Chapter 3

“Excuse me!”

The girl called outside the door of the blacksmith’s shop. No reply. She shouted again and knocked at the door again. Still nothing. She gently pushed and notice it wasn’t locked. Slowly, she pushed it and took a peak inside.

Nobody. The blacksmith’s shop had nobody in it but the tools were still all left on the table. The tools scattered around, the metal shreds on the floor still not swept away and the smell of melt metal filled her nostrils. Then, she heard noises came from behind the house. It was the noise made by the flicker of fire, burning against something. She walked to the back of the house and saw a small corridor that led to a small, dark room. She took a peek inside. There was someone.

No, it can’t be...

The person looked up and saw her. He stared at her coldly and then resumed what he was doing. The girl just looked at him with hers eyes wide open. It was that man. The man that carried her all the way down the mountain that night.

The man was putting something into the furnace and observe it. He was probably melting metal, of course! He was in a blacksmith’s shop. He was probably forging something. So, does this means that he got a job?

“Uh, hello! Nice to meet you again!”

The girl said and try to get the man’s attention. The man just kept quiet. He continue doing what he was doing and didn’t bother to even look at her. The girl greeted him again. Still no response. Never mind, she started getting used to it.

“I brought the lunch you ordered.” The girl told him and put down the basket in her hand on a table. The blacksmith ordered lunch from the general store’s boss’s wife and she was here to deliver the food.

“I will place it right here, okay?”

The man kept quiet. It seem like nothing even entered his ears.

“Uh...um...don’t you need to pay?”

The man was still silent. The girl got nervous and stared at the man. How is she going to go back without receiving payment?

The man just stood there. He looked at the furnace and after a while, he pulled out something from the furnace with a pair of huge forceps. It was a pot of liquid inside, shining when it reflected the red hot fire. He poured the liquid into a mould and the mould made a sizzling sound as if it burning through it. Smoke rose from the mould and the burning smell of metal drove into her nose. She covered her nose and coughed.

“Wait...blacksmith come back soon.”

The man finally spoke for the first time. The girl’s ears was like washed. She never heard him talking before. His voice wasn’t one of those nice voices. Kind of coarse, and dry, as like he never spoke for years. His sentences was also short and simple, like someone that doesn’t speak his language well.

“I see...I am not in a hurry, I will wait here.” The girl said and stood at a side, looking at the man.

The man was now standing in front of the mould, waiting for the metal to cool down and harden. The metal looked so liquid-like just now but now it looked solid already. The man looked at it, waiting.

“Your hurt?”

The girl didn’t understand at first but soon realized what he meant. He was asking about her wound. She took a look at the part where her leg was hurt during that fall that night. It was okay now, miraculously, it didn’t even hurt a bit now.

Her wound was actually a splint. She remembered that night after he carried her all the way down back to her house, he lay her on her bed, then he took off her shoes. Without much warning, he twisted her foot and she felt pain like hell. The pain was so intense that she even forgotten how to shouted. All she could do was bite her pillow and let her tears flow down freely while the pain subsides. But, like magic, in only a few seconds, the pain subsided and she could feel her foot, and even move it too! In only a few minutes, she was walking slowly, afraid that it might hurt, into the kitchen to offer him a drink. But when she got back, he was gone. And now, he was here in front of her again.

“Thanks for that night. I wonder what will happen to me without you...”

The girl reply. The man nodded and continued looking at his mould of metal. Secretly, she wondered. Why did he ask her about her foot. He perfectly knew that it was alright already. Does he...care about her?

The man suddenly turned the mould over and hammered at it. He lifted up the mould and there was a long stick of metal on the table. He took a hammer in his right hand and started hammering the metal. Sparks flew wildly between the metal and the hammer. Slowly, the metal started to show a shape. It was the shape of something broad and long and sharp. It looked like a... sword.

“Are you forging a sword?”

