Final Fantasy VII: The Story 2nd Instalment
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Four
Upon leaving Bugenhagen's house, Cloud and Red XIII split and head back into town. Red XIII ran off to search through the main part of the canyon for the others, while Cloud headed out to the lower parts of the canyon in search of Aeris.
He found her eventually, sitting in the village inn with Tifa as they sat and talked about all the things they had seen in the canyon. They greeted Cloud warmly, and Cloud immediately told Aeris about the 'apparatus' that Bugenhagen wanted to show them. After telling her it might have something to do with the Planet she had jumped up instantly, excited at the prospect of learning something new about the Planet.
Bugenhagen was not in the main room of his house when they returned, although the front door had been left open. There was no sign of Red XIII either, but that was no surprise since he was probably still out looking for the others as they wandered through the village. Aeris looked at Cloud, who shrugged dismissively. Where could Bugenhagen have gone?
"Here, over here. The door's unlocked, come on in."
Cloud and Aeris both jumped, startled, and turned sharply towards the metal door that Cloud had observed earlier. Although locked before, the door was open now, the metal latch hanging loosely at the side and slightly ajar to reveal a faint line of light coming from the inside. This was where Bugenhagen's voice was coming from, so Cloud and Aeris both pushed open the door and went inside.
The hidden room beyond was a fairly large room, and filled with even more technological stuff that neither Cloud nor Aeris could identify. Machines of all kinds lay on all sides of the circular room, disused for many years although clearly still in good condition. It told them a little more about Bugenhagen at least, and that his interests' lay in both nature and in science.
Bugenhagen was standing – or rather, floating still – at the far end of the room beside a strange machine with a huge lever rising up out of it. Many wires were sticking out at the bottom of this machine, all of them attached to a peculiar-looking platform in the middle of the room. Also rounded, the platform was glowing very faintly as power from the wires slowly flooded into it.
"Ho Ho Hoooo," Bugenhagen said, his beard quivering as he laughed and looked at Cloud and Aeris. "It looks like you have them all together. Then let's begin. Go and stand over there."
Cloud nodded and began to head over towards the platform, before he realised that Aeris wasn't following. Turning back to her he saw that she was staring open-mouthed at Bugenhagen, in particular at the way he was floating many inches off the ground with one hand on the handle. Cloud leaned over and gave her a nudge on the arm. This seemed to break her from her stare and she looked at Cloud, and then back at Bugenhagen. Evidently she had not believed Cloud when he told her about Bugenhagen's strange ability to float in the air.
Once Aeris had recovered from the initial shock, she followed Cloud and stood on the circular platform. Bugenhagen then pulled down the lever he was holding onto, and then quickly moved so that he was standing opposite Cloud and Aeris on the platform.
A second later the lights in the room suddenly dimmed to an absolute minimum, dying down so that the room was almost enveloped in total darkness. Cloud and Aeris looked around blindly for a few seconds until they felt a curious vibration beneath their feet, followed by the loud humming of the machine as it fed more power into the platform. With a gentle shudder the platform came alive and began to rise up off the floor, rising up smoothly away from the floor and up to the ceiling.
Looking up, Aeris saw that the ceiling above them was curved and made of a peculiar metal seemed to resemble the night sky. At first she thought that the black space and the white stars had been painted on, but as they drew closer to it she saw that the stars were more 3D and seemed to move about slowly across the 'sky'. With another gentle shudder the platform stopped just inside the strange upper dome, and Aeris looked around at their new surroundings.
It was almost like walking straight into space. The curved sides of the dome surrounded her on all sides, with more stars seeming to hover freely away from the edges, although they couldn't surely have been real. Up above her there was a 3D model of a solar system, with a sun in the middle and planets slowly revolving around it, again of their own free will. Elliptical yellow lines that wound their way around the sun marked the orbit of each planet and the planets moved slowly across them, following their route.
"So pretty…" Aeris remarked, her voice trembling as she became filled with such awe at the realism of what was around her. "It's just like the real thing!"
