Dusk was just making its disappearance in the purplish sky around the plateaus of Cosmo Canyon. The dry, sandy ground spattered under the grinding wheels traveling over top of it as a small, red buggy made its way up the rocky hills. The remaining light reflected off of the silver windshield, and the humming of the engine echoed off of the tall canyon walls. Shelled, desert Sahagins frisked away in fear as it made its ascent to the tribal grounds above.
"I wonder what Nanaki has been up to lately. He sounded kind of jittery on the phone earlier," Tifa Lockheart spoke from within the compact buggy. Cloud looked over coolly and pushed a compact disk into the CD player of the black dashboard. He turned the volume down to a manageable level just before the music erupted from the speakers. He switched the track number, and soon enough, the melodic acoustic guitar and vocals of Metallica's Fade to Black echoed through the small vehicle. Tifa shook her had and put a hand to her forehead. "I don't know how you listen to that crap…"
"Hey, its my favorite band, what can I say. But anyway, I'm sure everything is alright." Cloud turned the steering wheel to the left as he rounded another turn. The flames from the town could be seen in the distance. The blonde haired young man clicked the headlights on as he sped up. The cliffs were dangerous after all. "Look, we're almost there."
As the solo to the song ended, the duo parked the red buggy outside and started up the path to the small town. The darkness surrounding the place was eerie, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. The occasional scuffle of a nearby animal was about the only thing to jump about as they headed to the front gate. There was a broad man with a green shirt and khakis standing at the front gate. He had a dark tan and his eyes looked tired from the previous daytime heat. He only nodded at the two as they entered the town ahead.
"This place hasn't changed a bit since we were last here." Cloud glanced around as he spoke. Several people were very familiar from they're previous visits to Cosmo Canyon, but there were many who had traveled there since. The Cosmo Candle still burned bright, and the dry air surrounding the plateau still smelled like sand. It was amazing how much you could recall once you revisited something, but how little you remember after you leave it.
"Yeah I know. Lets go up to Nanaki's room and see what's up." Tifa and Cloud climbed up the final flight of stairs and headed towards the Protector of Cosmo Canyon's room. The walls were brown and caked with clay all around. The thick clay seemed to keep water and other foreign substances from leaking into the cavernous building. As they entered the main chamber above they wiped they're dusty feet off on the Bandersnatch skin rug. They both looked up quickly at the familiar clicking of claws on the floor.
"Welcome back," Nanaki exclaimed happily. Although he was a rare species of wolf, he had no trouble making eye contact with humans. He was extremely muscular, easily capable of swatting a man down in one swipe of his claws, and stood about three and a half feet high. His whole body was covered in soft flaming red fur, and at the very tip of his tail was the mark of his species, a flame. Battle tattoos lined every curve and scar on his strong body, representing forty- eight years of relentless fighting tactics. He was a very amazing creature, capable of talking, casting magic, and withholding a higher I.Q. than most humans. "It has been lonely here without my friends."
"You have friends everywhere here, Nanaki, why do you say that," Tifa walked over and scratched him behind his ears. Nanaki chuckled lightly. Cloud and Tifa walked over to the couch and sat down, Tifa falling a little closer than usual to the blonde haired swordsman next to her.
"It used to be that people came here to learn about the planet and the stars, but that is no longer so. Most people come here nowadays to pester me about the past few months. More or less, everyone who has been here in the past month has been either a news anchorman or a columnist from the Shinra newspaper." Nanaki sighed and scratched his broad chest with one claw. His eyes stopped on the two. "So how have you two been? When's the big day, eh?"
"We've been fine, but what do you mean…the big day," Cloud asked with a narrow of his eyes. Nanaki laughed and shook his head.
"Aren't you guys together or something like that?"
Tifa fidgeted slightly and brushed her bangs back; Cloud just sort of froze. "No, its nothing like that, we just live together in Nibelhiem."
Nanaki rolled his head to the side, coughed in a non-believing type of way and walked over to the bookshelf at the other end of the room. Jumping up onto his forelegs he retracted his claws and grabbed a book off of the wooden shelf just before turning back on three legs. He set it down on Cloud's lap and sat down on a rug a few feet away. "This is why I had you travel so far to visit…"
"What is it," Cloud asked with a raise of his eyebrow. Tifa looked over with a spark of interest also. Nanaki's eyes slightly bugged out at the question and a sly smirk crossed his face.
"Well, that would be what most people call a 'book', but call it what you will. What is inside that book is what is so important about it. Turn to page three hundred and twenty nine."
Cloud blushed slightly as Tifa giggled, and moved over closer to him to see as he turned the pages. She was so close he could feel her soft breath on his cheek. It made him burn inside. The feel of her right next to him made him shiver slightly, his hands shaking as he turned the page. She didn't notice…thank God…
As he turned to the given page number, he honed into the half-page picture. It showed something he had only seen a few times, glowing brightly with a soft white glow. It was the White Materia. The last time either of them had seen it was on that horrible day that Sephiroth murdered Aeris. It gracefully fell out of her hair and landed deep in the waters of the City of the Ancients. "The White Materia. What about it?"
"Read the notes about it above the picture, that is the relevance." Nanaki became slightly dark and foreboding as he watched them read. Tifa's brown, silky hair trailing down Cloud's muscular shoulders as Cloud's long spiky hair consistently poked her in the ribs. They made such a cute couple, he thought to himself. A shame they are both too stubborn to realize it.
