A/N: The soundtrack for this chapter is 'Island' by Svrcina

Chapter 28

Gaia

The sun was barely up when Cheryl heard a knock at her door. She had been expecting it, so she was already up and dressed. She opened to find Tseng waiting. After a brief greeting, they were both silent as they made their way downstairs to find the innkeeper. Neither of them was looking forward to the day, even if it needed to happen.

As soon as the older woman saw the two of them, she came over with a bright smile and gestured to a nearby table as she said, "Why don't you two have breakfast while I finish this up. Then, I'll be right back with that key."

For a moment, Cheryl wondered if Tseng was going to leave anyway. She doubted he would have trouble with a lock. However, he took the offered seat, and a young woman came with a smile and put two plates down. Apparently, they didn't have a menu for breakfast. At least it was all warm, which would help when they had to go back out into the cold. The abandoned house was probably nearly as cold as outside since it had been empty for years.

The breakfast was quiet and quick. After the innkeeper came with the promised key, they apologized and left as soon as they could get away. Cheryl felt a little rude since the woman had been nothing but helpful, but they really didn't have time to delay.

The place was easy to find, so it was only a matter of minutes before they were standing outside the door. Neither moved for a minute before Tseng opened it and went in first to sweep the room. Cheryl smiled at the action. It was not likely anything was in there, and it was probably simply a habit for him, but it was still a nice gesture.

Almost as soon as he motioned for her to follow him in, he headed to a large console and monitor. It was obviously what they were looking for. It was no time at all before Tseng had the videos playing back. None of what showed was new information to Cheryl. Granted, there was a lot more to cover than what she had previously seen, but most were in the same vein. There were new details, but nothing that she hadn't already inferred from other sources.

It was almost midday, and they weren't even halfway through the videos. Neither of them had spoken yet outside of what was necessary. Although, Cheryl did make a questioning noise when the current video stopped, and Tseng skipped straight to the last recording. He hit play before she could ask him why. Her heart melted at seeing baby Aerith and Ifalna. The woman was as beautiful as she was sweet.

However, things happened just like she had said they would. It was much worse watching it on an actual video feed with real people instead of 16-bit sprites. Cheryl felt bile rising as Hojo ordered Gast to be shot. She had to turn away. Just listening to it was bad enough.

Thankfully, Tseng shut it off as soon as the video had stopped. Cheryl felt tears on her face and was thankful when he turned her to pull her into a loose embrace. Even if she didn't know where they stood, it helped to calm her.

Once she had stopped crying, Tseng stepped back and said, "While there is good reason to gather the rest of the data, I have seen enough. I don't know that I can accept that you are from another planet where you magically gained this knowledge, but I cannot deny that you know something. Why don't we go back and we can talk."

Cheryl wanted to roll her eyes at his continued disbelief. It was only the memory of how unsure and insane she felt when she had been the one wondering if all her knowledge was false that kept her from it. It couldn't be easy—especially for a man like him that live by facts. Instead, she gave him a nod and followed him back to the inn. Their lunch was just as quiet as breakfast had been, but this time, Cheryl was sure it was only until they reached their rooms.

Once they were up in his room, he took the seat and crossed his arms as he said, "Now, explain to me how you knew any of that and what else it is that you have been hiding. From the sounds of it, I may need to act on it."

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at the way he made it sound as though she had been withholding information on purpose. Had he not been trying to convince her it was all in her head, she would have told him months ago. Instead of calling him out on it and potentially starting a pointless argument, she said, "I already told you how I know. That won't change. As for the rest, well, it isn't pretty, but you will have until the end of summer to figure out how to stop it."

Tseng's hands had fallen to his lap, and his eyes narrowed as he said, "What exactly will I have a chance to stop, and why would it fall to me? After insisting on coming here personally, why would you not help?"

Cheryl sighed as she held her hands tightly together to keep from fidgeting as she said, "Because I don't know if I will be coming back, and I can't guarantee that Charle will have found out about any of it. You may have to handle it alone, but I'll make sure to give you everything I can before my time is up."

There was a lengthy pause before Tseng sighed and got to his feet to pace around. It was several minutes before he stopped and frowned at her. "How can you expect me to believe that story so easily?"

Cheryl stood as well. She wanted to hold him so bad, but she kept her hands to herself and shrugged as she said, "I don't, not really. I know how impossible it sounds. However, that doesn't change the fact that I will have to go back to that place in a little more than a week and face a choice that isn't just mine to make. If either of us chooses to go back to our original world or cannot decide, we will both be sent back by default. It won't matter if you believe or not."

Again, there was silence as Tseng watched her face. Several things flashed through his eyes before he said, "And have you made your choice already? Is that why you are trying to prepare me?"

