Start Date: December 17, 2022
Windwillow
In an odd twist, the bolded text isn't Cloud's inner voice and it's not a flashback. I'll leave it at that, but it'll pop up again near the end of Part Three.
Final Fantasy VII
The pursuit of Sephiroth has led to the legendary Temple of the Ancients, where many secrets doubtless await to be revealed. While at first the idea was to get there before Shinra and Sephiroth, the betrayal of Cait Sith has upended that plan entirely. Shinra now has the Keystone, which as its name implies is the gate key to the Temple, and AVALANCHE has been forced into a reactive role. What awaits inside the Temple of the Ancients? Or is the Temple itself what they've been searching for in a different sense?
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Inside the Temple of the Ancients
Scene One
The meaning of Tifa's fury with Cait Sith remained an insider secret between them and Cloud. Aerith, who would be joining them on their expedition to the Temple of the Ancients, would be told nothing. So, as everyone climbed inside the Tiny Bronco to depart, Aerith's concerns took center stage while watching the heated exchange unfold. Throughout the trip, none of them spoke to each other, and all the interaction that really took place were the heated glares that Tifa and Cloud shot at Cait Sith. Aerith, naturally confused, attempted to piece together the picture but came up empty as she wasn't yet aware of Cait Sith's duplicity and the real reason he'd been brought along. Upon reaching shore, Cid set up shop as the guardian of the Tiny Bronco and the party moved forward into the wilderness. Each step they took seemed to reek of mutual animosity, to the point where Aerith's questions almost came to a head, though she said nothing.
Something happened last night between those three... You know, I don't think I've ever seen Tifa this...this furious. Even Yuffie getting on her nerves never ended up like this.
Traveling through the jungle, there were few if any surprises in the journey other than the usual snakes and vermin skittering around the canopy. No monsters, no traps... There were, however, the usual miseries of a tropical environment. Finally, after several hours, their destination came into view: a huge step pyramid, surrounded by high walls made of granite and protected by a large moat that surrounded the complex. The road ahead was marked by a long bridge that led into a gated complex that was focused around the massive pyramid.
"Well, folks, we're here! This is the Temple of the Ancients!" trilled Cait Sith. He'd miniaturized his moogle to travel more discreetly, also in part so that when they encountered Shinra, they wouldn't outright recognize the moogle as part of Reeve's secret identity. The entire trip he'd fought his own demons, tussled with his loyalties, and the closer they'd come the more he'd decided to switch sides.
"Of course we're here, jerk! Who here among us can't tell that we're in front of a temple?" growled Tifa. Throughout the entire trip, her own emotions had fluctuated as well. Why, she thought, would Cait Sith betray them and then lead them straight to where they wanted to go? Why steal the Keystone and then bring the party to where they needed to go? For all his duplicity, Cait Sith's motivations remained murky, and the glares she shot his way became more and more ambivalent as they had crossed the jungle.
Why did he bring us here? Aren't we supposed to be the people he doesn't want to come here?
"Awesome... I can feel the energy all around here!" gasped Aerith, holding a hand to her heart. She could feel the pulse of life all across the jungle, and now that they were here, it felt like they had stepped into a fountain of holy water. "There's so much spiritual energy around here that I can hardly believe it!" she breathed as she looked up to the top of the glorious temple's pyramid.
"So, does that make this the Promised Land?" asked Cloud. Despite his own apprehensions, he'd put Cait Sith's treachery out of his mind the moment he'd seen the place. It really was a magnificent ruin, something worthy of being called holy.
"No... No, I don't think so... It's not the end of the road, but it's like it's a mark on the map..." explained Aerith. The more she thought, the closer she came to the conclusion that this wasn't the Promised Land, just something... else. "I can feel it..." she whispered. "It's refusing to return to the Planet? That makes no sense..."
"What are you talking about? I don't get the whole map analogy..." wondered Tifa, crossing her arms over her chest. To her, it looked like just another ancient ruin. "So it isn't the Promised Land? Then we still aren't where we need to be?" she asked. After pausing, she digested what Aerith had just said. "Wait... Refused to return to the Planet?! What does that mean?!"
"It's complicated, the kind of thing that takes a whole essay to explain..." sighed Aerith. Still, she could feel it. Somehow, the Temple had barred itself from dissolving into the Lifestream. And, somehow, she could feel it beckoning to her. "I can't say what it means..." she began tentatively, her doubts accelerating more and more with every whisper. "But... it says that it's been waiting for me..."
Scene Two
With the Temple beckoning, apparently literally, the party moved on through the jungle and down the long bridge that led to the Temple of the Ancients. There were no sounds, no smells, only an odd calm that seemed distinctly unnatural. They entered the Temple grounds and began to ascend the steps, and after a few minutes of walking, they encountered a familiar, if disquieting, sight: A cloaked figure, writhing as if it were being electrocuted, lay at the entrance to the complex.
"Oh, God! There's someone here!" breathed Aerith as she dashed up the stairs to the shaking creature. Taking its body into her arms, she noticed a small mark just beneath the cloak as being the numeral for nine. "A tattoo? Nine?" she wondered under her breath. As the others gathered around, Aerith saw no other choice but to rip the band aid off. "Everyone..." she began hesitantly, almost unsure if she wanted to unveil the poor sap. Finally she gathered her resolve and took hold of the creature's cloak. "Try and keep your lunch down... This isn't going to be pleasant..." Aerith muttered.
What everyone saw when Aerith removed the creature's cloak was ghastly. If you could once have called it human, the term certainly no longer applied. The creature's skin was gaunt, stretched taut against its withered bones, as if it had been skinned alive. It was gnarled, grossly disfigured, and in general the thing that nightmares are made of. Its tattoo, which read the numeral nine, had been etched into its flesh as if it had been scraped off by a rusty knife.
"Oh, good God!" shrieked Tifa, her hand leaping to her mouth as she dropped to her seat. Her friends reacted in much the same way, and indeed it took all of their will power not to vomit. "It's hideous!" she rasped. "This isn't... It isn't like Red XIII's tattoo at all!"
