Start Date: June 23, 2024
Windwillow
Final Fantasy VII: The Next Horizon
Chapter Three: Tremors
Cosmo Canyon's artificial soul program, started half a decade earlier, had borne great results. Whole forests had been revived and rivers now ran where desolate wasteland once reigned. To accomplish this large cylinders, filled with a special concoction of mana and filtered spring water, were inserted into the Planet almost as if they were being planted like trees. Inside the tubes were condensed records of the world's inhabitants, filled with the memories, emotions, and dreams of the people who contributed to the project. A similar concept to Spiral Spheres was employed in that they condensed memories and thoughts into a simple saline solution and charged it with mana before they planted it in the ground. These thoughts and dreams, referred to as artificial souls, mingled with the Lifestream deep down below the Planet's crust and enriched it with new nutrients. While this method was unable to create sentient life, plant life and natural processes could be enhanced to a point where flush new forests and rivers could be grown from the earth.
Deep down below the Planet was the ever-so-precious Lifestream. In a far corner of that life-bringing circulatory system the Planet had sketched out a repository for the artificial souls, a sort of underground library filled with crystallized thoughts that could be displayed to anyone who wished to look back through their loves ones' lives. While the Lifestream was meant to merge into a single consciousness this development began to draw souls away from the river of life and had diverted valuable resources from the Planet's control. Because the souls that made up the Lifestream could again touch their beloved family's memories there was a diversion of resources that created more of a loop than a stream. Souls sailed the seas of the Lifestream by drifting from island to island, islands filled with experiences and dreams that the living had donated from high above the crust. After a brief diversion to the realm of artificial memories the spirits of the Lifestream would again merge together into a single unit... until the desires of its inhabitants drew them from the sea's natural flow.
This blasphemy had threatened the very function of the Lifestream itself. Without bonds to unite the souls into a river the waters were diverted into dams that threatened to upset the balance of life itself. It was because of this that Sol and Luna had so frowned upon the artificial soul project. All life in the universe cycles through its parent Planet, and in this one world alone good and evil, up and down, and everything that balances Yin and Yang had been thrown off kilter. It was for this reason that they'd begun their scheme, so as to show to the world of Gaia that their twisting of nature had consequences.
There would be balance or there would be destruction. All life is destined to cycle endlessly throughout the universe and to upset that simple law of nature was to challenge the gods themselves, an act of audacity that could scarcely go unpunished. Whether there were more benevolent gods, it was yet to be known... but the ones who wielded the blades of heaven were the ones whose judgment mattered most. The sun and the moon encircled reality, and when the flow is disrupted the rotting limb must be removed.
Scene One
Situated inside a corner of the Lifestream was the library of artificial souls. The thoughts and dreams, represented by glimmering crystals of multicolored glory, reposed inside a single large chamber guarded by the Planet's protector Minerva. With her protection gone, however, an interloper was able to invade the library. Sephiroth slowly phased into existence inside the chamber of memories and stepped foot inside the room where dreams reposed. The fiend went about his work with typical thoroughness, stepping up to the central star that guarded the countless worlds hidden inside the repository. He laid a hand on the shimmering orb and clenched his fingers tightly, long strings of energy slithering from the sphere and into his brain. As he scoured the library he carefully selected his victims, those unfortunate souls who he would capture and torture, by reading the memories of the living that had donated their souls.
As he crossed through the astral plane Sephiroth came across a certain X-factor, the Esper Hana, and scowled while believing that she was only an Eidolon knockoff that had no business dreaming the dreams of the Planet. Upon finding her Sephiroth scanned through her memories and latched onto a certain person who had great importance to her. He skimmed the library until he found his dead sister and when he did so he tightly clenched down on the sphere. Slowly, Sephiroth dragged from the orb the image of a beautiful young woman dressed in slacks and a t-shirt, long black hair tied in braids. When he'd finally manifested her the ghoulish fiend hurled her to the side, where she slammed into a far wall and slowly slid to the ground inert. His research continued, finding countless people whose memories would entice the living into his clutches, and steadily a large pile of hundreds of corpses began to take shape.
When he reached Elmyra's memories Sephiroth searched through them and found, as he expected, thoughts and remembrances of her daughter Aerith. Sephiroth slowly gripped onto his quarry and began to drag it out, but as her brown hair began to poke out of the sphere Sephiroth's hand twitched and he nearly dropped her back inside the star. Heedless, however, he withdrew a mirror image of Aerith Gainsborough and laid it on the top of the stack of bodies. In his search for servants Sephroth scanned the nightmares of the people, but found only petty fears and simple dread. Upon reaching a certain memory, however, Sephiroth found what he was searching for. From Ramuh's memories of his fellow Espers, Sephiroth selected and manifested a number of them and stored them inside a large column stacked with the bodies of what had once been living beings who once walked the surface of the earth. It would be with them that he would enact his plot.
He was so entranced in his schemes, however, that he only vaguely sensed a presence behind him. When Sephiroth turned his head to see who had arrived he caught a sharp blow to the teeth that staggered him and nearly shattered several of them. Sephiroth stumbled back drunkenly, staggered and fell as her image materialized in the center of the library armed with her trademark staff. Aerith stared Sephiroth down fearlessly and when he snatched up his sword and swung it at her she easily parried it, cast it aside, and slammed her staff deep into Sephiroth's gut, winding him and blasting him back several paces. As he came to rest and struggled to rise, the Ancient scornfully tapped the butt of her weapon on the ground and put a hand to her hip.
