Bizarre Occurances Chapter 19

Reunion

By Dino Pollard

The Highwind landed near the area right before Sephiroth. A rope ladder was thrown down and one by one, Avalanche came out.

“Sephiroth!” Aeris exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for some way to bring Red back,” Sephiroth replied. “And reminiscing.”

“Any luck?” Cloud asked, some shred of hope in his voice. However, after the trip through time, he knew that it was pretty hopeless.

“No,” Sephiroth replied. “The device has been destroyed. I doubt if it will work at all.”

“Now what do we do?” Tifa asked. “Red is gone.”

“I... I honestly don’t know,” Cloud replied.

“You rejoice,” a voice said.

“Knolan?” Cloud asked.

“In the flesh,” Knolan replied. He was standing on what appeared to be a yellow cloud with his staff in one hand and a book in the other.

“I thought you went to your hut to find out about the Ultimate Summon,” Sephiroth said.

“I did,” Knolan replied. “In fact, Baakusa’s still there. While I was reading through some of my books, I came across a spell that would allow me to open an interdimensional vortex. Similar to the one Red fell in.”

“And you think that could work?” Cloud asked.

“Only one way to find out...” Knolan replied. He flipped to a page in his book and lifted his staff into the air. He began chanting words in a tongue none of Avalanche recognized.

Slowly, a vortex began to open before them, its gravitational pull strong enough to almost pull all of Avalanche in.

Knolan continued chanting, when the flow of the vortex reversed. Suddenly, the whole team felt themselves being pushed back by the vortex when they saw a blotch of red against the black.

“Look!” Aeris pointed out.

Slowly, the red came into a figure and landed on the ground.

Red XIII had returned.

“RED!!” Aeris exclaimed, hugging him.

“Aeris...?” Red asked. “I--I’m back... I can’t believe that I’m back.”

“Where were you?” Tifa asked.

“It is a long story,” Red began. “You all may want to sit down. The vortex reopened in the same place, but in a different reality with a different Avalanche. They all thought I was their world’s Nanaki as they called me. There were some members I didn’t recognize as well as a few surprises.”

“Like what?” Cloud asked.

“Well, for one Aeris and Striker were married,” Red continued. Aeris had a look of shock in her face. “Sephiroth was never born, I led Avalanche, and Cloud...” He stopped suddenly.

“What about me?” Cloud asked.

“Very well,” Red sighed. “Cloud was trying to destroy the planet with Meteor.”

“No...” Cloud said.

“After I learned all of this and after spending time in that god-forsaken dimension I came to the one conclusion which will shock all of you,” Red said. “Sephiroth is essential to the well-being of this Planet. Without him, the world is not a very pleasant place.”

The whole team turned to Sephiroth who remained unchanged.

“What did all of you do while I was gone?” Red asked, changing the subject.”

“We--it’s a long story...” Aeris said.

“Hells yeah...” Barret muttered.

“Well, now that that’s all settled,” Knolan began. “You wanna meet your father, Cloud?”

“My father...?” Cloud asked. “Where is he?”

“Gongaga,” Sephiroth said. “He told us he would be in Gongaga.”

“Oh YEEEEAH!!!” Yuffie exclaimed. “I remember that guy!! He was older than Cid over here.”

“HEY!!!” Cid exclaimed. “SHUT THE FUCK UP, YA DAMN TEENY-BOPPER!!”

“Hmph!” Yuffie said. “Maybe I should’ve bet that he couldn’t curse.”

*****

Gongaga was a relatively small town with only a few houses. Most of the town had been wiped out when the Mako Reactor blew up.

Knolan’s eyes began searching across the town for any sign of Jonah. Then he noticed an elderly man with long, gray hair from age and blue eyes.

“JONAH!!” Knolan shouted, waving his staff in the air.

“Knolan...?” Jonah asked. He ran over. “KNOLAN!! What are you doing here?!?”

“Lookin for you and helping out some new friend,” Knolan replied, motioning to Avalanche.

“We meet again, Avalanche,” Jonah said.

“Cloud,” Knolan said. Cloud slowly stepped forward. “Cloud Strife meet Jonah Strife.”

“Cloud...?” Jonah asked. “Is it really you?”

“D-Dad?” Cloud asked. “You--you’re alive.”

“I know,” Jonah replied.

“I thought you were dead,” Cloud said. “Mom said you died when I was really young.”

“No,” Jonah replied. “That was a lie. All the rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.”

“Why didn’t you try to contact me?” Cloud asked. “Where the hell have you been all this time? How could you leave Mom alone and with a child?”

“You don’t understand,” Jonah said. “What I did, I did to protect my family.”

“Bull,” Cloud said.

“Let me explain,” Jonah began. “It was about 30 years ago when I joined SOLDIER. I instantly rose to the ranks of First Class. The strongest next to Maestro, they said. Throughout my time with SOLDIER, I met your mother. I quit SOLDIER when I married your mother a year before you and your twin brother were born. However, our joy was cut short when I discovered that Hojo of Shin-Ra wanted my genetic offsprings. He wanted to study them and expose them to something called Jenova cells. So we went into hiding. I faked the death of our whole family. Because it would be too dangerous to keep you both in the same place, we both agreed to turn your brother over to your aunt Mary in Gongaga who was married to a man named Donald Trimmer with a son of her own. You stayed with your mother in Nibelheim. I went into hiding with the help of Knolan who concealed all evidence that we were even alive. Nine years ago, Knolan joined me in hiding out on the deserted island. However, it looks like all of our efforts were useless. Mary just informed me that your brother was kidnapped by the Shin-Ra soon after I left him there. So for the past 21 years, my son has been used as a guinea pig for Hojo’s experiments. And the only way I can receive any information as to his whereabouts is to get it from Hojo’s files.”

