Chapter 6
It was late into the evening when the group finally arrived back in New Midgar. On the way, Nanaki had explained the whole situation to Silas, giving him an idea of what's going on. Everyone met up with Lacus at the now close Seventh Heaven. The deliverers were also gone as well, seeing as Lacus felt like letting them out early since the delivery requests that day were pretty stagnant in numbers.
"Looks like we won't be able to do anything until tomorrow," Sigurd noted as night fell over the city.
"So what is it that we're looking for in Sector 8 anyways?" wondered Aya.
Nanaki and Logan looked at each other and gave a nod before the red-furred beast came forward with their next plan. "Our new objective is to locate the container holding the remains of Jenova's head."
Gasps of shock filled the room upon hearing their new goal.
"What!" exclaims Roxy. "Are you kidding us? You want us to spend time to find an old relic that probably doesn't exist anymore?"
"Shinra's technology was very advanced for my day," explained Nanaki. "The container used to hold Jenova's head can't possibly erode away, even after a century has passed. I'm certain it is somewhere among the debris of old Midgar."
Cait Sith nods in agreement.
"My goodness," vociferates Nova. "Do you realize how long that's going to take? Even if all ten of us were to search Sector 8, that place is still too big and there's too much debris to look through."
"I agree with Nova," added Zenith. "What you're asking us to do could take forever."
"I know it will take a while, but surely not forever," responded Nanaki.
"What reason is there to find this Jenova's head anyhow?" wonders Silas.
Nanaki gave a sigh as he thought about whether to tell the others or not. A nod from Logan encourages him to share his feelings.
"You see," began the red-furred creature. "Recently, I've begun sensing some sort of disturbance in the energy flow of the Planet. My heart tells me that the enemy I had fought with my friends a long time ago may still exist."
"I've sensed that disturbance too," admits Nova. "It's bothered me as well."
"All answers point to Jenova," continued Nanaki. "Even now, no one really knows that much about the mysterious extraterrestrial that came here more than a millennium ago. I have a strong feeling that something or someone must've come across the container holding Jenova's head and did something with it. That's why we need to search Sector 8 for it."
Silence fell across the room until Lacus spoke up.
"Oh, before I forget," said the young man, turning to the red-furred creature. "Nanaki, someone's here to see you."
"Someone for me? Who?"
"He didn't say," replied Lacus. "He just came and asked to see you and Cait Sith. I told him to wait in the old office upstairs."
The two creatures in question look at each other before disappearing up the steps to the second floor of the bar.
-------------------------------------------------------------
After pushing open the door, Nanaki's heart nearly burst with joy upon instantly recognizing the familiar red tattered cape of his friend's outfit.
"Vincent!" he exclaims. "You're still around! I'm so glad!"
"Hey Red," greeted the ageless being seated on a chair.
Hearing his old nickname brought back so many memories of Nanaki's journey with his friends. He felt happy yet sad that five of his comrades were not around for this joyous reunion.
"Nice to see you again, Vincent," exclaims Cait Sith. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"A very long while," asserts Vincent. He shifts slightly in his seat to face the two. "I see you've met Silas."
"Yes, and you've probably recognized some of our friends' descendants and relations out there," adds Nanaki.
"Cid's grandson, for sure," noted Vincent. "But he doesn't curse as much or smoke. Makes me miss the old man."
"Heh, yeah," chuckles Cait Sith.
"And Aya reminds me of Yuffie so much, it's as if she never left," notes Nanaki. "You'd think they were related, but Aya's merely another inhabitant of Wutai, nothing more. And then there's Roxy…"
"Ah yes, Marlene and Denzel's granddaughter," exclaimed Vincent. "They did everything they could in order to make her the spitting image of Tifa."
"And Logan with his Heaven's Cloud and Fenrir is so reminiscent of Cloud…" said Nanaki.
"And Marlene still talks about Barret every time I see her," vociferates Cait Sith. "She speaks as if he wasn't dead but just away looking for alternative fuel sources."
The three of them sigh, drenched with so many memories of the past.
"Some friends you can never let go, no matter how hard you try," said Cait Sith sadly.
"Befriending their descendants and relations makes it even worse," notes Nanaki.
"And now you know why I've decided to go into isolation," spoke up Vincent. He gets up and glances out the window at the nighttime sky. "But enough about the past. It's time to focus on the present."
He turns to look at the two remaining members of his old friends. "There's something still around besides us, isn't there?"
"Yes," replied Nanaki. "It's…"
"Jenova," Vincent finishes before the red-furred creature could say it. "Ever since I encountered Silas, Jenova's been on my mind constantly. I came here in order to find out if you guys felt the same way."
"We do," affirms Cait Sith.
"Sephiroth's resurrection, his reappearance two years later, the silver-haired men," listed Nanaki. "All of it had Jenova written all over them."
"And now Silas is next in line to become the next Sephiroth," exclaims Vincent.
"That's not necessarily true," defended Nanaki. "Sure he is somewhat Sephiroth's reincarnation, but that doesn't mean that he's destined to become him."
"Yes, I know that," asserts Vincent. "However, there is the possibility that Jenova will use him at one point or another. You remember what he said about hearing a voice. It must be Jenova for sure."
