FF7 Fanfict - Reminiscence and Shadows
I posted another section of this and added it to my writing journal and it can be found here
( Reminiscence and Shadows (In Progress) )
I'm also posting that new segment
"Ah! That's cold!" Yuffie complained as they encountered a sudden cold down pour of heavy rain. It felt so cold that it caused an instant shiver.
Cloud didn't seem to be surprised about the rain being so cold that it made anyone cringe. They are along the northern side of the Nibel mountain range and anything that came from the mountain is notoriously cold, even in the middle of summer. It was, however, unusual for a sudden intense down pour like this.
There was not much he could do about the rain and Yuffie held onto him tighter for warmth, but she noticed a spot on his upper left back that seemed to feel feverishly warm and when she got near it, he moved away as if it bothered him. She found another spot towards his right side.
"How much farther?" Yuffie had to yell over the wind, rain and the engines of the bike.
"A little bit, but I think there's a place over there where we could try to wait it out." He pointed to the northeast.
"Sounds like a plan." Her teeth were starting the chatter from the cold.
Cloud again increased the speed and the distance from them and this cave he was referring to could be seen in the distance. However, he saw a light inside which meant it was already occupied. As he got closer, he realized that away from the stone alcove there is a armed lookout. He wasn't sure, really and slowed the bike down to a stop to pull his goggles down so that he can see clearly.
"Why you stop?" Yuffie looked around.
"I think that we better move on. Look." He pointed to the lookout who is currently staring at them.
"Yeah..." Yuffie saw two new figures join the lone lookout. "Let's just go."
He didn't bother to put the goggles back on and sped off in another direction. It wasn't that he couldn't deal with them, but he had no reason to and didn't feel like picking a fight. He had better things to do.
After a long moment and Yuffie leaning her head against Cloud's back she heard something ring.
"Cloud?" Yuffie again had to raise her voice.
"What?" He had to reply loudly just to even hear himself.
"Your phone."
He shook his head. Now would be a bad time to answer it and he didn't hear it ring. "You get it. It's in my pocket."
"Fine." It was a simple maneuver for her because of her pickpocketing skills. She only looked at the screen that displays who is calling. But in this case, give no useful information. "It doesn't say who it is, only 'Restricted'."
"Then I'll get it later."
Yuffie shoved the phone back into his pocket. It was a little more difficult than taking it out considering that both of them are thoroughly soaked. Then she sniffled softly.
"Your call has been redirected to a automated voice mail box system. The Number: Zero. One. One. Eight. One..."
Reno pulled the phone away from his ear. He is clearly annoyed and made no effort to hide it. This is the third number he tried including his business line and his girlfriend's bar. He didn't need to be reminded of the number that he is calling, and it is obvious that it's a Midgar wireless number.
He pondered for a moment about leaving a message, and put the phone back onto his ear.
"...not available. At the tone..."
He pulled it away again. A part of him wasn't even sure that this was even the right number. He reasoned that if he left a message and it turned out the be the wrong number, it could be a Shin-ra security violation. Not that he would get written up or fired or anything, but it would still look bad on his part.
He muttered a few profanities under his breath. At least Cloud could do was to record a message so that he would know for certain that it was even the right fucking number. He hung up.
He thought about his options. Maybe because he used one of their business lines may be the reason why he didn't pick up.
Reno reclined back in his chair while pulling out his mobile and started to program the number in with the name of 'CS-3'. No one needed to know that he is going to have that number on speed dial.
Before he had a chance to try out the new number his phone let out a soft chirp to remind him that there is a meeting in a few minutes.
He stood up with a stretch and turned off the alarm. He's going to have to try to call back later.
'I want to go home!' She declared to herself. She had grown tired of struggling to work with her useless body and found herself to be out of breath. She had become so frustrated that she took no satisfaction in finally able to work her hands into fists as she started to regain motor control.
'I wish it was that easy.' The familiar voice said to her in a sorrowful way. It truly sympathized with what she is feeling. 'I can no longer protect you. I'm sorry.'
She wanted to lash out. She wanted to shout out that she hated the world and everything in it. She had so much built up rage and fury with no way to possibly let it all out.
'Hey, hang in there!' This was the feminine voice of one of her friends.
'You're not alone.' The masculine voice said and stressed the word 'not'.
'Help me! Get me out of here!' She cried back to them.
'If only we could.' The feminine voice said with sorrow. Then after a moment, that voice spoke again. '...but...'
