Chapter 20 : Written in the Stars

Aerith woke up fairly early in the morning. Out side the window she saw that the sun was only just making its appearance over the horizon.

It was strange, the differences of been on another world. This sun looked more orange than the one she was use to, it gave the world a soothing glow as it continued to rise into the sky.

Carefully she lifted her self up and gently rolled Cloud's sleeping body off her own. His face pouted as his hand unconsciously searched for what had gone missing. Aerith took her still warm pillow and placed it next to his hand to find it, she smiled as he tugged it closer and went back to his undisturbed sleep. 'The bigger the soldier the bigger the baby hmm?'

Not wanting to disturb him further Aerith walked swiftly to the bathroom and closed the door.

She twisted the handed on the shower and a few seconds later the room was already starting to mist up with steam. Standing in front of the shower she unbuttoned her nightgown and let it drop to the floor along with her underwear, she stepped inside and sighed slowly as the warm water began to run over her body.

Aerith took her time and washed her body with the many foams and soaps the spa had given her as a free gift. At home a bar of soap and some shampoo would be it but there must have been a dozen different things to try here. The last to clean was her hair, she reached up with her hands and untied the small ribbon placing it on the soap stand along with a little white sphere.

While she carefully massaged her hair with the shampoo she couldn't help but smile and watch the little sphere as it sat on the stand.

Cloud slowly opened one eyelid and looked around the room in front of him. The first thing that got his attention was the pillow in his arms and the lack of a certain flower girl.

He sat up and rubbed his face with his hands before realizing that the shower was turned on in the other room. The hum on water could be heard through the bathroom wall.

'Oh yeah, up early for the thing.' The blond rubbed his face remembering that today was the day he had to pay up for the bet. 'I can only imagine what's going on in that strange mind of hers.'

Before he could think about it for too long the humming stopped and soon enough door opened and a wave of warm air filled the room. Aerith stepped out with a white towel wrapped around her body, a few drops of water ran down her slightly blushed skin. Her long chestnut hair was still soaking wet as it ran down her back.

"Oh, your up." She smiled at him.

"Yeah, any reason we're up so early?"

Aerith walked up to him and playfully ran her finger up from the top of his chest to his chin and then rested on his lips. "Yep, and you know what it is so don't even bother to try anything to get out of it."

"The thought never crossed my mind." Cloud grinned as she stepped to the side and sat down on the bed.

"Good boy," She took a brush and began to comb her hair through. "You better get showered now, we should leave as soon as possible."

"Ok." The blond nodded before walking into the bathroom. "Just us two or are we expecting company."

"Nope, just us."

Cloud nodded again and closed the door behind him.

Inside the room was still a bit steamy from the recent shower, the mirror was covered in a thin layer on mist. Cloud put his hand on the surface and swept along reveling his own reflection. As usual his spiky hair had been flattened to one side from the pillow.

Before he turned away to the shower Cloud felt something hit his mind, it hurt for a moment before leaving. As he looked back at the mirror for a brief flash he saw the other reflection, it was himself yet not himself.

'I must still be tired, dumb things like this still in my head.' Cloud shrugged it off once again before turning back to the shower, he had enough things to think about today never mind his own paranoia.
Later that morning.

Cloud glanced back the way they came, a narrow path lead back to Spa resort. Everybody else was still asleep when they left so it wasn't likely that the two were going to be bothered. In front of him Aerith lead the way, following the thin dirt track through the thick, tall grass on either side.

"Do you know where you're going?"

She half turned to him and nodded. "Yes, it should be a little further ahead. I'd say another half hour."

"You've been there already?"

"No, this is my first time." She smiled knowing that would make him confused.

Sure enough Cloud rubbed the back of his head and gave her a funny look. "So how do you know its there? Where is it we're going?"

Aerith stopped and turned round fully. "Since when have you been the one who won't shut up?"

Cloud stopped and grinned at her. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

The flower girl crossed her arms and stared at him. "And what's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing." He smiled and continued walking.

Aerith stared at him for a moment longer before continuing to lead the way.

After a while of walking they left the path and now were just walking through what seemed like an endless plain of grass. Ahead Cloud couldn't see anything that looked interesting, just more grass and the mountains that sat in the distance. Wherever Aerith was taking him it was either well hidden or still very far away.

"Hey, how much further?"

Aerith continued walking a few more steps before stopping. "We're here."

"...?" Cloud looked round just seeing endless plains of high-uncut grass. "Ummm, here?"

