Disclaimer: I do not own FF VII or any of the characters from it. However, I did create the character of John.
Once again, thank you to all the readers and a special thanks to all the reviewers.
I know it's been a while, but I hope you like this. Things will get more interesting in the next chapter.
Testing Fate
Chapter XXIX
"Finally!" exhaled Yuffie as they approached the entrance to Junon.
"Man, what happened to this town?" asked Cloud as they got closer, "It looks so…run down…"
"It's the Shinra," explained Barret with disgust in his voice, "This was a quiet fishing village until the war. Shinra needed a port in order to store and construct the ships which would go off to Wutai, but they didn't stop there. They built a whole city! Now, most of the fish near here are dying all the time from the pollution and the people who couldn't find jobs in the new city are either unemployed or have left altogether."
After a moment of silence as the group took in the information, Aeris pointed upwards to the massive cannon and spoke.
"What's that?"
"Oh that," answered Barret without even looking over, "That's the Sister Ray. It was designed by Scarlet during the war. It's a Mako cannon."
"A Mako cannon?" asked Tifa.
"Yeah, it doesn't use shells. Instead, Mako energy is concentrated and fired upon the target."
"Where do they get the Mako from?" asked John, "Is there a reactor around here?"
"There's a reactor under the city," said Barret, "But during the war, they transported Mako from Midgar to Wutai. I'm not even sure if that thing's still operational. If they'd run tests, I would have heard."
"Barret, have you been to this town before?" asked Red.
"I was here over a decade ago, before they started building the city."
"…must have been really nice," said Aeris.
"Yeah, it was…"
"All right then," said Cloud, "What should we do now?"
"Let's go down to the beach," suggested Tifa.
Already?! thought John, Couldn't we have rested even a bit before that?
"John, you coming?" asked Aeris as they started to walk in the direction of the beach.
After a mental sigh, John followed.
In an alley in Upper Junon, an alien figure lay in the shadows with someone who looked like a human, despite being so much more.
"Mother, I found us a boat. It's the one which Rufus Shinra will be taking tomorrow. We'll sneak onboard before they set off."
"Why can't you just fly us across to the other continent?" asked the creature, "I can't stand having to hide here like this."
"Your body is still reaching its full potential, there's no hurry. Patience will reward us in time…"
"The ones who are following us will probably take that boat as well."
This made Sephiroth smile in response.
"I'm counting on it."
As AVALANCHE walked down onto the beach, they saw a young girl in the shallow waters with a dolphin as John had expected.
Oh great…
As they walked towards her, Red noticed that John was walking rather uneasily and seemed to be staring off into the distance. Red tried to follow his line of vision, but all he saw was the water.
Where is he looking?
As the young girl named Priscilla started to accuse the group of being with Shinra and telling them to leave, John's trance did not seem to break, concerning Red even more. He then noticed John's grip on his staff tighten.
"Look at that!" came Tifa's alarmed voice.
What?! thought Red as he quickly turned around before his eyes widened.
Just as he had turned, a massive creature came out of the water and knocked the girl into it.
Where did that come from?! Wait, did John know that-
"Let's go everyone!" came Cloud's command as they threw their backpacks to the side and got out their weapons.
Red decided that there would be time to muse on what he had seen later and started to rush at the creature as Yuffie threw her weapon at hit to get him away from the girl while Tifa and Aeris dragged her out of the water and onto the land. Yuffie's attack did not have much of an effect and her weapon fell near her. As the creature tried to decide on its next move, it was hit by ice shards from Tifa and bullets from Barret, which sent it into the waters and before it could rise again, the newly re-energized Tifa jumped on it and dealt a hard slash from her Mythril claw. However, before she could strike again, Bottomswell rose and threw her off onto the ground.
"Be careful, don't overexert yourself yet," said Cloud as he helped her up.
Once again, before the creature could attack, it was shot down, this time, by a lightning bolt from Aeris.
"Did we get it?" asked Barret.
His answer came quickly enough as a beam shot out from the sea as the creature rose again. Barret found a bubble growing around him which left him with less and less air. He tried to hit it from the inside while Cloud tried to slash it with the sword, but none of the attacks made an effect.
"We've got to get him out!" yelled Tifa as a kick failed like the other attacks.
"Physical attacks don't seem to be working," said Cloud.
"What about magic?" asked John as he launched an ice particle at the creature to keep it at bay.
