Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Never Left ❯ Chaper 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Never Left

 

Chapter 3

 

Where are you?

 

I'm always here. I told you, I never left.

 

Then why can't I find you?

 

Maybe you're not looking hard enough.

 

What more can I do?

 

I can't tell you that.

 

Why not?

 

That's just not how it works, Cloud…

 

Cloud's eyes popped open as the airship jerked again, and a string of curses from Cid drew his attention further from dreamland. He sat up and looked out the glass windows at the mountains of Cosmo Canyon surrounding them.

 

“Goddamn stupid piece of shit engines, good for nothing sonuva…” Cid grumbled, struggling to manoeuvre the Shera between the rocks.

 

“Trouble?” Cloud asked, standing up.

 

“Eh?” Cid muttered, turning his gaze up from the control panel. “Oh, shit yeah, I can't get as close to the canyon as before. This stupid bitch of an airship has a fatter ass than the first one, the Highwind never had any trouble getting in here!” Cloud held back a smart remark on the comparison between the two airships given their names and looked down. The sleepy gathering of tents around the hills of the canyon had grown slightly more numerous in the years since Meteor, with more people coming to respect the Planet and revere it. But the settlement was still peaceful and cozy looking.

 

“Ah screw it, hop off,” Cid snorted, walking to the hatch of the airship. He pull down the latch holding it shut and opened it inwards, revealing a small ledge with a rolled-up rope ladder on the deck. Cid kicked the ladder over the edge and it spun down to the ground.

 

“Thanks for the lift. I may need to go somewhere else after this,” he said.

 

“Whatever, don't take long,” Cid replied, gesturing to the sunset in the distance. Cloud climbed down the rope ladder and looked down to see it ended about five feet off the ground. He jumped back and landed in a crouch, before standing and walking up the hill to the settlement. The airship and his arrival had attracted the attention of the people there and a small crowd had gathered at the top. Cloud smiled as he saw a tuft of red fur through the people, and they parted or were pushed aside.

 

“Cloud. Welcome,” Red XIII said, closing his eyes and bowing his head. Cloud returned with a bow as the lion-esque animal turned his head to the crowd. “You need not fear. He is a friend, he will not harm you.” The people each accepted his judgment and moved away, although a few looked over their shoulders. Red XIII let out a soft growl. “Forgive them. Many of the ones here lost their homes to SOLDIER ages ago. Trust of your kind will not come easy.”

 

“It's alright,” Cloud muttered. “I need to talk to you.”

 

“Very well,” Red XIII replied, turning and waving Cloud forward. Cloud followed him into the borders of the settlement to a large wooden structure set along the cliff. It looked suspiciously to Cloud like a giant wooden box with two sides open. Red XIII reared up and pulled a rope hanging in front of the wooden box, one of six or seven, and stepped inside. Cloud looked up to see a system of pullies and weights strung from a wooden support structure up high.

 

“Hurry, the weights will give in a moment,” Red XIII advised. Cloud stepped in beside him, and jumped slightly as the construct began moving upward, two weights descending to the ground beside them.

 

“An elevator?” he asked sceptically. Red XIII nodded.

 

“Yes. With the increased number of people we needed an easier way to climb the cliff. Besides, stairs and doors can be difficult when you possess four paws,” he explained. Cloud shrugged. “So, what do you need to speak to me about?” Red XIII asked.

 

“I need to know all you know about the Lifestream,” Cloud said. Red XIII narrowed his eyes as the lift stopped at the top of the cliff.

 

“Bugenhagen told me much before he passed. There is much he did not tell me, but these things I have learned since. What do you wish to know exactly?” Red XIII asked, walking to the door to Bugenhagen's old lab. The door had been segmented half-way down, and Red XIII pushed through the lower door leaving Cloud to open the upper half and follow.

 

“When you die, your consciousness returns to the Lifestream and joins the collective, right?” Cloud began. Rex XIII snorted and gave him a strange look as he sat down.

 

“Yes, exactly. We learned this long ago Cloud,” he chided.

 

“Right. But Sephiroth's consciousness didn't dissipate in the Lifestream, it escaped and began Kadaj,” Cloud countered. Red XIII looked down and thought for a moment.

 

“So, that would explain much…” he murmured.

 

“How did he do that?” Cloud asked. Red XIII lifted his head.

 

“The Lifestream is not indiscriminate in the gathering of the conscious mind. Certain thoughts and emotions, certain remnants of our personalities, cannot be assimilated properly and so endure.”

 

“What kinds of remnants?” Cloud asked eagerly, leaning forward. Was this it?

