"That just about ends my story," I concluded with a simple sentence, looking up towards Aeris.
"I see," she responded, looking up towards me, staring with some strange intent. "You said you got a mako infusion, right?"
"Yeah," I answered in a curious tone, wondering why she asked such a simple question.
"Then how come your eyes aren't mako eyes?"
I glanced towards the reflective glass surface of the 'prison', squinting a bit to make out the transparent reflection of myself. As Aeris said, my eyes weren't make eyes, they where their natural colour: green. Mako eyes were supposed to be greenish blue.
"You're right." I was about to ask her how she knew, but then my alarm on my watch went off - my five-minute warning of Hojo's imminent arrival! I quickly told Aeris to get back into the 'prison', knowing I would be in deep trouble if the mad scientist found us like this. In retrospect, I felt sorry for her, having to go through all the suffering just for a twisted person's curiosity. I was surprised when she obediently stepped back into the chamber, but then realized she could read my mind. I smiled faintly towards her, a small smile of reassurance.
Hojo entered the lab, taking a quick look around to see if anything was amiss, than walked to the computer console. He restrained Aeris in the normal manner before activating some manipulators with sharp attachments. I could feel the fear in Aeris's mind when she saw them, which only started to make me more nervous. Hojo started his 'testing'; he began to use the manipulators to hit a pressure point on her body. I could see the pain in her eyes and feel it in her mind. Hojo tried the next one. Same effect. Then he went to the third. Contact with the third pressure point made Aeris scream. I could feel the immense pain in her body. Unable to stand it any longer, I headed towards Hojo and just socked him so hard that he fell unconscious. The lab assistant, shocked at the revelation, tried to sound the alarm. He was fried by a fire Materia attached to my blade. The SOLDIER 3rd's from the hallway outside heard the commotion and quickly ran in to find the cause. I drew my sword and effortless cleaved one in half while their guard was down. The other one tried to slash me in return, but I parried that blow. Attack, parry, attack, parry - It just seemed to on forever. I thought he was going to lunge when he decided to back off a little bit, but he went and hit me with an ice spell, instead. Completely unprepared, I fell to the ground, gasping softly, feeling my body numb to the effect. The last thing I remembered was looking up towards Aeris.
"It's okay," she spoke to my mind, bring peace-of-mind before I blacked out.
I woke up to find myself in the detention area. I shook the dizziness out of my head, before looking around the room more closely. Much to my surprise, I found the door wide open. Cautiously, I glanced outside, and was horrified by what I saw. The guards were ripped to shreds. Deciding it was best not to gawk, I quickly left to investigate this startling turn of events. The first destination to my mind was the lab, though when I got there, it was completely empty.
"At least Aeris escaped," I thought. Without another though, I headed two more floors up, to the floor of the office of president Shinra. There, I found another horrific sight; president Shinra, dead, with the famed Masamune sticking through his back.
"Sephiroth," I spoke out loud. But, that isn't possible. Even if he was the best out of the best of SOLDIER, he was reported MIA with Zack when they went to Nibelheim. I felt nauseas with the sudden turn of events, and was about to leave. However, some noises outside averted my attention. I turned towards the window to find two guys out on the balcony, fighting. One was an orange haired guy in a white coat carrying a shotgun. The other was a spiky haired dude and looked like he was with SOLDIER, but I couldn't believe what else he resembled. He wore the same clothes as Zack, had Zack's sword, and he even was in the same battle stance as Zack.
I could not avoid watching the battle, enticed by how the Zack clone could manoeuvre and dodge the shotgun shells. Eventually the shotgun guy retreated, jumping onto a nearby helicopter. It finally clicked that the guy with the shotgun was Rufus, son and vice- president, or, rather, president, of Shinra.
The Zack look-a-like ran back inside, hurrying down the stairs. I followed him, find him talking to a girl when I finally caught up. I couldn't hear their conversation but I thought I heard the name Aeris in the conversation. For some strange reason, I had a gut feeling they were all right, and rescuing Aeris from this dreaded place. It was a small sign of relief for me, and I decided not to pursue, slowly creeping away from the situation and praying silently that this unknown group could protect her…
It was the two days after the incident. Everything went back to normal, much to the disbelief of some. I was forgiven for my insolence, I even got a difficult mission finally, though it was actually really easy to complete.
Then, it struck one night when I was in my quarters. I felt a sudden cry of pain. It was loud, yet distant. I felt like a sword pierced through my body. I fell to the ground in immense pain. Then it stopped, suddenly. I couldn't feel any pain, I couldn't hear any screaming. It just stopped. Yet, the memory would forever be engraved in my mind…
For the next week, I didn't feel whole anymore. Something was missing in my life now, and I didn't know what. This sinking feeling slowly grew worse and worse each day, until I finally decided to resign from SOLDIER.