The girl asked while the man shaped the metal. The man ignored her and shaped the metal. He was skillful. Within fifteen minutes, she could see a sword in his hands already.

The man tested the sword but testing it’s weight with his hand and swing it around a little. Then he pulled out something from his pocket. A blade. He held the blade with his right hand and held the sword with his left hand. He scrapped the side of the sword, making small shreds of metal falling off the sword, with some metallic dust dancing around following minor sparks of fire between them.

“What are you doing in here?”

The girl heard voices and turned around. The blacksmith was behind her. She stepped aside and let him pass through.

“I am here to deliver the food you ordered.” The girl replied.

The blacksmith understood and pulled out 5 gil from his wallet and placed it in her hands. He then walked towards the man that was forging the sword.

“Aw man! Don’t you know how to use a grinder?”

The man said and pointed at a grinder used to shape the edges of a sword. The man ignored him and continued scrapping the side of the sword, until the edge reflected light so intensely that it could blind someone’s eyes.

“Wonder what makes you think I would want to hire you. I am the best blacksmith and everyone knows that.” The blacksmith boasted himself, and then stared at the girl.

“What are you looking at?”

The blacksmith shouted at the girl. The girl retreated two steps but stopped there. Suddenly, a clang was heard and then blacksmith turned his head. The man threw the sword he forged in front of the blacksmith. The blacksmith took a look and bent down.

“Not bad.”

The blacksmith said and lifted it up to test it. His eyes were filled with astonishment at the moment he lifted it up. He bounced it on his palms a little and then swing it to test it. He was filled with amazement with a touch of jealousy. He tested it a few more time but that look was still on his face. He never felt a sword this good before.

“My god...where did you learn this?” The blacksmith asked.

The man didn’t answer. He just looked at the blacksmith coldly. The blacksmith couldn’t resist swinging the sword a few more time, and then he returned to him.

“Damn! I ain’t like this but you are hired! You make the best damn sword I ever seen!”

The blacksmith praised the man. The man’s expression didn’t change a bit. The man then looked at the girl. The girl was filled with awe but also a slight fear. What is this man capable of?

It was already night in Costa de Sol but it was as merry and lively like it was during the day. The night life in Costa de Sol is probably the most fascinating one on the planet. There are all night long parties, sleepless dancing nights and great performance in almost every resort or pub there. It was the ultimate tourist attraction.

Cloud and Aeris were at a restaurant, dining. It was a candle light dinner, a usual sight in Costa de Sol during the night. They chatted a little and enjoy their meal. This is the first time they sat together, enjoying a meal in such a wonderful place instead of eating can food while camping outside during their adventures. They deserved it. After all the hardships they had been through.

Like every other night, the restaurant had quite a crowd and couple came in and out of the restaurant, holding each other’s hands or placing their hands around each other’s shoulder or waist. This is a place for couples. Bachelors or singles usually don’t come here. They prefer to hang out in colorful and exotic bars and nightclubs. But this night there was an exception. There was a man, sitting alone, in the background. His eyes never left the sight of Cloud and Aeris. Occasionally, he looked away to avoid suspicion but then he resumed observing them. He ate bit by bit, slowly chewing his food, taking his time, waiting for something.

After observing for quite some time, Cloud and Aeris left the restaurant. He signaled the waiter with his hand. The waiter understood and brought him the bill. He paid and didn’t bother to take the change, giving the waiter quite a tip. He eyed on the couple and followed them from a distance. He then saw the two enter their house and then he stopped on his spot and walked away. He headed towards a small inn upstairs a pub.

“What did you found out?”

A voice was heard at the moment the man opened the door of his room. There was a man inside, polishing a razor shape blade with the edges like a saw. The man that entered the room leisurely took off shoes and lay down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling and started talking.

“Morning, they arrived. Then the delivery service’s nag arrived and they recognized her as the girl’s mother. Then the nag returned back and they had their own time in their house till night. After that, they had dinner at the ‘Sol’s dine’ and then they went back to their house.”

