Souls In Turmoil
I had to admit that Jester was much faster than I thought. Within just a few hours, Midgar came into sight on the horizon. Meteor was still several hundred miles in the sky, but it already looked like it could swallow Midgar whole.
"That thing's huge," I pointed out.
"Well, whaddaya expect, kupo? Meteor's legend says it's supposed to destroy the world."
"I know that, but I didn't expect it to be so incredibly huge."
Then I noticed something different about Midgar.
"Is that a…" I wondered out loud, "A cannon?"
There was a gigantic cannon mounted on top of the city. It was so long that one end of it was at the center of Midgar, while the other end stuck out of the city for several hundred feet. The width of the cannon's barrel looked like you could fit a good-sized house inside of it and still have plenty of room to spare.
"That's the Sister Ray, kupo," Bibble explained.
"The Sister Ray?" I asked skeptically, "But that looks like the cannon in Junon, the Shinra military port town."
"Yes, kupo. That's the same cannon, but President Rufus took it from Junon and installed it into Midgar and powered it with all the mako reactors. He named it the Sister Ray after putting it here."
"Wait, President Rufus? What happened to his dad?"
"He got assassinated soon after you were captured. Sephiroth killed him and took Jenova from Hojo's lab."
"Guess Sephiroth really didn't like Shinra. So why'd Rufus put Junon's famous cannon on Midgar?"
"He wanted to try to help stop Sephiroth from destroying the world, kupo. He failed miserably, shot it at a giant monster, and he and the monster ended up killing each other."
"Sweet, so Shinra's completely gone."
"Yup."
"Well, I guess Sephiroth must've really hated the Shinra, because Meteor's still heading for Midgar and coming in fast."
"Ya, kupo," she said looking up at Meteor, "Any second now."
When we got to a point we thought was a safe distance from Midgar, we stopped and I got off Jester and looked up at the giant fireball.
We all watched Meteor as it came blazing through the atmosphere. It kept getting bigger and bigger as it fell closer and closer. It didn't look like it was going to stop falling, so I braced myself for whatever came next. Then all of a sudden, the ground started shaking.
I fell onto my hands and knees. The ground was shaking so violently that I even struggled keeping myself up on my hands and knees. When the ground finally stopped shaking, I looked up and saw that Meteor had stopped falling but it hadn't hit the ground.
It was amazing. Meteor looked like it could eat twenty Midgars and still be hungry. It literally hovered directly above Midgar about a hundred feet up. I could see what looked like dozens of huge, red tornadoes that reached from Meteor to the ground, swirling around and tearing through Midgar. I could see small, dark specks flying through the air around the tornadoes. I soon recognized the specks as debris, pieces of Midgar being ripped up and tossed around. I looked back up at Meteor.
"What's holding it up?" I wondered out loud.
"I'm not really sure, kupo," Bibble answered.
I looked up and noticed an airship flying overhead. It looked more like an oversized airplane with large jets attached to its butt and its wings.
"What's an airship doing flying over Midgar?"
"That's the Highwind, kupo."
"Wasn't that one of Shinra's airships?"
"Yes, but then Mr. Cid got control of it, kupo, and now he's the captain."
"So now he's flying the airship over Midgar."
"The people in that airship just defeated Sephiroth, kupo, not long after killing off Jenova. So now they're gonna see whether or not their effort was worth the battle."
"Woah! They killed Jenova?! I guess I owe 'em my thanks for freeing Raven from his insanity."
"Yes, kupo, so we won't be the only ones watching this."
We watched as Meteor and its tornadoes ripped up most of Midgar. After a while, I spotted a bright blue light shining on the northern horizon. The light grew larger and brighter. Then as it came closer, I could see that it was actually a huge beam of magical energy, rushing from the north to stop Meteor. The beam hit at the bottom of Meteor and then spread itself flat across the sky around Meteor.
"Holy crap!" I spoke up.
"No, just Holy," Bibble replied.
"That is the spell called Holy?"
"Ya, kupo."
At first it seemed like Holy was going to stop Meteor, but then Meteor started boring through the sheet of Holy magic.
"If this is supposed to save the world, then why isn't it working?" I started to panic. "Meteor's cutting through it like a hot knife through butter."
"I don't know, kupo, it's supposed to work."
"Wait a sec, what's that?" I pointed off in the distance.
There was a small glowing green speck on the ground close to Midgar. The green speck then sprouted upward, reaching higher and higher, looking like a huge ribbon of green energy. Then more of these green ribbons appeared around Midgar, reaching up to Meteor. I soon noticed that the entire sky was lined with these streams of green magic.
"What's all that?"
"Yay! The Lifestream is helping, kupo!"
"The Lifestream? THAT'S the Lifestream?"
"Ya, kupo!"
More and more streams of Lifestream came to Meteor, until all you could see in the sky was green. It was like a bad storm with which the clouds went on as far as the eye could see, except it was green, and it illuminated everything in its cool glow.
While this was going on, it swirled around the base of Meteor, ripping it to pieces as it went. It also continued in the damage Meteor was doing to Midgar, but only because Midgar was in directly underneath the clash between Meteor and the Lifestream.
It got to the point where the green light was blindingly bright. I had to shut and cover my eyes for a moment while the light shined and then faded off.
I looked up again and saw that Meteor was completely gone, as well as Holy and the Lifestream. Everything looked perfectly normal again, with the exception that Midgar was now a pile of wreckage.
"Woah," I said.
"Wasn't it amazing, kupo?" Bibble asked.
I could only sit there and gape in amazement to what I had just seen.
"I've just witnessed what could've been the end of the world."
"Yes, kupo, yes you did."
