A/N: The only thing to look out for are spelling errors. Yes… I'm still lazy to click that Spell Check button. (praises it) I'm very productive today so… I wanna get a few things done.
Thankies for reviewing! (points) Who is she? WHO IS SHE? Find out in this chapter! (thumbs up)
Disclaimer:
Cait: Ha ha! You
lost power two times!
Author: Be
quiet!
Cait: You lost
everything on your computer!
Author:
…everything of YOU.
Cait: …
(cries)
Nanaki: How
about my stuff?
Author: Aw. I
would never lose your stuff. Yuffie's for that matter too.
Yuffie: Yippeee!
I'm not lost!
Reno: (lifts
nightstick up) AH! I FOUND HER!
(horde of FF7
character's appear)
Author: EEE! FF7
DOESN'T BELONG TO MEEEE! (runs)
Chapter Ten
Just the Beginning
"You… are… Cl-" -Aeris
Aeris' continued staring into the woman's green eyes. Even though she looked exactly like her, she felt absolutely nothing from her. What she felt before came from inside the house. It was awfully familiar… like, whenever she was with her friends. The woman blinked out of her thoughts and peered over Aeris' shoulder. The two friends stood straight and bowed their heads. She smiled and bowed also.
"Would you like to come inside for a while?"
Nanaki lifted his head. "Uhm… that's very thoughtful of you… but we must be on our way. We're searching for our friends and to find out who's been messing with the Lifestream."
The woman lifted her eyebrows. "I… think you have mistaken. There's nothing wrong with the Lifestream."
"No it ain't!" Barret roared. "Someone's been messing with my friend's mind! They can't remember anything!"
Aeris peeked inside the house and could faintly here the moaning noises. She pointed inside, bringing the woman's attention to her.
"Who… is inside there?" Aeris asked.
"Oh, I found a young man lying motionless outside my house. It looked like he had been fighting something because he had cuts and bruises on his body. He's only been here for a couple of days and he hasn't been healing properly."
"Is it… okay if we see to him?"
"If you'd like."
Aeris bowed her head and quickly entered the house. Nanaki and Barret shrugged their shoulders and followed after. As soon as they stepped up to the porch, a sudden impact caused them to fly backwards. Nanaki's necklace dimmed a red color as he slowly lifted his head up. The woman placed her hands on the porch as a stream of blue aura steamed out from them. She grinned and turned away from them.
"What's the meaning of this!" Nanaki growled weakly.
"I do not want you to interfere. This could possibly bring back her memories."
'W-What?'
Inside the house, the rickety floor creaked louder as Aeris slowly made her way around. She sensed something happening outside, but she was mostly interested in what she felt before. The distant moaning could be heard from upstairs. Such an eerie noise brought chills up the girl's back. He sounded in pain, indeed. As she climbed up the stairs, she immediately entered a rather small room. The sound came from the big lump on the bed across the room. Before she could move, images began to appear before her eyes. Images of people, including Nanaki, Barret, and the woman. Aeris grabbed her head and groaned. Her head was now filling up with constant images of people she had never met before! (but in reality, she has)
"Why… am I thinking of such things…?" she managed a groan.
"…who's… there?"
Aeris turned to the lump on the bed. It turned to her, finally revealing who was underneath it. Her eyes widened as she gazed upon a young man with spiky blonde hair. His clothes looked like a warrior of some kind. His bright blue eyes were what attracted Aeris the most. He was what she sensed earlier.
"… have I… met you before?" she asked nervously.
The man blinked his blue eyes and sat up. "…I don't feel any pain anymore…"
Nanaki arched his back and growled furiously. No matter how many times he asked, 'What's going on here?' the woman would completely ignore it. They couldn't do anything about it. She was behind the porch, where he and Barret couldn't get to. Barret lifted his gun arm and fired several bullets again. And, like before, they repelled right off. The woman was still faced the other way, not moving a single inch. Nanaki crouched down.
"Please answer us! What is going on in there?"
The woman clenched her fists and finally turned around. Her face was filled with streams of glowing tears. She wiped them away and managed a sigh.
"I made a favor for my daughter…"
"D-Daughter?"
She nodded. "Yes. Aeris… is my daughter. I know that her memories began to completely fog up ever since she arrived in the Lifestream. That… was an immediate sign that something was about to happen."
