[fic] Space Troopers 12/?

[jameva]

Title: Space Troopers 12/?
Rating: PG. Even Cid is behaving. Mostly.
Pairings: Cid/Vincent, more or less explicit Cloud/Aerith and any combination Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth. And maybe Aerith. -eeeeeeeeee OT4-
Warnings: AU, some violence, yaoi, maybe smut. AU.
Summary: Space mechanic Cid Highwind was having a wonderfully crappy day when he happened to stumble upon an old Shinra-issued cryogenic pod. His kind heart forbade him not to wake up the poor bastard. His cursing brain knew he was getting into a heap of trouble.

The night air at the feet of the mountains was bitingly cold. Cloud shifted his stance, keeping his back to the fire and his eyes on the path leading down to the swamp.

The other group was late. Cait Sith had radioed in earlier that evening to update him on their status and their likely progress, yet still he found it was taking them too long. Of all possible scenarios to justify this delay, Cloud saw another zolom in every one of them. He had never fought the creatures, however the slithering mass of scales and predatory intent that had tailed them for most of the rapid ride had been enough.

His thoughts were spiraling downward; Cloud forcefully turned his attention to the night, focusing on the sounds coming from outside and not on the hushed conversation the others were uttering around the small fire they had managed to build. Cait Sith would surely have contacted him again if something had happened. There was no point adding to their existing concern.

Surprisingly, the night was promising to be louder than the day. All sorts of animal and monster cries reached them up from the water. The mines were eerily quiet in comparison, yet he had no doubt that they would be just as challenging once they made their way deeper inside. The warren of tunnels built by humans would quickly have become prime monster territory.

Cloud did not want to leave the others here but he was beginning to be restless. He fingered the phone held too tightly in his hand, the volume at maximum despite how the sound would carry across the night air. Cait would call. Unless something had gotten to him too quickly, he would call.

He just managed to uncurl his fingers before he cracked something. Slowly, he raised his hand and flipped the lid open. The ringtone would be loud in this environment, pinpointing the others' exact location to anything listening. Cloud's finger hovered over the dial button.

He heard the sounds while he was still debating with himself: low voices and the soft clicking of talons over rock. Straightening, he turned his head slightly towards the interior of the cave.

"Tifa. Barret."

Immediately the others became quiet. Tifa and Barret came to step beside him.

"D'ya hear somethin'?" Barret rumbled as quietly as he could, which wasn't all that much.

"People and at least one chocobo," he answered. He still couldn't hear anything more definitive.

"It must be them!" Tifa craned her head but did not call out. Although chances were high that it was indeed their friends, it was no guarantee. Other, not-so-reputable people chose this route to cross the mountains.

A few tense moments passed as they waited. Aerith came to join them, leaving their backs unguarded. No one argued the point.

"Oy, guys, it's us!" Cid's yell echoed loudly along the rock walls. "Don't shoot!"

"As if I'd waste bullets on ya!" Barret called right back, voice no longer restrained. Despite his gruff tone he was grinning and Cloud found himself smiling along as their missing companions appeared around the bend in the track.

They were muddy. There wasn't much else they could see of potential injuries, they were so covered in mud. As he had suspected, they only had one bird left. Vincent was leading it as the chocobo trudged along, head hung low, steps dragging. Except for Cid hiding a slight limp, they didn't seem in dire condition.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked as she walked a few steps down to join them.

Cid huffed at her. "What do you think? We got caught by a zolom. Killed it. Is that a fire you have going up there? I'm freezing my balls off."

Reassurances were exchanged as the girls herded their weary companions to the fire. Cloud waited last to make sure nothing was following before joining them.

"Rest. We'll cross the mountain tomorrow," he said. Despite no one holding the reins any longer, the chocobo was standing close, perhaps sensing that they were still better protection. Cloud began quietly removing its tack.

"And then to that hidden port." Cid swore as Aerith began working on his leg despite all his protestations. "If it's even there."

"It's still our best chance at getting a ship without Shinra noticing," Tifa interjected, helping RedXIII with the worst of the mud caked in his fur.

"Smugglers aren't a trusty lot. They might not want to deal with us."

"Then we'll just have to convince them," Aerith declared too cheerfully.

"With what? We ain't got enough gil between the lot of us."

Cid in a particularly foul mood did not let go easily. Saddlebags removed, Cloud began untying the girth and straps, finding himself amused by Cid's grouchiness despite everything. He placed the saddle on the ground and slid the bridle off the tired chocobo's head. It stayed put as he tried brushing skewed feathers back straight.

