Chapter 12
Redemption
Sorin stared out the front viewing area of the Shera as it passed slowly over the land below. Vincent and Sam stood on either side of him.
Sorin pointed ahead, "There, see it?"
"Temple of the Ancients is still standing here," Sam commented. Sorin had given him a standard black eye patch for the mess that had become his right eye, neither of them could go about healing the wound until they had left the fringe existence. Whatever Alessa had done to the place, the paradox left behind prevented the Cetra from using most of their powers. If Sorin hadn't had the Flauros then he would've been powerless against Alessa as well.
"Cloud and the others don't exist here," Sorin explained, "hence there was no one to take the Black Materia."
"What are we supposed to discover there?" asked Vincent.
"Wymond discovered something while checking out an existence for me," Sorin replied, "he came across an odd looking version of the Temple of the Ancients."
"Odd how?" asked Sam.
"Well, Captain Jack Sparrow, I'll tell you," Sorin said.
"Johnny Depp doesn't wear an eye patch, and I'm not a pirate, shut up," Sam retorted.
"Odd in the way that it was entirely black," Sorin continued.
"Like Black Materia?" asked Vincent.
Sorin nodded, "Which is strange, because the Temple itself is supposed to be the Black Materia. This alteration suggests the construct has been somehow separated, or more likely, combined with the Materia."
"Paradox?" asked Vincent.
Sorin smiled, "Of course."
"Of course," Vincent murmured.
"What did Wymond find?" asked Sam.
"The Black Pearl!" Sorin said, "yahrrrrr!"
"One more pirate thing and I will kill you," Sam warned.
"He found a mural, you remember, of course, the one that depicts the big mother fucking Meteor taking out the world and stuff," Sorin said, "you know, just before Aeris dies."
"We get the picture," Cid said.
Sorin laughed, everyone looked at him.
"It's just funny you'd use that word," Sorin said laughing, "you know: picture. Because the mural is like a picture…it's a pun…you know…it's…" you could almost hear the crickets chirping in the background, "…ah, okay, well, anyways the mural doesn't say anything about a Meteor."
"It's not even a fucking omen," Cid growled.
Sorin laughed again. Everyone looked at him.
"Now, you see that was funny," Sorin laughed, "because the first time you went to the Temple of Ancients and you saw the mural you said that, remember? You guys were…and then you said: it's not even a fu…" Sorin looked around, "…hm, yes, well the mural is somehow different. I'm not sure exactly how, that's why we need to meet Wymond."
"Why are we going to the Temple of the Ancients in this existence then?" asked Tifa.
"To see if the mural has changed," Sam said, "if it's different here we can conclude it was the fault of a paradox. If a paradox caused it then it was caused by a Paradoxer, and if it was caused by a Paradoxer then this must all be the product of a paradox."
"That's called a transitive property," Sorin said matter-of-factly.
The Shera set down near the Temple.
"Vincent, Sam and I will go in first," Sorin said, "after we've cleared it you two follow."
"Why do we gotta wait for you?" asked Cid.
Sorin smiled, "Because if we run into your friendly red dragon…or that crazy Face in the Wall dude again, you won't be able to kill them."
"The paradox will have altered the creatures," Sam elaborated, "being Cetra we have an advantage, Vincent would do most of the work here, as he's the only one that isn't vulnerable."
"We'll signal you as soon as it's clear," Vincent said.
With no more protests, the three got off and headed into the Temple.
"Blast from the past, no?" asked Sorin. "I guess it depends if they found you in the basement or not yet."
Vincent looked at Sorin curiously.
"Square kind of made it hard to find you, dude, I mean, honestly, who wants to go through all the trouble of finding the combination…killing the monster, getting the key and Odin…" Sorin said.
"Sorin," Sam cut him off. "Is now the best time for this?"
"Sorry, Jack," Sorin replied.
Vincent stared at both of them confused.
They found their way to the maze of stairs and buildings that led to the inner Temple area.
"Guess you wouldn't remember the pattern on how to get in, eh?" asked Sorin.
Vincent shook his head.
"Gimme a minute," Sam said, closing his eyes.
"Loophole?" asked Vincent.
"Of course," Sorin replied.
"Of course," Vincent said.
"Okay, here we go," Sam said.
The three of them were gone, and swiftly reappeared in front of the mural.
Vincent looked around; it was just as he'd remembered it. The Black Materia floated off to his right down the hall.
"Whadda ya say, Vincent, look the same to you?" asked Sorin.
Vincent looked at the mural, from what he could remember it looked identical. Vincent nodded.
"Let's get more opinions, Sam, go get our friends," Sorin said.
Sam disappeared.
"I understand this is where trouble really began for you," Sorin said.
Vincent looked at him, "Trouble began for me a long time before this."
Sorin smiled, "I suppose that's true, what I meant was Aeris."