"Yeah... His is actually imprinted on flesh..." Cloud choked, his entire body quaking in revulsion. What passed as this creature's tattoo was more scratched into bone than anything else. "What the devil happened to this guy?!" he growled, a dim fury in his throat. "This is just disgusting..."
"Sephiroth..." rasped the creature, a crackling sound as if it were clawing at its own throat for relief. Everyone leapt away from the wretch as it began to writhe and wriggle once again, convulsing as if it were having a heart attack. "Black Materia... Sephiroth!" it hacked, finally taking in a deep breath and falling lifeless to the ground, landing with an astonishingly gentle movement. Within seconds, a pillar of multicolored light engulfed its withered body, wisps of light carrying it into the air before finally dissolving into a colorful shower of mist.
"That... that was... What the hell happened?!" exclaimed Tifa, staggering to her feet from where she'd dropped. No trace of the creature remained, as even the tiniest of ashes had turned to confetti and scattered to the winds. "It... God, almighty..." she croaked, her body trembling.
"Horrifying as it was, it seemed sort of happy to do... whatever it did..." Cait Sith said quietly. Staring at the scene from behind his mechanical cat's eyes, Reeve could scarcely believe what he was seeing. "It's like it was purified or something..." he gasped. "It looked like everything wrong with it... sort of dissolved into light... Do you think..."
"Tseng!" gasped Aerith suddenly, her eyes snapping wide open as she turned towards the entrance to the Temple. Without thinking, she dashed inside and, as the others followed, she found Tseng propped up, bloodied, against a strange altar. It looked as if he'd been sawed in half, but he'd managed to survive somehow. "Tseng, what happened?!" she choked, her voice cracking.
"We were too late, it seems..." muttered Cait Sith, holding a hand to his mechanical heart. The state Tseng was in was almost unbelievable, namely, unbelievable that he was still breathing. "Whatever happened in there..." he mused quietly. "It looks like the worst case scenario's come true..."
"That wound... I know that wound! It was how I was wounded!" rasped Tifa. Upon seeing the nasty scar, bloodied and dripping with crusted blood, she recognized the diagonal slash as the wound the doctors had removed from her body. "Sephiroth did it!" she gasped.
"Tseng! Hang on, I'll heal you!" exclaimed Aerith, falling to her knees in front of her former friend. Before the light could even begin to dance on her fingertips, however, Tseng's hand desperately caught her wrist. He held it tight, almost as if it were a death grip, and no matter how she struggled, Aerith was unable to break it.
"It doesn't matter, Aerith. It just doesn't..." Tseng choked, a thin dribble of blood leaving his lips. He reached out with his left hand and laid it on Aerith's wrist, crossing his own as he dragged her close to him. Once she was close, Aerith saw that even in the state he was in, his eyes remained cloaked in flame. "Stop him," he growled. "Leave me be and stop him."
"What are you talking about?! You need treatment!" Tifa gasped, dashing up to the pair and kneeling down to meet his gaze. Even with the severity of his wound, however, Tseng was fully lucid and had no qualms in making his request. "What is wrong with you?! You're going to die if Aerith doesn't patch you up!" she rasped.
"He isn't after the Promised Land!" Tseng said coldly, almost unfeelingly, as if his own life was irrelevant. As he swallowed hard, however, he somehow managed to regain some of his resolve. "If he was, it would be a much better scenario..." he rasped.
"Is he inside?" asked Cloud, quickly drawing himself closer to his wounded foe. Although he knew the answer, Cloud still wanted to hear it from Tseng. "Is Sephiroth inside already?!" he shouted.
"You need to ask, fool? Don't you have a brain between your ears?" spat Tseng, startling Cloud. With a jolt of pain, Tseng clapped a hand to his shoulder, his palm masking a spurt of blood from his wound. His grip tightened, almost acting as if he were forcing the blood back inside his body. Before Aerith could reach for him, Tseng again caught her hand and clenched it tight within his bloody fingers. "Please..." Tseng begged. "Please forgive me for all that I've done..."
"I already have..." Aerith said quietly, placing a hand over Tseng's own and pulsing it with healing energy that quickly coated his arm and flowed into his injury. "I don't blame you..." she murmured. "I know they made you do those things... But you knew I would never cooperate with Shinra..."
"It's more than that, and you know it," Tseng sighed. Despite all his protests, Aerith's energy began to flow throughout his body, and he began to tremble as her healing magic pulsed through his aching frame. "The things I did because of them, they're one thing..." he said quietly, loosing a sigh of relief. "But not trusting you more... I should have believed in you guys more than I did the company. I can see now who's really worth caring for..."
"I've known for a long time that you've been fighting for me..." whispered Aerith. "Every time you came to get me, I could sense your pain. You were fighting against your own orders, every time you let me get away... Every time you made a 'mistake' and couldn't catch me..." she said softly. "I never blamed you, not once."
"That makes you a better man than me, then... The sentiment wasn't always the same," Tseng groaned. Slowly, his wound began to close, and though it would take surgery to restore his body, Aerith's ministrations made it possible for Tseng to continue moving. Once the light had stabilized and he'd opened his eyes, Tseng turned to Cait Sith and gave him a grim scowl. "I take it we've both come to the same conclusion?" he asked softly.
"Yeah. My job doesn't mean squat if I let these people down..." Reeve said through his mechanical cat. To the astonishment of his friends, Cait Sith's body began to quake before finally coming to rest with a smirk on the cat's face. "Stopping Sephiroth is more important than hampering them," he said resolutely. "I'm breaking policy and joining these guys from now on. Don't make me your enemy, too."
"Admirable. At least the two of us are sane. Here, you'll need this," snapped Tseng, reaching into his vest and withdrawing the Keystone, which he tossed to Cloud. As Cloud caught it, he noticed that it was still stained in Tseng's blood. "Place it on the altar and you guys can enter!" he said gruffly. "Everything falls to you folks now."
"So you've made your decision, huh?" Tifa wondered, folding her arms over her chest. At the very least, he seemed to have made up his mind to aid them. But that begged the question of what came next. "What are you going to do?" she asked Tseng.
"I don't plan on dying, if that's what you mean," Tseng sighed. "The most irresponsible thing I could do now is die..." he said pointedly. "Someone needs to stay behind and keep the Shinra from following you. I can still move, so that'll be my role."
