He was healing far faster than anybody had expected. His body was undoubtedly ravaged from the fight with Jerad, and considering the injuries the sector 7 doctor had listed, Danny expected to be unable to function correctly for months. However, it had been barely a week and already he could dress himself and walk a fair distance. The doctor himself could scarcely believe the speed of the healing process, in both Danny and Jerad, who was exhibiting similar signs of extraordinary recovery. At this rate they'd be fighting each other again in a couple of weeks.
Danny often visited this newfound area of his mind Aeris had opened for him. Ever since she'd met him here he'd been able to come here at will as he slept, and he became the master of his dreams. He knew he was inside his mind, yet it all felt so real, it felt as lucid as real life. He could conjure others and speak to them as if in real life, and they didn't always respond how he'd expect. His mind seemed to be able to perfectly replicate the personalities of individuals and project them in ways Danny could not expect. Of course, if he wanted, he could force the projections to say and do whatever he wanted, but where was the fun in that?
The biggest positive about this world of the mind for Danny was that it was a world without consequence. Here he could do whatever he wanted and feel no remorse or experience any repercussions for his actions. If he wanted to yell and rant at Tifa, he could. If he wanted to beat Jerad to a pulp, or spar against him and learn his moves, he could. Of course, he had to keep a limit on some of the things he did, for he was wary that perhaps Aeris was watching him, or others that knew how to project themselves into the minds of others. Danny himself had no idea how Aeris could achieve it, but for the moment he was contented with studying his own mind, let alone others.
Today he had woken up briefly as Tifa had given him his breakfast. This would, in most cases, seem like a kind and caring gesture. Tifa made sure that Danny dreaded the gesture every morning. She would enter the room with a thunderous look upon her face, then slam the tray down upon his stomach, often spilling some of the drink on the tray, then would mumble a few curses and leave. This morning had been no different, if anything she had been in an even fouler mood than usual. The glare she had given him nearly caused him to turn his gaze from her, but if he did that he would have given her an advantage, a sign that she had made him uncomfortable, and that was something he could not hand her. No, instead he smiled at her ruefully and watched as she left the room in frustration. She didn't come to see him any other time during the day. Aeris would come by every so often to check on him. Jim came to talk to him when he could, but he'd got himself a job as a pot washer at a restaurant to make a little money, as it seemed they may be in the sector a few more days. Whilst he wasn't being paid much, any extra was worth it.
Barrett and Cid spent their days scouting the perimeters of the sector and trying to entice gossip from the locals about the location and reaction of ALIEN's forces to the sector seven backlash. From the little information they were able to gather, it seemed the Turks had retreated to sector six and were waiting for the rebels to move that way, whilst posting as many guards as possible outside the exits of Midgcar to block any escape route. The Turks were cautious of angering the inhabitants of sector seven further, particularly without Rufus's permission to use military force, but if the rebels did stay in sector seven too long, the general consensus among the people Barrett and Cid had spoken to was that they would send in guards despite the unrest it may cause. Rufus was not generally considered to be a patient man.
Laying back in the field he had conjured in his mind, Danny stared up at the sky, perfectly blue without a cloud in sight, and let out a sigh. At least he could come here to relax for a short while. The predators seemed to be circling all around him, waiting for him to show a weakness before pouncing and devouring their prey. He'd then either be used as a message to the public that escape from ALIEN is futile, or just be killed. He wondered which would be worse. A small bird landed next to him. He turned to it, slightly surprised, and let himself smile. The mind was indeed an amazing thing. He could see, touch, hear, smell and taste everything perfectly, as if this world was reality itself. Using his mind, he transformed the bird into a fairly large black dog. With an excited bark, the dog bounded over to Danny and began to lick his face. Danny laughed out loud, surprised again, and rubbed the dog's face, stroking its head and marvelling at how real it appeared. He patted the dog on the nose, then got to his feet. The dog began jumping up at him, playfully barking at him and biting at his hands. Danny backed off, laughing, until he came to an abrupt halt. He had knocked into something solid behind him. The dog began to growl and bore its teeth. Danny swivelled round to find Jerad standing before him. Jerad wore complete battle armour that Danny had never seen the likes of before. It appeared strong but lightweight, completely black, from the shoulder pads down to the boots. Danny became confused – he had not conjured Jerad to appear at this point in time.
Danny willed the dog into non-existence, then tried to do the same with Jerad, but he could not. That only meant one thing: Jerad was actually here, in his mind! His surprise must have been showing on his face, because Jerad began to smirk. He ran his eyes over the field briefly, then turned to the sky and eventually locked eyes with Danny.
"So this is what you do with your spare time? Live in an illusion and play with animals? Strange, I mistook you for a warrior."
Danny ignored Jerad's taunts. "How the hell did you get into my mind?"
"My sister has already been here, right? She is also the one that taught me how to do this. I've not used it often… it's really quite pointless. You see, in here you have all the control, and I can only exist. If you wanted to, you could will me away with enough effort… but I think we need to talk." Jerad adjusted the black glove on his right hand and regarded Danny curiously. Danny knew he was right – yet he still felt very uneasy about Jerad being here.
"What do you want? Could this not have waited until we were both healed?"
"No. What I want to show you could not be viewed in the physical realm."
Danny heard a growling, and noticed the black dog was right beside him once more. It bore its teeth at Jerad even more fiercely and barked at him savagely, as if conveying a stern warning not to go near Danny.
