More plot development, some explanations, but mainly plot development. Rating increased because of Cid Highwind's foul mouth.
Vanille sat up, propping the pillows to give her something soft to lean on, countering the pain where her brand should be. She felt, well, she wasn't sure how she felt. This room, wherever it was, was nothing if not comfortable, but the blotches on her thigh, the Stigma, were constantly aching, sending pain lancing through her whenever something touched them. She lifted her leg, peering at the once-brand. As before, they looked like an ugly pattern of bruises, and they felt a bit like a bruise, especially when something touched them. It looked like her skin was decaying.
"GeoStigma" a low voice from the edge of the room announced. "There's no cure"
"Cloud?" Vanille looked up at the spiky haired man, "What causes it?"
"We don't know. Ever since Meteorfall it's been spreading"
"Meteorfall?"
"If you don't know that then there's not much I can do to help" Cloud shrugged. Vanille saw him turn away from her in the dim half light. He started to walk out the door, but was blocked by a slim figure Vanille couldn't quite make out.
"Always you, you, you" the woman sighed, "You can trust us, you know"
"Tifa" Cloud sighed, "She doesn't know what Meteorfall is"
"Then tell her" Tifa stepped forwards, pushing Cloud back. As she passed through the light, Vanille caught sight of long, long, smooth brown hair along a pale, slim frame.
Cloud rolled his eyes, sitting next to the curled up Vanille on the bed.
"Well?" Vanille flung herself forwards, now sitting on the edge of the bed and peering dangerously close to Cloud.
"Meteorfall" Cloud sighed, shooting a tired look at Tifa, "Over a year ago, meteor was summoned to destroy the world, but Holy was cast to counter it, and Aeris saved us. Done" he moved to get up as Vanille squeaked:
"Aeris?"
Tifa looked at her strangely.
"I met her" Vanille bounced, "She's nice."
"You met her?" Cloud span around suddenly, "Where? How?"
"I-in the" Vanille paused, trying to remember what Aeris called the place, "Lifestream" she finished.
"You were in the Lifestream?" Tifa frowned, "What about Mako poisoning?"
"Mako?" Vanille frowned, "Never heard of it. Don't think I was actually in the Lifestream anyway: I was just there, when I was asleep"
"Did she say anything?" Tifa sat down the side of Vanille opposite to Cloud.
"Didn't get much of a chance, but she's in my world and I'm in hers. She has to do something in my world, so I was swapped with her."
Tifa looked like she was about to say something, but before she could a phone started to ring in the distance. Rolling her eyes, she left the room. There was a click and the ringing stopped.
"You saw Aeris?" Cloud looked sideways at Vanille
"Yep! Haven't we settled that yet?"
"Did she…no" Cloud looked down, away. "She wouldn't have"
"Hey, Cloud!" Tifa's voice came from outside the room, "It's Cid. He's on the outskirts of Edge, with his airship. Says he's bought a phone so you don't have to set that, his words, damn chocobo on him. He says to see him, and Vanille can come too"
"Right" Cloud replied. He wasn't speaking particularly loudly, but his voice carried.
Vanille moved to get up, straightening the fur around her waist when Cloud, already standing, eased her back onto the bed.
"Huh?" she tilted her head
"Give it a minute or two. I didn't take you here just so you could leave: you get used to the Stigma in a few hours after first being infected. Doesn't seem like you got that far yet, so wait here. We'll be back anyway, first we have to plot a course with Cid" the spiky haired Cloud left the room, and shut the door soundly behind him.
Well, at least she'd get a chance to see some of the world. Airship, did he say? She wondered where they'd go. How big was this world anyway? What were its fal'Cie like, did they even have fal'Cie?
Sighing, Vanille leant back. Cloud was right; the steady, thumping ache of her Stigma was starting to subside, though it was still tender to touch. She sat up, lifting a pelt around her waist to look at the brownish blotches, and gasped. It was spreading. Before it had just been a discolouration of her brand, a little patchy around the edges. Now, now it was like ink of paper, trickling and spreading. Staining.
