Vincent Valentine, the crimson clad gunman of Avalanche, stood in the Shinra manor. The place was his unconscious prison for many years. The place was crawling with some fierce monsters that would be trouble for even a well practiced fighter. But not for him. He took a few quick shots, nailing down a few more monsters. He was trying to clear it out so it could be used as a home. He had sent a call to Cloud and Tifa for some assistance if they was up to it, but he hadn't gotten an answer back yet. Vincent had made a deal with the Niblehiem (sp?) Mayor. There was no true owner of the mansion, but if Vincent cleared the place out, he would be handed the deed, not costing him a single gil, and then he could do whatever the hell he wanted with it. Cloud wasn't the only one he called. He tried some other people, but Reeve was busy, and Nanaki was on some exploration of some sort, he even phoned Yuffie, but hasn't gotten a reply. Vincent never bought a cell phone, never saw a reason to. So he just used the Mayor's phone. He would check back with the mayor after he finished up for the day. When he saw that the room was clear, he started to set up holy seals to keep it monster free. He was working on all the small rooms in the main building before clearing out the large main entrance. He looked out into the main entrance, and sighed, seeing the place still crawling with monsters. He still had alot of work to do. Even though these monsters weren't enough to kill him unless he just stood still, they were far too tough to just underestimate.

Nanaki was roaming through the wilderness with some other people from Cosmo Canyon, it was a pilgrimage of sorts, they were heading to a small shrine which was very small, and run down from weather but it was important. Nanaki had been able to answer Vincent's call before leaving, but this trip was important to his people. They were near Nibelhiem (sp?) but he couldn't leave for even a moment. He was mostly there to protect the others. He longed to see the others, but he could hardly help the situation. The pilgrimage was peaceful, and everyone was very relaxed.

Rude was in the Turk headquarters. Well, former headquarters. Since Shinra was technically no more, the same went for the Turks, but they still had a boss, so they were still together. He was basically weapon maintenance, and was fixing various items and equipment that the others seemed to break. By others, he meant Reno. Reno was a good soldier, and a good friend in Rude's opinion, though he would never voice that out loud to anyone, he had a knack for, breaking just about anything he touched, though oddly enough, rarely in a fight. After tightening one more screw, rude turned on the stun baton, Reno's favorite weapon, tapped it against the back of his hand. Feeling a firm shock and his arm seizing up, he pulled it back, and nodded, inwardly declaring it fixed. He then began to work on the next item.

"Messages, one from Vincent," the voice intoned, sounding loud against Cloud's ear as he raised his phone to his ears. The war had ended, and they were triumphant, and yet in the brief time peace had reigned, he found a bitter taste growing from the victory. Their fight was hard-won, and they had lost people along the way. Cloud let Vincent's deep voice take him out of his reverie, his mako-enhanced eyes scanning the gloom.

"Hm, clean-up duties?" He put the phone away as he entered the shop he was heading for. In the short time since Sephiroth's defeat, Cloud's dress sense had changed. Perhaps it was a wish not to see reminders of Aerith all the time, or it was just him wanting to wear black, whatever the reason, he had a new outfit, and it hid the ribbon that remembered the Cetra.

The shop's interior was dusty and gloomy, like the rest of Edge at the moment. The ruins of once glorious Shinra Enterprises stood in silent testament of the battle that took place, and was just visible in the distance through the grimy windows of the shop. Cloud brushed a couple of blond bangs out of his eyes as he nodded to the shopkeeper. "Are my swords finished?"

It had been Reeve's design. Seeing Cloud's battles had inspired the man to design a system of blades that clipped into each other to create a new buster sword. Since Reeve was so busy now days with his organization however, Cloud had chosen to get it done at a shop in Edge. He wondered vaguely if he should call Tifa and let her know where he had gone. Then shrugged. He called the others less frequently these days, there was something about being with them that made him feel guilty. It was a reminder of the person who would never share their laughter again.  

--Last edited by Ein on 2009-07-30 09:22:36 --

Cid was back in Rocket Town, tinkering away on his new project. He knew exactly what he was going to make. Looking over to the Highwind. 'You're going to end up being married bub...' He muttered to the ship, blowing a kiss at it. His phone he turned off after it had been distracting him from his work.



Reno, busy scanning the surveillance of the old Shinra HQ, he was going to find the president. Even if it would take his whole life, he never left a friend behind and especially not the president. Known him since he was still a little blonde midget with a dog. Dark Nation was at Reno's home, damn pet, howling every time for his owner. 'Come on, yo. Anything, fuck show anything...' He looked down at his screen, having flicked on the heat seeking device. His dear Estelle, pretty sounds she made as he turned in his Dragonfly. He knew Elena and Tseng were doing ground work, as usual. Wherever Rude was, he didn't know. Not that he cared at the moment, Rufus being much more important.