'I think I know someone who can.' The masculine voice caught on what his companion was saying.
'Please tell me. I can't stay like this.' She pleaded with them.
'Just call out to him. It will take a while to get through but it will be worth it.' The feminine voice explained while thinking of this person in detail.
In her lack of language skills, it was all she needed to know in who to look for. It was a vivid mental impression of this person.
'Remember, his mind has hardened and will very likely brush your calls as his wild imagination, but keep at it. Eventually he will listen. Maybe then he will listen to the rest of us.' The masculine voice advised.
She paused to ponder on this. What else does she have to loose other than time?
'I'll give it a try.'
She closed her eyes to think of this person.
In the long and tragic history of his life, this was one of the moments where he could find solace and tranquility. Even when he was young, he found that the fresh air that had been cleansed by the rain and lighting brought him great comfort.
He never bothered to question why. It was one of those things in life that he found that he can still enjoy. Sometimes, it reminded him of what it felt like to be human again.
He made a conscious effort to not think of the gruesome and horrifying trauma in his life, and for once it seemed that he had become content with the way things are. For the last couple of years he had wondered the planet in search of answers to his cryptic past, and to find out the fate of the loved ones that he once fought so hard for.
He found satisfaction that he got a good portion of them answered thoroughly that gave him closure. The ones that remained, however, he had good solid theories on them but approached those as a fact finding basis.
It was a since of accomplishment getting these burning questions answered.
Vincent leaned his head back and inhaled through his nose to get the most of the fresh smelling air and to enjoy the gust of wind while he stood outside on the porch of Cid's residence.
He let his mind go blank and closed his eyes until he heard a shriek from inside.
Quietly, he turned to look inside but it was not out of alarm since that shriek was accompanied by intense laughter, but out of curiosity.
"Stop it, let me go!" Tifa struggled and Barret lifted her higher and Cid trying to hold her. "Put. Me. Down!"
Marlene had been laughing hysterically while watching them rough housing.
Denzel shrugged. "... And if we did that, we would have gotten in trouble." He shook his head and crossed his arms and watched the 'big kids' as they played rough.
"Are you going to tell us?" Barret nudged.
"No!" Tifa struggled as her sides are being tickled with growing intensity. They had been asking too many questions about that purple dress and despite her diverting their attention and constantly changing the subject, it only made them even more curious and more aggressive.
"C'on, talk!" Cid laughed.
Shera walked in because she could not ignore the racket any longer. Very quickly she had gotten worried over the situation. Someone could get hurt, and rare stuff can get broken. She then looked to Nanaki who had been watching on the side. He wasn't sure whose side to take on this intense 'debate'.
Shera shook her head. "Can't you do something, Red?"
Nanaki sighed. "I can try." He jumped over to where Marlene and Denzel were sitting and nudged them to take a step back.
"Hey, the lady said knock it off!" Nanaki said loudly in a commanding tone.
Tifa managed to kick Cid away briefly, but it was all that Nanaki needed to jump in between them.
"Shera said stop it." He told Cid.
Cid quickly looked at the woman that he lived with. He saw that her hands were close to her chest and obviously worried, almost panicked. He then nodded back to Nanaki. Perhaps this had gone too far and he hated to see her like this.
Tifa managed to get her foot on a piece of furniture to give her enough leverage to toss her body over the top of his head and onto his back. The sudden change in angle forced him to release his grip on her. As soon as he did, she pushed him away.
"C'on! You wanna take this outside?" Tifa is all worked up and pointed at her friend. "I'll kick your ass!"
"Hey enough!" Cid shouted.
Tifa and Barret turned to Cid who pointed to a very upset Shera. Playtime was over, and they didn't mean to upset their host.
"Uh, sorry 'bout that, Shera." Barret raised his left hand to the back side of his neck in a nervous gesture. Then there was a awkward paused. "Guess we got carried away there."
Shera sighed sadly. At least the situation got taken care of with only a few things knocked over.
Tifa brushed herself off. "We'll uh, clean up the mess."
Shera nodded quietly. "Thank you." Then walked out of the room to return to whatever she was doing.
Tifa paused to watch her walk away. Shera's posture seemed to be slow and ill. She then turned to Cid to whisper a question to him, "Is she feeling okay?"
Cid's mood changed to a saddened one. He only shook his head and mouthed out the word 'no.'
Barret anticipated what needed to be said next as he grabbed an object to put back on the shelf. "We can talk about that later, okay?"
