Half a day had passed when they finally came upon dry land. According to Cid's calculations, they had drifted westward, toward the landmass on which Wutai was located. Yuffie had gotten quite giddy at the prospect of returning to her hometown, but Cloud had deflated her hopes quite early on.

"We don't have time to make a stop to Wutai," he had explained, quite matter-of-factly. "It would take us north, while we should be getting back to the Saucer for the keystone."

"Aw, c'mon!" Yuffie whined in protest. "Our supplies are running low, y'know? We could just go quickly, no need to—"

"It would be a two-days' walk just to get there. No, we'll camp here, and find a nearby town tomorrow morning. Then we'll head back east toward Corel."

Yuffie grit her teeth and stomped her feet, but Cloud wouldn't budge. Among their strange little group, she was the most sceptical of the threat supposedly posed by Sephiroth. She kept saying, loud and clear, that their true enemy should remain Shinra. Then again, Yuffie had not heard Cloud's harrowing tale back in Kalm. If she had, then perhaps she would not scoff and roll her eyes whenever Cloud got into one of his more intense moods (or, in her own words, 'started to brood like the pretty bad boy he truly was').

They set up camp near the beach where they had landed. As Yuffie had said, their supplies were running low, and Nanaki had to go hunting to find enough food for supper. He came back with two rabbits, happily shaking his tail as Tifa cooed and scratched him behind the ear. Aerith briskly turned away when Barret began to skin the two poor creatures with his combat knife; she had a strong stomach, having grown up in the slums, but that didn't mean she enjoyed seeing poor fluffy bunnies being reduced to pieces of meat.

Instead, Aerith ambled toward the Tiny Bronco. Cid was sitting on an upturned bucket, eating what seemed to be emergency rations. On the Bronco, a spear was propped up. Aerith examined the weapon, which seemed to have seen its fair share of battles. Cid took a sip out of a travel mug, before uttering, "A beaut, isn't she? My grand-pappy made it for me."

"Really?" said Aerith. "He must have been a talented weaponsmith."

Cid shrugged. "Nah, not really. But he fought with a spear, and so did his daddy and his grandpa, all the way back to the founding of our line. Spears are kind of our things, us Highwinds."

Aerith remembered the extraordinary jump he had made to reach the Tiny Bronco when it had been in the air. "Did he teach you how to fight?"

"Couldn't," Cid answered. "He lost the use of his legs before I was born. And my mama didn't care for fighting, not one bit. She was a tough old bird, but she wanted me to keep the farm going after she was gone." He let out a back of laughter. "Hah! As if."

Aerith couldn't help but smile at that. It was strange, having a civil conversation with him after she'd seen him being so crass with everyone else. Still, her smile vacillated a little. "You must be worried," she told him. "About Shera and the rest of the village, I mean."

"Hm?" Cid chewed a little, before washing it down with a mouthful of tea. "Why would I?"

Ah. Aerith's good humour soured a little. "The town was crawling with Shinra soldiers, remember? Next village we find, I'm sure there'll be some way to contact them to make sure everyone is alright."

Cid shrugged again. "Won't be necessary."

Oh, but the man was infuriating. "Think about it! Poor Shera must be worrying sick about you."

He gave a nasty laugh. "In her shoes, I'd be celebratin' being finally free of my useless ass! All of Rocket Town are pro'bly glad to be rid of me. They can all move on with their lives, see? It'll be good fer 'em."

Aerith was seething, but she wasn't about to let it show, oh, no. "You're terrible! They all care about you, isn't it obvious?"

"They'll gripe and moan fer a while, no doubt about it, but afterwards? Meh, they'll be fine. She'll be fine."

Aerith huffed at that. "I was about to ask you if you wanted some of the stew Tifa's been making, but you're alright on your own, aren't you? You're the kind of man who don't need nobody, right?"

"Yep," Cid answered, with another ugly grin. "You read me right, missy." He waved a hand, dismissively. "See ya around, kid."

Rather than answering, Aerith stomped away. She stewed in her rage the whole night, and not even Tifa's wonderful cooking—nor the quiet beauty of the stars above—could break her out of that mood. As such, when Tifa came to see her, asking if she'd seen Yuffie, Aerith could only shake her head and say, "Why? Is something the matter?"

"I haven't seen her in a while," Tifa answered, sounding a tad panicked. Poor Tifa, always acting the worried and/or fussy sister figure. It was part of why Aerith loved her so much. "I don't know why she would have gone anywhere, there's nothing around for miles on—"

"Fucking shit!" came Barret's holler. The man was rummaging through his rucksack. "My materia ain't here! The fuck's going on?"