"Tseng, you... You never need to fight alone, you know?" murmured Aerith. In all the time she'd known him, Tseng had always carried his burden by himself, not trusting anyone else to deal with her. Their bond had been a strange one. "But... seriously..." she said with a weak smile. "Thank-"
"Thank me when it's over," growled Tseng, staggering to his feet. After all he'd done, he didn't believe he deserved thanks, and he didn't plan on accepting any. "For the first time, I'm going to be the friend you always wanted me to be... The man you thought I could be," he said coldly. "Never stop fighting. It isn't in your nature to give up, Aerith." Tseng quietly lifted a hand to his wounded shoulder, feeling between his fingers the dried blood that oozed from his injury. Without a word, he stumbled out from the Temple, staggering outside and relishing the light of day as it entered his vision. As he basked in the light of day, a thin smile formed on his face and his resolve, for the first time in years, was set.
I'll take the rear. You just keep moving.
Scene Three
Sephiroth's tool had been purified and Tseng redeemed, leaving the task of dealing with the man himself down to the other four. Once everyone had been sufficiently prepared, Cloud stepped up to the altar with the Keystone in hand. It was a bizarre kind of console, with five empty holes and a slot in the center where the Keystone presumably belonged. With nothing better to go on, Cloud inserted the Keystone into the lower slot. To his amazement, the five holes began to gleam as blue orbs formed inside as if they were candles being lit. Once the final sphere had formed, the party was engulfed in light and fell into the floor as if they were dropping into water. They traveled through a shining, multicolored field of energy that suddenly ceased to be in an instant, leaving the four in the center of a large column of energy that blinded them from all outside stimulus.
"Well, that was flashy!" muttered Cloud, the overwhelming pressure finally ceasing to reveal themselves smack dab in the middle of an upside down labyrinth, something out of a nightmarish Rubik's Cube. Paths led in every direction except up, no consensus reached as to a destination, only a myriad of staircases that seemingly led nowhere. Some paths even walked up on top of the ceiling, ones no one could reach at all.
"Where the devil have we ended up at?!" Tifa gasped as her vision began to focus. There weren't any roads, no markings, only chaos. "I can't make any sense of any of this!" she exclaimed.
"We probably aren't supposed to make sense of it..." Aerith said plainly. Of everywhere on Gaia, this was the place that had been chosen to protect the Black Materia. "We're inside a mystery that's been wrapped in a puzzle and sealed with an enigma!" she exclaimed. "If it were easy to get to the Black Materia, it would be pretty shoddy guardianship..."
"And that means what, precisely?" Cloud asked pointedly. Her words didn't make a whole lot of sense. "I take it you know more than that..." he muttered to Aerith. "Do you want to elaborate?"
"I said what I said, and you know what I mean," Aerith said quickly. As she turned her eyes to the jumbled skies above, she quickly attempted to sense anything else she could. With a shrug, she took her staff, snapped it open, and tapped it lightly on her shoulder. "Secrets are only secrets if they're well kept..." she sighed.
"I second Cloud: You know more than you're saying!" tittered Cait Sith, folding his furry arms over his chest. "But I think I have an idea what it is..." he began softly. "You're talking with something here, aren't you?"
"Yes, no, and both at the same time, actually..." said Aerith. Each time she closed her eyes, on the wind she heard a whistling that she only vaguely recognized as language. "I'm not talking with the Temple, if that's what you're asking..." she began. "More like with its caretakers. Well... sort of. It's complicated. Finding them is the next step for us to advance."
For the next hour, the party thoroughly investigated the inside of the Temple of the Ancients in an attempt to divine its mysteries. They went down countless winding roads, some of which led nowhere and others that led back to where they'd started. Ancient ruins and runes filled their senses for what seemed like days, the majesty and mystery of the Cetra having been imprinted on their souls. Finally, after managing to keep track of where they'd previously been, everyone came to enter a small cavern, where the trail seemed to end in a dead end. All that the party could see were ruined pillars and overgrown foliage, except for an odd, twitching object colored in purple.
"Is that another of Sephiroth's lackeys?!" yelled Cait Sith. The object in question looked like the tattooed man they'd seen at the start of the Temple, but more like a puffy violet balloon than a gnarled corpse. "Do any of you see what the tattoo reads?!" he exclaimed.
"It doesn't have a tattoo, and it has nothing to do with Sephiroth... It's a Cetra!" remarked Aerith. As it began to convulse, the being produced a long, white beard and seemed to unfold into what looked like an withered old man's face. "Well, it sort of is..." she muttered as her face dropped. "It's the soul of one of the Temple's guardians, but it's been away from the Planet for so long, it's lost the ability to talk... By refusing to rejoin the Lifestream, it's lost its humanity."
"That's a Cetra? It looks like a pudgy purple beach ball, more like!" said Cloud. As it bounced around nonsensically, he certainly didn't see any wisdom inside the creature. "And what do you mean it can't talk?" he wondered. "You seem like you can understand it..."
"I'm getting little tidbits here and there, actually... Nothing in actual language..." sighed Aerith. The more she listened, the closer she came to understanding what the Cetra was trying to say. "I think they've remained separate to protect the Temple's treasure, to keep the Black Materia from reuniting with the Planet..." she remarked. "I don't understand what it's saying, but it seems like it's scared..."
"Scared?!" yelped Tifa. What was it scared of? "Is it afraid of us?! Or Sephiroth?!" she exclaimed. The more she watched Aerith, however, the more Tifa noticed that her breath was quickening. "What is it saying, Aerith?!" Tifa insisted. "Is it afraid of us or-"
"Ugh... damn!" gasped Aerith, dropping to one knee as if she'd been punched in the gut. Her friends quickly rushed to her aid, though she managed to stagger to her feet on her own. "It's okay, I'm fine!" she assured them, holding up a hand to relieve their doubts. "I just got overloaded for a second there... Too much emotion at once, you know? Maybe this guy's a little hard to understand..."
I could sense the terror that it felt! Is the Black Materia really so dangerous?! Is it as powerful as Holy, or even stronger? What kind of sacrifice would be needed for something that powerful?!
