The Calamity

The Calamity

Chapter 1: Reunion

A lone girl sat underneath the angel statue that looked over Edge. Cruel tear drops fell silently to the stone ground below her. In her dainty arms laid the body of a small boy who had a dark rash spreading over his lifeless face. Geostigma had just taken this boy’s life, her brother’s life, only moments ago. It would only be a matter of time before the geostigma claimed this girl’s life as well. Unfortunately, it’s not a rare sight to come across in this world of Gaia we live in. “The geostigma is a symptom of alien matter infesting the body. The body tries to eliminate it and over compensates itself. (Vincent Valentine, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children)” That’s why that little boy died and why the little girl will die.

I sighed and moved some brown strands of hair out of my face when the wind blew and as I watched the geostigma kill the girl, “This world is just too cruel,” I muttered to myself. Turning away, I walked to 7th Heaven not wanting to see the girl return to the life stream, which would only be a matter of seconds. I kept my jade eyes glued to the ground as I opened the door to the bar.

“I’m sorry, we’re closed,” Came a friendly voice from behind the counter not even bothering to look up at who walked in.

I sighed and took off my black trench coat, “Not even for an old friend, Tifa?” I questioned her.

A sudden sound of glass breaking filled the almost empty bar and her dark eyes shot up and she screamed, “Kyra?!” Before I knew it, the martial arts master leapt over the counter and tackled me in a hug.

“Geez, Tifa,” I gasped, “Calm down!”

Tifa reluctantly released me, “I thought you were dead! Where were you after Nibelheim burnt down? What happened?”

I walked passed Tifa and sat down at a bar stool, “Well you should get Cloud here before I explain everything. I’m only going to explain it once.” I looked around, “Where is that chocobo head anyways?”

Tifa walked back behind the bar and cleaned the broken glass with a sad expression, “I’m not sure, I call him but he never answers. He’s not the same Cloud you knew, Kyra. He’s changed a lot, when I met with him again in Midgar and after Aerith died he began to lose himself.”

I tilted my head not remembering any Aerith in Nibelheim, “Aerith?”

A soft yet sad smile fell upon Tifa’s face as she placed her hand on a red ribbon tied on her arm, “Aerith was an Ancient. She could communicate with the life stream. Shin-Ra was after her because of it. They also wanted to breed her with Red XIII, whose species was also endangered. Anyways, Aerith was a kind flower girl who found Cloud in a church after one of our friends and I got separated from trying to blow up a mako reactor. After she helped Cloud, she joined our team, AVALANCHE, to try and stop Shin-Ra and Sephiroth,” Tifa paused for a second and looked down at the counter, “I think Cloud fell in love with Aerith, but then Sephiroth killed her…Cloud blamed himself for her death even though it wasn’t his fault.”

I nodded, “I see…He’s always blamed himself for a lot of stuff, like when I broke my arm from when I fell out of the tree near Shin-Ra’s mansion.”

Tifa giggled lightly, “Cloud’s Cloud!” Just then the phone rang and Tifa sighed, “One second Kyra, I need to get this.”

I just nodded simply, “Alright.” I quietly moved over to the doorway to see if I could hear Tifa’s side of the conversation.

“Cloud, it’s so rare for you to call me. Has something happen?” Tifa’s voice filled the silent hall and her voice suddenly filled with distrust, “Cloud?” She questioned whether or not the person on the phone was really Cloud. “Who are you? That’s Cloud’s phone, isn’t it?”

A million thoughts ran through my head and I whispered quietly, “Has something happen to Cloud?” I shook the thought away, “No, he can’t be hurt or dead, it’s Cloud!” I continued listening to the one sided conversation.

“Are you crying?” Tifa questioned the mysterious person then fear struck through Tifa and she started to shout, “Cloud! Cloud, if you’re there pick up right now! Cloud!”

I ran into the hall way Tifa was in, “What’s going on!? What happened to Cloud?”

“I-I don’t know,” Tifa looked at the phone, “There was a boy on the phone he then started to grunt like he was in pain and the phone dropped…” A small voice then emerged from the phone and Tifa put it on speaker.

“Tifa…” It was Cloud’s voice, he seemed fine. “There’s a boy here in the slums near the church, do you know anything about it?”

