Chapter 18

The Star Effect

Feardorcha growled and slammed a fist down on the control console of his airship; it seemed as if the entire ship shook when he did.

Charna turned quickly to look at Fear.

"The hell do you mean someone ran an airship into the Shinra building?" asked Fear in outrage. "How the hell did they get on one of our airships, Corta?"

Charna shook her head slightly and returned to what she was doing.

"No, don't worry about the ship, just get the damn Materia!" Fear yelled and cut the communication.

"Problem?" it was Charna who asked the stupid question.

"Someone just stole one of our ships and rammed it into Shinra Headquarters," Fear replied angrily.

"Why would they do that?" asked Charna.

"I don't know, why, do I look psychic?" asked Fear rhetorically.

Charna ignored him, she had quickly gotten used to how Feardorcha got when something went wrong.

"One can't really look like a psychic, Fear," said a voice.

Fear looked to his left and saw a man entering the bridge with a group of Outcasts behind him.

"Mardra, why aren't you on the planet?" asked Fear.

"I heard you were in town, thought I'd drop by," replied Mardra.

"Do you have the Cetra?" asked Fear.

"We've narrowed it down, he could only be at Midgar," Mardra said. "We also tested the staff, works well."

"I didn't give you authorization to use the staff," Fear growled.

"Oh, my dear Feardorcha, it was only a small resort," said an old man beside Mardra, "and it worked quite well."

"I told you not to use it until necessary," Fear said.

"Old Alden here wanted to try it, he only summoned one," Mardra replied.

"Don't use it again until I authorize it," Fear said firmly.

"Alright, I'll make sure to keep it away from the old geezer then," Mardra said disarmingly, "what's your problem, coffee cold this morning?"

Charna laughed a little but stifled it; cold coffee did set Feardorcha off quite a bit in reality.

"It's amazing she can put up with you," Mardra said gesturing toward Charna.

"Get back on the planet and find the Cetra," Fear said ignoring the Outcast.

"We have the White Materia?" asked Mardra.

"Shortly," Fear replied, "there're some new enemies down there giving us trouble."

Mardra nodded, "I happened to meet some personally."

Fear looked curious, "Who?"

"There were three, most notable was Samael," Mardra replied.

"Samael?" asked Charna looking over in shock.

Mardra was smiling, "Uh oh, the old lover and the new lover on different sides."

"Did he say why he was here?" asked Charna.

"I didn't really pursue the question that much, you're wondering if he's here for you?" inquired Mardra looking at Charna.

"Find out why," Fear said quickly cutting off anything else from Mardra.

"There were two others with him, guy with spiked hair and a big sword," Mardra said, "and a girl, I know she was a Cetra, but who exactly she was I'm not sure."

"Female Cetra?" asked Fear.

"Not an Outcast?" asked Charna.

"No, but she was wearing dark clothing and sunglasses," Mardra replied.

Fear shrugged, "It doesn't matter."

"Kind of contrasted with the pink ribbon in her hair, pretty girl, almost killed me with my own bullet though," Mardra growled.

"Pink ribbon?" asked Fear suddenly interested.

"Yeah," replied Mardra, "bracelet thing on her wrist, too."

"Could it be her?" asked Charna.

"Only her brother is alive in this existence, she must have been brought back in Centre Time," Fear said.

"Someone gonna fill me in here?" asked Mardra.

"Aeris," Fear said, "her name is Aeris, and she was the last of us, with the exception of this existence."

"The one that got stabbed?" asked Mardra.

"The same," Fear replied.

"Cool, so then can't we just use her instead of her brother?" asked Mardra.

"No, she's been brought back, much like Samael, we need one that is alive in this existence," Fear said and then paused, "but…bring her to me as well."

"Why?" asked Mardra.

"She is the last Cetra, a Queen among insects, she may understand our cause," Fear said.

"She is traveling with the enemy you realize?" asked Mardra.

"Once she realizes what we are trying to accomplish she may change her mind," Charna said.

"If we could convince her to join us our plans would go much smoother," Fear said nodding.

"And if she doesn't co-operate we kill her?" asked Mardra.

"No," Fear said quickly, "no, we couldn't do that."

"What?" asked Mardra incredulously.

"She is a fellow Cetra, we couldn't possibly kill her," Fear said, "she is the last of us, our last surviving connection to the real world long ago."

Mardra still couldn't believe what he was hearing but didn't question his leader.