Scene Four
They didn't remain in that same area for much longer, instead taking their leave after the Cetra suddenly disappeared. Its full communications with Aerith remained vague, however, and she never explained in detail what she'd been told. Instead, they wandered from chamber to chamber more or less aimlessly, until finally they'd reached a large open stretch of empty room. Strangely enough, for a secret labyrinth, the Temple hadn't thrown any tricks or traps their way, seemingly content to baffle the party into giving up on finding the Black Materia.
"This is really getting old!" growled Cloud, folding his arms over his chest with a sigh. They'd been searching for what felt like hours, with no end in sight, and his patience had been exhausted. "If something doesn't happen soon," he snarled, "I'm going to-" Just as he'd turned to his right, Cloud felt a hand grip his collar. When he whirled about to see who it was, he found that Aerith had yanked him out of the way of a massive, rolling boulder that crashed into the wall behind them.
"Oh, sweet Lord!" shrieked Tifa, jumping back with her heart lodged up into her throat. Aerith's quick thinking had saved them all, but it didn't do much to make any of them feel better. As another rumbling began to echo, Tifa turned her incredulous eyes to the second oncoming boulder. "Aerith! What the hell are we supposed to do?!" she screamed.
"Um... I'm sure you aren't going to want to hear what it just said, but we're supposed to run towards it!" stammered Aerith. Despite receiving three looks of panic, Aerith rushed forward towards the oncoming boulder. "It says to duck!" she yelled. "Whatever that means, I hope one of you figures it out!"
Since Aerith had already put herself in harm's way, her friends decided, against their better judgment, to trust her. The four of them charged at the rolling boulder seemingly against all logic, but Cloud quickly realized the trick and rolled on top of his friends just in time for the rock to fall around them. As they felt a great pressure pass over them, Tifa quickly realized that the boulder they'd been charging at had been hollow, with a single hole in the rock that they'd slid inside. In a flash of light, the boulder exploded into confetti, and the party slowly rolled to a stop to catch their breath.
"So that's what it was!" breathed Aerith as she rolled onto her side. The four of them took in a deep, gracious breath as the light began to scatter. Aerith realized that the Temple's guardians had set up that trap in an attempt to force them to run away. If they did, they couldn't continue on, but by trusting the voice in her head, they were able to find the one out to the situation. Suddenly, Aerith let out a shriek and grasped her head in both hands, dropping to her knees. Before the others could react, she ran out of sight.
Show me? What do you mean, you're going to show me?!
Scene Five
Only a short ways away from the boulder trap, the others found Aerith kneeling beside a large pool of purple liquid, seemingly a contained cauldron of violet water that seemed to be glowing with the same multicolored light that they'd encountered throughout their adventure. As Cloud, Tifa, and Cait Sith rushed up to meet her, Aerith hoisted herself off the ground and pointed solemnly at the pool. They stopped, and suddenly a deep chill seemed to separate them from their bodies, and they found themselves in the middle of a room with many beautiful murals.
"What on earth?!" gasped Cloud, his entire body coming to a sudden halt. Once a moment or two had passed, he realized that, like the others, he had left his own body and seemingly manifested inside the strange room. He looked to his sides and saw his friends, similarly suspended in the air, watch as two figures emerged from the darkness, those two being Elena and Tseng, seemingly from earlier in time before they'd met at the Temple's entrance.
We went back in time?!
"Well, this looks pretty and all... But does this mean we can find the Promised Land now, Tseng?" questioned Elena, her voice seemingly beating in their ears from a far away place. Cloud's attention turned to the murals, and found that he was now looking at them through Elena's eyes. He opened his eyes and watched as Tseng's face appeared inside his view, far closer than he should have been able to see him.
"Whatever this means, we still need to report back to the President," Tseng said. Through Elena's eyes, Cloud watched as Tseng carefully examined the murals, but he could only vaguely see the murals themselves, as if Elena hadn't been paying attention. It was then that he realized that he'd seemingly possessed Elena, hearing what she heard and seeing what she'd seen and, oddly enough, feel what she was feeling.
"Right, right... I got you, Boss!" tittered Elena. Cloud held a hand to his eyes, and as the murals came back into view Elena's vision turned back to Tseng. He could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she slowly gathered her courage. "S-Say, Boss... Tseng..." she stammered, returning her eyes to her superior and receiving a glare in reply. "D-Do you think after this we can... you know... Have dinner later?" Elena asked suddenly, startling Tseng at least as much as she did Cloud.
What, she's got a crush on him? What the heck is-
"Dinner?" snapped Tseng, the sight of Elena's face causing Cloud to realize that he was now inside of Tseng's body. He watched as Elena flinched at his terse words, but felt a bit lighter as her face brightened considerably. "We can have dinner," Tseng said tensely, "as long as it's on my bill." Elena seemed to have a heart attack as she charged off in a love struck haze, and Cloud realized that the feelings were mutual. Even though Tseng questioned whether it was professional or not to do so, he also felt a true friendship for Elena and it had started to affect Cloud's opinions.
These guys might be more human than I thought...
Cloud suddenly heard a rustling noise and felt as Tseng whirled around, finding himself face to face with Sephiroth. His vision again fragmented and now he found himself standing to the side as Tseng and Sephiroth stared each other down. Tseng had drawn his pistol and now aimed it between Sephiroth's eyes, but Sephiroth remained undaunted.
"Thank you so very much for opening the way in," Sephiroth said coldly, much to Tseng's confusion. "If you folks hadn't done so, I would never have gotten inside..." he said wryly. Tseng quickly realized that the only reason Sephiroth had entered the Temple was because he'd shadowed the Turks, and as he did his blood pressure heightened and a grim snarl crossed his face.
Damn! He played us...
"Why are you here?!" snarled Tseng, leveling his weapon straight between Sephiroth's eyes. "I don't see anything about the Promised Land in these murals!" he spat. "What the devil are you after, if it's not the Promised Land?!"
"The wisdom of the Ancients rests inside this place, and it is that power which I seek," explained Sephiroth calmly. "The Planet has unfathomable amounts of energy!" he said with a hiss. "I plan to assimilate it and become something greater, and to do so I need what rests here."
