Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

THIRTY-SIX

We set out the next morning, just as we'd planned, the six of us on the road to Wall Market. I limped along as best I could, with one friend or another supporting me at times. I didn't like having to lean on them so much, but I didn't really have a choice. Although the stab wound in my left thigh had healed pretty well for the most part, the leg itself was still a little weak from the trauma and loss of blood. My sprained right ankle was a lot better now than it had been, but it was still tender and I couldn't put my full weight on it yet for very long.

As for my right arm, it was a little stiff, but I could move it around a bit more now, though I wasn't ready to do anything strenuous with it like swinging a weapon. The rest of my injuries were healing nicely, so I didn't give them much thought as we made our way steadily through the narrow streets of the Sector 5 slums and into the outskirts. It was a bright, warm day—although it was actually winter, Midgar didn't have any real seasons. Part of being the middle of the badlands, I suppose. It was always warm here and often dry.

We didn't see too many monsters, just some eaters, wererats, and a few hedgehog pies. Lena and the guys took them out easily enough, so they didn't give us any problems, and Marissa patched up the few cuts, scratches, and bruises the others did get—she'd brought her first aid kit with her when she'd come back from the plate with Kunsel, and Elmyra had given us a handful of potions as well. And since I couldn't fight, at least for now, I helped Marissa instead.

We were about halfway there, heading down the winding dirt trail between the rows of abandoned shacks and mounds of junk and scrap metal, when it happened. I'd stopped to rest for a few minutes—well, it was more Kunsel and the others making me do it despite my insistence that I didn't need a break—and was just getting up from where I'd been sitting on the ground when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up. Everything went eerily still and quiet, as if time had frozen somehow, and the others were like statues.

Then I gasped, winced, and grabbed the right side of my head as a searing bolt of pain suddenly slammed into it as if I'd just been hit by a heavy hammer or lead pipe. It hurt like hell, worse than the first attack I'd had back in Sector 7, and I doubled over, wondering what was going on. When I slowly straightened and looked up a moment later, my eyes widened and my blood went ice cold.

Standing a few yards in front of me was Sephiroth.

"It's been a long time, Jessie," he smirked.

"Not nearly long enough," I muttered, letting go of my head to gaze defiantly back at him. "What do you want?"

Sephiroth held out his hand. "Your help. To change fate."

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"This world... this story... it's all happened before," he answered as he walked slowly around me. "And always, the end is the same. For you and for me. Only now, things are different."

I knew why. "Because I'm alive when I wasn't before."

"Correct," Sephiroth whispered. "With one change comes another, and another, and another. Small at first, but then larger, until the future itself diverges from the path it was meant to follow. If your destiny can be changed, Jessie, then so too can mine."

"And how do you know all this?" I wondered.

He smiled coldly. "The lifestream is full of knowledge beyond what you can possibly imagine, not just of this planet and the souls within it, but also of all those that came before. Memories upon memories, and I have basked in all of them, absorbed their knowledge. And with them, you and I will change the course of the future."

I shuddered. "How?"

"All in good time, Jessie..." he chuckled softly, closing the distance between us. "All in good time. Mother's legacy now flows through your veins. I'm a part of you. Don't fight me."