"Did you conjure him?" Danny looked at Jerad, raising his eyebrow.
"No. I can't do that, I already told you. I can't do a thing in here other than exist. You're God in here, Danny, you create and destroy as you choose. I assume you didn't create this beast… well, then it must be your subconscious. It will be around you in some sense wherever you go. In a sense, it is you, so you cannot be rid of it. You could turn it into something else to shut it up, though."
Danny patted the dog on the head, then transformed it into a small flower. It sat now with a complete lack of menace, leaning towards the sun and almost gleaming as a beautiful shade of blue. Jerad seemed satisfied and moved closer to Danny, noting the unease in his adversaries face with contempt. The man had no idea of the power he wielded in this type of setting, and Jerad also hoped he did not realise it any time soon.
"How much have you used your subconscious?"
"Whenever I've been asleep." Danny replied, not taking his eyes off Jerad as he wandered around the field, eventually finding a space he seemed to decide was acceptable and sat down, looking up at Danny, who was now quite far away.
"So… you can create stuff, huh? Pretty easy to do. Everything here is easy to do… bet you've created me a few times and given me a good beating, eh?"
"Only as much as you have with me in your mind, I'm sure." Danny replied, not returning Jerad's humorous tone. He walked closer and sat down fairly close to Jerad, so now they were looking straight at each other. Jerad's eyes were even colder in here than in real life. All the subtle nuances he exerted in real life seemed intensified in his subconscious form.
"I thought so." Jerad narrowed his eyes at Danny. "What about Tifa or Aeris? Created them?" Suddenly, his voice was extremely hostile.
"Maybe." Danny winked, enjoying watching Jerad get angry. For a few moments Danny thought Jerad may jump up and attempt to attack him, such was the rage beginning to appear on his face. Then, he seemed to calm down. He bowed his head for a few moments, then began glaring at Danny once more, all humour now disintegrated from his voice.
"You wait until I tell my sister… they'll both make you far sorrier than I could."
"Hey! You better not tell them anything! I wasn't being serious!" Danny growled, knowing whilst Aeris would probably take Jerad's accusation with a grain of salt, Tifa would jump at a chance to verbally and perhaps physically attack one of both of them.
It was Jerad's turn to wink, letting a smirk creep back onto his face. "Let's cut to the chase. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to. Have the others told you about the fight?"
Danny shrugged. "When I ask they seem to skim over brief details and move onto another topic. They all avoid talking about what happened as much as possible. I suppose you're here to tell me I got lucky?"
"Not exactly." Jerad shifted uncomfortably. "You and I, for all our differences, are similar in one aspect. We are both… not human."
"What?" Danny raised his eyebrow at this ridiculous comment.
"I know it may be hard to stomach, but it's the truth. We're not like the others... we harness a very special power within us. That power is derived from our genes. Genes that are not human… whilst we look and act like humans we are in fact from a planet the humans know nothing about called Siatoge, and our race of people, translated into human tongue, are known as the Siat."
"If you're trying to fool me, it isn't working. That's quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Danny rolled his eyes, shaking his head despondantely.
"I didn't think you'd believe me. I've known this fact all my life, yet you have grown up believing yourself to be one of them. It's hard to accept you're actually nothing like them. You're… superior to them. We, as a warrior race, have the ability to become far stronger than our normal form allows. We are able to connect with and absorb the energy of the planet we live on to give us strength beyond anything a human could even dream of. The humans have decided to gain might by using their minds to create machines to do their bidding for them. Our race chose to use our own power to solve problems." Jerad stood, motioning for Danny to do the same. He did so warily, still not buying what Jerad was selling. "Allow me to project an image from my mind to yours. I'll show you the part of the fight you can't remember."
"I don't know how." Danny replied with a shrug.
"Just will it. It's not difficult." Jerad replied. He noticed Danny was still looking uneasy and rolled his eyes in frustration. "Listen, I've already told you, you control everything that happens here. I can't do anything that you don't allow me to do."
"I don't trust you." Danny replied. "However…. I am curious as to what happened, so, I'll let you. But if you try anything…"
"Just do it, already." Jerad snapped, folding his arms.
With a last wary look, Danny closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds he reopened his eyes and shrugged. "Okay, guess I did it."
Jerad waved his hand, and the scenery around them immediately changed. Gone were the rolling green fields, chirping birds and blue skies. They were replaced by the grim contrast of the slums. Large, blinding artificial lighting shone down harshly from above, whilst the metallic plating below them offered as little consolation as the dull grey walls surrounding the sector, reinforcing a the feel of entrapment and artificiality. The scene was currently in pause, as Danny saw himself sitting on the floor, holding himself up by his arms, with a bloody face. Jerad was rushing towards him, preparing to strike again, it seemed. He had a look of pure joy on his face that quite honestly frightened Danny.
"Okay. This was just before you… changed." Jerad said from behind Danny. It caused Danny to jump slightly, as he had become entranced in the scene around him. It seemed strange to be watching the scene from another view, as in his memories he clearly remembered a very different and more terrifying version of events. This scene seemed so much more detached. "I'm kicking your ass at this point." Jerad added proudly.
"What happens next, then?" Danny asked, not replying to the taunt.
"Watch." Jerad clicked his fingers, and the scene began to play out.