"From out of the depths we have cried
that our voices may be heard.
So long have we remained
within this domain of lost souls
awaiting absolution from our ancient sins.
Release us from our imprisonment
and lead us back into the light."
—De Profundis
Chapter 12
De Profundis
What they found underneath the ruins was nothing less than an underground city, sprawling out before them as they finally emerged from the narrow tunnel.
Torches lined the walls of the rock passage, lighting the way as the old man led the group further down into the city. The group followed him and the little girl closely as they moved deeper into the underground settlement which, as far as they could tell, had been painstakingly carved out of the rock formations around them.
Cloud, Yuffie, Nanaki, Tifa and Vincent all looked around cautiously, examining their new surroundings. The whole city consisted of crudely formed living spaces hewn into the dense rock formation, forming spartan living quarters for their inhabitants, most of whom were at the moment emerging from their dwellings, wondering who these new arrivals were.
Numerous people clad in tattered robes similar to those of their hosts watched the group of strangers carefully as they entered their underground abode. The whole situation was decidedly uncomfortable. They could feel the eyes of everyone there upon them. Their arrival was met with fearful glances and curious looks from the various Cetra survivors as they passed by. Children inquired their parents as to who these strangers were, or hid from them as they walked past. The occasional person reached carefully for something to defend themselves with, while others shut themselves off from the unusual procession entirely.
Amidst the throngs of people that they were passing, Cloud caught something odd out of the corner of his eye. In a recess of one of the rock walls a lone figure stood in the shadows, watching him intently. He stood there for a moment, transfixed, realizing how remarkably similar it looked to the one he'd seen aboard the Highwind last night. He couldn't make out more than just the bare silhouette of the figure, but it was clear to him what it was..
Another wraith watching him.
Sephiroth? No... the figure was undeniably similar in appearance, but smaller in frame, more feminine. It could only be..
Her...
"..."
The figure stared at him coldly with accusing eyes. He could feel her smouldering gaze burning into his own. She was slowly coming into focus, materializing as she prepared to step from the shadows..
"Cloud?" Tifa said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Huh?" the blond swordsman snapped out of his trance, looking back towards his friends, who were now a few steps ahead of him.
"You coming?" Tifa asked, eyeing her childhood friend with a look of concern.
Cloud blinked, taking a quick glance back towards the recess where he had spotted the figure. There was nothing there. "Uh..." he replied lamely, shaking his head. "..yeah. Sorry."
"I must be tired.." the blond swordsman thought, rubbing the corner of his eye with a gloved hand. "I'm starting to see things."
The group continued walking down the myriad of passages that the city consisted of, until they arrived at a small group of people who appeared to be the little girl's parents or relatives. They accepted the girl with open arms, providing the old man with heartfelt thanks as they took her back into the group. The old man simply nodded, speaking a few words to them before turning away, gesturing for the Avalanchers to follow him.
After a few more minutes spent moving through the underground tunnels, the old man finally led them inside what appeared to be an underground cathedral.
Looking up, they realized that they had to be quite far underground by now, as the cavern's roof was raised high, carved out of the rock much like every other structure they had seen down there. They followed the old man down the cathedral's central corridor, flanked on either side by elaborately fashioned circular pillars and rock pews, as well as several seraphic statues, each one with its hands folded one on top of the other, small fires blazing in their upturned palms.
At the end of the corridor, a bowl-like pit was carved into the middle of the floor, a large fire blazing in its centre, providing light and warmth. Walking past the pit, the old man stopped just short of the massive doorways leading to the cathedral's inner sanctum. There, he finally turning to face the group again, waiting patiently for a moment, before calmly addressing them.
Not surprisingly, his words made no sense to anyone in the group. Nevertheless, Nanaki stepped forward, speaking a few strange-sounding words and syllables in reply. The old man looked at the red-maned beast for a second, before answering in a similar manner, their strange "conversation" going on for a few minutes.
"What are they doing?" Yuffie whispered, pointing at Nanaki and the old man.
"They're trying to communicate." Vincent replied, realizing what Nanaki was doing. "Probably trying to locate some common linguistic ground."