I looked up at her, but she didn't seem as amazed as I was about it. It was as if she truly did know that the world was not going to end.
I sat there for a few moments pondering how she could've possibly known that Meteor wasn't going to destroy the world. I got up off the ground, brushed the grass off my pants and walked over to Jester. I then dismissed that last thought and decided that it was time to leave.
"I think we should go home now," I announced.
"Ya, kupo. We have to tell Will what happened."
"He probably saw the whole thing from his window."
"That may be true, kupo, but we got the front-seat view."
"Ya, you're right."
I got back onto Jester's back and we started going home. We then saw the airship Highwind fly above our heads and fly off ahead of us. I noticed that it was going in the same direction we were going..
"I wonder if it's going to Kalm."
"One way to find out, kupo." We quickened the pace and went back to Kalm.
When we got there, the airship was parked just outside of town.
"Kupo! They landed here in Kalm."
"Did you know this was going to happen?"
"Yup."
"So you can see into the future, too?"
"No, kupo. I'm a mind reader, not a fortune teller."
"Then how'd you know all the stuff you told me about Meteor?"
"From reading the minds of the people in the airship and reading Miss Aeris's mind when I got the chance to see her."
"But how did you know when Jenova died?"
"The voices were all screaming in dying pain, kupo. That was the reason Mr. Raven screamed the way he did. The cells all died, and the only way they could die was if Jenova herself died. They don't even die when their human host dies. Jenova has to be dead before her cells can die."
"Ok, point made. Dead Jenova equals dead cells." We got to Will's house and I got off Jester's back. Will wasn't there to welcome us, but I assumed he was either inside the house or out in front looking at the airship. I put Jester back in his little stable in the back of the house and decided to go around and look at the airship. Bibble instead went into the back door and into the house.
When I got to the town square, I saw a small girl running from one of the neighbor's houses.
"Papa!" she called still running. Then I looked over at the man she was running toward. He was a very large and dark-skinned man with a gatling gun for a hand.
"Wait…" I remembered, "He's the big guy that ran past me with two other people when I last guarded the President's meeting room."
"Marlene!" He called back as he knelt down to receive his little girl. He lifted her up as they met and he placed her on his big muscular shoulder. The little girl, Marlene, hugged her daddy's head. They didn't look related at all. The young girl's skin was very pale in color, while her daddy was very dark-skinned. I then came to the conclusion that he may have adopted her.
"Papa! Papa!" Marlene started, "Did you see the Meteor?"
"I sure did," he answered. "Were you a good girl while I was gone?"
"Yes, Papa! I was really good."
Then a group of people gathered around the man and the little girl. Two of them I recognized as the large man's accomplices that also ran past me. Another I recognized as Nanaki, the large doggish cat creature from Hojo's lab.
There were a few others, but I'd never seen them before. One was a small-figured hyper-looking girl with short hair and even shorter shorts. Another was a tall, dark-looking guy wearing mostly red and black. He had long, messy black hair, and he had a large golden claw on his left arm. One other was a middle-aged man. He wore pilot goggles on his head, so I assumed he was Captain Cid.
There was also a large pink creature with a black cat sitting on top of its head. I took a better look at it and saw that they were both animatronics. I then figured that someone was controlling that particular character remotely from someplace.
I then noticed a man in a blue suit walking out of the house the little girl ran out of. I looked closer and realized that the man was Reeve, the guy from the President's meeting. He joined with the group, and they all seemed to be so happy. They laughed and talked, and they seemed to have gone through a lot together.
"I wonder if I'll ever have an adventure like that?" I thought to myself, "And I wonder if I'll ever have a group of friends like that to have adventures with?"
"Papa?" Marlene spoke again.
"Marlene?" Her daddy answered.
"Can we go home now?"
"Ya, Marlene. We're goin' home. And we'll be goin' on this airship."
"Yay!"
I wanted to go say "hello" but I remembered my current appearance and decided against even going near them. So I turned around and went back to Will's house.
I went through the door and walked inside, then suddenly there was a moogle in my face.
"Ah! Miss Moira!" Bibble squealed in a quivering tone.
"Bibble, what's wrong?" I asked as Will came running up.
"Uh, nothin's wrong, Moira!" He quivered.
"Neither of you are fooling me," I was frustrated, "What's going on?"
"He's gone, kupo!" Bibble cried, "We can't find him anywhere!"
"What?!" I shrieked, knowing who she was referring to, "Will, how the hell did you lose him?! I thought he was resting here?"
"He was!" He started, "But when I had my back turned, he up and left again! I searched all over the place for 'im!"
"No!" I ran over to the couch where he was laying. I could still smell him. His scent was really faint, but it was still there on the couch.
"It couldn't have been too long ago," I said in frustration.
"Yer right," Will replied, "It happened just an hour ago."
"He went this way," his scent trailed off toward the front door. I followed it through the door and out to the town square. There I lost the scent completely in a jumble of many other scents.
"Dammit!" I yelled, agitated and scared. "Where the hell did he go?!"
I looked up and saw that the airship, as well as everyone from the airship that was gathered in the square, were gone.
"Why?!" I dropped to my knees. "Why would he just leave?!"
"Miss Moira?" Bibble floated up behind me.
"I don't understand it! Why would he do this?!"
I felt like my blood was pumping at a mile a second. It hurt me that Raven just up and left, but what hurt me more was that he left without a word of warning.
"Was it me? Is it my fault he left?" Then my head started hurting.
"Miss Moira!" Bibble cried in concern.
"Moira!" cried a voice in my head. "Calm down."
"No! No! He's gone! It's my fault he's gone!"
"Stop it, Moira." The voice said again, "Now, before someone gets hurt!"
"Leave me alone!"
