Assassins in Gaia

Cloud observed the red caped man in front of him carefully. This was one of his father's friends, best friend from what he could tell, as informed by the journal. He had so many questions for him but he did not know, where to even start asking them. Cloud, Tifa and Vincent had opted to wait outside on the foyer, while Ace and Desmond went to do one last thorough sweep of the abandoned mansion. They were waiting for the two of them, when Cloud noticed Tifa was really quiet.

Cloud nudged her shoulder, "You okay Tif?"

Tifa startled, "Huh? Oh, I'm fine, fine! I think, I'm just shocked I guess. I did not expect anything like that when I said I wanted an adventure, you know?"

Vincent hummed, "Things do not always go as planned for a lot of people. The same way not every adventure brings you happy endings or gold."

Cloud nodded, "Yeah! Who knew we would find out so many horrible secrets. We were not even looking for that, just some Gil or items like the Phoenix feather or materia."

Tifa looked down muttering, "We found those stuff plus extra. Our very own little Nibel town's dark and dirty little secret. It sucks, I probably will not be able to look at this place the same way again."

Vincent reached over Cloud and ruffled Tifa's hair earning a surprised squeak from her, "Don't be so down. It's better to be informed, than to be ignorant. No matter how horrid and dark the information is."

Tifa pouted as she fixed her hair, "You have a good point. I may not have liked what I learned today but I'm happy, I know more now."

Cloud looked at Vincent then at the mansion, "We still need to buy a camera so we can get proof of the monsters coming from the reactor to the village. No one will believe us otherwise."

Tifa nodded, "True, how much would a camera cost anyway?"

Vincent smiled at the two enthusiastic kids, "Last I remembered cameras cost around seven thousand to ten thousand Gil. It depends on the quality of the camera of course."

Cloud frowned, "I barely collected one thousand two hundred Gil last night. Not enough at all."

Tifa took out her Gil, "Only one thousand one hundred Gil here. Guess, we are going monster hunting still. I really don't want to sell the Phoenix feather as it's my first that I found."

Cloud, "I understand, I feel the same way about the dragon tooth, I found. I keep it in my room."

At that moment, Desmond and Ace exited the house and walked over to the foyer outside where the three of them were sitting comfortably. Ace had a box in his hands that looked really old but in good condition. He put the box near Vincent and Cloud noticed it had the name 'Valentine', plastered on a plaque on top.

Desmond, "I believe this belongs to you. We found it in the operation room."

Tifa blanched, "You went back there?"

Ace poked her head getting a squawk, "Better us than someone else. We found his stuff just sitting there on one of the shelves. No one bothered to throw it out or maintain it."

Vincent took the box and went through the items present. There was a strange blood red Materia, a shotgun and a sniper gun that needed serious maintenance done, a black trench knife and three bottles of Hi potion. Vincent hummed before fixing the knife and hi potion on his belt. He put the Materia away on the materia holder on his claw glove as for the guns, he decided to carry them to town to see if he could get items for it's maintenance.

Cloud finally spoke up, "What sort of Materia is that?"

Vincent looked at the materia giving it to Cloud, "It is a summon materia.... It was actually your father's."

Cloud stared at it, "Dad's Materia?"

Vincent, "Take it kid, I don't really use summons as an ammo."

Cloud took it, cradling it gently, "Thank you."

Ace was also smiling at that scene, "So, that's what a summon materia looks like."

Tifa, "It's pretty neat. You have two Materia now."

Desmond, "Do you want to go directly to the town or want to join us for one last excursion."

Vincent, "You four won't return yet?"

Cloud shook his head, "No! There is still one more room in the reactor that we want to check out first. Once we have done that we will return. It should not take long though."

Gillian Beast rumbled, 'Go with them, there is something about those two that is familiar.'

Chaos ordered him however, 'You either go or we follow them ourselves.'

Vincent grumbled inwardly about bossy demanding annoying demons, "I would like to join you, if you don't mind. I'm curious, about how the monsters escaped in the first place."

Desmond nodded and the group got up and went back to the reactor where they split into two groups. Cloud and Ace decided to show Vincent the pods from which the monster escaped while Desmond, and Tifa checked out the last room left in the reactor. They looked at the heavy doors in front of them and searched for a way to open it. Seeing it was locked with a key, they decided to search for one.

Tifa, "Ah, I remember seeing a key holder in one of the offices. Maybe the key to this room is there?"

Desmond, "Check it out Tif. Bring back any keys you find."

Tifa, "Be right back!"

Cloud meanwhile turned to Vincent, "What sort of summon is it?"

Vincent, "It is a Cockatrice. Your Pa mainly used her to keep contact and share information when it was obvious that letters and PHS were compromised. She's a useful one in battle too. She can petrify your enemies easily. Winning her approval is not easy however, you will have to defeat her in battle to gain the right to summon her."

Ace, "Sounds fair. Guess we are upping the training, especially battle training."

Cloud muttered, "As long as I no longer have to wear a dress."