Cid nodded quietly. It is very clear to them that there is something terribly wrong that he had been dealing with for what seemed to be a while now.
Yuffie felt so relived when she saw the first building pass by as they entered Rocket Town. As far as she was concerned, they have arrived.
There was a carport to the side of Cid's house that had room set aside for him to park his bike. As soon as Cloud slowed to a stop and kicked down the stand, Yuffie jumped off and grabbed her bag.
"Thanks for the ride! I'll meet you inside." She didn't wait for a reply from him and ran off to get out of the rain.
The path from the carport to Cid's porch had become over run with mud but she kept moving as fast as she could until she made it onto the exterior structure itself.
"Hey Vincent." She waved and pushed her way inside.
Vincent only nodded in a greeting and turned to watch Cloud.
Cloud opted to leave everything behind and only took the keys with him.
Soon he met up with Vincent and took a moment to push the soaked hair out of his eyes. "Sorry I'm late."
Vincent shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I don't think that we're taking off anytime soon."
Cloud nodded and turned to look at the miserable weather that he and Yuffie had been enduring for a long while now. "Yeah." He said in agreement.
He had been running non stop all day and it seemed to be the first time today where he could actually stop and catch his breath. He looked quietly out on the landscape and even observed the launch pad in the distance. It appeared that a lot of work is being done to restore it to get it ready to launch some time soon, but this was his guess.
'... is anyone out there?'
Vincent stood up strait from his leaning position and looked around.
'... hello?'
Cloud started to wonder where that came from and looked at Vincent who nodded back in return.
Vincent walked to one side of the porch to see what could possibly be the source of that sound. Cloud kept silent and strained to hear if there was anything else, but all he heard was the steady and loud sounds of the heavy rain hitting the roof.
After a long moment, Cloud couldn't stop himself from inhaling deeply and then exhaling with intense force. Vincent turned to his friend after that sudden sneeze.
Cloud gave up on his search, "I'm going inside." He walked away with a suppressed cough.
Some side notes:
The number "011+81" is the international code to make a phone call from the US to Japan, so that is why I used it.
Also, when I used the term, "girlfriend," .... this is Reno's assumption. This has not yet been established as either true of false.
One final note - I don't personally don't mind being stuck out in the rain, but if it is really cold, then I do mind. I've already planned out the outcome for that, and I'll get around to writing more.
( Reminiscence and Shadows (In Progress) )
I'm also posting that new segment
"Ah! That's cold!" Yuffie complained as they encountered a sudden cold down pour of heavy rain. It felt so cold that it caused an instant shiver.
Cloud didn't seem to be surprised about the rain being so cold that it made anyone cringe. They are along the northern side of the Nibel mountain range and anything that came from the mountain is notoriously cold, even in the middle of summer. It was, however, unusual for a sudden intense down pour like this.
There was not much he could do about the rain and Yuffie held onto him tighter for warmth, but she noticed a spot on his upper left back that seemed to feel feverishly warm and when she got near it, he moved away as if it bothered him. She found another spot towards his right side.
"How much farther?" Yuffie had to yell over the wind, rain and the engines of the bike.
"A little bit, but I think there's a place over there where we could try to wait it out." He pointed to the northeast.
"Sounds like a plan." Her teeth were starting the chatter from the cold.
Cloud again increased the speed and the distance from them and this cave he was referring to could be seen in the distance. However, he saw a light inside which meant it was already occupied. As he got closer, he realized that away from the stone alcove there is a armed lookout. He wasn't sure, really and slowed the bike down to a stop to pull his goggles down so that he can see clearly.
"Why you stop?" Yuffie looked around.
"I think that we better move on. Look." He pointed to the lookout who is currently staring at them.
"Yeah..." Yuffie saw two new figures join the lone lookout. "Let's just go."
He didn't bother to put the goggles back on and sped off in another direction. It wasn't that he couldn't deal with them, but he had no reason to and didn't feel like picking a fight. He had better things to do.
After a long moment and Yuffie leaning her head against Cloud's back she heard something ring.
"Cloud?" Yuffie again had to raise her voice.
"What?" He had to reply loudly just to even hear himself.
"Your phone."
He shook his head. Now would be a bad time to answer it and he didn't hear it ring. "You get it. It's in my pocket."
"Fine." It was a simple maneuver for her because of her pickpocketing skills. She only looked at the screen that displays who is calling. But in this case, give no useful information. "It doesn't say who it is, only 'Restricted'."
"Then I'll get it later."
