Author's Note: Hello once again. Hopefully this chapter will be a nice change of pace. As much as I enjoy action sequences, writing 10,000 words of it can be more than a bit draining, and if it's draining for me, then I can only imagine how exhausting it is for you guys reading it. All the same, this chapter and probably the next few after it will be a bit light on the action, and will ideally focus more on some character moments I've been looking forward to.
I hope you all continue to enjoy the story, and ideally I'll have the next chapter ready within a week or so.
The dull lights on the ceiling passed by Lucrecia's vision in a blur as the squeaking wheels of the gurney rolled down the hall of Shinra Manor's expansive, almost labyrinthian basement. Dr. Crescent groaned and clutched at her round belly, her back bending and writhing in a futile effort to escape the pain ravaging through her.
"Is the delivery room prepped?" Dr. Braig asked, keeping a quick pace alongside the gurney as he turned to look back at Nurse Alyson
"Yes sir," Alyson replied, huffing between breaths as she rushed the gurney down the hall.
"Why does it hurt so much?!" Lucrecia screamed, her body contorting and bending, trying to find comfort in any position she could manage.
"It's going to be okay, Dr. Crescent," the nurse cooed. "We'll administer an epidural soon, I promise."
"You will do no such thing!" A shrill, nasally voice hissed. Both members of the medical team looked over to the black haired man walking alongside them, the tail of his long lab coat swaying behind him.
"Professor Hojo," Dr. Braig spoke up, "Dr. Crescent is already in extreme pain. She…"
"I've come too far to allow the specimen's genetic integrity to be compromised over something as mundane as comfort for the birth giver."
"Professor Hojo, I insist…" This time it was Nurse Alyson who said something, only to be met by Hojo firmly pivoting on his heel and raising a finger to her, bringing the gurney to a stop.
"Listen here, your role in this is to ensure the safe delivery of the specimen. All other matters are not a priority for you to be concerned with!"
"Please!" Lucrecia screamed, reaching out and grabbing the first thing she could take hold of, which happened to be Hojo's sleeve. "Get it out of me!"
"Control yourself, Dr. Crescent!" Hojo yanked his arm away from her before continuing down the hall.
Once they'd arrived in the delivery room, it took everything Lucrecia had in her to fight back the pain as tears flowed down her cheeks. All the research she'd done, all the preparations and exercises she'd undergone meant absolutely nothing to her in that moment. All she could think about was the pain, the relentless, agonizing pain tearing through her body.
After the patient was laid down and her legs placed on the stirrups, Nurse Alyson draped Dr. Crescent from the waist down, obfuscating Lucrecia's view as yet another debilitating wave of agony crashed through her.
As a biologist, Dr. Crescent had obtained an astute understanding of not just the physical nature of life, but more abstract concepts such as how psychological and physiological components work in unison to build natural instincts. That fine understanding made it clear what she was feeling as her heart raced and her body ached wasn't just a simple pain reaction. Rather, it was something more deep and primal. Her body was telling her that she was about to die.
For seven grueling hours Lucrecia screamed and wailed as she tried to force out the thing inside of her.
"You have to keep pushing, Dr. Crescent!" Dr. Braig said from behind the drape.
"But it hurts…" her lungs had given out from all the crying and screaming, and her strength had almost completely left her. Every time she tried to push, it felt like a dagger being driven directly into her spine.
Hojo continued to pace back and forth on the other side of the tarp, his hands clasped around the small of his back, occasionally peering over Braig's shoulder to monitor the progress, or rather the lack thereof.
"Professor Hojo, at this point I think we need to consider a C-secti—"
"Not a chance," he cut them off. "It is imperative that this be natural. There are vital nutrients that the specimen can only receive through a natural delivery."
Dr. Braig reared his head and opened his mouth to say something to Hojo, but decided against it. Meanwhile on the other side of the tarp, Lucrecia could only gaze blankly at the dim lights hanging above while Alyson held her hand.
"Vincent," Lucrecia felt a tear streak down her cheek. "Vincent, please, help me."
Hojo's upper lip twitched, but he didn't verbalize anything as he started pacing again.
In the wake of another brutal wave of pain, Lucrecia screamed. It was coming now, and this time it didn't matter if she pushed or not. It was going to force its way out of her, even if it ripped her apart on the way out.
