Chapter 15: The Ancient Turk
"And you see, Sister, we are going to take the Promised Land for Mother! It is rightfully hers, not the wretched Planet's! We won't let anyone have the Promised Land; not Shin-Ra, not humans, not anyone."
"Shin-Ra? What does Shin-Ra have to do with the Promised Land?"
"Sister, you don't know? That is the true objective of that wretched company. They are trying to use that accursed Ancient to guide them to the Promised Land only to fill their pockets with gold! And I will not let them have the Promised Land, for it belongs to our Mother!"
"So that's the secret about Shin-Ra? And Mother…? That's silly, my mother is dead…"
"Silly child, that is not your mother. Jenova is the Mother of whom I speak. Your mother, my mother. Our mother. Hers is the voice that speaks when you think of giving in to your foolish, humanly impulses…She is the one who gave you life."
"My mother was not some ancient calamity who fell to the planet, all right? My mother was a good, dignified woman who cared for her two children… I'm not stupid…"
"Poor Sister, you are confused. Whose cells do you have forever multiplying within your hideous earthly body? Jenova is always there, Aphrodite. You can never escape her, and you can never escape me, the Great Sephiroth."
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Aphrodite, come look at this."
She went over to where Rude stood, at the giant glass window overlooking Midgar. She couldn't bear to see the sight…
"Sector 7…it's just a pile of rubble and debris now," murmured Aphrodite, placing her hand on the window. She could see her reflection in the glass, and she saw one of the saddest faces in Midgar. She and Rude stood thousands of meters above the ground, far away from the hell unleashed upon the sector, far away from the despair of the slum-dwellers. Cold, mundane walls of white and gray surrounded them: walls that promised them safety from the horrors of the world as long as they remained within the tower's boundaries. "Gone…"
Gone was Cobbler Boulevard, the land of "beautiful people" and "beautiful things" where Reno had taken Aphrodite the ugly slum rat on their "first date." Gone were Reno's home, the apartment they had occupied together for over a month, arguing frequently and yet enjoying the time and space they shared…and his mother, the very woman whom had given birth to the redhead that changed Aphrodite's life.
Rude turned his head, peering at her through dark glasses. "You really gave Reno a scare. He thought you were a goner." He frowned in disgust, shaking his head.
"I didn't mean to give him a hard time." She lowered her eyes. She really hadn't. She had acted upon irrational impulses, letting anger, fear, and worry guide her whilst hiding the guilt and shame about murdering two people who, according to them, were only trying to save the Planet. "What do you think of all this?"
He was silent.
Aphrodite sighed. "You're not really a talker, are you? Of course, I can't expect you to babble at a time like this…"
"Erm, excuse me!" squeaked a voice from behind them.
The two spun around, and Aphrodite stared in bewilderment at the speaker.
A tiny blonde woman in a Turk suit stood before them, anxiety clear in her bulbous brown eyes. She strode over, fiddling with her fitted jacket.
Rude and Aphrodite exchanged glances, but the giant bald man was silent. The latter arched a brow in curiosity. What an odd little woman. Was she the replacement?
"Um, um, hello, I'm Elena Pasteur, the new Turk recruit, erm, replacement?" The blonde sounded like she was asking a question instead of introducing herself. "You two must be, um, Rudolph Sigler and, um, Abigail Sanchez?"
"…Rude," corrected the bald man, nodding curtly.
Aphrodite quickly corrected this Elena girl. "It's Aphrodite Sorrows…nice to meet you." She forced herself to shake Elena's extended hand, plastering a weak smile onto her face. Rude made no effort to follow suit.
The little blonde woman smiled (hers seemed much more natural), brushing a stray lock of short hair from her large eyes. "Today's my first day on the job, and I'm so nervous, you see. And it's an awkward time to join the Turks, with Sector 7 being destroyed and all… That poor Reno guy. I heard he went through hell two days ago when he went to drop the pillar."
Boy, Elena sure did talk a lot… Rude was quite expressionless, and he was starting to look somewhat glazed, but somehow Aphrodite knew that he thought the same. He must have been itching to get away from the small blonde chatterbox.
"Well, at least we've got the Ancient. Thanks to Tseng, of course!" Elena nodded, her locks bouncing.
