Chapter 13: The Consequence of Touch







Aeris tripped over her own feet and fell backwards onto soft, short green grass, cringing as she hit the ground and dropped her staff.

"Not bad." Zack smiled, twirling a long wooden stick in one hand before offering her the other. "You've gotten better, Rissy. Maybe you'll actually be able to get a hit on me someday."

She took his hand and he lifted her up onto her feet. The two stood in an enclosed field of grass, the sun from a hole in the upper plate shining down on them. Nearly everywhere around them were little sprouts, awaiting their chance to bloom and meet the day. In the center of it all was a cozy little home, freshly and brightly painted. It seemed the perfect little world, with nothing but a white picket fence protecting it from everything else.

"I don't know why I have to learn all this." She sighed, dusting off her pink dress "When in my life am I going to have to fight someone as tough as you?"

"You never know who you're gonna meet in a dark alley." Zack shrugged jokingly, again twirling the stick in his hand as he paced the garden for a moment. "Oh, and by the way: 'tough as me'? Please, there's no such thing. You're darn lucky I take it so easy on you."

"Really?" Aeris raised a skeptical eyebrow, comfortably resting against her staff that she had just planted into the ground.

"Yup." Zack smiled at her "In fact, if I went all out I might just end up damaging that pretty little face of yours, and I don't think there's a person in the world who wants that."

"Hmm." Aeris nodded her head and giggled softly before staring up at him with her bright emerald eyes. "I'd be careful if I were you. You never know when someone's going to knock you off of that high horse of yours."

"Who on earth's going to..." Zack began with a laugh before having his feet swept out from under him. He hit the ground with hard thud, and was on his way up until Aeris pushed his chest back down to the ground with the butt of her staff.

"Told ya." She giggled as she leant down towards him against her weapon, swaying back and forth as she smiled down softly at him. He only stared back up at her, enjoying the pretty image as her face blocked the sun. "Admit it." She began slowly, licking her lips before giving him another big bright beautiful smile.

"Admit what?" He half chuckled half wondered, tilting his head to get a different angle of her as her long chestnut curls got in his face.

"The whole reason you're doing all this." She laughed as though it were obvious, leaning ever closer to his face.

"What reason would that be?" He asked with a comfortable grin, lightly brushing her hanging curls aside.

"Don't act dumb." She gave him a loving but hard poke with her staff that made him whine a bit, which in turn made her giggle almost apologetically. "It's pretty obvious. You're doing all this because you loooove me." She laughed out loud as she sarcastically dragged out the ever dangerous L-word.

"WHAT?!" Zack shouted in a shocked, offended voice.

"You caaaare about me." She laughed even harder as she childishly got right in his face "You want to maaarry me..."

"Do not!"

"Say it!" She poked him again with her staff, and she only whipped her head backwards in a fit of laughter. He only stared at her, a very content grin on his face as she looked back down at him with another beautiful smile.

All of a sudden, he reached up and kissed her long and hard, abruptly knocking her out of her humourous mood and effectively shutting her up. In a slow, devious move, Zack grabbed the back of her neck in one hand and the butt of her staff in the other. He rolled backwards and pulled her with him. She yelped and squirmed half heartedly as he quickly tossed her staff aside and pinned her wrists to the ground, quickly finding herself trapped under him. She stopped struggling pretty quickly and just stared up at him.

He just watched her for a long moment. Her slender shoulders sunk into the ground as she almost posed for him. She was wearing her trademark pink dress, the straps almost attached to her cream like skin, cut almost painfully just above anything suggestive. Her emerald green eyes staring up at him and a loving smile etched upon her face, he realized then that she was perfect; that this was perfect. This was exactly where he wanted to be.

"You first." He whispered with a devilish smile on his face.

"No fair!" She whined, kicking her feet and struggling under him before quickly giving up and smiling at him again.

The two locked eyes for a long minute, neither saying a word, just enjoying the moment. Finally, she reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He snickered, and rolled off, lying next to her with his hands resting under his head as he stared up at their little chunk of sky. She quickly snuggled up next to him, resting her head on his chest and running a content hand through the grass on the other side of him. They lay there for some time, oblivious to the world.

"Hey," Aeris began anew as she got up on her knees and reached for a wallet on the ground, breaking the long comfortable silence. "You dropped this."

"Gimme that." Zack quickly sat up and reached for it, but she pulled away with a giggle and opened it. Within a moment, she pulled out a picture of a cute and very happy young blonde haired, blue eyed girl.

"Who's this?" Aeris asked jokingly as she looked at the picture "You got another girlfriend, Zack? She's a little young for you, but whatever..."

"Would you cut it out." Zack said, oddly sour as he pulled the picture away from her. "It's my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister." Aeris edged up closer to him, an interested grin on her face as she lay down, resting the back of her head on his thigh. "What's her name?"

