Journey Twenty Two – Inexperience
Ugh, where the hell am I in? Last time, I was fighting against that Ashura bastard and then…everything black out.
He opened his eyes, awaken by his sheer will from his mind and body, got his body straight up and looked to his surroundings. The room was neither too small, nor too big, but the décor had just plain white wall, only with a sink and that large mirror, whose exterior was only the surface he could see, merely behind the scenes were security guards checking their progress. And then he noticed a feeling from his right leg and uncovered the duvet to find out there was this strange-looking electronic tag.
"Good to see that you're not comatose, Marluxia." A familiar voice was heard from Marluxia as he turned around to see his fellow companion Demyx, wearing the exact dark blue cotton pyjamas as his. "Otherwise, I would have no audience to cheer for my performance."
"Demyx, they've got you, too?" He replied rather clumsily.
"Yep, the same as you were, except I was frozen over by that swordsman and his ninja companion."
Then suddenly, the door opened automatically and three people entered into the room. One had blonde hair fitted into those bishounen slick style, another had pink hair and was slightly too young to carry guns and the last one was old gentleman who had red hair and was very crossed to his son, whose name Alexi was hidden from his current XIII Order name, Marluxia.
"What a nice way to have a family reunion…dad." Marluxia smirked at Renaults, his father "So, why did you bring my sister, Alda, along, even though she's the spitting image of her human self, before that horrible accident changed herself?"
"Alexi…" Renaults replied very bitterly to his eldest son "…Your younger sister and her gunner friend, Rufus, told me everything about your 'expedition' so far and…you truly disappoint the family and me. You set a very bad example for her."
"Brother, I used to always look at you, when I need comfort. But now…" Alda sighed as she crossed her arms and came closer to her older brother "…you joined this crummy society, only to have disgraced our family name, as well as plotting Second Eden into XIII Order territory. You really disappointed me now. Now, you and your friend will have to explain everything or else, Rufus and I will spilt it out for you…forcefully."
"Well," Marluxia smirked with a dirty smile on his face "I welcome to try it out. I won't be a good boy to tell you now."
Somewhere in the ward, Saint Maria of Eden Hospital, Second Eden
Aerith…why did you come and stop the fight?
Sephiroth was sitting beside the 'eternally' slumber Aerith, whose closed eyes were as beautiful as her open emerald green eyes and his pale hands were holding her gentle and lukewarm palms. His expressions were a mixture of deep sorrow and relief for the fact that she was still alive. Cloud was standing on the wall, opposite to the One Winged Angel's side, looking more depressed than him.
Then Doctor Depp came in, rather to interrupt the silence that the atmosphere had picked up.
"Hey, I've got the results from the analysis section," The scruffy-looking doctor announced calmly, though unusually nervous since he was talking to 'the-person-that-brings-bad-luck-and-destruction' and the chocobo-boy "and the good news is that Miss Gainsborough has just missed being er, sliced in the solar plexus…"
"…" Both of the men did not say anything about the event last night.
"…and she will recover for some time soon. However, I'm not sure if she will recover mentally and physically, since that painful blow really did knock off her to sleep. So I can't help it all."
"…"
"Well, I'll leave this place, since you wanted some peace and quiet with her." And he left quickly as soon as the door closed itself seconds after him and the silent atmosphere, though with only machines bleeping , brought back in and for the first few moments, none of the swordsmen ever spoke. Until…
"Cloud…" Sephiroth spoke in a regrettable, but also pitiful manner "…have you ever lost someone that was mistakenly killed by a person who didn't commit such a horrible fashion?"
"…Yeah. You told me right after I accidentally hurt Aerith and I realise that the person I fought against wasn't you…" Cloud replied with a bitter tone to him, since he still had some grudge against the One Winged Angel.
"Sometimes, when I think that history was replaced by mythology lies my father put a thousand years ago, I come to think about the differences between light and darkness. And somehow…I felt a bit bitter that the history was a whole lie to everyone through the coming years."
