Chapter 29 – Healing and Learning Again
"Good morning, Raven," said a bright and perky Mega Man X as he slid a hot cup of tea across the long conference room table to her. She telekinetically bumped it up and comfortably into her hand, noticing that Zelda was already there as she took a sip.
"Morning," she said back. "Am I late?"
"No, early actually. Zelda just got here a minute ago herself."
Raven observed that she had her own cup as well. She also looked severely tired to the dark sorceress.
"Let's get started," said X. He went to a large screen embedded in the wall and activated it, showing a strange sight. It looked like a whirlwind of radiance consuming a ball of fire. He tapped a button and froze the image, pointing at tiny structures at the bottom of the video.
"This is an industrial city of nearly thirty thousand people, and this," he indicated both the enormous red orb and the green energy, "is what some materia are capable of."
"My goddesses…" Zelda said in awe. "What is this materia we are seeing?"
"Raven?" he directed his eyes to her, asking her to explain the basics that she already knew about the tiny sources of indomitable power.
"Materia," Raven cleared her throat, "is crystallized energy from the planet that takes on a small orb like shape. They endow the owners to use various mystical energies, often called magic."
"Not much is certain about it," X continued, "but it definitely comes from within the planet; a source of energy known as the Lifestream. The Lifestream is suggested to hold knowledge and life forces from past lives and experiences, although there's little proof to back that up."
"What are we looking for on this planet?" Zelda asked, drinking her tea.
X sighed. "Materia comes in many forms. I used a particular type of materia that contains healing spells in order to reverse Terra's petrification. It didn't work, but her body reacted in a very similar way to various phenomena observed in the Lifestream. The theory is that if we can find an enormously dense and concentrated materia, then we can bring Terra back completely."
Raven had been consumed by the paused video. "I haven't seen this before," she said. "But you've mentioned it to me. What happened back then?"
He crossed his arms with a scowl on his face, hating the memory. "Something I couldn't stop," he spoke quietly. "Luckily there were others who could. It's a long story…"
Both women had their eyes intently on him, making up his own mind on whether to tell it or not. He shrugged, but took a cup of tea for himself along with the lead seat.
"I was hoping that we just go in, get the materia and get out, but I doubt it will be that easy. Most materia has been destroyed, contained, or lost, and all of the Mako factories that drained energy from the planet to make materia artificially have been permanently shut down and at this point, probably dismantled."
"If that's the case," Raven considered, "then what are our options?"
X leaned his face into his hand, rubbing at his brow for an answer that he didn't want.
"Shinra."
"Shinra?" Zelda asked.
"The organization that started everything leading to what you see on this video; the near destruction of a massive city, along with many others ruined. Founded a few decades ago, the Shinra organization, led by President Shinra, had made a point of industrializing and improving the world technologically. After much progress, they discovered the power of Mako, the planet's Lifestream, and the city of Midgar was founded shortly thereafter along with the Mako reactors that drained the planet's energy for modernization. But President Shinra was corrupt with power, and the city soon became a nightmare for the poor, who lived underneath the city's artificial surface, away from the sunlight. Even worse, twisted experiments done in the name of science and power were forced on unwilling human subjects, and a monstrous creature was born."
"Was that… the Ultima Weapon?" Raven asked.
The name made X's hands shift uncomfortably before he hid them beneath the table.
"No," he said, "but the greatest horror they created was responsible for releasing the Weapons."
He moved back to the video screen and made it progress to another slide, showing a man wearing dark leather with long silvery hair and eyes that were unusually bright green. Something about his face was terrifying to both girls.
"Sephiroth," Mega Man said with disgust. "A superhuman being created in a human's womb, but with cells from an alien entity named Jenova inside, hence called the Jenova project. I'm afraid I don't know much about Jenova, but I do know that whatever it was, it had a hand in creating Sephiroth."
"What did this Sephiroth do that was so horrible?" Zelda questioned.
