Disclaimer: Characters belong to Square-Enix, not me. :(
A/N: Thanks to all of you who commented. I'll try and reply to you all individually. Mystic-Hoshi: Thanks for reading, I hope you continue to enjoy it:D MP: Thanks, I'm glad I can be of some help in enlightening you about the storyline. I'm trying to be as accurate to the game as I can - there are some things I've tweaked here and there, or missed out because they're superfluous to the story, yet great in the gameplay...but mostly, everything's there. :) EchoCompany: Yeah, I know! I have nothing against Tifa at all, I don't get the attitude some people have that you must either be a Cloti or Clorith fan... :p asga: Yup, now I'm really confused as to whether Aerith's still alive or not...! elvenarchress: Thanks for the valid comment. Yup, this story is about, I'd say 85-90 percent loyal to the original game. Let me explain - I've added a few things just to make it flow better than the game did, and taken away a few things for the same reason, (but only things that aren't really needed for the storyline, even though they worked for the gameplay). I've even copied some dialogue word for word from the game! But the reason why Cloud seems out-of-character is complicated. (SPOILER AHEAD!) Cloud was a failed clone of Sephiroth, which sent him over the edge. In the game his best friend, Zack (the guy with the spiky black hair in the flashbacks in the movie) helped him to escape from the Shinra. He sacrificed his life to save Cloud. At his death Cloud went kinda crazy, and totally took on Zack's identity. Through 90 percent of the game Cloud isn't really 'Cloud', he pretends to be Zack. Zack was a bit cocky by nature, so Cloud is sometimes cocky and aloof in the game. When he finds out he was 'stealing' his friend's life, he's humbled. And that's why Cloud's character may seem different to the way it is in the movie.
Whew! Anyway, onto the story... Please continue to read, review, and most of all, enjoy...
-Ludi
-oOo-
: Chapter Ten : The Valley of Falling Stars
Cloud caught up with Aerith on the steps to Bugenhagen's laboratory. She stared up at him as he came up beside her.
"Cloud?"
"Aerith, can I come with you," he began, "to hear about the Cetra?"
She nodded slowly.
"Yes. Of course you can."
They travelled up to the room and pulled back the beaded curtain. Behind it was a cosy, miniature room, with a small dining table, bed and stove to one corner. In the room was a bald old man standing on a floating platform. His long white beard fell on to his rich purple cloak in an avalanche, and dark glasses had covered his sightless eyes. He had the demeanour of some sort of wise sage, and his skin was so withered that Cloud could not help but think that he must be several hundred years old at least. Red was standing beside him, an avid expression on his face. As the two entered, the old man's ears seemed to prick up.
"Nanaki, tell me who has entered," he demanded in a gravelly, wizened voice. "Their auras suggest to me that they are strangers."
"Don't worry, Grandfather," Red assured. "These are my friends - Cloud and Aerith. Cloud, Aerith, this is my grandfather, Bugenhagen."
The old man smiled a glittering, yet somehow gentle smile.
"Ah. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Nanaki has told me about you. I am indebted to you for taking care of him."
"Are you really Red's grandfather?" Cloud inquired, unable to get used to the beast's real name. Bugenhagen's shrivelled face remained locked in good-humour.
"Dear me, no! I'm Nanaki's guardian! Nanaki needs guidance. He is only a boy after all."
"A boy?" Cloud repeated, surprised.
"I'm forty-eight years old, Grandfather," Red cut in gruffly, but Bugenhagen laughed.
"Forty-eight in human earth years, but fifteen in the life-span of your tribe, Nanaki. Remember that."
"He's only fifteen!" Cloud echoed. "But I thought..."
"No." The old man shook his head. "He seems to act wise for his age, and this fools people. But he is still a child. As protector of our village, he still has much to learn."
Red hung his head.
"Grandfather, I want to be an adult. I want to be wise, like you."
Bugenhagen stroked his beard sternly.
"Nanaki, your time will come. You do not just suddenly become an adult. It is a transition that requires maturity and self-perception. Until you have realised these things, what you wish will remain firmly out of your grasp."
