Hidden Identity (Book Two)-Complete

Year Five, Day Thirty-Eight

Cloud POV

This is impossible. There's no way this could be real. Everything is still here. All of Nibelheim is still standing. Everything is just the way I remember it.

"How is this possible?" Tifa asks in a strained voice, looking like she might cry as her eyes wonder over the familiar buildings. "We saw Nibelheim burn. It was all gone..."

"Maybe someone around here knows what's going on," Aerith suggests.

I knock on the door of the first house we come to. I don't exactly remember whose house this is, though. Nobody answers. I push open the door and step into the dusty, unused house, followed by the others.

"Nobody's been here for a while," Cress says, running a finger across the table and leaving a trail in the thick layer of dust. Suddenly, she tenses. "Someone's upstairs."

I silently gesture for the others to stay down here and be quiet while the pair of us head upstairs to check it out. I can see flickering candlelight on the other side of the single door on the landing. Moaning sounds can be heard from within.

"They might be hurt," my girlfriend whispers, sounding concerned.

Nodding, I open the door. "Hello? We're here to help you. Are you h-?"

Two figures in torn black cloaks are slumped against the wall opposite us. They remind me of Marco, that sick guy who lived in the apartment next to mine back in the Sector 7 Slums. And that guy who attacked those kids in the Sector 5 Slums when I was Aerith's bodyguard.

Cress hurries over to them. "Are you okay?"

The larger of the two only moans in response, but the smaller one reaches up and grabs hold of Cress. "Re...union....Re...union..."

Then, he collapses, releasing her. She looks back at me. "Reunion?"

I shake my head. "I don't know what that means either. I don't think there's anything we can do for them. Let's just keep moving."

"Alright."

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Tifa POV

The next house we go to is my old house. It's exactly how I remember it. There's no sign at all of there ever being a fire.

As soon as we walk inside, I catch sight of a figure in a torn black cloak. Cloud and Cress said there were a couple like that in the upstairs of the last house. He or she does look a lot like Marco, but this one is able to walk around. What is he doing in my house?

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" I ask him or her. 

In a hoarse voice, not even bothering to look at me, the figure replies, "must...get...it...and bring...to...Se...phi...roth...then...become...one...with...Se...phi...roth..."

"What do you mean?"

The man, I'm sure it's a man now, walks away, not answering my question. I look back at Cloud and the others. They look just as confused as I do. Except Cress. She's making this face like she's thinking very hard about something.

"He has a tattoo," Cloud points out. "Like Marco, only his is the number 5."

I wonder what those numbers mean. Is this guy related to Marco?

There's another one in the kitchen by the stove, which is lit. Cloud and I walk up to him. "Hello?"

"Must...go...re...union..." he says vacantly.

"Again with the reunion?" Cloud mutters. "His tattoo is number 11."

"This all makes no sense."

Yet another of them is in my parents' bedroom. This one has the tattoo of the number 4 on his shoulder. When we approach, we hear him muttering, "where...are...you...Great...Se...phi...roth?"

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Sam POV

The next house is Cloud's old house. Thinking it to certainly not have anyone living in it, we walk right in. To our surprise, an old woman is standing in the kitchen, washing dishes. 

"Excuse me, is there something I can do for you?" she asks kindly.

"Who are you?" Cloud asks, frowning. "I lived in this house until I was 14...but this town was burned down."

The woman makes a face. "You must be sick to say such things! Get out of here!"

Cloud stormed out of the house. The rest of us follow after him. I hurry to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. "Cloud..."

"None of this makes sense. The town was burned down by Sephiroth five years ago. I know it was. Tifa knows it was. Who was that person in my mother's house? What is with the people in the black cloaks with their 'reunions' and nonsense? How could they have rebuilt everything exactly how it was?"

"I don't have the answers, Cloud. Maybe we'll find some if we keep looking around."

"Maybe."

Hey, I'm back. I know this is a short chapter, but it's necessary to continue building up towards the climax. 

As you may have noticed, I have begun to switch Crescent X (Cress) back to her true self, Samantha.