"I never thought I'd see your ugly mug again..." growled Aerith.
Indeed, she had hoped she wouldn't, but had never discounted the possibility. Now, however, as an envoy of the Lifestream Aerith possessed more power within it than Sephiroth could ever naturally boast. Even knowing that, however, Aerith kept her guard up. Sephiroth would always be Sephiroth. No matter how powerful she felt she was and despite the authority she now boasted, it would be a fool's errand to underestimate the son of a bitch.
"I want an explanation. What are you doing?" Aerith snarled. "And if you want to test me, I'll be glad to thrash you some more. I'm more powerful than you are here."
Sephiroth staggered and dropped to his seat, gasping for breath. When he turned his malicious eye to the woman before him, however, he had no more fear of her. He was sponsored by two deities; all she had to her name were a few souls and dominion over a withered, drained world. If even Minerva had been tied hand and foot then Aerith had zero chance of stopping his plan, a fact that Sephiroth greatly relished as he slid into a calm sitting position.
"You want to know? Allow me to enlighten you. I plan to use these soulless corpses to tempt the living into my clutches. I'll capture them, torture them, and broadcast their suffering to the living world," Sephiroth sneered. "When I break the spirits of both the living and the dead I'll return all to the Lifestream and force it to move in reverse. In so doing I can seize control of it and begin my true ascension to the stars, just as my mother once did."
"Minerva would never allow it," Aerith snarled.
With a flick of his fingers Sephiroth manifested an image of a bound Minerva, whose condition shocked and horrified Aerith. As Sephiroth shut the connection he stumbled to his feet and summoned his sword to his hand once more. Aerith may have been more powerful there, but there was no chance that she could match his acuity when mixed with the divine justice that Sol and Luna had provided him. Her strength, drawn from millions of souls, paled in comparison to two deities and their pursuit for justice. There was simply no chance that a ghost could ever match a god.
"Two beings of great cosmic importance have seen fit to give me my chance for glory. You cannot keep me away from here forever, you lousy witch," he sneered. Sephiroth quietly began to relish his superiority, so long overdue, and the thought filled the ghoul with such great glee that he thought he might crack his face open from smiling so widely. "So long as I have them on my side I cannot lose. Now... Please, leave. I'll be back when you're gone."
As Sephiroth disappeared in a fog of black mist, Aerith quietly grit her teeth and tightened her fists. The Ancient took in a deep breath, exhaled, and waved her hand across what looked to be an empty grid in the air. When her fingers danced on the keys a large view screen manifested in front of her that revealed the visage of both Sol and Luna, staring back at Aerith with a mixture of pity and contempt. Neither of them were in any danger, of course, but it was still quite presumptuous for a dead specter to challenge two deities.
"I'd appreciate it if you two stopped him," Aerith scowled.
"We've made our decision," Luna sneered, "and you have no part in it."
The image immediately cut out, leaving Aerith to stew. When she turned to leave, however, a 3D image of Sol slowly materialized next to the central library. The sun god stretched his neck, pulled his arms taut behind his back, and stared down Aerith with the same arrogance he'd shown to every other living being he'd encountered. Being a creature of great ego, Sol had always considered himself superior to mortal beings... and in a way he was, if only in power - in morals and heart he was quite fundamentally bankrupt.
"It started with an eighty percent chance of success... and I've decided to make it fifty/fifty," Sol said cheerfully. "But don't tell Luna or she'll flay me."
"Y-You..." rasped Aerith.
"That bitch cheated me when we played Battleship. Since I haven't been able to get her any other way, I figured I'd muck with her pet project and help you folks survive," chuckled Sol. "I've given that Esper kid Hana everything she needs to counter the plan, all the info and all the tools. Granted, I never actually told her what to do with it, but since the little whelp's so resourceful that ought to give you folks about a fifty/fifty chance of surviving. Ciao, babe."
Although his image began to fade, to Sol's shock Aerith grabbed hold of him by the collar and dragged him close to her very displeased face. It didn't particularly threaten him, but a dim anger began to form as it was quite presumptuous for a mere specter to lay her hands on a god. She was nothing but a ghost, a remnant of a life long since passed... A life that, even in its original glory, had no business dabbling in the realm of the divine.
"I want in," Aerith snarled.
Sol stared back at the Ancient with a mixture of whimsy and contempt, something that of course infuriated Aerith even if she knew that she had no way of enforcing her own will. Neither party wanted to compromise and they certainly had no intention of backing down. Aerith, even if she really was powerless, still held the key to victory... the Esper that she had mentored half a decade earlier.
"Tell me what to do, I'll do it, and you can make that lady bitch about it for the next ten centuries," hissed Aerith. "My link to Hana lets me speak to her whenever I please. If you give me the information, I can give it to her."
"The solution is so simple it hurts... When Sephiroth starts his plan and tries to break the wills of the living, give them hope and he won't be able to kill anyone. Then, all you need to do is send your little friends down below to fight the bastard... and when you kill him, you win!" laughed Sol. "That's the best I'll give you... and don't tell the girl everything, or I'll vaporize you. Besides, you can do whatever you want when they get here... Fight, don't fight, I don't particularly care."
"Thank you for your help, it's much appreciated," Aerith said curtly as she released Sol from her grip. "Now, go screw yourself."
"You have such a winning personality," Sol sneered as he disappeared.
