Who: Tseng, Cloud, and whoever else wishes to gatecrash =)
When: Follows the events of the
party and
these texts.
Location: Nibelheim
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Things are finally coming to a head. The plan to capture and contain Sephiroth is being put into motion. All that is needed to spark this off is one enterprising Turk, and one spikey chocobo-headed SOLDIER.
Cloud sneaks into Nibelheim at around eleven o'clock at night, when everybody is shut up in the illusionary safety of four walls. Nibelheim doesn't receive many visitors these days; if he'd came during the day, his visit would've been remarked upon. He'd circled the front area for half an hour beforehand, just to see if there any signs of movement. If Yazoo or Sephiroth had been present, no amount of sneaking would've prevented them from catching him in the act, but if there were any lackies, a simple Sleep would've taken care of the problem.
As it happened, Cloud had not needed to rely on materia at all, and in the end he'd just quietly walked in.
Even at such a late hour, he still has to take care to remain to the shadows and to be as quiet as possible, just in case he walks into somebody who's suddenly decided to rush off to the General Store (at eleven!?) to buy some milk. Civilians can be just as dangerous as soldiers in their own way. (It's happened, before. Quiet towns never seem to remain quiet when AVALANCHE arrives, even when they sneak in, and do a good job of it, too.)
With all the ... tragedies that had befallen Nibelheim, the inhabitants of the little village live in a perpetual state of wariness, even as they stubbornly cling to what was. Cloud can understand why they allow themselves to live in the shadow of the town's past, even as he found it so easy to cut his losses and leave. It's not something he's ever brought up with anybody else.
Nibelheim is dimly lit by the low glow of street lamps. Pools of darkness gather away from the light. Most of the houses have their lights switched off; one or two of them have left a porch light turned on. Cloud walks quietly to center of town, where the well stands, much unchanged from when he was young. There's just enough light that he can catch the slight outline of a man crouching on the platform beside the well, against the night sky.
It's likely the only reason Cloud can see Tseng is because Tseng allows him to. Cloud is not disgruntled by this, as such; he's already had his revenge via text. It is very magnanimous of cloud to allow Tseng this one small victory.
(Perhaps Cloud should charge Tseng for having Cloud act as a distraction while Tseng is off rescuing his underling.)