"What are you babbling about?!" Tseng spat back. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain pulse throughout his body, and in an instant he was thrown back from Sephiroth's attack, an attack that cut a huge gash in Tseng's torso. As blood gushed from Tseng's body, he grabbed tight onto Sephiroth's robe and attempted to draw him closer to him. Though Tseng attempted to struggle further, Sephiroth easily shoved him back onto the ground, where he fell lifeless with a thud.
"All creation requires destruction... The God of destruction encircles reality, only to rend it asunder when the time is right," Sephiroth said coolly. "And even in the final moments of your life, your memories will remain with me as I ascend!" he said forcefully. "So, when you die, you'll continue to live on within me. Rejoice... I shall show you eternity."
"Cloud!" gasped Aerith. Cloud's eyes snapped open and his consciousness returned, and he found himself on his knees in front of the pool of purple liquid. Aerith, Tifa, and Cait Sith stood above him, and as she was the one to speak, Aerith laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We have to move quickly!" she breathed desperately. "He's up ahead!"
Scene Six
The vision granted by the violet spring now over, the party hurried on through the Temple's rooms into where Sephiroth had last been seen. It took only a few minutes to reach the room with the murals which, now that they examined them more closely, seemed fairly straightforward. It wasn't hard to differentiate the large mass of people crying in fear. At least, those were the closest murals, as there were more down the line, but the scene they'd watch unfold took place here, so that was their target.
"Do I even need to yell at you at this point?" growled Cloud, drawing his sword and tapping it lightly against his shoulder as he stood in front of where Tseng had been attacked, which still bore a large blood stain. As he stared at the dried blood, his own burned hotter and hotter. "Because I don't feel like banging my head against the wall right now... So come out!" he barked. Cloud's words lingered in the air for a brief moment before Sephiroth's sword dug itself into the Temple's floor, creating a large crater directly in front of its wielder as he suddenly materialized, yet as the shrapnel flew around him Cloud seemed to remain largely disinterested.
"I'm always with you, but it's nice to know that I'm wanted," Sephiroth said coolly, lifting up his massive blade and tucking it under his elbow as he lightly tapped his foot to the ground. He and Cloud now stood parallel to each other, blades drawn, as Cloud's friends remained at a safe distance behind him. None of them felt an inclination to move from where they stood, content to let Cloud take point.
"You wanted us, you got us," Cloud snarled testily. Even with all the confidence he thought he'd had, seeing Sephiroth's razor sharp sword mere inches from his body sent a chill down Cloud's spine. "You said at Nibelheim you'd be master of ceremonies," he hissed, "so by all means, you start and we'll listen."
"Well, aren't you polite," Sephiroth shot back flatly. The way he spoke caused Cloud's spine to tingle, like he'd already been cut again by Sephiroth's blade. Sephiroth took his sword and caused it to disappear, and he quickly patted the dust from his robes before clapping his hands together. "These depict the history of Gaia," he said calmly, closing his eyes tightly. "Now, follow me..." As he turned to leave, Sephiroth found that the others remained firmly in place. "I will repeat myself one more time..." sighed Sephiroth, his patience clearly strained. "Follow me..."
As Sephiroth's malice struck them, Cloud and his friends quickly felt their knees hit the ground, an oppressive force taking the wind from their stomachs and dropping all four of them to the floor as if they'd been belted below the gut. Now sufficiently convinced, they weakly walked behind Sephiroth as he stood before a new mural, one where a crowd of people seemed to be cornered by a massive fire ball, one that was oddly distinct in that it was etched out of very bright colors of black, red, and blue. Clearly, great effort had been taken to depict what was being shown, if the looks of horror on the faces of the people gave any indication.
"This depicts the future, the future of my ascension. It shows the disaster that will herald in my rule," said Sephiroth plainly. A further ways down, they arrived at a strange golden altar, and Sephiroth loosely propped himself up against it. "I must say, they did an excellent job with depicting their terror," he said, amused.
"How can it show something that hasn't happened?" snapped Aerith, narrowing her eyes at Sephiroth. Watching the disinterest in his eyes made it appear as if he were ignoring them altogether, something she found very dissatisfying, before she realized what he'd said. "You said it would be a disaster..." she said testily. "Care to elaborate?"
"The Planet is a living entity, and its reactions are as you'd expect..." began Sephiroth. "The more painful the wound, the more drastic the reaction. Compare a paper cut to an incision that nearly amputates the arm..." he said coldly. "The severity of the injury dictates the effort needed to close it, and when the crisis level climaxes, and the thresh hold of life and death is is breached, sooner or later, you'll have no thought but to relieve it."
"Yeah, we've all been hurt before... We know that it hurts," Tifa said calmly. "But I don't understand what you're talking about..." she growled. "If you're trying to confuse me, you've pulled it off."
"When the Planet is injured, it flows spiritual energy into the wound so that it heals..." began Sephiroth. "Imagine, then, that if that wound would leave a scar deep enough to kill the Planet, how much energy would that evoke?" he asked calmly. "When the Planet is sufficiently endangered to the brink of extinction, the amount of energy gathered would be incalculable. By placing myself inside of that point, I would absorb enough to elevate me to the level of a deity."
"So, you want to kill us all off to make yourself a god?!" Aerith exclaimed, her teeth clenching as she accentuated her words with a snarl. "Well, that begs the next question: Putting aside why you'd risk killing yourself," she snarled, "How would you even do it?!"
"Refer to the mural," Sephiroth said fanatically, a sinister sneer piercing his face that chilled their souls. "The Planet's Ultimate Destructive Magic... Meteor! The Black Materia, the Planet's most devastating invocation, will summon a giant meteor that will strike the Planet!" he cackled. Sephiroth took in a deep breath and softly lifted a hand to his face, seemingly dissatisfied by how he'd come across. "But then, I believe you can fill in the blanks, Cloud..." he said coolly, before silently disappearing into mist.
Cloud gave out a loud shriek, gripping his head in both hands and dropping to his knees to the ground in agony. He stumbled to his feet, his entire body trembling as he stared at the disturbing mural. Somehow, he knew.
Yes... If I summon Meteor, I can stop him. If I can call it on him, I can defeat that monster! This is what I need to put him six feet under! I've got to do it! If I call Meteor...
