Chapter III

Brightstone
"I remember having to cover my ears so my brain wouldn't leak out in a glowing pudding. So yea. Lucky." - John Philip Sorea

"Ho-ho-hoo," the grandfatherly voice said. "I found much knowledge locked in the Ancient city and I believe our friend John has provided the key."

John cracked his eyelids. The floating, legless man with his gnome-like long beard hovered inside his circle of listeners. The Highwind's electric panels beeped over the background thrum of the rotors.

"As to John's condition, well," Bugenhagen bobbed over to him, the air whooshing in his wake. "I believe I stumbled onto the answer to that as well. Ho-ho-hoo, he and I have a mutual friend."

"What do you mean?" Aeris said.

"John," Bugenhagen said. "Can you see Aeris' aura?"

John squinted, frowned. He shook his head.

"Never mind. Aeris told me that when the two of you were alone in the Ancient Capital, you spoke with her deceased mother, Ifalna?"

"Yes. Take it as you will." John rolled onto his side, an effort that felt like kneading ten kilos of bread dough. "Remember, you're talking about me here? I may see dead people, but I also had a pet chair follow me around Nibelheim." My, he felt tired. Just piecing together that sentence made him feel as if he had penned a master's thesis.

"Ho-ho-hoo! What would you say if I told you I, too, have spoken with Ifalna?"

"I'd say I have some spare medication in my cabin."

"You?" Aeris said. "You spoke with my mother?"

"And a good talker she is. About talked my ears off."

"You had a close call, then," John said. "You can't afford to lose any more body parts."

Aeris glared at him. Bugenhagen, however, did not seem to take offense. "Do you recall, John, finding something called a Brightstone?

"I remember a giant flying seahorse who blew a storm of leaves around me. Also a pink puffball who told me I would die in sixty seconds. Luckily Aeris clocked it with her staff."

"Boundfats," Aeris said. "Pesky things, if you don't take care of them quickly."

"I'm not talking about a creature. Do you recall a glowing stone sitting just inside the base camp?"

"About the size of a watermelon? Oh yes." John yawned. "That thing darn near killed me."

"Near as I can tell, it acts as a data storage device. A library of the Ancients. Not unlike a computer, though you make the connection mentally. The stone inside professor Gast's base camp is the only one I could access, though I found several other active stones. Perhaps the Gast stone serves as a gateway to the others. Ifalna, when she was here, ho-ho-hoo! I'd better explain."

Bugenhagen did one of his bobbing genie circles and continued. "After Hojo killed Gast and captured Ifalna, she escaped from his clutches three times, the final one when she took you, Aeris, to Elmyra's. Of Ifalna's first escape I know little, except it was brief and she returned on her own. I am more fascinated with her second, more daring escape."

"I suppose she didn't take Aeris with her that time?" John said.

"Oh no. Aeris would have been about four years old, too young to travel with stealth. Ho-ho-hoo, she left Aeris in the care of someone she trusted to keep her out of Hojo's clutches. But Shinra recaptured Ifalna and brought her back. But not before she used the Lunar Harp to close off the Ancient Capital to Shinra. I know Hojo could never get through the Sleeping Forest after that. What is so funny, John?"

"I'm thinking, if you had a floating carpet, with your arms folded like that, people would start asking you for wishes."

"Knock it off, John," Aeris said.

"As if you aren't thinking the same thing."

"Ho-ho-hoo, what are you wishing for now?"

"I'd love to make it through a day without falling asleep six times before lunch."

"I believe your wish will soon come true."

John sat up. "Really?" He sank as a wave of fatigue slammed his through his gut.

"Ifalna, as I was saying, visited the Ancient Capital. She spent some time here. And somehow, she managed to project her personality and memories, or a copy of them, into the Brightstone."

"Stuck in a rock?" John stared at the sky through the Highwind's glass ceiling. "Leave it to me to find the world's only sentient rock."

"You are a lucky individual."

