An Unexpected Turn

Aerith and I had been thrown into a cell while the others were hauled off elsewhere. I don't know what had happened to them or where they were but I hoped they were okay. We needed to get out of here. I don't know how long it had been, it felt like forever, while we sat in that cell waiting for something to happen. I had started to pace the small room, thinking over and over how we could get out, how to bypass the security, how to get a layout of the building, how to open the damn door without arousing suspicion.

"Okay, if I can blast the door open, we're near the labs," I started thinking out loud to process a plan. "There's the elevators for equipment transfer, we can use them to maybe get to... or maybe they only go between the labs floors. But the elevators are the only way down, and they could cut them off if they know we're out... if we can find the security room..."

"Christie," Aerith eventually said and caught my attention. She sat on the single bed of the cell, her eyes looking worried and her mouth down turned. "Keep this up and you'll drive yourself crazy." I sighed and stopped pacing, leaning against the wall.

"Sorry," I said. "I just want us to get out of here before something bad really happens."

"I know you do," Aerith nodded. "But it's not going to be brute-forcing through the guards, we now that went."

"Maybe I'll build up a resistance to the sedative they keep ploughing into me," I gave a half hearted laugh, as did Aerith. I sat on the floor, crossing my legs, and looked up at Aerith. She gave a small smile but I saw in her eyes she wanted to say something. "What is it?"

"How did you now know you were an Ancient?" She asked. I just sort of shrugged a little. "Didn't your parents tell you? Weren't Shinra after you?"

"They never said; I lost them when I was young," I said, trying to be vague, but informative enough to avoid any questions that would lead to my actual nature. It would be on my mum's side I got it from, considering Dad was just human, while Mum was from Spira. She had the direct ancestry to this world. "The thing I can do, with my lifeforce, Lifestream, whatever, I learned how to do it around five years ago. I never realised it was a thing only Ancients could do."

"Have you never heard the planet talk to you?" Aerith asked. My expression was answer enough for her. "You never heard a crowd of people, talking all at once, even though you're all alone? The Lifestream can be pretty noisy. I strain to make out what they're saying."

"Can you?" I asked.

"Only when I was in the church in Sector Five," Aerith said. Her head dropped a little and she frowned. "I've lived here my whole life so when the place is derived of Mako it can be kind of barren. In the church, though, I could always hear my mother over the rest of them. Recently she'd been saying that Midgar wasn't safe any more."

"Your mum?" I was a bit confused. Aerith looked at me, realising what she said.

"Oh, I meant my birth mother," she cleared up. "Marlene is with my adopted mom. She's took care of me since my mother died. I was pretty young when it happened too." I nodded and didn't want to pry any further. I knew what it was like. I could imagine her dad passed away at some point before her mum did. I knew I had to make more sense of the Ancient thing because clearly we were different from other humans.

"What do Shinra want with us?"

"They want the Promised Land," Aerith said. "They think the Ancients can take them to it. It's supposed to be a land of supreme happiness." It sounded almost like a fairytale.

"They don't want it for the eternal happiness, do they?" I asked and Aerith shook her head. "Is it even real? It sounds more like a state of mind, or an afterlife, not a real place."

"I don't even know," Aerith sighed. "I don't really know a lot about the Ancients... just things my birth mother talked about in the church because she was an Ancient too."

"Well, apart from speaking with the planet what can Ancients do?"

"Our connection with the planet is so much closer than others," Aerith said. "We speak we with it, unlock it, we can draw power from it. I'm not very good at it but I can heal injuries without a cure materia, the same way you use the planet's energy to defend yourself."

"So is that why you gave me yours then?"

"Yeah, Cloud gave it to me when we were getting away from Turks. I went along with it since I didn't want him to get suspicious," Aerith nodded. "I don't use materia that much. I have the fire one but that's it."

"How do you use materia? I've never really used it before," I asked, feeling like I was putting her through a questionnaire now.

"You know how you use your Ancient powers? It's like that, you focus on what your materia is capable of and... it happens," Aerith's explanation was the best she could give. I suppose it was just easier for people innate to magic. "Okay, next time you have a moment, take your materia, focus and listen to it. Materia are formed from the Lifestream and have the Ancient's power inside them, it's how you understand what each materia can do."

"I'll give it a go. Thanks Aerith," I said.

We heard people moving outside for a few moments and stayed quiet, trying to make out the mumblings and differentiate the voices. We heard the doors lock and steps fade away but we could hear people talking from the other side of the wall. It was hushed but we could just make it out. Aerith turned her head to the wall to listen in closer. Eventually it went quiet for a few moments.

"Cloud? Are you there?" Aerith said.

"Aerith? You're safe?" Cloud responded.

"Yeah, we're fine," she said and was smiling. "I knew you'd come for me."

"Hey, I'm your bodyguard right?" Cloud said.

"The deal was a date, right?" Aerith gave a small giggle and was smiling as she said it. I kept quiet.

"... Oh, I get it," it was Tifa's voice and Aerith's face went red and she gasped in shock.

"Tifa? I didn't know you were there," she said. We heard Tifa mumble something quieter than we could make out.

"You know Aerith, I've got a question," she said a little louder.

"Yeah?"

"Does the Promised Land really exist?" Tifa asked. Aerith sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"I... I don't know," she said. "All I know is that the Cetra and born from the planet. We speak to it, we unlock it, then when all that's said and done... they return to the Promised Land. The Promised Land it's... it's more than words but I don't know." And that's where it makes me think it's not an actual place.

"Can you hear the planet now?" Cloud asked.