"Good idea," said Aeris as she extended her staff and started to charge lightning spell.
The result was successful as the bubble was broken by the attack and Barret fell to the ground breathing deeply.
"Thanks guys…"
"Ok, we've got to watch out for that one," said Cloud before he dashed towards Bottomswell.
Aeris launched a Matra Magic attack to distract him and while Bottomswell was dodging the blasts cloud jumped and tried to slash him, but ended up missing as the creature flew out of his way. Before Cloud could regroup once he landed on ground, he was hit hard by Bottomswell's tail and fell into the water. Before he could be attacked again, Barret fired more of his bullets at the creature to keep it away as the team came over to Cloud. As Barret finished, Red leapt upward and delivered a hard slash to the creature's right eye, blinding it there. As he landed, the creature started to sway violently before he sung his tail harshly to the ground, sending a big wave up at the team which quickly engulfed them. As the waters fell back, the team slowly got up choking.
"Ugh…everyone alright?" asked John.
"…what was that?!" exclaimed Yuffie as she got her weapon out of the water.
"We have to make sure that it can't do THAT again…" said Red.
Amidst all of this, Aeris got up and holding her staff in both hands, raised it above her and started to concentrate.
"Aeris?" asked Cloud as he saw her.
"Just wait a second Cloud…and get ready…"
There was a flash of light around her and then she pointed her staff towards Cloud and lowered it. As she did this, Cloud saw a red light below him and felt a surge of strength. After locking eyes with her, he picked up his sword and held it in both of his hands as Bottomswell was trying to move around with half of its vision gone.
"All right, let's try this again…"
With that, he rushed towards the creature, jumped and plunged the sword deep into Bottomswell before kicking off of it and bringing his sword upwards, causing mass amounts of blood to fall from the threat. As Cloud landed in the water, so did Bottomswell, but unlike the leader of AVALANCHE, he did not rise again, his life fading as the thrashes became quieter and quieter. With the threat gone, Cloud walked back towards his teammates and towards one especially.
"Thanks for that," he said to Aeris, who smiled in return.
"My pleasure…"
"What was that?" asked Yuffie, "What did she do?"
"I don't know how to explain it, it was like a really big power boost…" said Cloud.
"The power of the Ancients…" said John as he looked over at Aeris along with everyone else.
Aeris felt uncomfortable with the attention and was hoping for some type of distraction when the voice of an old man was heard.
"Priscilla! Please help, she's not breathing!"
As the team ran back and Cloud performed CRP, Red couldn't help but ponder on what had happened.
John…did he know that we would be attacked by that creature? It's like that time at the ranch…what does it mean? And Aeris…how deep do her powers go? Is she even aware of what she is capable of?
That evening, the team had been offered a house to stay in and while they were getting ready to go to bed, Aeris went outside for some air. A few minutes later, she was joined by Red.
"Hey there," he said casually as he laid down next to where she was sitting.
"Hey…"
He waited for a few seconds before speaking again.
"That was really something that you did today…and it wasn't the first time either…"
She knew that he was referring to what she had done outside Fort Condor.
"Yeah…"
"It's not easy for you, is it? This power I mean…" he said after another moment of silence.
No," she said as she shook her head, "I'm not sure exactly what I'm capable of…that time at Fort condor was such a surprise. So was today…"
"We're here if you need us…"
"I know that, you've all made it known and thank you," she said, "But it's different. I'm different. John's not an Ancient, neither is Cloud or anyone else, there's only so much anyone besides myself can understand…and even I don't understand that much…"
Red didn't know how to answer to that. He had been on the planet for more than twice as long than the woman next to him, and yet a part of her seemed to be on a much higher plateau, one that neither he nor anyone else could step on and it seemed very daunting to him at that moment.
"Look at me, I'm rambling," said Aeris before she yawned, "Let's go back. We'll need our sleep for tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're right," said Red as he got up.
The next morning came quickly and John and Cloud found themselves standing outside the house that they had slept in as Tifa walked past them to go inside to get something that she had forgot.
"Hey John, go on ahead to Priscilla's house. I'll be there in a minute ok?" asked Cloud
"Yeah sure," said John as he walked off, knowing what Cloud and Tifa were talking about inside.
Poor Cloud…and poor Tifa…they're so confused by each other…
As John walked to the house where the others were standing, he heard loud music start in the city above.
And so it begins…
"What's with the music?" asked Barret.
"I don't know, maybe it's a holiday up there or something…" said John.
