Merging Journeys

All characters in this story, except for my own, belong to Squaresoft and Sony of America. Don't sue me for writing this story, as I am not getting money out of this. Thank you, and enjoy the chapter. This one was fun to write. ^_^

Started: May 18 (20), 1998

Finished: July 3, 1998

"Oh, @$*&^!?@!*$?@&$@ !!!!" Cid Highwind growled, pacing with the PHS still to his ear. "Reeve!! Reeve, answer me, Goddammit!!! %(&@&*!$@%$@^ !!!!!!!"

Yuffie Kisaragi ran into the room, blinking in confusion. "What the hell happened?!" he shrieked. "Gawd, all I could hear was your cussing from the other side of the house!"

"Reeve got shot!!" Cid sputtered out before resuming his cussing.

"What?!!?" gasped Yuffie. "AGHH!! NO!"

"What the (@+$&*^@!% is going on in here?!" Barret roared.

"Reeve got shot!!" both Cid and Yuffie shrieked.

"@*@($&@($&@$(#$(*&@ !!!!!!!"

Questions flew through Vincent Valentine's head as Tseng finally stopped his chocobo near Fort Condor. He got off the Gold Chocobo and frowned at the former Turk. "You have a lot of explaining to do," he said coldly.

Tseng nodded. "I know, I know," he sighed. "Where do I begin. . .?" He trailed off, thinking. Aeris was standing next to Clucky, watching the scene unfold before her.

"From the beginning, if you will," Vincent said.

". . . All right." Tseng ran a hand through his hair, lightly brushing the Nova Guardian still strapped to his back. "First off, I didn't die in the Temple of the Ancients; I managed to get out after your friends disappeared into the temple. I just recovered from the wounds that Sephiroth gave me lately."

"And why are you going to Midgar?"

"I already told you -- Aeris told me to," replied Tseng.

"Aeris Gainsborough is dead," Vincent hissed.

Tseng shook his head. "No, she isn't," he insisted. He turned towards Aeris and crossed his arms. "Aeris, c'mon. Say something."

'Oh, beautiful,' Vincent thought, 'the Masamune's left Tseng with a mental problem. Great, just great.' "You're insane," he whispered, shaking his own head sadly. His black tendrils billowed softly in the slight breeze.

"He can't see me, Tseng," Aeris said, walking to Tseng's side. "Remember, you're the only one who can see me unless you let me take over your body."

"Then do it!" Tseng sighed. "Show him that I'm not crazy!"

Aeris nodded and shut her eyes, gently grasping Tseng's hands. Tseng clutched them, shutting his own eyes. Vincent's jaw dropped, his eyes widening in horror as Tseng faded from sight, only to be replaced by a brown haired, pink clad girl. He backed away in shock, watching the girl turn to him and smile.

"Well, Vincent," came the familiar voice, "do you believe Tseng now?"

He was breathing hard; that much was for certain. The whole room seemed to be spinning around him as he pushed himself to his elbows, blinking wearily. The first thing he became aware of, other than the room, was pain. The second thing, blood. Blood was pooling around him, but it was not his own. He shook his head, trying to shake the blur out of his mind. All he could remember was a gun and a phone in his hands . . . and then screaming.

Reeve rubbed his eyes and got to his feet, steadying himself against the wall behind him. He stared at the bloody corpse of the Shinra guard for a moment, trying to remember what had exactly happened between his scream and the pulling of the trigger. Reeve bit his lip when he saw a small, bloody body also on the floor, and as he neared it, he could see the head of a bird. He could hear it squawk helplessly, moving its deformed legs slowly.

"Where did you come from. . .?" he asked the bird, crouching next to it. The bird squawked in reply. Reeve shook his head, bringing his white handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully removing some of the blood. He winced when he saw that there was a bullet buried in the bird's wing. ". . . You took the bullet. . . The bullet that was supposed to hit me. . . Where did you come from?" He repeated the same question, as if expecting the bird to reply. The AVALANCHE spy swallowed hard, picking up the creature and slowly getting to his feet. He looked from the bird creature to the Shinra guard. ". . . Better question: what did you do?"

