Another chapter is here!
Kazeshuriken: Thank you.
patrick the almighty observer: Read on and see.
Enjoy!
Crimson stirred awake the next day, sitting up in the bed and letting the thick cover slide down her body as she stretched her arms to the sky. She had dreamed of a time when she was a Turk, recalling how they managed to get contraband across the sea to the western continent through the port. The information was useful, befitting of what they had to do next. Was it a sign?
"You're awake now?" asked a gentle voice. It was Aerith, dressed in her gown without the short jacket she normally wore. "Hold on, I'll get you some coffee."
"What happened last night?" Crimson asked wearily. She had fallen asleep so easily that she doubted it they could have woken her short of explosives. It was unbefitting of a former Turk, but she had been tired with the constant fighting and travel. The allure of the bed and slumber had been too much for her to withstand and she gave in.
"According to the woman who let us stay in her home, Shinra had sent some men down to investigate what happened," Aerith told her, handing her a steaming cup. The rich aroma grabbed her attention and lit a fire in Crimson's mind, driving away the lethargy. "They lied and said they finally got sick of the Bottomswell and gathered explosives to blow it up when it came by. No one could prove otherwise without a deeper investigation, and they were just as eager to sweep the whole matter under the rug since Rufus Shinra was on his way, at least from what they could tell by the music coming from the base above."
Crimson sipped on the coffee and thought to herself that was good enough for now, allowing them to move onto their next plan. She looked around to see that Cloud was up and talking to Tifa, while Red XIII could be seen pacing outside the window. They were waiting for her to wake up the entire time then.
The former Turk dressed herself and made for the door, the others following after. The moment she was outside, the music from above reached her ears. It was definitely the sort of thing that they would play for prominent members of the organization, and Rufus had only recently become the president.
She looked over the edge of the slope and saw that Yuffie was on the offing's shore with Priscilla, the dolphin splashing in the water nearby. It had been swept away after Aerith had healed it when the tidal wave crashed into them. It seemed to be in good spirits, all things considered. They made their way down the stairs, and caught the tailwind of a conversation between the girls.
"You're going with them?" Priscilla asked the kunoichi.
Yuffie nodded. "They're on a really important quest of some kind. They need me to stick around and help them out."
"Then take this." Priscilla took off a necklace that she had around her neck and handed it over. "It's an amulet. Take care of it, okay?"
"You sure you want to give up something like this to me?" Yuffie asked her as she turned it in her hands. It was a materia—a Summoning Materia, at a glance. "It's important, isn't it?"
The young girl nodded. "You can just bring it back when you're done with your quest. Promise?"
"It's a promise." Yuffie held out her pinky. Priscilla did the same and they entwined. Crimson and the others came to a stop as Priscilla then went over to the dolphin. The kunoichi then fiddled with the materia, trying to call forth the power within. But no amount of effort seemed to stir it.
She scratched her head and turned to Aerith, the only person she knew who had a Summoning Materia as well. "I don't think its responding to me. Is this real?"
"Yes, it is," Aerith said. "I can feel the presence within it. May I see it?"
Aerith extended her hand, allowing Yuffie to place it in her palm. She closed her fingers around it and beckoned forth the entity within it as she did Mog. There was an icy wind that billowed as the summoning came forth in a burst of frost and rime overhead.
She was beautiful, a regal woman with pale-blue skin. Much of it was exposed on her torso, her modesty tastefully preserved through a purple choli that wrapped around the back of her neck and then into ribbons that floated behind her. The sash around her waist was made of the same material, joined to the almost gossamer-thin leggings that grew darker in shade as they approached her feet. There was a diamond affixed to the center of her forehead, and her teal hair was bound into a rising pony tail.
And, when she spoke, her voice was as soft as snow. "I am Shiva," the summoning said, keeping her eyes closed as she turned her head towards Aerith. "By the Goddess' Will, I shall accompany you in your quest, Child of the Planet."
"You have my thanks." Aerith, not at all surprised or confused by the message like the rest of them, gave a slight bow of her head. "Is there one of us who would serve best to call upon you?"
The summoning glided over and around the group, settling next to Tifa and pressing a soft finger against her head. "She will suffice best, though I will come when called by the others, if need be."
With that said, the summoning's body vanished into motes of blue light that dissipated in the air. Only the lingering chill that permeated their surroundings served as proof it once manifested. Aerith then placed Shiva's Summoning Materia into Tifa's hand.
It was enough to snap her out of the minor daze she had been in. "What was that about?"
A reasonable question that Crimson found herself wanting answers to. "I've seen Summoning Materia being used before by the company, but they were never as vocal or sentient as Mog and Shiva appear to be. And what was the Goddess' Will she was talking about?"