"Mine isn't here either!" cried Nanaki. "I let Yuffie remove my collar for the night, and—"

"Uh-oh," said Cait. "I dinnae like where this is going…"

Tifa and Aerith shared a look of horror. Barret stomped and cursed, while Vincent shook his head, saying, "She took off with it. She's good, I have to hand it to her."

"She's dead!" Barret growled. "Sneaky lil' piece of—"

"Hey!" Cid shouted, heading toward them. He was holding his spear, making wild gestures at it. "There s'posed to be two materias in there, any of you jokers know who took it? 'Cause they got a nice rendez-vous with that there pointy end, if you get my meaning!"

Of course, everyone turned to face Cloud. The latter sighed, passing a hand through that wild mane of his. "Alright, alright," he grumbled. "We'll go after her, stop fussing so much."

"At night?" Tifa countered. "Cloud, it's too dangerous. She knows the terrain, but we don't."

"Yuffie can't go far in that darkness anyway," Nanaki said. "Tifa's right. We'll make better tracks tomorrow." With a noticeable growl to his voice, he added, "And she can't escape my nose forever. Wherever she is, I'll find her."

"Right," Cloud concluded. "It's settled, then. So get a good night of sleep, all of you. I'll stand guard."

Aerith shivered at these words. It would not be the first time he would stay awake while the others slept, his Mako-enhanced eyes casting an eerie gloom as he stared into the darkness, still and silent as a statue.

Still, despite his vigil, Aerith slept uneasily that night, clutching her mother's useless materia to her heart. Beneath her, she felt the Planet's ever-present murmurs—the swishes and surges of the Lifestream, the eeriest of lullabies. Aerith let it soothe her to sleep, as she had so often done during those past months of traveling the land with the ragtag bunch she called her friends.

(That night, she was lost in dreams again. Aerith dreamed she was flying, the earth far below her, perceptible only in streaks of grey and brown and green. Above her was the canopy of the sky, dark blue peppered with pinpricks of white—stars. If she reached out, she could touch them; the little lights tickled her hands, making her giggle. Then she was wrapped in a blue cocoon, warm and comforting, on a bed of starlight—a wayward child adrift in a vast, unknown universe.

The next morning, she woke up with a soft smile, tears clinging to her eyes.)

What followed was a wild chase across the whole of Wutai, one that came to involve a rather strange array of characters. Aerith would have never thought she would find herself fighting alongside the Turks, but here she was, on top of the Da Chao, most sacred mountain according to Wutaian beliefs, battling a common enemy with those sworn to hunt her down.

None of them had any choice in the matter, after all. Don Corneo (Don Effin' Corneo! Of all the people to meet again on the other side of the world, it had to be him!) held both Elena and Yuffie hostage, siccing his new pet on Aerith's friends to enact his sick vengeance. The beast was vicious, driven mad by its hunger. No doubt the Don had shown it nothing but cruelty.

Aerith felt utterly useless without her materia; she could heal her companions a little bit using her own power, but the effect was nowhere as potent as a Healing spell. Barret shouted obscenities as he shot at the creature, while Cloud and Tifa attempted to get closer to the girls and bring them out of harm's way. Meanwhile, poor Yuffie kept screaming and screaming. She was hanging for dear life on the sheer rock face of the carved figure of Da Chao, moaning, "Oh, please, oh, please, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die—" The Turk Elena was faring little better next to her, calling Don Corneo a long string of rather foul names.

Cloud parried the great beast's razor-sharp claws, giving Nanaki an opening. The latter leaped to sink his fangs into the creature's thigh. Don Corneo's pet let out a keen wail, flapping its wings and swinging its tail in its pain and fury. At the last possible moment, Aerith saw its pointed tip surging toward the stone face of Da Chao—right where Yuffie was held.

The girl screeched in fear as her bonds tore away from the mountain. Tifa whipped her head, screaming Yuffie's name and sprinting toward her. But she would not reach her in time; already, Yuffie was falling, toward a certain and undignified death at the base of Da Chao.

Then came a blue and green blur. A figure had leaped after Yuffie, grabbing her midair. With a grunt, Cid crash-landed on the path below, the girl safely tucked under his arm. Both tumbled in the dirt, and Aerith distinctly heard a terrible snapping sound as Cid's shoulder bore the brunt of the impact. She wanted to run to their aid, but couldn't; already, Don Corneo's beast was taking to the air again, ready to swoop down with claws outstretched.

When finally the poor creature was its death throes, everyone was bloodied and barely standing. Corneo pleaded for his life, but the Turks wouldn't hear it, and the ousted king of Wall Market fell to his death hundreds of feet below. Then, Reno and Rude gathered a fuming Elena before going on their way, striking a temporary truce with the group (they were just on vacation, after all).

