Merging Journeys

Reno yawned as he stepped off the truck and into the bleak world that was Midgar. Elena was right behind him, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she got off. Rude, as usual, was silent as he shut the door of the truck, tilting his shades down slightly to look around. The three Turks stood in front of the Shinra Building, and as they stood there, they all silently agreed that it was just as imposing as ever. Before anyone then could move towards the building, a man with violet hair stepped out of the building and strode towards them.

"Greetings," he said, his voice cool and quite composed. The only difference between this man's voice and Tseng's was the slight tinge of something in the man's words. Reno tried to search for a word that could describe that something, but nothing came up.

"You're Veraldei?" the crimson haired Turk queried, frowning at the man.

"Vice President Andrew Veraldei, yes," replied Veraldei, looking at the three blue clad Turks. "Hmm. . . I won't be asking too much out of you three, as I can't think of many things that you would have to do."

Elena timidly cleared her throat. "Sir, may I ask how General Heidegger can be alive?"

Veraldei's eyes immediately went onto her. "Heidegger's stubborn," was all he said on that matter. A leer appeared on the man's face. "You must be the rookie . . . Elena Simms. I've heard so much about you. . ." A sinister glimmer that Reno knew all too well appeared in Andrew's eyes, and he quickly made himself into a barrier between Elena and Andrew.

"Touch one hair on her blond head and you'll be paying with blood," he hissed, his green eyes narrowed dangerously on the vice president. Behind him, Elena's eyes were wide with surprise and shock; she had never imagined Reno to be the protective type.

Almost immediately, Veraldei backed away, falling back into his calm composure. His azure eyes were on Reno, as if coaxing him to relax. Grudgingly, Reno complied, the frown still on his face. Andrew brought up his index finger, a forced half-smile on his face. "I like that," he said, his voice low. "I like that kind of fire you have. Tell me, what's your name?"

"Reno. . . Reno of the Turks," replied the lanky man.

"Last name?" queried Veraldei. He seemed extremely confident and he knew that whatever he asked of the Turks he would end up getting.

Reno gritted his teeth. He *knew* he wasn't going to like this guy. "Drannor," he said firmly.

Andrew nodded in approval. "Well, then, Reno Drannor," he started, "starting now, you are the leader of the Turks." He turned away and strode back towards the Shinra Building, missing the initial reaction from Reno.

Rude smiled grimly as he walked around to face his friend, whose jaw had dropped. "Well, Sir," he began, "what are we going to do?"

Yuffie Kisaragi looked at the house that was AVALANCHE HQ. She openly showed her disgust. "Gawd, what kinda headquarters is this??" she exclaimed. "Where's the cool equipment, the fancy furniture?!"

Red XIII, or Nanaki, the next one to enter the house after Yuffie, shook his head back and forth. "It's not what it looks like that counts, Yuffie," he said calmly, padding across the room and sitting on his haunches. "It's what they do within that counts."

"Whatever," Yuffie sighed, rolling her eyes. She took her Conformer off her back and studied it, making sure it was polished and cleaned up. "At least I'm not stuck in Wutai," she found herself muttering, "it's soooo boring over there." A glimmer of mischief lingered in her dark brown eyes. "If I'm lucky, I can get more of their Materia. . ." She giggled softly as she walked off to another part of the house.

Over in another part of the house, Tifa Lockheart sat next to Cloud's bedside. A whole day had passed since she had arrived in Midgar and Cloud Strife was still bedridden. Her eyes were threatening to give way right when she heard a groan from the bed. Tifa shook herself awake and stood over Cloud, watching his eyes twitch as he slowly pulled away from the darkness of unconsciousness.

"Cloud, can you hear me?" she asked. "It's me, Tifa. . ." She cleared her throat. "It's me, Cloud. It's Tifa."

Cloud's eyes slowly flickered opening, much to Tifa's relief. "Tifa?" he croaked, still disoriented.

Tifa squeezed Cloud's hand gently and nodded. "Yes, Cloud," she whispered softly. "It's me, Tifa." She brushed back Cloud's hair. "Don't worry, Cloud. . . You're all right now. . . You're safe here. . ."

