Aeris sat in Reidmar's living room, anxiously waiting for Sephiroth's PHS to ring.
Cid had agreed to turn around and try to search for the others. That had been hours ago.
"Hungry?" Reidmar held an apple out to her.
Aeris shook her head and began rubbing her shoulder absently. Was it her imagination, or had she started to feel a burning sensation there the past hour?
"They have to be all right," Sephiroth muttered as he stared at the small communicator in his hand. "Vincent wouldn't be stupid enough to do something like dying. Nor would he let the others die either,"
Reidmar nodded. "Medea's too stubborn to let a simple earthquake take her down,"
Just then, the PHS rang. Sephiroth quickly answered.
"Yeah?" he spoke, "Vincent! Is everyone all right…? You have? …That's good to hear…all right then. We'll be waiting here,"
He hung up and heaved a relieved sigh.
"Well…?" Aeris pressed.
"They were in the middle of the peaks when the earthquake hit," Sephiroth explained, "No one was hurt, and Cid was able to find them easily. The only thing damaged was Vincent's PHS. That's why we couldn't get in touch with them until now. They're on the Highwind as we speak,"
Aeris looked incredibly relieved. "I'm so glad to hear that," she said, "It feels like we're all living on borrowed time these days,"
"They'll likely be here in the next half-hour," Sephiroth told the others.
"Maybe I will have that apple after all," Aeris said.
As predicted, the others had returned not long after.
"Everyone," Vincent addressed the thirteen people sitting in the living room, "It looks as if our plans to deal with Jenova have been delayed yet again. Now on top of her summoning Meteor, we have the Planet's own guardians to worry about,"
"Still no word of them as of now," Jessie said as she stared at her computer screen.
Vincent turned to look at Rufus. "Do you think your father's own defense squads may be able to handle the four WEAPONs?"
Rufus shook his head. "That, I can't say. This whole WEAPON thing hasn't ever happened before,"
"There isn't any specific plan that they have," Aeris told everyone, "They're no different than the berserkers in the legends. All they'll likely do is kill aimlessly. I tried to get the Planet to stop them from emerging, but it could only respond to the pain. WEAPON should never have been released at all,"
"Looks like we'll have to bring out the big guns," Rufus said, "Honestly, I don't think that one airship to get around is going to work anymore. There's more than one creature,"
"Indeed," Vincent agreed, "We'll have to find additional transportation, which will be hard since our funds are pretty much maxed out. All additional missions by the other branches have been put on hold for this,"
Rufus smirked. "Not necessarily. My accounts may have been frozen, but there are certain activities that my father has no control over. I can make a few calls that'll help…unless you don't trust me,"
Vincent crossed his arms warily. "I'm listening…"
Rufus nodded. "Okay. You may or
may not know this, but I do have a certain appreciation for aviation,
which I've had for a few years now,"
"Look, boy- unless
you have an airplane in your pocket, then shut up," Barrett
snapped.
"If you'd have let me finish…!" Rufus said pointedly, "Then I'd tell you that yes- I do own my own private plane, two of them, actually. And it's all under the nose of the old man,"
"Then we'll split the group up," Vincent declared, "Rufus, go ahead and make your call. Everyone else, don't wander off too far,"
Everyone stood up and dispersed, leaving only Sephiroth, Aeris, Jessie, Rufus, Reidmar, and Medea.
"You were away too long," Reidmar said as he put his arms around Medea.
"I know," Medea sighed as she leaned into her husband's shoulder, "Let's just hope this will all end soon. Jenova is a lot trickier than we gave her credit for,"
"In more ways than one," Reidmar muttered, "Did you know she can create off-shoots? We were attacked by one before the earthquake,"
"Is that why Aeris' arm is in a sling?" Medea asked worriedly.
Reidmar nodded.
Medea looked extremely uneasy. "Jenova's offshoot wounded her?"
"Yes,"
"Did she break the skin?"
"Her shoulder was impaled," Reidmar told her, "But I was able to fix her up,"Aeris walked over to the two. "Excuse me," she said, "But is there anything you can do about the burning? It's really starting to hurt,"
"Your shoulder?" Medea asked quickly.
Aeris nodded, rubbing at it.
"Do you feel anything else?" Medea wanted to know.
"It feels kinda hot in here," Aeris told her.
"What's the matter?" Sephiroth and Jessie walked over to them.
