Chapter 4: Introductions

The teams went back to Balamb Garden, getting food for everyone, especially Aerith and Zack. While everyone made small talk and ate, the atmosphere was comfortable. Given this madness was occurring to everyone, it created an air of camaraderie, partially due in no small part to Lukas. The mutual insanity of each group had faced, individually, also helped form a quick but impressive bond. After everyone was nearly done eating, Cloud stopped and exhaled, worriedly.

"Problem?" Squall asked.

"Yeah," Cloud answered.

"I can see what else we have to eat if you're still—oh! You mean with your dead-friends suddenly being alive. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Seriously," Tifa sighed. "I'm just wrapping my head around the fact that Lukas is still alive." She looked at Zack and Aerith, "Now, you guys are back."

"Shocked us, too," Zack admitted, eating another bite.

"Can't say it's the craziest thing we've been through," Yuffie said. "But it's in my top 5."

"Hey!" Selphie smiled, brightly. "Mine, too!"

Yuffie smiled at Selphie. "You're cool."

"So are you!"

Barret glared at Yuffie and Selphie. He leaned over to Cid, "What's happening?"

"I don't know but it scares me," Cid answered.

"It's already on my nerves." Barret looked at Vincent, "Boy, do I feel bad for you!"

Vincent grunted, lowly.

Aerith finished her meal and exhaled, "That was delicious."

"Glad you liked it," Quistis smiled.

"Well, it was my first meal in years."

Cloud studied Aerith for a moment. While he wanted to give her more time, they need to start putting things together. "Aerith, I'm sorry to be blunt with this but…" he interlocked his hands. "…what the hell's goin' on?"

Aerith sighed. "It's… complicated."

"You're alive, Aerith. So's Zack. I just found my childhood friend, who I thought died in Nibelheim, on another world. We're millions of miles past 'complicated'."

"Fair."

"It's just the easiest way to put it, buddy," Zack said to Cloud. "This is really new territory we're into, here."

"But, to start, this is long overdue…" Aerith turned to Lukas, smiling, "Hi, Lukas."

"Uhh, hi," Lukas replied, sheepishly.

"No need to worry, man," Zack smiled. "We know you've been through a lot."

"Just a bit."

"Now, that you've had a few minutes to process," Aerith said, "what do you remember? I mean before coming to this world."

Lukas sighed. "It's only coming back in flashes. I barely even remember landing in the Lifestream. Just falling."

"What about after that?" Zell asked.

"Washing ashore on Balamb." Lukas chuckled a bit. "Where Squall found me."

"I thought you came off a boat," Squall folded his arms. "Hm. Who would've guessed you came from a whole 'nother planet."

"I mean, he can put up with you," Irvine shrugged. "That's gotta make him some kinda alien."

"Irvine!" Quistis gasped.

"I'd be offended if you didn't have a sniper success rate of 88%," Lukas sneered at Irvine.

Irvine growled, "I BUMPED IT UP TO 95 IN MY LAST TEST!"

"94.7, to be exact."

Irvine silently seethed.

Quistis giggled a bit.

"Same Luka," Zell chuckled.

"Okay, but seriously," Rinoa spoke up, "how is any of this possible?"

"Like that voice I heard," Lukas remembered.

"You did hear him!" Aerith's eyes widened.

"Yeah. It was terrifying."

"Yes. He is."

"You know him?" Rinoa asked.

"Not… entirely," Aerith admitted. "But… a little. Very little, to be honest, but I think I know enough for now. What I do know, for sure, is he's the reason all this trouble started. His influence affected us. It's the reason we're here."

Squall looked toward the entrance of the cafeteria. "You weren't the only ones affected."

Everyone looked to see Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and Ellone walk into the cafeteria.

"Ellone!" Rinoa smiled.

"Mr. President," Quistis nodded, followed by everyone else greeting them.

"Hello, all," Laguna waved as they approached. He looked at Cloud and the others, "I'm guessing you guys are our guests from the other world."

"Yes, sir," Cloud nodded before he and the rest of the AVALANCHE team introduced themselves.

"A pleasure to meet you all. I'm Laguna, president of Esthar." Laguna motioned toward his group, "This is Kiros, that's Ward, and she's Ellone."

"A pleasure," Kiros nodded.

