"Cloud, remind me exactly why it is you've dragged us out into the middle of nowhere?"
Said blonde huffed as he stopped in his tracks, turning about-face to the two men following behind him. He grimaced. "Firstly Zack, I know exactly where we are, it is not the middle of nowhere. Secondly, you were the one who was so keen to see the hell-hole that I grew up in. You've already seen the town, now it's obligatory that you see this as well." Cloud spread his arms to his sides, as if 'presenting' the two other SOLDIERs to the very forest that surrounded them. "This, Zack, is where I came from. From as far back as I can remember, up to the time I left for Midgar, I all but lived out here..." He turned to look out amongst the trees, arms dropping to his side with a sigh. "Coming out here really feels like coming home."
Sephiroth smiled knowingly as he watched the young blonde survey the place with that explained air of familiarity, then he stole a quick glance at the black-haired man beside him, his head hung in defeat. It was generally much easier when he would simply shut that runaway mouth of his - rarely did he win against Cloud's intellect.
"Well, so long as you don't mind sharing your home with some rather large beasties," Zack belatedly shot back, pointing to a group of depressions in the soft soil beside their path, "They look like paw prints if I'm not mistaken - recent too."
Cloud peered down at the prints with a neutral expression, "Well, you know, Nibel wolves aren't called Nibel wolves for no reason. There was always plenty of them around when I was young."
The dark-haired man was incredulous. "What?! You were running around here before you even hit your tweens when there were wolves around? Are you messed in the head?!"
"As you might observe, I'm quite rational, thank you. And so long as you're not a threat to them, they won't bother you. They're quite friendly if you must know, I made friends with a few of them actually..." The blonde tapped his chin in thought. "There was one in particular that was like a best friend to me, followed me around everywhere - I called him Bolt because he was so fast! I wonder if he's still around..."
Both Sephiroth and Zack looked at each other in awe. Cloud? Friends with wolves?
Well, he'd always had a way with chocobos, maybe that explained it somewhat.
"You would have had some preferred sites I imagine? In the forest, I mean." The General piped up, aiming to change the direction of conversation. It worked.
"Yeah, heaps. I'm taking us toward one of my favourite though. You'll like it too, I think."
And right he was, both Zack and Sephiroth sighing at the picturesque sight that soon greeted them. The now mostly-overgrown encampment was situated in a perfect position amid the Nibel mountains, not high enough to be completely exposed, but not so far down that they couldn't catch the beautiful view of both the mountain tops, and the gullies between.
"You're right Cloud," the General murmured, "it's quite the place."
*
"Look Cloudy, there's your wolfy friends. Three of them!"
"What?! Where?" Cloud looked over to where Zack hovered at the edge of the camp, following his line of sight into the forest beyond. And there, in plain view, stood three fearsome Nibel wolves of storm-cloud grey, eyes glowing silver in the evening light. Two were much larger, stances alert, predatory and imposing, while the other...