Chapter 10
It was as bright as the previous cave had been before Caleb had drawn the sword. The walls were high and the ceiling barely visible beyond the thick branches of the trees that grew out of the walls and floor and made a tangled brown canopy overhead. The two moved forward slowly, still holding onto each other as they picked their way cautiously around exposed roots and made their way to the back of the cavern, where the pulsating light was emanating from. Where the line of unusual trees dropped off, a bed of crystallized rock sprawled out before them and surrounded an enormous, white-barked tree. Caleb released Angel's hand and took several steps forward on his own, his eyes squinting as the light from the huge tree intensified. His hand reached out slowly to touch its colorless bark.
"It's very pretty, Caleb. See that? It's just like the big trees where the Flower Lady lives. Have you met her? She's really nice and pretty and her flowers always smell good."
"I've been here before…" he murmured, his hand stopping no more than an inch from the oddly-colored tree.
"What?" Angel hung back, watching him with worried eyes. He licked his lips, his fingers twitching slightly. A high-pitched buzzing noise filled his ears and he felt his head turning downward of its own accord. He was looking down at the new weapon, specifically, at the round glass orbs located in each of the eight holes within the inner blade. They hummed faintly, and the buzzing in his head intensified. The beginnings of a headache gnawed at his brain but he forced it aside, looking up to the crystal clear leaves on its elongated branches, then down again at the materia, and up once more. They were resonating; the leaves slowly changing colors from blue to green to yellow to red. They stopped at the last color, the fire-like glow filling the cave with warm light. More in his mind than with his ears, Caleb heard a creature begin to shriek, the sound growing louder and louder as the buzzing noise escalated quickly, the red glow reflecting in his eyes and filling him with a burning sensation to match the incessant humming. His skin tingled again, he felt tears come into his eyes and course down his cheeks and distantly, he heard Angel gasp and call his name. Nothing was coherent over the buzzing, the roaring sound now, filling him as the invisible fire was pouring into him. He felt the sword slip from his fingers and heard the glass-like clink as its crystal lining struck the brilliant red pool surrounding the tree. It echoed maddeningly in his head and his hands came to either side, pressing against his temples, trying to suppress the headache, the buzzing/roaring, the fire—it was consuming him, he was losing himself in the rush. He fell to his knees. Angel shrieked something. His body finally gave out and he collapsed onto his side, his eyes still wide open and gushing hot, thick tears, but blank and expressionless. He fell.
"Hi, baby. Did you have a bad dream?" She reached down and lightly scooped him up into her arms. "Hmm? Did you have a scary nightmare? It's okay, mama's here now." A small, secretive smile. "That's my boy. Just like your daddy—You're going to be just like him, you know. Tall, strong, and so very handsome. So perfect. That's what my baby's going to be. Perfect."
"It's very pretty, Caleb," she told him, picking him up clumsily and bringing him over to the glowing white-barked sapling. "See that? It's just like the big trees where the Flower Lady lives. Have you met her? She's really nice and pretty and her flowers always smell good."
The dragon lunged forward, snapping its jaws at them. She threw herself over the little girl and clutched him close. The teeth found her and she screamed soundlessly, her hair cascading over her back and shoulders as blood flew into the air and spattered onto the black-purple snout. She ran, her body filling with power she had kept untouched for two years. She drew a fist back, tightening her arm around him.
"My son," she whispered sweetly, closing her eyes, "Caleb. I know you're going to be such a strong, handsome man." His hands touched her hair and a smile flickered across her face. "Such a good boy. I love you, Caleb. I love you more than anything else in this world, or the next." His hands stroked his mother's hair. Her hand slipped from his face and struck the floor. He turned his face to his mother's, one pudgy hand reaching down and touching one still eyelid. He closed his eyes and lowered himself to her chest, pressing one small ear to the place over her ceased heartbeat. He wailed and huge tears leaked from his eyes.
"Mama…" Caleb trembled. Angel knelt beside him and gripped his shoulders, crying out as a sharp red light forced her back, away from him.
They exited the town limits and started back up through the valley, heading for the base of Mt. Nibel: He carrying her, leading the way; Barrett and Cid following at a slight distance; Vincent and Yuffie behind them; Nanaki bringing up the rear. They hiked up the narrow mountain pass, the peaks of the smaller mountains falling beneath them as they climbed, their breaths heaving as the air thinned, but no one cared.
Barrett came forward first. He got to his knees and patted her hair and cupped a large hand to her small, round face and kissing her forehead. Cid passed him on the way back, and crouched beside the woman's body, reaching over and laying one of his hands on her own. He opened his mouth to say something, shook his head and stood. Yuffie stumbled forward, dropping to her knees beside her friend and embraced her. Her shoulders began to shake with uncontrolled sobs as she silently began to cry and tried to pull away, but physically could not move. Vincent came to her side, reaching down and touching a slight hand to the woman's cheek, running his long fingers along the curve of her face. Nanaki limped forward and began to lick every inch of her face, nuzzling his snout into her hair and snuffling, his whimpers barely audible to anyone's ears but hersHe took a step forward and they left without being told. They knew better.
He collapsed onto her his arms coming tight around her waist and his face buried into her lap. "TIFA!" he screamed, gasping in a thick, sharp breath and let it out in a burst of incoherent hiccups. His eyes squeezed shut and he shrieked: "TIFA!" He let his lips traverse over her chest, neck, shoulders, and face, still crying; pitiful, heart-wrenching whimpers spilling uncontained from his chest. His tears splashed onto her cheeks and slipped down along the pale skin, and for an instant, it seemed as if she were crying with himHe stood in the center of the stone archway, his look flickering to one of slight thought. Then he turned and pulled the crystal-edged Ultima Weapon from the harness on his back and stuck it deep into the earth. He slipped her Restore materia into the first slot.
