Chapter 5:

Pain of Separation.

Chrono looked back at the town that everybody departed from only a short time ago. Everyone was upset because of leaving the town. However, they knew they had to find a way for their furry new friend to return home. The group trudged on through the paths, wondering about where to go to next. Earlier, Chrono had suggested that everyone should return to where each of them had first woken up. As neither the place that Ayla ended up nor the place Robo arrived yielded any results, Chrono decided to search the forest near the spot where he, Lucca, and Marle first arrived.

As the group continued to the spot, each one of them seemed to feel something for each other. It was not the same feeling that friends get when they first meet. This feeling was different. It was respect… respect for their teammates. Despite the fact they lost Frog, and the fact they had just picked up another rather strange animal, they still felt a connection with each other. This special connection seemed to mean that each of them would give their lives to save another. Even though they were desperate and in search of finding those dear to them, they still felt comfort in their bonds of friendship and trust.

As Lucca traveled with the rest of the group, curiosity about what Rion was like gradually took over. Rion generally seemed to keep to himself, talking only when someone spoke to him or when he felt it was necessary to speak. She carefully looked at Rion, taking in details about him. He just seemed like an animal with red fur, markings on the body, and a flaming tail. There did not seem to be anything physically unique about him. However, even though she was just walking near him, she felt a certain… something… exude from him. She did not know what this something was, but she knew that this aura gave her a reason to respect and rely on this creature.

It seemed that Rion managed to keep a level head and a calm composure, despite being in a foreign land, separated from his friends, and traveling with an unfamiliar group of warriors. It was almost impossible to her how someone in such a situation could remain calm and collected. She smiled to herself as she admired the sheer determination of the creature. She absentmindedly watched Rion for a while as they traveled; she continually tumbled these thoughts through her head as she continued to watch him. Yet, as she watched him walk, she could not help but feel slightly guilty…

Throughout most of the walk, Rion had felt that Lucca was staring at him. He wondered what was going through her head. Eventually he decided that, although the attention was nice, the staring really needed to stop. He gradually slowed down so that both he and Lucca were walking next to one another. He then glanced at her, making sure to eventually make eye contact. He noticed that as soon as he made eye contact with Lucca, she quickly averted her gaze and looked forward. He muttered to her, "You do not need to be nervous. It is natural for humans to examine what they do not know."

Lucca managed to avoid eye contact and said, "Someone once said, 'Curiosity killed the cat.'"

Rion looked away from Lucca for a second, pondering the somewhat cryptic response. He turned back to find Lucca had finally decided to make eye contact with him again. He said, "What seems to be bothering you?"

Lucca averted his gaze and looked at the path. It seemed that it would still be some time before they would reach their destination. She was quiet for a few moments and looked at Rion again. She opened her mouth, as if to reply, but her mind seemed as if she could not say what she was thinking. Eventually she opened her mouth again and asked, "What are your friends like?"

Rion was once again slightly puzzled at the enigmatic responses that he seemed to be getting. He finally responded, "Well, each of my friends are unique in their own way."

Lucca once again broke eye contact and stared forward. She sighed and said, "How are they unique?"

Rion, expecting the question, replied, "Well, there is Cloud. He was, in a sense, our leader. In some ways, he was mentally unstable; in other ways, he was a pure genius. Even though he had his own faults, he was still one of the most trustworthy individuals that anyone could ever have known. We worked together in hopes of saving the planet from that evil menace, Sephiroth. Eventually, Cloud did manage to take Sephiroth down and save the planet."

Lucca said, "Who else? What were they like?"

Rion said, "Cid loved to cuss. He would be swearing left and right over the most normal of things. Cait Sith was rather interesting… being he was a stuffed doll who could actually fight. Barrett cussed, but not as much as Cid did. He was usually the life of any party. Yuffie was a ninja who enjoyed stealing our materia. I was usually silent in the group, watching the others have fun. Vincent was a loner, only helping because it seemed to clear his conscience of something he did in the past."

He paused and Lucca said, "Who else?"

Rion looked a Lucca and said, "Yes, there was one other person in our team. She seemed to have the most interest in Cloud, both in interests and in relationships. She was quite a character, unique in so many ways. She was the only one of us who did not use a weapon. Instead, she focused mainly on her martial arts skills. Her name was Tifa, and everyone respected her skills in combat."

Lucca looked at Rion, and made eye contact. She said to him, "It sounds like you really miss them."

This time, Rion broke eye contact with Lucca. He said, "Yes… I miss them. I honestly do miss them. When they are gone and it seems as if I cannot get back to them, it feels like I am empty inside again. That is why I am who I am. Even though I am empty, I try my best to fill that emptiness with courage and wisdom. Unlike others I know, who wallow in their sorrow and emptiness… I embrace it, and use it as a chance to work harder and improve myself."

Lucca said, "I used to feel like that. Before I met Chrono, my life was empty. Other children teased me because of who I was. I was always a gifted student who had a rather large pair of eyeglasses." With that statement, she carefully adjusted her eyeglasses. She continued, "When I met Chrono, I felt that emptiness fill with happiness. I felt like I was alive again. I felt as if I would never be lonely again. When Lavos killed him, I felt like that monster ripped away a large part of whom I was. I thought I never would feel happy again. Yet, I continued onward. I persevered throughout trials, and my emptiness filled with a burning desire to find a way to bring Chrono back. When we did, I promised myself that I would never let something like that happen again."