A few more minutes passed. The group waited uneasily as Nanaki and the old man exchanged "words". Finally, Nanaki walked back over to the rest of the group.
"I've done it." Nanaki said enthusiastically. "I believe that with my limited knowledge of the Cetra language, I can communicate somewhat." he looked down introspectively. "I've never heard it spoken before, aside from a few isolated words, but actually hearing it in active use.."
"Can you interpret for us?" Cloud asked, cutting Nanaki off from his excited recount.
Nanaki looked up and nodded. "I will try."
"Okay," Cloud said. "ask him some general questions. Like who he is and where we are.."
"...and what the hell is going on." Yuffie added.
Nanaki nodded, turning back to the old man. They spoke for a short while, before Nanaki returned again to his comrades. "He says his name is Sigil, and that he is the royal retainer to the Emperor, adjudicator and leader of the Cetra in Their Lord's absence." Nanaki explained. "I have introduced us, but we haven't gotten much farther than that.."
Cloud sighed tiredly. "Okay... keep going. We'll wait."
He and the others sat down on the stone floor and waited, warming themselves by the fire as best they could, while Nanaki and Sigil spoke, wandering around the floor of the cathedral as they did so.
Yuffie shivered, rubbing her hands together, trying to bring warmth back into them. She eyed the couple sitting opposite to her with some measure of jealousy, seeing as how they had the luxury of being able to huddle together underneath Vincent's cape.
"You cold?" Cloud asked, moving next to her.
Normally, she would have replied with some sarcastic remark, but right now she was too cold and tired to think of any clever retort. Besides, even though the opportunity for a witty answer was more than plentiful, she didn't want to put off her friend, a state of mind which was relatively new to her. So she settled for a simple "Yeah", nodding slightly as she continued to rub her upper arms in the hope that it might keep them from freezing and falling off altogether.
Cloud placed an arm around her shoulder, trying to help her get warm. She leaned against his shoulder briefly, before succumbing to her fatigue altogether, at which point she slumped over, resting her head in his lap. It felt nice, and she knew that it was about as much peace as either of them would find for the moment. She muttered a quiet "thanks", before closing her eyes..
A good hour passed. Yuffie and Tifa had nodded off, leaving Cloud and Vincent to keep the vigil over the fire.
"Vincent?" Cloud spoke up, rousing the gunman from his reverie.
"Hmmm..?" Vincent replied, fatigue apparent in his voice as he responded, looking up from the fire.
"What do you make of all this?" Cloud asked.
Vincent thought for a moment, before replying. "It's difficult to tell... but it can't be good, whatever it is that's happening."
"Mmm.." Cloud replied, deciding that it would be better to wait until they had some answers. He looked over at Tifa, who was asleep in the gunman's arms.
"How is she?" Cloud asked.
"She's all right." Vincent assured his friend. "She wasn't harmed in the battle."
"I know.." Cloud replied. "..I meant, altogether." He explained. "How's she holding up?"
"Is this about.." Vincent began, but Cloud cut the gunman off before he could finish.
"I just never really had a chance to apologize, or explain to her why I left." he said. "Not until all this happened."
Vincent remained silent, waiting for his friend to continue.
"It was always too little and too late between us, you know?" Cloud said, a look of reminiscence in his eyes, as he watched the fire blazing fire in the pit between them. "I know I wasn't there for her a year ago, when I should have been.." The blond swordsman shook his head. "I can't explain it, but I just had to get away." He looked back up at Vincent, then at Tifa. "She says it's all right, but I know it's affected her somehow. I wasn't there for her when she needed me."
"You're here now, are you not?" Vincent replied, his gaze never wavering from his friend's.
"Yeah.." Cloud replied quietly, as if not quite believing it. He was here now, but would it be enough? He still couldn't help but feel that he had done irreparable damage to their friendship with his selfish act a year ago, when he had simply left without a word.
He looked back down into his lap, at Yuffie's sleeping figure. "And what about her..?" he thought, brushing a few locks of hair from the young girl's face. He undeniably felt something for her, and he knew by now that these feelings were more than mutual. It wasn't any great mystery to anyone. Not anymore, anyway..
