Decidedly Planetary
With Lazard's help, avoiding Hojo was a great deal easier, and their Director was more than happy to 'interfere' with the scientist's plans. As Genesis had said, though, it also meant they had time to visit 'the Flower Girl', though none of the men besides him and Kunzel had any idea why. On the way there, though—once they were in the Slums in no man's land to actually do the clearing tasks they'd taken—he told them bluntly, "You aren't allowed to share this with anyone without her permission—not her abilities, not her name, not her location."
"Why is that?" Angeal asked in mild surprise.
"Because not even Tseng, who was sent to retrieve her for the Science Department, could justify turning her over to them until the shit hit the fan and she was—around twenty-two years old. Right now, she's twelve or thirteen (1)," Genesis replied, meeting Sephiroth's gaze over his shoulder.
"I would not willingly hand a civilian to Hojo," Sephiroth replied pointedly to the look.
"She's not one. Well, to be fair, she wasn't born in the lab, she was born at Icicle Inn," the red haired SOLDIER told them. "But if my data's right, she was in the labs at twenty days old, and stayed there until she was about seven years old, when her mother forcibly broke them out of there, and died in the process. The girl was adopted by a woman in the Slums who has been raising her as her own since then, and who has been hiding her the whole time, knowing where she came from. And she needs to stay free. That's why you don't go talking about her with anyone who doesn't already know about her, and not in public places—and definitely not to the Science Department."
"Which means all those with the Blessing are ones you can talk about her with, but not many outside them and us," Kunzel threw in.
"How do you know they all know about her?" Sephiroth blinked in surprise.
"Because Tseng definitely knows about her, and currently knows her location—apparently, they're like siblings—and both Cloud and Vincent traveled with her. Weiss and I knew 'about' her more than we 'knew her'—on that note, Weiss was my first mentee in that future, and I had to try to fix his head after Hojo fucked with it badly—but what we know means we'll bend over backwards to keep her safe. That's not changing anytime soon," Genesis told them.
"You seem certain she is important, more than the Science Department realizes," Sephiroth commented quietly to Genesis.
"She absolutely is," the red haired man agreed flatly. "Because while there are a lot of Cetra warriors—Mages—there is only one Cetra healer—her. And the Cetra healers are the only ones who can fix the damage we've done to the Planet." Angeal and Sephiroth traded looks over his head, and he gave them both an annoyed look and said, "There might be others in the population who 'could be' healers of the Cetra variety, but their skills are so distinctive that, if any others with those active skills had been found, chances are Hojo would know it and would already have retrieved them for study. There are no other healers of her people besides her right now."
"There are a lot of healers in the world, though," Angeal pointed out. "They're just Mages whose affinity is to healing magic."
"No," Genesis replied with a glare. "Cetra healers grow plants in places they shouldn't grow. They're stewards of the world in a way we couldn't grasp if we wanted to, can directly manipulate the Lifestream, and even hear the voice of the Planet. At their strongest, if they've trained their skills, they can safeguard people against death in situations where it shouldn't be possible and heal incurable diseases. The girl we're meeting had that strength at twenty-two, but she doesn't have it yet, and I really don't want to force it on her right now if I don't have to, but there are still things she can do now because all Cetra healers do them by default."
"That kind of sounds fantastical, you realize, right Gen?" Angeal asked, and held his hands up in a surrender position as Genesis turned to glare at him with literal sparks flying off his body. "I'm not saying you're lying. I'm just not sure I could believe even the simpler things you claimed she could do without actually seeing them at work, is all. Hearing something and seeing it are two different things. If she really has those abilities, surely she can show them to us?"
"I would agree with that," Sephiroth put in, and their red haired friend calmed down enough to stop sparking.
"Well, you'll see soon—we're almost at the place where we know we can meet her," Genesis answered, facing forward as the Church came into view.
Zack grinned at the dilapidated building, eager to explore, but both Angeal and Sephiroth raised incredulous brows as the red haired man led the way to the doors, a smiling Kunzel with him and Zack right behind his friend. The two Firsts followed Genesis and the two Thirds into the Church, then paused to blink and stare as a brown haired girl around twelve or thirteen cleaned a wound on Reno's head before applying healing energy to it so it closed up and the swelling went down. Beside her sat two halves of a broken battle staff, a basic one a person could buy in any weapons store in the Slums.