Zack... standing next to his buster sword, gazing at Midgar's Ruins, he turned around and walked off. '... Hey... we're friends, right?'
(cheesy pick up line =D Zack you player )

(we'll have someone play Rufus later)

Vincent sat back in the recently cleaned out bedroom. His crimson eyes closed, as he went into his mindscape. It was a gloomy place that almost mirrored the mansion outside his mind. He came here to keep his mind organized. Which was hard, particularly with a demon named Chaos flying around messing everything up whenever he could. Sometimes he would talk with Chaos, or Chaos would just talk to him, not giving him a moment to respond. But, he could hardly tell him to shut up, they had plenty of time to become "close friends" for the last few decades of being alone in a coffin with eachother. Vincent looked around, and noticed that the mindscape was quit peaceful at the moment, so he left without speaking to any of the demons in his mind. He had to check to see if anyone answered back. He got up, and headed out to leave the mansion, and went straight to the mayor's home. He knocked before entering, even though the mayor had said he could just walk in. Vincent noticed that the Mayor had left, and just went straight for the phone.

tseng slowly walked over the top of the old shin-ra buliding. he could see elena in the rubble further down from him looking over everything.  he continued his own search his eye's returning towards the heat sensitive device's screen that he was carrying. tseng in a slow, fluied like motion, sweep the device from left to right aiming it at the ground. he continued to slowly make his way across the rubble stune building looing for any signs of a heat source that might lead to the president. he hope'd that they would find rufus soon, and alive for that matter for what was shinra without him.

far above him he saw reno circiling in the dragonfly and contacted him "reno, anything on that scope" his voice convaying no signs of worry or lost hope as he paused his search waiting for the red heads reply

Cloud lifted the phone to his ears as he stepped out from the shop, sporting a new blade and a new sword harness. It wasn't complete yet, but he could use at least two of the set, and can go back for the rest soon. He started to send a quick message to the others, checking up on what they were doing. He had distanced himself from them lately, and it might be time to get together and reminisce about old times.

On second thought... He sighed and was just about to put his phone away again when Zack's voice rang loud behind him. The blond man spun, trying to catch a glimpse of his ghostly friend, but there was no one there.

'Hey, we're friends, right?'

"Mm." Cloud smiled, and sent the message he had intended to. It read: [Come to the church, should chat.]

Aerith smiled as she stood in the church. It was nice to see the flowers still in bloom. Reaching down to pick one up, her eyes saddened seeing her hand go straight through the flowers. "Oh yeah..." Looking down at her hands, she sighed softly before she  looked up at the sky though the hole above the flowers. Smiling softly, she shut her eyes and relaxed before she faded out just as Marlene giggled and ran into the church. She smiled and went over to the flowers, making sure they were still healthy before she sat down beside the flower patch, relaxing as she smiled and hummed to herself.

(-kicks Tifa for letting Marlene go by herself even though she's not allowed to- :x )

Zack opened his eyes, looking over the table and smirked 'Angeal... Your call...' He chirped, holding his cards up. Angeal's face stood in a mocking expression with a loving disdain as ever. As soon as he saw the faint color pink, did Zack's eyes flutter open widely, his smirk replaced by a broad smile as he stood up to meet the pink flower girl.
'Not so fast casanova... I believe... I have a Royal flush... You know the drill.' Zack whined 'Awh man...' Then he sighed and made a motion of locking his mouth and handing Angeal the key over. With a passive strode he met Aerith, figuring how to say something to her if he was supposed to not talk for an hour. He stood in front of Aerith and vanished, interested in wanting to see what the little Chocobo head was up to.


Reno sat a bit up in his seat, the leather of it, engulfing against his slender back. He did a small hair toss and his red locks swopped to a side, but returned to how they were originally. Slowly he opened his beautiful eyes, a small smirk crawling onto his perfect lips. A well refined eyebrow raised '... Haven't found him yet... Bingo.... We have a winner Yo...' He gotten excited, hanging above the point where the President was. He knew it had to be him, confined in a small space. 'Tseng... Elena... Over here, yo... Hurry hurry...' He called out, dropping the line and moved a bit until it was above the spot he detected the life form. Easier for them to figure where to start digging.

(xD)

Aerith blinked seeing Zack before she watched him vanish. She tilted her head curiously and put a finger on her cheek. "Wonder why he didn't say hi..." Sighing softly, she shrugged before she faded out as well and was back in the church. She saw Marlene walking around the church. Aerith smiled softly and watched the small girl, sighing softly as she clasped her hands in front of her. It was these times where she wished that others could see her.

Cloud pondered buying Vincent a phone as his bike sailed through the city streets, dodging pedestrians and other vehicles alike. He would go around later and see how the tall vampire was holding up. Technically, he thought grimly, only half the people in their ragtag group of heroes were really wholly human. Tifa, Yuffie, Cid... the rest of them were all changed in someway physically that made them distant from other humans.