About a minute later, Cloud and Tifa came to join them just as Priscilla was coming down the stairs. John noticed that both Cloud and Tifa seemed rather uneasy from their conversation.
"Hey…thanks for helping," said Priscilla as she stopped, "I'm sorry I mistook you guys for the Shinra."
"Don't worry about it," said Cloud.
"I'll give you guys something SPECIAL!" she said as she took something out of her pocket and handed it to Cloud, "It's an amulet. Take good care of it, okay?"
Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE knew that it was a summon material, but he smiled as he pocketed it and changed the subject.
"Thank you. Priscilla, do you know what that music is for?"
"I heard that they're rehearsing the reception for the Shinra Presidents.
"Rufus?!" exclaimed Barret as he patted his gun-arm, "I gotta pay my respects."
"Hmm…does that mean that Rufus is thinking of crossing the ocean from here too?" asked Aeris.
"What?! Wait, would that mean that Sephiroth has already crossed?"
"I have no clue," said Cloud, "We've got to get someone on the inside into the city before the reception begins."
"There's a tower over there," said Yuffie as she pointed out to the beach, "Maybe we could climb that."
"But there's a high voltage current running underneath the tower!" exclaimed Priscilla, "Although you might be able to do it if Mr. Dolphin helps you…"
"High voltage tower…sounds like Cloud's the man for the job," said Tifa.
"Yeah, better leave it to Cloud…" followed up Aeris as she chuckled.
"Hey!! Wait a second…" started Cloud, but found himself unable to continue.
Me?! Why me?!
He looked at John for some support, but received only a pat on the back in response.
"We're all counting on you. We'll try to sneak up to the city another way and meet up with you somewhere."
"I'll hold your cellphone so it doesn't get wet," said Barret.
After Priscilla explained how to use a whistle to call the dolphin, Cloud found himself swimming out close to the tower.
Honestly, how did this happen to me?! Why doesn't one of them try this? He thought to himself, annoyed at his current situation.
Once he found a spot which seemed suitable, he sighed before he took out the whistle and blew into it.
"Rufus, are you sure that you don't want any of us to go with you?" asked Tseng as Rufus looked himself over in the mirror.
"Yes, I'm sure Tseng. Don't worry. I won't really do anything once I arrive, I'll probably head to the family house in the mountains. I arranged for a car to be prepared for me."
A bit of rest wouldn't be too bad…
"What if Cloud or Sephiroth show up?" asked Rude, "there have been reports of a few soldiers being killed by a man in a black cape."
"If I was directly his target, then he would have likely attacked us by now," explained Rufus as he slicked his hair a bit more, "If he's here, then it would make sense for me to get away from Junon, and that's what I'm doing, aren't I?"
"What if he's on the boat as well?" asked Reno as he tried to not show any worry.
We can't afford to lose another president. This guy's actually good to us and if he goes, then that means that there is no direct successor…
"Rufus, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, Reno?"
"Now that you're in charge, who's going to be the Vice President of the company?"
Reno was surprised to receive a chuckle in response.
"Really Reno, are you that pessimistic? Come on, let's hope for the best," replied Rufus as he finished and started walking towards the door before turning back and addressing Reno again.
"That was the answer to your first question as well."
"All right," said Tifa as she watched Cloud's form disappear, "If there's trouble there, he'll find a way to tell us. In the meantime, we have to get up to the city as well."
"I think we should try to get on that boat which is heading out. If Sephiroth hasn't already left, he's bound to sneak onboard that one," said John, trying to get things moving without being too suspicious.
"You mean to say that our goal is to end up on the same boat as Rufus and Sephiroth?" asked Red.
"Yup, unfortunately…"
"There's an elevator over there," said Aeris as she pointed back in the direction of the village," But there's a guard near there…"
"Well then, we'll just have to get past him," explained Barret.
"We can't endanger people's lives Barret…" said Tifa as she tried to think of an alternative plan.
"Why don't we just knock him out?" asked Yuffie.
"…that could work," said Red after a small silence.
"All right then, we have a plan," said John, "Yuffie, run over there and try to distract the guard and we'll take care of him when his back is turned."
"Why do I have to be the one to talk to him?"
"Because it was your idea."
"Sheesh, fine…" mumbled Yuffie as she ran in the direction of the elevator.
As they watched her approach the guard, Aeris leaned into John's ear and whispered.