Bugenhagen, who had been standing behind her and Cloud until then, moved away from the platform and floated up towards the ring of planets that slowly circled above them. "Hmm, yes pretty good," he said, looking around at the space around them. "This is my laboratory. All the workings of space are entered into this 3D Holographic System."
"Hey! A shooting star!"
Aeris was standing with her head twisted behind her as she saw a bright yellow-white star fly behind her. Just a small speck from where she was standing, the star had a long tail trailing behind it, leaving tiny specks of stardust in its wake. These specks twinkled brightly for a few seconds, before they faded and merged into the blackness of space.
That wasn't all there was to see. Just as the shooting star passed on and disappeared into the distance, a planet with a revolving moon then slowly began to revolve past Aeris. The young woman looked on, her green eyes wide and staring with intense excitement and curiosity as the planet slowly passed her. It was so close she could almost touch it, but she was afraid to disturb the planet from its slow orbit around the sun.
While Aeris was busy looking at the planet another large object began to fly over her head. Looking up Aeris saw that it was a large meteor covered in craters. She could see these craters clearly and with such detail she could almost picture the asteroids or small meteors that must have crashed into the surface of the meteor, crashing with such force that the ground was forced up around it, creating such beautiful craters.
As the meteor spun slowly above her, Aeris saw that there were more meteors around her, all of them flowing in the same direction towards the far corner of the laboratory. Looking ahead Aeris saw that there was a black hole just a few metres from where she was standing – a gaping hole in the middle of the space surrounded by dim lights, using its powerful sucking force to draw the loose meteorites into it. One by one the meteorites were pulled into its dark centre, where they would be crushed and compressed until there was nothing left of them. It truly was an amazing laboratory.
"Wow, how wonderful," was all Aeris could say. Her words were lost as she stared at the black hole, now empty of its meteor cargo, floating silently ahead of her.
"Ho Ho Hoooo. Yes, it is something, isn't it?" Bugenhagen said, agreeing with her. "Well, let's get to the subject."
Aeris nodded and finally pulled herself away from the image of the black hole, its sucking force almost drawing her in with its hypnotic swirl. Instead she stood by Cloud, and together they looked up at Bugenhagen turned away from them, waiting for them to settle so he could begin his explanation.
"Eventually… all humans die," Bugenhagen began. "What happens to them after they die? The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. That much everyone knows. What about their consciousness, their hearts and their souls?" He turned back and looked down at Cloud and Aeris. His face had lost all its laughter and humour now, and had changed into a very serious expression. Even his voice was no longer laughing. "The soul too returns to the Planet. And not only those of humans, but everything on this Planet.
"In fact, all living things in the universe, are the same. The spirits that return to the Planet, merge with one another and roam the Planet. They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called the 'Lifestream'. Lifestream… In other words, a path of energy of the souls roaming the Planet. 'Spirit Energy' is a word that you should never forget.
"A new life… children are blessed with the Spirit Energy and are brought into the world. Then, the time comes when they die and once again return to the Planet… Of course there are exceptions, but this is the way of the world." Bugenhagen sighed heavily. "I've digressed, but you'll understand better if you watch this."
Bugenhagen gently floated aside, and motioned for Cloud and Aeris to come a little closer. The two complied and walked up close as Bugenhagen held out his hand and pointed to one of the steadily rotating planets that was rolling in steady towards them. It was a rather basic-looking planet that had no special features, until they looked a little closer at its surface.
There was a man on the planet – or at least a holographic simulation of what they presumed was meant to be a human male, for there were no features on the figure – and he was walking across the surface of the planet. He came to a stop at the top of the globe right next to a single tree that was also sticking up out of the top of the planet. The man stood silently for a second, before he straightened his arms out.
Then the man's body suddenly began to dissolve, gradually breaking down into separate components and falling towards the ground. As more and more of him began to disappear, those separate components began to glow and turned into a flow of yellow energy that slowly began to trickle down across the planet's surface. Moments later the tree began to dissolve as well, breaking down into a trail of pink energy that follow the yellow trail down towards the underside of the planet.