Though her fist tightened and her teeth ground, Aerith quietly closed the connection with bile in her heart. Aerith groaned and waved her hand, which changed the image to Hana as she sat in her apartment easily manipulating everything she owned, and the Ancient couldn't help but chuckle. They'd bet on the wrong horse. The Ancient swept her hand and the view changed to Hana sleeping, and with a sigh she tapped on the screen. This startled Hana and made her jolt up in bed, though she quickly realized that she was still dreaming and tilted her head in confusion.
"A-Aerith...?" Hana mumbled weakly.
"I don't have much time and I can't say much," Aerith said coyly, "but I'll say this much... 'When the living seek the salvation of the dead and dread the darkness, the flame of hope will light the way to the future...'" she said cryptically. "Also... Be ready to fight, and we'll all kick some ass together. When the time comes, join me down below."
"And that means what now?!" choked Hana. With a single flick of Aerith's fingers the connection closed and Hana jolted awake straight up in bed, gasping for air. Hana desperately wiped the sweat from her brow, fell back in bed, and muttered an obscenity. "Duly noted..." she moaned. "Whatever that means, I'll keep my eyes peeled. I could use some help tomorrow, though... God help me, I'm spending it with that bitch Tina..."
Scene Two
A day passed from Marlene's incident at school, then a day slowly drifted into a week's time. During that period Marlene stayed home from school and refused to leave her room, filled with conflict. On one hand she wanted to maul the heckler who'd done this to her. On the other, she was afraid that if she took vengeance out on the son of a bitch it would drive a wedge between herself and Scott, something that Marlene was wholly unwilling to risk. Whatever her feelings for Scott, Marlene believed that she'd driven him away when she punished the other student. If she made another scene, would he leave her for good? No, she reasoned that he would always be there for her. She couldn't disappoint him, but neither could she face him. It was a heart wrenching position she was in, and for the entire week Marlene remained in her room pouting until her door slowly creaked open and a person hesitantly inched inside.
"I didn't ask for company," Marlene growled. Barret wordlessly shuffled inside her room, sat down on her bed, and quietly laid a hand on his daughter's back. This shook Marlene out of her trance, finally returning her to the land of the living, and she quickly turned her eyes to her father with tears dripping down her face. "I've made so many mistakes..." she sobbed, biting her lip in pain. "How can I face him...?"
"You mean the kid you were talking to the other day?" asked Barret. Marlene nodded and a slight blood lust tinged Barret's face. "Nature taking its course will be the death of me... and him," he hissed under his breath. Barret sighed and patted his daughter on the back. "No one's angry at you except for you. But if you keep running away, all you're gonna do is ruin your own life..." Barret murmured. "I don't wanna see my little girl suffer."
With a weak sigh Marlene bowed her head and slowly nestled in closer to her father, returning his embrace. She'd always been close to Barret, though as time passed and she'd become a teenager Marlene had sometimes drifted away, something that pained both of them. For him it was a loss of control, but for Marlene it was a step away from her comfort zone and she never really wanted to do it. It just sort of happened.
"I felt something weird the other day... and it wasn't indigestion, but... I don't know what it is... if it's love? I dunno," she shrugged.
Bowing her head, Marlene quietly mumbled an apology followed by a curse, though she was quick to keep the latter from being heard by her father. It wasn't like he knew any more than she did if she loved Scott or not. Everyone was in the dark, herself and Scott included. Blaming him would only make her the bitch she was afraid she already was... defeating the purpose of changing in the first place.
"But all I'm doing is making him hate me by being such a bitch..." Marlene whimpered.
"That kid won't last long if he keeps making my baby cry..." Barret hissed under his breath.
"W-What did you just say...?" Marlene mumbled.
"Nothing, just a cough. I don't think he's angry at you, Marlene. Do you wanna talk about it?" Barret asked briskly.
Receiving a stern 'no' from her body movement he sighed and lifted himself to his feet. Letting nature take its course really was going to kill him at the rate things had been going. Elmyra notwithstanding, Barret knew that he could only take so much. Even if his heart was tempered with iron it still beat with red blood and seeing his beloved daughter in such pain wrenched it from its hinges.
"You'll always have me," he said softly, as he walked towards the door. "I won't let anyone make you cry, even you. Fight it, girl... You're better than this."
After Barret left, Marlene groaned and fell to her back, grabbed her pillow, and shoved it over her face to stifle her scream. When she removed it Marlene laid a hand to her quaking face and wiped the tears from her eyes. Did Scott love her? She had no idea. But what Marlene knew as a one-hundred-percent fact was that her father loved her, and the idea that she'd been acting rebellious and making his life harder was almost as hard on Marlene as it was for her father. Neither of them wanted any of it to happen.
"Why did I just push him away...? It isn't his fault. All he wants is for me to have a good life, and I just acted like a total bitch to him..." sniffed Marlene.
Marlene fell to her back and dropped limply to her bed with a weak whimper, brushing away her tears and clawing her nails over her pillow as she remembered how much she'd seen him suffer. She'd made him suffer enough the first time she had her period or bought her first bra. It certainly wasn't fair to him to make her father deal with her being a self-centered little bitch that couldn't even clean up her own messes.
"And that is not going to happen again," Marlene resolved, her feelings set.
