Darkness faded into grey, then slowly into light.� The patterns of flickering flame passed before Thorn�s eyelids as they fluttered open.� He moaned and stirred slowly.� His nose caught the acrid whiff of smoke and he awoke with a start, scrambling to his feet.
He took in the scene around him with alarm.� Mr. Strife was nowhere to be found.� Fire raged in every direction--the barn, the house, the grain silos--everything was ablaze.� Duty spurring him to action, he stumbled toward the barn, hunting for any sign of life among the chocobos who had been trapped inside.� He heard several alarmed warks from within, and pushed his way through the smoke.
The bodies of most of the chocobos littered the corrals.� Poor little bastards.� Thorn�s heart went out to them.� The warks sounded again, and he headed for the pen on his right, where several black-feathered chocobos ran around frantically.� Thorn heaved with all his might and yanked the gate open.� The chocobos bolted, nearly knocking Thorn over in the process.� He grabbed for one of them, and managed to slow it down long enough to climb on its back.� Running a hand along its ruffled feathers to calm it, he spurred it out of the flaming barn.
Once outside, Thorn looked around for the escaped chocobos.� They had already scattered into the countryside.� �At least they�re alive,� Thorn thought aloud.
A moan rose up from the ground several feet to his right.� He turned and spotted Mr. Strife�s friend--Vincent, Thorn seemed to remember--lying on his stomach.� His right shoulder blade was perforated by a gunshot wound, and he was bleeding fairly heavily.� Thorn dismounted and led the Chocobo over to where Vincent lay.
He ripped at his shirt until a large piece of it came off, then used the piece to fashion a makeshift bandage for the cloaked man.� Looking around, he could see no alternative but to try and get Vincent out with him.� There was no one around for miles in any direction.� He muttered a brief apology to Vincent, then picked him up with a grunt and lifted him onto the back of the Chocobo.� Vincent groaned, and the Chocobo warked with alarm at the sudden increase in weight.
�Sorry, girl,� Thorn sighed.� �It�s not going to get any better.�� With that, he hauled himself up in front of Vincent.� The Chocobo warked again, then began its trot to the southwest.� Thorn had heard once that in times of great stress, all animals naturally return to their homes.� He had never believed it, and had presumed human beings to be above such animalistic, instinctual behavior.� Yet here he was, on a Chocobo with a bleeding man in a cape, headed for Junon once again.
Tifa jerked up to a sitting position in bed.� She looked around, panting for breath.� The dream had been so real.� Cloud had been calling to her.� He was in trouble.� There was smoke and...
�Fire!�
Tifa heard the sound of alarm in her head and her ears simultaneously.� She bolted out of bed and ran for the front door, jerking it open to see a crowd of people looking out to the southeast of the city.
A glow filled the horizon.� It was the glow of a steady burning blaze off in the distance.� Tifa�s brow crinkled.� There were no settlements to create that large a blaze to the southeast of Kalm.� None except...
�Cloud!� she screamed, running back inside and yanking the door closed behind her.� She grabbed her PHS from the front table.
The thump that echoed from the hall awoke Yuffie with a start.� She sat up in bed and looked around, peering into the darkness for a sign of movement within her room.� Seeing no shadows in the immediate vicinity, she climbed out of bed and reached for the pouch that sat on her nightstand.� There was another thump, and she froze, trying to ascertain the source of the sound.� Her training told her that whoever the intruder was, he had just stumbled down the stairs from the second floor.� She crept out into the hallway, a shuriken in her right hand, and made her way down the stairs toward the source of the disturbance.
As she rounded the corner, an arm lashed out from beside the door.� She hit the ground hard, not moving for several seconds.� When she came to, the intruder was already on his way up the stairs toward her room.� She got to her feet, and a wave of nausea overtook her.� The punch she had taken had been a strong one, and the attacker had known just the right spot to induce the wooziness and unsettled feelings from which she now suffered.� As she stumbled up the stairs, she cursed herself.� She�d thought the intruder to be a clumsy oaf, after her father�s valuables.� It was only when the attacker turned the tables that she realized what kind of a burglar she was tracking.� This was no simpleton.� He had drawn her downstairs to lure her away from something valuable that was in her own room.
As she rounded the corner and entered her room, her suspicions were confirmed by several things.� The first was the chest that she kept under her bed, emptied of all its materia.� The second was the open window through which the intruder had departed her domicile.� She ran to the window and looked out at the shadow as it climbed the outer wall of the city, several blocks away, then disappeared.
She spun around, eyes burning with fury, and then flopped onto her bed with a sigh.� At length, she chuckled.
�Fuck,� she muttered, still chuckling at the situation.� She was startled from her reverie by a knock at the door.� �Lady Kisaragi?� came the timid voice.
She sighed in frustration.� Of all the times to be pestered�� �Yes, Shake?�
Shake stepped into the room cautiously.� His face was awash with concern and fear.� �Are you all right?� I thought I heard...�
�I�m fine, Shake,� she returned quickly.� He nodded a short bow, and then hesitated.
�Is there something else?� she asked when the servant failed to depart.
�There is a visitor awaiting you, Lady Kisaragi.�
Yuffie leapt up.� One of her friends?� She hadn�t heard from her friends in ages.� Shake�s somber visage didn�t encourage her.� She ran past him and down the hall to the main audience chamber.
Cid was waiting for her.� She was surprised to see him, of all people, coming all the way to Wutai to see her.� His face was stony, and his eyes grim.