"I remember having to cover my ears so my brain wouldn't leak out in a glowing pudding. So yea. Lucky."

"To be able to contact a Brightstone without equipment or mental filters? It must have been an thrilling experience."

"If you get your thrills puking up blood, then yes."

"Using a filter, I could touch the stone safely, but I could not receive the clarity of information you undoubtedly did."

"Aeris, tell this man what I looked like when you found me."

"Ho-ho-hoo! Don't you want to hear what Ifalna told me?"

Bugenhagen, John saw, held a small framed picture of Aeris' mother in his hands. Apparently when Gast had visited Cosmo Canyon long ago, he had shown off pictures of his new girlfriend.

"When the Crisis fell from the sky, the evil Jenova that is, she at first tried to win the Cetra's trust. Whether this was genuine or simply a play to get close enough to release her Cetra Plague virus, no one will know. In either case, you all are aware of her ability to shift shapes, to project illusions, and to dominate minds. In addition, it is said she performed miracles of healing."

"Cheap trick," John said. "If she hangs around Cetra any length of time, she will absorb enough miracles of healing to fool herself."

"True as far as it goes, but the Brightstone contains an account of a young Cetra boy who died in a mountain climbing accident, dead even beyond the Cetra healing. Jenova appeared and took the boy to a mountain temple where she performed a night long ritual, after which the boy arose, returning to his family to become a fortune teller, at least until he died in another climbing accident. Of Jenova, it is said she went into seclusion for a time."

"I've never understood the urge to climb mountains," John said. "Is it the thrill of falling through the air or the rush of smashing your head on jagged rocks?"

"Do you see what this means?" Bugenhagen bobbed like a happy puppy.

"Yes. When we climbed Gaia's Cliff to get at Sephiroth last month? We were out of our freaking minds."

"Jenova may have used part of her life force to return the Cetra boy to life."

Aeris started to talk but closed her mouth.

"He became a fortune teller, huh?" John looked at the others. "Sounds like he got a little Jenova in return."

"How long did Jenova stay in hibernation?" Aeris said.

"It must have been a splitting headache of a ritual," John said. "Sounds like it messed the kid up though. So you think I did that ritual with Aeris?"

"Ho-ho-hoo! If so, I may have a remedy."

John propped himself on his elbow, bracing himself while the world fizzed in and out. He looked at Aeris. She sat against the Highwind's railing, glowing with an inner light. He wanted to reach out to her but his arms felt heavy as iron.

Aeris stepped forward and hung her head.

"Wait," John said. "Don't you dare feel guilty. If I gave you a piece of myself to keep you alive, it was my choice. And, even if I am as useful as a human-shaped paperweight, I regret nothing. Did you see Yuffie's face when she discovered you weren't dead? I mean, did you see her face when you died?"

"Pshaw," Cid said from the controls. "Don't mention that brat. All those flying tako problems started when I dropped her off at Wutai."

Barret, looking as if he just spent hours pumping cast iron skillets at the gym, said, "You mentioned a solution?"

"Ho-ho-hoo, so I did. As you know, people flock to Cosmo Canyon to bathe in the healing energy of the Eternal Flame. So could you."

"I'm not sure I want to be roasted on a spit," John said.

"Oh no. It's a spiritual journey. You may even receive a vision quest. Some supplicants get a message from the canyon itself."

"Oh great," John said. "You realize, the Planet and I don't always see eye-to-rock. When a Jenova moves in, property values go way down."

"I haven't heard anyone claim the Planet talks directly through the flame," Bugenhagen said, "though it may be different for a Cetra or Jenova. Ifalna, rest her soul, is sure you will not be harmed."

"I wonder how she got from the stone into the water," John said.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind." John recalled a memory, how Ifalna had appeared to him in the waters of the Ancient Lake to give him critical advice: stop acting like an idiot. "I trust her."

Aeris looked up at him and smiled.

