After what seemed an eternity, Hunci saw some light far ahead and crept closer. It was a tiny hole at the end of the burrow, hardly enough for the wolverine to crawl through but since she had no other place to go, Hunci followed her friend to the other side. She struggled to get her shoulders and hips through the opening, but finally she managed to push her way into a warm strange room of old bricks, which was lit by an open fireplace in front of which an odd creature was sleeping. The room was dark apart from that orange flickering glow from the fireplace and the five doors of brass in each corner. Indeed, the room was not square but had an odd shape of many walls and all angles were distorted.
She was afraid, but Hunci knew she had been here before and that something bad always happened but she couldn't quite tell what it was. Her heart hammered wildly and the mind was fighting to remember the dangers associated with this room. But the large pearls of tears didn't come this time. Instead Hunci smiled and squatted down to the creature and stroked its back whilst looking around in the room.
She didn't have to ask how they would get out of there, for she knew that one of the doors held the answer to that question. The wolverine scurried up to the pile of white, pulsating flesh in front of the fireplace and circled it a few times. Hunci was at first hesitant to follow; it gave her shivers down her spine just to look at the heap of wet disgusting flesh emitting a hiss with each breath it took. She had seen it before; that underdeveloped human enveloped in pale marbled skin with black veins shining through; a fetus aborted in an early stage lacking eyes and proper limbs. Its mouth was open and lined with razor-sharp teeth protruding through the gums like daggers and inside the mouth was the key.
Hunci knew that the longer she hesitated the less time she had to escape. Her quivering stomach was beginning to stir with a storm of something that was trying to reach the light from the depth of her belly. It was her fear; it was trying to get free. Hunci took a step closer to the creature, complexion stale and focused, and just as her trembling little hands reached above the monster's open mouth, a slight cough brought about a strange sensation in her mouth that make her back away. Her tongue moved about in her mouth, trying to identify the foreign object. She spat it out into her hands. A dying fly crawled about in her sweaty palms. Just as she was about to wipe it off, she remembered Zane. His presence shot through to her dormant mind like an arrow of comfort and brought light into her frozen soul.
"Most of us are scared, but the difference between a coward and a hero is that the hero dares to face his fears… I'm tired of being scared," Zane had said and so Hunci repeated the words 'Swallow your fear' whilst trying to quench the disgust as she took the wet fly into her mouth and swallowed it. It was sickening and the taste was everything from bitter to sour, and although each cough brought about a new mouthful of buzzing flies, her stubbornness forced them into the depth of her belly again.
Hunci reached out and with a delicate, subtle yet skillful swipe with her tiny fingers, she took the key from the mouth of the dwelling fiend. With her gaze still anchored to the pale quasi-sapien she backed away towards a door. The wolverine followed her closely, circling around her legs and anxiously waiting for the doors to open before the monster was fully awake. It was already beginning to breathe shallowly and at a higher pace.
"Keep an eye on that thing," Hunci commanded the wolverine like a little soldier and turned towards the first door.
The key didn't fit and so she moved to the next door. She put the key in and turned, but the lock would not click and the door remained closed. She tried yet another door and failed again and a tiny fly crawled out of her nose. In an attempt to dampen her fear, she looked at the fly landing on the wall next to her and muttered nervously.
"I am NOT eating you up buddy."
She turned away from the fly and noticed that the monster was almost fully awake. It had been provoked by the rattling of the keys. Its jaws were scissoring and the tentacles were moving across the floor. She had to find the right door very soon. The little furry creature was beginning to whimper impatiently, but Hunci knew she had to take things in a careful manner and try each door. When the key slipped into the lock of the fifth and final door, a shriek escaped the monster. It was already taking pursuit and time was running short. Hunci turned the key once, twice, three times and then again, but the door remained locked. She yanked the handle and jerked the door, but it was still closed. The flies started pouring out of her ears and the little girl began screaming with despair.
"Why isn't it opening? I tried all the doors."
A tentacle shot out from the monster and was thrown against her feet. Hunci jolted and barely escaped the coiling grip as it reached anew towards her body. She ran to the opposite side of the room and once again tried to open the closest door at random. Had she missed something? She had tried all of them, no? The monster turned around and with great effort, yet with fearsome determination crawled towards Hunci… it was when she noticed. There was another door, in the middle of the room, and within reach for the monster from all angles.
She coughed and another fly was set free. This one she caught in mid-flight and crushed in her palms. The wolverine began growling and circling around her legs with angst, but the little girl whispered comfortingly.
"Don't worry little Loz, I will get you out of here."
She squatted down next to the silver creature and said with a slightly trembling voice;
"When it gets here, you trick him to stay here and I'll try to open the door. Then you make a run for it. But be careful…"
Yes, it would have to be teamwork.
The fiend turned and with its fleshy tongue oscillating in and out of its mouth, the monster sniffed the air to catch the scent of fear from the little girl; those tell-tale flies buzzing out of her body. Hunci remained, however, standing against the wall absolutely still. The tentacles slid over the floor, searching, fumbling and attempting to grip whatever obstacle or little dent they came across, but the little girl remained pressed against the wall on the opposite side. The flies slowly crawled out of her nose and ears, but she kept on fighting against the fear taking over and the wolverine standing firmly at her side induced a sense of courage she knew she had to hold on to. However, as one of the tentacles brushed against her ankle and swiftly coiled around it, Hunci let out a sudden shriek and ran to the opposite side of the room; the blood coursing loudly in her ears like violent rivers. She could hardly hear the vicious growl of the wolverine as it bravely fought against the monster; hissing warningly and threatening with is sharp claws. It had stayed behind to distract the beast in order to give Hunci enough time to open the door, which was swiftly left unguarded in the middle of the room.
