Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Revisiting the Crisis

Bahamut heard the cry of a scared young girl in his dreams. He whirled around and tried to chase down the location, moving through the fog around him at a sluggish pace that didn't change no matter how quickly he tried to move his legs. For some reason, he knew the girl who was sobbing in terror, but he couldn't remember who it was. A mortal to be sure, but someone…

A trembling shape appeared in front of him, shaking spasmodically with each cry that ripped through the fabric of the dream world. Bahamut knelt beside the figure, assuming that it was the source of the cries, and reached out to touch its shoulder.

The hunched over human turned its head, meeting Bahamut's eyes with its own. The emerald eyes were steady and clear, showing that the eyes' owner was not the scared person Bahamut had thought it was. Bahamut blinked as a flash of silver swung in front of one of the deep green eyes, then another on the other side. He backed away, finding in front of him a mere child barely into adolescence, possessed with a veil-like mass of platinum hair and glowing green eyes that seemed to be trying to peer straight into Bahamut's soul. The boy stared silently at Bahamut, abruptly seeming to tower over the old dragon as he himself crouched on the ground, for the first time in his existence feeling powerless and just as helpless.

Bahamut blinked, shaking his head from side to side. The silver-haired child had grown into a full-fledged adult with the same hair and eyes. A slice of silver lightening lanced down between Bahamut and the young man, taking the shape of a long sword that bore the signs of use and blood on its still-yet sharp blade. Never taking his eyes off of Bahamut, the man reached out and took a firm grip on the hilt of the sword, raising it in front of him in what was clearly an attacking stance.

The air behind the man shifted and cleared into a pair of eyes that were an uncannily glowing red and having the same slit pupils that a cat bore. They had the same intense, soul-penetrating look that strange young man's eyes wore.

And they, too, were staring straight at Bahamut.

The eyes narrowed, and then widened into a malicious sense of glee. The continuous sobbing of the girl in the background made an arcing crescendo in volume, becoming louder and louder as the two pairs of eyes, red and green, kept staring straight into the depths of Bahamut's heart.

The girl's cries melted into a single, drawn out scream.

"No-o! Zeno-o-o-o!"

Aeris!

* * *

Aeris shuddered as the eerie green glow disappeared, along with Zeno and the fire that had been burning when she woke up. A sudden chill shot through her, moving from the base of her spine to the tip, caressing her back in one long, drawn out stroke.

Your time is coming soon, girl…

That voice! Aeris whimpered involuntarily as the harsh, gratingly familiar whisper threaded its way through her mind.

A slight movement to her left caught her eyes, drawing them towards the shadowy figure lying on the ground that was slowly trying to pull itself to its hands and knees. Its head was shaking groggily from side to side as if it had just awakened from a long, nightmare-filled slumber. She crawled as quickly as she could over to it, too scared to stand and too afraid that the voice would come back again and find her, alone and defenseless.

The person was Bahamut, his blue-gray hair and gray skin shining dully in what was left of the brilliant light from before. He coughed and blinked several times, shivering slightly.

"Bahamut! Are you all right?" Aeris asked in an anxious whisper, unable to raise her trembling voice any more in volume.

Bahamut groaned in response. "What…happened?"

"I don't know!" Aeris bit her lip. "Can you…make some light? I can't really see in here."

"Isn't there one already…?" Bahamut turned his eyes towards the center of the platform where the fire he had created previously should have still been burning. Instead, a strange blankness met his eyes. "What?! It's gone!" He reached up and gingerly touched the side of his head, trying to remember what had happened. He had felt so tired, and then…and then…

And then?

Nothing. He couldn't remember what happened after that feeling of overwhelming exhaustion that had taken immediate control of his mind and body. Bits and pieces came to him, a confusing collage of glowing emerald eyes and pitiful tears, but not enough to tell him what had occurred during his unconsciousness.

He extended a finger and concentrated, hissing under his breath and feeling slightly relieved when his powers responded to his call and started a tiny flame of dancing fire on the tip of his finger. Bahamut plucked the bit of fire off of his finger, cupping it in his opposite hand before handing it to Aeris, who simply took it out of pure surprise and the lack of being able to make any other reaction. He had spelled it so that it would not catch and burn as regular fire would; a tricky charm that formed a translucent, thin encasing of membrane around the little flame that still let enough light out.

"Check on Zeno," Bahamut told Aeris, beginning to stand on his shaky human legs. "I'll look at the others."

Aeris gulped audibly. "Um…Bahamut…I don't know if Zeno is still there."

"What?" Bahamut jerked his head around to stare at the girl, for the first time since they had met using a tone of voice that projected a mix of fear and horror. Then he was sprinting off towards the bundle on the ground that had marked where Zeno had lain, kneeling beside it and pawing through it as if Zeno had somehow shrunk and was hiding beneath each fold of the cape. When his search ended fruitlessly, he turned once more on Aeris. "Aeris. Tell me what happened!"

Aeris turned pale under the flickering glimmer of the fire she held. "Zeno…I saw him walking towards the edge of the cliff, and there was some sort of green light all around him…"

"What else?" Bahamut demanded, rising from his kneeling position.

"He changed," Aeris whispered. "His hair and eyes changed color, and then he just…stepped off of the edge. The light all disappeared with it…I think that was when your fire went away, too."

Bahamut went silent for a moment. "That fire that I made…only I should be able to extinguish it…me and…" His eyes widened. "Aeris, did someone speak to you?!"

Aeris nodded, green eyes growing big underneath Bahamut's scrutinizing crimson orbs. "Some voice in my mind said that I would be next, right after Zeno disappeared. I'd never heard that voice before, Bahamut, it was something like…I don't know, fingernails going across a piece of slate. A voice that made your spine tingle like crazy and you couldn't get out of your mind…"

"A voice that made your spine tingle like crazy"…? Bahamut frowned pensively before turning back to Aeris. "Go and start trying to revive the others. I'll work on them, too."