"At least this time I'm not getting molested," she commented with a giggle.
John looked over at her and chuckled lightly in response.
Can't believe they're doing this, giving dirty work to the new girl. I'd like to hit this guy over the head… thought Yuffie as she walked up to the guard and stood in front of him.
The guard looked at her for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Yes?"
"Ummm…could you please help me? I lost something."
"Hmm…where did you lose this "something"?"
"Over here," she said as she walked away from the elevator and into a corner, the guard following her.
"Can you look around sir? It's shiny," said Yuffie as she leaned down and tried to pretend that she was trying to find something.
The guard leaned over as well, which gave Tifa the opening that she had been waiting for as she dealt a quick kick to the back of the guard's head, sending him to the ground.
"Alright, good job Yuffie. Let's hurry before he gets up," she said quickly before they ran to the elevator and entered.
As they were going up, Barret spoke up.
"Ok, so what are we going to do up there? Should all of us try to catch a ship or wait until Cloud appears somewhere?"
"Hmm…maybe six people are too big a group," said Tifa, "We should split up and gradually make our way to the harbor. Barret, you can come with me and Yuffie. There's a parade soon and we can try to find the boat which is going to leave."
She then turned to John, Aeris and Red before finishing.
"We'll call you guys when we have something, lay low until then. See if you can buy new materia that could be useful."
"Here we are," said Tseng as they parked in the streets of Junon surrounded by security, "and look who else is here…"
"Oh great," sighed Rufus as he looked out and saw Heidegger, "I swear, it would have been better if I had done this by myself."
"It looks better if you have someone by your side on your journey," said Rude.
I'm dumping this guy the second we get to Costa del Sol… thought Rufus as he stepped outside and put on a smile.
"Hello Heidegger. How was your flight?" he asked as he shook his hand.
"It was fine Rufus. How have you been here?"
"I've been alright. Tseng and the others have been keeping me company."
Heidegger looked over to see the Turks walk up to him.
"Heidegger," said the leader.
"Tseng, Rufus, Reno, Elena."
"We trust you to see that the President makes it safely to Costa del Sol."
"You can trust me Tseng."
"Let's hope so," stated Tseng before the Turks said their goodbyes to Rufus and started to walk back to the car.
"Seriously, why do you have to come on the boat with me? Can't you take the airship?" asked Rufus.
"I'm sure Tseng already told you that this is the best thing for your public image," said Heidegger smugly, "Besides, the airship is still being prepared, it won't be ready for another three days at least,"
Oh great… moaned Rufus mentally.
"What about the Air Force's Gelnika?"
"Yes…gya ha ha!" laughed Heidegger.
"Stop that horse laugh Heidegger!" ordered Rufus, "Things are different now than when my father was in charge, remember that…"
Heidegger lightly cringed as he did what he was told to do.
"Let's go up to a spot where we can see the parade better," said Heidegger.
"All right."
"Rufus, where are you planning on going after we arrive at Costa del Sol?"
"I think I'll head to the family home in the mountains for a few days and I'll see after that. I have a few plans…"
Once Tifa, Barret and Yuffie had started to go deeper into Junon, John, Aeris and Red were left to watch the parade.
"…astounding," observed Red, "All of this for just one man…"
"And he hasn't even done anything yet…" said Aeris.
"Well…that's going to change very soon…" mentioned John.
Aeris waited for a few seconds before asking John a question.
"John…is he going to come after us?"
"What?" he asked back, confused.
"Well, you've talked to him. Was what Tseng saying true? You know…about Rufus not sending people after me?"
"He didn't seem to be concerned about The Promised Land like his father was from what I remember," said John carefully, "So I think that Tseng was telling the truth."
Aeris smiled upon hearing that and looked into the nonexistent distance.
"That's good to hear."
After pausing for a bit, she spoke again.
"Did you see it?"
"See what?" asked Red.
"The airship once we got out of the elevator. It was so big."
"Yes…it was impressive," said Red.
"What about you John?"
John had to force a smile as he looked over at Aeris, knowing what she was thinking.
"Yeah, it was really cool."
"I know right?" she laughed with glee as she looked back in the direction of the airport before looking back at John before saying the words that gave him a lump in his throat.
"We should go on it sometime."
He continued to look into her eyes which exuded not only hope in the future, but confidence as well.
"Can you imagine that? Flying over the land and sea on that, feeling the wind…what do you think?"
John tried to regain his composure as he smiled back.
