And now folks, the next chapter of the story. Remember to write improvements about the story.
Chapter 5: The Materia of Destiny
Cloud? Can you hear me?
Cloud looked around. He stood on a plane of pure white. This was much different from his other dreams. He recognized the voice almost immediately.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud asked. "Where are you!"
The best way to explain is to say that I exist on a different plane of existence.
Something about the way Sephiroth talked seemed... different. He didn't sound as demented as he normally did.
But that is of little importance. Listen to me. The dreams you've been having! They are the work of a being of pure evil. A being not unlike myself. Do not be swayed by the visions in the dark! They are all part of his plan to-
The voice of Sephiroth stopped. Cloud looked around. "Sephiroth?" He turned around as if he was behind Cloud. "Sephiroth are you there?"
Suddenly, everything went dark. Cloud half expected to see Sephiroth and Aeris again, but they did not appear.
Cloud... Please help me. It's so cold. I need your help!
"Cloud?" Zack came up to Cloud's side.
"Did you hear Sephiroth too?" Cloud asked.
"No. Why do you ask?" Cloud was about to explain, when they spotted the woman in the dark. She was brighter now, but her face was still too dark to recognize.
But Cloud saw enough of her to take a guess.
"Aeris?"
Cloud could almost make out her lips moving as she spoke.
"Cloud... Zack... Please... So cold... Help me!"
Zack spoke up. "How can we help you!"
Aeris raised her hand. Hovering over her palm was a silver orb. However, it glowed the way a Materia orb would. Aeris turned around, and a wall in the dark opened. Cloud went to look inside, but was blinded by the flash of white light as Aeris entered the room.
When the light had subsided, Cloud didn't see what he expected.
He was facing Sephiroth, yes, but Sephiroth was where Cloud had been. He looked down to see he welded Sephiroth's sword, and that it was plunged deep into Aeris' back.
Cloud could feel himself smiling, even though he didn't want to. He wanted to drop the sword and run. But he couldn't. He slowly pulled the sword out of her body, as she crumpled into Sephiroth's arms.
Cloud felt a sudden sense of pride in what he had just did. He tried to forced the feeling away, but it wouldn't leave. Cloud screamed.
But it never came out.
"Cloud! Cloud, wake up!" Zack shook his friend awake.
Cloud opened his eyes, and shook his head. "What? What is it?"
Zack stood up, and pointed behind them. Cloud followed his finger to see a massive airship hanging low over the Bone Village. He recognized it as the Highwind.
"What should we do?" Zack asked.
Cloud considered what had taken place in the dream. He turned around. Before him stood the entrance to the Forgotten City, and beneath it, the City of the Ancients. His conversation with Sephiroth haunted him. Zack hadn't experienced it, which told him it couldn't be a ruse, otherwise Zack would have also talked with him.
"We head back." And with that, Cloud picked up his things and headed towards the Bone Village.
Zack just stared after him. "What! After all that hiking we did to avoid it!"
Cid walked up to the display that showed him that dreaded day that he almost went into space. He looked into the cabin of Shinra Rocket 26. Cid's hands where placed against his head, as if he had a headache.
Cid wasn't too fond of this memory, but he pressed the button next to the display.
"Shera! Get out of there! Do you want to make me a murderer!"
"Just a few more seconds!"
"5... 4... 3.."
"ARRGGGHH! What am I going to do!"
A side monitor showed him pressing the cancel button as the rocket started to take off, then went black.
"Shera didn't care about her own life." He commented. "She was determined to stay and make sure I would have enough air."
He walked over to the next display. It showed Shera and Cid sitting down to dinner the next day. Shera had made Cid's favorite.
Looking back at this, Cid noticed that she was looking more attractive than usual. "Must of done it especially for me. Out of guilt? Or did her feelings run that deep even back then?" Cid wondered. He pressed the button.
"Mmm... my favorite!"
"Cid... I'm really sorry about yesterday."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that we will get another chance in a few months. I can wait. Mmm... Pass the salt won't you?"
