Chapter 5: The Plan
Tifa opened her eyes slowly when the green light shone through the window on her face. She sat up, swinging her legs off the bed. She rubbed her eyes gently and took a good look around the room.
No one else was in the room.
She looked over to the window where the chattering from outside was from. Loud noises were coming from down stairs too. Tifa stood up and went to find the bathroom. She took her time washing up and headed down the stairs.
"S-Stop crying!" Theris angrily glared at Loz. The two of them were standing facing each other with the wooden rectangular table between them.
Tifa enter the kitchen and was startled when Theris shouted suddenly. She looked at Theris, who looking at Loz nervously. Loz really was crying, only with little tears though. Aerith was also in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for all of the people there who were not from this world.
"What happened…?" Tifa whispered when she walked up to Aerith.
Aerith whispered back, "Well… Loz wanted to help me make breakfast… then Theris was telling him that he shouldn't act like a good child… it got to a point where they were arguing that he is a good son who only wants to help his mother… she started to call him a baby… she called him other names… then he just started to…"
"I see…" Tifa nodded, her face expressionless. She did not know what to think of Loz now. She was surprised that she did not hear this loud uproar when she was coming down the stairs just a moment ago.
Loz began sniffing and Theris was having a nervous break down about it. "I told you to stop crying!" she said again. "God, I can't deal with crying men!" She slammed her fist on the table. Loz had stop crying but still had a sad look in his eyes. Theris glared at him with a light blush of embarrassment, but settled down now that he wasn't crying anymore.
With a deep sigh, she spun around and stomped her way out the back door.
"Theris!" Zack called.
She slightly blushed when he called by her name so causally. He was waving at her. There were men working around and cleaning the mess from yesterday's fight. She gave Zack an uneasy look because she was the person who made most of the mess with her bombs. "Y-Yeah?" she asked.
"Would you lend us a hand?" he smiled, running up to her. "We sure can use something to crush some of the big stones around here. They're pretty heavy, you know?"
She knew what he meant and held up her hand to him. A bright marble appeared. "Here, you can use this Image Weapon then," she said, half smiling. He hesitated. "I have lots of these so you can keep it," she insisted.
"Well," Zack rubbed the back of his head. He was not sure what to say. "…Thanks, Theris." He smiled again and took the little marble. He watched it as it disappeared into his hand. He thought of a hammer and his hand glowed again. A big metal hammer was now in his hand. "Hey, that's pretty easy."
"Of course," she nodded, proud that she could be of use. She looked at the pile of rocks where the men were moving around. She rubbed her chin and thought of an idea. "Hey! Let me handle this!" she said, walking up to them. "Get out of the way!"
Zack watched her go and the men all moved away as she instructed. She looked around to make sure no one would be harm and she summoned the same staff from last night. The staff enlarged itself and she held it up in the air as the width and length continued to widen.
It looked pretty heavy but for Theris, the weight of it was like a feather. Then she brought it down and crushed the rocks, shaking the ground around the village.
"…" Zack blanked out for a moment by the results. The rocks had all crumbled into little pieces, although the ground seemed to have deepened. Now all they have to do is sweep it off the ground. "What is the name of that weapon?" he asked when she grinned at him.
"You never seen one?" she blinked at him with surprised tone in her voice. "Well… if you summon a weapon of your imagination, it will appear as you wish. But just remember, it doesn't contain any elemental attacks."
He nodded. "I see, I see…" It was amazing how the Image Weapon worked. "There is one thing I have been wondering about last night… Who created these?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just a thief who likes using all of the Mako Energy related stuff."
Zack thought for a moment, crossing his arms. He eyes wandered off and he saw Sephiroth walking from the other side of the village. "Oh yeah," he remembered something important. "Sephiroth! Will you come over here?"
Time passed. Tifa went around outside of the village to find Cloud. It was time for breakfast. She had just finish sending food around the village to the other people, who all felt bad about having Aerith doing the cooking. Some other women shared their food with the others as well.
Tifa carried a basket with a blue cloth over it, which had the food in it. She didn't want Cloud to miss breakfast. He needed his strength after all.
Genesis and Angeal were not there, but the others would take care of giving them some rations. Aerith told her that Cloud, Genesis, and Angeal were patrolling the area, just in case something comes out of nowhere again. Anything could happen.
There would be a group meeting about the red Lifestream soon. Zack wanted to talk about it with his friends. Lazard went to find Angeal and Genesis while they were also waiting for Cloud and Tifa.
"Why are we here again?" Kadaj turned to Zack, who is across the living room.
The others were around, standing in the living room too. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were standing alongside each other by the doorway that leads to the front door. Vincent leaned his back against the wall with his arms crossed. Zack and Aerith stood by a window. Sephiroth had this back turned to them, just staring out at the other window. Theris is outside, still helping some people around the messy dust from the crushed rocks.