X quickly switched to the first slide and pointed at the huge red rock. "Summoned that, for starters. Sephiroth had superhuman abilities that separated him from his peers, making it difficult from him to lead a childhood like most others. However, when he got older, he joined Soldier, Shinra's military force, and quickly rose through the ranks with strength that was both revered and terrifying. While on a mission to eliminate unusual monsters that had invaded a Mako factory, he discovered the truth about what he was. Not long after, he went insane on a quest to destroy or conquer or something." He paused, shaking his head. "The details about Sephiroth's motives and Jenova were still unclear by the time I left, but I know that they, along with materia, were both instruments of Shinra at one point."
"Incredible," Raven said, deep in thought. "How was he stopped?"
"Their planet was lucky," X told her. "Even I couldn't stop the meteor that Sephiroth tried to bring, but a group of youthful people came together with the power of materia and the Lifestream behind them and stopped the meteor and Sephiroth from crushing the planet."
They all looked at the frozen image of the deadly meteor above the heads of thousands in the city of Midgar below it. Materia… it had the power to annihilate planets. A dangerous thought entered all of their minds.
"Mega Man," Zelda raised her hand, "if this materia is so destructive, then I suspect that the holder of the Triforce of Power or his servants may try to obtain its power."
"His or her servants," Raven corrected her, but Zelda's face snapped in her direction.
"Not likely," she quickly retorted. "Ganondorf was as sexist as he was vicious. He would not have entrusted his power to a woman."
X nodded. "That's good to know, but we'll keep an eye out for anyone trying to abuse materia's power, not just the one person we're looking for."
Raven glared at Zelda, but narrowed her eyes when the former princess avoided her gaze entirely and kept a very neutral expression on her face. It only egged Raven's bitterness toward her even further, and the dark sage squeezed her cup unnaturally tight.
"What is our plan?" Zelda asked calmly.
"Our plan," X changed the video again, "is to first visit Cosmo Canyon, a peaceful mountain city."
The screen held a magnificent view. Red stone lit up by a falling orange sun and torches situated amongst this part of the village. As the video zoomed away, they were given a brief glimpse into a very peaceful looking village carved into either side of a deep crevasse in the land. People carried baskets on their heads, sat in front of open fires, and mingled peacefully without the quandaries of technology. As the image flew out further, a large observatory and also the only sign of machinery with a lengthy telescope sat on top of the stone.
"Keep in mind that this footage was taken five years ago. Things may have changed, and considering how quickly the planet nearly came to an end, I have no idea what we're going to find when we get there."
"What are you hoping we'll find?" Raven asked.
He sighed. "Even though Cosmo Canyon rejected the industrialization of many other cities, it's still one of the best places on Gaia to gather information. If it hasn't changed, then I may be able to ask the village leader about the location of the materia we need to save Terra, but…"
"Oh, I don't like the sound of that 'but'," Raven eyed him with a meek grin.
"No, you're definitely not going to," said the reploid. "Like I said, materia has become scarce since the incident with Shinra, Sephiroth, and the meteor, so it might be harder to find than we want. If Cosmo Canyon doesn't have any answers for us, then we may have to cooperate with Shinra, or at least what's left of it."
"Whoa, wait a second," Raven said, standing up in objection. "You're suggesting that we cooperate with the ones who nearly destroyed the planet?"
"That's right," he answerer firmly. "I know they can't be trusted, but I also know that Shinra had no intentions of causing the level of damage that it did, and they're probably the most likely source to get the information we need. They may even have the materia themselves. Again, what's left of them anyway."
"You imply that Sephiroth wasn't kind to his creators," Zelda surmised, and X gave an enthusiastic nod.
"His first victim was President Shinra himself, and many of the members of Soldier were killed by both Sephiroth and the group of heroes who were trying to stop him."
"Unlucky them," Raven replied blandly. "What about the Presidency? Who took over?"
X pondered for a moment before picking the image from his memory. He was surprised at himself. He forgot very little, and yet the malicious young face that sat on a body clothed in professional white staring at him in his thoughts left him blank for a moment.
"That was Rufus Shinra," it finally came to him. "The President's son, and far worse than his father if you ask the few who know them both. But he's not important to us either. He died at the hands of Diamond."
"More names…" Zelda sighed.