"That… all the women would lose their memories." Barret added.
"Do you know who is under this?" Nanaki asked. He stepped up to the woman very slowly.
"…a mad scientist. I do not recall him name… but I sense that he is under this horrible plan. This house is what kept some of my memories in tact. However, this powerful wave is starting to mess around with my memories each day. The only thing I remember is my daughter," she bowed her head and turned away. "I just hope that her memories come back. Or else… she won't be able to take it."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"…"
Nanaki frowned and lifted his head. A bright blue glow peered out from the second-story window. The only thing he could do now was hope for the best. If Aeris does regain her memories, then she could remember what she is capable of doing. But… there was a time back then. Back in the Lifestream forest, Aeris pulled some kind of spell that suddenly brought Barret back into reality. What did that mean…? Did that mean… that parts of her memory were still present? Nanaki gasped and ran up the porch. The sudden impact sent him flying backwards again.
"What the hell are you doing!" Barret growled. "It's not like the second time makes it any different than the first!"
"Aeris… is in trouble!"
The woman furrowed her eyebrow and brought her hand up. A blue fog surrounded Nanaki, causing his body to weigh twice as much. He grunted and collapsed on the ground.
"You cannot interfere! This is the only way she could regain her memories!"
"N-No! We promised… that we would regain her memories together! If she does it this way, her mind will only shatter into pieces!"
The man's blue eyes glowed furiously as Aeris fell to her knees. Her body felt absolutely weak and she couldn't figure out what was going on. His bright blue eyes continued glowing until he collapsed next to Aeris. Her eyes widened as an image of the man appeared in her head. Several flashes of light revealed scenes with her and the man together.
"You… are… Cl-"
"AERIS!"
Nanaki and company quickly entered the room she was in. Their eyes widened at the sight of their friend, Cloud. He was still unconscious but he managed to say, 'Get us out of here.' Barret helped Cloud onto his back while Nanaki helped Aeris stand. She still felt a little lightheaded, but otherwise fine.
Everyone made their way outside of the house. The woman was still standing in the same place on the porch. She didn't understand why she let them in. The only thing she wanted was to have Aeris regain all her memories before it was too late. However, after what Nanaki said about getting her memories together, something clicked inside of her. She sighed and turned away from the friends. Her eyes narrowed as she entered the house silently.
Aeris leaned next to Cloud and placed her hands on his forehead. "He's really warm."
"He's probably sick," Barret added. "But, what now? We can't really rest any longer."
Nanaki nodded slowly. He hated to admit it, but they really couldn't stop anymore. Their destination was to go through the mountains. Perhaps there would be some place to rest there. He sat up and turned to where the woman should be. However, she wasn't there anymore, including the whole house. Nanaki narrowed his eyes.
'A mad scientist. My dream has definite connections to that. I just hope that what I saw… was not true. I hope Yuffie's still okay. I'll find her and put a stop to this nonsense.'
Cloud's eyes slowly opened. The first thing he saw was the face of Aeris. He gasped and sat up, still staring at her green eyes.
"A-Aeris! You're… here!"
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're… here, too."
"Aeris," Nanaki said cautiously. "Do you remember… him?"
She released her grip and bowed her head. "Cl… Cl…"
"…let's go. We must remember our objective, okay?"
"Y-Yes."
And with that, everyone continued their journey towards the mountain off in the distance.
As they left the now destroyed city behind, Tifa had been quiet after what happened. Her friend was still back there, most likely hurt. However, she had to remember that everything in the Lifestream was just souls and nothing more. But, when she embraced Zack, it felt so real, like he was alive again. Just the thought of that made her face red. Her eyes were about to fill up with tears.
Cid peeked over his shoulder and sighed. He never saw Tifa act like that before… except when she found out that Aeris had died. Now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen Aeris yet in the Lifestream. The first thing he thought he would see would be her face… but it was actually Vincent's. He grunted at that and faced forward.
"Geez, when will she calm down already? I hate to see such a tough woman cry like that," he whispered to himself. "We had no choice. If we stayed behind, she would have ran into that city without any hesitations."
"Yes," Vincent agreed. "I know it's hard to leave someone you care for, but we must concentrate on what we have to do. We must find everyone… and for who is responsible for the loss of the women's memories."
"What about that Zack guy? He said he didn't lose his memory, but I think he was lyin'."
