[[ ooc: I posted this before, on my FFT Cloud's page, with a completely different storyline in mind involving FFT's Zack (different as in... different than whatever "FFT canon" already exists). We had talked about this and I am now moving this, here. Because I can. |:
And, yes. If you had thought it before and didn't know, I also roleplay Cloud on FFT. If this comes as a surprise to you or you don't know who/what the hell FFT or my FFT's Cloud is-- well, I guess u no curr and yeah. w/e. Original post here, so you know I'm not full of shizz. ]]
Not bothering to wait for another word on the other end of the phone, the blond snapped his phone shut and released a heavy sigh. WRO had fought another losing battle just outside Kalm. It was typical now, more than it had been six months ago. And, of course, they were in dire need of Mako stones— more, now, than Cloud had initially set out for. At this rate, he would have to gather more than he could carry back alone on his bike in one trip.
He’s asking too much, the blond thought, shaking his head as he leaned forward on his large motorcycle and reached out to turn the key to start it back up.
In the cold weather up in the Nibel Mountains, it took an extra rev to get the engine running again. Kicking off, Cloud accelerated up the steep incline, lifting a gloved hand briefly from the handle to zip his vest further up and tug on the scarf he currently wore to cover the lower half of his face. It was cold up here, even for him. He may have grown up in these mountains, traversed them so many times in his youth… but the bitter cold of these high altitudes still stung his lungs.
Eying his surroundings through the goggles he wore over sky blue hues, he maneuvered carefully along the winding path. He knew he would get to a point in another ten or so miles that he wouldn’t be able to continue from on his bike, but he would go for as long as he safely could. The less of a distance he had to carry items, the better— especially in this climate.
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Hiking up two and a half miles or so of steep incline in a little over three feet of snow (in some places, five or six feet) was enough to slow even Cloud down a little, but certainly not stop him. He had handled— lived in— worse conditions.
He pushed aside piles of snow and cleared as much of a path as he could with what he had— nothing. Thankfully it wasn’t snowing and the sky was mostly clear. If he made it to the cavern and out quick enough, he wouldn’t have to worry about the clouds growing thick enough with condensation to dump more snow on his cleared path. His biggest concern was the monsters he might run into this far up. He didn’t think he would run into anything he couldn’t handle— it was the delay fending them off would cause him that he worried about. If he delayed too long…
That won’t happen, he firmly asserted to himself. No, WRO needed the supplies and his back-up as soon as he could give it, and he would make certain he didn’t delay any more than necessary. Their safety depended on him, after all.
Then, as his destination came into view, he slowed to a halt and lifted a hand to pull his scarf from his pale flecked face. He slowed his breathing, dragging in air silently as he listened carefully to his surroundings. Certain, then, that all he heard was the occasional gust of harsh, bitter wind; he began to quietly make his way up the rest of the slope.
Coming to a crawl at the entrance, he pulled a low level Fire Materia from his pocket and lit a flame, using it to light his path as he entered the cool, dark cave. The further he moved inside, the heavier and more still the air seemed to become, his flame also giving off a warm resonance, its flickering light reflecting off the glistening stone walls of the half-frozen earth around him.
As the path began to wind a few corners, Cloud slowed his pace to quiet the echoing of his heavy boots against stone, not wanting to disturb whatever lay ahead. He listened carefully, dimming his flame a little as the path began to wind around a particularly sharp corner.
Hearing scuffling ahead, he came to a slow halt to listen more closely. He closed his eyes to concentrate on the sound, judging the size and distance of whatever creature was moving about. As he did, however, he felt a presence coming up behind him and swiftly turned on his heel to come face to face with a monstrous bird almost as tall as he with a long, bulky frame; he couldn’t make out a good portion of the thing in the dim light— he just knew whatever it was, it was big. Its large head hung low and cast to the side, eying him with one cautious golden eye. As it opened its toothed beak, white glinting yellow-orange in dim firelight, a loud squawk erupted from its long, muscled neck.
“…Dammit!” he cursed under his breath, a gloved hand immediately reaching back for the large sword he kept on him as the entire cave exploded with noise all around him. The creature he faced charged first and, with a blast from his Fire Materia, he swung out to connect with the thing’s breast.