"Yep." She looked round the area before kneeling down, Cloud walked up to her and scratched the back of his head. Aerith began to push some of the dirt out of the way with her hands, soon enough she felt a smooth plate of stone underneath. Kneeling down next to her Cloud watched as she uncovered the stone.

"What is this?"

Aerith brushed her hands together, removing some off the dirt and dust that stuck to them. A few odd symbols chiseled in it could be seen. "It's a mark, this planet was once inhabited by the Ancients."

"How did u know it was... here?" Cloud looked round the vast open land. "It's not like there's a big sign pointing down to it."

"I felt it, I mean I could feel that it was here like all Ancients could." She smiled at him. "You could say it was written in my blood."

"So then there was one of these on our world?"

"Yes, but unfortunately it was on another continent so I could never visit it."

Aerith put her finger on one on the symbols, it glowed gently for a second before the entire stone faded away. Beneath where the stone use to be was now an opening to a large cavern of some sort.

Cloud leaned over and tried to see the bottom of the hole.

"You ready?"

"Huh?"

Aerith stood up and stepped next to the hole. "To go in."

Cloud blinked a few times while staring at her. "You're kidding."

"Nope."

"We just jump?"

"Yep." Aerith stretched her arms as if warming up. "So are you ready?"

Cloud looked down into the hole again before looking back up at her. "You feeling ok? You do realize that jumping down a really large hole is a bad idea."

Aerith sighed and shook her head. "Don't worry." She stepped next to her and took his hands. "This is our bet, you have to do what I say, so just trust me."

Looking into the hole once more Cloud sighed and nodded. He wasn't too fond of falling to his death but then again he doubted Aerith would be either. "Ok, lets do it."

"Great." She put his hands around her and told him to hold on tight. Cloud did as instructed and pulled her tightly to him. "Ok when I say, step in with me."

Nodding again Cloud swallowed hard still feeling a bit nervous. Aerith took a deep breath before shouting 'jump' and the two leapt into the dark hole.
Cloud held tighter onto Aerith as they jumped, their surrounding instantly became pitch black. He looked up at Aerith's face, she didn't look worried like he probably did, instead she looked perfectly calm.

After falling for a few more seconds Cloud realized why she had been so confident. Behind her back the two familiar white wings shot out and began to steady their decent.

The glow from the wings lit up the surrounding area, the cavern wasn't actually a cavern, a few meters below the opening it widened out into a circlular shaped tunnel.

As they neared the bottom the walls began to fill with various pictures carved in them. Cloud couldn't really understand what was happening in most of them, it looked like a record of everything the Ancients had done here.

After a little longer Cloud felt his feet touch the floor. He felt strange as the weight to his legs was returned once again. Aerith took a step back from him while her wings folded neatly behind her back.

"You couldn't have just told me that you were going to do that?" He crossed his arms.

"Of course not." She smiled while putting her arms behind her back. "What fun would that have been?"

"Hmph, so what are we doing here?"

Aerith looked around and saw the small doorway on one of the walls. "It should be close by."

She headed through the opening and into the next room. This one was a large rectangular room, at the far side up a few steps was a stone table the looked fairly important. Cloud followed her in and noticed the walls again had the same pictures from the tunnel. The only light in the room was been given from Aerith's wings, a soft white glow pushed the darkness back.

Apart from the table at the front the room was pretty much empty, a few columns were placed along the walls but that was it. There seemed to be a doorway halfway in the room but it had been blocked by a cave in, a few large bolders were piled in it. Aerith waited at the far end for Cloud to join her, as she did she reached behind her head and untied the ribbon in her hair, freeing the small white orb.

Cloud stood at the other side of the table and watched her put the sphere down. Aerith looked up at him and flicked her now free hair away from her face. "You see, when there were many more of my people they use to have this ceremonies in one of these places."

Cloud nodded listening.

Aerith continued. "We believe that everything is written in the stars, and when two stars meet there is a force that keeps them together."

"How do you know all this? I thought you... uh.."

"..Lost my parents?" She finished for him. "I know, I read most of these things in books. Cid works, well, worked for Ansem and at times he was able to go to the castle library and bring me back some of the books there. There wasn't much on the Ancients but this was one of the things I read about."

Cloud looked down at the table when he heard something move. The small white orb began to roll to the center and then stopped still, after a few moments it clicked and a light began to shine into the air. "So what's this?"

"Wait for it."