Cloud and Aeris watched in awe as the two coloured trails swirled to the bottom of the planet, converging and merging into one coloured trail. As they reached the bottom the new single trail began to solidify again, taking on its new form of a newborn baby. Before their eyes the baby grew rapidly until it was back into the same human male form that had previously stood on top of the planet. Then, like before, it dissolved again as it died and turned back into a swirl of yellow energy that began to move slowly across the planet again.
By this point more swirls of energy were beginning to flow across the surface of the planet. More trees and miniature people were appearing on all corners of the planet, dispersing into move trails of pink and yellow and other coloured energy and swirling across the surface. It wasn't long before the planet was teeming with coloured energy, forming a light surface of colour that covered the planet.
"Spirit energy makes all things possible; trees, birds and humans," said Bugenhagen. He was now floating alongside the coloured planet, watching the energy swirl across its surface. "Not just living things. But Spirit energy makes it possible for Planets to be Planets. What happens if that energy were to disappear?"
He raised his hand and held it out in front of the planet. As if it were a magnet, the coloured swirls of energy began to pull the other way and slowly drift away from the planet's surface, towards Bugenhagen's hand. As the energy moved away and dissolved into the air, the planet began to change. A blanket of darkness began to sweep across its surface, swallowing up all the oceans and grassy lands until the planet was merely a dark ball floating in space. Then, with nothing left alive to hold onto, the planet began to break apart. Its smooth surface cracked open and a giant chunk began to drift off away from it, heading off towards the black hole.
Bugenhagen lowered his arm as the planet moved slowly on, a half-broken dead ball. "…These are the basics in the Study of Planet Life," he finished.
Down on the platform, Aeris lowered her head and looked at the ground, shifting her feet uncomfortably. After seeing the planet's last few moments, before darkness consumed it and destroyed it, she couldn't help but feel a little bit sad. When Bugenhagen raised his hand, it was as though he sucked out all of the energy and killed the planet himself. She also realised then what Bugenhagen was saying about that, and she quickly turned her head away.
Beside her, Cloud folded his arms and tapped his foot, creating a soft echo. "If the Spirit energy is lost, our Planet is destroyed…" he assumed.
"Ho Ho Hoooo. Spirit energy is sufficient BECAUSE it exists within nature," replied Bugenhagen. "When Spirit energy is forcefully extracted, and manufactured, it can't accomplish its true purpose."
Cloud suddenly stopped tapping his foot on the ground and looked up, staring into Bugenhagen's serious face as he finally realised just what Bugenhagen was saying. "You're talking about Mako energy, right?" he asked.
Bugenhagen slowly nodded his head. "Every day Mako reactors suck up Spirit energy, diminishing it. Spirit energy gets compressed in the reactors and processed into Mako energy. All living things are being used up and thrown away. In other words, Mako energy will only destroy the Planet…"
His voice choked a little words the end, his words ringing like a cracked bell through Aeris and Cloud. The two of them stood silently, their heads down as they absorbed his words. Aeris was still holding onto her staff, and she looked down at the many balls of coloured Materia she had stored there, and the ball of Materia she had in her hair to help keep her hair back. Materia… condensed Mako energy. The Materia she used was made from the very Spirit energy that ran through the heart of their planet. With a small tear forming in her eye she tightened her grip on the staff.
She didn't notice when Bugenhagen pulled a small lever that was almost invisible against the side of the dome, and the platform began to head back down into the hidden room. Her fists were shaking slightly as the lights came back on, unable to take her eyes off the Materia.
"The study of the planets… and those who lived with them…" Bugenhagen was saying as the room brightened up again. "You want to know more? Then you must listen to the words of the elders."
Cloud nodded and turned towards the door, when he saw that Aeris still had her head down and was still staring at the side of her staff where the Materia was stored in their special slots. Gently he took her arm and she looked up at him, her eyes saddened and glistening in the corners where tears were slowly forming. He gave her a nod, and she just managed a brief smile before she hurriedly turned away from him and walked out of the door, almost running. Cloud followed her, leaving Bugenhagen alone in the bottom of his laboratory.