"Get a grip!" yelped Aerith, lashing out with her hand and striking the madness out of Cloud. As he snapped back to sanity, the look of fear on her face made Cloud go cold. The looks of concern on his friends' faces simultaneously awakened him to his own mania, and Cloud quickly fell back with his face in his hand.
"It's okay, Cloud! It's okay!" Tifa assured her friend, placing a gentle hand to his shoulder and shaking off the doubt. As he turned to look at Tifa, he quickly returned to his senses. "He's gone..." she said flatly. "Sephiroth left."
Scene Seven
Sephiroth's plan had been revealed: damage the Planet with the Ultimate Destructive Magic, Meteor, and absorb the energy it would attempt to use to heal itself, accordingly becoming a god. Now, in the center of the Cetra's teachings, they had learned his intent, but not how to stop him. Obviously if he summoned Meteor he would win, but could they defeat him before he could do so? To do so, they had to secure the Black Materia and ensure that Sephiroth couldn't summon the spell.
"The nature of Meteor is simple, but terrifying: the spell attracts space debris using advanced gravitational magic and binds it together, preparing to literally slam the damn thing into whatever the summoner wants to die..." remarked Aerith. "And that's basically what would happen! Everyone on the Planet would be sacrificed for that maniac's ambition!"
"Good God, that's horrible! It... Wait, how do you know this all of a sudden?" wondered Tifa, slowly guiding Cloud back to his feet. "Did I miss something?" she asked. "We just now heard of this Meteor thing, and now you're an expert?"
"When we were all being shown the memory of Tseng's attack, the Temple told me a few things..." Aerith said quietly. This was true, but she'd known some of the things before then. She'd known about Holy since she was a child, but she'd never understood why it would ever be summoned in the first place. Now, she realized that if Meteor was summoned, Holy - its only natural enemy - would be humanity's sole remaining hope.
One life for billions... No wonder no one's ever called Holy... The ultimate sacrifice...
"Um... Wait... What is this thing doing here?" asked Tifa, pointing towards the altar Sephiroth had been leaning on. Somehow without any of them knowing, a black, ethereal pyramid had formed in the center of the altar, a structure that seemed to move like a beating heart that had been ripped from a person's chest. Tifa tentatively reached out a finger and poked the pyramid, and as soon as she did, the entire room began to rumble and quake as if she'd punched the room herself. "Aerith?!" Tifa shrieked.
"Hold on, let me ask..." said Aerith as the rumbling stopped. She closed her eyes tight and began to pray, and as the words swelled in, her eyes snapped wide open. "I... Oh, crap... We're inside the Temple!" she yelled loudly. "When we used the Keystone, we started to shrink ourselves... and as we solved the Temple's puzzles, we eventually came to its center, which is here... to where the Black Materia is. The Temple is the Black Materia!"
"So this is it?! We have it?!" exclaimed Tifa, turning back to the rotating black pyramid with a look of sheer amazement. "So, we have the Black Materia..." she began excitedly. "So, it's Mission Accomplished, right?"
"Yes... and no... We're within inches of the Black Materia, so yes..." began Aerith hesitantly. "But in order to take it, we'll need to remove it from the Temple grounds, which... we're now inside..." she groaned, placing a hand to her face. "Meaning, if we take it now, we'll be crushed to death and the Black Materia would materialize in the center of where the Temple used to be... so, no..."
"Oh, my God! The Ancients wanted to make sure no one took the Black Materia, and how better to do that, than say that if you do, you'll be killing yourself!" shrieked Tifa, her hand moving to her mouth. "And it's a pretty convincing argument! Does this mean we should just leave and cut our losses?"
"No, we have to take it! What were morals to the Ancients are fine print to Sephiroth!" exclaimed Cloud. "He almost got inside with that thing of his, and if he ever does, all he has to do is sacrifice it and he'll have the Black Materia!" he said darkly. "So it's a now or never, but I'm leaning towards the never if we're just going to kill ourselves! There has to be a solution, but I don't know what it would look like..."
"Oh, there is a solution, and I'm it..." sighed Cait Sith. To the surprise of his friends, Cait Sith finally piped up after having been nearly forgotten. "Remember that this is an artificial body..." he remarked sadly. "When the Temple condenses and crushes it, then you can take the Black Materia..."
"And that might be a cure that's worse than the disease!" snapped Tifa, taking Cait Sith by the shoulders and shaking him hard. "You're with Shinra! Are you honestly suggesting that we trust someone like you with the fate of the Planet?!" she snarled. "Giving the Black Materia to Shinra would be at least as bad as letting Sephiroth get it!"
"Look, I know I don't have the right to ask you to trust me, but it seems like I'm our only chance!" protested Cait Sith, hopping free from Tifa's grip and dropping to his knees to beg. "But I've finally decided to cut ties with Shinra! I want to fight for the Planet, and for all of you guys!" he said fiercely. "Please... Cloud... Give me the chance to make up for all my crimes!"
"You know, about eighty percent of me wants to tell you to go to hell... but the other twenty percent is the part of my heart that wants to trust you..." Cloud said reluctantly. There really wasn't a better alternative, since they had to take the Black Materia, so a bit of faith would be required. "Guys, we have to believe in him..." he sighed.
But if it all goes wrong, use this.
Even as he said the words, the tiny little voice within him stuck out, and Cloud's eyes quickly snapped open in shock as he felt a tiny object tap the toe of his boot. He realized that someone had just spoken to him, but assumed that it was his own inner voice messing with him again. The only evidence contradicting that was a tiny red orb that he now held in his hand. The summoning materia seemed to have come out of nowhere, and Cloud had no idea who had actually just spoken to him, but he reluctantly slipped the orb into his pocket, almost without thinking about it.
Scene Eight
Before any of them could react, the party found themselves in an entirely different room altogether. They vaguely realized that they'd left the room with the murals, but also knew that it was just behind them. What stuck out was the long corridor they now found themselves in, with a lone door far in the distance. Cloud whirled about and came face to face with his friends, who seemingly had experienced the same thing.