"Thanks, Aer," the Turk sighed in relief as he rubbed his head where the wound had been.
"What happened, Reno?" Kunzel asked apprehensively as they approached.
"Oh, you came back again!" Aeris grinned as she looked up at them. "But why with others of the Calamity's sons?"
"So hopefully things will go differently this time," Genesis answered her. "I think them having a firm grasp of the situation in the world and why you need to be protected will help with that. They're already in a better place now than they were in the past."
"Oooooh," the girl blinked. "Reno got jumped by a couple robbers. At least, I think this one was random. He took care of them, but one got a lucky shot before I knocked him out, so I was just healing it."
"...Okay," Kunzel agreed, sighing faintly. "Thank you for looking out for him, Aeris."
Zack just laughed in amusement as he plopped down beside Reno and commented, "Yeah, Reno gets into a lot of trouble," which produced an annoyed pout from the red haired Turk. Then, Zack pointed at the flowers and added, "I thought plants didn't grow anywhere in Midgar?"
"This place is special," Aeris answered with a shrug. "I mean, the soil is actually sort of decent, even though we're right under the Sector Five Reactor here, but no sun comes in here, and unless I bring water with me, there's none here."
"Then what are they living on?" Zack asked in amazement. "Oh, I'm Zack, by the way! Nice to meet you—Aeris, right?"
"Yes," the girl smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you, too, Zack. And General Sephiroth and Commander Angeal Hewley, too. The plants live mostly on my energy—it's what they use to grow, which is why I come here so much. I don't want them to die, after all." If anyone was surprised she knew their names, no one said anything—after all, they were very well-known.
"But if they're shade plants intended for arid climates, they could be growing without your help," Angeal commented.
"Very true," Sephiroth agreed in a dry tone.
"They could, but these aren't those kinds of plants," Aeris answered, gaze amused. "See, the kinds of plants you're talking about are palms and woody plants which can withstand harsh environments, or thick, razor-leafed plants like aloe and agave or they're cacti, which all store liquids in them. These are just normal temperate flowers. And even shade-loving temperate flowers need water and proper nutrients. This may be 'better' soil here than other places in the city, but it's still not 'good' soil to grow plants in."
"I've seen plants live in some pretty interesting places," the black haired SOLDIER First commented. "These are obviously hardy plants to start with if they grew here at all, and probably never needed your help." He then looked at Genesis and asked, "Is that all?"
"What do you mean, 'is that all'?" Genesis asked in annoyance. He then looked at the puzzled girl and asked, "Can you do it on demand?"
"Do on—do you mean grow them?" she blinked.
"Yes, that," he agreed.
"Do you mean from seed or a sprout?" she asked, head tipped to the side.
"Either or, depending on how long it'll take you," the red haired man said, gaze thoughtful. "I don't know your timing, so if it was going to take hours, a sprout would cut down on the time. Unless it needs to be a sprout for you to grow it at all or something?"
"Unless she cannot do such a thing on demand," Sephiroth cut in, actually looking at Genesis like he had offended him. "She never specified if she even could do so, and you are pressing for something she may not be able to do."
"Oh, no, I can. If I've spent a couple days without giving my energy to these plants, any seeds near wherever I sleep will have sprouted and grown to budding just overnight," Aeris told them, gaze more curious than anything. "When I focus on it, it's harder to stay focused, but I can grow a plant to maturity in...hmmm...about five or ten minutes? From a seed or a sprout. It just takes a lot more of my energy to do it than for me to coax many of them to stay healthy using small amounts of my energy and otherwise letting them grow on their own. I can do it now?"
"It could be rigged here, or any place you're familiar with," Angeal said, and Sephiroth nodded his agreement.
"No way," Zack answered flatly, startling everyone. "I'm from a farming town. There is no kind of magic or smoke-and-mirrors trick that would let someone make others think a plant had grown from seed to maturity in five or ten minutes when you're right in front of them. On a video, that could be faked, but not like this."
Suddenly, Reno asked, "Hey, Aer, how well do ya know the Slums?"
"Um, which part?" she asked him, just looking puzzled.
"All of 'em, yo," he replied, gaze sparkling.