Once they were gone, Bugenhagen slowly turned to his machine and pushed the button to turn it off. Circular metal doors began to slide across the underside of the dome, sealing off the planet structure from view. His face was no longer laughing and he seemed quite troubled, although it was not due to Aeris's apparent dismay of the truth of the world.
"Nanaki?" he said aloud, as the humming from the machine died down and the room fell into a deep silence. The light died further, leaving the room in darkness. "His father a coward? So that's it… Nanaki's been thinking that all this time…"
Aeris tore out of Bugenhagen's house and ran to the rails that surrounded the house, a safeguard and lookout point for the whole canyon. She let her staff fall onto the floor as she let herself fall against the rails. She was relieved to feel the cool evening wind against her skin, and the deep red sunset was simply beautiful, especially as the orange-red cast shadows on the entire canyon.
Seeing that, Aeris couldn't help but feel a little foolish. Hearing Bugenhagen's story had made her feel so alone all of a sudden, and guilty as she had been using the Planet's Spirit energy without even realising it. Did that make her as bad as the Shinra, who manufactured it everyday?
Standing up, Aeris reached behind her and slowly pulled the ribbon out of her hair. Her long brown hair fell loosely onto her back in long, wavy strands, blowing back in the breeze. With the ribbon in her hands Aeris looked down and gazed upon the ball of Materia she never used. A keepsake… A memory of her mother… nothing more. Was this shimmering white ball of Materia once part of the Planet's Spirit energy?
"Are you all right?"
Aeris jumped and turned around. Cloud was standing a metre behind her, looking a little concerned. The red light of the sky was reflecting in his eyes right then, making the blue glow seem almost red. She looked at him for a second, before she turned back to the sunset.
"I'm sorry," she said, and leaned on the rail again. "It's just… hearing that story…" She lowered her head, and her long brown hair fell loosely around her face. "I guess now I understand what the Planet was trying to say. It's crying… Crying because the Spirit energy is being sucked out of it…"
"Can't we do anything to help it?" Cloud asked her. He walked over to her and stood beside her at the rail. From where they were he could see the entire canyon, and the bright orange glow of the campfire in the middle of the village.
"I don't know," Aeris admitted sadly, tightening her grip on the ribbon. "All I know is… The more Spirit energy that is lost, the quicker this Planet will die. Each day more Spirit energy is drawn from it… In the end, I don't know if it is possible."
Aeris pushed herself away from the rail and turned away from Cloud, walking away from the rail. Cloud watched her as she pulled her long brown hair back up and tied the ribbon around it, securing it all with the ball of Materia to keep her hair back. When she was done she ran her fingers through the long strips of her fringe, moving it back out of her eyes.
"U-Umm…" she said suddenly. She turned back to Cloud. "Do you mind if I stay up in the canyon for a bit? I want to talk to the elders about the Planet."
Cloud shook his head. "No, go ahead," he said.
"Thank you," Aeris replied with a smile.
As everyone suspected the night drew in quick and fast once the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The deep orange-red glow of evening rapidly disappeared and became the dark blue of the night. Dozens of stars became visible after that, until the sky was filled with them, clustering together in thick, sparkly dots.
Down in Cosmo Canyon, the campfire in the middle of the village was still burning brightly. With fresh sticks of wood thrown in to keep it going for another hour, the fire emitted a lovely warm glow around the area, keeping Cloud and the others all nice and warm as they sat and enjoyed the night sky. Aeris had returned after a while talking with the elders, and Red XIII was also sat with them, his head resting on his paws as he stared into the fiery sparks of the fire.
On the whole, Cosmo Canyon had been a very interesting place. Barret, Cait and Tifa had learned a great deal from the people – about the Planet and about the canyon itself. The canyon did not impress only Yuffie, although that was not much of a surprise considering her one-track mind. Even as they all sat around the campfire, with Red XIII's head on his paws and Cait curled up on top of the Mog, Yuffie was the only one restless, itching to go somewhere.
"What a boring place, just like I thought!" she said with a fierce frown, deliberately making her voice louder so everyone could hear her. "I wanna go somewhere! Let's go find some Materia!"