"Is it me, or is this too good to be true?" questioned Tifa pensively. The question seemed solid; they'd come to a conclusion, and now all of a sudden they appeared in front of a mysterious door in the middle of an already enigmatic location. "Isn't this basically just screaming that we're in a trap?" she wondered.
"After all this, the only conclusion to reach is that we aren't done yet..." sighed Aerith, taking her staff and snapping it open. "Especially if the Temple's sentient and aware!" she said pointedly. "When the Black Materia's this close to reawakening, the Ancients won't leave it at this..."
True to form, the door at the end of the corridor slowly faded away. Rather than reappear, the wall began to convulse wildly, as if something were trying to break out. Something did, actually, as two gnarled arms and a misshapen head formed out of the wall and began to move slowly forward. Its evil was never in question, for the demon in the wall let out a horrific wail as it began to slide forward.
"Damn!" screeched Cloud, drawing his sword with a sharp flourish. How effective the sword would be against a moving wall was a bit more of an open question. With the speed it was moving at, in fact, he wondered if he'd even need to use it at all. It seemed more likely he could just take the Buster Sword and use it as a key, a flick of the wrist being all that would be needed to end the problem.
"It'll only speed up from here, guys!" warned Aerith, carefully bracing herself for what would come next. "If we want to get out of here, we'll need to use everything we've got!" she exclaimed.
The Demon's Wall roared and drastically sped up, seemingly charging like in an oncoming tsunami. Neither Cloud nor Tifa wasted any more time talking, each of them charging up their strongest attacks. As Tifa performed Materia Fusion on her fist and Cloud infused the Buster Sword with his energy, they launched forward and slammed against the onrushing Demon's Wall with a frightening sound that echoed like the crack of lightning. The impact cracked open the wall, but didn't slow it. They both pushed with all their might, with the only result being that Cloud and Tifa were being dragged along with the wall into what amounted to oblivion if the wall closed in and squashed them. Aerith quickly realized that she needed to act immediately, and so she invoked her own Materia Fusion, the same one that had broken through the trap in Cosmo Canyon, and once they all had focused their attacks on a single point, they were able to shatter the Demon's Wall into pieces of rock, rocks that vanished into thin air. In the aftermath, the party came to as the wall was repulsed and the door reappeared in the back of the room, the demonic face having been shattered to pieces. All three of them were drained and dropped to their knees, which left a hesitant Cait Sith to maximize his moogle again and climb on top.
"Time for you folks to leave, then!" tittered Cait Sith cheerfully. Even as he climbed back on top of his steed, there was an odd sort of spring to the cat's step. The thought that he really was, for the first time, fighting for his friends put a pep in his step. "Once you're out," he sighed, "it's bye-bye to this body..."
"Well, let's make the most of it, then!" Aerith chirped, clapping her hands together in front of herself. "If this is going to be the last time we see each other, why not go out big?" she wondered, to the confusion of her friends. "Do you think you can try reading our fortunes? For real, this time?" she wondered.
"Well, why not? I can give it a shot!" Cait Sith said cheerfully, rubbing his paws together mischievously. The first time he'd done it, it hadn't been an honest go of it, but he was willing to try again. "But... wait a second..." he moaned. "I need to have a question before I can answer it! What's the question, guys?"
"I've been giving a lot of thought to this for a long time..." began Aerith tentatively. Since back in the Gold Saucer, after Cloud's battle in the arena and the words he'd shared with Tifa, she'd been fighting with what she thought about everything. "So, here's the question!" she said quietly. "How compatible am I with Cloud?"
"Ooh, saucy!" tittered Cait Sith. All at once, Tifa's heart leapt into her throat as a chill pierced through her heart. While Cait Sith went about telling their fortune, Aerith's eye turned to a quaking Tifa, and her resolve quickly wavered. Neither of them wanted to look at the other, and through all the words that bubbled through their hearts, neither of them wanted to look at Cloud, either. Cait Sith's moogle trembled for a bit, then a tiny scrap of paper popped out of its mouth and the cat snatched it up. As he did, Cait Sith's jaw dropped. "Aw, geez..." he choked.
"What does it say?" Aerith pressed him. When he gave no reply, she grabbed him by the arm and shook him once. "C'mon! Say it!" she tittered. "What are things like between me and Cloud?"
"I don't know how to say it in front of Tifa, but... Your stars align perfectly!" blushed Cait Sith, triumphantly hoisting his fist over his head. "Cloud's star! Aerith's star! They're indistinguishable from one another!" he swooned. "When the time comes, folks, I'll be glad to officiate your wedding, so wait for me! I want to be there to share that moment with you!"
"Really?! Awesome!" cheered Aerith. In her excitement, she managed to lose sight of Tifa's face, and what remained to be seen wasn't much to talk about. Tifa's heart seemed to implode, and she buckled as if she'd been punched in the gut. Even if she didn't know for certain how she felt about Cloud, the idea that Aerith did was like an arrow to her heart. As time passed, she continued to tremble, against all the logic she could devise, and her face began to quiver. Her feelings, muddled as they were, and her emotions, uncertain as they were, started to crumble.
They're... perfect for each other?
"Thank you guys so much for believing in me! And if you happen to see another Cait Sith, please treat it just like you would me!" exclaimed Cait Sith happily, ignoring Tifa's quaking body as he walked past her. As she walked by, Tifa only vaguely remembered hearing him, and as the trio departed through the door, she only barely recognized that he'd moved past her back into the Temple.
Do I... Do I want to be...
Scene Nine
The door that led outside of the room with the murals took them, astoundingly enough, through what looked like nowhere and ended up with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith reappearing right where they'd started when they first entered the Temple of the Ancients. There was, however, a sense of urgency as they felt a low rumbling throughout their guts. They quickly realized that the room had begun to expand and contract, and so they beat feet out of there as quickly as they could.
"Is it me, or is reality rewriting itself?! This is absolutely nuts!" yelled Cloud frantically as the trio charged out from the top of the Temple and down its staircase in a desperate attempt to outrun whatever was happening. By the time the three of them turned back to look, they found a pulsing mass of twisted reality, seemingly chasing after them. As they passed through a sort of black bubble, Aerith turned around with a single thought on her mind, a desperate one.
Please, please, let Tseng escape!
