"An ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams...
Man... is above all the plaything of his memory."
- Andre Breton
"Channels are blocked in the mind, from the day.
Lie down in blackness of night, forgotten remnants rush to the mind, or creeping slowly appear in the dreams."
- Nathaniel LeTonnerre
DREAM: Preludes and Nocturnes (Part Two)
Wooden stakes thrust into the ground surrounding the forest displayed painted warning signs to travelers. It was probably no coincidence that they were painted the color of blood.
"Do not pass without the Lunar Harp. Enter at your own risk," the signs all warned, but it must have been a gimmick to get stupid tourists to buy the Lunar Harp in the gift shop. They weren't really necessary at all.
Aya refused to give this cursed place any more money than she already had. That damned survival kit cost her 900 gil, and there was no way she would buy some pointless, junky harp, which looked more like a lyre anyway, just to go into the woods for some peace and quiet.
If the forest was truly dangerous, it would be completely blocked off and sealed behind some sort of steel fence with barbed wire. Instead, a person could enter at their own risk with the Lunar Harp. Total crap. If it wasn't being monitored, it wasn't really dangerous.
In all probability, the Lunar Harp was just an excuse to segregate the rich from the none too wealthy - Aya had almost done a double take when she saw that the price of one Lunar Harp was 100,000 gil. Only someone who was loaded could afford that.
This was what Aya thought as she sat on the wooden dock of Bone Village, staring into the ocean. After seeing the crowd of people in the camp site, Aya had walked back toward the dock to watch the ocean and think. Both sets of luggage were carelessly strewn around her, and her feet dangled off the edge. She felt drained. She reached into her pocket to get her cell phone, thinking that Kyoko might pick up this time, but as she did, her fingers grazed the necklace she had placed there, and she removed it instead.
She looked at the necklace softly glowing in her hand, and her eyes began tear up again. "Dammit. Stop it," Aya said to herself, but doing so only made her more upset.
"This is all your fault, you know," she said to the necklace. She sniffled, wiped at her eyes with her other hand, then said, "If it wasn't for you, I never would have left the room. I never would have left Kyoko..." As Aya said her friend's name, her voice faultered. Becoming frustrated, she clenched her hand around the necklace, making a fist, and slammed it against the dock.
Then, putting her hand back out in front of her, she opened it again to look at the necklace. Without a second thought, Aya pulled back, and threw the necklace into the ocean before her, watching as it plunked into the gray-blue water, and disappeared. The only reason why Kyoko was gone was because Aya had left to throw away the necklace, and she hadn't even gone through with it. Leaving the room had been completely pointless, and had stranded her here, and here she still was with that ugly necklace. Well, no longer.
The sky was getting dark, and Aya knew that she needed to act soon. With both sets of bags, and the survival kit slung over her back, Aya walked back toward the forest, almost certain that the signs were just there to keep out unruly mobs of the poor. She passed by the other campers again on the second level, but suddenly stopped by the forest's entrance, and looked again at the signs.
Majoring in sociology got her thinking about population stratification way too much. Forcing people to buy a lyre-like harp was a very strange way to go about separating the public, if that truly was what they were after. But what if there really was some merit to the warnings after all?
Hesitantly, Aya took several steps forward into the forest, looked around, and with a shrug walked forward some more. It seemed safe enough, though the inside of the forest looked drastically different from the outside. From the outside, the forest was lush and leafy and green. Even during twilight as the first stars were appearing in the painted sky, a warm breeze rustled the foliage, and an occasional bird chirped, or cricket sounded. But from within, things were notable different: black leaves whistled as wind pushed through them, shifting branches so that the trees and bushes seemed to be constantly shifting, ever changing. The trees completely blotted out the sky, and there was no moon to offer even a dim glow.