Aerith spoke up quietly.
"Please, Bugenhagen, there is something very important that I have to ask you."
Bugenhagen started as if he had been shot. A light began to illuminate his face, and as he floated over to them on his hovering platform, it remained there on his craggy aged features.
"Ah. One of the Cetra, I sense. I have not seen one of the Cetra for over a hundred years."
Aerith stared at the man with a mixture of surprise, eagerness and uncertainty.
"Then you know me? You know who I am!"
"I would know your kind anywhere," he replied benevolently. "But as for me knowing who you are - well, I know most things, but not all. I cannot see inside your soul, my dear."
"But you can feel me?"
Bugenhagen stood thoughtfully for a minute, then advanced toward her. Gently reaching out his arms, his wrinkled fingers felt against the contours of her face. Aerith looked startled for a moment, and then she closed her eyes, letting his fingers run over her lids. For a minute or so Bugenhagen did this, an expression of great concentration on his face. Then he lowered his hands and turned away, quivering. Aerith's eyes flew open and she stared at him in consternation.
"What! What is it!"
Bugenhagen floated a little further away, and did not turn back to face them.
"Forgive me for moving away," he said into the silence, his voice dry. "But you are very powerful, too powerful for the likes of me. You are stronger than you know."
Aerith moved forward, then checked herself, and stepped back.
"Bugenhagen," she asked earnestly, "I don't understand what you mean. I am not strong. I hardly know what it is I must do as the last of the Cetra. You must help me."
Bugenhagen seemed to recover somewhat. He turned back to them, and shook his head regretfully.
"I'm afraid my dear, that I cannot help you. The Planet is my area of study, not the Cetra."
"But you know me!" she answered desperately.
He stilled her.
"Aerith, you must ask the other elders. They will tell you what they know."
Aerith lowered her head. As she did so, Cloud saw the muscles in her throat tighten. She was trying to stop herself from crying, he realised, and he felt stunned. He had not known that her role as one of the Cetra had troubled her so much. He suddenly felt that he must help her or comfort her in some way, but he quickly pushed the emotion down, and it disappeared almost as soon as it had come.
Red spoke.
"Grandfather, Cloud and the others are on a quest to save the Planet. Maybe you should show them your laboratory."
Bugenhagen seemed tickled by the statement.
"Saving the Planet? It isn't possible."
"Why not?" Cloud asked, puzzled at the man's amusement.
"Because," Bugenhagen replied, "the Planet is dying. It may be tomorrow or in a hundred years time, but it's soon."
"But how do you know?" Cloud questioned, shocked.
Bugenhagen drifted slowly over to the end of the room, turned his back on the others and crossed his arms behind his back.
"Because I can hear the cries of the Planet."
"Cries?"
"Shh," the old man interrupted. "Listen."
Cloud raised his head, listened. At first, he could hear not a single thing. Then, faintly on the silent atmosphere of the room, like a distant call, floating, rising, he could hear the 'cries' of the Planet. He started. The sound was something he'd never heard before. It was a howl, a low moan, swaying against a bitter wind, a voice full of indescribable pain. It was a sound people had forgotten to hear, forgotten how to hear.
Bugenhagen spoke, causing Cloud to lose the sound.
"See? That cry, it says to us 'I hurt, I die'. And yet, we do not heed it - indeed, we do not even hear it."
"But what hope have we got of saving the Planet then?" Cloud asked hopelessly.
Bugenhagen did not answer, but glided over to a wooden door at the side of the room.
"Let me show you how the Planet works," he said, and he unlocked the door with a rusty key and threw it open. He gestured for them to enter, and Cloud, Aerith and Red walked in together.
Inside was a tiny, circular, dimly lit room. In the centre of the room was some sort of platform, and around it were various mechanical devices. As Bugenhagen ushered them on to the platform, Cloud saw that the room was actually an observational dome. Looking up into the glass spherical ceiling, he found he could pick out the signs of the solar systems painted on it.
