The ride back to the Midgar slums was sober and quiet, King and Queen alike shooting down any attempt at a public discussion on any subject no matter how many times Aerith would ask in the hour long journey around the central pillar from the plate to the ground. It was getting to the point that the Flower Girl was starting to sarcastically mouth "We'll talk later" with her arms folded in a childlike huff around her chocobo plush as the train pulled into it's destination.
"So is now later enough for you?" She asked sharply, spinning around on her doormat impatiently.
Zidane scratched the back of his head and sighed, trying to avoid her glare to no avail "Are you sure you want to know?" He asked, wincing away from Aerith's expression.
"YES!" was the yelled reply "I mean seriously! I thought we were trying to be helpful with each other. Not hide things away because they're awkward to talk about," Aerith insisted, eyes full of determination "So who's this Kuja? Why is he a ghost? What's going on?" she demanded, a grip around the toy's throat as she placed her hands on her hips.
"It's..." Dagger began, various thoughts crossing through her mind, how to explain everything that happened to her, Zidane and the rest of the world to someone who had never been there, never seen the poison in the sky that was Mist, cities torn apart by war and magic "Can we at least go inside and talk about this? It'll be easier if we don't have to stand." the queen asked, "Some of the events are... not ones to speak about openly. We will tell you!" she added hastily "But... it should be in a more comfortable place."
Still unimpressed about what she saw as a delaying tactic, Aerith muttered something under her breath and opened the door, stepping inside while dragging her heels along the floor, making her opinion on the matter well known before flopping down into a chair at the table. "Okay then."
Reno was not having the best of days, and that was before someone had told him to tuck in his shirt. First of all he was being led to the 67th floor of the Shinra building, part of the laboratory complex and home away from home for an individual that even the covert operation and wetwork specialists known as the Turks considered "Seriously messed up." Second... well, he was having to actually meet the aforementioned seriously messed up person.
Professor Hojo was someone everyone in Shinra avoided if they could, even before he was promoted to the head of research over Professor Gast's dead body. The way he could take even the purest of creatures and twist them into ghastly monstrosities just to test that he could, how he smiled at people in a way that seemed as though he was measuring the other person for a test tube. Reno did not consider himself in any way to be a religious man, but if there was anything unholy in this world, it was the Professor.
The metal door, laced with yellow and black warning signs whisked aside, revealing the dimly lit lab to the wider world for all the five seconds it could stomach of it. "Ah, you're the one they sent on ...surveillance." Came a voice from the shadows, framed by an eerie green glow from a nearby tank, something unmentionable floating inside as he turned around. Greasy black hair had been pulled into a pony tail so tight that it occasionally oozed, large spectacles reflected any light shielding anyone from looking directly into his eyes as he smiled his mirthless smile.
Reno opted to try and focus on a bit of wall slightly above and to the left of where Professor Hojo stood. "I was." he answered firmly, trying not to add a sarcastic 'Sir' at the end.
"It's not often people send me things I enjoy, Reno, that is your name, is it not?" The professer asked, spinning back around to whatever he was viewing
"Yes." the red-head answered through gritted teeth.
"I tend to have to ask for research specimens, repeatedly, before someone finally works up the nerve to deliver what I asked for. Often it can take years, despite the object in question being one easily retrievable with only a slight amount of force." Hojo said in a wistful tone "Could you have any idea what I'm talking about Reno?"
"No." Was the reply.
"Pity, perhaps if you had been better informed we wouldn't be having this conversation, you see it has been thirteen years since I requested the aid of the Turks in retrieving the last known surviving Centra after she escaped this building, and despite your supposedly vast information network, not a peep about the escapee. It's almost as though you were hiding something from your superiors." the professor continued.
"Couldn't say. You'd have to ask the boss about that." Reno said with a straight face, counting down the seconds until he could just leave and drown any memories about this in a bottle of rum.
"And yet, without prompting... you may have given me something much better..." Hojo practically purred out, pressing a few buttons on a keyboard and projecting a quick video up on the wall, just where Reno was gazing. The Turk instantly groaned with recognition, his earlier plan to humble a cocky blonde had backfired spectacularly instead resulting in something that could have been shown in cinemas if they had multiple camera angles. "Such a talent... where have you been hiding all this time? Years of research that might have been saved."
