Chapter Sixteen

Sephiroth was stunned speechless by Tifa's announcement. He had done it again without even realizing it? And now an Old West town and its people had all been dragged to another world and a modern time period?

He slumped back, covering his face with a hand. "Oh no. . . ."

"Seph . . ." Zack laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You can fix this!"

"I have no idea how to fix it!" Sephiroth exclaimed. "I never knew what happened to me at Nibelheim or why I suddenly had so much more knowledge from the mako getting into my open wounds! And right after it happened, I lapsed into a nervous breakdown for three years. I had no chance to uncover anything."

"Yeah," Zack said sadly. "And then you got packed off here pretty much as soon as you came out of it, with no real chance to get better first."

"And Genesis started . . . nevermind." Sephiroth shook his head. "I'll need complete peace and quiet to try to meditate and sort through everything, and there's still no guarantee I'll find the answers."

"I know they're there, Seph," Zack said. "And if anybody can find them, you can. You always had the strongest heart of anybody I knew."

"Until my mind shattered," Sephiroth grimly pointed out.

"A lot of people wouldn't have got as better from that as you have," Zack said. "I know it's still an uphill road, but you'll make it! Of course you're still struggling when things keep going wrong every few minutes! You can't expect to be better right away."

Sephiroth sighed. "And the other problem is that it's unlikely we have much time. Shinra will immediately wonder what this town is and send people here to investigate." He frowned, pondering. "I need to put a barrier around it somehow. . . ."

"Then that'll be your first priority," Zack said. "Get the barrier up and then think how to send everybody back who's supposed to be over there while we stay here!"

"You make it sound so simple," Sephiroth grunted.

Zack smiled. "It's gonna be okay, Seph. I promise."

Sephiroth wasn't at all sure of that. But he had to cling to hope for this to work, so finally he just nodded. "Alright," he said. "I'll get started now."

Still worried, Tifa nodded and turned to leave. "I'll go back to Cloud."

"Should we leave too?" Aerith wondered.

Sephiroth smiled a bit at her and Zack. "Stay," he said. "The both of you have given me strength during these dark times. I need it now more than ever."

Zack grinned. "That's what we're here for! Okay then! We're staying!"

Sephiroth sat down on the edge of the bed. When he held out his hands, Zack and Aerith each took one and concentrated, sending their hope and strength and love to their dear friend. Sephiroth gripped their hands and closed his eyes, trying to focus.

This power . . . the power of the Lifestream. . . . All the memories and experiences of those who had come before. . . . It had entered his body through his open wounds and had reacted to the alien cells he carried. It was still there, still coursing through his veins. Through it, he was able to tap into all of the Lifestream. It was his gateway to all the knowledge of this planet. If he listened, it would tell him what he needed to do to form a protective barrier around the town.

It was love that caused his powers to activate, really. . . . Love of Zack . . . of Genesis. . . . But it always went haywire out of control. Could he harness that, control it, channel it into what he needed? He should be able to. If heartbreak always made it go berserk, he had to focus, to be practical, logical, to tell it what was truly needed. Love was . . . the most powerful weapon. He would use his love to protect Zack now, and Aerith, and everyone in this town. Shinra would not get to them. They would not.

As he concentrated, a green light went out from his body and out of the room, growing brighter and brighter. Unlike when it swallowed everyone in a mass force of teleportation, now it was washing over the town, covering it in a green-tinted dome. Then it was done and Sephiroth opened his eyes. "Did it work?"

Zack looked out the window. "I think so! You did something anyway, Seph. Let's go outside and check it out!"

Captain Harper met them at the front door of the hotel. "What's going on here, General?" he demanded of Sephiroth. "Suddenly the scenery around the town has completely changed! And now my men say they can't pass through this dome that's suddenly appeared!"

Sephiroth sighed, heavily. "I caused this, Captain. I caused all of it. I've brought the entire town to our world by accident. I just put up a barrier around it to protect it from Shinra while I try to sort out how to get all of you back to your home and keep us here in ours."

