Crossed fates.
Chapter four:- new friends, old dangers
"How long?" Cloud asked.
"Huh?"
"How long since that girl died?"
"Two years."
"I lost Aeris three years ago. It never gets any easier, does it?" Squall shook his head.
"What was it you saw in your dreams?"
He described it slowly, trying to remember the details. "I saw this raven haired teenage girl. She was very beautiful, her soft, big brown eyes were so peaceful it made me feel good, they way one of my friends, Tifa, makes me feel. This girl was so innocent, she reminded me of Aeris. She was walking across a flat plain on the top of a hill or mountain. There was a man there, she was asking him to let go of the past and let her be happy with her new love. He seemed to agree, then he attacked her. His, until then empty, blue eyes filled with malice and he plunged the weapon, like yours, into her stomach. Her blood was on his face over his scar, on his clothes and on the floor. You were running towards them at that point, but you were too late, she died in your arms while that bastard ran away like a chicken."
"That's what happened. It took me a month to catch up with him, and when I did.., I made him pay. I killed him in cold blood." Squall stared down into his half empty pint of stout. "How did you loose Aeris?"
"Sephiroth wanted to become all powerful, destroying the planet in the process. Aeris stood in his way, she could have stopped him with her powers. She was praying to holy so the planet would stop him. He found her and us in the ancient city. He fell from the sky like a fallen angel and stabbed her through the stomach. She died in my arms too. I took my revenge on him too."
Those who observed the two young men talking thought nothing of them, they didn't know these two people had saved their respective worlds, and had paid so much in their lives.
"How did you get here Squall?"
"Some one sent me. She said I had to otherwise I was going to be killed." It was dawning on Squall that the alcohol was beginning to cloud his mind. Things were fuzzy and he was having trouble completing sentences. Cloud's words were also starting to sound slurred. "How much have we drunk?"
"Quite a lot."
"What do you regret most in your life Cloud? Other than Aeris..."
"Easy, not finding the courage to ask Tifa out." He sighed. "I always wanted to take her to a really fancy restaurant and wine and dine her. You?"
"Not being able to connect with people. It took me seventeen years to find my true love and my best mates. If I'd found them sooner my life would have been so much better."
"This conversation is getting depressing."
"You said it Cloud."
"What on earth is that thing you attacked me with? I've never seen anything like it!"
"That's the lion heart. It's a gunblade that has been modified to a very high level, the highest I know of. It's a combination of a sword and a gun. If the trigger is pulled at the right time it can almost double the amount of damage done. What the hell was that thing you hit me with? My head's still killing me..."
"It's called the Ultima sword. It's blade is infused with one of the most powerful materia and magic of all. It's very powerful."
"Isn't it heavy?"
"Nah, light as a feather!" Squall raised an eyebrow in doubt. "You don't believe me? Come on man, I'll show you." The two left the the bar then the town.
A tall, red haired woman approached a blonde teenager sitting in a Garden cafeteria. He was chewing on a hot dog and paid no attention to his surroundings, or the woman.
They stood in the plains and swapped weapons.
The Ultima sword was surprisingly light in Squall's hands. He tested it, feeling the weight as he swung it around.
The lion heart felt right in Cloud's hands too. It's weight was almost insignificant though he knew instinctively it had the ability to cause extreme amounts of damage.
"Who'd win if we went at it now?" Squall asked thoughtfully.
"Shall we see?" Cloud questioned.
"Okay then." Squall was on the verge of attacking as a ringing filled the air.
"Shit. That's my PHS. Just a sec." He pulled out what looked like a large mobile phone. "Hello?" A long string of language that would have made Zell blush erupted from the device. Cloud simply sighed and said "Hello Cid."
"You could have dropped in and said hi. I thought you were in Cosmo!"
"I am Cid, I've been working on my dreams with Red."
"BALLS! How come I've just seen you running around outside rocket town."
"I'll prove I'm here. Tell him where I am." He offered the phone to Squall.
"Cloud Strife is in Cosmo Canyon." He told the truth.
"Who the @*/& was that?" Cid shouted.
"Just a mate I've met here. What do you mean I'm running around outside Rocket town?" Cloud was confused. Something was slowly beginning to dawn on Squall.
"There's a guy out there who looks just like you! What the @œ&*?/% hell is going on here?"