Afterwards, it was their time to get down the mountain. Aerith dragged her feet along the way, assessing her friends' wounds as they approached the town of Wutai, nestled at the base of Da Chao. Yuffie was marshaled forward by a grim-looking Cloud; she seemed on the verge of crying, but he would not let her speak. She guided them to her home, which was full of cats and various knickknacks she must have pilfered like a little magpie.

Her face was crimson with humiliation as she returned the stolen materia to their original owners. When Yuffie finally came to Aerith, the latter wrapped her fingers around the younger girl's hand, giving a slight smile and saying, "It's okay. You're safe now.". That was it for Yuffie; she broke down crying, bowing and apologizing profusely while Aerith rubbed her back. Still, Cloud remained unmoved, and he said, coldly, "Save it. Fake tears won't work on me."

Yuffie threw him a wretched look, before rushing out of the house. Aerith called after her, while Tifa glared daggers at Cloud. Barret shrugged and said, "Kid deserves the scolding, if you ask me," to which Cid replied, snorting, "A scolding, my ass. My ma would have beaten me black and blue for pullin' a stunt that stupid."

From the only unobstructed window (goodness, but this place was a pigsty, something which would have earned Yuffie an earful from Elmyra if she'd been here), Aerith could see that the sun had disappeared over the horizon. She felt weary to the bone, but her day was not done yet. Quietly, she began to heal her friends' wounds. When she was done, Tifa and Nanaki went outside to look for Yuffie; of course the former was worried about the poor girl. Barret sat in a corner and started to doze off. So did Cait, who lay curled next to one of Yuffie's cats (the kitty seemed utterly baffled by the feline fortuneteller, sniffing him warily). Vincent disappeared to Gaia knows where. And Cloud…

Cloud seated himself in front of the window, hand clutching the handle of his sword. "Go to sleep," he told Aerith. "I'll keep watch through the night."

Again? she wanted to say. How long had it been since he had had a good night of sleep? She knew he had been plagued with unsettling dreams before, but ever since they had passed through the mundane nightmare that had been Shinra's fake Nibelheim, he had barely slept a wink. Aerith's heart ached for him. Gaia, but she wanted to help him, to comfort his troubled mind—but he always brushed her off, saying he was fine, utterly fine.

"Alright," she said instead. "But get some sleep as well, you hear? Today was a busy day, and you need your rest."

In response, he shrugged and muttered something. Aerith stifled a sigh, knowing well that she had already lost that battle.

She decided to head outside, hoping to partake in the fresh air (rather than breathe in more cat dandruff). The village streets were lit by stone lanterns, their flames flickering in the breeze. Above her head, the night sky offered its full blessings. It had been a shock to discover that the sky was not the same everywhere in the world. Around places like Midgar and Junon, very few stars showed. "Light pollution," Cloud had explained when she had asked why. "There are too many artificial lights in urban areas."

"Oh," Aerith had said at that. Light pollution. She knew that humans polluted the air and the water and the soil, filling them with poisons and chemicals—but not that they polluted the sky as well. The thought had made her sad; she wanted to believe the best of people, but it was hard to keep that faith, considering she heard every day the mournful cries of the Planet as She suffered more and more of the wounds inflicted by Her clueless children.

Here, the heavens were not as majestic as the wide, star-studded canopy above Cosmo Canyon, but it was not as eerily empty as the haze-shrouded sky of Midgar. Aerith craned her neck to look upward, trying to recognize some of the constellations Nanaki had taught her. The Chocobo, with his ever-loyal Moogle on his back. The Dragoon, holding his spear aloft. And Shiva, a trail of stardust following her gracious fingers. Yuffie had protested at some of Nanaki's tales; for her, the Dragoon was the figure of the Great Ninja, with Leviathan taking the place of the lance.

Her musings were interrupted by a loud curse coming from behind her. Aerith turned and saw that Cid was sitting on the roof of Yuffie's home of all places. He had removed his coat despite the evening chill, showing his bandaged shoulder. She spied the green glow of a Heal materia in his hand. From his winces and scowls, it seemed as if it was not working as intended.

"Hey there!" Aerith called. "Need a hand?"

Cid replied with another swear, turning his eyes heavenward. Finally, he muttered, "Yeah, yeah. That would be 'preciated."

The jerk didn't even have the decency to hide his smirk as Aerith ponderously made her way to the roof using on the boxes on the side of the house. By the end of her climb, she was huffing and muttering curses under her breath. She scowled at Cid, who grinned a smarmy grin in return.

