"I TOLD YOU I HAD 'IM!" was the first sentence Cloud heard when he snapped out of his daydreaming.
His Mako blue eyes re-trained on the ranting brute gun man that happened to be his ally as he sat on top of his bed, or rather a patient bed. Currently he was in the middle of a glaring contest against Squall who was leaning up against a nearby wooden post. Both were oblivious to the blonde's startled reaction.
"Really? The way I saw it, you had your butt beaten to a pulp," Squall told the gunman bluntly, "If Vincent hadn't swooped in on time to save us, your spirit would be swimming in the Lifestream now."
"Ay, don't spin this 'round like ya weren't there Mr Scarface!" Barret retorted back, "You oughta be thankin' your lucky stars ya didn't get another scar on yer pretty look!"
He earned himself a pointed glare from the mercenery but ignored it as he turned to look at Cloud.
"Quite a company of friends we've picked up, eh Cloud ol' buddy?" he remarked jokingly, "At least some of us ain't as naggy as Mr Scarface here."
Cloud could not help raising an eyebrow at his friend. Barret calling him "buddy" was something he will never get used to.
"At least my group of allies aren't as cocky and irritating as you," Squall countered back with a glower.
Cloud turned to him and questioned, "Really? Because I could not help but notice Selphie getting on your last nerve everytime I see you both together."
The mercenary sent a glare his way, but made no move to retort back.
Barret noticed this and chuckled out, "Looks like he got ya there, Broody Pants."
Squall looked as if he could combust into flames at any moment, but he managed to keep his anger in. He looked away from them both and muttered under his breath, "... Whatever..."
Just then a female voice called to them, "So how is he?"
The trio turned and eyed the newcomer who had just entered into the medical tentage and was now approaching them. She wore a shin-length pink dress that buttons up the front, a red bolero jacket, brown boots and metal bracers on her wrists and around the edges of her jacket sleeves.
As she came to a stop close to them, Cloud was the first one to acknowledge her presence.
"Aerith," he greeted geniunely with a short nod.
Smiling sweetly at the blonde, Aerith Gainsborough turned her attention over to Barret.
"How are you feeling?" she asked him.
Barret shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, damned migraine, aching arms, my legs are killing me, and I think I lost an arm too."
The last one got a chuckle out of both Aerith and Cloud.
"Other than that, I'm good," the gunman finished with his usual grin.
Nodding her head, she then turned over to Squall and scanned the length of his body.
He had multiple cuts and bruises all over his arms, and he had a bandage covering his forehead. Other than that the mercenery looked just about ready to fight another day. But Aerith was still being Aerith, and she wasn't going to take any chances.
With a small frown replacing the smile she had, she questioned him, "Aren't you supposed to be resting too, Leon?"
Squall sighed at the name she gave him, ignoring the short laugh that came from Barret.
"It's Leonhart..." he mumbled out in embarassment.
Aerith unfortunately acted like she didn't hear him; he suspected it was intentional.
"Leon, you know the rules. You are to stay in bed until your body fully recuperates from the Mako poisoning," she scolded him like an overbearing mother.
Squall stared at her, a rare glint of reluctance in his eyes.
"Do I have to?" he questioned, "I still have to debrief my team."
And that was when he realised his grave mistake.
Within a split second, Aerith's kind and caring nature was sapped from her face, replaced by "the look". Within seconds, Squall's stoic demeanor faltered, and he suddenly felt like the ward was getting bigger.
He timidly gazed down at his feet, and mumbled out quietly, "Er... S-Sorry..."
Barret meanwhile was looking on, feeling rather entertained by the mercenery's predicament. Cloud was also tempted to share the same sentiment, but he eventually settled for pity. Nobody questioned a slums-raised Cetra and gets away with it. Aerith folded her arms and leaned closer towards Squall.
"Quistis already took care of that and will be taking over from you for the time being, so aside from that I don't want to hear any more excuses out of you," she stated plainly, her tone suddenly authoritative and stern, "Now back to bed, or must I call Rinoa here?"
Reluctantly like an obedient child, Squall slowly and quietly shuffled back over to his bed, which lay just beside Barret's. As he got settled in, Cloud slowly and cautiously moved closer to Aerith, not wanting to feel her wrath too.