"I told you that I was on a mission of my own when I said I wanted to come with you," Aerith reminded her. "The Goddess she spoke of is the one who speaks to me the loudest. As for why the summonings are more vocal, the ones produced by Shinra are basically just the memories taken forcibly from the Planet. They don't hold the connection that the natural ones do, nor would the Planet intentionally give them the ability to access sentient beings to be used as weapons."
"So it's like the difference between a recording and live streaming?" Crimson guessed. "The recordings don't change, but the live stream can depending on what and where it's broadcasting from… I guess in this case the Lifestream?"
"Close enough," Aerith said, looking over to Priscilla and her dolphin. "It looks like they're ready for us."
"Right." Crimson turned to everyone. "When we get to the base, we need to get to the shipping containers. The Turks have a system in place where certain ones can go through without being checked by customs. Often it's used to smuggle something, but right now it's our best bet to get to Costa Del Sol without being spotted or leaving a dozen bodies behind. Let's do this properly, okay?"
They all agreed, leaving getting up there as the last obstacle. She turned to watch as the dolphin practiced on a ball a final time, feeling the doubt creeping into her on this plan. Then she took a deep breath and steeled herself. It wasn't the most absurd thing they'd done during this trip, but hopefully it would be the last.
[-oOo-]
Elmyra sighed as she finished sweeping the floor, having cleaned her home for the umpteenth time in the wake of her daughter's absence. It had been a while now since she'd heard from Aerith, a contrast to when she would come home every evening with a smile on her face as she told her how many flowers she sold or anything new she'd seen in the slums. Now she hadn't heard a thing, so she cleaned in order to distract herself.
It was the same thing she'd done with her late husband. Only instead of waiting for him to come back every day at the train station, she busied herself keeping her home pristine for when her daughter returned. She could only pray to the stars and planet that things didn't play out like they did with her husband, receiving a note from those people she had left with informing her that Aerith had died.
Elmyra wasn't sure she could take the loss another person dear to her. Not again. If she hadn't found Aerith before the letter arrived, she wasn't certain that she could have gone on living.
Midgar was a dark and dreary metropolis, a festering hive of mako and steel that only looked pretty from above at the cost of the wasteland surrounding it. Whereas Elmyra had been resigned to living there with her husband, Aerith wanted to make it beautiful. She toiled relentlessly despite the futility, coming home with dirt encrusted hands and her dress covered in stains.
Looking at a photo of Aerith taken only a few years ago, standing with the field of flowers behind her and a bright smile on her face, it showed her efforts weren't in vain. Her daughter could bring life to even the most lifeless of places. It was a gift that shouldn't be lost to the world.
In her weaker moments, she wanted to contact that Turk to see if he had spotted her. But she knew it would be pointless. He wouldn't tell her a thing. Hell, he had kidnapped her and taken her away without concern for anything but his job.
A soft knock on her door brought her out of her musings. She hoped it hadn't been him again. It was one thing to speak of the devil, but heaven's forbid the mere thought served the same purpose. Elmyra cracked open the door and found the man she had bumped into before standing there.
"Hello," he said. "Did I come at a bad time?"
"I wasn't expecting visitors," she said, a note of suspicion in her voice. "How did you know where I lived?"
"You gave me your name," he said. "It was the same as the girl who sold flowers around the slums nearby, though I didn't realize it until later on. Between that and where we met, I took a guess that the house with a beautiful field of flowers nearby would be where you lived."
"Yes, I suppose that would explain it. But why are you here, Mister…"
"Richard," he said. "Richard Reeve. I was hoping for some advice. My mother recently took in a young boy who lost his parents during the plate fall. You said you had personal experience with loss, and I want to do something but…."
Elmyra pressed her lips thin. She supposed it couldn't hurt to give him some advice for the sake of a child who had lost everything. If there was one thing she knew, it was how traumatizing that could be. She opened the door and welcomed him inside. "Come in."
"Thank you." He entered and stood off the side. "You have a lovely home. My mother would love to be able to grow flowers like those outside someday."
"It's nice to hear my daughter's hard-work being appreciated," Elmyra said. "Now, tell me more about the circumstances of this child."
"He's young," Richard said. "Mother told me he broke her house window by accident and confessed he had lost his parents. They were in Sector 7 when it happened, and they weren't among the evacuees since the house they had bought in one of the other Sectors hadn't been lived in. He was staying there alone until my mother took him in, but he seems withdrawn most times and unnaturally quiet."
Elmyra felt a feeling of loathing towards Shinra upon hearing how they had condemned another child to lose their parents. The number of people to suffer from the events of the plate fall hadn't been a small number. "That is an unfortunately common tale, I'm afraid. My daughter was the same after she witnessed her own mother die at a young age."
"Oh, I presumed she was your birth-daughter," he said.
