By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Part II: Reunion

Chapter 34, Return to Banora

December 29th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

It was early morning, and Rufus stood at the window of his Junon office, watching the passersby below. Behind him, across his desk, ornately carved from the darkest mahogany, stood Reno and Rude, and Elena, his last three remaining Turks. It was hard to believe that their organization, so full of members just three months ago, could have been whittled down to so few. His father should have known better than to get rid of the others. Instead of winning back their loyalty, he'd made it so that most of the former operatives now ran amok, causing him problems and getting in his way. "So you know for certain that he's down there."

"We saw him ourselves boss," Reno said.

"This is getting far too large for the Turks," Rufus decided. "As incompetent as Heidegger is, he does control the army and Scarlet does have her uses. I shall order them to form a joint strike team. We will prepare to infiltrate the crater in two days. You are dismissed."

With that, the three Turks left the room and Rufus returned to looking out the window. Sephiroth would soon meet his end, and the world would finally know his own power for what it really was. That was all there was to it.

Zack stormed out the back door of the lodge glaring at the backyard lit by the early afternoon sunlight, fighting down the intense urge to break something as he made his way into the woods. Vincent was in trouble, he had no idea where Cissnei and Mao were, and Cloud… He let out a growl of frustration. Here they were back to square one. After everything he and Cloud had gone through, the months of effort he'd put into making sure Cloud got out of the lab safely and made what he thought had been a full recovery… Sephiroth had swept it all away from him in a matter of days. Was this the price he had to pay to make sure the world didn't get hit by a giant rock? Was this the sacrifice he had to make? Or worse, had he made his friends suffer needlessly because of his careless decision?

He found a small clearing off the main path and leaned against one of the older trees, slamming his fist into the trunk hard enough to make its entire canopy shake. The last few hours had been like something out of a nightmare. A nightmare from which he was begging to wake up.

He'd been talking to Freya about what he was trying to accomplish when he turned around to find Cloud on the ground, and his expression as blank and lifeless as it had been when he'd first dragged him out of the mako tank. He'd knelt in front of him, calling his name and trying to meet his eyes, but he'd only found an empty shell looking back at him. After he'd spent what had seemed like ages trying to get his attention, Kunsel had taken charge of the situation and had offered to carry him back to the lodge. They had arrived about half an hour ago, walking into the yard to find Cid and Barret outside with Liam, watching Marlene playing with Nanaki again.

"What happened now?" Barret had asked.

"We're gonna find out," Freya had answered him, stopping to give an explanation while Kunsel set Cloud down on the couch.

They'd called Rayleigh back from work ahead of time and she had already arrived. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do. "It's catatonia," she'd said.

"You mean like what happened when he had mako poisoning?" Zack had asked her.

At that point, Barret who'd been looking in on the conversation looked confused "But ya haven' even been near any mako, why would that happen again?"

"Because this is not a symptom of mako poisoning," Rayleigh explained patiently. "It's a symptom of psychological and emotional trauma. The mako poisoning might have masked it before, but there are plenty of patients who've been poisoned who can still communicate, even if what they say may not make the most sense. I'm not surprised to tell the truth. It's probably a holdover response from the time in Hojo's lab. It's not unheard of in comparable situations for old symptoms to manifest again."

"Will he… come out of it?" Tifa asked nervously.

"He may wake up on his own. There are medicines that can be used to help, but unfortunately they aren't the easiest to come by. I'll place an order with the pharmacist at the clinic, but with our luck with the village courier, it might be a few days before we can try anything. At the very least, his life isn't in any immediate danger as long as we can keep him fed and properly cared for." Rayleigh stood and collected her bag in preparation to leave for the village.

"And what else are we supposed to do?" Zack had asked. "We can't just sit here and wait."

Rayleigh looked back at the younger swordsman resting on the couch, and her expression saddened. "Unless you somehow think finding Sephiroth might solve it, I don't know" she said at last. "But I'll do everything I can."