"Y-You know you didn't have to do that to him like that," he told her softly, "He barely came out of that fight with his life."
Aerith sighed deeply, her anger clearly been spent.
"I know that Cloud. But someone as stubborn as him needs a bit of "motivation" from time to time," she stated as she turned around to face the blonde, a smile once more at her lips like nothing ever happened.
Before more words could be exchanged however, one of the assistant nurses approached them in a brisk walk. The trio recognised her as formally one of that mad scientist's personnel.
"Excuse me? Miss Gainsborough?" she called out and Aerith turned to her.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked.
"Doctor Crescent is requesting your presence in the Rebirth Wing," the assistant said professionally, "She has some good news to give you."
At this, Cloud and Aerith shared a glance.
The Rebirth Wing was where they housed the spirits of those that had been reduced back into nothing more than spiritual essence by Sephiroth. Since most of its patients were those that went on rescue missions to save stragglers, that particular unit was exclusive to them. If Doctor Crescent had good news, could it mean that...?
Looking back to the assistant, Aerith nodded her head gratefully, "Thanks. Tell her I'll be right over."
As the assistant turned and walked away, Cloud asked her softly, "You don't think that...?"
Aerith shook her head, "It shouldn't be possible... no one could ever recover that quickly..."
"I say you oughta see it to believe it," Barret suggested, which got him the attention of the pair, "Go on. Right 'bout time Pinky gets the attention she needs."
Cloud raised an eyebrow at this. There goes Barret again using that nickname ever since he got back. Just who exactly was this Pinky?
Before he could dwell more upon it, he founded himself being led away from the patients' ward by Aerith who took him by the hand. As the pair walked across the tentage to the other end, Aerith breathed out a heavy sigh.
"Things are getting a lot more hectic these past few days," she lamented quietly, sounding rather exhausted, "And that close shave with Sephiroth..."
She closed her eyes tightly, "If I hadn't reacted on time... he would've..."
Suddenly she felt a gloved hand gently gripping at her shoulder, and she open an eye to trace it back to its owner.
"If that bastard had managed to slip through into the camp, I would've driven him out again," Cloud spoke softly, his eyes riddled with a mixture of determination and sadness for his friend.
Aerith could not help but muster up a small smile at his usual assurance, but then she looked away.
"It's not as simple as last time Cloud," she muttered, "He is a god now. Even the Mako energy in your body isn't strong enough to take on his omnipotent abilities."
Cloud nodded his head in solemn agreement, "But you are thinking of a way to counteract it, right?"
Aerith shrugged slightly, "Well... I do have a theory as to how we could nullify his godhood, but it will take some time to develop. I've nothing but conjecture at this point."
Cloud was slightly disappointed by this, but out of respect to his companion he pushed it out of his mind. She had been doing her very best to hold this little establishment of a haven together, and it was one heck of a job, especially since she had been holding it together for over a millennia or so.
But with Sephiroth having been mere inches away from destroying everything again, and now that he knew where they were hiding, this place was a ticking time bomb. It was only a matter of time before Sephiroth found a way to counteract Aerith's magic and begin another mass slaughtering.
Everyone knew about this considering how quickly the news spread, and now pressure was on himself and his allies to quickly find a way to get everyone out of here. But for now however, there was a more pressing issue that needed to be addressed.
Soon, the pair arrived in the Rebirth Wing, where their eyes catched the handful of glowing orbs floating atop of empty beds.
"That's quite the catch we have," Cloud commented.
Aerith shook her head, "It wasn't so easy, but surprisingly for once Sephiroth had his attention focused elsewhere. I managed to slip into his Lifestream pool and reel in as many spirits as I could."
She then turned to Cloud, "And I believe one the spirits was originally a person from our world."
Cloud's brows were raised at this.
Stifling a giggle at his reaction, Aerith further said, "We won't know who that person is, until he or she fully regains the body, so we're just gonna have to wait until then."
Just then, a woman in a white lab coat came striding up towards the pair, her high heels clipping and clopping against the rocky floor. Even though her overall appearance made her rather unique, the way her bangs hung over her head... they reminded Cloud of a certain somebody.
