Tales of Fantasy VII

Final Symphonia
Written by Aya
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters
only three, the rest are not mine.

(Thought)
-Conscious or inner Demons-

A/N: Or anything that inhabits that persons'
body and not all thoughts will be place in slashes.

She was now about 2 blocks away, when a thought hit her.... Did she even know how get to Kalm from here? Well, that didn't matter at the moment, she would get direction if and when she needed them. She needed to find out what she could about who, what and why her town was attack leaving only her alive.

Green eyes, blond hair and a white suit, were the only things she had to go by at this point and it wasn't enough. Plus, her
brother and sister were nowhere to found when the town was wipped out, something was wrong with this picture and she needed to find out what.

Retsuka looked around for an exit as she made a left turn by a freeway but didn't take it, "I know there's an exit around here somewhere...." she trailed off and looked up at a sign that read 'You are now exiting Edge City and will be entering the waste lands.' It's about time...

Her thoughts were cut short, when the bike slowed to a stop, "What?!" she shouted gainning the attention of a few bystanders and at least two that should be in hiding. She looked at the gas hand to see if it was on 'E' and sure enough when she glanced at it, it was.

She dismounded the Fenrir, putting the kick stand down
and leaned back on Fenrir. Now how was she going to get to Kalm, she folded her arm across her chest under the curtain, that she had at some point during the ride, wrapped around her like a cloak.

"I thought that." Kadaj pointed behind the girl wrapped
in crimson, "Belonged to Nii-san." he finished.

Yazoo nodded, "It does but I don't see him." something occured Yazoo at the moment and he looked at Kadaj, "You go get Loz and Nii-sama... If Nii-san finds us here, our truce will be broken." Kadaj nodded and ran off into one the mini food markets, while Yazoo kept an eye out Cloud or any of his buddies.

She looked around, maybe... just maybe there was a gas
station near by but she slumpped back down when
realization hit home and that was, she had no gil to pay
for it if she did find one. (Well, it looks like I'll
be on foot from here on out.) She leaned away from the
bike when a quick flash of silver caught her attention.

She glanced up and seen that his silver hair wasn't the only thing on him that stood out, he had some of the most intense green eyes she'd ever seen. The only other person that carried pericing eyes like that was the one who destroyed her town but he had blond hair... Unless, he dyed it.

Still checking his surroundings, Yazoo couldn't help but
notice the look she was giving him, (Is she going to kill me?) he thought. Yazoo looked over his shoulder at the store, wondering why it was taking Kadaj and the others so long to come out. He chanced another look in the direction of the cloaked girl, why was she still looking at him?

Deciding that she had enough staring, Retsuka walked over to him quickly, "You bastard." she growled, slapping him around the same Loz and the others walked out the store, "How could you?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Yazoo rubbed his cheek, that actually stung but realised
he hadn't a clue what she was talking about, "What do you mean 'how could you?' How could I what?" he ask calmly, he didn't see the need to create more a secne then this.

"Don't play dumb with me, Yggdrasill." it took everything
in her power not to yell that. At this time the hood part of her cloak had fallen off, revealing a very, very angery girl, "You destroyed Kalm to cover up something and I'm gonna find out what." her crimson eyes were nearly glowing when she finished.

Yazoo looked over at the others, who seemed to pretend
they weren't there, "Nii-sama.... who's Yggdrasill?" he
asked, this action caused Retsuka to look over at the
other three.

"I thought maybe it was some sort of mess up in the Shin-ra systems but I see now that it's actually true." Sephiroth looked at them and seen the confusen but continued away, "There has been rumors of a dimentional dissoration but they haven't been able to trace it because it vanishes almost as soon as mater...." he was stopped but not by his brothers.

"What does that have to do with him?" Retsuka pointed
at Yazoo, "Are you saying that Yggdrasill isn't even
from our world?" asked Retsuka, who was once again
looking at Yazoo, until she realised she's been saying a
name that she shouldn't have even known.

Sephiroth wore an amused looked for a moment, (She seems extremly confused.) he thought, before once again speaking, "Yes... and... No" Retsuka was confused again, this man wasn't making any sense.

"What do you mean yes and no?" she questioned.

"Here I'll make it clear, No he's not this Yggdrasill guy
you speak of and yes, Yggdrasill is not from this world.
Shin-ra has yet to locate his world." the ex-general told her, in his regular deep bar tone voice.

Retsuka looked back at Yazoo, "So you're not using hair dye or anything like that?" he shook his head.