Zack smiled. "I have missions for all of us," he began. "But I will explain further when the others are here."
They waited for a moment. Lazard, Angeal, and Genesis entered the house. Then Cloud and Tifa came along. "Well, that didn't take long," Zack chuckled.
"Did something come up?" Tifa questioned, setting the now empty basket on a small table.
Genesis relaxed himself on the sofa. "It's not about that red Lifestream, is it?" he asked.
"Of course it is," Zack nodded. "It has been bothering me since those chaotic battles had started yesterday." He became serious. "And that Kiku girl… she could be up to something."
"Obviously," Sephiroth said.
"Also, I'm worried about the people who are not 'dead' in this world," Zack continued. "They will be hunted down by the Zetsumei at any time. This isn't a safe place for them. I have also talked to Vincent earlier. He says there were more of those red Lifestream in your world, right? Like, from various places before being knocked out and coming into this world?"
Cloud nodded, a bit confused. "Yeah. But why…?"
"That would probably mean that there are more people from your world in this world," Kadaj said, thinking intensely. Since it was described that the red Lifestream went around capturing the people from Cloud's world, a lot of them may be around in this world too. "But I highly doubt those shadow freaks will come after them anytime soon."
"You may never know," Zack said. "We don't even know the reason why the Lifestream turned red. That Kiku girl must have some kind of control over it. That's one connection there and another is that the Zetsumei listens to her. So we have to take action now before anything bad happens."
"Then what's up with the missions you brought up a couple of minutes ago?" Loz remembered.
Zack nodded to himself. "I have discussed this with Sephiroth, Aerith, Angeal, and Genesis. We're going to go around the world to find out more about this red Lifestream. While we're at it we can save those people who came into this world by the red Lifestream."
"…What?" Lazard turns to Zack with disbelief. "Why did you not discuss this with me too?"
"That's…" Zack nervously smiled. Lazard was not around at the time when he was looking for all of them.
Lazard chuckled, "Kidding. So what conclusion have you all come to?"
"We will split into four groups," Zack said, holding up four of his fingers on his left hand. "Group one are to head to the Capital across the ocean. Group two are to head to the southwest to the Dark Mist Town, across the ocean too. Group three will go to that abandoned laboratory southeast of here and meet that… weird scientist. And group four will head to northwest to the Pink Town, taking the people who are still alive there."
"…Pink Town?" Tifa raised one of eyebrow, confused. Cloud and Vincent were also feeling the same way. The other name for the other town is strange too, the Dark Mist Town. Such simple names. Who thought of those?
Zack laughed, "Pink Town is a place that holds a non-violence law. Good or evil may enter, just as long as they don't fight."
"Did you already decide who is on which group?" Cloud asked.
"Pretty much," Zack rubbed his chin, thinking. "You're in group one, Cloud. Along with Aerith, Tifa, and I. The Capital is the farthest, compare to the other groups' destination. Group two would be Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. The Dark Mist Town is the right place for them to go. It's a violent town. Group three would be Genesis, Angeal, and Vincent. Visiting that scientist may give us a clue… I met her once and what she told me before left me feeling… suspicious about something. Group four… well, it's going to be Sephiroth who will head to the Pink Town."
Sephiroth looked at Zack with a bit of dissatisfaction. "A town that does not allow violence, you say?" he questioned. "Is this why you want me to go there?"
"You'll only destroy your surroundings if you fought," Angeal said with a light chuckle.
Sephiroth looked away, understanding why they decided that. Just less work for him so he shrugs it off.
Yazoo was confused about the Dark Mist Town. "A violent town?" he blinked, expressionless.
"You three do use a lot of violence," Zack said, smiling. "It's where most of the 'evil' gatherers go to. Try to find what they know."
"That's an easy job," Loz snorted.
Kadaj smirked. "Well, if those people in that town do know something and refuse to tell us… then we can use violence. Sounds all right. We'll go there."
Vincent looked at Genesis and Angeal. He was going to be with them and meet a scientist. He had no complaints.
"There's a Capital here?" Tifa asked. "What is there to do if we head there?"
"We have a ruler in this world," Aerith explained. "He makes sure that we are all living the way we want and prevents wars. Since something has happen recently, he might have gotten news by now and is investigating. He would be a great help to us. I met him before so he'll let us know anything that he knows."
Tifa nodded, "I see."
"As for Lazard," Zack glanced at him with a smile. "Will you take the 'alive' people to Pink Town? Perhaps going with Sephiroth would be a better idea. The Zetsumei might attack again."
"Yes," Lazard firmly nodded.
Zack clapped his hand once. "Now that we're done with this short meeting. Let's hurry and do our jobs. We will meet back here as soon as we're done. Everyone have a cell phone, right?"
