The forest stretched out on all sides beneath Aerith. She was rapidly approaching a large clearing with a huge metal structure in the middle—one of Shinra's reactors. The reactor, she realized, the one everyone had been discussing back in the bar. Despite knowing that she was having a vision, Aerith was unable to do anything to control it, finding herself forced to watch what was happening.
As she neared the clearing, she saw a group of people gathered in the trees on the border. A moment later she was close enough to recognize them as everyone from Seventh Heaven—herself included. It was the first time she'd ever had a vision where she was also in it, and the experience was extremely disorienting.
A large discussion appeared to be happening based on everyone's body language, but she wasn't able to make out any of what was being said. In fact, nothing much of anything was happening and Aerith began to wonder why she was here and what this vision could possibly be trying to tell her. Was it simply a sign that going to the reactor was the right decision? While it was certainly an option, it felt far too . . . simple. All of her previous visions had been of important moments that ended up having a large impact on things to come.
As the scene dragged on, it was finally disturbed by a low, heavy thumping noise. At first, she felt like she'd imagined it out of a desire for anything to happen, but it gradually grew louder and louder. No one else seemed to be able to hear it from their complete lack of any reaction until one, massive thump rang out, causing the entire forest to shake and sending birds screaming into the air.
It happened in the blink of an eye, fast enough that her brain struggled to process what had just happened. One moment Cloud had been standing there on the outskirts of the group like he usually was, not really participating in the conversation but clearly listening. The next he was just . . . gone. It was like the ground under him had opened up and swallowed him whole.
She screamed, and everything went black.
Aerith woke with a gasp as she surged upward into a sitting position. The bright sunlight shining through the window of the room she found herself in caused her to blink rapidly as she struggled to remember where she was. As the last of her drowsiness faded away, she recognized the guest room Tifa had offered her the night before. The amount of light filtering through the curtains was confusing, though—they'd planned to wake shortly after sunrise and regroup with the others at the bar. Why hadn't Tifa woken her?
Climbing out of bed, Aerith slipped her dress back on and quickly made the bed before stepping outside the room to track down her host. She didn't have to go far.
"Ah, finally awake, sleepyhead?" Tifa asked with a light smile. She halted in the doorway at the far end of the hall where it connected to the kitchen. "I figured you'd slept long enough and thought I'd try giving you another wake-up call but I guess there's no need. Can I interest you in a quick breakfast before we head out?"
Aerith blinked in surprise. "You tried to wake me?"
"Yup. Knocked on your door pretty hard, but you must have been really out of it. Given everything that happened yesterday I figured you probably needed all the sleep you could get. I let the others know we'd be a bit late so there's nothing to worry about."
She imagined it had to be a result of the vision she'd had, Aerith couldn't think of any other reason why she would have been able to sleep through someone trying to wake her up when she was normally a relatively light sleeper. "Breakfast sounds good, but do you have anything I could eat while we move? I need to let everyone know that we have to change our plans, we can't go to the reactor."
It was Tifa's turn to look surprised. "Oh? That's not something I was expecting to hear since you seemed to be on board with things last night. What happened?" she asked, beckoning for Aerith to join her in the kitchen. "As for breakfast, we're unfortunately a bit low on fruit, but I've got some apples still. Fresh food is slowly starting to become a problem again, sorry."
Aerith shook her head as she accepted the apple Tifa held out. "Don't apologize, this is great, thanks." Taking a large bite, she did her best not to wince. The apple had moved beyond the nice crisp stage and descended slightly into mushiness. Beggars couldn't be choosers though, and it honestly wasn't that bad. "I had a vision," she explained as they left the house. "We were all at the reactor and something . . . horrible happened."
"Something horrible? What does that mean, exactly?" Tifa asked as they hurried through the mostly empty streets of the city.
"I don't know," Aerith admitted, frustration coursing through her. "Sometimes what I see is exactly what happens and other times it's . . . I guess it's more, symbolic, y'know?"
Tifa shot her a bemused look over her shoulder. "It sounds complicated, more than anything else. Basically, something bad is going to happen if we go, right?"