Vincent raised an eyebrow at that and Ace, the little imp started to regale the earlier training sessions Cloud had to the amused ex-Turk. Cloud was flushed pink, when Ace mentioned the fairy legend and Vincent's shoulder were shaking in quiet laughter. Tifa went to the rooms, they had already gone through the night before, finding the room, that had five keys on the key holder. She grabbed all five of them and went back to where Desmond was. On the way, from the upper railing, she noticed Vincent, Ace and Cloud were getting along well.

Tifa, 'I'm glad, I came on this trek.'

Tifa smiled happily, at the thought of having another friend and hurried back to the room showing the keys to Desmond. They tried the first three but the lock did not open. As they tried the fourth key, they heard a click that sounded like the lock had finally opened. Desmond held one door handle and started to pull to open it while Tifa did the same with the other one. It was heavy and creaked open with an ominous sound.

Tifa huffed, "Who builds such heavy doors?"

Vincent answered sagely, "People who want to hide a secret builds heavy doors."

Tifa startled at the voice coming from behind them, "Vincent hi, you guys returned."

Desmond greeted the three of them, "Welcome back! Did you find anything? We could not make heads or tails out of the mess back there."

Vincent, "The monsters were experimented on and they mutated becoming stronger making the glass unable to hold them back. At least, that's what we understood from observing the entire situation from the outside."

Ace grumbled, "I don't know, why they want to make stronger monsters. If you want strong monsters just go find a dragon or something. This is so unnatural."

Desmond shook his head, "Heaven knows, how a mad person's mind works. Let us check the last room, then leave this place."

The group entered the room only to be disappointed. There was nothing in the room they entered except for one large empty pod. The pod had the name J. E. N. O. V. A., written on it's plaque. Cloud and Tifa looked around and saw a shelf with books and papers on it.

Ace could not help but comment, "Is Jenova like a rip off from Jehovah or something? They sound so familiar to each other."

Vincent tilted his head curiously, "Jehovah?"

Desmond nodded, "Yeah, In one of my Ma's books, that I read, there was once a group of pagans that believed that Jehovah will be there salvation and stuff like that. I don't know, if the pagan group is around anymore though."

Vincent, "Ah, I see! It's a possibility."

Cloud held up some papers, "Desmond look, these papers are from the same Kalm university you passed from."

Desmond walked over to what Cloud was looking at, "That doesn't look right."

Tifa blinked, "What do you mean?"

Desmond looked at the date tapping it, "This University, it is not so old. Here, it is written the paper and research is from eighty or so years ago. Well, the Kalm university of research and history is only twenty five years old."

Ace frowned, "So, someone planted fake papers and information."

Vincent glared, "That is Hojo's signature."

Desmond, "You know what, I'm disliking this Hojo more and more. It's crossing hate now."

Tifa, "What do we do with these papers? We can't just leave them here!"

Ace grinned slowly, "Well. We still have some rabbit meat left and we do need a bonfire."

Vincent caught on amused, "I have not eaten a good meal in many years."

Desmond smirked, "Well then, we cannot have that. Kids grab those papers, we need them for a bonfire."

Tifa giggled, "Sure!"

Cloud's shoulder trembled with laughter, "Pffffffffffft!"

They left the reactor and went towards the mansion taking a detour to the spring. Once they found an open field, Cloud helped Desmond skewer the meat on to some sticks they cleaned and sharpened. Tifa with Vincent's help lit a fire outside using the fake research papers, while Ace went to the kitchen and came back with a kettle and a couple plates. By the time they finished preparing the food it was past noon. The group finished their lunch as Vincent asked them questions about the ongoings of the world. They told him things happening in Nibelheim and the rocket launch that is planning for a take off soon in a few years. Then about the war that just started, how three young teens almost adults were fighting in the war, getting an alarmed look from Vincent. Once they finished eating they cleaned up and started their way back to the village.

Chaos grumbled inside, -Looks like we were asleep for too long.-

Galiant Beast, -We need information. Especially, since it is highly probable that one of those young cubs is your progency.-

Vincent reluctantly agreed, 'Very well.'

Tifa stretched, "I'm going to Master Zangan's dojo first. I promised to tell him everything that happened."

Desmond nodded, "We will drop you off then go to the Hunter shop where Vincent can get some maintenance for his stuff done."

Tifa nodded, "I will join you there after I'm done with Master Zangan. I want to be there for Miss Strife when we tell her about what we found."

Cloud smiled, "I appreciate it, thank you Tif."

Tifa, "What are best friends for."

The group walked to the town getting looks from the villagers, especially Vincent. He could hear whispers saying he looked familiar somehow but couldn't remember why. He moved closer to the group to avoid talking to anyone. They reached the dojo where they left Tifa, who hollered that she was back with treasures. Tifa's father ran out and hugged her much to her surprise but she hugged him back and walked inside to meet her teacher. The rest of the group went to the shop Desmond told Vincent about to get some maintenance done on the two guns that were kept in the box untouched and unused for years.