"Don't be surprised" a deep, almost unintentionally husky, voice spoke from the shadows at the edges of the room.
Vanille looked up, gazing at the walls. There was a torn red cloak hung up on one, but outside that, nothing.
"The Stigma's part of the Planet's immune system. It attacks alien matter, and if your tale about a different world is true, you're a prime target."
"Who are you?" Vanille said squeakily, looking around.
The red cloak hung up on a wall shifted slightly, before it fell down a few centimetres. It moved forwards, towards Vanille who drew back, before it stopped and shook. It revealed a man in a deep crimson cloak, kept on by deep black buckles. He had smooth, black leather wrapped around each leg, descending to sharp pointed golden shoes. On one hand he had yet more deep black leather, in the form of a glove, the hand resting on a gun holster. His other hand was outfitted in a gold, claw-like gauntlet. His hair descended to his shoulders, but was kept away from his face by a dark red bandanna over his forehead. His skin was eerily pale. The back edges of his cloak were ripped, frayed.
"Who are you?" Vanille tilted her head, trying to sound cuter than her last, suspicious speech.
"Vincent" the man replied, "Vincent Valentine."
"How'd you get in?"
"Through the window. Now, you gonna let me speak?" he seemed irate on the surface, and yet his tone betrayed no irritation.
"Sure" Vanille smiled, satisfied, leaning back.
"You come from Gran Pulse, right?" Vincent gave a small, slightly smug smile.
X
"So" trench coat man, apparently named Snow, surmised from Aeris's earlier speech, "You think we've got to do something, but you don't know what"
"Yes" Aeris nodded
"So you want to ask the planet?"
Aeris nodded again.
"But the planet won't talk to you, so you want to go somewhere where it will speak?"
"Exactly"
"And that place is Cocoon?" Snow seemed amazed.
"Yes" Aeris nodded. "This world is silent, so maybe that one will talk"
"Cocoon is artificial" the pink haired Lightning interjected, ducking under the doorway to enter the room in the Oerba house.
"Who created it?"
"The fal'Cie" Lightning replied, dismissive, sitting on a worn cushion.
"Well, maybe they made it alive. Perhaps they make up the Planet's spirit" Aeris guessed.
She didn't really believe it herself, she just knew that she couldn't face being abandoned by the Planet, so she made up a fantasy of being able to speak to the one on Cocoon. But really, she doubted it. Maybe she could, so she might as well find out, or maybe these worlds were lifeless. Gran Pulse did look like it was dying; it was subtle, but she could see the difference, comparing it to her Planet. The flower petals curled prematurely, some died faster than they should. The grass wasn't springy, it was like paper, at least, the little she'd seen around Oerba was. But then there was the soil; it was dry, sandy and, while that could be unique to Oerba, she doubted it. The Planet just felt…wrong.
"Come on sis" Snow thumped Lightning on the back. She turned around, glaring. "We don't have a clue what we're doing, and we don't know what it'll achieve. Just like being a l'Cie generally" Snow shrugged.
Lightning rolled her eyes, getting up and leaving the Oerba house. Sighing, Snow got up and followed her, smiling apologetically at Aeris.
Alone now, Aeris closed her eyes and interlocked her fingers in front of her. It was a kind of prayer she'd done whenever she wanted to calm down and while she normally spoke to the Planet, now she was meditating in solitude. Silence.
With nothing distracting her, she could hear the whispers of Gran Pulse. The crystal dust in Oerba was rustling, each speck constantly, imperceptibly shaking. The waters looked calm but were again rippling unnoticeably. Aeris could hear all these noises and, in the distance, she could hear blades of grass rustling in a lost breeze.
And, as she drifted deeper into the waking sleep, she could hear one more noise. Breathing in, breathing out, normal respirations on a cosmic, spiritual scale. Taking in air, before exhaling it, the constant cycle. The circle of life.
But… Aeris listened to the breaths. A long inhalation, air and nutrients taken in, before the same minerals were expelled. But not too many.