Harper rocked back in disbelief. "Your . . . world? Are you trying to say you're not even from Earth?!"

"Think of it as my madness if you want," Sephiroth said, "but you yourself just observed that the scenery has completely changed. Do you believe the technology for that exists anywhere on Earth right now?" He pointed above and behind them at the Midgar plate.

Harper turned to look at it. ". . . No," he admitted, and suddenly he felt very small. "It most definitely does not."

"I will work as quickly as possible to correct this mess," Sephiroth said. "No one from this other world should have been dragged into our problems in the first place. It's my fault it happened."

"All he wanted was to save my life," Zack spoke up. "But everything just went bonkers and I guess . . . our worlds started merging, like Hojo said."

"Maybe Earth is Gaia in a parallel universe," Sephiroth said. "I don't know. There has to be a reason why this planet in particular got mixed up with ours." He turned to go back inside. "I've bought us some time. I'll use that to start trying to unravel this disaster."

"You do that, Sir," Harper frowned. He still wasn't sure what to make of any of what was happening. Part of him still wanted to disbelieve it. But the plate was there and very real and he had no idea how advanced the human race would have to be to create such a thing. Sephiroth must be telling the truth about that. And if he was telling the truth about that . . . maybe everything else he said was also true.

Aerith smiled at Harper. "It's going to be okay, Captain," she said. "Sephiroth will fix this."

"He had better," Harper retorted. "We can't be away from our post for long."

"Technically, your post is here with us!" Aerith replied.

That was certainly true. But Harper was in no mood to let it go at that. "When we don't answer communications from the Army, they'll start wondering what's going on," he said.

Sephiroth pondered that. That sounded logical, and yet . . .

"How did our cellphones work back in your world?" he said. "They are technology that hasn't yet been invented there. Since our worlds are merging, it must be that the phones are still accessing the cellphone towers over here while working there."

Harper was silent as he tried to digest this talk of technology he was completely unfamiliar with. "What's your point, General?" he asked at last.

"Only this. Your telegraph machines may still work as well," Sephiroth said. "You may still be able to communicate with the Army." He folded his arms. "And if your world is a parallel version of our world, it's even possible that we're in the same space we supposedly left."

"You mean this spot in your world may be the same spot where Edge is in our world?" Harper asked.

"Exactly," Sephiroth said.

Harper shook his head. "It all sounds like nonsense to me," he said in frustration. "But that thing is up there, so I have little choice but to believe you."

Sephiroth nodded with a weary sigh. "I'm sorry this happened, Captain. It wasn't intentional. I'll go back inside now and try to fix this."

Zack and Aerith followed him back inside and up to his room.

"I wonder what happens if you do fix it, Seph," Zack said. "I mean . . . if our worlds completely separate again, won't all the fake memories and fake military records and everything else go poof?"

"I don't even know," Sephiroth said. "I didn't consciously do any of that when I sent us there. But I would assume that if I fix it, everything pertaining to us existing in that world will indeed 'go poof.' The records, anyway. I hope that there won't be any more altered memories."

Aerith bit her lip. "I wonder what really is the right thing to do," she said. "We can't let Shinra get into that world, but . . . what if completely separating them will also undo things like you and I meeting and . . . Zack surviving?" She looked worriedly to Zack.

Sephiroth stiffened. "I didn't think of that," he said in alarmed dismay.

"Hey, I'm sure that won't happen," Zack soothed.

"But what if it does?" Sephiroth fretted. "I still don't know if it was directly because of my sending us there that you lived."

Zack pondered that problem. "If it was, then . . . shouldn't Genesis come back to life now that we're here?"

Sephiroth started. "Will you go check?" he asked. "I . . . don't know if I can bear to look at him right now. . . ." He was just getting into a calmer state of mind to try to harness this power. He didn't want to risk another emotional upheaval at such a critical point.

