". . . don't have any other option."

Aerith blinked, realizing she'd missed most of what Lucrecia had just been saying. It wasn't that the conversation about the Council meeting from the previous day was boring—far from it—but rather that she couldn't stop thinking about last night.

Cloud had kissed her.

On the lips.

Her eyes had been closed, but she'd still seen fireworks.

The kiss had exceeded all of her expectations and closed out the date in the most perfect way imaginable. If someone had told her that the man she was in love with would have asked her out on a date, gotten her an incredibly touching gift, and then ultimately kissed her, she would have pinched herself to wake up from the dream. It had all been real though, as much as she was still struggling to process it.

They hadn't talked about it afterward. Once the fireworks show had faded away, they were left there next to the pond, with only the moon looking down at them. She hadn't known what to say and Cloud . . . well, Cloud had been his usual, shy self. So instead, they'd walked back to the Archmage's house, hand in hand, in what she'd hoped had been a comfortable silence—all while her heart had pounded away in her chest like a bird trying to escape its cage.

She couldn't help but wonder where he was right now and what he was doing with Vincent after the two of them had left together again earlier. Was he having the same trouble focusing as she was, or had last night not been a big deal for him? There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but at the same time, she was scared that doing so might somehow damage . . . whatever it was between them.

"Well, what are your thoughts on the matter?" Lucrecia asked. Her tone was one of wry amusement, and Aerith scrambled to try and piece together what she could remember from what the woman had been saying.

"I'm . . . sorry. Could you repeat that last part, please?"

Lucrecia smiled, but from the strain evident around her eyes, Aerith could tell she was forcing it slightly. "Look, I'm very happy for the two of you, but I really need you to focus. You've landed in a position of extreme importance and that unfortunately comes with a lot of unwanted responsibility."

Blinking, Aerith struggled to figure out how the woman could possibly know. "Sorry, what are you talking about?"

"Oh please, the way you and Cloud kept sneaking looks at each other over breakfast when you thought the other wasn't looking made it painfully obvious. Even Vincent noticed, and that man . . ." she trailed off. "Anyways, young love is a beautiful thing and I fully support you embracing it, but to put it bluntly, unless we deal with the threat looming over us all, the two of you aren't going to have much time together."

Cheeks burning, Aerith nodded her head. "I understand. You were talking about the conclusion the Council reached, but I must have misheard you because it sounded like peace talks were back on the table."

"No, that's correct," Lucrecia replied. "Your confusion makes sense, but the Council is fully aware of how poorly the first attempt went. This time, however, we feel that the presence of the Weapons will force the Humans to properly negotiate. Either we work together, or we all die, it's as simple as that."

Aerith bit her lip. She could understand the logic, but given how things had turned out last time, she wasn't terribly eager to try again. "Does that mean Vincent will be coming back with us to Midgar?"

Lucrecia shook her head. "No. His presence is needed here, to prepare the city for the approaching Weapon as best we can. You'll be on your own this time, but we have full faith in your ability to see this through."

A surge of panic raced through her. "Wait, what? Just me and Cloud? Why would they care what we have to say without a member of the Council present to speak for the Cetra?"

"What are you saying, child?" Lucrecia asked, her lips curving into a soft smile. "A member of the Council will be present."

Frowning, she tried to understand what the Archmage was saying. "Even if you give us the authority to speak on the Council's behalf, I doubt the Humans will recognize it."

"There's no need for us to give you authority when you already have it. As a Seer, you are a sitting member of the Council. We confirmed your appointment at the end of the session yesterday. That was one of the primary purposes of the meeting."

Aerith's mouth dropped wide open. A member of the Council? Her? She wasn't entirely sure what that fully entailed. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The title of Seer, is by its nature, an indicator of your role on the Council, just as Archmage is mine. Your surprise is completely understandable, given that it's a role that is almost always unfilled. As such, you are fully capable of representing us in peace talks with the Humans." Lucrecia's expression softened. "I'm sorry to place this additional burden on you when you already have so much to deal with, but we truly cannot afford to send even a single member to assist you. That said, there is something I have that I hope will be able to help."