Ward bowed, slightly.

"It's strange," Ellone studied Cloud, Aerith, and the others. "I've… seen visions of all of you. I feel like I know you a bit. And this is our first meeting."

"Again, not the weirdest thing that's ever happened to us," Yuffie stated.

"Ditto," Selphie agreed.

"So, you know something of what's happening?" Vincent asked.

"Slightly," Ellone answered. "More like… I know who's behind this."

"You, too?" Squall asked, causing Ellone to nod.

"His name is Yildrim," Aerith explained. "He's… something of a dark god, you could say."

"Right." Ellone smiled at Aerith, "So nice to finally meet you, face-to-face, Aerith."

Aerith returned the smile. "Same to you, Ellone."

Ellone looked at Zack and nodded, "Zack."

"A pleasure, at last, Ellone," Zack grinned.

"Okay, so, how did… Yildrim, right?" Selphie asked.

"Yes," Ellone confirmed.

"Okay. How did he pull this off?"

"We're still not entirely sure," Zack answered. "But we do know how he started it."

"He partially corrupted the flow of souls on our world," Aerith added, "what we call the Lifestream." She sighed. "Something happened on this world that enabled him to begin his work."

"Could've been anything," Quistis thought aloud.

"No," Ellone countered, regrettably. "I know exactly what it was. The Time Compression."

"But that only affected us!" Zell said.

"Not exactly. Yildrim… somehow… 'stole a ride', is the best way to put it. He saw it as his best shot. He exists in a world… between worlds. And… he used the Time Compression to see if it was possible somehow force things through time. And…" Ellone looked at Lukas. "He used you as a test."

Lukas jerked his head back.

Squall thought it all over. He shook his head, "The Time Compression was three years ago. I met Luka when we were 13."

"It was the best Yildrim could do. Through the distortion, he pulled Lukas through when he fell through the Lifestream on their world. How that time works for Yildrim, I don't know."

Everyone stopped, mentally calculating the math of that in their minds.

Zell groaned and rubbed his temple, "Time travel makes my head hurt."

"You and me both, kiddo," Cid agreed.

Aerith paced a bit, "But if Yildrim could properly control it, along with the Lifestream, the possibilities are… limitless."

"And none of those outcomes will be good for us," Zack added.

"Okay, but what's any of this got to do with Luka?" Zell asked.

"Yeah, I don't like the idea of him being a puppet for this guy," Selphie added.

"Me, neither," Cloud declared.

"Same," Tifa added.

"Yildrim needed to test the effects of jumbling worlds around," Aerith explained. "I'm not entirely sure he's completely done with Lukas."

"But he wanted to kill him," Ellone reminded.

"I'm not sure that's not still part of his plan."

"He's not killing him," Squall declared, immediately.

"That's a unanimous decision," Tifa nodded.

As everyone nodded in agreement, Lukas looked at them in confusion, "Why is everyone making a big deal about me?"

"Well, on our end, it's because you're literally the only person Squall willingly talks to who's name isn't Rinoa," Zell said, immediately. "If, for no other reason than that, I'd protect you with my life!"

"Shut up, Zell," Squall ordered. Zell and Irvine laughed, even Lukas chuckled a bit.

"We just found you after all this time," Tifa said to Lukas, "we sure as hell we aren't giving you up."

Lukas couldn't help but smile.

"So you were friends with Cloud and Tifa when you were kids?" Barret asked.

"Yeah," Lukas confirmed.

"When me and Cloud weren't allowed to talk after my fall," Tifa said, "Lukas was a go-between."

"Mom didn't blame Cloud for what happened to Tifa," Lukas remembered. "Said… everyone was overreacting for blaming him. She… said I could play with him because… she didn't see anything wrong with him."

Cloud smiled a bit. "Your mom was always nice."

"Baked the best sweets," Tifa remembered.

As the Nibelheim natives reminisced, Barret let a quick, mischievous smirk come to his face before forcing it down. Barret looked at Cloud, "How did you have a friend who was nice?"

"Why is everyone saying stuff like that?" Cloud groaned, while Tifa and Lukas did their best not to laugh.

"Does that question need an answer?" Zack sneered.

"I can't believe I missed you."

Zack chuckled.

