Heart of the Warrior

Chapter 14 - Oerba, Fighting Fight

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII, the Final Fantasy series or any official characters featured within this project. The Final Fantasy series is owned by Square-Enix, Hiranobu Sakaguchi, and Tetsuya Nomura. Please support the official release.

Oerba. Broken roads, rusted buildings and dead trees were all the things that made the piteous sight of what was once a place of life and beauty. What the red-haired Pulsian had called warm and green had devolved into little more than a ghost town. Cloud had never seen anything more pitiful.

Having regained enough strength to allow usage of his legs, Cloud led the group into the dilapidated village, a sudden wave of nostalgia crashing over him. He led them down the street and into the large, square courtyard where the complete vacancy of life truly knocked the group of seven silent.

"So...er," said Hope awkwardly "Which is your house?"

"What do you mean, which is ours?" asked Fang curiously, as though the question were the most absurd thing she'd ever heard. "All of them: they're all ours. Everyone in the village lived together."

"One big, happy family" muttered Snow enviously; Sazh, however, folded his arms looking totally impressed

"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat."

"Come on" said Lightning moving towards the nearest building "We'll rest here for now."

As the rest of the group moved on, Cloud's leg muscles locked momentarily and his senses turned his gaze around. Vanille stood frozen, staring all around the decrepit town, silent tears coursing down her cheeks.

"Hey," said Cloud softly moving over to her "You okay?" Vanille wiped her eyes, nodding rigorously; her voice, however, wasn't quite ready to work and squeaked the only two words it could manage:

"We're back."

Squeezing her shoulder reaffirmingly, Cloud and Vanille quickly followed after the group. Moving as silently as shadows, the group dodged past any Cie'th and up a case of metal stairs (Cloud, Lightning, Snow and Sazh having to step gingerly due to their heavy soled boots) and into the what looked like an age-worn apartment.

"Charming" said Snow as a chip of the purple wallpaper detached from the whole and drifted to the ground like his namesake.

"So" said Hope "You want to take a look around?"

"We'd better" replied Fang with a stifled yawn "Got to find something to help us lose these brands."

Sazh yawned widely and infectiously causing the stifled tiredness to weigh down on Cloud like a boulder. "Can't we take a break first?" moaned the pilot "We've been going nonstop for a whole day!"

Cloud observed the group through drooping eyelids: Fang and Snow both looked like defiant toddlers trying to fight the urge to sleep; Vanille and Hope, however, had fallen into a comfortable snooze, leaned against each other in an uncomfortable standing position. He exchanged looks with Lightning (whose shoulders sagged with exhaustion and her eyes were red and puffy) and shrugged.

"Sazh has a point" said Lightning "Let's call it a day."

Fang still looked mutinous but Snow, looking immensely relieved, had put on a mock-look of annoyance and began to lead the sleeping teenagers towards the dorm area. Even Cloud had to consider the apartment's bedchambers "barracks" as they were little more than a pair of triple decker bunk beds that connected ceiling to floor.

Cloud looked wearily out of the window, watching as the setting sun cast an orange hue across the village and a clear a sky light violet. And then he saw them: ambling about the square, limping mindlessly across the void of eternity, were Cie'th: the monstrosities that awaited l'Cie who failed their mission.