Zack had watched her walk out the front door and for a moment the room was silent until Cid folded his arms. "So what's the plan, kid?"

"As soon as we find Sephiroth, we move out and we make him pay. That's all there is to it. If we don't hear from Cissnei by tonight, we're gonna start looking ourselves." Zack decided. "I'm not gonna wait any longer than I can help."

As if to add insult to injury, at that moment, Cait Sith piped up from where he was standing near the fireplace. "This mey not be the best time, but Reeve just sent me some news from Junon. He says the Turks have returned, but Tseng seems ta be missin'."

"Perfect." He'd stood there trying hard to think until finally, it just wasn't possible anymore, and so he'd walked out the door. No one had said anything, but he knew he would have to go back in sometime. He just wasn't ready to face Cloud like this again.

He leaned against the tree trunk he'd been abusing, allowing his breathing to slow and trying to get himself to think clearly again. More than anything, he felt trapped. "Angeal?" He let the name of his mentor out in a breath, imploring an answer to come though he knew it wouldn't. "What do we do now?"

"Zack?" He looked behind him to see Kunsel and Aerith there. The flower girl approached him while Kunsel stayed a couple of steps away.

"It's all right," he answered. "I just needed to clear my head a little…"

His voice trailed off when his girlfriend put her arms around him, nuzzling into his chest when he returned the embrace. "Tifa's with him," she said after a moment.

"Good…" Zack answered, willing his throat not to tighten.

Kunsel folded his arms and paced a couple of steps, the light catching on his sword as he rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "So how do you propose to find Sephiroth if Cissnei can't?"

Zack's expression hardened. "I don't know. But I am not going to sit around if I can help it. Not after what's happened. I just wish I knew what to do about this. As far as Cloud's concerned, I'm completely clueless."

Aerith pulled back a little to look up at him. "Maybe I could try asking the planet. It might have some ideas."

"Do you think that would work?" Zack asked.

"Well, we don't know until we try," Aerith answered him. "It's not always the easiest to hear exactly what you're listening for, but it wanted to help that other man you told me about didn't it?"

"Genesis…" Zack murmured, frowning as he considered that. It was true. The planet had helped heal the red haired former commander though he'd been convinced it was that goddess he was always talking about. While Zack had no idea what had happened to him after he and Cloud had left Banora, the fact that such a thing had taken place gave him a little hope at least. It also gave him an idea. "Aerith?"

"Yes?" She looked up at him.

"When you talk to the planet, is there anything that lets you focus in and hear it better, that you know of? I remember you saying once that you heard it better in the church and at the Temple you also heard those spirits really well."

She considered the question. "I think it's because those places are really closely tied to the Lifestream. You remember what Bugenhagen said, about how every living thing is connected to it?"

"Yeah," Zack answered. "But I was thinking. The last place I fought Genesis isn't all that far away, and there's a lot of Lifestream coming out of the ground there. If you tried to listen around that area, would it be any easier?"

"Probably," Aerith answered.

Zack's PHS rang at that moment and he answered it. "Cissnei?"

"Zack, we've found Sephiroth."

"Where is he?" He realized too late that his voice had sounded more like a growl.

"He's in the Northern Crater, but I've got some bad news."

"What?"

"He's put up a barrier around the cave he's hiding in. We tried everything we had to break through it, even some low grade explosives Liz was holding onto, but unfortunately we weren't able to do a thing. He's shut in there tight. We're returning in the helicopter, but Liz says she'll go back to run surveillance once she has enough supplies of her own to weather the local conditions. That shouldn't take her more than a day at most."

"What about you?" Zack asked. "How soon can you get here?"

"We'll need to stop for fuel and that will take a few hours. Factoring that in, getting back'll probably take at least two days, maybe a little more."

"That long?" Zack asked.

"We are flying halfway around the world, what do you think?" Cissnei sounded a little tired as she spoke, but seemed to have caught onto the intensity in Zack's tone. "What happened?"