The wind carried with it a smell of decay, which at first Aya thought to be carrion, and searched the forest floor for some sort of animal corpse - half-eaten by passing creatures - in such a state of decay that the only thing preying on it still were the maggots and worms traveling through eye sockets and rotted meat. The image made Aya wretch, and her hand flew to her mouth as she swallowed the metallic-tasting saliva. She swallowed again and cleared her throat; the smell was becoming nauseating.
She pushed further through the forest, determined to escape the source of the smell, wherever and whatever it was. Thankfully, the scent faded as she continued through the forest. She stopped once it was a tolerable distance away, not wanting to walk to where she couldn't still see Bone Village behind her, or to where any larger sort of animal could be lurking, even though the forest had become completely silent since she had entered.
It was a relief to see that she was completely alone in the forest, without any of the rowdy public in the camp site. Now she wouldn't have to worry about noise from anyone.
Looking around again, the inside of the forest wasn't that different. Aya had just psyched herself up, doubting her first assumption that the Lunar Harp was just a scam. No wonder the forest had seemed creepy. The smell of death was probably just imagined too... All of those warning signs really played a number on her sub-consciousness. What did she have to worry about? It was just a bunch of trees.
Aya let the luggage fall off her arms, thunking to the ground. She crouched beside the survival kit and started to unpack it. Inside, like the boy in the gift shop had told her, were a tent, four glow-light sticks, a small pocket knife, a sleeping bag, and extra rope. She chuckled at the extra rope, remembering the boy's comment about always needing rope in movies. In that case, now she was most definitely prepared for anything.
The tent was not difficult to set up. A glossy sheet of paper directed her in its structure with easy to follow picture diagrams:A goes to A, B goes to B, and so forth. But, most importantly, it was enough of a distraction to keep her mind occupied from Kyoko.
Once the tent was set up, Aya kicked off her boots and climbed inside. She unrolled the sleeping bag, and zipped herself in, thankful that it was warm enough outside not to need a fire, since that stupid survival kit didn't come with anything to start one.
Her body felt so exhausted that after lying down Aya didn't want to move at all. Yet as she prepared to sleep, her mind raced. She had nothing to otherwise engage her thoughts now that the tent had been built, and so she focused intently on the only thing that mattered - Kyoko.
Remembering the details that led her here was like trying to watch a scene obfuscated by fog. She was almost sure that Kyoko said the tickets were in her bag. Was almost sure that she said something about there being a layover. Yet there were no tickets, and even the receptionist at the desk denied there ever being a boat to Costa del Sol in the first place. That fact made Aya feel slightly more suspicious than worried.
Reaching into her pocket, she took out her fully charged cell phone, and tried calling Kyoko again. Aya was not surprised when she did not answer.
There was nothing Aya could do now. She stranded here in the dark, anyone in Bone Village that could possibly help her would have been asleep by now; and with Kyoko not answering her phone, Aya could get no answers until daylight. It just made no sense to maintain consciousness anymore. She would find Kyoko in the morning.
The express flight to Cosmo Canyon took nearly three hours, and as the aircraft landed just outside the town, kicking up whirlwinds of red dust, Nanaki had to restrain himself from excitedly jumping off. There was a strong urge to visit Cosmo Canyon, which was probably the only location that had not changed much in over 500 years, but Nanaki cast it aside. Those sentiments would have to wait.
Nanaki immediately took off at a run towards the Ancient Forest, paws padding against the gravel. Though he didn't want to think about it, being back in this location set Nanaki at ease. Its familiar scent, the way the ground crunched beneath his paws, the warm breeze through his fur - it all felt like home.
Nanaki ran faster until he reached the crater caused by the Diamond WEAPON so long ago. Now the crater was barely noticeable, covered upon with fresh sand and gravel. He ran over it without pause, climbing up towards the Ancient Forest.
Just before the forest, Nanaki came to a halt, panting. As he caught his breath, Nanaki entered into the forest, keeping up his guard. He hadn't even thought about dusting off his materia and bringing it with him on his journey. The only thing that would be of any use was his Sense materia, which he never seemed to remove, even after half a century had passed.