It was not to say that he could ever blame this scientist for the atrocities that her son had committed. Vincent had explained the whole story to him overtime. She was a good person who became a victim of a grander, but twisted plan. It had taken her quite a while with consultation and self-reflection to come to terms with what she did or did not do, and Cloud wouldn't put that load back on her again.
Removing her gaze from the clipboard in her hand, she greeted the pair with a smile.
"Miss Gainborough, Mr Strife," she acknowledged with a nod.
Aerith reciprocated the nod pleasantly, "We're here to view the special patient, as you had requested Dr Lucrecia."
Humming her acknowledgement, Lucrecia began to lead them through the Wing, pass the beds that were lined up in neat rows and columns.
"So how is she?" Cloud brought up, "You said you had good news about her."
Lucrecia nodded her head, "Yes, of course. We've been monitoring her vitals closely over the past couple of hours. Everything seemed on par with our other patients, but then we detected a spike."
Cloud raised an eyebrow, "A spike?"
Lucrecia hummed, "Mmm, yes. And then all of a sudden, her body quickly regained its outer physical aspects... if you know what I mean."
Aerith's lips pursed slightly upon that mentioning, her thoughts going back to when the injured woman had been brought into the Rebirth Wing.
What Sephiroth did to her body compared to the others... it was quite unsettling to say the least. She had been lucky not to have been reverted back into an orb, but for her clothes and skin... Aerith held back a shudder, wanting not to think about that awful sight ever again.
Eventually, the trio arrived at bed that their special patient was lying on. True to Lucrecia's words, the woman looked as though she had physically recovered. Her arms and legs were sprawled across the mattress, her dishevelled pink hair lying all around her head in a strewn mess.
Sitting at bedside watching over her was another young woman. She had shoulder-length black hair with three caramel highlights on both sides of her face. She wore a long, sleeveless, blue rib-knit duster sweater with a pair of white wing designs on the back, as well as matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black tank top, a denim button-up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black cycling shorts with zippers going down the front and a pair of silver buckled black boots.
Glancing over at their arrival, a huge smile was plastered on her face.
"Hey you guys," she greeted cheerfully and hopped to her feet, "And just when I thought you had abandoned me to do the baby-sitting job."
Aerith smiled warmly back at her and spoke out, "Apologies for keeping you waiting Rinoa, I was a little busy taking care of our "stubborn" patient."
Rinoa frowned slightly, knowing who she was talking about.
"That's Squall for you, I suppose..." she lamented with a sigh and pinched her nose bridge, "Always itching to put his team first before anything else."
"Especially if it means depriving himself of a full recovery," Cloud added in knowingly.
Rinoa nodded in agreement then looked back to Aerith.
"So I assume that you managed to get him to get some rest then?" she questioned.
Aerith shrugged slightly, "Eventually. He was a little resistant at first, but he quickly came around once I gave him some... persuasion."
It took the young sorceress no less than a few seconds to realise what the Cetra was talking about. Rinoa held up a hand to her mouth, struggling not to burst out laughing.
"Y-You gave him... t-the look..." she chortled out, "Oh wow... I-I could just... i-imagine what... his reaction w-was... tee hee..."
Cloud could not help but chuckle along as well. Now that he was away from the broody gunman, he needn't have to hold back his humour.
"And I thought that Auron's reaction was the best one," Rinoa remarked, which only made her laughter struggle even harder, "And that guy said that no one could affect him emotionally!"
"E-Excuse me?" Lucrecia suddenly called out, although she too had an amused smile on her face, "As entertaining at this is, I'm afraid I must remind you to refrain from making any loud noises in this Wing."
In protest, Rinoa made a face at her, but she ultimately relented with a raise of her arms.
"Guess I'll go check up on the Mr Grumpy Pants again," she then stated cheerfully, and then looked down at her wrist like she had a watch on it, "It's almost time for his next therapy session anyways!"
Waving goodbye to the others, she brisked her way out of the Wing.
As Aerith waved after her, Cloud slowly came up beside her with folded arms.
"Are you... ever gonna tell her that her sessions never work?" he asked in a hushed whisper.
Aerith kept on smiling in ignorant bliss and waving after the departing Sorceress, "... Let her keep believing that they do. I don't think we wish to contend with a grumpy Sorceress as well."