Rising to her feet, she gestured for Aerith to stay seated before walking out of the room. She was gone for less than a minute before returning and settling down into her seat, gently setting down a red Materia on the table between them. It was something Aerith had never seen before—she'd never even heard of a Materia of that color. Before she could ask what it was, Lucrecia began to explain.

"As I'm sure you've already guessed, this is an incredibly rare Materia. It's the only one of its kind we've been able to locate, in fact, despite the records indicating that there used to be several more." She tapped it with one finger, her nail clinking softly against the sphere. "This is a Summon Materia. When activated, it will call forth a being of great power to assist you in battle. Should the worst-case scenario arise and you're forced to confront the Weapon head-on, my hope is that this will help swing the tide in your favor."

Aerith hesitantly reached out and picked up the Materia. She almost expected it to feel special, but it seemed the same as all the others she'd used in the past. "When you say 'being of great power,' what exactly does that mean?"

"Unfortunately, I can't answer that," Lucrecia said, frustration clear in her voice. "Unlike regular Materia, summoning ones additionally require the user to have immense amounts of magical power of their own in order to activate them. This one in particular requires more than anyone in recent history has been able to provide, myself included, so we're not sure who it's linked to. All I can say is that based on what we've been able to find in the records, it should give you at least some degree of a fighting chance against even a Weapon."

It was somewhat hard to believe that this little orb contained the power to go up against the monster they'd encountered, but considering how little they'd been able to do last time, any help was more than welcome. "Thank you, I only hope I'm strong enough to be able to use it."

"I'm confident you will be. As tempting as it might be to try experimenting with it, I'd strongly encourage you to only use it if necessary—we have no idea what will happen when it activates. Now, we should prepare for your trip back to the Human's city. I wish there wasn't such a need to be in a hurry, but," she sighed, "time is unfortunately a luxury in very short supply these days. Vincent and Cloud should hopefully be back soon with your traveling gear."

Her words almost seemed prophetic as the sound of the front door opening and closing was followed by the voices of the two men in question. A moment later, they both stepped into the room and Aerith's eyes immediately narrowed in on Cloud's lips—memories from last night once again flashing to the front of her thoughts—before flicking up to his eyes. He was blushing, which caused her to blush as well. What was wrong with her? The Weapons were on the verge of wiping out all life on the Planet, and here she was, acting like a lovestruck idiot.

It did feel nice though.

Lucrecia clapped her hands together, snapping Aerith out of her daze. "Right, it's packing time. You two can spend the whole trip back ogling each other. Come on, let's go."

Too embarrassed to argue, Aerith allowed herself to be herded out of the living room and into the front hall where Cloud and Vincent had left the supplies they'd gone to purchase. The next hour passed in a blur of activity as the four of them prepared packs for the journey back to Midgar. Despite Aerith's protests that they'd made the journey here with only the most basic of supplies without problem, Lucrecia had insisted that there was no way she was going to allow the Seer to depart empty-handed. And as much as Aerith would have been fine doing exactly that, she had to admit that it would be nice to sleep on an actual bedroll again, not to mention having some packed food so they wouldn't have to forage as much.

"You'll travel directly there?" Lucrecia asked once they'd finished and were ready to set out.

Aerith shook her head. "No, we'll meet up with some friends on the way. I'm not sure exactly where they are, but they'll be in the area and I can use my magic to help locate them."

"That's comforting to hear, I still feel awful that we can't provide any more help."

Vincent placed his hand on his wife's shoulder and gently squeezed, but didn't say anything.

"It's fine," Aerith said, shaking her head. "You've done so much for us already and I'm sure we'll be able to handle the rest." She looked over to Cloud, but instead of sharing in her confidence, he only looked concerned. Picking up her pack, she slung it over her shoulder and moved to the front door. "Thank you very much for your hospitality. I hope we'll be back with good news in a few weeks time."

Cloud followed behind her with his own, larger pack as Vincent and Lucrecia waved goodbye from their front porch. Together, the two of them wound their way through the city streets and passed beyond the marble walls—the noise of the city fading behind them as it was replaced by the natural quiet of the surrounding forest. Even though it was going to take them around three days to regroup with Seoda and the members of Avalanche, Aerith didn't mind. She was looking forward to the travel time with Cloud and planned to use the most of it to dig into exactly what their relationship was.

