Three... Guards? Ch 19
Summary: Tifa finds Cloud at the train station in Sector Seven. It’s the first time she’s seen him in seven years. But he’s not alone. Three silver haired boys protected him. Three silver haired boys that triggered memories of her hometown. Of steel through her chest. Of SOLDIER First Class. Of Him.
Junon wasn't the same as Strife's world.
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Chapter 19: By a Butterfly's Wings in Junon
Not even the Buster Sword could cut the tension in the group as they traveled through the Mythril Mines, a simple intermediate requirement to reaching Junon. The massive Condor flew overhead, blocking the sun for a single moment as it soared through the sky.
“We talk to the locals first. Then we decide who goes where: Northern Continent or Western continent,” Strife explained.
“Why both?” Aerith asked with a tilt of her long swirled braid.
“We have a few friends in the West. We just need to meet them first,” He answered simply. “We need to reach Gold Saucer, Cosmo Canyon, and Nibelheim.”
“Nibelhiem is gone,” Tifa muttered, the slightest tinge of hatred and memory.
Aged blond hair shook slowly as he tried to hide the wound at the memory. “Shinra rebuilt it as a coverup.”
“Then who could be there?”
Strife shrugged. “You won’t believe me if I told you. But he’s one of our best allies”
“If you already know them, shouldn’t you be the one to recruit them?”
“I don’t think I recruited anyone.”
Genesis scoffed. “Certainly not with that attitude."
Their conversation was interrupted by a mindless groan coming from one of many men in tattered black cloaks. The exhausted man only mumbled with slow and staggering steps as he passed.
“...and in the North?” Aerith spoke up hesitantly.
The silver haired brothers turned away. The smallest gripped Cloud’s hand harder.
“Sephiroth…” Yazoo mumbled before Strife could answer. Thankfully, the group did not hear the child.
But Strife pursed his lips and paused. “...Jenova landed in the Northern Crater. Sephiroth learned what he was in Nibelheim. Both locations are important to him. He will return to one of them.”
“He’s too strong for us, even as a complete group,” Cloud countered.
Genesis scoffed. “Well, you might have trouble-”
“There’s too much at stake,” Strife explained. “We’ll struggle at first, but that won’t stop us by the time we reach our destinations. Especially with all the wild fiends.”
“How would we get north, big brother?” Loz asked, but the look he received in return made him look away.
“I’m still figuring that out,” The wolf glanced at Genesis, “Hopefully there’s a method other than one person transportation.”
The man in red rolled his eyes.
“Until then, the usual,” Barret interrupted, walking ahead of the blonds. “Check out the local chocobo ranch to see what’s goin’ on around here.”
Cloud rolled his eyes, unable to think of why talking to a farmer would help them get off the continent. Scanning the land, he noticed a clear ocean, only a single Shinra cargo ship between the shore and the horizon.
Something wasn’t right.
Cloud wasn’t sure if it was the result of the post Zormer conflict while he was blacked out, the passing presence of the black cloaks on land, or if something else caused the small chill down his spine.
Something pressed against his leg before retracting. Cloud looked down and saw Kadaj with head hung low and an uneasy countenance.
“Everything alright?”
The boy met his gaze, but the expression only evolved to concern.
“Are you sure?”
Kadaj faintly shook his head, grabbing his own sleeve tightly.
Cloud nodded before addressing the team, “Stay on guard. Something’s up.”
His future self was the first to answer. “Is it Sephiroth?”
“No, not him. It’s…” Cloud didn’t know.
“...wrong,” Aerith finished for him, planet green eyes wide and worried. “Just wrong.”
“Perhaps it’s the mako exhaust in the water,” Genesis offered. “The underwater reactor usually has leaks.”
Aerith shook her head, the slight breeze swaying her bangs as she looked back across the cliffs.
* * *
Cloud wasn’t sure he could call this Chocobo Ranch a ‘ranch’ with the rocky terrain and minimal vegetation. Clearly reused rollers once used by package transport littered the field on the old tracks. A few skinny chocobos picked at the vegetation while others slept in perfect circles by the roller activation levers. Stone retention walls lined the path between the few buildings. Despite the desolate atmosphere, they heard laughter from the stables.
“Well, that makes finding the owner a lot easier!” Barret announced.
Strife squinted, scanning the area.
“Let’s not waste any time, then,” Tifa suggested.
Cloud and by extension Kadaj were the first to open the door to the stables, the smell just as overwhelming as the ranch in the Grasslands.
“Can we bathe Clara next?” Came the voice of a little girl.
“Of course, Angela. She’s your favorite!” Followed the joyous sound of an older man.
It felt too kind of a moment to interrupt with questions about Shinra and the obvious impacts to the land.
“Hey!” Someone called from behind the group, suddenly a woman behind the sales stand. “Sorry for the wait. What brings y’all here today? Lookin’ for anything specific?”
“Hello, lovely lady,” Genesis immediately claimed the conversation. “We have no specific items in mind, but we are certainly looking for something.”
“Try me.” She taunted as she fixed her baseball cap.
“My friends and I are new to the area. Just passing through. Are there any odd jobs you need done in the meantime?”
“Well,” She rocked her head from side to side. “Depends on what y’all are willin’ to do.”
Barret interrupted, “We’re at least gonna need a few Chocobos. Five barely worked last time. I’m not tryin’ to knock anyone off this time, ya know?”
She thought for a moment. “...We only have four available for rent right now. We’ll have to ask you to find our rebellious group and bring them back.”
A muttered groan came from Strife, followed by the question ‘why does this keep happening’.