"So Aeris," he said. "Have any pieces of furniture talked to you about politics? I have my meds if you need some."

"I haven't noticed anything unusual." She flexed her hands. "Though I do feel, more alert."

"If you start telling fortunes you'll put Cait Sith out of business."

Barret snorted. "How is Reeve coming along with his mechanical taxidermy?"

Lena spoke up. "I talked with him today. He says he's worked a few kinks out of Professor Gast's masterpiece. It turns out Gast had bigger plans for the robot. He sounded excited about it."

"Cait Sith was a present for Ifalna," John said.

The others looked at him.

"Just a guess," he said. "I think."

"You creep me out, kid," Barret said.

"Speaking of guesses, anyone here believe that Cetra Lazarus didn't have help falling off the mountain the second time?"

Barret swore. "John, you don't know - "

"You start telling people their wife is sleeping with the milkman or they'll die in a terrible plague, they look for a nearby bridge to toss you over. Trust me. I speak from experience."

"That's, that's terrible," Aeris said.

"People don't like to hear the truth."

"I don't see how this matters to us," Barret said.

"True enough. Maybe that old Jenova started out as a sensitive soul. No matter. Evil is still evil. We might as well try out the Cosmo Candle theory. For now, I need a nap."

Aeris gave him a new pillow. He lay back, listening to Cid bark his orders.

"If you all are done yapping like Yuffie and her girlfriends, I'll get us underway."

John slept so soundly he had no hint the Highwind had fallen under attack until he found himself draped over Barret's good arm.

"I know I said hard-a-port," Cid said, "but I didn't mean that hard-a-port!" For some reason, Cid said this while doing a handstand on the railing.

"We took a hit to our stabilizer rudder, Captain," his pilot Darian said, perched high in his seat.

"Mayday!" Lena worked the radio. "Under attack, fifty clicks out of Cosmo Canyon. Do you copy?"

"Here they come for another pass. Shall I fire the jets?"

Cid's feet swung back and forth in the air. Barret's arm held John down so hard he felt his legs thrust upward.

"Where is Aeris?" Barret said.

"Crew's quarters," Lena said. "She just told me Marlene is safe. Bugenhagen is holding her."

John felt Barret relax.

"Oh, my God," Darian said. "They fired a blast of flachettes. They tried to sheer off our rotor blades. But, heh, the rotors weren't there, Captain."

Cid, perhaps for the drama, decided to stand on only one arm. John heard a metallic shriek as something flew by outside, way too close.

"You got the collective to reverse? Never thought I'd feel lucky having a moron for a pilot."

"Thank you sir."

Lena spoke up. "Captain, Nanaki wants to know if we are able to perform an emergency landing."

"Land? Land? We can't even freakin' fly!"

Suddenly a black dart screamed by overhead. John glanced up, expecting to see sky, but saw the red and gold landscape he remembered from Cosmo Canyon.

Something slammed the Highwind hard. Lena screamed. The desert above began to spin and draw closer.

"Son-of-a-ow!" Barret almost crumpled when John's knee struck him in the cheek. "Damn Jenova, I'd like to take the rest of your life force - "

"Hey," John said. "We're upside down."

"Superb observation, kid." Cid pinwheeled the air with his one free hand. "Didya think I was doing handstands to improve the crew's morale?"

Before John could reply the ship abruptly rolled upright. Cid let out a bellow as he crashed to the deck.

"Ah! I think I broke something. There's a flying tako on our tail. Give it an aft missile!"

Darian punched a button. John heard a series of shrieks.

"Not all our missiles, you idiot!"

With a low boom, an orange rose bloomed behind them. John could almost feel the heat of it.

"Direct hit," Darian said. "The other two Takeos are pulling back, Captain."

Lena said, "Captain, three Cosmo helicopters are approaching. They claim to be our escort."

Cid let out a sigh. "Take us down, Darian. In one piece, if you please? Damn, I need a smoke."