Aphrodite chewed her lower lip. The Ancient… Aeris.
"A…Afro…Afro-dy-tee, right? Is that how you pronounce it?" Elena made a funny tongue noise, rocking back and forth on the high heels of her boots. If she was tiny in her heels, Aphrodite could scarcely imagine her height without them.
The curly-haired Turk nodded at the blonde, tucking a curl behind her ear. "You can just call me 'Dite if you want. That's what Reno always calls me…" She sighed at her mentioning of the redhead's name. The doctors were keeping him in the infirmary, and Aphrodite had already been released. Her wounds hadn't been so bad, except for the traces of the swollen black eye and the five-year-old burn mark on her abdomen that had been irritated by the battle.
"All right, then. 'Dite. I like that!" Elena's eyes brightened, and Aphrodite wondered how she could be so cheery at a time like this.
"I'll be excusing myself," Rude grunted suddenly, and nodded at the two female Turks before retiring into his office.
Aphrodite scratched her head, staring after him. Apparently, Rude had grown weary of the replacement's incessant chatter and unwavering liveliness. "Someone's thong is on too tight."
Elena burst into a fit of giggles. "He's got a major bug up his butt!"
Aphrodite stared at the blonde for a moment, and couldn't help but giggle as well. Laughter really was contagious! Before long, the girls found themselves laughing over every silly little thing, whether it was a passerby with bright orange shoes or a misspelled word on a bulletin board.
"What are you two laughing at?"
They looked up to see Tseng striding up to them, and Aphrodite cleared her throat, ending the laughter. Elena turned a lovely shade of red.
"Nothing, sir," said Aphrodite, exchanging glances with Elena.
Tseng sighed, crossing his arms. "Elena, I need you to file some papers I've left in your office."
"Y-Yes, Tseng, I mean, sir!" Elena performed the Turk salute, her face flaming red. "See you, 'Dite," she smiled at said woman, and took her leave.
"Aphrodite," began Tseng, clearing his throat. The young woman braced herself for his following words. "You interfered with the mission to destroy Sector 7."
Aphrodite lowered her eyes in shame. "I know, sir…"
He sighed. "Usually, I'd penalize an employee for doing such a thing, but I'll let you go just this time. What you did was wrong, but you did it for the right reasons."
At this she looked up and stared at him wonderingly. How did he know…? "How did you—"
"Reno told me everything," he interrupted, his dark eyes fixed on Aphrodite's. "He was very upset. He cares a lot for you, Aphrodite. You worried him sick… He wouldn't stop shaking when he was here preparing for the mission, and I heard him arguing with you via PHS. You know, Reno's going to have to be in a wheelchair for a few weeks, because he can't walk with a broken arm and leg."
She bit her lower lip, feeling guilty. She shouldn't have gotten so angry at Reno that day. He was there, nervous and worried, and she had to go and yell at him for being a cocky bastard! And now he was going to be stuck in a wheelchair… Aphrodite slapped herself mentally for her errors. "I want to talk to him."
"You shouldn't. He said he wanted to be alone for now."
"Oh… I see…" Aphrodite's voice trailed off, and she grew quiet. Perhaps Reno needed time to reflect upon the past events. Surely, the loss of his home and his mother would affect him intensely, more so than Aphrodite. She understood that her friend required solitude, and she would willingly let him have it.
Tseng uncrossed his arms. "Well, we've got the Ancient now. If you're curious, you can go visit her on the 68th floor. You might find her rather personable. By the way, I haven't got any assignments for you now."
Aphrodite nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'll do that…" She sighed. "Thank you, Tseng." She began to walk away.
"Aphrodite?"
She turned around, giving Tseng a questioning look.
"Reno wanted me to thank you for letting him cry."
.-.-.-.-.-.
The 68th floor was quiet as a morgue. The odor of machinery and chemicals hovered stiff in the air. Hardly a soul roamed the laboratory. Aphrodite walked along the glass cylindrical tank where specimens were kept, and stared at the young woman sitting inside it.
The Ancient looked up, observing Aphrodite through the glass with curious emerald eyes. She tilted her head of braided milk-chocolate hair, her lips parted, and she spoke.
"You're Aphrodite, aren't you?"
