Okay, Just to let you people know...
The first part of this is before Cloud meets Aeris in the last chapter. I debated leaving it out… but decided against it due to a coin toss… (so predicable… lol) Anyways, if anyone would, please point out any and all mistakes. I'm kinda bad at finding and fixing them… and since I've basically screwed up my 'Word'… half of the time, the misspelled words aren't found in spell check, and I hate the one FanFiction offers. So… Anyways… Keep in mind that this first part is before Cloud meets Aeris and tells her that weird story. The parts after that follow in the correct time flow.
"The Calamity's Child…" The air seemed to hiss. I groaned at the unwelcome sense of understanding. Every time… there was some sort of complaint. First the Calamity being in the reactor, a place I would only go in to if I were dead a good couple years, chopped up in bits and in someone's stomach. Even then, I'm sure that I would even go near that horrible place. Now there were complaints about the Calamity's son… of all things.
The planet was nothing more than a spoiled child. What the planet wanted, it almost always got. It understood very little, yet expected everyone to understand everything. It couldn't make up its mind about anything and often changed its decision. It only did things if it benefited itself in some way, and tolerated or ignored what ever didn't. I suppose that is where both my mother and I obtained our personalities, as we are born of the planet. Especially since we are supposed to carry out the will of the planet.
Speaking of that… how is anyone suppose to carry out the will of the planet if said planet is asleep and has no will to speak of at the moment? The only thing still awake was the lifestream, and that was because Minerva, my mother, was keeping it as much. If it were to fall asleep, that would cause disturbances, which would unbalance the lifestream and cause a whole bunch of mayhem. Chaos would be in heaven.
I sighed as I once again tried to ask the planet what it wanted me to do about its complaint of the Calamity's Son. I was beginning to think it was a subconscious thing it did just to annoy me. Like I said, childish.
After Vincent had finished with my feathers, I had left and gone to a near-by mako spring to try and ask the planet what it wanted in prayer, the only way to speak with it. If I didn't do that, then my wings would never go away… and as pretty as they were… most humans didn't have wings.
Scientists called this natural mako impure. I called the stuff that they 'purified' unclean. If I were to even get too close to the 'pure' mako, especially with my wings out, then I would be struck with illness. It's because I'm made of pure lifestream, so the lifestream resonates with the 'liquid' lifestream, mako. The 'pure' mako is tainted, not natural anymore, so it doesn't exactly work right, and instead of helping me, it makes me sick.
What was worse was that there was nowhere on Gaia that didn't have 'pure' mako. It became its gas form, the lifestream, and then flooded the air, tainting the lifestream and spreading everywhere. People didn't notice now, but I guarantee that within a few generations, people will be stronger, faster and live longer due to this.
When natural mako evaporated, it caused no mutations that cause the super speed, strength, and life. Also, the natural mako did no harm to the wildlife, plant or animal. Nibel wolves used to only reach the size of a Sheppard, now they were huge. Fish ate people. Plants ate people. The water made people sick, and mutated anything that drunk from it. Rain had a fifty percent chance of being acid, although, the humans had yet to learn of these things.
The reason that natural mako was so harmful to humans was because it took their individual lifestream and merged it with the whole being. The problem is that they don't know how to go back to their bodies, and their consciousness is lost in the sea of green. Thus the 'mako poisoning'.
'Pure' mako did not submerge the individual's lifestream (consciousness) into the main body, sop that was why it is deamed 'safe.'
As for materia, the solid form of the lifestream… the natural mako was much more stronger than the materia that was made from 'pure' mako. That alone should be all the proof needed to say that 'pure' mako was not good.
I finished my prayer to the planet, and pulled back from the mako. The thoughts of 'pure' mako, natural mako, and its properties giving me a head ache. The planet's complaints weren't helping either. I retracted my wings, and sighed in relief when the volume of the voice of the plant was turned down significantly.
Now I just had to find Zack, and make sure that he was okay, assure Sephiroth and Genesis that I was fine, and check out the Cetra. No doubt the planet already informed her of who and what I was.
I watched as Aeris headed back to town and was greeted by Genesis. Genesis… just as I felt a pull towards Aeris, I felt a strange pull towards him. Him, Sephiroth, and Zack. It was strange, and yet, I wasn't bothered by it. I sighed and continued my path to the mansion. Luna followed behind me, her tail wagging gently.
"How'd you get hurt this time?" She offered no response. She never did. She was one of those silent types. Like Vincent and Sephiroth… it must run in the family or something. When I reached the mansion, Vincent was waiting for me, his scarlet eyes observing me.
"Prayer?" He asked. I nodded once. The only way to hide my wings was through communication with the planet, or as Vincent saw it, praying. 'A fitting thing for an angel;' were his exact words.
Walking through the mansion, I snarled at the amount of dust kicked up by the SOLDIERS. It wasn't like they couldn't be neat! Then again, Zack had seemed like the type to be messy… not that it really mattered if they kicked up dust or anything.
They had said they were going to clean this place up. I would love to see them try that. I snorted at the thought of the three generals in maid's outfits. Vincent gave me a strange look, but I ignored him. As I reached my room, I shut the door, indicating to Vincent that I didn't want to be bothered and that he could do what ever the hell he does when I'm not around. Probably brood. I snorted again.
Lying down, I wondered what the next day would bring.
The next day brought me encountering the three Generals and Aeris. The four of them just seemed to be wandering around the mansion, trying to remember where exactly in the ivy I had showed the door was.
"Good luck finding it." The SOLDIERS jumped while Aeris just gave me a smile.
"Hello, Cloud. How are you?"
"Fine, thank you, Aeris. And you?" She giggled before nodding that she was fine. Zack stared at me with a strange look on his face, while Genesis' mouth hung open.
"Cloud? But that man said he would kill you." I chuckled at Genesis' question. Sephiroth was strangely quiet, watching me.
"Him? Nah, he just didn't want you in there. He's an anti-social vampire who likes absolutely nothing, and just enjoys annoying people with head-hurting riddles and hints. Ignore him. Although, form what I've seen, he reminds me of Genesis." Genesis growled, and I ignored him.
"The door appears and disappears at random, so I would just give up. I guess so much has died here, that the mansion just kinda lives. And if it doesn't want you in, then there isn't much you can do about it. Why don't you explore the town?" I really didn't want a repeat of last time… so… now I was trying to distract them. A tour of the town would do it, and if not, then I could tell them to ask Tifa for a tour of the mountains.
"No. We have seen it all." I blinked at Sephiroth's answer.
"Then ask Tifa to show you the mountain trails. There's supposedly a mako spring and materia cavern that Shinra hasn't found yet up there. Tifa knows the legends well enough, and with your expertise, I'm sure you can find both." Zack's and Genesis' eyes lit up. Bingo.
"I've never seen a real free mako spring…" Zack muttered.
"A real undiscovered materia cavern…" Genesis and Zack looked at each other as they both spoke.
"Seph, please?" Their tones combined into one, and Aeris giggled. Sephiroth sighed.
"Fine." I inwardly cheered. No angry Vincent! I watched as they head back to town. The only time they stopped, was when Aeris ran back to me. The three generals nervously waiting.
"When you do figure out what you are, let me know, m'kay? My mother didn't get a chance to teach me all that she should about the planet, and I can feel that your really close. And thank you for the story." I nodded as she hugged me and then ran back down to the SOLDIERs. I could hear their questioning tones, even as I retreated into the mansion.