"Why the hell would you climb someone's roof?" Aerith grumbled, prompting a laugh from him. "I could have fallen and broken my neck, you jerk!"

"Always get a better view up here," Cid answered, motioning to the starry sky. "Soon as I could stand on my own two feet, I started to climb everywhere. Ma said I was a lil' hellion, always getting places I shouldn't have gone."

"Your poor mom," Aerith said, ruefully, as she took place beside him. She held up her Heal materia, and he grimaced. "Oh, don't be such a baby. I saw you taking that hit. It'll heal quicker with magic."

"'m fine," he muttered, prompting her to roll her eyes. "I have my own materia. Could have done it meself."

"Doesn't mean you know how to use it. Healing spells are more effective if you understand how the human body works, after all. Else you end up with terrible scarring or bones that are set all wrong."

He made a noncommittal noise. Aerith closed her eyes, reaching for the power inside the materia. Using a Healing spell was almost second nature to her; it was easy as drawing breath. She felt the comforting warmth of the spell, redirecting it toward Cid's arm. He hissed as he no doubt sensed the familiar tingling of magic upon his skin. Living tissue reconnected to living tissue, blood returned to where it once had been, bone matter grew to make itself whole. Cid could not help but sigh in relief as the spell came to an end and the green glow dissipated.

He muttered something again. Aerith cupped a hand over her ear, deliberately goading him. "Yes? Didn't quite hear that."

"Thanks," he said, a little louder.

"You're welcome," she said, with a little flourish. He snorted in response.

Then, they sat in silence, contemplating the sky. Well, Aerith contemplated the sky. Cid looked at the heavens with ardent reverence. His gaze was soft, almost gentle. Had he ever looked at Shera with those eyes, she wondered? The thought left her cold.

Finally, Aerith said, "I'm glad you helped out today. You didn't have to, but you risked your life for someone you barely knew. Thank you, Cid."

The man shrugged. "Wasn't about to let a fuckin' creep like that Corneo take off with the kid. Assholes like him, well, they deserve to be stuck behind bars somewhere dark and damp, getting their balls kicked a coupla times every day."

"I threatened to rip 'em off, once," Aerith said, smiling slyly.

Cid turned to look at her with a giddy expression that made him seem much younger. "No shit? Hah! Nice one, kid."

"I grew up in the slums," Aerith explained. "Under Sector 5. Everyone was scared of him back home. He acted like he ruled the place—like people were things instead of people. It felt good to stand up to him."

"Huh." Cid's smile was replaced by a frown. "The slums in Midgar? Wouldn't have thought that, looking at you."

Aerith hugged her knees, feeling the flood of memories. "It was scary, finally stepping from under the plate. All I'd ever known was a steel sky, so the real one felt so… big. Took some time to get used to it." For some reason, Cid was looking at her strangely, which made her uneasy. "What?"

"Nothing. Jus'... damn, but imagine that, growing up without a sky…" Cid spat at the side, before growling, "Damn those Shinra scums, they take and take 'til nothing's left."

"They haven't taken everything, though," Aerith said, softly. She pointed at her chest with some emphasis. "We're still here, alive and kicking. And that's a victory worth celebrating, I think."

She had meant to sound uplifting, but Cid's expression was bitter, and that flat look soon returned to his eyes. "Yeah. Guess so." He stood out suddenly, stretching and cursing, his joints popping. "Ah, fuck, but I'm ready for this shitty day to finally be over. I'm going to get some shut-eye. Laters, kiddo."

"Okay," said Aerith. As he gave her a lazy salute and turned to leave, she added, "I meant it earlier. You risked your life to save Yuffie. That was really brave of you."

"I hope she doesn't make me regret it, the lil' shit. I'm not in this to risk my life on a daily basis." With a joyless grin, he added, "I don't have a death wish, heh."

Aerith remembered Shera's words, and how he had acted when they had first met in Rocket Town; she recalled the emptiness in his eyes, the ugly turn of his mouth. A wave of sadness washed over her at the memory.

"...you don't act like a man who wants to live much either," she said, very quietly.

He shot her a sidelong glance, blue eyes growing cold as ice. After a tense silence, he uttered, "Yer a nice kid, but don't push it. I haven't sunk low enough to get lectured 'bout my life by someone as wet behind the ears as you are."

"I'm just saying," Aerith countered, fair but firm. She wasn't intimidated by him; she'd faced bigger and meaner than an old washed-out pilot with dead dreams, after all. "You lost your chance to go into space, but you're still here. You got only one life, you know? You should cherish it."

Rather than answer, he rolled his eyes, then made his way down, leaving Aerith to ponder alone with the stars.