New Revelations
He would NOT be defeated! Vegeta felt the awesome power that was Super Saijin 2 pulse through him, the air itself crackling with the awesome energy. Pulling his attention off of his own superiority and back to the matter at hand, Vegeta saw Cloud thrust his sword out in front of him in an elaborate display of twirls before disappearing. Great, where did he go? Vegeta searched his surroundings for a sign of Cloud's energy, how the human had managed to move so quickly was beyond him, but it was nothing that couldn't be dealt with. Vegeta scowled as his search yielded nothing but a severe darkening. What was this? Already the world around him had become black. What was happening??
Vegeta paused as he saw something in the distance of the black abyss. It was... a man? Yes, a man in armor was flying toward him. And then, to Vegeta's horror, he found himself held in place, unable to flee, as the warrior laid the bones in his ribs bare with one sword slash, disappearing after the assault only to be replaced by another.
"What is this?" Vegeta howled, struggling to avoid any of the attacks, but getting nothing for his efforts.
"Cloud might be okay, if he can slip in a few more Knights of the Round," Nanaki decided, relieved that Cloud might yet win after all. "Provided Vegeta's HP isn't too high."
Vegeta felt himself being ravaged from every side. When one attack relented, another came, always the same, always the black background birthing a new foe, always the unexplained motionless doom of his own limbs. Would it ever stop? As if in answer, the Highwind suddenly reappeared, along with Cloud, around Vegeta. At last!! Vegeta flexed his fist, ignoring the blood that flowed from his body like a mad rain.
He could move again, that human would pay! Vegeta let all of the power that was in him burst forth in a furry of crimson punches and kicks dripping of his royal blood. How dare this man do such a thing to the Prince of the Saijins?? It was unforgivable! Vegeta's face was a contortion of features twisted in a strong anger that belied his severe wounds. He was as strong as ever, and this human would never get away with the crimes he'd committed!!
Interrupted in mid-thought by the cold of steel again, Vegeta pulled back. How did that SLOW human always manage to hit him? It was truly frustrating!! Every time he attacked, that blade was waiting to return the favor whether or not the human wielding it was capable!! How maddening!!!
Then, to Vegeta's horror, Cloud began to disappear again.
"How'd he do that? He countered with Knights of the Round!!" Yuffie exclaimed, starry eyed as she watched her favorite materia in action once more.
"Interesting," Vincent said flatly watching the fight with morbid curiosity. "He must have had a Mime materia linked to a Counter so that he retaliated not only with the Counter Attack, but also his last move, in this case, Knights of the Round."
"And," Nanaki added, bringing up another point, "he must have had two of those materia. Somehow, Knights of the Round is linked to HP Absorb and MP Absorb. Look, his wounds are healing and he's gaining MP not losing it."
"That kid's sure got a head on his shoulders sometimes," Cid laughed. Aeris shuddered, how could anyone laugh at a time like this? This fight was serious, someone could be badly hurt, or worse yet, killed!! "Far cry from when he's out of battle!" She wanted to cry and use her own Limit Break, Great Gospel, on the wounded Vegeta. She would have too, if it didn't spell certain doom for Cloud. As it was, all she could do was hope this atrocity was over soon. She turned her back, she couldn't watch anymore. Even like this, the battle cries reverberating through the ship were enough to make her sick. If this kept up she might... the world began to go black as she felt herself losing control of her limbs. The last thing she remembered was Barret rushing to catch her.
~*~*~*~*~
Child.
Yes?
Why do you wait? Do you not know the severity of the workings you ignore?
I do, Aeris cried out frantically to the familiar voices that spoke to her. I know what I must do!
Then why do you wait?
Because I have to choice, the man we found is proving difficult. He's holding all of us back.
Why do you make excuses? Then, you do not understand your place. Perhaps you should return to us.
NO!! I do understand!
Then prove it.
I... I will.
Then wake up.
Aeris jumped awake to find herself lying on the cool velvet of one of the Highwind's conference room chairs. Gohan was there watching her along with Tifa.
"You're okay!" Tifa shouted jumping up.
"We have to go, now," Aeris murmured, standing up and brushing the wrinkles out of her soft pink dress. "We can't wait anymore."
"I'll go tell Cloud then," Tifa answered, heading for the door.
"No!" Aeris blurted quickly rushing to Tifa's side. "We can't tell Cloud. Not this time."
"What?"
"You saw what happened. We can't afford to waste any time. We have to leave now, in secret."
Gohan listened curiously. It looked like he was going to get to go into the ruins after all. Neither of the women seemed willing to let him stay on board as he might warn Cloud and cause all sorts of problems in the process. "So, when do we leave?" He asked cautiously, just in case his assumptions had been wrong.
