A/N Awww, i like Monday releases more than Wednesday ones, but with this i can upload Saturday! now this is a short chappi since i want to get back into action. However i do want to note i am very jealous of people who can draw now. I found the image uploader and i can not tell you how much i wish i could draw so i could have one picture of Nate with the crew or something at the front page. But to bad...stupid drawing skills
But hey we broke the 300 review threshhold so yeah wooooo, time to finish this up, then on with the show!
Ch 38
"Its official, the kids finally lost it. I knew it would happen." Cid said, rubbing his head and annoying me.
"Cid, he is completely serious." Nanaki said. The man just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Bullshit. World is just fiction, know everything about us. Nice try, I've been around too long to fall for that." He responded.
"Cid he just told me about a dream I had a week ago without telling anybody, and he wasn't anywhere near us when Barret told us what really happened to Corel." Tifa argued.
"You're believing what he's saying now?"
"Well no... but..."
"Does anyone else here believe what the kids saying?" Cid asked. He looked over at Vincent who still had his gun pointed at me.
"Please put that down." I asked.
"You will tell me where you got that information." He stated coldly. Looking into his eyes I could see revealing that piece of information was a big mistake. He was usually so emotionless; I thought the worst he would get would be a small amount of anger, not wanting to put a bullet in my head mad.
"I know because I have seen your lives from my world." I restated.
"I want the truth." He said, narrowing his eyes.
"Vincent I want you to think like the Turk you once were. Explain any theory you have about me knowing about a dream Tifa had, your past, everything I've told you. What is the most logical conclusion in your head?" I asked. I knew any idea he had would be scraped. If I was affiliated with Shinra then I would have had records. If I found the information on the journey, then what about Tifa?
"Vincent calm down." Nanaki added. Slowly the man put his gun down as he processed every situation.
"Nate you aren't making sense and it's pissing me off. Now tell us what the hell do you mean?" Barret more or less ordered.
"I don't belong on Gaia. I'm not like Jenova either. I come from Earth, a planet very different yet similar to this." I explained.
"What do you mean by fiction?" Cait asked, very curious.
"On earth there is a... story. It is about a group of nine people wanting to stop a very powerful man from destroying their world and becoming a god... You guys are all of the main characters." I didn't want to mention they were a game, saying I controlled their actions would come back to haunt me at certain decisions.
"Nate it's still confusing. If we are fiction then... How does this all work then?" Yuffie asked, most likely humoring me.
"Think if you all were reading Loveless, when suddenly you're in the story yourself. You interact with the characters, the plot, the environment... It's all like reality when you're in it... That's what I'm in right now."
"You honestly expect us to believe this?" Cid asked.
"I am asking you keep an open mind."
"You don't even have solid proof. Who can back you up on this?"
"I can assure you Nathan is very serious." Nanaki finally admitted. Everyone finally started paying attention to the single non-robotic animal of the group.
"Red?" Tifa started.
"I found out in Cosmo Canyon. I didn't believe it at first but grandpa believed him and soon enough I did as well."
"You actually believe what he's spouting?" Barret almost yelled.
"He has been one hundred percent correct on his predictions when he told me about them. He has tried to ease our adventure."
"Well then what has he done to help us? I haven't seen anything that's been done to help us." Cid argued.
"Why don't you ask Aeris." I said.
"What does she know too?" Cait asked, I shook my head.
"She was sure she was going to die back at the Ancient City, in fact she went knowing full well she was going to die. At the last minute I took the hit for her. If I didn't know what was going to happen then she would be dead right now." Everyone froze at the words before Barret turned to Aeris.
"You... knew you were going to die?" He asked, she only looked down sadly.
"She wanted to make sure everyone was safe. Even at the cost of her own life," I elaborated. "She knew she was going to die, but she went to the city to pray for Holy, the one thing that could stop Meteor." Aeris didn't look anyone in the eye. She kept staring down at the floor.
"Damn..." Cid said, not knowing what to say about the situation. In fact everyone seemed tense.
"So everything you're telling us is true?" Aeris finally spoke up. I nodded.
"And you've lied to us." Barret stated.
"I did lie, but only because my situation was damn near unbelievable."
"How can we trust you after this?" Now I was getting angry.
"Barret I have done damn near nothing selfish in this team. I have nothing to gain from adventuring except maybe recognition. I have tried to help everyone on this team including you. You're no different for keeping Corel to yourself when we got there. You didn't want something to come out, I don't know the reason why, but we all waited for you to open up yourself." Before I could continue my rant I heard a stumble in the hallway as well as everyone else. Barret, being closest to the door, had looked out before holding out his gun arm.