The man had been observing the two since their arrival. For a purpose of a something. But what? Why the two?

“Did they act like the ones we are looking for?”

The man polishing the sword asked. The man lying on the bed was silent for a moment and then he opened his mouth.

“I don’t know. But they got to be. That’s what the people in Kalm told us.”

Kalm? They had followed them since they were in Kalm? Who are they? Why bother to take the trouble to follow them from Kalm to Costa de Sol?

“If we don’t get rid of them soon, the whole situation will be screwed. I say we act before dawn tomorrow.” The man polishing the sword said.

“You nuts? We don’t even know if it was really them!” The man laying down exclaimed and sat up straight.

“We will soon find out. If we slit their throats without them knowing, they are not the ones we are looking for.” The man second said and examined the flicker on his sword under the dim light from the light bulb.

“What if they are?” The first man asked. The second stood up, placed his sword into it’s sheath and glanced at the first man.

“There will be a battle so intense that Costa de Sol will never exist again.” The man said and walked into the bathroom, leaving the first man staring away into space.

10.00pm. A man walked down the dimly lit streets of Kalm, looking around, searching for something. He was the man that climbed all the way down the mountains to the south and hiked all the way through Midgar to Kalm. Now, he reached town. He only had to find the place he was looking for.

“7^th Heaven...”

He murmured while looking around looking for that place. No point walking around looking for it blindly. He needed to ask a local, someone who is familiar with this small and quiet town. He then spotted a young girl passing by. He stopped her and asked for direction. The young girl looked at him curiously.

“The 7^th Heaven? Don’t you know that it had been blown up?” The young girl replied.

The man stared at the girl with amazement. He eyes grew wide and his mouth slightly opened. He was shocked, indeed. 7^th Heaven bombed?

“What happened to the owner?” The man quickly asked.

“Dunno...he’s probably dead...” The young girl answered without thought.

Don’t know? How big is this town? How can she don’t know what happened to the owner?

“Gotta go. Bye!” The young girl said and took off. But before she even moved two steps she was jerked behind. She turned around and saw the man grabbing her hand.

“Hand it back.”

The man ordered the young girl. The young girl tried shake herself off but she couldn’t. The man gripped her so tightly that even her ninja escaping skills couldn’t help her. She quickly grabbed a smoke bomb from her pocket and threw it. But the man flung something towards the smoke bomb and deflected it towards the sky. The young girl stared in amazement. The man looked at the young girl, expressionless. The girl started to panic.

“Yuffie!”

The man and the young girl turned towards the voice and saw a red lion-like creature walking towards them. Red XIII, was out on his daily routine to stop the expert thief Yuffie from stealing, again.

“Yuffie! You won’t get away this time. Hand the man back whatever you took from him.” Red XIII commanded but Yuffie didn’t seem to bother.

Yuffie looked at the man again. His looks wasn’t mean, but expressionless. His skills amazed her. There is no way he could notice Yuffie stealing his bag of coins unless he was always alert. The way he deflected her smoke even more amazed her. This man was the arch-nemesis of all the thieves in the world.

“Yuffie?”

Red XIII ordered again. This time Yuffie shook her head and started reaching for the bag of coins in her left breast pocket. But to her amazement, it was gone. She checked it again but found nothing. She was absolutely positive she placed it there!

Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw the man holding the bag of coins in his hand, showing it to her. She was stunned. She didn’t even feel herself being pinched.

“I believe this is also yours...”

The man handed Yuffie a materia. Yuffie searched her pockets and noticed it was in her pockets. He stole it from her, twice, without her even feeling it.

“I am looking for the 7^th Heaven, or perhaps the avalanche.” The man asked Red XIII.

“All right, man. The 7^th Heaven’s really been bombed. But if you are looking for the Avalanche, you already found them.” Yuffie answered the man for Red XIII. The man smiled.

“I am looking for Cloud. Cloud Strife.”