Cid shook his head. "She tried to apologized, and I told her it was nothing. Like it happened all the time." He looked at her. "I didn't deserve her."
"Are you sure about that?"
Cid spun around to see Aeris walk up to him. "Aeris! But you're dead! How can you be here!"
Aeris smiled. "You're between worlds Cid. I'm also here. I don't know why."
Cid had a million questions for her, but decided to only ask the important ones. But there was something he had to tell her first. "Cloud misses you, ya'know. Everyone does."
"I miss them." She lowered her head a bit. "Especially Cloud..."
"What do you mean we're 'between worlds'? I thought this was the afterlife."
Aeris just shook her head. "No... This is the corridor. The place where we go to evaluate our lives. Based out our final decision, determines what happens next. But everyone's corridor is different. It reflects how we see the world. I think..." Aeris looks around. "Nice choice. I never figured you for the wax museum type."
Cid shrugged. "Well... I always enjoyed going to them with my father. One of my earlier dreams was to own one of the best wax museums in the world. But when my father died, my dream died with him. I started to get into machinery and finally decided I wanted to fly. I wanted to touch the stars."
Aeris smiled at him. "You can still have your dream come true."
Cid just glared at her. "Yeah right. I'm dead."
"No, you're between worlds." She replied. "You have a choice. You can continue down this room, and find out what's after this life, or you can go back the way you came. You can rejoin the living."
Cid was filled with hope. "You mean I can go back! I can go back to Shera?"
Aeris smiled as she nodded her head.
Cid looked at Aeris. "What about you? Can you come back too?"
Aeris's face fell. "I can not come back as easily as you can. You're only half-dead. Your body is still alive, and waiting for you."
"But there HAS to be a way!"
"There is. There is another Temple of the Ancients. I do not know where, but inside it is a piece of materia called the Materia of Destiny. If you use it at the City of the Ancients, it will bring me back. I don't if it will work. It's taken me almost a year of wandering around these between-worlds to discover this much." Aeris said as she shook her head. "I just don't know."
"We'll find it, Aeris. We'll bring you back!" Cid promised.
"If you can't, tell Cloud not to blame himself for my death. Tell him I have no regrets, and that I am proud to know him."
"You can tell him yourself when we bring you back!" Cid told her. "I won't rest until I see you stand in front of me again!"
Aeris smiled. "Thank you Cid. Now go! Go back to Shera."
Cid nodded, and ran back the way he came. "SHERRRAAAA!"
Barret hadn't moved since they'd gotten there. He had faithfully stayed at Cid's side, since he discovered what had happened. Tifa came in with some food. He shook Barret awake.
"Hey... wake up."
Barret slowly woke up. He rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"
Tifa checked her watch. "7:32." She held the food up for him. "Here, I brought you something to eat."
Barret shook his head, and mumbled. "Not hungry."
But it would take more than that to fool Tifa. "Come on! Eat! You didn't have lunch OR dinner yesterday. You must be starved."
"Just leave it. I'll eat it when I get hungry."
Tifa slammed the food onto the table. "Damn it Barret! We have to face the reality that Cid may never wake up! He may be like this for the rest of his life! We simply do not know! If you remember our original mission, we have to find Cloud! He could be in a lot of danger! It's time to say "Good luck" and "I hope he gets better" and be on our way!"
Barret wasn't looking at Tifa anymore. Tifa sensed that Shera was right behind her. She turned around to see that she was right. "Shera... I didn't mean that-"
"Oh yes you did." She interrupted. "You just want to cut your losses and go find your boyfriend Cloud. Well... go. Go now. Or I will!" Tifa had never heard Shera speak with such anger... Such conviction.
"Shera please don't-" Tifa started.
"shera..." They all turned toward Cid. "Shera... please come back..."
"Cid? Cid! Cid I'm here!" Shera rushed to his side. She grabbed his hand and kissed it.
She started to cry. "Oh Cid! Don't ever leave me!"
Barret went to the door. Yuffie was sleeping in one of the chairs next to the tent. "Yo! Yuffie!"