Kadaj who was slightly annoyed that they were forgetting
him, walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, "Why do you have Nii-sans' motorcycle?" he asked pointing at the ferrin.

Seeing the confused look on her face, Seph took upon himself to try clear it up for her, "He means Cloud."

"I don't know who that is but I'm sure I heard that name before..." there was no easy way to say it so she just came right out and said, "I stole it." everyone except Sephiroth was shocked, Cloud would never let anything happen to his stupid beloved ferrin.

Almost as if she was proud of herself, Retsuka smirked
inwardly and blurted out, "Reno taught that little trick,
in high school." this was enough to tell Sephiroth, to
keep an eye on the little thief.

"I think it's time we get going." Sephiroth said quickly,
he could practicly feel Cloud aura standing by him. The
others nodded in unison before Sephiroth spoke again,
"We weren't here got it." she nodded and watched them
walk away, she never did get their names but only knew
one.

She hurried back over to the bike, contiplating whether
she should leave there but as if on cue, a voice with
more irritation in it then she's ever heard called from
behind her. She turned to see a man about 5'7 with
blue eyes, blond hair and sweat running off his forehead
behind her, "Another mismatched pair." she muttered
to herself.

Whatever she said he couldn't hear and decided to just
dissmiss it. He looked up at the exit sign, then back at
her, "Where were you going?" he was surprised at how
calm that came out, despite the fact he wanted to tie
her up and drag her back to the bar.

"To Kalm." came her simply reply.

This shocked him, why would she want to go back after
what happened and the fact that nothing was there
anymore, "Why? You won't find too much." he ask.

She looked at him, was he serious, "If you were the only
survivor out of a whole town? Wouldn't you want to
go back and find out what happened?" asked Retsuka.

He nodded, "I understand your feelings but... do you know
how long you've been unconicous?" whether she was gonna
respond or not he continued on anyway, "For 3 months,
that's how long and they already started reconstructing
it."

"What?!" she shouted, "There goes my chances of finding
out anything." she said to herself.

Cloud shook his head, "I wouldn't say that." he moved to
the side of her and removed the gas cap on his beloved
ferrin, placing the gasoline container that she hadn't
seem to notice in the tank. "Vincent, the one that
found you has some info that maybe you could help us
with when woke up but you jetted.... with my ride." he
added while removing the now empty gasoline container.

"Oh, sorry I didn't know it was yours." she apologised.

He mounded the motorcycle, "Don't worry about, get on
and lets go back to the bar. Also where did you learn
to hotwire a motorcycle so quickly?" Cloud asked just
out of curiousity.

She hopped on behind him as she spoke, "Reno showed me, when I was in high school." Cloud peeked over his shoulder at her, when the name Reno was heard and rolled
his eyes, hoping she was nothing like that man.

"Oh before for I forget, Vincent doesn't like being called a 'Super Hero'. If you don't mind me asking. Why did you call him that." Cloud end his statment with another question for the redhead.

She shrugged, "I only called him that once because that's
what thought of when I saw him." she stated and held
on to Cloud tightly, when he sped off down the road.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Yggdrasill."

Hearing a familiar voice, Yggdrasill switched off the hollowgram monitor he had been observing Lloyds'
group on and looked up from where he was seated,
"What is it Kratos?" he asked, figuring it had to be
important if Kratos himself was here.

Kratos bowed his head slightly before speaking, "The desigains that were sent to Edge to oberve them, have informed me that a young woman suvived the destruction of Kalm and might be trying to uncover our your plans." Once finished Kratos remain silent, awaited Yggdrasills' reaction.

Annoyance clearly written across his face, Yggdrasill
closed his eyes and tried to focus on the day. He was
sure he'd killed everyone, there was even some foolish
girl who had tried opposing him but he took care of
her personally. Though he had regerts about it later,
after hearing about her being compatiable with their
testing and not to mention stronge enough to actually
support his sisters mana signiture. He sighed heavily,
he'd lost a perfect oppertunitiy to bring his sister
back.

He opened his eyes, looking at Kratos once again, "Is there any information on this person?" Mithos asked, they'd need to disppose of this inferior creature soon.

Kratos nodded, "Yes I do, I believe her name is Retsuka
Valentine and she is one of our most important test
subjects. She was infact compatiable with all the tests and her mana signiture is strong enough to to be Martels' vassle, if not stronger." he informed him.

Yggdrasill found himself actually wanting to smile but
instead allowed one of his sinister smirks, "Do you
know her current where abouts?" the half-elf asked,
he could bearly contain his anixousness.

