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"Let's split up into groups," Cloud suggested. "If all five of us go together, we'll be noticed."
It was decided that Cloud, Tifa and I would go to the 66th floor elevator, Barret and Red XIII would go to another. "By the way, Aeris," Cloud commented, just remembering. I hadn't noticed before, but he held my Guard Stick, still holding the Materia. He tossed it to me, and I caught it, feeling better with the metal rod in my hands.
I walked in mostly silence as we went down the quiet halls. I was happy, it was just... something was bothering me. Like there was something that I should remember but I had forgotten.
As we reached the elevator, I stopped.
"Hey, Aeris!" Tifa turned around. "What is it?"
"You... you do have key cards, don't you?" I asked uncertainly.
"Of course we do," Cloud nodded. "You don't think we walked this whole way?"
"No..." I didn't want to go on the elevator. But surely it was a childish fear? I didn't like being closed in in the first place, and Hojo catching me on my first escape attempt hadn't assured me any. But Cloud and Tifa were with me, what more could I do? "Alright," I nodded, and followed them in.
The floors ticked down, more and more. Slowly, yes, but surely. They won't stop. That wouldn't be fair... but sometimes I think that our lives exist to amuse some higher power.
The doors opened. We were still high in the air. I shook my head incredulously as a team of Turks stood outside. Their guns were pointed at us. ShinRa monitors the elevators. We should have taken the stairs.
Tseng, leading the group entered, looking right at me. "This must've been a real thrill for you... Did you enjoy it?"
I had been bad off before, but now I had brought Cloud and Tifa down with me.
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I was brought before President ShinRa alone, on the top level of ShinRa Headquarters. The room was elaborately decorated - never before had I seen anything so rich. It made me sick, comparing it with the people in the slums...
He sat in a large chair behind a large desk. He was an imposing man - though obese and moving on in his years, he sat tall and professionally. I didn't know what to think, standing there with my hands cuffed behind my back. This was the man behind it all.
"Ahh, Cetra," he nodded, studying me carefully. "I'm rather disappointed with the reports Hojo gives me about your behaviour. I'm expecting alot out of you. I need that Promised Land of yours."
"Huh!" I scoffed. "You don't know anything about it, sir!"
"Oh? Try me." I despised that look so much, and I had recieved it only too often within the last few days. As if was a talking Chocobo who knew how lay gold. The look of amusement and curiousity, so calm and suave.
"The Promised Land isn't mine," I said ruefully, hoping to destroy his hopes. "It doesn't belong to anyone. Supposing it even exists."
"It will belong to us, hopefully soon. That's why I need your cooperation, Aeris." He leaned forward in his chair, watching me with narrowed eyes. "I promise you, once we find it, you're free to go."
That made me hesitate. Of course he knows how to play people and do business...I told myself. But making it sound so easy, and even calling me by my name... I looked at my feet, unsure of how to respond. Then an anger filled me. What a joke! How would they ever find some magical little fairyworld, especially through science? "And when would that be, sir? I don't believe that it exists! And if I don't, as the last Ancient, why should you?"
"Hmm..." he answered, leaning back in his chair and putting on a show of disappointment. "I was afraid that you might not see things my way. But if that bargain wasn't good enough for you, I have another..." He paused for good show. "Your meager little rescue party has been caught as well. Though they annoy me, I won't harm them if you agree to my conditions."
A shiver ran down my spine. Of course. What else should I have expected? That they would get kicked out of the building with a fine for trespassing? I sighed, bowing my head. "What?"
"First, no more escapes. Second, no more struggling. Do what the professors ask. Third, no suicides, and this includes starving yourself. Break any of these rules and it'll be your friends that pay."
"Fine," I said with ice in my voice. "But you'll never find it. It doesn't exist!"
"Excellent." He turned to the guards that stood by the two massive stairways. "Bring her back to her cell."
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I was alone in my cell once again. I sat on the bed helplessly. What could I do now? I've failed, and because of me things are worse off for others, so many others. Elmyra suffered, my old Midgar friends suffered, Marlene suffered and so many others. Now Cloud, Tifa and Barret were suffering. Now I have no choice but to give up.
But wasn't it me who had told Tifa, just a little bit after I had first met her a few days ago to never give up hope? Am I a hypocrite? But I am alone...
