Night 49: Home World - Gaia
[From here.]Upon stepping through the door, Zack had suddenly felt kind of dizzy, almost like the floor was falling out on him. He didn't know what that was about, but he didn't even get the chance to try and come up with a reason for it, since the next thing he knew he was being overwhelmed by a whole new set of sensations. First of all, he was
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He let the ninja explain things to Zack as they walked out. Now that they were landed, he took the time to stop and check on the poor frightened chocobo still in its pen. The blond spoke fondly to it, tone hushed to calm it down. "Hey there, Gil. You miss me? How long have you been in here without company?" He ran a hand through the feathers just under the bird's beak and along its head frill. It looked like there was still food in the stall. The hay was clean too. Whatever had happened to the rest of the ship's crew, it had happened very recently - possibly about the same time as their own arrival, which he didn't like. Apparently, animals weren't affected.
"This place hasn't been empty long," he said out loud, pointing to the greens in Gil's feed bag. "We should leave him here while we check the place out. It should be safe enough." There were no signs of struggle from the crew. It was if they'd just vanished. Whatever had done it, it was doubtful they'd be back for the chocobo. All three of them couldn't fit on it anyway. "Come on. We can see if anyone in Kalm knows anything." And if Marlene and Elmyra were still there, they could check on them too.
Zack would have more questions, that much was obvious. But they needed to get moving. He could speak on the way.
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Even if he was here now, which was still throwing him for a loop. Chances were Yuffie and Cloud felt just as weird about it, though. The point was, they didn't really have time to adapt to being thrown into this situation, and so Zack followed after the other two, taking in the interior of the airship a bit better now that it wasn't pitching around like crazy.
"I'm not going to stick my hands into anything," he protested to Yuffie with a frown. How could she turn around and treat him like an ignorant kid when she was the one who'd constantly tossed herself into danger and then expected him to help her out of it?
When Cloud approached the chocobo, though, Zack couldn't help following after him. He made sure to keep his distance, though, since the birds could get nervous around people they didn't know. While it was touching to watch Cloud interact with "Gil," the closeness also meant that his friend had likely used the chocobo to get around pretty often.
"If nothing attacked us while the airship was spinning out up there, then I think it'll be fine, yeah," Zack agreed. He gave one last look at the chocobo's odd coloring before he followed them out of the airship. He wanted to see how much Kalm had changed during his absence.
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Hell, of course they could handle it! And that wasn't just infallible Kisaragi confidence doing the talking. Nope, it was logical. Pure, hard, cold, brilliant logic. SOLDIER first class may have been-may still be-a bunch of mangy mutts, but they were good at what they were good at, and they were pretty damn good at fighting. As was she. She wouldn't slow them down, they wouldn't slow her down, and they'd get this whole thing figured out like snap.
Besides, this was Kalm. Kalm. Kalm before it got ground into the dirt by Deepground's thugs. The worst things hanging out in these parts these days were Elfadunks, Mus, and Levrikons! Total small-fry.
Thus reassured, though no less alert, Yuffie ran to peer over the railing. Even with the curling, curving spaghetti-wisps of Lifestream lighting up the night back over at Midgar and the lights from behind Kalm's wall, it was still pretty dark out. She strained her eyes, squinting through the gloom, and listened hard. Nothing? She waited a moment. Nothing. Yuffie sprang up on top of the metal barrier, before dropping silently down over the other side.
She landed in an easy crouch, ready to whip out her shuriken at a split second's notice. But, just as she'd been expecting, there was nothing drooling in the shadows. "We're clear down here!" she called.
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When the blond reached the ground, he was wielding Ultima weapon. It felt good to be properly armed again, and this had been almost just where he'd left it. Almost, because he'd had it equipped when Landel abducted him. It hadn't been leaning against the wall. He was just going to hope that Zack didn't take the size as some attempt at competition against the Buster sword. It wasn't as if he'd crafted it himself! (It was, admittedly, a little garish looking.)
There was no one to welcome them, which wasn't a big deal. They would all be staying inside, what with everything going on close by. Still, he'd expected to hear... something. Perhaps the noise of the destruction going on in Midgar was covering it all up, but it just felt wrong somehow, and that worried him. They needed to hurry up and get in town so they could check it out. He motioned for the others to follow him as he started toward it.
