Chapter 6
"It's so cold, and I'm free-zing...!"
"Yuffie--" Nanaki cut in, but the young ninja only continued more loudly in her sing-song tone.
"If only stealing Red's warm fur were ea-sy, I'd--"
"Yuffie." It was Tifa's voice this time, threaded with weary impatience.
The girl looked back at her cheekily. "What?"
Tifa sighed. "This is bad enough without your complaining."
"But I was just--"
"I don't care what you call it, but please, just shut up."
Nanaki was relieved to have the girl's silence again, but he could not help feeling a little sorry for her; ever since she had stolen the group's materia back in Wutai, they had all been rather mistrustful and harsh towards her. It seemed unfair, considering her motives, and her age. Youths made mistakes, did they not? If he had thought theft would help his beloved Cosmo Canyon, he would have committed such an act without a second thought.
Still, Yuffie was not the most pleasant of companions, and she seemed to bear him an inexplicable dislike. Perhaps it was simple rivalry--they were of the same age group (sort of), and he was the more favored of the two. But whatever the reason, he did not appreciate the occasional derisive comments and tugs at his mane. Feigning indifference was the best he could do, as he had no wish to provide her with justification or illustrate that one more member of Avalanche held her in poor regards.
But he could not bring himself to act friendly towards the girl.
"How long have we been traipsing around anyway?" Yuffie asked, bringing his attention back to their present situation: following tracks in a broad expanse of snow fields north of the City of the Ancients. Tracks that seemed always on the verge of disappearing, rather than growing fresher.
Nanaki turned his head to observe the sun's position in the sky with his good eye, but Cloud answered first. "About seven hours or so, I'd say. Maybe a little longer."
"And no, we won't be taking another break," Tifa added, with a sharp glance in the ninja's direction. "It's only been an hour since we last stopped."
Yuffie scowled, displeased with her patronizing tone. "When will we be stopping then?"
"Probably around sunset," Cloud told her.
"That late? Gawd, I'll be exhausted by then!"
"What did you expect?" Nanaki asked of her. "If we are even to keep pace with Sephiroth, we must run ourselves to exhaustion. As it is, we are falling behind." He tossed his head in frustration. "If only we had a better means of transportation."
"Yeah, chocobos would be nice," Yuffie muttered in grudging agreement.
"Maybe we'll find something when we reach Snow Village," Tifa suggested.
"You mean people actually live this far north?" the girl asked incredulously. Obviously the cold climate was too harsh even for a Wutain-born. Winters there in the mountains were said to be quite bad.
Of course, it was not winter in the Icicle area, and the temperatures were already well below freezing.
"There has been a human population in this area for quite some time," Nanaki informed the group. "In fact, I believe Elder Hargo once said the Ancients themselves lived around Snow Village thousands of years ago."
"I thought the Ancients were nomads," Tifa commented thoughtfully. "So why do they have so many old settlements?"
"If you refer to the Temple of the Ancients, that is easily explained--it was not a settlement but a measure of protection. A fortress, as it were. Snow Village, I am sure, was no permanent or extravagant home. Likely they lived off the land without doing it any harm. As for their city... I cannot say. Perhaps Aeris knows."
He regretted mentioning her immediately, seeing his companions' expressions grow bleak.
"Her or Sephiroth," Cloud added bitterly.
There followed a short silence.
"Let's hurry," Tifa said.
Everyone agreed, and they quickened their pace. Yuffie did not complain.
She accepted what clothing Holzoff had to offer, shrugging it off when he apologized for the size. "It's all right," she assured him. "I'm just glad to have something warm to wear."
Holzoff looked as though he wanted to ask her why she had been wearing next to nothing, but only scratched his head and walked back into the next room, leaving her alone.
Aeris let the blanket fall from her shoulders without checking to see if Sephiroth was watching through the doorway and swiftly donned the ill-fitting garments. Holzoff, while shorter than her captor, was still considerably taller than her. She had to roll up the pant legs to keep from tripping over them; the shirt sleeves half-covered her hands; one of Holzoff's belts managed to keep the pants up, just at her hips.