As he and Aerith gazed up in awe at the fresco, Bugenhagen moved to one of the contraptions at the side of the room and turned on a light. The chamber began to buzz with a sudden life, and the paintings on the ceiling rapidly bounded away from the glass dome and became real and animate, like a real model of the Solar System. Cloud could clearly make out the golden Sun, the mighty Jupiter, Saturn and its icy rings: and surely there was the Planet itself, a modest jewel in the middle of the sprawling galaxy.
Cloud turned to face Bugenhagen.
"What is this?"
Bugenhagen travelled to the centre of the platform.
"This is a 3D Holographic System. It is a miniature model of the Solar System, linked to the Shinra's computer mainframe in Midgar. It shows everything that's happening in the skies at this very moment." He stooped over to pull a lever. "Now, let's begin."
With a jerk, the platform raised itself from the ground and up into the heart of the dome. Cloud felt himself hold in a sharp breath. It seemed he was actually amongst the planets and stars. They hung about him like the real-life thing, travelling slowly on their orbits, rotating in the blackness of the Universe. A shooting star whizzed right past Aerith's nose, causing her to jump in fright, its misty tail trailing behind it like a speeding haze. Following its course across the glittering heavens, it was suddenly sucked out of its path by a whirling black hole, never to return.
Aerith gasped in wonderment.
"It's beautiful."
Bugenhagen nodded.
"The Universe is a beautiful place. But let us turn to somewhere closer to us."
He made his way to the figure of the Planet, using his memory and senses, rather than his now lost sight. It circled lazily round the flaming Sun, its green landmasses and blue seas clearly distinguishable on it's orb-like form.
"Are you acquainted with the study of Planet Metaphysics?" Bugenhagen addressed them. Cloud shook his head.
"No, I've never heard of it."
"Then let me enlighten you. As you all know, when we die, our bodies decompose, and we join the Planet."
"Yes, of course. Everyone knows that."
"Indeed." Bugenhagen nodded gravely. "But not so many people are aware that it is not only our bodies that go through this transition. Not only living matter, but also our consciousness, our hearts and souls are all chanelled into the Planet once we die. All living beings have the same thing happen to them - plants, trees, animals, birds and fish."
He followed the Planet slowly, and, extending his arm toward the planetoid, pointed out a faint pinpoint of glowing green in the middle of the land mass.
"But I don't understand," Cloud interrupted slowly. "Why does the Planet need our souls as well? I thought our souls went some place else. To heaven, for instance. Or the Promised Land."
Bugenhagen smiled, amused
"That's up to you to decide. How can you be sure what the Promised Land, or indeed heaven, is? But, just the same, it is true. All living things join the Planet and merge. They roam the Planet with one another, roam, converge, divide and swell into a being called the Lifestream."
"Lifestream...?" Cloud murmured, remembering.
"Yes, it is a path of souls, drifting through the Planet, a kind of spirit energy. This spirit energy will bless the children brought into this world, then, when they die, it returns to the Planet."
He smiled gently down at Cloud, Aerith and his grandson.
"Spirit energy makes all things possible. It makes planets planets - and if this energy is reft from the planet, the planet will die. Indeed, spirit energy is efficient because it exists with in nature.
"However, when it is forcefully extracted and manufactured, it can't accomplish its true purpose. This produces Mako energy. Reactors use all living things and throw them away. And the terrible thing is that the loss of the Lifestream will corrupt the people: there will no longer be enough spirit energy to bless the children."
He raised his hand, and the Lifestream was sucked away from the Planet, leaving it barren and broken. Bugenhagen stared round at them soberly.
"In the end, Mako energy will destroy the Planet. It is already destroying our world. The life that we give it and that it gives us is being drained away. The cry of the Planet grows louder every day. It breaks my heart that I must hear it so."
Cloud gazed back at him wordlessly. Silently, Bugenhagen hovered over to the lever, and pulled it back so that the platform descended back down into the observational room. Turning off the lights, he turned to them.
"This is how the Planet works. The Lifestream is functional for its life."
Cloud put a finger to his lips pensively.