"I can see the head!"
"Please, take it out!"
"Don't just stand there!" Hojo shouted. "Retrieve the specimen!"
Gritting her teeth and giving everything she had left in her, Lucrecia pushed as hard as her body was physically able. The pain became so overbearing that it was almost numbing. That numbness, let it be from her body trying to protect her or because she'd become so accustomed to it, proved to be what allowed her to see it through to the end.
There was a sudden lightness in her lower abdomen followed by an all-encompassing wave of relief as Dr. Braig pulled the thing out of her. It finally didn't hurt to breathe anymore, and her perception of the world became more than just one of agony as the sound of a baby's cry filled her ears.
"A male," Hojo said on the other side of the drape.
"A son?" Lucrecia tried to lean up and peer over the drape, but lacked the strength. "I have a son? Let me see him!" The cries of her child filled the room as the nurse bundled him up.
"He has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They're so green," Alyson said as she approached Lucrecia's side of the drape, but was intercepted by Hojo, who pulled the child from her arms.
"Interesting," he said, appraising the baby as it continued to wail. "Perhaps a dominant trait of the progenitor?"
"Please, let me see him! I want to hold my son!" Lucrecia piped up, her voice struggling to raise beyond more than a hoarse yelp.
"I need to run some tests," Hojo said, Dr. Crescent's words seemingly falling upon deaf ears.
"Professor Hojo!" Alyson snapped, "You can't just…"
"Your job is done," Hojo shot back at the woman as he moved for the door. "I will handle it from here."
"Hojo, where are you going?!" Lucrecia tried to turn herself on the bed, but she couldn't see anything more than the back of the professor's white coat as he moved for the door. "Hojo!" she finally found her voice. "Come back here!" Dr. Crescent kicked her legs out of the stirrups, knocking down the drape as she reached out toward the professor. "Hojo! Let me see my son!"
"Please, Dr Crescent!" The nurse and doctor ran to her side to keep her from falling off the side of the bed as she frantically reached toward the man holding her child. "You're in no shape to move right now!"
"Give him to me!" She screamed as Hojo passed through the threshold leading into the hall. "Hojo!" Tears burned her eyes as she struggled against Dr. Braig and Nurse Alyson. "Don't take him away from me!"
Hojo gave no response. He merely walked away with his back to Lucrecia while the screams of a child who'd never laid eyes upon their mother reverberated through the halls of Shinra Manor.
XXXXX
The smell of gunpowder and blood filled the streets of Nibelheim as the WRO secured the parameter and tended to their wounded. The smoldering wreckage of both WRO and Deepground aircraft alike burned in smoking heaps as Cloud pulled his two blades from the corpse of the lancer, snapping them back together before strapping his weapon to his back.
The Deepground troops had scattered. The few choppers that remained pulled back to the Mt. Nibel reactor where they vanished into the red haze of corrupted Lifestream shortly before it returned beneath the planet's surface, leaving the reactor in a state of complete devastation. It was no more than a smoking husk of metal and scrap.
"Just sit tight okay?" Yuffie knelt down next to a wounded soldier and pressed a herbal ointment against the bullet wound on their shoulder. "The medics will get you all patched up in no time."
"Thanks," they murmured, leaning back against the wall of a damaged building.
Yuffie gave the soldier a warm smile and nod as she heard the sound of Cloud approaching her from behind.
"Looks like Deepground finally cleared out, and the asylum is safe, too." Cloud said. "Nice work handling the choppers, by the way."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Still," the ninja gazed across the lines of dead bodies littering the streets. "We suffered a lot of losses. Too many."
"Any is too many," Cloud replied.
"You sound like Aerith."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No," she shook her head. "It's just…" she shrugged. "Forget about it. So what're we doing next, 'leader'?" she asked, giving a playful punch to Cloud's arm.
"Good question. First we need to wait to hear back from Vin—"
"Friendly chopper incoming!" one of the WRO personnel shouted.
"Nice timing," Yuffie said, placing her hands on her hips. She stared out to the sky as the helicopter approached from over the eastern mountains while the team cleared out an impromptu landing zone in the town square as the aircraft readied to make touchdown. Cloud and Yuffie felt the billowing wind of its spinning blades blow back their hair as they made their approach.