Rion said, "Yes, the pain of losing something close is always greater than the pain of being lonely your whole life. This greater pain is what separates the strong from the weak. The weak continue to wallow in self-pity, and choose not to fill the emptiness. The strong try to overcome many pains to fill the emptiness with something useful, and to continue to validate their existence by doing what they can to help all people. To use the pain for your advantage is a sign of a truly strong person. To waste the pain and do nothing about it but sit around and do nothing is a sign of weakness. People only live one life, so it is only right that they should live it to the fullest. The line between weakness and strength is very thin, and it is quite often for even the most respected person to cross that line one time or another."

Lucca listened to Rion talk about the weaknesses and strengths of a person. She looked back in time and thought about all the pains she had endured. When Chrono died, she was the one who brought everyone together to find plans of reviving him. She used the pain of the moment and used her pain to accomplish something. She used her pain for the good of others, and to accomplish something. She suddenly felt like she was a bit stronger. This seeming strength started to course through her veins, lifting her mood and giving her a new perspective.

Nevertheless, as she continued to get this new strength, her original worries came back. She suddenly started to feel hopeless again. She realized that this pain was similar to the one from the last time, but this time, she could not seem to find a possible way out of it. She knew there was a way of fighting back, but the solution seemed so impossible.

Rion looked at Lucca once again and said, "You seem troubled. Is something bothering you at all?"

Lucca snapped away from her reverie and said, "No, nothing at all. Nothing is wrong at all. I was just musing over something."

Rion looked at her for a few seconds, causing her to feel uncomfortable. She felt as though he was staring into her very soul, trying to pierce through her lies to find what was wrong. He finally said, "Use this pain to your advantage. You have been strong once before. Try to be strong again."

Chrono looked back and said, "Okay everyone. We are back to where we came out. It seems that there is this portal here."

He turned to Lucca to find that she was back to daydreaming. He said to her, "Lucca, we need you to find out if this was the same portal that carried us here in the first place."

Lucca was starting to make plans on how to escape from the place and to fix everything that went wrong when suddenly she was pulled away from her abstraction by Chrono. She looked up at him and said, "Could you repeat that please? I was trying to think of a plan."

Chrono sighed and repeated, "I need you to find out if this was the same portal that carried us here in the first place."

Lucca looked around and said, "What portal?"

Chrono said, "What is wrong with you? The portal that is right in front of you."

Lucca looked down to find a circular portal with a radius of one foot. It was floating about three feet off the ground, so it seemed almost impossible that she missed it. She examined it carefully, looking at it from all angles. She constantly muttered aloud, saying comments like "it is the same color" and "the swirl of the vortex is also clockwise".

She finally looked up at Chrono and said, "Okay, it is the same portal that took us here in the first place."

Chrono said, "Well, any ideas on how we are to get into it?"

Lucca looked at it again and said, "Well, since its diameter is two feet, I think most of us can somehow wriggle through that hole. However, Rion and Robo cannot. We need a way to make this hole wider so that we can fit those two through the hole."

Robo said, "Leave."

Rion added, "We are okay without you. Return home and find a way to widen this portal. We shall make sure nothing happens to this entrance or us. I can guarantee it."

Lucca nodded in acknowledgment and said, "Okay everyone. Let's ride this portal and go home so we can help solve this mystery."

She looked and said, "Well, this portal seems to be put a bit high. Robo, could you lift me up so I can get in?"

Robo said, "Affirmative."

Robo carefully lifted Lucca up to the portal where she could get in. She climbed in and said, "Robo, can you help the others?"

Robo said, "I will."

Lucca smiled at Robo and disappeared into the portal. Chrono said, "I don't need any help."

He jumped into the air and did a front flip before flying toward the portal. However, his aim was slightly off and he ended up crashing face first into the ground. Luckily, nothing serious happened to him; he just had a few scratches on his face and arm. He looked around and said, "Not a word." He jumped up again and without any stunts, he dived headfirst into the portal. Robo assisted Marle into the portal and sat down. Rion said, "Well, it's just us now. I hope, for everyone's sake, that nothing bad happens to them or us."

A voice behind them said, "You are a little late to say that."

As Rion turned around, he saw a sword heading straight for him. He saw that he was unable to dodge it and felt as though fate had finally decided to claim Rion's life for himself…

Rion closed his eyes, knowing he was too slow to dodge the attack. In the short time he had, he thought, "Is this really the end? Is this how I am to die? I have lived long, but not long enough. I can do more… I know I can do more if I lived longer. I cannot believe it is to end like this."

As he finished his final thought, he heard a large clash in the air, as if metal crashed with metal. Rion opened his eyes to see that Robo had saved his life. He had one hand out, from which the tip of the sword had stabbed through. Another hand had grabbed the sword at another place to hold it from flying any further.

A figure in the shadows of the forest came at the two with blinding speed. He jumped over a few bushes, and grabbed the handle of an overly large masamune. The figure pulled hard on the sword, attempting to free it from Robo's clutches. Both of Robo's hands emitted sparks, as the sword had severed some of the circuitry inside. Robo made a small sound, as if to ascertain the fact that they were in danger.

Rion looked in amazement at the figure in front of him. The wind blew, causing the person's long, gray hair to stream out behind him. Rion breathed a name that he thought he would never say in fear again.

"Sephiroth…"