Violet Shadows (FF7)

4) Gold Saucer

"Huh? Oh another customer. You sure picked an out of the way place but... But if it's the Keystone you're looking for, you're too late. Don't have it."

"Keystone?" Cloud asks with a frown. This weapon's shop really is out of the way... Secluded on a peninsula that Cid thought for sure would be a useful stop. And what the heck is a Keystone? The weapons maker looks confused.

"What? You didn't come here for that? The Keystone is the key that unlocks the gate to a very old temple somewhere. You're not going to believe your ears, but I heard it was the Temple of Ancients!"

"The Temple of Ancients..." Cloud repeats slowly. I scowl at Vincent as his eyes wander around the room, taking in the sight of the useful items along the wall. The man chuckles.

"Don't take it seriously, it's just a legend!"

"Where is this Keystone?" Cloud presses.

"Sold it already. Yeah, well, to tell you the truth, I didn't really want to sell it but... Tat guy had a way about him that made you feel like it might not be a good idea not to sell it to him."

"Who did you sell it to?" The blonde stays irritably.

"The manager of the Gold Saucer. Think his name was Dio. Said he was gonna put it in his museum and then he took off."

Cloud looks at us and nods. Then we're gone, leaving the man's home and reuniting with the group of people that are terrified of me. Aeris won't even talk to me. Cid tries to though and I just ignore him. Except for this once. We're walking to Corel to get to the cursed theme park Gold Saucer and the chain smoking pilot decides to come bother me.

"You ain't gonna turn into that freaky thing in the park, are ya?"

"Depends on how much you annoy me," I state coldly. He just chuckles.

"Ya know, ya think you're so tough, but ya don't scare me. Ya look too young." I scowl at him.

"I'm older than you."

"How do you know.

"I watched you grow up," I give him a flat look. "You and your girlfriend... Shera was it? An your uncle and aunt, they were nice parents."

"Frikin stalker," he mutters. "I know I ain't supposed to ask women this, but how old are ya?"

"Fifty four-ish," I shrug.

"Man, ya sure are weird. But ya still don't scare me."

"No?"

"Nope." I allow Shadow's long pointy teeth to poke through before swiveling around and hissing in his face like a cat. He swears loudly and stumbles over onto his butt. Barret bursts into laughter as I force the teeth back, smirking to myself evilly. Cloud even chuckles a teeny bit and Vincent finally looks me in the eye, an amusing twinkle resting in the sea of crimson. How did Lucrecia used to describe them? Like puddles of blood? She's wrong. They're like rubies. Precious, unique, rare. Where the heck did that come from? The pits of my weird brain.

"Don't be so sure, Highwind," I finally mutter in his direction.

"Ya just took me by surprise," he reasons. I roll my eyes and keep going. We eventually make it through Corel and onto the transport to Gold Saucer, the thing launching before I'm ready. I end up stumbling into Vincent, who quickly grabs my arm to steady me. I think it's more to avoid getting crushed than to help out. He never was that kind of person.

The all too cheery music blasts into our ears, people dressed as chocobos bouncing everywhere and Cloud tossing three thousand gil in the direction of the lady at the entrance. She nods and let's us in, not even bothering to care about our big weapons and menacing looks. Well, Cait looks like a clown, but that's beside the point. If I was even making one, that is. Cloud silently leads us to battle square, a place Shadow is already whining at me to go to. No. She scowls in the back of my mind and crawls back to wherever she resides. Vincent and I share an equally unhappy glance as Dio rambles on about Cloud entertaining him, which I'm almost certain Cid took the wrong way, and we suffer through watching our leader fail miserably against a giant bug of all things.