"Don't worry, princess," said Mega Man. "Most of the people or creatures we've talked about aren't alive anymore, and even if they were, there wouldn't be any polite greetings. This is Diamond."
He changed the slide once more to an unrecognizable beast with a body that resembled a bright white and grey marble, and a strange shining force that constituted nearly the entirety of its chest. In the video, it lumbered along slowly with massive clawed feet that had three spikes extending forward and one backward for each. Diamond's arms were enormously bulky like its legs, and with similar ivory-like claws jutting from the ends of its hands. Zelda tried to perceive the creature's face, but she could think of no comparison to the foreign sight of it. Raven, however, thought that Diamond's face was like that of the few mechaniloid drones occasionally wandering about the Dreamweaver to execute repairs; plain and empty. What looked like a layer of darkly tinted crimson glass convened at the front of his facial features, and similar, pale grey extensions jutted forcefully behind its dome. Lastly, as it walked beyond whatever or whoever captured the video of it, they all watched a cape-like protrusion emanate from just below the glowing power source, on what could be referred to as Diamond's waist. It was solid and matched the rest of Diamond's color, and undoubtedly like a form of plate armor that swaggered while its footsteps rattled the earth that it crushed.
"The Diamond Weapon, to be more specific," X indicated.
"That… is one of the Weapons?" Raven gaped.
"Yes. Diamond, along with Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Ultima, were all released by Sephiroth, although how I don't know. They were myths up until that point; supposedly creatures created by the planet to defend itself, but Sephiroth seemed to have some control over them. They wanted to annihilate humans, not protect them. Sapphire was actually destroyed by Shinra Company, and the Ultima Weapon was defeated by the same group of fighters who defeated Sephiroth."
"How… large is Diamond?" Zelda asked slightly off the topic, obviously enthralled with the brute image of the Weapon.
"About a dozen times your height and easily two hundred times your weight, if not more," he answered quickly and simply, receiving a shocking set of pupils from her. "Diamond was actually defeated by the combination of both the heroes and Shinra. As for Emerald and Ruby, I have no idea. For all we know, they could have destroyed the planet by now, or simply died off as soon as Sephiroth was eliminated."
"So…" Raven began, "We really don't have a concrete plan until we get there."
X chuckled lightly with a smile as he replied. "Not really, but there are still things we need to be prepared for in any event."
"Such as?"
"First," X started, "if you find any materia, especially the red variety, don't touch it. I've had experience handling them, and where neither of you are inhabitants of Gaia, we don't know how materia will react to each of your powers. Second, there's a good chance that some areas of the planet will have some unstable living conditions after everything that happened five years ago. If someone picks a fight with you, especially someone who has materia, don't be afraid to use full force. Trust me; the fighting skill on this planet is far above the average of either of your own worlds."
"Nasty bunch?" Raven interjected.
"No. Their body chemistry is just different. They're capable of reaching higher limits than on Earth or Hyrule, and with less effort. Many can take quite a beating too, and with materia even an average fighter on Gaia can pose a threat."
"Check, no picking fights," Raven said with strong tones of sarcasm as she rolled her eyes and drank her tea. Zelda glared sideways at her.
"Is there anything else?" the princess asked.
He nodded. "If the two remaining Weapons are still alive, and we should perchance encounter one, run for your life. They'll kill you without a thought."
"Delightful," Raven said snidely with a raised eyebrow. "What's the rest of the good news?"
His voice was quiet. The dark sorceress blushed, and she drank her tea awkwardly after she realized that her sarcasm wasn't welcome. She tried desperately to avoid Zelda's aggravating glare that she knew must have been patronizingly cutting her down.
"We have five days," his jaw tightened. "That's the worst news."
"Why only five?" Zelda asked in place of Raven.
He turned off the monitor unhappily. Staring out the window at the stars streaking by with rainbow tails, more memories were pouring in of his last visit to Gaia, and he knew that Raven could begin to sense them despite her head hiding beneath her hood. The stars helped him relax, but even still, she could feel Raven watching him as he couldn't resist the thought that Raven had tried to pry from him when he was on his own world. The thought that bothered him more much more than the five day constraint was the sight of X's scorched body as materia dropped to the ground like pieces of his body being torn from him as he went speechless with pain. Raven's chakra burned painfully on her forehead as she sensed the memory.