�Cid?� What�s going on?�
Cid nodded toward the woods beyond the city.� �The Highwind�s waiting.� I picked up Barret on the way.� He�s on board.� We thought you might want to come with us.�
�Where?� Yuffie asked.
�To Kalm.�� Cid sighed.� �Cloud�s ranch was burned to the ground tonight.� Cloud is missing.�
�Oh my gawd!� Yuffie gasped.� Her breath caught in her throat.
Cid nodded.� �Yeah.� Everyone�s in Kalm, or headed there--except for Tifa and Nanaki, who are headed out to the ranch to search for clues.�
Yuffie backed toward the door.� �Let me get my stuff.� I�ll be right back.�� She ran upstairs, gathered up some clothes and weapons--it didn�t take her as long without her materia, she noted with a huff--then returned to the audience chamber.� �Let�s go!�
She and Cid headed out of the palace and toward the city gates.
The dark-suited figure ripped off his mask and looked around.� The rustling of bushes led him in the direction of his colleague, who was waiting in the underbrush.
�Did you get what he asked for?� Reno whispered.
Rude nodded.� �Had to deck that snot-nosed little princess to get it.�
Reno snorted.� �Bet that damn near broke your heart, didn�t it?�
Rude chuckled, his stony expression unchanged.� �I won�t lose sleep about it.�
�The only thing I don�t understand is what he wants the damn thing for anyway,� Reno sighed, shaking his head.
Rude shrugged.� �Beats the hell out of me.� What do you want to do with the rest of the materia?�
Reno blinked.� �The rest?� You swiped it all?�
�What?� Rude shot back.� �You preferred that I pick through the chest and take my own sweet time?�
Reno shrugged again.� �Screw it.� We�ll sell them.� Materia always fetches a pretty penny on the black market.�
Rude closed the sack and hefted it over his shoulder, and the two of them trudged southward.
Tifa scanned the area surrounding the farm with a grim face.� The smoke was beginning to dissipate with the morning light, but there was no sign of any kind of life.� Even the chocobos were gone.
Probably either dead or escaped to the countryside, Tifa thought as she spurred her own mount closer to Cloud�s ranch house.� Her heart sank as she grew closer.� It was worse than she had expected.
What remained of the former domicile of her closest friend were a few charred beams and one lone wall segment.� The window that was set into what was left of Cloud�s rear wall was shattered, jagged edges left behind like the maw of some hungry dragon.
��But no Cloud,� Nanaki spoke from beside Tifa, reading her thoughts.
Tifa nodded slowly, tears filling her eyes.� �I suppose that�s a good sign,� she replied, her hoarse voice barely a whisper.
Nanaki plodded over to the entrance to the burned-out farmhouse, sniffing the ground.� Tifa had asked Nanaki to join her on the search the second he had arrived in Kalm with Cid.� Her reasoning was twofold.� First, Nanaki had the keenest sense of smell of any creature she had met, something that would come in handy in her search for Cloud.
Second, he was rational, calm, and could help keep Tifa from falling apart during the search.
A low growl of surprise from Nanaki turned Tifa�s attention away from the ashes of Cloud�s home.� She dismounted and hurried over to where Nanaki was sniffing the ground.
�There were several people here, and a struggle,� he noted, indicating with a nod of his head the footprints scattered in many different directions.� �Several different groups of people�two pairs of farmer�s boots, several military issue, and another.�� Nanaki sniffed again.� �Cloud wasn�t alone last night.� He had a guest staying with him.� Vincent was here.�
�Vincent?� Tifa echoed in surprise.� �What was Vincent doing here?�
�Your guess is as good as mine, Tifa,� Nanaki returned.� He scanned the ground again.� More footprints�Chocobo.� Two of them went in this direction,� he observed, noting the footprints.� �One of them was carrying a heavy load�more than one person.�
�Cloud,� Tifa deduced.� �But that�s back toward Kalm.�
�Or Midgar,� Nanaki pointed out.
�But Midgar�s been abandoned since the Lifestream erupted,� Tifa replied.
Nanaki shook his head.� �We cannot rule out the unlikely, Tifa.� Only the impossible.� If someone wanted to hide their existence, where is the last place anyone would look for them?�
�Midgar,� Tifa agreed.
Nanaki returned to his search.� �There was another Chocobo that left in that direction,� Nanaki indicated, pointing with a paw toward the southwest.
�Toward the mines?� Tifa asked.
Nanaki shook his head.� �Unlikely,� he advised her.� �There�s a feather here.� It�s green.�
Tifa nodded, understanding.� �A mountain Chocobo.� Whoever took this one was headed over the top of the mines.�
�Which means they weren�t seeking to hide in the mines, but somewhere beyond them,� Nanaki concluded.
�But where?� Tifa asked, frustrated.� �Fort Condor?� Junon, perhaps?�
�Or the Western Continent, if they chartered a ship out of Junon.� They could be halfway to Costa Del Sol by now.�� Nanaki shrugged his massive haunches in a very human show of puzzlement.
Tifa sighed.� The thread was unraveling.
�Tifa?� Nanaki added.
Tifa looked back at Nanaki.
�There is one other thing.� This Chocobo also had two riders, which means that either one of the two directions could lead us to Cloud, or Vincent, or this mysterious third person�the one with the farmer�s boots.�
Tifa shook her head, looking back at the destroyed house.� �One thing�s for sure, Nanaki,� she said finally.� �We�d better track them all down, and soon.� I have a feeling that whoever has Cloud doesn�t plan to make his stay pleasant.�
Nanaki growled in agreement as the Highwind roared through the distant western sky toward them.