Going in Circles

As Gohan landed, he took a moment to scan the people's faces around him. The emotion he saw plainly written there caused him to worry a little. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. Tifa looked like her eyeballs would bulge out of her head at any moment. Cloud looked like he was ready to draw his own sword and pick up where the monster had left off. But Aeris, she was the worst. She looked like she had seen a vision of her own death, or her dearest friend slaughtered before her own eyes. The paleness of her soft skin made Gohan wonder what the monster had been. Maybe he should have left it. What a fool he'd been! What if it was something important... no, he suddenly shook his blond head. If he hadn't done something those people on the beach would have been... He didn't want to think about what might have happened.

"How did you do that!?" Cloud broke into Gohan's thoughts. His face was either pure anger or dread fear, but Gohan couldn't tell which.

"Mr. Piccolo taught me, kind of," Gohan replied wanting to ease Cloud's extreme emotions before they exploded in a mess Gohan didn't want to deal with. Strangely enough, it seemed to work. Cloud stayed silent with a new expression on his face. Gohan didn't have time to wonder what it was, however, because Tifa began ushering him towards the villa.

As soon as Gohan's foot landed on the wooden floor of the villa, his doubts were lifted. The people inside didn't seem to be worried at all. Cid, puffing away at a cigarette as usual, was roaring with laughter. Gohan wondered how he managed to keep his cigarette in his mouth with how wide open it was. Apparently, he and Barret found this all hilarious. Moments later, though, Gohan cringed as that mood suddenly plummeted into a fit of swearing. The cigarette trick must have been short lived luck.

"So, Gohan, buddy ol' pal," Yuffie piped up running up to him to put her arm around his shoulders. "What kind of materia was that?"

Gohan's attention was momentarily drawn away from trying to free him. What was materia?

"What's materia?" he asked resuming his squirming, embarrassed task.

Thick silence descended on the room.

After a couple of moments, Cid broke into laughter, "I love this kid's imagination!"

"But I'm not kidding; what's materia? I've never heard of that before," Gohan wondered what he'd said so he could remember it for future reference as Yuffie suddenly detached herself in a silent hurry.

"You're not serious......" Tifa gasped.

"He can't be!" Barret shouted standing up. "I aint the smartest guy 'round, but even I know there aint no way nobody could do magic like that without materia!"

Dead silence settled as no one seemed willing to take the first step into this dangerous turn of subject.

"I," Aeris started quietly, "I believe him."

"WHAT!?" Everyone but Cloud looked at her disbelievingly.

"I saw it, he didn't need materia," she continued, gaining strength as she went. "He just manipulated the spirit energy directly. He didn't need any materia to aid him."

Red XIII was the next one to be brave as he spoke up, "Aeris, how is this possible?"

She shook her head, "I don't know."

Cloud's odd expression hadn't changed since Gohan first took note of it, and now, it looked like they were going to find out what was bothering him. "Kid," Cloud started directing it at Gohan. "You said that this Mr. Piccolo could fly, right?" He only waited for a nod from Gohan before continuing. "And you also said that Mr. Piccolo taught you to do that magic without materia, right?"

"It wasn't magic," Gohan tried to straighten out the misconception, but to no avail.

"Yes or no?"

Gohan nodded. Where was Cloud going with this?

"Does anyone else see what I see?" Cloud inquired. "It seems to me that this Mr. Piccolo has to somehow be related to Sephiroth."

"Who's Sephiroth?" Gohan returned question for question. "Is he a Namek?"

"Namek?" Nanaki questioned.

"Yeah, there green and they come from planet Namek."

"Well Sephiroth's a freak, but he aint green," Barret commented.

"It seems to me that we are back where we began," Vincent contributed.

"Then we have to go back after Hojo again?"

Cloud nodded solemnly to Yuffie. "But the question is, how do we find him?"

"Uhhh......." Gohan murmured. "I could help with that." Once more Gohan was showered with disbelieving stares.

"I'm listening." After the incidence with Emerald Weapon Cloud seemed to be more open minded with Gohan. "What's your idea kid?"

"Well," Gohan paused. How would he say this? "I think I could recognize his energy. Back home we could do that all the time when people powered up, and because his energy's so... different... I think I could pick it out."

"What was that?" Aeris perked up. "Could you please say that again?"

"Well, I can feel his energy and figure out where it is. And, if his energy's there, then he has to be there too right?" What was this Aeris thinking...? She had a strange light in her eyes that Gohan wasn't sure what to make of.

What was this boy? There was no question in Aeris's mind that the "energy" Gohan was talking about was indeed spirit energy. But, if he could sense spirit energy then...

"Could I try?"

It was Gohan's turn to stare disbelieving at someone. Only a moment before Aeris had been surprised, no, astounded, that you could find someone by their energy, and now she was ready to take a stab at the idea! "Well," he stared rather confused, "I don't see why you couldn't try."

Excitedly, Aeris nodded. "Isn't this exciting Cloud?"

Cloud didn't nod. He didn't shake his head either. He just didn't respond at all; he was too busy within his own mind to do anything but think. He knew as well that this could only mean one thing. Somehow, this boy was Cetra. It would only make sense though, that somehow, somewhere, another small band of Cetra had survived. This boy's father must have been a survivor of Aeris's people, but that left one question. What could have possibly caused an Ancient to abandon its planet? Could it be that there were corrupt even among the immaculate Cetra? Or were those few separated for some reason from their home? Or, another option found its way into Cloud's mind, could they just have found a different planet to call home and nurture? That sounded logical. Not all of the Cetra throughout all of history could have stayed together. Surely they would have split into groups to tend to different planets, it only made sense. But, which of these ideas, if any, was the truth? Cloud decided that there definitely was a lot more to this boy than met the eye; he should sit down sometime and have a conversation with the kid. Maybe he could get some information out of him that he didn't even know he had if he could get close enough to the boy. One thing was certain however. This boy definitely had something to do with the new crisis for the planet. If he could lead another whole population of Cetra back here, they might just have a chance at saving the Planet from whatever Sephiroth was planning now.

"I've got it!" Cloud was jerked from his thoughts at Aeris's jubilant cry. "I've got it! I can feel him!"

"Yeah, he's Northwest of here, about, halfway around the planet," Gohan murmured with an exerted look on his face. "It's kind of hard to sense him when he's not powered up, but with a little more practice I think it'll be a piece of cake."

Cloud looked to Aeris. He thought he could trust the kid, but sometimes there was just no telling. Better to be safe than sorry. Besides, from the pale expression that suddenly took over Aeris's features, there was definitely something wrong. "Aeris, is he telling the truth?"

"Yeah," she even sounded sick.

"Then what's wrong?" Nanaki inquired, also picking up on Aeris's unease.

"Oh, nothing," she murmured. "Just bad memories."

"You used to say that when Cloud flipped out too," Cid offered dryly. "Girl, there's obviously SOMETHING on your mind."

"Please Aeris," Tifa murmured, concerned. "You know you can trust us with anything."

Aeris shook her head as if to clear it. "Honestly, it's nothing. It's just that Hojo's... Hojo's back home."

"Home?" Vincent whispered. "He's in Icicle Village then?"

Aeris nodded.

Cloud stood up and signaled for Tifa to go get the Chocobos. "Then it looks like we're off to Icicle Village."

Sorry it took so long to get writing again. It's just that I've doubled up on math classes this year and I've had homework coming out of my ears!