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Chapter Eighteen They'd been heading north for quite some time, when Red suddenly leaned forward out of the buggy, squinting for a better look at something in front of them. "Hmm. Didn't know there was a town here. No one's come down to Cosmo Canyon from there, as far as I know, even though it's so close."
Tifa had been leaning back against the seat, staring absently into space, but she sat up quickly at Red's words. "A town? Where?"
Red nodded towards the direction they were headed. "Up there, at the foot of the mountains. Mt. Nibel, isn't it?"
Tifa's face went pale, and she ran up to where Cloud was sitting with his sword drawn, watching for monsters. The wind was too high for the rest of them to hear what the two of them were saying, but obviously something was very wrong. Cloud's cold demeanor slipped away into disbelief, and then surprise as they drew closer to the foot of the mountain. Soon everyone could see the small village that blocked the narrow, winding path into the mountains.
Mt. Nibel - Kit remembered that was where the reactor had been built, the one where Sephiroth had disappeared. The one he freed me from! she realized with a start. And that meant that the village stood where Nibelheim had been... before Sephiroth had burned it.
Cloud leaned over to Barret, who was doing the driving, and said something to him that was lost in the wind. Then he and Tifa came back to the rest of the group. "We have to stop here," he said flatly.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Aeris asked, concerned, at the strange look on his face.
"That village... it's Nibelheim," Cloud said, amidst the puzzled looks from everyone else. He hardly looked less puzzled himself.
"Nibelheim?" Yuffie exclaimed. "I thought you said Sephiroth burned it!"
"Someone's been rebuilding, apparently," Cloud replied.
"Not just rebuilding," Tifa added, looking intently at the town as they drew closer. "I can see the top of the Shinra Manor, and... the well. Cloud, it's the same well," she murmured nervously.
Cloud reached out and squeezed her hand casually. "It can't be the same well, Tifa," he said bitterly. "As much as we want it all not to have happened, Nibelheim was burned to the ground by Sephiroth five years ago. You remember it, I remember it."
She didn't answer, but continued to stare at the village, apprehensive. "It looks a lot like the old Nibelheim, yeah," Cloud continued, "but we know it can't be. So I want to see what's going on. I thought everyone was dead..." He scratched his head, thinking. "I didn't check the whole town before I went after Sephiroth, and I don't remember what happened afterwards. Maybe Zangan found more survivors, and they rebuilt."
The buggy rumbled to a halt in front of the gates, and Tifa continued to stare at the village in horror. "Cloud, it's the same truck by the gate," she murmured again.
"It can't be," he repeated firmly. "C'mon, let's go look around." He glanced at the others. "Anyone else want to come?"
"Man, not me," Yuffie muttered. "This place gives me the creeps."
"I'll go," Kit suggested quickly. It wasn't possible that it could be the same Nibelheim - even Sephiroth himself had said he burned it. But it was very strange...
"Me too," Barret added, but Cloud shook his head.
"You need to stay here, Barret. In case anything happens in there, we'll need a leader out here," he reasoned. "That would be you." Barret nodded grimly, and made no further argument.
Cloud, Tifa, and Kit approached the gates cautiously, and Tifa kept eyeing the broken-down truck out in front as if she thought it might be a ghost. Then again... maybe she did. "I don't like this, Cloud, not at all. Something's really wrong here."
Cloud squeezed her hand again. "Come on, Tifa - someone probably just built another town here. We were there when it burned," he repeated patiently. "It'll be all different, once we get inside. And then we can ask the people who live here some questions."
On that confident note, he stepped through the gates, Tifa following closely, and got his first glimpse of the town. The two of them stopped dead in their tracks, then Tifa ran ahead. "What--!?" Tifa exclaimed, turning back to look at Cloud. "This was all supposed to be burnt down, right?" she asked, as if she was uncertain of her own memories.
Apparently it was more similar to the old Nibelheim than even Tifa had feared. Cloud looked just as frightened, but he nodded. "That's right..."
"Then why...?" Tifa's voice trailed off in horror as she took another look around. "My house is still there too..."
Kit knew she must have been there before, but she wasn't as shocked as Cloud and Tifa - she couldn't remember. There was no familiarity to this town. Even so, there was a disturbing feeling about the town, not about the town itself but about the air, the atmosphere...
Cloud threw up his arms in frustration. "I'm not lying!" he shouted. "I remember... the intense heat of the flames..." he said more softly, shaking his head helplessly.
"There has to be a rational explanation for this," Kit pointed out. "It exists, so there has to be a reason behind it."
With a nod, Cloud headed for the door of the nearest building, the inn. Kit and Tifa followed.
The man behind the desk was friendly enough. "Hi, welcome," he greeted them, heedless of the dark look on Cloud's face.
"What's your story?" Cloud demanded. "This town was supposed to have been burnt down five years ago. What the #$@& is going on?"
The innkeeper took a deep breath. "Sir... don't say such awful things," he admonished Cloud. "I was born and raised in this town. What you say never happened."
"You're lying," Tifa told him.