It was then that Elmyra Gainsborough came in. "Tifa, who are you--" she started. A gasp left her lips when she saw Cloud awake. "Oh, he's awake!" she cried in relief. She ran out of the room, shouting, "He's awake! Cloud's awake!"

Cloud blinked his glowing Mako blue eyes at Tifa. "Tifa. . . Tifa. . ." he kept repeating over and over.

"Shh. . ." Tifa whispered. "Rest for now. We can talk later." She watched as Cloud slowly shut his eyes and fall asleep again.

Cid Highwind entered the room moments later. He looked down at Tifa and Cloud and frowned. "I thought Elmyra said Cloud was awake."

"He was," replied Tifa. "I just told him to rest." She smiled at Cid. "He'll be all right now."

"I hope so," mumbled Cid, scratching the back of his head, "'cuz if I have to Barret that he'll have to carry Cloud off again when he's hurt one more time, he'll probably kill me, the big bastard."

Despite herself, Tifa found herself giggling.

He groaned as he awoke, the darkness around him slowly giving way to consciousness. Tseng pressed himself to his elbows, blinking in confusion as he found himself on the bank of the crystalline pool instead of within it. His eyes went straight to the pool and his eyes widened in shock to find Aeris' previously floating body gone. He crawled to the pool, despite the cries of protest from his aching muscles, and stared into its depths.

"What happened to Aeris!?" he shouted as loud as he could, his voice echoing through out the whole city. He carefully got to his feet, his eyes never leaving the pool.

"I'm right here, Tseng."

Tseng's gray eyes widened and he turned around slowly, gasping when he saw Aeris Gainsborough standing to one side, smiling warmly at him. "A-- Aeris??" he stuttered, watching her approach him.

She giggled softly. "That look of surprise makes you look so cute, Tseng," she whispered, touching his cheek. Tseng was surprised to not feel cold, clammy hands or the feeling that he was being touched by the wind, but gentle, slightly warm hands.

"You're alive, Aeris. . ." Disbelief was still apparent in Tseng's voice.

Aeris shook her head, the smile never leaving her face. "No, not really, Tseng," she said. "When you kissed me, you accepted the bond of the Cetra."

"Huh?" The surprise was taken over by confusion on Tseng's face.

"In other words, my soul is bonded to yours, making you an Ancient, or Cetra, officially."

Tseng went deathly pale. "B-- bonded?? You-- and me???"

Aeris nodded slowly, the smile finally diminishing. "We were desperate to find someone to take up the bloodline, but I'm glad it was you." The smile returned. "Have you seen the Holy Materia yet, Tseng?" When Tseng shook his head, Aeris brought her hand down and took up Tseng's right hand. Despite the fact that Aeris wasn't truly 'alive,' she could still touch him; it seemed unreal. Cold chills vibrated down the man's spine as he watched her show him a black glove that had mysteriously appeared on his hand, and when she faced it palm up, Tseng found a shimmering green Materia staring back at him. The Materia was embedded in the glove. "This is Holy, the Ultimate White Magic. All the spirits of the Cetra agreed that you should hold on to it, as you are the last Ancient now."

"So . . . I'm truly alone with this?" whispered Tseng, slowly gripping his fingers around the Materia Glove.

Aeris once again shook her head. "Never," she replied. "I'll always be with you." A knowing smile appeared on her face. "But no one else can see me, unless I take over your body." She frowned a little at this.

"Why didn't the Cetra just kill me and allow you to return?" Tseng asked, wondering why the Cetra had chosen to favor him so suddenly.

"Because. . . For one thing, the Cetra are not murderers. And for another, once a Cetra is dead, they're dead. They can't come back from their Promised Land."

"Oh," said the new Ancient with a disappointed tone to his voice.

Aeris sighed and hugged Tseng, and the former Turk welcomed the feeling of being touched by the woman; he couldn't remember the last time he had been with her. "Don't worry, Tseng, it'll be all right," she whispered into his ear. "You'll get used to the advantages and disadvantages of being a Cetra."

"What am I supposed to do?" Tseng asked, pulling Aeris away from him a little to look into her bright green eyes. "What would make the Cetra desperate enough to take a former Turk and change him into an Ancient??"