"You have to be fucking joking," Barret shouted, looking at her like she'd lost her mind. "Please tell me you're not actually being serious right now."

It was a struggle for Aerith not to grind her teeth in frustration. The trip here hadn't gone at all according to plan, and now having to deal with this was like the last gyshal green on the chocobo's back. She and Cloud had talked a lot during their time together, just not about the subject she'd wanted. The first night, after dinner, she'd tried to bring up the kiss, only to have Cloud bolt to his feet and then shout something about 'securing the perimeter' before rushing off into the surrounding woods.

The following day hadn't been any better, thanks to a larger-than-normal amount of battles with roaming monsters. Once they'd settled in for the night and finished eating, Cloud had immediately declared how tired he was before taking out and collapsing on his bedroll. It was obvious he was avoiding her, and it hurt. Did it mean the kiss had been a mistake? Did he regret it? She needed answers, but she also didn't want to make things even more awkward between them, so on the third day—yesterday—she'd made sure to stay as far away from the topic as possible.

"You think I'd joke about something like this?" she demanded, not holding back and putting a bit of fire into her voice as she focused back on the conversation at hand. "The last thing I want to do is go back and try to get Shinra to agree to work together with us after what they did last time, but we don't have any other choice!"

Cloud took a step closer to Barret, his eyes ice cold. "Hate Shinra all you want, but don't you dare take it out on Aerith. She's suffered just as much as any of us at their hands."

"They're right, Barret," Tifa said, stepping between the two men and pushing them apart. "No one likes this solution, but we already know that we can't stop that thing on our own, especially not if we have to worry about what Shinra might be doing at the same time."

"I get it, I do, but working together with Shinra?" Barret clenched his fist tightly, the muscles in his arms flexing. "It makes me fucking sick."

"No one is saying we have to forgive them," Jessie pointed out. "I certainly won't. But if the options are to work together or let Midgar be destroyed, then it feels like we don't really have a choice in the first place."

Seoda hesitantly approached the group from where she'd been listening at the edge of the clearing they were gathered in. "The Council wasn't able to provide any insight on a way to fight the Weapons? I get that they can't help us since they're also under assault, but . . . nothing?"

Taking a deep breath, Aerith shook her head. "At least while we were there, they weren't able to discover anything in the records. It sounded like they were having issues since the person most familiar with them wasn't around, but the Archmage doubted there would be much of use regardless." Reaching into her pack she pulled out the red Materia. "That isn't to say the trip was a waste of time. I received this, in addition to having another vision of us fighting against the Weapon."

"Did we win?" Biggs asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"We will win, but no, that wasn't part of it," she replied. They had to win, there wasn't any other option.

"What in Gaia's name is that?" Myrna asked from Barret's side, gesturing to the Materia.

Aerith tightened her grip on the glass sphere, its cool surface belying the power it contained. "A summon." Realizing that none of them would understand what that meant, she continued. "A being of immense power, bound to the will of the person using the Materia. If I'm strong enough, then it should help us in a fight."

"If?" Seoda asked, clearly confused. "Why wouldn't you be able to use a Materia?"

"Apparently, these ones require the user to have a huge amount of magic and can't be used by just anyone. The Archmage said even she wasn't able to activate this one so . . . we'll see."

Both Myrna and Seoda looked shocked at this, while the members of Avalanche clearly didn't understand what she was talking about.

"Fine. If we're doing this then what's the plan?" Barret asked. "I imagine we're not just going to walk into the tower like last time?"

"Hell no," Cloud snapped, glancing quickly over at her before looking away. "We're not setting foot in that place again."

Zack frowned, earning a sharp look from Cloud. "Hey, I don't disagree with you, buddy, but we do kinda have a time limit here. Shinra has already shown they're not exactly interested in negotiating, so it's only going to complicate things if we're limiting our ability to meet with them."

"What are you suggesting, then?" Tifa asked, holding her hand up to stall a response from Cloud. "You do have the most experience working with them."

He nodded. "I think no matter what, we keep Aerith out of the tower—and any of the other Cetra too. They're the ones Shinra is interested in, so we don't give them the option to pull off any shady moves like last time. That leaves those of us in Avalanche to meet with Shinra officials. Maybe we can convince them to hold the talks in a neutral location."

