Retarded Monkey with Guns (luzzu) wrote in balfonheim_port, @ 2008-01-24 01:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | cid/vincent, ffvii, the calm after the storm |
The Calm after the Storm (working title) Chapter 9
Fandom:Final Fantasy VII
Rating:PG-13
Summary:Chaos has returned to the planet along with Omega, but for Vincent there are still issues to deal with left in their wake. For the rest of Gaia, there's a planet that needs to heal and rebuild. The WRO on one side, opposing factions on the other, life doesn't seem to get any smoother.
Author notes:I have no excuse.
Disclaimer:FFVII and all characters belong to Square Enix.
The two men had finally arrived back at the airship, tattered, bruised and worn. Vincent couldn't risk allowing Galian Beast any more freedom and the last potion had been used that morning on the chocobo to keep it alive. Both men were parched and Cid was certainly the worse for wear.
Both had been taken to the Shera's infirmary and the chocobo had been loaded on board was receiving care in the loading bay. It was now late evening. Cid and Vincent were now the infirmaries sole occupiers now they had been patched up and hydrated and left to get some rest. Cid could feel the humming of the ships engines lull him to sleep as the airship made for Cosmo Canyon, which he'd rasped the order for as one of his crew dragged him to the infirmary before he could plant himself on the bridge.
Vincent, though tired couldn't sleep. Outwardly he'd blamed Cid's snoring. He'd not had much time to think beyond immediate concerns and he'd welcomed the diversion. Spending as much time as he had with Galian Beast in the control seat left him now mentally and physically worn. Even though he'd admit to Cid he couldn't keep it up on their last night in the Wutain Central Valley, he'd not been prepared to admit just how much effort he'd used keeping Galian Beast under some sort of control. He tried focusing his mind on the power generators, also Cid's airship and the puzzle that they represented. There seemed to be this whole history of Cetra life that there was no mention of anywhere. Though they were not in the same field, he sometimes wished he'd had more his father's ability in the field of science.
Vincent looked over at the bed next to him to be greeted by Cid's open eyes. "You thinkin' too much again?"
Vincent sighed. "No."
Cid took a sip of water from the cup next to his bed, wetting his cracked lips. He put the cup down and looked back at Vincent who was now staring at the ceiling. "You're a lousy liar."
"I apologise for not taking my phone. If I had not left it on the 'ship the last three days would have been a lot easier." Vincent changed the subject.
"And miss out on havin' the Walkin' Carpet's hair up my nostrils? Not on your life."
Vincent smiled. "I should apologise for that too, but it seemed a better alternative than you freezing."
"Don't. You didn't see me complainin'."
"I thought that was because of how much your teeth were chattering."
"Nah, it was having either your fur or your cloak shoved in my face that stopped that one." Cid laughed, then swore as a split on his lip reopened.
Vincent snorted. "You're welcome."
"I should call Shera tomorrow. She'll be worried, not hearin' from me in three days." He noticed Vincent look away. Concerned that Vincent had taken too much on over the last the last three days, "You okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine. Just tired."
"We should get some rest," Cid said. Both lapsed into silence, leaving Cid to wonder why he when he mentioned Shera, it was the first time he'd thought about her in three days. He missed her, so no change there but he felt that when falling asleep next to Vincent it should be her he was thinking about.
They made Cosmo Canyon in good time despite having to make a course change to avoid an oncoming storm. Vincent was disappointed to find they'd missed Nanaki by a few days, but was contented to talk to others around the settlement until he could find someone who may know something about old magic.
They were introduced to a man whom everyone called Tio, though none knew what his real name was as there was no one left who could remember when he'd first come to the canyon.
Vincent was pointed in the direction of his small hut by a young girl who giggled at the mention of Tio's name. "Watch out, he's senile," she called as she ran off.
Vincent knocked on the ill fitting door and went in at the sound of a raspy voice telling him to enter. An old man sat by a plain wooden table, a candle burning at its centre. There was not room for much else as there seemed to be more books than living space. Books were on shelves, in piles on the floor, some texts looked to be older than Vincent.
"So, you want to know about old magic do you?" gnarled fingers pulled at the loose threads of the book binding he had in his lap then set it to one side for repairing at a later time. "You'd better come in and take a seat, lad."
Vincent didn't like to point out that there was no second chair, so he carefully avoided knocking the book pile to the side of him and sat on a small wooden box near the table. "Can you tell me anything about it?" He asked.
"It all depends on what about it you wish to know." The old man turned his head toward the sound of Vincent's voice.
It was at that point Vincent saw that in addition to being apparently senile, Tio was also blind. "I want to know how to remove it."
"Remove it you say? Sometimes to remove ancient magic is not wise. No knowing what you can let loose on the world." Tio nodded in agreement with himself. "Yes, no telling what can be released."
Vincent saw very little reason to hide what he was looking for from the old man. He got the impression if he didn't say what it was he was looking for, Tio would be very little help. "The magic in question hides a machine."
"Ahhh, I see. You seek an ancient machina? Then maybe I can be of help to you." He fumbled in his robe until he found a pipe, which he chewed on the end of but didn't light. He removed it from his mouth again. "There are still many things to be found in the depths of the world."