The second the helicopter landed, the passenger bay door flung open and Barret hopped out, frantically pushing back everyone immediately around them as the blades died down.
"Clear a path!" Barret's mighty lungs roared. The WRO troops made no hesitation to oblige his command as they all stepped back.
Cloud narrowed his gaze as he and Yuffie looked to Barret. "What the hell's going on?"
"No time, Cloud!" Barret shouted. "Grab some medics and head to Shinra Manor, pronto! We've got a situation here!"
"Situation?" Yuffie stepped forward. "What kind of situation—" the shrill screams of a woman trembled in the air, overtaking the sound of the helicopter's rotor dying down.
Everyone looked back to the helicopter as Vincent leapt out of the aircraft cradling a pale, brown haired woman in his arms as she flailed and screeched in his grasp.
"Make it stop!" The woman shouted. "Please! The voices, they're too loud! They won't stop screaming!"
"Is that," Cloud looked closer, piecing together the woman's face from his memories. "Dr. Crescent?"
No one gave Cloud a response as Vincent darted for steps leading to Shinra Manor, carrying Lucrecia away as her shrill screams carried across the town, shouting one word over and over again.
"Reunion!" she cried. "Reunion!"
XXXXX
Tifa ran a rag across the counter, smearing specks of water along the wooden surface. The hum of music on the radio droned in the background while patrons chattered amongst themselves. Grabbing a towel, Tifa soaked up all the droplets until she could see her clear reflection shimmering off the varnish. With a satisfied smile, she threw the towel in the sink before checking her phone. There was still nothing from Cloud, though hardly to her surprise. Shaking her head, she opened up his contact and typed up a message.
"Hey, Cloud. You nev—"
She deleted it and started typing again.
"Hey, Cloud. Just checking in to see if everything is okay?"
That one didn't sit right with her, either. Clearing the chatbox again, she tried once more.
"Hey Cloud, if you need anything just let me know. BTW Elmyra says hi."
Tifa tilted her head side-to-side as she appraised the message. It wasn't perfect, but perhaps with some refining it might work.
"Hey, Tifa," a patron called out. "Could I get a Cosmo Canyon?"
"Sure thing, Bart," she replied, looking up from her phone. With her focus being shifted, she decided to forgo the refinements and just sent the message as it was before putting her phone back in her pocket.
The bartender grabbed a mixing glass and started working her magic. Around the time she added the lime juice, the music from the radio came to an abrupt halt and the murmuring of a news reporter buzzed at a tone barely audible to Tifa, at least until the word 'Nibelheim' was uttered from the speaker. With a perk of her ears she turned her attention to the radio and turned up the dial.
"—the details are still coming in, and there hasn't been any official announcement from the WRO yet," a smooth voice came out of the speaker, drowning out the chatter around her.
"Don't tell me it collapsed already," the bartender whispered to herself, recalling the region's doomed fate.
"However, based on the reports we received earlier today, it appears the clash may have been instigated by Deepground." Tifa's dark red eyes went wide.
"I'm sorry," another reporter chimed in. "Did you say 'Deepground'? As in the same terrorist cell responsible for the mass disappearances two years ago?"
"Yes, that's right, Dana," the first reporter replied. "Please bear in mind we haven't had any confirmation yet, and we're still awaiting a formal statement from the WRO, but yes it does appear that Deepground was responsible for the attack on Nibelheim earlier today. We also have reports coming in of an incident at the decommissioned mako reactor in Junon around that same time, but we don't know if there's any connection between the two events."
"No way," Tifa held a hand over her mouth as she stepped back from the radio. Fumbling through her pocket she pulled out her phone and opened up Cloud's contact.
"Hey, Tifa. My Cosmo?"
"Yeah, just one second, Bart!" she replied, hurrying out from behind the bar and moving to the front door. "I just need to step outside for a minute." Chiming the bell as she stepped out onto the sidewalk, she held the phone up to her ear and listened to it ring. "Come on, Cloud. Pick up!"
"Thanks for calling Strife Delivery Servi—"
"God damn it, Cloud!" she huffed, ending the call. "Can't you just answer the phone when I call you for once in your fu—" A loud whir buzzed through the air as a wave of WRO VTOLs and helicopters emerged from the horizon, soaring toward the ruins of Midgar. Tifa's long black hair billowed behind her as she looked up and watched the aircraft move toward the graveyard of a city in the distance, breaking off into several directions as they each headed for the destroyed mako reactors along the outer edges of the abandoned city.