"Reason?" The secretary asked, when I handed in my resignation.
"Psychological problem," I responded.
"What type?"
"Unknown. Doctor said I should quit." That was completely untrue. I never even saw a doctor, but this girl wasn't Aeris and thus couldn't read my mind. The secretary typed on her keyboard a little bit and told me that I was free to leave.
I left through sector 5. When I reached the town, I couldn't feel the gentle presence I had felt earlier, much to my disappointment. However, I kept on moving, passing by the church. Actually, I stopped at the church, staring towards it. There was a hole in the ceiling. Wonder where that came from?
I decided to take a rest here, entering and taking a seat by the flowerbed. I sort of stared at the patch of flowers before sliding off my seat and kneeling down near it, praying.
Something beckoned me. I slowly looked up and opened my eyes, only to see nothing. I was up to my feet, scanning the church for any sign of life, but found none. Wondering if I was just going crazy, I decided to turn around to leave. However, I paused, feeling the same sensation once again. Turning around again, I gasped when saw Aeris standing before me, looking as beautiful as ever. However, something lingered in my mind, something was different.
"You noticed," she responded softly, smiling.
"Are you okay?" I questioned in a worried tone.
"Depends on your definition of okay."
"Are you?"
"No," she finally answered after a long moment of silence, responded in a sad voice.
"What happened?" I continued to press, beginning to grow more worried.
We sat down beside the flower patch, as I waited patiently for an answer. "I don't want to tell you," she finally spoke once more, only provoking my curiosity even more.
"Why?" I wondered, knowing she could read my mind.
"You'll feel guilty about it."
"Try me."
"Okay." She told me about all her adventure with Cloud, the name of the Zack clone, and his companions. She was getting to the end but abruptly trailed off. I asked what was wrong. Her answer was 'Cloud'. Everything about him was like her previous boyfriend. I asked for his name.
"Zack," she said. I was astonished.
"I don't believe it," I answered softly, though I should have known, kind of. "Zack was my friend. I thought the exact same things about Cloud when I saw him fighting Rufus on the balcony of Shinra tower." We both giggled at the experience, but we both also felt the loss of a good friend.
"I miss him," she whispered softly, gazing down.
"Yeah." I thought for a moment, returning to the first pause in the story, looking up towards Aeris and questioning her once more. "Why don't you tell me what happened when you went to the 'City of the Ancients'?"
"Do you know what a Cetra is?" she asked after another long pause in our conversation.
"No, no I don't."
"A Cetra is an Ancient," she said. "The Cetra are the original race of people who inhabited this world. Eventually they were wiped out like a plague because of a place known as the Promised Land. The remaining Ancients made machines called Weapons to defend the place. If the Promise Land should ever be threatened again, the weapons will awake." I absorbed all the information. "I am a Ancient." she continued. "The last of my kind. Sephiroth has threatened the planet. He wanted to merge with the planet by destroying it. I was the only one that could stop it but…" I didn't like the sound of that.
"Yes, continue." I told her, trying to get her to finish, though I had a gut feeling I wouldn't enjoy the conclusion.
"I can't tell you. You wouldn't be the same."
"I can take it!" I told her quickly, reaching for her hand, only to have my hand go through her. I stared, trying to take in the information, reaching for her once again, only falling to the same effect. I couldn't physically touch Aeris. I kept trying and trying until it hit me. She is now….
"I…. am…dead," she said, her voice trembled when she said that. "That is right. Sephiroth ran me through with his sword." I just went pale. She continued. "That is what you felt a few days ago. It was me, dying at the hands of Sephiroth." She sighed softly, still trembling, but forcing a smile. "I am not gone forever though… I now reside in the lifestream, waiting to be reborn into another body. I am still alive in spirit, and I will always be with you." I couldn't take that as an answer. She understood my pain, bowing her head. We stood their, silent.
"Good bye, Derek," she finally spoke, looking up and stepping back. I quickly looked up, feeling this sharp pain through my heart, a deep, throbbing pain.
"Wait!!!!" I screamed, but her spirit had already disappeared. I tried to catch the air before me, only to fall onto my arms and knees, weeping over the patch of flowers. I waited and waited, but I knew she wasn't going to come back. Slowly, I collected myself, taking some flowers in memory of her and continuing on, heading to the Inn at Kalm.
The meteor came, much like a doomsday Aeris predicted, but something happened and, what I believed to be the lifestream, stopped the falling rock. I would've gone and looked for Sephiroth and ripped out his lungs with my bear hands, but I was too devastated over the lose of Aeris to do anything, until now…