Every Now and Then
Chapter 3: Traveling with Turks
Early the following morning, they were racing across the deep blue of the northern sea, saddled on the backs of ocean-going chocobos. Reno had a great view of Cloud’s back, as the self-proclaimed “leader” sped out in front, distancing himself from the three Turks who lingered at the back of the group. To Cloud’s left was Tifa, the spiky little freak’s first choice in traveling companions… Reno glared at her from behind. That woman never failed to let him know just how much she hated him. Granted, she had reason, but that didn’t mean that Reno enjoyed being so rudely awakened at five in the morning by a shower of ice-cold swamp water… His silk pajamas were never going to be quite the same, he was sure. He wondered just how early Tifa’d had to get up to make it to the southern swamp and back this morning, anyway… Though he had to admit, it was a stunt he wished he’d thought of himself… He’d been a bit lax with Elena of late.
Yuffie, too, rode ahead of him… and as much as he might have liked to, he couldn’t complain too much about her presence on this trip. Yuffie was better than that walking sack of hostility, Barret Wallace, any day… and besides which, after the time they’d spent together, he’d gotten used to having her around. He should have known that she would worm her way into the party the moment she heard the mention of a mako fountain… especially the biggest mako fountain anyone had ever seen.
It had taken awhile, but he and Cloud had managed to come to an agreement as to who would accompany them. After much discussion, and negotiation… and scathing insults against one another’s parentage… they had agreed that two allies each would accompany them. Naturally, Rude and Elena were Reno’s first and only choices… Cloud had immediately taken Tifa into the group, and then agonized over his second choice, before finally giving in to Yuffie’s non-stop whining. Reno had to admit, the ninja-brat was good at getting her own way. Cloud had originally wanted to call the Highwind and its foul-mouthed pilot off its supply run from Junon to Midgar.
Of course, Cloud had assumed the lead the moment they’d left Reeve’s office, throwing Reno into a subordinate position without so much as consulting him. Not that Reno was planning on taking orders anyway… not from someone he didn’t trust not to get him killed, at least… but, still… it irked him. In the end, he’d decided to let soldier-boy have his way. If nothing else, it might be interesting to watch him try and order around the Turks.
“H-how much farther?” Elena suddenly called out to Reno. He took his gaze off of Cloud’s back, his mind snapping back into the present, and looked over at his fellow Turk, snickering as he caught a glimpse of the white-knuckled grip she had on her chocobo’s reins.
“What’s the matter Elena? Sit back and enjoy the ride!” he laughed. It was a little cruel of him… He knew the poor girl couldn’t swim a stroke. When he’d informed her of how they would be traveling, her face had taken on the palest shade of white he’d ever seen painted on human flesh.
“How much farther?” she repeated, louder than before.
“Hell, just don’t fall in and you’ll be fine,” he said, fighting back another laugh, and he purposefully urged his chocobo into the path of hers. Elena’s chocobo darted sharply to the right to avoid a collision and warked indignantly at being cut off so abruptly. The Turk perched on its back bit back a squeal and wrapped her arms around the bird’s neck.
“… If you strangle it, you’ll both sink,” Rude observed, and Reno turned his head just in time to see Elena’s face blanch.
“Come on ‘Lena… Don’t act so weak,” he called over to her.
———-
“Why does it take six people to check on a few scientists?” asked Tifa.
“It doesn’t… But I don’t trust Reno as far as I can throw him… and neither do you,” Cloud replied, “I wanted someone to watch my back, so he decided he wanted the same. Somehow we ended up agreeing on six people.”
Yuffie hung back a bit, half-listening as their conversation turned more to Turk-bashing than serious discussion, and half-watching the Turks themselves. Elena looked nervous to say the least, and she wondered why. She also wondered why the woman was willing to take so much abuse from the other two. It seemed that every time Yuffie saw them, one of them – actually, it was usually Reno – was teasing her, or mocking her, or belittling her.