"Yeah…we should."
"Really? You mean that?"
"Yup. Trust me Aeris, one day we're going to be on that ship, looking down at the world below…you can hold me on that."
"Serious?" she asked with surprise.
"Yup," he replied with a nod, "I'm going to get both of us on that ship somehow."
"All right then," she said with smile as their eyes stayed on lock, "I'll take your word for it."
"You do that…"
A few moments of silence passed by before John changed the subject.
"All right, we should go find a material shop and see if they have anything."
"Yeah, we have no idea when Tifa might call," said Aeris as they began walking.
Aeris…I meant that. You're going to make it on that ship... I'm going to make sure that it happens…
John wasn't the only onethinking about the conversation that had just occurred, as Red had heard it as well. However, his mind was looking at it from a very different angle.
Promises of the future… Can you assure that? Or do you know that it will occur already John? That way, you have nothing to worry about…
"Red?" asked John.
"Yes?" he answered, trying not to sound unusual.
"Is something on your mind? You seem to be in thought."
Red chuckled in response before speaking.
"John, I'm always in thought, much like you. It's nothing."
"I'll take your word then," chuckled John back.
They walked for a few more seconds before John stopped in front of a door.
"I think this is the place," said John as he walked into the building.
Inside they saw a door to the right and stairs leading down. Heading to the right, they found materia store.
"Do you guys see anything useful?" asked Red.
"There's Revive materia here. That should be useful," said Aeris.
"We better take another Restore as well since we have a new member. Another Heal couldn't hurt either."
At this time, the storekeeper walked up to them.
"Hello, would you like to purchase something?"
"Yes," said Aeris, "We'd like two Revive materias, one Heal and one Restore."
"All right young lady," said the owner, "That'll be 8250 gil."
John took out the bills and paid the man.
Wow, that's a decent chunk of our bandit reward…
As they walked towards the exit, Aeris stopped and looked at the stairs leading downwards.
"I wonder what's there?" she asked.
"Probably a bar or something…"
"Let's take a look for a second," she said as she started to walk down them.
John and Red followed behind but stopped once they saw Aeris quickly turn around and start walking quickly back.
"Aeris, what is it?" asked John as they neared the exit.
"I saw Rude in there!" she exclaimed, "I don't think he saw me, but we can't risk it."
"…but do you think that he would capture you?" asked Red.
"…I'm not sure…but I want to be safe…"
"She's right," said John, "Regardless of Rufus's orders, the further away she, and the rest of us, are from them, the better."
As soon as John finished speaking, his cell phone started to ring.
"Hello?" he asked as he picked it up.
"Already? Alright, we'll be right there," he said as he hung up.
"Was that Tifa?" asked Aeris.
"Yeah, they've knocked out some of the crew and stole their uniforms. I guess that's our ticket onto the boat," explained John.
"What about Cloud?"
"He'll find a way, don't worry."
"Are you sure that this will work?" asked Red to Tifa as she and Aeris were helping him to put on a Shinra soldier outfit.
"Yes, don't worry, you can get out of it the second we're off the boat," said Tifa.
"This is ridiculous," said Barret as he watched the scene in front of him.
"Barret, I wouldn't exactly be talking if I were you," laughed Tifa as she looked at his white outfit.
"Aw, I think he looks kinda cute," said Aeris as she laughed as well.
Barret turned around fuming and walked a bit away as John looked into the distance and saw some figures approaching.
"All right everyone, some more soldiers are coming. Let's make this thing work."
With that, the team either tried to fit in like they were on duty or hid behind boxes. Three soldiers stepped up in front of the boat and that was when John saw a door open and Rufus and Heidegger step out. He tried to hide his face as the President of Shinra walked past him by looking to the floor.
Once Rufus and Heidegger were in their place, the soldiers performed their send off and at the end the team saw a move which showed them that their leader was there. Afterwards, Heidegger gave a large sword to the one who was actually Cloud, saying it was a token of the president's kindness.
"All right, everyone on board," said Rufus as he began walking into the ship.
The team all made their way inside and as John was walking up to the entrance he looked to his side and accidentally made eye contact with Rufus. He did not know how long they held that gaze on each other, but it was far too long for his comfort. Eventually, Rufus had to head upstairs and the ship began to depart, with John giving a sigh of relief once that happened.
That was close…did he recognize me? I better stay away from him…
Little did he know that before the day was done, the exact opposite would occur…