He had pulled out an old, well-worn coat for her, too, but she did not need that now. She left it folded atop the chest, glanced down at her bare feet with a frown, and walked back into the other room with the blanket in hand.
Sephiroth had sat up, and his eyes flicked towards her when she entered. He looked her up and down with apparent disapproval, but all he said was, "Hardly flattering."
"It's not bad," Holzoff disagreed with a puzzled look at the swordsman. The poor man must have been having trouble figuring out exactly what the relationship between the two was.
Aeris smiled faintly. Smiling seemed harder now than it had been. "Thank you again, Mr. Holzoff. You're very kind, feeding and clothing me and giving shelter to the both of us."
He shrugged it off. "It's nothing. I'm just happy to have company for a change."
She handed the blanket to their host and flopped back down on the sofa. After a moment, she glanced at Sephiroth. "So, how long are we staying here?" she asked hesitantly.
"Your friends are lagging behind. We will wait here a while." He had turned towards the fire and sat cross-legged with his back towards her. She always hated it when she could not see his face, though she could rarely read it anyway.
"Until they get here?" she asked, knowing that couldn't possibly be true.
"Until they reach the Glacier."
"Oh..."
"You know," Holzoff put in, "this is the last rest stop you'll find this far north. It's really the best place to meet up with your friends."
Sephiroth ignored him, instead glancing over his shoulder at Aeris. "They will be some time in catching up. You might as well rest up before we move on."
Though his words, seemingly born of a worry for her well-being, surprised her greatly, Aeris managed another smile. It came a little easier this time. "I'll be all right for a while longer."
He nodded slightly and turned back to the fire.
Holzoff shook his head. "The boy says he doesn't need anything, but I figure he's got to be hungry. I was hoping you could talk some sense into him, Miss Aeris. It wouldn't do for his pride to kill him."
She bit off a spiteful remark and said instead, "No, he's really fine. He's a little... stronger than the rest of us, I guess you could say." She looked up at their host. "And just call me 'Aeris.'"
He nodded. "All right."
"On the other hand..." How far could she push her luck? she wondered. "Do you happen to have a brush, Mr. Holzoff?"
"A brush? No... I do have a comb, though. Did you want to use it for your hair?"
Aeris shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking Sephiroth's hair is a bit tangled."
The remark earned her a glance from her captor that almost appeared startled.
Holzoff chuckled. "You're probably right. I'll go fetch it for you." He left the room and came back a moment later, handing her a wooden comb.
She nodded her thanks and moved to crouch behind Sephiroth. Wordlessly, she lifted a silver lock and began working out the knots in his hair, starting at the ends as Elmyra had advised her when she was little.
The swordsman only glanced at her over his shoulder, scoffed, and went back to staring into the flames.
It took her quite a while to get the comb through all of his hair--it was probably even longer than hers, and the wind had tangled it horribly. When she finished, she set the comb down, separated the silver strands into three locks, and cautiously began to braid his hair.
"Leave it down," he told her quietly.
She leaned to the side so she could peer at his face. Still no expression. "Won't it get in your way on the cliffs?" she asked.
He sighed, but did not reply.
She took it for a 'fine, I give up,' and continued. She reached the end, pulled the tie from the end of her own hair, and used it to secure his braid. "There," she said pleasantly. "All done."
Sephiroth glanced at her, looking annoyed by her cheerfulness, however false it was. Or was just a little of it real? She herself didn't quite know.
"Well?" she prompted.
"It will do."
"I think you're supposed to thank the lady," Holzoff said with a laugh.
Both blinked at him, having forgotten his presence. Sephiroth soon scoffed and looked away. Aeris sighed and climbed to her feet, snatching up the comb. She went through her own hair as quickly as she could, returned the comb to Holzoff, and decided she really was tired enough to get some more sleep. She had no idea how long she had been out before, but obviously it hadn't been long enough.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Holzoff, I'll be going to sleep on your couch here."