Cloud nodded his head in understanding, although he could not help but smirk at the prospect of Squall and Rinoa being a grouchy couple. Now THAT would be something worth seeing. He turned his attention back to the slumbering female patient, who Aerith was currently tending to.
After spending about a moment or so feeling the life energy inside of the person, Aerith gasped aloud, "Incredible... her life force is one of the strongest that I have ever seen..."
Cloud's ears perked up with interest at this.
"Define strongest," he prompted his friend.
Aerith retracted her hands from the woman's forehead and looked back to both the blonde and Lucrecia.
"Well... it's not really on par with Sephiroth's essence unfortunately," she admitted. Cloud sighed quietly to himself and lowered his head in disappointment.
"... but she does have the potential to surpass that level."
His eyes went wide instantaneuosly.
"What do you mean by that?" Lucrecia questioned Aerith, her curiosity and sense of hope peaking, "Sephiroth now has a possible competitor?"
Aerith shook her head, "No. Not a competitor - a squasher."
Cloud and Lucrecia gasped at her revelation.
"But it shouldn't be possible!" Lucrecia attempted to deny the absurdity, "No normal person should ever have such level of power! That's just the stuff of legends and myths!"
Cloud stroked his chin thoughtfully then pointed out, "But then how do you explain the Lifestream, Jenova, the materia and Meteor? Those should've been the stuff of fantasies for us too."
Lucrecia opened her mouth to argue logic again, but then his own point of logic slowly dawned on her.
"That's true..." she admitted sheepishly.
Looking back to Aerith, Cloud asked, "So does this mean that we have a trump card?"
Aerith hummed in thought, "Well... I can't really say for sure. The memories that I had seen displayed proof that she had lost her abilities before encountering Sephiroth. But I can still sense a faint trace of it lingering on in her DNA. If it were to awaken..."
Cloud narrowed his eyes and nodded his head.
"Right. We'll have to make sure Sephiroth doesn't grab her when we make our escape," he declared seriously, "If you could sense that level of power, chances are he's managed to pick it up as well. It would drive him even more to invade our camp with sheer force."
"Agreed. A power like that should never be in the hands of those who aspire to conquer... especially if that person's my own son," Lucrecia concurred, her eyes glinting with guilt and sadness.
Aerith noticed this and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Cloud meanwhile had turned to look back at the slumbering pink-haired. While he couldn't control the Lifestream like Aerith could, he was still able to tell what kind of life a person had led, just by his or her appearance alone. His eyes traced her uniform, which meant she had been part of a military unit at some point in her life, and then at the glowing lines on her left shoulder pauldron.
It took him quite a bit to see that those were not there just for the light show.
"It's her rank marks..." he thought to himself, "Lieutenant, if I had to guess."
And then he took notice of the countless scars and bruises on her arms and legs.
"She must've been fightin' like hell wherever she came from. But what events could have put her through all that?"
And then he looked down upon the features on her face. Contorted, hardened, and weary. Not a good mix. And yet... she looked so peaceful as she slept. Cloud could not help be feel sympathetic towards her. He had this funny feeling at the back of his head. This woman, she reminded him of... himself...
"Cloud!" Aerith's voice snapped him back to reality.
With a startled grunt, he spun around to face the Cetra who suddenly had a playful look on her face, and Lucrecia who was reminding her to keep her volume down.
"If you're done doing your little "inspection" on our patient..." she dramatically chatised him, "She has some visitors that have come to see her."
Cloud's cheeks flushed red for a brief second, before he resumed his stoic seriousness.
"Sure, by all means," he replied with a curt nod.
Aerith still maintained that mischievous smile of hers, and Cloud had a sinking feeling that that meant the rest of his week was not going to go peacefully, before she turned back to Lucrecia and gestured for her to go ahead.
The scientist brisked off towards the entrance, and a second later, the group arrived at the bed. Cloud recognised them as the stragglers he had helped brought back earlier. And needless to say, they did not arrive in a peaceful manner.
"LIGHTNING!" Snow cried out as he came charging over to the woman, a frantic and worried look etched on his proud features.
Behind him, the rest of his comrades closed up the distance, and Lucrecia behind them trying say "No running in the Rebirth Wing!"