The bird disabled for the moment, Cloud took that opportunity to sprint past it and toward the entrance. He reached into his pocket to switch his Fire out with a mastered Firaga, whirling around to send off a much more fearsome blast behind him as he retreated into a more favorable position. He couldn’t back out, not when he needed what lay beyond this nest, but it would do him no good if he let them surround him.
Pulling out his Curaga to equip it along with his Firaga Materia, Cloud stood his ground near the entrance where he could see well enough as the creatures screeched and wailed through the flames toward him.
With gritted teeth, he slashed through the air to cut through the steam that was rising from inside the cave. Just as soon as he did, the entire swarm of creatures, varying in size, barreled out toward him. To his shock, a number of them were still on fire and moving uninhibited in their wrathful approach. The sheer number of them forced Cloud back further toward the entrance, twirling his blade and cutting downward to blast away a portion of them like bowling pins. The rest leaped over to avoid it, diving toward him with a range of squawks and screeches, feathers dusting up among the tumbling rocks as Cloud countered their assault with his sword.
Blocking with the blunt side and slashing out with the edge, the blond managed to keep his ground, jumping back or to the side to use up the potions he had on him, or cast Curaga when those ran out. They drained him of his items far faster than he would have liked, though, barely keeping up with their swift and fierce movements.
Soon, drained of his magic reserves, he staggered back to wipe his brow of dripping blood and sweat on his scarf. Their numbers hadn’t lessened any as far as he could tell; if anything, more continued to come, the screeching filling his ears and echoing as he clenched his teeth against the throbbing of his wounds and glanced behind him, wondering if he should retreat at this point. He had one ether left— if he could cast one more blast of Firaga and back out to the path, perhaps he could hold them off as he made his way to Fenrir… maybe.
So much for taking care of this quickly, he thought as he blocked another predatory bird and shoved it back. A few more circled around him now, surrounding him before he could act. No!
Mako-infused blue hues darted around, brows furrowed as he turned and sprinted toward the group encircling him as they sought to close off the opening, gutting through them as the larger swarm now behind him pursued. The path before him momentarily cleared, he pushed his body toward the steep slope downward. Not taking a moment to descend with care cost him, however, as his boots slid on the icy snow and his feet flew from under him, body crumpling onto the ground and tumbling and skidding with increasing pace downward. His sword slid from his grip as he struggled to right himself, the birds still pursuing. All he had left now was his Materia, one ether, and a knife in his pocket.
Finally righting himself enough to control his sliding, he allowed himself to descend a few feet further in an attempt to get ahead, skidding himself to a stop a little ways in order to clamber to his feet. He wasn’t even given a single moment to steady his wobbling legs before one of the monstrous birds pelted into him, the weight of five grown men toppling him face first down the slope with a furious beak and razor teeth gnashing at him. Writhing under the bird even as several more flew in on top of him, Cloud reached into his pocket to reveal his knife. He kicked them off and aimed his gashing movements at the creatures’ necks even as he struggled to halt his descent. Approaching, and fast, was the edge of the path as it wound around the mountain— falling off the edge would bring him closer to death than he had been before.
Fending them off just as he felt his shoulders dip over the edge behind him, Cloud flailed and desperately stabbed his knife into the icy ground hanging on with a white-knuckled grip. His legs swung around and over, unable to stop them as the momentum of his fall drove them to now dangle uselessly below him as he struggled to find a foothold and pull himself up with only one arm.
But the birds were relentless; a few of them flew right over the edge, flapping their flightless wings uselessly as they fell hundreds of feet to the bottom of the cliff. Others, however, skid to a halt to tear at the already tattered flesh his arm and hand as his other fumbled for the ether in his pocket. Quickly downing it, he tossed the empty bottle and shot a blast of Firaga at them as the effects ebbed away at his exhaustion. Using that momentary distraction, he pulled himself up as much as he could, gritting his teeth as his knife slowly loosed from the ground unable to support him. Crumbling rocks, loosened by the heat of his fiery blast melting the ice that bound them to each other, caused the knife to slip completely free of the ground and Cloud, desperately grabbing, slid down the edge till there was nothing left for him to grab at.