Kratos nodded hesitantly, maybe he should have waited
and given him that last bit of detail later, "She is
currently staying at a bar called the Seventh Heaven,
that's run by a female name Tifa Lockheart." he
watched Mithoss' eyes light up and knew what was
to be said next.

"Good, I'll send a few desigains to capture her." said the
leader of Cruxis. Last time he tried to revive his sister, it was a complete mess and the forsakken choosen colette ruined everything. (But now I'll get her back and no one will stop me.)

"If there's nothing else you need from me, I will take me leave." Kratos asked indirectly. Although he did meet with Lloyd in flanoir, he couldn't join with Lloyd and the others yet but he didn't have to worry to much. He had asked Zelos to watch over them, after finding out that Mithos set up another human ranch in a completely different dimention and had to make sure it didn't get to out of hand... at least not until Lloyd and the others got here.

"Actually, I would like for you to accompany them, that
a way they might be able to bring her back." Mithos
told the seraphim, earning a questioning look.

Kratos shifted his weight from his right to his left leg
and spoke, "I will but first, is there something I should
know about, Mithos?" he'd hoped that Mithos wouldn't
find out about that SOLDIER staying there but it
would seem he already has.

Yggdrasill flipped his well groomed blond hair behind
his ear,"This Tifa person you mentioned, is a female right?" Kratos nodded, "Then you are to keep an eye on her, she may cause you a great deal of problomes and please
Kratos try not to injure my sisters' vassle." Kratos
bowed out and after telling Mithos he wouldn't harm her, left.

Kratos sighed in releif, (He didn't know?) that meant,
Lloyd and the others had more time. Though, he'd still
end up bring her back to him but there was no hurry in
that. Kratos rounded up four Desigain troops and
left Edge City.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day at the Seventh Heaven after everyones'
introduction and the only other person that showed
up was Yuffie, while the others attended to there
own affairs. One adding to his newly modeled Sierra
and the other working on his oil fields. Nanaki decided
to stay in Cosmos Canyon, while Cait Sith was with
Reeve but Cloud didn't really have a problem with it,
if they needed more help he'd call them.

"So you think a guy named Yggdrasill who you're not even
sure how you know his name, burned down your town
to cover up something vital?" the kunoichi asked,
trying to wrap her head around everything. Yuffie
was seated next to Retsuka as was Tifa, while
Vincent and Cloud sat at the bar and children where
up stairs.

Retsuka nodded with a simple, "Yes."

"I'm more interested in this dream of yours." everyone
looked at Vincent, he hadn't said a word since their
introduction and even then he followed suit with
Retsuka and stay on a first name bases. He spoke
again, "Are you sure, you don't remember where you
were before going into the house?" Vincent asked
and while he seemed un-interested, it was the exact
opposite for him. He wanted to know what happened,
why she was the only one left alive and why she didn't
remember where she was before Kalm was tourched.

Retsuka gave a lot more thought before answering him,
"I'm positive. In my dream I started out at the
entrence of the town, I went looking for my family
but when I didn't find them I went to the house."
she finished, come to think of it they were all sitting
around at the house as if they were waiting for her
to return. (Where was I before that, it just doesn't
make any sense.)

"Wait, you said you went looking for them before for
you went home, right? Why did you check everywhere
but home first? Also as you mentioned before, your
grandmother said they've been worried about you. What
did she mean by that?" This time it was Clouds' turn
to ask some questions, none of what she said made any
sense a penny made more cents then this.

"My brother and sister would normally be working from
time to time, while Baa-san would go out chatting with a
few of the other elderly women in the town but when
I didn't find them I figured they had to be at
home. As for why Baa-san said that, I'm not so sure
either..." she trailed off, trying to find an answer as
to why her grandmother said that.

Tifa has been giving a lot of thought to, Retsukas' story
and came up with one answer only, "It sounds to me like
they knew you were gone and had been informed that
you were to be returned to them that day." surprisingly
Tifa hadn't said any of that, it was Vincent who had
come to that conclusion.

"But that still dosen't explain the 'where part.'" Tifa
add as soon as Vincent was finished speaking.

Cloud stood and made his way towards the door, "Where
are you going?" the Martial artist asked, watching him
from her seat next to Retsuka.

"I have to at least get these four packages delivered, the fourth will take a while so I won't be back til' dusk. Plus, I'm gonna try asking around, to see what I can find out." Cloud replied, before opening the door and walking out.

