Chapter 5

Aeris, still with blurred vision and extremely drowsy head, with pain all over her body, woke up in the middle of a vast grass field. She slowly pushed herself up and looked around. She heard noise coming from behind. She turned around and saw a vast mass of fire burning, the flame flickering in the dark starry night, not preparing to be put out for a long time.

“Cloud!”

Aeris suddenly realized that Cloud wasn’t beside her. She looked around again and saw a black figure, laying on the ground, not moving. She tried to get up but she felt this terrible urge of pain flowing inside her. She quickly pulled out a materia and cast a cure spell. Immediately, her wounds slowly sealed up and the aching pain in her body subsides. She didn’t even care to take a rest, and ran towards the figure.

“Cloud! Are you all right?”

The figure was Cloud all right. He was unconscious, but still breathing. Aeris quickly cast her cure spell again and Cloud’s wounds sealed up too. Cloud then moaned and struggled to get a clearly vision. He saw Aeris and lay down, feeling relax for a moment, and then fully opened his eyes.

“Where are we now? I thought we were in Costa de Sol?” Cloud asked softly.

“Yes, we met two figures, chased after them, and then they cast a meteor spell. I wonder whether the people in Costa de Sol survived...”

“Wonder? That spell was guaranteed to have smattered Costa de Sol into smatterings! What else is there to wonder?” Cloud asked.

“Look over there!”

Aeris pointed at the huge mass of fire that was dancing not far away. Cloud could see a mountain behind, surrounding the fire. Costa de Sol don’t have a sight like this. It was near the beach and the mountains are miles away! That mass of fire is not burning Costa de Sol!

So what is it burning? Cloud and Aeris looked around to look for familiar landmarks. Something tells them that this place is a very familiar place, a place where they traveled by frequently. Cloud looked around and saw a dark mass hidden by the darkness and half bury under the earth. He could a familiar building sticking out of the saucer like platform, with an eerie feeling. It was...

“Oh my god! That’s Midgar!”

Aeris cried out when she saw and recognized that piece of landmark. Then she point towards the north of Midgar. Kalm was there alright! The two stared at each other in amazement, not knowing what actually happened, and how they got from the middle continent back home.

The man continued staring out of the window in Cid’s house, looking out into the burning marsh. He stood there for the past few hours and hadn’t complaint about the cold or even spoke a word. He just stared outside, with his imagination eluded all his senses. But all the time Vincent was sitting behind, in the darkest corner in the room, observing this man, all the time on guard as because never trust strangers.

With the help of the dim moon light and the flicker of the flame, Vincent could make out ever detail of his face. That man had brown hair, a sharp nose, unshaved beard all over his chin, had some wrinkles on his forehead and cheek, showing age of around mid-forty, looked expressionless, just like Vincent himself, and had a well built body showing that he was an experience and mastered fighter.

But what that bothered Vincent the most was the man’s eyes. It looked like Cloud’s, with that strange glow emitting out from it. What was this man’s background? Why look for Cloud? This man was definitely infused with Jenova cells. Was he a friend of Cloud in the Shinra army? A friend of Zack or Sephiroth? Or even worse, was he his enemy?

Vincent, continued looking at the man. No one he knew had patience this much as the man in front of him, looking out in the window without even bothering to look away or say something. Barret would curse the hell out of the person who asked him to do that. Cid too. Cloud, even with his good patience, would rather take a break and lay down on the floor. Only Vincent himself can do that, after a ‘training’ for almost eternity in the coffin, under the basement of the mansion in Nibelhelm.

If that is so, this man had a really dark past, which he didn’t want to share with others. Because only by forced to wait, wondering whether it will last for eternity, will someone had the patience to stay in a same spot for hours, looking at the same view. This man had waited a long time for something, and Vincent could felt that he was disappointed, until that man lost all sense of expression.

Vincent recalled that smile he gave to Barret that night. That was probably the quickest way to get everybody out of his way. If he don’t do that, Barret would pester him with question and curses and the others would take time, calming down Barret, and taking up his time.

But that smile, it was so forceful, so unnatural. As if he doesn’t have any emotions, like Vincent himself. Vincent looked at him again, this man standing there portrays himself, the cold, quiet, emotionless person. Vincent never thought there will be another person like himself. The only person he gave a damn about was someone he already lost long ago, leaving the feelings for her unsubsidible, the one and only...