“Jackass,” she muttered to herself as Reno cut in front of Elena, nearly causing a collision, “I know you can be a nice guy when you want to… So why don’t you?
“You say something, Yuffie?” Cloud called back to her.
“Uh… Shouldn’t we be there by now?” she quickly covered.
“Yeah… In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s it up ahead,” he replied, pointing north. A low shadow rose from the water.
———-
Her muscles were beginning to ache from being relentlessly locked in the same position for… how long had they been riding, anyway? An hour? Two? Three? But she couldn’t bring herself to shift her position on the creature’s back. She dared a quickly glance down at the blue-gray blur that swept past the cyan-feathered chocobo’s feet. Elena couldn’t imagine how the bird had ever come to possess such a unique ability, but right now, her avian friend was all that stood between her and a watery grave… so she held herself motionless in the saddle. All she really wanted was to be back on solid ground again.
Shoot-outs she could handle… Espionage, kidnapping, violent enemies at every turn… That was all part of her career. But out here, surrounded by nothing but the merciless waters that stretched out for miles in every direction like an endless blanket of blue… Here, she was terrified.
And it sure as hell didn’t help that Reno seemed to be enjoying that fact. He caught her eye as he glanced back at her again, and he flashed her that infuriating grin of his. It was the kind of thing that made you unsure as to whether you wanted to kiss the son of a bitch, or kill him… Or both. She quickly shook that thought from her head.
“Land, ho!” Reno crowed at the top of his lungs, startling Elena out of her reverie.
‘Thank Holy,’ she thought. She heaved a sigh of relief as the tiny silhouettes of a small group of islands came into view.
———-
A wide expanse of beach stretched out before them, and beyond that, the tall skeletons of barren trees arched up from the ground like looming sentinels. From the center of the island, smoke rose into the cold, gray sky from the crater of a volcano.
“Welcome to Hell,” Reno muttered, taking in the desolate sight. The wind blew across the island from the north, bringing with it the chilly reminder of just how close they were to the perpetually snow-covered northern continent. The acrid smell of sulfur was carried in faint wisps along the shore. Dry, brittle plants dotted the landscape, and farther inland, rare spots of green stood out from the mass of brown.
“Hell or not, at least it’s dry land,” Elena piped up.
“This place gives me the creeps,” said Yuffie, “What’s with all the dying plants?”
“Maybe it’s the volcano…” Tifa replied. She gazed up at the sloping sides of the cone-shaped volcano, at the smoke that belied its seemingly peaceful presence here… and at the hazy, reddish-brown figure that glided briefly out from the gray, before disappearing behind the mountain.
“Did anyone else just see that?” asked Tifa, pulling her gaze away from the sky.
“…” Rude was looking toward the volcano as well.
“Uh… Maaaaaybe we should go find those science nerds now…” said Yuffie.
———-
No one spoke as they made their way inland on foot, the chocobos having refused to take one step off the beach, and rearing back when Cloud tried to coax them along by the reins. It was as if the birds saw something that their riders did not, and their skiddishness only served to spur everyone’s apprehension about the island even farther.
Yuffie looked around at their surroundings, bleak as they were, searching for some small bit of color. Something was very wrong here… It felt almost unreal… and it wasn’t just the dying plant-life. It was almost maddening that she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was that bothered her.
“You guys here that?” Reno asked suddenly, and everyone stopped, listening. The moment it took before someone answered seemed an eternity.
“I don’t hear anything,” Cloud said at last.
“Exactly,” the Turk replied.
“…”
“Reno, this is no time for jokes,” Elena said, rolling her eyes.
“So who’s joking? I’m serious… When was the last time you heard absolutely nothing? There are no birds… no other animals… can’t even hear the wind or the waves since we left the beach.”
“That’s it! That’s what’s been bugging me!” said Yuffie, “Gawd… That is soooo weird…”
The others scanned the area. Reno was right… the whole place was unnaturally still.