No one took any notice of Yuffie's outburst, and the girl slumped on the ground in a huff, her Shuriken pointing down with her arms hanging over the top, trying her hardest to look bored. Cait was sat near to her, lying on his side with his head resting on his closed fist as he stared into the fire.
"I wonder how many years it's been…" the cat mumbled quietly to himself. "Gosh, it brings back memories…"
"Cosmo Canyon… This's where AVALANCHE was born…" Barret said suddenly, and Cait looked across the fire to him. Barret was sat with his legs spread out in front of him, close to the warm heat of the fire. "I promised my guys someday… when we saved the Planet from the Shinra, that we'd all go to Cosmo Canyon to celebrate… Biggs… Wedge… Jessie… Now they're all gone… died for the planet."
Saying those words make Barret stop and reconsider. Back in Midgar… As far as Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were concerned, AVALANCHE was all about saving the Planet from the Shinra. For Barret, and Tifa he supposed, it was more a case of revenge for the pain that had been caused to them.
"Really? To save the planet?" he asked aloud. He sighed heavily, looking to the rocky ground. "We all… we all hate the Shinra… Do I even got a reason to go on? Will they… will they ever forgive me?" As though to answer his own question he shook his head, feeling he wasn't making much sense. "…Right now, I really don't know. But I know one thing. If there's anything I can do, to save the planet… or the people livin' on it. …Then I'm gonna do it! I don't care if it's justice or revenge, or whatever. I don't care…… let 'em decide for themselves."
In a rush Barret stood up, feeling suddenly energised after staring for so long into the fire. It was as though the heat of the fire was now burning through his veins, pumping him up with new energy. Before it had been all about revenge, and although he still wanted revenge on the Shinra for what they did to Corel, hearing the words of the elders of Cosmo Canyon made him want to do more for the Planet. And he expressed that desire vocally, making everyone around him jump.
"Urrrrrgh! I'm gonna do it!" he roared, his voice echoing through the canyon. "Again… Again… AVALANCHE's born again!"
Everyone stared at Barret as he stood there for a moment or two, his gun-arm raised high above his head as he stared up at the sky with fire burning in his eyes. Then one by one everyone turned and looked away, looking off in different directions as silence once again spread around them.
As Tifa looked away, she turned her gaze back towards the fire burning in front of her. Her boots lay close to the burning sparks of wood, and she could feel the heat through the thickness of the leather, but she wasn't interested in that. She was more interested in staring into the flames themselves, and watching the way the fiery sparks danced about in the air, jumping up and disappearing into the air. Towards the middle of the fire the colour turned to a deeper red, with faint shadows moving in the centre. She stared silently for a second before she blinked and looked at the ground, her eyes watering from the heat.
"Cloud…" she said suddenly, her voice quiet. Cloud, who was sat beside her, looked up. Tifa pulled her knees up towards her chest and wrapped her arms around them, feeling her boots beginning to cool now her feet were away from the fire. "Bonfires are funny, aren't they? They make you remember all sorts of things."
Cloud gazed at her, and for a moment he saw the same look on Tifa's face that he had seen on Aeris's face outside Bugenhagen's house. It was a sad expression, the corners of her mouth turned down into a silent frown.
"You know, Cloud. Five years ago…" the young woman said. Cloud nodded, surprised at Tifa's nervous tone. Tifa suddenly shook her head and her dark brown hair fell over her face and shielded her scared look from Cloud. "……It's nothing. No, forget it. I'm afraid to ask…"
"What is it…?" Cloud asked.
Tifa sighed heavily, and brushed her hair aside as Barret finally sat down after feeling awkward as the only one standing. "It feels like… if feels like you're going far away…" she said. She turned and looked at Cloud, staring deep into his eyes. "You really, really are…… you… right?"
Cloud blinked and looked back at Tifa, unsure of what to say. The young woman quickly turned away from Cloud, choosing to put her head on her knees to avoid looking at him. While she wasn't looking Cloud turned towards the fire and looked into it the flames.