I felt my body start to grow. I didn't understand what was happening, but I didn't care. I grew larger and stronger until I was taller than a one-story house. Then all of a sudden I didn't have any control over my own body. I opened my mouth, and a thick beam of blue light shot out of it, blasting the materia and weapons shops out of existence.
I roared and continued rampaging, but it wasn't me who was doing all this. My perception of things started blurring after a while, until all I could remember was the smell of burning wood and flesh and the vision of fire.
******** ******** ********
[Hikorai]
I awoke laying on the ground, on a patch of soft green grass… A very small patch of green grass, which was surrounded by dried or burnt grass. I stood up on my hind legs and looked around. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't my usual size. I was human-sized.
I also found that I was at the center of what looked like a small human town, with the exception that all the buildings were annihilated. There was dust and ash floating around the air, and the smell of death was nauseatingly strong.
"Oh no," I gasped, realizing what had happened, "What have I done?"
"Miss Moira!" called a small voice from behind me. I turned around and saw a small moogle flying toward me. It was pink in color with darker pink wings and a blue pom-pom dangling over its head.
"What a strangely-colored moogle," I thought, since I remembered moogles being white in color with maroon-colored wings and red pom-poms. It approached me and stopped in front of my face.
"Miss Moira! Are you--" Then she paused for a moment, "Wait a minute, kupo, you're not Miss Moira."
"Indeed, I am not," I answered, "My name is Hikorai."
"Oh! So you're Hikorai," she said, "My name is Holly Bibble."
"Are you a friend of Moira's?"
"Yes, kupo," she answered, "Are you the esper that's stuck in Moira's body?"
"Yes I am," I answered. Then I looked again around the still-burning town. "I did not want this to happen."
"I know, kupo. It wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was. I pushed forward in Moira's mind when I told her that I would stay back. And so the body went into another rage of confusion. The transformation has exhausted her mind, so now she sleeps in the back while I have the controls in front."
"But you were trying to help, kupo."
"It does not help that I am not supposed to be alive. Especially not in somebody else's body. I wish I knew how to make this easier for Moira. Humans are such fragile creatures."
"Ya, kupo… I'm worried how she'll react when she sees her home town reduced to rubble and ashes."
"She will not see it."
"Whaddaya mean, kupo?"
"We will leave this place before she regains consciousness."
"Then what will we tell her?"
"You ask a lot of questions for one that can read minds."
"Your mind is difficult to read, kupo. Maybe it's because you're dead."
"Supposedly. We will tell her the truth."
"Ok, kupo, but if we're gonna leave, we should do it now."
"Agreed," I answered as I began walking, "You know this world better than I. Where shall we go?"
"I think we should go back to Midgar again, kupo. So we can try and find your Magecite."
"Midgar?" I thought for a moment, "You mean the mechanical city with the tall building at the center?"
"Yup, that's the one."
"But that city is enormous. How will we be able to find it?"
"You should be able to sense your own Magecite, kupo."
"But all the magic was drained from it. It is little more than an ordinary stone."
"I'm sure we'll be able to find it, kupo. Do you always give up so quickly?"
I stayed silent for a moment and thought to myself.
"I wish I knew the answer. It is true that I had a tendency to give up when things looked difficult and unfavorable, but that was in my early life, my youth. When I had grown older, I had learned to at least put an effort to make the situation favorable, and if I failed I would either try something else or just let it go. In my later life, I would never have just given up before trying anything. So why has this old habit sprung up again?"
"Old habits die hard, kupo," said the little moogle. "And besides, Miss Moira's considered pretty young in human years."
I looked up at her, almost surprised that she knew what I was thinking, but then I remembered that she had that ability.
"It's ok," she continued, "Miss Moira's gotten into that habit lately, too, kupo. I guess it just happens when people get into hopeless-looking situations."
"Perhaps you are right," I replied, "Let us go to Midgar."
"Ok, kupo."
We had already left the town by the time our conversation ended. It was dark and cloudy, but still early in the night. As I looked up at the sky and sniffed at the air, it seemed as if the weather was only going to worsen later on. We traveled to the southwest, because that was the general direction that Midgar was in from the town. After a few hours of walking, I began to feel a twinge in the back of my mind. I stopped walking for a moment to figure out what it could be.
"Is something wrong, kupo?" Holly asked in concern.
"I believe Moira might be regaining consciousness," I concluded.
"What should we do?" she asked.
"You are a mind reader, correct?"
"Yea, kupo."
"And that means that you can communicate with other people's thoughts. Is that right?"
"Technically, yes."
"So could it be possible to use your powers to allow my mind to communicate with Moira's without causing a disturbance to the body while it is awake?"
She floated there, staring at me. She blinked several times before saying anything.
"Uh, I dunno, kupo," She said finally, "I've never tried anything like that before."
"I am sure that is only because you have never met anyone with two minds in the same body."
"That's true," She crossed her tiny arms and pondered for a moment. "I dunno. It might work, kupo, if I use myself as a mediator between the two of you."
"Then will you try it?"
"Why not? It's worth a shot."
"Then let us begin."
I sat down on the ground, on top of a small, grassy hill, and then I laid myself on my back. She floated down so she was above me and in front of my face. She placed her tiny moogle hands on my forehead and began to focus her energy. I caught a slight scent of adrenaline while she was doing this. She was afraid, but I could not blame her for it. She had never done anything of this nature before. It was only natural that she would feel a bit nervous.
I relaxed myself and closed my eyes, and my mind fell into a plane of darkness. It was a place in the mind where it was so dark, that I could not see my own paw in front of my face. This was a place that I had become very familiar with. It was not the most comfortable of places, but at least in this place, I would run the least risk of causing a disturbance.