“Lucrecia...”

Vincent whispered softly.

“Jenn...”

Vincent looked at the man. He was still looking out into the window. But he could hear him whisper something, something so soft he nearly couldn’t make out what he spoke. Vincent looked at him. This man had been disappointed badly, and lost his love one, forever.

They are both too alike. The two emotionless people.

“Finally.”

Cloud said to Aeris when they finally enter the town of Kalm. The hiked all the way from where they woke up and it took them hours. The sky started to get brighter, showing that day was almost here. With no idea how they arrived back to their continent, about the whereabouts of the two man they met that night, and the condition of Costa de Sol after they saw the meteor arriving, they decided to go back to Kalm, and investigate this matter with the others.

They sensed that another adventure was about to begin.

“But mommy! I want to look at the fire!”

The couple turned around and saw a mother pulling a kid in pajamas back into their house. They looked around and notice most of the people of Kalm were walking in the streets, most of them staring at the great mass of fire burning the marsh and some talk to each other about it. The people of Kalm had seen the arrival of meteor during the first meteor arrival. The arrival of this meteor somehow frightened the people here a lot, after all they had been.

“Wark!”

A cried was heard and the couple looked around. An ocean chocobo came running towards them, and stopped beside them. It was their ocean chocobo they left in Costa de Sol.

“My god! How do you know we are here?”

Aeris said while tickling the chocobo’s neck. The chocobo purred and leaned towards Aeris. The chocobo seemed happy seeing them.

“You came all the way from Costa de Sol?”

Cloud asked the chocobo. The chocobo nodded as if it understood Cloud’s question. Cloud nodded back in reply. The chocobo survived. This means that there is a high probability that Costa de Sol wasn’t knocked out by meteor yet. Cloud was a little relieved.

“Wark! Wark!”

“I think Choco wanted to go back to it stable.” Aeris told Cloud and started leading the Chocobo back to the stable. Cloud followed but Aeris shook her head.

“I can manage this. Go back to Cid’s house and see what you can find out.” Aeris said and walked away with the Chocobo. Cloud stood at his position for a moment and walked towards Cid’s house.

It was just a few steps away from Cid’s house. Cloud expected everyone to be outside, worrying about the meteor or trying to figure out what happened. But Cid’s house looked very quiet. The doors and windows are still closed, contrast from what that was happening outside. Cloud reached for the door and noticed it wasn’t locked. He turned the knob and entered.

“Cloud, I presumed.”

The moment Cloud entered the house he was greeted by a stranger. The others weren’t there. Only a man with brown hair and unshaved beard stood in front of him. Cloud was shocked. What was a stranger doing in Cid’s house?

“Who are you? Where’s everybody?”

Cloud asked with a worried tone. The stranger pointed the door that lead to the rooms, indicating that they were still asleep. Cloud understood and stared at the man.

“You related to Jennifer?”

The stranger asked. Cloud, without any thought, replied.

“She’s my mum. Why?”

“Cloud, I am...”

“Cloud?”

Aeris suddenly came in from behind Cloud and interrupted the stranger. Aeris and the stranger exchanged glances and both had shock in their faces. Cloud looked at both of them and he was puzzled.

“You...you are...”

The stranger said and pointed at Aeris. Aeris grabbed Cloud’s hand and Cloud spoke.

“This is my wife.”

The stranger was even more shocked to hear this. He tried to find the right word to say but he couldn’t. Then, after a moment of silence, he forced some words out.

“This...this is impossible...the man you have been telling me...the one you are looking for...him?!”

The stranger raised his voice against Aeris. Aeris slowly nodded and gripped Cloud’s arm tighter. Cloud was even more puzzled to see such a thing happen. What is going on? What connection is there between the stranger and Aeris?

“Who is this?”

Cloud asked Aeris with a frightened tone. Aeris remained silent.

“Cloud.”

Cloud looked towards the stranger. The stranger stared at him straight in the eyes.

“I am Aeris’s reviver.”

The stranger said. Cloud looked at Aeris with extreme shock in his eyes. Aeris slightly nodded again. Then, the stranger continued.

“I am also your father.”