Chapter 18
Sephiroth woke disoriented. His dreams had left him vaguely hopeful, but upon waking he knew that they had been grossly inconsistent with reality. He had dreamt of her, and he felt disgusted with himself for having thought of her so fondly.
Finally. Jenova did not bother masking her impatience.
He rose to his feet, ignoring her as he regained his bearings. He was deep within the crater, now even more barren a place than before. The Lifestream had at last given up its futile efforts to heal the wound, and instead only his near-impenetrable barrier stretched across it, distorting the sky. He could feel some sort of energy humming beneath the earth, beneath his feet. He wondered if it was Aeris's precious Holy. Caves led deeper into the Planet, and Sephiroth made for one entrance to find out.
How long have I been asleep? he asked as the darkness of the tunnels surrounded him.
Seven days, Jenova answered disapprovingly. Did you really need so much rest?
Meteor is a powerful spell, he reminded her, frowning. It required considerable energy to summon. Besides, there is nothing left now but the wait.
The puppet is still alive, she stated.
I know. What is his condition?
Unfortunately, he is fine. The Cetra cured his Mako poisoning.
Sephiroth found himself frowning, though it was not Cloud's recovery that bothered him. Then I suppose he and his companions will be coming to kill me. It should make things more entertaining.
You should be careful. The Cetra is recovering, and I believe she is discovering the full extent of her abilities.
I understand.
I'm not certain you do, Jenova persisted. You don't comprehend the seriousness of the threat she poses. You have never taken it seriously.
Because it is not serious, Sephiroth assured her. But I will take care of it, Mother.
You'll kill her?
No, but she will no longer be a threat. Now, tell me what happened while I was asleep.
It was still dark when Cloud roused them. Yuffie glanced back at the town of Mideel in farewell before following the others into the shadowed forest. Cid led the way back to his airship without faltering. She wouldn't have trusted him to lead unless they were going back to the Highwind; he loved that airship like it was his kid or something.
She was sorry to leave the little town, but at the same time glad to be doing something. When you knew the world was threatening to come to an end, it was hard to pretend you didn't. She wanted to be doing something, and now that they were all back together again, it looked like they would be.
Yuffie was the last up the ladder onto the Highwind. The others had already gone ahead inside, but she stayed out on deck like usual. The few times she had ventured inside had been pretty awful, but at least out here she almost felt like she was getting used to this flying thing.
The airship had scarcely lifted off before something slammed into it. Yuffie hung onto the railing for dear life, and as her stomach lurched she quickly dismissed her previous thought. She'd never get used to flying.
When the Highwind and her stomach steadied, she released her strangle-hold on the railing to look around. "What the hell was that?" she wondered aloud, unable to see what they'd hit from her vantage point. She turned to go inside and find out.
Before she could reach the door, Barret burst through with Vincent and Reno following.
"What's going on?" Yuffie asked them, growing anxious as they drew weapons. Barret was already at the railing and shouting something that sounded like a challenge.
"One of the Weapons is attacking us," Reno explained.
"What?" she exclaimed in shock. "And we're going to fight it?"
He shot her a look. "You wanna just let it destroy the airship?"
Yuffie shook her head dumbly and stared as the huge monster came into sight from around the front of the Highwind. It looked armored in black steel, with wicked blades for teeth and claws and glowing rubies for eyes. "Why's it attacking us?"
"Damned if we know!" exclaimed Barret. "Jus' shut up an' fight!"
She wanted to ask why she had to be fighting it, but she knew perfectly well why. The others relied on short-range weapons and would only be good for a handful of spells. She shook her head and reached for her shuriken. She couldn't be distracted by wishing someone else could fight this for her. Besides, she was Yuffie Kisaragi and she could beat the crap outta this thing!
She wished she believed herself.
The Weapon let out a screech of a cry and raked its claws across the deck, making them all leap backwards out of its reach. She saw immediately that this thing was all power, not speed. If they could just be quick, they might stand a chance. Yuffie could do quick.