******** ******** ********
[Moira]
It was dark. So dark, I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face.
"What happened to me?" I thought. "Am I dead? Where am I?"
I was floating in some strange, black abyss. It felt so lonely. I tried to remember what happened when I was awake, but I just couldn't get it.
"Moira?" Called a familiar voice from the darkness, "Are you awake, Moira?"
"Hikorai?" I called back, recognizing the voice, "Is that you?"
"Yes, it is," she answered, "How do you feel?"
"...Cold," I answered back, "And lonely. Where are we?"
"This is the farthest corner in the back of your mind. This is where I stay in my efforts to stay out of your way."
"Why is it so dark?" I asked. "I can't even see myself."
"I am not sure why the darkness in this region is so intense. It may be the result of our two minds clashing with one another. Or perhaps it may be something more."
"But why am I in here?" I asked, "How did I get here? Hikorai, I don't remember what happened."
There was a long and uneasy silence.
"Hikorai?" I called, worried. "Please. I want to know."
"I am not so certain you do," she answered uneasily.
"What is it?" I asked again. After another long pause, I continued, "I did something horrible, didn't I? That must be the case if you're trying so hard to hold it back."
I waited another few moments to let her answer.
"Kalm," she said, finally, "It was destroyed."
"No," I muttered in disbelief, "No, how could this happen?"
That's when I remembered what happened. I went into a panicked rage after Raven mysteriously disappeared.
"I transformed," I realized.
"I... I was partly to blame," Hikorai spoke up, "I pushed forward in your mind in an attempt to calm you down. The body became confused and transformed. The process exhausted you and threw you back here in your state of unconsciousness, leaving me in control of your body. I do not know what I was thinking when all this was happening. Before this, I never would have thought anything like this would happen."
Though I couldn't see her, I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was blaming herself entirely. After thinking about it for a moment, the cold reality hit me.
"Oh no," I said with a shaky, wavering voice, "What about all the people there?"
"I am so sorry, Moira," she said, "There were no survivors."
"But... but that means.... Will.... Mom and Dad...."
I would've sat down had there been anything solid to sit on. I stared off into the darkness, hoping to find something. Anything. I wanted so badly to see through the lonely darkness to find something hopeful, but it was no use. No matter how hard I tried, there was nothing there.
When I finally gave up looking for something to see, I closed my eyes and tilted my head down.
"So..." I said in a weak, dull voice, "What're we gonna do now?"
"I am not sure," she answered, "I suppose I should continue to keep myself here, as far back in your mind as I possibly can. I have no desire to be the one in control of your body. I have already lived my life and died. My only wish is to rest in peace."
"I understand," I replied.
"Miss Moira?" a small voice echoed faintly from the distance.
"Your moogle friend is waiting for you," Hikorai pointed out.
"Yea," I answered, "I guess it's time for me to go back."
"And for me to return to my spot here," Hikorai said, as if demanding herself to stay put.
"Wake up, Miss Moira," the voice echoed, this time a little louder.
Then I suddenly felt like I was actually lying on something solid. It still looked dark, but that was because I still had my eyes shut. I slowly opened my eyes and found that I was back in the real world. I looked up and saw a dark night sky blanketed by thick clouds, a large rock to the right of me, and a moogle in my face.
"Good evening, Miss Moira!" She greeted.
"Hey Bibble," I greeted back, sitting myself up.
"I met the esper, kupo," she said, "She wants to help make things better for you."
"Ya, except neither of us knows what we should do next."
"Well, what do you want to do next, kupo?"
"I really want to look for Raven, but I'm not sure whether or not he's even alive now after all this."
"I thought I could read Mr. Raven's mind somewhere near the town when it got destroyed, kupo, but then it just disappeared and I couldn't pick it up anymore after that."
"So then he got caught in all the destruction, too," I said, lowering my ears, "And now all the people I love are dead."
"Ohh..." Bibble groaned in a whiny tone, "I'm sorry, kupo."
"Why are you sorry? You're not the one who did all this."
"Oh, please don't talk like that, kupo. You shouldn't blame yourself for all this."
"I'm the one who transformed into the giant monster cat and destroyed everything, not to mention killing everybody in it."
"Miss Moira--"
"What?! I have a dead esper in my head who's kicking herself in the ass for what's happening to me! She wants to go back to being dead, but I have no idea how to arrange that!"
"But it's not your fault!"
"Yes, it is!" I insisted, Bibble flew back a couple of feet, surprised by my sudden outburst, "I allowed Hojo to capture me so easily, so it's my own fault I look like this to begin with! So now she and I are both suffering because of my stupidity!"
There was a long and uneasy silence. I buried my head in my hands, looking down at the grass I was sitting on.
"I don't know what to do anymore," I continued, "I've lost everything; my family, my friends, both of the places I called home, even my love was taken from me."
Bibble floated down so she was in front of me again.
"Miss Moira?" she said softly.
I looked up at her. My vision was starting to blur because I was on the verge of crying, but I made an effort to hold it in.
"I'm still here, kupo."
After taking a moment to let that sink in, I couldn't help but smile. I chuckled, wiping off the tears that managed to well up in my eyes.
"Thanks, Bibble," I said, holding my arms up to her. She flew into them, and I hugged her as if she was a plush toy.
"It's ok, Miss Moira," she said, hugging me as best she could, "Everything will get better soon, kupo. You'll see."
"How are you so sure?" I asked as I tilted my head down to look at her.
"Because, kupo," she answered, tilting her head to look up at me, "When you hit rock bottom, the only place you got left to go is up, right?"
"I suppose you're right," I said, letting her go. She floated back up to where she was.
"So then, what were you and Hikorai doing while I was sleeping?"