Shaking his head, the spy started out of the room, not noticing the torn vent up above and the glowing pairs of red eyes that watched him leave.

Reeve slowly made his way to the elevator, keeping the bird creature within the folds of his jacket. He pushed the down button on the elevator upon his arrival, hearing a startled gasp from within the elevator. The Shinra executive blinked, looking up to see a young woman standing there with her hand covering her mouth. Her face was extremely pale as she looked at him, staring at the blood on his shirt and jacket.

"S-- Sir," she started, "are you all right?"

The man looked back at her calmly. "Not really," he replied, staggering into the elevator. "I feel a headache coming on and this blood isn't helping any." He was careful to leave out any details, as he didn't want the whole building to know about his little run-in.

The young woman looked on as he pushed the down button, the elevator doors closing.

He struggled to hold his friend's body, which seemed to be as heavy as lead. They had almost reached Midgar; the plated city could be seen from the high ridge they were on. The young man smiled wanly at his friend, who looked up at him with glazed Mako eyes.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "We're almost there." He pointed off into the distance. "See it over there? Midgar's so close."

"There they are!" came a voice from behind them.

His muscles tensed as he looked down at his weary friend. "I'll take care of them," he said in a soothing voice. He laid his friend down, unsheathing his Buster Sword and turning around to acknowledge his attackers. "Here goes. . ."

He leapt into battle, slashing and cutting at the group of Shinra soldiers with the prowess of a SOLDIER. But these men had guns -- powerful guns. They forced him back against the edge of the ridge, holding their guns to his face. Taking in a deep breath, the young man slashed at a soldier, only to be forced to the ground by a barrage of bullets. Blood and darkness clouded his eyesight as he found himself on the ground. He could feel that his end was coming; he could hear a gun being cocked at him. Just before the trigger was pulled, he could feel drops of rain falling from the heavens, as if crying for his soul. The blood and darkness seemed to be closing in on him as he heard the gun release an explosive sound at point-blank range.

Then, there was only darkness.

Cloud woke up screaming, forgetting all about his wounds and pain as his dream drove him straight off the edge. Tifa was immediately there, holding his hand, trying to calm him down. "Cloud!" she repeatedly shouted. "Stop, calm down! It's all right!"

Cid came rushing in, his brow rising when he saw Cloud screaming and Tifa trying to shout over him. "Well I'll be damned!" he chuckled. "He's all right!"

"Shut up, Cid, and help me with him!" Tifa snapped at him.

"Okay, okay," sighed the pilot, striding over kneeling on the other side of the bed. A few minutes passed and Cloud was *still* screaming. Cid, being as impatient as he was, started cursing. "Shut the @^&* up, Cloud!! Goddammit, are you trying to be some %@!# banshee!?? ^?*@@%$ !!"

*That* shut Cloud up. He blinked, averting his blue Mako eyes to Cid. "The vulgar. . .," he sighed. "That damned vulgar. . ."

"Aeris," Vincent whispered, grasping Aeris' shoulders in disbelief, "my God, Aeris!! You're all right! You're alive!"

Aeris Gainsborough smiled sweetly at the black-haired man. "So is it safe for me to assume that you're glad to see me?" she queried.

"How?" Vincent asked, finally letting go of Aeris' shoulders. "How can this be? We-- we all saw Sephiroth run you through. . ."

"I'm still as dead as a doornail, Vincent," replied Aeris, still managing to smile. "It's because of Tseng that you're able to see and touch me."

"Because of . . . Tseng?"

The girl dubbed the "Flower Lady" nodded. "Tseng is an Ancient."

"WHAT?!" Vincent gasped, his red eyes wide.