"Excuse me," the man said, beginning to lose his temper. "That's so rude... If you're going to talk to me like that, I'm going to ask you to leave."
Cloud leaned forward across the desk as if he might attack the man, and Kit caught his arm. "Hey, listen - he's obviously not going to tell you anything," she whispered to him. "Let's just find someone else." Cloud nodded and irritably shook free of Kit's grasp.
When he turned to Tifa, she was looking at the door to the inn's kitchen. "Can you two hear that?" she asked. "That weird... shuffling noise?"
Kit and Cloud were still and listened. Tifa was right, it sounded strange... Kit glanced back at the innkeeper and saw him shuffling through some papers, pointedly ignoring them. He didn't look up as Cloud opened the door to the kitchen and the three of them entered.
The large room was no different from any other kitchen, with barrels and flour sacks, a small icebox and an oven... except for the dark figure huddled in one corner. Tifa's face turned whiter when she saw it. "Is... is that...?"
The figure wore a black hooded cape, large enough that they couldn't see a bit of its face or hands, or even tell how tall it was. It didn't look up when they entered, or even at Tifa's voice, and it shuffled its feet restlessly.
Cloud approached it warily. "Man in a black cape?" he said to himself. At his approach, the figure shifted a little, and the cloth covering one hand fell away. "He has a tattoo number 6," he told Tifa and Kit, looking closer. "Hmm? He has something..." Cloud reached out cautiously to see what it was, and the figure suddenly moved to hand it to him. Cloud was so surprised he almost dropped it. Then the figure spoke in a low, pained growl.
"Urr... rrrrr...rrrggh.... must... go... to... Re..uni...on."
"Huh?" Cloud asked the thing. "What?"
This time, it turned to him, and he jumped. "Must.... go... Reunion.." the figure repeated.
"Cloud?" Tifa said fearfully.
He looked up at her and nodded. "This is all wrong," he muttered, brushing past them out the door. Tifa was quick to follow, but Kit paused on her way out to look back at the figure. Something about it seemed familiar, but in a completely alien way... She shook her head. It must be the town, she thought as she followed Cloud and Tifa. It all felt that way, with an air of tension that seemed to be waiting for her to act. But the strangest part was that she thought it might not be unfriendly if she did.
Next to the inn was the general store, and Cloud headed there next. He brushed past the clerk in the front of the store and headed towards the back, where a man was feeding the fireplace. The man glanced up and straightened to meet them. "Nice town, huh? We've been in business here for a long time."
Cloud stared at him coldly. "...You're lying."
The man raised an eyebrow. "Do you have anything to do with this town?"
"How about being born and raised here?" Cloud snapped at him. "I was here until I was fourteen, and I don't remember you."
The man shook his head and chuckled. "It's not nice to lie!"
Cloud swiveled angrily and turned to leave, but stopped suddenly, staring into an alcove Kit hadn't noticed as they were coming in. At the end of the small corridor stood a furnace, and in front of that furnace stood another figure garbed in a black cape.
"Here too?" Tifa said faintly. "I don't like this. At all."
"He has a tattoo of the number 12," Cloud informed them, stepping up to the figure.
As before, the figure was holding something that he handed to Cloud. "Can.. you... hear? The... voice... of... Se...phi...roth..." the figure groaned in the same low tone as the first.
"Sephiroth!" Tifa covered her mouth in shock.
Kit too was taken aback. That voice she'd been hearing, it wasn't Sephiroth. Why would these people - if they were people, she thought - be hearing his voice? She forced herself to remain calm. "What are they giving you?" she asked Cloud as he came back to them.
He went to Tifa's side, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "Potions," he told Kit. "This one gave me an Elixir... I don't understand." He nudged Tifa. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
He looked completely out of his league, and Kit almost pitied him. She had to admit, this was starting to put her nerves on edge too. Even the clerk didn't seem to find anything unusual about having a creepy-looking robed figure lurking in the store.
Across the square was a house that Cloud stopped and eyed suspiciously before he entered. On the opposite end of the large room was a woman with her back turned to the door, apparently oblivious to their entering. Kit waited for Cloud to go up and talk to her, but he remained where he was, by the door. When she finally glanced at him, his mouth was hanging open in disbelief. "...Mom?" he whispered.
So much for his cool facade, Kit thought to herself. Not that she could blame him.
Cloud approached the woman hesitantly, and just as he reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, she whirled around to glare at him angrily. "What is it?" she snapped at him.
Cloud was obviously flustered, and it took him a moment to reply. The woman tapped her foot impatiently. "I lived in this house until I was fourteen..." he started, then shook his head in confusion. "...No, but this town was burned down."
"Are you sick, saying these things?" the woman asked, not at all kindly. "Get out of here!"
Tifa laid a hand on Cloud's shoulder sympathetically as he came back. "Cloud... this is all wrong," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Cloud, let's leave now-"
"No way!" he said emphatically. "There's no way I'm leaving without finding out what happened." He angrily marched outside and started for the house next door.