The Turk's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know?"
"Your eyes," she said. "Even though you look different, I still recognize you. We never really spoke to each other, did we?"
Aphrodite shook her head. "You're an Ancient. I always felt connected to you, yet somewhat intimidated."
Aeris's head remained tilted. "Intimidated? Why's that?"
She shrugged. "You seemed really in tune with the Planet."
The Ancient smiled. "I embraced my powers, but I always tried to hide them from the Shin-Ra. Nevertheless, I never hid them from myself."
Aphrodite bit her lip. She herself hadn't been as close to the Planet as Aeris. "I see."
"I'm here now because I exchanged myself for a little girl's safety." Aeris smoothed the skirt of her pink dress.
How noble. The Ancient seemed so…virtuous. So perfect that Aphrodite couldn't help but feel inferior. She tucked a curl behind her ear. "You know, I hear the Planet sometimes, too…but I hear Jenova as well. And I hear…the Great Sephiroth…"
Aeris's eyes brightened at the first half of Aphrodite's confession, but her smile faded at the mention of the calamity and her "son." "How are you able to hear them?"
Aphrodite lowered her eyes. At first she wasn't sure whether to tell the Ancient about the cells, but for some reason felt that she could trust Aeris, and decided to confide in her. "I was injected with Jenova cells five years ago."
Aeris looked solemn. "I'm sorry, that must have been terrible… What do Jenova and Sephiroth say?"
"They tell me of plans to take the Promised Land…to give it back to Mother…Sephiroth insists that Jenova is my mother, but my true mother died 5 years ago." She looked at her watch and pretended to look surprised. "Oh, look at the time, I should be going!"
Aeris was watching her with observant, thoughtful eyes. "All right…"
Aphrodite nodded. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Aeris. Goodbye, and be safe. Who knows what Hojo will do…"
As the Turk began to stride away, Aeris's voice called again. "Aphrodite?"
She stopped and turned around, waiting for the Cetra to speak.
Aeris smiled again. "I knew I wasn't alone… I knew all along that you're an Ancient, too…"
Aphrodite bit her lip. "Me? An Ancient?"
"Sure!" Aeris nodded. "Only the Cetra hear the voices of the Planet and their own kind. But you're different, because you hear Jenova and Sephiroth, too…"
She sighed. Well, now someone knew her secret. So how many Ancients were left now? Aeris Gainsborough, and Ares and Aphrodite Sorrows. She doubted the Shin-Ra executives knew about the other two survivors of the Cetra, and she would prefer it if they didn't. Aphrodite did not want to be subject to more experiments, and she did not want to be used, as well as her brother, in the company's mission for obtaining the Promised Land. "Please don't tell anybody. I don't want anyone to know."
Aeris nodded again, and Aphrodite knew she would keep her word. Somehow, she knew she understood. "I won't."
"Won't tell what to anyone, I wonder?"
The Turk spun around, and Aeris turned her head.
"Professor Hojo!"
Aphrodite stared nervously at the old man who observed them like specimens. Oh, no, had he been eavesdropping?
"Good day, girls… Ancient, are you keeping any secrets?" Hojo approached the glass tank, folding his hands behind his slouched, crooked back.
"No, Professor," interjected Aphrodite, with the feeling that Aeris didn't want to answer. The two brunettes exchanged glances and nodded.
Hojo peered at Aphrodite through bespectacled dark eyes. "Sorrows. Ah, I remember…the new Turk recruit. Don't you have work to do?"
"No, sir," said Aphrodite, shaking her head. "No orders at the moment."
Aeris watched them with concerned eyes. She trailed her long fingers on the blue glass of her cylindrical tank, her brows furrowed slightly.
Hojo glanced at the Ancient, and then returned his unblinking eyes to the Turk. "I was going over your blood work yesterday, Miss Sorrows, and I found something curiously strange."
Aphrodite gulped. "Strange, sir?" Could it be that evidence of Jenova or her race showed up in her blood?
The scientist cleared his throat. "Indeed." He peered at Aphrodite, his onyx eyes never moving from hers. "Miss Sorrows, I discovered millions of Jenova cells in your blood."
