TemporalStorm

Chapter 5

Blue and Gray

Cloud groaned as he woke up. He didn't know where he was, he only remembered falling and holding onto Squall's hand as they fell together. He snorted at that weird thought, then sat up and started to look around for the younger man. He didn't see him anywhere. In fact, he didn't see anything that he recognized. Even his clothes were all wrong. He was wearing a strange blue outfit that appeared to be a uniform of some sort. A dark blue single breasted frock coat coming down to mid thigh covered his top half while dark blue cotton pants covered the rest. He wore a pair of dark boots on his feet and a pair of white gloves on his hands. He reached a hand up and took something off his head that looked like a hat that had been smashed. After setting the hat back on his head, he slowly stood up to get a better look at himself, blinking in confusion. He looked around a little more, then sighed with relief when he found his buster sword. Now if he could only find Squall.

He looked around his surroundings to get his bearings and maybe an idea on where to go to find Squall. He was in a forest area that was blanketed with light snow. It wasn't freezing cold, but there was a chill in the air. It was just enough for him to see his breath when he breathed out. It was evening and the sun must have just gone down casting everything into a twilight shadow. Looking at the ground, he seen no tracks to indicate anyone had walked off or been dragged away, so this would make tracking Squall even more hard. He looked around once more, and then started off to his right where he thought he could see a camp fire not too far away. Cloud moved quickly, yet quietly, not wanting to give away his position just yet.

As he got closer, he could hear some talking and laughter from the camp ground. Metal plates were clattering as someone put them away after having had a meal. Crude jokes and songs were passed back and forth while others talked quietly about more sentimental matters like their families or sweethearts. The scene was almost inviting, but Cloud wasn't fool enough to walk over to a group of men he didn't know in a strange place he was quite certain didn't exist in his world or the one he had been in with Squall and the others.

"…just a boy with a scar across his face." Cloud heard a man say causing him to listen carefully to the conversation.

"Confederate?" another man asked the first.

"Yeah. Found him wondering around like he was lost. If that's the best the Rebel's got, then we shouldn't be fighting too much longer," laughed the first.

"Did he put up much of a fight?" the second man asked.

"He tried. He was a tough little cuss. He had some strange weapon that kind of looked like a sword and a gun," said the first.

The second one laughed before replying, "That's called a bayonet, Chuck."

"No! This wasn't a bayonet. It looked like a sword. The whole thing did almost. It had the chambers of a gun on it and the handle too, but the rest of it looked like a broad sword." The first man, Chuck, explained.

"Sounds different. I wonder where he got something like that." The second man murmured.

"Dunno. He won't talk. He hasn't said a word since we brought him in." Chuck said.

Cloud waited to see where they were keeping this boy they were talking about. From the description, he knew it was Squall. He was sure they were about to tell the location when he heard a cocking noise behind him.

"What are you? Some kind of spy?" a voice asked behind him.

Cloud cursed under his breath as he sat the Buster Sword down and raised his hands to show he was no longer armed. He then slowly stood up.

"No. I got separated from…my unit. I wasn't sure if this was a… camp of comrades or enemies…so I was just making sure." Cloud lied.

He hoped the guy bought it. The last thing he needed was a hole in the back of his skull.

"What's your name and rank?" the man behind him asked.

"Cloud Strife. SOILD…um…Infan…trymen?" he asked the last part, though he wasn't trying to.

"Cloud Strife? What kind of dumb name is that?" the man behind him barked out a laugh. "It's too stupid to be a lie. Even a spy could come up with better than that. Alright, and you're infantry you said? Yeah. That's about right. Your uniform says it all."

The man un-cocked his gun and holstered it as Cloud turned around. He looked this new comer up and down. He was dressed similar to Cloud, only his coat was a little different with a few medals showing he was a higher up. He was a lot older than Cloud with a graying full beard and mustache. His dark blue eyes were almost too dark to tell their color in the evening light.

"Heh. You're just a kid. Yeah. You're not a spy at all. Well, come on into camp. We can get you warmed up and get you something to eat if you want." The man said with a shrug.

Cloud nodded and followed the man into the camp.

"Who do you got there, Bryans?" Chuck called from where he still sat talking with his buddy.

"Lost kid. Name's Strife." He said with a chuckle.

"His parents had a sense of humor." Chuck called back with an uproarious laugh.

If from listening to the man earlier hadn't made Cloud like Chuck before, he really didn't like him now. It wasn't just that the man was laughing at him. It was that the man just rubbed him the wrong way. Or at least Cloud kept telling himself.

"I was telling Andrews here about the kid we caught earlier. Someone leave a play pen open somewhere?" Chuck asked as Cloud and Bryans walked over to where Chuck and his friend, Andrews was sitting.

Cloud could see the two men better now. They wore uniforms identical to his, but they also appeared older. Chuck had a dark brown full beard and mustache that looked like it would soon be lightning from age. His eyes were a muddy brown that didn't even seem to shine back light from the fire. His friend Andrews was clean shaven almost with a very angular face, high cheek bones, and thin lips pressed in a straight line.

"You caught a kid? I don't guess he could have been from my unit." Cloud murmured as if he was talking to himself.

"Not unless you're with the rebels, kid. No. This was a Confederate." Chuck said.

"Guess you took him back to base." Cloud said nodding some.

"Hell no! I'm not walking some idiot kid all the way back to base. He can wait until we all return." Chuck said with a snort.

"Makes sense." Cloud said.

"We're keeping him tied up in a tent over there ." he said waving his hand towards some tents at the other end of camp.