"…"
"But then I realised that lie he made was actually the protection that he gave to me, so that my mother and I could live a peaceful and normal life with the item I've used to keep in my body that is most important to unlock the path to Lost Eden; but also the most forgotten method that everyone in the years later have known. That was my light and darkness the same time."
"…why would light and darkness be the same? Aren't they just the polar opposites?"
"Yes, but that's just their outward appearances. To be honest, if you look at them deeper than their surfaces, you actually find out that light and darkness are both the same thing. Like 'God' and 'Devil' in the Christian mythology, they're both the same person."
"…so, saying that if someone wanted their light so much, their darkness will simply dim away; but at the price that like darkness that you can't see anyone, but that black bleak place, light can blind you in the wrong direction." And then after the statement, Cloud realised that admittedly Sephiroth was right all along about light and darkness and the need to balance each other,
"You see, Cloud. Everyone is not a hero or a villain, but their actions they take always change their outcome and could turn into 'good' to some people, but turn 'evil' to others and no matter what accomplishment you have done to others, you'll always be someone's enemy."
"…Then, I should you owe an apology." The chocobo-boy sighed greatly as his next words were surprising to Sephiroth, as well as the two unexpected guests, one in a white mask and the other carrying a bow and had light brown flowing short hair "…I hate to say this, but Sephiroth, I'm really sorry for mistakenly telling you that you're my darkness. I realise now, that not only the actual darkness is still pulling me down to the deepest surface, that entering to light so much can blind you to the wrong direction."
"…Hmm, then I accept this apology, since you fully understand on how important balancing between the two opposites are."
"Then, I suppose you two are having a truce, now have you?" came an unexpecting male voice, to which baffled the young men, until they turned around to see him and his 'bodyguard'.
"MISTER GAINSBOROUGH?" They both bellowed to Gast as he took off his mask and hood.
"Please, gentlemen. Just call me 'Gast' from now on. I hate being so formal from many people."
"But why are you here?" The One Winged Angel questioned with a surprising tone "Haven't you got some business to take care of, mainly messing with the XIII Order?"
"Yes I should do so, but seeing my only daughter in ill health is more important than taking care of your enemy. Therefore, I sent your uncle, Ryoujin and Astaroth to continue the work."
"Wait a minute!" The chocobo-boy exclaimed interruptedly "Sephiroth's got a uncle that I've never heard of?"
"Cloud, would you stop interrupting on my confusing family tree?" Sephiroth scolded to Cloud, since he was baffled by his strange family connection "I'll give you the whole story later on. Go on; I apologise if 'my friend' is a little behind on the situation we are in now."
"I see," The person in white laughed gently "thanks to your kunoichi friend last night, I was able to come here as soon as possible to see if Aerith was alright. By the way, where is she?"
"You mean, Yuffie? I think she's in the hospital guest room, sleeping after worrying about her health right until late night. And…I've got another question for you – why didn't you come to your daughter when you had the chance to see her many years ago, even though your home world's covered in darkness?"
"…Even if she was still alive, I can't help the fact that she was lost in there, along with my wife back then. And then, there's the fact I was such a burden to her if I wasn't a good father to her.
Years before Aerith's birth, Radiant Garden (Hollow Bastion)
"Gast, you'll believe this…"
"Now, what is it, Ilfana? You won the lottery?"
"Even better! Remember the time where we've got married and fall into embrace in our honeymoon?"
"Ah yes. Wait, do you mean…?"
"Uh-huh…"
"But this is so sudden! I mean, I'm a not great father! I don't know what should I do if the baby needs constant attention!"
"Relax, dear! I don't have any experience on what it means to be a mother sooner than I thought. But together or separated, we can build it from the bottom and then, eventually, we can master the techniques. And then we can soon passed it down to our baby and then, through many generations."
Present
"And even now," Gast remarked sadly as he stroked his only daughter's sleeping gentle face "I was too nervous on this huge responsibility to take and I was deeply saddened that I lost the chance in such a peaceful world."
"I agree with you one some degrees, but it's not too late to become a good father." Sephiroth stated as he sat down melancholy, staring at the comatose Aerith.