Barrett placed his Contain materia into the second slot: She as hard as rock an' cold as ice; get to know'er, an' she's as gen'le as the wind, and her smile warms you up like a fire.
Yuffie dropped the Barrier materia into next opening: Strong and dependable and never yielding… like a wall, protecting each and every one of us.
Cid shoved his mastered Double Cut materia into the fourth opening: I hope angels can kick ass in heaven. Send some poor demons to hell in our place. We're not going for a while yet.
Vincent came up and Ultima found its place just below the yellow orb: Like a river of energy, you spill into each of our lives and force back the darkness. I owe everything to you and your husband.
Nanaki came forward, the Phoenix summon materia glowing fire-red and gave the orb to the sword: From the ashes of disaster, you always birthed new hope. Thank you, and fly to heaven on phoenix wings.
His materia sat in his hand, a dull blue. He lifted it to the second-to-last hole and let it lock in, closing his eyes at the sound of finality: Tifa…
They watched the sword turn colors—green, yellow, red, blue, and then white again. A magical wall emanated from the sword and sealed up the entrance to this ever-sacred place. Still unspeaking, they left the cave and started for home. No one saw the eighth and final materia slot glimmer as a greenish-white orb manifested itself into the blade. The magical wall became solid crystal, and inside the resting place of the late Tifa Lockheart, the crystal tree began to grow.
He awoke. Her hand was on his head, stroking soothingly, just like his mother's had. Caleb sat up, and Angel gasped, turning fully to him and taking his face in both of her hands.
"Cale, are you alright? What happened to you? You were looking at the tree, and you just fell over. I tried to wake you, but this red light stopped me," she explained in a rush. He took her hands in his and leaned forward, pressing their lips together tightly. His tongue plunged into her mouth, tasting her, tasting salt; she had been crying. He kissed her fiercely, his hands moving to her back and pulling her close. She made a sound against him, something like surprise, but she gave into him and returned the kiss. He overcame her, he drowned her in his sudden lust for life—he craved it as much as he longed for her. The happiness, the sorrow, the pain, the suffering, all of it: he wanted it just as his parents had wanted it. They parted, Angel's cheeks as red as her lips, and just looking at them made her want to kiss her again, to devour her entire essence into him, make them one being.
"I saw my parents," he gasped. She looked at him strangely.
"How? You were passed out on the floor.." she gestured slightly.
"A vision, a memory, I don't know," he shook his head. "My mom was talking to me, and I saw how she died, and I saw myself as a baby, and I saw my father, the funeral, all my parent's friends…" He pulled in a deep breath to calm himself. "It was here; this is the place they buried her."
"Your mother?" Angel looked thoroughly confused. He nodded. "You saw all of this?"
Another nod: "I know what the materias are too." He glanced about for his sword and saw it leaning against the rock wall—Angel had somehow managed to drag him away from the towering white tree and to one side of the cavern. The enchanting leaves had returned to their natural clear crystal form. He picked up the blade and held it between them, pointing as he spoke. "It was my fathers—the Ultima Weapon: the four green ones are Restore, Contain, Barrier, and Ultima, in that order; the yellow one in between is Double Cut, a command materia; the red can summon a Phoenix; the blue is a supportive materia called Final Attack."
"You missed one," she pointed to the last orb as it shimmered white in its slot.
He felt his face fall. "I don't know what that one is, actually…"
"What are you going to do with all of this now?" she asked him. He sat back, a thoughtful look on his round face, which he now knew he got from his mother. Nanaki had said, from what he recalled, that the attack on Cosmo Canyon was much like something that had happened before. Maybe monsters had swarmed out of the destroyed reactor up near the peak of the mountain, and his parents and their friends had gone to stop it. The more he considered it, the truer it sounded, until he was positively convinced that's what had happened. His mother had come to save him and the young girl—Marlene?—from the mountain, and had met her death protecting them. His father had given her a proper burial, had even sealed up the cavern entrance, but where had he gone? Was he still alive somewhere?
"I want to go find my father."
Angel looked into his eyes and nodded. "You don't think your family will know where he's gone, do you?"
Caleb rose, shaking his head: "They're not my real family. They're my parent's friends. And I don't think they want to tell me. They think I may have a bad reaction to the news."
"Like crying blood?" He whirled to face her. She stood behind him with her arms clasped tightly together before her. "That's what you were doing as you collapsed—blood just poured from your eyes, and I thought you were… I thought you had…"
She was trembling. He re-attached the broadsword to the clip on his back and moved forward, his arms coming around her. Angel whimpered, pressing her lips together as she kept her eyes down, her body rigid as he embraced her.
"I'm not going to die," he assured her softly, one hand pressing to the back of her head. His fingers slipped into her hair as she lay her forehead against his shoulder and he lay his chin atop her head, stroking the silken strands soothingly. "I have to live a long, long life with the woman I love, and I'm scheduled to die as an old man asleep in my bed."
"That's a boring way to die," she choked, her hands slipping around his waist and clutching at him.
He chuckled softly: "That's the way you want me to die."
"I'll go," she finally turned her eyes up to his. "I'll follow you anywhere, Cale. For as long as it takes, as long as I'm with you."
He nodded, a slight smile forming on his lips. Eventually, she began to smile too.
"We'll go look for my father," Caleb kissed the top of her head, "and when we find him, I'm sure he'd love to become yours too."
Angel took one of his hands in both of hers as they looked back at the huge white crystal tree: "I can't wait."
They left the cavern, then the cave. Behind them, a woman stood in the thick collection of white roots and crystal rocks, smiling as she watched the two walk away with glowing amber eyes.