"Now," Aeris answered immediately. "You can fly right?" When Gohan nodded, Aeris continued. "Well, we can't afford to use the parachutes. They'd be too visible from up here, so, could you fly us down there?"
Gohan almost fainted. He hated carrying around people who couldn't fly! First Bulma and Yajirobi, now Aeris and Tifa. Oh well, it wasn't really a first. He nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."
"Good," Aeris said quickly, checking her own materia. "Then we can leave right away." Already, Tifa was leading the way to the Highwind's deck. Hopefully Cloud wouldn't be too upset when he did find out.
~*~*~*~*~
They were finally safe from detection as Gohan set Aeris and Tifa down on the surface of the city that was far from visible beneath layer after layer of bright vegetation.
"It seems," Aeris commented as she set foot on the thick carpet of moss, "that the all the Mako from the Reactors has finally been put to it's proper use."
Mako? What was that? Gohan couldn't help but ask. "Excuse me, but what is Mako?"
Tifa paused in mid glance from surveying their surroundings. Somehow, she should have guessed that if the boy didn't know what materia was that he wouldn't know what Mako was either. "Aeris, why don't you tell him? I still don't know much more than what Sephiroth said all those years ago."
Aeris nodded, "It's not that hard. You see, Mako is also called the Lifestream, it's a flow of spirits that surrounds the Planet and makes up all life. It exists in a type of cycle. When something is born, it is given the gift of life from the Planet's Lifestream, and when it dies, it returns the gift. Therefore, also, it possess all the knowledge of my ancestors. We Cetra can talk to the Planet through its Lifestream."
"Spoken like a true Ancient," Tifa shouted through the forest. She'd wandered quite a distance away when she picked up her surveillance again, and was now waving her arms to catch their attention. "Would you mind cutting the lecture short? I think I found something!"
Wasting no time, Aeris and Gohan rushed over to where Tifa was standing. The light that filtered through the thick, leafy canopy overhead made intricate patterns on the vibrant ground in a thousand shades of emerald, but there was something odd about these certain shapes.
"It's the writing of the Ancients!!" Aeris murmured in astonishment. "How would something like this get here?"
"I don't know either," Tifa answered, proud of her skills as a guide. Although she was better with mountains, particularly lifeless ones like Mount Nibel, it wasn't too hard to adjust to new terrain for someone of her caliber. After all, she'd been trained by THE Zangan, not only in martial arts, but survival skills as well.
"So," Gohan asked interestedly, "what does it say?"
"I'm not certain," Aeris lied. How could she tell them this? The words made chills race up the length of her spine to cloud her head with anguish and then disappear back down just as quickly.
"Not a clue?" Tifa didn't seem convinced. "You got to have some idea."
How could she lie to them anymore? Even once was too much for her. "I think I've got it now," She ventured hesitantly. They deserved to know what was coming, so she had no choice but to tell them. Still, making her mouth form the words was difficult.
"Once from the sky to make herself known.
"Twice from the Planet to make herself shown.
"Thrice from the from the spirit are her evil seeds sown
"The Mother of Darkness awaits," Aeris's voice quivered with her own effort as she finished reading the runes.
"What!" Tifa gasped, taking a step backward, away from the patterned ground. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know," Aeris shook her head to clear it. The Mother of Darkness? Who could that be? Jenova maybe? "Maybe the 'her' is Jenova."
"That could be," Tifa agreed. "But, what does the rest of that mean?"
"Once from the sky," Aeris repeated. "The Crisis from the Sky?" As Tifa nodded, Aeris continued to think out loud. "Then the next one, 'Twice from the Earth,' could that have been the incident two years ago?"
"That's the only thing I know of that's happened with her since The Crisis from the Sky. Besides, Sephiroth came back from the Planet so I guess 'from the Planet' makes sense," Tifa added as reassurance.
"So," Aeris tried to put the pieces together a little, " 'To make herself known,' she destroyed my people, and 'to make herself shown,' she almost destroyed the entire Planet itself. But, what does the rest of it mean?"
"I'm not sure," Tifa shrugged with a furrowed brow. " 'From the spirit'? I don't get that, does that mean, the Lifestream? But, isn't that the way Seph came back? It doesn't make much sense."
Aeris pondered the point a while. "Maybe, 'from the Planet' didn't mean Sephiroth. After all, Jenova herself came from the Planet in the sense that she was excavated by my dad, I mean, Professor Ghast."
"That's right!" Tifa exclaimed. "So, then, that still leaves the question of what does 'from the spirit' mean?"