"The White Materia was discovered long ago when the Cetra traveled the planet. It is named for its glowing, white pulses of light. It is the most rare of rare materia, only equaled by its predecessor, the infamous Black Materia. The White Materia is currently not available to science due to its unbeknownst whereabouts, but gathered from ancient books, certain theories are known about its uses. It is said to be used to summon the magical force known as Holy. Apparently Holy has the ability to speak with the planet itself, allowing it a link through the Lifestream to perform its own will. Little is known but this ancient crystal is said to be the only existing materia that has the power to resurrect the dead. As the most powerful resurrection magic in the world and the only link between the natural world and the conscience of the planet, the White Materia is the ultimate verdict of the life or death of mankind." Cloud finished with a snap of the book shutting and narrowed down at the floor with his mouth slightly agape. Tifa glanced over at Nanaki and awaited his forthcoming speech.
"This is our one and only chance of reuniting with our good friend Aeris… Are we going to do it?" Nanaki rested on the rug and stretched out. The two in front of him just looked at each other and back to the red wolf in front of them.
"My God. I don't know what to say… can we really bring Aeris back from the dead? She's been gone for so long…I mean…" Cloud stuttered slightly with his speech as he tried to make a decision. Tifa rubbed his back with her soft palm, giving him another shudder of pleasure.
"We're going to do this, if it's the last thing we ever do," Tifa said softly, glancing over at Nanaki. The wolf rustled upward and scratched behind his ear swiftly with his hind leg.
"The way I look at it is, we gather Avalanche back together, take the Highwind to the Ancient City, then find Aeris' body and the White Materia. As powerful as you have become in the past month Cloud, your magic skills combined with ours should be plenty of power to use the White Materia. Don't you agree?"
"Nanaki is right Cloud. You have crossed mountains in your fighting abilities and magic abilities since we killed Seph. You are the only one of us who has actually kept training since the final battle. This should be very easy if you can concentrate all of your power into the spell." Tifa hugged him from the side with excitement and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't believe we're actually bringing her back!"
"How did you just suddenly stumble upon this information Nanaki? This is one of the most incredible things I've ever heard of, bringing people back from the dead and stuff." Cloud brought his left ankle to his right knee and opened the book back up, skimming over the pages carefully. Nanaki sat up on his rug.
"It actually wasn't I who discovered this. It was Vincent. He found the book inside of Professor Hojo's desk last week. He brought it to me a few days ago and we studied it for several hours. I knew you were the first two I needed to get a hold of," Nanaki hopped up and walked into his 'kitchen' that was across the room.
"What was Vincent doing in Midgar? I thought everyone moved out of Midgar to find shelter." Tifa twirled her long dark hair around one finger and gave a quick glance at Cloud who was also curious.
"You see; a lot has been happening that the news has not been letting the world know. After the Diamond WEAPON fired upon Midgar, Rufus Shinra was 'killed' amongst the fire and debris of his office. That wasn't entirely true though. Vincent found out that a group of Shinra scientists rushed him to an underground lab deep beneath the infrastructure of the Headquarters. He doesn't know if they brought him around or not, but whatever they are up to cannot be good." Nanaki took a breath and walked out of the kitchen. "The reason Vincent went there in the first place was to help people that were trapped in the ruins. He teamed up with Reeves to start rebuilding the city, but they happened upon this dark little secret that the scientists have cleverly kept quiet for the past month."
"We have to investigate this! If Shinra is rebuilding itself right now we have to stop it," Cloud shot up and exclaimed, the book dropping with a thick thud on the ground. Both looked down to it and back up to him afterwards. The pages flicked shut as he reached down and grabbed it slowly, blue eyes focused on the tattered cover.
"The question is…are we going to save Aeris or risk making a big mistake with this Shinra ordeal? Winter will soon be passing over the Forgotten City and the blizzards will begin moving in. It's either one or the other, mind you that we could be too late to stop the meddling in Midgar, but if we don't hurry and find Aeris's body the ice will consume it and ruin its function ability. The water in the city is different than most water, and will provide a protective preservation to her body, but if it freezes it will expand and crush anything within it." Nankai glanced up at Cloud again. "So what's it gonna be."
"Why the hell do I have to be the decision maker all the time?" Cloud groaned and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "Okay, well we can't pass up the opportunity to save Aeris. It's a once in a million thing so we'll go ahead and give it a try."
"Then it is set. I will call Cid with the SAT phone and dial into Barret's PHS." Nanaki stopped. "And one other thing that I don't want you to be surprised about…"
"What's wrong? If it's Cid being married or whatnot, the whole world knows already." Tifa put her hands on her hips as her and Cloud arose from the couch. Cloud cocked an eyebrow.
"It's about Vincent. He is kind of teamed up with the Turks again. But before you start raving, remember that they aren't a part of Shinra anymore. They have formed they're own group like us. Don't even try to persuade him to leave them either, it will only make him angry…and you know what happens when he gets angry…" Nanaki slightly lowered his head and walked back to his soft rug. Cloud and Tifa both just stared at each other and shook their heads.
"We just have to face the fact that Avalanche isn't exactly around anymore so we can't rely on everyone to stay with it," Tifa swiftly flipped her long beautiful hair back and glanced at both of them. They only nodded. "Well, lets get going. We will need to stock up on equipment and stuff. Go ahead and call Cid, Nanaki. Tell him to swing by and pick us up in Nibelheim."