"But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back to the reason why we're here."
FORGE THE PATH
Chapter IV: The Revelation
"May I see that metal thingy?" Aerith, who was still in the Jedi's cloak, asked with curiosity.
Not good, Obi-Wan thought as he focused on manipulating the flower girl's mind. He slowly waved his right hand and said, "You did not see my metal cylinder."
Aerith, however, looked insulted. "Oh, you're going to try and convince me that I did not see that?" she asked in annoyance. "I'm not THAT much of an airhead, you know."
Oh no, her mind is lot stronger than I have anticipated, the Jedi thought in defeat. Blazes. He looked at his lightsaber hanging on his belt, then at the annoyed Aerith. I hope this won't be something I'll regret.
The auburn-haired man took a deep breath and asked, "Aerith?"
"Yes?" said Aerith, her annoyance dissipating.
"Who do you think I am?"
"You're Obi-Wan Ken-oh-bee," the flower girl said slowly to match the name.
"Yes, but who do you think I am?"
"Well," Aerith said as she thoughtfully tapped her chin. "You said that you were a caveman..."
The knight nodded. She noticed something strange, the Jedi thought. Clever girl.
"But I know you're not just a caveman," the flower girl stated seriously. "You are... a mountain hermit."
...What? "What?" Obi-Wan said as he raised his eyebrow.
"A mountain hermit!" Aerith declared more loudly. "Your strange persuasion skills, that strange cloak... That metal thingy is your flashlight, so that you can use it when it gets dark! And most importantly, you have a beard."
The whole room went silent. At that moment, Elmyra rushed in from the kitchen and asked, "Is anything wrong?"
...Oh blazes. "No, nothing is wrong," the Jedi Knight stated calmly. Perhaps Miss Gainsborough should know the truth, as well.
The auburn-haired man took a deep breath and said quietly, "Aerith, Miss Gainsborough. I have something important to tell both of you. Perhaps we should take a seat."
The three sat at the dining table. Aerith pulled down her hood and asked, "I'm wrong, huh?"
The moment of truth, Obi-Wan thought. "I am... not from this planet," he finally admitted.
Both the flower girl and her mother stared incredulously at the auburn-haired man. Elmyra only chuckled and said, "Mr. Kenobi, that is... quite a joke you made up."
Obi-Wan only chuckled lightly and said, "I'm not lying, Miss Gainsborough."
The room went silent again.
"I am a Jedi Knight," Obi-Wan began, "the keeper of peace and the maintainer of order within the Galactic Republic... Or at least, was."
The knight slowly stood up. "This 'metal thingy' you mentioned of, Aerith, is a lightsaber." To the women's surprise, the metal cylinder that rested on Obi-Wan's belt floated to the auburn-haired man's right hand. What surprised them more was that a bright, blue laser emitted from the tip of the cylinder.
"A lightsaber was the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight," Obi-Wan continued as he lightly and carefully waved his blue lightsaber around. The Jedi then deactivated his lightsaber and placed it back onto his belt.
"So..." Elmyra began nervously. "You're an alien?"
"To your definition, I would be," Obi-Wan admitted. "However, I am still your same species."
Aerith, however, seemed excited by this and asked, "How did you get here? To this planet I mean."
The auburn-haired man only shrugged and said, "I would like to figure out an answer to that question."
"You mean, you don't know how you got here?" the flower girl asked.
"You see, I was supposed to be dead," Obi-Wan replied as he scratched his chin.
"Why do you think so?" Elmyra asked, who was now incredibly curious.
"My story might be a little boring," the Jedi warned as he sat at his seat. "I'm not a great raconteur.
"As I said before, I was a Jedi Knight. The Galactic Republic was in a big war with the Separatists, people who wanted to get rid of the republic. My apprentice, Darth Vader, betrayed me and destroyed the Republic and the Jedi Council. Council fell along with the republic, and all the Jedi were either killed or scattered across the whole galaxy. I'm one of the runaway Jedi Knights. Out of the ashes, the Galactic Empire was born. I hid from the empire and lived as a caveman on a remote desert planet called Tatooine for nineteen years. There, I looked after my dearest friend's son, Luke Skywalker, who was destined to bring peace back to the galaxy. Eventually, I hired a smuggler to take us to another planet for the rebellion against the empire. But, when we got to our destination, there was only a smoldering field of asteroids; the planet was destroyed. We were spotted by the nearby planet-destroying moon-shaped space station and our ship was sucked into it. We got off the ship and onto the space station. I wandered into the power station and deactivated its power so that we can escape the station. While I was heading back to our ship, I encountered my old apprentice, Darth Vader. We dueled with our lightsabers. In the end, however, I was slain."
At the end of the story, the flower girl nodded thoughtfully. Elmyra, however, noticed something strange. "Wait a minute," she said. "You were slain? How are you alive, then?"
"Once again, that is the question I would like an answer to," Obi-Wan said calmly. "When I woke up, I was in a grassy field. I became a lot younger, too. It turned out that I woke up near a small town called Kalm."
"Kalm?" the middle-aged woman repeated thoughtfully. "That is quite far away from here."
"Oh, I forgot to mention," the Jedi Knight murmured. "We Jedi Knights use a metaphysical power called the 'Force'.
"Simply put, it allows us exceed our limits and perform unnatural tasks. For instance, I could run incredibly fast, which is how I got to Midgar rather quickly.
"I could also lift objects into the air without touching them," Obi-Wan said as he used the Force to lift the television, the flower vase, and Aerith into the air.
"Woah!" the flower girl said excitedly. Elmyra, although worried about her daughter's safety, knew that Obi-Wan was not trying to hurt her daughter. She walked back into the kitchen.
"That is how I got to Midgar so quickly," Obi-Wan said as he set everything and Aerith down.
"So, in the end, you really were a caveman, huh?" Aerith asked.
"That's correct," the knight said.
"Cool," the flower girl said. She then asked, "May I see your lightsa-"
"No," Obi-Wan interrupted. "That I will never allow."
"Oh, fine," the brunette huffed. She then took the cloak off and returned it to the auburn-haired man. "How strong is that lightsaber, anyway?"