Another loud buzz filled her ears, this one much louder than the rest as a VTOL stopped to hover directly above 7th Heaven before descending. The wind of its blades kicked up dust and debris, causing patrons to either peer through the windows or run outside to see what was happening.
Once the aircraft had landed in the middle of the street, the passenger bay door opened and Tifa was greeted by the all too familiar face of Reeve Tuetsi, although he bore a very unfamiliar expression.
"I take it you don't need me to tell you why I'm here, do you?" he tried to laugh, but both he and Tifa knew how insincere it was. "I imagine the news has already broken out by now."
"Is Cloud okay?"
"Cloud is fine," he replied. "So is everyone else for that matter."
"Thank god," she sighed. "What're they doing over there?" Tifa nodded her head toward the aircraft surrounding Midgar's outer edge. "What're they doing with the mako reactors?"
"There's a lot to explain," Reeve replied. "Before I do, though," he scratched at the back of his head with an awkward smile. "Do you think Elmyra would be willing to watch Marlene for a while?" Tifa's expression dropped as she turned back to look at 7th Heaven and all of her patrons who watched on wide-eyed and slack jawed with awe.
Bart's Cosmo Canyon would have to wait.
XXXXX
Cloud stood outside the passageway leading to the spiral staircase that descended into Shinra Manor's laboratory. Even from all the way up there in the guest bedrooms he could hear Lucrecia's screams and wails coming from below. Barret sat on one of the beds with his strong arms resting on his knees while Yuffie fiddled with the picture frames and Knick-knacks on one of the dressers.
"So she's been like that the whole time?" Cloud asked Barret, nodding toward the staircase leading to the tormented wails.
"Yeah," he nodded. His expression was difficult to read, as he hadn't removed his sunglasses since he and Vincent had returned. "She just kept screaming all sorts of crazy shit."
"What kind of 'crazy shit' are we talking about?"
"Lots of stuff, man," Barret replied. "Stuff about the planet screaming, saying that something was coming for her," as Wallace continued, Cloud stepped over to the window and looked down at a patch of pink flowers in the front yard, which greatly contrasted against the drab aura emanating from the dreary estate.
"And Sephiroth, too?" Cloud dared to speak the name that'd been clinging to the back of his mind for longer than he cared to admit. Yuffie's ears perked at the name and she stopped what she was doing before turning to face the two as Barret spoke up.
"Yeah," he nodded. "She mentioned him once or twice."
Cloud didn't verbalize a response. Instead he crossed his arms and looked back out the window to find a familiar girl in a red jacket tending to the flowers.
"So what do you think it means?" Yuffie chimed in. "Do you think he's back? Like, for real this time?"
"I don't know," Cloud replied, unfurling his arms and heading for the door. "But I intend to find out."
"Where're you going?" Barret asked.
"Getting answers." That was all he said before heading out and making his way down the stairs in the foyer. Without losing his stride, he held out his arms and pushed open the dual doors leading to the front yard, feeling the gentle wind on his face as he stepped outside.
Cloud scanned along the overgrown grass, at first seeing nothing but unattended pink flowers. However, he soon found what he was looking for in the form of two palms suddenly placed over his eyes, as though someone were reaching around from behind him.
"Guess who!"
"Aerith," Cloud replied. Instinctively he went to move the hands out of the way, but only stirred up dancing swirls of green as his hands passed through her arms. "Is now really the time?"
"Sorry," she replied as she pulled her hands back and walked into Cloud's vision. "I just figured you could use a little lightening up after everything that's happened today." The SOLDIER found himself caught in a moment of pause when he saw Aerith's face. Though her expression was light with whimsy, her eyes betrayed the melancholy lurking beneath.
"Don't be sorry," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "It's just like you said, lots of stuff happened today, and I'm just trying to wrap my head around it, is all."
"I bet," Aerith said, idly pacing in a small circle in front of Cloud. "Honestly, I'm still trying to make sense of it all myself."
"So you didn't know all that stuff was going to happen? You didn't know that Jenova had merged with the Lifestream?"