"Probably the Lifestream," Aeris said getting a shaky feeling. "I don't want to know what it means completely though. I mean, Jenova, coming from the Lifestream?" Aeris couldn't help but shudder.
"Yeah," Tifa concurred. " 'Are her evil seeds sown.' I don't get what that means."
The three sat for a moment in the cool shade of the verdant area. Despite the dank atmosphere created by the ideas that weighed heavily on the minds of all present, the forest they sat in was beautiful. Brightly colored birds fluttered their elaborately feathered wings from the branches of the trees above. In only two years, the Mako-engineered monsters that had controlled this area were vanishing, replaced by animals that resembled the violent predecessors they had come from. As if to prove the point, a blur of motion streaked past the party, only stopping far enough away to feel safe from the intruders. It had beautiful azure fur that lay in striped patters over its shoulders as it pricked its triangular ears forward to watch the newcomers with interest. Elegantly curved, ivory fangs and long, slender legs sprouting from a muscular canine build pointed to its origin from the Kalm wolves that had once preyed on helpless travelers.
"Well," Gohan began, startling Tifa and Aeris from their own thoughts, "The Lifestream is the origin of life right?" Aeris nodded, what was Gohan getting at? "And seeds are the begin of the life of some plants, so, could it have something to with that?"
The words her ancestors had spoken to her in the City of the Ancients came rushing to Aeris's mind with a new fury. "The pains of birth are coming," They had said.
"Is something wrong?" Tifa asked, putting a hand on Aeris's back. "You look faint."
"It just that, I think he's right," she whispered hoarsely. "I think something's going to be created here, something bad from the sound of it. But, I think, if we get to if first, we might have a chance to change things." That's right, Aeris reminded herself. Her ancestors had said that the future was uncertain, "We do not know what they will bring forth from its womb." There must be time to change whatever evil was going to be done!!!
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Gohan asked, letting his eyes be captured momentarily by the beautiful creatures around him.
"Well, I don't know where exactly we're going," Tifa answered, starting to take in more details of their surroundings. "I don't exactly see any front doors around here."
Aeris paused, letting her mind reach out to the life around her. Even if she couldn't go to her ancestors for help while Gohan was around, she could always ask the Planet itself, but she'd never really tried that before. She'd always talked to her ancestors instead of directly to the Planet, because they were easier to get through to. The Planet seemed so shy...
My love.
What? Aeris was taken by surprise.
I hear you my love, how long has it been since your embrace graced me? Why did you leave? Come back to me.
I'm sorry, Aeris thought, but I think you've mistaken me for someone else.
No, I will always remember you, my love. I could never forget the caress you brought to me thousands of rotations past.
But, that's not me. Aeris was frustrated. You're thinking of my ancestors!
Love, why are you angry with me? You always say that, but I know you. I feel you even now, in my blood, living with me but not joining me. Why do you not comfort me as you once did? I miss your caress.
The truth slowly came to Aeris as she really listened to the voice of her beloved Planet for the first time. Always she had dreamt of talking with it, but always she had only heard enough to know its troubles and how to alleviate its pain. Now, however, she was talking with it, and, in doing so, she was learning even more about her own people. The planet didn't see the Cetra as individuals. They were a people devoted completely to the Planet, not born from it or ever truly returning to it, but living solely for it and living with it their entire existence. That was why their spirits never diverged into the Lifestream, why they had the unique ability to come back from it whole and unchanged. They never were truly of the Planet, they were their own Lifestream, in a sense, their own cycle of souls that lived in harmony with the Planet's.
My love, return to me. Ever since the time you first came to me I have come to need you, and now you sleep. Why do you no longer move? Why do you no longer cycle with me? I have not heard you voice in ages, could it be that you have forgotten?
Aeris gasped. Could it be? An idea hit her almost with a physical force. If the Cetra were indeed a separate cycle of souls, why were they? The only thing that could have such a cycle would be a planet, so how was this possible? There was only one way that Aeris saw it could be so. The Cetra were not just from another planet; they were another planet. One that had lost its body and roamed among its brethren, using their bodies as hosts. But, unlike any parasite, that was how they had nurtured the planets. Their life to join and strengthen others...
The deepest secrets of the Cetra were beginning to take shape.
Or, can you not move? You are ill, that is it. It is the parasite is it not? Then, I will open the way for you and you will be released from her spell. You will be able to cycle with me once again when she is gone.
Suddenly, the ground in front of the three people broke apart to reveal a suspiciously clear path leading down into the heart of the sleeping ruins of Midgar.
Note: Here it is, just like I promised!! Enjoy, and don't think too hard if you don't want to, but by all means, don't be afraid to!! ^_^