Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Apotheosis ❯ Bitter Tears ( Chapter 6 )

home home home

love you Aeris is home Aeris is home

She giggled helplessly, spinning around to take in the view. The walls and columns around them were purest mako, dark, crystalline, and beautiful, branching out into numberless twisting bridges and passageways, cut through with streams and pools of liquid pulsing softly purple with the energy that pervaded them. Her skin tingled, electrified by power, and the voice of the Planet sang loudly and joyously in her ears.

The City of the Ancients.

Cloud approached from behind her, scuffing his boots. She turned and clasped his hands, smiling beatifically. "We've made it," she gushed. "Even I doubted sometimes, but we're here, we're here, and everything will be fine now!"

fine safe never hurt never harm

He ducked his head, blonde hair obscuring his eyes. "This place is something," he agreed finally. "But the Turks beat us here… Tseng couldn't get in, and someone got him… whoever did that could be in here… maybe the rest of the Turks found a back way in…"

"Silly," she soothed him, only an Ancient can use the key, and I'm the only one--"

truth truth truth

"--a-and we'll be safe now, the Black Materia will be safe," she finished lamely. She was the only Cetra… that S.OL.D.I.E.R, that strange, curious man, had no business being up here… no knowledge of how to find the City.

truth love you truth

A story above them, Sephiroth sat cross-legged in a great, arching hall, Masamune unsheathed across his lap. He regarded the intricate murals before him: the Cetra dancing, the Lifestream flowing throughout the land… a meteor striking the planet. It all made so much sense now.

Distant, Cloud dropped her hands, continuing to stare at his feet. Even his melancholy couldn't dampen her enthusiasm. Hearing the others catching up she skipped through the great carved doorway before them, knowing what awaited them there.

Tears streaked his thin face. It was all true. It was all there before him.

Silently her friends crowded closer, awed and uncertain. Finally, Barrett snorted. "Girl, you drug us all this way to look at a freakin' doll house?"

She smiled in spite of herself. Resting on the slab of solidified mako before them was a perfect, tiny replica of the temple they now stood in. Nanaki pushed past her to give it an experimental sniff, accidentally nudging the miniature temple.

The ground rumbled beneath them.

"What was that?" Tifa gasped, bouncing to her feet. Cloud drew his sword and stepped back warily.

protected here safe here trapped here

Aeris clapped her hands delightedly. "Oh, I should have guessed! The Ancients knew better than to leave something like Black Materia just lying around--this is the materia!"

Cait Sith leaned forward and regarded it dubiously. "Doesn't look like any I've ever seen, that's for sure."

"No, no, not the model--although it's the key. Look at the edges; they're seamed. It's a puzzle." She looked up at them, eyes twinkling. "The Temple itself is the Materia!"

protected here trapped here

"If you solve the puzzle, it will fold in on itself until it's small enough to be carried--and so will the Temple."

Tifa gave a low whistle. "So whoever tried to work the puzzle would be crushed." She shook her head wonderingly. "Your ancestors weren't as nice as they're made out to be, hon."

"It was the only way," Aeris responded softly. She looked up. "But there's one thing I can do to make sure it never happens.

COME HOME.

He barely registered the quake; his thoughts were too focused inward. He bowed his head and covered his eyes.

Nibelheim.

Below, Aeris also bowed her head. Kneeling at the small shrine perched atop a natural staircase, she gazed into the calm, crystalline pool beneath her. The Planet, for once, was silent, perhaps understanding her need for this time of contemplation.

So much had happened; she had lived more in these past few years than all of her life before her--escape? rescue?--from the Shinra lab. She had miraculously stumbled into Cloud again the next night, and he had taken her to his friends. They had been standoffish at first, but soon she had learned of AVALANCHE, their dreams for the future, their goals, and loved them for it. They were only humans, but their connection to the planet was as deep and truly felt as her own; she respected their mission, and soon joined them on it.

They had grown desperate… the reactor had been a horrible mistake, a plan she had argued against and refused to aid. But the discoveries that had come afterward--Shinra's plans for the mako energy they brutally wrested from the earth, the experiments, the deaths… they had fled desperately, sometimes only minutes ahead of the Turks, seeking a way to avert the upcoming disaster.

Aeris had always known a way. It was why she had led them here.

And you will suicide to join with this voice--the Lifestream?

"Not suicide," she whispered. She had always known this day would come… but was it so wrong to wish she had had more time?

He had tracked the route they had taken from Midgar painstakingly, following in their very footsteps. Until Nibelheim.

The almost-familiar thrumming had been present there, oh yes; had twisted so deep into his bones it made him ill. There was an abandoned Shinra mansion in the small town he had opted to take his rest in. Nauseous and weak, he had short-circuited the lock and stumbled inside, ready to collapse.

And something had spoken to him.

Welcome home, my son.

Why had that question, spoken so long ago and in such strange circumstances, ring in her ears now? Aeris almost wished she had the chance to speak to her odd savior again; she had a better idea of what he was now. Not a simple S.O.L.D.I.E.R. showered with mako enhancements, but he had undoubtedly come from one of Shinra's labs.

His poor mother. What did they do to her?

The basement… the books. Sweating profusely, barely able to stand, he had nonetheless read, and read, and read. Gast; Hojo; Lucrecia; the uncovered corpse… the manipulation of its cells. The result.

His true mother.

Bred to be perfect, to be vicious, to be the catalyst for Shinra's greatest triumph: the harnessing of the Lifestream itself. Bred like a prize dog.