The church loomed before him as he shut Fenrir's engines and strode towards the double doors, the flap of cloth around one hip snapping taut in a sudden gust of wind. He tried to smile as he went through the arched doorway.

Aerith gasped when she heard someone enter the church, she relaxed a bit seeing it was Cloud before she waved and watched Marlene again as she tended to the flowers. It wasn't really new for Aerith to watch over Marlene like this when she visited the church since the girl liked to get away from Tifa now and again. Marlene smiled as she knelt beside some flowers before she blinked and stood up seeing Cloud enter the church. "Cloud!" She smiled before she rushed over, hugging his waist gently. "What are you doing here?" She asked curiously, glancing up at him from her spot she was attached to.

Zack dropped down, as he usually did. On his favorite spot, or nonetheless, the same spot he first came into the church and let me tell you, that wasn't a pleasant way to enter a building.
'Che che che... Itai...' He quickly covered up his mouth and looked around frantically. He sighed out of relief as it seemed he could get away with it this one time.
Like a puppy did he hop his way over to Cloud, standing behind Marlene and waved at him with both hands and a huge grin on his face. Then did a thumbs up with a small nod, wanting to know how he was doing, note, the stupid grin not having left his face.
It was interesting to see that he had passed a couple of minutes already without having spoken, safe from the fall.

(do a little dance... -sings waiting for the rest to cue up-)

"well con.." tseng said before  reno finished his sentance. his eye's widened but a mere fracton as reno said he had found something. he watched where reno positioned his helecopter and at a quickened pace ran over to the spot he was hovering over. he sheilded his eye's from the downdraft from the dragonfly above them which was kicking up dust, light stones, and franticly blowing his hair in every direction.

as he dropped the line to the direct point where the president was buirred. he had to yell over the noise of of the noise the  dragonfly above was generating "reno set her down -cough- and give us a hand" tseng started to dig down threw the rubble.

Vincent went back to the mansion, and made his way to a cleared room. Technically he doesn't need to sleep, but a good rest would be fine. Personally, Vincent hated this mansion, and it would bring him no greater pleasure then to summon Bahamut Zero and make sure that not even kindling was left. But he knew that the mansion was part of him, a big part of him. He was as much the mansion as it was him. The most defining part of his life, of Cloud's life too, happened here. It was for this reason that he couldn't just destroy it. That was why he was fixing it up.

He knew why the monster's gathered here. They were the lost souls from Sephiroth's massacre. It was the last building standing after the incident, as a familiar place, they gathered there, and then the negative energy changed them. That was his theory anyway. If he could get anyone to help him clear the building, it would be Cloud, because it was important for him too. He sorta felt close to Cloud in a sense, because he was the only other one who was genetically changed. Nanaki was always a beastlike creature, Barret only had his arm replaced, and Cait Sith was robot. Cloud and Vincent are the only ones in the group who could be seriously called, Monsters. Vincent especially.

(Stoic bump)

Cloud looked down at the ghostly Aerith, his mako-enhanced eyes glowing in the dimly lit church. "I wanted to see old friends again," he replied, but as usual, did not try to lift a hand to touch her. The thought of his fingers going through the apparition was too much.

He approached Marlene and put one hand on the girl's head as he gave Zack a slow nod. Then he smiled. "I wanted to see everyone here again, in this church."

"I wanted to see your smiles, together."

Zack kept his stupid grin on as he waved both his hands and did a thumbs up again. He knew he was being watched to see him fail, but this hour he was going to be the most silent person ever. He kept pacing back an forth, twirling his fingers. The problem now was, how to keep himself silent. So to keep him busy, he did his squats.

Vincent sighed to himself as he walked out of the Mansion. And he looked to the sky. It was going to be a long ride to Midgar. He went to his Chocobo, who had tied up outside of town. His Chocobo was an oddity. It was black in color, but it was an Ocean Chocobo. He mounted up, and with a word, the chocobo raced off, heading straight for the other continent. On this chocobo it would take only a day. Vincent was told by the Mayor about the message Cloud left. Vincent was loyal, and he would cross the world for any of his friends. He began to notice as more and more Nibel Wolves began to chase him on his chocobo. He drew Death Penalty and shot some while riding, causing the survivors to scatter and run, and he continued on his way.

Marlene giggled as he put a hand on her head before she looked up at him curiously. "So everyone's coming here?" She asked. "So thats where you are! Marlene, you shouldn't run off like that!" Marlene blinked before she looked to the entrance of the church, she saw Tifa and blinked before smiling. Tifa sighed softly before she went over, smiling at Cloud before she held Marlene's hand. "You know it's not safe for you to run out by yourself Marlene...." "I know, but I wanted to see the flowers again."

Aerith looked over at Zack and laughed softly as she watched him. Shaking her head, she looked back at the small group in the church.

(we still need a Barret and a Yuffie)