::Chapter 11 – Blazing On::
Walking towards Cloud's old home, materials in hand, the team had discovered their next and hopefully final target was to head to the burned down reactor at Gongaga. Before that would happen, there would need to be a mode of transportation available, and a night's rest. Cloud slept uneasy, and woke up before everyone else. When he awoke, something didn't seem right. Things seemed out of place, but he would worry about this later on after he rested some more. According to the clock on the desk near his bed, his slumber wasn't but four hours long, not nearly enough to function normally on. He passed back out and remained there for another five hours.
Waking up for a second time, he woke up on the main deck, where everyone was waiting. Something was off; no one was talking about the trip to Gongaga. The Highwind itself had crashed just a day earlier, how could it be sitting here parked in one piece? The ship wasn't near Nibelheim either; it was parked outside of Kalm. The current main topic was where to go to now, even though it had been agreed that Gongaga was indeed the next destination. Looking around, he noticed Vincent's injuries were fresher than he'd remembered. It was as if time itself had reversed, and they'd never left The Midgar site. Perhaps they had, and had just landed here temporarily, but it didn't make sense to Cloud as to why they didn't know where to go next, let alone why the ship was in one piece.
"What the hell's going on here?" Cloud said, with a dazed look on his face. "We're trying to figure out where to go next. You got any ideas?" Cid said, while smoking. "What are you talking about? I thought we had agreed on going to Gongaga?" Cloud said, scratching his hair and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Head to Gongaga, eh? What's so special about that run-down village?" Cid said, flicking the ashes from this cigarette. "What do you mean special? What about the papers, and the book, and Aerith?" Cloud said, slowly starting to lose himself. "What the hell? You got hit on the head hard back there in Midgar, didn't you? Aerith died months ago, we all watched her die by the hand of Sephiroth. What kind of fairy tale have you been living in?" Cid said, putting out his now expired cigarette. "Wha...? But... we.. I.. the lake... still alive.. then nibel.. the book...the basement.." Cloud was sputtering his words now, unaware of what was going on. He was sure that this was just a dream; he would wake up and be in Nibelheim, ready to head to Gongaga. Aerith would be alive and well, at his side, telling him to wake up.
There was only one problem. It wasn't a dream. Something had happened, they'd gone back in time, or this was just some kind of déjà vu, but these were all wrong. Cloud had simply been dreaming this entire time. It was the morning after the Midgar tower collapse, and he had suffered a strange concussion to the rear of his head, which most likely caused his unusual dream. The dream had felt so real, every bit of it, he accepted the fact that it was, just like he'd accepted the identity of Zack. Cloud thought about taking the chocobo and heading north, but he, for some reason, knew what he would find. He knew that Aerith wouldn't be there alive. He knew that the papers in Nibelheim were indeed existent, and he knew that Gongaga seemed like a good place to head. Somehow, he knew deep inside.
"So where should we head? Got any ideas, anyone?" Cid asked the surrounding crew, with a lost look on his face. "Gongaga, Let's go to Gongaga." Cloud said, almost certain that something, anything would be found. "Fine, Gongaga it is." Cid said, giving in to Cloud's demand.
The Highwind took off, in the direction of Gongaga. It would be there in minutes, and finally, all of this could end. Cloud could figure out why he had been dreaming all of those dreams about Aerith, and what made Gongaga so special. Behind the ship stood the few floors of the once great Midgar Tower, and its surrounding city. The ashes and dust from the collapse had just begun to settle, which made the sky hazy.
Within minutes, the ship touched down in the village near the Gongaga reactor. Smoke was billowing from the reactor, which struck a chord with everyone as odd. They made it a point to visit once breakfast was served. Breakfast wasn't quite breakfast, and involved a few pieces of pork with a few fried chocobo eggs. Before breakfast was over, air raid sirens started going off from out of nowhere. They seemed to come from the reactor itself, seeing as the village never had any type of alert system installed.
Cloud walked down to the reactor himself, and stopped shortly before reaching the fence which was nearby. A piece of Meteor had struck the reactor, apparently broken off from the earlier clash. The piece of meteor itself wasn't what caught his eye though; it was what was in and around it. Located within an opening of this small chunk of Meteor appeared to be a head of some sort, but the head had six tentacles coming out of where its neck should've been. Each tentacle went in its own direction and stopped at six round human sized eggs.
"Barrett. Tifa. Cid. Vincent. Yuffie. Cait." Cloud mumbled, looking down at these six monstrosities. He began to shout their names now, more aware of what was actually going on. "Barrett! Tifa! Cid! Vincent! Yuffie! Cait! Get over here and look at this!" With that, everyone came running down the village path, towards Cloud. "Oh shit." Barrett said. "Shit....Shit...Oh fuck. We've got to do something about this, right now." "Cloud, how did you know about this?" Cid asked, slightly confused. "I didn't, but when I had what I guess was a dream, we went and found Aerith alive, and after that we went to Nibelheim where we discovered that Meteor was attracted to three other sources of Mako; The Mt. Nibel Reactor, the Corel Reactor, and this Reactor. Apparently chunks of Meteor crashed into each of the reactors, leaving behind this alien life form and its eggs. The only way to know for sure which reactors contain these life forms though, is to travel to each one." Cloud spoke, as if he could remember the dream frame by frame. "So what do we need to do here?" Yuffie asked, shaking her head "It's simple. We need to destroy everything you see before you, before whatever this is hatches." Cloud responded, slowly getting closer to the alien. "No, you guys stay here, I want to examine this for myself." Cloud said, slowly getting closer, before being stopped in his footsteps. He looked up and stared at what was, or at least, what he assumed was a ghost.
It wasn't just any ghost. It was Aerith.