On the next Monday after Barret's talk with Marlene, Scott walked to school alone with a muddled mind. He was worried sick about his friend, and dreaded if she would reject him for not coming to see her. Tifa's father had made a concerted effort to keep the two apart, but at the time Barret barely knew that Scott existed, let alone wanted to force them into separate camps. There was still time, time to learn and grow, a chance to find out whether their lives truly would intertwine.
"I don't know either, Marlene... But... I want to have a chance to see it for myself..." Scott whispered. "What lies ahead..."
Scott suddenly heard a sharp whistle and pivoted on his heel to find Marlene charging up behind him, causing Scott's face to light up like a lantern. Seeing her sparkling face was a wake up call for the young man, stirring in him the feelings he barely dared to dream of. It had been so difficult to see Marlene suffer over something she didn't deserve to suffer over, especially since it had cost the girl a week of her life just to ruminate on that bitch of a teacher's callousness.
"Marlene! You're coming to school today?!" rasped Scott.
"I wanted to apologize for last week, and I'm sorry we haven't seen each other for so long..." sighed Marlene. "I... I missed you," she said quickly, bringing a blush to both their faces. Both of them quickly turned their heads away from one another, desperate for the other not to see the flush on their cheeks, but finally Marlene turned her face back to Scott and with a smile stretched out her knuckles. "Let's go, okay?" Marlene chirped, and Scott quickly returned her fist with his.
For the rest of the school day, the two teenagers spent most of their time in class together. Whether they were just being friendly or didn't want to be apart from one another? Neither of them knew. The more they continued to be around each other, however, the closer they came to admitting their feelings to themselves and wondered if they'd ever express them to each other. After school Marlene timidly asked Scott if he would come home to meet her father, and with a crooked smile he'd nodded. When Marlene and Scott entered her house hand-in-hand, Barret nearly cracked a tooth open from biting it so tightly but said nothing. As the three shuffled up to the dining room table Barret weakly cleared his throat and slid a glass of water to Scott.
"Hey there, kid. What did..." Barret paused, unwilling to continue. "What did you come here to do with my daughter?" he choked.
"O-Oh, I asked Scott to help me with my homework!" Marlene stuttered frantically.
"Y-Yeah..." mumbled Scott.
"Yeah, right. I don't appreciate you bringing in any hanky panky and gettin' tight with my girl, kid," Barret growled.
"Dad!" Marlene screeched. "Apologize, right now!"
"Y-Yeah, sorry... You two head up and study," Barret muttered. When the two teenagers hurried up to his daughter's room, Barret laid his face in both hands, choked back a curse, and weakly groaned. "Puberty sucks even worse than I thought it would... and then worse than that..." he whimpered. "God, am I a mess..."
The two teenagers slid inside Marlene's room and sat down on her bed, indeed talking with each other and helping the other with their math tests. As they worked Marlene's hand slowly, almost unconsciously, inched towards Scott's while they worked on a particularly hard problem and before she realized it she had laid her hand on his, startling them both. Scott jolted, but quickly laid down his pen and turned to face his friend on the bed, staring deep into her eyes. The spark was clearly there for both of them. The question stood that they could either join together, or would they stay apart like Barret wanted them to?
"How do you... feel about me...?" murmured Marlene.
"I... like you," Scott said quickly.
"And is that... all...?" Marlene whispered.
"I don't want to step on your dad's toes, Marlene..." sighed Scott. "And if we try anything naughty, he'll-"
Marlene quickly moved her hand from Scott's hand to the back of his head, drew back, and pushed their lips together. Scott startled at first but slowly he began to return the gesture and soon they embraced each other passionately, Scott laying Marlene's head to his heart as the two began to cuddle warmly. Whatever their feelings were remained uncertain... but it was impossible not to admit that there were certain feelings that they desperately wanted to explore.
Downstairs, Elmyra started up the dishwasher again and sighed, still overwhelmed by her worries, until she suddenly caught sight of a pink blur in her peripheral vision and quickly pivoted on her heel to see a tuft of brown hair duck out of sight. A desperate Elmyra dropped everything and charged out of the house, breathlessly following her target until finally she cornered it in a back alley and found her daughter staring back at her with a smile on her cherubic face. Elmyra whimpered a weak prayer and slowly inched towards her daughter, moving to embrace her, but suddenly stopped when she saw in Aerith's eyes a coldness that she knew her daughter would never hold. As Elmyra cautiously stepped back, tears in her eyes, a large talon emerged out of Aerith's chest and grabbed onto her body, pulling it tightly into the alley's wall as Elmyra let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Scene Three
Inside Cid's compound he tirelessly worked on his new nuclear engine, the same one that he intended to take him to the Moon. The pilot tinkered with it endlessly, agonized over every last bolt and gear, though progress was slow. Nuclear energy had just been developed, so securing a prototype reactor was hard enough as it was. Not only did he have to create the engine itself, he also needed to factor in the end result - the star ship of his dreams. To create the beating heart he also had to have the skeleton in mind when designing it.
As he worked harder and harder and decided to take a quick smoke break, however, Cid's resolve had begun to falter. Shera made his life harder, his decisions more agonizing, and not just because she disagreed with him. Even decades later Cid remembered the spark they shared when they first met while designing Shinra Twenty-Six. It wasn't romance right away, but rather a mutual respect for each other and their unique talents and skill set. The more the two had labored on the rocket the closer they became. It wasn't romantic right away, though both of them had the faintest inklings until the rocket went south and Cid's life soured. From then on he treated her like a slave, forever blaming her for his problems, until ten years prior when her warnings proved that she had been right all along - and that he was the ass, not her. The first look they shared inside the escape pod had been uncomfortable, true, but it also kindled that tiny ember once again.