 

“Hatred. Anger. Greed. Those who committed violent acts like murder or destruction. Those people who cling to their negative feelings from life cannot join the collective until they let go of their darkness. But, as the mind is forever trapped in the state of death, this can take decades, centuries. I suspect this is how Sephiroth endured, since the Lifestream could not accept him he merely needed to find a way out. How he managed to manifest as Kadaj, there is no telling.”

 

“What about someone with a good heart?”

 

“Well, then their minds dissolves and fragments and joins the Lifestream collective, and they enjoy peaceful rest.”

 

“So, if you're a good person and you die…you're gone for good?” Cloud muttered flatly.

 

“Well, no, not exactly,” Red XIII shook his head. “The mind fragments but the spirit can never be entirely destroyed. Upon a force of will, that spirit can collect the shards of their human life and reform their mind. Those with a spiritual connection to the Planet can communicate with the spirits this way.”

 

“So that's how she's been doing it?” Cloud whispered.

 

“She?” Red XIII asked.

 

“Aeris,” Cloud admitted. “She's been contacting me for a while now, especially when Kadaj showed up.”

 

“Ah,” Red XIII nodded.

 

“I was wondering, if there was a way…to bring her back,” Cloud explained.

 

“Hm. Well as I said, Aeris' mind is fragmented in the Lifestream but as you correctly deduced she has been able to speak to you by summoning those fragments to her spirit. She endures in the stream as all beings do, should they possess the will.”

 

“So it's by force of will, she could come back?” Cloud asked.

 

“That is a tricky question. Sephiroth is the only occasion I have ever heard or read of a dead person actually escaping dissolution and reviving. And my tribe is quite long lived,” Red XIII explained. “Plus, you must remember he did not truly survive, he became Kadaj and needed Jenova cells to truly be reborn.”

 

“So how come he didn't use my cells?” Cloud frowned, putting a hand on his chest. “I'm a SOLDIER.”

 

“I do not know. I suspect, perhaps, his influence over you was much more limited than it was three years ago. He must not have been able to exert enough force to control your cells. Otherwise, yes, by all means he should have been able to seize your body as he wished,” Red XIII agreed. “But that is good, as I have heard most of the other Sephiroth clones are dead, either from Sephiroth himself or they went insane and committed suicide. You are likely the last source of Jenova cells on the Planet. So it is fortunately you are beyond Sephiroth's control somehow.”

 

“Yeah,” Cloud said, staring at his hand like it would reveal the answers to him. Sephiroth wasn't able to control him? That made sense somehow, but…something didn't add up. He had never even felt the slightest hint of Sephiroth exerting his influence over him. Was his repelling all Cloud's doing?

 

“So, do you think she could come back?” Cloud asked, looking up. Red XIII was silent for nearly a minute.

 

“I wish I could say yes. I miss her just as much as I imagine you do. She was connected to the Planet in a way I can only dream of. She could have taught us much. And,” Red XIII tilted his head and pulled his gums up in what Cloud figured was a smile. “She knew how I liked my back scratched,” he admitted. Cloud smiled.

 

“At the same time, I cannot say no. I know and have seen too much about the complexities of the Lifestream to say no. But even if there is a way, I do not know it. I fear that knowledge has been lost to time,” Red XII finished.

 

“Is there any way to find out?” Cloud begged. “Please. I have to know.”

 

“There is one way…” Red XIII started slowly, not knowing if Cloud would like what he was going to say.

 

“What?” Cloud demanded.

 

“The Lifestream currents carry not only our spirits, but all spirits, including those of the Ancients. This current flows throughout the entire Planet, but there is one place where that current's pulse grows. The heart of the Lifestream, where the boundaries between life and death are most thin.... at this heart, the knowledge of the Ancients and the Lifestream can be accessed.”

 

Cloud paled, and Red XIII closed his eyes and lowered his head.

 

“The Forgotten City…” Cloud whispered. Red XIII nodded.

 

“If there is an answer, anywhere, I believe it could be found there. If not…then I am sorry,” he replied. Cloud slowly looked down at the ground.

 

“So…three years later and it's full circle at last,” he muttered.

 

“It appears so,” Red XIII agreed. Cloud turned to the door and chuckled softly.

 

“Well, for better or worse…it may as well end the same place it started,” he said sadly. Red XIII growled in response as Cloud left, opting for the stairs and caves over the lift to get back to the ground. The stares and whispers of the settlement at the sight of the last SOLDIER were not lost on him this time, as they were when he had first come.