As they felt the gravity in the area warp, the remaining party members watched as reality appeared to restructure itself and what was once a massive and ancient temple complex was reduced to a hollow shell of itself. What remained was a massive hole in the middle of a vast forest, and three very confused adventurers having been caught in the middle. Tifa quickly turned on her heel and brushed by her friends, and found beneath her a positively massive crater with a strange, black sphere on the bottom of the slope. All too quickly, the truth hit: Cait Sith was gone, and he really had sacrificed himself. For the first time, she started to regret the things she'd said to him. Tifa felt an odd pang of sadness, tinged with guilt.
Is this really worth losing him?! Now I don't even get to apologize...
All that remained inside the ruins of the Temple of the Ancients was a single object at the very bottom, a fist-sized black mass that seemed to exude an unnatural aura with an unnatural weight to it. Cloud and Aerith quickly made their way down through the crater, leaving Tifa behind at the top, and descended into the depths. Once they'd reached the bottom, they found the Black Materia levitating inside an orb of light. There was no indication of what had happened to Cait Sith.
"Now we've got it!" remarked Cloud as he snatched the Black Materia up and stared at it. It was as large as a fist, big enough to fit in his entire hand. "But does this mean we can summon Meteor?" he wondered.
"If anyone wanted to use that thing, they'd need an unspeakable amount of energy!" breathed Aerith as she examined the materia. "No one person could actually invoke that thing!" she remarked. "The only place it could probably even be used is the Promised Land..."
"Ugh, thank God!" Cloud groaned, putting a hand to his head in relief. If no one else could find the Promised Land, even them, then at least he could never summon Meteor. "At least that jerk can't find it..." he sighed with relief.
"Actually, I already have..." Sephiroth said, from far above. Both Cloud and Aerith quickly looked up to find their nemesis standing high above them at the top of the crater. "When I became immersed in the Lifestream, I consumed the knowledge of the Ancients..." he said darkly as he levitated down towards the ground. "And I not only know where the Promised Land is, I've been there." Cloud's hand quickly drifted towards the Buster Sword, but he stopped when he met Sephiroth's icy gaze. "It's time. Hand over the Black Materia," ordered Sephiroth coldly, his face expressionless.
"Cloud would never give it to you!" Aerith snarled, her hand reaching for her staff. Before she could grab it, however, and to her horror, Cloud dropped to his knees gripping his head in both hands. Something was desperately wrong, and as Sephiroth approached with his hand outstretched and Cloud slowly lifted up the Black Materia, Aerith's blood ran cold. As she watched helplessly, Sephiroth snatched up the Black Materia, he sneered at her with an intensity that would make Yuffie wet herself, and then disappeared in a haze of black mist, and Cloud dropped to the ground face first. Aerith quickly dashed to his side and cradled him in her arms.
"What... what the hell did I just do?!" Cloud choked, tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't believe what had just happened, and it was more than just a waking nightmare, as he'd felt himself attempting to resist his own movements. "My body wouldn't listen to me..." he stuttered, a tear falling down his cheek. "I heard that stupid voice, but it wouldn't reach..."
"Hush, don't talk..." shushed Aerith. As she wiped the tears from Cloud's face, she looked down with sympathy and smiled. That lasted until Cloud grabbed her by the throat. "C-Cloud... What are you... doing?!" she hacked. But he was much stronger than she was, and even though Aerith struggled with both hands and her entire body, she was unable to break free and her vision slowly began to dim.
"Please... Please stop! Please!" Cloud shrieked. He grabbed his hand with his opposite limb and attempted to wrench it away but failed. This time it was his turn to struggle futilely, because nothing he did could stop his hand from clenching Aerith's throat. "Stop it, Sephiroth!" he begged, tears again welling in his eyes. "I don't want it back, just stop it!" Cloud's grip finally loosened as Tifa's hand lashed out at his cheek, and he and Aerith both dropped to the ground unconscious with an unceremonious thud.
"Cloud, what are you doing?!" Tifa hissed, taking Cloud in her arms and laying him on his back. "Why did you do that to Aerith?!" she screamed as she similarly laid Aerith to the ground beside Cloud. "What... what is going on?!" Tifa shouted out in a mad fury. As she stared down at her two sleeping friends, whose chests only barely lifted and fell, her breath quickened and she slowly lifted her eyes upwards to the sky, and when she watched as Cait Sith's head peeked out from up above, she grit her teeth and let out a primal roar of anger. "You bastard!" she shrieked, causing Cait Sith's cat body to stumble and drop down towards the trio. "I didn't mean you, you moron!" Tifa snarled.
Author's Notes
The whole bit with Tseng and Elena and their perspectives is probably too overcomplicated, but it's what came out, so it's there. Portraying the Turks as human seems to be a running theme here. The materia Cloud received is, like Ifrit before it, the Bahamut materia that the party finds after the battle with the Red Dragon. Why not have the big boss fight, you ask? I guess I figured I didn't have to kill everything in the bestiary in one go... Besides, we had the Demon's Wall right up next.
You're also probably wondering who was talking when Cloud got the Bahamut materia. I figure, they're in the middle of an ancient Cetra ruin, so who better to talk to the party other than another Cetra? Well, sort of. It might be more like the temple itself is talking. This is a problem I've been working on for quite a while, and this was the best, and one of the only, solutions I could come up with... This is a unique type of fic, and I'm hoping to throw out a surprise every now and then. This will take quite a while to come into play, though... When the time comes, I'll explain my reasoning, but for now I'll leave things at that. Expect BS and you'll likely find it. This is, after all, me. I ought to put BS in my user name... But that seems a bit crude, so I can't.
My favorite part was the bit at the end between Tifa and Cait Sith. It was totally improvised, the original notes had Cait Sith wondering if the whole mess was worth sacrificing his body. I just came up with the idea on the fly and went with it.
Next up we come to Aerith's demise... I've actually written two completely different drafts for the next chapter. The first one was a bit more mundane, but given what comes next I knew I had to do better, so the second version of Chapter 40 will hopefully satisfy you guys. It'll also be the end of Part Two: The World Beyond, and not coincidentally the end of the first disc. I'm hoping Part Three doesn't last as long as The World Beyond.