Chapter XX

Wicked Game

"I'm gonna be sick. And I actually like rats." - Elena

Elena growled like a bear waking up from hibernation. "Cait, you moron, that's just that creepy Jenova kid. I'm not going to him for any reason, even to save the Planet. And what's he doing up here, anyway? Trying to melt in the rainwater?"

"John?" Aeris said, stepping closer. "Are you, all right?" The question sounded foolish to her as she stared at the boy sitting with his back against a puzzlewood tree, his white hair plastered to his scalp, his eyes open but unblinking. He stared at a space just above her shoulder.

"Don't coddle him, Aeris. He'll get inside your head. Let him sit here and grow mushrooms if he wants to."

Aeris touched John's face. Warmer than a corpse, thank the Planet. "It wouldn't kill you to be polite to him."

"You knew he was up here all along, didn't you? Was this whole trip a prank?"

"Dissolve," John said, turning his head to them. "To melt you have to heat a solid up to the melting point."

"Oh, I can do that with a Fire materia if you don't take your Jenova poison out of my brain."

John glanced up through his rain plastered hair. "What did I do this time?"

"Stop laughing, Aeris. Like hearing his creepy music in my head isn't enough, I have to dream about that bloody book turning end over end."

"What book?" Aeris said.

"The one he put in my head. It spins end over end spilling blood over everything."

"Goodness! You never told me about that."

"I'm sorry," John said. "That actually was my fault."

"See? He admits it. Now get away from him before he curses all of us."

"I can fix it."

"Unless you think you can - you can fix it?"

John nodded.

"Why should I trust you?"

"I have no reason to lie to you. You have an echo. Like shell shock. But this time the shell was me."

"Oh, dispense with your riddles. Can you fix me or not?"

"Yes." John held out his arms but didn't bother to stand. "Come."

"Kneel before you. In the mud."

"If you wish. I must warn you. While I can cure your PTSD, I might inflict you with my schizoaffective disorder."

"Boiling Rufus on a chocobo corpse!" Elena's stomp splashed a spray of scented mud.

"Just kidding. Jenova humor. Unless you are Jenova, I can't - "

"Hell no I'm not Jenova."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." He waved her forward. "It's not as if I can raise the dead or anything."

Elena glanced at Aeris. "Actually, you kind of can do that."

"I don't, really. I alter reality so that death doesn't happen. But it tangles other reality with it until it, breaks everything." John pulled out a pair of materia orbs: one yellow and one green. "I like this one." He powered the green orb, surrounding them in a wet fog. "Mist. Moistens the skin, blunts the burn from the sun, relaxes the mind. I have never had a harmful cast with this one."

"We were plenty moist already, in case you didn't notice."

"This one I won't cast. It won't work anyway, unless you have a dead body copy of yourself nearby."

"And what, pray tell, is that one?"

"Meld. When absence makes your soul go yonder. I could cast it, I suppose, as a temporary party trick. When your two friends can't stop arguing, they make a cute couple with three arms and two heads."

"Oh for the love of - "

"Elena," Aeris said. "I know he won't hurt you. Here. I will kneel with you." She raised her checkerboard skirt above her knees.

"Ah need to see this," Cait said. "I tairn me bonny lassies."

"You have more than a few loose screws yourself, marshmallow cat. And I should know," said John.

"Don't do that, kid," Elena snapped. "Don't say something that will make me like you."

"I have a materia for Tifa here somewhere. Ask her to drop by." He put his materia away and reached out with both hands, wiggling his fingers in front of both of their faces, until he enveloped himself in an inverted cone of fire and released tendrils of white energy that spiraled around them.

Aeris jerked and uttered a loud "Ha!" before looking at Elena, who knelt with her jaw dropped open.

"Did you, just, cast Aeris' Breath of the Earth spell?"

"Yea. I had one stored up."

"You jerk. Aeris has been casting that all week. Why hasn't that cured me?"

"Probably where I got it then. Who says it hasn't cured you?"

"I would know. Wouldn't you think?"

"Did you have nightmares last night?"

Elena gave Aeris a side-eye look. "Not while sleeping."

"Well then. Go forth and fear no more." John leaned his head back against the trunk.

"So that's it?" Elena rose to glare down at him. "You claim everything's your fault, do some mumbo jumbo with your fingers and now it's all okay?"

"I can't fix everything. When I try, I just break something else."

"Oh boo-hoo. How is hiding up here in the rain going to help? What kind of a Great Shanandra are you?"