"That's the second time that's happened," Tseng sighed, grinning at Aeris. He stood where Aeris had stood before, his arms crossed. "He's too easy to surprise."

Aeris giggled. "Boy, you're just filled with surprises, aren't you?" she said to Tseng. She turned back to Vincent. "Tseng says that you're too easy to surprise."

"This is all too shocking, that's why," replied Vincent. "Tseng's an Ancient. Now I *know* there's something going down here."

"The Planet's going to be in trouble again," Aeris explained, quickly becoming serious. "Since the Cetra cannot be revived once they're killed, we had little to no choice to choose someone to become a Cetra. Tseng was chosen the moment he stepped into the City of the Ancients."

"That doesn't explain why you and Tseng are . . . like that."

"Well . . . uh," started Aeris. She bit her lip. "I really can't explain that. I was chosen by the collective Cetra to help Tseng. This body-switching thing is just one of the kicks out of being the chosen, I'm guessing."

Tseng's brow shot up. "Just one?" he repeated.

Aeris shrugged and looked at him. "Well, I'm not very sure," she replied.

"Who are you talking to?" queried Vincent.

Aeris averted her attention back to Vincent, who was looking at her strangely. "Tseng," she said in reply.

"How?"

"Well, let's put it this way," started Aeris, "when you can see Tseng, you can't see me, and when you can see me, you can't see Tseng."

Vincent slowly nodded in understand. "I think I understand," he said. "So . . . he can hear every word I say?"

"If he doesn't walk out of range, yes," Aeris responded. She looked over at Tseng, silently noticing that Vincent was following her gaze. "How are you with all of this, Tseng?"

Tseng shrugged. "Other than the fact that it is disturbing," he started, "it's all right. I think I can live with it."

"Well, you're going to have to live with it for quite sometime," giggled Aeris, smiling warmly at Tseng. "Would you like your body back now?"

"Sure," Tseng said, holding his hands out for Aeris to take. Aeris calmly took Tseng's hands, shutting her eyes as the switch took place again. Tseng, now completely seeable again, looked at Vincent. "Well, what do we do now?" he queried.

"I guess we head to Midgar," replied Vincent, staring at the leader of the Turks. "I'm starting to worry about the things going on over there myself now. I think AVALANCHE is already in trouble."

"You're probably right," the Cetra agreed, mounting Clucky again. Aeris got up in his lap wordlessly as Vincent mounted the chocobo as well. "You ready?" he queried.

Vincent nodded, wondering what he had gotten himself into as Tseng directed Clucky towards Midgar.

"Are you all right, Cloud?" Tifa asked, brushing back some of Cloud's hair as he laid in his bed, sweat beading his forehead. For a long moment, Cloud didn't reply; he just stared up at her, his eyes locked. ". . . Cloud?"

"I'll be okay," he sighed, breaking eye contact. "God . . . what hit me?"

Cid crossed his arms as he leaned against the doorframe. "We were hoping you could tell us, Cloud," he said. He shook his head. "Damn, I've never seen anything like what I've seen in that tower before."

"Ugh," muttered Cloud. "Oh, yeah. . . That freaky bird. I'm sure I would have died up there if I hadn't pulled off my. . ." He stopped for a brief moment before going on. "I would have died there if I hadn't managed to do my Omnislash."

The pilot nodded, taking a drag of his cigarette before sitting down in a chair close to Cloud. "So," he started, "was there anything up there that was suspicious?"

Cloud bit his lip slightly. "Nothing," he said. "Only that huge bird and the smaller versions of it."

"Where the hell did they come from anyway?" queried Cid.

"Some container up there," replied Cloud, rubbing his head. "It broke when I got there and one of them grew at an alarming rate."

"What was all the smoke that was coming down the elevator shaft?"

"You can thank that bird-monster for that. I tried Hellfire against it, but it didn't do anything against it. It retorted with something that made the tiles burn around me."