“Who would actually want to stay in a place like this?” Tifa wondered aloud, “Cloud, how much farther is this research station we’re looking for?”
She turned to face him, but Cloud’s mind was elsewhere, his eyes affixed to a spot still farther along their path.
“Cloud?”
“Yo, Spike…” Reno said, waving a hand in front of his “leader’s” face.
“Huh?” Cloud responded, “What…”
“How much farther to the research station?” the redhead asked, repeating Tifa’s question.
“Cloud? Are you alright?” Tifa asked.
“Oh… Uh, yeah… Fine…” he said, absently scratching the back of his head, “Just thought I saw something…”
He decided not to mention that the something he’d thought he’d seen had been crouched beside a small patch of flowers that were no longer there.
“So…?” Reno prodded. Cloud narrowed his eyes at the Turk.
“So what?” he snapped.
“So, how much farther?” Reno defensively replied.
———-
In a shadowy corridor, a lone figure shuffled through the darkness. It began to climb a flight of stairs that creaked in protest under its weight. It seemed to remember a time when there was light here… but light was fleeting in this place now… Perhaps It was mistaken.
It paused at the top of the stairs, hesitating. It didn’t really want to go any farther… It wanted to return to the warm embrace of the light, below the dark hallways and corridors. Why was it up here, then?
Oh yes… It remembered now. It was supposed to write. Was it really time to write again already? All was dark and still beyond to stairs, lonely and abandoned. It could feel the emptiness that saturated the air. More stairs. Up and up. There were doors… It knew which one to open.
The figure entered a small room, as It always did when it was time to write. It found the heavy wooden desk in the corner. The pale sun shown through a dirty window, shedding its light on a well-worn spiral notebook. It sat down to write. In jagged, almost child-like handwriting, It scrawled, “The light wants…” and then It paused, thinking. Did It really know what the light wanted? Yes, It decided, It did, “… more…” It turned to the man sitting in a chair in the corner.
“Uhhhhhh…” It moaned… Send it. It was the man’s job to send it where it was supposed to be sent. The man answered It with a wide toothy grin… That’s all he ever seemed to do anymore… It didn’t care. Its job was done. It went back to the light.
———-
“Hey! Strife, do have even the faintest idea where the hell you’re going?!” Reno yelled as he disentangled himself from the dry, thorn-covered vines that snaked their way back and forth across the party’s path. They wrapped themselves around the trunks of trees, as if to strangle whatever life remained. They wound their way through the brush and bushes that must once have been lush and green. And they snagged Reno’s jacket, his pant legs… they captured locks of his hair and tugged painfully when the Turk tried to pull away.
The others didn’t seem to be faring much better than he, except perhaps for Cloud, who pushed through it all with the stubbornness that Reno was slowly becoming accustomed to. The red-haired Turk cursed under his breath as a line of thorns tore at the exposed skin at the back of his neck. He raised a hand to the injured area, and drew it back stained with crimson.
“Strife!” he yelled again. He was fast getting sick of constantly being ignored. He had half a mind to go up to the guy and slug him just for the hell of it… But instead, he opted to help Elena untangle herself.
“Owww! Stop, stop, stop!” the blond cried, when Reno tried to unravel the vines.
“This would be a lot easier if you’d just hold still!”
“Ow! Stop pulling!”
“Elena, quit struggling…”
“No! Not like that… OW! Reno!”
“Heh… Just like pullin’ off a band-aid…”
“Yeah… Except band-aids don’t rip out fistfuls of hair!”
“Wimp,” Reno teased, and turned to continue after the others, who’d already moved out of sight, “Fistful of hair, my ass… Come on, before Strife leaves us behind.”
When they finally got clear of the vicious foliage, the two Turks found Yuffie waiting for them.
“Lemme guess… Strife didn’t want to stick around and see if we made it out of his little shortcut alive or not,” Reno grumbled.
“You know, you could try to get along with Cloud…” the ninja replied, “Anyways, come on… They’re waiting for us up ahead.”
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