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Lover's War	By : Htress Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy IX Views: 736 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Cosmo
Canyon

When they landed at Costa del Sol, Cloud�s
party surely did not hoped to find the Professor Hojo dozing off in the middle
of a dozen of pretty girls in bikini� It didn�t took a lot to make him talk, so
in no time they were going toward North Corel. The mountains seemed familiar to
Cloud, he felt like he was in his element. Yes, definitively, it was relaxing
to be here, to walk in the wind� They reached the Mako reactor and North Corel
quite quickly but they received a rather cold reception. Barret was bullied by
the town�s people as the small group made his way to the tramway. Then the
black man told his story, and Cloud discovered that Nibelheim wasn�t the only
village which went down in flames because of the Shinra� Somehow he and Barret
were alike, they had passed through the same ordeals.

Thinking they could blow off some steam at
the Golden Saucer, Cloud lead the team to the Ghost Hotel. Barret left them
alone, and that�s when the real trouble began. As they were wandering through
the Golden Saucer, meeting on the way with a strange cat-mog fortune teller,
they discovered that a murderer was killing the employees and the customers in
the battle square� And when Cloud showed up, well, Dio captured him and the
others, thinking they were responsible for those horrid acts. The next thing
they knew, it was that they were in jail, in the middle of the desert� The old
Corel Town. A town full of memories for Barret, who told the others why the
townspeople were so harsh with him, how he had gotten his artificial arm. This
tragic story made Aerith very sad, Tifa too fell silent and they all went out
to breath some fresh air.

The neighbourhood was not very reliable,
composed of thieves and murderers, so the party had to constantly watch their
back or they would surely lose some gil in the process. Walking around helped
them greatly, though, when they heard that the boss of the place could help
them to get out. Unfortunately, the person they were searching for turned out
to be Barret�s best friend and Marlene�s father, Dyne Werron.

-
Are you crazy or what!?!, yelled
Barret, What are you thinking!?!

-
I have nothing to live for� Eleanor
and Marlene are waiting, Barret, he said wearily, I can�t keep living like
this, I have to go to them.

-
Hey, listen to me!!! Marlene is still
alive! She would be happy to see you, I�m sure�

-
What? It means Eleanor is alone! So
I�ll have to kill her as well before going!

-
WHAAAA??? I won�t let you!

Barret did not have the time to react when
Dyne fired a Molotov at him. Cloud tried to help, but the black man insisted on
settling this alone. It hadn�t been very difficult and after the fight, Dyne
wobbled back to lean against the wall. Barret looked down at his feet. A
pendant was shining in the sunset.

-
Give it to Marlene�, Dyne rasped

-
What are you� Dyne! Listen! Y�don�t
have to do this!

-
Eleanor can�t wait alone in the
Lifestream, Barret, and my hands are too stained with blood to hold Marlene
anymore. Take care of her, please�

-
DYYYYYYYYYYNE!!!!!

And Dyne jumped over the edge of the cliff,
falling silently toward the afterlife.

********

-
Goddamit that brat stole my gil!!!,
yelled Barret

-
Again!!!, added Tifa

Cloud looked at his own gil and growled.
That ninja girl just had taken 200 gil from him as well� that does it. Scanning
the nearby trees, he located her not far and she seemed to count her loot, not
even bothering to check if she was safe. Slowly and silently, the blond made
his way to the tree and use the cross slash. The ninja stumbled down, crashing
on the ground. The girl jumped to her feet, glaring at Cloud.

-
You spikey headed jerk!!! You sneak up
on me because you can�t beat me, huh? C�mon! Let�s go one more time!

Raising an incredulous eyebrow, Cloud
retorted he wasn�t interested.

-
You�re really scared, aren�t you?

-
�� petrified.

-
Humph! Very well, I�ll leave, then,
REALLY!

-
Wait a sec-

-
You want me to join ?, she cut
him

-
Not exactly but-

-
Alright! Let�s go!

Cloud sighed, turning his to go back to the
buggy. He just wanted his money back� The ninja girl ran up to them.

-
Hey, wait! I haven�t tell ya my name
yet! I�m Yuffie Kisagari! Pleased to meet ya! And who�re you? Where are we
going?

Sighing, cloud got into the buggy and drove
to Gongaga, where they met again with the Turks, and this time, Reno was out
for revenge. After AVALANCHE fought it�s way to the small town, they learned
with stupor that the reactor had exploded few months ago, killing most of the
people working there. The sight was terrible. The houses were reduced to vulgar
huts, the surroundings reminding of an bad catastrophic film� They wandered
through the town, searching for the inn to rest up for the night. The next day,
Cloud needed a break and woke up early, wanting to have a look at the reactor.
When he came back, Aerith was waiting for him. But a man outside of his house
suddenly called him.

-
Wait! Young man!, he said, The glare
in your eyes� were you in SOLDIER? Did you know a young man, about your age,
named Zack? My son� left us for SOLDIER years ago, and we have not heard of him
since�

The name was oddly familiar to Cloud, so he
answered that he might have known him. But he could not remember more� and a
little throbbing in his head started to warn him that if he was to try it some
more, he would deal with a rather harsh pain. Aerith, on the other hand, turned
and ran up to the inn, locking herself in the girl�s room. Naturally, Cloud ran
after her, but all he could hear was Aerith�s sobbing. Barret and Red XIII,
woken up by the noise gathered near the door to try to find out what was going
on. Finally, Tifa and Cait Sith came out of the small room.