"Go right ahead, Mi--Aeris," he replied with a smile. "While you're here, feel free treat this house as your own."
"Thank you," she said, stifling a yawn. She glanced at Sephiroth, lay down on the couch, and soon fell asleep.
They had reached the opposite mountain range, and by Cloud's estimation, they had only to travel around its foothills and across considerably less vast snow fields to reach Snow Village. It was probably only another six hours away, but Yuffie and Tifa looked exhausted, and even Nanaki seemed weary. And, he had to admit to himself, he was tired, too.
He led the group onward until he spotted a rocky cleft in the foothills, where they could at least be sheltered against the wind. Here, he stopped and turned to his companions. "We'll rest here for a while," he announced.
They all looked visibly relieved, and Yuffie sat down in the snow. "It's about time," she said, looking at him accusingly, as if it were his fault she was tired. In part, he guessed it was, but they had to move as fast as they could if they were going to catch up to Sephiroth. "The sun must've set hours ago."
"Only one hour," Nanaki corrected half-heartedly as he scratched at the ground, clearing away the snow from where he intended to sleep.
Tifa was setting up her sleeping bag not far from the feline, and she glanced at Cloud. "How much farther do we have to go?"
He shrugged, trying not to look hesitant about setting up his own sleeping bag near hers. "I figure we sleep for four or five hours and then move on, and we'll be in Snow Village tomorrow morning."
"Mm," she replied. She glanced away for a moment. "We'll rest longer when we get there, right?" she asked quietly.
Cloud followed her gaze to where Yuffie was fumbling with her gear, already falling asleep. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. "We all need more sleep than we've been getting, I know. I told Cid we'd meet up in Snow Village anyway, so if they're very far behind us, we should have plenty of time to rest up."
"They'll need to rest, too," Tifa reminded him gently.
He frowned, dropping his gaze. "Yeah, I know..."
She laid a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to find her smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry, Cloud. I'm sure Aeris is all right, and we'll find her soon."
"I hope you're right, Teef. If Sephiroth's hurt her..." He shook his head. "No, never mind. Let's just get some sleep while we can."
Tifa nodded silently and climbed into her sleeping bag, closing her eyes to rest.
Cloud sat up watching her for a long moment after her breathing had softened in sleep. Exhaustion dominated her face, plainer now without her conscious efforts to hide it behind a smile. Dark shadows lay beneath the soft brush of her lashes, and her hair fell disheveled over her shoulder and into her face. He wondered, if Sephiroth had taken her, if he would have stopped even for these few hours.
It wasn't a question he really wanted the answer to.
With a sigh, Cloud tucked himself into his sleeping bag, turning his back on her and shutting his eyes in an attempt to invite sleep.
Aeris woke with a start, eyes wild from some nightmare she could no longer remember. She looked around to regain her bearings and took a deep breath to slow her racing pulse. Finally, she relaxed, and got to her feet. The knives laid out on Holzoff's table caught her eye, and she wondered if it could really hurt to take one in the end.
"They are useless to you."
Aeris jumped and turned to find Sephiroth leaning against the wall not three feet from her. His gaze was set steadily on her and his tone was flat.
"Your skill as a fighter leaves a great deal to be desired."
"You wouldn't kill me, though," she replied. She wondered which was worse--the forgotten nightmare from which she had awakened, or this madness.
He shrugged. "Do you really need your fingers to live?"
She sighed in exasperation. "So you're back to normal today, are you? Did your mother scold you for playing nice?"
He scowled at her. "You think I am her puppet, do you? If I were, I would have killed you long ago."
"Well, that's an encouraging thought. Why didn't you kill me back in the very beginning? Surely one more corpse in the Shinra building wouldn't have been too hard to accomplish. You should have known even then that I was a threat to you."
"I admit, I was curious about you," he said.
"But why put off killing me for so long?"
He did not answer.
"Sephiroth--"
"Quiet. Holzoff is awake."