"Is there anything we can do to prevent the death of the Planet?"
Bugenhagen shook his head remorsefully.
"Even if you destroy every Mako Reactor on the Planet, it would only postpone the inevitable. There is no hope for the Planet now. It is too late."
He went out of the room, Cloud, Aerith and Red following behind. Closing and locking the door firmly, he turned to them.
"Please feel free to use my machine whenever you need it. If you ever need my wisdom, you are welcome to visit. I'm afraid I may not be in this world much longer to help you, so you'd better make the most of my offer while you can."
"Grandfather, please don't talk like this..." Red spoke up, upset, but Bugenhagen shook his head morosely.
"Nanaki, surely you know by now that I am in the winter of my life. I will not be here for you forever."
Before Red could reply, someone entered into the room. Another old man, though not half as grizzled as Bugenhagen, shuffled into the room.
"Bugenhagen, there are strange visitors to our village. What do you want us to do?"
Bugenhagen looked at him with unconcern for his question.
"Ah, Hargo, you are here." He addressed Aerith. "Aerith, this is Hargo, one of our elders. His job is to chronicle the history of the Planet. He will tell you what you need to know." He looked back to Hargo. "Hargo, tell her what you know of the Ancients."
Hargo, looking puzzled, obediently led Aerith out of the room. Once they had left, Cloud paced the room quietly.
"What I don't understand," he began reflectively, "is how this fits into Sephiroth's plans to rule the Planet. Sephiroth says he is of the Cetra, that he is heir to this Planet. Does he know of the Lifestream too?"
"You must follow the girl," Bugenhagen returned. "That is all I can say."
"Thank you, Bugenhagen," Cloud replied with heartfelt sincerity.
Cloud left the room, and looked for Aerith. In a chamber next to Bugenhagen's, he heard rustling. Peering inside, he saw Hargo looking in a large wooden crate through many yellowing, crumbling parchments. Aerith was sitting at a small table nearby, watching him attentively. She stared up at Cloud as he entered and smiled a watery smile at him.
"Cloud..." He sat down beside her and her eyes followed him with a softly sad look on her face that surprised him. "Hargo is trying to find some old documents for me on the Ancients."
Cloud stared over at the man.
"Do you think that what he's about to tell you, Sephiroth knows already?"
Aerith was silent for a moment.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter."
Hargo finally found the parchments and looked over them carefully.
"Yes, this is it." He handed the paper to Aerith, who received it gratefully. "This is a book that was discovered in the last century by one of our elders. It is simply entitled 'The Book of the Ancients'. Many pages have been lost, but there's a passage here that I think will interest you."
Reading it over a while, Aerith suddenly looked up.
"Hargo, this speaks of the Promised Land. Can you tell me about it?"
Hargo sat at the table across from her, folded his hands.
"The Promised Land doesn't exist for humans. It is a place that none of us mere mortals can hope to find."
"Could you tell me how to find it?" she asked.
"No." He shook his head. "All I know is that it is the resting place of the Ancients. It is their burial ground. When their journey is finished, they will reside in this place. They will be released from their fate and will gain supreme happiness."
Aerith her head and looked down at the paper in her hand.
"Supreme happiness..."
Hargo nodded.
"We simple folk have lost our claim to this paradise. But if you are truly the last..." he received back the parchment from her, "...then that is your inheritance."
"I don't understand," Cloud broke in heatedly. "You mean the Cetra haven't got a claim to ruling the Planet? That all they do is travel on this 'journey' and then get buried in the Promised Land?"
Hargo stretched his gnarled arms behind his head.
"In simple words, I suppose that's right. Though only the Cetra could tell you the truth."
"No." Aerith suddenly said quietly, looking down at her clasped hands meditatively. "The Promised Land...the journey...it's more than just that...more than just enlightenment."
Cloud turned to her.
"What do you mean?"
"That it's more than I at first thought." She did not look at him. "It's something to do with...joining the Planet, being the Planet. I think...I'm beginning to understand."