"I adopted her," Elmyra clarified. "Her mother was… a friend who had just arrived in Midgar. She died after placing Aerith in my care, asking me to look after her. The pain will linger for the boy, sadly. It never really goes away, but he can hopefully come to terms with it in enough time, and with someone ready to lend him support when he needs it."
"Is there any way to have him open up to do so?" Richard asked. "I don't want to broach the topic wantonly and risk him withdrawing further."
"It's not something you can force," she told him, taking a deep breath. "It requires a delicate hand. If Aerith were here then perhaps she could offer better advice from her perspective, but she's left Midgar to travel without telling me where she is. Honestly…."
"Do you need someone to listen to you?" he asked. "It would be the least I could do for the advice."
She couldn't help but smile at the offer. "Tempting, but you don't have to try and coddle me. I can manage on my own." She went over to the door and opened it. "You said your mother would like to grow flowers, right?"
He nodded. "She came from the countryside but moved here to be close to me. You can imagine how hard flowers are to come by, at least before I heard of your daughter. A shame she isn't here now."
"I believe we have spare seeds, if she wants to attempt to grow her own," Elmyra said. "There are a few that are ready to be cut now. I wouldn't mind parting with them if it makes someone else happy."
"Thank you very much," he said as he followed her out and into the yard.
[-oOo-]
Rufus stood inside of the ship as it sailed to Costa Del Sol, staring out to sea with Heidegger at his back and Dark Nation at his side. There was still much work to do back in the office, but he had to make time of this. The airship would be ready soon upon inspection, a welcomed addition after all the other losses to this point.
He looked down to the ship's deck and saw the busybodies hurrying about, doing their best in order to try and impress him with their diligence in hopes of gaining a promotion. They should be that diligent at all times, earning their promotion through consistent work. At least the reception had been synchronized, showing that their remaining Junon forces were disciplined and practiced.
He didn't have time to think further on those matters as the alarm blared, announcing a stowaway. The guards filed in below deck to handle it, a few remaining behind to watch the entrance. He figured it would be resolved quickly enough until Dark Nation sniffed the air and snarled.
He crouched down and sat a hand on his guard hound's head. "What's wrong?"
It barked triggered its spells while Heidegger stomped to the radio and demanded answers. The light of a Barrier swaddled him and a Magic Barrier shrouded the hound as screams emerged from the other end of the radio. Heidegger pulled out a gun as well and turned to him.
"Sir, we need to leave!" He pointed to the motorized lifeboats. The remaining guards were going below deck, and gunfire could be heard echoing in the steel enclosure. "My men below announced that someone was heading into the engine room and killing them along the way. It could be rebels sabotaging the boat or worse, and we need to get you to safety."
Rufus followed after him silently as they climbed down towards the lifeboat. The gunfire abruptly stopped then, and a figure phased through the steel hull like a ghost. He had long silver hair and was dressed in black, hovering in the air. Mako eyes turned to face them, and Heidegger paled.
"Sephiroth," Heidegger said, fear clear in his voice as he held the gun up towards him. It was clear that wouldn't do a thing, but it was better than nothing. "W-Why are you here?"
"Are you… after the Promised Land as well?" he asked the new President.
Rufus didn't bother with the question. There was no reasoning with him. He wouldn't waste the breath doing so. Instead, he looked to what loitered in the air above the man who'd killed his father and slaughtered a number of his forces and employees.
There was a large container, suspended by a number of wires and supports with the release panel off to the side. He opened his coat, pulled out his sawed-off shotgun, and fired at it. The impact of the bullet shattered the panel, activating the release while opening the hatch for cargo to drop below.
The container fell down upon the Sephiroth and carried him below deck, where dust rose up as the ship groaned thunderously from the impact. Dark Nation leaned forward, peering into the hole and snarling. It hadn't been enough to kill him.
"Come, Dark Nation!" Rufus put the gun away as he sprinted to the lifeboat, Dark Nation following him. Heidegger stared at the lingering dust from the hatch's entrance for a moment before realizing he was on the verge of being left behind.
"Do you think that killed him?" Heidegger asked as he climbed in the boat and started lowering it into the water. The answer came not from Rufus, but the blazing light of a laser punching a hole in the thick hull of the ship above them. The larger man let out a startled cry and nearly fell out of the boat as it hit the water roughly and detached.
Rufus frowned as he started the motor and the lifeboat sped towards the shore of Costa Del Sol. That ability hadn't been in the files he'd read. He turned to Heidegger. "Order a missile strike to sink the boat and Sephiroth alike. I don't know what he's doing in there, but this is our chance to take him out."
Heidegger opened his PHS and got started right away, arranging for the Costa Del Sol base to prepare to do so. "Estimated time until launch is ten minutes! We'll be on the shore by then!"
"Good." Rufus sat down in the boat with Dark Nation resting its head on his lap as Heidegger steered them to the shore.