Aeris blinked. Was he actually putting on some sort of act for their host? It didn't seem like him to bother hiding anything when he could just kill whoever heard. Unless he did not plan on killing Holzoff. Would he leave him alive to guide Cloud in the right direction? She hoped so.
"How do you know?" was all she said, and received no answer for her trouble.
She shook her head slightly, but in a few minutes Holzoff did indeed emerge from the room beyond, which she realized he must have used as a bedroom. He seemed surprised to find them both awake.
"Well," he said, "I didn't expect you to be up this early. If you two want breakfast, you'll have to wait a bit; I have to go out and hunt some down."
"I will go," Sephiroth said, moving to open the door.
Aeris took a step towards him, an absurd anxiety creeping into her voice. "Will you be coming back?" she asked.
He met her gaze coldly. "Why should you care if I do not?"
"I... I guess I don't."
"You should know better than to think I would leave you now."
She nodded a bit and watched as he disappeared into the cold. Yes, she should have known for certain that he would come back, but she had doubted it all the same. Why did she worry that he might not come back? Certainly it would be better for her if he didn't.
Holzoff closed the door with a frown. "What's he thinking to hunt with?"
"He has a sword," Aeris replied absently, mostly to offer him some answer, as hunting with that sword should have proved ridiculous.
"Didn't see him bring one in," he said doubtfully.
"I guess he left it outside then. Wouldn't want to appear more frightening than he already does by carrying it in with him."
"I'm not afraid of him," Holzoff told her. "And anyway, he was carrying you, and I didn't see a sheath on him."
Aeris sat down heavily on the couch. "Don't bother yourself over it, Mr. Holzoff. Most things with him don't make any sense."
Almost cautiously, he sat down beside her. "If you don't mind my asking, Aeris, what exactly is going on between you two?"
"That's none of your concern either."
He frowned again, this time in worry. "He really did look worried about you when he first came in, but he's been real cold since. Seems like you care about him, too, and I may be wrong, livin' out here twenty years without seeing much of people, but something strikes me as off about the whole thing."
She hesitated, and then took a breath. "Mr. Holzoff... I might as well warn you now--Sephiroth is a killer. I'm only alive because death isn't what he has planned for me. You should go now, while he's gone, and try to make it back to Snow Village. He wouldn't go that far out of his way just to murder you."
Her host blinked, and then gave an awkward chuckle. "You really must not like him, to make up something that terrible about him."
"But--"
"He may be a tough one, but he doesn't look like a killer. A killer wouldn't care so much about someone, even if he tries not to show it."
"He's just putting on an act. He can't possibly..." Aeris stopped. But the Planet said... Didn't the Planet say he cares? It can't be wrong, can it? She shook her head. "Even a killer can show some kind of feeling. Please, you should go while you can."
Holzoff shrugged as he got to his feet. "If you don't want to tell me what's really going on, I guess that's all right. It isn't any of my business, after all. Just thought that maybe I could help."
Aeris watched him leave the room, and hung her head. She'd never had so much difficulty getting anyone but Sephiroth to believe her. She'd always been able to connect to them, instinctively, and understand what needed to be said. Had being with Sephiroth changed her so much already?
Yuffie woke to Tifa's persistent shaking and sat up, rubbing her eyes as she grumbled about a certain blond leader and his obsession with being awake. She had to wonder sometimes whether Tifa kept waking up first or if Cloud just had her wake the ninja because he knew Yuffie would strangle him if she saw him first. Their damned fearless leader was making her so fucking sleep-deprived she was starting to sound like Cid.
"Yuffie, come on, we are moving on," Nanaki said, already fully awake and nudging her arm with his nose.
She pushed him away with one hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up. Gimme a minute." She took a deep breath and pulled herself the rest of the way out of her sleeping bag, almost whimpering with the cold. It was bad enough they didn't get enough sleep, and then it was always cold whenever they got up. The sun hadn't even risen yet.
Already shivering, she gathered up her gear and unzipped her sleeping bag so she could wrap it around herself. The others stood waiting for her, and she scowled at them even as Tifa offered a 'good morning.'