They continued talking with Retsuka for a little while
longer, before Vincent left saying he had something
to attend to and that he'd be back in an hour. Tifa
went about getting the bar ready, in about anonther
3 or 4 hours it would be time to open up for business.
While Yuffie told Retsuka all about the old days
and about her home village Wutai.

Marlene and Denzel came downstairs, running up to Tifa,
"Mom, my friend Lisa called and said she having a sleep
over. Can me and Denzel go? She also said, that her mom has the whole evening planned out, with lots of fun games and movies. So can we please go?" Marlene pleaed, using her best set puppy eyes.

Tifa gave her daughter a warm smile, "Of cours you can
go, just ask Yuffie if she'll walk you." she had an almost
motherly tone while telling them.

Denzel and Marlene hugged Tifa and ran over to Yuffie,
who at first wanted to keep talking with her newly
aquired friend but after Retsuka told Yuffie she would
be here for a long time. Yuffie smiled and walked out the
door with the two kids.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kratos and the four Desigains he'd brought along, two of them having whips and the other two having crssobows,
were hidden on top of a building right infront of the
Seventh Heaven. They watched as Cloud left, it looked
as if he'd be gone for a while and then Vincent left not
to long after. Which meant there were three girls left
inside, Kratos was about to tell them to move out but
Yuffie and two small children emerged from the building
as well.

"It looks like that leave Ms. Lockheart and Retsuka." he
said to no one in particular. Kratos turned to the troop,
"These are you orders, do not use force unless nessesary
and if you have to do not harm Ms. Valentine. Is that
clear?" when the troops replied with a 'Yes Sir', Kratos
lead them towards the bar.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I was told by Denzel that this was your bar. What's it
like trying to keep everything in order?" Retsuka asked,
trying started a lite conversation.

Tifa looked over at the young girl, the young ones always
asked her that question, "Well, normally there's someone
here to help me keep the order but on nights when I'm
the only one here. It can get a little rough, though they
know not to cause trouble with me but all in all it can
get tiring by the end of the night." she answerd the
redhead to best of her ability.

"So, then you're a fighter." Retsuka stated more then
asked, "So am I but I just can't remember if I used a
weapon or my hands." she added, a slight weaver to
her voice. She looked around admiring Tifas' bar,
she began wondering if her costumers ever knocked
them down whils partying.

Tifa watched the girl for a while and started hoping she
wasn't dealing while another Cloud, "I'm sure it'll
come back to you, just give it some time ok." she was
trying to give Retsuka some hope.

Retsuka nodded, "Yeah, I know...." she was cut off by a
bell ringing, which meant someone was entering.

Tifa looked up and when she didn't recignize their suits,
went to Retsukas' side and put her gloves on. Retsuka
saw this and stood as well, it was the seriousness in Tifas'
hazel eyes that said it all.

"I'm only going to say this once, hand over Ms. Valentine
and well will leave you and your bar in one piece." he
offered.

Narrowing her eyes, Tifa clenched her hands into fists
and took an offencive stance. It didn't take a rocket
sceintist to know who that man was talking about but
she would like to know why the girl only told them her
first name, though that would have to wait til later,
"Who are you and why do you want her?" Tifa asked,
while size them all up. (Two bows and two whips, this
is gonna be tough and the leader looks powerful.)

"Who I am and why I want her does not concern you, now
hand...." Kratos stopped when he saw Tifa shake her head
slowly.

Tifa stepped forward, "No and when we're done, you can
tell your leader Yggdrasill, he'll never get her." Tifas'
words grabbed everyones' attention and she continued
to advance on them til' she was standing in front of
Kratos. She never broke her eye contact once, "Yeah,
that's right, I know who you work for and you will
not touch her." Tifa allowed herself a smirk, when she
was done.

"I see, then I can not allow you to live." Kratos knew he
couldn't kill her and would have to find a way to deal a
blow that would trick the eye but also silence her.

Sensing where this was going, Tifa planted her fist in his
jaw and none to gentle. She took on a offencive stance,
watching as he flew into one of the tables and looked
back at Retsuka, making sure the other hadn't advanced
on her yet, "I didn't actually think, my fist would
connect with you face so soon." she smirked inwardly.

Kratos stood, he hadn't expected her to react so quickly
and with such strength, "Listen, I want the girl unharmed
and if Ms. Lockheart gets in the way, take her down."
Kratos orderd the Desigain troop, who all nodded and
went for the girl.

Tbc....

A/N: Please let me know what you think, I pre-typed
two chapters just for you guys but I'm not sure if
my next chapter will this long. Thx for reading.