His memory was crystal clear of the day he proposed to Shera: While they were working he'd grabbed her arm and lifted it to examine a machine part and as the two were working he'd casually slid the ring on her finger. The two exchanged a smile, smiles gave way to tears, and finally they'd broken out in a tight embrace that signaled the end of Cid's vendetta and the beginning of a new era for the both of them. He could still remember running his gloved fingers through his new fiance's hair, and that when they clutched tight he could feel the warmth of her hair brush against his heart.
Cid remembered the years following Meteorfall well. It had been a long process, but over time the duo had rekindled their respect and turned it into passion. Two years after the incident they were married and the Shera was commissioned as the first flagship of the World Regenesis Organization. It had fought against Bahamut SIN and Sephiroth, led the charge during the assault on Deepground, and for that entire span of time he'd kept a picture of themselves posing next to Shinra Twenty-Six in his personal office, whether he admitted it was there or not.
After the Andromeda War, he and Shera had partnered with Carbuncle to study Hana's powers. Once she'd transformed the trio would run test after test, examining every cell in the Esper's luminous body, during which time he'd kindled a strong friendship with the girl. He'd even begun to think of her as sort of the daughter he never had, and she responded accordingly by treating him like a favored uncle. As time passed and the Esper Brands had begun to shape up they'd shared a number of drinks together, though there was one time in particular that Cid couldn't wipe from his memory.
It had been after an all-nighter that they'd gone out to nurse their hangovers, meeting in the morning for coffee shortly after completing an important technique. They'd worked for almost half a year, but it was only recently that the Esper Brands had begun to take shape. Despite their age difference the two had bonded over their shared interest in mechanics, with Hana becoming a quick study who eagerly scanned Cid's blueprints to help refine the progress.
Cid sighed and wrapped his weary fingers around his coffee cup, lifted up and clicked it to Hana's cup to celebrate the soon-to-be libation of the life-giving liquid. When he laid the cup down the two had shared a laugh or two, but in the end he was still more grateful to her than she was to him. Hana would always be Hana. Allowing anyone, even someone she cared about, to exert any power over her would inevitably foster bitterness.
"Thanks for being a good sport about all this! Getting hooked up to sensors and tubes can't be very easy to deal with," Cid grinned cheekily.
"Ha! Look at you, getting all buddy-buddy! I'm just thanking my favorite business partner," Hana shrugged as she laid down her cup and leaned back in her seat.
They'd grown so close as to make them family. Even so, there would always be a certain rift between them, not necessarily the one that Cid might have suspected. Age itself wasn't the problem. The issue was more a matter of control, Hana's loss and Cid's usurping of it. Hana was a fiercely independent young woman who refused to give up control over her life to anyone, even someone as close to her as Cid was.
"And I owe you a good amount of thanks, too, for the last few months," the Esper chuckled. "You've treated me well."
"Aw, shucks... t'ain't nothing," swooned Cid, his strength finally returning to his weary bones after a long night at work.
"You really ought to take Shera and do something fun for her birthday!" tittered Hana.
"Me? We've been on vacation plenty of times..." Cid shrugged.
As her plan began to take shape Hana's eyes twinkled and she laid her cup on the table.
"Hey... Ever consider making your own me with Shera?" Hana asked mischievously, which caused Cid to spurt coffee all over his jacket. She lifted her cup to her lips, took in a soft sip, and set it down on the table before nearly climbing over top of it to smile at Cid. "I've talked to her woman-to-woman a few times, and a little birdie told me you never had a proper wedding night. Don't you want to climb in bed with her and start tinkering with her for once?" she smirked. "Come on, man, give her a tune-up!"
"Y-You little...! Keep your filth to yourself!" sputtered Cid. "We're too old to be doing anything like... that..."
"You never made love, so why not just dive in? You do remember that I've already match made Cloud and Tifa, so making you hop in bed with Shera shouldn't be terribly difficult, right?" Hana snickered.
"We never had to, so we didn't!" insisted Cid.
"All you're doing is what you always do, run away from your own feelings!" Hana snapped, slamming her hand to the table. "Ask her for once, why don't you!"
"Oh, bite me!" Cid snarled back.
"Oh, is that so?!" Hana choked. True to form, that was a bad decision to make. A disgruntled Hana snapped her fingers, locked him up, and shoved him back hard in his seat before slamming the bill on the table and rising to her feet. "You're paying for everything, now!" she roared. "Go ahead and fester in your own misery, for all I care! When the paralysis wears off, remember that I told you to go screw yourself and decide whether you care about Shera or not!" Hana snarled, shortly before she stormed away from the cafe muttering death threats and cursing Cid's stupidity.
As Cid's cigarette dwindled to nothing Carbuncle invited herself into his laboratory and leaned against the opening of the doorway with a satisfied smirk on her face, something that Cid certainly didn't appreciate. The three of them had a very strange relationship between them, almost of a three-way marriage of sorts. They all had each other's backs, true enough, but the rifts between them were wide and great. Sometimes, it was all they could do not to strangle one another.
"You've got that 'leave me the hell alone' look on your face, and I'm sick of it. And that's what I'll tell Shera..." Carbuncle sighed. "'He has his head so squarely up his ass that he's doing his own colonoscopy, so don't expect anything constructive.'"