But their attacks didn't seem to do any damage. Bullets bounced off of the Weapon's armor. The electricity from Reno's nightstick didn't faze it. Yuffie's shuriken barely scratched it. It was only a matter of time before one of them got careless, was an instant too late jumping out of the way, and got sliced in half by those bladed claws or crushed by the Weapon's powerful tail.
A huge red materia-like stone set in the Weapon's chest began to glow, and Yuffie knew they were in trouble. Who knew what kind of magic this thing could use? Vincent cast a barrier spell on the group and they braced themselves as a beam of blinding light slammed into them. Yuffie screamed. If the barrier spell had taken the brunt of this, then she felt she would have died without it.
She landed against the far railing and curled up in pain. She felt broken all over, the pain so overriding her senses that she couldn't detect her own movements.
"Fuck," she heard Reno curse from nearby.
Yuffie tried to grasp the railing and pull herself up, but she couldn't seem to focus enough to grip anything. Suddenly, though, the pain dimmed; someone must have cast a cure spell on her.
She pushed herself to her hands and knees. She still hurt all over and felt like she was going to puke, but she could bear it if she tried. And she couldn't afford to stay down any longer. The Weapon had only to fly around to the other side of the ship to reach her, and probably it could tear the ship apart any time it chose. Maybe they were lucky it had decided to take them up on their idiot challenge rather than ripping the Highwind to shreds, but this battle didn't match Yuffie's definition of 'lucky.'
Vincent pulled her the rest of the way to her feet, but didn't ask if she was all right. It would have been a stupid question, and those weren't Vinny's forte.
The Weapon had disappeared from the far side of the ship, but its head was just coming into view on the near side. She would have to keep on fighting, though she really just wanted to hide somewhere and let the others handle it. But what would they do without her, right?
The Weapon smashed through the railing on this side with one swipe of its claws, sending them scrambling to dodge the shattered pieces of wood. They were slower, their bodies sluggish to respond through the residual pain.
They didn't recover enough to attack before the monster gripped the side of the ship in its hind legs and stretched forward across the deck to snap at them with its terrible maw. Yuffie had barely recovered her balance, and she stumbled in trying to get away, sure for one terrible instant that some piece of her would disappear into that mouth before she felt Vincent yank her arm, pulling her out of the way.
Forget fighting it, there was no way they were even surviving longer than a few minutes. If its claws or teeth didn't find them, one more of those spells would finish them for sure.
"Stop it, all of you!"
Yuffie started at the voice, instinctively jumping farther back from the Weapon. The four of them backed up to the opposite side of the deck and could only glance at Aeris, keeping their eyes warily on the monster.
"Aeris, the hell're you doin'?" Barret demanded.
"Stop fighting it," she said, voice softer now that she had their attention, but no less firm. "You shouldn't be fighting it." She started towards the Weapon, but Reno darted over and caught her arm, pulling her back.
"Are you insane? It'll kill you."
Aeris shook her head. "No, it won't. It's a Weapon; the Planet made it. It won't touch me."
"If you're so sure of that, then why's it attacking us?"
"Because you're human, and it doesn't know any better. Now let me go."
"Don't be stupid, 'ris."
She jerked her arm free. "If you're so worried, then stay with me. Protect me if you will, but don't stop me."
Reno hesitated, but finally nodded.
Aeris walked forward until she stood within a few meters of the Weapon, without even a railing between them. Reno stopped a pace behind her. "Ultima," she said to the monster. "That's what they call you, right? Stop this. These are friends of mine, and we are all friends of the Planet. We mean to help. Please let us be."
The thing seemed to regard her speculatively, considering whether to believe her or kill them all anyway. At length it made a low growling noise, hopefully of consent, and turned away.
Aeris sighed and turned to Reno. She looked him over. "I should've come out sooner. I... couldn't hear the Planet, so I wasn't sure."
The redhead only shrugged, as if it were no big deal that they'd just gotten their asses handed to them.
"Wha--?" Barret cried. "You weren't sure? The hell were you gettin' so close if you weren't sure?"