"Ummm...I know Five because I live here, I know the markets in Six and Eight, but not really the rest of the Sector, and the area nearest the train station in Seven. I sort-of know where the paths are between the Slum towns, but I don't really know much more than that," she explained.
"So, you don't know nothin' 'bout Sector Three?" the Turk asked.
"Nope. Mom told me it's one of the worst areas of the Slums, though," Aeris answered, but that time she looked wary.
"Then, let's go for a walk there ta find some seeds you can grow in a dark little corner where they definitely couldn't grow unless ya were growin' moss, 'kay?" Reno asked lazily. "After all, you've got six protectors with ya today, yo."
After turning to look questioningly at the two Firsts who weren't just jumping on board as her protectors, who traded looks then nodded, she turned back to Reno and said, "Okay, but on the way, we're going to stop at a weapons shop and you're going to buy me a new staff, okay, Reno?"
"Sure thing, Aer," he agreed.
"Why does she need you to buy her a staff?" Kunzel asked in surprise.
"That's because he's the reason my old one is broken," she answered in amusement, pointing at the broken staff next to her.
"Why do you need one anyway?" Zack asked curiously.
"Because no one walks around the Slums without a weapon—it's too dangerous here," Reno was the one who answered in a surprisingly flat tone for him. "Now, let's head out."
"Not all together, otherwise we'll attract attention," Genesis threw in, and everyone froze for a moment.
"Got that—our phones' got a tracking function. You three can track mine," Reno replied, motioning to the General and Commanders. "'N I'll let ya know when we've stopped so you can join us, yo."
"Fair. Let us arrange that and head out, then," Sephiroth agreed.
It didn't take long for Reno to activate the beacon for the three of them to follow, and he walked with Aeris to Sector 3 while the others split up to take differing routes into the same Sector. Sephiroth made his own way there while Angeal and Zack took a separate route, and Genesis and Kunzel took a third. All of them would arrive at the chosen location hopefully within five minutes of Reno and Aeris finding one so the plant growing could get started. In the end, it took the girl about half an hour of walking through Sector 3 to find a place which would suit (though part of that was a pause for her and Reno to pick out a new staff for her), and the others joined them in a trickle over about five minutes.
The location was an old, unused, and very dark warehouse which still had some large crates sitting randomly around it, though Reno told them those crates were only still there because they were metal, not wood. His EMR was pretty much what they were using for light because no one had brought flashlights, though the SOLDIERs didn't need them because of their enhanced 'night' vision. The electricity in the building didn't work anymore, and many parts of the cement floor had cracked and left holes for dirt.
"Why here?" Sephiroth asked curiously as Aeris led the way surely to a specific corner of the building, where a whole patch of the cement had crumbled into loose gravel.
"Because it's the only sufficiently dark, destroyed place I've found which also had live seeds that could call to me for help to grow," Aeris answered in a dryly amused tone, pointing at the corner she'd led them to. "There are three still holding on in a form of hibernation, so I'll grow the three. Probably, that will be closer to ten minutes because I have to split my energy between them, not focus on just one."
"All right, then, "Angeal agreed, settling down against one of the metal crates which had been used to effectively box in that corner. The others similarly relaxed there, except for Zack, who started doing squats in easy view of the spot.
The girl giggled at his antics, then crouched and held her hands close to the soil, closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath. A moment later, all six men stared as the gravel shifted, and soon after, a small, green leaf appeared, then split into two as it grew larger. Two others also emerged soon after the first, and all three began growing and getting larger. Half-way through, it was clear two of the plants were the same type while the third was a different one. The single looked like one they'd have called a weed while the pair were starting to look like a cooking herb. When another minute had passed, all three had grown enough to tell for sure what they were, and not long after, they had reached full maturity and come right up to just brush the palms of her hands.
She released a breath, then grinned and opened her eyes as she said, "There! I'm kind of tired, but they're happy. And, I can transplant them now, since they're strong enough. But you guys are going to have to help me carry them back to my Church, General, Commander Hewley."
"We'll carefully dig them up with some of the soil and get them there for you," Angeal agreed wryly. "I'll admit that was impressive, but what did you mean when you said the seeds were calling to you?"
