Manifestation

Chapter Four

Harsh sunlight streamed in through the windows of Red XIII's home, casting shredded pieces of its glow on the sleeping people inside. Tifa scrunched her eyes up tightly as the light hit them, rolling over and stuffing her face into her pillow.

Suddenly, she smelled bacon frying. That was enough to get her to poke her head back up. Her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in awhile. She followed the scent to see Reeve standing by the stove, sliding a few pieces onto a plate.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Tifa sitting up, rubbing her sleep-filled eyes. "Good morning," he said cheerfully. "Are you hungry?"

"God, yes." She carefully stood up, stretching her toned arms into the air before lowering them to hastily finger-comb her messy locks. She gave Reeve an easy smile and took the plate of bacon and eggs that he offered her. "Is there coffee, by any chance?"

He grinned. "You're addicted to the stuff too, huh?" he questioned, turning back around to reach for the pot of freshly-brewed coffee and pouring her a cup. He stirred in some powdered creamer and handed the mug over to Tifa. She grasped it tightly in her hands and took a grateful sip.

"Thanks." She looked around the room, noticing all the empty sleeping bags. "Where is everyone?"

"They're all scattered around the canyon, stocking up for our trip to the City of the Ancients. You might want to make sure you have some extra potions and stuff, too," Reeve suggested, as Tifa picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it.

"Mm..." she tried to swallow the piece before she answered. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea. I need to wash my face, though." Having said that, Tifa ate a few more pieces of bacon before heading off to the bathroom.

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Later that day, everyone stood grouped around a small plane. Yuffie was inspecting the inside through the window. "Are you sure this thing can fit all five of us in it?" she asked, sounding unsure.

Reeve shrugged. "Cut me some slack, this is all I own. I couldn't get a hold of Cid, or the Highwind," he laughed.
"Besides, it'll get us to the City of the Ancients just fine," Tifa cut in. She had a weird feeling about all this, and she was pretty sure that it was connected to the dream that she had the night before. She couldn't remember it very well though...all she could recall was a blur of pink and yellow. And fear, too. Cold, icy fear. She was afraid of just what they were going to discover at the site of Aeris' death.

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"There, I can see the Ancient forest," Reeve said to his friends as he piloted the plane over the Northern Continent. "I'll fly over it and land outside the City." Yuffie snored next to him, partially drowning out his words, but Tifa nodded to let him know that she had heard. Red XIII sat on the floor of the plane, and Vincent sat in the seat next to her, gazing silently out the window.

Tifa leaned over to gaze out, as well. "I haven't been back here since Bugenhagen took us back..." she murmured under her breath. Vincent shifted in his seat.

"...I haven't, either," he answered back. Tifa turned to look at him, and gave him a tiny smile. His eyes held her, and although he didn't smile back, he didn't look unfriendly. After a brief uncomfortable pause, she sat back into her own seat.

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Around ten minutes later, Reeve had managed to successfully land the plane right outside of the deserted city. Tifa climbed out of the plane, looking at her surroundings with a shiver. The ancient shell houses, long since abandoned, always struck her as creepy. Then there was the fact that this was the place where they had lost Aeris...a flash of her forgotten dream seemed to come back for just an instant, before it was gone again. She had a terrible premonition, though. Something bad was going to happen.

"So...Red XIII, what do you think our first thing to do should be?" Reeve questioned. Everyone seemed to be trying to forget about just what tragedy had happened in this very place.

"We should look into some of the abandoned homes. There could be old documents of some sort hidden in one of them. After all, they left documents of Jenova. They could have known about this virus, too," Red XIII answered.

Yuffie clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a yawn. "There's a lot of houses around here though...which one should we go into first?" she asked.

"It would make more sense to split up and individually check each one out," Vincent suggested in his cool, calm voice. Nothing ever seems to affect him, Tifa mused to herself.

Reeve nodded. "You're right. So, I'll take the house to the left, Red XIII, you can take the first house to the right...Yuffie...you take the one next to that, Vincent, take the last one to the right...Tifa?"

She nodded slowly, knowing that there was only one house left to taken – the one housing the staircase which led down to the scene of Aeris' death. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll search the last home." She gave everyone a reassuring smile, and then everyone went their own separate ways. There was really nothing left to be said.

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Tifa carefully stepped through the tiny forest path leading to the house beyond it. Up ahead, she could already see the glittering edge of the lake...a band of pain constricted around her chest suddenly. She had so many sad memories of this place...but she shook her head. No matter what, she had to focus on just researching the virus. However, she still couldn't shake off her premonition...

She finally broke through the end of the path, and set her eyes upon the tiny lake and then the house sitting behind it. She edged her way along the edge of the lake, watching the water glisten. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and walked up to the door of the house, taking a deep breath and walking inside.

And behind her now, the surface of the lake began to ripple as something rose up from the surface....to claim yet another victim.

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Author's Note – Eek, I know! I was terrible about bringing you all this chapter. =( I apologize. I needed some time to grieve over my dog dying...but I feel much better now, and all ready to start updating regularly once more. I hope you all stuck with me, and I hope you like this chapter. =)