"Assuming they even agree to talk," Barret said, "why would they care what we have to say? Negotiation only works if both sides stand to gain. We don't have anything they'd want."

"That's not true," Aerith said, shaking her head. Cloud shot her an alarmed look, but she continued on. "They have a Weapon marching on their city. No matter how prepared they think they are, it's not going to be enough. So we help them with that. We tell them that if they agree to a peace treaty, and come to the defense of our capital, then the portion of the Cetran army that's still here will use the full power of its magic to help defeat the Weapon."

Tifa's brow wrinkled and she gave Aerith a confused look. "I thought you said the presence of the Weapon was making it so magic was out of the question."

"Shinra doesn't need to know that though, now do they?" She winked at them.

Barret chuckled, then broke out into a full laugh, shortly followed by the rest of Avalanche. "I like it," he said once he finished laughing, wiping his eyes. "I still doubt they'll hold up their end of the bargain, but it's worth a shot I suppose."

"Regardless of how the talks go, we still have to beat the Weapon," Tifa said, biting her lower lip. "If the army can't actually assist us, then . . . how do we do that? I doubt whatever Shinra is preparing will do much to help either."

Silence settled over the clearing as everyone looked at each other. Aerith knew they were all thinking of the last battle, and how poorly it had gone. She wished she had an answer, something that would boost their morale and cheer them all up, but the unfortunate reality was that she simply didn't.

"Where there's a will, there's a way," she said, breaking the silence with a forced smile. "We have valuable experience from our last encounter with it, plus I've got this Materia now. I'm sure we'll be able to pull it off." Her words were met with tentative smiles and hesitant nodding from the others. She would have preferred a more definitive reaction, but it would have to be enough for now. Doom and gloom certainly wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Well, if that's settled then we should head out. As Zack pointed out, we don't have a whole lot of time. Everyone should prepare for an intense few days of travel."

As the group broke apart and everyone went their separate ways to get ready for their journey back to Midgar, Tifa pulled Aerith off to the side. "Hey, is everything alright between you and Cloud?"

Aerith blinked. "Yes. I think? Why?"

"Oh, okay, good. I must have just been imagining it then. I thought things seemed a little tense between you two. Don't mind me."

"We're both just tired from all the travel." It wasn't entirely a lie, but she didn't need Tifa worrying about their relationship, especially when she wasn't entirely sure what exactly was going on with Cloud right now. Unfortunately, with the whole group traveling together now, there wouldn't be a good chance for the two of them to chat. As little as she liked the idea, it would have to wait until after the peace talks.

Waiting on others to take care of something she should have been able to handle perfectly fine on her own had never been one of Aerith's strong suits. So even though she'd agreed to Zack and Cloud's plan to leave her out of the initial contact with Shinra, she still hated it. That wasn't to say she wanted to step foot inside that tower again—she very much didn't—but the waiting was already driving her a little crazy, especially since there was every possibility this wouldn't work and then they'd be stuck trying to deal with the Weapon on their own.

With a sigh, she hopped off the swing she was sitting on, the entire structure groaning in response around her. When Zack had mentioned a neutral location she wasn't sure what he'd had in mind, but a dilapidated playground had not been on her list of things to expect. Apparently, it was where they'd played as kids, but Cloud had warned her that while she could sit on the one intact swing, she was forbidden from trying to actually use it. One look at the rusty chains connecting it to the bar overhead had been enough to understand why.

Biggs and Wedge waved from where they were standing guard near the road and she waved back before wandering over to the slide. It was damaged beyond use as well, but it did at least offer some shade from the oppressive heat of the sun beating down from above. She'd forgotten how much warmer it was this far from the forest. It was yet one more reason why this plan felt so fragile in the first place—she couldn't imagine the President of Shinra leaving his air-conditioned tower to come and talk in a run-down playground. As a result, it wasn't too much of a surprise when Cloud and the others came into view without a single member of Shinra with them. Stepping back out into the heat, Aerith hurried over to join everyone.

"No luck then?" Biggs was asking. "Guess we should have known better than to think Shinra would give a shit."

"I wouldn't say that," Zack said. He sounded surprisingly cheerful as he held out a flat, black rectangle she hadn't noticed him carrying.