Nanaki finally joined the group again, rousing them from their reverie. The red-maned beast lay down in front of the fire, resting his head on the floor. "Amazing.." he said, breathless, watching the flickering flames as he rested.
"Well?" Vincent asked. "What have you learned?"
"Where to begin..?" Nanaki replied, partially to himself.
"How about here?" Tifa asked, waking up. "I mean, where are we? What is this place?"
"Very well.." Nanaki replied, stretching as he sat up again. The red-maned beast moved over, sitting down opposite to the rest of the group. "I suppose I had better start at the beginning." He said, making eye contact with each of his friends to ensure that he had their undivided attention. Then he began..
"There was a war on another world, a long time ago. A civil war between different sects of the Cetra, long before any of this.." he began. "The people of that world called themselves the 'Astra'.."
"Wait," Yuffie interrupted. "are you saying that this is not the original Cetra homeworld?" She asked, puzzled.
Nanaki grumbled. "I'll get to that in a minute." The red-maned beast replied testily. "As I was saying, there was a period of civil strife, and the people were divided into two factions, the Cetra and the Astra. The Cetra believed in harmony with nature, whereas the Astra preferred technological advancement at any cost. Those in power at that time favored the Astra ideology, and the Astra outnumbered the Cetra considerably." Nanaki continued. "Because of that, the Cetra were persecuted and oppressed. The name 'Cetra' itself carries shameful connotations.."
"Like what?" Tifa asked.
"It means 'outcasts' or 'pariah'." Nanaki explained. "It is a most degrading term."
"Outcasts.." Cloud thought, a wistful look on his face as he listened to Nanaki's story..
"From what I can tell, the Cetra emigrated from that world to this one, establishing a new empire." Nanaki continued. "A period of peace followed, until one day, they were attacked by the Astra, who unleashed a devastating new weapon upon them." Nanaki paused briefly, before continuing. "That weapon was called Jenova."
"They created Jenova?" Tifa asked, incredulous.
"Apparently, they did." Nanaki replied.
"As a weapon?" Cloud asked.
"Yes." Nanaki replied gravely. "A living weapon."
"...How?" Tifa asked.
"At the time, the Astra were developing numerous advanced technologies... weapons, transports, vehicles capable of interplanetary travel, you name it. Jenova was the product of one of these research projects. I don't know the details, exactly, but having completed it, they decided that they needed to test their new weapon's effectiveness, so they chose the new Cetra colonies as targets. They bombarded their cities with special capsules, inside of which were contained these beings.." Nanaki explained. "They emerged from their shells and went to work, tearing up the cities and killing everything in sight." Nanaki shook his head. "It was a massacre.."
"Jeez.." Yuffie muttered under her breath, trying to ignore the sickening feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. The thought of someone being able to unleash an attack like that was terrifying to say the least. It was hard to believe that anyone could cause death and destruction on such a large scale... and yet the proof was all around them..
"Then what happened?" Vincent asked, prompting Nanaki to continue his story.
"Most of the Cetra on this world were killed." Nanaki replied. "The others fled from the attack. Some of them didn't make it through the portal gates in time, and so they remained here, fleeing underground to escape from the ravaging Jenova army above."
"So they were decimated, and forced underground." Vincent concluded.
"Decimated?" Nanaki replied, shaking his head. "Oh, no. They fought back, and they fought hard."
The others eyed Nanaki with curiosity, as he continued.
"Using their abilities to interact with the lifestream, coupled with the strategic advantage afforded by their portal gates, the Cetra took the fight back to their original homeworld. The war damaged the Astra greatly as well as the Cetra." Nanaki explained. "But... it's strange. Now it seems as though the two sides have reached some sort of stalemate.."
"What about the gates themselves?" Cloud asked.
"Ah, yes. Good question." Nanaki replied. "As I understand it, there are two kinds. Transmitters and receivers. One type of gate can only 'receive' transmissions from other gates, while 'transmitter' ones can be configured to transmit objects and people to different gates. That explains the materia embedded in the gate we found over on this side. It plays some part in the gates' configuration, as I understand."
"So the gate on our side was.." Tifa began.
"Yes," Nanaki explained. "..only a receiver. Which means that the gate on this side was what triggered ours and made the connection."