Whether or not they ignored her or they were just too worried to even care about hospital rules, it did not matter either way as they all brushed past Aerith and Cloud and all gathered around the woman's bed.
"Damn it all, Light," Fang muttered softly with relief, "You just had to get yourself into a pickle."
"She can't help it," Snow stated with a soft chuckle, "Trouble always seems to find her wherever she goes."
"But she will recover... right?" Vanille asked anxiously.
Cloud noted that both she and Fang had those weird accents.
"She's been through worst scrapes than this," Noel stated positively, "If she could survive Caius and Bhunivelze, Lightning will survive anything."
It was then that Aerith chose to step into their little circle.
"Excuse me?" she called out. Almost immediately the friends of the woman called Lightning turned around to face her.
"If I may ask, I assume you are friends with this patient?" Aerith questioned further.
Fang nodded her head, "Damn right she is, sister. You're Aerith and that's Cloud, right? Can't thank you people enough for saving us from that gothic boy duo and that maniac of a deity."
Aerith waved a hand, "It's quite alright, Fang. Just doing what we felt was right. We all have the right to choose our own destiny, not Sephiroth."
Snow grinned slightly, "Amen to that."
Cloud took a small step forth towards the bed and asked, "So... you said that your friend's name is Lightning."
"That's what she likes to call herself anyway," Snow stated, "Which is kinda coincidental, considering your name is kinda similar to hers."
Aerith brightened happily and Cloud paled substantially. He had a bad feeling what was coming next.
"How didn't I notice it before?!" she exclaimed joyfully, "Cloud and Lightning! And lightning cannot exist without clouds!"
Cloud shuffled his feet around, "And this is my cue to see myself out..."
But Aerith grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him close to her.
"Oh no you don't, mister!" she chatsied playfully, and her grip tightened even more, "I think you should be the first person to greet her when she wakes up!"
Cloud looked away from her, acting rather timid.
"Actually... that wouldn't be a bad idea," Snow concurred with a joking tone, "Your appearance and the way you talk reminds me a little bit of Lightning. Seeing you guys interact ought to be quite something."
Cloud tried to protest back, "B-But I..."
"Relax blondie," Fang assured him with a grin, "Light won't bite you, less of course you gave her reason to. But seeing as you act a lot like her, I think she'll warm up to you quickly... if ya catch my drift."
That was the final straw. A blushing Cloud managed to wrest his arm free from Aerith and turned heel and ran as fast as he could. Lucrecia looked on as he left, and basically gave up all hope of imposing rules. Sighing in exasperation at his dramatic exit, Aerith looked back to the others.
"Don't mind him," she said apologetically, "He can be quite a character sometimes."
Fang chuckled softly, "Don't worry about it. We weren't really planning on making 'em go for it like a blind date. Just by looking at 'im I could that that friend of yours clearly needs a bit more fun in his life, is all."
"Um... I hate to interrupt a conversation but..." Vanille spoke up from her place beside Lightning, "Do you know how long more before she can wake up?"
Lucrecia looked down at the notes and calculations she scribbled on her clipboard.
"Well... judging by how quickly your friend is recovering..." she responded, "I would say maybe another day or so."
Hope, who had been silent this whole time alongside Sazh, raised an eyebrow and finally asked aloud, "That fast?"
Aerith nodded her head, "Mmm hmm. According to Doctor Crescent here, Lightning's vitals are recovering thrice the speed of our other patients, which is quite amazing given the statistics."
She leaned forward, a look of interest plastered on her face.
"I suppose you guys have any ideas as to how or why?" she inquired. "Um uh..."
Snow trailed off awkwardly, and he shared glances with his peers. They were all unsure as how to explain the whole story.
Eventually, Sazh replied back with, "It's kind of a long story, kid..."
Aerith was unfazed by that excuse.
"Really? I could count the thousand times I've heard that answer," she stated casually, "Besides, I've got plenty of time."
The group were still undecided as to what to do, and the Cetra felt slightly guilt about forcefully prying into their past.
She was almost tempted to say that she had already seen a majority of Claire Farron's memories through the Lifestream, but then she would be giving wrong impressions of intruding on privacy. Not that she hadn't heard those accusations before, but they were never pleasant ones.