Zack nodded. "Sure." He laid a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder. "I'll be right back." And he hurried out of the room.

Sephiroth sank back down on the edge of the bed. What was he going to do? Would repairing what was done really take away everything good that had happened? Would it be like resetting time and everything would go back the way it was to begin with?

No, how could it be like that?! That wasn't right. That couldn't be how things were meant to be! He wouldn't go back to how it was at Nibelheim. He wouldn't.

"Sephiroth."

He froze at the sound of Claudia Strife whispering in his ear.

"It's alright, Sephiroth. You won't harm anyone by fixing this. Go ahead and do what must be done."

He turned to look in the direction of her voice. "We will still have Zack with us, alive and well?" he asked.

"Yes," she assured him. "And you will all have your right memories."

Sephiroth finally nodded. "Very well." He would have to trust that was the truth.

Aerith was looking at him in concern and confusion. "Is someone here again?" she asked.

"Cloud's mother," Sephiroth said. "She says everything will be alright." He tried to relax and close his eyes. "I will try to unravel this mess."

Aerith took his hands again. "I know you will," she said.

Sephiroth looked moved, but confused. "I have mostly only caused trouble during the time you've known me, and yet you can still say this," he said.

"I've seen your caring heart," Aerith said. "That will give you the strength you need."

Sephiroth hoped she was right.

xxxx

Tifa felt overwhelmed anew as she went back into Cloud's room. Judging from what was going on outside, Sephiroth had managed to put up a barrier around the town. That was encouraging, but it was still a minor thing compared to what else he had to do.

Cloud looked over at her from the bed. "What's . . . going on?" he mumbled.

She hurried over to him and took his hand. "Something went wrong again," she said. "We're home now, but the town came with us. Sephiroth is trying to send it back and keep us here."

Cloud scowled. "He can't . . . do anything right."

"Oh Cloud. . . ." Tifa sighed. She had certainly been frustrated with this latest problem, and yet. . . .

"He saved you and Zack," she said at last. "He did that right."

"I guess. . . ." Cloud closed his eyes with a sigh. "Zack . . . loves him. . . . He . . . talked a lot about it. . . . Told me . . . lots of their missions. . . ."

"They must be pretty close," Tifa said.

"Yeah. . . . Zack's . . . happier now. . . . Being back with him. . . ." Cloud weakly shook his head. "I . . . don't know if . . . I can ever . . . stop hating. . . ."

"I didn't know if I could either," Tifa said. "But it's possible, Cloud. I'm going to hope for the best for you."

And deep down, she found it ironic. Cloud hated Sephiroth so much, and yet . . . it was the topic of Sephiroth that had finally got him to start talking.

Something else to be grateful to Sephiroth for.

". . . You cared about him too, once," she said then. "I guess that's why you hate him so much now."

"Yeah. . . ." Cloud stared off at the wall, his eyes haunted with the memories of Nibelheim.

xxxx

The doctor's office was vacant when Zack ran back inside. That was for the best, really; he would feel silly at best trying to explain what he was checking on.

And whatever he thought he might find, he didn't find. Genesis was still lying on the operating table, his wing draped over his upper body. Zack leaned down, searching for any signs of life. There were none.

He sighed as he straightened up. "Well, that idea's a bust then. . . ."

And he frowned as other thoughts came to him. If Sephiroth really succeeded in putting Edge back where it belonged while keeping them here, would they just be stuck in the wilderness? Cloud needed a bed to lay on and Genesis . . . well, he shouldn't end up deposited on the grass either.

He hurried back outside, looking up and down the street for someone he knew. To his relief, Shera appeared. "Mr. Fair?"

He smiled at her. "Hey! Uh . . . Seph's trying to fix what went wrong here, and I just suddenly realized that we'll all end up sitting in the grass if he does. Can you fix up the truck or something so we could get Cloud and . . . Genesis in it to ride into Midgar or somewhere? Probably best if it's not Midgar, really. . . . We should put as much distance between us and Shinra as we can right now."