"What do you mean?"
"It's true that you lost the chance of being a good father when your home world gets covered by darkness. But that doesn't mean you're going to give up that chance. I lost my mother and father many years ago, but I found him inside the robot that was one of Ashura's creation. As for my mother, even though she disappeared, my heart is still on course on the hopes of finding her. Luckily for you, you have your daughter around, so that you can give your wisdom to her."
"…Looks like you've got intelligence inheritance from your father. I'll give you praise for that. Perhaps, I shall take your word for it. But for now, we're still in war with the XIII Order."
"Daddy…?" Aerith's voice murmured; surprising the guests inside the ward, including Yuffie, who had just bought a bunny plushie for her as she came inside. The young woman opened her eyes slowly and was amazed to see there were so many people to greet her "Why are you…?"
"Aerith…" He just kept staring at his daughter, while she looked back at him.
"Were you worried…about me?" She smiled to him, even though she was still weak at getting up at full recovery.
"Yes…though I'm not sure what to say, if only your mother was with you."
"Well, I'm glad that you came. So…if you don't mind, Cloud…"
"I understand." Cloud quickly replied, as he knew that she wanted to talk to her living relative – and Sephiroth, in private "I'll go and leave you two alone." And then he left the room.
"Huh?" Yuffie was bemused, before she realized what Cloud was talking about "Oh, right! I'll just leave this ultra-cute bunny plushie there and go away."
"I'd better leave the room with Sephiroth and you." Lawrence replied as he was following her "Besides, I've got duty to protect you, should one of the XIII Order members or any other suspecting person comes to wreck havoc."
Outside the ward
Few seconds later and there was silence between the three people.
"So, um…" Yuffie first spoke nervously to the two older men "…why don't we introduce each other, even though I only met Cloud the last time? I'm Yuffie Kisaragi!"
"…So, you mean that Chocobo-Boy's name is Cloud?" Lawrence asked to kunoichi, though Cloud moaned that Sephiroth was not alone of calling him 'Chocobo-Boy'.
"I rather you wouldn't call me Chocobo-Boy!" He exclaimed as he sighed in slight anger "…Cloud would just do fine."
"And what's your name, you mysterious guy?" She asked in a happy and cheerful manner.
"Me? I'm Lawrence Yeager, Bach's older brother who had been 'deceased'." The man in red joked.
"WHAT THE? YOU'RE THE LAWRENCE YEAGER WHO'S DEAD? NO WAY!"
"I wouldn't want you to shout Yuffie, otherwise some Y.E. official might notice me that I'm still alive and it'll be a complete mess, if Bach came here."
"O-o-o-o-h, I'm really sorry! It's just that Aerith and Sephy told me about you and how you've got leukaemia and stuff, but why the heck they haven't told Leon and me that you're alive?"
"Let's just say that Bach would be better off that I would be dead to him, while I'll protect and encourage him in secret."
"Ah…wait a minute! Encourage him? Aren't you the guy who sabotage and ruin the Olympus Coliseum tournament two years ago?"
"Yes."
"Then why the hell were you trying to kill Bach?"
"Bach's very inexperienced on the actual battlefield when he was young and he's such a lazy slob, I tend to bother him so that he could get on continuing forward and give him the taste of working hard."
"Well next time, don't kill anyone when the tournament starts or even about to finish! Well anyway, that's me finish talking about something; I need something to drink. Do you want anything?"
"I'm alright thanks."
"Thanks for the offering, but I'll pass." Cloud replied quickly.
Somewhere in space…
"Xenmas," Vexen announced to his 'Superior' as he walked towards him formally "I would proudly say that the MA Jennifer had its best performance yet to the enemy…"
"And yet," Xenmas replied angrily as he was facing to the window "that MA didn't do any damage to that Jehovah and its unexpected ally. I'm very disappointed with your progress so far. And the worse news is that Demyx and Marluxia are captured by our enemies themselves, including the One Winged Angel and that Ashura bastard!"
