Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Suspended Within ❯ Part III - The Traveller ( Chapter 3 )

--------------------------------
Standard FFVII disclaimers apply
--------------------------------

Suspended Within

A FFVII fanfiction by Nefas

*****************
Part III : The Traveller
*****************

-----------------------

Tell me traveller,
where are you heading?
"I'm heading to the east,
where the sun never sets."

Tell me traveller,
what are you looking for?
"I'm going to meet a girl,
of sweetest looks and voice."

"I know not her face,
least of her words.
For I meet her in dreams,
like a prophet she was."

"I'd imagine she had wings
and the grace of an angel.
Blessing all with prayers
and pretty white flowers."

Tell me traveller,
why do you journey?
"There is no way to go on,
except to where she leads me."

Tell me traveller,
what if you find her?
"I would die,
for my quest has been fulfilled."

-----------------------

The reins pulled Mika's head back lightly, and she eased to a stop. Feathers ruffled by the stormy weather, she squawked in annoyance.

Her dark-cloaked rider dismounted clumsily and gripped her reins, leading her upward a narrow, icy path. A gloved hand stroked her head firmly in assurance, murmuring soft words of consolation in the middle of the snow-covered fields. The roads were gradually becoming steep as they came close to mountainous terrain.

The snow was merciless. Cloud's eyelashes were heavily coated with white ice flakes as he kept his eyes focused on the path before him. Trying to coax the bird into trudging on, he took off his cloak and covered the chocobo. Pulling the hood over his feathered companion, he chuckled at his now clothed stead.

Mika responded encouragingly by nuzzling her chilled beak to Cloud's cheek, which he quickly pushed away, tickled by her cold touch. Keeping his head low and the snow out of his eyes, the traveller went on. His spiked hair was thickly coated with snowflakes; and if it were not for his mako-enhanced physical body, he would have had fallen prey to the cold.

"Just hold on a bit more, Mika. There's a cave nearby, I'll bring you there in no time. Just hold on a little more, and..." the ragged whisper was interrupted by a glowing pre-emptive materia in the slot of his mystile armlet. Giving a firm pat on Mika's rear to get her out of the way, the blonde drew his weapon.

Slimy, green monsters are not the most friendliest looking creatures one would like to fight. Much less slimy, green and tentacled monsters with large mouths and a foul breath.

One word to sum all that description up - "Malboro".

If there was one thing Cloud learnt during his last trip up the Gaea Cliffs, it would be that fighting in thick snow gave him the disadvantage. Travelling through the snow had sapped much of his strength. His Ultima Weapon glowed a faint blue as he took a small running jump at the Malboro.

Slashing upwards, Cloud managed to deal a hefty damage to the creature. The Malboro struck out with a tentacle, and Cloud blocked with his armlet. Something fell off his armlet, but he was not going to miss his chance for a counter attack. Going in for another attack, the blonde pushed his sword straight into the belly of the beast.

The Malboro howled, a raspy wet sound, and the green blood spilt over Cloud's face. Drawing his sword from the monster, Cloud staggered back from the impact. He could feel more of the creature's burning blood spill on himself. His eyes started hurting, and poison seeped into his body. Reeling back in unexpected pain, he firmly supported himself with his Ultima weapon planted in the snow.

The ribbon on his armlet was not there anymore to protect him from the poison, thus the unexpected damage he received.

"Damn, it must have fell off when the monster hit my armlet..." he thought and prayed, "please be already dead..."

Something sharp sank into his shoulder, forcing Cloud to scream out in pain. He unsheathed his sword from the snow and plunged it into the direction of the beast. As he moved, the sharp triangular shards only dug deeper into his firm flesh. He winced at the friction as he firmly swung his sword upwards with the force of a small Climhazzard. The grip of the Malboro's teeth loosened.

Only after a full minute did the monster finally let go, leaving jagged wounds on Cloud's shoulder and arm. Before the young man could recover from the shock of being attacked, blood suddenly spurted out from his shoulder, tainting the pure white snow beneath him.