Aeris' hand came up and came to rest on Tseng's left arm. "The Planet's going to be in trouble soon, Tseng," she said softly. "We couldn't do anything but wait for something to happen. That was when you entered the city. The collective Cetra were overjoyed to find that someone had come to the Forgotten Capital, although a few were a little hesitant because of your past as a Turk. They knew about your past, but, as you know, they were desperate. I'm happy that the new Cetra is someone I know. . . Someone I can trust."

Tseng stared at Aeris for the longest of time before speaking. "Trust?" he repeated. "Me?? I always thought that you despised me. . . Th-- That you believed that you'd be better off if you'd never met me."

Aeris was shaking her head halfway through his sentence. "No, never," she sighed. "From the moment that I saw you enter my foster mother's house in the slums of Sector Five, I knew that I could never grow to despise you. Hate may not be of my nature, but I could have thought you untrustworthy the moment I saw you. . . But, I didn't."

There was silence for what seemed to be an eternity, then Tseng spoke. "Thank you for trusting me, Aeris."

"I always have, Tseng." Aeris wrapped her arms around the tall former Turk. "I always have. . ." Tseng slowly, hesitantly, wrapped his own arms around Aeris, tears working their way up to his eyes as he felt her warm body -- the body only he could touch.

Vincent Valentine, astride his Gold Chocobo, Shana, rode towards Junon across the water. His black tendrils were blown back against the wind, his crimson cloak billowing as well. His red eyes were fixed on the harbor across the water that appeared so close, yet so far away. A sigh escaped his lips as he gripped Shana's neck.

Moments later, Vincent became aware that he was being watched. He straightened on Shana's back, lightly hitting the chocobo's side to make it stop. His eyes narrowed as he looked around for something that could be stalking him. A very close rumbling sound made Vincent's eyes widen in terror. He looked down into the depths of the water, afraid of what he would see within it.

"Oh, shoot. . .," he hissed when he saw the glowing red eyes that were growing larger by the second.

Aeris' pushed away from Tseng and made a motion, a gun and a staff appearing in her hands. "You'll need weapons as a Cetra," she stated calmly. She motioned for him to approach her and he did so, staring at the gold and silver gun and the white staff. As he studied the staff, he could see the five Materia crystals on the staff, one blue one in the middle of four green ones. "This is the Nova Guardian," Aeris explained, bringing the staff up, "and it's about three times stronger than my Princess Guard." She lifted up the gun gingerly. "This is the Starbuster. . . Since you're experienced with guns, I figured you'd want something you're used to."

Tseng nodded and took the gun and staff from Aeris. The girl Cetra supplied him with a black strap with a holster for his gun and a place for the staff. Aeris grinned at him. "Now you're quite a sight to see," she giggled. She then quickly grew serious. "We've got to get to Junon," she said abruptly.

"Why? What's wrong?" Tseng queried as Aeris grasped his hand and pulled him towards the entrance of the city.

"The Weapons are angry, and when they're angry, they'll kill almost anything," replied Aeris. "I'm afraid that the Emerald Weapon's just found something to kill."

Clucky stared at his new owner in bewilderment. It appeared that he was being pulled towards him by thin air with one arm outstretched towards him. "Why are we going to this Emerald Weapon, then?" Tseng asked Aeris as he mounted Clucky.

"Because you can stop it," said Aeris, quickly getting on Clucky as well. If Clucky had felt Aeris' sudden presence, he didn't show it. "Let's go!"

Tseng frowned at Aeris before nodding, prompting Clucky to start in a dash towards Junon.

Shana was panicking under Vincent, that much was certain. Vincent swallowed hard as he brandished his Death Penalty, trying to calm Shana as the Emerald Weapon slowly ascended up, breaking the surface of the water.

"WAAARRRRRKKK!!!" shrieked the chocobo as the Emerald Weapon's eyes flared a crimson color.

Vincent gritted his teeth against Shana's screech as he called upon his Summon Materia. "Ultimate End!!" he shouted, his heart beating faster by the second.

Tseng could feel Aeris straighten against his back, and he looked at her expectantly. "What is it?" he asked, pushing back his black hair.

"I thought I heard a choco--" started Aeris. She was abruptly cut off by a scream that was quite audible to both of them.

"Ultimate End!!"