"No. I only heard it in the church," Aerith answered. "It's full of people and noisy, so that's why I can't make out what they're saying. I could always hear my birth mother over the crowds. Someday I'd get out of Midgar, speak with the planet and find my Promised Land... that's what she said." There was silence for a while.

"Is Christie with you?" Tifa suddenly said.

"Yeah, I'm here," I replied, kind of knowing where it was going.

"Are you okay?"

"As good as I can be right now."

"... Are you a Cetra, too?"

"An Ancient? Apparently," I said to Tifa and sighed. "I never knew. I never knew anything about all of this. Right now I just us to get as far from Shinra as we can."

"I know that feeling," Tifa agreed. "I'm glad you're okay, we were worried."

"I'm glad you guys are okay too," I said. "I suppose we have some proper relief once we're out of here. If we can figure something out."

"We'll get out, I know we can," Tifa assured me. "But let's just get some rest for now. We'll need it." We all agreed and I lay on the floor, letting Aerith have the bed. Sleeping on the ground wasn't unfamiliar to me anyway, as uncomfortable as it was, but there wasn't much choice here.


I woke up hearing guards talking, followed by them yelling out in pain, then ending with several thumps. My head shot up but I kept still, my eyes on the door, listening to what was going on outside. I heard footsteps shuffling slowly, closer to the door and passing by it. I heard a beep and a door open, then more footsteps heading inside the cell next to Aerith and I, where Cloud and Tifa were.

I slowly got up and quietly walked to the wall to get a better listen. The footsteps had stopped and there was nothing happening in the other room for a few moments. The person then started to walk out of the cell and down the hall again, running and their footsteps fading away. I waited a few moments before knocking on the wall.

"Tifa? Cloud?" No response. I hit a little louder. "Guys? Guys, wake up." I hit it a third time loudly, hearing some noise from the cell. It sounded like Cloud's voice. "Cloud? Cloud are you guys okay?"

"Christie, what..." his voice trailed off for a moment and there was a long silence.

"Cloud?"

"The door's open."

"I heard someone outside, I think they incapacitated the guards, they're gone now," I told him. "My door's still locked, I'm sure it's safe though."

"Okay," I heard Cloud go outside but he said nothing else for the duration. I went over to Aerith and shook her gently to wake her up. She was a bit groggy but she got up, rubbed her eyes, and looked at me.

"Something happened outside, Cloud's getting a key," I explained. I heard more footsteps then a beep and we both looked at the door, Tifa entering as it opened. She looked pale and horrified. "Tifa what's happened?"

"The guards outside, they... they've been murdered," we followed her outside to the hall. The walls were splattered with blood, the guards were eviscerated, strewn about, and a trail of blood leading out of the containment areas, freakishly quiet beyond there. Holy shit it was... it was brutal.

"I'll go ahead to check if it's clear," Nanaki spoke up, turning and heading down the hall.

"I'll go too," I said, not wanting anyone in the group to be left alone. Walking through the halls was almost like being in a sort of nightmare. Everything was quiet, everyone was dead, blood was everywhere. What the hell could have done this?

We passed the room that held all our belongings and checked inside, everyone in there was dead too but we took our stuff, the others doing the same when they caught up, and we all followed the blood into the lab area. It wasn't the part of the lab I remember being in, it looked more like a storage area. A huge container has been broken open, blood and liquid spilling onto the floor, the path of blood continuing further back.

"This is where the Jenova Specimen was contained," Nanaki spoke, carefully going ahead. "Whoever done this likely used the back elevator it seems." We heard it start to move and we all rushed towards it. Someone was going up.

It took a bit but it came back down and we all headed up on it to see who was up in the main labs. The scene was similar to the one we'd seen downstairs: bloody and everyone was dead, things were broken and everything was a mess. One of the computers was on, a file opened on the Ancient Specimens. I went over to the computer and looked at the screen, then to the door nearby that lead to the control room for the containers. The lights were off but the door was ajar. I slowly made my way to it as the others looked around the labs for any idea of who, or what, could have caused this.

I pushed open the door and felt around the side of the wall for a switch, flicking it on and coming face to face with woman I... was not in the least bit happy to see. A year younger than me, pale, brown eyes, dark red hair chopped just above her shoulders and her fringe swept to the side. She wore a red jumper, dark blue fitted jeans, dark brown ankle boots and matching coloured bomber jacket. She was frozen in place, staring at me, just as unhappy to see me as I was her.

"Fuck me," was all I could eventually say, heaving a sigh. Angel frowned, almost sneered, adjusting the cuffs of her jacket.

"I should have known this would happen eventually," she scoffed. She wasn't attacking me immediately, so at least was a plus for me. "Did you see them?"

"See what?"

"That's a no," Angel said. "Whoever killed the guards and took Jenova. I'm following the blood trail and I guess you are too."

"Christie did you find something?" Tifa asked, coming to the door and seeing Angel. She looked at me questioningly. "Do you know her?"

"Unfortunately," I said. I had a lot I wanted to ask, part of me didn't even care regardless of wanting answers. Really I didn't want to deal with her.

"Everyone!" Nanaki called. "The trail keeps going, it leads upstairs."

"We have to go," Angel said, walking past me.

"What's got you eager?" I asked with suspicion and hostility.

"Whoever is doing this has Jenova and that is not a thing anyone should have," Angel snapped at me. I didn't know anything about whatever this Jenova was but, at the time, I had to take her word for it.

The trail started going up the stairs, it lead to an office floor that resembled the last two floors, and every guard and late night employee was dead. Blood was smeared into the carpets and the heavy trail lead up to the top floor that appeared to be an executive office. The executive in question was the President of Shinra.

The President himself, in question, was lying over his desk with a huge katana embedded into his back.