onepassingnight | 001; Wutai

Entry tags:

001; Wutai

On the mountain of Da Chao sits a lone girl, her legs swinging off the ledge as she contemplates the town below.

It's her home - Wutai, a once proud nation that has been reduced to nothing more than a cheesy tourist attraction. By none other than her father, a man she doesn't exactly get along with in the best of times.

Something's off though.

Yuffie squints as she studies the town, telling herself her eyes must be deceiving her.

Usually there are people strolling through the town, children playing tag in the streets. The ones who had recently been infected with Geostigma are recovering, and there is a jovial air about the town. Now, though, there is no sign of life. Not even a stray dog roaming through, begging for scraps.

This just isn't right, and Yuffie has to investigate.

Standing up, she brushes the dirt off her legs, then plants her fists at her hips.

"Only one person can get to this bottom of this mess!"

She pauses without looking back, shifting her weight as if she wants to fidget.

"You can come too. Having an extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt," she says this with a little hesitation. The truth is, she's a little bit worried at the absence of people, and could use a little support as she tries to find them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He blinks at her mention of geostigma and shifts a little on his feet. He's too tired to mentally curse - or he's done it for so long that he hasn't got it in him anymore.

How many of his friends and loved ones is the rotting disease going to hurt?

As if in answer his arm throbs and he clenches that fist, riding out the wave of sick pain without expression on his face.

He was supposed to find a cure for it. He was supposed to help. Instead he's just another number and all he can do is not be a burden. Yuffie says it's over and he assumes that means that she's not locked in her room anymore. They're all still dealing with the disease though and he knows her well enough to know that what happens to Wutai, happens to her heart too. He doesn't touch her but he does bow his head, making the space between them personal, just the two of them.

"Tifa lost business when I brought Denzel home." He feels like there should be more after that but he can't think of anything else to say. People get scared and they blame the ones that aren't at fault. You'd think a pair of terrorists would be used to that, but Cloud doesn't think you ever really do. After a moment, he lifts his head.

"Come on. Let's go find your dad."

Edited 2011-10-24 16:59 (UTC)

Geostigma caused so many issues, and it was like life didn't want to give anyone a break. It was one disaster after another - and they'd all thought, after Meteor and the fighting, they would have had some peace. Then the sickness came and washed over the population. Finding out what made people so sick was the most disturbing part.

Shaking herself out of her depressed reverie, she throws her shoulders back. Getting it out had helped, a little. Like a weight was lifted just slightly. It was easier to talk to him than say to Tifa, who would offer hugs and comfort. Yuffie didn't mind attention, but affectionate attention was still something that made her uneasy. Reminded her too much of her mother. Cloud's composure helped her composure.

"Yeah, I think I owe him a kick or three now that I think about it." Even as they start toward her home, the fog that was in the distance seemed to be closer, moving much faster than a normal layer of fog would move. She shot it a confused glance but figured she was probably just seeing too much into things.

Cloud would have choked on his own tongue if he'd known she considered him easier to talk to than... well, anyone. As it was, all that registered as she threw her shoulders back and straightened to the complete miniscule height was that she was ready to go again. Ready to take the fight to the trouble.

If they could only find the trouble.

He noticed the fog too but he had no familiarity with Wutai weather and it didn't register to him other than to wonder if there was the possibility of rain. So he started down the path toward Godo's, waiting for Yuffie to fall into step next to him. Gut feeling told him their answers would be there or the Pagoda. He just hoped there were answers to be found - and that they were ones they wanted.

The walk to the house wasn't too long, and Yuffie had to resist all instinctive urges to kick the door in as hard as she could and let out a battle cry. Instead, she grasped the handle, pulling hard to yank it open.

Instead, it was locked.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she did end up rearing back and kicking the door open, a grin on her face.

"That felt good. I'm sure I'm gonna hear about it for years," she rolled her eyes as she swooped inside, brandishing her weapon in case Godo was waiting in ambush.

He'd done it a few times before. Yuffie learned to always be prepared.

When she was met with silence, she relaxed her stance. Cocking her head to the side, she listened for any kind of noise - the floor creaked and the house groaned constantly throughout her life, but she was met with a deafening silence.

Cloud's eyebrows went up just a little as she kicked the door in.

Ninja, his ass.