The girl told me nothing but the truth.

Weak remnant of a pathetic race that she is.

Bide a moment. Listen to me, my son.

Why? Why do you speak to me now?

Listen to me, child. Listen.

Finally, the Planet again raised its voice, a quiet song in the back of her mind. The time was at hand; she would have to say goodbye.

Cloud… she bit her lip. She loved him still, with all the passion her naïve, gentle heart could muster. He was distant, conflicted, confused; but she believed fervently in his essential goodness. She had made herself as available to him as she dared over the years, but he had never noticed, never cared; still, even now, she hoped plaintively for some sign of affection from him, realizing in her heart of hearts that it would probably never come.

He had listened; listened to the virus, the disease, the destroyer of life even greater than he. Her plans, her goal, her other children… her use for him.

For the first time in his life, he had fled into the night.

But you are not beyond my reach even now, child.

"GET OUT OF MY MIND!"

Aeris's head jerked up at a sound; she turned, and saw only Cloud slowly making his way up the broad steps. Her heart leaped involuntarily; she lowered her head to hide the blush spreading across her cheeks.

He stopped a few feet away from her, sharing the view of the crystalline pool below. "All of this would almost be worth it simply to have seen the place," he said, and turned to face her. "Are you happy?" he asked abruptly.

Aeris looked up again, puzzled by the question. "Of course I'm happy," she said slowly. "All of my life has led up to my return to the Planet… I will soon be able to defend it in ways I only imagine."

Cloud looked away again. "Good," he replied. "Good."

Slowly, Sephiroth drew his palm across Masamune's slender edge, opening a thin red line; a heartbeat later, it began to bleed. That would be one way to solve things. But she was down there, the last Cetra, the Holy one… Aeris. It was all there in the murals, if one knew what to look for.

It couldn't be allowed to happen.

The radio clipped to his belt began to hiss and crackle with voices. He had dealt with Tseng--no one must be permitted to enter the Temple before her, not even Sephiroth--but left the Temple's entrance wide open; not even the Turks could fail to find it.

It was almost time.

Slowly he rose, exiting the hall and pacing to the end of the ledge, gazing down on the scene playing out below him. He watched, gauging the proper moment… then leaped.

Cloud was not inclined to speak further. Sighing softly, Aeris turned back to the shrine. There was no use delaying any longer.

yes yes join come home come home

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind, unsure of how to proceed… and suddenly, breathtakingly, she knew.

YES

Spreading her arms, she felt her mind expanding, soaring, rushing at the speed of sound into a deep green light. This is what it was to be one with the Planet; this is what she was meant for! Gleefully, she abandoned conscious thought and reveled in the dance of Life itself.

Cloud raised his sword.

NO

The light froze; seemed to flow backwards. Shocked by the Planet's sudden fierce denials, she snapped back to herself. She heard a shot ring out. "Dammit, she said we was safe here! Son of a bitch, we been set up!" Barrett bawled in the distance. Aeris spun to see Cloud's sword poised over her. "Cloud, what--"

As the blade descended, time seemed to telescope. More shots were fired, and whooping war cries echoed through the cavern. There was a soft them beside her. She turned to see a grinning, green-eyed demon whirl a curved sword around to block Cloud's heavy blow. A booted foot struck the blonde in the chest, knocking him down a few steps. The intruder raised his blade to strike the finishing blow--then reversed it into a sheath slung across his shoulders. "No time," he rasped. Dragging Aeris to her feet, he folded his arms tightly around her middle and flung himself backwards.

The cool shock of the water snapped her out of her fright. Choking, she sputtered, inhaling a lungful of water. The intruder shifted his grip on her and began stroking powerfully towards the other side, his hair dragging behind like silver seaweed. She coughed as her hauled her ashore, falling to her knees and retching.

"Look, there's more of 'em!"

"Wait a sec, that's Sephiroth--"

Another shot, and this time her captor hissed in pain. "Come on," he growled, dragging her from the water's edge. She stumbled after him; a few steps later he whipped them both into an alcove, crushing her back against his chest, and whipped his sodden cloak around both of them. She cried out as her ankle twisted, and a glove hand clamped over her mouth. "Materia," he panted. "Stay still, and silent, and they will see only shadows."

sorry Aeris so sorry

Helpless, she moaned, tears trickling down her cheeks; her captor jerked her roughly. The Turks swarmed over her peaceful little shrine, hunting the pair who had disappeared; they had gotten in somehow! As she watched, a lean woman approached Cloud's prone form, removed a pistol from her belt, and shot straight into his chest. She whimpered again, and the hand tightened even more. "Tranquilizers," he breathed into her ear. "They are meant to be taken alive. Now hush."

Numb and stricken, she wept silently as her friends were gathered in the shrine area, unconscious and bound. The raucous cries of the Turks and the ragged breathing of the man clutching her echoed in her ears. I can't even join them, she thought piteously. Not them, not the Lifestream--what am I good for?

sorry Aeris so sorry forgive forgive

If they're still alive to forgive me, I hope.

Aeris forgives Aeris forgives please please

A low rumbling had been building, so subtly it was unnoticeable at first; now it rose to a grinding roar. Dust sifted down as the pillars supporting the cavern began to tremble and twist.

forgive forgive forgive

She heard the startled yells of the Turks and saw them scramble to hoist their prizes and flee from the cavern.

The Temple was contracting.

"Good God, enough of this," her captor spat. A fist twisted into her long hair, and slammed the back of her head into the shuddering pillar beside them.