Yuffie bounced out of the chair, and into combat position. "Not on my watch!" She suddenly noticed her surroundings. "Huh?"
Barret rolled his eyes. "Yuffie!"
Yuffie turned around to face Barret. She was startled to see Barret's bearded face, and jumped back a foot. Barret groaned.
"Get the others! Cid's waking up!"
"He's waking up?" A smile appeared on Yuffie's face as the news sank in. She suddenly was off in a flash to get the others.
Barret walked back in.
"Ok! I promise never to do that again! Sheesh woman!" Cid was back to his normal charming self, Barret noted.
Suddenly, the rest of the group crowded into the tent. After they all said how happy they where, how glad they where to see him, yadda, yadda, yadda... Cid got serious.
"Guys. First things first. How's the Tiny Bronco 2?"
"Destroyed." said Barret.
"Obliterated." replied Red.
"No longer among us." Chipped in Vincent.
"Not repairable." Yuffie added.
"And no longer your concern!" Shera finished.
Cid had to laugh at this. He was glad Aeris talked him out of-
"Aeris!" he said. He had almost forgotten about her! His outburst drew a concerned look from everyone. "I met Aeris on the other side!"
Barret was the first to speak. "What?"
Cid spoke real fast. "Well... It wasn't really the other side. It was a wax museum of my life that was sort of in the middle, where I had to look at my life and see if I liked what I saw or not."
"What are you talking about?" Red finally got out.
"It doesn't matter right now. We need to find Cloud. I was able to track him coming this way, but I crashed before I could ask around. We NEED to find him!"
"Am I missing?" Cloud asked. He was leaning against the doorway.
Tifa's heart soared. He ran over to him and gave him a great big kiss. "Don't you ever do that again! Or I'll knock your head off!" She said in between kisses.
Only Cid knew the ironic truth.
"Ahem. Cloud? Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend over there?"
"Oh." Cloud cleared the door. "Everyone. This is my good friend Zack."
As soon as Tifa saw him, she fainted.
The Light One clutched the spot his heart would have been if he Existed. The pain was intolerable, and several times he almost passed out. But that would mean that the Dark One would gain control, and he could not let that happen again.
The Dark One pulled his sword out of the back of the Light One. He smiled as the Light One fell to the floor, clutching his chest. "Don't EVER do that again." he said.
The Light One just looked up at him. His glare turned icy, then fiery, then it turned neutral. So neutral that the Dark One was afraid it would pierce his soul. He quickly looked away and covered his eyes.
"I will do it again if it means I can stop you!" The Light One announced. Suddenly his wounds glowed with a white light, and the wounds closed up. The Light One grabbed his sword, and turned to face the Dark One. "There is not much time. I must subdue you before they have a chance to activate the Materia of Destiny."
The Dark One laughed at this. "My illusions should have convinced those fools to do as I need them to do."
"By slowly driving them MAD!" The Light One retorted. "I fail to see how that helps you."
"All in good time." The Dark One replied. "All in good time..."
But the Light One decided not to give him that time. He unleashed his fury at the Dark One with blinding speed.
And the fury was total...
Tifa woke up to see Cloud and Zack leaning over her in concern. Her gaze jumped from one to the other. She seemed to be in a haze.
"Which one of you is Cloud?" She asked dreamily. Zack pointed to Cloud, then Tifa kissed Zack.
"Yep. It's you Zack." She fainted again.
Cloud looked at Zack. Zack had a shocked look on his face. "What was that about?" Cloud asked.
"Got me." Zack replied. He was as dumbfounded at Cloud. Cloud picked Tifa up, and placed her on the bed next to Cid. When she looked comfortable, Cloud turned his attention to Cid. "So. What are you doing in a place like this?"
Cid took a deep breath, and explained his situation to Cloud. Most of the group still hadn't heard the full story, so they also listened.
"...And while I was looking at my life in this wax museum, Aeris walked up to me." Cid concluded.
"Aeris?" Vincent asked. "How was that possible?"