"Yup." The one problem was, now that she'd already had the vision, Aerith wasn't sure if it was even possible to change it. Not that she was going to let that stop her from trying, especially if that meant preventing something bad from happening to Cloud.
Before too much longer, they arrived at the bar and hurried up the stairs to make their way inside. Everyone else was already gathered—seated in various small groups around the room—and appeared to have been mid-conversation. It also looked like they'd had pancakes for breakfast, judging from both the plates in front of everyone as well as the large serving plate stacked high with them on the countertop. Aerith's stomach rumbled, making its opinion on what it wanted clear, but she ignored it for now. Food could wait—warning everyone about what was coming took priority.
"Well look who it is," Barret said, turning in his seat to face them. "We were wondering when you two were planning to show up—some much more worried than others."
Aerith snuck a glance at Cloud, but he appeared to be extremely focused on his empty plate and wasn't looking at her. The way he was stirring around the syrupy remains was almost suspicious—as if he were intentionally doing his best not to be noticed. Of course, it was also entirely possible she was imagining what she hoped to see.
"Sorry about that," Tifa apologized. "It's for good reason though, Aerith has something important to share." She smiled encouragingly at Aerith before heading behind the bar to help Myrna.
"Well, while you were gone, we all came to a consensus that the plan to target the reactor is our best course of action," Barret said. "Now that you're here, we can start preparing to head out."
Aerith didn't consider herself a shy person, but it was still mildly discomforting to have so many people all turn their attention to her at once. "It's . . . actually directly related to that. We shouldn't go."
Before she could continue to explain why, Barret spoke up again. "What? Why? Your support for the plan last night was a large part of why we decided to move forward!"
"That was before the vision I had last night," she explained, noticing that Cloud, Vincent, and her father all perked up. "I saw us all gathered at the reactor and then . . . Cloud just vanished into the ground, like he was swallowed. It can't be a coincidence that after all these years I'd suddenly have a vision again. We should come up with a new plan instead."
Barret grunted, a look of frustration on his face. "Is it really all that surprising though? You're rescued by the guy you have feelings for and then you dream of him later that night. That seems pretty normal and unremarkable to me."
Aerith could feel her cheeks burning and she made absolutely sure not to look over at Cloud this time. "What? No, that's not what this is about. I can guarantee you that if we don't do anything and continue forward with this plan, something bad is going to happen."
"You'd be wise to not ignore the words of a Seer," Vincent called out, surprising her.
"You keep using that word. I assume it means something significant, but it doesn't hold any inherent weight to me," Barret said, sounding exasperated. "What exactly is a Seer and why are they so damn important?"
Oddly enough, Aerith didn't feel fully qualified to answer that question, but everyone in the room—including the Cetra—was looking directly at her. "Seers are exceptionally rare mages, capable of welding powerful magic and also, occasionally, are granted with visions of both the past and the future." She wasn't entirely positive about the past part, but it would certainly explain the one vision she'd had of the large battle that clearly wasn't this current war. "My mother said one was born only every few centuries, so as a result, despite being one, I honestly don't know as much as I'd like to about it. What I can say is that I have had visions and they have, without failure, proven to be real. I can't say exactly what will happen if we go to the reactor, but I'm confident it will be nothing good."
There was a long moment of silence as everyone seemed to digest what she'd said. Aerith took the chance to sneak a look at Cloud, but to her dismay she found him missing—the seat he'd been in earlier empty. Where had he gone? Had she bored him? Maybe he'd just needed to use the restroom?
"I'm confused then," Barret said, looking exactly that and forcing her attention back to him. "If your visions show you the future, and they've all come to pass, then doesn't that mean we're going to be at the reactor, no matter what?"
Aerith blinked. "I . . . I don't know," she said softly. Could she change the future she'd seen? The past was obviously set in stone, but she wanted to believe that the future wasn't. "Nothing is forcing us to go. I don't want Cloud or anyone else to get hurt if it's avoidable."