"Like I said, Cloud, I can't hear that part of the planet. It's all gone silent," her expression lowered into a solemn frown. "Now we know why."
"What about Sephiroth?" There was a hint of urgency in his voice that Aerith wasn't particularly surprised by, but all the same made her posture go rigid as he took a step closer to her with wide eyes that demanded an answer. "Is Sephiroth still alive?" he asked. "Aerith, if you know, you have to tell me!"
"That's just it," she shook her head, giving up on trying to maintain the whimsical facade. "I don't know. I can't communicate with that part of the planet. It just won't listen to my call anymore now that Jenova has merged with it. So if Sephiroth is there…" she looked up to Cloud with sullen green eyes that Strife couldn't help but be disarmed by. "You know I'd tell you if I could, right?"
"I'm sorry," he exhaled and stepped back. "I'm just a bit shaken up by all this, ya know?"
Behind the second floor window, Yuffie tilted her head a bit, watching Cloud as his lips moved while gesturing toward some unseen figure.
"Hey, Barret," she called.
"What's up?"
"Does Cloud normally talk to himself like that?"
"The kid's weird," he replied, laying back on the bed with his hands clasped behind his head. "I wouldn't think too much about it."
Back outside, Aerith moved toward the main gate. "Wanna go on a walk with me?" she looked at him with a small grin. "It might help get your mind off things."
"Honestly?" he replied. "I think a stiff drink is what I need right about now, but a walk sounds nice."
"Then lead the way, country boy," she threw a playful smile Cloud's way. "You don't want me getting lost out here, do you?"
"You know, guiding was more of Tifa's thing, right?" A small grin of his own finally managed to crack through his expression.
"Well since she's not here, I guess I'll just have to settle for you." She said, sticking her tongue out at the SOLDIER as she passed through the open gates.
"Fine," he replied. "I'll guide you, but it'll cost you."
"How much?"
"Two-thousand gil."
"Oh, come on!" She stomped her foot. "That's way too steep, and you know it!"
"How about a date, then?"
Aerith blinked, stifling back a bit with flushed cheeks. "Cloud, you can't go stealing my lines like that!" she laughed. "Okay, fine, but you have to decide where we go this time!"
"Gotta say, you're driving a real hard bargain here, Aerith." Cloud tapped at his chin for a moment as though deep in thought, to which Aerith responded with the widest doe-eyed expression she could muster. "Alright, fine," he conceded.
"Yes!" Aerith hopped in the air and pumped a fist.
Yuffie narrowed her gaze from the window, fixing her eyes on Cloud. "Barret, I think he's… I think he's laughing?"
"Oh hell," he sat up from the bed and moved toward the window. "That's never a good sign."
The two watched Cloud pass through the gates, and as he turned to walk up the winding path, there wasn't any mistaking it. Painted across his face as clear as day was a smile. Not just a grin or a sly smirk, but a true, genuine smile.
"So," Cloud started as he and Aerith made their way down the path through what little forest remained around Nibelheim. The woods were made up mostly of old trees with deep roots. Though their leaves were beginning to wither, their trunks remained strong and sturdy, while their bark was still thick as armor. "What's it been like, you know, being a part of the Lifestream and all?"
"It's…" Aerith looked up to the shade of dried leaves covering the sky, trying to find the right words. "Imagine swimming in an ocean, and feeling the currents washing around you, but instead of water, it's a sea of emotions. Feelings of happiness, sorrow, love, hate, all the things that make us who we are flowing around you.
"Sounds a bit overwhelming."
"It can be, sometimes," she replied, lowering her gaze from the leaves and looking to her guide as he walked alongside her. "I mean, you should know the feeling. It's like when you and Tifa fell into it back in Mideel."
"Right," Cloud said, recalling the memory. Even all those years later he could hear the screams of the planet raging around him, thousands of voices shouting around him in a cacophony of discord before finding himself within the oasis of his own subconscious. He couldn't help but recall Lucrecia screaming about the voices she was hearing earlier, and Cloud wondered if that was what it was like for Aerith as well. "Is it always so loud?"
"Not quite," Aerith smiled. "Only when the planet is angry."
"Like it is right now?"