"It can cut through your skin easily," Obi-Wan replied.
"Oh..." Aerith murmured as she paled.
Elmyra came out with a large tray of food. "Dinner's ready!" she said as she set the tray on the table. The dinner consisted of cooked ham, vegetables, and eggs.
"I hope you don't mind leftovers," the middle-aged woman said.
"I don't mind at all," Obi-Wan replied happily.
Several hours passed after the dinner. Elmyra retreated back to her room. Strange, Obi-Wan thought. She's taking in my story rather well. Aerith remained at her seat watching television, although she was incredibly bored. The Jedi Knight stayed at his seat, carefully studying his lightsaber.
"Wow, this show is boring," Aerith complained as she scratched her head.
"I recommend changing the channel," Obi-Wan calmly said as he continued to look at his lightsaber.
"Everything else is even more boring."
"Then why don't you read a book?"
"I read every books in this house."
"Really, now?" the auburn-haired man asked as he finally turned to the flower girl. "Care to tell me about one of the stories you read?"
"Nope," the brunette said as she shook her head. "I forgot most of them."
"...Oh," Obi-Wan mumbled as he turned back to his lightsaber.
Several minutes of boredom passed. Then finally, the light bulb in the flower girl's head lit up. "Hey! I got an idea!" she exclaimed.
"For the fifth time, I'm not letting you play with my lightsaber," the Jedi said stoically.
"I wasn't asking if I can play with it," Aerith corrected as she pointed at the knight. "I was asking if I can try it out. There is a big difference. Sheesh. You make me look like a child. And besides, that wasn't my idea." The flower girl turned her chair a bit to face the Jedi Knight. "You said you were in a big war."
"I was," Obi-Wan said as he nodded. He placed his lightsaber on the table and said, "I was a general, in fact."
"A general?" Aerith's jaw dropped, then she chuckled. "Oh please. I may be gullible, but I'm not THAT gullible."
"It's true," the Jedi said and smiled. "In fact, all Jedi Knights were considered as generals during the Clone Wars."
"The 'Clone Wars'?" the flower girl asked as she scratched her head.
"That's the name of the big war," Obi-Wan explained. "The Separatists' army consisted of robots called 'droids'. Our army consisted of clones."
"Robots? Clones? Oh wow!" Aerith exclaimed, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. "Did you guys fight... in space?"
"We had many battles in space and different planets."
"That sounds cool..." the brunette thought out loud. She then scratched her head and said, "But... that's... kinda..."
"Is it hard to believe?"
"...Yeah..."
Obi-Wan thought of an idea that could help the doubting girl believe his story. I have not tried this out for a long time, the Jedi thought, but I might be able to pull it off.
"Perhaps I can show you," the auburn-haired man said with a mysterious smile.
"Show me?" the flower girl murmured. "You have a recording or something?"
"No," Obi-Wan stated. "I have my mind. Would you like to see my memories?"
...Kinda creepy, Aerith thought. She, however, decided to try. "I would like to," she finally decided.
"Alright, then grab my hands," the Jedi said as he offered his hands.
...I have a bad feeling about this, the flower girl hesitated. But she ignored the thought and grabbed the auburn-haired man's hands.
"You probably want to close your eyes," Obi-Wan quickly added.
"Wha-" Aerith stuttered. But she wasn't able to complete her sentence, for a sharp tingling feeling traveled across her whole body, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut.
…
…
...I knew it, Aerith thought. This was a bad idea.
…
"Aerith?" Obi-Wan called.
"Y-yes?" she stammered.
"Open your eyes."
The flower girl obeyed. She was immediately shocked because they weren't in her home anymore. They were in a circular room with large windows. Everything was tinted orange due to the sunset outside.
Aerith and Obi-Wan stood in the room, but they weren't alone. Two other men in brown robes stood by the window while a small green creature with two large ears sat on a round seat.
"W-where are..." the startled flower girl muttered.
"This is a piece of my memories," the Jedi said as he smiled. "We are currently in one of the spires of the Jedi Council. Go ahead and take a look around."
Aerith slowly took a step towards the glass window. She looked outside and saw fields and fields of buildings below along with flying cars.
"So, you used to live in here?" the astounded brunette asked. "Before you started to live in a cave, I mean."
"You could say that," Obi-Wan answered as he walked to the window. "A wondrous yet dangerous place, this Coruscant."
"So, this city's name is Croissant?" Aerith asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"No, Coruscant," the auburn-haired man corrected slowly. "And the whole planet was one huge city."
"What?" the flower girl exclaimed. "This is one huge city!"
Obi-Wan nodded in response.
While Aerith was looking out the window, she was able to hear Obi-Wan saying something to another man, something about "Count Dooku" and "the Senate". She turned to the auburn-haired man next to her and asked, "Sorry, were you saying something?"
Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow, but he seemed to realize something and said, "No. That would be one of those men over there."
Oh yeah, those three guys, Aerith thought as she turned around to see the two chatting men. But something about one of the men seemed familiar to the flower girl. Then, realization struck her. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she pointed at the man with long hair. "That man with long hair is you, Obi!"
"That is correct," the Jedi nodded.
"Nice hair."
"Thanks."
Aerith then saw the other man and the green creature. "Who are those guys?" she asked.
"The tall man is Mace Windu, one of the most powerful Jedi that has ever existed," Obi-Wan explained. "The short one is Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Council."
"'Grand Master'?" the surprised brunette wondered out loud. "Wow! Size doesn't matter after all."
"That is what Master Yoda would say usually," the auburn-haired man commented.
Aerith sat on the clean floor and observed the three memory-people talking. She didn't get anything they were talking about but she was still fascinated. She was fascinated by everything in the current piece of memory: the flying cars, the planetary city, and the council. Suddenly, Obi-Wan, who was at another side of the window, called out, "Aerith."
"What is it?" Aerith asked.
"Come here and take a look."
The flower girl quickly got up and ran to the auburn-haired man. She looked outside and was surprised at the scene.
From far away, the brunette was able to see groups of gigantic triangular ships rising to the sky.
"Those are Star Destroyers," Obi-Wan explained. "They were the Republic's finest ships."