Before long a unanimous vote was passed, Snow quickly addressing her again.
"Then you might wanna take a seat for this one," he said as Hope helpfully pulled up an unused chair from a neighbouring bed.
Aerith nodded to the younger teen gratefully and she plopped onto the seat, her hand lapped over each other neatly over her legs like she was sitting in for a painted portrait. From there, she listened intently to the stories that Snow and his friends gave her.
Lucrecia also took down some notes as she lent her ears to the tales being said, her curiosity peaking at some points. A floating artificial world? Time travel? The monsters called the fal'Cie and the Cie'th? The universe can be a strange place indeed outside of your own world.
Just then, her ears heard a small shuffling of feet from some distance away, and her eyes glanced over to the entrance. While the dull ambience made the tentage appear far darker than intended, she could still make out a faint silhouette lingering close to the entrance.
Frowning slightly at the newcomer, she looked back to the others and saw they were too immersed in whatever stories they were caught up in. She quietly and silently slinked off from them and headed back over to the entrance, where she greeted the man shrouded in a red cloak.
"And here I thought you would never come to visit," she acknowledged him.
The man sighed deeply, "Apologies. Been quite busy these past few days, with the whole close-call issue."
A part of him almost regretted that sentence, knowing more than anyone else how a topic like that would have been sensitive to Lucrecia.
Lucrecia sighed softly and pinched the bridge of her nose, "It has caused quite a stir. And I feel quite unsettled at the fact that my son has become nigh unpredictable with his intentions."
She lowered her head and closed her eyes, "Kind of reminds me of that time when the Cetra told me of the atrocities Sephiroth committed back home..."
The man visibly winced, as he too recalled the day that Lucrecia had been revived by Aerith, and was told of what happened during her exile. It was almost heart-breaking to watch her break down emotionally, and when he tried to comfort her, she directed her anger at him and demanded why he had lied to her back at the Cave. He could only muster up enough morality to tell her that he was sorry, and it had driven a wedge between themselves.
Eventually overtime however, both of them managed to come to terms with what had happened and they quickly rekindled. But that still did let the guilt dry away from his consciousness. Lucrecia had been so close to him even before the whole deal with the mad scientist Hojo, that even now she was able to tell what torture he was subjecting himself to.
With a pained and sorrowful smile, she spoke gently, "Vincent. You... know I forgave you, right?"
Seeped in his usual dark thoughts, Vincent Valentine gazed into kind brown eyes with crimson eyes filled with sufferage.
"I know," he replied darkly, "But it's more than just having lied to you, Lucrecia. If only I could have done more back then... A coffin had been such a fitting fate for me."
Lucrecia shook her head and took his clawed hand into her own.
"We were victims of events that were beyond our control," she spoke, "They were already set in motion long ago; we were just teeth on the gears. We did lot of terrible things that we regretted."
Vincent closed his eyes slowly, "Yeah..."
A harrowing silence hung over the pair for a brief period of time. Eventually, Lucrecia shook her head and smiled cheerfully at him again.
"Alright. Enough of brooding over the past," she said brightly, "Let's talk about something interesting. So what do you think about the new arrivals?"
Vincent made a small shrug, "Well, I never really gave much thought to it. I just go about with my duties."
The scientist giggled softly, "Like you always do!"
She then gestured down at her clipboard.
"Before you got here, I made some interesting notes about our latest batch," she said, "And you will not believe the details they covered, or rather, they're still covering back there."
Her companion leaned closer and folded his arms, investing his full interest. And from there, she went on and on, and he could tell that the majority of her speeches were probably copied over from the words of the newcomers. The more he took in the info, the more he became intrigued.
At the end of it, Lucrecia finally took in some deep breaths, apparently she had not meant to start rambling off during her explanation.
"... so to put things bluntly..." she concluded, "... Pulse is a very odd world."
Vincent made a fraction of a smirk, "Believe me. I've seen weirder things."
He mind went back to that time when everyone witnessed all of their summons communing with one another. There were so many Bahamuts, Ifrits, Shivas and Leviathans all at once, most of them (even Squall of all people) could do nothing but stare with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
Lucrecia appeared to be sharing that same memory, and she made a small giggle.
"I'll bet," she remarked knowingly.
