literature

Rebirth part 4

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Title: Rebirth part 4

A new/old character returns!


The swamps southeast of Midgar were a miserable place. Cloud tried to slouch through the stagnant water, mosquitos buzzing around his ears, but mud and quicksand threatened to suck the boots of his feet every time he tried to move. He was splattered with rancid, stinking water up to his neck and exhausted. Every single step meant lifting his foot almost to his waist to get it out of the mud.

The fact that he had a tiny silver kitten on his shoulder trying to gnaw off his ear for lunch wasn’t helping either. Dark thoughts about tossing the miserable animal into the swamp was however quickly curbed by a single look from the huge silver cat that gracefully moved from one dry patch of land to another, fluid as water and with its tail held high so as to not get a single fleck of dirt on its pristine fur. It worked to. The two bigger kittens tumbled after it, a bit muddy and dirty on their paws but almost as graceful.

A few yards away, Zack-the-wolf bounded by, his long legs splashing through the pools and scaring off frogs, tongue hanging out and a look of ‘isn’t this fun!’ on his spikey-furred face. No, it wasn’t fun! Not as far as Cloud was concerned. Overhead the firebird that had once been Genesis Raphsody flew by, not deigning to put a single claw on the filth beneath.

The only relief was that Angeal seemed to have as much trouble as Cloud; a huge muscular dog simply wasn’t cut out for walking in a swamp. But the dog was determined to trudge on and did so without the slightest sign of tiring, muscling his way through the mire on pure raw power. Occasionally he casted a worried glance at the buster Sword that Cloud tried to balance over his head so it wouldn’t get dirty.

“I’m trying.” Cloud muttered to the dog, trying to keep his balance while holding up the sword with one hand and fighting of needle-sharp kitten teeth with the other. “It’s not as if I want to be here….”

Something huge and scaly rose from the bog in a waterfall of mud and water. The zolom screamed and its long tail lashed out, hitting Cloud straight in the chest and sending him spinning. He landed badly, hitting his head on a submerged rock and for a few seconds all he could see was darkness and stars. He couldn’t move; his body felt as heavy as stone.

The dog and the wolf howled and threw themselves at the attacker, claws and teeth ripping at the zolom’s body. The cat and the two kittens sprang up the scaled curvy body as if it was a ladder, going straight for the eyes. Claws that were a lot longer than any cat had the right to have emerged from soft paws and the monster screamed again. In desperation, the zolom threw a Beta spell, the fire damage lightning up the swamp. Unfortunately for the zolom, the fire bird overhead only became more powered up by the firespell, sucking the magic into its body. Screaming something that to Cloud’s dizzy mind sounded like a Loveless phrase, it dived into the fray.

Cloud’s head started to slip. The rock that he had slammed into had also cushioned his head up from the bog but the tremors from the fight made it slip. His body was lying uselessly almost covered by mud and sinking slowly; he still couldn’t move it. The blow must have been worse than he thought. He could hear bone crunching in the back of his skull as he slipped downwards and he just couldn’t move. If his head splashed into the dirty water he’d sink. And eventually drown. He tried to scream for help, but the animals were too busy grinding the last life out of their opponent – all of them really loved to fight – and the only one who heard was the tiny kitten. It had started to attack his nose, maybe out of some animal instinct that it would keep his head up, or maybe because it was still trying to get a last snack.

Cloud felt panic; he felt resignation. He’d drown here in this filthy water surrounded by animals that had once been heroes and a screaming snake and it was all so surreal. Colourful spots still swam in front of his eyes and one of them landed on his nose. The kitten hissed and backed away. Cloud’s eyes almost crossed as he tried to look at it.

It wasn’t a spot, it was a butterfly. A fragile-looking thing with pink wings and curly antennas, its little legs gently touching his face as if caressing it. The butterfly looked grossly out of place in this brown and muddy place and….