"We were on our way to Midgar, kupo," she answered.
"Midgar?" I repeated, perplexed, "Why Midgar?"
"To see if we can find her Magecite, kupo."
"What makes you so sure we'll be able to find it."
"I'm not," she answered, "But we'd have a better chance of finding a way to get Hikorai back to her resting place if we had her resting place with us."
"You're right," I replied, lifting myself up onto my feet. "So then it's off to Midgar."
"Kupo!"
"And while we're there, I can also try and look for my scythe."
"Sounds good to me, kupo," she agreed, "Well, let's go."
I then began walking to Midgar, with Bibble flying right next to me. I didn't really feel much better about Kalm being destroyed, so I forced myself to think happy thoughts so Bibble wouldn't worry.
The air smelled really wet. I didn't really know what this meant, so I dismissed it as an aftereffect from holding back my tears. The clouds made the night sky look darker than it should've been. There was nothing to give off any light, but I could see everything around me like it was normal. It didn't bother me. I never really cared for not knowing what was around me.
The scenery moved much slower since we were going at my natural walking speed instead of the sprinting speed of a chocobo. The landscape wasn't that bad, so I really couldn't complain. There was mostly grassy, flat land behind us, and mountains in the distance in front of us. Midgar looked like a small speck on the horizon.
"This is going to be a long trip," I thought to myself, "A really long trip."
******** ******** ********
(One Hour Later)
We arrived at Midgar soaked and tired. It started raining twenty minutes before we got there, and thus we quickened our pace. I had to start running with Bibble flying close behind me. As we got there, I realized that running was useless, since we were going to get wet anyway. Then it occurred to me that it only took us one hour to get to Midgar. We were only a mile or so away from Kalm when I started walking, so it seemed odd to me that it took us so little time to get there when it took me several hours on the back of a chocobo.
After catching my breath, I looked up at the crumbled walls of Midgar that stood only a few feet in front of me.
"We made it...?" I said, blinking for a few moments as huge raindrops fell on me. "But how did we get here so fast? I mean, yea, we've been running for the past twenty minutes, but I highly doubt we're that fast."
"I've been teleporting us while you were walking, kupo," Bibble answered, "I took the opportunity whenever you weren't really paying attention to your surroundings."
"Why couldn't you have just teleported us all the way here to begin with?"
"I can only teleport a certain distance per teleport, kupo," she explained, floating in front of my face. "And I have to wait for a period of time between teleports."
"Oh, ok."
I walked past her and looked around for a way into the city. Though the walls had become huge piles of metal and rubble, there wasn't a way to just walk in. There was even rubble where the doors used to be. The pile in front of me was at least twice my height and too steep to climb, and it looked like the pile stayed like that for as far as I could see.
"Maybe you can jump it, kupo," Bibble suggested, looking up at the top of the wall.
"You're kidding, right?" I retorted. "This wall of crumbled concrete is more than twice my height."
"Well, I just thought that maybe your new legs might give you more jumping strength, kupo."
"Hmm," What she said made sense. I always heard that cats were very good on their feet and can easily jump pretty high up. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."
I crouched down, looking up at the wall to keep my target in sight. I concentrated on positioning my feet in preparation for this jump, gathering my strength in my legs and feet.
My legs sprang as I launched myself into the air. I was amazed when I jumped over the wall and was still ascending. When my jump reached its peak and I started to fall, I noticed that I was more than thrice my height over the wall. Horizontally, I'd passed the wall entirely and was falling into the remains of the city of Midgar.
I started to panic as I watched the rubble-ridden ground quickly approaching. I shut my eyes at the last second, bracing myself for a painful landing. A split-second later, I felt my legs spring as I hit a pile of bent and broken metal. I opened my eyes and noticed that I was standing.
"You did it, Miss Moira!" Call Bibble as she flew down to me from over the wall, "You jumped it!"
"Yes, and I also landed on my feet," I said pointing down at my feet, still amazed that I landed on my feet after falling from so high up.
"Well, you're a cat, kupo."
It felt really weird to hear her say that. All I could do was give her a bizarre stare.
"What? You are!" She insisted. "...Um, so where should we start looking, kupo?"
"What?"
"For the Magecite, kupo."
"Oh, ya," I replied, snapping out of my strange daze, "I dunno. I guess we should start around what's left of the Shinra building."
"Ok, kupo."
I started walking across the large slab of stone I landed on. My foot slid on the slick surface, causing me to fall down and land on my butt.
"Miss Moira!" Bibble gasped, "Are you ok?"
"...ouch," I answered, bringing myself back up unto my feet and rubbing my butt. "Yes, I'm fine. Let's keep going."
"Uh, sure, kupo."
So we trudged through the incessant landscape of twisted metal, fragmented concrete, and falling rain. It looked like Meteor knocked down all the remaining plates. There was nothing but clouds and rain above me for miles around. Even a good portion of the giant cannon, the Sister Ray, didn't survive. The main parts of the cannon were still together, but several parts were still missing. I only picked that up when I saw holes on the side of the cannon where it looked like something would have been attached to it. Aside from the Sister Ray, the only part of Midgar still standing was the central pillar on which Shinra Tower stood.
There was a weird smell among the smell of rain, metal, and cement. It seemed to almost come from underneath the rubble. It wasn't a very pleasant smell, and it seemed like it should've been much stronger, but the rubble seemed to be thick enough under my feet to soak up most of the smell.
"What is that smell?" I asked when I couldn't stand how faint the smell was anymore.
"It's probably just something in the wind, kupo."
"But it smells like it's coming from underneath all the rocks."
"Well, you are standing ontop of what's left of the plate, kupo. And rain has a way of doing weird things to smells."
