Disclaimer: The same

Chap. 11

Everyone stood up to look at the revived young flower girl, all with stunned expressions on their faces.

"Aeris? Is that...really you?" Yuffie asked.

"Of course. You guys act as though you've seen a ghost." she giggled.

Ironacally, this gained a laugh from Barret, who came up to her, "Welcome back, Aeris."

Cid nodded in agreement, "Yeah, welcome back."

"Diddo here, Aeris. Welcome back from...wherever you came from" said Yuffie.

"We missed you." came from Red XIII.

Vincent only nodded.

Tifa walked up to Aeris and gave her a hug, which for some reason surprised Tifa, "It's good to see you again."

Aeris returned the hug, "Thank you all." She glanced over to Cloud and Zack, who strangely enough, didn't say a word. Zack had his dark hood on over his face. This must be rough for them. I'll talk with them later.

It was Red XIII who decided to bring this moment to an end, "I assume that you are aware of our current situation."

The smiling faces disappeared and Aeris nodded, "Yes, I know. Jenova is still alive."

Barret spoke next, "Yeah. And to make it worse, that psycho Hojo is back as well. And so is Sephiroth."

"Yes. That is why I returned. The Planet...it told me that Sephiroth was the key to stopping all of this."

"How?"

The response came from Zack and it surprised Aeris somewhat.

"I don't know how? Or even why? All I know is that is what the Planet told me. It's strange, but that's what it is."

Red XIII spoke again, "Well, whatever it is, we should move fast. We can't leave those three to themselves for long."

"Yes. They plan to injure the Planet the same way as before."

"How?" Cid's eyes then widened, "They aren't going to summon Meteor again, are they?"

Aeris shook her head, "No, they can't. Such powers can't be summoned at will. It is the same for Holy."

Vincent interjected, "Then they will seek another way."

"Yes."

"Then we should go back and stop them right now before they can do anything." said Yuffie

Tifa looked at her, "Are you kidding? We would be dealing with Jenova and Hojo, not to mention Sephiroth. And it's a safe bet that the place is probably crawling with monsters again. We need a plan for this."

They all then looked at Cloud, who had been silent throughout the exchange. His eyes were downcast.

"Cloud."

Cloud's head rose slightly, "I'm...not sure. This is still a little hard to grasp."

Tifa looked at him. What is? Sephiroth's return...or Aeris's?

Cid shrugged, "Well, he's got a point. We can't do anything here. We should head to the nearest inn and talk about it after we get settled. We don't have the Bronco anymore, so we'll have to hope the Highwind has been repaired."

"The Highwind?" Aeris asked.

"Yep, my plane. The only one of its kind. I guess you haven't seen it yet."

Barret stood up, "Well we better go. It's starting to cold out here and you know how I don't like the cold."

The group stood up and began to walk when they heard a low screech. The grass seemed to come alive and form into a large object. A large object...with teeth!

"Oh no! A Marlboro!"

The plant monster licked its slimy lips and began to suck in air, ready to do its Bad Breath attack. Suddenly, a glow formed in Aeris's hands and a rod came out. Aeris glowed in red.

"Seal Evil!"

Pointing her rod at the Marlboro, the monster suddenly froze, unable to move. Zack took advantage of it and set the Buster sword.

"Saber Rush!"

Zack rushed at the frozen monster and slashed right through it, Odin style. The Marlboro was rendered in two and dissipated. Zack spun the sword around and placed it on his back. He then looked at Aeris and gave her a small smile, but it quickly disappeared.

"We should go now."

(AN: Yeah I know it's short. That's why you go to the next chapter.)