"Gil is not the only currency smugglers will be interested in," Vincent said quietly. He was steadfastly cleaning his gun and did not look up as he methodically took it apart.

"Like what?"

"Their continued anonymity and security."

Silence met this loaded statement. Cid goggled at Vincent.

"You can't be fucking serious. Us, storm a whole bloody smuggling port?"

"We did manage the Shinra mothership."

Cid barked a laugh and the mood suddenly lightened. Cloud was surprised. He had not previously realized, but Vincent was becoming more adept at managing Cid's temper.

They set up a watch after this and settled down for the night. Cloud did not wake Cid up for the watch he had browbeat them into assigning him. The chocobo had gone by the time the sun rose and they began their descent into the tunnels.

 

 

 

The Mythril Caves were an interesting warren. Vincent had never previously visited them and he found himself enjoying their sharp-angled, softly glistening walls. The air was crisp and fresh but surprisingly warm, with a hint of naturally-occurring raw mako. It made the beasts in him antsy.

Even despite the resident monsters, that is.

Vincent lowered his shotgun as RedXIII barreled into the remaining crawler, teeth and claws shredding through the exoskeleton with a hair-raising shriek. He did not holster it yet. So far the caves had disgorged their inhabitants at them suddenly and from any direction.

"Vermin," Cid muttered behind him, raising the tip of his lance to lean it safely in the crook of his shoulder.

"Would you rather deal with the kind outside?" Vincent retorted, stretching his leg to step over the carcasses of the crawler pack. RedXIII looked back quickly to make sure they were all accounted for before trotting down the tunnel, occasionally sniffing the ground.

Cid turned a baleful eye on Vincent over his shoulder. Perhaps it would be wiser not to joke about the zoloms. Safe in the confines of his coat, Vincent nonetheless allowed himself an amused smile.

"Says the guy who got eaten," Cid muttered before returning his attention to the front.

Vincent huffed quietly at the jab, entertained, but did not rise to the bait.

Cloud had refused to split up this time. The tunnels were a labyrinthine jumble and even with phones it might take too much time to rejoin positions at the exit, especially if they lost the signal. However Vincent sensed that guilt was playing just as strong a role in this new plan of action. Cloud’s broadsword poked high in their line of sight, leading the way as RedXIII followed, his tail casting warm dancing lights against the coldness of the mythril-laced walls. The rest followed single file, leaving enough space between each other to swing weapons and react to threats.

So far the monsters had not posed too much of a problem for the larger group. The crawlers liked to swarm them in packs and occasionally cover them in sticky residue but they had yet to encounter anything more worrying.

Following old mining paths and rotten landmarks and indications, the group moved forward in near-silence, their voices hushed to a whisper. There was a constant echo of dripping water far in the distance that they never seemed to get nearer to. With half of their provisions and equipment gone with Vincent and Cid’s bolted and most likely devoured chocobos, it was not a heartening sound.

The tunnel they were trudging in eventually widened to a large upward turn, big enough to hold the party in a loose, comfortable circle. Although its size was somewhat surprising, what caught Vincent’s attention were the walls. They had been heavily mined, but with care rather than industrial machinery. They were still pockmarked with chisel and hammer scars and sharp, square protrusions poked out here and there. The mythril was obviously all gone, but still that wasn’t the interesting part. Revealed by this mining were now-empty channels, thin and cursive, that ran in all directions across the surface of the tunnel walls.

As Vincent stepped nearer, one of the monsters stirred in sleepy hunger. He felt it like a sudden compression of his lungs and heart, like oxygen deprivation. He had never felt that one quite like this before. Distant stirrings, faint grumbling, but never this clearly. He wondered which one it was. Only Galian had so far been able to rise so close to the surface.

Curious, he studied them more closely. There was a sort of dim, just visible glow inside the channels and immediately he understood what this was, or had been. Mako rivulets, now dried. Although Shinra was now busily harvesting star-produced raw mako, not so long ago they had tested their refining processes on the less volatile if less generous environments of moons and planets. Maybe this stream had been sucked dry. Maybe it had carved itself new paths deeper in the mountains.

Quelling the distracting beast, Vincent straightened away. The others had noticed too, judging by their different states of observation. Only Aerith was standing back. Although her stance was patient, there was also sadness that could not be hidden in the tilt of her mouth and eyes.

“Do you think there’s a mako stream nearby? I’ve never seen one,” Tifa wondered, tracing a finger gently along the curve of the rock. She jerked slightly at the tingle it must have undoubtedly elicited.