"He got to Cloud, and I think he's got Vincent too."

Cissnei was quiet for a bit before speaking again. "I see. How bad is the damage?"

"I'll give you the details when you get back. But please hurry. The longer we sit around, the more time that % $# %# has to do what he wants with Cloud. I don't know how long Vincent has."

"We'll get there as fast as we can." With that, Cissnei ended the call.

"It'll probably be a while." Kunsel interrupted.

"Why do you think that?" Zack asked.

Kunsel looked troubled, and when he finally spoke his piece, his tone was grim. "I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it seems to me that Vincent accomplished what he said he would do. Otherwise Sephiroth would have killed him outright. That being the case, what Sephiroth most likely wants him for is to tell him where the Black Materia is. I doubt he'll kill him unless he can get him to talk."

"No, it's definitely not good. I doubt he'd talk, but that's no reason to prolong this any more than we have to." Zack took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. "All right, I think I'm ready to go back in."

The three of them left the woods and returned to the lodge in short order. Zack walked ahead of the small group, taking in what he saw around him. Marlene was sitting with Jessie on the step, the younger girl silent, clearly aware that something serious was going on. Barret leaned against the wall nearby, watching the three of them approach, while Nanaki sat on alert next to him. Cid sat in a chair on the porch, cleaning his spear while Freya was talking quietly with Tanjuu. Through the window, he could see Yuffie inside, quiet for once as she stood next to where Tifa sat near the couch. He could tell even from out here that Cloud had not moved.

Upon seeing that most of the people here seemed to be waiting to find out what he would say, Zack cleared his throat. "Cissnei and Mao have found Sephiroth. He's apparently holed up in the Northern Crater. She'll be back with the helicopter in two days, and we'll leave as soon as everyone's ready. In the meantime, Aerith and I are going to see if there's anything more we can do about Cloud."

The others were silent for a while and then Freya spoke up. "That'll be four days minimum before we even get there, once we factor in fuel."

"It's the best we got at the moment," Kunsel said.

Cid finished with his spear and stood up. "Maybe if you stick with the chopper, but I got somethin' that might be better."

Zack turned to face the pilot. "Okay, we're listening."

Cid lit a cigarette and stuck it between his teeth. "I was thinkin' now might be a good time to recollect some more of my property." A puff of smoke wafted across the porch. "In the Junon airport, there's an airship. I designed it myself, and I can tell you, she's twice as fast as that damn whirligig you're usin' right now. Even if we got back after they did, we'd still get to the Crater with a lot more time to spare."

Zack considered a moment before giving the pilot a hard look. "And you think it's worth it?"

"Kid, everything in life's got some risk attached to it, and even if we take on all the guards in Junon, I'd say the Highwind is worth it. It may be a side trip, but it's the kind that'll save us precious time we could be usin' rescuin' that friend o' yours. If you're game, I'll pick a team, and have it back here before ya know we're gone."

Zack considered it while the others watched and then finally, he nodded. "All right, you've got yourself a plan. The day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. We'll wait 'till midnight, and no longer."

Cid nodded. "That's more than fair, Fair."

"How many people do you need?"

"Three. I should be able to talk to the crew and get them on board. The rest is cake." The pilot knocked the ash out the cigarette before taking another puff.

"All right, let me know who's going and we'll see you in two days."

The pilot grunted his assent, and Zack walked into the lodge. That was when he noticed that his parents had joined Tifa in the living room and his mother had taken a seat next to her. Seeing Cloud like this again was hard, but he mastered himself and looked over at his father, standing in the door to the kitchen. "Dad, Aerith and I have to go somewhere for a little while. I don't know if what we're looking for will help or not, but if there's the slightest chance… I wish I didn't have to ask, but could you guys help Tifa look after Cloud while we're gone? We'll be back as soon as we can."

Liam nodded. "Did you really think you had to? We'll look after him like he was our own son. That's a promise."