Though Nanaki could now potentially sense creatures lurking around, would he be able to defend himself against one? He was lucky enough not to encounter anything on the run here, but this forest was not so forgiving. That caused Nanaki to worry slightly - it wasn't as if he had kept up his skills throughout the years. Would he even remember how?
He pressed on, inhaling deeply for any scent of Vincent's. With his nose to the ground, Nanaki trailed carefully throughout the forest, making sure to keep well away from anything potentially threatening.
As more time passed, Nanaki felt more insecure with his decision to come here, and wondered whether Vincent was here at all. Still, he moved forward - walking, sniffing, digging a bit, avoiding a passing creature, walking some more.
Though the forest was rather expansive, after four hours of fruitless searching, Nanaki felt more than discouraged. But it made perfect sense for Vincent to be here! Physically, most people couldn't even get to the Ancient Forest, and those who could knew better than to step inside, as the forest was very dangerous. It was the most logical location for him to be.
Then again...Vincent hadn't joined the party until they reached Nibelheim, a good time after they had left this side of the continent. He also had stayed with Yuffie on the Highwind when the others had decided to explore the forest. Perhaps Vincent wouldn't have hidden himself here after all. He wouldn't have known its layout, or the forest's secrets.
Then Nanaki stopped walking suddenly, his lips lifting in a toothy grin.
The forest's secrets. Of course!
Without further delay, Nanaki turned on his heel and ran through the forest. Ignoring any creatures he haphazardly attracted, he dashed back towards Cosmo Canyon, wondering how fast he could schedule a flight to Bone Village.
Aya woke with a strong urge to urinate. Unzipping the tent, she decided to walk back to Bone Village so she could use their restroom, figuring that if she couldn't get inside to use the inn's bathroom this late at night, surely there were porta-potties for the campers outside.
Outside of the tent, she stretched, yawned, stretched again, then broke one of the glow sticks and set it on the ground by the tent to easily find her way back.
After shoving her socked feet into her boots, Aya stumbled back towards the inn. Her legs, still full from sleep, seemed to drag non-compliantly on the ground. Trudging forward, Aya paid no notice to the trees as she passed them by, her eyes now adjusted to the darkness of the forest.
She walked for what seemed like twenty minutes before stopping, more awake now, as she realized she should have already reached Bone Village.
All Aya could see was forest as she looked around. She must have gone the wrong way. With a sigh, Aya doubled back towards the tent.
The forest seemed to be completely still, there was no wind, no sound, as if she were simply walking in a black void. There was no sign of the tent. Not even of the glow stick she had just set outside of it. Aya told herself not to panic, and that she had just walked farther from the tent then she realized. Despite this, her body moved faster, jogging, and then running through the forest.
She ran hard, until she was gasping for breath, but she still maintained her speed. There was no way she wouldn't have reached the tent by now. No freaking way. She kept running - her boots crunching on the fallen twigs and leaves. Feeling her legs weaken, knees threatening to buckle, Aya came to a sudden halt, bent forward with hands braced on her knees, chest heaving.
Maybe she should have listened to the boy from the gift shop, but she couldn't see how a dinky, rusted lyre-harp could help. She looked around, turning herself in circles. This was ridiculous. She should be back at the tent. Aya would admit that she might have gone in the wrong direction when she tried to walk to Bone Village, but if she had turned directly around, like she did, walking back in the direction she came from, it would have been logically impossible for her to miss the tent. It was as if the trees had moved the entire camp away, but forests didn't just shift like that. No, she should definitely be back at the tent.
...and then she was.
It was as if during the time it took for her to blink, Aya was suddenly transported back to her tent. She was standing just outside of it by the glow stick, as if she hadn't ever left.