Yuffie leaned her head to the side, "Wait. Does… that make Lukas another Sephiroth clone?"

Lukas stopped. "What?"

"Oh, yeah," Cloud said. "We hadn't gotten to that part."

"What part?"

"After Sephiroth attacked… he took whoever was still alive at Nibelheim and began experimenting on them. Injecting them with Sephiroth cells."

Zack leaned his head to the side.

Lukas froze for a moment. "I'm… a Sephiroth clone?"

"No," Cloud reassured. "You were injected with Jenova cells as a kid."

"After Sephiroth burned the town," Tifa whispered.

Zack blinked. "Ummm, guys? Sorry to say but… you got that wrong."

"What?" Tifa asked. "Wait." She paused for a moment, making a mental note of a few things. She lifted her head a bit. "No, wait. Yeah. Of course! What are we talking about? He couldn't be."

Cloud blinked. "That's right. You already said you fell in the Lifestream during the attack. Then… Hojo couldn't have infused you with Sephiroth cells. You were already here when he started those experiments."

"Yeah, Cloud, he wasn't there." Zack pointed at Lukas, "I remember seeing him in Nibelheim and all. But he was never a Hojo experiment."

Everyone paused.

"Then… what's going on?" Zell asked. "What's this Yildrim guy want with him?"

"And how'd he break those crystals?" Barret asked.

"Hold on." Squall made some mental notes of his own. "Luka… does this mean that you couldn't have lost your memories because of the GFs?"

Lukas shook his head, "I… I don't know. I've used them like everyone else, but… I don't know."

Aerith studied Lukas for a moment. She walked over to Lukas and kneeled in front of him, presenting her hands before her, "May I?"

Lukas nodded then put his hands inside of Aerith's hands.

"Uhhh…" Quistis said, nervously. "Question."

"Yeah, what are you doing, Aerith?" Tifa asked.

"I want to know what happened to him," Aerith answered. "I'm asking the Lifestream itself."

"You…" Yuffie stopped. "I almost asked if you could do that. Ignore me. This is just a lot today."

Aerith smiled. "It's alright, Yuffie. Today is very much a lot." She looked at Lukas. "Ready?"

"I guess," Lukas shrugged.

"Ummm…" Quistis raised her hand. "I'm sorry. Are we… sure this is safe?"

Aerith smiled. "I know you're worried but yes. This is safe."

"Aerith knows what's she doing," Tifa reassured everyone. "I promise."

Lukas exhaled and nodded.

"Uhh…" Quistis nodded, hesitantly, "O-okay."

"You can trust me, Lukas," Aerith promised him. "The last thing I'd ever do is hurt you."

"Thanks, Aerith," Lukas replied. "I trust you. I really do. It's just…"

"Believe me. I get it." Aerith closed her eyes. "Close your eyes. Breathe with me."

Lukas did as instructed, shutting his eyes and matching Aerith's breathing. Lukas felt something around him changing but he didn't want to open his eyes and interrupt anything. He needed answers and wanted to find them.

"Lukas," Aerith said. "Lukas, you can open your eyes now."

When Lukas opened his eyes, he and Aerith were standing on the bridge leading to the reactor near Nibelheim.

"My God…" Lukas whispered.

"Incredible," Aerith looked around.

"How… how are we here?"

"It's your mind trying to make sense of everything." Aerith looked around. "It… needs a starting point. Like… where they trauma started."

Lukas exhaled. "Great…"

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just…" Lukas sighed.

"I understand." Aerith looked around. "Strange."

"What is it?"

Aerith raised her hand and the scenery zoomed past them, while they didn't move.

"What the?!" Lukas exclaimed.

"Amazing…" Aerith whispered.

The scene stopped at the most unexpected scenes.

The City of the Ancients.

"What…" Aerith whispered.

Lukas noticed the feeling of Aerith's entire spirit shift. "Are you okay?"

Aerith blinked and took a breath. "Yes. Somewhat. Just… bad memories here. For me."

"What is this place?"

Aerith looked at Lukas. "You don't know?"

Lukas shook his head.

"So… you've never been here before, then."

"I have no idea what this place is."

Aerith shook her head. "This…" She swallowed. "…this is the City of the Ancients. The Forgotten Capital."