"Are they heading to space?" Aerith asked incredulously.
"Correct."
"That's a lot of spaceships," the flower girl murmured as she observed hundreds of Star Destroyers leaving the planet.
Several minutes later, Obi-Wan tapped his head several times and said, "Well, that's enough sightseeing for today. Are you ready to head back to reality?"
"Hang on, Obi," Aerith said as she continued to watch the Star Destroyers. "Just in a few minutes."
"Aerith, we were here for half an hour now," the knight reasoned. "I'll show you more tomorrow."
The flower girl turned to Obi-Wan, then to the window. She finally said in defeat, "Alright, but I really want to see more tomorrow."
"You have my word," the Jedi said as he smiled. "Now, close your eyes and we'll be back at your house."
Aerith shut her eyes and a tingling feeling shot through her whole body.
The two were back at where they were. Obi-Wan released Aerith's hands and stood up. "I don't know about you, but I feel tired after all of that memory-traveling."
"Mm," Aerith mumbled. In truth, she was not tired. She was rather excited about what she saw. The thing that excited her the most was that what she saw was only a miniscule piece of the Jedi's memories. A whole new world was to be slowly revealed to her.
"You're still in trance mode after our little trip, are you?" the knight chuckled.
"Uh huh," the flower girl muttered happily.
"Well, I'll go brush my teeth and go to sleep. Good night!" Obi-Wan said as he headed upstairs.
"Good night," Aerith said as she remained seated at her chair.
For minutes, the flower girl daydreamed about Obi-Wan's world. He must have met hundreds of people and aliens in his life, she thought. I wonder what other planets were like. A sudden thought popped into her head. Speaking of planets, Gaia becomes really quiet when Obi is around. Then another thought popped into her head. I wonder if Obi can talk to the planet like me...
Aerith headed to the bathroom upstairs and brushed her teeth and washed her face. She then retreated to her room and took back her hanging clothes from the window. The flower girl got on her bed and fell asleep, dreaming about gazing at the fields of tall buildings and flying spaceships.
A not-too-happy Cloud woke up from a dreamless sleep in the empty basement of the bar. The grumpy man had trouble sleeping thanks to Barret's awful snoring. The blonde's acute sense of hearing did not help him. Grabbing the back of his neck, Cloud stood on the platform and clicked the combination on the pinball machine.
Tifa and Barret were already at the normal level and Marlene was at the bar, mixing drinks. When the platform carrying Cloud reached its destination, Tifa immediately greeted him. "Good morning, Cloud!" she said enthusiastically. "Did you sleep well?"
"Barret's snoring kept me up," Cloud grumpily murmured as he rubbed his eyes.
Alarmed, Tifa leaned toward the blonde and whispered, "Keep it down. They'll hear you. Barret's always edgy before an operation."
After giving the warning, the bar hostess lightened up and announced, "I'm going this time."
"Our target's the Sector 5 Reactor," Barret spoke up near the doorway. "Head for the station first. I'll fill you in on the train." The gun-armed man scratched his chin and finally called out, "Yo! Cloud!"
The ex-SOLDIER walked to where Barret was.
"Before the next mission, I got somethin' I wanna ask you!" the gun-armed man said. "I, uh... I don't really know how to use Materia!" he admitted as he held out a Materia. "I'll give you that Materia you found. Just teach me how to use it!"
Cloud sighed. I don't think he's gonna understand, he bitterly thought. He, however, decided to explain. "Okay, I'll explain it..."
After a long explanation about using the Materia, Barret only looked even more confused than before. "Shi...! What's this 'It wasn't that tough' crap?" he complained. "I'm clueless. Well, you handle the Materia then!"
...What a waste of time that was, Cloud thought as he shook his head.
After getting prepared, the trio left the bar and headed for the train station. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie immediately boarded the train when they saw the rest of their team running to the train. When everyone got on, the station guard closed the doors.
All of the AVALANCHE members were on the same car. Just when everyone was about to get comfortable, Barret shouted, "Yo! Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!" Just as he finished his sentence, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie immediately got up and went to the next car.
Unbeknownst to them, the same well-dressed Shinra manager from the day before was in the same car. "...Hoodlums again," he murmured bitterly as he sat on the passenger's seat. "God, don't I just have all the luck..."
When Barret was about to head in to the next car, he was able to hear the manager's complaint. "You say sumthin'?" he growled at the well-dressed man. The well-dressed man didn't say anything in return. "I said, 'You say sumthin'?" the gun-armed man said with a raised voice.
Barret decided to walk up to the manager and said, "Yo, look at that! It got empty alluva sudden. What's goin' on?"
The startled Shinra manager squeaked, "Damn!" He tried and compose himself and said, "I-it's empty because of... g-guys like you..."
Annoyed by the babbling man, Barret smacked him on the head.
"Y-y-yipes!" the scared man squeaked. "You... you've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings." He then straightened his posture and said proudly, "Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today."
The gun-armed man backed up several steps and asked in a rather menacing way, "You workin' for Shinra?"
"I won't give in to violence..." the well-dressed man murmured. He quickly added, "I'm not giving you my seat, either!"
Tifa, who was standing far away from them from the beginning, decided that Barret did enough scaring for today and quickly intervened the verbal battle. "Barret!" she shouted as she ran to the two.
Barret left to the back of the car, cursing, while Tifa bowed apologetically to the scared man and quickly followed Barret.
That was quite a scene, Cloud, who was standing at the back of the car, thought as he saw his two team members running to where he was.
"So," the blonde began, "what are we going to do now?"
"Shit!" the angry gun-armed man cursed. "The hell you so calm about? You bustin' up my rhythm."
I didn't "bust up" anything, buster, Cloud angrily thought. He had trouble refraining himself from saying it out loud.
Moments later, the whole train began to shake. A loud noise was generated outside the car. Tifa looked out the window and said, "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars. We're finally leaving."
"And about time, too," Cloud murmured. "I was getting incredibly bored."
Still no signs of Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan thought in defeat. What can this mean?
The Jedi woke up rather early. He was sitting on the bed, meditating for hours. The auburn-haired man was attempting to contact his temporary padawan, Luke Skywalker; he was, however, failing.