"Then Sephiroth has no claim to ruling the Planet?" he asked her. She did not answer him, but suddenly stood up.
"Thank you Hargo," she acknowledged quietly. "Thank you. You've helped me so much."
"My pleasure," Hargo returned. Before Cloud could ask Aerith anymore about the Cetra and the Promised Land, she had turned and left. Puzzled, and not a little disconcerted, he too thanked the old man and tailed her out.
Cloud and Aerith wandered back outside to find the others. Cloud was confused. He did not understand anything at all about the Cetra -much less than he had thought at first. And Sephiroth: was it possible that he did not even know the true purpose of his own race?
They found the others sitting by the bonfire in the centre of the village. They had been sitting silently, staring into the dancing flames of the fire, not one of them talking.
Cloud was surprised at their apparent pensiveness. As he neared them, he noticed that Yuffie was sitting, cross-legged, apart from the others, yawning copiously.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked her, baffled.
She looked up at him and gave another heavy yawn, dropping her chin heftily into her hand.
"As if I know! Red just came back and started goin' on about his parents, an' everyone got sad and started staring into the fire with weird, dreamy looks on their faces." She finished with another yawn and pointed to Aerith, who'd sat down with the others. "See? It's catching! Someone get me away from here!"
Smiling wryly at her, he decided to find out the cause of this sudden outburst of glumness. Sitting down next to Cait Sith, Cloud spoke to him cheerfully.
"Hey, what's up? It isn't like you to look so gloomy. Is there something wrong?"
The toy cat shook his head almost sorrowfully, his furry ears drooping.
"Oh, you know...Memories..."
"Memories?"
"Yeah..." Cait Sith stared into the fire with an expression that seemed so unlike his normal self that Cloud was almost startled. "I wonder when it was that I last came here with the others? Must have been ten odd years ago. They've all changed so much now..."
Cloud gazed over at him sharply.
"Whom are you talking about? The 'others'?"
Cait Sith abruptly broke free of the spell the fire seemed to weaving on him. He looked up and began to laugh nervously.
"Others? Did I say 'others'? Whoopsie."
Cloud shook his head, giving up. He thought of the fortune Cait Sith had told him; 'You will find what you seek, but you will lose something dear to you.' What did that mean? He would find Sephiroth? And then lose what? He did not know.
A doleful sigh from Barret next to him caused him to forget about the fortune for the time being. Turning to the larger man, he spoke to him.
"Barret, you okay? Thinking about Dyne?"
The big man stared into the flames, his mouth shut tight, the light in his eyes dull. Cloud bit his lip and looked down at the ground.
"I'm sorry. That was unsubtle of me."
Barret still wore the scowl on his face, and Cloud thought it best not to push the subject any further. However, the larger manbegan to speak of his own accord, his voice low.
"You know something Cloud... it was here that AVALANCHE was born. When me, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie got together...we made this pact." He closed his eyes momentarily, swallowed painfully."When we'd saved the Planet, we'd come here to celebrate the new life of the world. And look at how things are now. They're all dead, and I'm goin' after this 'evil' guy Sephiroth. What am I fightin' for Cloud? I don't even know what any of this is all for anymore."
He suddenly stood up and let out a long, lamentable cry that echoed out on to the night sky, thrown over the soaring mountains and valleys, causing everyone to jump.
"This isn't over yet! I'll save the Planet, I swear it! This is justice, justice for Dyne, Biggs, Jessie, Wedge, Marlene...I'm not giving up!"
He sat back down with a thud and buried his head in his hands.
"Just leave me, Cloud," he murmured. "Let me mourn in peace."
Respecting his wishes, Cloud got up and let him be. Sitting between Aerith and Tifa, he stared with them into the fire. The flames licked and popped in the night sky, glowing like fluttering butterflies. Yuffie had been right. Somehow, sitting here in the midst of this sombre mood, it seemed to make you think more, feel more. Cloud thought back to the dream he'd had that night, and, for perhaps the fiftieth time, tried to work out what it all meant...
