ElfQuest meets Final Fantasy
Part Ten
Maracae had enough time to go over the basics of Traveling with Yuna while the elves sorted among themselves who was going and who was staying. Shuna wanted to stay, and quite a few of the Wolfriders weren't too keen on going, either. In the end Timmain made the request, and it was only a request no matter how they took it, that all go with them. She had a feeling, a premonition, that the wolfblooded warriors would be called upon. So everyone, too-precious cublings and all, entered the Palace and prepared to leave Abode, the World of Two Moons.
Maracae stood by the Scroll of Colors and gently touched minds with the elves around her. Now take the Palace with us. I'll form the Doorway here. Now we are going through and I am closing the Door. With an exhaled breath she opened her eyes. "Well, we're here, but I took us to a place far from where the ones you seek are located. We'll need to fly above the surface."
Timmain nodded.
Cutter looked confused. "Why?"
"Better they see us coming and have time to prepare. They've had problems with things falling from the sky." Maracae briefly Sent directions to those elves who guided the Palace in flight. The city will be in this direction, but the city will be in ruins. We seek a newer city nearby. Cloud would never be too far from Midgar.
And what of Aerith? Timmain asked.
Cloud will know how to find her.
---
Cloud was riding his bike, Fenrir, in the wastes outside of Midgar. He was just returning from a delivery when his PHS cell phone rang. He skidded the motorcycle to a stop and flipped the phone open, holding it to one ear, his eyes on the landscape around him. Was that a glint in the sky on the horizon.
"Cloud here."
"Cloud!" It was Tifa, and she was upset. "You need to get back here."
"What is it?" He was instantly on edge.
"It's . . . You've got to see it for yourself. It's in the sky, and it's coming straight for us!"
Cloud flipped the phone closed and dropped it into a pocket as the bike roared back to life and he raced back to Tifa and the children.
---
He could see the glint on the horizon growing larger as he drew closer to town. A giant structure, reflecting back the sunlight from walls of pure crystal. Cloud felt his heart chill inside his chest. They had already been through so much . . . What had found them now?
Tifa was waiting for him outside the bar when he rolled up outside. She jumped on behind him. "I told Marlene and Denzel to stay inside. Everyone else is going to meet us just outside of town." She spoke loudly to be heard over Fenrir's engine as they rode towards the outskirts. "It slowed down and stopped there just after you hung up. It's like it's . . . waiting."
It wasn't hard to see the crowd of people waiting a good distance from the crystal structure. The structure itself . . . sat upon the earth and did nothing. Cloud stopped the motorcycle just short of the crowd and he and Tifa jumped off and ran towards the knot on the inside of the crescent shaped gathering. People moved out of their way to let them pass. It was eerily silent.
Vincent saw them. "Cloud. Tifa."
Cloud nodded to him. "Anything?"
Vincent shook his head once. "Nothing."
Barret was edgy. "The damn thing just sits there."
Just then there was a sound and the crowd gasped in response. It was a hissing noise. Cloud and the others turned to see that an opening had appeared in one side of the structure, the side facing them, and that figures stood just inside it.
Everyone looked at Cloud as if to tell him to go first. He sighed and took the lead position, walking slowly towards the figures. He wasn't expecting to see a familiar face emerge from the structure to meet him.
---
"I'll go out first." Maracae told the elves. "Make no threatening moves. They are very edgy." She looked directly at Cutter. "Cloud is very wolf-like and we have entered his territory."
Cutter nodded. This was something he could understand.
Sunstream was watching the crowd through the Palace's walls. "I don't see Aerith."
Maracae shook her head. "She wouldn't be here. She guards Cloud. He'll know where to find her."
Sunstream was confused. Wasn't Cloud the bodyguard?
Just then the doors opened and Maracae began walking out to meet Cloud, who slowly walked towards them.
When he saw her, Cloud's eyes widened in recognition. She smiled hesitantly. "Cloud." It was a greeting.
"Maracae." His voice was almost neutral, but surprised, and pleased too. He started to smile. "It's been a long time."
She nodded. The others saw her and there were cries of joy. "I'm sorry I left like that." She paused. "After . . ." She couldn't even say it.
He understood. Just then Tifa ran up and threw her arms around Maracae, exclaiming with happiness. Maracae smiled, a bittersweet look, as the others made their greetings. She looked at Vincent and even though she merely called him by name, they both knew what she wanted to call him. Father. More of a true father to her than the scientist they had defeated.
Just then Timmain emerged with several of the elves around her and Maracae heard the gasp of fear, and saw Cloud's face whiten as he reached for his sword. She reached out quickly and stopped him.
"Don't, Cloud. It's okay. Her name's Timmain and she's the reason I came back." She paused, taking a deep breath. "She needs to talk to Aerith. Where are we most likely to find her?"