Tears instantly sprang up into Cheryl's eyes. She gritted her teeth to keep her sob from coming out as well. It was several seconds before she was able to speak even halfway clearly. "No, I haven't. I never thought this choice would be so tough. I want to see my sister, Brianna, again and tell her that I love her. She means the world to me, and I don't know how she's doing without me there. Even though I am only a few years older, I had to pretty much be her mother while we were growing up. To even think that I might be okay with not seeing her again tears me to pieces. Even so, there is more here than I expected. I found a place I belong, and people that accept me, even appreciate me, for who I am. I found—I found a person I care more about than my own self—more than anyone before. How can I walk away from that?"

Tseng had her wrapped in an embrace before she was even done speaking. She clung to him and let the weight of her choice ease just a little. His voice was barely more than a whisper when he said, "I'm sorry."

She pushed back enough to look up at him as she asked, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

One of his hands came up and brushed away a stray tear as he shook his head. "I don't really know, but I have the impression that you would not be crying if it were not for me."

Cheryl sighed as she rested her head on his chest once again. He was right, but he was also wrong. "I think this choice was supposed to be tough for me. If this place is really where I was meant to be from the beginning, I would have ended up feeling this way no matter what. The fact that you are part of it wouldn't have changed that."

His grip around her tightened, but he didn't answer. Instead, she pushed away from him and said, "Would you at least be willing to let me tell you what I know? You still have time to investigate and decide for yourself what is real and what isn't. The first event doesn't happen until the end of this summer, so you have at least a month."

His eyes looked uncharacteristically uncertain, and it made Cheryl cringe. However, he finally nodded and said, "I will not hurt for me to hear. Especially if there might be a way to investigate further." Cheryl nodded as she wiped the last of her tears away. They both settled back into their seats for what was likely to be a long talk.

Despite having agreed to talk about it all, Cheryl had no idea where to start. She sat there for several seconds, wracking her brain so she wouldn't forget anything. Finally, she looked up with a frown and said, "To talk about what might be coming, we need to discuss a little about the past. Back to when Professor Gast was still with Shinra."

Tseng lifted one brow but didn't say anything, so Cheryl continued, "That was when they found Jenova. You saw the videos—all the stuff about the Calamity, or Heaven's Dark Harbinger—that was all about Jenova. You saw what she really is. She nearly destroyed the Cetra, and then Shinra pulled her up and decided to play god with her DNA.

"The idea at the time was to try and build superhumans—Soldiers, and they started with three in particular while they were still in the womb. I'm sure you already guessed Sephiroth, but Genesis and Angeal were both parts of that project as well. You can find all the info you need about those experiments if you dig around in Hollander and Hojo's files. However, the important takeaway is that all three men were inundated with cells from that being as they were still developing. It happened in different ways for each of them, so the effects are different for them all. One thing they all have in common is a vulnerability caused by that thing.

"It may sound strange, but consider what Ifalna said—they were not able to defeat the alien, only subdue and contain it. There is a consciousness in that thing that still has a will. It wants to take this planet and become more powerful so it can then look for other planets to do the same thing to. The way it is now, it can't do much by itself, but it can call its cells back. Hojo calls it the Reunion Theory. If that thing isn't handled, then even if we can stop the problem at the end of the summer, things can still get hairy. Preparing the three Firsts to confront and overcome her control would help, but I don't know if it will be enough. She has to be dealt with first, then we can worry about the rest."

By the time she fell silent, Tseng's arms were crossed again, and he was frowning as he said, "So you are saying that it is possible that the three strongest men on the planet could be turned against Shinra?"

Cheryl hated thinking of it, but she still nodded. "It isn't a question of if, but when. As long as that thing remains, even in part, they will eventually fall to her. None of them would want it, I'm sure, but that wouldn't stop it. I'm sure they would hate to hear it, but they are victims in this as much as anyone."

Tseng's frown grew as he said, "That may be, yet it does not negate the fact that they are potentially deadly risks to Shinra."

Somehow, Cheryl was not shocked to hear that opinion. "You aren't wrong, but even if you look at this logically, if things are handled correctly, the potential asset they represent far outways the risks as long as we take action to mitigate it."

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose and his eyebrows furrowed. Cheryl wondered if the whole mess was giving him a headache. He would have a valid reason if it was. Finally, his hand dropped, and he sighed as he said, "You told me we have until the end of summer, correct? What do you believe will happen, and what are your ideas to 'mitigate the risk' as you put it."

Cheryl already knew that if he had difficulty believing where she came from, then telling him the rest would not likely go over any better. Still, even if it just made him think, perhaps that would be enough if he could go back and verify things himself. With that thought in mind, she sat down and told him the story she knew, from Genesis being injured and defecting all the way to the world being nearly destroyed and Shinra along with it. Including all that would happen to Rufus and the rest of the Turks.