She smiled back. "I've got some spare quilts and blankets in it from the hotel now."

"Great!" Zack said. ". . . Oh . . . man, I should tell Mrs. Gainsborough what's going on too. . . ." He looked in the direction of her house.

"I think I saw her heading for the hotel," Shera said. "She probably wants to talk to Aerith about it."

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Zack said, rubbing the back of his head. "I wonder what really will happen. . . . I mean, she's from our world here, but she remembers being there, and she has that whole house and all those nice things. . . . I hate for her to lose all of that. I wonder if that could be her real house from here and it just got transported there. . . ."

"It's possible," Shera said.

Zack sighed. What a mess. "Well, I'd better go back and check on things with everybody at the hotel. Thanks!" And he hurried back towards the hotel.

Shera watched him go, then turned to go back to Cid and Barret.

xxxx

A white feather slowly floated down to land on the floor of the operating room. A broad, well-built man stepped into the room, folding his two wings to keep them from knocking into anything in such close quarters.

Soon he had wove his way around the furniture and over to the table. He stood, looking down at the man on it with an unreadable expression.

His oldest friend . . . brought to this . . . and why. . . .

"Genesis?"

He reached out, taking hold of the lifeless man's hand.

"Genesis, wake up."

At first there was no response. But then, slowly, the wing fell away from Genesis's chest. The wounds glowed, closing but remaining raw and sore. Finally his eyes opened, and he stared in stunned disbelief at the other. "Angeal . . . ?"

"I'll explain later," Angeal replied. "We have to get out of here now."

Woozily Genesis got down from the table and swayed into his friend. Angeal supported him, hurrying as quickly as he could to the door.

"What is the hurry?" Genesis wondered.

"It's a long story," Angeal said. "Sephiroth brought the entire town to Gaia, but now he's trying to send it back. In case something goes amiss, I didn't want you stranded back with the town."

"No, I wouldn't particularly want that either," Genesis mumbled. "But how did Sephiroth cause this?"

Angeal gave him a look. "You really don't know?"

Genesis shrugged. "Obviously his powers must have gone wild again."

Angeal shook his head. "He was upset about you. His powers overloaded out of his grief over you being dead."

Genesis stiffened. "You're sure?"

A heavy sigh. "Genesis . . . you're trying, but you still don't really understand him or how much you mean to him. Yes, that's the strength of his caring for you—just as with Zack, it can cause mass teleportations across dimensions."

They left the building by the back door and stood there under the Midgar plate, looking up at it and around at the town.

Still dizzy, Genesis leaned hard against his oldest friend. "I . . . can't comprehend such a love," he said. "Not after all I did."

"He can't trust you right now, but he still loves you," Angeal said as he held on tight to Genesis. "To have Sephiroth's love is something special. He doesn't give it lightly."

Genesis rested against Angeal's shoulder. "I wish . . . I wish I hadn't hurt him so much. . . . Nothing I did can ever be taken back."

"No, it can't," Angeal said. "And there are things I've done that can't be taken back either. I would redo Modeoheim if I could. I can't believe I really put Zack through that. . . ."

"Angeal . . ." Genesis looked up at the dome as it began to pulsate. "Are we dead? I know you died. . . . And I was sure I died. . . ."

Angeal hugged him close. "You're not dead now. You've been healed enough to survive, but you'll need a lot of care to really recover from this."

"And yourself?"

Angeal rested his cheek on Genesis's head. "Could I touch you if I'm dead?"

"I wouldn't know," Genesis said. "Perhaps death is not what we think it is."

Angeal looked out across the town as a tumbleweed rolled past. "A lot of things aren't what we think they are."

". . . I'm glad I got to see you again," Genesis said quietly.

"Yeah," Angeal said. "I'm glad too."