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Chapter ThirtySeven Kit and the others were less than halfway through the forest to Mideel when they spotted Red up ahead, leaping through the underbrush towards them. "Thank goodness," he panted, coming to a halt just before them. "I was coming to get you, and make sure you were all safe, after..." He glanced back over his shoulder, in the direction of the town. "I guess you saw what happened from the Highwind?"
"Yeah, we saw." Cait answered. "Where's the others? Are they okay?"
Red lowered his head mournfully. "Cid and Barret were fine... WEAPON attacked, but we fought the creature off, and when the Lifestream started acting up again, Cid told us to run..."
"What about Tifa and Cloud?" Cait asked quickly.
Red shook his head with a sigh. "Tifa was inside the clinic, with Cloud, and Cid yelled for her to get Cloud out of there as we were leaving... We looked back a few seconds later and saw the ground breaking apart and falling down into the Lifestream. There was nothing we could do..."
There was a moment of shocked silence, then Vincent spoke up. "And Cid and Barret?"
"When everything calmed down, they went back to look around, to see if Tifa and Cloud made it out," Red answered. "Cid told me to go back and tell you all what happened, since I'm the fastest runner. You could help us look. But from what I saw, I don't think that..." He sighed again, hanging his head.
Yuffie shook her head. "No way!" she said in disbelief. "No freakin' way..." She shoved past Vincent and Cait Sith and ran off into the forest, in the direction of Mideel. "Go ahead and be a quitter, you stupid mutt. Cloud and Tifa are out there somewhere, I know it."
"Yuffie!" Kit exclaimed.
Red shook his head. "It's okay... she's upset right now. I know it's nothing personal."
"For all we know, they could have escaped, right?" Cait pointed out. "At any rate, let's go back. Maybe Cid and Barret already found them."
"Maybe," Red agreed, but his eyes showed he didn't believe a word of it.
When they arrived at the edge of town, they discovered that the destruction of Mideel was more complete than those aboard the Highwind had thought. They'd expected to see fallen buildings and crevices where the earth had broken apart, but instead they simply found a gaping hole in the ground, nearly as large as the perimeter of the village. At first glance, Kit thought the seawater had rushed in to fill it, but the waves lapping at the broken ground had the eerie glow of pure Mako energy. The village had fallen completely into the Lifestream.
At the sight, Cait stood back and gave a low whistle. "This is bad..."
"No #$%&, genius!" a voice exclaimed from a little ways off in the woods. Cid stepped out into the broken ground by the edge of the Mako lake and shook his head, irritated. "No sign of 'em, or anyone for that matter. Barret's checking the other way. Wanna give us a hand? With all of us looking, we should be able to comb the area pretty thoroughly."
The seven of them continued to scout the area until it grew too dark to look, despite the soft glow of the Mako. Even Yuffie admitted that there was nothing more they could do, and so they went back to the Highwind for the night.
In the morning, Red told them that he'd had an idea. "The flow of the Lifestream carried Cloud to the beach to the south of town, all the way from the crater," he reminded them. "Perhaps Cloud and Tifa will wash up there this time."
The others agreed to search, though none of them had the heart to remind him of one other thing - when Cloud had washed up there before, he'd had Mako poisoning so severe, he couldn't comprehend the world around them. Even if they did find him and Tifa, they would likely both be in that same state.
Nevertheless, they spent the morning wandering along the beach, calling out for Cloud and Tifa and examining the debris that was being deposited on the shore as the wreckage of Mideel began to wash up, proving Red's theory correct. Deposited in the wet sand, they found wooden planks and broken chairs, spare clothing and empty bottles. Yuffie sank down on her knees, crying into Red's mane when they found a wheelchair that Kit identified as the one Dr. Richards had owned. Neither Cloud or Tifa was anywhere nearby.
After that discovery, Cid, Kit, Vincent, and Cait all agreed that there was little hope left, and were about to give up and go back to the Highwind, when they heard Barret shout from further down the beach. "Get over here!" he bellowed, gesturing at the water. They turned to see what he was pointing at out in the ocean, bobbing on the waves. A closer look made it clear that there were two people out there; one with dark hair clinging to her white shirt, one with blond hair sticking up in spite of being soaked through.
"I told you!" Yuffie crowed. "Didn't I tell you?" She'd already taken off running towards where Barret stood, and the others followed swiftly.
The glow of Mako energy stained the ocean in the area, shedding a faint, eerie light, and the would-be rescuers hesitated. "Is that safe?" Cait asked. "With Mako in the water, would we get Mako poisoning too?"
"You wouldn't, cause you're a robot," Red pointed out.
Cait looked sheepish. "I don't think this body can swim..."
"It's safe," Kit told them, beginning to wade into the water. "Mako energy isn't deadly poisonous in trace amounts - if it were, every member of SOLDIER would be nodding and mumbling like Cloud was. And certainly, this amount isn't enough to turn you into something like the monsters Hojo created in Nibelheim."
Cid sat down and began to take off his boots. "You better be right," he muttered, tossing a pack of cigarettes and his jacket back onto dry sand before following her in. "I don't need any #$*% tentacles..."
The water-resistant cloth used for Shinra's uniforms made Kit feel odd in the water - she was swimming without getting the slightest bit wet, except for the occasional wave breaking over her head. Ignoring it, she swam out to where Tifa and Cloud were, and was relieved to find that they were floating face up.
Kit got to Tifa first, and began to tread water as she checked to see if she was breathing. She was, and in fact her breathing was perfectly normal, something Kit wouldn't have expected at such a time.