"No, I'm pretty sure the smells coming from underneath, and if it is, that could only mean that the smell's coming from the crushed remains of the slums."
"You could be right, kupo."
I then remembered that the plates were each several hundred feet thick. I concluded that since I could smell so much of this unpleasant smell from ontop of the plate, then there must've been a massive amount of whatever it was underneath. After thinking about all that's happened, I could only pinpoint the smell to one thing.
"Is that what rotten flesh smells like?" I concluded.
"To a lesser degree, kupo, it is," Bibble answered, "There's a lot of it under the plate."
"I don't remember there being that many people living in the slums," I looked around noticing that the smell wasn't coming from anywhere but under the rocks, "I guess everyone evacuated out of the plates and either left Midgar altogether or took refuge in the slums. I'm willing to bet that most of them did the latter."
"How do you suppose that, kupo?"
"There aren't any bodies up here," I answered, "There's only debris as far as the eye can see."
"You're adapting really fast to your heightened senses of sight and smell, kupo."
"It's not like I have a choice."
"Hey! What's that, kupo?" she said as she stopped moving forward, pointing at something in the distance in front of us.
I looked where she was pointing and saw something moving. It looked like a faint green glow moving around in the distance
"That could be what we're looking for!" I said, noticing the green glow.
"Wait a minute, Miss Moira!" Bibble called to me as I started to trudge faster through the rubble, "If all the magic was sucked out of the Magecite, kupo, I don't think it would be able to glow like that."
"It doesn't hurt to go find out," I replied as I continued on towards the green light.
"Ok, kupo."
As we got closer and closer the green light, I noticed that the light was also moving towards us.
"Do you suppose there might be any survivors here, kupo?" Bibble asked, also noticing the light's movement.
"I highly doubt it," I answered skeptically, "The way Meteor was tearing everything up, I'd be impressed if even one of Shinra's machines survived the wreck."
The moment I said that, the light disappeared.
"Hey! Where'd it go?" I reacted as I stopped walking for a moment.
"I think there's someone there, kupo."
"What makes you say that?"
"There's something coming towards us."
She pointed off in front. I looked over and saw a large dark figure in a mysterious black cloak. It was walking through the rubble like it was nothing. We approached the strange figure as it also walked towards us.
"Uh, hi," I greeted uneasily, not quite sure what to say, "Um, are you lost or something?"
"Who is currently in charge of Shinra Incorporated?" The figure spoke in a deep, sort of metallic-sounding, voice.
"Shinra?" I pondered that for a moment, "Uh, Shinra's been destroyed, Pal."
"Destroyed?" The tall, dark figure replied.
"Ya, look around you," I continued, "Midgar's in ruins."
"I am fully aware of the destruction that has befallen on Midgar. Perhaps I can find more information if I go to Junon."
"Uh, yes, you do that," I answered as he walked passed me and out of sight. "Geez, what a weirdo."
"I know, kupo," Bibble replied, "What's weirder was that I couldn't read his mind at all. Like he didn't have one of his own."
"Maybe he doesn't," I answered. "Come on, let's just keep looking for that Magecite."
"Ok, kupo."
And so we continued the search. After several hours of additional searching, I realized that it might take days, or even weeks to find the small items we were looking for.
"Midgar's so huge," I pointed out in an almost hopeless-sounding tone.
"Yea, kupo," Bibble replied, "And to think President Shinra was planning on making Neo-Midgar even bigger than this."
"I remember him talking about that at the last meeting I guarded. What exactly was the Neo-Midgar Plan?"
"He wanted to find the Ancients' Promised Land, kupo, which legends said was the home of an Ancient race of people called the Cetra. Miss Aeris was the last of the Cetra, kupo."
"So, then President Shinra wanted to use her to find this Ancients' Promised Land so he could pave paradise and put up a bigger Midgar?"
"Exactly, kupo. He also wanted to build there because it was said to be directly connected to the Lifestream, which means more mako energy."
"That makes sense. Mako energy is said to be a byproduct of the Lifestream. And when mako energy condenses into a solid form, it becomes material. So with all that extra mako, he could make more mako-powered machinery."
"Right, kupo."
"I guess Shinra wasn't such a big idiot after all."
"Hey! What's that over there, kupo?" She pointed off to the left of me. I looked and saw something twinkling in the faint light on the ground just a few feet of me.
"Let's find out."
I approached the twinkling light, which by then turned out to be something buried under a small pile of scrap metal. I began digging through the scrap to find out what the twinkling was. After a few minutes of digging I uncovered a very familiar object, a small green stone with a red spot at the center.
"We did it, Miss Moira!" Bibble announced, doing flips in the air and clapping her tiny moogle hands, "We found the Magecite!"
"That's right, we did," I replied, holding up the Magecite piece. "Now we're just one step closer to helping Hikorai get back to her resting place."
I looked around and found a small pouch that I could tie onto the belt of my outfit. It was a bit torn up, but I didn't have any pockets, so it was better than nothing. I tied it to my belt and stuck the Magecite in it.
"Well, now I can concentrate the search on my scythe. We'll do that for the rest of the day."
"Ok, kupo!" Bibble agreed, "But I have a question."
"Sure, what is it?"
"Why don't you just get another scythe?"
I looked at her for a moment.
"In case you haven't figured it out by now, I don't have any money."
"You can fight monsters."
"Ok, first of all, it took me YEARS to save up for the scythe I had with the puny monsters around here. Second, how am I supposed to fight? Rip 'em apart with my bare hands?"
"First, kupo, we can go to a place where there are better monsters. Second, kupo, yes. You have claws. So they would make perfectly good weapons."
"But that just seems to barbaric."
"You got any other ideas, kupo? We were lucky to find the Magecite so quickly."