Yuffie shoved the phone back into his pocket. It was a little more difficult than taking it out considering that both of them are thoroughly soaked. Then she sniffled softly.
"Your call has been redirected to a automated voice mail box system. The Number: Zero. One. One. Eight. One..."
Reno pulled the phone away from his ear. He is clearly annoyed and made no effort to hide it. This is the third number he tried including his business line and his girlfriend's bar. He didn't need to be reminded of the number that he is calling, and it is obvious that it's a Midgar wireless number.
He pondered for a moment about leaving a message, and put the phone back onto his ear.
"...not available. At the tone..."
He pulled it away again. A part of him wasn't even sure that this was even the right number. He reasoned that if he left a message and it turned out the be the wrong number, it could be a Shin-ra security violation. Not that he would get written up or fired or anything, but it would still look bad on his part.
He muttered a few profanities under his breath. At least Cloud could do was to record a message so that he would know for certain that it was even the right fucking number. He hung up.
He thought about his options. Maybe because he used one of their business lines may be the reason why he didn't pick up.
Reno reclined back in his chair while pulling out his mobile and started to program the number in with the name of 'CS-3'. No one needed to know that he is going to have that number on speed dial.
Before he had a chance to try out the new number his phone let out a soft chirp to remind him that there is a meeting in a few minutes.
He stood up with a stretch and turned off the alarm. He's going to have to try to call back later.
'I want to go home!' She declared to herself. She had grown tired of struggling to work with her useless body and found herself to be out of breath. She had become so frustrated that she took no satisfaction in finally able to work her hands into fists as she started to regain motor control.
'I wish it was that easy.' The familiar voice said to her in a sorrowful way. It truly sympathized with what she is feeling. 'I can no longer protect you. I'm sorry.'
She wanted to lash out. She wanted to shout out that she hated the world and everything in it. She had so much built up rage and fury with no way to possibly let it all out.
'Hey, hang in there!' This was the feminine voice of one of her friends.
'You're not alone.' The masculine voice said and stressed the word 'not'.
'Help me! Get me out of here!' She cried back to them.
'If only we could.' The feminine voice said with sorrow. Then after a moment, that voice spoke again. '...but...'
'I think I know someone who can.' The masculine voice caught on what his companion was saying.
'Please tell me. I can't stay like this.' She pleaded with them.
'Just call out to him. It will take a while to get through but it will be worth it.' The feminine voice explained while thinking of this person in detail.
In her lack of language skills, it was all she needed to know in who to look for. It was a vivid mental impression of this person.
'Remember, his mind has hardened and will very likely brush your calls as his wild imagination, but keep at it. Eventually he will listen. Maybe then he will listen to the rest of us.' The masculine voice advised.
She paused to ponder on this. What else does she have to loose other than time?
'I'll give it a try.'
She closed her eyes to think of this person.
In the long and tragic history of his life, this was one of the moments where he could find solace and tranquility. Even when he was young, he found that the fresh air that had been cleansed by the rain and lighting brought him great comfort.
He never bothered to question why. It was one of those things in life that he found that he can still enjoy. Sometimes, it reminded him of what it felt like to be human again.
He made a conscious effort to not think of the gruesome and horrifying trauma in his life, and for once it seemed that he had become content with the way things are. For the last couple of years he had wondered the planet in search of answers to his cryptic past, and to find out the fate of the loved ones that he once fought so hard for.
He found satisfaction that he got a good portion of them answered thoroughly that gave him closure. The ones that remained, however, he had good solid theories on them but approached those as a fact finding basis.
It was a since of accomplishment getting these burning questions answered.
Vincent leaned his head back and inhaled through his nose to get the most of the fresh smelling air and to enjoy the gust of wind while he stood outside on the porch of Cid's residence.
He let his mind go blank and closed his eyes until he heard a shriek from inside.
Quietly, he turned to look inside but it was not out of alarm since that shriek was accompanied by intense laughter, but out of curiosity.
"Stop it, let me go!" Tifa struggled and Barret lifted her higher and Cid trying to hold her. "Put. Me. Down!"
Marlene had been laughing hysterically while watching them rough housing.
Denzel shrugged. "... And if we did that, we would have gotten in trouble." He shook his head and crossed his arms and watched the 'big kids' as they played rough.
"Are you going to tell us?" Barret nudged.
"No!" Tifa struggled as her sides are being tickled with growing intensity. They had been asking too many questions about that purple dress and despite her diverting their attention and constantly changing the subject, it only made them even more curious and more aggressive.