“Maybe it’s even got materia,” Barret wondered, twisting his head sideways to get a better look.

“I wonder what it would be like, to find one raw in the wild instead of a shop.” Tifa moved away from the tunnel wall, still rubbing her finger absentmindedly.

“There’s no difference,” Cloud replied blandly. “Come on.”

It was a slightly more cheerful group that moved down the tunnel and deeper into the mines. Vincent kept his eyes on Aerith, who lingered until her and Vincent were the last ones. She just looked askance at him, indecipherable, before stretching her legs to catch up to the others.

Vincent wondered idly if he was the only one picking up on these strange moments, then filed it away for later consideration and followed.

Technology told them they walked for a few hours, but they would not know it from the tunnels. They remained in the same semi-darkness, the same dry warmth no matter how they walked. When they stepped out of the tunnels and into a large cavern divided by a deep chasm, they decided to call it a day. A wide and solid ledge curved around half of their side, a thick set of rock-hewn stairs joining one narrow end of the chasm with the other, and they elected to make camp on it.

They had purchased a small, somewhat derelict but functional gas-fueled portable stove doubling as a heater from the farm. Thankfully, it had survived the crossing on Tifa’s bird so they set it up near the wall and proceeded to heat water for their ration meals as they removed their gear and cleaned it up.

The Turks had never really been called on missions that demanded this level of camping (unless they went wrong), so Vincent was content to sit back and concentrate on his rifle and ammunition. He still had a comfortable level of rounds, but he would be happy to reach civilization and restock.

The re-hydrated ration meals were about as satisfying as they could get, which wasn’t very much, so they quickly moved on to conversation. At first it was adventure stories, funny events and habitual small talk. It quickly devolved into speculative planning, with Cloud at the center of it. It wasn’t surprising.

“Can y’a tell where he’s now?” Barret asked, somewhat non-sequitur from the previous topic of battle strategies.

Cloud blinked, startled and visibly uncomfortable by the abrupt question.

Tifa elbowed the bigger man in the ribs with an admonishing 'Barret!'

"What? S'a fair question!" he spluttered.

"It is," Cloud agreed quietly. Tifa seemed to want to argue further, but a look passed between them and she kept her peace . Inhaling slowly, Cloud's eyes lost some of their focus. "I don't think he's close," he began, uncertain. "Actually, it feels as if he's off-planet."

Silence stretched as they waited for more. None came.

"That's it?" Barret had obviously expected more. "Off-planet is pretty damn big!"

Cloud just shrugged.

"It's a start," RedXIII rumbled. "Perhaps once we fly out he will be able to pinpoint a more precise location."

The object of conversation didn't seem too bothered that he was being discussed as no more than a faulty radar. Vincent watched his eyes shutter guardedly and his attention fix on empty space.

"Rumors can be even harder to trace," he felt compelled to add. "This is enough."

They still did not know he had been a Turk. His comments raised their curiosity, but perhaps out of a sudden sense of guilt for their words with Cloud, they did not voice their questions. Instead, Aerith interjected with an inquiry that abruptly changed the subject to lighter, inconsequential topics. It was kept as such, sometimes awkwardly, until they began drifting off to sleep.

Tifa came to sit briefly beside him when they were almost the last ones still wake. She didn't look at him as she inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly. Controlled. "Thank you."

Vincent remained silent.

"For deflecting," she elaborated. "You and Aerith. It's--it hasn't been easy on Cloud. Perhaps it's even harder now he knows he hasn't killed him."

Vincent opened his gloved hand, feeling the pressure of leather and metal against his knuckles. "Nor is it easier for you."

Tifa's head moved in surprise. "In a way, maybe not. Sephiroth, he was an -- he was an important mentor to Cloud. What happened, what he's doing now...he's still trying to look up to him, I think."

The brief catch before 'mentor' was slight, but Vincent heard layers of meaning underneath it and he understood that their relationship had been more complicated. How so, he ignored still but was now curious about.

"Perhaps it will be an easier thing to do than expected."

Tifa looked at him curiously. "How? What do you know about Sephiroth? You said you had business with him."

Slowly, Vincent stretched his legs and stood. "I know little, except that he was a formidable man and undoubtedly still is. Good night."

He left Tifa to her musings; unwilling to sleep, he quietly joined Cid for the first watch and counted time by watching his cigarette butts glow down to the filters.