"I'm just glad that you're still alive, Cloud," Tifa sighed, clasping Cloud's hand and squeezing it gently.

"Me too," sighed Cloud, staring at Tifa again with his glowing Mako eyes.

Reeve stroked the bird's head within his quarters, watching its small red eye blink at him curiously. The man sighed, rolling his shoulders as he stood up from the small bed he had made for his strange little savior. He had had to explain himself to first the nurses who attended him, then the doctor, then Veraldei, who had come in when he had heard that one of his executives were in the clinic. Apparently, the young man actually gave a damn about his executives, unlike Rufus. Reeve had explained that the man that had been killed (who had apparently been named Vicks), had been sniped down by an unknown assailant and he had barely gotten away alive. Personally, Reeve believed his white lie had been a little weakly given, but no one gave it a second thought.

A knock on the door banished the rest of his thoughts. "Come in," he called. The door opened and in stepped a familiar man in a rumpled, navy blue suit. Reeve blinked in shock. "Reno?" he queried.

"Hey," greeted Reno, stuffing his hands back in his pockets once he had waved. "'Heard you got yourself in trouble, Reeve."

Reeve shrugged before he gestured for the Turk to sit down on his couch, following him soon after. "What are you doing here?" he asked once they were seated.

"Heidegger threatened to kill us if we didn't come back," was Reno's reply. "That's why we're here. They've appointed me the new leader." Surprisingly, Reno didn't seem to take pride in the fact.

"Well, I'd congratulate you," started Reeve, "but I think it'd just make you feel worse. What's wrong?"

Reno ran a hand through his hair. "The fact that I'm the new leader disturbs me," he admitted. ". . . I guess it's because I know I can never be as good a leader as Tseng was. Elena and Rude most likely feel this way too."

Reeve nodded in understanding, feeling sympathetic for his friend. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm sure you'll do fine."

There was silence, then Reno chuckled. "I come here to get the scoop on what happened to you," he began wanly, "and I end up breaking down and telling you what's bugging me." She shook his head and smiled faintly. "Damn, I'm losing my touch."

The older man grinned. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Now, what about those questions you had?"

"Well, from what Veraldei said," started Reno, "you were sniped at. I don't believe that bullshit; you were always a bad liar." He stared at Reeve. "What really happened there?"

"Reno. . ."

"C'mon, Reeve," sighed the Turk, "you can tell me anything. We're friends, right?" It seemed highly usual for a Turk and Shinra executive to be friends, but it was true.

"Yeah." Reeve bit his lip. "Do you swear you won't tell anyone, especially Veraldei or the president, if you ever meet him?"

"Hey, I hate Shinra as much as you do," Reno said. "If there's anything that you'd want to tell someone about Shinra about behind their backs, I'm your man."

"It's nice to know that, Reno," Reeve said. "Well, the truth is . . . the guy tried to take me out."

Reno's eyes widened. "What?" he gasped. "Why?"

Reeve shook his head. "I'm thinking he was from AVALANCHE," he lied. "Either that, or he thought I was from AVALANCHE."

"Damn," Reno chuckled, grinning, "who in the world would think *you* would be an AVALANCHE spy? He must have been screwed up in the head or something."

Reeve tried his best to laugh. "Yeah. . ."

"Are you sure you're okay, Cloud?" queried Tifa for the one thousandth time.

"I'm sure, Tifa," sighed Cloud for the one thousandth time.

Cloud, with Tifa as a support, hobbled out of the room and into the main room, where everyone was at. "Yo, man!" Barret hooted. "How ya doin'? You okay?"

"I'm okay. . ." Cloud stopped, confusion in his eyes. No one else saw it, though.

"He'll be okay, Barret," Tifa said. "He just needs rest, but Mr. Stubborn here wanted to get out right away." She smiled at Cloud, who weakly smiled back.