Zack felt a tight feeling in his throat again and swallowed hard to keep it under control before turning around to look at Kunsel. "I'm leaving you in charge while we're gone. Keep us posted on everything that happens and if Cloud wakes up, I want to be the first to know. Got that?"

"Yeah." The brown haired SOLDIER looked like he was about to continue when Cid walked in.

"Barret and the pooch want in on the action, I just need one more."

Yuffie looked up. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since Cloud had been brought back in, but now she stood. "If we get this ship, it means we can get to Sephiroth faster right?"

"That's right," Cid said.

Yuffie punched her right hand into her left, cracking her knuckles once her fist nested in her open palm. "Then count me in. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can kill that jerk for what he did to Cloud."

Zack was surprised. As spoiled as Yuffie was, it seemed the days of watching Cloud slowly being driven into the state he was currently in had had an effect on her. Though he guessed he could understand. Even if he had often been placed in charge of keeping an eye on her, Cloud had never been unkind about it, and if anything their camaraderie had been rather strong due to his constantly helping her with her motion sickness.

Cid raised his eyebrow, only just showing that he was taken aback by the young ninja, but after a moment, he nodded, and said "Get yer $%#& together then, we have a flight to catch." That would be important, Zack thought. Easy as it was to forget, there were actually a couple of commercial airlines that ran. None of them were particularly large, but they would at least get the team within striking distance of Junon relatively quickly so long as the right amount of gil ended up greasing the right palm. At that point, Yuffie left the room.

With everything decided, Zack turned to Aerith. "I guess we'd better get some things together of our own."

"Right." Aerith went to the hallway and he could already hear her climbing the stairs to gather her things. It wouldn't be a long walk, but they might be gone overnight.

Zack turned his attention back to Cloud. The stiffness with which he sat reminded him eerily of a time not that long ago when he'd left him seated in a small grove of dumbapple trees, in Lazard's care while he climbed down into the caves of Banora to settle things with Genesis. Tifa looked up at him as he approached, and gently brought his hand down on the blonde head, ruffling his spikes. "Hang in there Cloud. We're gonna do everything we can to make this right. You'll see."

Tifa's expression was hopeful. "You'll be back soon, right?"

"We'll try. I'll call you if there's anything we can find out," he promised.

The martial artist smiled. "Thanks."

Zack followed Aerith upstairs and proceeded to strap on his sword harness, attaching the Buster Sword firmly on his back, and retrieving his knapsack from where he'd stashed it in the corner the previous evening. It still held a few potions and other items he'd accumulated on his journey. He found Aerith waiting for him at the door, the staff they'd found in the Temple of the Ancients grasped firmly in her hand. It suited her, he thought. The gold ornament on the top with its outstretched wings and the red crystal encased in its center seemed to embody how far she had come from the timid young girl who only tended flowers in a rundown old church.

Once he was ready, they walked downstairs and past the kitchen. They were almost out when Elmyra called to them. "Hold on you two." Zack looked behind him to see what was the matter.

Aerith's mother approached them with a small bundle in her hands. "It's not much, but it won't help anything if you go hungry on the way."

Zack offered her a small smile of gratitude. "Thanks."

Elmyra's expression was kind but stern. "It's no trouble. You get back soon, all right?"

"You got it." With that, they turned, and Aerith followed him to the path leading north.

The stars were just starting to show in the evening sky when Zack and Aerith picked their way past an old road, now horribly overgrown from lack of use, to find themselves looking out over a vast expanse of crevices. An old windmill rotated a few hundred yards away, the rips and tears in the fabric secured across its rickety old frame standing out even more apparently than the last time Zack had seen it. The ruins of the various houses that Shinra had utterly obliterated lay everywhere, almost obscured by the brush. The most apparent things that stood out to him though, were the tendrils of Lifestream still bleeding out of the ground, and the empty chair, slightly discolored and showing some signs of rot from its exposure to the elements, standing sheltered under a lone dumbapple tree on the edge of the field they'd just crossed into.