"You mentioned that he called himself 'the leader of the Cetra in the Emperor's absence'." Vincent said, glancing over at Sigil in the distance. "What did he mean by that?"
"As I understand it, it is more a figure of speech than an actual circumstance." Nanaki replied. "The Cetra, from what I can tell, have not had an emperor for several thousand years now."
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.
"See that statue over there?" Nanaki gestured with his nose upwards at an imposing statue raised above the vast doors leading to the cathedral's inner sanctum. The statue was flanked by two bowls of fire, and gripped a large stone blade in its hands, pointed down towards the floor, giving the impression of an eternally vigilant guardian.
"That is their emperor, Mobius. Their first and last." Nanaki explained, speaking with a tone of reverence in his voice. "Apparently, he saved the Cetra from their imprisonment on the Astra homeworld, and led them to this one. Later on, when the Astra invaded this world, he ushered people into the portal gates, and protected those who were left behind. Afterwards, he rallied the survivors of the attack, and led the assault back into the Astra homeworld. He is revered as a hero in every regard. The Cetra regard him as their saviour. A deity, almost.."
"What happened to him?" Yuffie asked.
"He was killed in battle on the Astra homeworld, from what I can tell." Nanaki replied. "Afterwards, the Cetra recovered his body and entombed it in the city above."
"Then that building we saw in the distance.." Tifa began.
"The Crystal Palace, where he reigned, and where is body is now interred." Nanaki said. "According to Sigil, it is considered hallowed ground, and therefore entry is forbidden, which is unfortunate. Apparently, a good number of portal gates were built there."
"Speaking of which... what happened to those who escaped through the gates?" Cloud asked.
Nanaki turned his attention back to his friends. "As you know, the Cetra moved from one world to another, cultivating them as they went, before simply departing for the next one. This behaviour has puzzled historians throughout the ages.." The red-maned beast paused for a second. "But now it finally makes sense. They weren't migrating at all. They were fleeing."
"Then why did they stop?" Vincent asked.
"Well, that much we historians do pretend to know." Nanaki answered, a caustic half-grin forming on his face. "They were tired. They had been moving around like this for a thousand years or more. Perhaps they had grown complacent, or simply forgotten what it was that they were fleeing from." The beastly scholar ventured. "In any case, the rest, as they say, is history."
"Indeed." Vincent replied, looking up again at the Emperor's statue.
"Not only theirs, but ours as well." Nanaki added. "We are directly descended from these people."
"How do you know that?" Tifa asked.
"When the Cetra fled from this world, the emperor, Mobius, entrusted his daughter with two of the Cetra's most prized, not to mention dangerous artifacts." Nanaki explained.
From the grave look on Nanaki's face, It didn't take a genius to figure out what those two artifacts were..
"The Black and White materias.." Cloud said.
"Yes." Nanaki replied. "They are unyielding proof that our roots lie directly in this world, and its history."
"What about the greys?" Tifa asked. "And those people that came through the gate? Were they Cetra as well?"
"The greys are originally animals from this world that have been infected by Jenova cells." Nanaki explained. "Their bodies' cellular structures have been saturated to a level where almost nothing else remains. In a sense, the cells only retain the idea of the animals that they originally infected. That would explain why they never feed, as Jenova cells are known to be self-sustaining. It also accounts for their unusual level of aggression."
"And that explains why they were able to fuse like that as well?" Vincent asked.
"Yes. As you know, Jenova cells will innately seek each other out. We've already seen the extent of the powerful bond between carriers of these cells." Nanaki replied, glancing at Cloud, who turned his gaze towards the floor. "Essentially, we're seeing the same thing here, only far more advanced."
"Can they be killed?" Cloud asked.
"Only if they are completely destroyed." Nanaki answered. "By fire, for example."
"And those bodies we left behind in Rocket Town?" Vincent asked. "What of them?"
"Sigil claims that he does not know who or what they were, other than the fact that they were not Cetra." Nanaki replied.
"Were they Astra, then?" Tifa asked.
"When I inquired him about the subject, Sigil said that the Astra were long gone." Nanaki answered. "I'm still not sure what he meant by that."
"There's something he's not telling us.." Cloud said.
"I agree." Vincent said.
