Crisis Core: The Female SOLDIER

33

While Zack went out to fetch the materials, Sera stayed behind to watch over Aerith who was tending to the flowers, in case more of the machines decided to appear again. Seeing as they were alone, she took the opportunity to speak.

She opened her mouth, only to hesitate. What on Gaia should she say? How does she even start? She had so many questions. Why was Shinra after her? Was her being a Cetra part of it? What was a Cetra in the first place? Did her abilities have something to do with being a Cetra? Was that why she can sense things that no one else can? Was that why Shinra was so interested in her?

She let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of her head (and feeling both amused and perturbed by how much time she spent with Zack; the head rubbing is usually something he would do when he's stumped).

"What's wrong?" Aerith's voice drew her out from her thoughts and Sera looked up to see her looking at her almost curiously.

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

All was silent for a moment.

"Hey, Sera...?"

"Hmm?" The female SOLDIER turned to see Aerith standing over her flowers. Her hands clasped together nervously as the younger girl looked at her almost shyly. "Why are you and Zack working for Shinra?"

Sera blinked. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that... you and Zack are so nice," Aerith started, " And Shinra...." she trailed off.

"...Does this have anything to do with you being a Cetra?"

Aerith's head shot up, a look of shock and fear in her eyes which made Sera's own widen before she found herself trying to placate her. "I won't hurt you, or try to bring you to Shinra if that's what you're worried about," Sera spoke, her hands raised in a calming motion. "But I heard that Shinra's interested in you. And Shinra's not the best place to be in, so it worries me." Sera's brow furrowed. "Is it because you're a Cetra that Shinra is so interested in you?"

For awhile she didn't answer, and Sera contemplated changing the subject since it frightened her so much. But then she nodded. Sera stood up, walking towards her slowly, as approaching a cornered animal. She stopped in front of her. "Would you tell me?"

The brunette hesitated at first but then slowly, in a soft voice, Aerith spoke of how her and her mother were experimented by a scientist named Hojo at Shinra. The feeling of being drugged as she watched her mother being taken away at random times while she was poked and prodded. She spoke of how her mother died when she and Aerith escaped from the labs when she was just a little girl and left her with her foster mother Elmyra.

Aerith's story made her sick to her stomach and her hate for Shinra's scientists, Hojo in particular, grew even more. Sera saw the girl wrapped her arms around herself, her petite for trembling slightly. Something struck within Sera at seeing the usually cheerful suddenly look so fragile, and before she knew it she found herself hugging the brunette girl, rubbing her back soothingly as the Aerith wept silently in her arms, clinging to the older woman. She silently cursed Hojo, vowing to kill the man one day for inflicting such trauma to this sweet girl.

"I'm sorry," Sera spoke softly once Aerith had calmed down somewhat, "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"It's okay," Aerith sniffed, pulling away as she wiped away her tears, regaining her composure. "You didn't know."

"You don't have to say any more if you don't want to," Sera assured the girl.

"It's hard," Aerith agreed, "But... they say I can trust you."

"They?"

"The Planet," Aerith elaborated. "They said you're different. That you're like me but... more."

'More?' Mako eyes widened. '...Could it be?' Sera didn't doubt for a moment that she could commune with the planet. It was one of the abilities that Cetra have been said to have. "Aerith," Sera started. "Is it possible that I'm... a Cetra?"

"What do you mean?" Aerith was confused.

Sera spoke of her past with Aerith, how she was found as a child with no memories of who she was and where she came from. She spoke about her abilities of casting magic without materia, as well as being able to sense people's emotions and that she was with Shinra because of those abilities. She spoke of the scientist's interests in her, especially Hojo's and their speculations that she might of Cetra lineage because of her magic.

When Sera was finished, Aerith looked to be contemplative. "I'm not sure," Aerith spoke. "Truth to be told, all humans originally descended from Cetra, but because they abandoned their ways, they have lost their connection to their Planet and with that, their abilities. That's why there's so few us who are still able to commune with the Planet, me included. So you might either be a true Cetra, or you just have dormant Cetra genes that have just started to resurface."

"Is there a way to find out?"

"Maybe. Give me your hands," Aerith giggled when Sera responded with a raised brow and an incredulous look on her face. "I won't hurt you, I promise." Aerith assured her.

Glad that the brunette had gone back to her cheerful self, Sera decided to humour her and extended her hands out with an amused huff. Aerith held them in her own. "Close your eyes," Sera reluctantly obliged to her request, and closed her eyes. "Take a deep breath," Sera breathed in deeply, "and listen. Listen to the voices of the planet, their whispers, their knowledge. Let them flow into you."

Sera did as she asked, an listened. At first, she heard nothing, nothing out of the ordinary as the faint sound of outside the church reached her ears.

But then, she heard something. A voice. At first, she thought it was Zack, having returned with the materials, but the faint voice was too different to be his. It was too old, too ancestral. And like a dam had broken, she could hear more of them coming in, filling her mind with whispers, with words of the planet and of events long past, long before she or anyone she knew were even born and events of a distant future. The words of wisdom, sorrow, anger and so many other emotions speaking to her, telling her things that made no sense to her, yet she knew, somehow, that they were important all the same.

Then they all faded, though not entirely as she could still hear the whispers if she listened closely enough, and she opened her eyes. Tears she didn't even realize she was shedding slipped down her cheeks and she looked to Aerith who she found was no longer gently clasping her hands, having let go of them sometime ago.

Aerith wiped away a tear from Sera's face. "You can hear them, can't you?" She asked her, her face suddenly sporting a look that was too mature, too weary for her young years. It ached something in the female SOLDIER to see it. "The voices of the Lifestream, the Planet."

The younger woman wasn't expecting an answer. She didn't need one because she already knew. They both did.

Sera was a Cetra, along with Aerith.

They were the last of the near-extinct race on the Planet.