I think I need a break, the knight decided. He put on his robe, left his room, and headed for the stairway. As he did, he noticed Aerith, wearing her usual pink attire, coming out of her room.
"Good morning!" the flower girl said.
"Good morning," Obi-Wan said as well.
"Shall we go downstairs?"
"That's my plan."
The two walked down the stairs and sat around the dining table. Aerith put her hands on the back of her head and leaned back on her chair. "A whole day of free time," she complacently said.
"What do you plan to do?" the Jedi asked.
"I will..." the flower girl began, but she tapped her chin as she tried to think of something. "Huh," she noticed. "I don't know what to do..." Seconds later, an idea popped into her head. "Hey, I got an idea!" she exclaimed.
"No, I'm still not letting you play with my weapon," Obi-Wan said sternly.
"...Oh, fine," Aerith said in defeat.
At that moment, Elmyra walked down the stairs. When she saw the bored expression on the faces of the Jedi Knight and her daughter, she said, "Well, you two certainly look entertained."
"Yeah, mom. We're having sooo much fun," Aerith said sarcastically.
"Oh, right," the middle-aged woman began as she recalled something. "Last night, Mr. Kenobi told me that you went on a 'memory trip'. How was it?"
"Oh yeah!" the flower girl exclaimed. "That was incredible! Who knew Obi came from such an exciting place? Why don't you try it out, mom?"
"I'll pass," Elmyra said with a smile. "I'm just fine with you having fun in that trip. And besides, I think I'm not ready for that sort of 'traveling'."
"True," Obi-Wan agreed. "'Memory trips' can sometimes take a toll on a memory-traveler's mind. It doesn't happen very often, but it still happens."
The three eventually decided to watch television. Nothing interesting, however, was happening in any TV programs.
"It's as boring as yesterday," Aerith complained.
"You could always read a book," Elmyra suggested.
"That's what Obi said yesterday," the flower girl said.
While the two chatted, Obi-Wan observed the lightsaber in his right hand. Maybe I should tweak this lightsaber so that I could fit the Materias on it, the Jedi thought. When he had nothing else to think about, he closed his eyes and let his lightsaber hover over his hand. Obi-Wan slowly disassembled his lightsaber, piece by piece. Soon, every parts were floating over his hand.
When he tried to put them back together, Aerith noticed the floating pieces and exclaimed in surprise, "Woah! Obi! Your lightsaber is splitting!"
This exclamation took Obi-Wan by surprising, causing his focus to break and the pieces of the lightsaber to fall on the ground.
The Jedi only smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. The flower girl looked at the fallen pieces, then at Obi-Wan. "That... is my fault... is it?" she asked slowly.
The auburn-haired man remained still.
"...Sorry," Aerith apologized as she scratched the back of her head. "I'll help you put it back together... We can put it back together, right?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan answered. It was hard to tell whether he was annoyed or not.
Elmyra only shook her head and said, "I'll help picking all the parts up." She then pointed at her daughter and said with a stern voice, "And you, young lady, will help Mr. Kenobi reassemble his lightsaber."
"Hey, I said that I'll help Obi put it back together, right?" Aerith pointed out.
On the bright side, now I have something to do, Obi-Wan thought optimistically. Fixing this lightsaber won't be hard.
Minutes later, Obi-Wan began reassembling his lightsaber at the table. Elmyra gave the Jedi a screwdriver and asked if she can help the auburn-haired man with anything. The knight said that it was quite alright. He also told Aerith that she didn't need to help him with anything. The flower girl, however, stayed sitting on her chair as her mother went upstairs to read a book.
"Are those crystals?" Aerith asked as she saw Obi-Wan lift up small blue crystals using the Force.
"They are lightsaber crystals," the Jedi replied. "These crystals are the source of the lightsaber's blade."
"So, those small crystals are the things that generate the laser sword thing?" the flower girl asked. "Huh. I thought there some sort of huge battery in there or something."
The Jedi let the crystals hover in the air and enclosed them with lightsaber parts. The weapon already looked completed.
"There," Obi-Wan said in satisfaction. "All I need to do is fasten some screws and I'm done."
"That's it?" the brunette said in disappointment. "I thought this was a one-week job."
"Building your first lightsaber can take that long if you don't know what you're doing," the knight explained as he began fastening the screws with the screwdriver. "But Jedi Masters usually help their padawans with it, so it usually takes up to several days."
"'Padawans'?" Aerith mumbled as she scratched her head.
"Oh. Padawan basically means apprentice."
"Padawan means apprentice. Got it," the flower girl noted as she smiled. "Speaking of which, did you have a 'padawan'?"
Obi-Wan frowned as he remembered Darth Vader.
"Oh wait," Aerith said in regret as she remembered the Jedi's story. "I-I'm sorry. I forgot-"
"Actually, I had two padawans," the auburn-haired man corrected as he smiled. "One was... Darth Vader. The other was a young man, Anakin Skywalker."
"Akin Skywalker?" the flower girl wondered out loud. "That name is as strange as yours."
"It's 'Anakin Skywalker'," Obi-Wan said slowly. "He was not only my padawan, but he was also my very good friend. He was also a good friend to Darth Vader."
"Was Darth Vader a good man before he... left you?" Aerith asked.
"Oh, he definitely was," the Jedi admitted as he nodded. "Although, he did not like me very much. He was much closer to Anakin than he was to me." The auburn-haired man carefully thought of his words and said, "In fact, Darth Vader was not my apprentice during the Clone Wars. I know he was 'in touch' with Anakin, but Skywalker and I never talked about him."
"Oh..." Aerith murmured sadly as she looked away. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"There's no need," Obi-Wan pointed out.
Although Obi-Wan partly thought that it was a good idea to describe Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker as different individuals, he also partly regretted doing so. It's not like Aerith will be traumatized by the fact that Anakin was Vader, the Jedi thought. Blazes, why hadn't I said the truth in the first place... The man thought for a moment and theorized, Perhaps I am that much of a fool to not accept the whole truth about Anakin's fall and spread stories about how Anakin was good and Vader was bad. He chuckled to himself, What a damn fool am I. Ah well, it's not like Aerith will meet Darth Vader face to face.