"What's that?" she asked. It looked like one side of it was made out of glass of all things.

"New tech," Barret answered. "Apparently it's a mobile television of some kind. It'll let us talk with Shinra without either side having to worry about being backstabbed."

"If we can trust Rufus," Cloud said with a frown. "Wouldn't surprise me at all if it just blows up when you try to turn it on."

As one, everyone took a step away from Zack.

"Oh, come on. If they wanted to kill us they'd have way better ways than this," he said before pressing a small button on the side without hesitation.

Aerith instinctively reached for the air around her, preparing to throw up a barrier around the device at the first sign of anything going wrong. She didn't know how much it would help, but if it was going to explode, then surely it wouldn't hurt.

The device's screen flickered briefly before settling into an image of a room with a large table dominating it. Releasing the unused spell, Aerith joined everyone else as they gathered around Zack and the device. Sitting at the head of the table was an unmistakable man—the President.

"Well, well, if it isn't everyone's favorite terrorist organization. And is that Hojo's Ancient I see there as well? He's been raging about having her stolen away ever since the fallout from our last conversation. I don't suppose I could convince you to return her?"

"Cut the shit," Barret snapped. "We're talking with you for one reason and one reason only. I'm sure you're already aware, but that monster marching on the city is more than capable of wiping it out like that." He snapped his fingers. "Now, as much as we'd love to see Shinra wiped off the face of the Planet, the rest of the people living in this city don't deserve to meet that fate."

"So what are you proposing?" the President drawled, looking completely uninterested. "That we team up and work together for the good of the citizens? Shinra does not negotiate with terrorists who go around blowing up valuable reactors. Reactors whose sole purpose is to benefit those citizens you claim to care so much about. Besides, I'm sure you've already noticed, but with the Sister Ray in place, we're more than prepared for whatever danger that monster of yours poses."

"The Weapon isn't ours," Aerith said, already annoyed at the man's tone and ridiculous overconfidence. "They belong to the Planet itself and are working to end both this war and the damage it is causing by any means necessary. Even as we speak, another one is marching on our own capital. As a member of the Cetra Council, I am here to once again propose a peace treaty. Agree, and the Cetra forces in the area will assist in holding off the Weapon." She swallowed, forcing herself to go on. "Please. We can end this war on our own terms, without the Weapons forcing the issue."

The President went silent as he steepled his fingers, appearing lost in thought. Aerith only realized she was fidgeting nervously when Tifa reached out and squeezed her arm. Flashing the other woman a smile in thanks, she forced herself to take a deep breath. She'd done what she could, it was out of her hands now.

"Very well," President Shinra said, drawing a gasp from everyone, herself included. "If the threat is as dire as you say then it wouldn't hurt to have your forces join the defense of the city. Once the threat has been dealt with we can discuss what the details of peace between our nations might look like."

Before anyone could respond, the device's screen shut off with a quiet hum.

"I don't like it," Cloud muttered. "Best case scenario he's planning on using and then discarding us."

Aerith agreed, but since she hadn't expected the President to go along with the plan in the first place, she wanted to be hopeful. "We can't worry about things out of our control. For now, we've at least got some form of tentative agreement. We'll see how things turn out, but for now, we need to come up with a plan for dealing with the Weapon."

"Aerith's right," Tifa said. "Let's get back to Seventh Heaven and out of this heat. We've got a monster to take down."

Busy chapter this time around, as we cover three different scenes. First up we get a bit of Aerith's perspective on the ending of the date, as well as another scene between her and Lucrecia. The plan looks to be working together to save the world, but we'll have to see how well that works out. The Archmage does at least provide her with a new Materia that might be able to help. Wonder who's inside...

Avalanche isn't too thrilled about going back to Shinra, Barret in particular, but with no real alternatives they settle on a plan to at least not repeat past mistakes. Cloud was apparently avoiding Aerith as they traveled as well, something that Tifa seems to pick up on, and who knows what's going on in his head.

Lastly, Aerith ends up visiting the park from the very start of the story, and, shockingly, Shinra seems to agree to the plan to team up... Hmmm...

We've got the final midweek update next, and it's a PoV we haven't heard from in a very, very long time.

Next Chapter: Father