Medea forced a smile. "I think Aeris might have caught a bug. Aeris, why don't you go lie down in one of the bedrooms while we find you some ointment? I'm sure it'll be a while before Rufus' plane gets here,"
"I do feel a little tired," Aeris admitted, "Geez…of all the times for me to get sick,"
"We'll stop somewhere and get you some cold pills," Jessie said, "We'll just pump you full of that stuff until you're ready to fight again,"
"Or until I end up higher than a kite," Aeris laughed, "All right. Wake me up when we're ready to leave,"
Medea watched the young Cetra leave the room.
My god, I hope I'm mistaken…she thought.
Cloud sat outside the entrance to the inner city, absently tossing pebbles into the lake. He looked up at the sky, staring at the large meteor hovering in the distance.
"Hi,"
Cloud turned his head to see Tifa standing behind him.
"Hey," Cloud greeted the girl.
"Sure has been a crazy couple weeks, hasn't it?" Tifa said as she sat down next to the trooper.
"Seems like one really weird dream," Cloud told her, "I never know what's gonna happen next, y'know?. Wonder if that's what actual war is like. I was too young to fight in the Wutai war…thank the Planet,"
"Shinra sure got creamed back then," Tifa mused.
Cloud nodded. "Both sides lost a lot of soldiers. If there ever was a real war, would I even have the guts to fight in it?"
"War is a scary thing," Tifa acknowledged.
"I just don't know anymore," Cloud said absently, "My service is gonna be up soon. I thought about trying to get into SOLDIER again, but I don't know now. I'm not sure what I want anymore,"
"You could always come back home, couldn't you?" Tifa suggested.
Cloud shook his head. "No way! I hated it there,"
"Things would be different," Tifa told him, "For one…we're friends now…aren't we?"
Cloud looked at her, and smiled slightly. "Sure. We're friends,"
Tifa beamed. "So we'll hang out. And I'll tell everyone about the super-cool Shinra trooper who defeated WEAPON and Jenova!"
"We haven't even seen WEAPON yet," Cloud sighed.
Tifa ignored him. "Cloud Strife: hero of the Planet. You'll be famous!"
"Just me? What about you? Tifa the ass-kicking martial arts student. I'll bet your teacher will be proud,"
Tifa smiled. "I hope so. It's good to see my training paying off. Two years ago, I never could've gotten through that temple without suffering some serious injuries like Rufus did. Lucky for him, Aeris was there to fix him up right away,"
"Yeah,"
"So what does Zack think about you leaving the army?" Tifa asked.
Cloud looked away. "He doesn't know. You're the first person I've told about that,"
"Really?"
Cloud nodded.
"Cloud…"
The both looked up suddenly as the sound of a couple aircrafts flying above them became clear.
"That must be Rufus' planes," Tifa said, "We should go see what's going to happen next,"
"Right,"
They both stood up and began jogging out of the woods.
"Hey Aeris!" Jessie called as she climbed the stairs leading to the bedroom. "We're just about ready to split up. Let's go so Vincent can figure out where each of us is gonna go,"
Aeris lay in the bed, apparently not having heard Jessie.
"Aeris- I said we gotta go!" Jessie went over to the bed.
The younger girl still didn't move.
"Hey! Rise and shine!" Jessie reached over and grabbed Aeris' arm. She jerked back suddenly. Aeris' arm was cold and clammy.
The young swordswoman slowly opened her eyes, and immediately tossed back the covers.
"So hot…" Aeris moaned.
"Shit…you really don't look good," Jessie said nervously.
"Is everything all right?" Reidmar asked as he entered the room. Medea followed him anxiously.
"I think Aeris is really sick," Jessie told them, "She's all cold and…just look at her!"
Medea went over to Aeris and looked the girl over carefully. "Jessie- go tell Vincent to hold off on our plans for now,"
"What's wrong with her?" Jessie asked worriedly.
"Go- now!" Medea ordered her.
Jessie fled the room.
Everyone had been waiting silently in the living room for the past fifteen minutes, when Medea and Reidmar came downstairs finally.
Sephiroth stood up and looked expectantly at the two.
"Aeris has Jenova's virus," Medea announced miserably. "You might be aware that she, Sephiroth, and my husband encountered a monster sent by Jenova earlier this morning,"
The room exploded into a frantic clamor.
"But she was just fine a couple hours ago!" Biggs protested.
"Is she contagious?" Reno asked.
"She shouldn't be," Rufus told him, "According to all the history texts, humans never caught the disease,"
Tifa looked panicked. "But that disease killed the Ancients!"
"Does this mean Aeris is going to die??" Zack asked frantically.