"Hey, Cloud," Yuffie said, looking up from the TV, where they were being forced to watch Cid's `God-forsaken show,` Dukes of Hazzard, "I heard that you lost all your Materia in that blast. Bummer, man. You went ahead and lost a Lightning, Ifrit, and an Ice Materia." She shook her head. "What a waste."

"You've been keeping all that shit listed somewhere, Yuffie!?" Cid queried.

Yuffie nodded, rummaging through her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. "Yup. See? I've got you down with Ramuh, Enemy Skill, an All, and a Restore Materia."

"DAMMIT, why didn't you give that to me when I was the leader?!" Cid yelled.

"You never asked."

"%&@#$^*$&@%^ !!!!!!!!" Cid's face was slightly red.

Meanwhile, Elmyra covered Marlene's ears on the other side of the house.

Vincent decided to try strike up a conversation as Clucky walked across the plain that had once housed Choco Bill's chocobo farm. "What's it like?" he queried.

"What's what like?" Tseng glanced back at his passenger for a moment before returning his attention to the front.

"What's it like having to share a body?"

"I guess it's okay," replied Tseng. He looked down at Aeris, who had fallen asleep. "Aeris actually isn't inside me, if that's what you're thinking. She appears as a ghost around me when she doesn't control my body."

Vincent slowly nodded. He had never thought that Tseng would be such an interesting person. Of course, he had also never thought that he would be sitting on a chocobo with him, completely and utterly trusting him. "What's it like being an Ancient?"

"I can explain the feeling, really," was the ex-Turk's reply. "There's so many things that make sense now that I once didn't understand about Aeris. I can hear the Planet cry . . . I can talk to the Weapons . . . and I can use Holy, or so says Aeris."

"Holy?" Vincent repeated. "As in the Ultimate White Magic?"

"That's what Aeris referred to it as. What's so special about it, really?"

For a moment, Vincent was silent. He really didn't know what was so special about the Materia by itself -- he knew that it would summon Holy when the Planet was in danger, but other then that, he had no idea. "It saved the Planet, I know that for sure," he began, "but there may be more powers that it possesses. You might want to ask Aeris about it someday."

Tseng smiled a little, looking down at Aeris. "I think I will," he sighed, brushing some hairs away from her face. "I've heard a lot about you from Aeris, Vincent. She says that you were a victim to Hojo. I'm sorry to hear that."

Vincent bowed his head. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing of your concern."

"Nothing of my concern?" repeated Tseng. "If Aeris has enough heart to care for you, I think that I can at least show some compassion."

"You're still Tseng of the Turks," Vincent murmured.

"Formerly of the Turks," Tseng quickly corrected, "and if I'm not mistaken, you're formerly of the Turks as well."

The ex-Turk straightened. "How do you know that?"

"I remember reading it somewhere," Tseng replied nonchalantly. "There was a Turk that, almost thirty years ago, disappeared seemingly off the face of the Planet. He was known for his sniper abilities; he could take out pigeons on the ground from a hundred meters away with his eyes closed and was known for his precision in every job. Once he had his orders, there was no way he would come back without it completed. Not even Rude, with all his talent, came close to that Turk. His name was Vincent Valentine." He looked at Vincent with that stoic look that was common for any leader of the Turks. "Are you not the same person?"

". . . I am no more than a shadow of that man," Vincent said, returning to his remorseful state.

"You *are* him," the other ex-Turk said. He paused for a moment, looking up to see Kalm coming to view against the setting sun. "We will avoid Kalm; from what I know, Shinra has workers stationed there." Vincent nodded numbly behind him and Tseng directed Clucky left, towards the dark plain that Midgar rested upon. Aeris yawned in Tseng's lap and Tseng smiled down at her. "Good evening, Aeris."

"What's going on, Tseng? Where are we now?" Aeris queried, rubbing her eyes.

"We're nearing Midgar. We should be there soon."

"That's good. . ." Aeris grinned. "I can't wait to see what the others do when they see me again. It'll be so nice to see them all again."

