Final Fantasy VII : The Final Pledge

Chapter 6

Kyra was different from the other girls I had known in my life. Not only that I was so comfortable around her, but also I had a feeling of knowing her my entire life. It sounded crazy and I thought it was probably because of her personality. I was quite sure that I have never seen her before. Yet her presence was soothing my thoughts. I was glad to have her beside me, which was a new feeling for me.

Our next destination, we decided, to be the Temple of the Ancients. "There might be still something for him to hang on there," she suggested, "though hopefully there are no powerful materia left there." That would have been a disaster. If there was any strong materia left, with his current power, this time he would make sure to destroy the planet.

Our way to the Temple was long as we had to go to the south East from almost the centre of the map. I rode as fast as possible, yet at nights we had to rest in the nearest city. It was not a one day trip but we were trying to finish it in a few days. It was one of those rare times that I wished we had one of Shinra's helicopters or Cid's planes. 

On the way though, something caused our delay. Something we both needed to find out more about. When we were passing from Junon, we saw the Shinra forces wandering around in the city. I knew Barret was monitoring them in Costa del Sol, where Rufus had claimed he had found a new energy source. There was no news of them being in Junon. Yet, to make sure, I dropped a text to Barret. "I haven't heard anything from Junon, I'll see what I can get," was his response.

"He might know about Sephiroth," Kyra suggested, "last time, too, he was the first to know." she was right. But how could he know, unless he had met with Sephiroth's remnants again. But if there were any of them, they would come after me as well. I was carrying Jenova cells, they would come after me. Or maybe I was wrong. "You think he has clones again?" I asked for her opinion. "Definitely," she answered, "he needs slaves of himself to gather cells for him, while he is trapped in the lifestream." That made sense. But we hadn't seen any. So, I concluded, the murderer of those people was not Sephiroth, but his clones.

That evening, I received two texts. One from Barret who wrote, "Tseng is not here, you might want to look for him in Junon," and the other one from Tifa, "one of those nine people you sent me, is dead." Sephiroth managed to find one of them, or the victim had returned to their home. We were running out of time. "We should find out why they are here as soon as possible," I told Kyra. She agreed.

Finding Tseng was actually easier than I expected. Technically, he found me. He sent some of the forces to the inn we were staying at to escort us to where he was staying, one of the mansions who belonged to Rufus.

"Cloud, it is good to see you," he greeted me warmly, I doubt it was real.

"Why are Shinra forces here?" I asked him. His face was as calm as always with a smile on his face and his tone flat. I could never say what he was thinking. "You should know," he said and to my bitter expression, he continued, "we found a man with silver hair and mado eyes a few weeks ago in Junon. A few days later, someone died and a part of his body was taken." he looked at Kyra in the eye. "Who is your companion," he asked. "What are you looking for now," I ditched the answer. "That man, obviously."

"Why?"

"Boss thinks he might be one of Sephiroth's remnants." there was silence in the room. Tseng didn't ask about Kyra again and Kyra was completely quiet. "We tried to contact you," he broke the silence, "so it is good that you are here."

"What do you want?"

"Find the remnant," he answered and his lips opened to a grin, "I guess you are already on it." I hated to admit that for once we are on one team, but I thought they might have good information. They already knew something we didn't know.

I realised that Tseng is again looking at Kyra this time with an interesting face. "You are not a human," he stated to her. Kyra held my arm and whispered, "We should go." When we left Tseng, she waved her hand at him and his face changed, for a moment, as if he just had been awakened from his sleep by a bucket of water. I was thinking about what he said to Kyra.