Nanaki rumbled in agreement. "I get the feeling that he doesn't trust us." He said, "He certainly doesn't seem all that happy about our presence here. But there's not much we can do about that for now. All we know for sure is that there is something out there. Something besides the Jenovas and greys still scouring the surface, that is.."
"So I take it that the enemy still has a significant presence on this world?" Vincent asked.
"Enough to keep these people living underground." Nanaki replied congenially.
"Then what about that little girl?" Yuffie asked. "What was she doing up there if it's so dangerous?"
"Her name is Aya." Nanaki replied. "She's an orphan. She was looking for her brother, she says, who went missing a few days ago. Apparently he believed that he could find their missing parents somewhere in the wasteland above.."
A solemn quiet fell over the group brought on by the weight of all these new revelations, coupled with their growing fatigue.
"What do we do now?" Tifa asked quietly, breaking the silence.
"Sigil said that they'll offer us some lodgings for the night." Nanaki replied. "And that they'll help us search for our friends in the morning."
"Shouldn't we be heading out now?" Yuffie asked, worried. "If we keep waiting, we may be too late.."
"No, he's right." Cloud said. "We won't stand much chance of finding them in the dark. Besides, they can take care of themselves. We're better off heading tomorrow when we're rested and ready."
"Sounds good to me." Tifa replied, yawning and stretching. "I'm beat."
"Yeah, me too.." Yuffie admitted, sighing and rubbing her eyes.
Sigil approached the group, looking at them expectantly. Nanaki joined him, and they promptly led the group out of the cathedral and into their quarters.
The world was blurry, azure-tinted, moving in slow motion, as if he were underwater. He could hear voices all around him, calling out, panicked. He was faintly aware of others moving behind him, around him...running. Running down a long, blue corridor. They were being chased... but by what?
He tilted his head back slowly, not stopping. In the distance, a swarm of black shapes were chasing him and the other people..
He felt strangely detached from what was happening around him, as though he were not himself anymore, but looking through someone else's eyes, experiencing something from past days. Someone else's memories..
He felt himself stop. Suddenly, he was looking down at someone else. A child, her face the only thing he could see clearly.
"Daddy.." her voice came, a quiet whisper, sounding as if it were coming from a great distance.
"Shh.." He felt himself answer, kneeling down, caressing the girl's face. "It'll be all right, Doya.."
Wordlessly, he reached inside of his robe, fetching two small objects from an inner pocket. One of which was an almost impossibly achromatic white, the other made of blackest obsidian. He placed the two orbs into the palm of the girl's hand, gently enclosing her fingers around them as he did so. He kissed her lightly on the forehead, giving her one last, tight hug before handing her over to her mother.
"Take her." he instructed. "Go!"
As the people around him filed into the portal gate, he turned to face their pursuers, brandishing his blade..
"You may think you have us beaten.."
The pillars crumbled behind him, as the palace corridor fell apart, trapping him with the approaching black shapes.
"...but in the annals of our history, our descendants will know only of your treachery, your suffering and your destruction!"
The black figures converged on him, blocking out all vision. Everything became hazy, fading to black.
As the world drowned out, a hollow voice, like a lingering sigh, whispered.
"...let me die.."
Cloud opened his eyes, gradually becoming aware of his surroundings as consciousness seeped back into his mind. He was laying on his side on a soft cot placed on the hard rock floor. It wasn't the most comfortable surface he had ever slept on, but compared to some of the conditions under which he'd had to rest during his days as a soldier, it was a king's bed. The torchlight of the small room he was in cast a soft red-orange hue on the walls, creating an almost hypnotic effect, which didn't do much to help him wake up.
The last words of his dream still echoed faintly in his mind. He closed his eyes again briefly, pulling the comfortable covers over him to close in the warmth. He felt unusually lethargic this morning, worn out from the trials of the past few days. The events of his dream, still fresh in his memory, seemed alien, and yet there was something familiar about the whole thing that he couldn't quite place..
As he lay there, thinking about his dream and the events of the past night, he became aware of someone standing over him. Turning over, laying on his back, he opened his eyes again. A familiar face came into focus, as his eyes gradually adjusted to the light.
