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Chapter Seventeen Cait and Kit wandered the hollowed-out caverns that formed the town of Cosmo Canyon for about half an hour before Kit smelled something delicious, coming from one of the open doors near the top of the highest cliff. "I think we've found supper," she informed Cait, heading for the room.
The moogle bounced merrily after her as she entered to find that it wasn't a restaurant exactly, but just a kitchen. One man worked busily, taking pots and pans on and off burners, adding a handful of chopped onions to another, checking inside the ovens. He looked up as Kit and Cait entered. "Who are... oh! You must be two of the ...people..." he said hesitantly as he looked over Cait's mechanical body "...who brought Nanaki back to us!" he finished.
"If Nanaki is the one we call Red XIII, yeah," Cait said. "Care to reward us with a little of whatever it is you're fixing?"
Kit elbowed the moogle, knocking the cat off balance so that he clutched one of the moogle's wings to keep from falling. "How rude!" she admonished him. "We're not that hard up for gil."
"No, it's okay," the man said, turning back to his pots and pans. "We're all so happy to have Nanaki back... Cosmo Canyon isn't very big, I'm sure you noticed, so I cook meals for all of us who live here. Guests usually pay, but since you're friends of Nanaki's, I'm sure the elders will consider you part of the family. Dinner isn't quite ready yet," he apologized, "but if you wait around a little while..." One of the pots started to boil over, and he dived at it with a towel. "Aw nuts. I really need an apprentice," he muttered.
Kit was helping him wipe up the mess when Cloud walked in. "Hey Kit, Cait," he greeted them. "Red's grandfather, Bugenhagen, offered to let me take a look at his planetarium. So I'll be up there for a little while... He said I could bring two friends, so I'd invite you two-"
"Nah, we want food," Cait said, turning back to look at the steaming pots on the stove.
Kit nodded. "I can help out with dinner," she told the man. "Not much of a cook, but I can help keep an eye on things. It's the least I can do if you're going to cook for us."
Cloud grinned. "Well actually... I know Barret would love to see it. And Tifa and I used to look at the stars, back in Nibelheim, when we were kids. It'll be like old times, maybe... so I had planned on taking them."
"Poor Aeris will feel so left out," Cait commented, and Cloud nearly blushed as he left. Kit would have elbowed the moogle again, if she'd still been standing by him.
The man accepted Kit's help graciously, and soon enough, dinner was ready. Cait went to tell the others, and when they'd all filled their plates, they went to eat around the flame that had seemed so familiar to Kit.
Red said it was called Cosmo Candle. "It's never allowed to go out," he told them between mouthfuls. "Once it did, and..." He shooks his mane sadly. "Disaster."
"Is that when your mother fought and died, like you said earlier?" Aeris asked gently, and Red nodded.
"The Canyon was attacked by vicious warriors of the Gi tribe," he said, finishing his meal and lying down with his head on his paws. "And my father abandoned us, while my mother fought to her last breath. I can not forgive him for such a cowardly act."
"Hey Red," said Yuffie, stuffing her mouth, "why didn't you just tell us your name was Nanaki in the first place, anyway?"
"Nanaki is the protector of this canyon," he answered, "not a rebel. And besides, it makes no difference what my name is. Soon you'll be going on without me, and you won't need to call me anything."
Kit observed the exchange in silence, and noted that Red sounded uncertain. Obviously he didn't really want to have them leave him behind, but he felt it was his place, to be here. To succeed where his father had failed. A classic transfer of guilt, from parent to child.
"None of my business," she muttered to herself. Instead, she could concentrate on other things... like what Elder Bugah had said. A young doctor had come to Cosmo Canyon about fifteen years ago. She looked just like this doctor, except for the hair and the eyes. She had to find a way to get away from the others, so she could go ask Bugah more about this doctor. He'd seemed surprised that she would be alive... but why?
Kit decided that wasn't a very pleasant thing to dwell on either, so she concentrated instead on the food. It was agreeing with her so far, and it did taste good, even if it was a little spicier than she was used to. She cleared her plate and went back for seconds.
A little after she returned, Cloud joined them with Tifa and Barret. The two of them sat down around the fire with the rest of the group, but Cloud paused, and went to sit down next to Tifa. He spoke to her briefly, then went to sit down next to Barret. Kit smiled. She'd been in SOLDIER, she knew what he was up to.
Whatever he said to Barret, though, made an impact. "Urrrrrgh! I'm gonna do it!" the big man roared as he stood, making everyone jump. "Again... again. AVALANCHE's born again!" he declared, sitting back down in a huff.