"Sorry, Zack," he apologized to his friend as they were walking. "I know this is a lot for you to take in. Never thought I'd be explaining events to you like this."
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Maybe that sickness -- Geostigma or whatever it was called -- was just the price that had to be paid for the world not ending completely. Zack was just trying to fill in the blanks, though, and he knew the best thing was to wait for when there was time for a full explanation.
At least Cloud seemed to sympathize. When his friend spoke up, Zack dragged his gaze away from the horizon to look at him. "Huh? Oh, yeah, kinda. It's just... it's also weird, knowing that I shouldn't even be here." It made his death hit home more than ever. His death had been necessary, and he'd done his best to accept it in those last few moments. He'd tried to see it as a way out -- wings of freedom, or maybe even a chance to see old friends -- but this just made him realize that he'd left so much behind.
Once they were off the ship, Zack finally was aware enough to take note of Cloud's new sword. It was... huge, and bright, and it looked like it packed a punch. It was a bit overdone, but mainly, he was impressed that Cloud was strong enough to swing it around. All that exposure to mako had clearly left its mark.
As they headed into the town, Zack pulled his own sword -- Angeal's sword -- from his back and held it in front of him for Cloud to see. "What happened to it?" he asked. If Cloud had found something better, then he couldn't blame him for using it instead, but Zack still wanted to know if his friend had managed to keep a hold of the Buster sword.
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They weren't-no, they were. They totally were.
They were comparing their swords.
It was hard to get any lamer than that. Yuffie supposed that maybe it was some kind of macho male bonding practice, full of overcompensation and, uh, stuff. But, dudes, time and a place, c'mon-
- Except she couldn't really, really begrudge them. Well. She could, of course she could, but they did have a whole hell of a lot to catch up on. Zack had a whole hell of a lot to catch up on. He couldn't be comfortable here, in this time. Maybe even in this place, she didn't know. It made her realize, not for the first time, just how screwed up and whacked out the situation was. She'd never had to think in timelines before, not really, but these days it was hard to avoid. There was her, the magnificent ninja Yuffie, from the furthest along. None of the others even had a clue what was in store. Then there was Cloud, and Nanaki, Tifa, Aerith… Would they get back to their own separate timelines, or would they get stuck sometime else, just like she and Zack were right now?
Yuffie wasn't exactly in a hurry to dive right back in exactly where she'd left off. Darkness and torment via creepy guy with a bondage fetish and entirely too much of the wrong kind of love for his brother? Nuh-uh, no thanks. But she wanted to get back to the other stuff, to the fight and to her friends. She had to.
And regardless of when they ended up…
Kalm was silent.
It took Yuffie a moment to recognize what she was hearing. A chill shot through her; a jolt of pure, deep disquiet. She stopped in her tracks by the town inn, staring around at the cheerfully rustic homes and stores.
"Uh, guys…" She cleared her throat. "Is it just me, or does it seem kinda, er, lights on, nobody home?"
Just like the Highwind.
Abruptly Yuffie moved for the inn's door. She pushed it open, peered around. Nobody. Stepped inside, listened for so much as a pin drop, or anything that would indicate… well, anything. People should be in there, shouldn't they? Ducked under desks, tables, chairs, beds, huddled in bath tubs and cabinets, terrified of Meteor and its wannabe apocalypse? But Yuffie heard nothing; heard nobody.
She backed out, letting the heavy wooden door swing shut after her.
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He rubbed at the back of his neck, looking away. "Yours were some big shoes to fill, you know?" Except in his case, for a while he'd thought they were his shoes anyway, and had just ignored the extra couple sizes in difference, chalking it up to wear.
It was definitely too quiet here, and Yuffie's comment about the town tore his thoughts away from the other topic at hand. There wasn't a single person on the streets - not a soul. Sure, most everyone would have been inside, but there had to be at least one curious civilian. There were no sounds of distress as the townsfolk watched the biggest city on the planet crumble right before their eyes. There was no one hanging out any of the windows or peeping from between the shutters. There wasn't a single voice on the wind, just the lifestream and Meteor and nothing else.