Aerith walked a couple of steps ahead of him, her eyes wide with wonder. "This is incredible… So many voices… It's like we were back at the temple."

"There's a lot more underground," Zack said. In his mind's eye, he could still see Lazard's body lying next to the chair, near the other injured Angeal copy that had guarded Aerith, as it lay dying, custodian of the last letter she had written to him. "We probably ought to at least check to see if Genesis is still here," he thought aloud.

Aerith looked back at him. "Do you think he's still around?"

"He might be. Who knows? He might even have some ideas. He was still here when we left." Zack glanced around until his eyes landed on the only pathway leading deeper into the ruined village. His troubles had started in Wutai, but so many of their origins were here, it was a little eerie, even now. As they walked along, he spotted a young tree to the left of the path, and on its branches hung one of Banora's signature fruits, just ripe for picking. He walked over and plucked it, tossing it to Aerith. She caught it in her hand and inspected it curiously.

"What is this?"

"It's a dumbapple," he explained. "Angeal told me once that the trees around here bear fruit all year long, and don't have a particular season," he walked further, keeping an eye out for trouble. "Now that I think about it, considering how much Lifestream is close to the surface here, that's not so surprising. We were pretty confused too, after spending all that time in those mako tanks…"

Aerith walked over to the tree, regarding it sympathetically. "Poor things," she murmured, regarding the tree sympathetically before following after him, placing the dumbapple inside the box containing her mother's provisions. The sky was getting darker as they reached the ruined warehouse under which Zack knew lay the statue of the Goddess. He had managed to climb out with Genesis on his back before, so he knew it was possible, but still, the precipice that yawned before them was rather deep. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, he climbed over the edge and slowly picked his way along the various roots and vines that were strewn along the wall of the crevasse. When he reached the bottom, he reached into his pack and lit up a glowstick. He could see just fine thanks to the faint mako glow of his eyes, but Aerith would need it.

"It's safe!" he called up to her, holding the stick aloft so she had some illumination by which to climb down. Shortly afterward, he saw her scaling down the side, and once she was within reach of him, she dropped her staff for him to catch so she had both her hands free to climb the rest of the way safely. Upon reaching solid ground again, the two of them walked into the darkened cave, the glowstick lighting their path, gleaming out of the dark as ethereally as the tendrils of Lifestream.

"Genesis? Hello? Is anyone home?" The tunnel was gradually getting darker, the further away they got from the entrance. Their footfalls echoed, but aside from the sounds of creatures moving around in other branches of the tunnels they heard nothing else. The last time Zack had been here, the walls had been rigged with cables and strings of Shinra issue fluorescent lamps, but now, they had gone dark from disuse, even the once bright lamp near the small desk he'd run across last time, with its walls surrounded by pictures and the shelves filled with trophies and record books of Genesis' achievements. Not seeing any sign of life there, he turned his attention to the left and Aerith followed him down the tunnel to what he knew was a network of caves lit by mako crystals.

Aerith drew in a breath as they entered. "It's beautiful," she muttered.

Zack nodded, steering them down the path he knew to lead in the direction of the statue in front of which he and Genesis had fought their last battle. Climbing up the ramp and turning right, they followed it under a natural bridge and into another tunnel, once again swallowed by the darkness. Hardened stone soon turned to soft mosses underneath their feet and he was able to see the podium up ahead in which the Goddess materia had had to be placed the first time he'd come through here. There was no need now. The gate was wide open.

"What is this place?" Aerith wondered aloud.

"I don't know exactly," Zack admitted. "But in that next room, there used to be a statue of this person Genesis called the Goddess. It fell apart after the fight, but…" he trailed off then as his eyes landed on a familiar sword. Rapier stood where it had impaled itself into the ground when Genesis fell. It hadn't been cleaned or moved an inch since he'd left it here to carry Genesis out of this cave. Upon approaching, he could still see the stains of what was probably some of his own blood, dried in the the throes of dripping down the blade.