"They even work over this side?" Cloud inquired, a little shocked.
"Let's try it out then," Zack said. He had forgotten that Cloud and the others had cell phones, but is not sure if it would connect to theirs that are from the other world.
Cloud's mind drifted off for a moment. Zack is still a hero, even after his death. Cloud thought to himself.
Zack was quickly planning to stop any evil from overtaking or plotting anything. A smile spread on Cloud's face. He looked over to Aerith. She looked back at him and smiled. The sound of a familiar ringing tone came from his pocket. He snapped out of his mind and picked it up. "Yes?" he put it up to his ear.
"Hey, it does work!" Zack said, smiling happily.
Cloud then remembers what Zack was trying out. He felt a little embarrassed when he had answered it. "…How did you know my number?" Cloud asked.
"Tifa told me just now," Zack replied. "You weren't listening a second ago so I asked Tifa. Now… to make sure I have everyone's number…" He went to get Tifa's number and Vincent's. Everyone did the same as they all exchanged their numbers.
"Even you, Sephiroth?" Cloud looked at him. There had been a few surprises lately.
Sephiroth turned around slowly to face the group. "…I don't have one," he said.
"Neither do I," Genesis went, shrugging. "I mean, Sephiroth and I just appeared in the middle of the village not too long before you three came here. Then those Zetsumei attacked."
It was weird but Genesis was not going to question about it. The only thing that actually bothers him was when he last remembers where he was. He was sure it was not the time when Zack had left with Cloud back then. But tracing back his own memories was hurting his head so he just stopped thinking about it last night.
Sephiroth looked back out the window. He was not sure himself why he ended up here. He certaintly does remember the last time he appeared in the other world. His thoughts were different this time though. What had changed his 'insane' self? He was not sure. Nothing unusual was coming to mind.
Just right outside, he saw a slight shadow moving. A little boy with black hair played with the other kids and had notice the same shadow Sephiroth did. Curiously, the little boy reached out to touch the shadow but Sephiroth grabbed Masamune, which was leaning against the wall, and jumped out of the window, breaking it.
Everyone jumped, startled.
"Sephiroth?" Zack exclaimed through the broken window.
Sephiroth grabbed the boy's waist and jumped back. One Zetsumei leapt out of the shadows towards Sephiroth. He quickly slashed through the creature and it disappeared. All of the kids started running, finding shelter as more Zetsumei flew out of the shadows. The screams of the children had warned everyone and they all started to panic.
"Get out of here," Sephiroth let the boy go.
The boy had teary eyes. He nodded. "Thank you…!" he hurried as a woman grabbed a hold of his hand and the both of them ran off.
"They're already back?" Zack grunted angrily, grabbing his sword. Everyone ran outside.
The last person to walk out of the house was Genesis. He took his time and looked around with an uninterested face. He wanted to summon a spirit but he could not. He wanted to summon one last night too, but nothing happened. If only he could summon some spirits to help everyone here. He shrugged about summoning one, and why he cannot, he hurried to fight with the Zetsumei.
There are a lot of screams. There are too much of the Zetsumei running around within such a short time. Everyone spread out to fight the monsters and aid the people.
Loz heard a familiar angry voice and looked at the running figures around him. He walked and stepped on something that rolled under his left boot. He lowered down and picked the small marble up. An Image Weapon. It disappeared into him after a few seconds.
He looked around again and spotted Theris. She was lying on her stomach as some girl with white short hair stomps on her legs. Theris cried in pain as her legs glowed and more Image Weapons rolled on the ground out of her.
He glared, getting up. "Hey!" he shouted angrily, running to help Theris.
Theris tried to roll away but then the white haired girl stepped on her kneecap. She felt it crack and cried in more pain. "Yuffie!" she glared up at the girl. Why is her skin so gray? Why…? "Why are you doing this?!" Theris demanded with hatred. Had she gone insane?
Yuffie just smiled. She picked up some Image Weapons and it all entered her.
Just when Loz was going to attack Yuffie, Kiku appeared and blocked his punch with her metal brace on her arm. She gave him a death glare. "Stay out of our way," she hissed.
Theris cried again as Yuffie stomped on her other kneecap. The ground under them had also been pushed down. More Image Weapons came out. "That's a lot you've stolen," Yuffie said, taking some for herself.
Loz glared at Kiku. "YOU get out of my way!" he roared furiously.
Kiku's left hand glowed and a long sword appeared. She pushed him away with her arm and he jumped backwards. She charged at him, ready to cut him in two.
Sephiroth appeared out of nowhere, and to her surprise, he blocked her attack with his Masamune.
He smirked. "Hello again," he greeted. "Never thought we would meet this quickly."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I guess I can't avoid this battle," she said in a low voice. "So… I guess before I get what I came for, you may be my opponent."