"Bonfires are funny things, aren't they," Tifa suddenly murmured, surprising him. He looked at her, and saw her face, somehow softened by the firelight, her deep brown eyes softly sad. "They make you remember all sorts of things."
She lifted her knees to her chest and cradled her legs in her arms, stared up at him.
"You know, Cloud, five years ago..."
He looked into her beautiful, gentle eyes.
"What? Tell me, Tifa."
She seemed as if she'd tell him for a moment; then she turned away quickly, her eyes resting once again on the crackling inferno.
"Nothing...I'm afraid to ask...I can't say it..." She looked up into the starry indigo sky, and Cloud wondered what it was she needed to say. "Cloud, it feels like you're going...far away."
"Far away?" he resounded, not understanding at all. "But Tifa, I'm here. I'm not going to leave you."
She did not contest his claim. She simply shook her head helplessly and turned away. Cloud gazed at the back of her chestnut-brown head. What was it Tifa was hiding from him? It was another answerless dilemma. He turned to Aerith. Ever since she had arrived in Cosmo Canyon, she seemed to have become more downcast. He spoke softly to her.
"Aerith?"
She looked at him, her countenance much the same as Tifa's.
"Yes, Cloud?"
"What Hargo told you... Are you all right?" he ventured. Again he saw he throat tense, but she forced a small, pale smile nevertheless.
"Yes...I'm fine," she replied quietly, then lowered her voice and continued, "Cloud, the elders have taught me so many things. So many things about the Cetra and the Promised Land. But most of all, now I realise...I'm all alone. All alone."
Her face, so soft and delicate, seemed to glow more radiantly in the luminant shine of the fire, making her features seem small and fragile. Cloud suddenly had the most overwhelming feeling that he must protect her, that he must remain as he'd promised her - her bodyguard.
"But Aerith, I'm...we're all here for you. You're not alone."
She shook her head.
"No. I'm the last. The last of the Cetra. No one can change that."
"Does that mean we can't help?" he persisted.
She said no more, but lowered her eyelids to the ground, signalling the end of their conversation.
Feeling disappointed at her evasiveness, Cloud suddenly lost that inexplicable urge that had just filled him, the urge to protect her. He stood up, wishing that he could recapture that moment. Red was lying a little way off, his crimson fur as bright as the fire. He raised his head as Cloud approached him. His usually wild-looking single eye was filled with a sadness that touched Cloud. He sat down beside the proud and noble animal.
"There's something bothering you, Red," he began kindly. "What is it?"
"I am ashamed," Red replied softly. "More ashamed than I have ever been in my life. It is a disgrace I have never told anyone about."
"Tell me about it," Cloud offered.
Red growled gently and looked at the bonfire.
"When I was small, I remember us all sitting around this flame. It is our sacred light - it never goes out. My grandfather would tell me of the honour of our tribe, of our great war-stories." He paused broodingly. "Those were happy times."
"What happened?" Cloud asked, following Red's gaze into the flames. He could see nothing in them.
"There was a great war, a battle between clans. My parents fought to protect Cosmo Canyon. But my father was a coward. He ran away from my mother in battle, and left her to die for our village." He made a low, throaty sound in his throat, as though angry. "When I think of my mother, I am filled with pride, that she should have given herself so honourably for the life of others. But my father..." he almost shouted the words. "...I am wrought with shame that such a cowardly rogue could have been my father."
"So that is what is worrying you, Nanaki."
Cloud and Red looked up to see Bugenhagen floating toward them solemnly. "You are ashamed of your father."
"Grandfather," Red replied seriously, "you cannot understand the pain my father has caused me. He has made me feel as though I am not worthy to be called protector of Cosmo Canyon."
Bugenhagen thought for a moment.
"Nanaki, there is something I must show you. Come."
Nanaki got up, puzzled. The old man looked at Cloud.
"Cloud, please come with us. I think there is something you must understand about Nanaki."
Cloud got up and followed the two back toward Bugenhagen's room, confused and curious.
What was this secret Bugenhagen was about to show them?
-oOo-
Next: Red XIII finds out the truth of his heritage...