"But sir! Do not worry about Demyx and Marluxia's capture; Saïx and Larxene are coming to their rescue as we speak."
"I do hope so, but this will be your final chance, otherwise your pathetic experiments will all for naught! And make sure you give a good hearing to the pilot."
"You mean number thirteen and that woman? But of course, I'll be right away."
Meanwhile at the docking area, the golden-blonde spiky haired boy, still looked depressed as ever got off the main pilot position as he looked further to the distant person on the weapon control position.
"Hey, Roxas!" Axel's voice was heard, as Roxas turned around to see the red-spiky haired man and the mysterious blue-silver haired man "Congrats on getting to the MA's main pilot position!"
"So what does it feel like to control this huge mecha?" asked the blue-silver haired man calmly.
"…Leave me alone…" Roxas tetchily remarked as he walked away, ignoring the two men.
"Oh come on! Why aren't you listening to your uncle Axel and Zexion?"
"…Why do I pilot this thing? I haven't even mastered controlling a Gummi ship yet!"
"Well, as the Superior would say, 'The Key to Destiny would always control the role of the Lost Eden MA Jennifer', regardless of your timeline ancestry or whatever it's called."
"But why me? I don't even know if my ancestors lived in Lost Eden over a thousand years ago! I can't just control this huge machine with an older woman that I've never heard of; for the fact being that she never listens."
"But Roxas," Vexen's voice was heard also as the scientist walked down towards them "That woman is the mother of the One Winged Angel."
"And what do I care? You just drugged and erasing her memories, so that you can control her innocent mind! I don't want to be in this mess! Can't I get some say into this?"
"Roxas! Enough with your nonsense! You were the only XIII Order member that can open that MA from its shell, thanks to my research that 'The Descendent of The Key to Destiny' must open it by touching it and because it requires two pilots, you were the chosen, while this woman – the mother of the One Winged Angel – was just a present from the Superior's Master and she knows the true history about Lost Eden. However, we were not successful with our objectives, due to the One Winged Angel's strength and its allies' powers, you were still inexperienced on controlling Jennifer fully. Therefore, I want you to carry on training to master it, until you can match the power with Jehovah!"
"But I don't want to! I'm not going to get involved with this again!" Unfortunately, Roxas's comment was a step to trouble as Vexen punched him to his left cheek and he fell to the floor.
"Don't you dare say your words to me! You're here, because the Superior said so and you HAVE to drive the MA Jennifer, whether you like it or not!" And the scientist walked away from the golden-blonde Keyblade Master, where Zexion pulled him up, after an unexpected uppercut from Vexen.
"I know how you feel…" The blue-silver haired man remarked to him.
"…No, you don't." Roxas replied as he resumed his position and soon walked off "…you'd just accept the fact that me, a descendent of this 'Key to Destiny' controls this huge MA or whatever and I not sure, if I'm one of them or not! There's bound to other people besides me! I don't want to fight them again!"
"Roxas, you were a descendent of the last survivors of Lost Eden, named Marcus, who had control of the MA Jennifer, thanks to countless amounts of Vexen's research. Although we know the pilot to the Lost Eden MA Jehovah is the One Winged Angel, sadly we don't know the pilot of the Rogue MA Jenova. And now, you have to confront Jehovah, so that you can unlock the path to Lost Eden and therefore, we can finally realize what their desires were and change the Nimbus Galaxy to a better place."
"I rather not. And besides, I'm still too inexperienced to control. I just…want my freedom back."
Saint Maria of Eden Hospital Garden, Second Eden
"Isn't this peaceful, Sephiroth?" Aerith asked with a gentle smile as both her and the One Winged Angel sat next to each other on the white bench, while looking at the sunset sky.
"Yeah, it is." He replied with the same expression, even though the peaceful scenery only lasted for few moments "Do you think what your father said is true about the Lost Eden incident, so far?"
"Yeah, right after that I'm fully recovered and my father and Lawrence left to do their business, I can believe that he told us the truth completely."