 

 

 

Her back to the small heater, Aerith studied the shadows around her. She could see very little, the only light coming from RedXIII's tail and the dim glow of the mythril walls where a few veins rose to the surface. Still, it was better than no watch at all. Aerith walked slowly along the edge of the crevice, staff held to her side in a loose fist.

Things had changed rather unexpectedly since the Highwind had crashed on her planet and in her life. First with Cloud, then Sephiroth, miracles seemed to be lining up for their turn. Every day now she caught herself wishing that Zack was somewhere along that line, that he would also reappear out of thin air and dreams of better days, a sheepish grin across his lips and apologies in his eyes. If only she could ask Cloud, but she dared not in his current state.

Stopping near the precipice, the toes of her boots scuffing scree over the edge, Aerith strained her ear against the darkness. The caves were not as silent as one might expect, far from it. They echoed will all sorts of sounds; far-off monster cries, dripping water, falling and tumbling rocks. But what she was trying to catch was far more elusive.

Vincent wasn't the only one holding back secrets about Shinra.

She wasn't surprised when the faintest echo of footsteps reached her, so quiet that if she hadn't been listening for it she would have missed it. She knew very well that they were intentional, a simple courtesy to avoid surprising her and alerting the others.

Slowly, she made her way along the edge to the farthest end of the ledge, where there was another outcropping that was only a bit too far a jump to clear safely. A human silhouette slowly took form as he stepped nearer to her. She still couldn't make out full details, but she didn't need to.

"Tseng," she whispered quietly. There was a nod of acknowledgment. "Are you alone?"

"For now." She caught the shadowed curve of a smile. "I'm glad to see you made it out safely. I lost your trail until you reached Kalm."

Aerith eyed what little she could see of Tseng carefully. He was never less than perfectly polite with her but she still could never understand the true motives behind his actions. That was why he was the leader of the Turks, she imagined.

"Why did you free me?" she asked bluntly.

"After all the trouble I had chasing you, letting you die like a rat in a cage would have been pointless. I'd much rather resume the chase."

"Won't Shinra find out you did that?"

Tseng inclined his head to the side. "No."

She believed him.

"The explosions must have been terrible." And most likely helped in covering his actions.

Stepping still closer, Tseng sat down cross-legged, back straight and formal, even now. Aerith did not imitate him.

"It could have been worse. Sephiroth is not expert in everything."

"I'm still sorry it happened."

From the movement of his shoulders Aerith guessed that Tseng laughed, but it was too quiet to hear.

"Oh, I'm used to you knocking together the skulls of my men." Although obvious, Aerith allowed the dodge.

"Why did you come?" She was equally torn between misgiving and a strange feeling of familiar comfort.

"Just a small warning. You may want to find a reason to rouse your comrades." Tseng must have seen the way she clenched her staff, the aborted lift. He raised one hand calmly, palm outward. "I am not a threat to you at this moment."

"Later, then? When others are with you?" Aerith couldn't quite keep her tone as mild as she would have liked.

"Perhaps."

This time it was her turn to shake her head. She knew better than to try getting such straight answers out of him. "I guess I should thank you for the warning."

Tseng rose from his sitting position, as silent as if he wasn't there at all. "Do not thank me yet. Just be careful. Things will be getting interesting."

Those words from that man had prickles rise along the back of her neck. "What's going on?"

Unsurprisingly, she did not get an answer.

"Remain alert." Tseng bowed slightly, just a tip of his head and shoulders. "Good night."

Aerith did not reply and he did not wait for one. Melting back into the darkness, he effectively disappeared as if he had been nothing more than a strange dream. He could still be there, watching, for all she knew.

Although they had been very quiet, Aerith was nonetheless surprised to see that none of her companions had been startled awake by their short conversation. She gave it some time, walking the length of the drop to give herself a chance to collect her thoughts, before she hit the ground with the butt of her staff. A small avalanche of scree tumbled down into the darkness, echoing against the high walls and ceilings.

"Guys," she said, loudly and clearly.

Cloud, Vincent and RedXIII were on their feet almost immediately. It took the others a few extra grumbles before they rose but very quickly there was a line of drawn weapons facing in all directions.

"I think I heard something," she said, pointing in the same direction that Tseng had come from. Truth be told she hadn't heard anything yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

RedXIII etched forward carefully, hunched low and his noise twitching with every inhale. He could stretch far over the gap and his tail provided some light, piercing a little deeper in the caves.

They saw the lights first. Pale, cold glows reflecting off the mythril-etched walls, in this darkness they preceded their bearers by a good distance. Except that they did not only come from the one direction.