"I had to do something," Aeris said, and Yuffie thought she detected something of the old Aeris in her tone, the Aeris who threw herself into things whole-heartedly and didn't second-guess.
"But... It coulda killed you!"
"Well, it didn't. No use arguing now. Let's get inside and I'll heal all of you. You look terrible."
The others turned to do as she suggested, but Yuffie's stomach was feeling iffy, and she was sure that given the slightest opportunity, it planned to start churning on her. "I think I'd rather stay out here," she said, returning to one of the few segments of railing still intact.
Aeris told the others to go on in and came over to her. "I can't do anything about your motion sickness, but I can at least heal your wounds."
"Thanks," Yuffie said as she felt the cool-warm sensation of Aeris's healing spell wash over her.
The Cetra turned to go back inside.
"Hey, Aeris," the ninja called out. When she had her friend's attention, she went on, "Looks like you're feeling a little better. I'm glad."
Aeris seemed surprised at first, but then she smiled just a little. "I guess so," she said, and went inside.
They arrived in North Corel in the early afternoon, and it was no different than Aeris remembered. The same cluster of tents lay huddled about the end of the old railroad tracks, the same tattered sign arched above them, proclaiming the town's name in faded letters. Shells of stone buildings aged the place, gave it an unspoken past. Hawkers with their meager wares had positioned themselves to be near the dingy sign pointing the way to Gold Saucer.
Aeris recalled Gold Saucer much less vividly now. The last time they had visited the theme park had been the night before going to the Temple of the Ancients, where everything had changed. That night, she had asked Cloud on the date he'd promised her back in Midgar, and that night, she'd actually thought herself falling in love with him. Those memories seemed so distant and unreal now, even though it had scarcely been more than two weeks since the date.
Was that all? How things had changed.
Cloud turned to look over the motley group, considering who to take with him. "Tifa, Cid, Barret-- you're with me. The rest of you wait here."
"Right," said Reeve. "Call us if you need any help; we'll get there as fast as we can."
The blond nodded and set off down the tracks with the others following.
The rest of them looked around the disheveled little village and wondered if they really had to stay here for the day. It was a depressing place to be, and already they were anxious to leave.
"So," Reno began, "who wants to go to Gold Saucer with me?"
Reeve looked at him askance. "What? At a time like this?"
"What better time is there?" the redhead countered. "There's no point in thinking about how the world's gonna end all the time. We might as well have a little fun while we've got the chance."
"It just doesn't seem right..."
Yuffie looked around at everyone. "Well, I'm up for it."
"Nanaki, maybe you'd better go with them," Aeris suggested meaningfully.
He glanced up at her, and his gaze showed understanding.
Reno looked amused. "Worried, 'ris? You shouldn't be; I like my girls a little more shapely."
"Besides," Yuffie added, reaching up to smack Reno in the back of the head, "I can take care of myself."
The ex-Turk gave her a wry look, rubbing the back of his head, and then looked back at Aeris. "Girl makes a good point."
"I think I will go anyway," Nanaki decided.
Reno shrugged. "All right. I guess the rest of you are sticking around?"
Aeris, Reeve, and Vincent all nodded.
"Suit yourselves." With that, the redhead turned and headed for the ropeway leading up to Gold Saucer. Yuffie and Nanaki followed. Aeris sighed, watching their backs.
"She'll be all right," Reeve assured her. "Reno's not interested in sixteen-year-olds."
"I guess not," she conceded. She offered him a smile, and then turned to pick her way through the tents towards one of the crumbling stone buildings, the other two following. It wasn't much of an inn, but they'd still be able to get some rest. She and especially Vincent were in sore need of it, she was sure.
She spoke with the startled innkeeper, paid the small amount of gil, and laid down on one cot with little more than a glance at her companions. For a while, she just stared up at the cracked ceiling, thinking. If Sephiroth died and Shinra fell and the Planet lived on, how much difference would it really make in the world? In her own life? She'd only just started feeling like she knew what to do in the here and now, and imagining the future was a little beyond her. Maybe, for now, that was for the best.