While being in the same room as Hojo was sickening, Reno's curiosity and confusion briefly won out "The monkey kid's that big of a deal?"
"The Monkey!?" Hojo snapped, rounding on the Turk, marching so close that Reno could see just how wide his eyes were, crazed even. "The blonde is immaterial! There!" He pointed just as the footage showed Dagger casting her healing magic "Do you not see!? After years waiting for you to chase down the half-breed, finally you prove yourself useful!"
"Great, so can I go now?" Reno asked, already edging towards the closed door. "There's this big party going on down in the lobby in a few days and they really need all the staff they can get to set up so-"
"True magic!" Hojo declared, throwing his hands into the air as he laughed manically, turning back to fixate on the grainy footage while Reno made his exit "After all this time! A worthy successor to Ifalna at last..."
Aerith stared at the wooden table lost in thought, the subtle noise of a flickering fire place and the ticking of a clock breaking the awkward silence.
"So... yeah..." Zidane let out, explaining had been rough going for everyone involved. Some wounds were not better for being picked at even after so long. Especially for Dagger who had lost so much at the combined works of Kuja and Garland. Zidane had always found it difficult to tell her what had happened in the Iifa tree between the two Genomes, and even though she hadn't raised her voice in objection, the hate she had for Kuja was clear enough that she found anything positive regarding the Silver haired Angel of Death to be a bitter pill to swallow "Then... Kuja's ghost shows up by the reactor and... well that's where we are now." Zidane finished with an exhausted sigh.
"So... why did he," Aerith began, trying to put her thoughts together "If he died on your Gaia, why did he show up in Midgar?"
"I don't know," Zidane admitted "Whatever it was, he was looking more scared than I've seen anyone look. I saw Vivi end up face to face with a Dragon and he didn't look half as spooked as Kuja did as he came through that wall." And thoughtful silence fell again as the three were locked in their own minds, trying to think of something.
"So whatever was in that reactor," Dagger attempted to deduce "Is either strong enough to cause hallucinations, or scary enough to scare ghosts from different planets. Either way, too many questions."
"Well let's get answers for them." Aerith declared, looking up with a look of determination.
"From where?" Zidane asked.
"There's only one place which might have the answers, and that's Shinra tower. They do so much already, if anyone has research on alien ghosts, it's them."Aerith said, putting together a plan already, tracing a path with her finger along the knotted table wood.
"Considering the last time we dealt with those guys it kinda ended up in a brawl, I don't think randomly snooping for things in their castle is going to go well. Last time they didn't even wait for me to do something wrong before trying to jump me." Zidane pointed out.
"Okay then... how about...disguises! We could dress up and pretend like we're supposed to be there," Aerith suggested "Then we can sneak around and find anything we wanted."
"Aerith," Dagger began in a calm voice "You've done enough for us already. Going to the surface was one thing, but this is going to be dangerous. We can't let you put yourself in harms way for our sake."
"It's not just your sake!" Aerith yelled, jumping out of her chair suddenly, taking in the shocked reactions before sinking back down "Sorry..." she mumbled out, staring at the floor in shame at her own outburst.
"Aerith?" Zidane asked tentatively.
"Since you... since you told me what you've been through, I have to do the same, right?"
Dagger sensitively put a hand over Aerith's, holding it gently "If it's too difficult to say, you don't have to."
"But I should," Aerith re-affirmed, hands curling into fists for a brief moment. "I've got questions too, things I didn't understand when I was younger- things that I... my mom..." she trailed off, breathing deeply as she tried to hold back the inevitable flood.
"-Then you'll need an escort to make sure you get them and protect you at the same time!" Zidane hastily interrupted, rushing over to Aerith's side and grasping the other hand. "If it's going to mean that much to you, then we can do it no problem. Get everything done in one trip, right?" Zidane said, attempting the reassure the flower girl.
"T-thank you." Aerith stammered out throwing herself around Zidane, looping her arms around him as she pressed her face into his vest to soak up the tears.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, I'm a married monkey, married monkey!" the blonde let out, swinging his arms around as he fought to stay in his seat, smiling as he heard some giggles in between the sobs.
A/N: No soundtrack stuff for this chapter. Please come yell at me for character inconsistencies.