Everyone was gone. It was like a ghost world. Cloud watched the ninja back out of the inn and placed a hand on her shoulder. "No one?"
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It was the following comment that took Zack by surprise, and he faltered for a moment before giving his friend a serious nod. He knew that he'd dumped a lot onto Cloud by asking him to carry on alone, but the blond had clearly stepped up to the challenge. He wouldn't have given Cloud a task that he wasn't sure he could complete, and he was hardly disappointed. Maybe Meteor had almost made a mess of things, but as long as things evened out in the end, then he could accept it.
What was strange was how the town seemed to be completely abandoned. Judging from Yuffie and Cloud's reaction, it wasn't supposed to be this way. Just like how that airship probably should have had people in it. It was pretty eerie, if he was going to be honest with himself. Where had everyone gone? It was almost as if they'd just been swallowed up by the earth, though Zack did his best to banish that thought immediately.
Instead, he spun himself around to face the rest of Kalm and lifted both hands to cup around his mouth. "Hello?" he called out, making sure to raise his voice so that it echoed through the small town. "Is anybody here?"
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Unless it was some kind of illusion, like the tricks Sephiroth had played back during the Jenova War. The young ninja shuddered, spooked enough to stand, still and stiff, for one long moment. She hated illusions. Hated having her perceptions messed with. It… It didn't scare her, not exactly; not in any sense that left her an incapacitated wreck, but gawd, it sucked!
Zack was moving now, yelling out into the village. His voice echoed, piercing enough that somebody should have heard and come out to investigate. When nobody did, Yuffie snapped back into action. She aimed a cocky, confident 'we can deal with this!' grin up at Cloud before dashing for the water tank in the center of town. It barely took a second to scale, and while the view was capped by the tops of the buildings and the outer walls, it made for a handy vantage point.
Not that there was anything to see.
Unsurprised, Yuffie hopped back down and boomeranged back to her companions. "There's no sign that anybody's here," she reported, not knowing what else to say, "but I haven't noticed anything that says anybody left, either."
She shifted from foot to foot, restless, and tried to think. What could she do? What could they do? Her inability to come up with answers or solutions rankled deeply, felt offensive to the part of her that identified with her positions of responsibility in Wutai and the W.R.O. Times like this, though, AVALANCHE usually looked to Cloud for guidance and the final call. Even Yuffie, who hated to rely on anybody but herself. "What d'ya want to do?" she asked, ready to provide whatever support she could.
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"It's just like everyone vanished, huh? Do you think Landel had anything to do with it?" And were they really back at all? It felt like they were. Cloud could practically feel the lifestream - not on nearly the same level as Aerith, of course, but this was his world, and not the world the Institute belonged in. So what had happened?
He sighed. What did he want to do? "I say we do one more sweep of the town. I doubt we'll find anything, but it cant hurt to check all the buildings just to make sure. Yuffie, do you remember where Marlene and Elmyra were staying? If you could run by and..."
Just then he stopped, staring over the ninja's shoulder at something. He blinked, uncertain of what he was seeing, since it was just so out of place in this area of the world. This couldn't be a good sign, though what it meant he had no way of knowing. "...Tell me that's not what I think it is," he said, pointing toward what could only be a Tonberry, watching them with bright yellow eyes and its lantern held steady in one hand.
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The idea that the head doctor might have had some part in this was one that Zack immediately wanted to resist against, but deep down, he knew there was a good chance of it. With the weird timeline stuff and their equipment suddenly back, there was a possibility that this had been carefully constructed by Landel in order to get under their skin.
As much as he hated to admit it, it was working. But so long as he kept that thought to himself, it'd be all right.
Upon hearing Cloud's suggestion, Zack had been ready to take a quick lap around the town (it wouldn't take long), but then his friend suddenly cut off. Zack glanced at him, then followed where he was looking. And the Tonberry that was puttering around nearby was pretty impossible to miss, which made him wonder: where had it come from and how had they not noticed it until now?
More than that, what the heck was it doing here? "Are you serious?" he complained, giving a shake of his head as he let his upper body fall forward in defeat. "Those things are only supposed to hang around in caves!" They were a pain to fight, though with three of them he doubted it'd be a problem. He just wasn't in a hurry to attack the thing, especially not when it was so slow.