Walking towards Cloud's old home, materials in hand, the team had discovered their next and hopefully final target was to head to the burned down reactor at Gongaga. Before that would happen, there would need to be a mode of transportation available, and a night's rest. Cloud slept uneasy, and woke up before everyone else. When he awoke, something didn't seem right. Things seemed out of place, but he would worry about this later on after he rested some more. According to the clock on the desk near his bed, his slumber wasn't but four hours long, not nearly enough to function normally on. He passed back out and remained there for another five hours.
Waking up for a second time, he woke up on the main deck, where everyone was waiting. Something was off; no one was talking about the trip to Gongaga. The Highwind itself had crashed just a day earlier, how could it be sitting here parked in one piece? The ship wasn't near Nibelheim either; it was parked outside of Kalm. The current main topic was where to go to now, even though it had been agreed that Gongaga was indeed the next destination. Looking around, he noticed Vincent's injuries were fresher than he'd remembered. It was as if time itself had reversed, and they'd never left The Midgar site. Perhaps they had, and had just landed here temporarily, but it didn't make sense to Cloud as to why they didn't know where to go next, let alone why the ship was in one piece.
"What the hell's going on here?" Cloud said, with a dazed look on his face. "We're trying to figure out where to go next. You got any ideas?" Cid said, while smoking. "What are you talking about? I thought we had agreed on going to Gongaga?" Cloud said, scratching his hair and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Head to Gongaga, eh? What's so special about that run-down village?" Cid said, flicking the ashes from this cigarette. "What do you mean special? What about the papers, and the book, and Aerith?" Cloud said, slowly starting to lose himself. "What the hell? You got hit on the head hard back there in Midgar, didn't you? Aerith died months ago, we all watched her die by the hand of Sephiroth. What kind of fairy tale have you been living in?" Cid said, putting out his now expired cigarette. "Wha...? But... we.. I.. the lake... still alive.. then nibel.. the book...the basement.." Cloud was sputtering his words now, unaware of what was going on. He was sure that this was just a dream; he would wake up and be in Nibelheim, ready to head to Gongaga. Aerith would be alive and well, at his side, telling him to wake up.
There was only one problem. It wasn't a dream. Something had happened, they'd gone back in time, or this was just some kind of déjà vu, but these were all wrong. Cloud had simply been dreaming this entire time. It was the morning after the Midgar tower collapse, and he had suffered a strange concussion to the rear of his head, which most likely caused his unusual dream. The dream had felt so real, every bit of it, he accepted the fact that it was, just like he'd accepted the identity of Zack. Cloud thought about taking the chocobo and heading north, but he, for some reason, knew what he would find. He knew that Aerith wouldn't be there alive. He knew that the papers in Nibelheim were indeed existent, and he knew that Gongaga seemed like a good place to head. Somehow, he knew deep inside.
"So where should we head? Got any ideas, anyone?" Cid asked the surrounding crew, with a lost look on his face. "Gongaga, Let's go to Gongaga." Cloud said, almost certain that something, anything would be found. "Fine, Gongaga it is." Cid said, giving in to Cloud's demand.
The Highwind took off, in the direction of Gongaga. It would be there in minutes, and finally, all of this could end. Cloud could figure out why he had been dreaming all of those dreams about Aerith, and what made Gongaga so special. Behind the ship stood the few floors of the once great Midgar Tower, and its surrounding city. The ashes and dust from the collapse had just begun to settle, which made the sky hazy.
Within minutes, the ship touched down in the village near the Gongaga reactor. Smoke was billowing from the reactor, which struck a chord with everyone as odd. They made it a point to visit once breakfast was served. Breakfast wasn't quite breakfast, and involved a few pieces of pork with a few fried chocobo eggs. Before breakfast was over, air raid sirens started going off from out of nowhere. They seemed to come from the reactor itself, seeing as the village never had any type of alert system installed.
Cloud walked down to the reactor himself, and stopped shortly before reaching the fence which was nearby. A piece of Meteor had struck the reactor, apparently broken off from the earlier clash. The piece of meteor itself wasn't what caught his eye though; it was what was in and around it. Located within an opening of this small chunk of Meteor appeared to be a head of some sort, but the head had six tentacles coming out of where its neck should've been. Each tentacle went in its own direction and stopped at six round human sized eggs.
"Barrett. Tifa. Cid. Vincent. Yuffie. Cait." Cloud mumbled, looking down at these six monstrosities. He began to shout their names now, more aware of what was actually going on. "Barrett! Tifa! Cid! Vincent! Yuffie! Cait! Get over here and look at this!" With that, everyone came running down the village path, towards Cloud. "Oh shit." Barrett said. "Shit....Shit...Oh fuck. We've got to do something about this, right now." "Cloud, how did you know about this?" Cid asked, slightly confused. "I didn't, but when I had what I guess was a dream, we went and found Aerith alive, and after that we went to Nibelheim where we discovered that Meteor was attracted to three other sources of Mako; The Mt. Nibel Reactor, the Corel Reactor, and this Reactor. Apparently chunks of Meteor crashed into each of the reactors, leaving behind this alien life form and its eggs. The only way to know for sure which reactors contain these life forms though, is to travel to each one." Cloud spoke, as if he could remember the dream frame by frame. "So what do we need to do here?" Yuffie asked, shaking her head "It's simple. We need to destroy everything you see before you, before whatever this is hatches." Cloud responded, slowly getting closer to the alien. "No, you guys stay here, I want to examine this for myself." Cloud said, slowly getting closer, before being stopped in his footsteps. He looked up and stared at what was, or at least, what he assumed was a ghost.
It wasn't just any ghost. It was Aerith.