The former Turk turned his attention back to the front, seeing a tiny figure clad in red in the distance. He could feel Aeris' fingers dig into his hips up to the point where he had to wince in pain. "Oh, my God!" he heard her gasp. "It's Vincent!"

Vincent knew that his Knights of the Round Materia wouldn't cause any fatal damage to the Emerald Weapon; he was simply hoping it would provide him some time to get away from it. He prodded Shana to get going, but the Gold Chocobo was apparently still frozen in fear. A growl of disapproval came forth out of Vincent's throat and he threw his chocobo a murderous glare. In front of him, the Emerald Weapon roared, incredibly angered by the Knights of the Round. The Weapon turned its attention to Vincent and Shana, the red eyes clearly building destructive energy. Vincent did the only thing he could do up to that point: he leapt off Shana and into the water.

Shana's eyes sank into her head as she saw the beams coming straight at her. "Wark! Wark!" she screeched. "Warkwarkwarkwarkwark---" The Gold Chocobo's screams were cut off by the sudden impact, and the chocobo exploded, golden feathers flying everywhere. The body of the chocobo was incinerated instantly, much to Vincent's horror.

Tseng's eyes widened when he saw the Emerald Weapon's eye lasers meet their mark. "Damn!" he cursed, clutching Clucky's plumage tightly. "Did it get Vincent?"

"No," was Aeris' reply, "I would know if he was killed."

Tseng nodded in understanding, hitting Clucky's side again. "C'mon," he said softly to the Gold Chocobo. "Let's help him out." Clucky bobbed his head in a way that looked suspiciously like a nod, but Tseng barely gave it a second thought as the chocobo started towards Vincent and the Emerald Weapon.

*So, this is how it ends,* Vincent thought as he floated in the water. *After surviving Hojo's twisted experiments and lasting for twenty-eight years in a coffin, and then living through Meteor and Sephiroth, I go down by either dying at the hands of the Emerald Weapon or drowning in the depths of the ocean. What a way to go.*

"Hey!" came a voice from the distance. "Need a hand?"

Vincent blinked, struggling to keep himself afloat as he looked for the source of the voice. The Weapon seemed to be doing the same thing. The former Turk was the first to see the figure on the chocobo, riding in like a knight astride his horse. He could make out the shoulder length black hair and the blue jacket the man wore, but he couldn't make out the man's face or anything that would tell him who his rescuer was.

"Uh . . . Aeris?" Tseng queried, glancing back at the girl who still had her arms wrapped around his waist.

"Hmm?" Aeris looked up and brushed her hair away from her face, blinking her large, green eyes at him. "Something wrong, Tseng?"

"Well . . . uh, how exactly am I supposed to stop this Weapon thing?"

"As a Cetra, you are one of the chosen of the Planet," stated Aeris. "All you'd have to do is approach the Emerald Weapon and tell it to go back to sleep."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Tseng let out a sigh. "Seems too easy to me," he murmured.

Aeris shrugged. "That's one of the kicks out of being an Ancient," she replied. "Now, get Vincent out of there."

"Yes, madam," Tseng chuckled, tugging on Clucky's bridle. The Gold Chocobo continued towards the Emerald Weapon, showing no fear of the Weapon.

*What's that man doing??* Vincent's mind screamed as he watched the man on the chocobo head towards the Emerald Weapon. *He's going to get himself killed!!*

Tseng swallowed hard as he looked up at the monstrous Weapon. "Uh. . .," he stuttered, feeling the blood drain from his face.

Behind him, Aeris let out a sigh of exasperation. "Very smooth, oh great leader of the Turks," she mumbled sarcastically. "Very smooth indeed."

"Oh, shut up," Tseng snapped, frowning at Aeris. "I'm new at this!" He quickly turned his attention back to the Weapon and he cleared his throat, his face becoming as cold and as calm as it had always been while he had worked for Shinra; deep inside, however, he was still scared out of his wits. "As one of the chosen of the Planet, I order you to go back to sleep within the waves of the ocean."

The glow in the Weapon's eyes immediately died down and Tseng watched in awe as the huge creature sank back into the depths of the ocean. "Not bad," remarked Aeris, giggling. "Not bad at all."