Cloud just nodded as if he wasn't interested. He was invited to sit with the three men and was even given a meal. While he ate, he listened to them talk about things that he had no idea about, further proving to him he was nowhere near his or Squall's homes. Apparently he was in a world where a country was divided and fighting amongst itself. They were split into the Union and the Confederate, also known as the North and South or Yankees and Rebels. He didn't ask anything as he listened to them talk, but continued to try and follow the conversation. He still didn't know what country he was in or what world this was.

He finished his meal and sat the plate aside as the three older men started telling crude jokes. He really wasn't interested in this, but didn't have anywhere else to go that wouldn't look suspicious, so he sat tight. After twenty minutes and the beginning of a small migraine, the men stood up and said their good nights. Bryans pointed a tent out to Cloud and told him he could sleep there. Cloud thanked the man and went into the tent to wait. He would wait until the other men were asleep before going to find Squall. The time seemed to drag on before he was positive everyone but the lookout was asleep.

He quietly got up and left the tent. He made sure that the lookout didn't even see him and stuck to the shadows as he made his way to the three tents that Chuck had pointed to earlier. He peeked into the first one and saw a man sleeping in it so quickly he moved to the next. It wasn't until the third tent that he found Squall. It seemed Squall had already been devising his own plan for escape, because Cloud didn't know what hit him as something heavy and breakable come down on his head knocking him out cold.

VII/VIII

Squall looked down at his unconscious comrade and mumbled curses under his breath. Why hadn't Cloud tried to give him some sort of warning he was going to come save him? This was just great. As if this whole little adventure hadn't been bad enough. First he'd woken up in strange clothes and in some forest. Then when he'd found some people to ask where he was, they had attacked him. Something about his uniform being from an opposing army. Next thing he knew, he'd gotten his ass kicked and was tied up in a tent. He'd waited till he was sure they were asleep before he'd gotten himself untied and was about to escape when he heard someone trying to get into the tent. He'd promptly picked up a heavy looking glass and hit the person in the back of the head, only to find out it was Cloud.

"Idiot." Squall grumbled again before kneeling down and shaking Cloud. "Hey…wake up. Come on. We have to get out of here."

A female voice groaned as Cloud slowly sat up. He blinked his eyes revealing that they were now brown instead of mako blue.

"Cloud?" Squall asked in confusion.

"Squall?" Rinoa's voice spoke back nearly causing Squall to jump back in surprise. She rubbed the back of her? his? head before groaning again. "You hit me too hard."

"I hit Cloud too hard. I think. How are you doing that?" Squall asked as he held out a hand to help Rinoa up.

"I don't know. Ewww…it feels weird being a boy." She said as she looked down at the body she now inhabited.

"This whole situation is weird. We need to get out of here first though. Then we can worry about everything else." Squall said.

Rinoa nodded, and then hugged Squall who stiffened up and pulled away a little.

"Rinoa, until your back in your body, please try not to do that." He said.

"Oh…ok." She said looking a little hurt. "I was just glad you're ok. I was worried when Cloud woke up alone."

He sighed and did a quick loose hug back to her, then pulled away.

"I'm fine. Let's go." He said as he snuck out of the tent.

Rinoa followed as quietly as she could. They snuck through the camp and back into the woods, being careful not to make a sound. Once in the woods they started to run and get as far away as possible. Once deep into the forest, Rinoa started panting and stopped to catch her breath.

"Hey wait…I need to rest." She said.

"We don't have time. We need to get more distance. Then we need to find someone friendly and ask where we are." He said.

"We're in another world. Cloud talked to the soldiers who had you and they explained this place. Were in another world in a country that's going through a Civil War." She explained.

Squall nodded. At least Cloud had gotten some good information that they could use. It meant they both needed to ditch the uniforms because either side would identify one or the other as an enemy.

"Alright. We need to get us some more clothes, then find Ultimecia and make her take us back home." He said.

Rinoa nodded in agreement and followed Squall as he started through the woods again. It wasn't long when Squall heard some rustling and stopped walking. He gestured to Rinoa to do the same. She nodded and listened for whatever sound Squall had heard, then turned when she heard a twig break. Behind them stood two soldiers. Rinoa gasped and turned to tell Squall, but found that he was looking at three soldiers who were in front of him. Squall put his hands up as the soldiers pointed their guns. Rinoa did the same, but moved closer to Squall in fear.

"Traitors and deserters. You two are in a world of trouble." Bryans said as he stepped out f the forest. "I knew you acted a little funny, Strife, especially when we mentioned the prisoner. We'd usually take you back home, but I'm taking this personal. You come into my camp and enjoy my hospitality only to betray me by freeing my prisoner."

The man walked over and punched Rinoa hard across the face causing her to fall.

"Hey!" Squall exclaimed. "Don't you dare touch he…him again!"

"Wont. He's knocked out anyway. He sounds like a girl when you hit him. Must have a glass jaw. Went down with one punch." Bryans muttered.

"You have no idea." Squall thought to himself.

"Let's move out. We're going back to camp. Bring your friend." Bryans said to Squall before turning.

Several soldiers waited for Squall to pick up Rinoa? Cloud? He wasn't really sure who'd wake up but he figured he'd be able to tell by the eyes once they did. Once he'd picked Cloud up in a fireman carry, he headed back to camp to wait for whatever they had in store for him and his comrade.

VII/VIII

Next Chapter 6: Escape

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. It was the last semester of college and it was the holidays so everything was crazy this month. I was finally able to finish this chapter though to not the length I'd wanted. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon. Thanks for being patient with me!