"Ancients?" Lukas asked. "You mean… like the old legends and stories?"

"Yeah." Aerith smiled. "I'm the last. We were called the Cetra."

Lukas's eyes widened. "My mother used to tell me stories about the Ancients. That's when she… she first told me stories about the Lifestream! That's how you've been talking to me!"

"Yes."

Lukas looked around. "But… how is this possible?"

Aerith scanned the landscape, then turned to Lukas, "I'm not sure."

The scene slowly fell away until they found themselves in the middle of a completely black area, surrounded by green streams of light.

"What are these?" Lukas asked.

"We're in the Lifestream," Aerith answered. "No. We're… in a memory of the Lifestream."

Gradually, the sound of voices whispering became heard. Lukas could almost make out the words but it was difficult to discern. The language was alien. But familiar. As though he once spoke it, fluently, but had forgotten it over time.

Aerith narrowed her eyes. "That… doesn't make any sense."

Lukas looked at her, "Aerith?"

"The… Lifestream. It's… calling you… the one who can help the change. But… how?" Aerith shook her head in disbelief, "There's just so much we don't understand. We'll have to dive deeper… at another time."

"'Another time'?" Lukas asked.

"You're dealing with so much right now, Lukas. The last thing I'm going to do to you is force you to go through this further. Honestly, you may not be ready. Your mind, your heart… you're still reeling from all of this. You need time."

"I think I can handle it."

Aerith shook her head again. "Not yet. Don't worry. We'll get our answers. We'll figure this out. But I will not hurt you to do it."

Lukas sighed. "Okay. Thanks, Aerith."

"You're welcome. Let's go back."

Aerith and Lukas joined hands again, closed their eyes, and felt a warmth wash over them.

They opened their eyes and found themselves back amongst the others.

"Everything okay?" Quistis asked, almost hastily.

"Yes," Aerith replied, as she and Lukas let go of each other's hands. "I… don't know still how he broke the crystals but… he's definitely got some of the Lifestream in him and it's connecting to him in a way I'm not used to seeing. This may be a first for me. But, the Lifestream's… been dormant inside of him for years."

"Is that how you saved me from Yildrim?" Lukas asked.

"Partially. When Yildrim opened the door between our worlds using you, he planned to kill you for those doors to open. We used the Lifestream to save you."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Selphie spoke up.

Aerith smiled, "You're welcome."

"Does this mean Yildrim knows you and Zack are with us?" Squall asked.

"That's a good question," Zack sighed. "I've got no idea."

Silence took over the group as their minds began to process this information they had. "So, what now?" Zell asked.

"We'll have to search for Yildrim," Ellone insisted. "He must be stopped before innocent people get hurt."

"Agreed," Laguna folded his arms. "I'll have our scientists scan for anything relevant and put info together."

"We'll call Reeve," Barret said. "…somehow. And have him do the same. Between all of us, we should be able to figure… something about this crap out."

"If it's a Lifestream issue," Cloud said, "then the answers could be on our world."

"We're not so sure it's an either/or situation, to be honest," Zack said.

"But that would be a good place to start," Squall admitted. "We need to start figuring this out. If your world's got some answers, let's get 'em."

"I like the intensity." Zack looked at Cloud, "Reminds me of someone."

"Okay, I get it!" Cloud groaned. "We're alike! Everyone's been pointing that out!"

Zack laughed. "That's got to be the loudest I've ever heard you!"

Cloud rubbed his eyes, uttering another groan.

Quistis looked at Lukas and calmly approached him. "Lukas… are… you okay with going back? I know it's your home. But… but… you know."

Lukas considered that. "Yeah. But I need to… I…" A strong urge struck him. He looked at Cloud and Tifa, "I know we need answers but… I wanna go to Nibelheim!"

Cloud and Tifa froze, their mouths agape. They looked at each other then back at Lukas. "Lukas…" Cloud said. "That…"

"I don't think you wanna see that," Tifa declared.

"No," Lukas agreed. "I may not want to… but I have to. Please. Just one last time. I wanna go home."

A/N: The scene with Aerith and Lukas speaking inside the Lifestream was a slight homage to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I know, it's not the best movie. But I did enjoy it for what it was and it had some great stuff in it.

So! Lukas is headed back home. What will happen? See you soon!