Inheritance (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth)

꧁ I ꧂

"I have named you my successor, but there is still much you need to do before you take my place."

Lailah huffed out a heavy sigh as Laurel's words repeated over and over inside her head. She tried to clear her head by watching the people in the streets of Kalm just outside the inn. She was on the second-floor balcony of the inn, leaning against the railing. Her snowy locks blew gently in the breeze. She was thinking about all the events that had brought her and the others to Kalm while also trying to wrap her head around what her mother had done.

She had left the others while Cloud was in the middle of telling his story about his time with Sephiroth. She wanted to hear the rest of his story, but she was suddenly overcome with anxiety. To keep it from getting out of hand, she left the room and arrived on the balcony to get some fresh air. It was just what she needed to extinguish the anxiety that threatened to trigger an overreaction.

Eyes drifting to the nighttime sky, Lailah gazed at the beautiful stars above. She unconsciously placed a hand over the emerald gemstone that was embedded in her chest. She wondered where the last remaining ancestral beasts were-Erebus, Aether, and Hephaestus. She had spotted the ancestor of the Tenebris Tribe before they arrived at Kalm, but he vanished without a trace.

Another sigh fell from her lips as she slumped even further against the railing. "Where have you three gone...?"

Not too far from the balcony was the room Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII were in. The ex-SOLDIER, with his arms crossed, had just finished his story. "And that's the last thing I remember. The rest is a blank."

Barret was displeased by the conclusion. He flew out of the seat he was sitting in. "The hell it is. What happened?!"

Aerith, who was sitting on the couch next to Tifa, chimed in. "It was all over the news. I remember watching it with my mom. They said he went missing during a training exercise. But then...the story changed. A couple days later, they started reporting that he was killed in action. Yeah, that was it."

"The news outlets are nothin' but Shinra mouthpieces spewin' propaganda," Barret remarked with a sharp edge to his voice. "Only dumbasses believe that shit."

Aerith threw her hand into the air. "Question!" She then pointed at herself. "Does that make me a dumbass?"

The man paused for a second and rubbed his chin. "I didn't say that. What I meant was..." He tried to quickly change his wording. "Screw Shinra for manipulatin' honest folks."

As Barret sat back down, Cloud continued. "It doesn't matter what they said back then. Sephiroth was in Midgar. We fought him. Whatever happened...he's alive."

Aerith looked down as she thought out loud. "Dunno about "alive" so much as..."around"?"

"But...why come back now?" Tifa lifted her head to reveal her troubled expression. "After five years...doing who-knows-what?"

Cloud turned his attention to his childhood friend, only to feel a sharp pain in his head. He managed to push it aside and reply to her. "Because...he wants to finish what he started. He wants to "reclaim his birthright" and rule over the planet with Jenova at his side."

"After five years?" she repeated. "Not to sound like a broken record, but...it's really bothering me."

"Well, what's botherin' me is all this Jenova stuff," Barret said before nodding to the door. "And what 'bout the little lady? How's she doin'?"

"Lailah was just made Gaia's successor," Tifa spoke up. "That means she's inherited her mother's role as the goddess who is the embodiment of this world. If Sephiroth wants the world..."