A terrible thought entered his mind. What if, by leaving him out in the open without his sword, he had caused the auburn haired man to die when only just minutes previously he'd spared the man's life?... Slow down Zack. Better not think like that… One catastrophe at a time, he decided, taking a deep breath and turning his attention back to Aerith. The Ancient had walked across the cavern, kneeling at the broken statue's head. She had reached out to touch it, her expression alert, as though she were listening intently, and yet her eyes were turned upward, as though she was looking at something on the dais where it had once stood, but that Zack couldn't see.

"You must be the goddess Zack told me about," she said after a moment. There was silence, and then she said, "If you already know why we came, then do you know if there's anything we can do?"

"Aerith?" he walked over to the flower girl but she didn't look up.

"Shh…" she whispered softly, "Give me a moment."

Zack sat down next to her, patiently waiting.

The moment Aerith had touched the statue she had spotted a beautiful woman standing with long blonde hair on the dais as though she had always been there, her form enveloping the broken pedestal on which the statue had once stood. She was clad in ornate armor, and wielding a long staff and shield. She spoke not in words, but in thoughts and images. The gentle smile on her face was all Aerith needed to know she was being greeted. Tendrils of Lifestream swam at her feet in and out of the mists that now obscured the ground.

"You must be the goddess Zack told me about," she said.

She was answered with a small nod and a single name passed through her thoughts "Minerva." The subject changed as soon as it was broached. An image of a friend, lost and alone flowed through her thoughts and Aerith saw in the woman's face a look of complete understanding.

Aerith considered her words carefully but decided it was best to speak without fear. "If you already know why we came, then do you know if there's anything we can do?..."

"Aerith?" She heard Zack behind her, pulling her back towards reality as the Lifestream played around her skirt.

"Shh… give me a moment." She said. Zack appeared in her mind and she tried to explain through her thoughts to the goddess what she was trying to convey. It wasn't just Cloud she worried for, but so many of the others around him. Zack who'd risked everything to save him, Tifa who'd only just got him back, Freya who in spite of how she didn't generally speak of it, had been so torn with guilt over what had happened, Kunsel, Yuffie, Barret, Nanaki and all their other friends who'd only been able to stand and watch while Sephiroth and torn Cloud's already fragile mind to pieces. Surely there was something she could do.

Minerva reached out a hand, bidding her to rise to her feet and come a little closer. She did so and waited as the goddess flooded her mind with images. A tribe of Ancients in the distant past conducting rituals and spells in a place of crystals deep beneath a city of shells and driftwood… The Lifestream bending around the participants as they spoke to the planet… The experience of a shaman who conducted these rituals as the glowing green tendrils flowed around him… and finally the image of walking down a path shrouded in green mists… and a warning.

She digested this new knowledge and then her eyes once again trained on the goddess, gratitude in her eyes, even as she tried to keep them from filling with tears of relief.

The goddess looked down upon her with a gentle smile, reaching out to caress her cheek. She knew without words what the goddess was saying. "Farewell, child of the Cetra."

Aerith bowed her head reverently and before she could comprehend it, the mist, the Lifestream, and the goddess had all vanished…

Only to be replaced with the fallen statue and a broken dais. She gazed to her right and found Zack sitting patiently near the statue's ruins. Upon seeing she was no longer listening to something he couldn't hear he stood and walked over to her. "What did she say?"

"Not much," Aerith said. "Most of it was thoughts and feelings but there is something we can do to help. Let's get back to that field."

Zack stole a glance back at Genesis' sword before deciding to collect it. Once that task was completed, he joined Aerith at the mouth of the tunnel and the two of them walked back into the moss covered cavern. "So what can we do?" He asked.

"She told me of a ritual the Cetra used to do to better communicate within the Lifestream. If done properly, we could use the Lifestream here as a conduit to reach him." They were walking quickly now, hurrying through the cave with the mako crystals. "She did say there was a certain amount of risk, so we'll need to handle this carefully."