Cid shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not quite sure. She said something about us being
'between worlds'. Not living, but not dead. I came back because I was only half-dead. You guys where able to keep my body alive. She said it would be harder for her."
Cloud looked up at this. "Does this mean she can be revived?"
"She thought so." Cid answered. "She said something about another Temple of the Ancients... she didn't know where it was, but inside was something called the Materia of Destiny."
Red's head bobbed up at this. "Did she describe it?"
Cid tried to recall their conversation, but some of it was a little blurry. "I don't remember." Suddenly, a picture appeared in his mind. He got the impression that Aeris was somehow listening to their conversation and sent him a picture of the Materia of Destiny.
"It looks like it's made out of silver, but it glows with the power of a materia orb."
Cloud's attention focused on his latest dream again. How Aeris had held up a silver looking orb that glowed. "We HAVE to find it. " Cloud said. "For Aeris's sake."
Red tried to speak as gentle as he could. "It's not that easy. If this is the same Silver materia I've read about, we have a major problem."
Talon sat alone in a darken room. He was studying the big board. It told him of where their influence reached. And he was not happy with it. Some of the cities on the western continent where not under their influence. Nor were the two cities in the north. He snapped his fingers and an aid came to his side.
"Compose the following message: Need you to convince the following towns to join us: Haggard; the snow town in the north. Meniva; Rocket Town. Fennier; Bone Village. Karada; Wutai. Signed Talon."
The aid rushed to quickly type the letter. Talon stood up. He studied the map carefully. I'll take care of this "Nibelheim" myself. He thought.
"Excuse me sir."
Talon turned to see Edgars. He was the head researcher of the organization. He was holding a clipboard that had a few pages on it. "What is it Edgars? I'm a little busy." Talon said with a slight irritance in his tone .
"I have information about the Materia of Destiny." Edgars said softly.
Talon's ears perked up and he turned his attention to Edgars. "Well... spit it out, man!"
"Yes sir." Edgars said. He took a deep breath and began. "I have discovered some information. The location of where it should be used is a forgotten city called the City of the Ancients. But I haven't been able to find anything that says it MUST be used there. The only problem being that the Materia of Destiny is not in that city."
Talon grew annoyed of answers like this. "Then WHERE is it!"
Edgars knew Talon was mad, so he spoke as carefully as he could. "We don't know." The hatred in Talon's eyes could almost incinerate a man. "However!" Talon's eyes dimmed slightly.
"Yes?"
"However," Edgars continued, "The Turks report that our spy in the AVALANCH group says that there is another Temple of the Ancients. He does not know where it is, but his group is going after the Materia of Destiny."
"WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO US IF THEY HAVE THE MATERIA!" Talon's rage was apparent.
"Sir... if you let me finish?" Edgars tried to remain level headed, but he really feared for his life. And with good cause. He'd heard stories about Talon's opponents that he didn't even want to think about!
Talon took a deep breath, and let it out. "Continue."
"There is a failsafe in the Materia of Destiny. Anyone who uses it will have a WEAPON created especially for them. It will hunt them down and kill them, without a second thought. Afterwards, it will return to the planet." Edgars continued. He took a pause to see if Talon wanted to explode.
To his surprise, Talon waited. "And?"
"Well... that's pretty much it."
Talon sat down, and leaned back into the chair. "So... even if we DO get it, the user will be killed?" Talon asked.
"That's about it, yes." Edgars thought that Talon was taking it much better than he had.
"Well... looks like you just volunteered to be the user of the Materia of Destiny."
"Uhh.. sir?"
"Don't back talk! You are going to be the volunteer! Understand!" Talon shouted.
"Uhh... sir? There is one bright side to this."
"There is?" Talon asked. "What, pray tell."
"There was once a materia that would counteract the effect of the Materia of Destiny's failsafe. If the user was touching this materia when he used the Materia of Destiny, no WEAPON would be created."
"Good work Edgars! I guess you won't have to volunteer after all!"
"There is a slight problem with this other materia."
Talon sighed. "What's wrong with it? It creates Chocobos that lick you to death?"