Vincent nodded, "This was just before it happened."
"We all felt it," Sorin said quietly, "the end of our kind, solidifying."
"Yet you all keep coming back from the dead," Vincent muttered.
"Well, as long as it's not in Centre Time," Sorin replied, "otherwise this bullshit happens. Thanks to Sam all this has come about, if it wasn't for me he'd be getting his ass kicked for causing this much trouble."
"You're protecting him?" asked Vincent.
"Sam is a very talented Cetra," Sorin replied. "It'd be a terrible waste. The Elders don't understand that, they've been dead for a while and don't understand much. Sometimes you have to go against protocol to get things done."
"I'm sure that's true," Vincent agreed.
"When Sam sent Cloud and Aeris off to another existence, which is God knows where, so they could be together," Sorin began, "why didn't you think to ask for an existence where Lucrecia wasn't in a crystal?"
"Why are you asking me this?" asked Vincent.
"Because it would have been a logical question for you to ask, Sam could have done it, I'm sure," Sorin replied. "He could have found a place where you and she were together still, why didn't you ask?"
"I don't know," Vincent replied quietly.
Sorin grinned, "You don't?"
"No," Vincent answered.
"Well, then," Sorin said, "did you ever consider, deep down, you knew you had a purpose still and couldn't leave to another existence like Cloud and Aeris due to this purpose?"
Vincent looked between Sorin and the mural, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm asking if you considered it," Sorin replied.
"The last time I ever really had a purpose was when I had vowed to kill Hojo," Vincent said.
"Have you considered the time of Cloud and Aeris is over, maybe it's Vincent's time to shine? That kind of thing?" asked Sorin.
"If you're going to be cryptic, will you at least tell me what you're talking about?" asked Vincent.
"Don't worry," Sorin replied, "you'll find out."
Sam reappeared with Tifa and Cid.
"How much do you two remember of the mural?" asked Sorin.
Cid looked it over, "Yeah, it's the same."
"If it has any differences they must be very small, I remember it vividly," Tifa added.
"Alright," Sam said, "so either it wasn't caused by a Paradoxer, or just not by this Paradoxer."
"That doesn't really tell us anything," Vincent muttered.
"That, people, is where Wymond comes in," Sorin said, "Sam, back to the ship; we're going to meet Wymond."
‡
The Shera shot forward, sending everyone flying off their feet except Sorin and Sam.
"They still haven't got their existence traveling legs yet," Sam explained.
"It does take some getting used to," Sorin agreed.
Cid pulled himself to his feet and grabbed the controls again, "Same spot?"
Sorin nodded, "Onward and forward, Captain."
The Shera didn't have to travel far; Sam had dropped them off very close to the Temple of the Ancients. When they caught sight of it, they realized it was indeed a much darker black colour. As if the Black Materia itself had eaten it.
"Wymond is waiting for us at the mural," Sorin said.
Cid landed the Shera and Sam suddenly had everyone standing in front of the mural.
No Wymond.
"Where is he?" asked Sam.
"Walking around maybe, he'll return shortly," Sorin said, "while we wait, why don't I take care of that eye for you?"
Sam nodded, Cid, Tifa and Vincent looked at the clearly different mural while Sorin quickly healed Sam's damaged right eye. It was back to normal, as if it had never been damaged at all.
Sam blinked hard a few times and shook his head.
"That strange thing you're seeing," Sorin said, "that's called depth perception."
"Shut up," Sam growled.
"Sorry, Jack," Sorin said, taking the eye patch and throwing it on the ground.
"You made it," said a voice that echoed down the hall toward them, Wymond.
"Where'd you go to?" asked Sam.
"I thought I'd check out the rest of the Temple," Wymond replied walking toward them.
In the light he looked extremely similar to Sephiroth, whom Tifa, Cid and Vincent had seen in this hallway before.
"Have you deciphered the mural?" asked Sorin.
Wymond nodded, "It's not good news."
"It never is," Cid muttered.
"It speaks of something called Redemption," Wymond began, "what exactly this thing is…a person…maybe an ideal, I'm not sure. What I can say is it is bent on taking a sort of revenge on existence travelers like yourselves."
"Why?" asked Sam.
"I don't know," Wymond said.
"What do you know?" asked Tifa.
Wymond looked at her, "Redemption's first move."
"Which is?" asked Sam.
"Recreation of the Bane of all Cetra," Wymond replied.
"Who's that exactly?" asked Vincent.
"It isn't one person," Sam said. "The Bane of all Cetra includes every person or creature that had ever been a danger to the Cetra. Whoever Redemption, whatever Redemption, is it or they want to bring back anything that can kill Cetra…even after they're already dead."
"Some of the Bane are considered to be such characters as Feardorcha of the Outcasts, Sephiroth, Hojo, and not a person, but most notably…" Sorin said.
Wymond finished it for him, "The Ancient Black."