"You know of the power generators?"
"Power generators? If that's what you young ones are calling machina these days, then I suppose I know something of them." He chewed on the pipe again.
Vincent was beginning to wonder if maybe the girl hadn't been exaggerating when the old man spoke again. "Look for the Shinra name, Gongaga holds the answer."
"Is there anything else you can tell me? Where in Gongaga to look?" Vincent asked, slightly perplexed at the 'help' he'd been given.
"I'm old and tired and my memories fading, lad. Come and see me again one day." He picked up his book and continued fiddling with the binding.
Vincent thanked Tio for what little help he had offered and returned to the Shera.
"Learn anythin'?" Cid asked when Vincent was back on the ship.
Vincent related what Tio had told him.
"Well, that's a lot of damn use." He took a drag on his cigarette. "I'll drop you off at Edge before going on to Gongaga."
* * *
Yuffie's training had been slow starting. Not that they needed much reason as everything was pretty lax and they never needed an excuse to leave the camp, but it was finding a way of taking supplies and finding somewhere Reno could teach her without raising attention that had caused the hold up.
Yuffie came up with the idea that they could take a tent and go make it look like they were going camping. A young couple wanting to spend a few days totally alone wasn't unusual. That decided, it was just a matter of finding somewhere that they would not be heard.
Reno was capable of making some quite powerful explosives from everyday household chemicals so they didn't need to take much with them. Yuffie would only need to be taught the practical side of it with a limited number of substances, as the terrorist group were limited to what they could get. But she did need to know as much as he did on the theoretical side. If her cover was to be believable, Yuffie needed to be able to answer questions, any questions that were fired at her.
Yuffie had managed to steal what they needed from the camp stores with little difficulty and had it placed in a backpack ready for when they left. They travelled north out of the forest and continued until Reno was satisfied they had put enough distance between them and the camp.
Reno pulled a tent out of his large rucksack. Yuffie looked at him annoyed. "You only brought one tent?"
Not bothering to look at her, he started pitching the tent. "I had to borrow this one. It'd look a bit strange if I asked for two of them, don'tcha think?"
"Urgh! You're sleeping outside."
Reno laughed. "Don't think so, yo. You can sleep outside and get eaten by something if you object to sharin' that much."
"You had better at least have two sleeping bags." Yuffie sat down on the grass heavily.
Reno threw some tent pegs at her feet. "Make yourself useful." He grinned at her as stuck her tongue out at him, but got on with putting the tent pegs in the side nearest to her. "And, yes. I did bring separate blankets. I really don't want to jump you that badly you know."
Yuffie almost looked indignant. "Do you have any redeeming features at all?"
"Only about three more than you, and that's not a lot."
"Asshole." She threw a tent peg at him.
Reno was still quicker than she would have liked as it flew past his ear. "You could hurt someone if you had better aim."
She got up to retrieve the tent peg, if nothing else, she didn't have to look at him for a few seconds. "Can we just get on with this? The quicker we can go back to the camp the better."
Reno shook his head. "Patience is a virtue."
"I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I don't like you, I don't like your boss, I don't like anything you stand for. So for me, the quicker I'm out of your hair, the better." Yuffie sighed. She knew why Reeve had asked her to do this, she was the best he'd got. But it was days like this she wished he had someone better.
"Look," Reno said. "I'm well aware of your feelings, you've made them pretty damn obvious over the last few weeks. And whilst I never get bored of this petty bickering personally, can we just try to make the best of the bad situation? I'm not exactly thrilled by all this either."
"I suppose we're technically on the same side right now."
"It's not the first time." Reno pointed out.
"Maybe." Yuffie conceded. "But it's the first time I've had to put up with you."
Reno, having arranged some of the contents of Yuffie's rucksack in front of him, held out his hand. "Just pass me the bicarbonate of soda and watch closely will ya?"
Yuffie was to Reno's relief, a fast learner. He'd worked on having the finer points of various basic explosives properly understood by the end of four days. As it was, she had proved herself an adept pupil and by the end of the second day, she was as good as he would have hoped. Not that he was teaching her anything complicated by his standards. The only bombs they could make had to involve the most rudimentary and commonly found materials. He'd taught her very early on by demonstration, that simple though they may be, it didn't make them any less dangerous.
Evans was a man that probably liked to see flashy results, so Reno had made sure that some sort of incendiary was in the mix, and one powerful enough to take out a small building. As Yuffie had explained to him, it wasn't as if she knew nothing about explosives at all and as there was nothing more they could do for now that couldn't be done at the camp, they packed up ready to return.
All that remained to do now was entrench himself further into the group, teach Yuffie the theoretical and anything else that may present itself along the way and take these people down from the inside. Reno smiled at the thought of the challenge as they hiked back. Too easy.
Yuffie was glad to be heading back. Though she also had to admit; if only to herself, she had enjoyed herself a little and was looking forward to being able to actually do something.
[Chapter 1][Chapter 2][chapter 3][Chapter 4][Chapter 5][Chapter 6][Chapter 7][Chapter 8]