Chapter 14: Memoria and the high seas

"All right. Here are the three potions. Now how bout that coffee." Yuffie said to the cashier. Vincent slid the three potions over the counter. The cashier smiled and slid over three bags of coffee. One moccha, one kirman, and one burman bag. All accounted for. Vincent promptly thanked the man and dragged Yuffie out, who was looking at the coffee filters. Cait Sith tagged along, still counting his gil in a bag that no one noticed. They then walked down towards the docks and walked up the gangplank, Yuffie last. When they got up, they noticed that Morrid was not at his usual spot, but Memoria, the girl from before, was sitting there.

"Hey! It’s that one girl!" Cait Sith said.

"Memoria was it?" Vincent put away his pistol. Yuffie nodded.

"Hey Memoria! Like, where’ve you been?" Yuffie approached her. The rocking of the boat had halted. She glanced up from her moogle.

"Oh hello. I told you I’d see you again." She smiled warmly.

"How’d you disappear like that?" Cait Sith asked her.

"…I have many talents."

"We don’t have time for this. Do you know where Morrid is?" Vincent asked.

"He’s below deck." She answered and returned to petting the moogle. The rest of AVALANCHE had started walking towards the dock and approached the ship. Yuffie knelt down to Memoria while Cait Sith explained to the guys what was happening.

"Don’t listin to Vinnie. He’s just a vampire. What are you doing here?" Yuffie asked.

"…I was …traveling…" She answered, trying to avoid contact with Yuffie. Cloud put his hand on Yuffie’s shoulder.

"Let me try." Cloud said. Yuffie nodded and moved towards the others. Cloud knelt down next to the little girl. "Memoria, was it? Do you know a Zidane?"

"…" She closed her eyes and looked away. Cloud frowned and stood up.

"Cloud! What the %^&* is your problem! Why do you always have to upset the damn girl!?" Cid lit a cigarette. Tifa nodded. "It seems that she doesn’t like you, Cloud."

Red XIII sniffed the sea air. "Hey guys. Do you remember when we had to dress up as ShinRa soldiers to cross the ocean?" He smiled.

"Yea, and Barret had to dress up as a marshmallow!" Tifa giggled.

"It does not look like no dayum marshmallow! Besides, they be comfortable!" Barret slammed his gun arm on the railings.

"You really do use them as pajamas! Aeris was right." Yuffie giggled. Everyone laughed, well almost. Cid and Cait Sith had no idea what they were talking about. They glanced at each other. Memoria looked up.

"You know the flower girl?" She asked. The group fell silent.

"…Yea. She was one of our good friends." Tifa replied.

"Did you know her?" Red XIII asked.

"I know her. Are you AVALANCHE?" She asked.

"Dayum straight!" Barret flexed his huge arm.

"She talks about you guys all the time." She smiled. AVALANCHE looked at each other confused.

Morrid and Vincent came up from below deck. "Ah. This is good coffee. Thanks again." Morrid sipped his coffee. "It’s time we go. The cargo has been loaded. You guys can go in now." Vincent nodded and went below. The rest of AVALANCHE followed. Cloud was last. After a minute he came back up. To see that Memoria had vanished again.

"I’ll see you again…" Cloud heard her voice, but it came from the sky.

** *

A couple of hours later, the small boat rocked back and forth across the ocean. The sound of seagulls filled the air and the sea breezes brought salt and foam across the deck. The sky was a bright blue and the sun was just a bit off its zenith. It was around one. The deep blue waves caressed the small ship. Small fish would jump ahead of the boat, along with dolphins.

"Ah. I love the smell of the sea breeze." Red XIII sniffed the air. "We should go sailing more often. Don’t you agree Yuffie?" He glanced over to see Yuffie vomiting over the side of the ship. Those two and Morrid were the only ones above deck. Everyone else was down below. Cait Sith had been temporarily shut down, due to Reeve had other things to do besides sit on a boat. Tifa had fallen asleep on Cloud’s lap. Cid was playing solitaire with some cards he found. Barret was writing something down on a piece of paper, and Vincent went above deck. Vincent went across the deck till he reached the bow, where he leaned on the railing and stared out at the sea.

"You miss her. Don’t you?" Red XIII asked him. Vincent sighed. "You know Nanaki, if you were any other man, I would have shot you dead after those words." He glanced at a dolphin who playfully leaped above the sea. "But yea. I do."

"We all feel loss Vincent, but we all must get over it. Cloud lost Aeris. Barret lost Dyne. Tifa lost her father. I myself have lost my grandfather Bugenhagen. Reeve lost everything he knew when Meteor struck. Cid lost his first chance at going into space. Yuffie lost…" Red looked over across the boat, where Yuffie was sitting down, a pale expression on her face. "…Her lunch." Vincent chuckled. "You see, we all feel loss, but we have all got over it. Life is too short to spend it suffering due to something you had no part of. If she could see you now, she would probably be disappointed." Red said.

"…You think so?" Vincent finally replied after a few moments of silence.

"I know so. We got a new threat to think of." Red smiled.

Vincent sighed. "I guess you’re right." Both of them were in silence for a while.

"What do you think of Cloud’s dreams?" Vincent finally said.

"What? Oh. Moogles are very mysterious creatures. I wouldn’t be to surprised if creatures from another realm where trying to contact us. But I would like to know why Cloud." Red glanced over the sea.

"Probably because he defeated Sephiroth. Old One Winged Angel wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to fight."

"Yes. Quite possibly so." Red then noticed a couple of seagulls quickly flying the opposite direction from them, making as much noise as possible. The dolphins had done the same. A large swell started to form a mile in front of the boat.

"What the hell?…" Vincent murmured. Morrid stopped the ship.

"What in the name of all spoony bards is that?!" Morrid scratched his head as he approached Red and Vincent. Sensing the boat stopped, Cid came up as well.

"Why the %^&* did we stop?!" He started raving, then stopped. "W-what the hell is that?!"

"I-I don’t know." Vincent replied.

"Something very large is coming out of the water." Red gasped.

"Y-you don’t think it’s Emerald, do you?" Cid whispered.

The water drained off the top of the swell, uncovering a large green metallic hump.A loud screeching was heard and the large green hump stopped rising. The rest of AVALANCHE came aboard to see what the heck was going on.

"That’s-" Barret started.

"It can’t be!" Tifa gasped.

"No way!" Cloud replied.

"I thought he died or something!" Yuffie garbled.

"Shit!" Cid screamed.

"It appears the planet is in a more trouble than we anticipated." Red XIII said while watching the behemoth move.

"It’s after EON, isn’t it?" Vincent said softly.

"What the spoony are you people talking about?!" Morrid rubbed his eyes. "What is that?"

Barret, Cid, Cloud, Red XIII, Tifa, Vincent, and Yuffie all replied at the same time. "EMERALD WEAPON!"

Emerald WEAPON screeched again and waded through the ocean towards the east.

** *