I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 02: Chapter 18: Non-Sequiter

I wasn't sure how to answer Denah's challenge. Given her silence, neither was Aerith, and Red was still too deeply in shock to say anything at all. He was just staring at her. As luck would have it, that reaction turned out to be our salvation. "Is there something wrong with him?" she asked, staring right back at Red.

"He, um..." I paused, trying to word things right. "This is Nanaki, from Cosmo Canyon. We came here hoping to find others of your species..."

"And he could not have bought companions of our kind, instead of humans?"

"I'm afraid not. See, Nanaki is the last survivor of the Cosmo Canyon tribe... Which is why he's reacting this way. You, you're the first other of your kind he's seen since his parents died, almost forty years ago."

"Another tribe lost..." Denah whispered softly. "Forty years, you say? Why, this one cannot be much older than that."

"No. I am not." Red finally found his voice. "Then again, you cannot be much older than I yourself."

"Quite." Denah stared at Aerith and I again. "Unusual company you keep."

"That is the second time you have insulted my friends. Why this hostility towards humans? Is it because of whatever Shinra did here? We found their abandoned tower."

"Evil creatures." Denah hissed. "They destroyed the Cetra, your tribe, and then they tried to destroy us as well. It is a mix of blessing and curse that the destroyer came. It also threatens us, but not deliberately and at least it got rid of the humans."

"The destroyer?" I started to ask, but Red spoke first:

"Your information is in error." He explained. "My tribe dwindled away from natural causes over many centuries... And it was the undead Gi who killed my parents... And as for the Cetra, not humans but an otherworldly entity attacked them. And they are not quite dead, Aerith here is half-Cetra."

"Truly?" Denah eyed Aerith with what seemed like a new appreciation. "Very well then, but it leaves the human's guilt for what they did to this forest when they came."

"We aren't all like that." I said. "Some of us are fighting to preserve the planet and it's life. You've seen the meteor in the sky, right? It's going to hit the planet in a few weeks. Everything will die, if we don't stop it. And we will."

Sighing, Denah said "We knew the sign in the sky was an ill omen."

"We?" Red's head perked up. "There are still others?"

Denah chuckled, the first sign of a happier side to her personality. "Oh yes my friend. There are several thousand of us still, scattered in tribes all through the forest."

Red let out a triumphant howl, and Aerith and I laughed. "Congratulations my friend." Aerith said. "You're not alone."

"I never was, with all of you. But this is a happy time nonetheless."

"I suppose I should welcome you as guests, then." Denah said. "Come, we shall dine together and talk more..."

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Over the course of several hours, we related our tale to Denah, and in turn she told us of the history of her tribe. The most important information, though, was in regards to our mystery monster. Her tribe had no more of an idea of what it was than we did, they simply called it the destroyer.

"What does it look like?" Red asked.

"Difficult to say precisely." Denah answered. "Few who are close enough to see it survive. Those who do give muddled reports."