, whosh, thump; csh, whosh, thump; csh, whosh, thump; CLANG. He smacked the shovel into the ground again. CLANG
He nodded at the spot. "I hit something."
They began to work faster then, now that the goal was in sight. They had the rest of the sand cleared away quickly.
Elena knelt on the giant metal plate and brushed more sand away. Then she reached into her pocket and took out a small, silver key. She blew sand out of a hole in the plate and inserted the key. And turned it.
"Pull," she commanded, and Rude and Reno helped her lift the side of the plate that the keyhole had been on. It swung open easily, save the excess sand. Inside, a flight of stairs led downwards.
"Guess this is it," Elena said. "Come on. Let's go."
The three descended into the underground storage room that had been concealed in the desert and proceededed to load the equipment it contained onto the air ship they'd come in.
They finished unloading the entire contents of the small underground room and closed the door again. It took them the rest of the day to refill the hole, and by then, they were more than ready to return to Shinra headquarters.
Tifa sat on the balcony overlooking the backyard of the villa she shared with Cloud. She had just taken a shower, and was brushing her hair. It was almost dry; the breeze helped a bit.
She straightened her robe a bit when Cloud came out to join her, but that was about all. It was still strange to her, having him there all the time. It had been about four months, but she still wasn't quite used to it.
He sat down next to her. "Nice night, huh?" he asked, and she nodded. It was always a nice night in Costa Del Sol.
The music from the bar drifted through the air and reached their ears, though it was soft from here.
Cloud took the brush from Tifa and began to brush her hair for her. She leaned into him and stretched out gracefully.
You know what I was thinking?" he asked.
She turned her head a bit to look at him. "No," she confessed, "What?"
"I thought maybe we could go to the Gold Saucer tomorrow to see Reeve."
She rested her head against his shoulder. "That sounds good. It's been awhile since we've dropped in on him."
"Should we get up early?" he wondered out loud.
"No," she said. "No, I want to sleep in. Is that okay?"
He nodded and pulled her closer, and they stayed that way late into the night, watching the stars.
Wutai was no longer a tourist town, but now there was never anything to do. Anything at all.
She stifled a yawn. She already knew all this. These were supposed to be fighting lessons, but it was just basic. She shouldn't even have to be doing this. She had survived an encounter with Sephiroth. Quite frankly, she was much, much better than these lessons were teaching her to be. She would be dead by now if she weren't.
However, her father didn't seem to understand that. It was time to take drastic measures. While her instructor droned on about attack positions Yuffie was confident she knew, she began to plan her escape.
Later that night, she slipped out her window. No one tried to stop her, no alarm sounded. It was too easy. She was disappointed. But lately, everything had been too easy. It was strange, but she missed traveling with Cloud and the others, even though she had been sick all the time.
She would visit someone, she decided. And maybe, just maybe, something exciting would find her on her way there.
Tonight, it was what he was thinking about that was strange. Or rather, what he wasn't. It was the first night in a long time that he hadn't thought of Lucrecia.
He climbed the steps from the basement, where he was still staying. It seemed to be fitting somehow that he should stay in a coffin. Or perhaps it was just that staying anywhere else would seem wrong after he'd spent so many years asleep in the basement.
Either way, tonight he didn't want to be there. He ascended the stairs to the second story and walked to the right wing. He stood there, looking out the window for a moment. Then he jumped.
He caught the lip of the roof, digging the points of his metal fingers in to get a better hold. He pulled himself up effortlessly and stood for a moment, watching the town.
The lights of all the houses were out by now, their residents no doubt asleep in their beds. Clouds hung low over Nibelheim, and the air had the electric feel it gets before a storm.
A cold wind started up, and Vincent decided a storm was coming. He stood there a while, looking at the little town. The wind whipped his cape out behind him and blew his hair back.
He paused a moment, considering, then jumped off the roof, using the window sill to straighten out his landing.
Vincent stood up and began walking towards the gate of the Shinra Mansion, and, after that, towards the path leading out of Nibelheim.
Perhaps it was the air tonight, or perhaps he'd just felt the need to travel, but either way he left Nibelheim and just kept on walking. As he left, it began to rain.
Red stood, and padded to the ladder leading up to his grandfather's observatory. He climbed it adeptly. Even though it wasn't made for his kind, he'd had plenty of practice.
He made it to the top quickly, and went inside. Once there, he padded over to the telescope and looked out.
The view was incredible; a thousand stars dotted the heavens, seeming to try to shut out the black beyond them.
Red was suddenly reminded of something his grandfather had said to him once. It had been very late, and they had been looking at the sky. For a change, they had been outside instead of using the telescope. Red had just been little then.
'Grandfather,' he had said, 'There are so many stars. Where do they all come from?'
And his grandfather had replied, 'I don't know. I don't think anyone does for sure.'
Being a smart pup, Red had nodded and accepted that as an answer. Then he asked, 'Grandfather, why do people call this sky watching? There are so many stars, you can hardly see the sky at all!'
His grandfather had looked at him then, and answered in a way he often did. It seldom made any semblance of sense at the time, but later he usually came to understand. On that night, his grandfather had said to him, 'Yes, Nanaki. Sometimes its hard to see the sky because the stars get in the way. Remember that.'
That was where the memory ended. Strange, that it should choose now to surface after all these years. Perhaps, tonight had something to do with the strange phrase his grandfather had said on a night like this, so long ago.
He climbed down from the observatory and returned to the fire to ponder.
After a short time he stood and began to pace. Perhaps, it was time to leave Cosmo Canyon for a while. But what if the people there needed him while he was gone?
Red shook his head. There would be plenty of time for him to get back if there was trouble. Besides, tonight was different, special somehow. Tonight had the feel of understanding. The feeling he often got when he was about to discover the meaning to one of grandfather's obscure messages.
Decision made, Red finally managed to find a charcoal pencil and held it in his mouth to write a note.
When he was done, Red left Cosmo Canyon, head held high, tail swishing back and forth confidently.
Every time he started to get it under control, some vital piece of equipment would break, and it would go out of control again.
The dream ended when the ship broke apart. Literally. Cid woke up with a start and sat in bed for a few moments until his heart stopped hammering.
"F---," he muttered. "F---in' hell."
He shook his head and lay back down. Shortly, he drifted back to sleep.
He rolled over and saw three figures, in blue suits and white shirts. Turks! he thought, and began to sit up, but a shovel connected with his temple and he fell back onto the bed.
She pushed back the covers. Tonight was special. Just like the night a year ago when her daddy had helped the flower girl get rid of Sephiroth. It seemed so long ago, but Marlene could remember everything.
She could especially remember the pretty blue lights that had stopped the Meteor. It felt the same somehow, felt the way it had then.
She looked out her window and into an ocean of stars. There were so many they seemed to be drowning out the blackness. It was strange, but she thought they were mean to do it.
Marlene giggled a little. She was being silly, her daddy would say. Stars can't be mean. She climbed back into bed and pulled the covers back up to her chin. And dreamt of stars.