A few minutes of silence passed. Aerith, who thought that the mood became to serious because of her, decided to change the topic and asked, "So, how does Mr. Skywalker look like?"
"You want to know how he looks like?" Obi-Wan asked as he laughed. "Of all the things you could've asked about him."
"Hey!" the flower girl pouted. "I just want to know how he looks like! You can use your magic memory-travel-mind-rewind thingy to show me."
"Alright," the Jedi said as he placed his finished lightsaber on his belt. "Just grab my hands."
Aerith immediately grabbed Obi-Wan's hands. He better look good, she thought as she closed her eyes, sensing the familiar tingling feeling traveling through her body.
Meanwhile, on the train, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret remained on the same car.
"So what's our next target?" Cloud asked.
"It's a giant scorpion," Barret explained. "We attack when its tail's up."
"..." Cloud was irked by the gun-armed man's joke. "A joke is meant to be funny."
Tifa, unfortunately, did not get the joke. She only scratched her head in wonder.
"Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work!" the leader laughed. "Awright, I'll tell ya! Jessie's probably already told you, but there's a security check point at the the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."
"Which Shinra is very proud of," the bar hostess added.
"We can't use our fake ID's anymore," Barret pointed out.
At the end of their discussion, the train intercom came on. "Good morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45."
"That means we've only got three more minutes to the ID check point!" Tifa noticed.
Barret went to the middle of the car, ignoring the whimpering manager at the farthest seat from them, and announced, "Alright, in three minutes, we're jumpin' off this train. Got it?" The gun-armed man then sat on the passenger's seat and relaxed as he pretended not to notice the visibly-uncomfortable Shinra manager.
Tifa then ran to the other side of the train car and called out, "Cloud, come over here! Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."
Another one of those? Cloud thought. He walked to where Tifa was.
"Hmm, it looks like you've seen this already..." the bar hostess murmured, slightly in disappointment. "It's alright. Come a little closer."
When the blonde tried to walk closer to the woman, however, the light started flashing red.
"That's odd," Tifa said as she tapped her chin. "The ID check point was suppose to be further down."
Almost immediately, the train intercom began beeping, "Type A Security Alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed. Search of all cars will be conducted." The intercom repeated the warning several times.
"What's happening?" Tifa asked the ex-SOLDIER in alarm.
"Trouble is happening, that's what," Cloud said calmly.
Instantly, Jessie came rushing into the car. "We're in trouble," she stated as she immediately headed to the next car. "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!"
Barret, who was furious more than alarmed, started to follow Jessie as he cursed. "Someone blew it," he growled angrily.
The train intercom then announced, "Unidentified passengers located in Car No. 1. Preparing for lock down."
"Let's go!" the leader shouted as he ran to the next car. "Keep it up!"
Cloud and Tifa soon followed behind their leader. When they reached the next car, the two spotted the rest of their team on the other side of the car.
The intercom soon announced, "Car No. 1: Locked down. Upgrading to Level 2 warning."
Biggs shouted to hurry as he ran to the next car. The incredibly startled Wedge squeaked, "They're gonna lock the door, sir!" and followed behind Biggs.
The intercom immediately announced, "Unidentified passengers located in Car No. 2. Preparing for lock down."
"Just run!" Jessie shouted. "Changing to Plan Two!" She immediately ran for the next train car.
"C'mon, Cloud!" Tifa said as she followed Jessie.
Finally, some action, Cloud thought in relief as he ran. I thought I was gonna get bored to death back there.
The AVALANCHE team soon reached the last car. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge were disguised as a Shinra soldier and regular civilians, respectively. Barret ran to the front of the car and shouted, "Alright, we made it!" He then gave a signal to Tifa and Cloud. The two ran to where their leader was.
Barret opened the door of the train and shouted, "Let's go! We're gonna dive outta here!"
Tifa stepped closer to Cloud and murmured, "Scary... huh?"
The blonde scratched his head and said, "Too late to be saying that now. Why did you come along anyway?"
The bar hostess looked away from her friend's eyes. "Because..." she murmured hesitantly.
"Hey, you two!" Barret interrupted. "There ain't no time for that!"
Cloud and Tifa stepped closer to the opened door. The bar hostess took a deep breath and shouted, "Yeah! I've made up my mind." No, you didn't, the other part of her mind warned. She ignored the thought and said, "Watch closely. I'm gonna jump!" The brave woman then jumped out of the train.
Cloud stepped forth and tried to jump. But he looked back at Barret and asked, "You don't care if I go first?"
"A leader always stays till the end," the gun-armed man said. "Don't worry 'bout me, just go!"
The ex-SOLDIER then looked out the door. "Yo!" Barret suddenly called. "Don't go getting' your spikey ass hurt! It's only the beginnin' of the mission!" After shrugging in reply, Cloud jumped off the train.
Barret stepped closer to the door. "Later!" he said to the rest of his team. "You take care of the rest." He jumped.
After eating lunch, Elmyra, Aerith, and Obi-Wan did what they usually did. After having a friendly chat, they decided to have some individual time. Elmyra continued to read her book, this time in the living room. Obi-Wan,using the Force, gathered up the dust in the house into a large dust ball and threw it away. Aerith watched the "boring" television.
Elmyra, however, noticed something different about her daughter. Aerith usually complained about how boring the television programs were, but this time the flower girl was... quiet. When the middle-aged woman took a look at Aerith's face, she realized that her daughter's eyes were distant as if the flower girl was daydreaming.
"You're complaining a lot less, today," Elmyra said.
"Yeah," Aerith said as she continued to "watch" television.
"In fact, you're not complaining at all," Miss Gainsborough corrected.
"Yeah," the flower girl said distantly.
"Congratulations," Elmyra said. "This is probably the seventh time you haven't complained about what's on TV."
"Yeah," Aerith said again.
"...Yeah..." Elmyra said as she scratched her head.
"Yeah," the young brunette said.