"It has been missing for over a millennia. The last know record was it being given to a ninja from a far off land by the King or Emperor of what is now Midgar."
Talon thought about this. "A ninja, huh? Do we have a name?"
"Yes sir." Edgars flipped to the correct page. "His name was Shadow."
"Never heard of him."
"Apparently, very few have. He seems to have valued his privacy very much. We do, however, have the name of his descendant." Edgars replied.
Talon smiled. "And his name is...?"
"The Materia of Destiny." Bugenhagen repeated. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time."
When they had arrived at Cosmo Canyon earlier that day, they where surprised to discover that Bugenhagen was alive. Everyone but Cloud and Red had assumed that he had died during their adventures last year. It had taken a bit of explaining, but they eventually accepted the story of his "recovery". Bugenhagen returned his glance to Cloud, Zack, and Barret. Cid sat in a wheelchair not far off, talking to Shera about his afterlife adventure. "Are you sure about this?" Bugenhagen asked Cloud.
"It was silver, and glowed like a materia orb. In my dream Aeris never gave it a name.
But Cid and Red believe it is so." Cloud responded.
Bugenhagen sighed. "Then Aeris is lost for good."
"What do you mean, lost for good?" Zack wondered. Barret had been wondering the same thing.
Bugenhagen turned to face Zack. "In order to safely use the Materia of Destiny, the user must have the WEAPON materia. It is a materia that makes the planet believe you are a WEAPON, and thus, does not stop you from your task." Bugenhagen indicated for them all to sit down. "If the Materia of Destiny is used by something other than a WEAPON, or the person with the WEAPON materia, the planet will create a WEAPON designed for that specific person. That WEAPON will hunt down the user, and kill him, no matter what. Afterwards, the WEAPON will return to the planet."
"So what? We beat 3 WEAPONS before! What's one more?" Barret said enthusiastically.
Bugenhagen shook his head. "It is not the same. Those WEAPONS where for general attacking, to add to the Lifestream so the planet could heal. This WEAPON is not so easily destroyed. It is tailored for each person it attacks. It is not necessarily big like the others. This one can blend into a crowd, hide quietly in the woods, or await the arrival of their target for days, without sleep or food. Even if it is hurt, it can regenerate any body part. It may take a while, but sooner or later, the WEAPON will kill you."
The silence in the room was a little too much for Cloud. "So where do we find this WEAPON materia?"
"Nanaki and Vincent are in the library, pouring though the archives, looking for anything that will give us a lead." Bugenhagen responded.
Suddenly, a young boy came in and talked to Bugenhagen. Cloud tried to hear what he was saying, but it was too faint.
When the boy had finished, Bugenhagen turned to the group. "Excuse me for a bit."
Bugenhagen followed the boy down to the entrance of Cosmo Canyon. There, sat a man, breathing hard. He handed a message to Bugenhagen. Bugenhagen was disturbed to receive this message. He thanked the messenger, and took off for the library.
Red and Vincent where pouring through book after book, when Bugenhagen came it. Red looked up at him when he entered. "Yes grandfather?"
"Nanaki. You and your friends are needed in Wutai right away." Bugenhagen handed Red the message, and waited. Vincent appeared behind Red, and also read the message.
"This is indeed disturbing news. Have you told the others?" Red asked of his grandfather.
"No. I figured it would be better coming from you."
"That was a wise decision." Vincent commented, as Red lead the way over to the observatory machine.
Red came into the machine room to discover that they had just turned it off. Red, Vincent, and Bugenhagen waited as the lift lowered to the floor.
Cait Sith was estatic. "Wow! I've never seen something like this! That was SOO awesome!"
Yuffie shared Cait Sith's opinion.
"Well... don't get used to it. It belongs to Bugenhagen." Tifa said as they walked towards the other group. "Hey Red. What's up?"
Red walked over to Yuffie, and sat down. He looked at her. "Yuffie? You father has been attacked. He's in critical condition, and may not last long."
Yuffie's expression went wild. She was suddenly filled with a violent rage. She wanted to lash out, but that was not the way of a ninja. "Who did it?" was all she asked.