Tifa stopped in front of it and stared at the door. "Cloud, I can't go in there... If I see those... things, in my house-"
"It's okay, I'll be with you," he told her, squeezing her hand again. "Whatever's going on here, no one's been hostile. Stay close, if you like."
Tifa walked in close behind him, as he'd said, and shrieked as one of the shadowy figures approached her from where it had been hidden, just to the side of the door. "..must... get... it... and bring... to... Se... phi... roth..." the thing moaned. "Then... become... one... with.. Se... phi... roth..."
"Cloud, let's get out of here-" Tifa began, but Cloud shook his head.
"No," he repeated. "We have to find out what's going on." He examined the figure. "This one's number 5."
Number 11 was in the kitchen, and Tifa watched, trembling, as Cloud spoke to the figure and then started up the stairs. At the top, she stopped abruptly. "I can hear it... There's one in Papa's room too," she whimpered. "Please don't let there be one in my room... Please don't let there be one..."
Kit was starting to get really concerned. Usually Tifa was pretty easy-going, but now she seemed on the edge of hysteria. Of course, it was to be expected, she supposed, upon finding that strange shadowy figures had invaded your hometown, and even the house where you grew up. Cloud was still trying to act as if he was perfectly okay with it all, and he spoke to number 4 briefly, then turned to the door at the end of the hallway. Tifa hung back.
Cloud pushed the door open and had a look inside. "It's all clear, Tifa," he said, but he sounded confused.
Kit and Tifa went in after him, and found that the room was perfectly normal in every way, no shadowy figures in sight. Tifa burst into tears of relief. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around Cloud. "There's none here..."
Cloud put an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. "Tifa, uhm... its... calm down, it's okay," he assured her. "It's just your old room, just like you left it..." He glanced around, puzzled. "I don't know why, but it is. Even your piano's still here."
Tifa shivered and tried to wipe the tears from her face, trying to regain control. "I know it burned. You know it burned. How in the world could this be happening?"
"Whatever it is, Sephiroth's behind it," Cloud said, his Mako eyes flashing with rage. "All those black capes, they talked about a Reunion, and Sephiroth, and becoming one with Sephiroth... I don't know what it all means, but I know it's gotta be important."
As Cloud tried to comfort Tifa, Kit stepped away to give the two of them some privacy, and to think over what was happening. These cloaked figures were creepy, that was for sure, but she'd been feeling something from them, something that told her she had no reason to fear them. She wondered if that was more reason to worry. And... what could they possibly have to do with Sephiroth?
And ...had he really burned Nibelheim down? This village was large enough that it would take an ordinary crew of workers a few years to complete, so if it had indeed been rebuilt, it would have to have been done fast. She looked around the room a little for signs of shoddy construction, and saw nothing unusual. A teddy bear on the bed - cute. A wooden chest of drawers. A desk in one corner with some papers on it. Out of curiosity, Kit glanced at the papers. The heading of the top page caught her attention right away. "Periodic report to Professor Hojo?" she murmured, surprised. She picked up the papers and began to look them over. There was definitely more going on here than just Sephiroth and some mixed up memories. "Cloud, I think you might be interested in this," she said. "It's not Sephiroth behind it."
He led Tifa over, and looked at the papers she held. "Hojo... Clones?!" he exclaimed, taking the papers from her hand.
The three of them looked them over carefully. Whoever had written the letter was informing Hojo that the "clones" were all sensing something, but all they would say was "reunion" or "Sephiroth". The three of them exchanged glances. "But what are they clones of?" Tifa wondered.
The letter didn't say, but the next page answered their biggest question. "Therefore, no one knows the town was... restored exactly as it was five years ago?" Cloud exclaimed as he read it out loud. "Our staff, disguised as townspeople, have improved their acting skills?!" He stared down at the papers in disgust. "I knew I couldn't have imagined it. It's Shinra doing this."
"Is it? Hojo quit Shinra, remember?" Kit pointed out. "He might have his own little agenda here. He did five years ago, and of course he would have a base somewhere close to the reactor where he conducted those experiments." The thought of it made her feel sick all over again. She and Sephiroth had been test subjects in his experiments here.
Tifa was beginning to calm down, and she nodded. "Yeah. We can't let him get away with this," she said firmly. "Let's find out who's the one sending him reports, and we'll get all the information out of him."
"I bet they're in the Shinra Mansion," Cloud said, putting the papers back in their place on the desk. "Let's go." Tifa shuddered as they passed clone number 5 again on their way out the front door.
Kit and Tifa followed Cloud as he ran up the path towards the rusty gates of the Mansion, but then he turned aside. Two more of the cloaked figures were pacing in front of the wall. "Come on, Cloud - they're just clones," Kit called from the gates as he went to speak to one. "They're not going to tell you anything, even the report said that." Cloud held up his hand to silence her as he spoke to one of them. His jaw dropped as he listened. "Uhm... Cloud? Was I wrong?" Kit asked him.
Cloud came back to the gates where she and Tifa were waiting. The expression on his face was a mixture of terror and grim determination. "That one... said Sephiroth's in the Mansion."
To Chapter Nineteen. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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