Revitalized Dream (Book Three)

Year Five, Day Forty-Seven

Sam POV

At Cait Sith's direction, we finally arrived at the Temple of the Ancients. It's on a large island to the southeast. It's so much faster to travel by plane, but I'm too pissed to care about much of anything right now. It was bad enough that the damn robot betrayed us by giving ShinRa the keystone, but he had to go and make it worse by blackmailing us into doing what he says. The scumbag.

None of the others were at all happy to find out about Cait Sith's betrayal. Barret was so close to filling his gears with lead before it was revealed that his daughter was being held hostage to make us listen. Tifa broke a table in the inn, and Cid cussed up a storm, even though he hasn't been with us for very long. Yuffie threw several rounds of creative Wutai insults at him, and Vincent just kind of got colder.

Now, here we all stand in front of the temple. It's huge and pyramid-shaped. A long swinging bridge separates us from the entrance, hanging over a deep chasm. It's here that Cloud turns to all of us.

"Alright. Some of us should stay out here to watch the entrance. The rest of us will go inside," he tells us. "I will be going inside. Aerith, I'm guessing you want to go in as well?"

"Yes, I think I should," she replies absently, gazing up at the huge building.

"I'm going, too," I say, determined to not be stuck out here sitting around idly.

Cait Sith hops forward. "I shall also accompany you, so let us go forward."

Ignoring him, Cloud turns to Barret. "I'm leaving you in charge of the group out here. Don't let anyone through until we return."

"You can count on me," the large man responds, thumping his broad chest with his good hand.

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Aerith POV

I can hear the planet calling to me. This place is so heavily connected. There are other voices, too. The voices of the Cetra still lingering here. By their will alone, they are refusing to fade into the Lifestream to protect the knowledge stored here.

Something seems to be drawing me forward as we climb the huge staircase up to the top of the temple where there is an opening to the interior. What exactly will we find in there?

All of us, minus Cait Sith, are a little out of breath by the time we reach the top. It really is quite the climb. The uneven cracks in the stairs didn't help much. I tripped a couple of times while climbing.

"Can you all smell that?" Sam asks out of the blue as we rest for a brief period. 

"Smell what?" the traitorous bot inquires.

"Blood," Cloud answers in Sam's place. "I can smell it, too. Not a lot of it, but I'm pretty sure it isn't a monster's."

"That means someone is hurt!" I exclaim. Worried, I rush into the temple. Directly inside is a small chamber lit by torches. Against the far wall is a pedestal and a familiar man is slumped in front of it, usually pristine suit torn and bloodied around his abdomen. "Tseng!"

"I figured ShinRa would get here first, but this isn't what I was expecting to find," Cloud says darkly.

A moan comes from the wounded Turk, and he opens his eyes. "I...I should've known you all would come eventually...I've...I've been tricked...Sephiroth isn't looking for the...Promised Land..."

"Sephiroth is here!?" Sam exclaims, fire flashing in her already angry eyes. She didn't take Cait Sith's betrayal well at all. I fear such a blow will make her more distrustful than she already was after all she's been through. I don't want her to be angry and closed up like she is right now, when she was finally starting to be like her old self again.

"See for yourself..." he coughs out, blood spraying from his lips. He holds up the keystone. "Place...this on the altar...Maybe you'll...have more luck than I did..."

With a groan, he scoots away from the pedestal. I feel kind of bad for him, but he's with ShinRa. I'm sure he'll be fine.

Thank you all for your patience. I'm sorry it took so long for this update to come out. I'll try to have the next one up soon.