"Great Shanandra?" John laughed in that way Aeris found endearing. "Who told you that? Puff the Mighty Marshmallow?"

"Well, who is it then? That old witch? I knew it was her."

"Why would you call her an old witch? I mean, technically she's a witch but she's not that old."

"She's older than the hills and has an inordinate fascination with dead goats."

"What do dead goats have to do with The Great Shanandra? The wielder of the Princess Guard. That's the Great Shanandra. I've never seen Aeris murder a goat. Have you?"

Aeris stared down at the staff in her hands. "You mean, me? All this time?"

"I was, supposed to talk to you?" Elena threw up her arms. "We could have done that in Cosmo Canyon!"

"You still can. You know where Cosmo Canyon is." John leaned his head back against the tree.

"No." Elena balled both hands into fists. "You don't get to do that. Not with worm monsters popping out all over. Did you cause all those rips in time and space?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"What kind of lame answer is that?

"Like I say. I tried to help. But somebody else uncorked the Klein bottle."

"Right. Can you tell us where to find Whippy Ambrose?"

Pause. "In the swimming pool? At his mom's house? Don't trust him."

"Duh. Where's his mom's house?"

Pause. "Behind the flowering begonias and bluebell trellis, beneath the weeping snap-maple that hides the marble railings."

"Can you believe this guy, Aeris?"

"He can't control his visions. Maybe if you gave him something of Whippy's to touch."

"We don't have anything of his.

"Or something he touched," John said.

"What, like my throat?"

John reached out.

"Don't you dare!"

"He can't help you unless you let him." Aeris lay a hand on Elena's shoulder. "He did fix your nightmares, remember."

"I have no proof of that."

"Ask the fairy cat," John said.

"You mean Cait - sorry, Ket Shee?"

"I do not believe the boy will harm you deliberately," said the cat in the hat with suave accent. "Though if you fear misfortune might befall you, I am famous for my fortunes. Would you like me to read your fortune?"

Elena blinked as if clearing syrup from her eyes. "Wait. Your stupid and irritating accent. What happened to it? Did the Jenova cure you of it? For real?"

"Aye, my good lady. I find myself unable to speak in the hybrid vernacular, despite my earnest efforts. Would you like a fortune?"

"No." Then to John. "You did that? You?"

John shrugged, cracking a half grin. "His 'hybrid vernacular' made my teeth hurt. Not to mention that smell of pumpkin vodka."

Aeris sniffed the air. "You did get rid of that. Elena owes you a hug."

"Don't bet on it. But you think you can get a reading? Off my throat? Without groking me?"

"I don't even know how to grok."

"Never mind. Aeris? If he does start to grok me, beat him senseless with your stick. Deal?"

"If I may interject something?" Cait's cat bowed, twirling his top hat on his cane.

"What."

"To grok means to establish rapport with. You actually prefer to have him grok you."

"Muzzle it." She knelt, again, facing the Jenova child. Aeris laid a reassuring hand on her left shoulder. "Keep that staff handy, Aeris."

Aeris shook her head but said nothing. Cait bobbled somewhere behind her.

John reached out and placed his hands at Elena's throat. The woman cringed but held still. John glanced at Aeris, eyebrow raced and mouth curling into a smile before his head began to sag forward. Aeris' breath caught when he spasmed, his hands clenching, eliciting a choking gag from Elena, but Aeris rubbed her hand on her shoulder, calming them both with her words.

"You just can't resist a prank, can you?" But soon Elena's eyes drifted out of focus. Aeris felt the air grow tense, the sound of rain retreating. Except for occasional splashes off Cait's silly hat.

"Whass happening . . . " Elena said. "Where . . ."

The forest floor turned to hardwood. The trees became furniture and the rain retreated behind leaded glass windows. Elena rose, dragging John up with her, and as one they turned to admire the parlor filled with overpriced antiques: stained glass lamps, museum quality coffee tables, silk upholstered fainting couches.

Elena stepped forward but Aeris held her back with her forearm. "Wait for it," she whispered.

"Mother," said the whiny voice Aeris recognized. "I don't see what the big deal is. No one will miss a dirty slum girl." Whippy marched in from a side hall and stood, hands on hips, facing away from them as a pale, blonde woman wearing an evening gown the color of pistachio pudding along enough jewelry to host her own renaissance faire glided in from the far doorway.

"My dear boy." She swayed as she talked. "What mess have you gotten yourself mixed up in today?"

"It's not my fault. She kept teasing me. Why would she run away if she didn't want me to chase her?"