She even told him about Vincent and Felicia. He lost most of his color when she told him those events. She knew it was likely due to her touching on subjects he knew a little about, and she shouldn't have. It pained her to see how rattled he was, especially when he prided himself on hiding his emotions and thinking logically. However, none of this was logical.

When she was finished telling it all, he stood there for nearly a minute without saying anything. Cheryl decided that she was going to act on her desire to try and comfort him. She wasn't sure if he would accept it, but he had done the same for her many times over—even when he knew he had been the one to upset her. She couldn't stand to see him like this.

He stiffened when she first wrapped her arms around him. His hands first went to her shoulders, but before he could push her away, she whispered, "I never wanted to hurt you. If there was any way I could have handled this all by myself, I would have done that first instead of dragging you into it. I'm sorry I couldn't think of a better way."

As soon as her words were out, he sighed and pulled her in closer. They stood there like that for several minutes before he finally pushed back and said, "Even if I cannot understand it all, I am glad that you convinced me to listen. If I can verify even half of what you have told me, then there is much that needs to be done, and a month is not long at all."

Cheryl wasn't sure why, but she was close to tears. Part of it was sheer exhaustion—both mental and physical. Another part was relief that she had managed to get it all out. Even if he didn't believe everything, at least he had enough evidence to look into it. She had confidence that would be enough.

Tseng cupped her cheek but didn't do anything else before he dropped his hands and stepped away. "It is late. I will not be joining you for dinner, and I suggest that you turn in quickly. We will work to go through the rest tomorrow so that we may return the day after."

Cheryl managed a nod, but as soon as he was gone, she flopped down on the bed. She had no idea what to think about any of it, and the mixed signals she was getting from Tseng did not help. She was fairly confident he still cared, or she wouldn't be getting any signals at all, but he had built up a wall around himself, and she had no idea how to climb it. If she were honest with herself, she wasn't sure she should try. Which could very well be the reason for it in the first place. He wasn't the kind of man to lose his heart carelessly, which means that even if he didn't believe her, if he thought there was a possibility that she could leave and be replaced by another woman, he had no reason to open himself up to her again.

Instead of wallowing in those depressing thoughts, she pushed herself up and bathed before she decided to opt out of dinner. Instead, she dropped back into the bed where sleep was fast in coming. At least that was one small blessing in all of this.

The following day, Tseng and Cheryl went back to the abandoned house to gather any pertinent details. She was shocked when he provided her an empty hard drive to copy everything onto. While she worked on that, he went through the videos to see if there was any further data they might need before they returned.

Cheryl had finished copying everything over and was getting ready to search for any other clues when she was surprised by Tseng standing at the bottom of the stairs. His expression was somber when he said, "I believe you should come and watch this."

Something in the way he said that caused a nervous flutter in her stomach, but she followed without comment. The video was paused, but he rewound it a minute or so and hit play. Ifalna was sitting at the table and had been in the middle of an explanation of some sort when it started.

"—right. We can become part of the lifestream, but we also have the option to retain our individuality to guide the energy of the lifestream to where it can do the most good. Even after our deaths, if we choose to, we can help people."

Professor Gast was off-camera, but his voice sounded interested as he said, "And what of the human souls? Do any of them remain?"

Ifalna shook her head and smiled. "There are legends that say a few may remain—those with strong wills or attachments. However, that isn't always what's best for the planet. It is our job to assist them in letting go so new life can form."

She then paused and looked down for a moment with a furrow between her brows before she looked back up and smiled again. "If the legends are to be believed, then there are certain souls that have the task to do this on a cosmic scale. They are not like any others. The legends say that they must overcome many trials, perhaps many lifetimes worth before their souls ascend from the planet and travel the stars to become guides for dying worlds."

It looked like she was still talking, but Tseng paused it once again and turned to Cheryl. Her eyes were wide as she said, "Does that mean—"

When she cut off, Tseng said, "It is possible. I do not give legends much more credence than any other story, but there is often a kernel of truth within them. It would certainly explain your claim."

Cheryl immediately started shaking her head. "But I'm not Cetra." When Tseng only lifted one brow, she became more vehement, "I'm really not!"

He sighed at her continued denial but didn't push. Instead, he said, "Whether you or are not is a discussion we can have on another day. I simply thought you should see this. For now, I am almost finished here. We should gather what we can and get to sleep early. We cannot afford to be late in returning." Cheryl nodded her agreement before turning in a daze to head back downstairs to gather what she could.

A/N: Well, we are getting somewhere...I think lol. I actually had a few more scenes that I expected to get in this one, but they are a chapter all their own, so we have one more before I get to the point I've been aiming for, for a week now. At least it should come out within a couple of days. I am looking forward to sharing, so I hope you are ready to read. Thanks for reading and cheers! Edit: By the way, I keep forgetting to mention it, but I have a poll on my profile about possibly creating an audiobook for a couple of my fanfictions. If you're interested, please go check it out and let me know. Thanks!