"I think I know." Squall whispered. "I think it might be someone I know."
"What?" Cloud asked.
"He sounds like one of my friends."
"Aww shit. What is that idiot up to? He's going to the Nibel mountains. Those monsters there'll kill him with one blow. Shera! Where's my Venus Gospel? I'll go and get him back."
Cloud turned to Squall. "Can this guy look after himself?" Squall almost choked at the thought of Zell not being able to look after himself but managed to nod.
"Cid we're coming to give you a hand." Cloud stated.
"How?...." His sentence descended into a long line of curses and swearing as he observed a creature attacking the blonde stranger.
"We'll use the chocobos."
Cloud closed the PHS and asked, "are there Chocobos in your world?"
"Yeah, it's been a while since I've ridden one though."
"It's like riding a bike, you never forget. Come on, you can take Nugget, she's a little more docile."
Although there were Chocobos in his world, Squall had never seen the Gold chocobo. It warbled as he stroked the soft plumage, "okay Nugget." He thought of what Zell had said the first time he had ridden, it seemed appropriate for this moment. "Now we're going to have an understanding. We won't hurt each other will we?" Nugget's response was a chuckle like warble. "Good."
"Are you gonna be alright in that?" Cloud shouted. He'd pulled on a sweatshirt and jeans rather than the thin cotton trousers and shirt he'd been wearing earlier. Squall's answer was the way he indicated the fur collar on his jacket. They had swapped weapons again and Squall held his gunblade in one hand and the chocobo's reigns in the other. "Okay then. Let's go!"
They made good ground towards the Nibel mountains, passing by the newly repopulated Nibleheim. Cloud glanced over his shoulder at the younger man. He knew so little about Squall, and yet in less than a few hours when Cloud looked at him, he saw a friend and a someone just like himself. Cloud was wishing he'd had a cup of coffee to clear his head before they'd left, he felt like he was going to fall off at any second.
Hardly fifteen minutes had passed when they reached the mountains closest to Rocket Town. Shera stood at the foot of path. "Cloud!" She cried when she saw him. "Cid's gone up there after that guy alone, he told me to wait here and tell you where he was." She glanced at Squall. "Are the two of you gong to be okay?" It was clear to both Cloud and Squall she was asking if Cloud would be taking care of two people instead of just himself. Fighting was rife within towns and cities, but very few could hold their own against monsters.
"We'll be okay."
"Or rather he'll be okay Miss." Squall said as he started up the trail.
"Who?" Shera asked.
"The man you love. He's up there going after a friend of mine isn't he?" He glanced over his shoulder at her.
"And this 'Cid' is the one you're really worried about."
Cloud dashed after him.
Within five minutes they had come across Cid's flight jacket, discarded at the side of the path. "Let's get moving, If I know Cid, he'd only take that off if there was big trouble." As he finished his sentence the ground shook beneath their feet. Around the next peak a shower of mako energy exploded from the ground in a beautiful illusion of colour and light.
"Come on you stupid idiot jump!" The voice from the phone, Cid, shouted.
As the two rounded the corner they saw Zell, balanced precariously on a tower of stone. The ground had fallen away around him, leaving him standing above a sea of mako. "Zell!" Squall shouted.
The blonde looked up and half grinned at Squall. "I'm in trouble again!"
"What's new?"
"I won't be able to make the jump!"
Squall judged the distance and without a second thought, leapt across it. "If I can make it, you can." He placed a hand on Zell's shoulder. "Now jump, and that's an order from the commander." He winked.
"Yes sir!" Taking a deep breath, Zell flung himself from the shuddering piece of land and fell awkwardly on the other side. He looked up into the glowing blue eyes of Cloud Strife and saw a mirror of himself, with the hair just that little bit wilder.
Beneath Squall's feet the shuddering of the ground grew more potent. "Squall, jump back over here now!" He looked up at his old friend, Zell and his new friend, Cloud, as the ground crumbled from below him. His body plunged downwards into the boiling sea of mako energy. He screamed silently...
The world turned green.
Then everything was black.
Authors notes:
Ooops. First I kill off Rinoa and now Squall is drowning in Mako. What's going to happen next???? You'll never know with Nikki. I'm gonna keep this short as I've got a lot of homework to do.
Look, just email me at nicola.wilcox@talk21.com cause I want you to! More next time chums!
See ya laters!!!!