"I meant that things the Planet made, like plants, have a kind of...energy voice, I guess?" she told him, standing carefully as she stretched her legs. "I can tell when they're nearby because it's sort of like listening to children beg for food or water. Plants do it, too, but with a different 'voice' which still has the same effect as the seeds. It's impossible to forget to water them because they do that. It's like listening to music when they don't want anything and are all good, though."
"Aw, I wish I could hear that!" Zack grinned. "I'll show them how to get them out of the ground if you want to walk a bit to stretch your legs?"
"Sure, thanks!" she grinned. "Reno, I need your light!"
"Sure thing," he agreed in something like bemusement, and the two of them stepped out from behind the crate.
Right then, Genesis heard something, and shoved himself from a sitting position to a crouched and alert one, even as Sephiroth and Angeal did the same. Kunzel and Zack saw their reactions and also went still and alert—even as someone shouted, "Noah (2)! It's payback time!"
"...Fucking Hellfire," Reno sighed tiredly. "Look, you guys really don't want ta mess with a Turk, ya know? Step back, Aer."
"Not again..." the girl sighed.
A different person sneered, "Yeah, you're good at fakin' the uniform 'n' all, but you ain't any more a Turk than we are! 'N you're dead now!"
The three Firsts traded looks, then dropped lower with the intent to spring forward over the crate—and as an apparent rush of probably over a dozen people started, they jumped. From having been friends and worked together for so long before then, they already knew where they each were aiming for and landed right in the middle of the rush at Reno, each killing at least two of the attackers as they came down and a third on the up-swing. These ones had brought along a light someone had turned on as the three had jumped, so the deaths happened in high relief, and everyone had frozen for a moment.
"All right, Reno?" Kunzel asked companionably as he and Zack stepped up beside him, swords drawn and ready.
"So far, so good," Reno agreed. "But they ain't done yet, yo." Genesis was surprised to see at least two dozen men ranging from maybe thirteen or fourteen to fifty-ish there, even after the ones he and his two best friends had already killed. And to his surprise, none of them ran away—they all apparently steeled their resolve and jumped forward to keep attacking.
Not that they were hard to fight, but with so many, they couldn't keep them all back from Reno and Aeris. It shocked them to see her hit a few of them hard enough with her new battle staff to shatter their skulls (which also apparently shocked her attackers, too), but Reno was doing what a Turk in battle did best—wreck havoc. The numbers had dwindled in a few minutes—but that was when the next surprise came, when several of them apparently drew guns and began shooting.
Two things happened at once right then, though, which even shocked the three Firsts: a bullet hit Reno in the neck, going right through the main artery, and an explosion rocked the warehouse from where Sephiroth had been fighting, not far from Angeal and closest to the warehouse's main entrance. The explosion was quite powerful, and it did a great deal of damage to the surroundings, hitting all of the SOLDIERs and most of the attackers. Genesis and the two Thirds were shoved back to where Aeris was, thrown to the ground in heaps (though Genesis hit and rolled, so returned to his feet), and a glance at her showed a grim expression.
Then, her eyes literally glowed white-green as energy surged over the dust and debris-filled battlefield, and Genesis realized she was casting some very powerful magic, and was channeling the Lifestream to do so. He realized what she'd been casting when he saw Reno's neck wound—which would have been a very quick death, and he'd probably already been dead—close as he drew in a sharp breath. She didn't even have any Materia on her—!
But had the Life spell been for Sephiroth and Angeal, too, that she'd given it the 'All' effect?
Once the energy of the Life (or maybe Life 2) spell had faded out, she cast again, only that time, it was some very strong healing, likely at the Cure 3 level. He would have added his own healing to hers, only he had the sudden feeling he didn't have to.
"Holy fucking Hellfire..." Kunzel groaned as he decided it was safe to push himself up. By the time he did, several minutes had passed and most of the dust had settled. Zack was on his feet in a flash, checking on Angeal and Sephiroth.
A look around showed a shallow crater near the middle of the room and damage spreading across a large part of the floor. Bodies littered the room, many of them already beginning to revert to pyreflies, and Sephiroth and Angeal were several feet from the hole, both with very badly damaged and bloody uniforms. They had been so close to the explosion that they were actually lucky their bodies had remained intact enough to be healed (or revived?). Or maybe that wasn't 'luck' so much as it was the fact that Jenova's cells still weren't just going to let their host be destroyed.