"How much farther do we gotta go?" Yuffie asked irritably.
"We should be there in six or seven hours if we keep a good pace," Cloud answered, frowning in annoyance at her tone.
"Six or seven hours," she repeated. "I'm holding you to that. If we don't get there in seven hours, I don't give a shit how much farther we have to go--I'm gonna go to sleep and you'll have to carry me."
"And Cid's not even around," Tifa remarked, looking worried the same way a mother might. Hers was the only response Yuffie got. Cloud just turned around and started trudging through the snow. They had lost sight of the tracks some time ago, and now they were just following the blond around, trusting to his sense of direction.
Frankly, Yuffie didn't have too much confidence in his sense of direction, but Nanaki and Tifa seemed to agree they were headed the right way, so she went along with it.
After half an hour, she was already thinking about this Snow Village place and wondering if it had a good inn. Yeah, a nice warm room in an inn with a blazing fire and some hot chocolate. That sounded more like paradise at the moment than anything ever had before. Maybe she could even take a hot bath when they got there.
Too bad they were still some six hours away. Six hours seemed like a really long time, especially since she was pretty sure her toes had already frozen over and fallen off her feet. That sounded really gross in her head. They'd get to Snow Village, and she'd take off her shoes, and her toes would be all blue and purple, and they'd just come right off her feet. She'd have toeless stumps for feet for the rest of her life.
Grimacing with disgust, she tried to turn her thoughts back to that warm bath. That sounded more promising than frozen toes.
And food. What she wouldn't give for something hot and filling and spicy right about now! The group had run out of provisions the day before when they'd stopped briefly for an evening meal, and now she was starving. They'd never expected to come so far north when they left to follow Aeris. Or at least, Yuffie hadn't. Maybe the others had just been too preoccupied to think about stocking up when they got to Bone Village. They'd been all 'we've gotta find Aeris before Sephiroth kills her!'
It seemed to sum up the general attitude now, too. Not that Yuffie didn't share it, but she'd rather there not be a 'and let's not stop until we drop dead' clause tacked on. Finding Aeris was all well and good, but the ninja didn't much like being frozen and starving and tired all the time.
Wasn't saving the world supposed to be more glamorous than that? Where was the praise and the fame? And the money (and materia)?
Their bunch never got any of that. Well, okay, they got some reward for killing monsters and shit, but that was usually just enough to pay for more provisions when they got to the next town, maybe buy a new materia orb or two.
But no fame or praise. More like people out to kill them 'cause Shinra had put them on their most-wanted list. At least it was only soldiers looking for them, and normal townspeople didn't try to turn them in or anything. Anyway, Snow Village seemed a little far north for Shinra to have any influence, so maybe they wouldn't find any trouble there at all.
Hell, who was she kidding? They always found trouble everywhere. There would be something going on when they reached the town.
Which would still be a while, Yuffie recalled with a fresh wave of despair. Still about six hours away, she figured. Another six hours during which she would freeze to death, and they'd end up carrying her frozen corpse into Snow Village. Or maybe they'd just leave it wherever she died, because they had to be practical, and not burden themselves carrying around a dead girl.
Gawd, now she was getting morbid, too. And since when had she ever thought this much? This adventure business was definitely having a bad influence on her.
Six hours later, the village was finally in sight.
"Well, Yuffie, it looks like I didn't have to carry you after all," Cloud remarked. Was it her, or did he sound smug? Stupid blond.
"Yeah, whatever. They'd just better have a good inn and a warm bed with my name on it. Oh, and I call first bath while I'm at it."
"I call second," Tifa said, directing a playful grin at Cloud. She looked tired, though.
He sighed, not seeming very amused. He was a bit of a jerk when he was in leader-mode, Yuffie decided. "All right, fine," he said. "I'd rather get food first than shower anyway."
"No offense to any of you," Nanaki said, "but you all smell terrible. It will be wonderful to have you clean again, especially you, Cloud."
"Gee, thanks," the blond muttered.