He didn't mention it though. Stealth wasn't exactly their style after all. And the oppressive silence was starting to get to him. He liked background noise. It reminded him his ears weren't clogged with liquid mako with a glass tank to block out everything but the most drastic of noises. Now he followed Yuffie into the house and looked around as well, sword over his shoulder. And, even though it was her house, he took the lead. He'd been here before and he knew where Godo's room was.

There was nothing as they passed down the hallway and he stopped sliding open the paper doors after the first two showed nothing but empty, abandoned rooms. His instincts told him there was no one here but he was going to make sure. Godo was Yuffie's only remaining parent. He was going to make sure he stated remaining.

Yuffie had no problem following Cloud - heck, she'd done it for the better part of how long? He was firmly in the 'leader' title in her mind, and though she knew one day she would probably be the leader of her people in Wutai, it was second nature to follow the man.

The only sounds were the echoes of their footsteps, and it was unnerving. The place was never quiet - there was always someone laughing, or yelling. Usually her, and usually at the expense of Godo himself. Their home could be full of ruckus, but it was a comforting ruckus. This silence felt like it was eating at her skin, like acid.

Reaching Godo's room, she could already tell before Cloud slid the door open her father wouldn't be there. Hell, the man would have dropped from the ceiling and drop kicked her to Kalm for destroying his front door as soon as they'd come in.

"What the hell? Where is that old man." This was less a question, and more of a worried statement. It was hard to keep her cool when she wasn't finding answers, and answers were what she needed.

He stepped into the room and circled it anyway. No one was here. No one had been here for a while. But he checked anyway, even looking up at the rafters above. There were a lot of reasons not to like the situation but the fact that it was obviously hurting Yuffie was quickly moving to the forefront of the list. Blue eyes steady - because he'd find her answer if he had to cut down every building in Wutai, he simply stated:

"The Pagoda."

It was the most sacred place and the most protected. The answers - and any survivors - had to be there.

This was the most logical place to check next, so she nodded wordlessly and followed him as they made their way out of the house.

Even if Godo had been taken captive or something, he would have found some way to leave a sign behind. A note. A random object tipped over at a certain angle. She knew her father and his habits, would be able to pick up on any irregularities but the only thing she could see out of place was the lack of people.

Back out on the street, she looked around again, hoping to see a change but no luck. "This is spooky as hell. It's so quiet out here," she is starting to sound very un-Yuffie like. It doesn't even bother her anymore, because yes she is freaking out and no amount of kicking in doors or obnoxiousness would make it easier to deal. She had been secretly convinced her father would be in her room, being an ass or something and giving her some stupid test.

His blue eyes flicked to the younger girl trailing close. The more subdued she got, the quieter he got. It was probably the opposite of what she needed and he wished he was good enough with words to somehow help her. Even Vincent was better with words than he was. Cryptic, sometimes unrelated and often hiddenly sarcastic but at least he knew when to offer something. Cloud was at a loss however.

"We'll find them, Yuffie. Or did you forget that saving the day is kind of our thing?"

Ironic, considering he was already carrying the signs of a future day he won't be able to save. But it won't be today. He's determined. Somehow - before he goes - he can give Yuffie that much at least.

His words did bring a small smirk to her face. It was the kind of a thing they all did, just pop in and fix things so it's all right again. It wasn't just saving everyone from Meteor. It was the chocobo breeding, or helping local townspeople in whatever area they happened to be in. It was evacuating Midgar when Meteor was right over their freaking heads.

"You're right, this will totally be a breeze. Just gotta find Godo and give him a good kick for worrying me like this." Kicks were akin to hugs in the Kisragi family home. Usually Yuffie gave her father a good kick goodbye when she left the town. He always appreciated it (with yelling and cursing as she cackled her way out of the house).

The pagoda drew near, and Yuffie knew someone had to be in there. She could feel it inside her, something bone deep and aware. Whether it was hostile or not she couldn't say, but her grip was tight on her weapon as they approached.

Yuffie's response, or more to the point, Yuffie's more Yuffie response made the knot in his chest relax just a little bit. He cared about Wutai. He liked the people in a general kind of way. But they didn't matter to him the way Yuffie did and, balanced against each other, she would always come first to him.

It was probably yet another reason he was really a second-rate version of a 'hero'. He did it backward.

"I'll hold him still for you."