"Aya?" He said, his voice still raspy from sleep.
The little girl smiled at him at the mention of her name. Cloud coaxed himself into getting up, raising himself up on the cot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Without a word, Aya took him by the hand, leading him out of the room and into the hall outside, where the others were seated at a table, having breakfast.
"Hey, it's about time you woke up." Tifa said, looking up at the two as they entered the room. Aya guided Cloud to a seat between Tifa and Yuffie, sitting down next to him. The little girl's affection towards her rescuer was more than apparent, as she had still not let go of his hand..
"I think she likes you, Cloud." Yuffie remarked, elbowing Cloud and winking at him suggestively, a familiar air of mischief about her. Cloud said nothing in reply, but exchanged a quick glance with the little girl sitting next to him. She seemed fascinated by him and his friends, being the strangers in a strange land that they were. Before long, the two of them had joined the others in eating breakfast, which consisted of corn bread and water, along with a few unfamiliar types of fruit and vegetables, as well as several kinds of meat.
"Where did they get all this food?" Cloud asked. There certainly hadn't been any crops or fields visible on the surface, nor animals, aside from the greys.
"They maintain all their crops underground," Nanaki explained. "through their ability to interact with the lifestream."
"It must be hard.." Tifa commented, looking over the table which was filled to the brim with food.
"They've given us quite generously." Nanaki admitted. "They wanted to thank us for bringing her back." He explained, gesturing towards Aya, who was enthusiastically diving face-first into a large, pear-like fruit.
"What do we do?" Tifa asked. "We can't just leave them like this."
"Maybe we should take them back through the gate." Yuffie suggested.
"Perhaps." Nanaki replied. "But we should regroup first, before we make any such decisions."
"All right." Cloud said, getting up from the table. "Let's head out. We'll probably find them back at the gate."
"About that..." Nanaki spoke up. "Sigil requested that we be escorted by a few of his praetorians if we're heading back up to the surface."
"We can take care of ourselves." Yuffie replied.
"Sigil doesn't seem to agree." Nanaki said. "He was quite insistent on this."
"Fine." Cloud replied. "In any case, let's go get our friends." He said, putting together his equipment and sheathing his weapon behind his back.
"They're in for a surprise.." Yuffie chuckled, as she and the group left the table, and headed back up to the surface.
Cid Highwind turned over from one side to the other, still half asleep. Along with Reeve and Barret, he had escaped from the Jenovas and greys last night, heading back for the safety of the dune buggy. The three of them had decided to spend the night there before heading back out to look for their friends. Currently, the airship pilot was laying back in the driver's seat of the buggy with his feet propped up on the dashboard and his well-worn pilot's cap slung over his eyes. He was tossing and turning, mumbling in his sleep, an unlit cigarette resting in his mouth.
"Aw, yeah. A little more to the left... zzz..." He muttered, unaware of the approaching figures..
His slumber was interrupted as he heard several people walking up to the buggy. Adjusting his cap and opening one eye carefully, he saw several figures clad in grey robes and brandishing primitive-looking weapons surrounding him. The scene was like something from a dream... or a nightmare. Cid nearly jumped up from his seat when he saw the unfamiliar group of people encircling him and his friends, but quickly breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted Cloud and the others amidst the group.
The airship pilot untangled himself from his now awkward sleeping position and stumbled out through the driver's side door. "Geez, kid. You damn near gave me a heart-attack there!" Cid exclaimed as he stepped out of the buggy.
"Sorry about that." Cloud replied nonchalantly, somewhat amused by the expression on Cid's face. "Looks like you guys made it out okay."
"Yeah." Cid nodded. "I see you did, too."
"Hey, wuz going on here?" Barret asked, leaning out through one of the windows, still not quite awake. He found himself staring at several stern-looking Cetra warriors, who eyed the big man with a look of curiosity.
"Rev up the buggy!" Cid called to him and Reeve. "Look's like we're on the move."
Reeve took the driver's seat, starting up the dune buggy, driving slowly behind Cloud and the others as they headed back towards the Cetra's hideout.
"Now, who are all these people?" Cid asked, jabbing his thumb at the Cetra guardians surrounding him and the other Avalanchers.