“Damn,” Cid said.

“Did you say Trimmer?” Aeris asked.

“Yes,” Jonah replied. “Why?”

“Zack!” Aeris exclaimed.

“Zack?” Cloud asked.

“Maybe Zack is your brother!” Aeris said.

“It would explain why they look so much alike,” Red noted.

“No,” Jonah replied. “Zack isn’t Cloud’s brother. Zack is Mary’s son, your cousin.”

“Zack was my cousin and I never even knew it?” Cloud asked. “This is really strange. There’s a lot I don’t understand. I mean, soon after coming out of my coma I find out my presumed-dead father is still alive, I have a long-lost brother, I get whisked away to the future, I discover Zack’s my cousin, I hear that in another reality I try to destroy the planet. What’s next? I discover that Yuffie is my love child?”

“HEY!!” Yuffie exclaimed. “I take offense to that!!”

“This is insanity!!” Cloud exclaimed. He ran off.

“Cloud wait!!” Tifa shouted.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Aeris said, beginning to follow him.

“No Aeris,” Tifa replied. “I know Cloud better than any of you, I’ve known him longer. I’ll go talk to him.”

Aeris nodded and Tifa went after Cloud.

“Knolan, why did you leave Shin-Ra?” Red asked.

“I left after I saw the death and destruction that the war golem Calibretto caused,” Knolan replied. “The war golem I created. It destroyed Wutai during the war.”

Yuffie grumbled.

“I never meant for Calibretto to cause senseless destruction,” Knolan said. “I wanted him to be used for good. But I now realize that that’s impossible as long as he’s in the hands of Shin-Ra.”

*****

Cloud looked out at the destroyed reactor. It was completely dismantled and all twisted around. Just like him.

“Cloud?” Tifa asked.

Cloud turned to see her walking towards him.

“What do you want, Tifa?”

“I want to know why you’re acting like this,” Tifa replied. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but still. He’s your father.”

“You don’t understand, Tifa,” Cloud said. “All this time, I’ve thought my father was dead. And to make matters worse, no one ever told me I had a brother or that he was alive. I thought my mom was my only family and now I hear that my father is alive, I have a long-lost brother, my cousin and I worked together without even knowing our relation, and I met my aunt and uncle and I didn’t know who they really were. All this stuff is hitting me at once.”

“I know,” Tifa said. “But still. At least now you have a father. You should be grateful for that.”

“You’re right,” Cloud replied.

“Give him a chance, Cloud,” Tifa said. “He’s willing to try.”

“Thanks Tifa,” Cloud replied. “You’re a good friend.” He ran back to the town.

“A good friend...” Tifa muttered before following.

*****

“Dad,” Cloud said. “I--I’m sorry. I want to know everything possible about my brother. I want to meet him. Starting with his name.”

“Of course,” Jonah replied. “His name is Rain. Rain Strife. As far as learning more about him, there’s only one way we can accomplish that.”

“Howzat?” Barret asked.

“Get into Hojo’s private files,” Jonah replied.

“And to do that we need to go to Shin-Ra Headquarters in Midgar,” Sephiroth said.

“But to do that...” Aeris began.

“...We need the keycard,” Red finished. “But that means...”

“We need to find Tsunami,” Cloud said.

*****

Shen Long followed this mysterious man called Frost through the corridors of Shin-Ra HQ. The rest of Tsunami was following close behind.

“I’m a little suspicious of you, Frost,” Shen said. “Why are you doing this?”

“I have orders to free you and take you back to my superiors,” Frost replied.

“And who the hell are your superiors?” Striker asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Frost replied. “Mr. Kerig.”

“H--how did you know my name?” Striker asked.

Frost simply grinned.

“We know everything,” he replied. “This way.” He led them through another door where a black helicopter arrived, hovering just above the ground.

“Come on,” he ordered, getting in the seat next to the pilot. Tsunami piled in the passenger area.

“Take us home,” Frost ordered the pilot.

The pilot nodded and they began to lift up.

*****

The chopper landed inside a hidden underground hanger in the mythril mountains near Ft. Condor.

Frost led them through the underground complex, past many people in some sort of espionage uniforms.

“This is really weird,” Ray whispered to Squall Leonhart, the former Pre-SOLDIER.

“Tell me about it,” Squall replied. “Kinda like the complex in Junon.”

“But more hi-tech,” Ray noted.

“Shen, what are we gonna do?” Sara asked.

“How about we fight our way out?” asked Zyx, their newest member, a talking gold chocobo.

“No,” Shen ordered. “We just follow Frost for now and see what this is all about.”

“Here,” Frost said, stopping at a door. He stuck a keycard in the slot then punched in a code.

The door hissed open.

*****

“Go on,” Frost told Tsunami, standing by the door as it shut.

Slowly, Tsunami walked towards the single light in the center of the room. Suddenly, black lights were activated all around, revealing three cloaked people around them, high up.

“Is this them?” one of them asked.

Frost nodded.

“Good,” he continued. “Welcome Tsunami. We are the Tribunal.”

“The Tribunal works hard to keep order in an insane world,” another began. “It was not mearly fate that brought you to be arrested and imprisoned by the Shin-Ra.”

“We are your new superiors,” the third said. “You are now under our command.”

“Welcome to Seido,” they said in unison.
_____________________________________________________________________________
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Whoa, freaky stuff, eh? The name of Cloud’s brother is revealed!! And you probably thought his brother was Zack. Anyway, in Chapter 20 Avalanche, alongwith Knolan and Jonah, try and get their keycard back from Tsunami--but can they find them? Again, any comments, good or bad, are always welcome.

.

Go To Chapter 20

Return To FF7 Fanfic