"But why would Jenova want him to tell the three of us who he was in his past life?" wonders Nanaki. "It doesn't make sense. Unless Jenova wanted us to kill him in order for it to use his body to resurrect Sephiroth."
"No," affirms Vincent. "Something tells me that Jenova is no longer concerned with bringing back Sephiroth again."
"Another Reunion?" suggests Cait Sith.
"Perhaps," thought Vincent. "Except this Reunion will have nothing to do with Sephiroth at all."
"Are you saying that Jenova is going to resurrect itself instead?" exclaims Nanaki anxiously.
"I guess it's tired of being the backseat driver, huh?" notes Cait Sith.
----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, downstairs, the bar was deafly quiet as Zenith, Sigurd, Lacus, Logan, Aya, Roxy, Nova, and Silas either stood or sat around the bar. The atmosphere of the place was intense with intimidation as none tried to warm up to each other.
"So," spoke up Zenith, desperate to break up the silence. "Who do you think Nanaki and Cait Sith are talking to up there?"
"It's most likely Vincent. There's no one else left besides him."
The group turns to find an elderly couple stagger into the bar through the entrance.
"Obaasan! Ojiisan!" exclaimed Roxy in surprise. "What are you guys doing here? How did you guys get here? You should've called me if you wanted to come over!"
"Calm down, Roxy," coaxed Marlene with a smile. "We may be old but our hearing is still fine."
"What?" exclaims Denzel jokingly.
"Oh, Denzel, you stop that," Marlene chastises her husband playfully.
The old man gives a humorous chuckle in response.
Just then, Vincent, Nanaki, and Cait Sith descend the stairs only to become face to face with familiar but old faces.
"Marlene! Denzel!" exclaimed the red-furred creature. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We heard there was a reunion so we decided to join you," answered Marlene.
"Heh, not really much of a reunion if some of our friends can't come," chuckles Nanaki nervously.
"I'm sure Papa will be back any day now," replied Marlene. "He must've found a good fuel source and can't bring himself to leave it."
Cait Sith and Nanaki sighed as they accepted the mild senility of their old friend.
"Well, we should all be going home and getting some rest," suggested Logan. "We'll need all the energy we can get in order to find that container."
"Oh, do you guys need a container for something?" asks Denzel, reaching into his pockets. "I found a pretty good one if you need it."
"It's not just any container, Denzel, it's…"
Nanaki never got to finish his sentence before the old man brought out a very familiar black container. So familiar in fact that it was actually the container holding the last of Jenova's head!
"Denzel!" exclaimed Cait Sith in surprise. "Where did you get that?"
"I got bored one day so I decided to go exploring around in Sector 8," explained the old man. "I found this while rummaging through some debris and I remembered seeing it when the silver-haired men kidnapped me years ago. It brought back memories of when Cloud came back to us so I've kept it as a memento."
"Wow, what are the chances of that?" vociferates Aya.
"Denzel, how long have you had that?" wondered Nanaki.
"Let me think," responded Denzel, putting his free hand to his chin and looking up at the ceiling in thought. "It was sometime before the earthquake that happened today… Yeah, I think I found it about seven days ago."
"That was when the voice in my head came about," exclaims Silas. "It was three days after that when I was led to the waterfall in the Western Continent to meet Vincent."
"This can't be right."
The albino looks down at the red-furred creature which was looking at the container with a worrying frown on his face.
"What's wrong, Red?" asks Vincent.
"Red?" exclaims Lacus with a confused look on his face.
"It's a long story; I'll tell you guys later," assures Nanaki. He returns his attention to the container in Denzel's hand. "There's something wrong with this container."
"What?" wonders Logan.
"When my friend Cloud accidentally sliced the container opened, he said that less liquid came out than he thought," began the red-furred creature. "Meaning that he opened up the second chamber of the container."
"Yep, the top's cut clean through," agreed Denzel, admiring the smoothness of the container's opened lip.
"So what's the problem?" asks Sigurd.
"I don't sense anything in the last chamber," responded Nanaki. "No liquid, no solid, nothing."
"Well, let's break it open and see," suggested Zenith, drawing out his Prism Staff with a grin.
"I think we should take a more methodical approach," suggested Nova.
With a nod, Cait Sith takes the container and works to open the last remaining chamber. All eyes were on the mechanical cat as he succeeds in opening the container. A shocked gasp escapes the lips of the toyasaurus upon looking into the container.
"What is it?" asks Aya anxiously. "I can't see!"
"There's nothing in there," exclaims Vincent ominously.
"What!" vociferates Roxy in surprise.
"Yep, nothing," affirms Cait Sith. "It's completely clean. No sign of anything liquid."
"That can't be right," argues Nanaki. "Jenova's head is quite big and the Turks wouldn't dream of leaving any bit of it behind. All three chambers of the container were filled with Jenova cells so there should be some in the last chamber."
"But I don't see anything," asserts Cait Sith. "Unless someone around here has a microscope."
"Leave it to me!" spoke up Aya as she snatches the container out of the toyasaurus' hands. "I've been wanting to use the microscope set I got for my birthday for a while now and this is the perfect opportunity!"
Before anyone else could object, the teenage girl dashes up to the bedroom upstairs where her traveling bag was kept.