Brushing aside a strand of her brown bangs from her eyes, she exhanged a warm smile with Vincent, and thought blissfully that it would be nice to have more conversations with him once in a while.
Back at Lightning's bed, Snow founded himself breathing at a rapid pace as he quickly finished off the recounting of Pulse. Admittedly, he had expected the conversation to go on for much longer, but since Aerith had a number of questions, it enabled him and his friends to skip a majority the skippable parts.
Sadly the part where Sazh got embarassed by a Cactuar wasn't, and it almost brought a flush of red to the afro-haired gunman.
A moment of silence followed where Aerith processed all the info that had been talked about.
"Well... that was quite a story..." she mused thoughtfully and gazed back up to them with sympathetic sadness, "You guys have been through so much. And to think that Sephiroth robbed you of a second chance..."
The party from Pulse all nodded their heads solemnly. Their own deaths at that madman's hands were still fresh in their minds.
Aertih's heart stung with ache just thinking about the newest score of victims that had fell prey to Sephiroth.
"One day... he will answer for all the lives that he ruined..." she thought deeply, "One day... all of this will be set right again..."
And then she stared at the group once more, and then at Lightning. Compared to the other groups, this one was by far the most interesting bunch. And considering all that they had been through, Aerith was more than happy to let them take all the time they needed to recuperate.
But then she thoughts drifted back to the fight at the outer defences of the haven. Moat of Squall's and Barret's party had been injured, and now they were suddenly short of defenders until they recover. And since Snow and his friends were all fighters...
With a reluctant sigh, she rose up from her chair addressed, "Well... I feel quite guilty for even saying this but... I must ask for your help."
Lightning's party raised their eyebrows at this, with Snow asking, "Oh really? Regarding...?"
"We are kind of short on manpower," Aerith explained, "During the last attack, a handful from our search parties were injured, including Lightning here. Because of this, a majority of our fighters will be on the sidelines until they recover. And since the majority of the people here are civilians, we have very little reserves to turn to... Which me brings me to you guys, unfortunately."
The others nodded their head, knowing where this was heading.
"So the gist of it is... you want us to help you in the defence department. Correct?" Fang clarified with folded arms.
Aerith hesitated momentarily before she nodded, "Yes. But if you believe that it's all too sudden for you, then I will respect your decision."
Humming deeply, Snow looked over to the others and asked, "So what do you guys think? Wanna get it on with big players?"
Noel nodded his head almost immediately, "I'm in, if it means having a possible chance at fighting Sephiroth again."
Fang took a step forth and grinned, "Well when ya put it that way, I believe I owe that pretty boy sonny some payback for that cheap shot death, and one for poisoning me too."
From beside her, Vanille piped up, "Wherever Fang goes, I will follow."
Hope seemed a little uncertain for a brief second, before ultimately he replied, "Sure, why not? As long as there's people here to help out."
At that point, all eyes were turned to Sazh, the one of the remaining two to give an answer. Wincing from all the sudden attention he was receiving, the gunman stuttered over his jumbled words for while before he inhaled a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"As much as I'm tempted to hang up my coat and boots and call it a day... I can't. Not when I've got a son to find," he stated grimly, "So yeah, you can count me in."
Snow grinned mischievously, the votes all decided.
"Alright! NORA's back in business!" he declared boldly with a pumped up fist.
Aerith was amused by his burst of joy and eagerness, and she easily sensed how much he had been itching to jump back into the fray.
"Ooh... Barret's not gonna be thrilled about having another terrorist group joining us..." she thought with a sly grin.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid," Fang told him with a smirk, "This ain't like your band of terrorists back on Cocoon."
Snow waved a hand, "I know, I know. It's just that I've always wanted to bring back the party for as long as I lived. Feeling a little nostalgic for the good ol' days."
"Your idea of nostalgia might make a certain you-know-who a little queasy when she wakes up," Hope stated with a slightly wary glance to Lightning, "Y'know, after what happened in the Purge and all."
Snow barked out a laugh, "Nah! Sis'll come 'round eventually, you'll see! Why, just imagine the prospects of..."
Unknown to all of them, if they had spared a few more seconds of looking at Lightning, they would have noticed that her fingers were beginning to move slightly and her closed eyelids twitching.