"What the hell?" Aya muttered to herself. She walked over to the tent, and touched it just to make sure it was real. Yet even after touching it, she still questioned its existence. Why would touching the tent prove it to be more real? Her nose had been deceived by the scent of death when she first entered the forest, and just now it had seemed like she was running though the forest, when in fact she hadn't moved at all. Sensations Aya thought she had experienced in this forest all turned out to be false, so what made seeing, or touching the tent any different?
Aya shook her head quickly, as if the motion would forcibly expel the thought from her mind. The only place she could get by thinking like that was an asylum. If she kept thinking like that, she would start questioning the existence of everything in the forest, even herself.
Taking a deep breath, Aya could see the light of Bone Village from where she stood, and began to walk towards it again. She was tired, and she decided that her mind was playing vicious, vicious tricks on her. Yet despite this, Aya stopped and turned to walk sideways so that she could watch the tent. If that previous bit of confusion was because of the forest, Aya felt more confident this time that she had outsmarted it - now she could watch the tent, and then catch occasional glimpses of Bone Village at the same time.
Aya turned her head back towards Bone Village, and then quickly looked towards the tent. Everything was still good. She took several more steps then looked again, but was not able to get a clear enough view. The next time, she twisted slightly more, then stopped walking and turned completely.
Bone Village was gone, and as she whipped around towards the tent, she saw that it was gone as well.
But that was impossible. She was just looking at both of them less than seconds ago. She was positive!
Then, somehow, she was back at the camp again, standing just between the tent and the glow stick, like last time.
Aya plopped to the ground, cross-legged and frustrated. What in the heck was going on? Both Bone Village and the tent had been visible, and then suddenly they had vanished. But as soon as she had stopped, calmed herself down, and thought about it rationally, she appeared back at the tent again, or so she thought.
Stay calm, she told herself, rocking slightly as she thought. The forest was enchanted after all, of that Aya was now positive. There had to be some kind of trick to it, a way to bypass the forest's magic - something that the Lunar Harp had in its possession by simply existing. If the warning signs had been telling the truth, a traveler merely had to possess the Lunar Harp to travel through the woods; they didn't have to do anything special with it.
You can do this, Aya thought to herself. Just figure out the trick. What's so special about this Harp anyway? You did it last time; you can do it again...
"Again?" she muttered. This was the first time she had ever been here, so where did that thought come from? Sure, the forest seemed familiar, but only in the sense that it had a lot of trees and bushes like every other forest. Nothing more.
Though Aya was lost in thought, she gradually began to hear something in the distance. Believing it to be nothing more than the rustling of the leaves from the wind, she ignored it, and settled back to her thoughts. But as the sound became louder, clearer, Aya found herself completely focused on it.
That definitely was not the wind.
Aya sprang to her feet, preparing herself for some type of animal to spring out at her, like a wolf, or maybe something more like a snake. Come to think of it, the sound did resemble slithering...or something dragging itself across the ground... Maybe it was just an injured animal that was limping and meant her no harm? The way her luck was going, she doubted it.
Still, Aya wished she had a weapon...like a sledgehammer. A sledgehammer would be good. Even the pocket knife that was inside the survival kit would be an improvement, but Aya was too afraid to move towards the tent, lest she provoke the creature to attack. On the other hand, if she were to stay perfectly still, the animal would see that Aya meant it no harm, and ignore her and go away. It would ignore her, wouldn't it?
Aya noticed something moving in her peripheral vision, and cautiously turned her head towards it. Something was indeed coming towards her, but it was so small she could barely make it out. She would have thought it an enormous insect if not for a very distinctive glow...
Aya watched the object as it pulled itself forward along the ground, and felt her throat clutch in horror. It was the necklace that Kyoko had given her. The necklace that she had thrown into the ocean. And it was dragging itself right towards her.
Aya shrieked and ran to the side, away from the direction the stone had been heading, then watched as it hesitated and changed direction - pulling itself in her direction again.
Tears filled Aya's eyes as she backed away, blurring her vision. She mumbled incoherently before she turned and fled.