Aerith didn't give an immediate response, instead stopping to kneel down next to a lone yellow flower on the cusp of blooming, somehow finding sanctuary within a land plagued by desolation.
"Cetra experience the Lifestream differently from everyone else," she said. "Most people become one with the Lifestream to find their Promised Land when they return to the planet, but the Cetra instead exist alongside it."
"Does that mean you can't reach the Promised Land?"
"Not quite," she said, running a hand over the flower, sending green streams flowing from her palm. "Our Promised Land might be a bit different, but it's just as special as everyone else's in its own way."
"How so?" Cloud stopped for a second and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm probably asking too many questions."
"No, not at all," Aerith said with a smile, her eyes not leaving the flower. "While the Cetra may exist alongside the Lifestream, sometimes it can be a little too much to bear, especially during times like these. Sometimes like you said, it can get just a tiny bit too loud," she stood up and turned back to the SOLDIER. "That's why we each have our own little special place, a place we can go to whenever things get to be too much."
"What's in this 'special place'?"
"I don't think I'll tell you just quite yet," she giggled. "A girl has to keep some secrets, after all," she spun on her heel and continued down the path. "But maybe someday you'll get to find out."
"Is Zack there?"
Aerith stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn to meet Cloud's mako-laden gaze. "He is," she replied.
"I see." Cloud's eyes fell to the grass beneath his boots as he nodded slowly to himself. "I'm happy for him."
A long silence held in the air as Aerith turned to meet Cloud. "You don't sound very happy about it," she took a step toward him and stooped over to put herself in Cloud's field of view, looking up to him with bright green eyes. "You're not jealous , are you?"
"Stop it!" Cloud shot back, averting his gaze from her, staring off into the trees. "I'm not jealous."
"I think you are," she replied, pressing with a sly smirk. However when Cloud's discomfort became too apparent to ignore, she eased off and reached out to touch his cheek. When her hand made contact, Cloud gasped as green sparks danced from the edges of her palm like fireflies in the night. "I'm so glad I finally get to meet the real you, Cloud. This Cloud is a lot cuter than that brooding tough guy that was always taking things way too seriously."
"Aerith," he replied shyly, falling deep into her gaze. "What're we doing? Like, what are we , exactly?"
Aerith gently pulled her hand away before clasping her fingers behind her back, swaying a bit as her eyes shifted just askew of Cloud, unable to meet him directly.
"I'm still trying to figure that out, myself," she said. "But what I do know is that I really enjoy spending this time with you again, even if it isn't quite like it was before."
Cloud opened his lips to say something, but a sudden buzz in his pocket cut him off.
"Who the hell is calling?" He murmured, pulling the phone out of his pocket.
"You going to answer it?" Aerith asked, peering over to see the name on the screen.
"Tifa?" Cloud felt his heart drop into his gut, recalling the promise he made her before he left, one he'd demonstrably failed to keep. "Shit!"
"Guess you're in the doghouse now, huh?" Aerith said.
"I'm about to be," he replied, looking down at his phone for a long moment before sending it to voicemail. "But it can wait."
"Are you sure you should do that?" Aerith made no effort to hide her disapproval. "She's probably just worried about you. You should call her back."
"I will in a second," he said, his eyes fixed on Aerith. "But first I need to know wha—"
"Oh, gee," Aerith smirked. "Sorry, Cloud, but I've got to go. You know how it is, tending to the Lifestream and all."
"Wait, Aerith!" Cloud reached out to her as the woman's form became shrouded in dancing swirls of green.
"We'll talk again later!" she replied, her body dissipating before Strife's eyes. "Until then, you should give Tifa a call. You don't want to keep her waiting."
"No!" Cloud tried to grab her, but she vanished into a haze of green. "I need to know something!"
"We'll talk about it later, Cloud." Her voice filled the air around him, but came from no clear source. "I promise."
With that, she was gone, and Cloud stood alone in the woods. He threw his arms out to the side in frustration, and huffed. Even all the way from the Lifestream, Aerith still knew exactly how to press his buttons.
With a sigh, Cloud glanced down at his phone screen, finding a text from Tifa that'd previously gone unnoticed. Opening it up, Strife read through the message before shaking his head with a small grin. After putting his phone back in his pocket, he looked up to the dried leaves above and shouted into the either.
"Your mom says hi, by the way!"