"If you have something to say," Cid spat, "then just say it."
"I've been giving Shera the same talk Hana gave you," snickered Carbuncle, to Cid's outrage.
"You want me to take you on, Eidolon?!" roared Cid.
"Ooh, scary. Do your worst, big man!" Carbuncle swooned, grabbing her shoulders and shivering theatrically.
"You lousy bitch!" Cid shrieked.
Carbuncle threw back her head and gave a raucous laugh that further infuriated Cid and when she finished she gave him a wink and turned to leave. Her intention had been to mess with the pilot, but she never thought he'd turn as green as he had when he cursed her out. Even a victory like that, however, wouldn't wipe away the shame that Cid had brought on himself. The way he'd treated his own wife was pathetic; even ten years later Cid still couldn't bring himself to take the final step in their relationship.
"Thanks for falling for the taunt, dummy. I didn't think it'd be so easy to bait you," snickered Carbuncle. Before she crossed the doorway the Eidolon turned back to Cid with a more solemn expression and shook her head. "Talk to her about it or I'll shove you in bed myself," she sneered. "You must be packing something worthwhile."
"Y-You son of a... You bitch!" Cid snarled. "You have no right to talk to me like that!"
"Fell for it again..." chuckled Carbuncle, finally moving to leave. "Just talk to her. You owe her that."
"Y-You... you..." Cid croaked weakly.
He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. And he hated that.
Inside her laboratory, meanwhile, Shera did some tinkering herself on a new Esper Brand that she'd been developing. It was designed to measure and control vibrations, which she suspected would be of interest to both geologists and climatologists and as she worked, the scientist turned her attention back to all the progress that they'd made with Esper Brands and couldn't help but smile. They'd done a lot of work. With the development of Esper Brands, the world had been revolutionized in that materia and Mako were no longer required to power cars, homes, or anything else. There were several kinds of Esper Brands, with the major ones being Volt, Fire, Cold, Aqua, and Aero.
Volt Brands controlled electricity and electromagnetism. They could power homes, cars, personal accessories like cellphones and CD players, as well as computers and televisions. By tapping into the radio spectrum they could open up free radio transmissions from anywhere, and by channeling them through a TV they could provide television and internet service. They also powered watches, clocks, and so on. Other than those were several more specialized Brands, such as ones that helped during surgery and others that powered specialized technology like personal fridges and video game systems - the one that Ki got on his birthday.
Fire Brands controlled heat and fire, while Cold Brands controlled cool air and frost. They could start small fires, power stoves and fireplaces, and allowed for simple heat conductivity. With Fire Brands people could apply heat to any source they liked, which also helped with massage therapists using Fire Brands to heat up parts of the body to soothe them. In addition, with Cold Brands, therapists could also apply cool air and supplement the air conditioning of a home (with the Fire Brand helping to apply warming to a house as well). Refrigerators were powered by a combination of Cold Brands (providing cold air) and Volt Brands (providing power).
Aqua Brands created and manipulated water. By using an Aqua Brand a spell caster could manifest as much fresh water as they liked for any purpose they desired, such as watering plants or providing clean drinking water whenever and wherever it's needed. Specialized Aqua Brands could apply the nutrients of various soils and other resources to help plant life grow and thrive. Even more specialized ones could apply flavors and textures to water, meaning that people could mix and drink their own sodas and fruit flavored drinks. However, because certain ratios are needed to actually make them taste good, soda companies were still in business. Though, someone could fairly easily deduce a formula and market it.
Aero Brands created air currents and sharpened objects. By using an Aero Brand a spell caster could create a functioning air conditioning system for their home, as well as powering therapeutic devices and certain tools with the Volt Brands. They could also be specialized to cut and dice, meaning that by using an Aero Brand a person could augment the precision and power of their knife cuts, so cooking was even easier. By using Fire Brands to start fires, Aero Brands could also allow campers to cook wherever they desire so long as they had the required ingredients.
Seal Brands tightened up objects and sealed letters, with a special "Hana's Havoc" Brand able to temporarily lock up a person's wrists and ankles. Police forces were provided special Brands to subdue and apprehend criminals without using weaponry of any kind, as well as taser Brands and even tear gas Brands for specialized units of the police force. Heal Brands applied specialized medicines to wounds, which healed them or relieved their pain. There were also specialized Brands for various disciplines like medicine, surgery, and so on.
By mixing Aqua and Volt Brands, people could power up Bunsen Burners, apply electricity and natural minerals to a research project, or transmute basic materials into other basic materials through the use of alchemy. Special medical Brands could see through a human's body by mixing several different Brands, as well as performing surgery without cutting through a person's flesh and bone. Naturally there were anesthetics as well, though they were heavily regulated to prevent abuse like drugs and other toxins.
Shera softly set her head down on her drawing desk in exhaustion, overwhelmed by the degree of difficulty that she'd put into designing the Brand. Before she could drift off to sleep, however, she heard a very familiar voice call out to her and Shera immediately rose to her feet in shock. While she reasoned that there was no possible way it was him, there remained a small, unscientific piece of hope that Cid probably would have mocked her for possessing.
"F-Father...?!" Shera rasped.
