Chapter V – A Gift From the Planet
It was light outside when Lucrecia awoke. She needed to go to him. She could sense her son's pain and anguish. She knew he was sleeping deep within the Northern Cave and she knew that Jenova was there, waiting. Lucrecia got out of bed and walked up onto the deck of the Highwind. She needed to talk to someone.
"Cloud…"
Silence. No one was around except for one man at the controls of the ship. It was eerily quiet. The man turned to face her.
"Ah you're awake at last miss."
She looked at him puzzled.
"At last? Who long have I slept? And where is everyone?"
"Let's see now, must've been about five days or so. Cloud has gone with the others to fight Weapon. We're flying right above them miss if you would care to look."
Lucrecia walked to the side of the airship and leant a little over it. They were flying over a huge expanse of green, the dark shape of a city nestled in the horizon. Then she saw it. Weapon. It was a huge monster, mechanical in nature and yet strangely alive. Created by the Planet as a protector from Jenova, this one was on its way to destroy Midgar before Cloud and the others. She could just make out Cloud's figure below her. He had his sword raised, waiting for that crucial moment when he could strike. Just as the moment came Weapon let out an ear-shattering roar and fired a beam of energy directly at him. It struck Cloud with full force and sent him sprawling across the landscape. Lucrecia screamed.
Weapon heard her scream and looked up at the airship flying above its head. It roared at her sensing the Jenova inside her body. It lifted a gigantic silver arm up towards her.
"We have to move quickly miss."
"But what about Cloud?"
"I'll come back for them don't worry but I have to save this airship."
The arm of the monster came closer until it was almost touching. She had to do something to save Cloud. No more would she be responsible for any death in this world least of all for the blue-eyed SOILDER. She stood back from the side of the ship, ran and leapt onto Weapon's hand.
"Miss Lucrecia!"
"Go save the ship. I have to rescue them. Please hurry!"
With that the pilot raised the airship high into the air out of harm's reach. Lucrecia turned to Weapon and stared at it straight in the eye.
"Weapon! Cease this destruction. Let me heal my friend. Please."
Lucrecia's hands were shaking furiously with fear and she could feel her heart beating with astonishing rapidity inside her chest. She didn't know what to do. She tried speaking again.
"Weapon, please. We mean you no harm."
"You are a Child of Jenova yet you are a kind woman. What purpose do you have here?"
She gasped. The monster was speaking to her inside her head. She tried to reply in the same way.
"We have come to save the Planet."
It took all her concentration to send the message but Weapon seemed to receive it for it stood still a little as if in thought.
"Not an easy task for one such as yourself. Why are you doing this?"
"Sephiroth is my son. I have to help him discover his true self. And I have to help my friends. We only mean to do the best for you. Humanity is not to blame for this. I am."
"Very well child. I will let you and your friends live but I cannot save humanity. That is for the Planet to decide."
"Thank you Weapon. I owe you my life. I wish I could repay you for your kindness."
"Accept this gift from the Planet. It will help you heal the young one and bind you closer together until your task is complete. I sense murder from the city and I have my own task to perform. Farewell child."
Weapon lowered its arm and set Lucrecia down beside Cloud's body. From its other hand it dropped a small glowing orb by her feet. She picked it up and held it in her hands and Weapon turned and headed towards Midgar.
"Farewell my friend."
The pilot was as good as his word and came back just a few minutes later to pick up the group. Cid carried the unconscious Cloud aboard the ship and laid him down in his quarters. They all stood beside his bed weeping for him. Lucrecia held the orb tighter in her hands. It felt like a Restore materia but it was different somehow. She had to try.
"I think I can save him."
Tifa lifted her tearful eyes to meet Lucrecia's. Even through the mist of tears Lucrecia could see the younger woman's mistrust fighting with her love for a dying man. Lucrecia held out the orb to Tifa. She stared at it amazed.
"A materia? We already tried all the healing materia we could."
"Not this one, I think it might work."
Tifa did not question Lucrecia, she simply believed her. She would do anything to save him even accept someone else's love for him.
"Go ahead. Save him. Take him."
"Tifa, you don't understand. I'm not trying to be a hero. I don't love him, not the way you do. I care for him more than anyone but…"
Lucrecia let herself trail off. This was not the time to sort out her feelings. She sat on Cloud's bed and laid one hand across his forehead. With the other hand she held the materia and let her mind flow into it, absorbing its knowledge.
"Planet hear my cry. Heal him, let him live"
A red ray of light shone out from the orb and enclosed them. Lucrecia closed her eyes and allowed the materia to build a bridge between her and the blue-eyed man. She could sense his pain and his fear. He was dying and he knew it. She tried to talk to him but her lips could not move. She could feel the energy around them holding them both in place. Then a thought struck her.
"Cloud, Cloud can you hear me?"
"Lucrecia?"
There it worked. She could communicate with him using the power of her mind. Without knowing it Lucrecia had created a bond with him so strong nothing could ever break it.
"Cloud! I want to save you but I need your consent to do so. OK?"
"I want to live."
"I'm going to give you some of my Spirit Energy. That will replace some of the Life Force you have lost. However it means when I die, you die and vice versa. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
A green light shone from Lucrecia's body and flowed towards Cloud's body engulfing him. She concentrated as hard as she could, trying to call up Cloud's own energy to bond with hers in order to heal him. She could see him in her mind's eyes struggling.
"Get up Cloud!"
Cloud flung open his eyes and the red field vanished. He was alive again. Tifa looked up.
"Cloud, you're alive. You fool! We were so worried."
She wrapped her arms around him and caught him in a fierce hug. He hugged her back taking comfort from her warmth and the smell of her hair.
"I'm OK now Tifa really. Thanks to Lucrecia."
Tifa turned to talk to Lucrecia but she had already left.