The pain in Cloud's eyes was unmistakeable, and mirrored in her own. He nodded. "The old church. In Midgar. That's where I saw her last."
Maracae tried to smile. "Do you want to come with us?"
He sighed. "Yes. Much has changed since . . . since you left."
---
He'd not been exaggerating when he said that much had changed. In the old church, where Aerith had tended flowers to spite a city that killed everything around it, the flowers were gone. In their place was a pool of clear water shining through the broken floorboards. "When did this happen?" Maracae was stunned.
"I was fighting Kadaj." Cloud told her. "Before he became Sephiroth."
Maracae stiffened. "Nii-sama came back?!" There was agony in her voice. "Will we never be free of him?"
Cloud shrugged. "I defeated him and he became Kadaj again. Before he died. The water . . . it cures Geostigma. The last time I saw Aerith I was standing in the water . . . healing the children." He lowered himself into the water and turned to face Marace. "She was by the door, with Zack."
Timmain watched curiously as Maracae lowered herself into the water as well. Yuna stepped forward. "So where do we find her?"
Maracae didn't turn to look, but spoke so all could hear. "Aerith died. The scream you heard – was my voice calling out when my Nii-sama killed her. But just because someone's died, it doesn't mean that they're gone. You've gone to the Farplane, Yuna, you know that."
Tidus reached out to take Yuna's hand. "What happened to this city? It feels almost like Zanarkand, the ruins, not the one I came from."
"Do you remember, Yuna, your dream of a city of light? A city that never slept?"
Yuna nodded. "Shinra said that there was limitless energy in the Farplane, but that it would be generations before it could be harnessed."
There were cries of fear and anger among those watching. Cloud whitened and Barret started to open up his gun arm. Tifa stopped him when Maracae spoke up again.
"Such a silly child he was, he knew the how but not the why. Always wondering if he could, never asking if he should. The Farplane isn't limitless. Midgar was the city you dreamed of, but the dream was a nightmare. It was a blight, sucking the life out of the Planet to be refined into energy to power homes and gadgets at a cost too terrible to bear. Midgar is a ruin, a dead machina city standing as a remind that there are things men should not do."
Yuna paled and her hand squeezed painfully on Tidus', but he didn't pull away. "Are you saying that Spira . . ."
"I'm not sure. That's why I have to speak to Aerith myself. I don't actually know where the Ancients came from." She looked at Cloud. "Any suggestions?"
He cupped his hands and lifted a double handful of water. "You were in SOLDIER, perhaps . . .?"
She shook her head. "Jenova never touched me. I mimicked the power using my Traveler gifts. By the way," she met his eyes, "you really were SOLDIER First-Class." He dropped the water, stunned. "It just took longer to activate on you because you were so strong. It linked into your emotions, and until your emotions came into play, the depth of your caring and grief . . . You were stronger than Nii-sama." She took a few more steps into the water, looking at it. "Baptism, huh?" She turned to face all of them. "I never was the sprinkling type." She spread her arms out and fell backwards, sinking completely into the water and vanishing from sight.
---
"Maracae!" Aerith ran up to her and threw her arms around her in a joyful embrace. "It's so good to see you again! You've been away so long."
Zack walked up just behind her. "Maracae." He gave her a brief salute.
She nodded to him. "Zack. I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you. Either of you."
Zack shook his head. "You got Cloud away, that's what matters."
Aerith huffed. "You and Cloud, always apologizing. Whose forgiveness do you really want, anyway?"
She smiled. "My own, I guess, if you're happy where you are."
Aerith smiled and glanced at Zack. "I'm happy. What brings you here?"
"I brought some friends, they need to talk to you . . . about the Ancients, and where they came from."
Aerith looked serious. "I'm not the one they're looking for. Not really. The Ancients . . . are a different bloodline entirely. You've got to go back quickly. Zack and I will meet you at the Palace. You've got to get back to it before he does."
Maracae's eyes widened in shock and understanding as she was slammed back into her body sunk into the water. She rose up quickly, grabbing hold of Cloud's hand to steady herself.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Quickly!" she gasped, trying to regain her breath. "We've got to get back. She'll meet us at the Palace. It's calling him." She clambered out of the water and turned to help Cloud out as well.
"What do you mean?" Cutter asked.
"Imagine Winnowill, with a High One's powers, and the sole survivor of an egg-ship." She looked at Timmain, apology in her eyes. "There is a descendant of your kin here and we have to stop him from reaching the Palace or there will be a new Calamity from the Skies and we will all be worse than dead."
It only took a moment to transport them all back to the Palace's doors.
Well, is anyone reading this one?
I live for reader response and I'd love to hear from someone who's reading this particular story.
Mrs. Grizzley