Red shook his head. "The message did not say. It did say that your father is calling for you." Red tuned to the others. "I suggest we go there as quickly as we can."
Reeve looked out over the mountains near Wutai. This is not good. He thought.
Several buildings where smoking, and he could see people rushing to put out the flames. Several people looked wounded, and limped to what Reeve thought to be the hospital.
Through his eye-piece, he could see that the group was almost to Wutai. The Highwind was blazing at an almost incomprehensible speed. Suddenly, Wutai came into view.
Reeve turned around, and saw the Highwind fly right past him. It landed near Wutai, but Reeve had turned his Cait Sith controller off. He had spotted something, and now was using his eyepiece as a telescope. He zoomed in, and focused. He saw a small group of people hiking away from Wutai. He zoomed in closer, and saw who the group was.
His eyes turned dark, and a hate grew inside him. How DARE they do that to an entire town! And with that thought, he switched Cait Sith back on, and headed down to Wutai.
The Highwind landed in the near Wutai, but the group was already off when they stopped their descent. Cid had stayed at Cosmo Canyon in favor of wanting to look up some information about that cool sounding WEAPON materia.
Yuffie ran over to her house, and ran inside. "Dad? Dad, where are you!"
The rest of the group had decided to help with getting people to safety and putting out the flames.
Barret turned around, and noticed that Cait Sith had just gotten off the Highwind.
"Wonder what kept him." he said to know one in particular. Barret shook his head, and turned his attention back to the town. He had lives to save.
Cloud and Zack where using their talents and their strength to help people. They had gotten to a house, just as it was about to collapse. Cloud was able to grab a hold of a support beam, and hold the house together long enough for Zack to get everyone out.
Cloud was about to let go when he hear a nearby cry. "Zack! What's that?"
Zack looked around and finally saw two children on the top story crying. "Two kids! Top story! Can you hold it long enough?"
Cloud winced at the now heavy strain on his arms. "I'm not sure."
Zack looked around, then spotted Tifa and Barret carrying some kids to the hospital.
"Tifa!" She looked at Zack, as he pointed to the top floor of the building. "Can you get them?"
Tifa gave the child she was carrying to Barret, and ran over. She saw that several of the support beams where burning fast. But there looked to be enough room that she could get up. "I think so!"
Zack nodded. "Good! Go!" Zack instructed as he went to help Cloud keep the building up.
Tifa looked at the first spot she was going to try for. She stepped back, and jumped. She almost slipped at the last moment, but she had gotten up there. She looked over at the two children. Flames now covered the window they where at a few seconds ago. She could still hear them crying. She looked for another spot where she could safely get to, then jumped onto it, but slipped. Her hand lashed out and grabbed a hold of the beam. She looked up, and saw that the support beams on the inside of the house where about to collapse. She tried to get a better grip, but she fell onto the ground. She looked up and saw the beams collapse. The entire top floor collapsed. But a second before it did, a small white blur jumped out of the window.
Yuffie had one child under each of her arms. Tifa looked at her with almost a shock.
"How-"
Yuffie interrupted her. "Later. We have lives to save." She ran over to another house, and began to help the people there.
Cloud and Zack looked at each other. Zack nodded, and Cloud got out, but he held the beam at another point. Zack got out, and held the end of the beam. Cloud ran out of the house. As soon as he was clear, Zack dropped the beam. The entire house collapsed upon itself.
Barret looked at the hospital. Fortunately, it had escaped the fires, but the structural damage was significant. It would collapse if he didn't fix it. He quickly found the broken beam. He found a piece of wood laying on the ground. This should hold it. he thought. He held the board against the post, and pounded a nail into the board with his gun arm. He pounded a few more, when the board began to break. Damn! The whole column's going! Thinking fast, he put his back to the column, and pressed against it as hard as he could.
"I could use some help here!" He yelled out.