She ran as fast as she could, not daring to look back, darting through trees and brush, yet the sound still seemed to be getting closer.
Aya turned to see how close the thing was, and saw the tent still sitting directly behind her - the stone still pushing through the gravel, rolling towards her feet.
But she had been running! She had watched trees passed by, and yet it was if she had never moved at all.
"Get away from me!" Aya screamed as the stone. "Just stop it! Stop rolling!"
The tears came harder, rolling down her cheeks. Aya's legs gave out, and she crumbled to the ground; dirt caked beneath her nails as she quickly forced herself to sit up.
She crawled backwards away from the stone, breathing so frantically that she was near passing out when the stone suddenly stopped moving.
It was about an arm's length away, and Aya prepared herself for it to do something - to fly at her face, or to grow teeth and chomp on her hand. Neither would have surprised her at this point. But, she knew it would do something. She had seen too many movies for this sort of thing to catch her off guard.
Aya stayed planted, her weight on her hands, elbows locked and cutting circulation to her arms, so that she was losing feeling in her fingertips. The only thing that moved was her chest as she heaved in and out, trying to keep from sobbing and making anymore noise.
She sat there.
Sat there some more.
Sat. Sat. Sat.
Nothing.
It felt like she had been sitting like that for over an hour, and Aya would have believed this all to be nothing more than a horrible dream if her eyes weren't so sore from tying not to blink. She couldn't feel her arms at all, and the awkward position was giving her cramps in her legs. This pain was definitely real.
After waiting this long, Aya was tempted to tell the stone to just get on with it already. Tentatively, she sat up completely, rubbing her arms to increase the blood flow.
The stone didn't move, yet Aya sat there. Waiting. And, when that yielded nothing, she got to her knees, and reached her hand out slowly. Her shaking fingertips barely brushed the stone before she quickly pulled her hand back.
Still nothing.
Aya started to inch away from it, but the moment she did, the stone rolled forward again to cover the distance. Aya scrambled to her feet to jump back farther, but it kept rolling forward.
With her foot, Aya delivered a swift kick and sent it skidding away from her. Without hesitation, it rolled back.
Regardless of what she did, it seemed like the evil little thing would come back to her. But what was also peculiar was that before when she left the tent it had disappeared completely until she somehow was brought back, yet when the stone was present and she tried to run she couldn't get away from the tent.
To test it again, she kicked the stone harder, watched as it sailed away, then turned and ran the opposite direction. After several seconds of running, Aya turned, already expecting to see both the tent and the stone behind her, but she was also greeted by something else.
Someone was crouched by her tent, watching her. Inhaling sharply, Aya ran from the person, nearly falling over herself in a panic as she did so, before realizing that she would not get anywhere.
She whipped around to still see the tent behind her, but the person was gone; there was no sight of them anywhere. Was the person really there to begin with, or was it another of the forest's tricks? Aya's heart felt like it would burst out of her chest, and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. She scanned the area, but saw nothing.
What had the person even looked like? From the size, it seemed to be a male, though he was crouching down, so she couldn't be sure. Even if it had been a man, Aya was not paying attention enough to notice any details before she ran. The only thing she could recall was that his chest was bare, and appeared to be seriously wounded, and that the brightness of his eyes seemed almost demonic, although that might have been simply an affect of the glow stick on the ground.
Aya's eyes darted to where the man had been. Dark blood splattered the ground where he had stood, but did even that prove he was real?. This did not bode well with Aya. She had no idea what was going on, but she needed to get the hell out of this forest. Thankfully, she now had a pretty good idea of how to go about it.
With a careful hand, Aya stooped down to gingerly pick up the necklace which rested by her feet, as it was now was much less terrifying than the man. It was a bit surprising to see the clasp of the necklace still broken; if it had magically been repaired, Aya would not have been fazed in the least. She loosely held the necklace out in front of her, between her index finger and thumb, the stone dangling from the broken chain.