"Ok, fine," She was making too much sense for me to argue anymore, "We'll search here for the rest of the day, and if we don't find it by nightfall, we leave and I start beating up monsters with my bare hands."
"Good, kupo. You should start with the monsters around here so you can gain experience in fighting with your hands."
"Sure, but I don't want to think about that until we leave this place, and that won't happen until either night falls or we find my scythe."
"Ok, kupo."
So our search for the scythe began. As the searching went on, we were led closer and closer to the remains of the Shinra tower. Though the actual base of the building was over a hundred feet above the ground, there were several pieces of the building lying around all over the place. I did most of my searching wherever I found pieces of the building. And the closer we were to the center of Midgar, the more pieces of the building we found.
Hours passed, and we couldn't find it. I tossed aside pieces of metal beams, chunks of broken concrete, and shards of glass, making sure not to miss even an inch of the area. I was getting a headache from the constant smell of dead bodies, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it, so I kept my discomfort to myself.
Bibble, on the other hand, flew into every nook and cranny she could fit herself into. She didn't seem bothered by much of what was happening around her. My guess was that she was just hiding her disgust as much as I was. I was more than certain she knew how uncomfortable I was, but I didn't really care at the moment. I just wanted to find my scythe.
After a few more hours, the sun was starting to set, and I was starting to get tired of the repeating scenery of twisted metal, broken concrete, and scattered bits and pieces of human bodies. It got to the point where I couldn't smell the rotten flesh anymore. I wondered if it was because I was at an area where there weren't any bodies or if it was just that my nose had grown accustomed to the constant smell. I was also just plain tired.
I sat down on something that looked like it used to be a wall. My feet were hurting from walking so much. My arms ached and my hands and fingers throbbed from all the heavy objects I was tossing around.
Bibble slowly drifted over to me from an area she was searching at the moment. The flapping of her small, magenta wings was slower than usual, and she was drooped down. The blue pom-pom ontop of her head dangled lower over her head than it usually did, and her pink fur was rather scruffed from all the small tight spaces she was squeezing into throughout the day.
"Miss Moira," she called with a tired voice as she got closer to me.
"You look about as dead tired as I am," I pointed out as she landed and sat down on a platform in front of me that stood a couple of feet high. This way I didn't have to look down to look at her, but just straight ahead.
"Yea, kupo," she answered. "Can we leave now, please? I don't wanna be here anymore."
"Ya, I'm getting tired of this place, too. We won't be staying here much longer, I can promise you that. But we'll have to rest before we can have the energy to do any traveling beyond Midgar's gates. Since we're close to the center, it won't be a short trip to the outside."
"I think I might know a place nearby where we can rest, kupo. It's somehow still standing and kind of in one piece, and there aren't any dead people there, nor is there the horrible smell."
"I stopped noticing the smell hours ago, but it would be nice to have some fresh air. Where is it?"
"It's over that way," she said pointing to an area behind her. Then she turned back around and looked up at me as I slowly stood up. "I'm too tired to fly anymore, Miss Moira."
"Then don't," I replied, picking her up and holding her as if she was a plush doll. "Just tell me where to go."
"Just go in that direction and you should find it, kupo."
I walked for a bit, with Bibble directing me, until we came across a building that was still somewhat intact. It had two large doors that were in the form of an archway. There were also stained glass windows all over it, though they were all mostly broken. The area seemed relatively untouched by Meteor. There were other buildings around it, but they didn't look as stable.
"Looks like part of the slums," I pointed out.
"I think this was the Sector Five slums, kupo," she said as I walked us into the small group of buildings. I walked up to the more stable building and opened the large arch-shaped door on the front. I went inside, still holding Bibble in my arms.
The first thing I notice was that the smell changed as I walked inside. The air smelled fresh inside, as opposed to the horrible scent that was outside. It was clean for the most part, and there was a scent of flowers that grew stronger as I moved closer to the back of the room.
"This place looks familiar." I said as I looked around the inside of the building.
It was a huge room, lined with several rows of benches. Toward the back of the building was an altar, except that there was an enormous hole in the wooden floor that revealed a bed of yellow flowers.
"You were here before, kupo." Bibble said, prying into my memories, "While you were searching Midgar for that nonexistent training facility. Remember?"
"Though I don't really want to be reminded of that failed endeavor, I do remember seeing this place."
I walked up to the hole in the altar and put Bibble down next to it, sitting myself don beside her.
"This is the same rundown church I visited almost two years ago. It's incredible how this place was left completely untouched. These flowers are the only true survivors f Meteor here in Midgar."
"Ya, kupo, isn't that amazing?" She looked down at the flower bed. "Miss Aeris took care of these flowers."
"Really?"
"Yes, she grew up here in Sector Five, kupo."
"You don't say."
"Ya, she was adopted by a nice lady here after the war. And then--"
I let her drag on for a while. I wasn't really interested in Aeris's life's story. In fact, the topic of Aeris didn't interest me at all. I looked up at the roof and noticed that the sun was down completely, and the moon was shining into the empty church. It was then that my thoughts began to wander.
"I wonder if he's still alive," I thought to myself, "I highly doubt it, but I still wonder. What if he managed to escape Kalm in time, and ended up wandering off into the empty wilderness? I wonder if I should've been searching out there for him instead of wasting my time in here searching for my scythe. In reality, they're both really needles in a haystack. So if I was out there searching for him, would it also have been a waste of my time if I never found him? Wait, what am I talking about. Of course it would've been a waste of time. If I never find him, then all that searching would've been for nothing. But, now that I think about it, it would've been worth more if my effort went more to searching for him than searching for my stupid scythe. Scythes are replaceable. I can always buy a new one. But Raven..."