"Mr. Kenobi, what-" Elmyra began as she turned to the Jedi, but she gasped and then slapped her face. "I thought you threw that away, Mr. Kenobi."
Obi-Wan was sitting at his usual seat, using the Force to let a huge dust ball float above his hands. "Oh, I threw away the last one," he explained. "I just made this one."
"Just... throw it away... please," Elmyra said in annoyance. The Jedi complied and let the dust ball hover out of the house.
"Now," the middle-aged woman began again. "Do you think you have any idea why Aerith is like that?"
"Aerith?" Obi-Wan asked as he looked at the silent flower girl. "Oh, yes. She seemed rather quiet during lunch. Oh, she's doing it again right now."
"Exactly," Elmyra said. "She was fine in the morning."
"Hmm," the Jedi murmured as he rested his chin on his fist. "Aerith and I did go on a memory trip while you were not with us," he recalled.
"And what was this memory trip about," Elmyra asked.
"I was showing her how my other apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, looked like," Obi-Wan said.
"That is all?"
"That is all..." the auburn-haired man said. "After that, she did become a little quiet, but not as quiet as right now."
Elmyra tapped her chin in thought. So, Mr. Kenobi showed Aerith how his other apprentice looked like, she thought. I wonder...
"Aerith," the middle-aged woman called.
"Huh?" Aerith murmured as she turned, apparently waking up from her daydream.
"You do realize you were quiet for some time now," Elmyra explained.
"I was?" the flower girl asked.
"Yes. Could you, perhaps, tell me exactly what you were thinking of?"
"Oh, um..." Aerith said. "I...uh..."
"Were you, by chance, thinking of Anakin Skywalker?" Elmyra guessed.
"HUH?" the flower girl gasped. "Ha ha! Of course not!" She laughed nervously.
Obi-Wan finally realized what Elmyra was getting at. He then turned to Elmyra and said with a mischievous smile, "I think I know why Aerith was this quiet."
Elmyra turned to the smiling Jedi and said, "Please, do explain."
"During the memory trip, Aerith and I went to the part where Anakin was talking to several people," he began. "Now, Anakin was a handsome young man. He was barely at his mid-twenties that time. Aerith happened to stand where Anakin's wife stood. When my apprentice walked up to his wife, he also walked up to your daughter. While he did not say anything special, he must have had made a particularly sweet face for his wife. Of course, to Aerith, it would've looked as if Anakin was doing that to her."
After hearing the story, Elmyra only chuckled and turned to Aerith, who was burying her head in her arms. "Oh, you silly thing," Elmyra said.
"...He... looked... pretty... good..." Aerith murmured inside her little shell. She slowly lifted her head from her arms, revealing a pink blush across her face.
"Don't you think you're taking it seriously?" Obi-Wan asked, suppressing a laughter.
"It wouldn't have been much of problem if he didn't look at me that way," the flower girl said quietly. "For a moment, I thought he..."
"He's only a memory," the Jedi explained. "You could get a little 'unhealthy' if you don't let it go."
"Oh, don't worry," Aerith said as she made a small smile. "I don't 'like' like him. I would've just commented on how good he looked. It's just his gaze that got me... Although," she said quietly as she looked out the window, "it would be great if I get to meet him in person. He seems like a great man."
He was a great man, Obi-Wan thought sadly, until he turned himself over to the Dark Side of the Force. The Jedi then stood up and said with a smile, "I do not know about you two, but I think I need to take a walk."
"I'll go, too," Aerith said as she stood up. "I need to look after my flowers in the church, anyway."
"Count me in," Elmyra stated. "I need to start exercising more often. Guess I'll start today."
Eventually, Cloud, Barret, and Tifa met up in an underground subway track. "Good," Barret said in satisfaction. "So far, everything's going as planned." He started to head down the tunnel, but he abruptly stopped and said, "Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 Reactor. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie got everything ready for us. So MOVE it!"
The three began to walk down the dark passageway. The only sources of light were the dim red lamps hanging on the walls and normal lights on the ceiling. The troublesome trio walked on until they saw bright greenish light beams blocking their path.
Cloud stepped forth and stated, "Those light beams are the Shinra's security sensors." He turned to the rest of his group and said, "We can't go any further."
Barret and Tifa looked thoughtfully at the other side of the wall of beam. The bar hostess then looked around and found a ventilation duct in the wall. "Hey guys!" she called out as she headed to the small opening leading to the duct. "Over here!"
"That's one damn timy hole," Barret commented as he headed to the opening. "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!" The gun-armed man turned to the ex-SOLDIER and asked, "Yo, Cloud! What're we gonna do?"
"We don't have any choice," Cloud answered. "We go down through that hole."
Barret leaned down and looked through the opening. "But, damn, man," he said. "That thing gives me the chills."
The three climbed through the duct with Cloud leading the way and Tifa coming last. When they went into the vent, they immediately realized that the duct was rather huge.
"Woah," Barret said. "Kinda big for an air duct."
"Aren't ventilation ducts supposed to be a bit... narrower?" Tifa asked the blonde.
"Dunno, don't care," the ex-SOLDIER responded. He then looked at the floor and noticed a bottle of ether. "Oh hey," he said a bit delightly as he picked up the small bottle, "an ether."
"The hell's an ETHER doing HERE?" Barret asked in suspicion. "I have a BAD feelin' bout this."
"Maybe a maintenance man just left the ether here by accident?" the bar hostess suggested.
"Perhaps, but why would a maintenance man carry an ETHER around?" the gun-armed man asked.
"Shut up," Cloud said as he put the ether in his kit. "I smelled it just now and it didn't seem to have any poison in it. Happy now?"
"Oh, so little SOLDIER smelled an ether and found it clean?" Barret said mockingly. "Just throw it away! I don't trust your smellin'!"
Oh, for the love of... Cloud thought angrily. He then picked a random bottle of water in his kit and threw it away. "There's your poisoned ether. Happy now?"
"Good, now-" Barret said as he tried to walk on until he noticed that the discarded bottle was not the ether. "The hell?" he exclaimed. "That's no ether!"