And then the pagoda was in front of them, looming taller than he remembered. The fog was thick around it, strangely so, and it seemed to ooze out of the windows, moving as if there was a breeze that passed through it when their was no breeze. He could just barely make out the doors to the pagoda. But even from here he could tell, somehow in a way that made sense at the time, that the doors were thickly locked and bolted from the inside. He'd never actually been inside the pagoda before. He looked over at the girl next to him with a mild frown. Nothing felt right about the situation but someone had to be in there to lock it from the inside. Time to find out. Grounding his sword, he cupped his hands, fingers interlocking. Surely it would be okay if her shoe touched his hand on the bad side.

"Hop on, Kisragi. Lets get you to one of those higher windows."

For some reason it seemed important to avoid that fog and he didn't know why. He wasn't going to question it though.

Yuffie had been looking quite intently at the fog - she honestly couldn't say the last time she'd seen anything like it. Wutai wasn't particularly foggy anyway, and usually it was higher up on the mountains. Strange.

Her concentration was broken by Cloud's command, and it was without hesitation that she put her foot in his hands, pushing herself into the air with his help. She arched her back, flipping up and landing smoothly on the roof of the first floor. There was bound to be an unlocked window, or hell she could just punch it in. It didn't really seem to matter at this point.

She stayed low as she crept to the first window, peeking in to see this particular room was dark. She pushed up on the window, hoping but not expecting it to be unlocked.

It opened quietly. Super weird. With a shrug, she slides into the room, pausing to listen for any sounds of movement. There aren't any - on this floor anyway.

Her movements were stealthy as she made her way to the front door, and it's not long before she was able to open the door to let Cloud in. The tower was giving her many heebie jeebies, because the atmosphere was different here. Heavy, like the fog outside seemed.

"I haven't heard anyone yet, but they're probably on the top floor," she didn't bother to whisper, since the sound in this place carried funny anyway. It was well insulated on the top floors, so she was sure nobody would hear them down there. Anyway, not that it mattered. Whoever was up there wasn't going anywhere without them knowing.

She still weighed about as much as a feather and he resisted the urge to tell her to eat more. Yuffie ate just fine. He'd seen her do it.

Besides, it made him sound like a worried older brother.

So he tossed her up instead. When she wasn't paying attention, she was capable of being surprisingly graceful. He watched her land, his own legs tense, ready to join her if there was trouble. He wasn't losing Yuffie as well as Wutai. He might be a second rate hero without much time left but he'd be damned if he was going to lose another friend in what time he did have.

Blue eyes narrowed, he watched her slip in a window and picked up his sword again, holding it idly over his shoulder while he strained his ears and listened for her in case she yelled for help.

Was the fog... whispering...?

No. It was his imagination. He'd heard whispers often enough in the past that they're not hard to ignore now. Maybe it was a result of the geostigma. When she opened the door for him, he passed through the fog and it felt like fingers clinging and grabbing at his clothing, chilled against his bare skin. He actually had to resist the urge to shrug them off because fog didn't have fingers any more than it whispered and he'd already done the crazy thing for Yuffie once. Once was probably enough.

At her words he nodded. Top floor. Got it. Time to either rescue some strangers or kick some ass. At the moment, his nerves were strung enough he was pretty ready for either. He could only imagine it was worse for her and he took the lead again, boots hollow sounding on the flooring.

"Maybe you should convince Godo to buy a PHS after this. It would have made everything easier."

"Getting that old man a PHS would mean he could reach me all the time, Cloud." Yuffie huffed at him as she followed him through the rooms. "That would not bode well for my sanity."

Still, it was an idea. Or maybe some kind of tracking device, she could sneak it into his hair or something. She should really hit up a Turk for something like that sometime.

Passing by the windows, she barely noticed the fog. Actually, despite how absolutely engulfing it was, she didn't really comment on it. As though it just faded into the background, and it was absolutely not weird at all for Wutai to look this creepy. Of course not.

They do manage to check in the rooms they pass, just in case, but she was sure something would be up top.

"Hopefully we aren't chasing down some stupid chocobo who managed to sneak in here."

"Yeah. Hate it when people can reach me all the time." The answer was impossibly dry and his blue eyes slanted sideways to look pointedly at the tiny girl behind him. Not that he really minded. Not most of the time at least. But if she ever found that out, she'd never actually stop calling him. Vincent needed to get a phone so they could divide up the Yuffie time. It was only fair.