I felt a deep pang of regret for not leaving Midgar while the sun was still high up. I could've just left the scythe and gotten a new one later, concentrating my search on Raven, but instead I selfishly stayed, deciding to endure the ugly scenery and the nauseating smell.
"Why?" I wondered in thought, "Why didn't I just go look for Raven?"
"Because you thought he was dead, kupo," Bibble answered, disturbing my train of thought.
I stared at her for a while, rather embarrassed.
"When did you stop talking about Aeris?"
"When I noticed that you stopped listening and started thinking about Mr. Raven."
"So you heard all of that?"
"No, kupo, I butted out and let you think to yourself for a bit. I heard 'I wonder if he's still alive' and 'Why didn't I just look for Raven?' But that's about it, kupo."
I then wondered if she really butted out or if she was just saying that to make me feel better.
"Hey! I wasn't lying, kupo!" She spouted out, rather insulted. "I actually did butt out! I know how to respect the most private of thoughts, especially when someone's having a conversation with herself, kupo!"
"So then why did you answer to that last part?"
"Because I was wondering if you were finished yet, kupo!"
"Well, you should've just waited until I notice that you weren't talking!"
"Well, kupo! Next time I will!"
"Well, fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
We then stared at each other for a few seconds that seemed more like hours. After that we abruptly turned away from each other.
"The nerve of that snoopy little pink furball!" I thought to myself.
"I heard that, kupo!" She yelled back at me.
"You stop poking into my head!"
"As soon as you stop thinking bad thoughts about me, kupo!"
"If you would just stop picking my brain, maybe I wouldn't be irritable enough to think like this!"
"It didn't start bothering you until you started thinking about Mr. Raven!"
"Those thoughts were private!"
"I told you I butted out of your mental conversation, kupo! Why won't you believe me?!"
"It's not that I don't believe you. I know you didn't hear most of it, but that last time felt like the ultimate invasion of my privacy."
There was a long uneasy silence after that. I looked back over to her and found that she was also looking back at me.
"Oh," she uttered finally, lowering her head, pom-pom, and tiny ears.
There was another uneasy silence, but this time it wasn't out of seething anger.
"Bibble?" I spoke up.
She looked up at me again.
"I'm sorry, Miss Moira," she said, "I promise to just wait the next time you're having thoughts like that, kupo."
"I appreciate that, Bibble," I answered, accepting her apology, "I think we should get some sleep before we start our journey out of here."
"Yes, I think sleep is a good idea, kupo."
"Well, pull up some floor and get comfy. This wooden floor would definitely be more comfortable than all the crap that's outside."
"Not to mention that it smells nice in here, kupo, despite the horrible stuff that's stinking up the air outside."
"Yea," I answered as I rolled myself down onto my back on the splintered wooden floor.
"Miss Moira?"
"Yes, Bibble?"
"Please don't be so unhappy, kupo. Things can only get better from here. And who knows. Maybe we'll be lucky and find Mr. Raven."
"Maybe," I answered, "Someday maybe. Not now of course."
I rolled a little and found a comfortable position. I was tired enough that even a bed of solid rock would be comfortable, so the wood was a welcome substitute, and it didn't take me long to get comfortable.
"Good night, Bibble."
"Good night, Miss Moira."
It didn't take me long to fall asleep. When I found myself again in a dark void, I almost welcomed the lack of solid space. This time I could see myself. I looked human again, but I somehow knew that I'd never really look this way again.
"Good evening, Moira." I heard Hikorai greeting from far into the darkness.
"You seem more cheerful than usual," I pointed out, noticing a happier tone in her voice as she walked up to me from out of the darkness, "So I suppose you know what I was going to tell you."
"Yes I do," she answered as she stopped and sat down in front of me, "You have found my Magecite."
"Yea, so maybe now we have a better chance of getting you back to resting in peace."
"Indeed, our chances are better, but not by much," she said as her face went grim again, "Finding the Magecite was the easy part."
"I know, but now at least we've gotten somewhere."
"Yes, but we might be stuck at this somewhere for some time."
"Don't worry. We'll get there, even if it takes a hundred years."
"You certainly sound sure of yourself."
"The truth is I'm not really all that sure, but pep talking never hurts."
"Heh, well then," she chuckled, "In that case we will have to be sure to do our best."
"Right. I'm gonna try not to let my current emotional situation get the best of me."
"You should not give up searching for your boyfriend just for my sake."
"Who said I was giving up on Raven? After giving it some thought, I don't think he was in town when it got destroyed."
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"Bibble told me that the rampaging went to a screeching halt when I found Raven crawling around Midgar. So if Raven was anywhere in town, I wouldn't have completely demolished it."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna travel the world looking for a way to get you back into your Magecite, and along the way I'll keep an eye out for Raven."
"That sounds like a plan," she said as she got up and walked away.
"Hey wait! Where are you going?"
"You are about to wake up," she answered, "I should go back to my place before the body wakes up and finds both of our minds in the same place."
"Oh..." I replied, "Well, I guess I'll see you later then."
"Until next time." She said as she disappeared into the darkness, leaving me alone again.
A light started shining in front of me. It shone brighter with each passing second, until the light covered everything. I shut my eyes and shielded them from he brightness of the light. When I opened them again, I found myself again lying on a wooden floor. I sat up and looked around to remind myself of where I was.
"Oh yea, the church," I said to myself.
I looked down in front of me and saw Bibble peacefully sleeping in the flowerbed, surrounded by pretty yellow flowers. I decided to let her sleep and wait until she wakes up before we start making our way out of Midgar.
"Take all the sleep you need, my friend," I thought, "We have a long and dangerous trip ahead of us."