Aeris lifted her staff but paused when she saw Elena standing in the middle of a fainting couch. Elena glanced down as if wondering why her legs ended just below the knee.

"They can't hear you," John said. "Usually."

"You're such a great kid," the woman said. "You shouldn't hang out with cheap trash. It's unbecoming."

"Yes mother. I promise I will never see her again."

Aeris could sense the smirk even from behind his back.

"Spencer thinks the world of you. Always talking up your swimming prowess. You don't want to do anything that will hurt his reputation, do you?"

"Why, no, mother." This time Whippy turned his smirk toward Aeris. "I would never want to embarrass him."

Great. Entitlement and father issues. "Elena, who - " But the scene changed. They found themselves walking down a cement corridor, underground like a storm sewer. Dry now, except for a thin rivulet that ran down a center channel. Their footsteps echoed.

"Krymzin Ambrose. Wife of Spencer Ambrose, head of Shinra Space - "

"Ohhh!" A cry of distress echoed down the corridor. The two of them took off, pausing at a side passage until another cry beckoned them onward. Two more turns brought them to a square room with no light, and when Aeris powered up the Lightning materia on her staff, a shapeless lump in the corner under a burlap blanket, swarming with squeaking rats.

"Ulch." Aeris covered her mouth when the sweet scent of decay hit her nostrils.

"I'm gonna be sick," Elena said. "And I actually like rats."

"I think, wrong room." Aeris backed out into the hall.

"You think? Dear God." Elena backed into Aeris. "Sorry. Hey, Jenova kid? I've seen enough. Get us out of here."

Aeris looked around. "John?"

Just the two of them. In the dark, cement hallway. The awful smell had abated, but the keening cry had resumed. Though thankfully not from the rat chewing room.

"That little weasel," Elena said. "How did he ditch us in his vision?"

"Relax. We aren't really here." Whiff of rotting flesh to the contrary. "Perhaps, we are meant to follow the cry?"

"Can't wait to see what he has for us now. I can't fathom what you see in him. Except, you know, the whole back from the dead thing."

They hurried along, the cries growing and fading like an audio will-o-wisp. They paused in a three-way intersection, the cries coming from two directions at once.

"Now what, Cetra genius?"

"Remember, we are still in the Ancient Forest. As long as Cait keeps us from sleepwalking off the cliff."

"That settles my nerves. Pick a direction."

"Oh no," came the cry from the left corridor. "Please. No!"

"Good a choice as any," Elena said, pulling Aeris after her. Aeris held up her staff for light.

The cries reached a crescendo, a shriek loud enough to crack the cement walls. Aeris almost let out her own scream to drown out the din.

Elena didn't hold back. "My God, make it stop!"

As if by a dial, the volume cut to moans, though still cutting enough to make Aeris' teeth hurt. Elena stopped to catch her breath. They stood at yet another crossroads, but the tunnels had changed from cement to hewn cobblestones, even the floor.

"I get the feeling we aren't in Midgar anymore." Aeris kicked a loose stone.

"Lower Junon. They don't use these sewers much now, given how Upper Junon just empties everything into the ocean." Another cry.

"More rats?"

"I don't think so. This looks like where they found - "

The room appeared before them, a girl of fourteen or so tied to the table, though with the help of some rats, she had partly burst free of her bonds. A coppery smell suffused the room; when Aeris approached the table she jerked to a halt when the girl lifted her head and Aeris spotted the red-black holes instead of eyes.

"Priscilla?" Aeris gulped down a breath. "Who did, that, to you?"

"He did this to her." Elena clenched and unclenched her fists. "Except, this must be before he came back and finished the job."

"Noooo!" Priscilla strained at her last bond but it cut into her thigh. A rat squeaked when she rolled onto its tail. Instead of tears, rivulets of blood ran down her face.

"Hold still." Elena pulled out a knife and attempted to cut the last bond but her blade passed through everything, table and all. She grabbed for a non-bloody utensil off the utility cart but her hand passed through it like a ghost. "What? But she can hear us, can't she?"

"Priscilla," Aeris said, forcing herself not to look away from her face. "If you can hear me, lie back."

The girl settled onto her back.

"I am going to try to take away the pain." Aeris bowed her head and released her Healing Wind. Priscilla spasmed once, but Aeris couldn't tell if her Cetra spell had any effect. "Hold on. I'll try something bigger - "

"How's my birthday girl?" Whippy appeared in the doorway, one hand wiping the other with a bloody rag. Priscilla began to moan again. Aeris powered up a Kjata Summon materia but before she could fire it, she and Elena found themselves standing in a courtroom, in the open space between the judge and counsel tables. Aeris hurriedly suppressed her spell.