"Sara." He answered monotonously.

"She's cute." Aeris said, grabbing the picture from him "You must miss her quite a bit living out here by yourself."

"Yeah..." He muttered, strangely quiet as he stared at the picture. Without another word, he pulled his arm from her and stood to his feet, gathering his things.

"What's wrong?" Aeris asked, somewhat confused as she sat up and watched him pack his things.

"Nothing." He said with a defiant sniff, rubbing his nose with his forearm, his back turned to her as he swung his arms into the straps of his backpack. "I just gotta go...I have some work to do."

"Well, okay..." Aeris conformed, disappointed.

"Bye..." He waved as he walked out of the garden and back into the real world, leaving her to wonder how she had stumbled upon such a bizarre nerve.

***



Adam walked the stone paved streets of Junon's highest level with what seemed to be a very intense focus. This section was an artificial 'olde' Junon, with imitations of homely, cozy little shops all along the roads. For a change, he was dressed lightly and comfortably in a plain old pair of black pants and a matching t-shirt. He hardly found it necessary to disguise himself anymore. Nobody ever seemed to notice him these days, let alone recognize him.

He felt a reassuring chill run up his spine. He smiled at the sensation. So he could in fact still feel. He had been worried for a couple days that he had lost that too. Locked up in his room, nothing ever changed; he always felt the same. The air was damp and cold on his skin, and the sky was either completely full or utterly devoid of clouds. He couldn't tell anymore. His smile faded.

"So," The silver haired imp began, his hands held behind his back as he did his best to keep up with the black clad man. "What horrors do you expect to unleash on the planet today?"

Adam seemed un-phased as he continued walking, scanning the buildings around him. He came to a stop in front of a small Deli. He looked in through the window at assorted meats and vegetables.

"I'm hungry..." He said aloud with a twinge of uncertainty, almost as though it was a decision he had just made. After all, he hadn't eaten in days, he told himself as he wandered into the quaint shop. He had every right to be hungry.

Adam picked up a bag and gathered what he thought looked to be the most appealing foods in the aisle he found himself in. Apples, pears and carrots were stuffed into the sack with little restraint.

"Hi." A capricious voice greeted form off to his side as he reached for a banana.

Adam turned somewhat surprised towards the source after looking around and making sure that it wasn't directed towards anyone else. A young woman was smiling at him, amused by his confusion. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and what he assumed was a white sleeveless t-shirt. Her hair might have been blonde, but was about shoulder length and stylized, and her posture made her seem quite confident.

"Those are half a gil each, just so you know. I assume that's not too much?" She asked conversationally.

"Don't worry about it." He answered with a wry grin on his face as reached for another orange. It was nice to be noticed.

"I think she likes you." The beast cut in as he watched from his spot in front of the window, arms folded as he leant backwards comfortably.

"Yeah, you SOLDIERs make a fair bit of money." She nodded her head. "You are a SOLDIER, right?"

"No." Adam told her with a shrug. "Used to be, though."

"Well, it figures." She smiled. "I see a few of them come in here once in awhile, and you look like you could fit right in with them. So you used to be one, huh?" She asked, and Adam just nodded his head as he reached for a carrot. "So what happened, you couldn't make the cut or something?"

"I wouldn't say that..." The beast snickered from afar.

"I decided it wasn't for me." Adam told her hesitantly.

"Riiight." She chuckled, nodding her head and playing along. "Whatever you say, reject. The name's Julia, by the way." She offered him her hand, and he smiled and shook it firmly. She waited for a moment, but he seemed once more to be intent on the fruits he was choosing from. "The polite thing to do would be to tell me your name." She said with a giggle.

"My name's..." he began distractedly with a chuckle of his own, looking up from the fruits and vegetables when something in the other aisle caught his eye and made him go cold.

Across from him, not more than a few feet, stood the beautiful little girl that haunted his thoughts and dreams. She stared at him almost shyly but intently with her big violet eyes, her curly brown hair hanging down past her shoulders as she held her hands behind her back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Julia asked worriedly as the former SOLDIER stared out in front of him in a frightened shock.

"Time for a wake up call..." The beast snickered, anxiously rubbing his hands together.

"Are you okay?" Julia asked as she reached out and grabbed his naked arm.

All of a sudden a rush of feverish images exploded in his brain, jolting him back into reality. Memories and emotions that were not his own poured out by the millions through out his body, his mind struggling to keep up as he learned every minute detail about the owner of the pictures. After seemingly forever passed, he realized who these images belonged to: Julia Rebecca Foreman.

Less than a second had passed when he broke away from her with a frightened yelp. She staggered backwards, her eyes wide with terror as she stared into his, choking out a final muffled scream as she dropped to her knees. Adam stumbled backwards, horrified as the beast's laughter rang out loud in his ear and the girl fell to the floor, dead and empty.