Aeris made a beeline for her father, but Bahamut had reached his side first. She made a detour in her path and headed for the spiky-haired man named Cloud, crouching next to him and reaching out to give his shoulder a tentative shake.

A pair of flashing ocean blue eyes immediately lit up from within his shadowed face, the pupils expanding and the eyes narrowing in order to make out who the figure over him was. Aeris backed away as he practically leaped to his feet, muscles tensed and his hands reaching for the sword he had been sleeping on.

"M-Mister S-Strife, it's just me," Aeris stammered, completely taken aback by the fighter's reaction she had received.

The man paused in the middle of grabbing the hilt of his sword before relaxing slowly. "I'm sorry, Aeris," he said, finishing the journey and sheathing the cleaver sword over his back. Cloud turned to meet her beautiful green eyes with his own, trying to find a way to apologize to the ghost of his dead love. But he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact and ended up just fiddling with the laces on his boots. "What's wrong? And why is it so dark?"

"I think Bahamut will have to explain that to you," Aeris replied, juggling the tongue of fire she still held to her other hand and reaching up with her freed hand to rub at her cheek. "Can you go help wake the others? I'm not sure what's happening, but Bahamut should."

Cloud nodded, feeling a surge of emotions in his heart and unable to do anything about them. He waited for Aeris to turn to her next patient before coming out of his crouching position and turning to the person who had been sleeping closest to him. He reached out half-blindly and managed to find Tifa's shoulder, shaking it gently but firmly.

"Who…?" Tifa yawned, blinking owlishly. "Cloud?"

"Wake up, Tifa," Cloud said softly. "There's something going on. Do you remember falling asleep?"

"Falling asleep…? I…I can't…remember," Tifa replied slowly. She shook her head as if she were trying to clear cobwebs from her mind. "I feel like someone just stirred up my brain in a big bowl and then mashed it back into my skull."

"You're not the only one," Cloud assured her as he moved on. No sooner had he touched the next person's shoulder than there was a flash of silver that was pressed up against his throat, just barely drawing a thin line of blood along its edge. He froze, knowing that this type of reaction was to be expected of some people, including himself. But he had never met someone who was so sensitive that they actually tried to cripple the person before at least finding out who it was.

Dusk peered at him with clear, blood-colored eyes. She apparently recognized him for she took the edge of her blade away, but she never relaxed in the slightest even when Cloud gave her a thin smile as he swiped the blood away from his throat.

"What do you want?" she asked in her voice that was as cold as the blade she was rubbing blood away from with her bare fingertips. She licked Cloud's blood off of her fingers and put the sword at her side again, the long length of the sword shining even in the shroud of shadows that surrounded them.

Cloud restrained himself from grimacing as she finished cleaning her fingers of blood, nevertheless taking a half step that was more of a flinch away from her. "Bahamut wants to talk to us. Apparently, something has happened, and that something isn't that good."

"It never is," Dusk remarked offhandedly as she rolled her neck from side to side, making audible pops with each twist.

"Everyone, pay attention," Bahamut called out to the group as heads turned. "In case you haven't noticed by now, Zeno is missing." He held out a hand to gain attention as eyes immediately grew frantic and turned to each other. "And there might be a reason for that."

"What is it?!" Cid demanded. "Tell us! I may have only known the kid for a short time, but he's a good one. He wouldn't run off without telling anyone first."

Bahamut paused and then chuckled. "He's a 'good one'? You should know, Cid. Didn't Cloud tell you who Zeno was?"

"But…I thought that that was just a theory…" Cid deflated. "You mean it's true?"

"Every bit of it." Bahamut's eyes grew hard. "Jenova has been here—I can feel her traces in the air. And she's even stronger than before; she was the reason why all of us, including me, fell asleep, and most probably also the reason why Zeno is missing."

"What does that old chunk of bacteria want this time?" Yuffie demanded irritably.

They got a reply.

You can be more creative with insults than that, a creaking voice hissed into their minds. Aeris and Cloud both stiffened perceptibly; out of everyone in the group, only they had heard that voice before.

It's Jenova!

I've been listening to all of your theories, the voice continued. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but then where would the fun be? They're all absolutely correct. Your… "Zeno"…is Sephiroth. Just as Aeris is that annoying girl from the past…

"What do you want here, Jenova?" Bahamut asked the air calmly. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at some unseen entity.

I just wanted to play with you, that's all. The voice took on a tinge of malicious humor. I will succeed in destroying this pitiful world this time, Bahamut, and this time none of you can stop me. Meteor never was destroyed; it simply withdrew until it was summoned again.

"You've forgotten one thing, Jenova," Cloud abruptly said in a clear, fearless voice. "Holy can come again. Its seal was broken and all it would take is one word to bring it back."

Oh, no, my little puppet, Jenova replied mockingly. I'm so scared. I took care of Holy while I was still growing…the poor thing was just too worn out to fight back. And I've reconstructed the seal. You won't be able to come close to opening it without the White Materia…and that's been long lost to you. Even then…my son is there to keep Holy from aiding you pathetic parasites again.

A sinking feeling filled Cloud's heart as he began to realize that what Jenova had just said was true. Holy would have been too tired from stopping Meteor that it wouldn't have been able to even put up a decent fight, and the Lifestream…

"Where's Zeno?" Aeris demanded suddenly. "What did you do with him?!"

Zeno? The voice was streaked with malice as the group fell silent, waiting for an answer. Zeno…is mine now. Jenova laughed, a coldly derisive call that made Aeris' knees begin to shake. And then, Jenova's alien presence was gone, vanished like Bahamut's fire that she had so easily put out on her own.