"I'll make sure they're both on this ship shortly," Mardra said as he and his crew left the bridge.

§

With help from Cloud and Aeris the situation was explained somewhat and they were all quickly on the same page.

"How did you end up here, Vincent?" asked Cloud.

"I was almost killed by one of the black creatures in the Forgotten City," Vincent said.

"Under water?" asked Sam, Vincent nodded. "If time's unstable where you were then the magical properties in the water probably brought you here by accident."

"Aeris has a brother, as well," Vincent said, the two had been acquainted a few moments before.

"Nothing surprises me anymore," Cloud said shaking his head.

"Do either of you three know why these Outcasts want me?" asked Gast.

"The Cetra they were looking for," Sam muttered putting it together, "no idea, none of us really know what exactly their plans are. I know the Outcasts; their goal will ultimately be the resurrection of the Cetra."

"That's crazy," Lucrecia said.

"You're not trapped in a Mako Crystal and the last surviving Cetra hasn't died yet," Sam said, "everything's crazy, problem is, crazy is the only logic with time travel and alternate existences."

Lucrecia could think of no response.

"So, what now?" asked Gast.

"Well, now you come with us," said a voice down the hall, they all turned to see Mardra and a group of Outcasts blocking the only way out of the corridor.

Vincent and Cloud drew weapons.

"I doubt either of you have weapons quite as accurate as mine at this range," Mardra said aiming his scope-attached rifle, "Last Breath here could kill you all before any of you got a shot, so drop the weapons."

"Do it," Sam muttered, "I've seen that rifle work."

"I have to say," Mardra said nodding for the others to go collect the weapons, "I thought it'd be harder to sneak up on you guys. I guess you were just a little too preoccupied."

"What do you want the Cetra for Mardra?" asked Sam.

"Actually I want two," Mardra said. "The boss wants to see her as well."

Sam looked at Aeris and back at Mardra, "Why?"

"He's a real big fan, now come on before I kill everyone around you," Mardra said.

Aeris and Gast started walking slowly toward Mardra.

Sam tapped Cloud on the shoulder and whispered, "Let this play out, I got an idea."

Cloud watched Aeris walk toward the enemy and shook his head, "I hope so."

As she walked by, Aeris kicked an approaching Outcast and used her foot again to kick Vincent's gun across the floor to him.

One of the other Outcasts there hit her across the face with the hilt of his sword, and then grabbed her and Gast as Vincent began firing.

"That's okay," Mardra said, "I was going to kill them anyways."

Mardra's rifle fired, bullets flew at a constant rate and the gun appeared to hold an unrealistic amount of bullets.

"Not…" growled Sam throwing his hands up in front of him, every bullet stopped in mid-air in front of them, this appeared to put physical strain on him, "…today, asshole."

"Next time, Samael," Mardra growled, he and his group disappeared with Aeris and Gast.

Sam put his hands down and the bullets fell uselessly to the ground, he dropped to a knee and started breathing heavily.

"You okay?" asked Cloud.

"That gun…" Sam said breathlessly, "…very hard to block."

"That was amazing, you actually stopped the bullets!" Lucrecia exclaimed.

"That's not the best…" Sam gasped, "…of my skills…baby."

Sam fell over and leaned against the wall closing his eyes.

"We have to find out where they took them," Vincent said holstering his revolver.

"Hang on a few minutes," Sam said shaking his head and appearing to recover, "I said I had a plan, I meant it."

§

Mardra and his prisoners appeared on the bridge of the Cetra Resurrection, Feardorcha and Charna turned and saw their two new guests.

"It is her," Fear muttered in surprise.

"When I said he was a fan," Mardra said to Aeris, "I really wasn't joking."

"You have no idea how…" Fear paused as he looked at Aeris, "…who hit her?"

The small cut on her face from the hilt of the sword must have been a lot more apparent to Fear than the others.

Mardra pointed to the guy who did it, "She kicked one of our guys and tried to get a weapon to one of her friends."

Fear drew a dagger from his black coat and nonchalantly tossed it, it landed right between the Outcast's eyes and he dropped to the floor.

Mardra looked at the dead Outcast, "Somehow, I knew that was going to happen."

"I apologize, it was not my intent to bring you here on such terms," Fear said to Aeris.

"What terms exactly were you hoping for?" asked Gast.

"Ah, the brother is the outspoken one," Fear said, "I had expected different."

"How do you know me?" asked Aeris.