Gasps erupted when half a dozen rats scurried from under their feet and dashed for the jury box.

"Order, order. Bailiff? How did those rats get in here?"

Law school? Aeris whispered to Elena, "They can't see us, right?"

"I don't think so. Hey, check out the woman in the back row of the gallery. I don't remember seeing any rats that time."

Indeed, an Elena in her uniform stood up from her back-row seat, peering over heads to get a glimpse of the commotion. The rats had scampered off the floor by then, though judging from sounds in the jury box, at least one remained.

"Order in the court! Bailiff? Can you get the rat situation under control?"

"I don't know where they went, your honor. It's like they disappeared. I think someone summoned them."

"Did someone cast materia magic? I'll have you all know I do not tolerate such antics in my courtroom."

"Yes, your honor," the attorneys said, cutting off the inevitable "I didn't do it; he did it," from both sides. The peace held for several seconds. Aeris tugged on Elena's sleeve, moving the two of them over to the witness box. Judging from the room's lack of reaction, no one could see them.

"Your honor." The attorney next to Whippy rose and stepped forward. "This stunt was clearly an attempt to bias the jury against my client." He circled the desk, facing the jury. "I will not have my client's reputation besmirched by - "

"Counselor!" Gavel rap.

"Yes, your honor?"

"If you step into the well again, I will have the bailiff secure you to your chair with shackles. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, yes honor."

"Might I remind you that you rested your case five hours ago?"

"But your honor. My client's valuable reputation has been sullied by - "

"Counselor?"

"Yes? Your honor?"

"That's all I wish to hear from you. I see why you were fired from Jones, Jones, Jones, Jones, Jarbowski, and Jones."

"I was not fired, your honor. I trans - yes your honor."

"Jury? Have you reached a verdict?"

"We have, your honor."

Whippy grinned like a weasel that had slipped into a hamster cage. Aeris considered a Bolt strike, but didn't want to harm anyone else. Except maybe his lawyer. But the scene faded anyway.

"And that," said John, standing in a circle of rain, "was how 'Too Big to Fail' walked free."

"Just like that?" Aeris gaped at the surrounding trees. Had the vision ended? No, because they stood in shadow beyond a street lamp watching a candle vigil pass down a path-or as near to candles as they could manage in the pouring rain. Glow sticks perhaps.

"Just outside of Junon," Elena said with a shiver. "I was here, too. In fact, there I am in my blue raincoat. I guess he still went free, even after the judge slapped his lawyer down. Doesn't surprise me. Smarmy Smith worked hard to pack that jury."

"So, he did that, horrible thing, to poor Priscilla's eyes, and still? They let him go?"

"They found him guilty of lesser charges, harassment or menacing or something. The judge gave him a suspended sentence because he didn't want prison to hurt his promising swimming career. He actually said that. After all, as his parents will tell you. Whippy is a basically good kid. So, Jenova, before you ditch us again, I'm ready to go back to life. What do you say?"

"You still plan to kill him?" John asked.

"No. I plan to remove a number of body parts but allow him to live. Though this time it will impact his swimming career."

"Elena. That's not like you." Not that I know, Aeris thought.

"I don't think this Jenova vision convinced me of anything. Can we go back?"

With a jerk, they found themselves back in the Ancient Forest, though spattered with mud, scratched from vines and, in Aeris' case, her right arm festooned with loops of sucker marks.

"Ach! I had to fight off the tree-slug beastie, so I did!" Cait Sith bobbled in place.

"Eew." Aeris wiped her arm with her free hand and the marks disappeared. Slug slime, not bruises. She shuddered, then noticed John, who leaned back against the tree with a double nosebleed and splotches of red across his shirt. "Oh no. I forgot how much doing those visions hurts you."

"I'm okay," he croaked. "You already did a Healing Wind."

"In the vision, remember?" Elena peered closer at him. "When you tried to heal the girl?"

"She takes after me," he said. "Trying to change the past in a vision. Never quite works."

"Right. Do you know where this Whippy is hiding out?"

"Yes."

"Can you take us there?"

"No."

Pause.

"What?"

"Whatever I do, turns to dust in the end. As when Hazazoth consumed N'gar."

"That makes no sense, Jenova. We all turn to dust. Haven't you been to a funeral?"