"Freeze! Hands up where I can see them!" I heard multiple objects fall as the rest of the group looked out and seemed to get more alert.
"Listen, I don't want any trouble." That voice... now of all times.
"Then you shouldn't have come to this island, I don't care how many of you are here, I'll take you all down."
"Barret put down your gun. He's with me." I said.
"What?" he said, not moving his arm. Although my muscles were tense I got up out of bed and walked in front of his arm. Behind him I saw Kunsel with the herbs and potions he was getting now on the floor.
"Listen I ran into Kunsel here. He is a really good guy and I can vouch for him. I offered if he wanted to be a part of AVALANCHE and he said he would be happy to." My explanation did not quell the anger clearly on Barrets face.
"You were going to let some random jerk from Shinra into AVALANCHE. Cid's right, you've lost your mind."
"I don't appreciate you calling me insane." I said through my teeth.
"Is this just another thing you covered up until you wanted to reveal it when you wanted?" Barret accused.
"Listen I know you guys don't like Shinra, and I agree. It's a bad place. My friend Zack was taken by them." He explained.
"...Kunsel?" I looked to see Aeris with wide eyes looking at the second class SOLDIER.
"Aeris? It is you! You're in AVALANCHE? !" Kunsel said excitedly, forgetting about Barret pointing a gun at him.
"You know him too?"
"Put that down. Kunsel is a good guy." Aeris almost scolded at Barret. The man finally lowered his weapon before Aeris walked up to Kunsel with a small smile.
"It's good to see you again Kunsel." She said. The only way to see his happiness was the toothy grin he had.
"Same here, I never knew that you left Midgar." He mentioned.
"You stopped visiting a long time ago." He rubbed the back of his head and looked down.
"I got in trouble trying to find Zack, and eventually one of the Turks found me and said I should stop lest certain targets get scared." Aeris nodded, understanding the implication.
"After a few more warnings I was demoted and put on missions a green third could do. I was called to investigate the town for your friend when I ran into him and... Well I'm here now." He said, avoiding mentioning about the betrayal he went through.
"And now you want to join AVALANCHE." Barret said.
"I just want to help out. It won't be official; I just give you guys' information and other things. I'm good at that kind of stuff." He held his hands up non-threateningly.
"I think it's a good idea." Aeris said. Barret looked at her odd.
"I don't trust him." Barret stated, I snorted.
"You too. I don't know what you're spouting. But you're saying you could prevent a lot of things. Well you didn't prevent sector seven from collapsing, you didn't prevent my daughter from being caught, and you didn't tell us Cait was the spy. You held to many important things from us, and now we still have to save the Planet ourselves." Barret walked past everyone and out of the clinic. Soon he was followed by Cid, Cait, and Vincent.
"You knew Cloud would end up like this?" Tifa approached. I only nodded; she shook her head before walking back to his room. Next I saw Yuffie walk up. Fully expecting another lash I instead got a pat on my shoulder. Looking up I saw Yuffie with a smile.
"I don't really know what's going on Nate. But you helped me more than anyone that I have ever known. You've done a lot for everyone else too. You're still a really nice guy." I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"But... You owe me for lying about where you are from," Yuffie said seriously.
"Well this is better than the whole group hating me. So what do you want, half of my materia? All my gil from now on?" I asked, still smiling at Yuffie for partially accepting where I was from. I think it would be good if I ease everything into everyone's perspective. It will be hard, but maybe the gang would understand me.
"You will be spending gil alright... Next time you take me out." I looked at Yuffie wide eyed, seeing the familiar mischievous smile.
"You owe me after acting like you were going to die twice. I will make you pay, just be happy that I'm not going to hit you until you wished you were dead." She walked off after that.
"I guess there is some good that came out of this." Nanaki said, walking out of my room.
"This... actually was as bad as I thought it would end. It was still horrible, but more bearable than I thought it would be." I said. I heard light giggling to my left when I realized Aeris hadn't left.
"It's alright Nathan. And just so you know...I always did know you were different from everyone else." I nodded.
"Was it the Planet? I'm sure that's what told you about me." I was always curious about why Aeris acted odd when I first met her in person.
"Not entirely. You always... felt different from everyone." I rose and eyebrow before she explained.
"I could tell when certain people were from the Lifestream, or whether a person was good or bad."
"You could hear the Planet throughout your life. Don't worry; I know what you're getting at."
"Well everyone is a part of the Planet; they are all connected to it and call back to it, even if they don't know. When I saw you... I couldn't hear anything."