"Thanks," Tseng said wryly. He directed Clucky to move towards Vincent and he looked down at the red eyed man. "Are you all right?"

Vincent stared at the man sitting on the chocobo. "Tseng?" he gasped, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Tseng of the Turks?!" It couldn't be; Tseng was dead, killed when the Temple of the Ancients had become the Black Materia.

"Formerly of the Turks," corrected Tseng, his gray eyes glittering in the sunlight. "Now, are you going to get on Clucky here or am I going to have to leave you in the water?" He brought his gloved hand out for Vincent to take.

Hesitantly, Vincent took Tseng's hand, coughing as he got on Clucky. Aeris giggled as she crawled into Tseng's lap, much to Tseng's surprise. "Let's go, Clucky," Tseng said to the chocobo, prodding his Gold Chocobo to go towards Junon.

"We need to go to Midgar now," the Cetra girl said softly. Aeris held onto Tseng's shoulders as Clucky moved on, taking his time with two passengers. There was silence as they moved for a while. "Vincent's nice," she said abruptly to Tseng. "He doesn't talk very much, but I know he's nice."

"Is that all you can say about him?" whispered Tseng.

"Well, no," admitted Aeris. "He tried to stop Hojo from injecting Lucrecia, Sephiroth's mother, with Jenova cells. He failed and became one of Hojo's experiments. That's why he has that claw for a left arm."

One thing caught Tseng's ear. "Sephiroth's mother??"

Aeris nodded, leaning against Tseng's chest. "Hojo was Sephiroth's father," she said. Tseng's eyes bugged out at that, but he didn't say anything. Aeris ignored his reaction and frowned sadly. "If it weren't for him, Sephiroth probably would have had a normal life . . . and he wouldn't have gone insane."

". . . And he wouldn't have killed you," Tseng sighed.

"Thank you," came Vincent's abrupt voice, soft and cool.

Tseng glanced back at Vincent, gripping Clucky's bridle as he found himself staring right into Vincent's glowing eyes. "It's nothing," he said, turning away quickly.

". . . You really are Tseng, aren't you?" Vincent whispered, shivering in his wet clothes.

"Yes, I am."

"How? I mean, how can you be alive?" Vincent cleared his throat. "Cloud and Tifa said that you were slashed up by Sephiroth."

"I was," replied Tseng. "I have--" Tseng finally looked down at his chest, blinking in confusion. Where the hideous, raw wound had once been there was only smooth, unmarred skin. He shook his head, taking a deep breath. "Ahem, I have been healing since then." He paused. "Where were you heading? Perhaps I can drop you off on my way to Midgar."

"Why are you going there?" Vincent's voice suddenly went cold.

Tseng looked down at Aeris. "Tell him," she mouthed.

". . . Aeris told me to," Tseng said, wondering what Vincent's reaction would be.

"Oh. . ." Vincent's voice died down. Then, it hit him and his eyes widened considerably. "WHAT!?!?"

Veraldei cleared his throat as he looked over his executives with a critical eye. "We have a problem on our hands," he stated calmly. He watched all his executives' eyes avert to him at that. "I have received word from our station in Junon that there was an explosion in the middle of the sea between the harbor and Costa Del Sol yesterday." The young vice president's eyes went to Palmer. "Could that have been the ship with your men on it, Palmer?"

Palmer bit his lip and then shook his head. "No, Mr. Vice President," he said, his voice soft and serious, for once. "I received a call this morning that the ship had made it to Costa Del Sol."

"Hmm. . ." Veraldei frowned at this, bringing his hand to his chin. He looked over at Heidegger. "Heidegger, do you think you can get an airplane into the air to check out what that explosion was?"

"We don't have any ready airplanes in Junon, Veraldei," Heidegger promptly replied. "I could send a helicopter over the ocean, though."

"Kya ha ha!" Scarlet laughed. "You don't have a pilot though, you big oaf!"

Veraldei quietly eyed the blond haired woman before going back to Heidegger. "Is what she saying true, Heidegger?"

"Yes, sir," the general mumbled glumly.

"Who was the regular pilot for Rufus and President Shinra, then?" queried Andrew.

"Tseng, sir," replied Heidegger.

"Who?"