Tseng smiled. "I'm sure they'll all be happy to see you too, Aeris."

"Hey . . . Cid?"

Cid looked up, blinking when he saw Cait Sith and his Mog filling up the doorway. He stood up from Barret's bed, frowning. "What the hell. .? How can you still be working?"

Abruptly, the voice coming from Cait Sith changed. "Umm . . . that might be because I'm still alive, Cid." It was *definitely* Reeve's voice.

"Reeve?!" Cid gasped, his cigarette almost falling out of his mouth. "What happened to you!?! You scared the living shit out of us!!!"

"I'm sorry, Cid," apologized Reeve/Cait. "A lot's been happening in the last six hours. Reno just left a while ago."

"The Turks are already back. . .," hissed Cid. "Dammit! Cloud won't be liking this."

"Cloud's awake!?" Reeve exclaimed. "How's he doing?"

"He's fine. A bit shaken up, but that's about it," was Cid's reply. "Now, what the #^@& was Reno doing in your quarters?"

"He wanted to see how I was doing," replied Reeve/Cait. "The guy that tried to take me out is dead. Our secret's safe . . . for now." There was a pause. "Dammit, Cid, I don't know how long this is going to work."

"Don't break down on us now, Reeve," sighed the pilot. "We still need you."

"I know. . . Be careful, Cid. Veraldei's more than likely going to send out men to look for AVALANCHE."

Cid nodded. "I'll relay that to the others. Take care of yourself and don't scare me like that again, okay, Reeve?"

"All right." The voice changed again, back to that of Cait Sith. "Okaay . . . so, what's the plan, Second-in-command?"

The pilot shrugged. "We'll stay low for a while -- until Cloud can get his bearings. I have to think for a moment. . ." With that said, Cid took a long drag of his cigarette.

Deep within Hojo's laboratory, a pair of glowing eyes opened. A groan escaped the lips of the eyes' owner as he pushed himself to his elbows. The room had been flooded with darkness, but his Mako eyes allowed a limited bit of light into the room. He got to his feet, succeeding in creeping through the room unnoticed. Halfway to the elevator, the man stumbled over some rubble. He cursed, kneeling down to see what he had nearly tripped over. His eyes met the glowing Ultima Weapon, which he gripped to his chest. Then, the man hurried to the elevator, his eyes darting around as he waited for the elevator to come up. He could feel in his veins that something was going down.

There would be hell to pay when he regained his strength.

"Tifa?" Cloud suddenly asked.

"Hmm. . .?" Tifa's eyes flickered open and she lifted her head from Cloud's shoulder, looking at Cloud expectantly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really," Cloud replied. "But . . . I have question to ask you." Tifa nodded, a gestured for him to tell her the question. Cloud took a deep breath. "Tifa, do you like me? Because, well . . . the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that I would never be able to love someone else."

Tifa blinked in surprise. "Not even Aeris?" she queried.

"Aeris . . . she's another thing," Cloud sighed. He carefully took Tifa's hands into his hands. "Please, Tifa, answer the question."

This was all too shocking for Tifa. For a moment, she just sat there with her mouth open but no words coming out. She couldn't believe it. . . Cloud cared for her over Aeris? This was what she had always wanted . . . but then why did she suddenly feel bad? Tifa looked deep into Cloud's Mako eyes, seeing only anxiety and . . . love? The emotion just didn't feel right coming from Cloud, but it was definitely there.

"Yes. Cloud. . . I-- I love you," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

"Tifa. . ." Cloud suddenly leaned over and kissed her cheek. He quickly jerked away, horror in his eyes. "I-- I'm sorry. . . That was completely uncalled for."

"No, actually," began Tifa, "I really liked that. Cloud, I. . ." Cloud silenced her with another kiss, this one right on her lips. Tifa immediately returned the kiss and the two wrapped their arms around each other.

On to Chapter 7.

Back to Merging Journeys.