"Don't I have a soul like everyone else?" I just thought the Planet knew I wasn't from here, I didn't think I felt different.
"Where ever you're from Nathan, you don't have a connection to your world like we do ours. Your soul didn't have the... resonance that Gaia's Lifestream does. That's what threw me off, but now that you say this...I think I can understand better."
"In all honesty Aeris I knew you would be understanding towards me, I know you don't get this either but the more we journey the more I'll show you guys what I know. But I have to ask... is the Planet afraid of me?" I asked, Sure Aeris was apprehensive but I can't tell how the world thought of me as a whole.
"It's been... cautious. You aren't like Jenova, you don't have the same... taint as that thing. But you don't have the same feel a normal person does."
"Hey back where I come from you're weird and I'm normal." I added. Aeris had a small giggle before continuing.
"I do have to ask... are we really just fiction like you said? Nothing more than characters made up to predestined events?" She sounded sad as she said those words.
"Since I've been here for about a month and a half I can't say anymore. Honestly I prefer Gaia over Earth, its worse off. But in a way it's an easier life."
"What are you talking about?' Kunsel interrupted.
"Kunsel this is a can of worms I don't want to share with yet. Maybe after everything blows over I'll tell you. But right now did you get the PHS I wanted from the store?" I asked, happy to change the subject finally.
"You owe me 300 gil, the model is new compared to the ones your friends have."
"Yeah, my old phone could kick every other phone's ass in this world. In fact when this is all over I'm going to get Cait to reverse engineer it. Having better phones can be a small improvement for the Planet."
"Why Cait? And can't you just tell him how you made it?" Aeris asked.
"Sorry to say but that was a lie too. The stuff I brought with me was made by companies there. And between us, Cait's controller is one of the smarter people of Shinra, just trust me."
"I'll take your word for it." She turned away from me and back to Kunsel. "It's good you're here Kunsel, we could use another friend." She said with a smile before walking off. I helped Kunsel pick up the doctor's items before he left.
"You didn't mention that they knew each other." Nanaki said.
"I didn't think I would run in with Kunsel. He really wasn't an integral part of the story besides tutorials in the prequel. He never made an appearance since then."
"You think he'll be able to help though?"
"In the future, yeah. In the game he always had news the player could use and even found out secrets that would have been covered up. If he wasn't a SOLDIER I would have thought he was a Turk." Kunsel always found out a lot in Crisis Core, it just seemed uncanny to me.
"And what you said to Aeris, you prefer Gaia to your own home?"
"I do miss Earth, I miss my mom, dad, my brothers, I miss being normal and sitting around and enjoying the simplest things. Yet being here I have come to enjoy the adventure, life on the move, a whole different kind of family. I don't even have to feel the problems I had back home."
"You told me before, no monsters, your government is stable. It does seem better."
"Yeah, but in this world it's strength that determines how well you are in life. Can't solve a problem? You just train until you're strong enough to get through it. Monster extermination would always be a paying job; really mercenaries have it made here."
"Yet it doesn't work back on earth?" Nanaki asked.
"The problems are less about strength, more mental and emotional. Getting a job is actually hard even if you have talent. People aren't helpful like here, basically it's more tedious, chips at your soul, and the payoff isn't as good as you hope. Sometimes... I really am happy I was brought here, I don't have to worry about the regular problems."
"Just saving the world."
"I say it's a fair trade off." I started walking out of the clinic. "Nanaki I need you to show me around the Highwind, I'm hoping I can find something that will help get me something here." He nodded before we both left the clinic and went to the outskirts of the town. Seeing the airship in person was almost breath taking. It was much bigger than I believed it was, and looked even better. The inside was just as awesome. It was surprisingly easy to navigate the giant plane with Nanaki. I would have thought something like the Highwind would have directions all over the place for people to use.
"Where do you want me to take you?"
"The chocobo stables." He nodded and started walking. Nanaki had learned not to ask questions when it came to things like this. But soon enough the familiar farm smell filled my nostrils as he led me to the area.
"Hey can you help me?" I asked the stable manager.
"Yes?"
"Do you have greens on this ship? Preferably mimett?"
"We should, it's a common enough strain. You have a Chocobo you want to keep here?"
"No, I just need a handful of the stuff." The handler nodded before going to a basket and pulled out what looked like a small pumpkin to me.
"Here you are."
"That's a mimett green?" I didn't know what chocobo greens looked like all that much. I always assumed they looked like alfalfa and such.
"Yes it is, never seen one before?"