Reeve cleared his throat, watching Veraldei's eyes quickly go to him. "He said Tseng, sir," he said, trying to maintain a cool appearance. "Tseng, former leader of the Turks. . . Deceased."

Veraldei frowned dangerously at that. "Deceased, is it?" he said quietly. He shook his head. "Never mind; if we don't have any pilots or transportation, we might as well leave it be. We'll leave that explosion matter for now. Scarlet, how goes the reconstruction of the Sister Ray?"

"Quite well, believe it or not," was Scarlet's reply. "We have enough metal to rebuilt the cannon, but we still lack the workers. We need at least fifty more workers."

"Find a way to get the workers," Veraldei said monotonously. "The cost doesn't matter at the moment, as long as we keep the Mako Reactors going."

"Speaking of Mako Reactors," started Scarlet, "haven't you found it odd that AVALANCHE has attacked any of them?"

"Gya ha ha ha!" roared Heidegger. "That's probably the most intelligent question out of you yet, Scarlet! Gya ha ha ha!"

Scarlet glared venomously at the stocky man. "At least *I'm* intelligent enough to know *how* to ask questions!" she retorted.

Reeve frowned at the two as they continued to bicker and calmly looked at Veraldei. "This is one of the many qualities that Rufus hated in these two," he sighed.

"I can see that," Veraldei quietly said. He brought his hand up for silence before saying, "This meeting has ended." All of the executives moved to leave the briefing room, but Veraldei's voice cut them off. "Palmer, call Hojo before you leave -- I want to talk to him." Palmer looked back at the vice president and nodded.

The head of city maintenance stopped for a moment and glanced back at Veraldei. There was that tone again. . .

"An explosion?" Cid repeated, clutching his PHS with one hand.

"That's right," came Reeve's voice from the other end. The executive looked around the empty room nervously, hoping nobody would come in for any reason. He stood towards the back of the room, holding his own PHS to his ear. "I have this sinking feeling that it was the Emerald Weapon down there."

Cid's eyes narrowed. "Why would the Weapon explode?"

"I don't think it exploded," Reeve quickly said. "I think it caught something and destroyed it."

"$#!^@(!& !!!!!" gasped Cid. "I hope that's not true!"

"Same here," Reeve sighed.

Vicks Roveyar's eyes narrowed as he patrolled the upper floors of the Shinra Building. After the AVALANCHE attack a few days ago, Vice President Veraldei had doubled the guards on the higher levels. His pay had been doubled when he was stationed on the upper floors, so it wasn't a total loss. He stopped and looked around wearily. He could have sworn he had heard something. . . His suspicions were quickly confirmed when he heard a voice again, and he prepared his Silver Pistol as he slowly approached the room where the voices could be heard. Vicks gripped his gun as he kicked the door in, gritting his teeth in preparation of barrages of firearms. A sigh of relief passed his lips when he felt no bullets pierce his skin.

The Shinra guard's eyes widened when he saw Reeve Saldiva, the head of urban development, staring at him in horror, holding an odd looking phone to his ear as his face when pale. He walked into the room, holding his gun firmly. "What the hell are you doing?!" he hissed, fingering the gun.

"Oh, God. . Oh, God. . Oh, God. .," Reeve repeated, trembling uncontrollably.

Vicks' eyes widened in realization. "*You're* the AVALANCHE spy?!" he gasped in disbelief.

"Reeve!!!" Cid screeched into his PHS. "What's going on!?"

"Cid. .!" exclaimed Reeve. "He's got a gun! Oh, God, he's got a gun!!"

"There's only one thing to do with spies," growled Vicks, slowly pulling back with trigger. "I'll make sure that AVALANCHE never gets a chance to get into this building again. . ."

"No, no, no!!" Reeve cried, backing away from Vicks until he slammed in the wall. He looked around desperately, still clutching the PHS to his ear. "Please, God, no!!"

"Reeve, get a hold of yourself!" shrieked Cid. "Goddammit, snap out of it!"

"Help, Cid!" Reeve whispered into the PHS. "He's pulling the trigger. . .!!!! NOOOOO!!" There was an ear-shattering bang, then a thump as the PHS met the ground. Cid's eyes went wide with shock.

"REEVE!!!!!!!!!"

On to Chapter 6.

Back to Merging Journeys.