"Let me tell you a story."

"Meow?" Fluffy scrubbed against Aeris' leg before seating herself at John's feet.

"Wouldn't we be more comfortable out of the rain?" Elena crossed her arms.

"No. There once was a little girl, who loved her puppy."

At his pause, Elena sighed and tapped her foot.

"She lived with her loving family, in a loving village, where everyone knew each other."

"And?"

"One evening, she was out gathering wood when bandits kidnapped her. Her puppy followed them, because it loved her so much. They stashed her in their cabin, where the leader tied her up and told her he would do terrible things to her. But her puppy showed up to keep her company."

"Let me guess. The puppy led her parents to her and they rescued her?"

"The little girl also had her faith. She knew her loving god watched over her and would save her, so she closed her eyes and prayed and prayed and prayed - "

"And her god sent the puppy for help?"

"When the bandit leader went outside to relieve himself, a bolt of lightning struck a tree that fell and crushed him."

"Just as good."

"The next lightning strike set the cabin on fire. The fire killed the other bandits, but also killed the little girl and even killed the puppy. The end."

"What? What kind of a stupid, messed up story is that!"

"Moral: nobody cares. Not your deity, not the Planet, not even your village."

"But you said everyone knew each other."

"I didn't say they were intelligent."

"Stop. Where is Whippy and how do I get to him?"

"Take the portal Ket Shee used to get here."

Elena sighed again. "So, Cait, do you know the route to get to him?"

"I know only the portal to the four doors, one of which will lead you to the Isle of Pye."

"And the other three doors?"

"As long as they don't lead to a pool of boiling lava, you should be fine," John said.

Aeris walked over to John and nudged up his chin. "I would like you to help us. Even if you don't come along. We need your help."

"We don't have time for this." Elena marched up, hefted the boy over her shoulder, and marched back to Cait Sith. "Show me the portal. Now."

Fluffy meowed and scrubbed Aeris' leg. "Come on up then." The cat leapt into her arms and began to purr. "No claws though. I'm not John."

"We be marchin' then," Cait said and waddled away. The two women followed with their loads, Elena's a little wigglier. Aeris walked on Cait's other side, given Fluffy's aversion to pumpkin vodka.

"Let me down," John said, his arms trailing toward the ground behind Elena. "You're giving me the Heimlich with every step."

"Toughen up, Jenova."

In front of Cait Sith, the blue oval burst into existence. White sparkles spilled out from its swirling center.

"Don't we need, blood of the goddess or something?" Aeris said.

"I use my Alexander summon, lassie."

Aeris heard John snort. "Red materia?" he said. "The Planet is the goddess. Figures."

"That's it?" Aeris said. "Any summon materia works?"

"Aye. We can experiment if ye want. I'll have ye open the next one."

"We have to find it first." Steeling her nerves, she stepped through the portal. The others soon followed. Two steps down the stone corridor, she fired off light from her Lightning materia. Four doors led off from the hall, two on either side. The hall ended with an archway at the far end. Darkness without detail loomed beyond that.

"I came from the bookstore this way." Cait ambled to the first door on the right, from which a blue portal blossomed.

"To think," Elena said. "That witch probably uses it to get to her cabin. I bet she never rides that infernal chocobo."

"I don't know about yonder portal." Cait wobbled across the hall; his first portal collapsed and a new one bloomed across from it.

Aeris walked the length of the hall, noting the portals that opened in the four doors. She felt no need to look through that far archway; her light did no more to pierce that darkness as she drew close. She couldn't even see a floor. She shuddered.

Walking back, she tapped dangling John on the shoulder and said, "Which one?"

She waited while he blew a slow saliva bubble. When it popped, he said, "Down to the right." He went limp again.

Aeris frowned. "The right? Isn't that the one to the bookstore? No. You are facing like this." She turned around, bent at the waist and peered between her legs, grasping the backs of her knees for support.

"What are you doing, flower girl?" Elena said.

"Keep him steady." She sidled to the side, "Yeah. That one."

"Aeris, I swear."

"Lighten up Elena." She stood, marched to the end of the hall and opened the portal on the left. "This one, John?"

No answer.

"Well, let's just hope it's not the Gates of Hades." She glanced again at the archway to her right. No details, but a seeping coldness attempted to stiffen her bones. Above the archway it read, "The Royal Palace of N'gar."

"Come on, folks. I really don't like this place."

As Elena and Cait Sith marched toward her, Aeris stepped through her portal.