Yuffie laughed. Nanaki wasn't funny very often, but she admitted that he did have his moments.
When they entered the town, she spotted the sign for the inn first and ran ahead, pulling open the door and basking in the warmth that washed over her from inside. Tifa gently pushed her farther into the lobby so the others could follow, and Cloud let the door fall shut behind them.
The ninja looked around. There were some tan people sitting at the one table in the lobby, tourists from Costa del Sol and clearly insane for wanting to come so far north. The people behind the counter were definitely natives, pale and dark-haired, snug in their heavy sweaters.
To her left, there was another room where a huge furnace was roaring, and Yuffie gravitated towards it, leaving the others to get them a room. A man near the fire glanced at her with some amusement, but she ignored him.
After a few minutes, Tifa called her over, and she followed the others up the stairs and into a room with three beds. Perfect, for once. They always seemed short one or two wherever they went, but this time she'd have her own. A quick inspection of the room soon revealed a bathroom, and she rushed in with a whoop of delight, slamming the door shut before anyone could protest. Of course, they had no grounds for protest anyway, since she'd already claimed first bath, but one could never be too careful.
She came out some time later feeling warm and clean for the first time in what must have been years. She smiled pleasantly at Tifa, who must have been waiting a while and was quick to head into the bathroom without returning the smile.
A trip down to the bar found her some food, if not hot chocolate. (They said they didn't have any, and when she asked for a mug of mulled beer instead, the barkeeper only gave her a look. She didn't look that young, did she?) But that was all right now that her stomach was satisfied.
Yuffie stuck around the bar for a while, hanging around each table for five or ten minutes to see what everyone was talking about. She figured herself pretty skilled at eavesdropping. Some people were talking about some man in a black cloak who passed through just the day before with a half-naked girl in tow. They had some pretty weird speculations about the two, but Yuffie decided their opinions didn't matter much. A day behind wasn't too bad, right?
Two guys at another table were talking about some Ancient named Ifalna who got nabbed by the Shinra way back when. One was telling the story, while the other didn't seem to take him too seriously. Yuffie wondered if this Ifalna lady was related to Aeris at all. After all, Aeris was supposed to be the last Ancient.
When the people in the bar stopped being interesting, she headed back upstairs to their room, finding the others already sitting around and talking. Cloud's and Tifa's hair were still wet from their baths, and the pair sat across from each other on two of the beds. Nanaki lay on the floor between them with his head on his paws.
"You haven't heard anything about Sephiroth either?" Cloud was asking Tifa.
She shook her head. "Maybe we should ask around town. Someone's bound to know something."
Yuffie flopped down next to Tifa, sitting cross-legged. "Some people downstairs said they came through here yesterday morning," she said. "You guys didn't listen hard enough."
Cloud scowled at her, but Tifa spoke before he could open his mouth. "You're sure it was them? Did they say anything about Aeris?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," Yuffie answered. "All they seemed to know about Aeris was that she was half-naked."
"Still?" she asked worriedly. "She'll freeze to death in this cold."
Nanaki spoke up. "She could have frozen to death on the snow fields. That she made it this far alive must mean that he does not want to kill her that way, if at all."
"I guess you're right," the brunette admitted, her face still creased with worry.
"Did they say where Sephiroth was headed?" Cloud asked.
"Down the mountain, I think," Yuffie replied. She grinned a little. "It's supposed to be a snowboarding slope. Think we can snowboard down it?"
The blond blinked. "If we can find some boards, I guess so. It's probably faster than walking down anyway."
"Cool," the ninja decided. "So how long do we get to stay here?"
"Until the others catch up and rest up, too."
"How far behind are they?"
"I dunno."
"Maybe you should call them, Cloud," Tifa suggested.
He nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that in a minute."
"Well, whatever, I guess. I'm going to catch up on my sleep." Kicking off her sneakers, Yuffie moved to the empty bed and happily climbed under the covers. "Good night, all," she declared. With the warm blankets and soft pillow, it didn't take her long to fall asleep.