Kit couldn't help smiling again. Regardless of what he had just said, AVALANCHE never had had to be reborn. It had just changed into something different, whether they called it by that name or not. She watched Cloud as he moved on around the circle, speaking briefly to Yuffie, and then Cait Sith. When he got to Aeris, he hesitated and sat down beside her to talk for awhile. Kit finished her dinner quickly, since she was sitting between Aeris and Red. He'd come to her next.
And he did. "It's good to see you have your appetite back," he said with a casual shrug. "So, how are you feeling?"
"I'll be fine," she assured him. "Don't worry, I won't slow you down."
He frowned. "That's not why I asked."
"Oh, isn't it?" she asked, amused. "I was SOLDIER too, remember. I understand what takes highest priority on a mission, and concern for your men's well-being, or even your own, isn't even in the top three."
"Hey, this isn't SOLDIER," he reminded her. "Both of us are past that now. I might just be concerned for your well-being after all." He tapped his foot, staring at the ground, thinking. "You don't have to go with us, you know," he said finally. "You'd be safe from Shinra if you stayed here, cause the elders don't want anything to do with them. And it's not like you have a reason for coming along with us." He paused. "Or if you do, I don't know what it is," he added, nonchalant.
Kit couldn't help chuckling a little at that. So that's how he was going to play it - discreetly prodding for information. She'd done well enough in that game herself with Aeris, but she was in too good a mood for it now.
He was looking at her curiously. "I don't think you know why any of this group is coming," she said. He only looked confused. "I don't even think you know why you're here yourself," she added.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "I'm here to stop Sephiroth."
She shrugged. "It just seems like that's not all there is to it. I saw what you were doing just now - the good general, checking up on his troops, being personal. Is that what Sephiroth did on missions?"
Cloud looked utterly bewildered now. "I don't get what you mean. So what if he did?"
"I've seen the look on your face when you talk about your missions with him," she continued. "There's still part of you that idolizes him, isn't there?"
"What?! No!" he said firmly. The look in his eyes said she'd hit close to the mark, though. "He killed my family, he destroyed my hometown. How could I possibly still respect him?"
"That's a question only you can answer," she replied.
He threw up his hands in frustration and turned away, looking into the fire. "Who do you think you are, some kind of psychotherapist?" he asked over his shoulder.
Kit opened her mouth to snap back a response, but then closed it again, thinking. Cloud noticed the odd look on her face. "What is it?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said finally. Where had all that come from? Let alone the things she hadn't voiced - a flood of knowledge and theorems, names of disorders and neuroses... She did think like a psychotherapist. It had to mean something, and Elder Bugah had said she looked like some "young doctor"...
Cloud irritably shook his head and went over to sit down by Red instead, and Kit was glad. Her good mood had vanished.
She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but Red spoke in a low voice that Kit could easily make out. "Long ago... when I was very small..." His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "No, never mind."
"What happened?" Cloud prodded.
"It's about my parents," Red growled. "When I talk about my mother, I am filled with pride and joy... and that's fine. But when I remember my father, my heart is full of anger..."
"You really can't forgive your father?"
Kit looked up to see the owner of the jolly voice she'd heard when they arrived, from inside one of the caverns. Red's grandfather, Bugenhagen. But now his voice wasn't so jolly.
She did a double take at the sight of him. She'd expected Red's grandfather to be of his race... but Bugenhagen appeared to be a human, if an odd one. He was a short old man, wearing a long blue robe that covered his hands, as well as what appeared to be some kind of device enabling him to hover in midair. High technology, for such a natural place. But then again, he did have that planetarium, too.
Red nodded in response to Bugenhagen's question. "Of course. He... left mother for dead. When the Gi tribe attacked, he ran off by himself, leaving mother and the people of the canyon!" His voice was raised in anger, but then Red remembered himself and sighed, lowering his head.
Bugenhagen lowered his head too. He looked like he was trying to make up his mind. "...Come, Nanaki," he finally said. "There's something you should see." Red glanced sideways at the man as he began to float away. "The place may be dangerous," Bugenhagen added. "Cloud. Will you and one other person come with us?"
Cloud glanced at Red, who nodded. "I don't know what Grandfather is talking about," he said. "But if he says it would be best to take a party, it would."
"All right..." Cloud considered carefully. "Barret. You've got the firepower, want to see a little more of this place?"
"$%^@ straight!" Barret said. "I've wanted to come here for years, I'm gonna soak up ev'ry bit of it while I got the chance."
As Bugenhagen led the three of them away, Cait bounced to his feet. "As much as I'd love to stay and bask in the loveliness of you four ladies - whom I have all to myself," he added with a wink, "I suppose I should get started on that buggy. But I need someone to help me, as I can't fit under there so well..." He glanced around at the group and grinned. "Would anyone be willing to lend a hand? Preferably two hands?"
