The Nightingale Three

Chapter Five.

I made my way up to the cliff overlooking Midgar, finding a lone and shaggy wolf standing by the flowers and he looked up as I came closer. He growled for a split second, watching me closely as I held my hand out for him. He came closer, wary of me before he smelt of it finding some familiar scent and looked into my eyes. I saw a soul within them and looked back at the flowers, only to look back and he was gone. He must be Zack’s spirit looking out for Cloud, it’s good to know that there were so many people to help out with this. My confidence seemed to have fizzled when I gained those memories back.

Making my way over to the edge of the cliff, looking out upon the horizon as the sun was setting. Sure it wasn’t smart to do this with a raging lunatic out there, but I needed to get away. Everyone’s emotions were getting too much to bear, making me feel like there was nothing I could do. Vincent was the one person whose emotions and aura were vacant to me and that bugged me as well.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone.” A voice said from behind me and I got up to quickly, losing my balance in the process and I felt my body falling backwards. This was how I was going to die? Suddenly, gravity seemed to stop as a gloved black hand grabbed my hand, keeping me suspended in midair. I looked up into the dark red eyes of Vincent Valentine, who wasted no time pulling me back up onto the cliff.

“Thank you Vince...nt.” I said, looking away as I felt his gaze burning a hole through me.

“You’re welcome Jezzy.” he said, causing me to look up at him in complete and utter shock. “I remembered who you were as soon as you walked down the stairs, I never forgot.” He let go of my hand as he looked out at Midgar.

“How are you...you look so different, but you should be...what did Professor Hojo do to you?” I whispered, coming away from the edge as I sat cross legged on the cool ground.

“That is quite a long story…” he said simply, looking down at me. “It involves a love struck fool, a beautiful woman and a deranged scientist.”

“It’s not like we don’t have time.” I point out, causing him to shake his head. “You really have changed since we were kids...that is to be expected.”

“If only it were that easy to say.” he sighed, holding his hand out to help me up and I took it willingly. “The Chaos gene is within this body in order to save me after I was shot by Professor Hojo. His wife, Lucrecia Crescent did that for me… I fell for her long before she was his wife or Sephiroth’s mother.” He said, causing my mouth to drop open. “He experimented on Sephiroth’s while he was in her womb and she never noticed until it was too late. Of course, I was just a young man while I was a Turk sent to look over her.”

“So...you’re the same age, if not older than me?” I asked quietly and he nodded, motioning for me to follow him as we began to walk. “It is strange how the Lifestream seems to work...everyone is together when they are younger, torn apart in the years they need people most and then brought back together at odd intervals.” He looked over at me, raising an eyebrow and I shook my head. “I’m just thinking out loud...this feeling thing, I don’t have a grip on it and I don’t know if I can go back just yet.”

“If it is any consolation, I normally would not talk this much…” he said quietly as we walked to an illuminated forest. “This is the Forgotten City.”

“It is very beautiful...why did you bring me here?” I asked, as I followed behind him.

“You seem as though you would rather be thinking rather than talking.” he shrugged, before going to the edge of a pond and closing his eyes. I followed his action and just listened to the world around me, letting my thoughts take flight once again.

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I opened my eyes to the woods being completely silent and Vincent was staring off into the distance. Standing up, I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder as he looked up at me. He still seemed so distant even with him looking at me, it was almost as though he was staring right through me.

“We...we should get going back.” I stated, taking his hand in mine as we both took off for 7th Heaven once more. We got there and the whole place was in ruins, Vincent picked up his phone as it started ringing and he answered it.

“Cloud… yes we are safe, how about you and everyone else?” He asked, looking at me as Cloud answered. “Good, I’m glad...we will be there as soon as we can.” He said as he hung up his phone. “Come with me.”

“What happened?” I questioned and he shrugged, leading me to where Cloud kept his motorcycle and we took off on it after he got it started up. We arrived at a rather large and beautiful home some odd hours later, getting off once Vincent had awaken me from my slumber behind him. He walked up to the door and knocked, waiting as Rude opened up the door and brought us inside.

I saw everyone sitting in the living room and Reno was busy patching up wounds on Mylene’s wounds ever so gently. She seemed calm and serene next to his boisterous and outlandish personality...two sides of a coin.

“Wh-what happened?” I asked, seeing Lyna stand, wincing as I saw that her leg was injured and Reno kept Mylene from standing. “Please, do not push yourselves…” They looked at me strangely and I shook my head, I was not the same anymore and that frightened them. Mylene would make a great leader, but it frightened her to take control at times. Lyna was more of a follower, never liking the responsibility that came with leading a group.

“Turns out you’re little escapade didn’t go unnoticed, Professor Sephiroth sent his lackeys to send you a message before they shot up and burnt 7th Heaven.” Rufus’s voice said as he came into the room. His blonde hair went out in different directions and I could tell he was frazzled.

“What was the message?” I asked as Marlene brought me a slip of paper that read:

Chaos NightinGale XIII Strife

My body went numb as I realized exactly what this had meant. He had been watching us leave and he knew what we are. We would be added into his insane experiment… or would it just be one of us? I found myself reaching behind me for a seat and Vincent lead me over to one.

The paper had dropped out of my hand and I noticed something written on the back of it.

Thank you for the poison.
You’ll find yourself drowned in it.
P.S.H.