"What the hell?!" The clerk screamed from behind his counter as he ran out to save his daughter, the patrons of his store dropping their things and mumbling amongst themselves in disarray. He grabbed the girl in his arms, shaking her violently as a very deep fear rose up in his heart. "What... what did you do?!"

"Look who's back..." The beast snickered as he paced back and forth behind his play thing.

"I didn't do anything!!!" Adam pleaded with a baffled and frightened scream, losing his balance and falling back against the aisle as he realized the apple in his hand had rotted to near nothingness. He immediately dropped the fruit to the ground and tried to run away, but the man got up and chased for a few paces.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" Adam yelled desperately, but the man had already grabbed both of his arms. Adam fell to his knees and let out a piercing groan as he once more felt the surge inside his brain. A second passed and the man Adam knew now very well as Joseph Gregory Foreman fell to the floor, dead.

The customers let out terrified screams as Adam stumbled back to his feet, turning back and staring in a muddle with his head in his hands at the man he had somehow just killed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!" he finally screamed woefully at the beast, who only crossed his arms and laughed joyously.

"I'm not doing a thing." The beast shook his head happily "This is simply what you are."

The patrons became a mob around him as they closed in on the monster, seemingly ready to kill it. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" He roared at them, a vicious explosion of black following that shattered the store with the force of a bomb, mutilating everyone inside.

Adam could only stare in mortification as the entire building fell to pieces on top of the charred room full of blackened skeletons. He ran away as the building collapsed, and he was suddenly painfully aware of everyone and everything around him. The entire street watched him as he thundered through the road, howling and clutching his head. He quickly found himself knowing everything. There was a woman named Susan in a third-floor apartment who was cheating on her husband. There was an old man named Glen across the street who was dining and dashing. There was a man named Mark sitting on a bench who wondered what his wife Susan was up to. He really did love her.

It continued endlessly as Adam stumbled into the nearest alley, screaming in blinding pain as constant realization flooded him. He became incredibly claustrophobic as the entire world began to close in on him, every being on the planet suffocating him.

"It's not going to stop." The beast explained factually, leaning back against the opposite wall casually and speaking to the wretched screaming man.

Adam could only muster out loathing, desperately pathetic sobs between mournful screams as seemingly divine knowledge forced itself upon him, expanding his mortal mind to a point where it seemed an explosion was imminent. He wanted so badly for it all to finally finish.

"That's the thing about infinite knowledge." The beast snickered, turning out to the ocean as a vicious storm began to brew, listening to the simple symphony of a panicked world. "It never ends."

***



Aeris stumbled and fell to the ground as the whole world started coming down around her. She let out a pained, desperate scream as black fire exploded around her and cold dark nothingness viciously tore away at the blue sky. All around her, the planet quaked in terror as something awful awoke and threatened existence.

Aeris looked up past the dark flames and at her friends who looked to the sky in a confused shock. So they could feel it too this time. Before she had been the only one with ears for the planet's cries, but now they were loud enough for all to hear. Something horrible was on its way.

Cloud looked all around as an ear-piercingly loud hum echoed everywhere, as if the entire earth were screaming at once. Beneath the surface, he felt everything shake uncontrollably. When he noticed Aeris fall to the ground, clutching her head in her hands and biting back pained shrieks, he understood what was happening. The planet was pleading for her help. It was terrified.

A blinding explosion of white hot light in the distance lit up the sky, brighter than the sun. Every being on the earth couldn't help but look to its source: the Northen Continent.

"Oh my god, what are those?!?!" The young Yuffie screamed over the noise, shielding her eyes with one hand and pointing with the other.

Five horribly grotesque monsters tore out from the earth and scorched the sky with clouds of green mako. Enormous and visible from even thousands of miles away, they seemed horribly unnatural and almost robotic as they each let out deafening primal roars that thundered across the ocean and throughout the land. They soared through the sky, bitter of their imprisonment yet glad to finally fulfill their fate of destruction for the sake of restoration. Five more roars echoed through the sky, and they each jetted off to their own corners of the world to honour their responsibilities.

The always loud Barret let out his own roar. "What the fuck were those?!" He asked.

"The Weapons..." Aeris muttered, standing to her feet and staring out towards the north in a quiet shock. "They're here..."

The earth was suddenly enveloped in an unsettling dead silence, one that was almost more piercing than the animalistic roars from only seconds ago. Each of the remaining members of Avalanche swallowed hard, shaking as they shared frightened glances amongst themselves. They all knew that something that threatened them more than anything before had just arrived, and that the planet had just seriously upped the ante. A new war was beginning, one that they worried was beyond all of them. They could only imagine the darkness that was coming, but even that could not compare.