The wood creaked under his feet and it didn't matter how far up they went, the fog outside the windows seemed just as thick and after a short time, Cloud stopped looking at it because it kept turning into insubstantial faces and he was pretty sure that was just crazy talk. The higher they went the colder it got too and soon his exhales were misting in front of his lips.

Not that he was getting old but how many floors did this damn tower have? And yet there was no shaking the feeling that something knew they were coming and was waiting for them.

"If it's a chocobo I call dibs. Anything that can lock a door by itself must be good breeding stock."

Yuffie made a face at his back, telling herself to remember to start leaving him singing voicemails when he didn't pick up. Her voice left a lot to be desired in the musical department, but she was pretty sure she could injure an eardrum if he didn't pull away too quickly.

"If there's a chocobo at the top of this tower, I'm going to eat my left shore," she declared, absolutely positive there would be no big stupid birds on this trip.

As she started to go on about some childhood story tied to chocobos and tying up a pet dog to one and making it run, she paused. Yuffie had caught sight of the fog, and she could see something was definitely wrong. Infinitely wrong. Wordlessly, she goes into an empty room, pressing her face to the window before turning back to Cloud, absolutely bewildered.

"Since when has the fog been this creepy? Seriously, I thought it was just misty but this is seriously freaky."

Cloud had to agree about the possibility of a chocobo - and he would have disagreed if he'd know of her evil designs on his voice mail. It was distracting though and he didn't mind distracting. As they'd shown earlier, stealth wasn't really their thing when they were together and he'd rather hear her voice than the ones just out of range of his hearing at all the windows. When Yuffie slipped into one of the side rooms, he followed, curious, but when she pressed her face to the window too close, much too close to that fog he reached out an instinctive hand to her shoulder to pull her back. It was his bad hand. He hadn't been thinking. Luckily she turned back to him before he touched her with it though and so he withdrew it, letting it drop against his side.

He'd been trying his level best to not notice the fog. Though, if Yuffie was catching it too, maybe it wasn't just him?

"Fog's been creepy since we hit the tower. Maybe before." As he spoke the window creaked the littlest bit. As if something on the other side of the glass was trying to press inward past it, even though they were too many floors up for anyone to be there with nothing to support them.

The creak of the glass made Yuffie jump a bit, whipping around in a readied stance. What for, she didn't know - maybe to fight, or maybe to run. It was hard to fight an enemy she'd yet to see at this point, and that was the part that freaked her out the most.

Her mind had waffled this entire time, from worry over Wutai, to confusion about the situation in general, to that creepy crawly sense that someone was watching her. Yuffie's mind was a multi tracked one, and she was usually all over the place with most things, but this was different.

The glass did not make another noise, but Yuffie was quiet as she listened for any sound in the building, anything at all. The silence was engulfing, like it could swallow her whole, and that wasn't a pleasant feeling at all. Her ears had started to ring before she turned back to Cloud, rubbing her right ear.

"Okay, we get fog here sometimes, but this is not the norm here. Maybe that crazy cat lady cast some spell over the place and she's waiting for me. Boil my bones for bread or whatever it is crazy cat ladies do."

"Boil your bones for cat food maybe. Not that there's enough of you to feed all her cats."

It's a distraction and he doesn't mean it any more seriously than she does. They just like to reassure each other with the sound of their voices - one of the very few people Cloud actually is that way with. He's tired of not knowing what's going on though and tired of jumping at shadows. He's never been very good at being patient. So his eyes slip hard and he jerks his chin over his shoulder before heading for the door. His voice is their battle leader's when he says:

"Come on, Kisaragi. Let's finish this thing."

((ooc: did you have an idea for what's upstairs or would you like me to run amok with it?))

Yuffie found the time to make a face at Cloud for his insinuation of her skinniness. She was a little coltish - all arms, legs and sharp elbows. She is also pretty sure she would never reach Tifa proportions in her lifetime, but maybe one day she'll look more female and less 'underage boy'.

About to fire back a good retort, Yuffie notices the abrupt change in his demeanor, and reigns it back in. It definitely isn't the time, a fact she sometimes had difficultly noticing. She's gotten better at reading visual cues, though Cloud's was more of a visual declaration of war than a silent cue.