"I don't know," Reidmar shook his head, "There hasn't been a case of this disease reported in over a century. Medical science is always advancing, but I honestly can't say anything either way. All we can hope to do is to fix the gateway and send her through where she can be properly treated,"
"But how long can she last until then?" Sephiroth asked harshly.
"I'd predicted it would only be a couple of days before it was all set," Reidmar told him, "She'll certainly last until then. But it's safe to say, Aeris will no longer be participating in this mission,"
Sephiroth shoved past Reidmar and hurried up the stairs. Upon reaching Aeris' bed, he knelt down next to her and placed his hand on the edge.
"Hey…" Aeris said weakly, "I don't get it…I lay down to take a nap…I thought it would make me feel better…but I'm just so tired now…"
"Just rest," Sephiroth told her, "Looks like you're going to see Mom and the professor a little sooner than I will,"
"Really? I'm glad," Aeris whispered.
"So just stay in bed until the portal's fixed. After that, they'll take you to a hospital and treat your illness,"
"Am I really that sick?"
"You'll get better," Sephiroth insisted.
Aeris put her hand on Sephiroth's. The swordsman winced- her hand was ice-cold.
"You're going away, though," Aeris' voice held a hint of sadness.
Sephiroth sighed, conflicted.
"I…won't leave if you don't want me to,"
"But you're our strongest fighter," Aeris protested, "Don't stick around just for my sake. I'm sure someone else will take care of me,"
"I'll look after her while Reidmar works on the gateway," Medea announced as she walked into the room.
Aeris managed a small smile. "There- see? Don't worry about me,"
She closed her eyes.
Medea went over to Sephiroth. "You really shouldn't stay here. We don't want you to catch the virus as well,"
Sephiroth stood up. "I understand," he said as he left the room.
He sat in the living room of the house he and Aeris had been staying in. Looking out the window, he sighed.
I let Jenova's influence get the best of me again, he thought miserably. Only this time, it was worse. I could barely tell where my thoughts ended and hers began. And this time, I couldn't protect her…
"Sephiroth?"
The swordsman looked up to see Vincent and Medea standing in the open doorway.
"Are you all right?" Vincent asked.
Sephiroth laughed bitterly. "Aeris is seriously ill, and Meteor's been summoned. What do you think?"
Medea hesitated, and then finally asked: "What is your plan now?"
Sephiroth closed his eyes for a moment, before finally turning around to face her and Vincent.
"Nothing's changed," he said finally. "I came to deal with Jenova,"
Vincent nodded silently.
"But the truth is…I'm afraid. Twice…I nearly lost control…"
"What do you mean?" Medea asked gently.
"Twice…" Sephiroth said, "I nearly hurt her. If I hadn't stopped myself, I may have done something unforgivable. If anything, this is why I should quit this journey. If I could…do what I almost did to her, then what about everyone else? I don't want to do something I'll regret for the rest of my life,"
Vincent looked at Medea, who sighed.
"But I'm going, regardless," Sephiroth said.
The two looked at him, surprised.
"Jenova took my mother away from me. Aeris may die because of her. And now she's trying to destroy the Planet. Mental illness or not…I can't ever let this go. I will be the one to kill Jenova…or give her peace…whatever you wish to call it. I don't care,"
Vincent nodded. "I'm glad to hear that,"
"So long…" Sephiroth continued, "As I can count on everyone to stay with me…and stop me from doing committing anymore sins,"
Vincent looked at his son. Never had Sephiroth ever requested any kind of moral support from anyone like that. Never had Sephiroth seemed so vulnerable, much less admit it freely. Even on that day eighteen years ago, when he rescued a frightened little boy from the Shinra labs, the boy had tried his hardest to keep cool at the sight of a complete stranger bursting into his room. To see him so hopeless now was wrong on so many levels.
"All right, Sephiroth," Vincent conceded. "We've got your back,"
"You can count on us," Medea added.
Sephiroth heaved a sigh. "I can only hope that what Aeris did can hold Meteor off until we can get back to Jenova,"
"We still have a chance," Medea told him, "Cid is still waiting for us. We'll follow WEAPON and deal with them. And in the meantime, the hospital will do all they can for Aeris. Rest assured, no one is going to let Aeris die anytime soon,"
"Let's go," Sephiroth headed for the living room, where everyone was still waiting.
A/N: …Please put down those rocks…I bruise easily.
Seriously though, just bear with me. Any other reassurance I can offer concerning Aeris would only be a spoiler of what's to come.