"Thanks for worrying about me, but I'll be fine," Cloud said from close behind Aerith, startling her.
She spun around to find him standing there with a plate piled high with syrup-covered pancakes on it.
"You should eat something, you're looking a little pale," he said, holding it out to her—his cheeks faintly flushed and his eyes studiously avoiding hers.
Before she could say anything in reply, her stomach chose exactly that moment to loudly announce its thoughts on what her response should be. Embarrassed, Aerith accepted the plate from him. "Thank you." The mountain of pancakes was more than she felt like she'd be able to finish, but she appreciated the thought behind it. Taking the nearest available seat, she dug into the food—pleasantly surprised with how good it tasted—while listening to the others try and settle on a course of action.
"Well, what now?" Jessie asked, throwing her hands in the air. "I don't think any of us expected this not to be a dangerous operation so, at least in my mind, this doesn't change things."
"That doesn't mean we should just charge forward," Tifa said, glancing over at Aerith. "It feels a little stupid to ignore a warning from someone who can literally see the future."
Barret knocked heavily on the table he was sitting at—drawing everyone's attention—before getting to his feet. "Will we, won't we, I'm sick and tired of this shit. We can't keep going back and forth like this. Let's have one final vote and be done with it."
"Language!" Myrna called out in a singsong voice from the back of the room, earning an amusingly embarrassed look from her husband.
Clearing his throat, Barret continued. "All those in favor of going to the reactor, raise your hand."
Aerith supposed she shouldn't be too disappointed as she watched Barret, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, and even Zack raise their hands—after all, they'd only just met her and she knew what she was saying would sound crazy to them. The last one hurt the most, but it had been Zack's plan in the first place. For his part, Cloud looked like he wanted to raise his hand, hesitating as he looked in her direction. She gave him a smile and a nod in return. As much as she feared what would happen, the last thing she wanted to do was force someone to listen to her.
Once Cloud's hand went up, Barret gave a firm nod. "Alright, it's decided then, we move forward with the plan to assault the reactor. Anyone who doesn't want to come doesn't have to, we'll need people to stay with the non-combatants regardless."
"I'm not letting you guys do this without me," Tifa said with a huff, walking out from behind the bar. "I believe what Aerith is saying, which is why you're going to need all the help you can get."
"Knew we could count on you," Barret said with a grin. "I imagine there's no one else?"
Shaking her head, Aerith rose to her feet. "No, if we're still going to do this then I'll be coming along as well. I was there in the vision, after all."
"In that case, I'll stay with Gast, Myrna, and the little one as protection," Vincent said from where he was leaning against the wall. "Both Eola and my wife would have my head if they heard I'd attacked a reactor, and I'd prefer it to stay where it is."
With the plan seemingly settled on, everyone began preparing to leave. Since there was nothing she needed to get ready, Aerith glanced around, wondering what she could do to help when she noticed Barret's wife approaching.
"It makes me happy to see the Seer so thoroughly enjoyed my pancakes," Myrna said with a warm smile.
Aerith looked down at her plate, noticing in surprise that it was completely picked clean. Had she really been that hungry? "They were delicious, but please, just Aerith is fine."
"Of course. I also wanted to apologize for my initial reaction. I know you're still trying to figure out everything on your own, it's just . . . I never imagined I'd be alive when the next Seer was born, much less have the honor of getting to meet them."
"It's certainly been a lot to deal with," Aerith replied with a laugh. "And there's still so much I don't understand. Right now likely isn't the best time, but I'd love to talk with you in-depth about how you use your magic."
Myrna nodded, a sad look crossing her face. "I'd be more than happy to, dear. I know that's a role Ifalna should have filled, but I heard what happened. I'm so sorry for your loss."
"You knew my mother?"
"Not as well as I would have liked. I talked with her occasionally when we were growing up, but as a village Elder she was widely known for her kindness and her wisdom."
Aerith blinked her eyes rapidly. "Thank you. She was . . . I . . . thank you."