"It will be nightfall when we arrive," X added, "giving us the shroud of darkness to fly in and land the Dreamweaver undetected, and to help make sure no on discovers it during the day, we'll cloak the entire ship. Unfortunately, making something so large invisible to the naked eye drains a lot of power. So in five days…"
Raven lifted her hood. "The Dreamweaver will be as clear as day."
"Exactly," said Mega Man. "And that brings me to our last issue. Even though they have the power of materia and a strong and growing industrial society, we can not share any information about our worlds, the Dreamweaver, or even our powers. The last thing we need to do is disrupt this planet and give them an unfair grasp on their own technological future."
"Knowing such information would tear a culture apart," said Zelda, and X gave a fleeting look of concurrence to the princess.
"Yes it would, so we should try not to stand out too much," he said, and he looked at both of them thoroughly. "There's a diverse culture across the planet, so it shouldn't be too hard. Raven will be fine…"
"And I, Hero?" she looked at him with a soft touch in her crimson eyes that made even his firm resolve turn malleable.
"Well," X stammered, surveying her face carefully, "to be honest Zelda, I'm a little worried between your ears and your, uh…" (He became distracted with them). "…Your eyes. They may make you look unusually… well, exotic."
"Oh, my…" she said, slightly breath taken.
Raven jumped from her seat. "If there's nothing else, then I'm leaving."
X stuttered. "Raven… come on," he managed to spit out uncomfortably with an angry expression, but she left anyway with the cape side of her cloak flailing behind her at her haughty pace. The Lotus was still strapped behind her, staring at them as the sliding doors shut, leaving Zelda and X with the tips of their tongues knotted.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I… didn't mean to cause any trouble."
"It's not your fault," X grumbled, looking out at the stars.
She stood and joined him, watching the suns of worlds unknown speed by to be left in solitude. The lonely planets that flew by… it didn't calm her like it did X, and she could not help but speak the uncomfortable truth within her.
"I know I was imposing and rude when we first met. I assure you that that is not how I truly am, and I understand now that you and Link are different people. As much as it pains me to let him go, I am trying hard to for my sake and for yours and Raven's as well. I know you care for her, and I do not want to come in your way, but…" her voice trailed off as her face closed itself downward.
"Link…" Mega Man whispered. He turned to the princess, feeling more familiarity in her face than ever before. "Am I really so much like him?"
Her eyes clamped shut and melted in the memory. X did remind her of the blonde Hylian male who so heroically protected Hyrule even though he didn't have a machine body with azure blue armor, a starship, or the magical abilities of this new Hero of Time. It was something imprinted much deeper than that which Zelda saw. Somewhere beyond the shallows of Mega Man's bright green eyes lay the same spirit that he knew. And yet, it was memories that kept them apart. X had his, and the old Hero's seemed to have evaporated. Where? She would never know.
"You and he are more alike than you can imagine."
"I would have liked to have met him."
She smiled. "Yes, you would have."
The silence held thereafter lulled thoughts of confusion, and an undeniable attraction that X sought hard to fight. Zelda's battle with it was even worse because of the old piece of life inside that wanted nothing more than to embrace this new Hero of Time as if it was the past one. She hated it, but one curious question aided in her restraint, even though she didn't want to hear the answer.
"X… may I ask you something personal about… Raven?"
A quick nod.
"What is it… that draws you to her? Why is she so special to you?"
His reply was sweet and simple. "She has a kind heart. Her life has been full of more Hell than either of us can begin to grasp, and yet she still holds on. I admire and respect her for strength, courage, and especially her wisdom."
X watched her jaw flinch especially hard with that last word, but as she relaxed with deep breathing, he dismissed the angry gesture.
"It's more than just that," said Zelda. "Even I can appreciate goodness and strong will. But for you, Raven is beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yes," he spoke softly. "I… I can barely resist her eyes. And her hair…" he smiled. "She keeps forgetting to cut it. It's made it all the way down to her collarbone and has a sweet little curve to it now."