There were only two: Tseng and a woman Aerith had never met in her numerous scuffles with the Turks. That put Aerith immediately on guard. Where were Reno and Rude?

"You're all here!" the newcomer exclaimed, fairly bouncing on her feet. "How convenient."

"What do you want?" Cloud asked, his voice steely. His sword was held ready but loosely; the distance was too great to be of much use. The glow of materia in his bracer had intensified.

Which one do you want?, Aerith felt like correcting. They were an odd assortment, to say the least.

Tseng was standing in a different access than before, arms loose at his sides.

"Fortunately for you, nothing," he replied calmly.

"Then why are you here?"

"Just passing through."

Vincent silently raised his pistol. "Then pass."

Tseng tilted his head ever so slightly, but Aerith caught the minute searching frown, the slight narrowing of his eyes. It disappeared just as quickly.

"We will."

"You're lucky you're no longer a target!" the other Turk added triumphantly. "We've got bigger problems with Sephiroth killing his way to Junon!"

"Elena." Tseng's voice had gone from stolidly polite to cold steel in just one word. Elena clicked her teeth shut with a wince. "Go," he added with a small wave of his hand.

She melted back into the tunnels without another word. Tseng did not immediately follow.

"I apologize for my subordinate's manners." His tone was formal and Aerith thought he might actually mean it. Then again, with Reno on his team, he must be used to apologizing like this.

"What's Sephiroth want with Junon?" Cid blurted, ignoring Tseng's politeness and keeping to the important topic at hand.

"Nothing that you need to worry about, I'm sure," Tseng answered smoothly.

"Sorry if I don't believe that bullshit," Cid retorted, sneer clear despite the gloom.

Tseng inclined his head in a half nod. "No offense taken. But a word of advice: do not believe that this means the end of the chase for you. It will only give you a short respite."

"Threats from a Turk. Great!"

This elicited a small laugh from said Turk. "Nothing so dramatic." He sketched a short bow, then turned specifically to Aerith and inclined his head more deeply. "I wish the circumstances had been better, but it was still a pleasure meeting you again."

Bastard. Aerith ground her teeth. That had been deliberate.

"What the hell does that mean?" Cid sniped. But there was no one to hear. Tseng had disappeared much like Elena.

None of them dropped their guard. Aerith could feel the weight of their eyes on her but she refused to acknowledge them now.

"Just what we needed!" Cid snapped. "The goddamn Turks on our tails!"

"I don't think he was lying," Aerith countered, her anger seeping through her tone. Tseng was too good with words to bother lying.

"No offense, but that doesn't mean much." Cid crossed his arms. "We gotta move."

Cloud nodded. "We haven't had much rest, but it'd be better to push on."

The encounter had been very brief. Aerith ran through it in her mind, Tseng's parting shot replaying constantly. He wanted her companions to know about her. Why? And was he trying to give them some sort of warning? She had trouble believing it was just a chance encounter. The Turks had much more efficient ways of reaching Junon than crossing the mines on foot.

Unless Sephiroth had been here.

Aerith lengthened her stride until she reached Cloud's side.

"Do you think he's been here?" Aerith asked in a low voice.

Cloud looked askance at her; she held his stare. Finally he shrugged. "I can't say." He hesitated. "But Junon doesn't feel right."

"What if Tseng is right?"

Cloud's look iced over with suspicion and she realized that she shouldn't have used his first name so easily. Seeing such an expression directed at her, from Cloud, punched daggers in her gut. Still she held her ground, prepared to be questioned. Against all odds, he let the matter drop and returned his attention forward. For now. "We'll know soon enough. If he is in Junon, they won't be able to keep it secret."

Hiding her relief at being temporarily off the hook, Aerith looked at his profile, the lines hard and trying to be stoic but failing in a way that had her heart racing. She cast around to the others' locations, but although Tifa had noticed the hushed exchange, she was maintaining a respectful distance.

"What will you do when you find him?"

"I don't know."

His tone implied an end to this particular line of inquiry, so Aerith let it go. What about Zack? she so badly wanted to ask, but did not.

---

This fic is going to be a bajillion chapters at this pace. -__-

Comments

[askerian]

prrprrprrrprrPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRprrrrr

i liked the bits with aerith. stop being so mysterious and hiding things from your allies and not communicating ahhh XD;;;

[jameva]

*fufufufu* Secrets! Gotta love 'em. >D Thanks for reading!