Myrna reached out and squeezed her arm comfortingly. "Hang in there. Now, It looks like my daughter just got her hands on the syrup bottle, so I need to go deal with that. We'll chat more later."
The preparations to depart appeared to mostly be complete as Myrna hurried to the rear of the bar where Marlene was licking her syrup-covered fingers. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her arm, Aerith made her way over to where Tifa, Cloud, and Zack had loosely gathered to see if there was anything she could do to help. They had a long trip ahead of them, and she knew that whatever awaited was sure to push them to their limits.
Leaning against an oak tree, Aerith watched as the others spread out along the tree line that skirted the clearing where the reactor loomed like a harbinger of death. They'd left Vincent and the others back near a small lake, about an hour away. The hope was that it was far enough to keep them from getting involved in anything that might happen, while still being close enough that they could reach them quickly in the event of an emergency. Despite Barret's disbelief in her visions, he appeared to be acting with an abundance of caution—likely thanks to Myrna.
It was just over two weeks since Aerith had last been here, back when Zack had stumbled into her and kicked off this crazy journey. While there was no sign of either army at the moment, the clearing plainly showed the ravages from all the battles that had taken place. Burnt craters and deep gouges in the soil marked where the fighting had been the worst—signs of the incredible power being used on both sides.
"Damn, it looks like a herd of behemoths was set loose here," Barret muttered, looking out over the devastation.
"Where are the armies?" Tifa asked nervously. "This entire plan hinges on Shinra being too distracted to have time to bother with us."
Zack was frowning as he scanned the clearing. "I'm honestly not sure. The command tents are all gone. That says to me the fighting has moved elsewhere, but the question is where to."
A spike of worry shot through Aerith. She hoped Seoda and the rest of her medics were safe with the Cetra army, wherever it was.
"Guys," Jessie called out, sounding nervous and drawing everyone's attention. "Doesn't that reactor look finished to you? The lights are all off, but I don't see any active construction underway."
"Jessie is right, boss," Biggs said, lowering the binoculars he'd been using. "There's no activity at all on the outside of that thing. No one is going in or out of the entrance either. Wait, something's happening now," he finished, jerking the binoculars back up to his face.
With a low rumble that Aerith could have sworn she felt in her gut, the lights on the outside of the reactor flickered into life, moving from the bottom to the top until the entire thing was glowing with the sickly green light of mako.
"Shit," Barret said. "So much for us being able to attack before they manage to turn it on. This complicates things."
"We should come up with a new plan," Tifa urged. "We're not prepared to deal with all the defenses they must have built into that thing that are all going to be fully operational now."
Aerith agreed with her, but she was too focused on paying attention to their surroundings—and keeping an eye on Cloud in particular—to join the conversation. There was no way her vision hadn't meant something, the question was just what.
"We could wait a bit and see?" Biggs suggested. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least if a project that huge had something go wrong. If the power turns off in a few minutes we could still move forward with the plan."
Zack grunted. "That's pretty wishful thinking, man. Shinra has been working on this thing for years. I doubt they would have activated it if they weren't confident it was going to work. What are the odds that something—"
There was a low thumping noise that immediately caught Aerith's attention. Zack trailed off mid-sentence, glancing around in confusion.
"The fuck was that?" Barret asked.
"It's happening," Aerith whispered, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She just wished she knew what it was.
Another thump rang out, this time causing the ground under their feet to lightly vibrate.
"It's not going to blow up, right?" Wedge asked nervously. "Someone please tell me it's not going to blow up."
"Don't be ridiculous," Barret snapped. "You heard Zack. Even if Shinra are assholes, they're at least competent assholes. There's no way they'd be stupid enough to turn something on only to have it detonate right afterward."
The ground rocked under them, nearly throwing Aerith off balance. The others all struggled to stay on their feet as well, as a third thump resounded, even louder than the last.
"We need to get out of here," Cloud said, looking over at her. His eyes were filled with worry, matching exactly how she felt. "Aerith was right, we shouldn't have come."
