Chapter 14: The Temple
Aeris watched as the land below streaked by, and grinned.
"This is so much easier than traveling with those dopes." She thought, turning to find a young man staring at her.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" She shouted, scaring the poor young man into peeing himself.
The man stood ashamed in front of her, and blushed from utter embarrassment.
"I just wanted to ask you if there was anything wrong..." The young man muttered, and left the room crying, to go change his clothes before anyone saw him.
She smiled.
"What a little fool!" She thought.
They would reach the Temple in about six hours, and Aeris felt the excitement rising up in her veins.
She ran to the captain's cabin, and walked in.
"Can't this tub of bolts go any faster?" She complained.
"Well... Once we hit its highest speed, then the fuel tends to burn much quicker, and we don't have enough to do that." The captain said.
Aeris clenched her fists in rage, and pulled out the letter opener.
"Do you want this rusty thing being twisted around in your gut? If not, I suggest that you go FASTER!" She shouted, brandishing the letter opener like a rapier.
"UH! Yeah! Yeah sure it can! I'll see to it at once!" The captain's face was pale, as he twisted a few knobs and flicked a few switches.
"We are currently going into full speed! Everyone please get onto a seat and buckle in!" The captain called over the intercom.
"I suggest you find a seat ma'am." The captain said trying to feel concerned for the woman who had threatened him.
"Screw you!" Aeris said, and left the captain's cabin, and went to her quarters.
Just as she opened the door, she was flung through the room, and slammed against the wall with a sickening 'thud'.
Her limp from crashed into the ground, and she blacked out.
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When she came to, she was on the ground outside, and she could feel the power from the temple, and knew she was finally home again.
She tried getting up, but her ankle gave a weird wobble, and she fell flat onto her ass.
"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" She thought, biting her bottom lip until it bled.
She stood again, this time not putting weight on her left leg.
She hobbled to the nearest building, and found a large enough stick for her to use as a cane.
She didn't want to use her staff, because it was too special to her.
As she made her slow progress to the main temple (she has a LONG way to go especially in the condition she is in now!) too focused on what she was doing, to notice the long dark shadow that was trailing after her.
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The group woke in the morning, to get ready for there travel.
They ate quickly, and got into the Beamer, and left for the port.
When they got there, they found that the air ship was just coming in for landing.
When it had stopped, and the crew got out, Vincent went up to them.
"We need you to take us to The Temple of the Ancients!" He said.
"We need to get fuel. It will be another hour before we can make the trip." The captain said with a grave face.
"We can wait I guess." Vincent said, feeling more worried now than he had ever felt.
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Aeris had just reached the 'outer circle' as it is called, the beginnings of the holiest area in the temple.
She stumbled along, tripping on rocks and cracks in the ground, but managing not to fall.
Her ankle was killing her now, and it had swollen to the size of a small melon, but she pushed on, gritting her teeth against the pain.
"This is all part of my cleansing process." She thought, though she was not sure why she wanted to repent, because she found killing people to be fun.
Soon the pain got to be unbearable, and she fell down to the ground, and closed her eyes.
She was tired, and she needed a rest.
Her eyes closed, and she slept, fitfully at first, but the soothing powers of the Temple soon settled her, and she slept soundly, and without any dreams.
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Vincent and the group waited for the crew to finish refueling the air ship, and when the captain gave them the thumbs-up, they boarded, and took off after the checks and procedures had been carefully gone through.
They took off into the air, and where heading to the Temple at almost full speed, hoping to get there in at most eighteen hours.
"Sir?" The second in command asked Cid, looking at what he was wearing.
"Like, what George?" Cid replied.
"Why are you dressed...?" The second was silenced by a gun being pointing at his head.
"Don't ask... It's a long story that I don't want to explain." Vincent said, lowering the gun and slid it back into the holster at his hip.
"Yes Sir!" The second said, leaving the captain's office.
"Do you remember how to fly this thing?" Vincent asked Cid.
"Like, leave everything to me! I know how to make this baby purr!" Cid replied, giving Vincent a thumbs-up.
"Okay..." Vincent felt a little worried but seemed reassured when Cid sat at the captain's seat with a face that showed his competence in flying the ship to not have been effected by his transformation.
Vincent left the captain's cabin as well, and went to rest for the time that they would be traveling.
The group did nothing really, except when Cid chased Cloud around the ship, trying to get one last kiss, but Cloud got away, and hid somewhere and wasn't seen until the group got to the Temple.
They got to the temple, and got off the ship, and asked the crew to give them at least 6 to 10 hours to go and look for Aeris.
The crew nodded, and went aboard and played Shuffle on the deck, and the group went onto the sacred grounds of the beautiful Temple, and went in search of Aeris.