She was listening to the rhythm of life on Gran Pulse, the steady tingling as life continued, spirit energy of dying creatures circling this world, even if it was silent. This world may not be living, but the Lifestream still circled it, the spirits entering it, before being recreated elsewhere. The circle of the Lifestream.
But, as a Cetra, Aeris could hear it. The unconscious world was taking in more spirit energy than it was releasing.
Slowly, but surely, Gran Pulse was dying. Soon, nothing could be born. There would be no spirit energy being released from the planet, no life force to give life to anyone.
Then, there would be no more born, and no more to live.
She could see it already; even the few plants were withering prematurely.
Was that why she'd been summoned here? To help regulate the Lifestream, to keep the circle of life spinning on? If so, she didn't know what to do.
A soft hissing began behind her, drawing her out of her reverie. Aeris turned, to see a small brown insect on a shelf. It was a dark brown, spherical beetle, with a pale, dome like, rounded face making up the upper hemisphere of its body. On this hemisphere, it had two darker brown circles with strips of narrow eyes visible. For some odd reason, it was wearing what seemed to be a miniature cape, and had a white moustache growing from the bottom of its head to having a point above the top of his head, both sides, like a crescent.
Aeris leapt back, out of her calming meditation, and threw a scrap of machinery at the creature.
"Easy now" it hissed. Aeris did a double take. "No one ever likes this form" it murmured, "Don't blame me for it, blame Hilda"
"Who…who are you?" Aeris knelt down, reaching a hand out for the odd creature to hop towards her.
"You can't recognized me?" the insect gave an odd, clicking laugh as it hopped onto Aeris's palm. "I'm the ever-present man, of course. Remember: different forms in every world"
"This is how you look here?" Aeris tilted her head, puzzled
"Nah, I nicked this from a different incarnation. It was this or a frog. I needed to ask though, you figured out what you're doing?"
"I think so" Aeris nodded, almost sure of herself. "Is it something to do with Gran Pulse withholding the Lifestream?"
"Exactly, you-" the ever-present man/beetle paused, looking up for a moment before cursing. "Can't tell you, sorry. I made myself present in every world long ago, with help from the Lufenians, by bargaining with the gods themselves. Had to accept some limitations though. I can't interfere unless it's something I'd know in that specific world. It's why I like the Lifestream: it connects everything"
"You know that Gran Pulse is dying?" Aeris frowned
"Easy with the right friends. Two heads are better than one, well, a heck of a lot more than two in his case. He was there when it started"
"Who is it?"
"A fal'Cie. Light will know him. Well, she'll know 'it' I suppose. Now if you don't mind, I've got a Garden to fly" the beetle thing hopped off of Aeris's arm, starting to move out the door. It was enveloped in a pale green haze, like the Lifestream.
Gripped by a sudden panic, Aeris took one step towards the creature and grabbed its cloak, pinching the fabric and pulling it out of the portal it was creating.
"What is it this time?" the ever-present man/beetle sighed.
"What garden do you mean?" Aeris asked, kneeling near the oddity.
"It's in another world; I'm asleep, so my mind's wandering, literally. When I wake up I'll forget this, but whenever another me sleeps, I'll be back travelling, remembering the life of every me. Now, if I'm not mistaken, missiles have been launched towards one of my forms and I'd like to fly away. Oh and I think Vanille's about to meet me" the ever-present insect gave an approximation of a shrug. "Don't ask me what I'll look like next time we meet. I go for the form which fits the best." Undisturbed this time, the ever-present man bounded into a ripple of green Lifestream, transporting to wherever it came from, to forget this world and all the others until next he shut his eyes to dream.
Aeris stood up, prepared to start her journey towards Cocoon, to save the dying Gran Pulse, while worlds away, Vanille watched Vincent Valentine seemingly vanish into the shadows as Tifa returned to the room. She was travelling by airship, but one thing was still bothering her: how did Vincent know the name Gran Pulse?
I was just like to conclude by shouting very loudly: I LOVE VINCENT VALENTINE!
Anyway, that's that. Hee hee. Hope you enjoyed!