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What was a Tonberry doing way out here?! They usually hung out down in the crater, except for the bunch they had tucked away in Battle Square. Yuffie stared at it. Just. Stared. She'd never, ever seen one this far south, in so populated an area. "This is crazy," she said. "This? Is totally, totally crazy."
It was staring right back at them, or so Yuffie thought. Beady golden eyes all fixed and judging and geez, this was the last thing they needed! Martin Landel was a son of a bitch. A real, huge, massive, undeniable and incurable son. Of. A. Bitch.
"Wish I had the Conformer," Yuffie muttered to Cloud. "And Morph." She'd always been good with that. Ribbon every time, baby! … Well, almost. Usually. It, well, it really depended on how things went; couldn't Morph worth a damn if you didn't land the final hit, and Tonberries were always up for making life difficult. They could put up a tough fight, even against-sometimes especially against-experienced fighters. Yuffie wasn't exactly worried, not with the three-against-one odds in their favor and with all their abilities back, but still. Dude.
Readying herself to grab her shuriken at any moment, Yuffie asked, "We waiting for it to come to us, or are we gonna go for some pre-emptive ass-kicking?" Tonberries weren't known for their speed, but they didn't give up on their victims so easily, either. They'd be fighting this out one way or the other.
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There was always the possibility that it had something to do with Sephiroth, and the coming of Meteor, but he couldn't be sure how that tied in. The idea that one might have hitched a ride on an escaping Weapon was also an idea, though a ridiculous one. But then, a Tonberry was a pretty ridiculous creature on its own.
If he'd thought there was a chance it might not be interested in attacking them, that thought was dashed when it stepped out further from behind it's hiding spot when he moved. Whatever it had been doing before, it now considered them a threat. They'd just have to take care of it before it began attacking in earnest. Toberries had a strange and irritating way of slowly prepping up for their attacks.
"All right. We'll just take it out, then see if we can find any other clues. You two get on either side of me."
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Which was why he didn't hesitate to make the first move. The Buster sword was off of his back and in his hand again within seconds, and then Zack kicked up dust running toward the lantern-toting creature. While he was pretty sure he'd gotten some materia back, his first instinct was always just to use his sword. Once he was within striking distance, he slashed down at the monster.
The Tonberry staggered back, swinging its little arms, but then continued its slow, laboring walk. That was par for the course, though, and so Zack immediately prepared another attack.
He still had no clue why a Tonberry of all things was here when everyone else seemed to have vanished into thin air, but he figured they'd toss around theories once the thing was dead.
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What a dumbass! Why couldn't he have stopped to think, hey, there's a chick here who uses a great big shuriken; might not be a good idea to practically sit on the target? Yes? No?
Ugh. SOLDIERs were the definition of bull-headed enthusiasm. Um, that was-some of them. A bunch. Tons, actually, since, hey; they were hopped up on soul juice and dead alien, so why the hell not? It pissed Yuffie off, always had and probably always would. She indulged herself with a roll of the eyes and a stormy expression, before quickly changing gears. Bitch later, kill stuff now. She'd just have to work around Mr. Bigshot over there.
Yuffie wasn't gonna waste any time; the quicker they got this over with, the quicker they could start figuring out what was going on. The shuriken was off her back and slicing through the air within seconds, carving a wide arc around Zack and the Tonberry. She was aiming to give Zack a little bit of a hand, knock the Tonberry forward from behind, and-yes! There! The shuriken struck low, right on target, before continuing its off-kilter arc back to its wielder.
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It didn't matter, really. It was just a Tonberry. Despite being an incredibly annoying little creature, it shouldn't be too big of a threat to them. He could probably handle a couple hits from that knife, as could the other two, but it wouldn't be getting that far. After being so drained of strength while in the Institute, Cloud was looking forward to being able to cause some real damage for once.
The creature was knocked forward, and the blond brought his sword up above his head, ready to cleave downward. You'd think a hit like this would be enough to finish it off, but you could never be sure with some of the stronger creatures of the world, which unfortunately a Tonberry was. That didn't make losing to one any less embarrassing, and that wasn't going to happen here.
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