Before anyone could respond, there was a fourth thump, this one as loud as all of the previous ones combined, and then the ground surged upward, sending everyone flying into the air before they came crashing back down. Immediately afterward, a loud, metallic scream filled the air—causing a spike of fear to race through Aerith.
Cloud. Where was Cloud?!
Jumping back to her feet, she quickly scanned the surrounding area and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw him getting to his feet not too far from where she was. The rest of the party seemed to have escaped with only minor bruises as well, but Aerith's heart was still racing—none of this felt serious enough yet to warrant a warning from her visions.
"Holy shit . . . Are you guys seeing this?" Biggs shouted. His tone could only be described as horrified awe, and as Aerith spun around she realized exactly why—and now understood what her vision had been about.
Towering above them and making even the reactor look small was a monster the likes of which she'd never seen before. From the massive hole under it, she guessed that the thumping from earlier must have come from it burrowing up out of the ground. It stood on four legs and had enormous black wings jutting outward from its back. Two arms with wicked claws on the end swung through the air and its draconic head unleashed another roar that forced Aerith to clap her hands over her ears. Glowing red eyes locked onto the reactor and with a step that shook the ground it began to move closer.
"It's a Weapon," Aerith said in a daze, hardly believing what she was seeing. Even though she'd only heard stories of them as a child, there was no room for doubt as to what this creature was.
Barret glanced over at her with a frown on his face. "A weapon? Made by your people? How the hell is the war not already over if you have things like this?"
She shook her head. "The Cetra didn't make this—the Planet did. As far as I know, no one has ever seen one. They were fairy tales, stories told to children to get them to go to sleep on time."
"They?" Wedge asked, his eyes going wide. "Are you saying there's more than one of these things?!"
"I don't know," Aerith said, desperately wracking her brain for everything she could remember from the stories. "I think there are supposed to be five of them, but let's hope for all our sakes it's just this one."
"It seems pretty focused on the reactor, at least," Jessie called out from the edge of the clearing. "It might take care of it for us."
"Take care of it?" Tifa asked, sounding incredulous. "Our plan was to disable it like we did with the other one. That thing doesn't look like it knows how to do anything other than complete and utter destruction!"
Barret shrugged. "Would that be such a bad thing? Good riddance I say."
"Barret! There are hundreds of innocent people inside that reactor! As much as you hate Shinra, you can't be okay with letting all of them die. We have to help them!"
"I . . . Damnit, what are we supposed to do then, Tifa? Fight that thing?! To protect Shinra?"
Aerith didn't think they stood any chance of beating a Weapon, but she understood where Tifa was coming from. None of the people in that reactor deserved the impending fate that continued to slowly draw ever closer. "Not fight it, no. We just need to distract it long enough for them to evacuate."
There was a brief moment of silence as everyone glanced around.
"I'm with Aerith," Cloud said, breaking the silence. "If the situation were reversed, I have no doubt Shinra would leave us to die. But we're not like them. We're better than they are, and this is how we show it."
Aerith shot him a warm smile, overjoyed to hear his stance on the matter.
"A distraction sounds good to me," Zack said, cracking his knuckles. "No one's going to complain if we end up taking it down though, right?"
"I can't believe we're doing this," Barret muttered. "Fine then, let's go before I realize just how stupid this is."
As the group broke out of the forest and charged into the clearing, Aerith raced after them—the Weapon ominously casting them into shadow as its immense size blocked out the sun. She desperately hoped they weren't making a horrible decision.
Hehe, surprise! The last reference to the Weapons was aaaages ago, with Ifalna teasing Aerith about them to get her to go to sleep so I imagine this wasn't something many people saw coming. Turns out they're real though, and now the party has to figure out how to deal with one. Aerith seems to be having visions again, after all this time, but most of Avalanche is dubious about her warnings. Now she gets to turn around and give them all a good "I told you so!" (not that she actually would). This, of course, completely upends their plans and now instead of attacking the reactor, they find themselves not quite trying to protect it, but at least seeing if they can save all the people inside. Well, except for Zack. Zack's just gonna teach this thing a lesson or two.
Next Chapter: Retreat