"And now, didn't he said that 'we're the chosen ones' to save the Nimbus Galaxy? It's just that not only the responsibility we take is far too cheesy to take, it's also too big for just us to do that."
"Sephiroth, I don't think what my father gave to us is really that cheesy. It's just that he wanted us to protect this secret from anyone, including the XIII Order. And also, we have to find out who is piloting the MA Jennifer."
"Yeah, but…" Sephiroth held his hand on to Aerith's "…I don't want to lose you, again. I'd just don't want to see you alone."
"Yeah…I don't want to lose you either. I can't bear the fact that if you were dead, trying to protect me, I would never forgive myself."
Meanwhile in the distance, Cloud was looking at the 'two lovebirds', though he was not as much disgusted as he first looked at them.
"Hey, Chocobo-boy!" Yuffie exclaimed happily to the blonde-haired swordsman, to which he was surprised that she and her lone swordsman companion came to see him "Are you spying on 'The Raven and The Dove'?"
"What the!" Cloud replied with a flustered look "Where did you come from? Well, anyways; I'm just looking at Sephiroth and Aerith. It's just that I don't want to see him falling in love with her, but somehow for some reason, she wants to be close to him. I don't really understand why they're in love?"
"Cloud, I understand what you're saying, but Sephiroth and Aerith aren't just in love with other – they need each other."
"But why?"
"You might not get it, but Aerith and Sephiroth both share common things that are unaware we notice. I think you need further explanation from the experts; i.e. Leon and me!"
"Wait a minute!" Leon bellowed to his ninja companion "Since when do I get in the act?"
"Don't worry, Leon! You're going to assist me to tell Cloud everything we know…or something."
"Yeah…I just hope that the future would carry good fortune of things like that."
Author's Notes: Phew, another journey done and some more twists added to the plot! Bet, you didn't notice that, eh? And yeah, even though I haven't played Kingdom Hearts II yet (stupid Europe with this stupid PAL conversions), I tend to get some information by (ahem)…going to KHU website and put the characters in that I know of so far.
As far as World Embryo is concerned (I promise that I would not talk about it too much, since I'm in the FFVII category), the inspiration behind the first scene of this Journey was reading through chapter nine and to put it, that scene where the main character got captured inside 'that prison or something' was very interesting to me, so I put this as a homage to Daisuke Moriyama's latest manga. And now, I think this Journey has gone a little philosophy –esque to it, because I tend to believe that sometimes, being in Heaven when you die is very good to most of the people, but like Hell, some would not like to choose it; maybe that Heaven's too strict on its rules and Hell is too chaotic to run itself and I would prefer to go to Purgatory thank you very much. And also, I think villain characters deserved to be forgiven, because let's face it, even hero characters tend to go evil sometimes. Even you feel so sorry for Marvel characters too, even though what they're doing is practically evil.
And now, I would like to thank many AeriSeph fans and readers, including my new pals Tish, turtlerad17, Lily Silver (even though she hasn't reviewed the recent ones yet), Foi (same one here, but who cares). Without you, I'll be stuck in Writer's Block Limbo and keep those reviews and comments in (as long as they're not FLAMERS). And as we're in the Summer, another extra present for you – Nimbus Detour!
Nimbus Detour – Bypass Nine – Dream
Somewhere on a tall building, Serapha, Second Eden
Rain and dull grey clouds covered the day and Kadaj was standing at the edge, ready for something very horrible indeed.
"Dammit!" He exclaimed as he reached his arms out "Not only that I'm still traumatised by that unknown blonde-haired gunner two years ago, my life's been a mess, thanks to no qualifications after school and Horowitz University in Mana Mosso rejected my place in there! I'm going to end my life, right here, right now!"
And then he jumped off the building, until suddenly…
Kadaj's Bedroom
"AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" Kadaj screamed as he sat up straight away with his eyes very wide open and because of his scream, Yazoo opened the door quickly, with his eyes a mixture of sleep and alert.
"Kadaj, what the hell at you're screaming at?" The older brother asked very groggily "It's two thirty in the morning!"
"Oh, it's you Yazoo. I had a nightmare, where I was committing suicide!"