"Why?" Zack asked.

"Because if we go about it the wrong way, we could end up hurting him worse. It would mean using the Lifestream and our connection to it to enter his mind… It won't keep Sephiroth from attacking him again, but it might give us an opening to help him fight back."

They were almost halfway across the cavern, and Zack spent the rest of the way to the entrance tunnel considering what she had said. "In that case, here's what we'll do," he decided, as they walked down the path towards the exit into the hole under the warehouse. "I want you to practice on me tonight."

"What?" Aerith asked.

"It'll be better if you know what to do," Zack said. "I'm pretty tough. I should be able take whatever you can throw at me. So do what you have to, okay?"

They had almost reached the mouth of the tunnel. Aerith looked up at Zack's glowing violet eyes in the dark. "Are you sure about that?" she asked. "I've never done anything like this before. What if I hurt you?"

"You won't," Zack answered forcefully. By now, they were at the bottom of the hole, and they faced each other in the darkened pit.

Aerith took a moment to think about it and then finally she sighed in resignation. She had learned a long time ago that when Zack made his mind up about something there was little that could be done to change it. "All right," she said at last. "But first, let's get out of this hole."

There was no arguing. It took them several minutes to pull themselves out and get back to the clearing and since it was late, they took some time to eat dinner and put together a small campfire for warmth. Since they were in the southern hemisphere it was currently summer, but the evenings could still get relatively cool at night. It was only a little while later when the flames had died down to a few embers, when Zack decided they had put this experiment off long enough. He finished with a second dumbapple he'd retrieved from the tree and tossed the core into the brush nearby with a sense of finality. "All right, so how are we going to do this?"

She shivered involuntarily as she looked into his intensely glowing eyes. "I suppose you don't really need to do anything… except… get comfortable I guess."

"I think I ought to be able to manage that," he said, offering her a halfhearted smile.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"Don't make me repeat myself." His voice wasn't harsh, though she could still detect the nervousness in his eyes.

"All right." Slowly, they stood from their campfire and walked a few steps away. Zack speared the Buster Sword into the ground before sitting down cross-legged in the grass, and though she caught him looking hard at the empty chair a mere three yards away, he turned his head back to facing her and closed his eyes.

Aerith held her staff between them, and after a moment, she could sense the tendrils of Lifestream nearby. Shutting her own eyes, she called on them the way Minerva had shown her to do, inviting them to connect with their inner space. At first she wasn't sure if it was working or not. She heard nothing but the crackle of the coals and Zack's breathing, and saw nothing but the darkness behind her eyelids. But little by little, a new light crept beneath them, beckoning her to see what lay beyond her awareness. Soon she felt as though a gentle breeze was blowing past her, and then, without warning, the planet's calls which up until now she'd only been able to hear as whispers suddenly enveloped her in a wave…

…Opening her eyes, she found she no longer stood in the field in Banora, but in another wide open field, warmed by the sun and filled with yellow flowers like the ones she'd grown at the church. Clouds floated by overhead and off in the distance, the rolling hills were broken by a single dirt road. Zack was nowhere to be seen.

Gripping her staff, she walked towards the road, since it seemed to be the only way out of this place, and past a small pool of what she believed to be water. Ripples ran across it as another warm breeze flowed over her. She walked further along the road, keeping an eye out for anything that might give her an idea how to proceed from here.

After a while, the dirt road led out of the field and into a vast expanse of… well for lack of a better term… emptiness. Far off to her left, she caught sight of shadows that seemed to be watching her. She knew her real mother had gone back to the planet, but she had stopped hearing her voice a long time ago. The figure that stood at the edge of her experience did not come near, and she continued on, feeling a little saddened, and yet, resolved. She had a goal to accomplish.