Suddenly a man in a black sweatshirt, and dark jeans ran up to him. He also wore a weird set of headphones, that looked like he had yellow sunglasses build in on only one side. He quickly pounded some nails into about 3 4x4s behind Barret's back.
"There." He said. Barret slowly eased off to find that the column stayed.
They went outside to find that the whole group had finished putting the fires out, and helping the wounded. They had now all gathered in front of Yuffie's house. All but Yuffie, who was nowhere around. Barret and the man joined them.
"Ok. Now who did all this?" Asked Zack.
"I can answer that." said Cait Sith and the man at the same time.
Cloud looked over to the man. "Reeve. What are you doing here?"
When Reeve spoke, Cait Sith also spoke. It was somewhat spooky. "I was being followed by the Turks. When they stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I-"
"Excuse me." Tifa said. "But could you please turn that off. You and him speaking together is... un-nerving."
Reeve pressed a button on his control, and Cait Sith fell silent. "Better?"
"Much." Tifa replied.
"As I was saying, when the Turks stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I-"
"Wait a second!" Barret interrupted. "Why where the Turks following you?"
Reeve had to crane his neck to look Barret in the eye. But even Barret's impressive size did not phase him. "Because they had hired me to spy on you. They wanted to make sure I didn't turn on them."
Barret almost exploded. "What! You where working for them!" Barret cocked his gun, and aimed it at Reeve's head.
Reeve just stood there. He didn't even flinch.
Finally, Vincent spoke. "If you kill him, then we will never know who attacked this town."
Barret turned to look at Vincent, but still pointed the gun at Reeve. After a few seconds, Barret lowered his gun. "Bah! You're not worth it." He finally said. He walked to the back of the group, and leaned against Yuffie's house with his arms folded. He just stared at Reeve with an un-relenting glare.
Reeve took a breath and began again. "When the Turks stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I decided to follow them. They were in much better shape than I am. I had followed them just in time to see them leaving. What was worse, was that Mark, he's the new guy, was carrying a materia orb that they didn't have before."
Cloud turned to the others. "Why would they do all of this just for a materia orb?"
Vincent spoke up. "Maybe they're after the Materia of Destiny too. Maybe they found the WEAPON materia."
A thought struck Reeve. "Cloud... we may have a bigger problem than that." And Reeve told the group about the Dark Council.
Yuffie took her father's hand. Yuffie was trying hard not to cry, but it was difficult when her father was dying. "It's going to be ok dad. It'll be ok. The helicopter will get you to the hospital in Rocket Town soon."
Godo just smile at her. He saw so much of Yuffie's mother in her. "I know child. But you have a more important job now. Those men and that woman... They took the family materia orb." Godo coughed. He was starting to sound much worse. Yuffie gave him some herbal tea, and waited for the coughing to subside a bit.
"What orb dad? I don't remember a family materia orb." Yuffie asked between sobs.
Godo turned to his daughter. "It is an orb passed down through our family for over a millennia. It was given to an ancestor of ours named Shadow long ago." Godo coughed again, and drank some more tea. After a bit he continued. "That orb has a special power. Only our family has the discipline to properly use it. That is why we have all followed in Shadow's footsteps. That is why you are such a great ninja. From over a millennia of ninja training, based on your ancestor's techniques."
"What does this have to do with the attack or the orb?" Yuffie asked. She was getting worried.
Godo just smiled. "You look so much like your mother." He caressed his daughter's face one last time. "Remember that only our family has the discipline to use the orb in it's current state." He smiled before adding, "And remember. No matter what... I will always love you."
And with that, the helicopter took off, and her father was gone.
Deep beneath the ocean that separated the western continent and the eastern continent, was a chasm too deep for any sub to enter. Too deep for even light to get to. But an earthquake fixed that. Suddenly, a pool of Lifestream was uncovered. It's luminous green glow lit up the bottom of the chasm around it, but not for very far.
Suddenly, a pair of glowing pure red eyes appeared. Slowly, they turned up to the surface, and smiled. The eyes where suddenly traveling at speeds that could only be matched by a rocket leave the earth.
And it had only one thought on it's mind...
And that's that