"Not me!" Yuffie said immediately. "I just wanna take a load off, relax for awhile..."
"I'll go," Kit volunteered. If she stayed here with Aeris, she'd be in for another round of the concerned questions she'd avoided earlier by hanging around Cait. Kit knew the girl meant well, but enough was enough. She felt better. She'd eaten dinner. And Tifa... Kit didn't want to deal with any more questions about Shinra or the SOLDIER program. Actually, she just wanted to take some time and think about what it was that she had been remembering, rather than be conversational. A machine was much better suited to her mood.
Not this machine though, she soon realized. Cait Sith was downright chatty.
"So, anyway, what's a nice Shinra girl like you doing in a rebel group like this?" Cait asked cheerfully as she slid underneath the buggy.
"Shinra wanted me to do something that I didn't agree with." She gave her stock answer as she gingerly tugged on the exposed wires. "Okay... there's four of them severed."
The moogle went down on its belly so that the cat could see which ones she held. "Hmm, this could take a while," he commented. "The skinniest one should be spliced back together first. Use the pliers to..."
Kit followed Cait's instructions as he gave them, careful to do exactly as he said. It was an easy enough task, but she didn't know if or how much current might be going through those wires. She didn't want to find out.
"What did Shinra want you to do?" he asked as she moved on to repeat the process on the second wire.
"Hmm?" She'd been concentrating on the wires, and lost track of what he'd been saying. "Oh. There was a condor trying to hatch an egg on top of a reactor. It wasn't causing any problems, but Shinra wanted it dead anyway. I thought it was cruel."
"Really..." The cat sounded skeptical. "And so instead, you joined a terrorist faction."
"What can I say? I was fed up with Shinra's pushing people around, and messing up the planet," Kit replied irritably. "Not to mention, Shinra has to be looking for me, and I could use the safety of a - Hey, wait a minute. Why am I defending my actions to a robot?" she muttered to herself, looking to her side where the cat was observing her repairs.
"Beats the heck out of me," Cait replied, though she hadn't been addressing him. "Maybe you're afraid everyone thinks you're this supposed traitor, and you'd like to make it clear you're not, hmm?"
Kit sighed. She could have strangled the programmer. "Awful curious, aren't you, for a machine? I notice no one's going around questioning Cloud, even though he was SOLDIER too."
"Cloud's motives are pretty clear," Cait pointed out. "He just wants revenge on Sephiroth. I don't even know if he believes all this about saving the planet... But anyway, enough about Cloud. We were talking about you."
"Wrong," Kit told him. "You were talking about me. I was about to tell you to stop it." Finishing the second wire, she started on the third. "I came out here to help fix this buggy so we can get moving, not to have you - ahh!" She banged her head on the bottom of the buggy as a jolt of electricity shot through her.
"Oh, wow! Kit, are you okay?" Cait asked frantically.
Kit sighed, gingerly touching her sore head. It wasn't bad, so she got back to work. "I'm fine."
"Whew!" The cat wiped its brow - as if a machine could sweat. "Sorry. It's my fault for distracting you," he muttered. "I'll be quiet now."
Kit finished the splice job in grateful silence. When she'd crawled out from under the buggy and brushed the dust off of herself, Cait still hadn't said a word. If Kit didn't know better, she'd have said the cat was lost in thought. That wasn't possible.
When she turned the ignition, the buggy started normally, and she smiled at Cait. "Great. Let's go back and tell everyone, okay?"
Cait climbed in next to her, still subdued. Kit began to feel a little guilty. It's just a machine, she reminded herself. He can't feel bad. But still... "Hey, Cait? It's okay. I'm just not much good with machines, it's not your fault I'm such a klutz."
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry anyway, for bothering you," Cait replied, holding out his hand. "No more questions from me, deal?"
Kit spared a hand from steering the buggy and shook the tiny hand. "Deal."
The cat grinned, and Kit smiled a little herself, shaking her head. The idea of an apologetic machine was just too whimsical.
It was dark when they arrived back at Cosmo Canyon, and a large full moon hung above the high cliffs, shedding its light across the landscape. Tifa, Aeris, and Yuffie were still sitting around the fire, but there was no sign of Cloud, Barret, or Red.
"They're still not back yet?" Cait asked. "Wonder where it is they were going..."
"Anyway the buggy's fixed," Kit added. "We can continue on in the morning. Are you all going to wait up till they get back?"
"Not me," Yuffie said, standing and stretching. "I've had as much as I can stand of sitting around on these rocks, I'm so bored! I'll be at the inn. Don't bother to wake me when they get back," she added over her shoulder as she left.
Tifa and Aeris exchanged glances. "I'll wait for him," Tifa offered. "You can go on too..."