The two were just coming around as Reno sat up slowly a minute later, only for a man with a knife to throw himself at Reno from behind a crate as he yelled, "Die you bastard!"
When a gunshot rang out, everyone tensed, expecting someone else to die (or die again, depending on the shooter's target), only for nothing to happen. Or rather, the man with the knife was the one who died, falling to the ground at Reno's feet, while everyone else was fine.
"Damn, you guys sure know how to make a scene," a man sighed tiredly, stepping into the light—and Genesis was both surprised and amused to see the man who would become Ruluf. "I wonder, if this is normal for Turks, maybe that's not the place for me."
"No, that's just Reno, because pretty much everyone in the city hates him," Aeris sighed tiredly, swaying and stumbling.
Before anyone could blink, Zack was beside her, catching her and holding her up as he asked worriedly, "Are you all right, Aeris? Hurt at all?"
"I'm fine, just tired. Channeling the Lifestream hurts," she answered, shaking her head a bit. "But I needed strong enough healing to fix the damage from the bomb and Reno's neck wound, and to heal all of you, too. And for some reason, the Lifestream wanted all of you healed, so I wasn't going to argue if it was going to make me strong enough to save you."
The man who would become Ruluf snorted and commented, "Okay, I'll hazard a guess and say I'm not repeating that. Ever. I guess since Noah has the reputation he does, I'm not completely surprised everyone who hates him would gang up on him, though. Mind if I join you to head to the Shinra building and sign up for the Turks?"
"Be my guest, yo," Reno agreed, rubbing his neck and looking a little ill. "Thanks a bunch for the save, Sweetheart," he added to Aeris.
"You have remarkably powerful Materia," Sephiroth commented, examining the healed damage to one of his arms carefully.
"Seph...she's not wearing any Materia," Genesis informed him.
The silver haired man looked up sharply at her, and she gave him a sheepish look as she said, "I've been saving for a Restore, but I'm not there yet, and we don't make a lot of money, so I probably won't have one for several more months. If Reno hadn't replaced my staff for me, it would take even longer..."
He blinked slowly at her, then looked at Genesis and said, "You have made your point. I will do everything I can to protect her."
"Same," Angeal agreed. "Though I don't regret seeing skills like this."
"It's about time!" Zack grinned. "To me, it was already obvious she was special. I get cynicism, but you guys were, like, pulling threads that weren't even out of place."
The man who was going to be Ruluf soon laughed and asked, "So, how long will it take you lot to sort yourselves out?"
"Not long, I think," Zack grinned. "But we have to still collect the plants and take them to Aeris' Church. It's on the way to the train station from here. Mostly."
For a moment, 'Ruluf' eyed the two men who had been closest to the explosion, then said, "While you're doing that, I'm going to find you two replacement shirts, since those two are about to fall apart. And your jacket's not in much better shape, General, so you can't really walk around just in that."
"Thank you," Sephiroth agreed, so 'Ruluf' left as the others finished stabilizing themselves and dug up the plants, Zack taking a moment to be surprised that Angeal actually knew how to transplant and take care of plants. By the time they were done, 'Ruluf' had returned with two plain, black t-shirts the two men could wear, both of whom thanked him and traded off their tattered shirts.
They were on their way back to the Church, then topside, soon after.
Needless to say, Veld, Vincent, and Cloud were all not happy with any of them, and the rest of the Turks actually reamed them out so badly even Sephiroth was blushing (faintly) in shame and looking repentant. Ruluf thought it was hilarious, until Sirra dragged him away to get him formally set up with more than just his code name. Genesis wondered how that would go (both were dual gun users), even as he stood there and took the Turks' furious tirade.
Notes:
(1) Genesis doesn't know Aeris' exact age, only that she's around that. Her official birth date is February 7, 1985, so she's technically going to be thirteen soon (I have to check my dates for passage of time, but I don't think they've hit the new year yet, and certainly not reached February).
(2) Noah Reid is the name I assigned to Reno as his pre-Turk name—the one he was born with. These people who all hate his guts (which has been mentioned before) all knew him by that name, so still call him by it.