"I'm not sure. Perhaps he had been in contact with that fog for some time and it messed with his mind."
Cid just shrugged at that and turned to Tifa. "Yo, Tif! You alright back there?"
She didn't answer. Her eyes were only concentrating on the metal bolt that Zack had given her. She clutched it into her hand and began to walk faster. She rudely brushed passed Vincent and ran into the darkness. The two men then ran after her.
They soon came to a dead end. Tifa was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in front of them and Tifa stepped out from it. She was now holding a sword similar to Zack's, only it was a bright blue color. She shifted it so that it was in level with her eyes.
"U-Uh… Tif? What the fu-"
"What happened?" Vincent purposely interrupted Cid.
"I… I don't know. It's like… I've been possessed or something. I went through a vortex created by this sword… and it led me to the outside."
"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's get the shit out of here!" Cid walked next to Tifa and crossed his arms. "Get over here, Vin."
He nodded his head and stood next to Cid. Tifa brought the sword over her head and slashed in front. A portal suddenly appeared at that. She gestured for everyone to follow her inside. As soon as they entered, the portal disappeared in a blink of an eye.
The portal reappeared and everyone stepped out. As soon as it disappeared, they looked around. They were in the middle of a very busy marketplace. Everyone gave them weird looks and quickly ran away from them. Cid grunted at that and stepped forward.
"Such a nice damn place," he said so sarcastically. "Where the hell are we now?"
"This… looks like the village we went through to get to the underground city," Vincent pointed out. "Except… it's… back to normal."
"Hey you guys!"
Everyone's attention turned to the voice. Tifa's face lightened and she ran towards a figure.
"ZACK!"
"DAMN THEM!" Hojo slammed his fist against his monitor. "That's the second time they ruined my plans!" He had been observing Nanaki and Tifa's group and he couldn't believe they found a way to resolve their problems. Several things began to bubble up in his head. The fact that Nanaki's little speech about, 'togetherness' and Tifa's way of using her 'sword' left him quite baffled. "How could a simple little 'bolt' have that much power?" he paused. "Well, I guess I'll just aim for their next destination." Hojo pressed a few switches and buttons on his monitor. The screen changed from where Tifa and Nanaki's party was to the mountains. "I'll make sure their last stop is there. By then, my new experiment will be finished."
His head perked up at that. He was busy having so much 'fun' he almost forgotten about his experiment. As he entered the lab where Gast was, Gast was in the middle of extracting what was left of the human DNA. Hojo grinned and patted his back.
"Good work there. Stage three will commence in no time. I will let you know when."
"Yes, sir."
What Hojo didn't know was that Gast was busy with his own work. He wasn't busy extracting the human DNA out from Yuffie. He instead was attempting to regain Yuffie's original body. (which would be the Red XIII one) However, there have been a couple of problems. It seemed that the demon part of Yuffie was trying to prevent Gast from doing anything. The thick black fur acted like a barrier to prevent foreign things from injecting into it. Gast tried to ignore that and continued saving the creature. Hojo remained in the room, still grinning at his progress.
"It's only a matter of time…"
Reno stopped to catch his breath. Heading to the exit seemed much longer than entering. His cellphone was still jammed and worse, he was stuck with Cait. Cait had been babbling about how the whole world could be in trouble and there was not much time. Reno grunted and slammed his hand against the cave walls. He wasn't going to give up anytime soon.
"We're doomed! We're doomed!" Cait yelled again and again.
"Shut up already! I think I found the way out!"
"Doooooooomed…"
Like the Turks said, he found a way out. He collapsed on the ground and took a deep breath. "I… don't know where the others are… but I hope they're alright…"
Cait was silent. He was staring straight ahead.
Reno waved his hand in front of the stuffed cat. "Helllooo… earth to Reeve."
"S-S…"
Reno lifted and eyebrow and turned around. He blinked for a few moments and suddenly freaked out.
"S-S…shit."
A/N: End of chapter ten! The Reno and Hojo parts seemed a little… pointless… but I wasn't in the mood to leave them out. Besides, they need suspense. Reno's part won't exactly be big until waaaayyyy later. And the Hojo part… I might make a whole chapter dedicated to him or something. Ew… did I just say that? (twitch) Yeah well, I knew that it would come to that sooner or later. (sigh) Anyways! Hope you liked and please tell me how you thought of it!