Panting heavily from injuries and poison, Cloud rubbed his aching eyes. Even through the cold, he could smell a rancid stench coming from the Marlboro, mixed with a strong metallic smell of his own blood.

The chill of everlasting winter was invading his wounded flesh and bones. With a numbed mind and weak spirit, his heart felt like ice. The last thing he remembered hearing was his sword falling beside him with a 'flump'.

===============================

It was cold and searing hot at the same time. Cloud stirred, and felt a hard weapon armed on his back. His arms were aching and numb, and he could feel the brightness of the burning sun paining his eyes and skin.

Slowly opening his eyes to adjust to the setting sun, he supported himself onto his knees. He could see blood on the back of his hand. His blue eyes traced the trickle of fresh red blood all the way up to his shoulder. He had been attacked and seemingly shot in the shoulder.
Cloud sighed in relief when he saw no signs of troublesome lodged bullets. He slowly diverted his gaze to the snowy field around him.

It was a bloody sight.

The snow was soiled with large patches of dark red, and bodies were everywhere. A few were uniformed Shinra troopers, but the main bulk of corpses there were normally dressed people. Weapons and guns were strewn all over, sticking out from the pallid snow like tombstones.

He could hear exchanging of blows going on, and a sudden gunfire made him fall back down onto the snow with a crunch. A man hastily ran over, laid down beside him and clapped a gloved hand over his mouth. Cloud strained upwards to try and see what had happened.

"Shh! Keep low! There might be more of 'em!" The command issued was instinctively obeyed without question. Cloud reached out for his sword on his back for protection, but only found a black rifle. Nevertheless, a weapon was a weapon. He rolled over onto his stomach, and observed ahead of him. The sun was going down fast, and in a few minutes, it would be dark. There was a man beside him; he could feel body heat as his wounded shoulder was pressed against the other man's arm.

Not being the least uncomfortable having such close contact with another person, Cloud felt a little strange. In fact, there was a peculiar feeling he harboured for the man beside him.

Trust.

"You alright, kiddo?" A whisper came after a full minute of silence, and a hand reached out to give Cloud's arm a light squeeze.

"I'm fine. What's going on...?" The blonde asked, realising he could not see his companion's face now that the sun has retired for the day.

He could see glowing bluish-violet eyes blinking back at him, puzzled.

"Gee, kid, how long did you pass out? We were supposed to assemble at the cave over there after we wiped these rebels out, but you were missing, so I came back to look for you."

The man beside Cloud grumbled, "looks like there was a rebel survivor and his damn rifle hit you. Well, I killed him just now, and I don't think there's anymore of them."

The glowing eyes smiled at him in sort of quirky humour.

"You're in a pretty bad shape, Cloud. I'll carry you back to the rendezvous point. Don't die on me, you hear?"

"Cloud..." The blonde trooper murmured his name to himself, a wondrous feeling sweeping over him to have someone call his name. It was a sign of being acknowledged as he was, rather than a 'hey, you over there' or 'some trooper'.

"Who are you...?" Cloud found himself asking as he was heaved onto the man's shoulder like a rice-sack.

"You'll be fine, Cloud. I'm here with you, and I won't ever abandon you, promise..."

===============================

//This must be another one of those dreams. When I wake up, I'll find myself somewhere else...Perhaps back to the present? Or further into my past...?

All I know now that is I am in pain. Physical pain. My blood is curdled from it, my nerves are strung up on a rack. Would there be anyone beside me when I wake? Or will I be alone...?

Where am I?

And...who am I now?//

A loud, childish melody came from the window as I woke up. My eyes were covered with some sort of bandage, and I could not see. My eyelids ached and itched badly, and I couldn't figure out why.

Laughter followed the singing. For some reason, I felt very bitter, as if their song was sung to mock my very existence.

"Cloud? You're awake? My, you're early!" A mellow voice sang.

"...mom?" I asked, my hands feeling around for the kindly lady.

I felt a pair of warm hands wrap around my own small ones, and I smiled. She could not warm my heart, but she could at least warm my hands.

I moved my arm to try and embrace her, greedy for more of her warmth, but felt painful big bruises on my arms and shoulders as I tried to move them.