-
Can you tell me what the hell is going
on, here?

-
I don�t know, but she said something
about meeting her ex-boyfriends parents, and that she couldn�t tell them he was
dead.

-
That�s terrible� Poor Aerith,
whispered the beast.

Cloud walked out, leaving the rest of
AVLANCHE to deal with that. Somehow he felt he should not interfere. In fact,
he felt guilty. But he could not find out why. Anyway, they had to go on, to
move quickly because the Turks were obviously on their track, and Sephiroth
would not stop, either. When Yuffie emerged from the bedroom with Aerith, they
were all ready to leave.

*******

In a second Cloud was down. His sword fell
from his hands and he collapsed. Tifa and Yuffie beat down the last enemy
before helping out Cloud. The blond had been hit right in the forehead and
seemed to suffer a lot. His nose was even bleeding, so Aerith cast a light cure
spell to heal him.

-
Oh, Cloud� Are you all right?, the
flower girl asked worriedly

-
Yeah, yeah, the blond answered, wiping
off the blood with his hand

-
?$$?*&&%?%?%#!!!! That damn
thing is broken!

-
Then it�s no use to curse over it,
calmly retorted Red XIII, And besides, my home is right here�

They looked in the horizon, in the rock face
was shining the lights of Cosmo Canyon. Cloud stood up and started to lead the
gang toward the caved stairs. The gate was in sight, the gate and a strange
golden light� The light soon became blinding and he felt drawn to it, gladly
surrendering to it. Aerith caught him in mid fall, calling Barret for help. Red
and Cait climbed the stairs hurriedly to clear the way.

-
Jake! Jake!

-
Nanaki! You�re back! Bugen-

-
Please! You have to let my friends
pass�

-
We have a serious problem, here, sir!,
pleaded the plushy cat

-
Oh, gosh! Is he hurt?, Jake exclaimed
when he saw the limp form in Barret�s arms, This way! The elder will surely
know what to do!

The gang was pushed into a house, where an
old man was writing. He immediately asked that the blond was laid on the bed.
He brought up some tissues to sponge the blood coming out of his nose, and when
he noticed the numerous cuts and bruises�

-
Has he been hit on the head?

-
Just minutes ago�, answered Tifa, but
he was okay! Aerith healed him, he just had a nosebleed, that�s all�

-
No, I mean before, maybe some years
ago. That scar, there� It�s very wide, almost invisible�

-
He was in the Shinra army before,
maybe he was hurt during a mission?, proposed Aerith.

-
It could be the problem. I am pretty
sure this wound here caused him to fall into a deep coma. In any case, we�ll
have to wait until he wakes up. For now, Nanaki, why don�t you go up to see
Bughen? He will be very happy to see that you�re back!

Nanaki nodded and left. The elder reassured
Cloud�s friend, saying that he would look over him and tell them when he would
be okay. Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie left for a different direction. The
flower girl preferred to stay near the eternal flame, looking at the darkening
sky, when Nanaki came back with an old man. He presented him as his
grandfather. Aerith smiled. She knew she had to trust the old man, he would
show her the way.

********

Cloud flopped back on the bed, clutching
his aching head. It was less painful, but still, he could not get up just yet.
Tifa had come to tell him that Aerith and Cait Sith were with Bughenhagen in
the planetarium. Nanaki was with him, though, providing anything that Hogan
needed to help Cloud.

-
Just rest, young man. No need to
hurry. Those wounds take time to heal.

-
Wound? I�m hurt?

-
So you don�t even remember when it
happened? You have a large scar on your forehead, and since you don�t remember,
I assume you were in a deep comatose state after that. You never woke up in a
hospital or a clinic before?

Did I? Did I went into a coma before? A sudden flash passed through his mind, a blurry sensation of
falling down, the abrupt slope, blood everywhere, rocks, pain� Hospital� I
remember waking up in� I remember� I� can�t� remember� He clutched his head
again, sitting up on the bed wearily.

-
�I� don�t remember.

-
Maybe grandfather could help you, he�s
good with memories. While you were sleeping, you cried a lot. Did you dream of
anything? It could help you remember�

-
I was seeing myself when I was young,
when father was still with us. I think he was talking to me, though, I just
wanted him to hold me but he left me alone� Alone in the cold rain�

Nanaki bowed his head, uttering a low
groan.

-
Ho ho ho!!! You�re still thinking that
low of your father�

Bughenhagen was standing in the doorway
with Tifa and Aerith. He walked over to the beast and patted his head.

-
I see it�s time, then. Come with me, both of you. There is
something you need to see, Nanaki.

End

Author�s
notes

First thing of all:
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
*Try to avoid all the printers, microwaves,
toaters and cactus flying everywhere* I really have an excuse, though: I had
been hospitalised for four days. I had a terrible appendicitis attack, so they
kept me there and they stuffed me full with antibiotics. That way they avoided
the surgery. But gawd! It knocked me out cold for a week! I�m okay now. I do
hope you�re not too angry at me. And Lauren, could you e-mail me? It�s been a
while� Anyway, I hope you�ll still be with me for the next chapter: The shadows
of Mount Nibel.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Lover's War