Suddenly he could move and Cloud sat up with a huge gulp of air, spitting out the mud that had started to run into his mouth. The butterfly gracefully fluttered around his head and the pain in the back disappeared. Gingerly Cloud touched the spot where he’d hit the rock, there were nothing there but whole, strong skull bone. The kitten clung to his shoulder and swatted at the butterfly and a small lightning hit the kitten, making it yowl and cower.

A pink butterfly with a healing touch and magic. Cloud held out his hand and the creature daintily landed on his palm.

“Welcome back Aerith,” he mumbled.


Cid scowled as he saw the muddy troop of animals and soldier who walked slowly out of the swamp, pulling the huge carcass of a Midgar Zolom behind them. Behind and above him, perching on the top of the great airship like a skinny weathervane, Vincent turned to stare at the bloody, filthy but triumphant little group.

“Ain’t no way I’m helping ya pull that crap aboard my Highwind.” Cid sat up from where he’d been napping in the sweet green grass. “I’ll never get the mud out of ma clothes!” He squinted at Cloud. “What the hell ate yer nose anyway?”

Cloud sighed and continued to pull the zolom towards the ship.

In the end Cid and Vincent helped out, of course. Together the three men managed to push, shove and curse the zolom carcass into the cargo hold, herd up the Soldier animals that had started to drift away – the kittens were particularly troublesome – and they managed to take off.

“So Aerith is back to, huh?” Cid smiled at the butterfly that fluttered around him as he steered the ship towards Midgar. “Makes ya wonder. Thing we’ll all come back as some random critter some day?” He grinned at Vincent who had managed to find a shady spot to lurk in. “Yer coming back as a bat, ya know, Vince.”

“And you are coming back as a hawk, chief.” Vincent huffed back.

“Why? ‘cause I’m so damn good at flying, right?” Cid preened.

“No. Because it is the bird with the smallest brain.”

“Oh, ha ha ha, very funny.” But the pilot winked at him. “Yuffie oughta be some kind of small yapping dog that steals socks, though. And Barret is already a mama bear. How about ya, Cloud? What ya coming back as?” He turned to the ex-Soldier.

“Someone’s working chocobo on a farm, pulling the plow all day, probably.” Cloud muttered, busy cutting up zolom meat in eadible chunks for the wolf and dog, and saving the tastiest morsels, like the liver, for the cats.

Cid just shook his head.

“It can’t be that bad….”

“Cid, I have a house full of ‘pets’. They need food, water and exercise, to be brushed and washed and get their claws clipped, chew toys for their insanely bad breath. They are, in some cases literally, eating me out of the house.”

“Can’t ya jest let them out in Midgar? Plenty of monsters to hunt in those slums.”

“No.” Cloud shook his head. “I don’t want them eating too many Hedgehog pies or Boundfats. Too much lard on those. They need healthier food.” He threw a morsel at Zack-the- wolf who caught it in powerful jaws, wagging his tail. “It takes an hour every evening just to brush out all that silver fur.” He made a gesture at cat Sephiroth who sat by the great windshield, looking out on the clouds attentively while the kittens tumbled and fought around him, studiously ignoring everyone else. “And that one – “ he waved the butcher knife at the roof were Genesis sat preening himself, occasionally squawking some Loveless quotes. “- won’t eat anything but imported Banora White.”

Cid and Vincent exchanged a look.

“Man, they got ya back ta trooper in no time!”

“Tell me about it,” Cloud sighed as he put out bowls of raw meat for the animals, and one with sliced blur fruit.  In less than a second he was swarmed by bouncing, grateful animals licking his hands and purring against his legs and affectionately pecking at his hair. Some great weight or darkness seemed to lift from the ex-Soldiers shoulders and he crouched down to rub the ears of the happy, loving animals. “It is worth it, though.”
© 2013 - 2024 Enide-Dear
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ShadowHaloedAngel's avatar
I was not expecting that return, but it was fitting indeed, and well timed. I do love this eries, I love the animals you choose, and the dynamic there is.