"Nope, but I guess you're the expert." It's the fact it looks like a pumpkin, it throws me off a little. I took the hand sized... vegetable I guess, and had Nanaki lead me back out of the ship. I took the lead and started for one of the item shops.
"Out of my way!" I was suddenly bumped into by a woman much older than me before she rushed passed me to a different store. I got up and made sure nothing was re-broken before I followed.
"Something to do with that woman?"
"No, it's about the little chocobo following her." Sure enough the crazy woman was at another item shop buying a good chunk of the inventory and the little white chocobo was trying to keep up. I really couldn't condone what she was doing, technically she was being smart and making a major profit, but selling back the items she bought at damn near triple the price to the people she bought them from after a catastrophe was wrong. I shook my head before I knelt down for the little chocobo. When it got close I held out the green for it to smell.
I couldn't tell how old the thing was, it was obviously not a chick, it had similar features to an adult chocobo, but it wasn't any bigger than a football. But the little chocobo "kwehed" happily before it started eating the mimett green. Surprisingly it ate the hand sized pumpkin with ease before it looked back at me expectantly. Remembering, I rubbed the chocobo around the back of its head. I didn't quite know where a bird's ears were but the little thing seemed to like it. When I pulled back the chocobo ran off.
"This is going to help?" Nanaki asked.
"For some reason all of the best materia are from side quests or doing odd things. That chocobo has a Contain materia, something very powerful even with its starting spell." I always liked the Contain materia, it had my favorite Final Fantasy spell after all. But it was going to be a hassle trying to level it up so I could use Flare. My thoughts where cut of when I saw the chocobo come back with the materia in its little beak. I gladly took the jewel and scratched its ears again.
"Are there anymore items you need from here?"
"No, the only thing left is a cursed ring and that's going to be useless in the future."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Do we have a medic on the Highwind?"
"I'm sure we do."
"Good, that means I can go with you guys, within the next day or so Shinra is going to be moving the Huge materia. I need to be around as much as possible so they don't go to waste."
"The Huge materia are that important?"
"Technically we could lose them all and still go on, but they have extremely useful spells so I recommend we don't lose any. Now I'm going to the doctor's, I need to notify him I'm leaving. Could you go to the Highwind and tell everyone to wait for me if they're about to take off?" He nodded and walked away while I started to make a beeline to the doctor's office when I saw Kunsel looking around town.
"Kunsel, you good?" He turned and had a slightly alarmed look.
"No, I just got a call from headquarters."
"Something wrong?" Hopefully nothing had happened yet.
"Technically, my squad was called to mobilize at Fort Condor, I don't know all the details but something is going on in a few days." So plans were already being made to storm Fort Condor, and I remember forces were already at Corel.
"Kunsel I need you to stay here, I think with all of the chaos going on they might forget a few squads getting in to storm the fort."
"Why do I need to stay?"
"I need you to get the village to start packing up, notify people there is a possible invasion of some kind, a natural disaster, something, I don't know! I just need you to make sure most of the people here are ready to leave at a moment's notice." I don't know if most of the people of the village survived but I won't chance Ultima WEAPON not taking as many lives as possible.
"Is something going to happen?"
"Possibly, I just need to know that these people can leave in a moment's notice."
"I guess I can do that, but I'll need an explanation." I sighed.
"You'll get it when everyone is safe. Now I have to talk to the doctor, I'm going with AVALANCHE to stop some stupid decisions Shinra is making." I ran off before he could answer and got inside the clinic. I looked around before going into Cloud's room to see Tifa sitting on the bed next to Cloud's wheelchair and the doctor looking at a few vials of medicine.
"Doctor, I found out there's a medic on board the ship. So I'm going with my friends." The old man looked at me before going back to examining the medicine.
"I know, the medic came here to get some supplies." Oh, well good thing he did. I really didn't know if we had a decent medic on the Highwind. I really didn't interact with the crew while I was on it.
"I have advised him to keep you on board at all times and make sure you do not fight. I know how stubborn you are but you're not stupid." I nodded to the doctor before going back to my room and gathered my things. Holstering my swords and putting on my backpack I walked out the clinic. Hopefully I made the right decisions today, but that still left problems for me to figure out.
Holy hadn't worked for some reason. Aeris was alive now, I would have thought it would have worked fast if she was alive but I can't think why it would keep going canonically. And now I have to figure out how Cloud is going to get his memories back without having Tifa's brain fried in the process. Then there are the WEAPONs and the fact a few of them are boss battles. I can't even begin to think of a way of taking on a skyscraper of an enemy. I just hope events keep falling into place, maybe I'll be able to figure out the holes with time. But until then, the first thing on my mind is catching a certain train.