I swung my feet, suddenly thoughtful. Was I alone? I heard voices through the ceiling, probably carrying through some vent. "Cloud?" I called loudly, hearing it echo through overhead. "Are you there?"
"Aeris?!" his voice answered. "You safe?"
"Yeah, I'm all right," I lied, sighing. "I knew that Cloud would come for me."
"Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?" he answered, and I heard heard a hint of a smile in his voice.
Was he really my bodyguard? I had only asked him to take me home that night, running from the Turks. He did so, and it was I who followed him to Wallmarket as he searched for Tifa. But it felt nice to hear him say that, and I stood up. "The deal was for one date, right?"
"...Oh, I get it..." a different voice, this one feminine answered.
"Huh?" I blinked, and then felt horrible. "Tifa! Tifa, you're there too!" I could have kicked myself.
"EXCUSE me." Tifa's voice has a trace of edge in it, or was it just irritation? I don't know. I wouldn't have said it if I had known that she was there. "You know, Aeris, I have a question," she asked more thoughtfully.
"What?" I asked, hoping the situation wouldn't get any more awkward.
"Does the Promised Land really exist?"
The question surprised me, even though I knew that it shouldn't have. I didn't know what to say at first. Just a while ago I was insisting that it didn't exist. "I don't know," I said finally. I decided to tell her what my mother had told me. "All I know is.... The Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And... then... The Cetra will return to the Promised Land." I looked up, pretending that I could see the sky and feeling pensive now. "A land that promises supreme happiness."
It took a second before I heard Tifa respond. She didn't sound angry anymore. "...What does that mean?"
I shook my head and gave a sigh. The human language has its limits. "More than words... ...I don't know."
"Speak with the Planet?" Cloud mused, trying to imagine no doubt what this meant. Zack had been curious about that, too.
"Just what does the Planet say?" Tifa asked.
I felt another pang of loss. I was cut off from the Planet here. "It's full of people and noisy. That's why I can't make out what they are saying."
"You hear it now?" Cloud was confused.
"I...I only heard it at the church in the slums. Mother said that Midgar was no longer safe. That is... my real mother..." I could hardly remember what she looked like. How could she be so distant and yet so close? The same way that she's both gone and here, I supposed. I don't know why but I was really sad again, remembering Ifalna. She had always been full of dreams, and there was so much that she wanted to show me, so much that I wanted to see. "Someday I'll get out of Midgar... speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land. ...That's what mom said. I thought I would stop hearing her voice as I grew up, but...
I couldn't bring myself to talk anymore. I was torn between emotions. I had spent my life running in the slums of Midgar and being alone. Now I was thrown into chaos. This isn't how it's supposed to be, Mother... But what do I know? How do I know what it is supposed to be like, anyhow? How do I even know what I want anymore?
It would have been so different if Ifalna had been alive. I could have escaped Midgar. I could have lived in one of those open fields where I could always see the sky. I would grow fields of flowers and I would never pick one. I would follow the wisdom of the Planet, because I would always be able to hear it. I would be a Cetra and proud...
My father was a human, though. Maybe it's my human blood that will have the last laugh. Why not? The rest of my life has been labyrinth of irony. I'm the last Cetra and there's nothing I can do. There's not enough time for anything anymore. The Cetra's moment is nearly over. The flowers will wither, the trees will diminish and the animals will die. All because I just couldn't do anything.
I laid on the cot, still and straight. Why was it so cold? What could I do anyhow, if I was out of Midgar? I closed my eyes. There were so many questions... I knew that ShinRa was destroying the Planet. I had heard the Planet's moans of pain in the church. That's when I vowed to do whatever I could... How is it that now I can do nothing? No. I won't give up yet. The Planet is too precious not to protect. Too precious not to try, whatever the cost.
Again, I did not sleep, but I drifted... a caped man enters the Headquarters, killing many with a long sword. It doesn't matter... he comes higher and higher... he wonders. He sees her and she speaks to him. He listens and comes closer...
Closer...
...closer...
The doorknob turned.
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Author's Notes - Please bear in mind that this is my first fic... so... don't hate me! =D And thank you, Firefly99, for the reviews! ^_^