"I'm not tired," Aeris replied. "I'll stay here. It's a nice night, anyway. Just look at that moon!" she said cheerfully, staring up at the sky. "This is such a beautiful land."
"Well, if you two are going to stay up, I guess there's no reason for me to," Kit reasoned. "I'll go back to the inn too." About to head after Yuffie, she paused, seeing the vaguely troubled look on Tifa's face. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Tifa answered with a quick smile. "Just thinking again."
"You girls - always thinking!" Cait teased.
Kit smiled at Tifa. "Don't worry, he'll be fine," she reassured her.
"Don't you mean they'll be fine?" Cait asked. Apparently he hadn't caught on to what was going on with Tifa, Cloud, and Aeris yet. Kit wasn't about to fill him in, so she nodded and went off to bed.
At dawn, Kit was awakened by someone entering the room at the inn. Yuffie stirred on the other bed. "Mm... so early?" the girl complained.
It was Tifa and Barret. "They're back, as you can see," Tifa informed them. "So we can leave soon. Cloud's down at Cosmo Candle with Aeris, waiting..."
"For us?" From Tifa's uncertain expression, Kit was sure that wasn't it.
Tifa paused before answering. "Red didn't come back with them."
"That Bugenhagen guy, he asked me and Cloud to leave the two of them alone for awhile," Barret told them. "I dunno what they're talking about... Red's father, I guess. Turns out the guy wasn't really a coward, actually he saved the Canyon."
Barret quickly recounted the story of Seto's battle to keep the Gi from passing through the caves, where the Gi's poisoned arrows had turned his body to stone. "Now he's just a statue standin' there, like he's keeping watch or something," Barret finished.
"Yeah, yeah," said Yuffie. "So why aren't we leaving?"
Kit was a little more understanding. It must have been a huge shock to Red, after so many years of believing his father was a traitor.
"The caves were really dangerous, so Cloud wants to wait until he's sure Red and Bugenhagen made it back okay," Tifa explained. "Even if Red isn't going to come with us."
Once they'd dressed, Yuffie and Kit joined the others down at Cosmo Candle. "No sign of him yet?" Kit asked Cloud.
He shook his head. "I don't know why they're taking so long." He almost sounded concerned. "I know we should go, but..."
Aeris nodded. "I'd like to say goodbye to Red too..."
They sat in silence, watching the fire for awhile longer, until Barret broke the silence. "The buggy's fixed," he pointed out.
Cloud nodded. "Shall we get going?" he said reluctantly, standing up.
"So this is it, Red XIII," Aeris sighed as she stood with him.
"That's just the way it goes," Barret told her. Even so, he glanced off in the direction of the caves one last time as he stood. "You came in handy at times," he muttered. Kit supposed that was about as affectionate as the man ever got.
One by one, they stood and left the fireside. Cloud was the last to go. Kit looked back over her shoulder and saw him still standing there, looking off in the direction of the caves. He shook his head sadly, then turned to follow.
Just as they were leaving the gates of Cosmo Canyon, Cloud turned back at the sound of footsteps. "Wait for me! I'm coming too!"
"Red!" Aeris exclaimed as the beast ran down the stone steps and landed in front of them. "Really? I'm so glad!"
"Mmm?" Cloud wasn't sure what to think.
Bugenhagen floated down after Red. "Cloud," he said, strangely serious. "Please look after Nanaki."
"What happened?" asked Cloud.
"I think I grew up a little," Red admitted with a smile. "That's what happened!" He bounded playfully down the steps as they looked on.
Bugenhagen too seemed to be his old cheerful self when Cloud turned to him questioningly. "Ho ho hoooo!" he chuckled. "Come back whenever you need my knowledge," he invited Cloud.
Cloud thanked him and ran down to the foot of the stairs, where the rest of them were gathered. Aeris was patting Red on the nose. "So, should we start getting used to calling you Nanaki, then?" Cait was asking.
Red shook his head. "Red XIII is fine. As I said before, Nanaki is the protector of Cosmo Canyon. Red XIII is... one of you."
"I knew you'd choose to come with us!" Tifa said, kneeling down and hugging him.
"I guess I should have known it myself," Red admitted. "We really are a team..."
"@#^% right we're a team!" Barret roared. "There ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on! We're AVALANCHE, people. AVALANCHE!" The others cheered in agreement.
Everyone but Kit. She watched them with a sort of bitterness. They worked together so well, but she stood alone. It wasn't that she was jealous - she had her own mission, and she had Sephiroth. That was enough to keep her satisfied. It had to be.
But Barret's proclamation still left her feeling a little lonely. She wasn't AVALANCHE, and she never would be.
To Chapter Eighteen. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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