They were so close. Kalm was in sight and the afternoon sun was above them. Cloud had led his group from Midgar and had only stopped for short breaks. Now, as they entered the small town of Kalm, the group went straight towards the Inn.
Cloud reached into his pocket and took out the gil for a room. They made their way up the stairs quietly and nearly crashed onto the beds. Red curled up on the rug in front on Tifa's bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Cloud fell asleep as well, and promised himself that he would tell the others tomorrow about what had happened with Aerith and Sephiroth.
When they awoke, some hours later, they left the inn in search of a place to eat. There was one right next to the inn. They sat down and quickly ordered something to eat. As they were wating for their meal, Cloud spoke up. "It's time to make plan." Tifa nodded. She understood the situation better than Barret or Red. "We need to go after Sephiroth," she said, which gained a nod from from Cloud. The other members of AVALANCHE were still confused by the situation. "Didn't Sephiroth die in that reactor explosion five years ago?" Red asked.
"Tha's prolly what them damned ShinRa wantcha to think," Barret answered. "Obviously, he's not. And now he has Aerith." Tifa added. Barret nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but the question is 'why kidnap her?'" Except for Cloud everyone pondered that. "But he didn't kidnap her." Cloud said softly, but they heard him. "Say what?" Tifa asked, hoping that she'd heard him incorrectly.
"Sephiroth didn't kidnap her, she went willingly."
Red thought about that. "It makes sense though." Everyone looked at him like he had two heads. "Hear me out and think about it. She recognized his sword, called him by a name that, though he didn't like it and probably would have killed anyone else for, he accepted. That, and she literally threw herself on him like he was a long lost relative or something." It did make a lot of sense actually. "We don;t know much about Aerith either, do we? Besides that fact that she's an Ancient," Tifa admitted. Something popped up in Cloud's head.
"Sephiroth claimed to one too."
Heads turned in him direction. He didn't like being on the spot. It made him uncomfortable. "He is?" Barret akes, his face showing him confusion. Cloud nodded. He knew that he would eventually have to tell them. Tifa already knew most of it, but Barret and Red did not. "Let's go back to our room. There's something that you all should know."
The sun hadn't risen yet, and Aerith wished very much that they could stop. She was a few feet behind Sephiroth, and was constantly rubbing her eyes, trying to rub the sleep out of them. Staying up and walking for most of the night wasn't something she regularly did, and she had nowhere near the amount of stamina that Sephiroth had. He noticed when she started lagging behind him, and slowed his pace a bit for her to catch up. He knew that it would be much easier to carry her and let her sleep for a while, not to mention that faster. But he had to keep up a somewhat slow pace for the puppet to follow.
Aerith finally caught up with him, but he could tell that she was growing weary. Not much longer until she would finally just collapse from exhaustion, though he couldn't blame her. 'Oh well, I suppose that it would be okay to go a bit faster. I'll just have to leave clues for the puppet to follow.' Without a second thought, he scooped Aerith into his arms and walked at a much faster pace. She seemed a bit shocked at first, but then relaxed and fell asleep a few seconds later.
'Sephiroth, my son.' His mother was calling him.
'Yes mother.'
'I am still waiting. I assume that you've set everything up accordingly?'
'Of course mother. The puppet and his group are following as predicted.'
'And the girl?'
'With me, of course. She has agreed to our plan, and is waiting to meet you.'
'Is that so? Well then, hurry and get here soon.'
'I will mother. But you must remember that the puppet is much slower. It will take him a little while longer to reach Junon.'
'I know, but I do wish that he would hurry. I am growing impatient.'
'I understand mother. You forget that I, too, have been waiting.'
'I have not forgotten, but I have also been waiting nearly two thousand years for this as well.'
'You will not be waiting for much longer, mother. I promise.'
'I know.'
Well, that's all for now people. I've found that I have much more time to do things now, so hopefully I'll be able to churn out chapters much faster. As always, please review and tell me what you think. It really helps. Toodles.