“No, I don’t. Cloud, I think you should bring him here, okay? Hurry, we might be able to help him,” Tifa sounded motherly at the moment like she cared about the boy.

“Right…” A click was then heard and the line went dead.

I sighed and made a sarcastic remark, “He’s a rather chatty one isn’t he?”

A small chuckled came from Tifa, “I guess,” she then hung up the phone and looked towards a bedroom. “Marlene! Come out here, Cloud’s coming and he’s going to bring someone with the stigma, I need your help!”

A light pitter patter filled the air as a short girl came running out of the bedroom, “Cloud’s coming?” Excitement filled this girl’s chestnut eyes.

“Yes, now I need you to straighten up a bed, alright?” Tifa said as she kneeled down to this girl’s level.

“Right!” The light pitter patter came again as she ran off to make a bed.

“Nice girl,” I remarked and directed my attention to Tifa “Is there anything you need me to do, Tifa?”

Tifa nodded, “Can you run to the store and get some medical supplies, Kyra? I don’t want any potions or phoenix downs; those probably aren’t that great for children. But if you could find some cure materia that’d probably work. If not just get the medical supplies.”

“Alright, I’ll be back in a jiff then,” I waved my gloved hand and started to walk out of the bar only to bump into a tall figure sending me to the ground. “Ouch,” I glanced up at the stranger only to meet crimson eyes, “I’m so sorry! I should have watched where I was going!”

“Hn…” This stranger simply grunted and held out his right hand.

I gladly accepted it, “Thank you, Mister…”

“Vincent Valentine,” He stated firmly and walked over to the bar and sat down, probably to order a drink.

‘Isn’t it a little early to drink?’ I thought silently to myself. I then shrugged, grabbed my trench coat and walked out of the bar to the nearest pharmacy to grab the first aid kit Tifa told me to get.

I walked back into the bar about half an hour later with the first aid in hand and a cure materia. I glanced over in the direction of voices, only to find Tifa, Cloud and the man I bumped into speaking, or rather Tifa was speaking and the other two were just listening.

Tifa glanced up from the conversation, “Kyra, you’re hear just in time! Come on, there’s a boy with the geostigma and he needs some help! You can say ‘hi’ to Cloud later!” She grabbed my arm and dragged me to the bedroom that the little girl from earlier ran off to, leaving a very shocked Cloud behind. Tifa then pointed to the bed that had a boy laying on it. The boy had light brown layered hair that fell over his geostigma.

I cautiously walked over trying not to wake him up and moved his hair out of the way so I could examine it, “It looks bad, Tifa…” I sighed and got out some bandages and the materia, “These will only help a little bit, but not by much.” I used some of my magic and used the cure material to try and ease some of the pain. Afterwards, I wrapped some bandages around his forehead.

“Will he be okay?” A high pitched voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw the little girl standing there with a worried expression.

I walked over to the girl and knelt down so we could meet eye to eye. I couldn’t tell her the truth, “He’ll be fine! He just needs some help is all! Marlene, was it? How about you help me look after him?”

Marlene’s face expression brightened up, “Really? Can I Tifa?”

“I don’t see why not,” Tifa smiled softly at her as Marlene ran to Denzel’s side to see if she could do anything.

“Well, I’m going to say hi to Cloud. You can come if you want to hear what happened after Nibelheim, Tifa,” I walked out knowing that Tifa would follow and went down stairs to find Cloud and Vincent sitting there. “Yo, Cloud! Hello, Mister Vincent,” I nodded to each of them being more polite with Vincent sense I just met him.

Cloud stood up, “Kyra, I thought you were dead…” His voice was dull and held a hint of sorrow.

I scratched the back of my head, “Yeah well, I’m here now.”

Tifa took out four glasses, “Well, I think it’s time for us to tell us what happened, Kyra. Want the usual Cloud, Vincent?” She glanced towards them as they nodded and poured them some drinks, “What do you want, Kyra?”

“I’ll just have some water, I’m not one to drink,” I stated and she poured some water and poured some vodka in her glass as I watched Vincent. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him yet.

“Don’t mind Vincent,” Tifa said as she passed out the drinks, she probably noticed me eyeing him. “He’s one of our friends.” She sat down at a table and beckoned me to do the same, “I think it’s time for you to tell us what happened to you after Sephiroth destroyed our town.”