“But even then…” She seemed regretful, counting seven adults, “there won’t be enough without Clara.”
“Is she not for rent?” Barret asked.
The woman took an exhausted breath. “Normally, she would be…” she turned away, curled and protective. “Do y’all in the city have… ghosts…?”
The team glanced at each other.
“Yeah, we have ghosts,” Aerith answered simply. “They haunt the old train graveyard.”
“Okay, but are they like, ‘normal’ ghosts…?” She gestured oddly. “Flowy write robes, closer to a sheet costume than a human?”
Aerith shrugged. “I think so. Right, Tifa?”
“Yeah. They were flowy.”
The woman shook her head. “It’s different then. Damn it…”
“What are you talking about?” Cloud chimed in.
She only pointed to the barn. “If you can convince my father to rent you Clara, I’ll explain.”
Strife muttered tiredly, “Why do people always want things…?”
“I’ll talk to him,” Barret stepped in. “One father to another.”
The store owner didn’t say a word and simply closed up shop, returning to the small home.
After sharing a few shrugs, Barret led the way to the barn, opening the door before announcing himself, “Now where might someone rent a chocobo around here?”
The team heard an exchange of ‘hold on, sweetie,’ before an older bald man stood at the entrance to the last stall, clothing worn from years of hard work. “You came to the right place, but all rentals should be made with my daughter at the store.”
“She sent us here,” Cloud explained.
“We need seven. She said somethin’ about not having enough?”
The old man looked back at the stable before speaking to the group. “...Y’all can take six.”
A little voice came, high in pitch and terribly innocent. “Dad, it’s okay,”
His voice was kinder as he turned into the stable. “But she just got to see you again…”
“But she loves to explore! She’ll be back and I’ll be here.”
There was a pause before the owner shouted, “You still have to find the others!”
“Got any clue where they are?” Barret responded.
“Out by the abandoned mine carts to the west. Reach Junon proper and you’ve gone too far.”
“We’ll get them once we clear up what’s going on here,” Strife interrupted. “We heard you might have a ‘ghost’ problem-”
“There’s no problem here,” came the instant, cold reply.
Strife scanned ahead and walked forward. Someone on his team grabbed his arm.
Aerith. Of course it was Aerith. “Maybe it’s best to leave this be?”
His hard scowl made her hesitate and surrender despite the pain it caused him.
“Take another step closer and y’all are gettin’ NONE of our birds!”
Barret stood in the way. “Strife, just stand down before you screw this up for all of us.”
Cloud’s voice broke through the air, “Something’s wrong.” The same phrase as before as the child at his side gripped him tightly.
That simple sentence seemed more than enough permission for Strife to walk forward despite the group’s protest.
The rancher rapidly looked around but clearly saw no escape. He held up his hands, and odd black bruises leaking puss revealed themselves on his wrists and forearms as the sleeve slid down. “Look buddy, it’s not what you think.”
Strife drew his sword and the old man ran into the stable. The wolf’s hands were shaking when Barret and Genesis pulled him back.
“Calm down, Strife!”
The blond man turned away from the rancher and out of their grips. The rage in his eyes made Cloud block the smallest remnant. Without breaking a step, he grabbed the remaining two remnants and dragged them out of the building.
“What happened…?!”
“Big brother, wait!”
He ignored their pleas and the attacks on his back from the team. He pulled them into the empty hills of Junon. “Was this your plan?”
He felt the fire balls deflected by his blades as the kids looked for support at each other but found none.
“Last warning!” Cloud demanded. “Let them go!”
Strife lifted them to their feet but did not release either child. “They look innocent. They’re not. They released geostigma.”
The tallest boy yelled in absolute confusion, “Mother’s invitation!?”
The middle boy shook his head in denial and shock. “That’s not possible…”
The smallest turned away.
“Explain. Instead of hiding it from us. But if you lay another hand on them, we’re leaving this continent without you.”
Strife glared. “Geostigma is a disease that didn’t exist in my world-”
“Your Zormer didn’t catch up to the chocobos. Your world is different-”
“Not this different.”
“Bullshit.”
“Sephiroth didn’t have either the power or the motive to do this.” Strife stated seriously. “Geostigma is the disease that he made in order to weaken the Planet and humanity.”
“Maybe you brought it here!” Cloud countered.
Strife winced but stood his ground. “I couldn’t spread it to Junon even if I did.”
Tifa placed a hand on Cloud’s shoulder, finally catching up. “Cloud, he’s you. You wouldn’t do this without a reason.”
Cloud glanced away from her large crimson eyes.
Strife adjusted his grip and growled at the children. “What did you do?”
“Nothing! Honestly!”
Yazoo rapidly searched for an answer, a difference, some event that could trigger the invitation early. “...Mother…”
Both Loz and Kadaj suddenly locked onto the middle brother.
“Mother’s dead here… Gone… Could that cause something new…?”
Strife glanced at Aerith for confirmation, but he saw the look in her eyes.
She remembered something, even if Strife wasn’t there to see it. Aerith saw Jenova’s black Lifestream flow from the charred body down to the vulnerable planet.
Strife targeted Kadaj, but the youngest was protected by his past self.
Kadaj shook his head, further hiding behind the SOLDIER uniform.
“You caused this.”
Cloud drew the buster sword at Kadaj’s defense. “He’s not working with Sephiroth. It doesn’t matter who caused it. How do we fix it?”
Strife clenched his own sleeve, consciously covering his arm. “...I don’t know.”
.
.
.
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To be continued…
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