"Mom...why does it hurt? My arms...my shoulders...my eyes...?" I asked, puzzled.

Somehow, I feared an answer to my question.

"Come, Cloud, I've already prepared the bath. Let's clean you up now and get ready for breakfast." I could sense that Mother was smiling superficially then.

As I was bathed, I started to recall the events of the day before...

-------

"It's all your fault! That's what the adults say!" More sneers followed.

"It's not true!" I cried, "You were the ones who abandoned Tifa, not me! I followed her and tried to save her!"

"Oh yeah? Who do you think you are? Some big hero like the great Sephiroth? Who are you to 'save' Tifa? You don't have the guts to grab her hand when she fell! You're a wimp!"

//You're lying! You're all lying! I was there with her! I tried my best to save her, but...if only I was strong enough...// I couldn't argue with them; no words came out of my mouth.

I remember being pushed and shoved around.

I remember seeing adults with really nasty looks on their faces. I hate the way they pointed at me and said I was the culprit who caused Tifa to be hurt when we went to the Nibelheim Mountains.

It wasn't my fault!

The other kids...the other kids abandoned her! I was the only one who followed her and tried to stop her from going deeper into the mountains!

I felt sticks hit my shoulder and arms, and saw pudgy little faces smirk at me. I glared up at them in contempt. A little fat face contorted into a grotesque sneer and pushed me hard. When I fell onto the ground, someone kicked sand into my eyes. I howled.

It hurts. It really hurts.

If only I could be stronger, and save Tifa. Then maybe everyone would quit telling ugly lies about me to each other. Maybe if I was a SOLDIER. I bet if I was a first-class SOLDIER, I could beat liars up. I would beat them up if they called me names, and make apologize and beg me for my forgiveness for having been so nasty to me. Maybe if I was as strong as Hero Sephiroth. I bet he doesn't get bullied or abandoned...

===============================

"I didn't abandon Tifa! Why wouldn't anyone believe me?" Cloud cried out deliriously, unaware of his surroundings. "You're all lying! You were all planning to abandon me all along in the mountains!"

"No one's abandoning you, kiddo. Snap out of it!" A firm voice commanded.

Cloud opened his eyes and grey, stone walls greeted him. A scattered bunch of troopers and soldiers littered the place, either resting or tending to their own things. Mako eyes moved into his line of sight.

The mark of a SOLDIER.

There was a look of concern on the SOLDIER, which turned into a grin of approval when Cloud blinked and started looking around.

"Where...how...?" Cloud asked.

"You got knocked out in the snow, remember? I hulled your ass back here. Casted a cure spell on you while you were conked out, so chill!" The black-mane youth smiled.

Cloud looked at the stranger before him.

"I'm not supposed to be here, aren't I...? This is all a dream...I'm supposed to be with Mika, walking in the snow with my sword...then there was a sudden battle..." Cloud said to the man before him.

"Hey! Woah! You okay, Cloud? You're seeing things, man! And who's Mika?" The SOLDIER exclaimed, slightly worried.

Cloud slowly sat up and brushed a hand over his blond hair, and hesitantly pinched his own leg. It smarted a little. The pain was real. His shoulder still hurt a little, and he felt rather cold having lain on the stone floor. He looked down at his Shinra trooper uniform and furrowed his brows.

"Not again," he thought, "I'm going back into time again, isn't it? Trapped in my past again...?"

The blond trooper experimentally pinched the black-haired youth's cheek, which yielded a yelp of pain and surprise from the victim.

"What the heck are you doing, Cloud?!" The man shouted.

Cloud blinked, smiled and asked.

"Who are you?"

The well-built SOLDIER before him gave him a hard whack on the head that took away his smile.

"By the planet, Cloud! Quit asking stupid questions, you're worrying me!"

"Z...a...c...k...." The trooper's eyes widened in shock at as he slowly pieced together the name with a face long forgotten.

"Zack?"

Zack grinned and gave Cloud a tight hug, glad to have his good friend alive and well.

*********************

~ End Part III - The Traveller ~