On the far wall of her laboratory a brown-haired scholar slowly took shape and Shera drunkenly reached out to the figure, desperate for an answer to the questions now burning in her heart. Slowly Shera approached, gingerly at first, as she cautiously examined every facet of the individual. She remembered his cleft chin, his shady eyes that she'd always thought made him look like some sort of underhanded card shark. His eyes, his hair, the scent of his musk - all of it was precisely right and the scientist joyfully leapt into the arms of the figure who had materialized inside her laboratory, running her fingers through his hair and feeling the warmth of his touch like she hadn't felt for decades.
"I've wanted to speak with you for so long..." whispered Shera.
As a thin smile crossed her face Shera again embraced her father. Slowly, however, she felt a chill run up her spine and broke the embrace to see her "father" staring at her with a dead expression on his face as if he was a doll. Shera stiffened up upon realizing that she wasn't speaking to her dead father and slowly inched away from him. Before she could do anything else, however, the doll stretched out its hand and caught Shera in a tight web of energy that bound her tightly. Shera let out a bloodcurdling scream as her father shattered to pixels and dragged her own motes of light into a black void that formed where the doll had manifested. Having heard the noise Cid and Carbuncle hurried towards Shera's laboratory but only caught sight of her body disappearing and zipping into a black portal, which quickly closed and left them to stare in horror at Shera's abduction. Cid, whose emotions had already been stoked to the limit by Carbuncle, began to shake and finally tightened his fingers into a fist. Whoever was responsible had made a very serious mistake in pissing him off.
Scene Four
Tatiana's animosity with Vincent had been long and protracted, born of the doubts she held about Lucrecia and her apparent "demise," an act that seemingly affected her relationship with Vincent to the point where it had warped her entire character. The teenager had missed several piano recitals by the time that Vincent had seen the troubled relationship they now shared and once he'd deduced that he was the culprit, Vincent decided to speak with Tatiana himself to clear up her doubts and misconceptions. She heard a sharp rapping at her door and turned her head to find Vincent entering her room almost completely silently. As Tatiana closed her book and swiveled in her seat to speak with him Vincent quietly bowed his head, sighed, and removed his fedora. Vincent laid it to his heart, eyes set with determination, and finally the gunman's face twisted into a more solemn expression of regret, a look that Tatiana had seldom seen from her mentor. It was clear that he had been deeply troubled by something.
"Why did you come here?" Tatiana snapped. "I'm sorry I missed so many recitals, but-"
"Her name was Lucrecia Crescent," Vincent said quickly, shockingly sincerely to the point that Tatiana immediately ceased to speak (and barely continued to breathe). "I used to be a member of Shinra's black ops division, the Turks, and I was assigned to guard a scientist named Lucrecia Crescent. One day, I heard she had married a horrible man and tried to convince myself I didn't care... and I failed," Vincent murmured. "When she became pregnant and her husband abused her I confronted him, and he murdered me."
"M-Mur... der...?!" Tatiana choked, shaking her head wildly in shock. "You're alive, aren't you?! I can see you breathing!"
"I shall confirm my previous statement... I am dead," sighed Vincent. "I died over forty years ago."
"V-Vincent..." rasped Tatiana, chilled to the bone. "Y-You can't be dead... right?! You're moving... y-you're breathing!"
"After I died Lucrecia gave me something, the gift of life beyond the clutches of Death. It brought me back from the dead and created what I am now. Still, plagued with guilt and remorse, Lucrecia shuttered herself away from the world and sealed herself into a quagmire of endless suffering..." Vincent murmured. "Lucrecia isn't dead. She's suffering even more, knowing that the people she loves are suffering as well... and that she can do nothing to ease their pain."
"And did you... love her? Lucrecia?" asked Tatiana. Slowly, reluctantly, Vincent nodded his head and returned his fedora to his head. For the longest time he hadn't thought of it, and even then he'd rejected the idea, but now that all the time in the world had passed Vincent's resolves had changed rather radically. "Then why did you never tell her...?" she asked breathlessly. "She would have wanted to know..."
Vincent shook his head sadly and laced his fingers together as he bowed his head. It wasn't quite so simple. He didn't have the right to love her, not after all they'd suffered through together. The project, Hojo - All of it meant that he didn't have the guts to admit it to himself. Some forty years later he was still running away from his feelings... and didn't think that he would ever confront them again. Somehow, speaking to his friend stoked a slight warmth from the gunman's heart, a warmth that bordered on parental concern.
"We never had to... I think we both knew it and felt it without words," Vincent said coolly. "She knew that I loved her and so she gave me back my life. And the gift I return to her is held in this hat..." he murmured, displaying the fedora to his friend. "The gift I give her is my own happiness, and you're a part of that happiness."
Tatiana threw her arms around Vincent and tightly embraced him, brushed her fingers through his long hair and laid his head to her heart. It was true all along, but she hadn't seen it... She was one of the reasons why he'd been able to continue living. The last ten years had been a blink of an eye for him, a flash of light in the eyes of a man whose memories stretched back far longer than anyone might expect.
"Oh, God, Vincent..." Tatiana rasped. "Can you forgive me...?"
"In an instant," Vincent said with a shrug. "Does hearing this make you feel anything different about me?"
"Yeah... I've accepted that now... But it's what I can't accept that's drowning me," Tatiana sobbed. "It's been a year today since the attack on Nibelheim... I lost a close friend named Adriana, watched her die before my eyes..." she murmured. "I just can't accept how much I miss her..."