"...Will you two just SHUT UP?" Tifa shouted angrily. "Let's see if that damn thing is not poisoned!" She then took out the questionable ether from Cloud's small bag and drank half of it, despite of Barret's warnings. Several minutes passed and Tifa did not show any signs of being poisoned. "Alright, I think we can agree that the damn ether is not. Freakin'. Poisoned," the bar hostess said as she started to suppress her anger. She then shoved the ether into Cloud's hands and walked away.
"...Woah..." the two men murmured quietly in fear.
Tifa abruptly stopped, much to the fear of the two, and slowly turned around. Much to Cloud and Barret's surprise, they noticed that the bar hostess was nervously laughing with a small blush on her face.
"Err... Sorry about that," Tifa said as she scratched her head. "I normally don't like to use my big voice."
The two men nervously nodded.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Tifa said cheerfully. "Let's go!" With that, she climbed down out of the duct via the ladder.
"...Creepy..." the gun-armed man said as he slowly turned to the blonde next to him.
"You can say that again..." Cloud muttered.
"...Creepy..."
The three climbed down the ladder and they eventually reached one of the rooms of the reactor. They also met up with Wedge.
"Cloud, this way," Wedge said as he pointed at the ladder next to him. "The reactor's up this ladder."
Cloud climbed up the reactor with Barret and Tifa following behind him. They ended up in a small, dirty room. Also, Jessie was waiting for them.
"Jessie," Barret said, "do you-"
"I'm sorry," Jessie interrupted as she avoided eye contact with any of the three. "The ID scan problem on the train was all my fault." She nervously looked at the ex-SOLDIER. "I made your ID card special," she said as she began to blush. "So that's why it happened. I put my heart into making it... but I failed."
Barret only shook his head in disappointment. Tifa raised her eyebrow as she crossed her arms. Cloud didn't know how to respond to this, so he only scratched his head and said, "It's okay."
"Next time, I'll give you something more decent," Jessie said with a determined look. "I'll be back at the hideout in the research room working on it."
The three began to head out of the room through another ladder. As they climbed down, Cloud thought that he heard Tifa quietly murmur rather darkly, "She could try till the pigs fly." But he just concluded that he heard it wrong. They reached the bottom of the ladder and walked on the catwalk.
Biggs was waiting for them on the other side. "Hey! Over here!" he called out as he waved. "We're gonna pull out now. We'll meet up at the hideout," the man-in-green said. "Guys, we're countin' on you to blow the reactor!" With that, he retreated.
"So who's going to plant the bomb?" Cloud asked.
"You," Barret announced.
"What? Again?" the ex-SOLDIER complained.
"Yeah, and we'll attack the Guard Scorpion when its tail's up," the gun-armed man said with a smirk.
"For the love of..."
Tifa only tapped her chin and asked, "What's with the 'attack when its tail is up' thing?"
"It's-" Barret tried to explain.
"Focus on the job!" Cloud interrupted angrily.
Obi-Wan and Elmyra were heading home after the walk. During the walk, Aerith stopped at the church to look after the flowers.
"...And that is why I absolutely hate flying," the Jedi said as he walked on the dirty road.
"It's quite funny how your apprentice, Mr. Skywalker, thought differently about flying," Elmyra commented.
"At the time, I thought that Anakin was going to be the death of me," Obi-Wan joked, trying to ignore the fact that Anakin did become the 'death' of him.
"I can only imagine how it would've been like," the middle-aged woman said. "I've never been to space before."
"It's quite fascinating the first time you see it, but it gets rather dull as time passes," the auburn-haired man admitted as he kicked an empty can on the ground.
The two reached the house. Their chat did not end there, however. The two sat on their usual spot around the dining table.
"Mr. Kenobi, I have a question," Elmyra asked.
"Ask away," the Jedi said.
"How was your family like?"
Obi-Wan 'hmm'ed as he looked at the window. "I was born in a planet called Stewjon," he recalled. "My family was a little wealthy. I had a brother named Owen.I remember, we used to play in a green, grassy hills."
The Jedi then took out his lightsaber and looked at it thoughtfully. "A Jedi Knight passed by our house. He must have felt my apparent connection to the Force. The knight came over and talked to my parents that I have the potential to become a Jedi. My father politely said that he had no intentions of handing me over to the Jedi, but my mother had different thoughts. My parents argued, but eventually they came to a conclusion that I must be sent to the Jedi Temple. A year later, I became a Jedi student."
Obi-Wan turned to Elmyra and said with a chuckle, "Quite honestly, I don't remember much about my family. I did visit them occasionally after I became a Jedi Knight, but those visits were nothing too special."
"Oh," Miss Gainsborough said sadly, "I'm sorry for asking."
"It's alright," Obi-Wan replied with a smile. "Although, I would like to ask you something."
"What is it?" Elmyra asked.
"Why does Aerith watch television if she doesn't even enjoy anything on it?"
Elmyra tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... That is a good question," she said.
Cloud, Barret, and Tifa were now near the reactor's core. But while they were running, the blonde suddenly clutched his head and fell to his knees. Damn, he thought. Not this again...
"Damn, man," Barret shouted. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"You all right?" Tifa asked with concern as she knelt by the troubled ex-SOLDIER.
Cloud slowly stood up as the pain in his head disappeared. He looked at his friend. "...Tifa..." he murmured.
"Mmm?" the bar hostess asked.
Cloud then shook his head and said, "No. Forget it." He then ran ahead of them and shouted, "Come one, let's hurry!"
"The hell's up with him?" Barret said as he followed behind the blonde.
"...What was he trying to say?" Tifa wondered out loud as she began to run.
Cloud planted the bomb as he did before. "The bomb is set," he announced.
"Then let's get the hell outta here!" the gun-armed man said.
The three began to run away from the bomb. They went through the usual course: the stairways, the elevator, and the control room. Why's this too easy? Cloud thought worriedly. I was having a bad feeling since the beginning of this mission.
The trio soon exited the reactor. They were on a large three-way catwalk that was really high up in the air. Barret took the lead and shouted, "This way!"
As he tried to continue on, however, Shinra soldiers advanced from the other side. "Shinra soldiers?" the gun-armed man exclaimed. "Shit! What the hell's goin' on?"