"C'on, talk!" Cid laughed.
Shera walked in because she could not ignore the racket any longer. Very quickly she had gotten worried over the situation. Someone could get hurt, and rare stuff can get broken. She then looked to Nanaki who had been watching on the side. He wasn't sure whose side to take on this intense 'debate'.
Shera shook her head. "Can't you do something, Red?"
Nanaki sighed. "I can try." He jumped over to where Marlene and Denzel were sitting and nudged them to take a step back.
"Hey, the lady said knock it off!" Nanaki said loudly in a commanding tone.
Tifa managed to kick Cid away briefly, but it was all that Nanaki needed to jump in between them.
"Shera said stop it." He told Cid.
Cid quickly looked at the woman that he lived with. He saw that her hands were close to her chest and obviously worried, almost panicked. He then nodded back to Nanaki. Perhaps this had gone too far and he hated to see her like this.
Tifa managed to get her foot on a piece of furniture to give her enough leverage to toss her body over the top of his head and onto his back. The sudden change in angle forced him to release his grip on her. As soon as he did, she pushed him away.
"C'on! You wanna take this outside?" Tifa is all worked up and pointed at her friend. "I'll kick your ass!"
"Hey enough!" Cid shouted.
Tifa and Barret turned to Cid who pointed to a very upset Shera. Playtime was over, and they didn't mean to upset their host.
"Uh, sorry 'bout that, Shera." Barret raised his left hand to the back side of his neck in a nervous gesture. Then there was a awkward paused. "Guess we got carried away there."
Shera sighed sadly. At least the situation got taken care of with only a few things knocked over.
Tifa brushed herself off. "We'll uh, clean up the mess."
Shera nodded quietly. "Thank you." Then walked out of the room to return to whatever she was doing.
Tifa paused to watch her walk away. Shera's posture seemed to be slow and ill. She then turned to Cid to whisper a question to him, "Is she feeling okay?"
Cid's mood changed to a saddened one. He only shook his head and mouthed out the word 'no.'
Barret anticipated what needed to be said next as he grabbed an object to put back on the shelf. "We can talk about that later, okay?"
Cid nodded quietly. It is very clear to them that there is something terribly wrong that he had been dealing with for what seemed to be a while now.
Yuffie felt so relived when she saw the first building pass by as they entered Rocket Town. As far as she was concerned, they have arrived.
There was a carport to the side of Cid's house that had room set aside for him to park his bike. As soon as Cloud slowed to a stop and kicked down the stand, Yuffie jumped off and grabbed her bag.
"Thanks for the ride! I'll meet you inside." She didn't wait for a reply from him and ran off to get out of the rain.
The path from the carport to Cid's porch had become over run with mud but she kept moving as fast as she could until she made it onto the exterior structure itself.
"Hey Vincent." She waved and pushed her way inside.
Vincent only nodded in a greeting and turned to watch Cloud.
Cloud opted to leave everything behind and only took the keys with him.
Soon he met up with Vincent and took a moment to push the soaked hair out of his eyes. "Sorry I'm late."
Vincent shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I don't think that we're taking off anytime soon."
Cloud nodded and turned to look at the miserable weather that he and Yuffie had been enduring for a long while now. "Yeah." He said in agreement.
He had been running non stop all day and it seemed to be the first time today where he could actually stop and catch his breath. He looked quietly out on the landscape and even observed the launch pad in the distance. It appeared that a lot of work is being done to restore it to get it ready to launch some time soon, but this was his guess.
'... is anyone out there?'
Vincent stood up strait from his leaning position and looked around.
'... hello?'
Cloud started to wonder where that came from and looked at Vincent who nodded back in return.
Vincent walked to one side of the porch to see what could possibly be the source of that sound. Cloud kept silent and strained to hear if there was anything else, but all he heard was the steady and loud sounds of the heavy rain hitting the roof.
After a long moment, Cloud couldn't stop himself from inhaling deeply and then exhaling with intense force. Vincent turned to his friend after that sudden sneeze.
Cloud gave up on his search, "I'm going inside." He walked away with a suppressed cough.
Some side notes:
The number "011+81" is the international code to make a phone call from the US to Japan, so that is why I used it.
Also, when I used the term, "girlfriend," .... this is Reno's assumption. This has not yet been established as either true of false.
One final note - I don't personally don't mind being stuck out in the rain, but if it is really cold, then I do mind. I've already planned out the outcome for that, and I'll get around to writing more.