Not knowing what result her plan would bring, Aya shoved the necklace into her pocket, climbed back into the tent, and grabbed both sets of bags, the pocket knife, and the three unopened glow-sticks, and started walking towards the light of the town.
She walked forward and forward, following light, but she was no longer sure it was from Bone Village - the light never got any closer, but never moved farther away. Aya wondered if this was just a new trick from the forest, but she continued to walk straight.
In her mind, Aya had reasoned that the presence of the necklace made it so she was wherever it was in the forest - so if the necklace moved forward geographically, she would too, and somehow bypass the forest's magic. Truthfully, she didn't know if it would work, but it was the best idea she had.
Through the woods, the path changed as the trees opened into a hollow. The sky was black save for a sliver of moon and a few stars. A clear pathway trailed through a hollow tree, large enough for a grown man to walk through, which had fallen, or perhaps had been strategically placed, over a small cliff to connect it to the opposite side.
Aya was slightly apprehensive to walk through it - most important was the fact that she had definitely not walked through that on the way from town, so it was rather safe to conclude that she was going in the wrong direction. And aside from that, she doubted that the over-sized log would even hold her weight.
Though she debated on whether or not to continue, Aya realized that from this location, the light seemed significantly closer. If it was not from Bone Village, it might have been from another town, or a large cabin of sorts. And, as Aya didn't know where Bone Village was in relation to her current location, she didn't want to risk turning around and losing whatever she was near.
Working up her courage, Aya walked through the hollowed tree as fast as she dared, and then stopped dead in her tracks. Something had become visible now that Aya had crossed through the log - no more than fifty feet from where she stood was a massive heap of something, perhaps a dead animal, on the ground.
Slowly, Aya walked towards the thing. As she got closer, she realized how large this animal was, and that it was not an animal at all, but a person.
She stopped moving. Heart pounding in her chest, Aya was reminded of her experience with the stone in her pocket, as she sat still and waited for it to make a move, yet there was something much more horrifying about the situation now. It was as if the fear she was feeling had been completely ingrained in her, something primal that was both holding her back, and pushing her forward at the same time, and her feet began to move her forward.
Deep in her mind, Aya knew it had to be the man she had seen earlier. The only other option was obviously that it was someone else. That thought frightened Aya even more, and her mind raced with the possible options. And still her body was pushed ahead.
Now she was only several feet away. From this short distance, Aya could discern much more about the body. From the sheer size, now that she could clearly see it, the person had to be a male, although they appeared to have very long hair. The color was ambiguous because of the darkness, but it seemed light, perhaps blonde. He was lying face down on the ground, and wore nothing but pants and shoes.
From this angle, Aya couldn't tell if he was the same injured man she had seen from earlier. She couldn't recall anything about his hair, his clothing, or his size. The only things she remembered were his eyes, and the mass of blood on his chest and arms.
The man seemed to be unconscious, for he did not move even when Aya stood less than a foot away from him. Kneeling down beside him, Aya contemplated what to do.
When she had first seen the man, he had scared her out of her wits by popping up so suddenly. Though she wasn't sure if he had left the tent of his own free will, or if the forest had moved him, he didn't try to harm her while he was there. Perhaps he was just as lost in this forest as she was, and had been attacked by something? He might have needed help, and instead she ran from him.
Not that she didn't have good reason at the time.
Aya placed a hand on his bare shoulder; it was warm beneath her fingertips and moist with sweat. He was breathing softly, and Aya's hand rose and fell slightly along with his shoulder with each breath
There was only one way to tell whether or not this was the same man. Aya leaned over his body, and placing one hand on his shoulder and the other on his waist, gently rolled him over towards her.
She looked first at his chest and arms, covered in severe gashes and lacerations. He was bleeding quite profusely, and leaves and grass were stuck onto his chest. Aya made a motion to remove them, wondering briefly how he had gotten so injured, but froze as her eyes reached his face.
Then Aeris Gainsbrough remembered.