The light then spilt in two, one side lowered onto Cloud and the other on to Aerith. Cloud leaned down and stared at the orb, another moment later a third light shone up into the air. This one however was a black light, it made a solid cube just above the table. In this black area he could see hundreds of tiny white dots.

"These are stars." Aerith explained as she leaned over to the black cube. "Each of these stars represents a person who has been scanned by a one of these. They represent how close together their souls are on the spiritual level."

"So that means we are on this... thing now?"

"Yep." Running her finger along Aerith pointed inside the blackness at one of the stars. "That's me."

Cloud leaned closer and saw the star she meant, it stood out in the same colour as the light that was shining on her.

"And... that's you." She pointed at the closest star next to hers, again it was the same colour as the light on Cloud.

As the blond saw it the cube began to flicker and then shut down, the other two lights disappeared as well. "What happened?" He looked up at her.

Aerith looked puzzled as she tapped the orb with her finger. "This place must have run out of power." She shrugged and picked up the white sphere. "I guess its not surprising considering how long its been abandoned."

"Yeah, that's probably it." Cloud rubbed the back of his head thinking about what he just saw. "So those two stars, what does it mean when they are 'that' close together?"

Aerith smiled at him and walked back down the few steps. "I'm sure you can figure it out."

"...?" The blond followed her back down while still rubbing the back of his head.

"(Sigh) Come on." She waved him over and walked into the tunnel. "I'll have to help you figure it out then."

Cloud followed her again and soon enough they were traveling back up towards the surface. Once out of the tunnel Aerith let go of him and took a step back. Outside morning was just about finished and the sun was heading towards the center of the sky.

"So all this was to show me that." Cloud still wasn't sure what was so special about all this.

Aerith sighed again and crossed her arms. "How can you be so slow at this? This is used to test how close people souls are together, it predicts whether they have a future together."

"And mine and yours were really close together..." Cloud nearly kicked himself when it hit him.

"Uh-huh..." Aerith stepped closer to him and put her hand on his cheek. "So you understand now?"

"Yeah, I think I do." He put his hands on her waist, squeezing her gently.

"Well, just in case maybe I should give you another hint." She leaned closer and pressed her lips against him, lingering for just a second.

Cloud wasn't satisfied with the small hint and returned the kiss, this time pulling her tighter to him. Aerith gave him no resistance and brought her other hand up to his face while her lips still played with his.

The two broke off for just a second to catch their breath. Cloud looked into her eyes as she smiled back at him, he frowned puzzled as a look of shock came across her face. She opened her mouth to speak but it was too late. He didn't understand it until he felt a swift pain along the back of his head.

The blond dropped to his knees, his head felt like it was spinning. He managed to look up at Aerith to see her been grabbed from behind by a dark dress person. He heard voices from behind him but he couldn't make them out, it took all of his concentration to keep himself from passing out.

"Alright, take her and get rid of that guy." The person behind issued the order.

Cloud heard Aerith shouting something but it was still muffled. He felt himself been picked up by two others and been led towards the hole, they let go on him and Cloud managed to stay on his feet. He turned round towards one of them and managed to get a clear view, a man with brown, gelled back hair and a light brown trench coat.

Before he could speak the stranger punched him straight in the face, the blow sent Cloud falling back into the hole.

"Another job well done." The brown hair man turned to the other while rubbing his fist.

"Yeah, nice and easy." The other nodded and turned to the direction their leader left by. "Now lets get back, you never know, we might get to have some fun with the new girl."

"Ha, you wish." They began to walk away, arguing about what would happen to the new girl.

Below Cloud was hanging on with one hand. He'd fallen down a few meters before managing to grab onto a small rock that was sticking out of the wall. The hit on the back of his head was starting to worsen, he blinked a few times trying to clear his vision but it was pointless.

Cloud tried to reach up with his other hand but his strength was leaving him. His mind clouded over and began to slip away, he took one last reach for the rock before he gave in and blacked out.
Ok I finaly finished this chapter, I'm not sure how good this one is I just know it was a real pain to write for some reason. The next one for everyone who has played FF7 will bring back memories, once I thought about it I couldn't resist putting something like it in. Thanks to DarkNightAngel, kaiserfreeze, Clorith, BlueFox of the Moon, RaspPunkyCS, Water-ice, Velvy and swtlil-azn for reviewing, it's always good to know there are new readers for this story. And finaly hopefully with any luck the next chapter will be up and done a lot faster.