 

“The last SOLDIER…the only one left alive…heading to the Forgotten City to face fate one last time…” he thought. “Is this what you felt like that night you left us? Just you against a world that can't understand you? I was unconscious after Sephiroth appearing at the Temple…I never even got to say goodbye…”

 

Cloud headed down the hill to where the rope ladder leading to the airship hung. He jumped and grabbed the lowest rungs, pulling himself up to the landing and the ladder with him. He swung the hatch open and climbed inside.

 

“So, how'd it go?” Cid asked, leaning against the steering wheel picking his nails.

 

“Got another place to go,” Cloud said.

 

“Figured. Where to?” Cid groaned, turning.

 

“The Forgotten City,” Cloud replied.

 

“Holy shit. It'll be morning by the time we get there,” Cid warned.

 

“I gotta go,” Cloud repeated. Cid rolled his eyes and grabbed the wheel.

 

“Alright, si'down,” he ordered, powering up the engines again.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

I'm coming for you.

 

I know.

 

Can you see me?

 

Yes. I always can.

 

Why didn't Sephiroth take me?

 

He couldn't. I wouldn't let him.

 

You mean?

 

He couldn't control your Jenova cells…my influence over them was too strong.

 

So it was you…

 

Yes.

 

Thank you…

 

“Wake up, we're here,” Cid yelled, snapping Cloud from his dream-state. Cloud shook his head and stood up as Cid opened the hatch and kicked down the rope ladder.

 

“This is as far as I go, I gotta sleep,” Cid muttered as Cloud climbed down the ladder outside the Forgotten City.

 

“No problem. Can you pick me up in a day or so?” he asked, looking up. Fenrir was still in Cid's cargo hold as the Shera couldn't land properly in the canyon, so he had just taken the six First Tsurugi blades that were now connected into their joined form and slid into the holders on his back.

 

“Yeah yeah, get that spiky head off my damn ship already,” Cid snapped. Cloud nodded and finished his climb. He hopped down to the ground and looked out at the valley as Cid began rolling up the ladder. A minute later, the Shera flew away, leaving Cloud to enter the city in the twilight of near-morning.

 

The vaguely aquatic architecture of the city was much the same as the last time Cloud had been there nearly three years earlier. Black boots padded down the path to the fork, and Cloud stared ahead in horror at the path leading down to the building that covered the true city below. He stared for what seemed an eternity before forcing himself to turn left and walk down the stone path around the city center. He kept his eyes riveted forward as he circled to the back of the city.

 

The altar housing the giant blue Materia shard was still intact as Cloud rounding the crumbling temple surrounding it. He stepped in front of the stone path leading to the altar, and started walking. He stopped at the front of the crystal shard and knelt, bowing his head.

 

“Please…” he whispered. “Ancients…hear me…” he waited for a response, but there was none he could tell. “I…I'd give anything…to get her back…please…there has to be a way,” he pleaded. The blue crystal glinted in the morning sun, and Cloud let out a breath. Another dead end…

 

Cloud…

 

Cloud's eyes widened.

 

Do you mean that?

 

“Y…yes…” Cloud nodded. “I'd give anything. Just please…come back. There has to be a way…”

 

There may be…

 

Cloud leapt to his feet.

 

“How!?” he cried, looking around for her. Her voice was so loud she could have been right behind him.

 

There is one more place for you to go…

 

“Where?” Cloud asked.

 

You know where…

 

“What?”

 

If you really need me back…the only place I could come back…is where you lost me…

 

Cloud paled as he turned to look down at the building in the pit at the center of the city. In his mind's eyes, the clear crystal blue steps down to the shrine below were already before his feet.

 

I'll be waiting for you…

 

“Aeris!” Cloud cried.

 

If you can do it…I'll see you soon…

 

“Don't go!” Cloud begged. Fatigue overtook him and he collapsed in front of the crystal. His eyes drifted shut, and he fought against them to stay awake. He just needed to go a little further.

 

Sh…in time…

 

Cloud's eyes drifted shut as five fingers gently ran over his spiked bang. Cloud's eyes opened to slits to see a shadow standing over him. He let out a breath as sleep took him, his eyes drifting back shut and his breathing evening out in sync with the hand stroking his hair. The hand vanished into a green mist of energy a moment later and curled into the blue Materia crystal, shining for a brief moment at the boy slumbering below it.

 

The information about the workings of the Lifestream comes from the novel “Maiden Who Travels the Planet”, featuring, who else, Aeris. As stated in the novel, people like say, Hojo and President Shinra who led cruel and evil lives and cling to such lives cannot be absorbed into the Lifestream while people like Zack can dissimilate and when called upon, gather themselves into a whole again.

 

Anyway, next chappie is the last one.