Hunci sucked in a breath of bravery and rushed to the latch on the floor, but as she stuck the key inside the keyhole a powerful, fleshy limb coiled around her neck and pulled her away. The little girl tried to scream but her voice was a hoarse whisper as life was slowly choked out of her. Her eyes watered and her tongue hardly fit in the cavity of her mouth, swelling between her teeth. Close to losing consciousness, Hunci knew whom to cry for; the only person who could take her away from this world. All she had to do was to focus really hard and scream and he would come to her rescue; and thus, Hunci released an echoing, desperate scream calling for her only rescuer.
"Loz!"
Without a second of delay the limb eased around her neck and lay twitching on the ground as the wolverine snapped it in half. The fiend shrieked with its inhuman piercing voice, saliva dripping from its fangs and probing tongue swiping angrily around the face, in search of something to drag into that black dagger-lined cave. As it quickly let go of Hunci, she wrapped her little hands possessively around the key and the lock clicked.
"It's open!" Hunci yelled with an insecure smile and urged the battling wolverine to follow, but he was tangled inside the snake-like coiling limbs like a fly trapped in a spider's web.
And the more he fought the more it restrained and immobilized the tiny body. Hunci watched with sadness but something inside would not give in for the despondency attempting to break her; she had to do something. Never before had Hunci made it this far. She spotted the stick she had brought with her when crawling through the burrow and grabbed it firmly. She took the beast into focus and allowed her memories to bring about a powerful will that would manifest itself in the most destructive weapon she had heard of.
Past aggressive growls and hideous hissings, a sturdy childish voice announced a fearless presence. The fiend turned to face the little girl who was holding her hands high above her head; his tongue was moving towards her aura and in a flash a tentacle had coiled around her waist.
"This is MY dream, you bastard!" Hunci shouted and stood her ground bravely, "And this is not just any stick. This is Masamune!"
The strike had been clean and clear. The coiling limbs were trembling, and still wrapped around the two friends fighting for survival, but the grip was growing increasingly weak. As the pale, severed head rolled off the convulsing body, not yet realizing it was dead, the tentacles fell to the floor and Hunci picked up the wounded wolverine not even dignifying the beast with a glance when she trampled on the lifeless limbs. She was finally heading home. She stared into the black water beneath the floor, holding the soft wolverine tightly clutched to her chest, and after a few seconds of hesitation she closed her eyes and leaped forward.
She couldn't swim; Barrett knew that and so he repeatedly dove into the icy water to find her, but the efforts were futile. His hands couldn't find anything to hold on to and his eyes saw nothing but blackness. Hunci had been under for a long time and considering the depth and temperature of the water, she had by now surrendered to the lake. His desperate cries echoed between the trees and Yuffie was trying to raise his spirit by hoping her guardian, who had recently dived in, would find the little girl. Hope was not yet gone, but as Kazuhito returned empty-handed there was nothing more to say. Barrett was now a broken man and no words of comfort were enough to kill the pain possessing him.
Suddenly, something broke the surface of the black water far out in the middle of the lake and it advanced towards the shores. Numb disbelief was not enough to describe the surprise they all felt as Loz swam to the white shore, holding a shaken and cold, but healthy little girl in his embrace. With an overwhelming "Dad!" Hunci ran up to Barrett and plunged into his arms, dropping her wooden stick as she opened up her hands to receive him. They were all speechless witnessing the astonishing resurrection of a spawn brought into existence by an innocent little girl, and at once they knew that life would be ever so uncertain.
Wordlessly, they all left the woodlands behind, not even noticing that the frozen branches of the silver forest began thawing and nourishing drops of water were pelting against the hard ground. Aeris stepped out of the water although she seemed to be merging with it as if she was a part of it, not breaking the surface like a mortal. She picked up the shoot from the ground and with the sleeves of her dress Aeris enclosed the stick to wipe off the water and sand. As she pulled it through the fabric, the light of the day flashed off the blade of Masamune, cutting through the air like lightning. Aeris cast a smile after the company of worried adults carrying a brave little girl home. Indeed, Hunci had succeeded with her gruelling task, but the Cetra knew beforehand that she had been the perfect one to complete it.
"Shall I take the sword to its rightful owner?" Angeal extended his bright white wing to disperse the water and looked at Aeris who had guided him through the nightmares to this world.
"No," she smiled at him, wiping the fatigue of the obscure world from his eyes. "You need to go with Nanaki and stay with your brothers in arms. Masamune needs to stay with me. There is someone close to my heart, who has kept you close to his and bringing you back is my gift to him. There, in his heart, you'll need to learn to live again."
"Why?" the angel asked humbly and bowed before the creature of light. "Why am I to return from the pain to this agony?"
"Agony?" Aeris asked with surprise. "You merged with monsters to suffer Death by the hands of your most trusted friend."
Angeal lowered his head in shame and thought of Zack as Aeris went on; "You forced someone who cared more for you than his own life, to kill you. You placed a burden on his shoulders that no man should bear. You marked Zack and he never forgot it. You have to return and reconcile."
"With Zack?" Angeal asked and looked past the forest, his spirit already being carried across the lands.
Aeris shook her head, pointing at a direction with Masamune. "Reconcile with yourself. Now go."
Aeris backed into the water once again and brought Masamune to the depth of her home. It was not time for it to emerge as yet.