Isn't it obvious? Cloud thought as he mentally slapped himself. "A trap," he answered.
The three then heard footsteps from the entrance of the reactor. They turned and saw a well-dressed, middle-aged man exiting the reactor.
"President Shinra?" Barret said.
"Why is the President here?" Tifa wondered out loud.
The President stopped in a safe distance between himself and the AVALANCHE group. "Hmm..." he said. "So you all must be that... what was it again?"
"AVALANCHE!" the gun-armed man shouted venomously. "And don't ya forget it! And you're President Shinra, huh?
At this moment, Cloud stepped forth and said, "Long time no see, President."
"...'Long time no see'...?" President Shinra murmured, then realization struck him. "Oh... you," he said. "You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE." He chuckled and continued, "I knew you were exposed to Mako, from the glow in your eyes..." The President then glared at the blonde, his smile not leaving his face. "Tell me, traitor. What was your name?"
"Does it matter to you?" Cloud spat back with a smirk on his face.
"Truthfully, no," President Shinra admitted. "I don't think I'd remember you even if I heard your name... Unless you become another Sephiroth." The President shook his head as he chuckled. "Yes, Sephiroth... He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant..."
Cloud stepped back to where his teammates were standing. "Sephiroth..." Cloud whispered angrily.
At this moment, Barret stepped to where Cloud was standing and shouted, "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a big BANG soon! Serves y'all right!"
"And such a waste of good fireworks," President Shinra said, disappointed, "just to get rid of vermin like you..."
"'Vermin'? That's all you can say, vermin!" the gun-armed man shouted with all his anger. "Y'all Shinra're the 'vermin', killing the Planet! And that makes you KING 'Vermin'! So shu'up jackass!"
The President remained unfazed. "You're beginning to bore me," he said as he looked at his watch. "I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner I must attend."
"Dinner?" Barret shouted as he stepped closer to the President. "Don't gimme that! I ain't even started with you yet!"
"But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for all of you," President Shinra said as he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard from across the catwalk.
"What's that noise?" Tifa asked as she looked around.
Barret ran back to the rest of his group. "The hell is this?" he shouted as he saw a large mechanical being rushing to the three.
The giant robot rushed past the three as Cloud dodged to the other side of the metal bridge.
"Meet 'Airbuster,' a techno-soldier," the president explained calmly. "Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
"...Techno-soldier?" the blonde murmured as he smirked. Of all the words you could've used to describe this giant metal junk... he thought.
One second later, a helicopter hovered up to the bridge next to the President. "Now then, if you'll excuse me," he said. And with that, he boarded the helicopter and flew away.
Cloud stared at the helicopter flying away. So, in the end, we failed our mission, the ex-SOLDIER bitterly thought. Damn it. Why do my bad feelings always have to be correct?
"Yo, Cloud!" Barret shouted. "We've gotta do somethin' 'bout him!"
The 'Airbuster' advanced towards Tifa and Barret, separating the blonde from the rest of his team.
"Help, Cloud!" Tifa shouted desperately.
Cloud ran up to the backside of the huge robot.
"THIS is from SOLDIER?" the bar hostess asked incredulously.
"No way!" Cloud said. "It's just a machine."
"I don't care what it is!" Barret fumed. "I'm gonna bust him up" And with that, he started to rain bullets on Airbuster.
Cloud conjured up a thunder spell and hit the machine hard. Tifa skillfuly punched and kicked Airbuster. The machine looked significantly damaged, but it didn't show any sign of stopping.
Airbuster turned around and smashed itself into the blonde. The ex-SOLDIER was able to defend its 'body-slam' by using his Buster Sword as a shield. "Hmph, not bad," Cloud mused. "Certainly knows how to pack a punch."
At that moment, Barret charged up a fireball with his gun-arm and launched it at Airbuster's 'face'. "Have a taste of 'Big Shot', ya piece of..." he shouted.
The massive fireball short-circuited the machine's CPU. After going haywire, it exploded. The good thing was that Airbuster was destroyed. The bad was that parts of the walkway were obliterated and Cloud was hanging onto a piece of broken metal for his dear life.
"Holy shit, that's a long way down," the not-so-calm Cloud commented as he looked down below. All the buildings looked microscopic to him. "A REALLY long way down," he corrected himself.
Unfortunately, Barret and Tifa were at the other side of the blown up walkway, so they were at a distance where they could not help the ex-SOLDIER. "It's gonna blow!" Barret announced as he looked at the walkway. "Let's go, Tifa!"
"...Wait... what about..." Cloud murmured as he looked at his teammates at the other side.
"Barret!" Tifa exclaimed worriedly. "Can't you do something?"
"Not a damn thing," the gun-armed replied as he shook his head.
"What the hell, Barret!" the blonde panicked. "Now's definitely NOT the time to joke around."
"Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die!" Tifa shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "There's still so much I want to tell you!"
"I know, Tifa..." Cloud said as he continued to hang on. "But why don't we worry about that AFTER I get out of this mess?"
"Hey, you gonna be alright?" Barret asked from the other side of the walkway.
"..." Cloud remained silent. His life was flashing before his eyes. He finally broke the silence and answered, "You worry about yourselves! I'm alright, but take care of Tifa!"
"...Alright," Barret said sadly. "Sorry 'bout all this."
"Stop hanging around and get out of here!" the blonde shouted.
At that moment, the bomb in the reactor exploded, knocking the unfortunate ex-SOLDIER from the walkway. Tifa desperately tried to grab him, but the two were too far apart. Cloud began to fall down to the place beneath.
So, this is how I die, Cloud thought hopelessly. I guess it won't be too bad, I had nothing to live for anyway. He looked at the buildings approaching at him fast. I should've just died when... that... happened. Death would've been more swift then.
As the ex-SOLDIER came closer to the ground, he had another train of thought. I thought I was able to have a fresh start at this life after... that event. Cloud then realized something as a building came dangerously close to his body. Damn it, he thought angrily. I just realized, I want to live. Badly.
…
…
…
...Goddamnit, was Cloud's final thought as he crashed into the wooden ceiling of a building. All the world around Cloud became dark.