"Kadaj, that's only your brain messing around with your mind. Just go back to sleep."
"Oh, ok."
As Kadaj got back to bed and Yazoo returning to his room, the older brother went slippery back to bed.
"Yazoo, what's that about?" asked a person next to him, with a very woozily and female voice.
"Oh, it's nothing. Let's just go back to sleep." He replied as he slid back to sleep. What Yazoo had not noticed that person next to him was actually Eliza.
Eliza's Bedroom
"AAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!" She screamed at she got up very quickly.
"Eliza, would you stop screaming for no reason and go back to sleep?" pleaded a very tiredly, but male voice.
"Ok."
However, what Eliza had noticed again that the person that she was sleeping with was actually Lawrence for no absolute reason.
Lawrence's Bedroom
"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" He screamed with the same procedure as the previous two victims…er, I mean individuals.
"Lawrence, will you shut screaming and get back to sleep, before I'll get your tongue out?" exclaimed a female voice, though it was very broken.
"But…"
"I don't care! Just go back to sleep!"
And he did, though what he never noticed was a person next to him sleeping was actually Alda.
Alda's Bedroom
"WHAT THE F…" She was about to scream, until a person interrupted her cursing.
"Alda, get back to bed!" whispered a male voice.
"Dammit! I was about to curse, until you interrupted!"
"Just go back to sleep!"
And she finally did, a few minutes a 'persuasion', though what she had not noticed that the person who is sleeping next to her was actually…Adrian.
Adrian's Bedroom
"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" He screamed with the same course of action as everyone else.
"ADRIAN, WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" exclaimed a very angry, but also very dizzily voice.
"But I had this…"
"Please…"
And then, a few seconds later, Adrian went back to sleep, though he never realized that the person was not only male…it was his childhood friend, Bach.
Bach's Bedroom
"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEE!" He screamed, like anyone else previously did.
"Now, what are you dreaming about?" whispered a weak voice.
"Oh, nothing."
"Then, go back to bed, then."
After the guitarist went back to slumber, there was a peaceful atmosphere, but what he had realized that the person he was sleeping with was surprisingly, but somehow for inexplicable reason, Cloud Strife.
Cloud's Bedroom. No wait, scratch that. Some hotel room in Senplice.
Cloud got up straight with his eyes very unusually wide opened, though he did not screamed like the other people, who had the same nightmare as him.
"Cloud, please get back to sleep." Pleaded a very weak and groggily voice.
"But I had this nightmare, where I went to bed with this insane guitarist!"
"Cloud, it's nearly three in the morning! Either you'll go back to sleep or I'll have to deal you to forcefully get back to sleep myself!"
"Oh, all right. Fine!"
And Cloud got back to sleep. However, little did he realized that the person that he slept with was very unusual indeed. In fact, he was sleeping with…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…Sephiroth.
Kei's Guest Bedroom
It was a sunny good morning, until Sephiroth sat up straight and screaming with his emerald green eyes wide opened largely. And then, from the sliding door inside, Aerith came in with the unusual breakfast for him.
"Good morning Sephiroth!" She smiled, though that quickly changed into a confusing expression "Er…did you had a good night sleep, then?"
"Sleep, did you say?" He replied with a very nervous, but slightly traumatised tone "I had this nightmare for the first time, since when I was a kid."
"Oh, so what nightmare did you get?"
"I was sleeping with Chocobo-Boy, Cloud."
"Huh?"
Quick Note: This Detour had me inspired by that joke I made in the Xenolegacy (Xenosaga fan site) forum a few months ago, where the character either jumped off the building or commit suicide and then wakes up in his or her bedroom, where he got a nightmare and then a person comes along and ask why is he screaming, before going back to bed with a person. However, the second person that the first person that he or she never noticed is someone who either the one we like him or her to pair up or not, and then he or she wakes up. And the whole system repeats itself, until the joke gets boring and I stop it there. And whoever spot the author's name in a certain Alex Rider series somewhere in this detour, gets a cookie!