Chapter 2
The Orb

Cloud was occupied with loading up the last of the crates onto Barret's truck when Yuffie sidled up next to him. "Here," she said, slipping him a small key. "You've been looking for this, right?"

"What's this?" Cloud asked.

"The key to that box you found," the young ninja replied.

Cloud was surprised, to say the least. He hadn't told anyone about his finding as far as he remembered. Having spent some time rummaging through the attic in a fruitless attempt to locate the key, he had given up on the pursuit for the time being, and tried to focus on clearing out the rest of the Seventh Heaven instead. He and the rest of Avalanche had been occupied for the past couple of days with doing just that, and by the end he had gotten so busy with the task at hand that it had almost slipped his mind altogether.

"How did you.." he started to ask, before Yuffie cut him off.

"You're not as sneaky as you think, ya know," she replied. "Besides, you're not going to keep any secrets from the world's number one ninja for long," she added, patting her chest, beaming with a considerable sense of pride and just a hint of smugness.

"Where did you find this?" Cloud asked, examining the key.

"Came across it while I was exploring the attic," Yuffie said.

"'Exploring'?" Cloud replied. "You mean sifting through our stuff to see if you could find any leftover materia."

"Well, yeah... that, too. I figured you guys weren't using it, anyway," Yuffie replied, shrugging.

Cloud crossed his arms, giving the young ninja a reproachful look.

"I didn't find anything, though," she added. "Don't worry."

"All right, we're heading off," Reeve said, coming up next to them. "You guys set?"

"Just about," Barret replied, throwing the last of his luggage onto the back of his truck.

"So, you're off, then?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah. Cid's gonna drop me off back home," Yuffie said. "By the way, if you guys are ever back in Wutai, drinks are on me."

"Are you even old enough to drink?" Cid asked.

"There's always Turtle's Paradise, right?" Reeve said.

"Let me guess..." Cloud said. "The one place where you won't get carded?"

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him in reply, then turned to leave.

"Hey," Cloud called after her, raising the key in his hand. "Thanks."

"No problem, Spikes," Yuffie replied, grinning. "See you on the flip side!"

With that, she clambered inside the crammed vehicle, waving to Cloud, Tifa and the children, who stood by and watched as their friends sped off down the dusty road.

Later in the evening, Cloud returned to the attic, after making sure that everyone else was asleep. He still hadn't mentioned his discovery to anyone else, wanting to keep it to himself for a little while longer. It seemed selfish, but he wanted a chance to go over its contents by himself before revealing his find to the others. There was no way of telling for certain what was inside, and it might not be anything to make a fuss over, anyway. After all, it was possible that upon opening it, he would simply be greeted by an empty box. He half-hoped and half-feared that that might turn out to be the case. He wanted to have something to remember his fallen friend by, some sort of keepsake, but at the same time, he was afraid of what memories it might stir.

The box itself was carved from fine, rich rosewood, and its variegated etchings were lacquered to a vibrant finish. The whole thing was marked by a skillful and sedulous workmanship. He wondered who had made it, and where it had come from. He couldn't remember seeing it on their travels. Whether it had come into Aerith's possession somewhere along the way, or if it had belonged to her before she departed from Midgar with the rest of Avalanche, he couldn't tell.

With a mixture of trepidation and expectation, he slid the key into the lock. Inside the box, he found a melange of items, some of which were familiar to him, but also quite a few that he didn't recognize, unsorted bits and pieces of a life that he thought he had known; a life cut far too short.

He inspected the inside of the box with caution and due reverence, feeling somewhat uneasy with the voyeuristic nature of the act. Most prominent was the orb occupying the box's centre: The White Materia. After things had settled down following the rescue efforts in Midgar, he had made an excursion to Ajit by himself. When he arrived there, he had discovered the small orb floating on the surface near the river bank. Not knowing what else to do with it, he had taken it back home with him and set it aside, though how it had ended up here, he didn't know.

Even now, the pale orb seemed to retain a small flicker of the power that had been unleashed two years ago. Peering inside of it, he recalled gazing into the perennial fires blazing at Cosmo Canyon..

Aerith glanced up, meeting the ex-soldier's refulgent gaze as he sat down next to her.

"Find anything?" she asked.

"We had a word with Nanaki's grandfather. He might be able to help us."

"I see."

"How about you?" Cloud asked. "Did you speak to the elders?"

Aerith nodded. "They've told me a lot of things. About the Cetra, and the Promised Land."

"Like what?"

She looked up towards the sky as she spoke, reciting the elders' words from memory. "'The Cetra will speak to the planet, return to the planet and unlock the planet.'"

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Aerith said. "All I know is that I'm the last of my kind."

She grew wistful as she spoke, gazing deeper into the crackling fire. "I'm... alone," she said. "I'm all alone now."

"But I'm-" Cloud began, pausing for the briefest of moments, before speaking again. "We're here for you."

"I know," Aerith said, drawing her knees up underneath her chin, shivering in the cold night air. "I know. But I am the only Cetra."

"Does that mean we can't help?" he asked.

She turned away from him, looking distressed, not wanting to say 'no', but not wanting to lie, either. The truth was that she didn't know, and none of them knew how this was going to end. Whatever fate had in store for them, it was safe to say that few of them harboured illusions of happy endings or cheerful ever-afters.

Cloud studied the orb, turning it slowly between his fingers. It seemed such a small, fragile thing, and yet so full of potential, much like the planet it had served to protect. The orb was yet another reminder of her sacrifice. Though they had all made sacrifices during their journey, and in the years leading up to it, the responsibility of taking the last step necessary to safeguard the world had been her cross to bear, and hers alone. Long before she was even aware of it, she had been determined to ward the frail earth against those who would simply wolf it down or discard it, with no thought for the morrow. She had inherited it from generations past, meaning that the onus had been on her from the start, and she had never once shied away from her duty.

Underneath the orb, he found a small, white card, on which was written a note:

"Hey, Spikes.

I lied. I did find one piece, but I decided not to take it. Didn't seem right somehow, you know?

(By the way, if you're wondering why I left this note, I already knew you were going to ask me about what I was doing up here. Also, I can read people's minds. Because I'm awesome like that.)

Anyway, take care.

-Yuffie, Single White Rose of Wutai, World's Greatest Ninja, etc, etc.."

Cloud chuckled, then shook his head. He couldn't help but smile at the young ninja's ceaseless boasting. When he had first met her, he had found it wearisome, to say the least, but over time, it had grown on him, and although she had shown some faint signs of maturity lately, he figured she wouldn't be herself without it.

Aside from the White Materia, there were still a fair few items lining the inside of the box that he didn't recognize, but sorting through them would have to wait for a better time. It was getting late, and he had promised to take Denzel and Marlene to the park tomorrow.

Placing the materia back inside, he closed the lid, locked the box and set it back into the alcove, then headed down the stairs to turn in for the night.

Author's notes

Again, just a short chapter this time around. I may write a longer reminiscence later, but this probably won't be the longest of stories.

Also, I couldn't quite remember how the "speak to the planet, unlock the planet" line went, so I decided to paraphrase it. Not in the mood to scour wikis or (shudder) fan forums for the information.

That's all for now, folks. Leave me a review or a message if you'd like to see more, have any thoughts, comments, criticisms, etc. Thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Nascent Raconteur.

EDIT: I just realized that I missed some pretty important lines of dialogue from that reminiscence. I've gone back and fixed said problem, hopefully before anyone noticed.