"How could I not, you were the last of us to survive," Fear said, gesturing to Gast, "except for him in this existence. You are like royalty to us."

"Do you usually kidnap royalty?" asked Gast.

"It was necessary," Fear replied, "we knew you would consider us enemies."

"Well, you haven't dispelled that theory quite yet," Gast said.

"No, I suppose not," Fear gestured toward another door on the bridge, "please, come this way."

"Prison cells?" asked Gast.

"Prison cells?" asked Fear laughing. "I have no prisons on my ship, I would not invite prisoners here I only would have you as fellow Cetra."

"Why am I so special?" asked Aeris. "My mother was the last full blooded Cetra."

"The fraction of blood means nothing, you are still Cetra, Aeris," Fear said, "the last…you are a Queen among insects here."

"Well, it appears she isn't so well-received by all of you," Gast commented nodding to the dead Outcast on the floor.

"Some of them don't know of you; for that I apologize, everyone should know your name," Fear said, "now please, follow me."

Gast looked sidelong at his sister who just grinned a little and shrugged.

They followed Fear right into the adjoined room, it was pitch black.

"Some lights please," Fear side, immediately lights came on and the room was revealed.

The walls were a plain brown colour and the only thing in the room other than them was a large circular table that appeared to have some kind of picture on it. The picture was round and only a little bit smaller than the table itself.

"This is the Star Room," Fear told them, "come to the table."

They did so.

The picture was actually a yellow star on a white background.

"This is a diagram, essentially, of existence itself," Fear said smiling.

"You drew a star and called it a map of existence," Gast said, "well, now we're fairly certain on the delusions of grandeur."

Aeris chuckled a little; Gast just wouldn't stop with the remarks. She could see him being her brother somehow. He was her more aggressive half.

"This has been created on the knowledge of many scholarly Cetra I assure you," Fear continued unfazed. "The five points of the star indicate what we call the Main Existences. North Point Existence, East Point Existence, West Point Existence, Bottom Point Existence Alpha, Bottom Point Existence Beta, and in the very centre of the star, the most important: Centre Time."

Aeris began to see where this was going but still didn't know enough.

"You see," Fear continued, "each of these Main Existences can in some way affect all other existences. As you may or may not know, our plan involves seizing control of every existence possible. To do this by taking every single existence one by one would be impossible."

"You and your people would either be stopped or would be run down to so few allies you couldn't continue," Aeris said.

"Exactly, so we knew we needed a more practical way, to kill all those birds with only a handful of stones," Fear said, "and the Star Effect was just what we needed."

"The Star Effect," Gast said nodding, "catchy."

"All we have to do is seize control of all of the points on the star and gain access into Centre Time," Fear said, "then once we are there we can enact our final plan."

"Why can't you just go to Centre Time now?" asked Gast.

"Where is Centre Time?" asked Aeris.

"Centre Time is where you and your friends are from, Aeris, whatever happens in these other existences has happened to you first because Centre Time is the time that decides all other existences. The continuum changes with distance and so other existences have major and minor differences. As for why we can't go there, because it's so important, the Cetra had it locked so no one from a different existence could simply walk in. The only way to unlock the door is to take the keys from every one of the points," Fear said.

Aeris and Gast looked to one another then back at Fear.

"There are artifacts placed on every point of the star that work as keys to opening the door to Centre Time. On the North Point was the Black Materia, we are now on our second Point, the East Point, it holds two very important items for us. The artifact: the White Materia, and the only actual surviving Cetra in any existence. You are necessary for us to open the door Professor Gast," Fear told them, "but most of all; we want our fellow Cetra to assist us in our ultimate goal."

"Ultimate goal being what?" asked Gast.

"The resurrection of all Cetra into Centre Time," Fear said smiling, "the chance for our people to once again rule the planet. I fight for a second chance for the Cetra."

Aeris and Gast looked at each other for the second time.

"And what happens in Centre Time happens in all other existences," Gast deduced, "so in effect if you bring back the Cetra there, they come back everywhere."

"Using the artifacts, such a dream can come true," Fear said, "I only ask for your help."

"What you don't realize," said a voice that sounded a little out of energy, "is that doing something like that will create a paradox so big it could potentially destroy every form of life in every existence."

Everyone turned sharply to look to the voice, behind them stood a ragged, but very confident looking Samael.

"Hey, Fear," Sam said, "just came to collect my buddies."