As he stroked his friend's hair Vincent quietly laid her back in bed, brushed the tears from her eyes, and headed for the door. He knew that this was a battle that Tatiana had to fight alone, that no matter how much relief he could provide her only her own peace of mind could heal her ailing heart. Lucrecia had fought the same battle to the present day and, despite all her kindness and her loving heart, she had yet to win the fight.
"I'm still not the most tender person to talk to..." Vincent chuckled.
When Vincent heard a loud shriek he threw open her door and found a face that he remembered, a face he'd never forget no matter how hard he tried. The bastard had ruined so many lives, his own included. Seeing that man staring back at him with his characteristic lack of human emotion stoked Vincent's heart past the point of hatred and into a violent rage that he hadn't felt since forty years earlier when Hojo had murdered him - He'd taken Lucrecia, and now he threatened Tatiana.
"You... You!" Vincent hissed.
Standing before him, grabbing onto an unconscious Tatiana's arm, was a dirty-haired and dark-hearted scientific abomination. He was younger now, the same appearance he'd had when he'd first killed him, and as he sneered at him Vincent's blood ran cold... and then heated up with volcanic intensity, the hatred he thought he'd forgotten surging up and ripping open his heart. Vincent never thought he would see Hojo again, but it was the circumstances under which they reunited that made him fight through his emotions, desperate not to rip him to shreds where he stood. Hojo smirked and laid a hand to his face, leaned back, and let out a disgusting cackle, the same Vincent had heard so many times before.
"You son of a bitch!" Vincent roared. "Unhand her before I tear off your head!"
"Good to see you again too, Vincent Valentine," snickered Hojo as he threw out his arms and theatrically began to laugh with even more disturbing intensity. "My son has been given divine intervention... the literal blessing of the gods!" he sneered. "I'll be taking your pride and joy now... Look forward to watching the girl writhe and scream in agony!"
As his nemesis dissolved into mist and took Tatiana with him, Vincent's eyes went wide and his heart seemed to stop entirely. Vincent's breath slowly declined to nothing, then with a loud breath in he buried his fist through the door, wrenched it from its hinges, and hurled it at where Hojo had disappeared with Tatiana. He'd taken so much, he'd taken Lucrecia - he'd taken himself. That bastard had torn up his life, wrecked countless others, and now he had the audacity to threaten the one person he had left to protect?
"I'll kill you as many times as it takes..." Vincent snarled. "When it sticks, then I can rest."
Scene Five
Reeve had put it off as long as he could. He'd hemmed and hawed, delayed the process, but finally the day came when Reeve was forced to meet with the Junon legislature to discuss the issues that the Planet now faced. Reeve spoke for over an hour, making an impassioned speech on the dangers of nuclear energy, that the threat of that power was equally as devastating as Mako had been over a decade earlier. The level of risk, the proportional danger, made the energy more dangerous and destructive than even Mako had been, and he begged the legislature for more time to research the phenomena.
"And what do you intend to do about other nations using nuclear power?" asked one representative.
"All I can do is suggest policies and encourage researchers to keep fighting for the facts. But I will say that succumbing to greed, to the avarice of quick riches and great power, would only lead us back into the era of Shinra and its disastrous policies!" insisted Reeve. "Substituting nuclear energy for Mako energy threatens the Planet all the same, and I ask - no, I beg - that we do more research before we test out this theory!"
"What of the other issue? What about the threat to all life on Gaia posed by this intergalactic danger?" shouted a second representative. "Shouldn't we try and find a way to fight back against them?"
"The last time we dealt with a super weapon, it nearly destroyed the world... WEAPON! It wreaked unholy havoc all across the Planet without discretion, just the same as a nuclear arms race would inflict on us all!" Reeve screamed. "There isn't any evidence that we need to fight back! For all we know, these entities are coming to enrich us, and wouldn't trying to attack them would only invoke their anger?!"
"And what is your counter suggestion, Reeve, a grand scheme to make everything work as you please? The threat of nuclear proliferation, the danger of creating and using a super weapon... What is your proposal?!" screamed the first representative. When all Reeve could do was stare back in anger the representative shook his head and slammed his fist on the table. "I call for a vote of no-confidence! Reeve, you must step down as head of the World Regenesis Organization immediately!"
"I haven't done anything wrong!" snarled Reeve.
"If you can't govern Junon, how in the hell can we trust you to organize the whole world?!" shouted the representative. "New elections should be held as soon as possible!"
"God damn it! The last time we came together we found a solution, and we'll find one again!" Reeve roared. "Give me time! One week! Then, if I can't solve the problem, then we'll talk about my resignation, and not a second before! Are we clear?!"
"One week," growled the representative. "And that's all you have to work with."
It had been an exhausting, horribly depressing session and Reeve nearly overdosed himself on coffee in a mad attempt to divine a solution to a problem that seemed to have no end to its complexity. He'd riddled his fingers with paper cuts, wracked his brain for a solution, and in the end Reeve had to admit that he didn't have one. Perhaps the weight really was too much for him? He'd put himself through quite a bit over the last decade, and maybe this really was the point for him to call it quits...
"Maybe I am the problem..." Reeve murmured, putting his face in his hands. Reeve heard his phone ring and put it to his ear, and when he heard what Vincent had to say his insanity reached new heights. "Assemble everyone immediately!" he choked. "If that bastard is back, then so is Sephiroth!"
Author's Notes
The discussion on the various Brands, for the most part, was just world-building for my own satisfaction. There really isn't much that it contributes to the story itself, but I like creating worlds for my characters and so it's there.