"Right. To the top, then."

[ooc: run amok with it, I really had no specific plan in mind!]

He thinks she looks just fine the way she is. She's a ninja. They're supposed to be small and slender. If she looked like Tifa that would just be... disturbing. But, being Cloud, he'll always tease her about not eating enough anyway. It's a bad habit he picked up from his mother - worrying about someone else not eating enough - and it's because he thinks of her as his little sister so it's okay to tease without worrying about getting in trouble or her not understanding what he really means when he does it. Which is another reason he stays in front to take the brunt of any attack as they finally reach the upper floor as if access to it has been waiting for them this whole time. The room is dark and so empty the air hurts his ears as he steps in, sword at the ready. He's about to say something to her when something huge drops down from the ceiling, filling almost the entire room. Cloud has time for a lowly muttered:

"oh shi-"

Before Leviathan sends him into the nearest wall with a Tidal Wave like a giant sledge hammer.

((ooc. done. but it may not be kind to Yuffie))

Yuffie gapes at Cloud before she ducks, Leviathan's tail just barely whipping by, almost taking her head off. As she tries to stand, in order to get her weapon and attack, the tail whips back around, taking her legs out from under her and knocking her to the floor.

Her legs are a little wobbly as she pushes herself up, intent on rushing Leviathan to get this over with quickly. As she darts forward, Leviathan hits her with a second Tidal Wave, and it slams into Yuffie with the force of a herd of frantic chocobos. Pain radiates through her body as she struggles to push away from the wall.

"How the hell can it fit in here?" She takes a moment to ask before dodging another tail attack. She doesn't remember it using its tail so much before, and she definitely isn't in top form right now.

Even as Cloud shakes his head, coming up from the dent he's left in the wall that technically should have just broken, something inside him is calming, clearing. All the doubt, the pain, the confusion and the hopelessness just - disappears. His thoughts crystallize and he's leaping forward without having to think. Without having to doubt. This is what he does. This is what he's here for. Protect. Defend. Destroy.

Leviathan is fast, faster than it should be, and in the small enclosed space it's everywhere, teeth, tail, water. Cloud meets it head on, moving with habits that are ingrained by now and so used to fighting with Yuffie that he's always aware of where she is in the room and doesn't hold back out of worry. He won't hit her. They're a better team than that. Something lashes out at him and he brings his sword up and around to meet it. Part of a whisker or tentacle or whatever those are near its mouth goes flying. And as his blade parts the rubbery flesh a familiar voice booms from the wound:

"Style...? Dictate...? Throwin' around all those fancy words... You're a miserable excuse for a daughter!"

Yuffie freezes at the sound - for a split second before she has to dodge an attack. She's sufficently distracted, though, and instead of fighting back she dances around the creature. Words pour out of the wound in her father's voice, and she's extremely disturbed at this new development.

"Take your things and get out of here now. To protect Wutai, we cannot afford to stand up to Shinra."

As weird was it was to hear Godo in this room that Godo was obviously not in, she felt herself getting pissed off once again. There were times she would fight with her father, but when she was traveling with AVALANCHE she hardly spoke to him. It was a miserable time, and she had a lot of anger still left over from that.

Glaring at Leviathan, she rushes it and swings down her shuriken. One of the sharp ends cut through the skin, slicing a deep cut.

"He was such an ass!" This burst out of her without warning - she didn't even realize it was inside her until she blurted it. Not exactly the best time for a conversation like this, but she really just couldn't help it.

He's not sure why Godo's words are pouring from the monster's wounds but the second Yuffie's blade cuts through more of the creatures hide Godo's disembodied voice is shouting:

"You keep acting like that! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

He slides in the way as another Tidal Wave crashes out, bringing his sword charged with energy thanks to a wall earlier, forward to release a surge of power that slices outward from his weapon and breaks the water harmlessly in two.

He's probably the last person in the world equipped to deal with father related issues. So instead he grunts to show he's still listening as his sword swings out again, catching Levithan's open jaw, teeth and metal scraping horrendously against each other. "Didn't you two ever not fight?"

001; Wutai

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Oh I am the Queen of late replies!

blame it on LJ, it's been giving me fits for the past two days

Good idea - blaming LJ forever!

Sound plan

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

sorry, lost my tag to this one