Zelda watched his bright green eyes grow so soft and affectionate. A happy expression became laden with gentle tears. "What else?" she forced herself to ask.
"Well… I, uh... guess I've always been attracted to fair skin," he smiled bashfully, and the tearful princess laughed.
"She certainly has that."
"Yeah," he said back.
She rubbed away the salty trails and watched the stars again with him.
"Hero…"
"Yes?" Mega Man acknowledged her.
"Can we be friends?"
He took his thumb and rubbed her watery cheek. "Of course."
X felt an urge from inside her that she quelled. He smiled within at his telepathy that watched her strain not to leap on him with an embrace as she sighed. Instead, Zelda held her hands together in front of her and said quietly, "Thank you."
"Strange how a simple briefing can turn into this," X said. "Will you be ready for tomorrow?"
"To explore a new world?" she asked, more to herself than to Mega Man. "I don't know. Forgive me if I seem distant while we do." She sighed and tried to let her muscles alleviate themselves. "I feel better," she told him, "but I still have a trouble that won't leave my thoughts for a moment."
"Which is?"
She shook her head. "I have no place where I belong, anymore."
"We'll find a place for you."
Zelda smiled, the whites of her eyes penciled red around her equally cherry iris, but thankful nonetheless. "I hope so," she said.
She turned to leave, and X didn't stop her. He was left alone in the briefing room with the faceless stars out the tall arcing windows and three unfilled chairs swiveled out of place amongst others that hadn't moved in years. His only inclination, as he was left with his ever running thoughts, was to take one of those three seats and give it the momentary warmth that it looked for, but a purposeful need grabbed him for something much more crucial.
Rather than be seen through the halls of the Dreamweaver, X performed the routine act of transporting the matter stream of his body to another location; specifically, his memoriam of priceless artifacts. Boosting himself up to the top floor, he stared hard at the case of materia that was revered as his most important belongings. And yet, despite the admiration that he knew they deserved, a hateful scowl of disapproval glared at the small orbs.
Opening the case, Mega Man chose a single piece of materia; the red one.
"Only if I have to," he spoke angrily, as if the materia had tried to kill him, and he slowly pressed the red sphere into his wrist where his X-Buster could form itself. With a tiny jettison of steam and a nearly imperceptible noise, it vanished into his body, looking as if nothing had happened to him in the first place after a few moments of gentle glowing.
He then turned to the wall past the materia, staring at it with a bout of solemn respect that he didn't hold for the magical weapons from Gaia. Even though nothing was there, he stared at it with a gentle expression over his crossed arms. With a swift leap, he dove hands first over the materia case and through the wall itself like jumping through air.
Inside there were no overhead lights, no small running lights along the floors like along the other halls at night, and yet there was most certainly a brilliant vivacity to the room that began to grow stronger with his presence. Six bright beams of different colors (red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple) collided with each other to create a blinding shine that X shielded his face from.
"I know you've got a role to play in all this," he spoke to the lights, treating them like the living, and they responded in kind with a brief intensifying of the glow. "Right now, Terra's our first concern, but I have a feeling we'll be returning to Mobius and especially the Floating Island sometime soon."
He backed away, but thought of one more important thing to say. It was pain that gripped his chest for a moment. It hurt him to think of it and especially of Alia once more; how his sword had penetrated her chest, and how he had become so ruthless afterward. He shook his head and got out the words quickly so he wouldn't have to remember anything else of that horrible morning.
"I… I'm sorry I lost my temper."
The six bright lights let out a more slowly increasing flush of light before dimming. X wasn't sure, but he hoped that he was forgiven. He passed back through the illusion and over the materia case, and his face went blank as if nothing had happened and the wall had never really been there. He purged the vision from the foremost part of his mind and forced it down deep, where hopefully neither Raven nor Zelda would ever be able to find it. As he had said, Terra was now the foremost concern, and his mind went quickly to thoughts of Gaia and the best way about procuring the materia to save her.