Cloud sighed. "It's a long story." He replied.
"Well, I'm all ears." Cid retorted, putting his coat back on as he followed the group back into the fallen city.
The group returned to the underground city, leaving the buggy parked near the building containing the hidden entrance. Cloud and Nanaki explained the situation to Cid, Reeve and Barret along the way. One of them would occasionally interrupt their explanations to ask a question.
"So what you're saying is that all this time, they were running away from this Jenova army?" Reeve asked.
"Yes." Nanaki replied. "They moved quickly from one world to the next, cultivating them and staying there as long as they deemed safe, after which they moved on. The ones that we are descended from decided that they didn't want to continue living that way, and so they settled on our world for good."
"And then by some freak accident, one of these Jenova creatures ends up landing smack-dab on our world." Cid commented. "Talk about your bad co-incidences." The pilot shook his head, reaching into his jacket pocket for his pack of Lady Luck cigarettes.
"I'm not sure if I still believe in coincidences.." Nanaki said.
The Avalanchers spent the remainder of the day resting and mending their wounds. Nanaki took the opportunity to teach the others a few words of the Cetra language that he had learned, as well as the basics of reading their alphabet. Aya acted as a tour guide of sorts, showing them around the city, never leaving the group's sight for a minute. Night-time came eventually, and the little girl had to be separated from the group by her guardians, but not before taking a good while to bid them all farewell, and reassuring them that she'd be back with them in the morning.
With that, the group gathered in the underground cathedral to discuss their next move.
"What about that palace, then?" Tifa said. "Sigil mentioned that there were a number of gates supposed to be there."
"Yeah, about that.." Cid replied, scratching the back of his head. "We came across this black river of some kind on our way there. Call me crazy, but there's just something not right about it. I don't think we're gonna be able to cross it just like that.."
"And besides.." Nanaki added. "There's no way to tell if those gates are still standing. Our real concern should be how to reactivate the one we came through."
"Perhaps we should ask our hosts about that." Vincent said.
Following Vincent's suggestion, Nanaki brought Sigil into the cathedral. "What is it?" Sigil asked, a slight tone of impatience in his voice.
"The gates." Cloud said simply, getting straight to the point. "How do we open them?"
"I cannot tell you that." Sigil answered. "It is a closely guarded secret of our society, one that I will not divulge to outsiders."
"So we'll just have to figure it out on our own, huh?" Yuffie said.
"Maybe it takes a special type of key to activate it?" Reeve suggested.
"You mean like the Keystone?" Cloud asked.
"Yeah."
"What? How do you know about the keystones?" Sigil demanded. "They are not for outsiders to meddle with."
"We knew another Cetra." Tifa explained. "She told us.."
"Another Cetra?" Sigil interrupted. "You know of another Cetra?" The old man became excited, almost agitated, clutching Tifa's shoulders tightly as he spoke. "Take me to her! I must speak with her. I.."
"She's dead." Cloud replied coldly, clenching his fists. He gave Sigil one last, acidic look before storming out of the room.
There was a short, but difficult silence in his absence. "Your friend is upset." Sigil finally remarked to the group.
"He's got every right to be." Cid replied, making to leave as well.
However, before anyone could say or do anything else, an earthquake shook the cathedral floor, throwing everyone off balance. Dust and sand fell from the ceiling as the tremor passed through the underground city.
"What the hell was that?" Yuffie asked, picking herself up from the ground as the quake subsided.
Before anyone could answer her question, another cetra emerged from the cathedral's inner sanctum, helping Sigil to his feet. "It's awakened!" The younger man told Sigil, panic in his voice.
"What? So soon?" Sigil replied. "This shouldn't be happening now.."
The older man turned his gaze towards the Avalanchers remaining in the room. "You.." he said accusingly. "Your arrival has brought this about. You've woken the Behemoth.."
"Something has to be done!" The younger man told Sigil. Sigil spoke a few words in reply that the Avalanchers didn't understand, before hurrying out of the cathedral.
"..I don't like this." Nanaki said.
"Why?" Yuffie asked. "What'd he say?"
"He said something about a... " Nanaki hesitated, dreading the word he was about to speak. "..a sacrifice."