The road continued a little longer, before she found herself walking into another open field. The ground itself was not particularly remarkable. There was grass covering the earth and off in the distance she could see a small patch of her flowers growing, but the thing that drew her attention the most, was the vast open sky. It seemed so vibrant and free, and yet unreachable.

At the edge of her vision she thought she could see something flying away into the blue abyss. Whatever it was, its wings were as white as an angel's. It was flying in the direction the path led, so she determined to follow it.

She had been walking for a little longer when something else got her attention. "Those wings… I want them too…" The voice echoed through her mind and she knew exactly who had said those words even if she knew it was nothing but an echo of a memory. She broke into a run, trying to chase the elusive winged being, but it disappeared over a line of eerily familiar looking mountains. Smoke and dark clouds lay in that direction, and as she approached a new vision came into existence. It was clearly Nibelheim in flames, as Sephiroth stood near the mansion, smiling malevolently before disappearing into them. Somehow she knew deep in her heart that if she were to pass through there to the basement of the mansion, terrible things would lie in wait. Things that had been branded into Zack's memories, and that he couldn't forget. The pain of being helpless, hurt, and trapped in the dark.

As though he had had been summoned by this observation, she suddenly saw Zack standing at Nibelheim's entrance, not going in, but aware of its existence, regarding it with sadness and anger. One foot rested in the grassy field, the other standing at the gate of the doomed village.

"Zack?"

He looked up at her, and in that moment, she saw him for what he was. He had sought his fortune and his own destiny in the beginning, and the determination showed through in his eyes, but even as he smiled half-heartedly at her, she also saw the wounds his life had inflicted upon him. Blood, grime, and ash stained his skin, and he looked tired and worried.

Memories of what he'd gone through paraded through her mind. The times he'd spent in blinding pain in the cell after Hojo had been done with him, only to pull himself back up because Cloud was far worse off. Times on the run, where he hadn't just fought with Shinra to keep himself and Cloud safe, but the elements, starvation, thirst, and predators, all while trying so hard to get his friend to wake up. All that effort, only for his friend to be psychologically ripped to pieces in front of him by a specter from their past he couldn't even help him fight.

Finally, the wave of feelings and experiences faded into the Lifestream leaving the two of them where they stood. In spite of it all, the light and laughter had never been extinguished, but it had been tempered to hold back the darkness life had forced upon him the last few years. Had that not been true, his time in the labs would have eaten away at him completely.

"It never stopped for you, did it?" she murmured." He's not the only one who's been fighting all this time."

He said not a word, but simply shook his head as the vision faded into the Lifestream which itself began to pull away from them…

…When awareness returned to her, she found herself still standing in front of Zack and he was looking up at her with that same expression. Overcome with emotion, her staff dropped to the ground forgotten as she knelt to hold him close. He leaned into her breast, returning her gentle embrace and she could already hear his sobs as her brave, strong SOLDIER released his sorrows and frustrations to the world.

"I couldn't do anything…" he forced out after a while. "All I could do was sit in that cell, or watch from that tube… and wait for them to be done with him… They hurt him so much Aerith… and there wasn't a damn thing I could do… It's the same thing… all over again…"

"It'll be all right, Zack" she soothed, allowing a few of her own tears to fall. He said nothing more, but just allowed her to rock him gently. She looked up at the stars, watching the tendrils of green bleeding out from the nearby chasms reach up into the night sky. "It'll be all right. Tomorrow, we are definitely going to find him."

I hope everyone's had a happy and safe Halloween. It's been an interesting week. My first original novel became available on Amazon a couple of days ago (self published of course), so now, I am officially a commercially published author. Go figure. ^^ I'm not sure how well it'll do, but I can dream, right?

Not a lot of action this chapter, but as of about this time, Aerith's probably about to leave to go to the City of the Ancients, Cloud's unconscious after giving Sephiroth the Black Materia, and the party is most likely sailing to Gongaga aboard the tiny Bronco to find a safe place for Cloud to wake up. Poor guy.

Until next time!