They looked like ordinary flames, flickering around as they licked over the wooden sticks, burning over the brown bark until it became dark and crisp. Every time there was a gentle breeze the flames swished over to one side, threatening to blow out but always returning to its original position. Maybe it was just him, but he couldn't see whatever it was Tifa was seeing. Unless she was thinking about Nibelheim again.
On the other side of the fire, Aeris was also staring into the fire. "I learned a lot," she said over the gentle roar of the fire. "The elders taught me many things. About the Cetra… And the Promised Land… I'm…… alone… I'm all alone now…"
"But I'm… we're here for you, right?" said Cloud.
"I know. I know, but… I am the only…… Cetra."
"Does that mean we can't help?"
Aeris didn't reply. Instead she just slowly turned her head away from the fire, letting its light shine on her hair instead. The fiery red glow shone against her silky brown hair, and made the Materia flush red. "……" Aeris breathed silently. Clearly her talk with the elders had not eased her worries as much as she thought it would.
"…Long ago," Red XIII said suddenly, not lifting his head from his paws. "…When I was still very small. We were all around this flame…" Just as suddenly he shook his head, and looked down. "No, never mind…"
Cloud sat upright from where he had leaned back and looked over at Red XIII. "What happened?" he asked. He knew something had been on Red XIII's mind, for he had been quiet ever since they had sat around the fire for warmth, watching the night sky take over.
The hound sighed heavily, wondering where to begin. The others waited while he scratched his nose with his paw and settled down again, with one paw resting above the other to support his head as he lay down.. "It's about my parents," he said finally. "When I talk about my mother, I am full of pride and joy… And that's fine. …But when I remember my father, my heart is full of anger…"
"…You really can't forgive your father…?"
At the sound of Bugenhagen's voice, Red XIII raised his head from his paws and looked across the fire. Bugenhagen was standing on the other side, his body outlined by the light of the fire. Although Red XIII couldn't see his grandfather's expression, he was sure that it wasn't a smile.
"Of course," he replied stubbornly. "He…… left my mother for dead. When the Gi tribe attacked, he ran off by himself, leaving mother and the people of the Canyon!" He shook his head fiercely. Inside him he could feel his heart thumping loudly inside his chest, sending a rush of hot, angry blood through his veins.
Across the fire, Bugenhagen stared at Red XIII. Slowly he was piecing together everything that Red XIII must have been thinking for all the years since then. As a young pup back then, with no real understanding of what was going on around him, it was no wonder that he would misunderstand and form his own truth. He sighed lightly as he came to a decision, and looked up at Red XIII.
"…Come, Nanaki," he said. "There's something you should see."
Red XIII looked up in surprise. "…?"
Bugenhagen turned away and began to head off away from the fire. He then stopped and turned his head back to the group sitting around the fire. "The place may be dangerous. Cloud, will you and one other person come with us?"
With that remark, Bugenhagen turned away and headed back towards the inner canyon. Red XIII walked slowly behind him, his head up in anxiety but his tail lowered and shuffling limply across the ground as though it was already asleep. They stopped by the stairs and looked back at the campfire, waiting for Cloud.
Cloud looked around at the others, looking for their opinion. Tifa and Aeris were still pretty quiet and didn't look like they were in the mood for any immediate trips right then. Cait had turned away, mumbling quietly to himself about it being too dangerous and he didn't want to ruin fur. The only ones who didn't look tired or put off were Barret and Yuffie. Cloud was about to ask Barret to come along, when Yuffie's eyes lit up as though she just remembered something.
"Does he want to show him THAT?" she asked aloud. "You know, maybe there's some Materia that's been passed on for generations in this Canyon?"
Before anyone could stop here – although no one did – Yuffie leapt up to her feet, Shuriken in one hand and her armour in the other. Hurriedly she strapped the armour across her arm and began to punch the air fiercely, firing herself up for the battles ahead. Then she jumped away from the campfire and dashed towards Bugenhagen and Red XIII, who were still waiting for them. Cloud sighed and shook his head, before he also crossed the campfire and headed towards the canyon.
As the new group of four turned and headed back inside the canyon, Aeris slowly turned towards Tifa.
"I wonder what he wants to show Red XIII…?" she asked.