Seeing that Tifa was all right, Kit turned to see where Cid was. He was cutting through the waves easily, almost to Cloud already, though he looked a bit nervous. Kit understood why perfectly - now that she was out there, the water's faint Mako glow was more noticeable, and they were in the middle of it. In fact, they were surrounded by Mako energy, Kit realized, except that their heads were above water.
A sudden feeling of panic clutched at her all of a sudden. Mako all around her, enfolding her, glowing through closed eyelids...
...the capsule's walls began to come alive, pulsing with energy...
With a start, Kit recalled herself from that horrible, buried memory. That was the past, she reminded herself as her heart pounded. That had been long ago. Now she was here, in the ocean, and waves were breaking over her head as she struggled for control. Glowing waves, smothering her.
...Hojo's giggle couldn't be heard from within the airtight capsule, but she could see him laughing. His eyes were filled with gleeful madness, as she beat on the glass that separated them, and then she was nearly blinded by a brilliant light. Too terrified to even scream, all she could do was watch as the capsule's walls began to come alive...
Kit gasped for breath, and got a mouthful of water instead. Choking and coughing, she fought desperately to stay afloat.
"I know what you did, and you won't get away with this! You think I came alone?"
Hojo hid his smirk with his hand. "Who can help you now? Your friend, Professor Gast? You know as well as I do that he won't stand in my way anymore, and his Cetra woman is in my hands. Who else knows you even exist?"
Kit lowered her head, tears of frustration blurring her vision. She knew he'd killed Gast, true, but she'd hoped he would at least consider the idea that there might be someone else.
"I thought so," he said, satisfied. "Enough of this - put her inside."
One of the two blue-clad Shinra guards gripped a handful of her hair, and yanked her head up painfully. The blankness of his mask made it all the more frightening as he studied her face. "So soon? This one's not bad looking..." He looked her up and down, then twisted her arm so she was facing away from him. She felt his rough army gloves at the nape of her neck, and heard fabric tearing as he ripped her dress down the back. "What do you think?" he asked the other guard.
The man nodded. "Kinda scrawny, but..."
Kit began to shiver uncontrollably, and Hojo snorted in derision. "Oh please," he snapped. "Stop being so pathetic, and put her inside. You're wasting my precious time."
The second guard nodded, and the one holding her arm twisted it further, then shoved her towards the capsule. Unable to stop herself from falling, she stumbled forward into the machine. Before she could catch her balance, the door had slammed shut.
There was no light, only an eerie darkness within, and she turned frantically to look through the tiny glass window. Hojo's giggle couldn't be heard from within the airtight capsule, but she could see him laughing...
"Hey! What the #$&% are you doing over there?"
Kit was startled by a sudden voice, after the eerie silence she'd remembered, and she fought for self-control again. A wave broke in her face again, and she wiped the wet hair out of her eyes, blinking as it brought her back to the present. "Are you okay?" Cid was calling to her. "I can't bring in all three of you at once!"
"I'm fine," she replied breathlessly. "Just been awhile since I did any swimming, much less lifeguarding." Cid was already partway back to shore, pulling Cloud behind him. She hurriedly put her arm around Tifa's waist to do likewise, although she was still shaking from the repressed memories. The Mako glow was fading fast though, and the sight of the water suddenly didn't bother her so much. Drawing a deep breath, she began towing Tifa back to shore, wiping the flashbacks from her mind so she could concentrate on the task at hand.
The others gathered around as she and Cid brought the two unconscious figures up onto the beach and laid them flat on the sand. "They're alive," Kit assured them all. "Hard to say what kind of mental state they'll be in when they wake up, though... It probably won't be good," she admitted.
"Oh, I dunno about that," Cid commented, retrieving his cigarettes from the sand. "You didn't hear him earlier? Cloud asked where Tifa was, just when I got to him, and after I told him, he passed out again."
"Really?" Yuffie exclaimed. "Awesome! I mean, not that he passed out again," she added quickly, "but..."
"Yeah, yeah," Cid muttered. "Sounds like whatever happened might have brought him out of it, so maybe Tifa's okay too."
Kit was puzzled. "That doesn't make any sense... Mako poisoning certainly can't be cured by dousing someone in more Mako."
"Well, I'm just tellin' you what happened," Cid retorted. "Believe me or not, I don't give a #$&%."
Almost immediately Tifa stirred, sighing a little, and Barret went to her side. "Yo! You awright?" he asked. "Tifa?"
Her eyes flickered open, and she looked up at him. "U... uhh...?" she moaned. The others exchanged worried glances, but then Tifa sat up, staring at Barret. "Barret... You came back, I..." A troubled look came over her face. "Cloud... Where is he?"
Barret gestured behind her, to where he lay among the broken boards and debris of Mideel. "Don't worry about him. He's a tough one."
She gave another soft sigh, this time in relief. "Barret... I... When I was in the Lifestream I saw the real Cloud." She paused, shaking her head slightly. "I mean, I didn't really find him. Cloud found himself on his own..."
"Awright, I know... I shouldn't have doubted him," Barret replied grudgingly. "But I can't win against you. You're some kinda lady."
She smiled sadly at him, then lay back down, staring up at the sky. "People have so many things pent up inside of themselves," she murmured. "And they can forget so many things... Strange... isn't it..."
Her voice trailed off, and her eyes closed again as she turned her head away. "Yo, Tifa! Snap outta it!" Barret told her. "Tifa...?"
"Give her some time," Red advised. "You can't expect her to just get up and be fine after what happened to her yesterday." He scratched an ear thoughtfully. "In fact, she's doing unusually well, all things considered. I wonder why she wasn't poisoned by the Mako?"
Barret nodded. "Yeah, I s'pose you're right... let's get 'em back to the Highwind."
To Chapter ThirtyEight. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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