She gulped again and cast a frightened glance at Aeris. Sweat began to accumulate on her forehead, and she unconsciously picked at her nails. Oh, no… Dear Planet…
"I deduced that the Jenova cells had invaded your body several years ago, Miss Sorrows," snarled Hojo, narrowing his eyes. "And those cells have remained relatively inactive in your blood, save for moments of extreme emotional and physical stress."
Aphrodite bit her lip and glanced down at her watch. Extreme emotional and physical stress…? Could that thing—Jenova—have been the force that possessed her when she murdered the thugs from so long ago? The entity that influenced her when she killed Biggs and Jessie, the AVALANCHE members? The creature that gave her the wicked power to destroy her tank of mako all those years ago? Furrowing her brows, she gulped and looked up meekly. "I must go now… Goodbye, Aeris. Goodbye, Professor."
Hojo's eyes narrowed to mere slits, but he remained silent. Aeris waved without a word as Aphrodite hastily retreated from the laboratory into the specimens' elevator. She nervously began to nibble her nails as the elevator hummed. So, Hojo had found out about the Jenova cells… Now what if he wanted to use her for torturous experiments…?
Torturous experiments…!
Jenova cells…!
Aphrodite's eyes widened as an epiphany struck her, and finally she remembered.
Professor Hojo…he injected her with Jenova cells five years ago! He was the one who tortured her endlessly, who ordered her into a tank of mako… How could she have forgotten?
Of course, the mako… The mako had made her forget.
At last, she remembered Hojo, but this knowledge spawned yet another question: did Hojo remember her?
Hopefully, if no more reminding evidence came to him, he would not remember her as the little Cetra girl from Nibelheim. The girl who (along with her brother Ares) survived the great fire of Nibelheim and became a Sephiroth "clone." Aphrodite Galatea de Travere…
A beep suddenly announced the stop of the elevator on the 67th floor, rousing Aphrodite from her thoughts. As the Turk stepped into the laboratory, a man shoved her, and she looked up to scold him in annoyance.
She stared in shock at his spiky, chocobo-blond hair.
"C-Cloud?" she exclaimed, her jaw dropping.
He stopped, and so did the two people with him: a familiar short woman with long dark chocolate hair, and a giant black man with a gun-arm.
They all stared.
"How'd you know my name?" said Cloud warily.
"You're Cloud Strife of Nibelheim!" exclaimed the Turk, staring in wonder. "And you're…Tifa Lockhart?" She didn't recognize the other man, however. "Remember me? I'm Aphrodite! Aphrodite of Nibelheim!"
Cloud and Tifa stared blankly for a few moments, but then their eyes widened as if they had just realized something.
"Aphrodite de Travere?" inquired Tifa, tilting her head.
She nodded, but cringed at the usage of her former last name.
"Wow, you're alive… How'd you escape Shin-Ra Mansion?" Cloud asked, his mako-blue eyes were huge, and Tifa smiled, her own eyes bright. The giant dark teddy bear looked very surly, knitting his thick brows.
"A SOLDIER helped Ares and I escape," said Aphrodite. "But…what are you guys doing here?"
"That's a question we should ask you!" Tifa arched her eyebrows in curiosity. "We haven't seen you in years. We thought you and Ares were dead…!" She turned to their partner, the black man, and said, "Barret, this is Aphrodite, an old neighbor of ours from Nibelheim…"
"Cut the crap!" snapped the black man. So this was Barret Wallace, the infamous leader of AVALANCHE? The "terrorist group's" head honcho? "We got an Ancient to rescue!" His dark eyes narrowed in distrust at Aphrodite. "Cloud, Tifa, lookit her suit. She's one of the damn Shin-Ra!"
Aphrodite bit her lip, shrinking from them meekly as the huge man shoved her aside, dragging Cloud and Tifa into the specimens' elevator. Her childhood neighbors could only look at her with confused eyes and speechlessly parted lips as the elevator's doors closed.
And so those four survivors of Nibelheim's great tragedy had gone their own ways: Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart, now members of the anti-Shin-Ra group, AVALANCHE; Ares Sorrows, an impoverished, engaged man working and residing in the lowly slums of Sector 5; and lastly, his twenty-one-year-old sister, Aphrodite Sorrows…the Ancient Turk.